Jinora knew that if there was any hope for salvaging her friendship with Fen, she was going to have to be the one to swallow her pride, and probably soon. Final exams were coming up, and Jinora knew that it would be better to try and fix it sooner rather than later.

Ultimately, she spotted her best friend (at least once upon a time she was) sitting on one of the benches outside of the school by herself, and knew that this was the best time to try something. "Hey, Fen."

Luckily, she didn't turn away immediately. "Hey, Jinora." She briefly let it fall silent. "Here to lie to me some more?"

Jinora sighed, because that was precisely the response she was afraid of, mostly because it was precisely the response she deserved. "No, actually, I'm not. I'm here to apologize."

Fen raised a curious eyebrow, but at the same time, gestured her to sit down and continue. "I am sorry for lying to you. I never wanted to do it, and trust me when I say that it didn't feel good doing it."

-"And yet you kept it up for months. Do you know what it feels like, that even your best friend won't trust you anymore?"

This actually gave Jinora pause for thought, because Fen was right on that one. "No, I don't. I put my fear above our friendship, and the worst part of it is, it was all for nothing."

-"What do you mean?"

"Fen, I kept my relationship with Kai from you, and from everyone else for that matter, because I was afraid of what would happen when everyone found out, most of all my parents. The rivalry between me and Kai isn't exactly a secret, and I was worried that my parents would disapprove of us."

Fen raised an eyebrow. "Did they?"

"Well, yes, that's the problem, but they weren't even hugely disapproving. So it was all for nothing. Even if I had told you, you'd probably tease me for a week about it, and then move on because we are actually serious about it."

It fell silent after this. Fen was trying to work out the implications of it all, while Jinora was just hoping against hope that she would take it well. "Okay, answer me this, and I would appreciate it if you would tell me the truth," Fen started. "I can understand why you wouldn't tell your parents. I know you've been shit-talking Kai for so long to them, and they don't have their own opinion on him. That part I get. But why wouldn't you tell me?"

Another question she was afraid of, mostly because the truth wouldn't exactly make it look like Jinora's faith in her best friend was bursting through the ceiling. Still, the only alternative were more lies, which was what landed them here in the first place. "Because I was worried you wouldn't keep it to yourself. Not even with malice," she hastily added. "Just... you let it slip out, and then the genie's out of the bottle."

-"Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence," Fen sarcastically said, clearly not pleased.

"There is another reason," Jinora continued, knowing that she was on slightly more solid ground here. "During that English project that basically kicked us off, I... I found out a couple of things about Kai that he really didn't want to share. With anyone. Even after we got together, it took him months to trust me enough to tell me the full extent, and he made me promise not to tell anyone. And this isn't just 'oh, how embarrassing would it be if my parents find out', this is actually serious. People are depending on those secrets to stay secret."

Fen actually thought this over, because Jinora was being completely sincere there. "So you're saying you did it to protect him?"

Jinora sighed. "Partially, yes, but I admit, mostly to save my own skin. I am done with hiding it and in reality, it was my idea to keep it a secret and that got out of hand. I was the coward there, because Kai was more partial to just telling everyone."

-"I'm not angry at him, he isn't my best friend."

The fact that she used present tense there made Jinora perk up, and did fan the flame of hope a little bit. "What do I need to do to make it up to you? Do you still want to slap me in the face, or maybe something a bit less painful?"

Fen chuckled. "That was mostly because I was angry at you. Like I said, right now, I just want to hear the truth."

"That's fair enough. Minus the one thing I just mentioned, but that isn't for my sake, it's for Kai's."

-"Okay, then start with this: why now?"

Jinora sighed. "I didn't want to go into our final exams with us not talking to each other. You've been with me for so long, I really don't want that to fail because of my stupidity right before we finish high school."

Fen nodded. "No, neither do I," she softly admitted. That was probably the whole reason she was actually hearing Jinora out in the first place, so it wasn't really surprising.

"Tell you what: remember that Wolfbats concert you were talking about a few weeks ago?"

This seemed to confuse her. "Yeah?"

Jinora smiled, because it was exactly the reaction she was hoping for. "I know someone on the inside track who said he might have a few tickets left. I'll see if he still has them, and we'll go to together after our finals. What do you say?" (Thank goodness for Bolin's job at the hall.)

-"I would kiss you if you could make that happen."

"Don't kiss me. I have a boyfriend now."

Fen chuckled. "Speaking of which..."

"He's a great kisser, don't bother."

-"Actually, I was going to ask how he is in bed."

"Fen!"