She woke up, startled to find that her pillow was her boyfriend's chest.

What the heck had happened last night?! Jade racked her sleepy brain for some inkling of as to why she was outside, sleeping on Dave. She sat up, rubbed the eyelids behind her glasses, and gazed down at the boy beside her. Tired and dazed as she was, she couldn't help but smile- snicker a little, even. He was snoring and very slightly drooling, sunglasses still intact. It wasn't until she realized that they both were in formal wear that the gears of realization started ticking in her head. All the events of the evening before began rushing back and snapped her fully awake.

Her fingers reaching up to run through her wild, mangled mane was met with a crunch; her hair was matted with leaves. She tried to remove the crinkly intrusions to little avail. Oh well. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress and decided to wake up Dave- which was much easier said than done. For one, he was completely out of it, and in addition, it was entirely too cute of a sight for Jade to want to interrupt. Unlike Jade who had slept comfortably on his chest, both the sides of Dave's sleeves and face were caked with dirt. He looked like a little kid, all tuckered out from a tiring, dirty recess. She grinned from ear to ear, wishing she had some way of taking a picture of this. A mental snap shot would have to suffice; she'd remember it forever. She realized that she really ought to wake him up, but watching him snooze was entirely too fantastic an activity. Oh gosh, that was creepy, wasn't it? She turned away, embarrassed and ashamed at herself before taking a moment to resolve that it probably wasn't too weird and was socially acceptable couple fodder as appropriated by pop culture consensus. But now wasn't the time to debate the science of romance! Duty did call, after all.

She shook his shoulder slightly, which was only met with louder snoring. She poked his cheeks and ruffled his hair. When that didn't work, she stole his shades and goofily placed them over top her glasses.

"Daaave!"

"Mppgph," he mumbled back.

She leered over top of him, trying her hardest to suppress giggles.

"It's time to wake up," she cooed.

"Hm?..."

His eyelids fluttered open, bright scarlet eyes wide as he glared up at her.

"Jade?"

"Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty," she laughed.

"Gimme those, silly," he snatched his shades back.

"Wake up, sleepyhead! We gotta skedaddle on out of here!"

"It is way too early for you to be using the word skedaddle."

She scrambled to her feet, prodding him to get up and to get a move on. He wasn't in any of a hurry.

"What's the rush?" he yawned. "The doors are unlocked for the day. Let's just sleep in a little."

"Daaave! No!"

"Cuddles?"

"No."

"Come on Harley, just five more minutes."

He let out an impressive sized yawn, his drowsiness not suiting her at all.

"I'm amazed we somehow managed to escape being seen last night, we really lucked out. But now we have to get out of here before anyone sees us."

"Fine, fine," he languidly agreed.

She beckoned him to his feet and scampered to the door, which was very thankfully unlocked. She made a mental map in her head of the school layout and what the fastest, safest way out would be. Whatever they did, staying as far away as possible from the office would be the top priority.

"Out the side doors, on the left wing," Jade decided.

"You sure? We'll have to go past the pool," Dave cautioned.

Darn. That would be a problem. Other than the swim club meet, it would be the easiest way. It would have to do.

The pair hurried down the hallway, snuck past corridors, and managed with great caution to evade any danger. Jade couldn't help but think to herself what a tremendous stroke of luck this had been, and had to admit that sneaking around the school like a pair of amateur sleuths was pretty fun.

All they had left was to creep past the pool area and they'd be home free.

It was a small, indoor pool; used for training the school's prized swim team. The room was encased with glass walls, in which Jade could see a collection of swimmers with their backs turned to her. All of them were intently listening to their captain, Feferi Peixes, who was standing in front of them proudly while animatedly waving her arms and hands around, probably giving them a pep talk. That is, she was- until she looked out beyond the shoulders of her teammates to see the pair of teenagers hastily sneaking by. Jade could see Feferi's expression transform from mild confusion to stark realization to a naughty, beaming smile. From beneath her hot pink goggles, her eyes crinkled up and she sported a devilishly-knowing smile and gave a playful little wave. The rest of the swim craned their heads around, their expressions immediately mirroring Feferi's. Jade slapped her forehead, groaning in agony. This is exactly what she'd been afraid of last night; there was no doubt. Who knows what sort of ridiculous rumors would be circulating? Rose was right; she should have just taken the detention or whatever punishment would have come her way.

