For all pertinent information see chapter one.

It had been three weeks, and nothing Eddie was doing was even making a dent on Amber's hard heart. She'd made up her mind to never forgive him for what he'd done, and while a part of me admired her for sticking to her guns, the rest of me felt really sorry for Eddie.

And that part of me missed Rae. Time was, she would have come up with some crazy scheme that involved fake pink flamingoes and rubber tubing, and most likely some false mustaches somewhere, and between the two of us we would have bumbled around and got Eddie and Amber back together. That was how things were supposed to have gone.

But Raven was busy with Carlos again. It wasn't exactly like before, she seemed more like herself at least. But there was definitely an undercurrent of forced obedience, like she knew that things would only be this good while she did as she was told.

Anyway, Eddie was trying everything he could think of, and some things I came up with that he never would have come up with on his own, and nothing was working. Amber wouldn't even talk to him, much less forgive him. He was running out of ideas, and, more importantly, running out of patience.

The whole time Eddie was running around after Amber like some little lap dog, Whitney, the girl Eddie had cheated with, was making her presence known. She was actually really into Eddie, which was a shame, because he only had eyes for Amber. It was almost like a comedy of errors, like some twisted love triangle, Whitney wants Eddie wants Amber wants to be left alone. And at the moment, no one was getting what they wanted.

Meanwhile, like I said, I was well aware not everything was sunshine and roses with Raven. She might have been trying to give that impression, but I wasn't fooled. I didn't want to press matters, though. I'd talked to her about it, tentatively, and she'd told me she hadn't cut herself the whole time she'd been back with him, and I could only see that as a good thing, right? I kept my nose out of it for the most part. If this was really making Raven happy, and it seemed like it might be, then that was all I had any business wanting.

Lani and I had been seeing each other on the sly ever since the day I'd found out Raven and Carlos were back together. Things between us weren't really better than they had been the first time around, I'm sorry to say. All that had changed was that the roles had reversed. Suddenly I'd become this person I'd sworn I'd never be, everything I hated about Lani the last time. I was hiding our relationship, such as it was, from everyone, making her keep it a secret. In fact, the last time we'd hooked up, she'd actually left in tears, because she'd stumbled across the real reason I didn't want people to know about us.

FLASHBACK

"Wow, Chelsea, every time we do that it gets better," Lani panted, collapsed on my chest. I lay motionless, not wanting to encourage any snuggling. She wrapped her arms around me as best she could, burying her head in the curve of my neck.

"Hey, Chels?"

"Hmm?"

"Let's go on a date, you and me. A real date, like, to the movies and dinner. What do you think?"

"Lani, I really don't think that's such a good idea," I told her firmly. She pulled away from me, her eyes wide and hurt.

"Why not? I mean, the last time we were doing this, every second sentence out of your mouth was something to do with how we should tell everyone we were together, how we should shout it from the rooftops. Well, now I want to! What's changed?"

"I have," I replied quietly. "I've changed."

"Are you ashamed of me?" she asked in a whisper, her big eyes full of tears. "I mean, was it something I did, or what?"

"It's not you, it's…"

"Me. What a heap of shit. No, you wanna know what I think, Chelsea? I think it IS you. I think it's very much a you thing. I think you're in love with Raven Baxter, and you can't have her, so you think it's okay to fuck me while you wait for her. Am I close?"

Now I was crying, but trying desperately to keep myself under control. "It's not like that. Come on," I protested, but there was no stemming the flow of bile now.

"What is it like then?" she challenged me. "Because from where I'm lying, it seems very much like that IS what it's like. You're in love with her, aren't you? Just admit it, God," she'd ended on a whimper, tears beginning to spill over.

"Okay, yes. I am in love with Raven. But you know what? She's never going to want me, and I'm okay with that. I thought we were just having some fun. You had fun, right? Can't we just keep it like this? A bit of fun between two friends who like to make each other feel good… and you know how good you make me feel, Lani."

END FLASHBACK

I honestly don't know why I tried so hard. Here it was, the perfect 'out', so to speak, and instead of ridding myself of Lani, I kept stringing her along. If I was honest with myself, she was right. I WAS just using her for a fuck until something better, i.e. Raven, came along, and what I was doing was despicable, but why shouldn't I get laid? Everyone else was, and I was tired of being plain old studious Chelsea Daniels, who always got her homework done but never got her pussy licked. People forgot that I was a walking hormone cocktail, just like the rest of them.

