Hey, it's BETA!

I believe this is the second-to last-chapter. I don't understand this chappie at all, which is odd considering I wrote it. Then again, its probably just me hating on my writing as usual. :P

A lot happens in this particular chapter. I don't want to give anything away, so if you really want to know you have to read to find out.

So...what are you waiting for? ENJOY! :D

I don't own GLC. The only thing I'm guilty of is missing the show. :(

The room seems to move in slow-motion as everyone below us rushes to catch the falling tiara.

I find that my eyes are shut tightly. As much as I hate that stupid thing, I don't have the heart to see it shatter into a million pieces. So I listen quietly, bracing myself for sound of broken jewelry.

The sound never comes.

"What the—?"

Before I get a chance to see what stopped the fall, Juliette violently drags me by my hair to the center of the balcony and once again starts attacking me like the crazy girl she is. With the amount of cuts and bruises I've given her, she looks like she was attacked by a rabid dog. I'm half expecting her to start foaming at the mouth or something.

"You're dead to me, Jo Keener! You hear me?! DEAD!" Juliette screeches as she tugs my hair in rhythm to her own panting.

I swing a fist at her, which she manages to dodge. She then attempts to trip me, in which I flip her in response. When she gets up I begin kicking at her feet repetitively.

"You say you have a broken ankle?! I'll give you a dang broken ankle!"

"Stop that!"

"Why?" I ask menacingly. "Have you finally given up? Realized I'm the best?" I smirk at her but don't stop kicking. It's too much fun.

Juliette's face goes bright red as she squirms in mild discomfort. Suddenly there's an odd cracking sound and the bratty brunette falls over. It takes me a moment to realize what the heck had just happened.

I broke her heel.

"MY SHOES!" Juliette screams so loudly I wouldn't be surprised if all of Denver heard her. "Look what you did to my sparkly shoes! Do you know how much I spent on them?" She doesn't bother giving me time to come up with a snarky remark before she continues. "More money than you're worth!"

Juliette removes her heels and chucks them at me. I dodge both of them and they end up flying over the balcony. The first one lands in the punch bowl, but I lose sight of the second quickly due to Juliette harshly grabbing me by the wrist.

"Nice aim," I say sarcastically, not at all fazed by her touch.

Juliette snarls, then proceeds to throw more insults at me, all of which I respond with something twice as insulting. This goes on for about two or three more minutes until something—or more like someone—catches my attention.

It's Austin.

He's waving his arms around and mouthing words at me. I figure he's trying to tell me something, but it looks more like he's dancing. Really badly.

"What?" I mouth at him, not bothering to hide my annoyance. If this is his way of telling me what a freak I am, dancing around like a lunatic isn't helping his case.

Austin pauses, thinking for a moment, then runs across the gym. Luckily everyone is too preoccupied me and Juliette fighting to notice him. I slowly make my way to the side of the balcony now closer to Austin, careful not to make it obvious that I'm paying absolutely no attention to Juliette.

(Although the fact that I haven't screamed one insult at her yet should be enough proof that I'm not listening to her).

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Austin point to a rope swinging next to him. He points at himself and feigns pulling it. I raise my eyebrows at him. Austin sighs. He points at me, at Juliette, and the side of the balcony closest to the wall. Then he points at the ceiling.

I look up. Suddenly I get it.

With Juliette still insulting me, I slowly make my way to the side of the balcony Austin was pointing at. As I do so, my mind starts racing. 'This is a trap. Austin is tricking you. He's a jerk, why would he help you?'

I stop walking and look up. This is it, this is the exact spot. I take a deep breath. If Austin really is messing with me, now would be the exact time to pull the rope.

He doesn't. I smile.

"What's so funny, Freak?" Juliette starts doing some weird thing with her right hand, probably her signal to Austin. I'm guessing Austin and Juliette set this prank up for me, but Austin had a last minute change of heart. Why he did so, I have no idea.

