(Will's back! Penelope's back! Ethan's back!)

Before I knew it, it was Wednesday morning. I showered and got dressed, before making my way downstairs. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and took a seat at the dining room table. Part of me knew that it was inevitable; Christmas break couldn't last forever. Eventually I would have to go back and face everyone. But the larger part of me desperately wanted just a few more days without the stares and whispers.

"You ready for today?" my mom asked from the counter.

I sighed. "Not really. But I can't figure out anyway of avoiding it that doesn't involve me dropping out of school to be a hermit. Which… actually doesn't sound too bad, right now."

"You could get your GED and come hang out with me at work all day!" she suggested.

"Don't tempt me." I mumbled, shuffling my feet beneath the table.

She came and sat across from me. "Hey. I know today's not going to be easy. In fact, it's probably going to really suck, if I'm being honest. But it's something you've gotta do."

"But is it something I have to do today?" I knew I was being whiny, but my stomach was aching with dread.

"Yeah. It is."

"Are you sure?"

"I am." She patted my hand. "But you'll get through it." She took my empty bowl to the sink. "And JJ?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop scuffing my floors with your shoes or you're going to be paying to replace them." She dropped a kiss on top of my head as she walked into the hallway. "I'm leaving in five minutes, if you want a ride!"

I grabbed all of my stuff from my room and headed to the car. "You want to drive?" she asked.

"Nah, we'll have to get out and switch when we get there, it'll be a pain." I got into the passenger seat.

"So what's on the schedule for today?"

"Just school. I'll catch a ride home after athletics."

"Why don't you invite Will over for dinner? It's been a while since you two have hung out. My last showing ends at three today, I could make something really nice. We could have Italian!"

I looked up from my phone with a grin. "You know how you said I should tell you if you're being a little weird about Will?"

"Yeah?"

"You're being super weird about Will."

She sighed. "Ugh, I know I just… He seems to be a really great guy, JJ. Most high school boys are… shit heads."

"Trust me; I got to school with them."

"Well, trust me, I raised one!" she grinned. "My point is, Will seems nice. And I trust that you trust him. And if you wanted to maybe invite him over for dinner tonight, so that Mark and I could get to know him better, I would be willing to make lasagna."

I laughed as she came to a stop in the school drive. "Okay. I'll ask, but no promises."

"Okay. Text me his answer so I know if I need to stop by the grocery store."

I climbed out of the car. "Alright. Wait, are we not having lasagna if he doesn't come?"

"Have you done anything to merit lasagna?"

"I'm here! I'm going to school!"

The car behind her honked their horn and she waved at them in her rear view mirror. "Alright fine, I'll make lasagna either way. Try to have a good day, okay? I love you."

"I love you, too." I shut the door and started inside. The sky was a steely gray and it looked like it could begin to snow at any moment. The wind swirled around me, seeming to urge me inside the school building. I walked the halls with bated breath. When we had left for break, I was still having difficulties getting through the day without finding myself the target of unwanted attention, and I didn't know how much of that had changed.

As I stood at my locker, putting away my scarf, Penelope bounded up. "Hi! So I've been thinking and really who am I kidding, I'm definitely going to need us to continue our pre cal study sessions. Because I know over break I was all, 'I'm gonna pay attention to Mr. Cooper and get serious about my studies' but I just saw Derek Morgan and he was wearing a leather jacket. Either he managed to get even MORE attractive over the break or memory simply failed me, because Holy Hannah, the boy is fine. How am I supposed to concentrate on numbers with that hot piece of ass a mere five feet away?"

I started to laugh. "Well I'm sure between the two of us we can manage to get you a B."

"You are truly a saint, you are my hero."

I began to answer her, but stopped when I noticed a small group of sophomore boys behind her. They were huddled near the wall and were speaking in low voices. It was obvious from the glances being thrown my way exactly what they were talking about.

Penelope noticed my change of expression and looked over her shoulder. "Can I help you with something?" she asked in a loud and direct voice. All three of them froze, their eyes wide. "No? Goodbye!" They scurried off down the hall.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

She shrugged. "Not a problem."

I shut my locker and we started to walk to English. "How can you… do that? Just yell out at them?"

