"About a Girl"
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me; I'm just borrowing
them for a short period of time.
Show: Once and Again
Pairing: Jessie/Katie
Rating: PG
Author: Janine
Synopsis: What happens to girl's after their kiss in Jessie's room?
Email: jbstories@h...
Part 10
School – Monday Afternoon
-----------------------------------
Jessie jerked backwards suddenly finding a foreign object being thrust her face. Regaining her composure once she had separated herself from the object she turned around to see Katie standing slightly behind her smiling. She was holding out something in front of Jessie's face. Turning back to look at what Katie was holding she saw a flower in front of her.
"You can take it Billie, it's for you," Katie said speaking for the first time since sneaking up on her.
"What is it?" Jessie responded taking the object from Katie's hands.
"It's a paper flower," Katie replied thinking that was pretty obvious. "I made it in art class. I almost had a bouquet, but there was an … incident, shall we say, and I was only able to save this," she continued. "Do you like it?"
"I love it," Jessie said smiling over at her.
"Then those were tax dollars well spent," Katie replied sounding just as delighted as she felt. "Don't forget to put it in water," she went on receiving a slap on her shoulder for her trouble. "I was just trying to be helpful," Katie laughed spinning away from Jessie coming at a stop at a nearby locker.
"Trying to be an idiot is more like it," Jessie replied smiling as she fastened the arts and craft flower to one of the pockets on her backpack. "What do you think?" she asked looking over at Katie once she was done.
"I think you're dating a cheapskate," the girl replied grinning as Jessie rolled her eyes at her. "You want a ride home?" Kate continued a second later. "My parents finally let me take the car, so how about I impress you with how responsible and adult like my driving is?"
"Responsible and adult like?" Jessie asked skeptically, thinking that whenever someone gratuitously tooted their own horn there was usually nothing to toot at.
"Fine. Competent," Katie replied rolling her eyes. "But I promise, I'll take good care of you."
"Alright," Jessie agreed smiling. She was actually pleased by the offer; it meant that they'd have some time alone together.
"Then it's a car pool," Katie responded as the bell rang. "I'll meet you at your locker after 8th," and with that she was off down the hall.
Jessie looked down at the flower attached to her bag, giving one last smile before turning and heading into her own classroom.
===============================================================
"So," Jessie began tugging at her seatbelt self-consciously. "It's almost Friday, huh?" she continued wincing at her own stupidity.
"Yeah, it's coming up," Katie responded glancing over at her before returning her eyes to the road. Jessie had already freaked out at once on the drive for her 'look, no hands' trick, so she was trying to redeem herself. "Right after Thursday I think."
Jessie looked over at her, but chose to ignore that last comment. She kind of deserved it. "So, the dance is on Friday," she began, picking imaginary lint off of her pants.
"Yeah," Katie replied carefully, wondering where Jessie was going with this. "I was talking to Russell during 5th, and he said that Grace has gone like nuts with it. Apparently she's got Jamie K. to DJ," she continued conversationally. "He said it sounds lush."
"Yeah, she's been like totally obsessing over planning it," Jessie replied. "It's been like she forgot to take her medication … or started taking medication, I'm not sure which, for like the last week," she went on shaking her head at the memories of Grace totally losing her shit and running around the house like a chicken with her head cut off. "So … youwannago?"
"What was that?" Katie asked her eyebrows drawing together as she tried to decipher Jessie's word jam.
"Do you wanna go?" Jessie asked again calming herself. "To the dance?"
"Do you want to?" Katie asked sensing Jessie's anxiety, but not really knowing which of the million possibilities was causing it. "Cause if you're just asking cause you think I wanna go, but you don't really want to go, then we don't have to go. Cause you know, I've got Jenga Plus, and that's always a good time."
"I wanna go," Jessie responded sincerely. "I wanna go with you."
"And I wanna go with you," Katie replied a huge smile spreading across her face, relief flushing happily through her body.
"Okay then," Jessie replied smiling herself. That wasn't so hard.
