Chapter 3

" Well, it has to be something really good, for Jodie. Cause damn that girl is persistent," said Summer.

" We have to lure them into a false sense of security, first, Sum. Then just when they're not expecting it…"

" So you're saying we have to be nice to them? No way, I'm not doing it. I can't be civil to that thing. I mean eeeww."

" It won't be for long, just until we get our own back. I'm thinking major public humiliation, what do you think?"

Summer was still stuck on the fact that this plan required her to be nice to Jodie, and didn't respond for a second.

" I dunno, Coop. I don't think this is gonna work, I mean there's no way I can hold off from insulting Jodie, not even for a little while."

" Well, how about you go to Alex, and I go to Jodie, then? Then once we've got them trusting us, we can start our plan properly. Are you thinking what I'm thinking about the public humiliation?"

" How am I supposed to know that you're thinking about some sort of public humiliation?"

" I just told you. You weren't listening to me again, were you? Too busy thinking about Jodie, I expect."

"Eeeww, no way was I thinking about the thing."

" If you say so," Marissa said, smirking slightly.

" Whatever."

Jodie had called Alex after her conversation, if you could call it that, with Summer had ended.

" Why do you hate Marissa so much, anyway?" asked Jodie, after another of Alex's rants about how she couldn't stand the girl.

Alex remained silent, unable to give Jodie an answer that made any sense.

" Oh my god, you don't even know, do you? Al, it's been like forever. You can't treat all girls like Marissa that way just because one of them hurt you once."

" It's not about that," said Alex quietly.

Jodie wasn't fooled, and immediately informed Alex of this fact.

" Alex, I know you, and I know when you're lying to me. And I don't like it. I just think you're being unfair to Marissa is all."

" Unfair to Marissa? She's the one who started this whole thing, Jodie."

" From what I remember, it was you who started off the wrong way with her. Just because she reminds you of someone. Like I said, I don't think that's fair to her. Just apologise, Alex. It'll save a lot of trouble."

" Are you going to apologise to Jodie?" Alex asked, slightly accusingly.

" Hell no. She looks so hot when she's mad at me. I don't want to miss out on seeing that, now, do I?"

" Okay, I'll apologise to Marissa. But this doesn't mean we have to be friends."

" Okay, that's my mission for the day accomplished. I'll see you later."

" Bye, Jodie," responded Alex, before hanging up.

The next day, Alex was feeling a little apprehensive about her English class, where she was planning on apologising to Marissa about the way she had been treating her. What if she just threw it back in her face? Alex didn't like feeing that she was the powerless one in any situation, and that was how this conversation was going to make her feel.

Jodie and Summer had Spanish class together first period, and due to the fact that they had to sit alphabetically, were next to each other, a detail which irritated Summer no end. Jodie, however, was loving it, giving Summer not-so-subtle looks every so often, trailing her eyes up and down her body.

" Would you stop looking at me like that? I mean, I know I'm hot, but there's no need to stare."

" You're a bit full of yourself, aren't you? I wasn't looking at you, I was looking at Rachel. Now there's a girl I could see more of."

Summer frowned slightly. She had been sure that Jodie had been checking her out, now the girl sat next to her. She realised, with horror, that she was actually feeling disappointed that it wasn't her that Jodie was looking at.

" You just miss the fact that no one is paying attention to you," she told herself, trying to convince herself that was the only reason for the way she was currently feeling. "Yeah, that's it," she thought, having convinced herself, for the time being at least.

Meanwhile, in English class, Alex was waiting for the teacher to stop droning on so she could get what she needed to say to Marissa over with. She looked over at Marissa, who was tapping her pen against the side of the desk in a bored fashion, wondering how she should go about this.

In the end, she decided she should just come out with it. She nudged Marissa, trying to get her attention. Marissa ignored her, however. She didn't want to deal with Alex until her and Summer had worked out the details of their plan.

" Marissa", Alex whispered when she got no response.

Marissa still didn't respond, and Alex realised that she was going to have to go about this a different way. Tearing a page out of her notebook, she began to write.

I just want to apologise for the way I've been treating you. It wasn't fair of me, and I want us to start over.

Not sure what else to write, she passed the note towards Marissa, who gave her a dirty look, and proceeded to slide it back across the table without even glancing at it.

" You're really not making this easy for me, you know."

