A/N: You know what, I love waking up to updates, I hope you all do too.

Well here we go folks, we're getting down to the final few chapters, dun-dun-donnnee! What's gonna happen? ;)

Thank you as always for your wonderful reviews, and for all of your follows and favorites, as well as just reading!

Chapter 21

Hours turned into days, days turned into weeks, and before long three months had passed. The leaves had long since abandoned their trees, the highly anticipated winter break had come and gone, and the school halls were now abuzz with plans for the winter formal only one week away.

Bo had thrown her self into her studies, something she had never had much mind for before. She shut out her friends, well, former friends, along with the rest of the world. She had tried desperately for months now to win back Lauren, but the harder she tried the more distant the blonde became. And so Bo focused her attention on the thing that scared her most in the world, the future.

She picked up extra shifts waitressing at the Dal, washing dishes, hostessing, anything to keep her mind off the one thing she desired but could not have.

The day after Lauren had left her standing out in the autumn cold word of their breakup had made its rounds and Tamsin and Kenzi had come around offering her a spot back amongst the elite.

She couldn't do it though. She couldn't just return to her former life, flip off the switch on her emotions and return to being the perfect envy of the school, things like that just didn't really seem to matter anymore. She knew what she was truly missing, and for the first time in her life, she became just another student. An outcast. No one even bothered to glance her way twice when she walked down the halls anymore. Sure for about a month there she was still getting invitations on dates, things had started to go back to the way they were, but she never accepted any of them. Word finally got around that she wasn't interested, and slowly but surly the offers began to trickle out. She didn't mind though. She had always been terrified of being alone, she had always surrounded herself with lots of friends and admirers, yet now she was starting to enjoy the solitude, well not enjoy it so much as enjoy that she could now focus solely on winning Lauren back.

But here she was, one week away from winter formal, and the blonde had not so much as given her a second glance since that day outside the school. She began to wonder if maybe she should just let her go.

"Nice tan Sarge." Lauren laughed as she squinted slightly through her thick black-framed glasses.

"Thanks, guess that's one perk to living in the desert." Jack's voice rang out from the laptop speakers as his image smiled and laughed back.

"I miss you." Lauren said her smile faltering slightly.

"I miss you too Lo."

"Hey! Tell him I miss him t—" Crystal's voice sounded from inside the bathroom, the door that lead into her room open ajar, as she leaned back over the toilet and Lauren could hear her convulsing again. Lauren made a face before laughing and turning back to the image of her smiling brother.

"Crystal says she misses you too."

"Where's that girl at?" Jack asked brightening. Lauren rolled her eyes.

"Bathroom, bad chicken wings." This comment earning a worried look from her brother.

"Excuse me if I'm not immune to the school cafeteria food like you, but you've had almost four years to build up a tolerance!" Crystal shouted out from the bathroom amongst the sounds of the toilet flushing and water running.

Both siblings began to laugh.

"Tell her she should try the food here, you have to have an iron stomach to keep the spaghetti and meatballs down." Jack grinned as Crystal emerged from the bathroom and took a seat on her bed next to Lauren.

"Well, if you hadn't run back to the desert as soon as you had the chance you could be enjoying some of Canada's finest cuisine right now, aka my mom's cooking." Crystal said with a laugh. Lauren had to agree, in the month and a half since Jack had decided to re-enlist and then shipped out she had been spending most of her time over at Crystal's and her mom was an amazing cook.

Jack shook his head smiling, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Small price to pay. It's a warm 87 degrees here this morning, what is it I heard you guys got? Was it three feet of snow last night?" He chuckled.

"Ugh! Don't remind us!" Crystal groaned. "While you get to sit over there looking like a bronze Adonis we're stuck here with no traces left of a summer tan, I swear if I were anymore pale I'd look like a vampire!" Crystal complained grabbing a pillow and hugging it to her chest while pouting.

Lauren just raised her eyebrow at her friend before refocusing her attention to her brother, mouthing the word "Adonis?" as he chuckled, though she could swear she saw his cheeks pink a little at the complement.

"Aw, that's fine by me Crys, you know I like 'em practically see-through and undead."

Crystal just smirked and shook her head hurling the pillow at the laptop, even though it wouldn't hit him, he'd still get the idea.

Lauren reached up and pulled the pillow away from the screen and camera. There was a pause as Jack continued to laugh before he refocused his attention on his sister.