===============================================================
"What's that?" Karen asked staring at the back of Jessie's bag as her daughter tossed it on the counter and went to the fridge. Jessie turned around to see what her mother was taking about and shook her head.
"It's a paper flower mom," she responded.
"It's beautiful," Karen said tracing the edges of it with her finger. "Did you make it?"
"Katie did," Jessie responded absently unscrewing a water bottle. "It's nice, huh?" she continued smiling. "Apparently there was a whole bouquet, but there was an incident and the rest of them met a horrible fate. Mine is only survivor," she continued almost blissfully, completely oblivious to the keen expression on her mothers face as she regarded her. "I think I'll call it Rainbow."
"That was nice of her," Karen murmured watching Jessie closely. "To give it to you."
"Can we go shopping?" Jessie asked bored with the previous conversation thread her mind flashing forward to the dance on Friday. "Pacing ourselves of course," Jessie added remembering that while Karen was moving freely now, she still didn't have the stamina she had before the accident.
"Sure," Karen responded thrown off a bit by the abrupt subject change. "Did you have something special in mind?"
"I don't know," Jessie said thoughtfully twirling to lean against the counter. "What do you think I should wear?" she asked curiously.
"Wear for what?" Karen asked wondering if she had blanked out for part of the conversation, and wondering when Jessie suddenly got concerned about what she would wear for anything. She'd seemed completely ambivalent towards getting dressed up for her first date with date, almost pissed off that people kept bringing it up – 'If I was going to kill myself, people would ask me what I was going to wear' – so this sudden interest in what she was going to wear somewhere peaked Karen's interest.
"The dance," Jessie responded straightening up, trying to act as if she hadn't pulled that answer out of her ass. She suddenly became aware of how she was behaving, the euphoria from the car ride finally fading, and she decided that it would be prudent to stop acting like a twelve year old at an Nsync concert. Even though Katie WAS dreamy.
"What dance?" Karen asked with a touch of exasperation in her voice.
"The one on Friday," Jessie replied breezily. "You know, the one Grace planned. I told her I'd go," she continued playing with the water bottle as half-truth tumbled out past her lips.
"Oh," Karen said not really knowing anything about the dance that Grace had planned. "That's nice. It's good that the two of you are getting along better," she continued remembering that she hadn't heard Jessie complaining about the other girl quite as bitterly lately. "Do you have a date?" she inquired nonchalantly.
"I'm just going to go with Katie," Jessie responded missing the sharp breath Karen look Karen in her direction upon hearing that. "It's kind of an informal thing," she continued realizing how that must have sounded, even without seeing her mothers look. "You know, just kind show up. Everyone's probably going to stay on their own side of the room anyway … but the DJ is suppose to be good."
"Well that sounds like fun," Karen responded feeling a bit faint. "Why don't you go finish you're homework and then we can head out to the mall," she continued desperate for some alone time to stop her head from spinning.
"Cool," Jessie responded brightly, and with that grabbed her backpack and made her way up the stairs, failing to note how Karen's eyes followed her until she was out of sight.
Propping her elbows down on the kitchen counter Karen let out a sigh she'd been holding in almost since Jessie entered the kitchen and closed her eyes breathing in deeply. Everything could have been perfectly innocent, it could be nothing, but there was something inside of her that was telling her that it was something. Her mind drifted back now that she had acknowledged the seed that had been growing in the back of her mind since dinner with Judy. She recalled the conversation she'd had with Jessie about how she hadn't felt an attraction towards Tad, and how Jessie had seemed to come to life once she had become friends with Katie. And she recalled the conversation they'd had in the hospital about how Jessie had learned a certain 'person' had liked her more than she thought and she hadn't known how she felt about it. And that time she had walked into Jessie's room to find the two of them holding hands, and million and two other looks and glances and incidents that she hadn't taken the time to consider.
She sighed again, her head tilting to the side as she considered the phone hanging on the wall.
