July 4th...

Kayla had stopped by Jules' house because she knew Jules would hook her up in the makeup and hair department. As Jules was finishing up, she applied a couple more things here and there to Kayla. "Alright. I'm done!" She handed Kayla a mirror and she smiled from ear to ear. Her makeup was perfect and so was her hair. Kayla rarely straightened her hair because the natural curls she had were already very pretty. Tonight though, she wanted a change. Her newly straightened hair reached the lower part of her back. This allowed Jules to do a lot. They decided to pin up the top part in a "bird's nest" styled bun while the back was to hang down. She also had two small strands of hair hanging down in the front.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" she said jumping out of her seat giving Jules a big hug almost suffocating the poor…or rather wealthy woman. "Kay, this is probably one of my best jobs yet. Don't mess it up!" Jules demanded sternly.

"No worries. Look, Ms. Jackson, thank you. Not just for the makeup tonight, but for our talk a while ago. That was a pivotal day for me. I just allowed myself to accept it all and move on. I could have missed something that was right under my nose the whole time."

"It's no problem, darlin'. If anyone deserves to be happy, it's you."

"Ok, I gotta get going now. I need to get dressed."

"I WANT PICTURES!!" Jules yelled quickly as Kayla rushed out of the door.

Kayla headed back to her house to put on her dress that she had just bought the day before. It was a spaghetti-strap, satin sky blue dress. It didn't show too much cleavage, while at the same time, it didn't totally conceal it either. The skirt was long but had a long slit on the left, allowing her legs to show. The dress didn't fit too tight, but at the same time, wasn't very loose. It gave her a curvaceous, mature look. Kay looked good, but most importantly, she felt good. Jason soon knocked on the door and was floored at how stunning Kayla looked. He had always thought she was pretty, but had no clue she was capable of looking the way she did. Kayla's parents were gone for the weekend visiting some family. They felt bad about missing their daughter getting dolled up, but they demanded she have pictures from the dance so Kayla didn't forget to bring her camera before they left.

At Nigel's house…

Nigel had been taking a very important phone call in the back room so left Jett by himself. Jett sat on the couch in his newly tailored black tuxedo and red bow tie looking around the living room until he heard footsteps behind him. He got up and turned around to see Tara looking unbelievable. He froze. Her hair was full of loose curls and looked great. She also had a red carnation behind her ear, which matched her red dress nicely. She wore a halter neck strapped velvet dress. It had a loose skirt that was an inch or two above the knee. "Just when I thought you couldn't get anymore beautiful…" He said amazed.

Tara gave a huge smile. "Just when I thought you couldn't look anymore fine."

Jett strutted around the living room as if he were a model, striking poses and all.

"You're so crazy Jett!" she said laughing and shaking her head. "Shall we go?" she asked in a sigh.

"Go we shall." he replied slyly. He grabbed her hand and they were on their way. "Oh what about Nigel?" he said before they walked out.

"He'll see me when I get back." They headed out the door.

At the Ball…

Kayla and Jason were the first of the gang to arrive. "They really weren't kidding when they said ball." She said as she looked at the nicely decorated ballroom. They hobnobbed with some acquaintances from school for a while until Kayla spotted JB and Holly then all the camera work started. They both looked great. Holly had curly hair and yet another pink dress and JB was in a tux with a blue bow tie. They walked over and greeted each other and complimented how nice everyone looked. Soon after, Riley and Baxter came in and Riley gave Kay a hug. "Wow Kay, you look AWESOME!! You dressed to kill tonight, girl!"

Kayla laughed. "That's YOUR territory Riles, and tonight was no exception. You took no prisoners. You are working that black dress!"

"Well, of course! Would there ever be any doubt?" she joked. Baxter had his hair moussed and slicked back and wore a tux as well. He looked around the room and spotted the punch bowl. "Want something to drink?" he asked Riley.

"Sure!" she answered. He left for the bowl. "And of course, you've gotta save the best for last." said Riley as she spotted Jett and Tara arm in arm making their entrance. Kayla turned around to see them. Jett looked so good that she didn't know what to do with herself. She wasn't used to seeing him look like that. He spotted Kayla and had to do one of the best acting jobs of his life. He kept cool, but on the inside, he felt as if his legs were going to buckle. Tara, she looked great, but tonight, even she couldn't match how Kayla looked. To Jett, it was Kayla that was the finest thing in the room, not the girl who was actually on his arm. He couldn't act like that was the case though. "You all look like a million bucks tonight!" he said excitedly.

"Well, you should know, because you have it." J.B. joked. Baxter came back with the punch, but him and Riley broke off from the group to go talk to a few friends of his. J.B. and Holly went off to dance. That left Kayla, Jason, Jett and Tara. "You look sooooo pretty tonight Kayla!" said a cheery Tara. "Thanks Tara. You look gorgeous too." But that's never new Kayla thought to herself. They made idle chitchat until a song Tara really liked came on. "OH YAY! I love this song. Let's dance Jett." She said as she took his hand and they hit the floor. Kayla and Jason followed suite. Soon, everybody was dancing.