" Well, you've sure seemed to find insulting me easy lately. I don't want to listen to anymore of it, whore."

" I don't want to insult you."

"Well, there's a first. Saving them all for later, are you?"

" For Christ sake, I'm trying to say sorry here."

" Huh?" replied Marissa, surprised by Alex's response.

" I said, I'm trying to say sorry. What are you, deaf? I'm sorry that I haven't been the nicest person in the world, okay?"

" Care to tell me why you haven't been, then?"

" It's personal. I don't want to tell you. But I do want to ask you if we can start again, and try to be friends?"

Marissa wasn't going to forgive Alex that easily, however she saw a great window of opportunity to put her and Summer's plan into action, so instead of responding how she would have liked, she said, "Fine, we can do that."

Alex smiled, and said, " I'm glad. Now we have to do something about Summer and Jodie."

" Sure," said Marissa. " We'll think about that later," she added, her eyes still on Alex's lips, where they had been drawn to a moment ago when she smiled. Marissa hadn't really seen her genuinely smile before, it had always been an irritating little smirk, but she was surprised by the sincerity in Alex's smile.

At lunchtime, Marissa and Summer had come out of class first, and Marissa was hurriedly telling Summer about the earlier lesson, before Alex came to them, Marissa having invited Alex to eat with them, and to bring Jodie.

" What were you thinking? Alex I can deal with, but telling her to bring the thing? That is so not cool."

" Chill, Sum. Our plan is going to work out better than we could have hoped. We already have them trusting us. Alex has made this so much easier for us. Now both of them will get what they deserve."

" Okay," said Summer, still not entirely convinced that this was going to work. She could see this getting out of control. She was wondering if maybe she ought to have given Jodie a chance when she first met her. Then she remembered what Jodie had said to her upon their first meeting, and thought, "scratch that, she deserves this."

She sat down, a determined look on her face. She could get through this time with Jodie, providing she got what she wanted in the end.

Marissa spotted Alex walking out of the building, and waved her over. Alex came slowly, Jodie following even more reluctantly. She saw that Summer was there too, and immediately brightened. Alex had made it sound like it was just going to be Marissa.

" Hey, Alex," greeted Marissa. " I don't believe you've been introduced to Summer."

Alex held out her hand for Summer to shake, saying, "Nice to meet you Summer. I believe you've had the pleasure of meeting Jodie."

" No," said Summer firmly. " There was no pleasure at all involved in meeting Jodie."

" Oh but there could have been," said Jodie, her voice laced with innuendo. " Don't think I haven't seen the way you look at me."

Summer looked at Marissa for help, but Marissa was busy realising that Summer probably had been looking at Jodie that way. The first day Jodie arrived, she had noticed her standing nearby, and it could easily have been her that Summer had been spaced out over, she concluded.

Well, that certainly explained Summer's reaction to finding out about her and…. "No, you promised yourself you wouldn't think about her anymore," she thought to herself, absolutely determined not to make a trip into the past. She shook her head to clear those thoughts, and looked at Alex.

" So how come you decided to apologise?" she asked.

" I realised I wasn't being fair to you. Well, I guess Jodie made me realise, and she convinced me this was what I should do. And I'm glad she did," she said, smiling warmly.

Summer looked a little startled, and looked over to Jodie, who was sitting directly opposite her. " You actually care about how people feel?"

" Yeah, providing they're not you." Jodie said.

" What have I ever done to deserve this from you?" Summer asked, now feeling a little hurt.

" Are you so self centred that you don't even remember what you said when you first saw me?"

Summer looked a bit confused, thinking back to that moment….

" I didn't say anything to you," she said eventually.

" I was trying to be nice," said Jodie, " and all you did was make me wish I had never moved here."

She looked genuinely hurt, and Summer looked visibly guilty, despite the fact that she could not for the life of her recall saying anything nasty, at least not before Jodie had insulted her.

Jodie, unable to keep up the pretence any longer, burst out laughing at the look on Summer's face.

" How could you actually think you said something? You were way too busy drooling over my hotness."

" This is exactly why I don't like you," said Summer, getting up and walking away.

" Jodie, couldn't you at least make a slight effort with Summer?" asked Alex. " For me?" she added, knowing Jodie had never been able to resist her requests.

" Fine, I'll try. But I'm not making any promises."

" Thanks, Jodie. Well, I guess we should get going, the bells about to ring."