The upshot of all this was that I got my way, and Lani kept creeping over to my house to get me off, and I'd do her, and she'd leave. And I'd feel empty, but the next opportunity, I'd be text messaging her or calling her for a booty call. It wasn't doing much for my self image, I can tell you. I don't think I'd ever hated myself more.

To make matters even worse, Lani was quite obviously making an effort for me. I pretended not to notice but I always did. She changed her hairstyle, got a manicure and a pedicure and had a bikini wax, which MUST have been painful. I can't imagine doing anything but shaving. And I noticed all the new clothes she was buying for my approval. Most of it was lingerie, some really nice stuff that made my mouth water and my pussy ache, but I found myself tuning her out and pretending it was Raven modeling for me. The times I thought of Raven while Lani and I were having sex were always the times I came the hardest, and if it was possible, I hated myself even more for it.

The more we had sex, the more I begged Lani not to tell anyone about us. Especially Raven. I was paranoid that Raven would find out and would hate me for it. I don't know what made me think that, but I felt it, it was a real fear. Maybe she'd be angry because she was my friend and I'd never told her about me and Lani. Or, maybe she'd be disgusted, because she'd been fine with my being gay in theory but couldn't handle it in actuality. And there was a tiny part of me that felt like by being with Lani, it was almost like cheating on Raven. But which ever way I looked at it, I did NOT want Raven to know.

It was a Friday at school that the shit really hit the fan. I'd actually made plans with Rae because wonder of wonders, Carlos was busy. Or so he'd said. Which meant that, being second best, obviously, I was only there to fill the gap in Raven's social calendar. I'm not really that bitter about it, I understand that was just the way things had to be. I certainly didn't want to rock the boat at that stage, not when I was so worried about what Carlos might do to her if he were provoked in any real or imagined way.

Anyway, we decided on a movie night, just us girls, and because we were in a silly kind of mood, we decided to have a Harry Potter marathon. Harry Potter's one of those things that both of us love but neither of us would admit to loving, you know? And I'm sure there's a hell of a lot more people like us out there. But anyway, we were standing in the hallway, just outside our lockers, making the plans. Basically, like we had for every other movie night in creation, I was responsible for getting the DVDs and she, chef's daughter, was responsible for food and drink.

Only, we made the mistake of making these plans just while Lani was walking past. And I didn't even think twice about it, either. It never occurred to me that what was about to happen, was about to happen. I'd told Lani so many times how I felt about the situation, that I didn't want Raven to know, and I'd kind of thought that no matter how angry we may have got with each other, that she wouldn't have gone against my wishes on that one count, you know? Like, some things are sacred, and no matter how bad things get, there are some thing you just don't do to people.

Anyway, Raven looked excited about the Harry marathon, and I was excited about spending time with Raven. We said our goodbyes and were about to head to lunch at this stage. I walked one way down the hall, and I saw Lani walking towards me. I automatically put on my Lani smile, this awkward thing that says nothing more than "I'm smiling because I have to, and for no other reason."

She smiled back, and leaned into my ear. "I'm looking forward to tonight, lover. I've been aching for you all day."

Tonight? Oh, crap. I'd told Lani we could have sex tonight.

"I'm sorry, Lani, but Raven and I are having a movie night tonight. We haven't had a chance to hang out in ages, and you and I hang out just about every day." My voice was almost pleading, I could hear it, and I hated it, because it felt like I was giving in to her.

"Yeah, that's interesting, don't you think, Chels?" she asked, mockingly. "Interesting that you should bring that up now, considering where we are, considering you never seemed to want ANYONE to know we've been 'hanging out', as you put it. Is that what we're calling it now?"

I cringed. "Can you keep your voice down, please?" I begged. She ignored me, getting even louder.

"Oh, heaven forbid your precious Raven should overhear me reminding you that we spend time together!" she said, loudly. "Heaven forbid she should know we've been friends. Heaven forbid she should know that we've kissed…"

A collective gasp went up from the gathering crowd. I saw Raven had stayed to watch the "conversation" we were having and her face was growing white. I felt my stomach simultaneously sink to my toes and rise up to the back of my throat. "Lani, please, don't…"

But it was too late.

"Heaven forbid Raven should ever find out that WE SLEPT TOGETHER!" she ended with a shriek, directing the end of her sentence straight at Raven. "Yeah, that's right, Chelsea and I have been sleeping together, having sex, doing the nasty! Did you know that, Raven? Did your best friend in the world, Chelsea, bother telling you that?"

The crowd was talking amongst themselves now, and, sick as I felt, I could see the tiny upside to this confrontation. Lani had just unwittingly outed herself, in her quest to bring me down. This was news to most of the school, including Raven. I cringed, looking her in the eye even though I wanted to run away. Expecting the worst, I was pleasantly surprised when she gave me a tentative smile.