===============================================================
"Karen," Rick said surprised, tossing his pencil down onto his desk as he leaned back in his chair, wondering what he had done this time.
"I ah, was just calling to let you know that I'm going to take Jessie shopping for the dance, so you don't need to worry about that," Karen responded, her mind shooting off in a hundred different directions as she tried to consider the best way to go about getting the answers she desperately needed.
"Dance?" Rick asked sounding confused.
"Yeah," Karen replied wondering how he could not know when his stepdaughter had planned it. "Jessie said Grace was in charge of it."
"Oh," Rick replied. "That dance. I didn't know Jessie was going, she'd said that maybe she was, but that was weeks ago, and she sounded like she was just saying that to get the conversation off her, and she hadn't mentioned anything about it since then, so I didn't know that she was actually going."
"Well, she is," Karen, replied, not really caring to hear his inner monologue on the subject. "So Grace planned it, huh? She the head of some committee or something?"
"I guess maybe on the board of directors or something," Rick replied. "It's for the Gay/Straight Alliance, she joined a while back. That crazy drama teacher is in charge of it though."
"Gay/Straight Alliance?" Karen asked weakly. "How progressive," she continued biting her lip. "So girls will be going with each other …and so on," Karen continued Jessie's words ringing through her head 'I'm just going to go with Katie. I'm just going to go with Katie. I'm just going to go with Katie' over and over again like it wanted to go to the bathroom on a long car trip. "Sorry, what was that?"
"I said I guess so," Rick replied wondering if Karen had recently taken any medication. "I don't really know, but I would think so. Grace just keeps on asking us what it matters and saying that people should be able to date whoever they want or there's no point to living whenever we ask, so it's been a dead subject lately."
"Okay," Karen said her voice alarming chipper, now frantic to get off the phone with Rick. "Well, bye."
"Bye," Rick responded staring ahead completely befuddled.
===============================================================
TBC...
Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoyed it. Comments are very
much welcome and would be GREATLY appreciated, I'm a feedback whore,
enable me … please! :) jbstories@h...
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me; I'm just borrowing
them for a short period of time.
Show: Once and Again
Pairing: Jessie/Katie
Rating: PG
Author: Janine
Synopsis: What happens to girl's after their kiss in Jessie's room?
Email: jbstories@h...
Part 10
School – Monday Afternoon
-----------------------------------
Jessie jerked backwards suddenly finding a foreign object being thrust her face. Regaining her composure once she had separated herself from the object she turned around to see Katie standing slightly behind her smiling. She was holding out something in front of Jessie's face. Turning back to look at what Katie was holding she saw a flower in front of her.
"You can take it Billie, it's for you," Katie said speaking for the first time since sneaking up on her.
"What is it?" Jessie responded taking the object from Katie's hands.
"It's a paper flower," Katie replied thinking that was pretty obvious. "I made it in art class. I almost had a bouquet, but there was an … incident, shall we say, and I was only able to save this," she continued. "Do you like it?"
"I love it," Jessie said smiling over at her.
"Then those were tax dollars well spent," Katie replied sounding just as delighted as she felt. "Don't forget to put it in water," she went on receiving a slap on her shoulder for her trouble. "I was just trying to be helpful," Katie laughed spinning away from Jessie coming at a stop at a nearby locker.
"Trying to be an idiot is more like it," Jessie replied smiling as she fastened the arts and craft flower to one of the pockets on her backpack. "What do you think?" she asked looking over at Katie once she was done.
"I think you're dating a cheapskate," the girl replied grinning as Jessie rolled her eyes at her. "You want a ride home?" Kate continued a second later. "My parents finally let me take the car, so how about I impress you with how responsible and adult like my driving is?"
"Responsible and adult like?" Jessie asked skeptically, thinking that whenever someone gratuitously tooted their own horn there was usually nothing to toot at.
"Fine. Competent," Katie replied rolling her eyes. "But I promise, I'll take good care of you."
"Alright," Jessie agreed smiling. She was actually pleased by the offer; it meant that they'd have some time alone together.
