Fic: Boarding School (4?)

Author: nodoubtwywh

Disclaimer: None of the character of Once and Again belong to me. But if they were on ebay - watch out!

Summary: Jessie goes to boarding school not knowing that her life will never be the same. (haha sorry, I suck at this whole summary thing)

Feedback: Yes, please! If you want me to continue this story, please let me know!

Jessie threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, grateful that she didn't have to wear her uniform yet. She dried her hair only a little bit before knocking on Katie's door.

The two of them made their way to the dining hall, and Katie decided to stand on a chair to look for Tad.

"Please get down from that chair, Ms. Singer" A stern voice commanded

"Er, sorry Mr. McKinney," Katie yelled back.

"Figures. I'm here for two days and already the teachers are on my case" Katie complained to Jessie. "Oh, look, there's Tad...Tad!"

"Hey Katie, survive the first night?" Tad asked before noticing Jessie and becoming a little less confident.

"Oh, Tad, you remember Jessie, right?" Katie said in a tone that was obviously tormenting Tad.

Tad lost his composure "Er yeah, hi, how's it going? It's cool here right? Do you like your roommate?"

Before Jessie could respond Katie laughed and told him to slow down and take it one question at a time. Jessie was pretty sure Tad blushed a little.

They went through the line pretty quickly, and found a place to sit. Jessie told Tad that she was living with Grace so that made it easier to relax. The breakfast conversation stayed pretty consistent with the usual "getting to know you" banter. Jessie couldn't help but be amazed at how easily Katie could change awkward silence into a funny conversation. She was definitely one of those charismatic people that everyone is drawn to. 'The exact opposite of me,' Jessie thought to herself as she took a bite of yogurt.

After breakfast they dumped off their trays, and Jessie thought she'd head back to her room to read a bit before Grace got back. But before she could tell Katie and Tad goodbye, one of Katie's many new friends yelled for her to come over.

"Hey, I'll be right back" Katie said quickly to Tad and Jessie. Jessie waited with Tad because she thought it might be a little rude to leave without saying goodbye to Katie.

"So, do you think you'll go to the welcome back party tonight?" Tad asked Jessie nervously.

"What party?" she asked sincerely. Jessie hadn't heard anything about a party yet.

"There's always a party on the football field. It's actually school chaperoned, but the after parties are killer...er from what I hear"

Jessie wasn't sure if she felt like going to this party, but maybe if Grace went.

"I'm..." Jessie started to explain that she wasn't sure when Katie ran back over and jumped on Tad's back.

"Hey!" Katie yelled happily "What'd I miss? Did I give you enough time to ask her to the party yet, Tad?"

Jessie never knew a guy who could turn as red as she could. Tad removed Katie from his back, and said through tight lips, "I was just mentioning it to her, actually"

"Oh, well, you've gotta come," Katie said ignoring the awkwardness of Tad "I bet Grace will go, and it's going to be great from what I hear. And I met this kid Chad, he's a day student, and he's throwing this after party at his house"

"Um, cool" Jessie said after a minute because Katie and Tad were staring at her "I'll check and see if Grace wants to go"

"Great," Tad said brightly with a small sigh of relief

"Well, I'm going to go organize my room a little bit before Grace gets back," Jessie said knowing it sounded lame. She'd had her fill of being social for the day. She went back to the elevators, but decided to try the stairs. She was only on the fourth floor, so the stairs wouldn't be that bad.

"Hey, wait up!" Katie called after her.

"What's up?"

"Nothing, I'm just heading back to my room, too. So, I figured I'd tag along...are we taking the stairs?" Katie asked curiously

"Yeah, well, I was just going to give em a try...we don't have to though"

"Good," Katie smiled as she pushed the elevator button "I'm totally lazy"

"You really should come tonight," Katie started at the elevator made its way up "I think it'll be fun, and Tad really is a good guy."

Jessie did like Tad, but she just wasn't used to attention from a lot of guys. She definitely lacked a little bit of experience in the guy department.

"Yeah?" Jessie asked "Did you guys ever...like..."

"Oh, never" Katie said reading Jessie's thoughts "He's just been a great friend for a long time"

Jessie said goodbye to Katie and decided to read a book while waiting for Grace.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly. Grace came back and proclaimed that her advisor was awesome and Jessie would have to meet him. Lunch wasn't horrible, and it turns out that they always have salad. That made Jessie a little more relaxed about the cafeteria food. Later they found the bookstore and got their books without a problem.

The rest of the day could have been boring, but Grace decided it might be a good idea if she and Jessie went to find the buildings their classes were in so they didn't get lost tomorrow. Jessie, of course, thought this was a brilliant idea so they decided to explore the campus.

They found most of the buildings with ease and decided to go back to the dorms and have dinner. Jessie had mentioned the party earlier to Grace who thought it was a great idea. Jessie wasn't so sure, but she decided to go anyway. She didn't want to be the only one left in the dorms.

Later that night Jessie and Grace took about an hour to decide what to wear. They both agreed that jeans and maybe a cute top would be the trick. Jessie pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a light pink tank top. The weather still felt like summer. Grace was about to put on heals with her jeans when Katie knocked on the door to see if they wanted to walk over together.

"Sure," Grace replied for them

"Great, meet me in the hall in 15 minutes, k?" Katie said as she looked at the shoes Grace was putting on. "And Grace? I'd wear different shoes. It's going to be on a football field"

"Good point" Grace laughed as she looked for a different pair of shoes to wear.

25 minutes later they were all dressed and ready. They ran into a big group of girls waiting for the elevator also ready to go the party. The group of about 15 girls made their way easily to the football field even though it was getting dark out.

"Hey you guys," Tad yelled to them as they walked past the bleachers and onto the field

The rest of the evening there wasn't too bad. Jessie made it through without having a heart attack, and she was even able to enjoy herself - for a few minutes anyway. Tad was being really nice to her and was getting her all the punch she wanted...and then some.

The last glass he brought her tasted a little funny.

"Eck," was her involuntary response when she took a sip of her punch "what is this?"

Tad took a sip of his and realized that someone had spiked it.

"Looks like someone got to the punch, I'm sorry, I swear I didn't know" He said as he poured out his punch. The last thing he wanted was Jessie to think he drank a lot.

Grace and Katie had subtly made their move away from Tad and Jessie so "the couple" could be alone. Grace wasn't sure if Jessie would like this, but she decided to give it a shot when Katie mentioned the idea. It didn't mean that she wasn't going to keep an eye on them though. They were hanging out near the music with a bunch of people that all seemed to know Katie.

"Earth to Grace" Katie said trying to get her attention

"Oh, sorry" Grace said not realizing she hadn't been paying attention

"No big. Having fun spying on Tad and Jessie?"

"No, it's not that, I was just, um" Grace stammered trying to find a better answer

"It's all right, I get it," Katie said as she looked over to Jessie and Tad who were now sitting on the bleachers talking. Tad looked happier than she'd seen him in a while and she was happy for him. But for some reason she wasn't as happy as she thought she'd be.

"Anyway," Katie continued ignoring her thoughts "That guy Chad I mentioned to you earlier tonight...I think we should head over there now. What do you say we go grab the lovebirds?"

"Sounds good" Grace said hoping Jessie was up to going. This guy Chad was really hot, and Jessie seemed to be getting along fine with Tad.

Thirty minutes later they found a ride to Chad's and were pulling up to his driveway.

"Wow," Tad said staring at the huge house in front of him

"Very eloquently put, Tad," Katie teased.