That night, Jane became quite annoyed with the whole situation. She couldn't decide whether she was annoyed at Pippa or at herself for going to Miss Isles for tutoring in the first place.
After about an hour of persuading, she finally convinced herself that her best option, possibly her only option, was to end tutoring sessions.

To: Maura Isles

Subject: (No subject)

In fear of perhaps giving too much away, she left the subject line blank and the message as formal as possible.

To Miss Isles,

Thank you for helping me with my history work in your free time.

While I am very thankful, I have decided to try to study better independently.

I apologise for taking up your time.

Jane – Year 12

It was a couple of day before a reply was received, and neither of them had mentioned it at school. It did seem though that Miss Isles was becoming particularly busy with her school work, and Jane had become particularly good at avoiding discussing it in person.

When she saw the message on her screen, her stomach sank. Unsure of what the e-mail would hold, she drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes and clicked.

To: Jane Rizzoli

Subject: Re: Tutoring

Hello Jane,

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am sorry to hear you say that, but I understand your desire for independence.
If I can be of any assistance, please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards,

Miss Isles

Maura Isles was a practical woman. Clever, unending grasp and sometimes direct. Sometimes though, whilst still clever and astounding in nearly every way, she was less direct; So much so that to anyone else, had that known her inner workings, would seem like she was fearful of whatever she was avoiding. The reason for this is because the composing of this particular e-mail went as follows:

Subject - It's perfectly logical to make it something relevant. – Re: Tutoring

Hello Jane – Good day? No. Good morning? No Dear? No! Hello? Hm… It will have to do.

Thank you for your e-mail. – Although I am saddened to receive it.

I am sorry to hear you say that, but I understand your desire for independence. – I too have felt this feeling and have learnt that sometimes it is in fact best to follow where it may lead.

If I can be of any assistance, please don't hesitate to ask. – Please… don't forget that. I know teachers can be intimidating, but you're so very bright, so very quick and so very strong. I care very much about my students because I know how a negative adolescent experience can shape a person. You deserve every opportunity. Unfortunately, I am also quite familiar with the fact that life does not always act accordingly. Independence though does not equate to isolation…

Regards,

Miss Isles – Please call me Maura. No, that's rather weird. Miss Isles is so formal though. I should probably just resign myself to the fact that it is inappropriate.

But Jane wasn't to know that.

•••

Other than the usual day to day events, Jane's life returned to normal (for the most part) over the next few weeks.

"Hey, how'd you go?" Frost happily asked.

"Yeah, pretty good. 86. You?" Jane responded quite nonchalantly.

The grin grew quickly on his face before he even spoke the words. He tried to act cool, but with a big goofy smile it was proving ineffective. "Yeah, I did alright." He paused for effect. "Just a 98."

"Frost!" She slapped his shoulder with congratulations. "That's awesome!"

His cheeks blushed a little. He knew he did well, but it's always good to hear it from others. Trying not to seem too cocky, he said, "Hey, an 86 is awesome too."

Jane just smiled at her friend's gesture. "Thank you, but relax man. You killed it."

Frost nodded in appreciation of Jane's understanding and continued on talking. "If I keep getting grades like this in IT and keep up my maths grades, I will be a shoe in for that computer programming bachelor!" He said quite excitedly.

"Any college would be damn lucky to have you," she said honestly. "And hey," she began to joke, "You can fix my computer any time," she nudged.

They turned to the front to see their teacher, Mr Jenson, clearly waiting for the students to stop talking.

When there was a lull in conversation, he said, "Yes, yes, I know getting tests back is exciting." His words were half sarcastic. "That doesn't change the fact that your website design and analysis is due at the end of the week. So turn around and get to work." He instructed. "Any questions, ask me, but otherwise I expect silence so you can all concentrate." Despite his emphasis on 'all', the words were spoken as he focused on a couple of boys who always made sure to get the computers in the back corner of the class so they could talk and do whatever they wanted online. All the students were aware of them.

Turning back to their computers they both opened up their websites, word documents and their school e-mail. They were good students, but that didn't mean they were perfect. The rest of the lesson was spent working on their assignments mostly, other than a few exchanges of e-mails.

To: Jane Rizzoli

Subject: RWNEIA

Hey

So whats your plan for the afternoon?

To: Barold Frost

Subject: Re: RWNEIA

Not much. Was thinking of going to the batting cages. You?

When Barry read the e-mail she let out whispered, "Yes!"

To: Jane Rizzoli

Subject: Re: RWNEIA

CAN I COME? xD

Jane had to stifle a laugh at how quickly and keenly he replied.

To: Barrold Frost

Subject: Re: RWNEIA

Haha. Sure. Oh hey have you tried the new pizza place down the block from it?

To: Jane Rizzoli

Subject: Re: RWNEIA

Antonio's? Nah.

You reckon anyone actually reads these? Like you know how they say the school e-mails are monitored cause they don't want us doing 'inappropriate things'.

To: Barrold Frost

Subject: Re: RWNEIA

Do you wanna go there for an early dinner? I'll drive.