"Well, baby Penelope went through puberty at the ripe old age of eleven, which means I've had these gigantic boobs since before I could go to a PG-13 movie. I learned the best way to deal with stares is to shut it down, on the spot." We took our regular desk in the third row. "Did you get any more of the reading done?"

I groaned quietly. "I checked several out from the library, but then there was a whole thing on Monday with my mom. I read like half of The Scarlet Letter?"

"I mean, that's better than nothing. And we're talking about Mockingbird first; you have time to catch up."

"What books did you do?"

"Emma, The Giver, and Pride and Prejudice."

"That's not fair, you've already read Pride and Prejudice."

She shrugged. "Well I tried to read Frankenstein in a show of solidarity with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, mother of sci fi, but then it got super creepy. So I didn't read it."

The late bell rang and Ms. Prentiss came to the front of the room. "Alright everyone, welcome back from break! I hope everybody had a happy holiday, but let's hop to it, shall we? To Kill a Mockingbird; what did you think?"

All of our teachers chose to dive right back into work instead easing in, and I for one was grateful. It kept my mind focused and busy. I was also thankful to recognize that apart from the boys in the hallway, my classmates had largely moved on. Occasionally, one of their eyes would linger on me just a moment longer than normal, but it was a new semester with new drama; my personal tragedy was no longer of interest.

I approached Will after lunch. "Hey."

"Hey, crazy." He started to lean in and kiss me, but caught himself.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?"

"None that I know of. What's up?"

"Want to eat dinner at my house? My mom said she would make lasagna."

"Yeah! That sounds great. What time do you want me there?"

"Well, if you want, we can just go after we get out of athletics. We could hang out? Do homework or watch a movie."

He gave me a grin. "Sure. Sounds like fun. Meet you outside the gym?"

"Sure thing." I turned to walk to my next class, then stopped. I turned around then pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "I'll see you then." Then I hurried down the hallway, not wanting to be late for class.

When I came out of the gymnasium, Will was leaning against the wall, his backpack at his feet. "Rough practice?" he asked, taking in my red cheeks and sweaty hair.

"Coach Hotchner was trying to kill us. We did one hundred burpees. One hundred! By the end I thought I was actually going to die."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't, otherwise I would have had to miss out on the lasagna." He took my duffel bag from my shoulder and carried it as we walked to the rear parking lot.

"I mean, you probably could have still gone over. My mom loves you, you're the only reason we're having it."

"I would have abstained in your memory."

"Aw, you're so sweet." I bumped my shoulder into his, and he bumped me back sending me careening to the side. "Hey," I said laughing, "Careful! You're a lot bigger than me."

"Not near as strong though."

"Or as fast."

He gave me an outraged look. "I'm fast!"

"Really? Prove it." I took off running towards his truck.

"Wait! This isn't fair; I'm carrying your stuff!" I could hear him struggling after me, but I kept running, only coming to a stop when I slapped my hand down on the hood of his pickup.

He caught up a few moments later. "Coach Hotchner isn't pushing you hard enough if you can still sprint like that after practice," he said.

"Sprint?" I paused a second to catch my breath. "That was hardly a jog."

"Sure it was." He opened the door and threw his back pack and my duffel into the back. He gave a little bow. "Your highness," he said gesturing to the passenger seat.

I hopped in. "Hey would it be okay if we stopped by Anderson's? My mom forgot to get ice cream for desert."

"Sure thing."

Once inside the grocery store, he took my hand and I didn't pull away. "Alright, which way to the frozen foods?"

"Have you never been here before?" I asked.

"Nope. Ever since I was a little kid, every Saturday morning my mom goes out grocery shopping and my dad watches Cass and I. No one else is allowed to go. It's her 'me' time."

"Her 'me' time is grocery shopping?"

"The woman takes her produce very seriously, Jayje."

"If you say so." We came to a stop in front of the ice cream. "Alright, what do you want?"

"I don't know, what do you want?"

"I asked you first."

"Well, I love Cherry Garcia."

I wrinkled my nose. "What? You have got to be kidding me."

"What?!"

"Fruit has no place in ice cream."

"Excuse you, what about a banana split? What about the cherry on top of a sundae?"

"That's completely different," I countered. "It's okay served alongside the ice cream, but inside of it? Gross."

"You're completely wrong, but at least you're pretty."

I swatted him on the chest with a laugh. "Okay but seriously, what are we getting?"

