A/N: Important poll on my profile.


Jody squirmed in her bedsheets, clutching her abdomen as May-Li chastised her for her bout of overeating the previous evening. As it turned out, she'd been feeling queasy for a reason during her conversation with Floss and was now paying the price for it. It looked like she wouldn't be going to school, which was the only good thing to come out of the whole ordeal, but she also likely wouldn't be allowed to leave the house after school hours, the period of time she'd planned to go to Gray's house and get revenge on him. She groaned, turning away from May-Li as an uncomfortable sensation wreaked havoc on her insides, the muffled voices of the others travelling through the closed bedroom door and making their way to her ears. She closed her eyes in exasperation; everyone was gossiping about what could possibly be wrong with her, the chief theory being that she was faking to get a day off. They were stupid. Why would she suddenly want a day off for no reason?

No sooner had she mentally cursed the others than bile rose to her throat, and she forced herself to lift her head up, throwing up in the bag May-Li had brought up to her just in time to avoid destroying the carpet. She heaved, feeling May-Li comfortingly rubbing her back, before vomiting again so hard that she thought there was nothing left in her stomach but acid. Feeling totally empty, she unceremoniously dumped the now heavy bag on the floor and let her head drop back on the pillow, the rancid odour of her own sick and the sour taste in her mouth disgusting her. To her credit, May-Li didn't look outwardly appalled as she walked around the bed and picked the bag up, muttering something about getting a replacement. Unfortunately, her leaving the room meant that the others could freely walk in and harass Jody. Not surprisingly, that was what they did, starting with Ryan.

"Shouldn't have gorged on that ice cream like a pig," he taunted, the corners of his lips curving upwards. He was standing in the doorway, flanked by Finn and Joseph. "Although, you have to wonder if you're throwing up for another reason."

His meaning couldn't have been any clearer if he'd just straight out said it and if her head didn't feel like it weighed a tonne, she would've got up and throttled him for such an insinuation. She'd already been suspected of the same embarrassing thing three months ago and didn't need to go through it a second time. There was no Ella to take the fall this time.

"What do you mean?" Finn asked, sounding confused. "Another reason?"

"Wait, you don't mean...?" Joseph trailed off questioningly, his eyes widening perceptibly as he regarded Jody. She stared back at him, unable to believe that he was actually considering it as a plausibility; he'd been one of her most staunch defenders the last time around, and this felt like a total betrayal.

On the topic of betrayals, she saw Tyler join the crowd in her doorway and peer into the room over Ryan's shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap," she replied, turning over on her belly so that she didn't have to see any of them. She was still annoyed that he hadn't told her anything about his date with Hannah and her patience was seriously running thin. It'd been three days since the date and if he hadn't told her by now, he was likely never going to.

"Get ready, Tyler, mate," Ryan said, "There might be some good news on the way... Ever wanted to be a godfather?"

That was it. She raised her head off the pillow, about to roll out of bed and give him a piece of her mind when she heard May-Li yell for Jay to wake up. The sound of hurried footfalls told her that at least two of the boys had retreated. She let her head drop again, turning on her back and smiling weakly at May-Li who placed an empty bag on her bedside.

"You probably won't need the bag because this lot'll be gone soon and you'll have the bathroom to yourself," May-Li stated, tipping her head towards the door. She turned to Tyler who was still standing in the doorway with concern written all over his face. "Has Jay got up yet?" He shook his head in response. Sighing, she left the room to presumably deal with Jay, leaving the pair of best friends alone together.

"Is"—he sighed, looking up to the ceiling—"what Ryan said, is it—"

He didn't even have the guts to finish the insulting question. She let out a shaky breath, feeling sick to the stomach again, though for a completely different reason. How could he think that of her? How could he think that she and Brandon were—

She stared at him, though he avoided looking at her, whispering, "I don't believe you."

.:. QK .:.

After a morning of sleeping in and an early afternoon of chilling out in front of the telly, Jody felt newly invigorated, so much so that she decided she was still going to pay Gray a visit as planned. As the others filed downstairs one after the other following a long day of school, she hung around in the kitchen with her loaded backpack, discreetly counting the number of eggs in the fridge. She'd already bought her own eggs over the weekend and hidden them in her room but some more couldn't hurt. Sour milk would've been a bonus but she hadn't had the time to prepare it and likely would've been caught by May-Li anyway.

"You're not actually going to do it?" Tyler asked, walking in through the door and stopping on the other side of the wooden table adjoining the breakfast bar. "Not today?"

"Err, yes I am," she responded flatly, surprised that he even dared show his face to her after what he'd asked her in the morning.

