"What do you want Grace?" Jessie sighed as her stepsister approached her locker. She was trying to stuff her history book in there, but to no avail as several other books fell to the floor. "Damn it," she grumbled as she bent down to get them. A hand reached down to help her out.

"Hey," Katie said as Jessie looked at her. "Morning Grace," she said cheerfully as Grace watched the two of them with an amused expression on her face.

"Morning Katie," Grace said. "Have a good weekend?" She smirked at her. Grace knew full well that they had because they had pretty much hung out at the house all weekend.

Jessie scowled at a chuckling Grace. "Yep," Katie replied, unfazed by Jessie and Grace's expressions at one another. "You?" She asked as she put one of Jessie's books back in her locker.

"Fine," Grace said. "The play went really well last night in case you were wondering," she said nonchalantly referring to their not showing up.

"That's nice," Jessie replied sarcastically. "Is that it?" She asked, trying to get rid of her. Katie just stood by with a grin while watching Jessie get increasingly impatient.

"Pretty much," Grace smirked. Jessie grunted and stalked off with Katie behind her, chuckling. "Cute," Grace said to herself with a grin.

"Jess?" Katie said as she and Jessie were on their way home. Jessie just looked over at her with a curious expression. Katie took in a deep breath. "Have you thought about the dance at all? I mean, if you wanted to go...with me," she mumbled sheepishly. Smooth.

Jessie was caught off guard by the question she was afraid to answer. "No. I haven't," she replied slowly. "I kind of forgot all about it," she lied.

"Oh," Katie said, dejectedly. Jessie let out a silent sigh of relief. "Are you going to think about it, or do you already know if you want to go?" She asked hopefully.

"I'll think about it," Jessie said. Katie smiled. "We still have a couple of weeks though. I wouldn't stress it yet," pleading that Katie will drop the subject.

"I'm not stressing," Katie defended in mock-hurt. "I never stress," she said with a grin.

"Okay," Jessie grinned. "Whatever you say," she replied, looking back out the window. As they pulled up to the house, Jessie turned back to Katie. "You want to come in and hang out?"

"Only if we get to harass Grace," Katie joked. Jessie nodded vehemently with a short laugh as she leapt out of the car.

They barged into the house, talking and giggling about something. "I don't get it," Grace sighed as she shook her head. Jessie and Katie turned their attention to her. "We leave at the same time, you drive an average of ten miles over the speed limit, and yet, I still get home before you guys."

"Ha, ha," Jessie mumbled. "You suck, that's why," she grunted at her.

"Great comeback. I'm crushed," Grace rolled her eyes. She really didn't want to know why they always took so long. Grabbing an orange out of the fridge, Grace went off to the living room to leave Jessie and Katie to do...whatever it is that they do. Instead, they followed her. "What?" Grace grunted, obviously a little perturbed at this.

"Nothing," Katie said, feigning innocence. "Whatever are you talking about?" She asked the disgruntled girl in front of her. Jessie bit her lip to stop from laughing.

"Then leave me alone!" She growled. Jessie lost it there and then, Katie following suit. Grace scoffed at them as they took off upstairs toward Jessie's room.

"She's so...annoyable," Jessie laughed as they got to Jessie's sanctuary. "I don't know what it is. Just merely standing there pisses her off," she chuckled.

"That's a short fuse if I ever saw one," Katie agreed. Suddenly, she found herself greeted by Jessie's lips and it was only natural that she kiss back. However, she wasn't completely focused on it. She kept worrying about the dance, Jessie's paranoia around other people and a thousand other things.

Jessie sensed the anxiety that Katie was feeling. "What's wrong?" She asked worriedly as she pulled away. "Are you okay?"

Katie really didn't want to push. She really didn't. But, she had to have some answers. "Why won't you touch me around other people?" She asked. So much for tact.

"What?" Jessie asked with a confused expression. Where the hell did that come from.

"It's just that, you never hold my hand or hug me or anything in public," Katie sighed. "But, when we are alone, you pull a total 180. I want to know why," she said, kicking herself for even bringing it up.

"I...it's...I..." Jessie stammered. She sat down on the bed to try and come up with a halfway decent answer. She sighed. "It's complicated," she whispered softly, not looking Katie in the eyes.

"Oh. I see now. It's complicated," Katie sneered. She was upset, she had every right to be. "Everything's complicated isn't it?" Don't do it. Don't do it. "Why is it complicated Jess? I think it's because you make it that way," she pressed. Damn mouth.

"Katie," Jessie pleaded. She had been dreading this conversation. "Can we not talk about this now?" She asked, looking at her feet and running a hand through her hair.

"Not now?" Katie asked incredulously. "If not now, then when? We need to talk about this now or else we never will."

"You said you wouldn't push this," Jessie said, tears threatening to spill out. "You promised that you wouldn't make me," she cried out.

