Dear Jean,

Any advice on love for an incoming high school student

Foolish

Foolish,

Don't throw yourself at the first boy/girl (not sure of your gender or your preference) that comes your way. High school isn't the place where you'll usually find yourself special someone, you'll have boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever, but remember that it's not permanent and high school just isn't meant to last forever. Things will happen, you'll change and your views will change as well. Just keep smiling through it all, if you find the one here than congratulations, I'm happy, but if you don't then no stress, you've got college and your whole life ahead of you. No rush. After all, the best romances take time, no?

Your friend,

Jean

A.J glanced at the clock and bit her lip nervously, chancing a look at Kelly who was fidgeting in her seat. One would mistake her for wanting to go to the restroom but she knew that Kelly was just as nervous as she was. The girl who was usually happy-go-lucky and jumpy was at the edge of her seat hoping for something that could end bad for everyone.

"You think," Kelly paused looking down, "you think he stopped her?"

"Her flight leaves in ten minutes," Randy sighed, "who knows."

"He's not answering his cell," Derrick came into the room

A.J looks at Phil for reassurance but he gives her a sad smile because she's guessing he feels it too. That feeling that John might just be selfish enough and stubborn enough to the let her go. She knew they had many problems, problems that could easily be fixed if John wasn't such a player and Mickie wasn't so insecure.

"At this point, we can only hope," Kaitlyn sighed, "we've all tried everything to make her wait for regular orientation."

"Even if it's selfish," Maryse pouts, "but we can't stand it if she leaves this early."

"But she refused," Kelly added

"And she called us bad friends," Layla whispered, "we felt really bad."

"But letting her leave hurts," Kelly whispers, "she's supposed to finish the year with us."

"Let's just hope things go well," Cody sighs

"And lets hope she doesn't make John any more upset than he already is," Phil comments

"That would be disastrous," Layla frowned

"Indeed it would be," Derrick sits next to Kaitlyn

A.J looks out the window and wonders exactly what is going on in both of their minds. Mickie the nutcase who decided that leaving was better than staying behind, sure she'd be back for graduation but she'd miss Prom and everything else and she made it clear that as soon as graduation was done she'd get on the next flight out, leaving no room for a final summer of memories and such.

She sighs softly and crosses her fingers because she thinks that all they really need is a push in the right direction and maybe this will be the wake up call for both of those idiots.

Mickie notices her friends are absent and she knows it's because she told them to stay away, that they'd make it harder for her to leave. She almost contemplated the idea of just letting some other freshman have her spot and attending regular orientation in August but that would mean being around John longer and she couldn't do that. She looks at her watch and sighs softly, her mother and father are there with her and she can't help but feel like they think this is a bad idea.

"My flight leaves in 20 minutes," she tells them softly

"You're all set then," her mother smiles

"I am," she nods, "I'll be back for graduation, no worries."

"That's great," her mother chuckles

"But after the ceremony is over I'm going back to California," she tells them sternly

"Mickie, why not stay summer here?" her father smiles, "your brother has promised to come visit this year."

"No," she shakes her head, "that makes everything harder."

"Maybe you should call Standford and tell them you change your mind," her mother places a hand on her shoulder

"I've made up my mind on the matter, I hope you two will understand that," Mickie frowns

"Then who are we to stop you," her father smiles fondly

She nods and gives them both hugs and promises of calling as soon as she lands. She takes her carry on with her as she heads to her gate, the clock reads 11:15, that means she's got 15 minutes left before she gets out of here. She sighs softly as she reaches the line to head into her entrance, she's not ready to leave but she's not capable of staying.

She waits a total of 3 minutes before she hears her name, she curses and wonders what she forgot this time that made her mother or father come all the way over here for. She turns and frowns because she doesn't find her parents standing there, she finds John.

She stares, her eyes growing wide, "J-john, h-how did...you-?"

"Randy," he pants, "he told me everything, he told me you're leaving."

"It wasn't any of your business, you shouldn't be here," she snaps a sneer forming on her lips, "go before I punch your lights out, John."

She watches as he tries to catch his breath and shakes his head,"it's my business, always has been, I'm not leaving."

