A/N Any hard-core Jart fans that didn't already know, the storyline is up for two awards, one for their scenes in the cellar and another for A Little Film About Love - you can vote for free at e4(dot)com/hbb2011 Every-one else just enjoy the story :L

Bart's P.O.V

"Bart have you been listening to a single word I've said this morning?" Carmel tutted and shook her head as she spoke. "You know, sometimes I wonder if you ever even stop to think about other people. Poor Sinead, after all you told her and -" It had been the same crap on repeat for the last two days. Well, when I said crap what I really meant was the truth I was trying to avoid, but Carmel was my cousin - she was one of the few people in the village I'd hoped to be on my side.

"Are you still going on at him?" Thankfully Mercedes interrupted her mid-sentance as she made her way down the stairs. "Give the boy a break".

"Yes, well". Carmel looked outraged. "You would feel for him, wouldn't you, Mercedes? You're hardly great with relationships yourself. When was the last time you spoke to Riley?" Although it was true that, when it came to staying faithful, Mercy's track record wasn't great, I couldn't help feeling that Carmel's comment had been uncalled for. Carm was generally a really happy, bubbly person, however infidelity seemed to be a touchy subject for her, it nearly always set her off. I wondered which guy had screwed her over so badly she'd ended up like this. Whoever it was, I wanted to find them and have a few words. Not only for being an asshole to my cousin but also for getting her so uptight about the subject that I'd been in a two-day lecture from her.

"Riley and I aren't in a relationship", Mercedes replied flatly.

"Yes you are. As mother and father of your child. You should be working on getting back to being a family, not being constantly at war with one another".

"Right, I'm going to get off to college", I told them, leaving my half-eaten bowl of cereal on the side, grabbing my coat and heading to the door. I figured it was probably best to leave now before my eardrums collapsed from the volume of the screaming match that was bound to start any time soon. As I closed the door behind me I could her Mercedes trying to reason with her about Sinead, then Carmel yelling something about Calvin, who's name I recognized as her late husband. As to what relevence he had to the argument, I had no idea, but I was sure as hell glad I'd gotten out of there in time.

I met Jasmine outside the pub, she'd been sitting at one of the tables overlooking the so-called village lake that I would have described as more of a pond, sipping a glass of coke. She looked a lot more relaxed about the day looming ahead of us than I felt. I'd even revised last night, some-thing that was about as unusal as Theresa forgetting to apply her make-up, just for something to take my mind off things. It hadn't worked.

"Hey gorgeous", I grinned, trying my hardest to obtain the confident act I was putting on and taking a seat opposite her.

"Hey", she smiled back at me, twirling her straw around with her fingers for a moment before taking one last sip and standing up. "Let's get going then".

"You feeling okay about today?" I asked her, taking her hand as we both started to walk in the direction of the college.

"Well we survived a trip to the zoo with my family. We can get through anything", she joked. She was smiling but I could tell from her eyes that she was acting just as much as I was. She may have been able to fool the top consultants in the USA but she couldn't fool her boyfriend. I knew her too well. I gave her hand a little squeeze for comfort, which she returned.

"Hey, Bart! Jason! Wait up!" Jas and I exchanged worried glances at the familiar sound of Jonno's voice. Soon he was walking beside me.

"Jase mate, long time no see". He turned to me and grinned. "I see you two finally got it together then mate? Good job, she is well fitter than Sinead".

"Em, thanks mate". I laughed slightly. "But her name is Jasmine".

I could sense Jas was feeling a little isolated from the conversation as we both talked about her in third person and decided to do something about it.

"Jas you remember Jonno right?" I knew she full when she remembered him, we'd only talked about every-one who had known her as Jason the previous night on the phone, but it was the only thing I could think of to bring her into the conversation and she seemed to pick up on it.

"Yeah", she smiled at him. "I looked a bit different back then though".

"So you're back to being a girl full-time now huh?"

"Mmhm". I could tell she was starting to become uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed, she'd been dreading having to tell every-one the full story again, although she was aweare it was something she was likely to have to do.

"Good. It would've been such a waste if you'd gone through with it. And let's face it you were hardly the best lad were you?"

"Huh?"

"Well, the guy who used to be a girl and still liked lads. It's hardly the same as being gay is it? It was just weird. And you were crap at football".

I had a feeling that, in his own warped little world, Jonno was probably doing his best to try and comfort her - make her see that no-one would judge her for going back to a girl, that they could just pretend like Jason never existed. In reality, though, it didn't matter what his intentions were - he was being an ignorant bastard towards my girlfriend, who was going through a hard enough time already.

"Yes, Jonno. Because being crap at football does generally mean you must want to be a girl". As the words left my mouth I was surpised at myself - it sounded like much more of a Jasmine thing to say that my own. She'd been back just two days and was already starting to rub off on me.

"Alright, stupid thing to say, sorry", he apologised.

I decided to cut him some slack. He was my best mate, after all. Besides Jasmine of course.

"Don't worry about it", I told him. "We need to move quicker if we're going to get there on time".

"Since when have you cared about stuff like that?"

"The first day back after this weekend's going to be hard enough. The last thing either of us need is to be late aswell", I informed him, gesuturing to Jasmine and myself.

From the moment we stepped through the college gates, all eyes were on us. I wasn't sure I even knew the names of half the people staring but they certainly seemed to know me. I was Bart McQueen, the stupid prick that made Sinead O'Connor so upset she got hit by a car. And then there was Jas. Jasmine Costello, the weirdo that screwed up her own life and every-one around her's by wanting to be a boy, only to do the same thing again when she reversed back to a girl. I hated knowing that was how they'd be thinking of her.