"Look, Lani, this is a shit of a time to do this to me," I growled, turning back to her. "But since we seem to be having this conversation whether I like it or not, let me tell you a couple of things. One, I AM going to Raven's house tonight, because I haven't hung out with her in ages and she IS my best friend. Two, this jealousy thing is incredibly unattractive. Three, you're not even all that. I've had better orgasms by myself."

This, more than anything else that had been said, shocked the crowd into scandalized muttering. Satisfied, I turned on my heel and walked toward Raven, intending to explain myself. It was about time. But Lani grabbed my arm, her tantrum seemingly over for the moment, her eyes full of tears.

"Come on, Chelsea, I'm sorry. But you don't mean that, do you? We were so good together baby."

"I don't want to talk about this now, and I don't want to talk about this here," I told her quietly. "I'll call you sometime tomorrow."

I caught up with Raven, immediately apologizing, trying to get in before she could tell me exactly much she hated me for lying to her.

"Raven, I'm really, really sorry…"

"For what?" she asked. "Sorry that you didn't tell me? Because yeah, that sucks a little, but Chelsea, this is me. Raven. You didn't think I was going to make a huge deal of this, did you? So you didn't tell me, I mean, I'm sure you had your reasons."

Did I ever.

"Well, I'm sorry I kept it from you," I told her, and when we stopped walking I pulled her into a hug. I tried so hard not to be obvious as I breathed in the scent of her hair.

"You're my best friend, Chelsea, and there's no one in the world I love more than you. If you don't want to tell me something, I'm not going to force you. I just…" she trailed off, her face unreadable.

"What?"

"Well, I mean, I didn't ask you up till now because I always figured you wouldn't have any more idea than I would, because I thought you hadn't, and then now with the Lani, and I'm guessing you DO know now, so if I wanted to know I could ask you now, and I have to admit I've always kind of wanted to know, but it's not the kind of thing you'd ask your mother, and Cory always goes through the history on my computer, looking for things he can tease me about, so I couldn't look it up on the net, and there's nothing in the library that I can check out without parental consent…" She trailed off to take a breath, and I interrupted, my mind reeling from the verbal diarrhea I'd just been witness to.

"Raven, what? Just ask me!" I laughed. She grinned sheepishly and pulled me to the side of the hallway, against the lockers, and leaned in to my ear. I ignored the way it felt to have her so close to me, and concentrated on what she was saying. She'd lowered her voice to the point where I had to strain to hear her, which was a nice change from Fog Horn Lani.

"What was it… you know, like?" she asked, and for a split second I didn't understand what she was asking. The look on my face must have said it all, because she rephrased. "I mean, what did you and Lani, you know, do?"

"Oh," I replied, catching on. "Oh, okay. You wanna have THAT conversation. Okay. But not here, okay? Tonight?"

"Works for me," she grinned, and I swear, she was almost bouncing. If I'd have known that telling her about Lani and me would get this reaction from her, I'd have told her much, much sooner.

The bell rang for the end of lunch and as I gathered my books for my next class, I vaguely remembered that I hadn't had a chance to eat anything. Oh well, drama makes me nauseous anyway.

I arrived at Raven's house a little late, because I'd spent a little extra time making myself look fabulous. I didn't honestly expect her to notice beyond the normal friend level of "you look nice" but I felt the need to make an effort anyway.

So I turned up and rang the door bell, and she answered, and she looked… well, non verbal would be a good way to describe ME as I looked at her. She was just… yummy.

"You look great," I told her finally, when my brain and my mouth were on speaking terms again. "Really great. Did you do something with your hair?"

"Nah, I've just put some weight back on, and my boobs have come back," she laughed. So that's what it was. I hadn't let my eyes stray down there for long, I wouldn't have got them back for the rest of the night.

"And you, Chels, you look stunning! Were you planning on going someplace else after this? Because I kind of assumed you were just staying here tonight."

"I am," I reassured her, holding up my overnight bag. "That's still okay, isn't it?"

"Of course! Now lets get to it, Harry won't wait forever!"

"Oh, gross, Raven, he's like eleven in that first movie!" I nudged her playfully as we made our way over to the couch.

"Doesn't stop you checking out Hermione!" she retorted, shoving me back. I went red and she cracked up. "Ha, I got you there, you've got nothing to say to that, have you?"

"Shut up and watch the movie," I mumbled, but I was grinning, and so was she.