"So you've never been to a public school homecoming," Skye remarked with relish as she and Jade scuffed the tiles of the mall. "Never." They'd somehow made it through an entire meal without any of the Mays (or Mackenzies. Or Phil, for that matter) questioning Jade's presence. Piper had kept piling on the dim sum, Phil had taken constant photos, and even Mrs. Davis had taken up their time, telling them to move every which way.

Of course, it hadn't stopped Bobbi from giving her sister the wounded hippo look. Skye knew that not asking her to go homecoming dress shopping with her was a bit of a Bitch Move, but in her defense, Bobbi had been pulling some of her own lately. Implying that Skye was anything but flagrantly straight? Pffft.

(It'd also been why she'd gone with Jade - she'd be a solid control test. If Skye could agree with the things Jade said about girls they passed at the mall, maybe there'd be some thinking to do. But until then, there was nothing to change.)

"Never been," Jade agreed, grabbing a water bottle out of her bag and chugging it straight down. Skye watched as a drop spilled out of the side of her mouth and down her neck before shaking her head. Focus. "Is it as bad as they say it is in the movies? Where everyone makes a spectacle of who the homecoming queen is and the mean girl tries to sleep with her stepbrother?"

Skye looked down at Hope, who'd begged to come along at the last minute. Being the overly gracious babysitter she was, she'd relented. It also took a little bit of the 'date' feeling out of the whole thing, too. She wasn't sure she was quite ready for that. "You didn't hear any of that, kiddo."

Hope just rolled her eyes. "Heard what, Skye?"

"Atta kiddo. We'll buy you some dan taat on the way out."

"Yes!" Hope fist-pumped and scampered a bit ahead to look at a nearby display window. Skye turned her attention back to Jade.

"To answer your question, yeah and no, honestly. It's not Not Another Teen Movie - Chris Evans doesn't kiss Chyler Leigh, also, that's super weird to me! He's...Captain America, and she's...Lexie Grey! Ugh, I love them both -" Jade raised her eyebrows, and Skye wanted to sink into the floor a little. Just a little. "But there is a spectacle about the homecoming royalty. Every fucking year without fail. You can probably guess who's on the shortlist."

Judging by the hierarchy of her first few days, Jade could harbor a guess. "Grant Ward, probably. Your sister?" She winked at Hope. "You?"

Skye choked. Jade, think she was good enough to be homecoming royalty? Jade thought she was pretty enough to win a crown? Jade thought she was pretty? There wasn't any recovering from that. None whatsoever. Maybe Bobbi was right. But only a little.

"Pffft," she finally stuttered out. "Me? Get homecoming? Please. The only thing I get are Bobbi's sloppy seconds." The other girl hummed and nodded, and for a minute or two, both of them fell into step.

Honestly, Jade wasn't surprised Bobbi had been the focus of many a male gaze. She wouldn't be surprised, either, if she'd been the focus of some female gazes. Hers included, really. What was not to like? Bobbi was tall, blonde, blue eyes that could drown if she wasn't careful enough. (She'd noticed them when they'd first met, but there was a difference between noticing a girl's eyes as a Straight and noticing them as a full-stop lesbian. There really was.)

But Bobbi...if Jade really stopped to think about it, the more she found she couldn't entertain the thought. Not just because Bobbi was straighter than the lines of cocaine she'd seen Veronica Sinclair snort back in boarding school, but because she'd always seemed to be at a point in time somewhere in the distant future. Skye had even confirmed it - her sister compared law schools like girls compared their boyfriends, and now that she apparently had her heart set on going to NYU, everything before it was almost meaningless.

Jade, on the meanwhile, wasn't even sure what she'd eat for dinner.

"And it's just like, I want a boy for myself, y'know?" Skye's ranting brought Jade out of her head and back to the conversation. "I just think Bobbi's jealous Grant Ward didn't ask her to homecoming first before me. And then she had the audacity to tell me to stay off him, because he's bad news? Like, yeah, I know Bobbi's fucking gorgeous with that whole blue eyes blonde hair thing, but it's not everyone's type." She caught Jade's eye and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I mean, unless she's your type." Jade could date her sister. Totally could. It was fine.

"Trust me, I wouldn't date your sister," The notion made Jade chuckle a little. "Blonde's not really my type." She could swear Skye perked up a little at the mention, and decided to push it a bit further. "More of a brunette, if y'know what I mean." Skye's face flamed, and Jade mentally high-fived herself.

Skye was...different, for lack of a better word. She hadn't believed the rumors, to begin with. And there'd been a spark in the shorter brunette the first time they'd spoken that had impressed Jade - she hadn't expected that. Skye was passionate about everything and everyone: she saw it in the way she'd handed Bobbi the prize money, the pride in which she'd spoken about who she was, even in the way she interacted with Hope.

It really was a shame she was straight - Jade had to take a hard beating to the voice in the back of her head that whined otherwise. This was her friend. Until she came out of the closet (or didn't at all, in which case she'd have to really think about what she was doing), Skye May was just as straight as her sister.

