"Jess! Oh my god. Jess!"

She jerked up from where she'd been bending over the washer, it being her week for laundry duty, startled by Becky's voice. The other girl was running toward her, her face red.

A spike of panic shot through her. Had something bad happened? She stared worriedly at her friend as the latter stopped before her trying to catch her breath. "Becky, what's wrong? Is someone hurt?"

Tears were running down her friend's face. This must be really bad. Had something happened to her brother? But no, that made no sense. "Becky, please!"

"Oh god, I can't breathe. Oh oh…"

Jess grabbed Becky as she folded in on herself. She was thinking of leaving her long enough to call for help, when Becky's booming laughter filled the room. Jess stared. What the heck was going on? "Becky!"

"Give me, give me a sec." She hiccupped, then laughed some more while pounding the floor with her feet for emphasis. Jess was growing more confused by the second. Either this was really really bad and Becky was in hysterics or… Or what?

"Okay…I think…I can do this…now." Becky glanced up at her and almost broke down laughing again.

"Dammit, Becky! What's going on?"

"Sit. Come on, sit." Becky waved Jess down to the floor.

Hesitantly, she did as her friend asked, never taking her gaze off her. Becky took her hands in hers, after wiping at her face.

"I went to see Shirl today."

Jess stiffened, this not being any of the things she thought this might be about. She tried to pull her hands back but Becky wouldn't let her.

"Before you get mad, you and I both know she's not that bad, she's just got some self esteem issues and a boy crazy obsession almost bordering on madness."

Jess didn't see how this made her case any better. She hoped her displeased frown got across, but aside from that she decided not to interrupt.

"So, anyway, since she is as she is, I figured I could use her kind of like a reverse spy, you know? In case Mr. Too Full of Himself decided he wanted to do more stupid stuff?"

Suddenly Jess felt guilty. She should have known better than to doubt Becky's motives. If anything, she was surprised she'd go this far for her. It had never occurred to her to think of such a thing. But it still didn't explain her odd actions of the last few minutes.

"Anyway…we chatted a little and she came around to her favorite subject, just like I knew she would, and she told me the weirdest things!" Jess could see her battling not to start laughing again. "Seems that Roger has run into the worst streak of bad luck ever."

"What?"

"Oh, yes. Wait till I tell you!" This time she did laugh out loud. "He was washing his whites and I guess he didn't check the machine before he used it because there was a red sock in there and it turned all his shirts and underwear pink! Then he parked his car on a pile of rusty nails and got not one but two flats. But wait, there's more!" She laughed again. "The old dorm building had a pipe burst, and yes, you guessed it, it was in Roger's room!" Tears started gathering at the edge of Becky's eyes. "And as if that wasn't enough, seems his records in the school's computers totally disappeared! They have no verification he ever registered or was even accepted here!" She shrieked with glee. "The worst case of a bad luck ever! Oh god, I had to fight so hard to hold it in when she was telling me. She felt so sorry for the bastard. I, for one, couldn't be happier! Roger won't have any time to be worrying about you anymore!" She rocked back and forth laughing. "I wish someone had taken a video. Can you imagine some of that on Youtube?"

Jess stared at her, her mind numb. Roger? A streak of bad luck? No time to be thinking about her? How lucky was that…and how utterly unbelievable…

'I will keep you safe.' Sam's statement rang out in her head out of nowhere. No, no way. That many different things? All in a week's time? No way! The idea, however unlikely though, wouldn't leave her.

"Becky, I, I have to go." She stood up, her mind boggling, goose bumps running up and down her arms.

"What? No!" Becky tried to get to her feet. "This is just too delicious. Don't you think? We should spread this all over the school!"

Jess shook here head rapidly. "I have to go!" She ran out of the room, then rushed upstairs to their dorm room and rummaged through her top drawer. Where was it? She reached into the back and found it, the note Jeff had slipped to her before he and Sam left yesterday. In his neat handwriting, it listed the cell phone numbers for each of them as well as their dorm's main number. At the time, she couldn't bring herself to add them to her phone. It felt like committing to something, no matter how stupid it actually sounded. Now she found she needed to use at least one of them after all.

Grabbing her cell phone off the charger, she hurried back downstairs and out the back.

She was breathing hard by the time she made it to where they'd had the picnic the day before, and not all of it was from exertion. Flipping her phone open, she dialed one of the numbers. Her hands weren't exactly steady.

Jess closed her eyes, holding the phone to her ear, each successive ring making her heart leap. When she heard a voice on the other end, she forced herself to speak, spilling everything she intended to say as fast as possible.

"Look, I know this is highly unusual and that you're probably quite busy, but could you, would you come meet me where we were yesterday? Please?" She hardly dared breathe as she waited for a reply. The moment she got it, she closed the phone, her heart in her throat.

He was coming. Now what was she going to do?

As the minutes ticked by she grew more and more nervous. She had to be mad, insane! How could she think what she was thinking? She paced back and forth between two trees, slowly wearing a path in the grass.

"Jess?"

She gasped, quickly turning around, never having heard him come up. Who was he? Who was he really? She knew so very little about him, pretty much nothing at all.

Sam took a step closer, his face bunched up with concern, his gaze seeking hers. "Are you all right? Did something happen?"

She shook her head, not able to maintain eye contact. "I, I need to ask you something."

"Okay…" He kept his distance, almost as if he could sense her distress had something to do with him.

Jess put her back against the nearest tree, needing all the support she could get. "Ro, Roger has run into a streak of very bad luck this week. Would, would you know anything about it?" She made herself look up at him, half dreading, half hoping for a specific answer.

The worry was gone, completely replaced by pure, unadulterated conviction. "I made you a promise."

She shook where she stood, not sure whether to laugh or cry. She'd been right. "I can take care of myself! I'm Big Bad Jessica, remember? He isn't your problem. You didn't have to get involved."

"But I wanted to." Everything about him was earnest.

Jess shook her head. "Why? He would have made your life miserable, if you'd been caught. You could have gotten hurt! Why would you willingly get mixed up in this?"

He looked away, but a moment later met her gaze again. His lips were set in a thin line, the look in his eyes vulnerable. She didn't understand it. "I, I care about you, Jess. You're my friend."

"You don't know me!"

He took a hurried step forward, his hands open at each side, his eyes supplicating. "I do! I know everything I need to know. You're smart, outgoing, kind. You know what you want and you go for it." His expression grew troubled as if he were having difficulty finding the right words. "I feel comfortable around you. You make me feel like I actually belong."

Jess stared at him, not sure she should believe him but not having a real choice. Her heart screamed everything he said was true -- because she'd been feeling the same way about him for some time now. Just his mere presence made her feel wanted, made her feel safe.

But she needed her independence. She had to prove she could be more than her looks made people expect. She had a plan. And a man wasn't a part of it. Couldn't be. Not so early in the game. Yet she'd never met anyone like Sam before -- someone who saw her for who she was inside and not just the pretty outer package. Could she afford to let him get away?

"Sam…" Jess stared at the ground, her insides swirling with turmoil.

He stood stock still as she stepped slowly forward, his entire concentration centered on her.

Only when she stood directly before him did she dare look up again.

He looked so exposed standing there, waiting for her to say something, possibly pushing him away after he opened up to her like this -- his expression so gaping with his need, his fears. And she was the same. The same.

Jess suddenly found her center. A calm she hadn't possessed for sometime.

She reached up and took Sam's face in her hands. She could see the truth of Jeff's words as Sam's watching eyes swallowed her up. If she let him go, he would take her at her word and deed and never bother her again. The power was and had always been hers.

She brought his face down, and smiling at the look of amazement on his face, had her lips meet his.