"In your condition?" She slammed the fridge door shut, ready to yell at him when he hastily corrected himself, "I mean, you threw up twice in the morning."

"So? I'm not some fragile pansy." She rolled her eyes at his over-the-top concern, carefully picking her bag up and swinging it over her shoulders so as not to break the precious cargo inside. "And it was literally hours ago, anyway."

He smiled somewhat uneasily. "I know, but..."

"But what?" she prompted disinterestedly, trying to think of a way to get out of the house.

Mike and May-Li would probably put up a fuss over her going out after being ill, much like Tyler currently was, but she'd somehow have to convince them to let her go without revealing her true intentions. Going on a walk with a backpack sounded dodgy even to her own ears but she didn't have any other ideas. Usually, she and Tyler would brainstorm an excuse together, like they were originally meant to anyway, but she wasn't about to let him tag along or get involved in any way after his recent acts towards her.

"Nothing," he finally answered, his eyes shining in... something. Something she didn't quite like the look of. "It's not like you'll be on your own anyway."

Ah. There it was. She'd been expecting it, to be honest, especially since he'd helped her plan the revenge in its inception. "I can do this on my own," she insisted, walking past him on the way out of the kitchen. "I can do it without you," she continued, knowing he was following her.

"Yeah, I know you can, but I helped you plan this," he said, stopping outside the office with her. "You can't just drop me."

Well, he was right about that. Dropping her feelings for him was turning out to be much harder than she ever thought it'd be. She'd been stupid to think that they'd magically disappear as soon as she started liking (dating) someone else. Whether he'd managed to drop his feelings for her remained to be seen.

"More like I suggested things and you nodded and agreed," she countered lightly, slightly stepping away from the door as Mike opened it. The corners of her lips involuntarily twitched at the affronted look on Tyler's face but she didn't let him see, looking to Mike. "Can I go out?"

Mike stared back at her in bewilderment. "Where could you possibly want to go after what happened this morning? Surely not the gym?"

"No, of course not," she assured, dismissively waving her hand at him. "I just want to go on a walk."

He seemed to notice her backpack just then, proceeding to scrutinise her through his glasses. "Oh, yeah? With a bag full of junk food?"

"It's not junk food!" Tyler interjected before she could even reply. She gave him a sidelong glance, not completely surprised by his intervention. "It's just two bottles of water. We're going to the park."

We. So he'd managed to wrangle his way onto her trip, after all. After a bit more interrogation, which she let him handle since he was so keen an' all, the two of them were granted permission to leave the house. He winked at her on the way out of the porch and, despite the fact that she was irritated at him, her heart melted just a little towards him.

.:. QK .:.

As it turned out, Gray lived a few roads away from a local park and while Jody didn't frequent the park itself because it was more for little kids than teens, she often passed it on her bus route on the way to town. It was a miracle she hadn't seen him more than once. Then again, she had no idea how long he'd lived in Pottiswood; he could've moved here any time from years ago to mere days before she'd seen him in the supermarket. There was no way of knowing, not until she spoke to him which wasn't why she was visiting his home today.

Strolling through the said park and leading Tyler towards a huge tree, she took a dark purple bandana out of her pocket. While he leant against the tree and twiddled his thumbs, she proceeded to cover her nose and mouth with the bandana and tie it around the back of her head before pulling her hair up into a bun.

"Do you have a spare?" he asked, pushing himself off the tree and standing up straight. "I can control the 'fro but I need something for my face."

"You're the one who tagged along," she said, her voice muffled by her makeshift mask. She hadn't forgiven him completely. The entire walk to the park, she'd wondered how he could think she was so base. "You should've thought about it before."

He was seemingly undeterred by her hostility. "You got a large hanky or something?"

"I've got a tissue," she replied matter-of-factly, taking an unused, still folded tissue out of her pocket and waving it in front of him. She'd meant it as a joke but he took it from her, spreading it out and covering the lower half of his face with it.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly said after a beat, startling her. "I didn't mean to upset you this morning." Hmm, so he did know that his words had offended her, after all. "I thought that maybe you and Brandon..."

"Well, you thought wrong!" she exclaimed, pulling the hood of her thin jacket up and over her head. She squared her shoulders, sure that she resembled a street urchin but noted that he looked ridiculous holding a pocket tissue up against his face as a mask. "That might be the kind of the thing you do with Hannah but it's not something that me and Brandon do together!"

"What?!" he shouted, his eyes widening. "Me and Hannah?! That's gross!"

"Nice," she commented sarcastically, though she couldn't prevent the burgeoning sense of vindication she felt at his lowly opinion of his one-time date. Nevertheless, she tried not to appear too pleased. "I'm sure she'd be glad to hear what you really think of her."

