Jo met Marco at the mall; Jimmy called her cell saying he would meet with them later. That was fine with Jo; she just wanted to talk to Marco for a while. She met Marco at the entrance.

"Hey, Jo."

"Hey."

"So where to?"

"I don't know....." Jo looked around" I have never been here and not sure what I'm looking for. Can we, just walk around for a while?"

"Sure." Marco nodded.

They started window shopping for about 10 minutes when Marco said "Jo I've been meaning to talk to you....."

"You know that's funny, Marco, I wanted to talk to you about something....."

"Oh? What about?"

"Well.....about me really and.....kind of about you I guess....." Jo wasn't sure where to begin.

"Me?"

"Well sort of. I have some questions, but first I have to tell you a few things." Jo sat down on one of the resting benches. Marco sat next to her, silently.

"Have you.....noticed anything different about me Marco?"

Marco raised an eye brow.

"I mean compared to other girls....." Jo said.

Marco nodded "Yeah, I kind of do. There is something about you. Like maybe....."

"Maybe I'm not into dudes?"

"Yeah! So are you.....?"

"Yeah, I'm gay." She smiled "Or lesbian.....whichever." She shrugged.

Marco smiled too and nodded "I suspected something."

"I wasn't sure how anyone else would take it.....so I knew I could tell you first. But how will the others take it?"

"Well seeing that I'm not exactly an outcast I think they'll take it ok. But I don't know.....Spinner might be weirded out.....he's never really met a girl who's....."

"Did he totally freak when he learned about you?" Jo asked.

"YES! He really gave me a hard time. It took him a while before he would even talk to me again."

Jo was quiet for a moment before asking "Did he ever.....hurt you?"

"In what way?"

"Physically....."

"No.....he didn't, Jimmy would kill him. But.....I did get hurt once. Why?"

Jo looked away. Marco's eyes widened.

"Did somebody hurt you?"

Jo nodded "Pretty badly....."

"Oh Jo, I'm sorry."

"It's alright.....I'm happy I can talk to somebody who is kind of like me.....who I can share my feelings with you know?"

"Yeah me too, Jo."

Marco put his hand in Jo's and she held in her lap. For the first time in quite a while, Jo felt like she made a friend that she would never loose, even is she had to move again. Marco had at least an idea of what she's been through and he goes through lots of the same problems.

"Come on." said Jo. "Let's walk around."

They left the bench to visit some more shops. Jimmy eventually joined them and they headed to the food court. As they sat down with some burgers the guys told Jo more about the band they were in with Spinner and Craig and she told them more about her learning to play guitar and being in theater.

"Being in theater is like.....Halloween all year round. You become a different person all the time. But there usually isn't free candy coming with it."

"Well, damn that's the best part!" Jimmy laughed.

"So what shows have you been in?" Marco asked.

"Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, Fiddler of the Roof, Peter Pan. We sort of did a short show of Cats but that didn't work so well. I want sooo badly to be in Les Miz."

"What's that?" asked Jimmy.

"It's short for Les Miserables." Jo explained.

"And that would be...?"

"Les Miserables. Its means the miserables. It's a musical."

"Sounds pleasant....." Jimmy said.

"I heard it's pretty great!" said Marco.

"One of my favorites, along with the Phantom of the opera." said Jo.

Jimmy rolled his eyes smiling as the conversation turned round. He looked across the food court and spotted Spinner with Paige getting a frozen yogurt. He waved them over when he got their attention. Paige hurried over dragging Spinner behind her, holding her frozen yogurt in her other hand. Jo turned to see who Jimmy was waving at and her face paled. She quickly turned back to Marco.

Marco noticed her change in attitude. But when he saw who was coming he knew what must have been the problem.

"Hey guys, hey Jo. What's happening?" said Paige. In truth Paige was dying to finish her conversation with Jo where they left off but she wasn't about to mention it in front of the guys. It was just an awful subject to talk about in public. But she knew she would grow impatient, it would be hours before they could be alone.

They all walked around the mall together, Paige and Jo in the front.

"Are the costumes done yet Jo?" she asked.