A gaggle of swimsuit clad teenagers pressed up against the glass wall, eagerly shouting an assortment of things at the pair, some of them clapping and whooping. Feferi, who had pushed everyone out of the way to be at the center of it all, was arguably the loudest.

"STRIDER AND HARLEY, SITTIN' IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Jade covered her face with her hands, blushing fiercely and wishing she were anywhere but here. Dave, on the other hand, was smiling just as much as his audience, beaming proudly next to his new girlfriend.

"FIRST COMES LOVE, FIRST COMES MARRIAGE! THEN COMES HARLEY WITH A-"

"Several thousand dollar debt, a long, grueling work shift, and the trouble of motherhood."

"Eridan! Why do you have to be such a gilljoy?!"

"First off, it's 'killjoy,' Fef. That pun was awful. Second, we're embarrassing the livin' daylights out of that poor girl. Leave her and her new crapsack boy-toy alone."

Jade never thought she'd see the day that she was so thankful for someone like Eridan Ampora.

"Dave," she growled, face red as a tomato. "Let's get out of here."

"Sure thing, babe," he leaned down and planted a cocky little kiss on the side of her cheek. The swim team went absolutely ballistic.

"D-DAVE! Knock it off, c-come on," Jade squealed. Under normal circumstances, she probably would have adored the gesture, but in this moment she absolutely hated it. She didn't like having an audience, like they were some sort of circus sideshow. She hated the way they were looking at her, like she was on display, like she was some sort of rule-breaking hooligan. Well, maybe HE kind of was, but she wasn't, and everyone could make fun of her for it but it felt like her reputation was slowly tarnishing and she wanted to cry from the embarrassment.

His exaggerated theatrics were only growing worse. She tried to walk away, but he only pulled her into a hug from behind, burying himself in her hair. They erupted in jeers and cheers and exclamations of excitement. Jade wanted to scream.

"Stop it! Let go," she barked. "This is just downright humiliating!"

She broke free of his grasp, stomping off and away as he called after her, wondering how this could get any more stupid. She wondered if maybe she was just being immature about it all, but decided that the whole event was incredibly juvenile and she had the right to be ticked off with her boyfriend's rash behavior.

"Oh, hello there Miss Harley!"

Her blood froze cold.

Miss Paint.

"Fancy seeing you here this morning; on a weekend, no less!" Miss Paint laughed, chipper. "About your submissions last night for garden club…you have most definitely proven yourself to be undeniably responsible! I am both pleasantly astonished and excited to announce that you have, in fact, saved your- hey, weren't you wearing that outfit last night?"

Jade gulped.

"M-miss Paint, I can explain-"

"Harley, wait up!"

He came cantering up beside her before realizing the imminent danger they were both in. Her face was calculating and emotionless, gazing over the both of them and piecing together what had happened.

"I swear! It was an accident, we got locked out-" Jade's heart sunk to low, dark depths.

"What were you doing outside in the first place?"

"N-nothing bad, I promise! We were just getting some air, and then-"

"You hid when the door was locked?"

She stared with glaring disbelief, slowly growing angry and impatient with the girl.

"I know it sounds dumb, but I got nervous, a-and I…"

"I've heard enough."

"W-what?" Jade was shaking on the inside.

"You don't want me to take this to the principal, do you?"

"NO! Please, no-"

"Then it's settled. For inappropriate conduct and blatant disregard for the rules, both of you have your presidency revoked from your respective clubs."

"No, you can't! Punish me, give me a million detentions, just don't punish Jade, it means everything to her," Dave interjected, who had been standing back silently all the while.

"And furthermore, Jade, I'm afraid this just confirms all of my already establish doubts about Garden Club from before. It's more trouble than it's worth, and I'd revoked my earlier decision to continue it."

For once, Jade didn't have anything to say. She was out of firepower; an empty rifle without an ounce of ammunition. She was tired, and her case was a lost cause.

"I'm sorry, my mind is made up."

"Alright," her soft voice whimpered.

She took her leave, entering the exit and making her way into the parking lot. Dave wasn't following; he was fighting more than he ever had, bargaining and bickering and sparring with the counselor. Jade had to hold back tears; she should have known it would come to this. She felt upset, definitely, but she wasn't surprised. She gave it her best go, and that's all she could do. Now, it was time to simmer in the bitter, cold winds of defeat.