As we walked into the main building, we tried to be quick, both of us desperatly wanting to get inside and escape the taunts and objects being thrown at us.

"You guys not coming over?" Jonno asked us, gesturing over to my usual group of friends, who I assumed he was about to walk over to.

"Not today mate".

"Maddie will be there", Jas added. "And I don't think she'd be too pleased to see me".

Jonno nodded.

"Later then".

As he walked over to the picnik bench they were all gathered around, with the obvious exception of Sinead, we walked inside.

"I've got to go to the head", Jasmine told me. "See about timetables and stuff".

"Can't you just carry on with your old one?" I didn't like the way she was being treated as a new girl. She wasn't. She'd simply returned.

"I doubt they still have it on the records after a year", she replied. "I definatly threw my copy out. And anyway, I don't want one with Jason Costello written on it". Okay, so maybe now she had a point. I could live very happily never hearing the name Jason again.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"I'll be fine". She smiled at me reassuringly but I wasn't convinced.

"Tough. I'm coming".

"Are you sure?"

"Stop talking and start walking. We need to get there".

"Thank-you", she smiled, genuine this time. "You're the best".

"I know", I replied. "I hope you're aweare of how incredibly lucky you are to have me".

She laughed, punching my arm playfully.

"You shouldn't do that so often", I told her, laughing aswell. "I don't want to get into an abusive realtionship".

I got another light playfull punch for that.

"Oi!"

"Sorry". She was still laughing as she apologised. I stood in front of her, placing my hands around her waist.

"Don't be", I told her. "You could always kiss me better though, if your concerned". After giving me a light kiss on the cheek she pulled away. Knowing this was all she'd feel comfortable doing publicly, I nodded and didn't chase her up on it.

We didn't have many classes together. Only one, and that was Geography which neither of us had until further on in the week. I hoped she was at least with Seth today. I couldn't stand the thought of her facing people alone.

I walked her to her first lesson, Maths - I was unsure why she'd chosen to take such a boring subject but at least pleased that there was no way Maddie would be the class. Although she was fairly academic she didn't like it to show, and prefered to take subjects in The Arts.

"You'll be fine", I told her, attempting to reassure myself as much as her, before giving her a quick hug and heading to my own class.

Unfortunatly for me, my first lesson's population consisted mainly of girls. Girls seemed to treat their friends practicly as family. I knew if any guy did to my cousins what I'd done to Sinead, I wouldn't be able to wait to get my hands on them. And Sinead had a lot of friends.

The room went silent as I entered it. Once again, all eyes were on me. I tried to shrug it off and go to my seat but their gaze followed my movement.

"What?" I knew exactly what it was, but I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of getting upset over it. I wanted them to know how much they were pissing me off, how pathetic they were being. It wasn't as if the majority of them had ever had more than a few conversations with Sinead.

Maddie was the first to approach me.

"Bart hun, you know I love you but there's only so much I can do when you start going out with a boy".

Her calm approach suprised me - I'd expected her to be fuming.

"Look Maddie", I replied, lowering my voice as much as I could - I didn't want every-one else to hear the conversation. "Okay every-one you can stop listening now!" I practicly yelled the last bit. It had no effect, the rest of the room remained in an eerie silence. Seeing that my protests were getting me nowhere, I rolled my eyes and lowered my voice to a whisper once more. "I really am sorry about Sinead. I never wanted to hurt her and I did, so I'm sorry. She doesn't deserve to be in that hospital".

"No. She doesn't. They're letting her home today by the way".

"Thank God. But anyway - what happened with Sinead, that was terrible - I take full responsiblity. Because it was my fault. Not Jasmine's. So stop taking it out on her - you've got no right to go around calling her a boy".

"She's back to being a girl for good?"

I was sick and tired of answering the same question.

"Yes".

"I think maybe the two of you need to talk".

"We have. Not that it's any of your buissiness".

"Has she properly explained why she didn't want to go through with the transition?"

Thinking about it, she hadn't, not fully, all she'd explained was how she'd ran out of the operation, not why. However, Maddie didn't need to know that.

"Yeah. So? What's it to you?"

"I just think you should talk to her again Bart. Make sure she's certain before you get your hopes up".

"She told me she's sure Maddie".

"And you trust her?"

"What the hell? Of course I trust her!" That last bit had been a bit louder than I'd meant for it to be, and the few people who had finally started to quietly talk amoungst themselves returned their attention to my table. Great. Where the hell was the teacher, anyway? "I trust her", I repeated, returning to a whisper. "I love her".

"That's the whole point, Bart".

"What?"

"I just ... I think maybe you love her too much. Too much to see what every-one else can".

"And what's that?"

She sighed.

"I didn't want to have to tell you this Bart. But it's only fair. Because I care about you".

"Spit it out Maddie". I was growing increasingly annoyed with my ex, so much so that I was starting to wonder what I'd ever seen in her in the first place - as a girlfriend or a good mate.

She took her bag off her sholder and took out a small container, the label clearly reading "JASON COSTELLO".

"I saw these fall out of her bag this morning", she told me, passing them over. I inspected the label - I'd had my worries ever since seeing the name printed, and my fears were confirmed as I read the small-print. It contained testosterone.

"She's still taking them", she told me. "She's still not sure about being a girl, Bart".