"What do you think Grant likes?" Skye threw out as they wandered into the first store. "I want to get something he'd like, y'know? I mean, he's on the football team. I have to look good." She frowned and rifled through a few racks. "Jade? Hope?"

"Lesbian," Jade echoed at the same time Hope said, "You know,"

"Okay, one, I don't even want to know where you're getting that knowledge, Hope," Skye answered from behind the rack, "and two, Jade, doesn't that technically make you qualified? What do you want to see in a girl?" Jade held back a snort. She knew the kind of boy Grant Ward was, if the homophobic slurs he'd yelled at her was any indication. Still, a big promise was a big promise - she was gay, not petty. And trying to work past her genetic penchant of holding grudges.

"Red," she admitted finally, and in her mind's eye, flashed upon her friend in a classy red dress, heels and all - sneakers, probably, Jade laughed to herself - and she had to shake her head again. This was supposed to be for Grant, not her. "Chinese color and all, right? Plus, you're killing your top right now." Skye made a beeline for the rack of red dresses while Jade and Hope took the other, the sounds of hangers scraping the rack the only soundtrack to their search.

It wasn't long before the three of them emerged with a suitable number of dresses and plodded to the changing room. Hope dutifully took a seat. "Jade?"

"What's up, Hope?"

"Are you gonna do this too?" When Jade nodded, Hope swooned dramatically across the seat. "You mean I have to go through this again?"

"You're the one who asked to come, kiddo," Skye laughed through the curtain. "Tell you what. If you let Jade and I do this, we can do it for you too. Then you can take pictures with us on homecoming, how's that?" Hope perked up, and Jade smiled inwardly. It was becoming of Skye, it seemed, to make sure that no one would get left out of things. Hope had had much more opinion of the day than she'd expected.

It was very...maternal, in a way. Jade had to take a minute to beat down the voice in the back of her head again. This really needed to stop.

"First dress - Hope, drumroll please!" Hope rolled her eyes affectionately before drumming on the hard bench outside Skye's changing stall as the curtain opened and the girl in question stepped out.

The dress in question was split into two pieces, a small sliver of Skye's midriff showing between a tight, sleeveless berry red top and floral-patterned skirt. Red and blue flowers (were they orchids? Peonies? Jade made a note to visit the local flower shop when she returned) were spread out in no particular order against a white background, some with stem and leaves still attached.

Hope and Jade studied the dress with critical eyes. The former even poked Skye in the stomach. "Isn't a dress supposed to be in one piece? And it's kinda bright. But it looks good with your hair! Wait." She pointed to her babysitter's hair. "Take your hair down."

Bemused, Skye took her hair out of its loose ponytail, letting it tumble around her shoulders. The overall effect made her look slightly more feminine, Jade mused, but it was still a little too...delicate for a high school homecoming. Maybe a fancy luncheon on Central Park or something. "Kinda casual for homecoming, don't you think?"

"Maybe," Skye answered, already examining herself in the mirror. "But I think I'm gonna get it anyways. The mafia busted up the place last week and we just got the money." She danced back into the dressing room, and Hope could be heard sighing loudly. "Next!"

"Ooh, hey, this matches my sneakers!"

Skye peeked out of the curtain sheepishly, and Jade and Hope looked up from where they were reading the Golden Dragon group chat regarding the first dress. (Mack had lent his daughter his phone before leaving, playfully warning her not to play Pokemon Go in the streets. "Dad...you know what year it is, right?") So far, there'd been disgust at the dress' brightness from Bobbi, polite distaste at the flowers from May, and a neutral comment from Mack.

Hope wrinkled her nose. "Skye, did you lose half of the dress?" While darkened to a nice shade of maroon, only the bottom half of the current dress was solid. The top instead morphed into a striped pattern, strips of mesh cutting between the cloth. One mesh stripe was conveniently placed right above Skye's chest, showing more skin than was probably deemed appropriate for a high school dress code.

Jade had a feeling their wizened principal would have a heart attack. "Were you planning to give Grant a show?" she teased instead. "If so, I'm telling Bobbi, and she's going to murder him at the dance. You'll win homecoming queen for sure."

"What? No!" Skye examined herself in the mirror, picking at the strip above her chest. Hope slyly took a picture for the restaurant group chat. "...can you really see that much?"

Grant Ward probably would think he wasn't seeing enough, Jade mused. "Yes, May. The only good solid piece is like those boob censors on Maury."

Skye leveled her a long, hard look. "...thehell d'you watch Maury for?"

"Check it out, Fitz is being an awkward klutz about the last dress," Hope leaned over and showed Jade the group chat, laughing when she saw the poor boy's apparent keyboard smashes and attempts to explain himself out of his apparent ogling.

Leo Fitz: She's got, uh...uh, those things

Melinda May: What things, Fitz? Spit it out

Bobbi May: Yeah, Fitz. What things does my little sister have?

Melinda May: Just remember your job's on the line. Is all.