"You're looking better Lo." His smile dropping slightly, Lauren's with it.

"Thanks." She said, though it was hardly above a whisper.

"Oh no!" Crystal shouted throwing her hands up in the air. "Why did you have to ruin a perfectly good moment?" She glared at the screen accusingly. "I finally got her head out of one of her books for long enough to accompany me to the mall yesterday, where she actually cracked a smile not once, but twice! And now, now she's getting that look again!"

Lauren scowled.

"What look, there is no look. Everything is fine. I'm good." She added reassuringly, though she really didn't feel it.

"Sorry." Jack said looking sheepish. "I just worry is all."

"Would you please convince your sister that she needs to get out, did you know she got invited to the winter formal? And turned her down!" Crystal said indignantly.

"Really?" Jack asked brightening, then he thought about it for a moment. "Was it her?" He asked putting a disgusted emphasis on the word her.

"No." Lauren stated abruptly. "I mean," she ran a hand through her hair. "She did ask me yes, but I said no."

"But then that school paper chick Nadia asked her and she also said no!" Crystal added. Lauren rolled her eyes. Nadia was nice and all, but she just wasn't ready, she wasn't ready to move on from Bo, even though she knew she should. It still hurt. Everything still felt fresh. Of course it didn't help that the brunette popped up just about every chance she got trying to make amends. She's persistent I'll give her that. Lauren thought to herself. Damn near perfect with her tight cloths, and smile that melts my insides. Lauren thought smiling a little before shaking the thought out of her head. No, she used me, she abused my trust, a thousand dimpled smiles couldn't make up for that… well, who am I kidding, maybe they could. No! I did the right thing. She humiliated me in front of the entire student body, she made me look like some ridiculous love sick puppy. I am not a puppy!

"You should go." Jack said encouragingly. "You'd have fun, it would do you good to get out of the house…" He held up a hand as he saw Lauren open her mouth to speak, "I mean out of our house, Crystal's house, the library and school." He smirked. He knew all of his sisters haunts all too well as the blonde began to frown.

"That's what I'm saying!" Crystal shrieked slapping her hands on her legs. "Please, she wouldn't listen to me, can't you talk some sense into your sister?"

"What is this an intervention?" Lauren scoffed.

"No Laur, we just care for you. We want to see you happy is all." Jack said softly.

"Thanks." Lauren responded. She knew that Crystal and Jack were just trying to help. She had become closed off, and reverted back to her introverted ways since the incident with Bo. Her strained relationship with her father didn't help either. They had both been avidly avoiding one another, only seeing each other for meals on occasion, and then nothing more than pleasantries and small talk were made.

When Jack had gotten back from his trip to visit his army buddies he had returned to an odd vibe in the house. He couldn't explain it. He knew something had happened between his sister and his father, but neither one would tell him anything about it, they both just used the same avoidance techniques whenever the subject came up.

Lauren had confided in him about Bo and her betrayal, she had practically had to restrain him from going over to her place and giving her a piece of his mind, but eventually he had calmed down. Now he just refused to say her name.

The tension in the household only grew. Jack and their father would get into verbal arguments over just about any little thing, and finally Jack just couldn't take it anymore and re-enlisted the second he got the all clear from his physical therapist. He felt bad, he didn't want to leave his sister, not when he could tell how badly she was hurting, whether she let anyone else see it or not he could feel it radiating off of her. But he couldn't stand their father anymore, or the family dinners that were beyond miserable since evidently Lauren and their dad were not speaking more than "some fine weather we're having", or "they say there's going to be a bigger snow this year than last". Not even passive aggressive comments, he had no idea what they had fallen out over, but he couldn't take the emotionless indifferent conversations anymore.

After Jack had left Lauren had practically moved in with Crystal. She spent more nights at Crystal's then she did in her own bed. She'd maybe spend three or four nights a week in her own home, but weekends were always spent at Crystal's. Luckily Crystal's parents didn't mind, in fact they enjoyed having the extra company as Crystal had two much older siblings who were already out of the house, and they were having difficulty coping with the fact that their baby girl would be graduating, and most likely heading off to college later this year.