I bite my lip. I only have one shot at this, so I have to get it right the first time. I need to get Juliette to lunge at me. Crazy, I know, but it's the only non-obvious way to get her to stand in the exact spot I'm standing in.

But how do I get her to attack? I have to say something that will really peeve her off, obviously.

I think back to everything that's happened since the she-devil came to our school. From when I first flipped her up until this exact moment on the balcony. She's jealous of me and Gabe's relationship, that I know. I don't get it since Gabe and argue most of the time, but I know.

I also know that she dragged me up here because I kissed Gabe, so I guess it's pretty obvious what topic will make her scream. Or, preferably, get her to attempt to rip my eyes out of their sockets.

Stupid Gabe.

I know I've mentioned this billions of times before, but it's strange how all my problems lead right back to the root of them. Gabriel B. Duncan is everything wrong with my life, yet here I am using him to make things right.

The problem and the solution all wrapped up in one. I kinda like that.

"Jo!" Juliette's still barking at me, but she seems to realize that I'm no longer paying attention. She also seems to realize that Austin is ignoring her. I figure this since she keeps glaring at him and hissing his name.

I sigh. If I really want to do this, I need to do it now.

"You think you so great, don't you Juliette? You think you're so much better than me."

"Because I am," Juliette flips her messy hair and rolls her eyes.

I raise a brow at her, the tiniest of smirks forming on my lips. "That's what you keep telling me. But if that were so true, then you wouldn't feel so threatened by me, now would you?"

The gym is mostly silent, besides confused murmurs. No one, not even Juliette, has any idea where I'm going with this. That makes things only ten times better for me.

Juliette lets out a loud laugh—no, a cackle. She freakin' cackles like the Wicked Witch of the West. "Me? Feel threatened by you? Jo, you're hilarious!"

"That wasn't a joke, you idiot. Ever since you moved here you've been at my throat. Think I'm going to make a move on your boyfriend or something. Steal him away from you. Make you look stupid, not that you don't do that on your own already."

Juliette scoffs. "Puh-lease! Gabe would never go for someone as pathetic as you."

"Really?" I feel my face grow red. "Is that why he chose slow-dancing with me over looking for you?"

"That doesn't prove anything!" Her tone of voice says confident, but her facial expression says otherwise. I am so breaking her.

"Are you sure about that Juliette? 'Cause, most boys who care would choose their girlfriend over the 'pathetic girl with no chance.' Unless, of course, the pathetic girl does have a chance, and you seem to think that she does."

"I'm not jealous of you!" Juliette begins breathing heavily, her eyes narrowing. For someone who's not jealous, she looks pretty dang jealous.

"So…it didn't bother you when we danced together? Or what about when we kissed? It didn't bother you then, did it?"

Juliette looks just about ready to kill me, which is great. I almost got her. Just one more hit.

"Face it, Gabe and I have a history! My on-and-off crush is currently on and I've kissed him! Not once, but twice! And guess what?! For all it's worth, I'D DO IT AGAIN!"

That's it. Juliette lunges at me, screaming things I can't quite make out. I'm able to slide past her and turn just in time to see Austin pull the rope.

The bucket above her flips over, and next thing I know, Juliette is drenched in chocolate sauce.

At least, I think its chocolate sauce. I'm not about to taste it to find out.

The room erupts with laughter. Austin gives me two thumbs up and I smile at him. Juliette turns to me, then glares at Austin.

"You were supposed to dump this stuff on her!"

Austin shrugs. "You told me to dump it on the ugly girl. I must have misheard you. My bad."

The laughs intensify.

"You're the worst cousin ever!"

I raise my eyebrows. Cousin? Well, I guess that explains why Austin was helping Juliette in the first place. Still…cousin?

Everyone else seems to find the cousin thing hilarious, as the laughs get even louder. Juliette turns back to me. I purse my lips, forcing myself to keep from laughing hysterically. She smiles cruelly. "Its okay, Jo. Enjoy it all while you still can. After tonight though, you better watch your back! I swear, Jo Keener, and mark my words! YOU WILL BE—!"

