Man, this just seems to go on forever, doesn't it? My apologies, I've had to split the final chapter again while I shift some things around. It'll all be over soon, I promise.

To the reviewer who mentioned that VoltageStone had posted a version of my story 'A Winter's Tale', that's all fine – I won't have time to finish it, so VoltageStone kindly offered to take it on and give it a good home.

Thanks for your reviews.

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She saw Beck first, and stumbled. What the hell was he doing here? And then her tunnel vision widened, to take in André, and Cat, and finally Tori, stood around the kitchen table. They looked up, surprised, and it slowly dawned on her. This was what all the secrecy and phone calls had been about. Tori wasn't having an affair at all. Despite everything she'd said, Tori had invited them over. And somehow it made her even more furious to think that she'd gone through all that anguish, all that pain, just for this, just for Tori to ride rough-shod over her objections so that she could make everyone 'friends' again. She felt her anger begin to rise.

Because that was Tori all over, wasn't it? This was the flip-side of Tori's devil-may-care, 'sharing' attitude to life – she carried it over into other people's, too. No privacy, no boundaries, no sense of keeping her nose out, because Tori always knew best. Tori was always convinced that if she just got everyone together to talk about things, everything would be just peachy, and it didn't matter if those people didn't want that, if it hurt them or made them angry, just so long as Tori got to feel smug about doing the right thing. That was just the way she'd been at school, she told herself. Little Miss Smug-Pants, always fixing things.

Somewhere, in the blackened shell of her soul, 'new' Jade was ringing alarm bells like crazy and yelling something about jumping to conclusions, but it didn't matter now, because old Jade was back in the driving seat.

"I see you've got company," she said, coldly.

"Jade..."

"Don't mind me, I only live here."

"Jade..."

"Although I thought you might at least have told me, then I could have made other plans. You know. On my birthday."

"Jade..."

"But never mind, you just go ahead and have your little-"

Tori strode across the room. "Excuse us." She dragged a protesting Jade out into the corridor and pulled the door closed behind them. As soon as they were alone, Jade turned on her.

"So this is what you were laughing about when I came home at lunchtime," she fumed. "I should have known."

"I… Wait, you came home?"

"Yes, I came home. And you know what I heard? You, giggling away behind this door, while you were stabbing me in the back. "

"How could I stab you in the back from behind a door?"

"Metaphorically, Tori. You were metaphorically stabbing me in the back," Jade said. "By laughing it up with some other giggly, backstabby little traitor."

"That was Cat."

"Well I know that now, don't I?"

"So why didn't you come in?"

"Because at the time I thought you were…"

"What?"

"Never mind," she snapped. "The point is, you lied to me."

"Oh, come on, Jade. It's for your own good."

"How?" Jade said, affronted. "How is this for my own good?"

"Because you need to sort things out with them."

"I don't want to sort things out with them!" Jade said. "Weren't you even listening to me? I said I never want to see them again! I was pretty specific about it, if I recall. The word 'screw' was involved, and the word 'them'. Screw. Them. What part of that says I want to sort things out? None of it, that's what."

"If you'd just calm down-"

"I am calm!" she thundered. "You know, this is just you all over, isn't it? Always seeing the best in people. Well there is no 'best' in some people, Tori, especially not in those three, and if you think it makes me feel any better to know that you can just snap your fingers and they all come running, when they wouldn't even give me the time of day when I-"

"They never got the invites."

"-wanted them to come to my…What?"

"The invites. They never got them."

Jade looked confused. "You sent invites?" she said. "Jeez, Tori, how long have you been planning this?"

"Not my invites!" Tori rolled her eyes. "Your invites. The invites to your party. They didn't get them."

"They..." There was a long silence while Jade processed this. "Bullshit," she said, finally. "I sent them out. I wrote them, I posted them myself."

"I know. But they didn't get them."

"How could they not get them?"

"How the heck should I know?" Tori said, exasperated. "Maybe the mail truck crashed, maybe there was a mix-up at the sorting office, maybe some lunatic set fire to the mail box." Jade pursed her lips. She had, on occasion, done that very thing, and the thought that she might have been potentially responsible for her own downfall she decided to keep to herself. "The point is," Tori went on, "they never got them, and neither did I."

"You?"

"I asked my mom. And if you think my mom doesn't know about everything that goes in and out of our house, then you don't know her."

"But-"

"No 'buts', Jade. They didn't get them. End of story."

Jade felt her face grow hot. "Well they could have at least called," she said, sulkily.

"How?" Tori challenged her. "How could they call? They didn't even know they were supposed to be there!"