"Then it's a car pool," Katie responded as the bell rang. "I'll meet you at your locker after 8th," and with that she was off down the hall.
Jessie looked down at the flower attached to her bag, giving one last smile before turning and heading into her own classroom.
===============================================================
"So," Jessie began tugging at her seatbelt self-consciously. "It's almost Friday, huh?" she continued wincing at her own stupidity.
"Yeah, it's coming up," Katie responded glancing over at her before returning her eyes to the road. Jessie had already freaked out at once on the drive for her 'look, no hands' trick, so she was trying to redeem herself. "Right after Thursday I think."
Jessie looked over at her, but chose to ignore that last comment. She kind of deserved it. "So, the dance is on Friday," she began, picking imaginary lint off of her pants.
"Yeah," Katie replied carefully, wondering where Jessie was going with this. "I was talking to Russell during 5th, and he said that Grace has gone like nuts with it. Apparently she's got Jamie K. to DJ," she continued conversationally. "He said it sounds lush."
"Yeah, she's been like totally obsessing over planning it," Jessie replied. "It's been like she forgot to take her medication … or started taking medication, I'm not sure which, for like the last week," she went on shaking her head at the memories of Grace totally losing her shit and running around the house like a chicken with her head cut off. "So … youwannago?"
"What was that?" Katie asked her eyebrows drawing together as she tried to decipher Jessie's word jam.
"Do you wanna go?" Jessie asked again calming herself. "To the dance?"
"Do you want to?" Katie asked sensing Jessie's anxiety, but not really knowing which of the million possibilities was causing it. "Cause if you're just asking cause you think I wanna go, but you don't really want to go, then we don't have to go. Cause you know, I've got Jenga Plus, and that's always a good time."
"I wanna go," Jessie responded sincerely. "I wanna go with you."
"And I wanna go with you," Katie replied a huge smile spreading across her face, relief flushing happily through her body.
"Okay then," Jessie replied smiling herself. That wasn't so hard.
===============================================================
"What's that?" Karen asked staring at the back of Jessie's bag as her daughter tossed it on the counter and went to the fridge. Jessie turned around to see what her mother was taking about and shook her head.
"It's a paper flower mom," she responded.
"It's beautiful," Karen said tracing the edges of it with her finger. "Did you make it?"
"Katie did," Jessie responded absently unscrewing a water bottle. "It's nice, huh?" she continued smiling. "Apparently there was a whole bouquet, but there was an incident and the rest of them met a horrible fate. Mine is only survivor," she continued almost blissfully, completely oblivious to the keen expression on her mothers face as she regarded her. "I think I'll call it Rainbow."
"That was nice of her," Karen murmured watching Jessie closely. "To give it to you."
"Can we go shopping?" Jessie asked bored with the previous conversation thread her mind flashing forward to the dance on Friday. "Pacing ourselves of course," Jessie added remembering that while Karen was moving freely now, she still didn't have the stamina she had before the accident.
"Sure," Karen responded thrown off a bit by the abrupt subject change. "Did you have something special in mind?"
"I don't know," Jessie said thoughtfully twirling to lean against the counter. "What do you think I should wear?" she asked curiously.
"Wear for what?" Karen asked wondering if she had blanked out for part of the conversation, and wondering when Jessie suddenly got concerned about what she would wear for anything. She'd seemed completely ambivalent towards getting dressed up for her first date with date, almost pissed off that people kept bringing it up – 'If I was going to kill myself, people would ask me what I was going to wear' – so this sudden interest in what she was going to wear somewhere peaked Karen's interest.
"The dance," Jessie responded straightening up, trying to act as if she hadn't pulled that answer out of her ass. She suddenly became aware of how she was behaving, the euphoria from the car ride finally fading, and she decided that it would be prudent to stop acting like a twelve year old at an Nsync concert. Even though Katie WAS dreamy.
"What dance?" Karen asked with a touch of exasperation in her voice.