Crystal really was the black sheep of the family. Both her older brother and sister had decided to "go into the family business". Her sister, the eldest, had recently graduated from law school and was getting ready to ship out to the Canadian branch of the office of the Judge Advocate General in Belgium, and her brother had graduated top of his class from the Royal Military College of Canada, and has been a pilot somewhere overseas for four years. So Crystal who wanted to go to school in Toronto for Fashion Design, was certainly not following in the family footsteps, though it wasn't much of a shock to her parents, who seemed to understand and support their daughter's free spirit.

Lauren loved spending time with Crystal's family, they were very welcoming and accepting, which sort of surprised Lauren. She wondered if this was more of what her family would have been like if her mother was still alive. Who was she kidding? With two pk/tks in the family, there was no way that they would have ever had any chance at normalcy, that is if they had even bothered to tell her! Still, she couldn't help but wonder.

"Attention Space Cadet, this is Command, do you read me?" Jack asked in his mock radio announcer voice, holding his hand up like he had a radio in it and making static noises with his mouth. "Repeat, come in Space Cadet this is Command." Lauren looked up snapping out of her trance, she hadn't even realized that she had spaced out, but apparently it had been for longer than she should have based on the fit of giggles Jack and Crystal were sharing.

"Sorry." Lauren said with a smile. "Just thinking."

"That's exactly the problem!" Jack said pointing a finger toward the camera. "You do that entirely too much. Just don't think for once. Just take everything in stride. Go out, have fun, if you don't have fun then no worries, just don't make plans to go out again with this girl."

Lauren just nodded absent mindedly, only half paying attention as her mind began to wander yet again, only this time it was drifting back to her least favorite subject, a certain sultry brunette. She couldn't help but wonder if circumstances were any different if she would be going to winter formal with Bo. Then again what circumstances would those be? The one where Bo actually went through with the bet and dumped her publically at the dance, or the one where there was no bet, and Bo didn't even know she existed?

"Was that a yes?" Crystal yelped as she began to clap her hands together. "You saw that right?" She asked Jack.

"I did, I'm your backup, visual confirmation!" Jack said with a huge grin.

"Wait what?" Lauren asked confused, her mind drifting from her thoughts back to the present.

"You just agreed to go to the winter formal with Nadia." Crystal beamed.

"What? No I didn't."

"You did. I said that you should go out, and you nodded." Jack said, his grin broadening.

"No, I was just nodding as I processed, I wasn't really saying yes." Lauren insisted.

"Too late!" Crystal shrieked. "We're going! You'll tell Nadia tomorrow that you'd love to go with her."

"We're? And who may I ask is escorting you?" Jack asked his smile dimming. Lauren grinned suddenly, glad conversation had shifted and the heat was taken off of her for a moment.

"First of all, who says that a girl has to have a date to go to a high school dance? What is this 1959?" Crystal glared at the screen. "Second of all, if I were say going with a date I'm not entirely sure why you would be concerned with whom they are." Crystal said with a twinkle in her eye as she smirked.

"Is that so?" Jack asked raising his eyebrows and smirking back.

"Mm-hm." Crystal pursed her lips together failing to suppress a smile.

"Seriously?" Lauren asked looking between the screen and her best friend.

Just then someone came up behind Jack and the two began to speak quietly with their backs to the screen. When the other person left Jack turned back.

"Well, you two have fun at the dance… but not too much fun." He said staring into the camera, squinting his eyes. "I want to hear all about it later." He wiggled his eyebrows toward the direction of Lauren's image, and then with a more serious face turned toward Crystal. "All, about it." He emphasized causing Crystal to blush and giggle.

"Alright, alright, you go, but be safe Sarge." Lauren said with a wave and a grin.

"Will do Doc." Jack responded before the screen went blank.

"I can't believe that little bitch took away my chance and the crown." Tamsin said as she paced back and forth in the den.

Dyson who was playing pool with Kenzi shook his head.

"Ha, yeah right, you know Evony and I would have been crowned king and queen, so really you didn't lose out on anything." Dyson said with a laugh as he set up his shot, a moment later releasing his arm sending a stripped ball into the right corner pocket. Kenzi just rolled her eyes as he came around the table to set up his next shot, using his hips to bump her out of the way.

"Dances are lame anyway you guys are lucky you got out of them." Kenzi said with a snort.

"No, I'll still be there, just without my rightful title." Tamsin said through gritted teeth.

"At least you still get to go!" Dyson said incredulously as he set up and missed his next shot, Kenzi pounding her fist in the air as she pranced up to the table.