"Don't be so stupid," she rolls her eyes, "I wouldn't have been upset if you didn't say goodbye."

"I'm not here to say goodbye," he snaps, "saying goodbye to you is something I could only say in a fit of rage, it'd be a lie anyways."

Mickie gasps as she remembers his goodbye from all those months ago back in the hospital. The way he snapped at her, the way his blue eyes seemed empty at her harsh words, the "I hate you" that came with the conversation. The way she couldn't breathe one minute before of the heated argument and the way he left her without looking back.

Hell, he hasn't looked back ever since, she's been the last thing on his mind, she's sure.

"Then why are you here?"

"I came here so you know," he whispers, "so you fucking get it that I can't stop loving you."

Mickie frowns, "John, we've-"

"No, we haven't talked about this," he snaps, "you've yelled and you've made me feel like crap but we've never ever talked properly about this."

She wants to run away, get herself on that plane and go but the minute his hand comes up to cup her face she can't pull away, can't run away anymore. She looks into his blue eyes and frowns because it's always been this way. He's always been able to talk her out of just about anything and right now she's fearful that he'll talk her out of leaving like she wants.

"Be truthful," he whispers, "tell me, Mickie, what do you feel for me?"

And she freezes completely because as soon as he asks her that her mouth opens and betrays her.

He can't believe how far they've come from the beginning of their Senior year, here he is talking her out of running away like she's always been doing. John can't believe he's doing this, the first time he's actually stopped her from running away, but whether she decides to stay is a uncertanty and he's not sure if he feels good about this. He watches the way her brown eyes soften when his hand reaches up to cup her face, she merely blinks, not even pushing away.

He knows it, and he knows she knows it, she's never been ever to deny him anything. She's always been easily talked out things by himself and he hopes things don't change today because if they did he couldn't handle it.

"Be truthful," he starts out, "tell me, Mickie, what do you feel for me?"

And he's expecting a string of lies, but her eyes widen slightly and she opens her mouth.

"I love you," she chokes out

And he doesn't feel like it's real because those words have been words he'd been dying to hear for as long as he can remember. He's always tried to get her to say that to him, always failing because she felt the need to keep herself safe from every guy that tried to approach her. It was a bittersweet victory because although she said the words she was still planning on leaving, he knew.

"Say it again," he whispers coming closer

She nods slowly, "I love you."

"Again."

And when his lips meet hers the words die on her tongue, and any thoughts he had before fly out the window. All that matters now is how soft they feel and he can't think clearly because for the first time she kisses back with as much intensity as he's giving and has given all the time. He relishes on how wonderful it feels to be able to get Mickie James to admit she loves him without a lie in between the words. She makes whispered promises as she kisses him and grips his shirt tighter but he knows they won't be kept.

"Maybe, when I come back and I'm not a tattered mess we can pick up where we left off," she whispers as she pulls away

He frowns then because despite her feelings she won't stay put and with a new thought in mind he shakes his head, "no, I can't wait."

Because she's Mickie and her love for him has always been something unsure and Nikki, well she's always been certain of her feelings. And if he wanted security, a stable and not broken heart then he'd have to go with Nikki.

"Then I believe you've chosen your path as well," she smiles sadly, "and I understand that."

He frowns because he knows that means that no matter what he won't be able to get her to stay. This time around they aren't naïve children who can't tell right from left, she isn't the little girl who would pound him to the ground in rage and yet cling to his every action and word. He wasn't the same small boy who promised to protect her from everything that could harm her and yet be the cause of her pain. They're basically adults, capable of making their own choices, being their own people and if she decides to leave how in the world can he expect her to stay especially after he told her that he couldn't pick her, he picked Nikki.

"You mean the world to me but I jus-"

"I get it," she smiles sadly, "be good, alright? I can't bail you out of trouble anymore."

He nods slowly, "I'm so sorry."

She shakes her head, "I'll be back for graduation and then I'm off again, have fun at Prom and tell everyone that I'm sorry things ended like this."

He watches her wheel her suitcase away with no more words uttered between the two. Her back is all he see's as she disappears, she's got five minutes to board her plane and then she's gone for a while. He frowns because even if his love for her is stronger hers isn't and that's what killed them.

