Thanks to my reviewer here and on the boards, you guys rock!
Thank you, KillerRomance, who, for the first time, had no criticism on this chapter!
Chapter 13: Jaina Solo Fashion 101
"Hi," Danni said when he opened the door.
"Hey, come on in."
"Thank you." She stepped in and smiled up at him. "What happened?" Her fingers tenderly grazed the long red scratch on Jag's cheek.
"Oh, fencing, it's nothing," he shrugged it off hoping it didn't make him sound like he couldn't fence.
"Ah, yes, the amazing flying epées, I remember them well."
"Did you use to fence?"
"No, I had some friends who do, but that was a long time ago." She looked away uncomfortably.
Jag silently fumed. She probably lost those friends because of Jaina. How could someone be so cruel to a girl as sweet as Danni seemed to be? He wanted to press for more information, but Danni already seemed upset enough.
"So, um, do you want to study in the den?" he asked breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen after Danni's admission.
"That sounds fine."
Jag led her to the den. After they entered, his sister Wyn immediately looked up from the magazine she was reading.
"What happened to your face?"
"We need this room to study, leave."
"After I finish this article." She picked up her magazine showing off the cover photo of Jaina and Tenel Ka posing together in the same gowns they wore to the ball on Friday night. Deciding, for some unknowable reason, that Jag and Danni would actually want to know what she was reading about, Wyn began to tell them in her usual fast paced rhythm, "According to this, elbow length gloves – which everyone thought would only be in style for last winter – are still in high fashion. It says that Jaina Solo swears by them and that she'll wear them everywhere that requires some dressing up. Like at the ball, she was wearing these gorgeous ones with really beautiful embroidery. I wonder if she meant that she'd wear them to clubs as well…"
Worried about how the rant on Jaina's fashion tastes – which he felt were rather questionable – would affect Danni, he turned to apologize for his sister, but the blonde looked like she was barely containing her laughter.
"Oh, and the article has this fun facts section; according to it, Jaina Solo and I wear the same kind of makeup. I wonder how she gets the colors she wears. I've never seen them in any stores."
Danni finally laughed at that. Wyn glared at the two of them and stomped off.
"I'm sorry; I just couldn't help it."
"It's fine," he assured her.
"So, I take it your little sister is a fan of Jaina Solo."
"Unfortunately, yes."
"I thought you and Jaina were friends. I mean, you sit next to her everyday."
"I'm friends with Jacen, not Jaina, unless by friends you mean that she takes special enjoyment in torturing me at every chance she gets, then yes, we're friends."
"Huh."
"What?"
"Nothing, just from what I know of her from going to the same exact school with her since the first grade, I wouldn't think that she'd let just anyone sit next to her, but maybe Jacen managed to convince her, I don't know…"
"You've been going to school with her since the first grade? How did you survive?"
"Well, I used to have my best friend with me."
"She moved?"
"Disappeared."
"Oh, I – I'm sorry."
"It's fine." She quickly wiped a finger under her eye. "I can't believe I actually told you that… um… can we just work on the lab?"
"Yeah, yeah, of course."