"Jade!"

As he caught up to her, a couple of stray tears found their way down the corners of her cheeks.

"I gave it a good run, didn't I?"

"The best run anyone's ever given anything," he said somberly, reaching out to pull her into a hug, despite her stiff body language.

"Hey," he suggested earnestly, "how about those chocolate waffles?"

"Nah," her small voice choked out, "S'okay. I'd better be getting back to Rose's place to get my stuff anyway."

He could tell that, even aside from the fiasco of getting caught, something even further was bothering her. She was cold, reserved; not like the warm, sunshine-y Jade he knew and loved. Not like he could just ask "hey, what's wrong?" because, hey, the whole situation pretty much sucked right now. He wished he knew what to say, what to do. He hated this with his whole heart.

The ride to Rose's place was even more awkward. She was quiet, sporting an air of irritation and frustration that made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. He knew he had to say something.

"Jade?" He knew he was wading in stormy waters.

She was gazing out the window, thinking hard. She reared her emotionless expression to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"Are you…are you okay?"

"Mmhmm."

Silence again. Her gaze averted back out the window, watching the trees and streetlights go seeding by. He'd have to take another crack at it.

"You…you don't seem okay."

"Well, no, Strider. It might not seem that way. Probably because getting laughed at by your peers and becoming the talk of the entire school behind your back isn't exactly fun," she spoke gently, quietly.

"What? No one's laughing at you for losing your club, trust me, if anybody's talking about anything, they're really impressed with your determination-"

"No. Not the club thing. I'm upset about that, too, though." Her shoulders gave a slight shrug and her mouth gave a sigh and that's the precise moment Dave Strider knew that he had inexplicably screwed up.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Nothing really," she feigned indifference. "S'all cool. No worries."

"No, yes worries. Six million freakin' worries. Tell me what's wrong, Jade. Please."

"Really, don't give it another thought. It's fine." She was thankful they were almost there. "I'm just a big emotional baby right now is all," she mumbled under her breath.

"I'm giving it another thought- every ounce of my minuscule inferior Dave brain is thinking about this. If you'd just tell me wh-"

"Eh, just didn't think you were like that is all. Making me look and feel all stupid in front of everyone. That was kind of part of the plan from the beginning though, right? Ha ha! You guys really got me good."

"What in the world are you talking about?! I…you…what?!"

He hadn't realized it until she had turned away her gaze from the window and to him, but her face was blushing a tender red and her tear ducts were obviously fighting the urge for another spill-over.

"Okay! Thanks for driving me here," she acted as though nothing had happened. "See you later, be careful on your way home."

Before he had anytime to act, she was out of the car and into Rose's house, his words and calls trailing off behind her into growing distance. He turned the car engine off, flung the door open, and jumped out. He wasn't going to let her get away this time. He didn't understand why she was so upset; he had just been so proud of her, proud that he could call her his girlfriend. Proud that someone as brilliant as her could like him mutually. Proud that he could show her off and relish in the 100% true fact that, yes, Jade Harley is all mine.

But she wasn't.

He hadn't even thought about it before, hadn't even realized it: Jade Harley was not "his." Jade Harley wasn't anyone's, because her heart was full of love and joy and passion for so many different things, whether it was to her friends or to her hobbies or to her clubs. Her heart was a fountain, pouring out love left and right in abundance, and he was trying to bottle all that up and keep it for himself. She had feelings, aspirations, and more ambition than he thought was containable inside a human being. He couldn't monopolize her like that, couldn't "own" her, and that made it all the more special; she was with him by her own choice and want and nothing more. Her spirit may have been free and wild like a bird, but it was a bird that willingly and voluntarily flew down to him.

He should have listened; he hadn't even realized how stupid he was being. She was so embarrassed- and now to have her think, albeit somewhat foolishly, that he had planned to shame her and make her some kind of "laughing" stock. Even though he knew that it wasn't like that at all, she didn't- and she probably wouldn't believe him if he stood there and told her until he was blue in the face.

It was at these revelations that he drew back his hand, not knocking on the door of Rose's house to follow Jade in, but returning to his car and firing it up. He knew what he had to do; there would be only one pathway to his forgiveness, and he had to act hastily.

He drove his car right back to school. He was going to save Garden Club.