Juliette stops mid-sentence, her eyes wide and her face deathly pale. She's no longer looking at me. Instead, her eyes are glued to something else.

Everyone below us follows her gaze. Then the room goes dead-silent. That's never a good thing.

I don't even have to look to know what everyone is looking at. There's only one thing—one person—who can make that many people terrified at once. And it's not me.

"What on earth is going on in here?"

It's Mrs. Young, the Principal.

We are so screwed.

Suspended.

That's all I got out of Mrs. Young's extremely long and boring speech.

Juliette and I are both suspended for a week for fight on school grounds.

This isn't a big deal to me. It's not the first time I've been kicked out of school and I doubt it'll be the last. Juliette, on the other hand, looks sick to her stomach. It's as though she's never been in trouble before. This actually makes me feel a lot better about the whole situation. Little Miss Perfect is finally paying for her crimes.

From my seat in the Principal's office, I can hear music blaring from the gym. I guess the dance is still going on despite the fact that two girls nearly killed each other on a balcony. For a moment I thought the entire dance was going to get shut down, but I think it's better this way. I'd hate to have a bunch of stupid popular kids freaking out at me over ending a silly school dance.

I turn to face Juliette. She's tapping away on her phone, probably texting one of her non-existent friends. Or maybe another unsuspecting cousin. She looks up suddenly, takes one long look at me, snarls, and then goes back to her texting. What a freak.

"Psst! Jo!"

I turn. Leaning against the doorway is Hot Heather, her manicured nails beckoning me. What the heck is she doing here?

"I just came to see how you were," she says, reading my mind. "That fight on the balcony looked pretty intense."

I get up and make my way to where Heather is standing. "What do you want, Heather?" I ask rudely while slamming the door shut. Whatever it is, I don't want Juliette eavesdropping.

"From you? Nothing."

"Then why are you here? We're not friends. I hate you."

"I know we're not friends…" Heather says, ignoring the 'I hate you' part. "…And I know that we probably never will be. But I'm Gabe's friend, and Gabe is yours—I think. So excuse me for actually caring."

"Gabe isn't my friend anymore," I snap. "I don't think he'll ever speak to me again, not after I beat up his girlfriend."

"That's not what I heard," Heather smirks. "Everyone's buzzing about the fight. Videos have already been posted online. Rumours are spreading like wildfire. Gabe—" Heather stops abruptly, bending over slightly so she can look me in the eyes. "I heard that Gabe's thinking about breaking up with Juliette for you."

"He is?" As much as I try not to show it, I can't help but let the corners of my mouth turn upwards.

"Yes, and thank goodness for that. No offense to her or anything, but she was a little…psycho."

I laugh, and Heather laughs too. I never thought I'd see the day when the two of us would ever have a civil conversation. Yes, Heather has never really been mean to me. I've always been the judgmental one, but still. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so as long as Heather is calling Juliette a psychopath…I'm willing to give her a chance.

Heather eventually leaves and less than a minute later Stella, Lucille, Maddi, and Ashley show up, refusing to shut up about how awesome I am. When they leave six or seven minutes after that, I'm surprised to see Austin standing next to me.

"Hello."

"You set me up."

"I apologize greatly."

I smirk. "You stabbed your cousin in the back. Why are you apologizing to me?"

"I asked you to go to the dance with me because Juliette told me to. I was going to dump stuff on you because Juliette told me to. I—"

"You already lost your man-card by letting your pathetic cousin push you around. Don't get all sappy over this."

Austin smiles sadly. "You seem like a nice girl—"

"That's a first."

"A reasonably nice girl," Austin corrects himself. "You deserve someone who really cares about you."

Austin hands me a pink rose—I'm not going to ask where he got it from—and walks away. Just like that. I stare at the flower, wondering when I'll see him again while secretly wishing it'll be soon. He may not have been the best date and I doubt I'll be seeing any 'Jo and Austin' in the future, but he is a really great guy. I'm still not sure how he's related to Juliette.

My hand is on the doorknob, just about to step back into Mrs. Young's office, when there's a tap on my shoulder.

