Thanks to Shealtiel, Darkness Mystery, and Star-Girl for their reviews! I love you guys:)

Chapter 12

Lisette's Secret

The next day, Jada went back to school, only to find herself being engulfed in the stares of her peers, just like she feared would happen. She tried her best to ignore them and walked to her locker to meet her best friends.

"Hey, you ok?" Paula asked.

Jada looked around confused, where was Lisette?

"Yea, I'm fine. Where's Lisette?"

Paula shrugged," I have no idea, I kept calling her this morning but all I got was a busy signal."

"That girl is acting strange latley."

The two began their morning routine, without Lisette, and got ready for their first class, talking about the stares of their peers and how Jada was going to cope the whole time.

"Jada, trust me, it gets easier with time. Pretty soon they'll forget all about it," Paula explained," When Danny and I came out about our relationship, it was pretty big remember, but everyone forgot about it, or just doesn't care anymore unless we end up in the papers."

"Yea, everybody here, but what about those letters you get?"

Paula paused for a moment and started staring into her locker before saying," Yea, it hurts knowing that his fans don't support us, but I get through it because I love him. Plus, I don't even know the people and they don't know me, so who are they to judge me? I know not to take it seriously because they know nothing about me, or our relationship."

With that Paula slammed her locker door and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Jada asked.

"First block, I don't want to be late!" she said over her shoulder.

Jada sighed and stood in the hallway for a second, feeling awkward about being alone with the stares, until Lisette came running up to her.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I- Where's Paula?"

"I think she's upset about something I said. I didn't mean to say it, it just slipped out."

Lisette frowned and said," Well, I'm sure she'll be fine, Paula's a tough cookie."

Jada giggled and said," So, where were you this morning?"

She wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but Jada thought she saw Lisette blush before she turned away and said," No where, I gotta go, don't want to be late for class!"

As Jada watched her run off, she noticed that Lisette was going the wrong way and then watched as she turned around, blushing, and ran off in the other direction. She shook her head and walked off in the direction of her own class, walking into the office to find Preston there, grinning as usual. She gave him a look before sitting down and taking some tardy slips from Mrs. Talbott and looked strait ahead of her, determined not to look at the boy next to her.

"So, Jada," Mrs. Talbott said excitedly," How was the interview yesterday?"

"It was hell, and it's not going to be printed," she replied, maybe a little too much bitch in her voice.

Mrs. Talbott looked taken aback," Oh, well I'm sorry dear."

Jada sighed and said," Sorry Mrs. Talbott, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"I understand, you must have had a hard time yesterday," she said, rubbing Jada's back soothingly.

Jada smiled at her, still not acknowleding Preston, and started to write up a student who needed a pass to class.

When class ended, Jada grabbed her stuff and ran out of the office quickly, as to avoid Preston. She met up with Lisette and Paula at Lisette's locker and noticed that Lisette looked kind of nervous.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Oh, Jada," Paula said," I wanted to apologize for running off so quickly, I know you didn't mean anything by whatyou said, it just kind of hit a nerve."

"It's fine, hun," Jada said with a smile.

"Now, back to the issue of Lisette sneaking around and being so weird. What is going on with you?!?" Paula asked, turning to Lisette.

"Nothing, will you just drop it?"

Jada decided to jump in and help out Paula," C'mon Lisette, we all know you're hiding something. Why don't you just tell us? I thought we could trust each other?"

Lisette sighed and turned tot he two girls," We can, I just...I don't know! We wanted to keep it a secret for a while."

"We and secret in the same sentence does not sound good," Paula said.

Lisette laughed and said," Okay, I'll tell you. You know that hot date Gabe had last night?"

"Yea, what about it?" Jada asked.

"I was his date."

"Awwww, that's so cute," Paula said.

"Oh, Lisette I'm so happy for you!" Jada screamed, jumping up and down foolishly.

"See, this is why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you'd make a big deal out of it, when it's not. We went on one date!"

Jada giggled and said," Ok, sorry, we're just excited for you. How was the date?"

Lisette smiled and blushed a little before answering with," It was...well awesome is the only way I can put it. It wasn't anything fancy, just a movie and a walk, but we talked the whole time about anything and everything. He's an amazing guy, and did I mention he was extremely sexy?"

The girls all laughed and then heard the bell ring for second block.

"Oh, crap, we're late! Let's talk in gym."

While the girls did their stretches in gym later on, Lisette started a new conversation," So Jada, I heard you and Doug were double dating with Paula and Danny tonight."

Jada looked over and saw a smug smile on Lisette's face. She began to blush a little bit, knowing that Lisette was only trying to get payback for the Gabe thing but not being able to help herself.

Lowering her voice she said," It's not a date, it's a publicity stunt, reporting are dying to get their gritty little paws on a photo of us together and Dougie thinks it's time to let them have one."

"But you guys called it a date last night," Paula said.

"We were just joking, Paula. It's nothing."

Lisette gave Jada her famous, whatever look and started to run her laps with the girls," C'mon, Jada, this is ridiculous. Just admit you like the boy and get it over with."

"What?!?" Jada screamed, stopping dead in her tracks.

The other two turned to her, with no big deal looks and Paula said," I have to agree with her, Jade. I mean, why else would you tell Preston you were dating him, and we've seen the looks you give him, and you don't stop staring at the picture of the two of you on your binder, and-"

"OK! I get it. First of all, I told Preston that because he wouldn't leave me alone and that was the first thing that popped out of my mouth. Secondly, what looks are you talking about? I don't give that boy any looks, and thirdly, that's a cute picture!"

"Ok, stop getting devensive," Lisette said, raising her hands in surrender," We were just pointing out the facts."

Jada sighed," Well don't because I don't like him like that. I'm only doing this because I'm the one who got him into this mess."

The other two girls shrugged and started running again, with Jada on their heels. All three were silent as they finished up their laps. Jada was thinking about why the girls would say such a thing. 'Well, ok, I guess I do give him these looks sometimes, and I do stare at that picture a lot, but I don't like him. Do I?'