Her uncertainty and his stupidity.

Those love stories were all wrong in the end because love, it doesn't conquer all, for them it never conquered anything.

Days have passed and A.J is uncertain of where she's headed now, Mickie isn't back and she won't be till' the end of this month. She's upset at how things happened, upset that Nikki meant a little more to John for him to have picked her over Mickie, upset that no matter what Mickie still didn't have her happy ending.

"Stop," Phil told her sternly

A.J shook her head and took one more drink.

Prom was fun, the after party is however all the more fun. She thinks it's the alcohol, she's never had any before but a guy in the class told her that it got rid of whatever she was feeling and she had accepted it. Phil had been late to the after party because he went to find some medicine for a headache he had, she had told him she'd go right ahead and that if he didn't feel up for it he didn't have to come, but of course he refused.

"Leave me alone, why don't you?" she snaps

She's not sure where this anger is coming from, perhaps the events of these past few days, weeks, she's not sure at the moment, are finally taking its toll on her. She stands and makes her way to where they are having a beer pong tournament, she wanted to play but Phil had denied her. She knew he didn't drink so didn't press on the matter because it'd only fuel his anger.

"We should go home," he whispered in her ear, "I'll take you back."

She shrugs him arm away and shakes her head, "I w-want to sta-y here."

"Then stop drinking," he grits his teeth

"You're n-not the b-oss of me-e Phill-ip," she giggles, "Bro-oks."

She watches his face contort into a very pissed expression, she's seen it before, the night he punched Dolph because he was her date to the homecoming dance. She had been slightly afraid of the face but now with alcohol boosting her self-esteem and courage she merely laughed at him. He frowned and scooped her up over his shoulder, she frowned as her drink fell from her hands and crashed on the floor.

"Put me down!" she punched his back and kicked but nothing

Once they got outside, the warm air hit her face and she frowned as he put her down slowly. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him the best "angry" expression she could muster but the booze was making it hard for her to think coherently and she just wanted to laugh and have more.

"What are you doing?" he frowned, "drinking like that, it's not good for you."

"I d-don't ca-re," she snaps, "you don't ha-have a single ri-ght to t-tell me what I c-can't and c-an do!"

He frowns then, "what did you say?"

She merely hisses, "I'm n-not your girlfr-iend."

"What?"

"Y-you always k-kiss me b-ut you've ne-never called me y-your gir-lfriend!" she cries softly as tears form in her eyes

"Is that what this is about?"

"Stop!" she squeaks the tears falling slowly, "s-stop already, yo-u're maki-ng e-everything wo-rse, I h-hate you f-or being so incon-inconsiderate."

"That's what you think of me?" he snaps

"I d-don't want to b-be some girl," she cries, "s-some girl you c-come to when you're in n-need of a qui-quick fix."

She watches his shoulders fall, he's not as tense as he was minutes ago as he approaches her slowly. She's not sure what he's about to do and that worries her, but when his arms come around her she freezes and tries her best to not cry because here he is trying to comfort her when she clearly told him that they weren't even dating, he hadn't even denied it.

"I've told you time and time again," he whispers into her ear, "we're anything you want us to be."

She pushes at his chest and shakes her head, "I wa-nt you t-to ask me, l-like a nor-mal co-couple."

He chuckles, "then I'll ask you."

She looks up and waits and he merely chuckles at her wide eyes.

"A.J, would you please stop being troublesome and be my girlfriend?" he smiles down at her

She chuckles nodding her head, "y-yes."

And they seal the deal with a kiss, and even though she tastes like alcohol and she knows he hates it, he keeps kissing her with everything he's got. And A.J smiles because this is it, this is the moment she's been waiting for. Things are official and there's no more guessing needed to be done, she's happy and he's happy and she just wants this to last as long as it possibly can.

So she kisses him harder in hopes that her prayer is heard and to remind herself that for once she's not dreaming and everything here is real.

In the midst of doing calculus hw I decided I should update since I'm high on caffeine and low on sleepiness [and plus whether I can update on Friday like I want is highly unlikely]. Don't kill me for how things are turning out, it gets better -I think. Well make sure you review, love ya x