"The one on Friday," Jessie replied breezily. "You know, the one Grace planned. I told her I'd go," she continued playing with the water bottle as half-truth tumbled out past her lips.
"Oh," Karen said not really knowing anything about the dance that Grace had planned. "That's nice. It's good that the two of you are getting along better," she continued remembering that she hadn't heard Jessie complaining about the other girl quite as bitterly lately. "Do you have a date?" she inquired nonchalantly.
"I'm just going to go with Katie," Jessie responded missing the sharp breath Karen look Karen in her direction upon hearing that. "It's kind of an informal thing," she continued realizing how that must have sounded, even without seeing her mothers look. "You know, just kind show up. Everyone's probably going to stay on their own side of the room anyway … but the DJ is suppose to be good."
"Well that sounds like fun," Karen responded feeling a bit faint. "Why don't you go finish you're homework and then we can head out to the mall," she continued desperate for some alone time to stop her head from spinning.
"Cool," Jessie responded brightly, and with that grabbed her backpack and made her way up the stairs, failing to note how Karen's eyes followed her until she was out of sight.
Propping her elbows down on the kitchen counter Karen let out a sigh she'd been holding in almost since Jessie entered the kitchen and closed her eyes breathing in deeply. Everything could have been perfectly innocent, it could be nothing, but there was something inside of her that was telling her that it was something. Her mind drifted back now that she had acknowledged the seed that had been growing in the back of her mind since dinner with Judy. She recalled the conversation she'd had with Jessie about how she hadn't felt an attraction towards Tad, and how Jessie had seemed to come to life once she had become friends with Katie. And she recalled the conversation they'd had in the hospital about how Jessie had learned a certain 'person' had liked her more than she thought and she hadn't known how she felt about it. And that time she had walked into Jessie's room to find the two of them holding hands, and million and two other looks and glances and incidents that she hadn't taken the time to consider.
She sighed again, her head tilting to the side as she considered the phone hanging on the wall.
===============================================================
"Karen," Rick said surprised, tossing his pencil down onto his desk as he leaned back in his chair, wondering what he had done this time.
"I ah, was just calling to let you know that I'm going to take Jessie shopping for the dance, so you don't need to worry about that," Karen responded, her mind shooting off in a hundred different directions as she tried to consider the best way to go about getting the answers she desperately needed.
"Dance?" Rick asked sounding confused.
"Yeah," Karen replied wondering how he could not know when his stepdaughter had planned it. "Jessie said Grace was in charge of it."
"Oh," Rick replied. "That dance. I didn't know Jessie was going, she'd said that maybe she was, but that was weeks ago, and she sounded like she was just saying that to get the conversation off her, and she hadn't mentioned anything about it since then, so I didn't know that she was actually going."
"Well, she is," Karen, replied, not really caring to hear his inner monologue on the subject. "So Grace planned it, huh? She the head of some committee or something?"
"I guess maybe on the board of directors or something," Rick replied. "It's for the Gay/Straight Alliance, she joined a while back. That crazy drama teacher is in charge of it though."
"Gay/Straight Alliance?" Karen asked weakly. "How progressive," she continued biting her lip. "So girls will be going with each other …and so on," Karen continued Jessie's words ringing through her head 'I'm just going to go with Katie. I'm just going to go with Katie. I'm just going to go with Katie' over and over again like it wanted to go to the bathroom on a long car trip. "Sorry, what was that?"
"I said I guess so," Rick replied wondering if Karen had recently taken any medication. "I don't really know, but I would think so. Grace just keeps on asking us what it matters and saying that people should be able to date whoever they want or there's no point to living whenever we ask, so it's been a dead subject lately."
"Okay," Karen said her voice alarming chipper, now frantic to get off the phone with Rick. "Well, bye."
"Bye," Rick responded staring ahead completely befuddled.
===============================================================
TBC...
Thank you for reading, I hope that you enjoyed it. Comments are very
much welcome and would be GREATLY appreciated, I'm a feedback whore,
enable me … please! :) jbstories@h...