And yeah… I dunno. Like, surely they have better things to do. Besides, we've said some stuff on here that they've never picked up on, and I don't think it's cause they were respecting our "Read When No-one Else Is Around" subject line. Haha.

To: Jane Rizzoli

Subject: Re: RWNEIA

Haha… yeah.

And sure. Just have to text my mum and we'll be all good.

Hey, what does the C in your e-mail stand for anyway?

To: Barrold Frost

Subject: Re: RWNEIA

It stands for crazy, so I wouldn't ask again. ;)

I'll meet you outside the building and we can go to my car from there.

Unfortunately! I should probably actually do some work. Talk to you later.

•••

Jane was practically drooling. "Oh. My. God," she said as her eyes nearly rolled backwards. "This pizza is SO good!" She muffled through the generously sized bites of food in her mouth.

Frost nodded vigorously as he took another bite. "We're definitely coming back here. It's a shame that Vince couldn't make it, but oh well…" he joked. "More for me."

"I know, right! And gee, darn," she said bluntly, "we'll have to order more pizza! What ever will we do? But hey, we seriously have to bring him. They even have a pizza with all of his favourite toppings." Check Capricciosa toppings

As they kept indulged in the remaining pizza, the topics of conversation ranged from relevant, less relevant and 'what the hell are you actually talking about'.

"So if there was a zombie apocalypse would you rather be a human or a zombie?" Frost proposed.

"Hm," she said thinking through her options. "I think I'm gonna go with human."

"Why?" he burst out as if it were the most outrageous thing he'd ever heard. "You have the opportunity to be a zombie! Why would you be anything else?" He exclaimed.

"Because I don't want to eat brains," she said frankly. "I want to eat this pizza for the rest of my life. Do I have that option?" She laughed.

"But brains!" he implored.

"Who are you kidding? You got squirmish when we saw that dead rat one night."

"I was only squirmish because that rat had a smell," he explained. "And see, as a zombie, I wouldn't be killing people, waiting a few days and then eating their brains, I'm killing them and eating them right away… Duh."

"Uh-huh," she said in a low and disbelieving tone. "Anyway, so what are you doing for your IT assignment?"

"Ah, I'm doing this website that has interactive pages. I still have to do some of the analyses but it should be alright. What about you?"

"Dang, you're totally gonna get top marks for that. Nice work, Frost. I'm doing a mock-up of a council website. Nothing too fancy. A couple of widgets here and there. Done right, it should get me at least a B-, so I'll be good with that."

"Cool. Crap, I didn't realise the time," he paused a little flustered. "You think my mum will accept the excuse that the food I ate was so good that time stood still but our watches didn't?"

Jane just laughed. "Come on, I'll give you a lift."

•••

"Jane!" Her mother called from downstairs.

"Yeah?"
Jane waited but didn't hear a reply.

"YEAH?" She yelled, this time with a little less patience.
Still though, she received no response.
Finally, she relented and exited her room and went downstairs to find her.
When she did, she almost mockingly said, "Yes, mother?"

"Rizzoli women do not yell across the house, Jane." She said frankly.

"Wha- Yes they-" Jane stopped, knowing it would do absolutely no good to have this argument. "What would you like?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the family gathering this weekend," She paused. "What are you going to wear?" She said with utmost importance.

"Ah… clothes?" She joked, not understanding why it mattered.

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, don't sass mouth me." Her face was clearly unimpressed, as her eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed together.

"I don't know, ma, why?"

"Because I want you to look nice," she smiled.

There was more to it though and they both knew it. "Ma, what?" She gave up.

"Nothing," she swore. "I just want you to look nice for the family. You're the only other girl in this house, and I just want you to look pretty."

She thought about retorting with a 'but aren't I always pretty' response but it seemed unwise. Instead she had to think for a moment. "No!" she whined. "Uncle Matthew isn't brining his neighbour again, is he?" She seemed practically repulsed.

"Jane Rizzoli, you will be nice to that boy!" She instructed, verging on anger.

"I am nice to him! I just don't want to date him," Or anyone this family brings home.

"He's a nice young boy." She said, pacing her words.

"He might be, but he smells like cheese and doesn't understand the idea that sniffing someone is not an appropriate thing to do!" She argued.

"I wish you'd just give him a chance," she said in softer tone.

Funnily enough, this voice invoked more motivation, albeit it guilt, in Jane than nearly any other. She rolled her eyes and relented. "Fine," she paused. "Now can I go back to studying?"

Angela showed a soft yet triumphant smile. "Yes. Dinner's at 6:30, though. Don't make me call you."

Jane nodded and retreated to the non-expectant walls of her bedroom. There, she could be anyone or anything and there was no-one to judge.

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you so much for reading.

I really would like to know what you thought about both the style and the content of this chapter. It had some ideas I wasn't sure about and some others that I was keen on, but I'd really love to hear your view.

Please don't hesitate to leave a comment or message me if you have any thoughts to share.

I hope you're really happy and well.

CC