"I meant that she's too young," he clarified, looking pointedly at her. "She's only fourteen!"

"I'm only fourteen!" she retorted, turning away from a man who was staring at them. Two teenagers arguing while wearing masks and hoodies didn't look too good, and she didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to herself. She was, after all, intent on inflicting criminal damage pretty soon. "It didn't stop you from thinking it about me!"

"I wouldn't touch a girl your age like that but I don't know if Brandon would, do I?" he questioned, throwing his arms out. Your age? Who was he kidding? She was only six weeks younger than him... His gaze flickered to something over her shoulder, and he put his hood on, continuing to explain himself, "That's something only you can answer. I don't know anything about him or your relationship."

"Well it's not really any of your business," she sneered, slowly walking away from the tree. She was sure he'd seen that same man staring at them over her shoulder, and if they didn't leave soon, they were likely going to get into trouble. She regarded him sadly as he walked alongside her, realising that this was the first time he'd brought her relationship up. In an argument. It wasn't right. "It's not like you're interested in anything to do with me, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"You never ask me about how my dates go, about how things are going with Brandon. It's like you don't care. Even Ryan's asked me about at least one date."

He raised an eyebrow at her, his voice harsh as he responded with: "Yeah, because Ryan cares about you so much."

"That's—That's not the point," she faltered, pulling at her sleeve. "You didn't even tell me about Hannah."

"Cos there's nothing to tell. It was one date and, honestly, I don't know if it's going to go anywhere."

"But that's the thing!" she countered in frustration, her voice escalating. His admission that it was going nowhere should've quelled her inappropriate jealousy but, for some reason, it didn't. Instead, she just felt even more irritated. "I told you about Brandon right from the beginning after turning him down! You went on an actual date but you didn't tell me, not even afterwards!"

"Calm down!" he urged, his eyes darting around the park as they approached the exit. She huffed in response, aware that people were probably staring at them but she didn't care; they were leaving anyway. "I just told you why I didn't tell you. What's wrong with you?"

"You!" she shouted, and he abruptly stopped in his tracks. He turned to her, his face, or rather, eyes, blank for the first time during their entire exchange. Her negative emotions deflated rapidly, almost in an instant; he seldom looked at her like that. "You never tell me anything anymore," she admitted softly, moving out of the way as a woman with a pushchair entered the park. This movement, of course, meant that she was now standing closer to him than she had in a long time, perhaps since she'd started seeing Brandon. Blood rushed to her cheeks at their proximity and she hated herself for it; she rarely felt anything when she stood this close to her actual boyfriend. "It hurts."

"It hurts, does it?" he asked, his voice devoid of any emotion. He seemed not to realise what kind of effect he had on her, and because his face was partially concealed, she couldn't tell if she had any effect on him. A weak part of her hoped she did, despite everything. "Well, that's how I feel all the time. When you push me away, when you hide things from me. You know, I'm not stupid. I know that you've known about your dad longer than you've let on. I also know that I only found out because I went to the cemetery with you. You were never going to tell me yourself."

"I—" she started but cut herself off, knowing she had no response to that. He was right; she'd never once intended to tell him. Something else was bothering her, though. He'd never been a vindictive person and, yet, it sounded like the real reason he hadn't told her about Hannah was that he wanted to punish her for keeping things from him. "So you didn't tell me because you wanted to hurt me back?"

He sighed audibly. "No," he replied firmly, momentarily looking to the skies as if for help. "The date happened before I found out about your dad, anyway. I didn't tell you because it wasn't important to me." So Hannah wasn't important? "But if something as important as my dad showing up happened, you'd be the first person to know about it." She felt a pang of guilt. Even after he'd found out about Gray, she hadn't told him anything else about the whole ordeal, like how she'd seen Gray in the supermarket months ago and had initially tried looking for him. She had no excuse for not sharing it with him. None at all. "Besides, you said yourself that you and Brandon aren't my business, so why are me and Hannah yours?"

She swallowed deeply, hurt even though she had no right to be. Now that she thought about it, she would've been annoyed as well if he'd borne down on her for not telling him about one inconsequential date. As she mulled things over, another thought occurred to her: maybe he hadn't wanted to tell her about the date because he knew she would be jealous.

After a short pause, she managed to find her voice. "Let's just go." She shoved her hands into her pockets, aware that they were being stared at again. "I've got more important things to do."


A/N: This one is all over the place. I was as conflicted as Jody while writing this one, lol.

Thanks to CharlieSMarts12 for the review. Thanks for answering my questions and basically reassuring me that I'm going down the right path. Love your reviews.