A/N - well, there's the next chapter, it's slightly shorter than the first one...ah well...thank ya'll for the reviews (all two )
The next day when she arrived at school she wasn't surprised to find JD ignoring her completely, after all, she had been the one to blow up in his face about nothing of importance…she made a mental note of talking to him during recess.
Classes passed rather uneventfully, if not counted the time Lena leaned towards her and asked her if her hair was naturally this scruffy or was it an achieved look…earning a glare and a...
"Yes, I wake up a 6 each morning just fix it" she was not it the mood for witty blondes right now…well, was she ever?
Then as she rolled out the door, she was met with something very tall, dark and handsome
"Oh, hello…erm…Harriet, right?" she blushed
"Harley"
"right, Harley…you're in Lena's class right?" a surge of disappointment ran through her, so JD was right…or perhaps he was just figuring things out, another part of her brain thought, the optimistic one.
She nodded, confirming his question
"Oh, I thought so…would you do me a favor?" he asked her and smiled…she almost swooned
"…uh…of course" he brightened up at that and reached inside his jacked pulling out a small note, handing it to her
"Will you give this to Lena for me?" and her hopes crumbled, so now she was a delivery boy, she had half a mind to tell him to 'piss off' and give it to her himself, but instead she just reached out a hand and took the note
"Yeah…sure" she sent him a small, half smile, then turned to go find JD
"Hey Harley!" her heart skipped a beat and she turned to face him again
"Yes?"
"Your braid is coming loose…" her face fell, 'no shit, Sherlock'
"Oh, so it is"
After some searching she found the Caboose surrounded by the rest of the freight, chatting avidly with rather animated gestures, obviously describing something very interesting for the others seemed transfixed, even Kathy was there, her eyes wide behind her large glasses. Harley smiled softly to herself, approaching the group in hopes they wouldn't notice, and then leaned against the wall, waiting for the story to finish.
"Oi! Harley, where've you been all day" Stonehenge the Brick Truck turned, seeing her
"Just around" she shrugged
"Oh! Did you come in time to hear JD's story?" Kathy piped up excitedly "these engines were picking on him…" she was cut off by JD's wave
"She doesn't care" his dark eyes fell on her, and there was something in them Harley had never before seen in the usually cheerful 'boose…was it hurt?
"Actually, JD…I wanted to talk to you"
"Then talk"
"In private"
He stayed silent for a small while, then nodded and skated away, she followed, he stopped at their tree
"All right, now can you talk?" she nodded, her head bowed, not wanting to meet his eyes.
"first off, I'm sorry" she glanced up, no change in his mask, neither acceptance nor denial "I know, you were right, I shouldn't have blown up in you face…and most of all, I had no right to slap you...can you forgive me?"
long silence, she dared not look up, then soft chuckling reached her ears, her brows furrowed and she glanced up…he was smiling
"Of course I can forgive you, silly" he said, his voice cheerful, then the smile faded a bit "actually, it should be I apologizing…I didn't mean the things I said about you…" she shut him up with a bone-crushing hug
"Shut up" she muttered with a laugh, only glad they were still friends.
"So what made you change your mind about him" he asked her curiously, sitting back against the tree.
She picked up the letter Max had given to her, until now having laid forgotten in her pocket.
"This" she showed it to him "I haven't read it, but it's for Lena…why would he send her a letter if not to ask her to the Dance" she smiled sadly, leaning against him.
"I dunno, why did he ask you to bring it?"
"I'm in her class, and I almost ran him over…again" she grinned at that
"Are you going to read it?" he asked, feeling slightly curious himself
"I don't know…it wouldn't really be very nice…" she paused, thinking it over, and then let out a snicker
"But she's never nice anyway, so I guess it kinda evens out" a wicked grin spread over her featured and she opened the note, reading over the messy handwriting
Go with me to the Dance?
Pretty please?
Max
And that was all, she snorted, though couldn't help the slight pang of jealousy
"Nice way to ask someone out" she commented, turning to JD who was grinning himself
"Oh well, you know Lena is a very simple girl, this probably sounds like the finest poetry to her" Harley had to laugh at that
"Oh so true" they sat in silence for a moment then JD broke it with the question that had been burning her
"Are you gonna take it to her?" she looked at him, grey eyes meeting brown ones
"You think I should?"
"It'd serve him good if you didn't"
"But he'd know it was my fault if she doesn't get it"
"Point"
And so it came to place that Harley actually did something nice for Lena, now, that was something she had wowed never to do, but at this time she found herself sitting in the classroom waiting for her to arrive. She didn't have to wait long, after about five minutes she heard the tell-tale giggling of Lena and her groupies; she had to fight back a shudder of dislike.
"Hey, Lena!" she called out, getting the coach's attention,Lena turned to look at her, one slender eyebrow cocked in distain, she whispered something to her girlfriends that earned a wave of giggles, Harley's jaw set in dislike, and her hand clutched the letter
"What is it, freight-girl?" Harley almost laughed…was that supposed to be an insult?
"I have something for you" Lena cocked an eyebrow as the other girl handed her the note
"What's that" she opened it and read it over "why are you bringing me this"
"I was the closest" she nodded simply
"Tell him I say yes"
"You tell him yourself, I'm not your messenger dog" Harley's eyes narrowed slightly
"But you could as well be" Lena retorted tartly
"Why you…" she started, but was cut off as the teacher arrived…she made a mental note to make Lena's life miserable.
"She said yes" Harley stood in front of Max, informing him the 'good' news
"Oh, great!" he smiled brightly "thank you Harvey"
"Harley"
"Right"
Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder 'why her?', why couldn't she be first class like Lena and actually fit in, or like Kathy, who, even though not high class, had found herself a nice steamer, and at least she was pretty, with her light brown hair and heart shaped face. Harley tugged on a reddish brown strand of hair, having fallen free from the braid, reaching down she untied it, letting it fall loose over her shoulders, it almost reached down to her hips, her dark brown hair the only thing she remotely liked about her appearance, it was really thick a wavy and the cause of some envy at her old station…here on the other hand, it was simply made fun of, the scruffiness of it constant cause of hilarity. It was amazing the things they could find to make fun of.
Sometimes she wondered why she stuck around, why she didn't just go away, leave Lena and the coaches, leave Max and the engines, leave it all
"Hello Harley" arms wrapped around her from behind, the person sensing her dark mood
"Hello JD"
"Listen, I was wondering…"
"Yes?"
"The dance…will you go with me?"
She smiled
"Of course"
And she knew why she stayed.
A/N: that's all folks
I'll be in with the next chapter soon...