"Dunno. We could get half chocolate, half vanilla."

"JJ?" I turned to see Mrs. Cline coming towards me with her shopping cart, her lips stretched into a wide smile. Trailing a couple steps behind her, his face bored and resentful, was Ethan. I could feel Will stiffen up beside me, and I squeezed his hand.

"Mrs. Cline, hi." I returned her smile.

"I haven't had a chance to see you since you girls went to the state game. I was so sorry you didn't win, but we listened on the radio, it sounded like you played really good."

"Oh, thank you." Mrs. Cline was the secretary down at the elementary school. I had known her since they had moved here. She had barely changed at all in the ten years since then; Barely five feet tall, with hair dyed a dark burgundy red, she still wore the same sweater sets and large cross necklace that she had when I was a second grader.

"Now, is your mom still working at Stokes Realty?"

"Yes ma'am, she is."

"You know, I've never forgotten how helpful she was whenever we decided to move out of our rental. No question was too small, she made us feel right at home…" she rambled on for a bit, and I chanced a glance at Ethan. His hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans, and he stared down the aisle.

"… just so pleasant. I'll have to stop in one of these days and tell her I still appreciate it."

"I'm sure she would love that."

"Now," she dropped her voice to conspiratorial whisper and my heart thudded in my chest. Surely this kind, simple woman wasn't about to bring up what I thought she was, right in the middle of Anderson's supermarket. "Who is this good looking gentleman you have here?" she finished with a wink.

Relief coursed through me. "Oh! This, this is Will."

He shook her hand. "Will Lamontagne, ma'am."

"LaMontagne… wait a minute, you're not Toni Ann's boy, are you? Norma's grandson?"

He smiled. "Yes ma'am."

"Are you a junior, too?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ethan! You didn't tell me Miss Norma's grandson was in your grade!"

Ethan shrugged and gave non-committal grunt. She waved him off over her shoulder. "Like he tells me anything," she said to me and Will. "Anyway, I better get back to shopping so I can go home and make dinner, but it was so good to see you sugar!" She pulled me in for a hug, and I awkwardly patted her back. "Now, I know your family is going through a tough time right now, but if you need anything, you tell your mom to just let me know, okay? I mean anything. Even if she doesn't feel like cooking, I can whip up a casserole in no time flat."

I forced a smile. "I'll let her know, Mrs. Cline."

"And if you're at school and something's wrong, just tell Ethan and he'll help you out." I looked over her shoulder at him. It was almost hilarious, on an absurd level. How was it possible for this woman to be so oblivious to the kind of person her son was?

She beamed up at Will. "It was nice to meet you. I'll see you around." She pushed her cart past us. Ethan followed her and for a second I thought we had completely avoided a confrontation, but at the last second Ethan shoulder checked Will hard. He started to turn around and say something, but I tugged on his hand. "Not here. Please." I mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear.

He managed to bite his tongue until they had both cleared the end of the aisle.

"What the fuck is his problem?" he asked in a low voice.

I sighed. "I… I honestly don't know. C'mon, let's get some ice cream and go home."

We finally settled on Rocky Road. By the time we got the tub home, the lasagna was almost done, and my mom asked me to set the table, sending Will into the living room with Mark.

"What took you two so long?" she asked.

"We ran into Mrs. Cline at Anderson's."

She sighed. "Good lord, can that woman talk. I didn't think I was going to be able to get her to shut up long enough to sign the closing papers."

"Which she is still grateful for, by the way."

"Well what all did she have to say?"

"Oh not much. Congratulated me on State, drooled over Will for a bit, offered to send over a 'Sorry-you-were-abused-tuna-noodle-casserole'"

She flinched slightly as she took the breadsticks from the oven. "JJ, that's not… That's not funny."

"…I know. I'm sorry. It's just… it's one of those days."

"I know."

"Is everything ready? I'm starving."

"Yeah. Go get the boys."

Dinner was nice, my parents talking with Will, asking him questions. They both told embarrassing stories about me, but Will squeezed my hand, even as my cheeks flushed red. I walked him out to his truck afterward, and stood on my tiptoes to press a soft kiss to his lips. It wasn't much, but it was enough. I couldn't help but run my thumb over my lip as I tried to work on my Chemistry homework.

I had made it through the first day back, and was somehow still standing.