After a while Tara started to get tired. Jason needed to catch up with some friends so had to leave Kayla. "Aww man, one more dance?" he asked from Tara.

"Jett, I'll be up again soon. Hey, there's Kayla over there. Ask her to dance."

"You sure?"

"Sure! What's a dance between friends right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

With that, Tara joined an also tired Riley and they started talking. Jett sort of stood for a moment, but then told himself to stop being so nervous about asking his friend to dance. He then took a deep breath and approached her. "Still got some dance left in you?" A surprised Kayla had to allow everything to register but then decided to dance with him. Brian McKnight's "Never Felt This Way" started to play. At first, they just went through the motions of it all. They moved together, but disconnected at first, until their eyes met. After that, they just continued to stare into each other's eyes and their dancing then became a lot more uniform. Their hearts were in it. It was like they were communicating the lyrics of the song with their eyes. Neither mentioned a word to the other for the whole song.

There will never come a day
You'll ever hear me say
That I want and need to be without you.
I want to give my all.
Baby, just hold me.
Simply control me.
'Cuz your arms, they keep away the lonelies.


When I look into your eyes
Then I realize
That all I need is you in my life.
All I need is you in my life.
'Cuz I've never felt this way about lovin'.
Never felt so good.

Never felt this way about lovin'
It feels so good.
How it takes my breath,
Starts a pounding in my chest,
Makes me weak, when I think about you.
Makes me wanna give my all,
Life wouldn't mean a thing.
Not a happy song to sing,
Just emptiness if I had to live without you.



'Cuz I've never felt this way about lovin', darlin'
Never felt so good.
Never felt this way about lovin'
It feels so good.

Tara stared at them across the room. She was always good at reading people and from watching that dance, she realized that Jett had never looked at herself that way. No, he had love in his eyes and in his heart at that moment, and so did Kayla. After the song, they still didn't say a thing to each other. Jason caught up with Kayla and whisked her off to meet with his friends. Jett got a little something to eat and found where Tara was sitting in order to join her. "So, how was the dance?" she asked as if she didn't suspect a thing.

"It was just a dance." He said as he stared off into space half listening.

"Jett, it wasn't. You know it, and now I know it."

"What are you talking about?" he asked with a frown now looking at her and tuning into the conversation fully.

"Jett, stop kidding yourself. The look you gave her. You love her. I'm not stupid and this shouldn't be a surprise to you. You know how you feel. This explains why you've been acting weird overall since she's gotten with Jason. Jett, you're an open book. You may be an actor, but when you're Jett, there's no hiding anything. You would think that I would be mad, but I'm not. This just explains so much. Kayla never seemed to like me very much. She was as cordial as she could be, but I knew that there was something about me she couldn't stand and now I know. She couldn't stand that I had you."

"You have me. You HAVE me, Tara. What are you talking about?"

"Did you not listen to what I've just told you? We may say we're together, but in your heart, you know who's number one and now so do I. It's alright though, Jett. It really is. You've known her for years so it only makes sense. How could you not like her? She's got everything; Beauty, brains, courage, and she may not know it, but she's got you. She's the one who really has you Jett. You let that sink in…" she said as she got up and patted him on the shoulder. He continued sitting and put his elbows on his lap and rested his chin on the palms of his hands. Everything tuned out for him, the music, and the people. The only thing in his mind that existed was his feelings for Kayla, which he decided to spend this time analyzing, as Tara suggested.

Tara caught up with Kayla and Jason. "Kayla…can we talk."

"Umm…sure." Kayla said with a confused look. "Jay, I'll be back in a sec." They walked outside. Tara explained everything to Kayla like she did to Jett. "Tara, you're perfect. How could he not want you? YOU have him, Tara. YOU have him, not me. I never had him and probably never will. I've accepted that even if I do love him!!" Kayla paused, realizing what she just said.

Tara wasn't surprised by her words. "Jett may have thought I had everything, but I think he's realizing that you had that and then some. You two need to talk Kay. Go to him right now."

"Tara, why? You even said it yourself that I didn't like you."

"Because, you both are good people, and good people deserve to be happy." Kayla's demeanor softened a bit and she gave Tara a hug. "Thank you!" Tara smiled as she saw Kayla walk back towards the entrance. She sighed, crossed her arms, and decided to stare into the stars for a bit and enjoy the nice evening summer breeze.

Kayla was about to open the doors when Jason came outside. "Hey beautiful, and that's an understatement if I do say so myself." He gave her a kiss. Though Kayla felt for Jett, she felt for Jason too. "It's getting late and I had a surprise for you." he continued.

"A surprise for me?"

"Yeah. We gotta drive there first. It won't take long, we'll make it back here."

"Alright." She agreed. They then got into his car and drove off.

Author's Note: Brian McKnight isn't my favorite artist ever if you're wondering. I just think these two songs fit my story well. Also, I decided that I wanted to make Tara a good person in this story because I feel that she was a good person in the show. I believe that this is something she would have done if this was the situation. Being a Jett/Kayla supporter, I was inclined to absolutely hate Jett/Tara, but not Tara herself. Anyways, please review!