"They knew it was my birthday," Jade countered, unwilling to let go of a resentment that had festered for so long. "Or at least Beck and Cat did."

"I see. And did you call them on their birthdays?"

"Well, no."

"Why not?"

Jade folded her arms and pouted. "I was kind of busy."

Tori threw up her arms in an I-rest-my-case way. "Then what the heck did you expect?" she said. "They didn't call you, you didn't call them. No one's to blame, Jade. People lose touch, sometimes, that's the way it is. The only difference is, unlike you, they haven't been harboring a life-long grudge in their bitter little hearts about it. They were really happy to come here, because they actually wanted to see you. When I told them what happened with the party and everything, they were horrified. And in Cat's case, terrified," she added.

"Terrified?"

"That you'd be mad with her and lose your temper."

"I don't lose my temper!"

"Really? Then why are we stood yelling at each other in the corridor?"

"I dunno. You dragged me out here. I was in the middle of a party."

"You… you…" Tori clenched her hands into tiny fists. "Right," she said. "Here's what we're going to do. We're going to go in there, and you're going to make nice with them, because they've come a long way to see you, and then you're going to have fun whether you like it or not."

"Fine. But I still think-"

"Go." She shoved a resisting Jade back through the door into the apartment, where they realized that it was entirely possible the others had heard every word through the paper-thin woodwork. Beck seemed to sense this.

"Wow," he said. "That's a… sturdy door." There was silence. He nudged André.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," André finally caught up. "That is a sturdy door. That is one quality piece of workmanship, right there. Solid as a rock. We thought you guys had gone for coffee or something, it was so quiet."

"But I heard-" Cat began, until André trod on her foot. "Ow!"

Jade cleared her throat. "It seems," she said, feeling the heat rising in her face, "that there's been some kind of… mix-up."

"Tori told us about your party," Beck interrupted. "I'm real sorry. I should have called anyway, invite or no invite. The truth is, I didn't know what kind of response I was going to get, and I kept putting it off, and then things were kind of... difficult at home."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Trouble in paradise?" she said, a touch acidly.

Beck rubbed the back of his neck, as he always did when he was on the spot. "Kind of, yeah."

Somewhere at the back of her mind, old Jade said, good, but new Jade couldn't. "It's okay. I understand."

"And I would have called," André said, "only you'd never actually tell me when your birthday was."

She turned to him. "It's fine, honestly."

"And I didn't call because you told me never, ever to wish you 'happy birthday'," Cat chipped in.

"It's all… what?"

"You said that every birthday is just another milestone along a long and lonely road to the grave," she said, "and that anyone who says 'happy birthday' to you is basically saying they wished you were dead."

"I said that?"

"Uh huh," Cat nodded. "I remember. You wrote it in big letters across the front of my school book."

"Oh."

"And a lot of my arm."

"Um…"

"And some of my face."

"Crap. Sorry."

"It's all right," Cat said, brightly. "My brother said I looked like the girl with the dragon tattoo."

"Look," André said, "we all should have tried harder, we shouldn't have things slide. But you know how it is, Jade, things change - you get to college, it's kind of hectic, new people, new places, it's easy to get lost in it all. When you're at school, you see each other every day, and you forget that it takes an effort to stay friends. I hadn't talked to Tori in months before she called. We're all sorry about your party, we really are. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But we didn't do it on purpose."

"Right." Jade shuffled her feet and avoided Tori's eye. She cleared her throat again and drew herself up to her full height. "In that case," she said, magnanimously, "I forgive you all."

There was a slight cough from Tori's direction. "And also," she added, reluctantly, "I'm sorry for being kind of a crappy friend."

No one moved. Jade sighed, and turned her head to one side, giving an almost imperceptible twitch of her arms that Tori recognized as an invitation to, or at least the acceptance of the possibility of, a hug.

Cat saw it too, but hesitated. "Is it a trap?" she whispered to Tori.

Jade rolled her eyes. "No, it's not a trap," she said, grumpily. She huffed and retook her receptive-to-hugs position, and this time there was no hesitation as a red-headed thunderbolt hit her smack between the ribs. "Oof."

The others moved in, and for the first time the atmosphere in the room began to thaw and grow warm with friendship, as Jade accepted their embraces with a feigned reluctance and a shine in her eyes. And only Tori saw the single tear that fell. A single tear, barely enough to bend a lash, or dampen her cheek, but enough to wash away a bitterness that had lingered all too long.

Finally they released her, and she brushed herself down, flustered but happy. "Well, I guess now you guys are here, you'd better hang around for a while," she said. "So who wants a drink?" There was a chorus of approval. She clapped her hands. "Tori, drinks!"

"Yay… wait, why me?"

