Another chappie, another day…

"Is Amara okay?" Bobby asked Jubilee as they watched Amara sitting by the window with a dreamy expression on her face. She was watching the rain come down in sleets as it pounded away on the window and the institute.

"Why would you ask that?" Jubilee asked nervously, pasting a smile on her face. Amara had made her swear that she wouldn't tell anyone about Ray and her well, splitting. Something about being humiliated. But even though she hadn't told anybody, it seemed that the whole Institute had noticed that something was wrong with Amara. And when Jubilee was questioned about it, she hated lying to everyone. The only person who hadn't noticed was Ray himself.

"Jubes, you're hiding something," Bobby remarked casually, not looking at her but at the TV. He muted the sound and turned to look at her seriously. "What is it? Come on, you know we promised never to hide stuff from each other…"

"I promised not to tell," Jubilee blurted. She crossed her arms defiantly. "And you won't make me…" And that's as close as you're gonna get to the truth, Bobby Drake, she thought silently. She was unprepared for what came next, though.

"Not even for your own boyfriend?" Bobby pouted, pulling a mock-sulky face. Jubilee started to giggle at him. "Not the puppy-dog eyes," she chortled. "No, Bobby, you won't make me-!"

She was cut off by Bobby reaching over to her. She stopped laughing and frowned. "Bobby, what are you doing?"

"Well," Bobby sighed dramatically. "Since you won't tell me, I have to bring out the heavy artillery. I'm sorry for doing this, Jubes," he said mock-sincerely. Jubilee burst into full-scale laughter as he started to tickle her stomach. "Stop, Bobby, stop!" she cried, laughing so hard she thought she was going to explode. "You're gonna kill me!"

"Well, if you won't tell…" Bobby stopped, with a mischievous smile. Jubilee, when she finally got her breath back, leaned back and fixed him with a steely-eyed glare as best as she could. "No, I won't," she replied, trying to dodge Bobby as he leaned over to tickle her again, with very little success. She started to cry with laughter as he tickled her stomach. It didn't help matters either that he had turned his hands to ice. She tried to escape, but couldn't and she didn't know how long her resolve could hold.

"Oh, get a room," Amara snapped, finally aroused from her daydream as Jubilee let out another cry of laughter and desperation. She stalked out of the room, purposely banging into Ray as he entered with a sheaf of papers. Shocked by their friend's behavior, Bobby and Jubilee stopped their laughter and Jubilee leaped to her feet.

"Oh, dear," she groaned. "What are we going to do now?"

"Maybe it's got something to do with Ray," Bobby replied, helping his friend pick up his papers. "Don't you think?" he fixed Ray with a stare worthy of melting someone.

"What did I do!" Ray demanded, his lank body unfolding as he stood up. "I didn't do anything, so why are you blaming me?"

Jubilee bit her lip. She knew what Bobby was doing. Ray wasn't going to say anything about their split, knowing him, and if she held her resolve, she wasn't going to say anything either. And then sooner or later, one of them would crack.

That person turned out to be her. "Alright, you win," she blurted out angrily, glaring at Bobby. He smiled triumphantly. "Honestly, I don't even know why I like you sometimes."

"Oh, that's easy," Bobby shrugged. He started counting off on his fingers. "It's because of my incredible wit, my handsome looks, my sharp brain…"

"Your big mouth," Ray interrupted. He looked to Jubilee and back to Bobby as if watching a tennis match. "Will someone please tell me what's going on here?"

Jubilee took a deep breath, knowing Amara was either going to kill her later, or going to love her for it. She sincerely hoped it was the latter. Jubilee knew exactly how Amara felt now and she was going to tell Ray everything. Literally everything.

She took a deep breath, and started to tell her story.

Did you like it? I decided that there's probably going to be one more chapter before the ending. Everyone agree?