"Just about. J.T. and I are just finishing the bodices. I know he's come close to asking me out at least twice. But we either interrupted by Ashley, or I changed the subject."

"Aw, and I thought you weren't a heart breaker." Paige said smiling. Jo rolled her eyes.

"You might have given into him once, Paige but I refuse." She said "J.T. is nice and all but...not my type."

"Oh? And what type IS your type?" Paige asked, with sincere curiosity.

Uh-oh, she felt caught. Jo couldn't possibly lie to Paige, but she wasn't sure she was ready to tell her yet. So she decided on not telling the WHOLE truth.

"Well, somebody a little more mature, I'll tell you that." She said. Her acting skills did served her well, she appeared perfectly calm. She and Paige headed into a store to look for some shoes and tops, Marco went to the guys section in the same store but Jimmy and Spinner went into the next store for Tee Shirts.

"See what I mean, Jimmy?" said Spinner "She'll just like avoid the topic!"

"Spin, for the last time drop it! Maybe she's not....." Jimmy paused, wondering if it was a good idea to go on.

"Not what Jimmy?" Spinner asked.

"Maybe....she's.....not into guys." he said.

"What?!" Spinner said rather loudly, he started some of the other customers around them. "You think she's....."

"Spinner, damn it, keep it down!" Jimmy hissed, now wishing he didn't say anything.

"No way! She.....she couldn't be....."

Jimmy started heading out of the store, Spinner right behind him "Actually, she could. It's not just guys....." Jimmy whispered.

"Uh, no you got it all wrong, you see Jo......" Spinner hated being wrong especially when it came to girls and he wasn't about to let Jimmy and his crazy ideas win.

"Spin, quite being an idiot. I could be wrong!"

"Good! Cuz you are! There is NO way, Jo is gay....."

"Lesbian would be the correct word." Jimmy said calmly.

Spinner shook his head "Whatever, she isn't! And I'll prove it to you!" he said.

"Oh yeah? How?"

"I.....I don't know. But I WILL!"

Jimmy shook his head "Whatever man."

Meanwhile, Paige was in the fitting room trying on a sundress. While she was doing so, it gave Jo an opportunity to talk to Marco for a second.

"I don't know what to do, Marco. I want to tell Paige, but I don't know how she'll take it. I lost a lot of friends that way....." she said.

"Paige can be very understanding. It may come as a shock. Her older brother Dylan is gay."

"A guy being gay is one thing to a girl.....but another girl being lesbian is another." Jo shook her head.

"I assure you. She wouldn't hate you." Marco said calmly. Jo nodded. He knew Paige better than she did, so he must know. But even so she was still worried.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?" Paige said, surprising them both.

"Nothing!" Marco and Jo said at once. Paige looked from one to the other, with an eye brow raised. She thought she could smell a rat, but she quickly brushed the feeling away.

"Jo, I can't decide which dress is better. Which do you like?" She held up two dresses, one off-white one with pink roses, the other was light blue with white roses.

"The blue one." Jo nodded. Paige did to.

"Yeah I like this one." She said. "Thanks, Jo. I'm going to wait in line."

"We'll be right there." Said Marco, and he turned back to Jo. "You're going to tell her?"

"Not here. I'll tell her later. Away from Spinner." Jo said, looking around like Spinner and Jimmy might show up at any moment.

"That would be a good idea." Marco agreed.

Jimmy and Spinner joined them as soon as Paige bought her dress. Spinner kept an eye on Jo but she kept a safe distance from him. She knew he suspected something, and that couldn't be good.

Paige was walking right in front of her and she stopped suddenly, causing Jo to walk into her!

"Ahh! Paige! Whats up?!" Jo said.

"He's here!" She whispered.

"Dean?" Jo whispered back. Paige nodded.

"He just turned the corner.....Jo we got to get out of here....." Paige started shaking.

"Yeah, we'll go to my house." She whispered than said out loud "Guys, lets head out. Paige and I are getting tired of walking."

(A/N: Thank you all sooo much for your reviews! Please continue I love hearing from all of you. It's nice to know so many of you like my story. Thank you, Goth-girl2. I'll update again soon. I'm having trouble with my other stories. Thank you all again!)