"It's not the same. Everyone knows that I should be queen, I mean really, who are they going to crown instead?" Tamsin scoffed. "It's not like there are any other viable candidates."

"Wow, and she's modest too ladies and gentlemen." Kenzi snorted, lining up her shot, however she missed the ball entirely when Tamsin came up and gave her a less than friendly slap upside the head. "Ooww!" Kenzi yelped rubbing the tender area on the back of her head.

"It's time for payback." Tamsin smirked ignoring the shorter girl's pain.

"Payback for who for Lauren?" Dyson asked as he rounded the table completely un-phased by his stepsister's reaction. Tamsin rolled her eyes.

"Yes you dolt, I swear your dick must be magic, because you have absolutely no brain. I have no clue what any girl sees in you."

"You could have fooled me." Kenzi muttered under her breath, however unfortunately for her it was loud enough for Tamsin to hear, and she was once again slapped across the back of her head. "Ahh, seriously?" Kenzi moaned rubbing her head again.

"So coach what's the plan?" Dyson asked with a grin as he sunk a ball in the left corner pocket.

"It involves daddy dearest and the winter formal." Tamsin replied, an evil smirk stretching across her face.

"My dad?" Dyson asked confused.

"Yes dick for brains!" Tamsin snapped. "Do you see anyone else around here who not only is their dad in the picture, but is the town sheriff?" Dyson just shook his head.

"Right then." Tamsin said, "moving on."

"But if D-Man's not allowed at the dance, and you're tied up doing your dance committee thing then how exactly do you expect to pull this off?" Kenzi asked.

"First of all, I'm the head of all the dance committees, so I really don't have to do much the night of the dance except order people around and try to enjoy myself, second Dyson is going to sneak into the dance, and since you'll be there anyway, you'll be helping out." Tamsin replied.

"Wait, what makes you think I want any part in this?" Kenzi snorted.

"Because." Tamsin said coming up next to Kenzi and draping an arm around her shoulder. "You lost your bff thanks to her. You two were like inseparable sandbox buddies, and now she won't even talk to you."

Kenzi's heart sunk a little. She missed Bo. She thought that she was an idiot for falling for Lauren, but then again, she did kinda turn out to not be as much of a lame-o as she thought she was, but she still didn't really see what Bo saw in her. She was sad that her best friend, well, former best friend was moping around school all alone now adays, but that was her choice. She had tried to reconcile, but Bo didn't want any of it.

"Sure I'm not her biggest fan, but didn't we already fuck with her enough?" Kenzi asked.

"Oh come on, you mean the bet? That was just all in good fun, this time it's serious."

"Didn't you also have those two scary chicks beat her up?"

"No!" Tamsin snapped, dropping her arm from the girl. "Why does everyone want to pin that on me? Shouldn't you know by now that brute force is not my style?"

Kenzi just shrugged.

"Listen tiny toons!" Tamsin said pointing a finger into Kenzi's chest. "You do this or I'm telling Hale that you've been in love with him since year nine!"

"What?" Kenzi shouted, her heart leaping into her throat. "That's not even true." She said feigning insult, making it seem like that was the furthest thing from her mind, and a repulsive thought at that.

"Oh please." Tamsin snorted. "Everybody sees it, but that's beside the point. I'll tell him your crushing on him big time, and I'll also tell everyone about that time-" she was abruptly cut off by Kenzi's hand being slapped over her mouth so that she was unable to finish her sentence. She smiled against the girl's hand.

"You swore we'd never speak of that again!" Kenzi said, poking her own finger into Tamsin's chest, slowly removing her hand from the other girl's mouth. Tamsin just smirked down at her before Kenzi finally backed down. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. She was silent for a moment. "Fine, I'm in." She sighed out. "But how do you even know she'll be going to the dance? I mean it's not really her scene."

"Because I heard that she agreed to go with that curly haired chick that's always behind a camera, now, we only have three days so we have to get on this now." Tamsin said with a huge grin that made Kenzi shudder, she looked like an even more evil version of the Grinch when she made her excited face. "Now then, Dys, think you can get us into Daddy's files at the station?"

"Oh yeah." Dyson replied with a cocky grin. "I'm pretty sure that creepy old secretary chick that's in charge of all of the back files is into me."

"Good." Tamsin said with a little clap.

"Gross." Kenzi replied making a face. How did she always manage to get wrapped up in these things?