Damn her. Katie couldn't help but melt every time Jessie cried, but she still wasn't letting go so easily. "I said I wouldn't push you to tell everyone, I never said anything about hugging or holding hands," she reasoned. Jessie didn't respond. "Look Jessie, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I just get frustrated being around you all the time and not being able to touch you."

"I'm sorry too. But I just don't want people to know yet," or at all she added.

"It's okay Jess. I understand," Katie sighed. Damn it! That was completely pointless. I'm Katie Singer, a professional doormat.

"Jess! Hey. How's it going?" Sarah asked as she walked up to Jessie and Katie in the hallway.

Jessie turned around and smiled. "Hey. Not bad. How about you?" She asked with a small smiled. She missed Katie's scowl directed at Sarah.

"Fine. What are you guys up to after school today? I was thinking that maybe we could hang out," she asked, giddy with excitement.

Jessie shifted uncomfortably. "I...um...have an appointment," she said, trying to hide the fact that she is in therapy. After the fiasco a little over a week ago, the last thing she wanted was something else to fuel the fire. "I'm going to be busy with that."

"Oh," she said, disappointed. "What about you Katie? What are you up to after school?"

"I have to help my mom rearrange the living room...again. She's pretty consistent about doing it every two weeks. But after that, I'm free," Katie replied. Katie knew that there was a Gay-Straight Alliance meeting after school that Grace had to drag Jessie after her therapy.

"That's cool," Sarah smiled. "I'll see you later then," she took off to class as the bell rang.

"Told you that she doesn't hate you," Katie grinned to Jessie.

"Yeah. You were right this one time, but don't get too used to it," Jessie replied cheekily. Katie laughed.

"I hate you and hope that you die a gruesome death," Jessie mumbled to Grace as they pulled up in front of Mr. Dimitri's house.

"No you don't," Grace chuckled. "It's not all that bad Jess. I'm sure that it will alright. It's just a meeting," she replied with a grin. She was determined to drag Jessie to as many meetings as she possibly could.

"You didn't tell me there was a meeting tonight. If you had told me, I would have asked Katie to take me to therapy," she ground out.

"I'm sorry Jess. It must have slipped my mind. I'm sure that you'll make it up to Katie somehow," she smirked.

Jessie turned beet red. "Shut up," she mumbled.

"Hey you two. You're just on time," Dimtri said as he opened the door. "You decided to join us," he said to Jessie with a smirk.

"I had no choice," she ground out as she glared at a smirking Grace. They walked in and Jessie stopped dead in her tracks. She saw Katie and Sarah hanging out in Dimitri's living room. "Katie?" She said before she had a chance to stop herself.

"Jess, hi," Katie replied, not the least bit nervous or surprised to see her there. "How'd your appointment go?" She asked, noting Jessie's shocked expression.

Finding her voice, Jessie decided to reply. "Fine. I didn't expect to see you here," she asked Sarah.

"Yeah. Katie said she was going and I decided to check it out," she smiled at her. "What brings you here?" She asked, Katie had told her that Jessie didn't want any part of the Gay-Straight Alliance.

"Grace dragged me. She neglected to tell me there was a meeting until we were already leaving my appointment," she grumbled. "I already threatened her life over it. Strangely enough, she didn't think I was serious," Jessie pretended to think about this as the other two giggled.

"Grace does tend to get all bitch-tastic on, well, everyone. She was hell on wheels during the play," Sarah said with a grin.

"You think that's bad, try living with her," Jessie grunted, taking a seat. "She is in a permanent state of PMS," she told them.

Katie was about to try anything to get back into the conversation. "I have to deal with her, not only during English, but whenever I go to Jessie's house," she rolled her eyes. "She lives to harass," she said. They all chuckled in agreement.

The meeting flew by as the three girls sat around talking and giggling the time away. Katie was glad that Jessie and Sarah were getting along, but she was kind of jealous too.

As the meeting came to a close, Grace walked up to them. "You ready Jess?" She asked, eyeing the three girls. She truly did not trust Sarah.

"I'll take her home Grace," Katie said as more of a statement than an offer. Grace just nodded as she turned and left. "Ready?" She asked her two friends.

"Uh-huh," they answered simultaneously.

"I am so glad that you and Sarah were there tonight," Jessie sighed with a smile. "If you hadn't been, I surely would've gouged my eyes out with my pencil," she said.

Katie laughed at that as she slowly leaned in to kiss Jessie in front of her house. "I'll see you tomorrow," she whispered, pulling her face away.

"Bye," Jessie said as she got out of the car. Katie lingered outside long enough to watch Jessie get into the house. Once again, Katie sighed after her girlfriend. There was ten days until the dance, Jessie still hadn't given Katie an answer. She was starting to panic a little now. She wanted to go to the dance with Jessie and she was getting fed up with Jessie's paranoia.