"Because they're your guests."

"But they're here for-"

"Drinks, Tori, drinks!"

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Friends. Jade had spent too long without friends. She'd told herself she didn't need anyone, that she'd never needed anyone, and that no one had needed her, either. But Tori had shown her that that wasn't true, that other people had cared about her, and now she realized that she'd cared about them, too, and that what she'd thought of as being her strength was really her weakness, that she was the one missing out. For all her feigned nonchalance, she couldn't help but feel a lump knotting at the back of her throat as she looked around.

How easy it was to lose touch, how easy it was to get a text and tell yourself you'll answer later, then tomorrow, then it's on your 'To-Do' list, then it isn't, then it's gone. And the weeks stretch into months, and the months stretch into years, and before you know it someone who was a huge part of your life is just someone you used to know.

She knew, at the back of her mind, that they weren't really here for her, they were here for Tori – she attracted people like planets around the sun. But she felt grateful nonetheless, to still be part of something she thought had gone forever, to still be worth the attention, to be the moon to Tori's sun, reflecting borrowed light. And she didn't mind that, being the moon to Tori's sun.

Because the sun doesn't hide, it has no choice but to shine. But the moon has a dark side, that no one can see.

She was interrupted in her reverie by Beck. "Hey."

"Hey," she said. She wondered if Tori had asked Beck how things stood between them before she'd invited him. "So, things didn't work out with, er…"

"Jennifer."

"Yeah. Her."

"No." He shrugged. "It turned out we just weren't …compatible."

"What, your plug didn't fit her socket?"

"Jade."

"Hey, it's my birthday, I'm allowed to be gross."

He looked uncomfortable, and Jade had to remind herself he hadn't had to come here. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't want you to be unhappy. You had enough of that with me. You deserve something better."

He smiled, softly. "I think the only time I really was happy was with you." He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Tori, apparently sensing clear and present danger from across the room, appeared, and skillfully inserted herself between them. "Hey!" she said. "Hi." she dragged Jade to the middle of the room. "Guys, we have something to tell you."

Jade groaned. It dawned on her that Tori hadn't told André the whole truth. The others waited expectantly.

"Yes, well," Tori went on, "I just wanted to say… and you're going to think this is crazy, and sometimes I think it's kind of crazy myself, I mean, I never would have thought … well, anyway, what I'm trying to say is…"

"Come on, Tori," André said. "I've gotta catch a flight tomorrow."

"Okay. Well the thing is…"

"We've done that part."

"…the thing is, me and Jade, we're not really roommates."

"You're not?"

"No. Well, we are, obviously, Jade lives here with me, but the point is, she doesn't just live with me. She… lives with me, if you know what I mean."

No one did.

"I mean she lives with me," Tori persevered desperately, while Jade wished the ground would open up and swallow her, "as in, we live together." She felt Tori's hand slip into hers. "As in…" The grip tightened. "We're a couple."

She felt the grip tighten further, and glancing sideways saw that Tori actually had her eyes shut, bracing for impact.

There was a very long silence, finally broken by André.

"Well, shut the fridge!" he breathed. "Really?"

Jade swung their joined hands upwards, wiggling her fingers. "Really." She nudged Tori, who cautiously opened one eye.

"No kidding?"

"No kidding."

"Hot damn!"

"I don't get it," Cat said. André leaned down and whispered something in her ear. She frowned. "I still don't…" And then her eyes bulged and she clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh my God!"

"Cat…" Jade warned, but it was too late, as Cat erupted into giggles.

"You two?" she shrieked. "You two are-"

"Yes." Jade started to blush furiously. She'd never in her life felt more exposed, more on-display than this, standing hand in hand with Tori in front of the others, knowing exactly what they were thinking. All through school, you told us you hated each other. And now look at you. You pair of absolute liars.

"I knew it!" André exclaimed, gleefully, confirming her suspicions. "I just knew there was something going on between you two!"

"What?"

"At school! All that fighting and trash-talking, that was just a cover, you two totally had the hots for each other!"

"No, we didn't!" Jade glanced at Tori, who'd gone a little red, and remembered that for Tori at least, some of this was true.

"Yeah, you did," André laughed. "You've been busted, muchacha! Hooeey. There's no wonder you two spent so much time in the janitor's closet."

"André!" Jade hissed. She was looking at Beck, who wasn't laughing at all. "Beck…"

But it was too late. His face set hard, and before she could stop him he barged past her out of the apartment.

"Shit." Jade gave one last glare at André and set off in pursuit. "Beck! Hey, Beck!"

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Oh, calamity. Have we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory? Or has Beck just remembered he left the gas on?