Finally, after over 4 weeks, here is chapter 3!!! Sorry peeps, but I happened to be in the wilds of Africa... bad news is it took me so long to update. Good news is this fanfic's pretty much completed now! Yay!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and stuff.. I likes, I likes!!!

Anyways, disclaimer... I don't own Cassie, Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Ax, or Marco, however I DO own Jodie Price, Ritchie and Dom. Ha! Lol. Anyways, yeah, I don't own 'em, never will, never mind.

Here goes!

Cassie sat, swirling her straw around in her milkshake, staring into it, almost expecting it to give her the answers. She'd caught Jake's eye again the previous day as they left school. Jodie had been flirting with him and he wasn't exactly pushing her away.

'Cassie, please. Cheer up,' Rachel said, sitting opposite her. Cassie woke up to the real world: the buzz of the mall surrounded her once more.

'Yeah well, you're not the one who's had their prom date taken away from them.' She replied, sounding more miserable than ever.

'Oh, cheer up. Please. Just because Jake has asked Jodie to the prom instead of you... there's plenty more fish in the sea.'

'For you maybe. You have it perfect, Rach. Boyfriend whom nobody knows is alive at all, and if...The slightest possibility that it goes wrong with Tobias.. there's millions of guys queuing up for you Rach!' Cassie started to raise her voice a little, tears forming in her eyes. 'For me.. Jake is precious. I could never have anyone half as great as Jake.'

'You know that's not true..' Rachel interrupted her best friend, realising for the first time how much this meant to her.

'No Rach. You know it is. No guy looks at me twice. I'm just the weird one. The one who doesn't get all her clothes from Gap. The one who talks more to animals than to real people. I'm not like you, Rach. Jake was... Jake is a miracle. And I know we've never confessed it to each other, but.. I thought... I thought...I thought he felt the same way,' Cassie's voice reduced to a mumble as she resumed staring into her milkshake. Rachel kept quiet for a moment or two, before her eyes lit up.

'What?' Cassie asked, subdued.

'I have the perfect solution. Retail therapy!' she said, a smile on her face. Cassie's face, however, remained blank. 'Shopping! You need a prom dress, right? And where do we happen to be? Come on, shopping cheers everyone up. Even those less experienced in the skill, such as yourself.' Cassie just rolled her eyes, and submitted herself to being dragged around the mall, trying on dress after dress. To start with, she found herself hating every dress she set eyes upon. She had never liked dresses: too girly swirly, not practical enough. Come on, she thought. How am I meant to tidy the barn in this? But after the first few dresses, she started to enjoy herself a little. Although Jake didn't entirely escape her mind, he was certainly pushed back a little.

After at least 5 shops and countless dresses, Cassie felt helpless. Not one dress had they seen that suited her.

'Well, I guess I'll just have to skip the prom then won't I?' she said as the two best friends entered yet another shop. Rachel smiled.

'Nah-ah.' She had spotted something... and made a beeline for it. Cassie raced after her, but stopped abruptly as she saw what Rachel had. It was gorgeous... even Cassie knew that and she'd only just started to get into this shopping lark. Cream, satin, full-length skirt with a split... she was in the changing rooms within seconds.

If the dress had seemed good before, now it was perfect. It was made for Cassie: the cream shone against her chocolate skin; the slit in the skirt revealed just enough to e tantalising, but not enough to be slutty. Cassie smiled as she spied herself in the mirror. She could imagine herself now: hair done up properly, slight touch of make up... but she soon brought her mood down when she thought of her date. Or rather the non-existence of him. This mood was soon broken, however, when Rachel saw her.

'Cassie.. it's perfect. Get it off and get to the checkout right now!' she said, and Cassie obeyed.

Just two hours after sitting and moping in the café in the centre of the mall, Cassie's spirits had been lifted and she now sat with a new lease of life, her bags proudly sat beside her. She and Rachel drank their milkshakes quite quickly, and so Cassie got up to order some more. As she stood at the counter, waiting to be served, her eyes wandered into the arcade. There she saw the backs of two very familiar heads... and the face of one extremely irritating girl. Jake and Marco, with none other than Jodie Price hanging around them. Cassie scowled: she couldn't bear it. She and Jake.. she and Jake were meant to be. They both knew it... didn't they?

'Excuse me?' the waitress said from behind the counter. Cassie's thoughts were interrupted and she ordered another two shakes, and went to sit down with Rachel.

'Rach.. Remind me why I have just spent over $30 on a bag which can only just fit my keys in, which I'll never use again after this prom, this prom which I don't really want to go to, this prom which I don't even have a date for?' she said, slumping in her chair, depressed at the sight she just witnessed. Rachel opened her mouth to answer, but was stopped by a pair of cute guys walking over to where they were sat.

'Heya girls! Want a drink?' the taller one offered.

'We just ordered, thanks,' Rachel replied, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder. 'But you can pay if you're so desperate!'

The tall guy laughed, his shorter mate only smiled.

'Mind if we sit down?' he asked whilst doing so.

'Too late if we did,' Rachel muttered. 'So... you guys are in 12th grade, right?'

A/N: sorry if I've got the whole grade system wrong... from what I can make out it's pretty similar to the English system, but.. apologies if it's wrong ï