Leo Fitz: fhdsfhaskfhdskjfhoz;dhfkjshfkjsdhfalf

Leo Fitz: her

Leo Fitz: her equipment

Bobbi May: Wait, my sister's packing? I've lived with the bitch for eight years, you'd think I'd have known

Melinda May: Not sure she tells you everything, hon

Leo Fitz: boobs

Leo Fitz: her boobs

Melinda May: How dare you talk about my daughter that way

Melinda May: She is a paragon of innocence and virtue

Bobbi May: Dunno caught her watching porn once

Melinda May: She's grounded as soon as she gets home

Piper: oh damn

Davis: OH damn

Jade snatched the phone. "Uh, okay, not sure this conversation's for you, kiddo." She was doing the right thing by keeping Hope from lewd conversations, right? And the less she saw, the less she could tell Skye. Which meant explaining the less they'd corrupted the eight-year-old.

"What's not for Hope? Is the restaurant shitting on me in the group chat again?" Skye stepped out, frowning. "This really doesn't match my sneakers." The dress in question this time was now a blood red and more reminiscent of something one would see on an episode of The Bachelor, not wear to high school homecoming. Almost as if made of silk, the spaghetti-strapped neckline dipped dangerously low before cinching out into a flowy skirt.

Jade had a feeling that if Skye wore this dress, Melinda and Bobbi would be fighting each other to get the privilege to kill Grant Ward. She raised an eyebrow, nodding to the exposed neckline. "Hey May, I think your neckline's a little high."

Two spots of color appeared high on Skye's cheekbones. "Fuck off, Wong."

"I'm just saying -!"

"This is the last one, right, Jade?" Hope was now fully sprawled out across the bench, jacket bunched up under her head in an attempt to take a nap. The both of them were watching the drama play out in the group chat, this time between Melinda and Bobbi threatening each other over who would get to kill Grant Ward first. So far, both of them had to agree - the May matriarch had the upper hand. "We've been here for half an hour. I think the lady outside is giving us evil looks."

"This is the last one," Jade agreed tiredly. "Don't worry, kid." She still had her dress to get through, given, but at least she didn't have anyone to impress. To be honest, she didn't really know why she was going, other than the fact that it would be her first public school homecoming. "This is probably the one. If not, I'm leaving Skye to the sharks and we'll go get mine, yeah?"

"I really think this is the one!" Skye called. "I really do!" She stepped out of the curtain, and Hope raised her head in a feeble attempt to look awake. Her jaw dropped.

"Dang, Skye!" The dress stood somewhere between plum and maroon, opting for a sleeveless halter neckline and cutting at an angle down her body, where it flared out into a classic skirt. Skye did a small twirl to reveal a small patch of skin at the small of her back. "Pick this one! And I'm not saying it just because I'm tired!"

"You really think so, Hope?" Skye turned in the mirror a little more than usual, grabbing her phone to take some selfies. "I really think this is it, too. Grant'll love it." Hope turned to Jade to get her own opinion, only to find the taller girl staring at Skye with an awed look on her face.

It was safe to say Skye had knocked Jade's socks off. That was the kind of girl Jade wanted to take to prom. Already, she could imagine the small patch of back being warm against her palm as she put an arm around Skye's waist. How her shoulders just cut a line due to the halter top. And the girl had legs for days. Somewhere, the softness that she'd known as Skye had disappeared, and had been replaced with this whole other girl that Jade didn't know but appreciated nonetheless.

Not enough to forget Skye was straight, of course. Jade sighed and blinked away the fantasy. She needed to work harder to keep her gay out of their friendship.

Hope poked her. "Why don't you just ask her out?" she asked in a whisper. After making sure Skye was appropriately occupied with taking selfies and sending them to everyone she knew, Jade bent down to Hope's level, her expression serious.

"To be honest, I'd love to," she admitted. The truth hung heavily in her throat once she let it into the air - this new knowledge that yeah, she liked Skye, and no matter how many times you got a crush on someone, the strength of the realization never got any weaker - and she swallowed it down. There'd be time to mope about it later. "But, Hope..." How did you explain that you couldn't just like whoever you wanted to an eight year-old? "But I don't know if Skye likes me that way. I don't know if she likes people that way."

"What do you mean?" Bless Mack for teaching his daughter an open mind.

"Well, some girls like boys." Skye, for one. "And some girls like girls." That was her. "I just don't know who Skye likes yet, and I don't want to ruin what we have if it turns out she doesn't like girls. Or me. Like that. Like, um...you know - you know how Mr. Phil clearly likes Miss May?"

Hope nodded sagely. "I still think he should ask her out. If not, someone else will. Miss May likes him, but she's not gonna wait around forever."

"Right. Like that. But, uh, Miss May doesn't know Mr. Phil likes her. And Mr. Phil doesn't know Miss May likes him. And neither of them want to ask each other out in case it goes wrong, cause they're scared they won't talk to each other ever again."

The younger girl was silent for a moment. "Adults are dumb, Jade. Really dumb."

Jade chuckled. "Yeah. So that's sort of how me and Skye are, except Skye might not even like girls, just boys. If she doesn't like girls like that, why would she like me?"

Hope's answering look suggested that Jade was even dumber than Phil and Melinda. "I'm pretty sure she likes you."