It's Gabe.

"Special delivery for Jo Keener," he says, pulling something shiny out from behind his back. In his hand is my tiara, the one that went flying off the balcony. He saved it.

Gabe places the tiara on my head. It feels lopsided, but I don't dare touch it. He then tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. I blush.

I feel so weird right now. I, Jo Keener, am sharing a moment with Gabe. I've shared moments with Gabe before, yes, but this is different. This is special. I feel…on top of the world…like I can do anything…

"You're not going to kiss me again, are you?"

"Screw you, Gabe Duncan."

And now the feeling's gone.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" I ask, adjusting my tiara. "Your girlfriend's inside. I would be too, but the toxins she exhales is killing me."

Gabe shrugs. "Heard you got expelled. Wanted to find out for myself."

Man, rumours travel faster than the plague at this school.

"I wasn't expelled, you dork. I was suspended. There's a huge difference. And anyway, why do you care? I thought you'd be happy that I got kicked out of school. No more 'Jealous Jo' interfering with your relationship or whatever"

Gabe sighs. "Look, I'm sorry I accused you of being a liar. You were right about Juliette. Anyone who thinks for even a second that they could beat you in a fight is crazy."

Heck yeah they are.

"But, to be fair, you're not exactly the most trustworthy person…"

"I know, I know. Now shut up before you ruin the moment." I pause. "I…I guess I'm sorry too. For…you know, being a jerk and stuff. Juliette may be a crazy, but she's still your girlfriend. If I want to stay friends with you, I need to get over it and move on."

"Not anymore, you don't. Juliette and I are finished. Or, at least we will be soon. That's why I'm here. To break up with her."

Even though I kinda knew this was coming, it still brings a smile to my face.

"Oh. Well, in that case, screw her. I'd say I'm sorry that things didn't work out, but then I'd be lying. And I am not a liar."

"I think I got that now." Gabe runs a hand through his messy hair. "After you admitted to the entire school that you liked me, I figured you had a lot more truth in you than I thought."

Oh my gosh. Of course he had to bring that up.

"Don't be stupid. I only said that because I knew it would drive Juliette deeper into insanity. I don't like you." Apparently I like lying though.

Gabe raises his eyebrows at me. "Do you really expect me to believe that after you attempted murder on a fake balcony for me?"

"It was worth a shot." I take a seat on the floor, slightly embarrassed. Gabe plops down next to me.

"I believe a comment was made about your on-and-off crush on me being currently on?"

"Yep." I refuse to look him in the eyes so I stare straightforward. "But don't worry. The moment you say something stupid, which will be soon, it'll turn back off. Then Jealous Jo will die a painless death and I can go back to hating you like everyone else."

"Well that sucks. Not gonna lie, Jealous Jo is kinda hot."

I shove him a little too hard for it to be considered 'playful'. "Don't you have a girlfriend to break up with or something?"

"I will. But first there's something I have to do. Now stand up."

I give him a look but stand up anyway. Gabe gets up and grabs me by the shoulders. "Okay! Now close your eyes," he says.

"What? No."

"Do it or…I'll never braid your hair again."

I smirk. "Really Gabe? Who do you think I am, Hot Heather? I don't care if you braid my hair."

"Just do it. It's not like anything bad is going to happen if you do."

I sigh obey his every command. I close my eyes, spin around five times, touch my nose, stick out my tongue, and sing the alphabet backwards. I still have no clue what the heck he's doing, but it's a small price to pay being able to talk to him without things being totally awkward.

"You're eyes are still closed, right?" Gabe asks after my dead-on impression of Teddy when she buys new shoes. I nod. "Good. Now tell me you like me."

"I like you," I say before I can stop myself. I don't even have to open my eyes to see the smile forming on Gabe's lips.

"Ha! I've done it! I've successfully summoned Jealous Jo from the dead!"

"No you haven't." I open my eyes just in time to see Gabe smile slowly fade away. "I'm still plain old Jo Keener who hates you. A lot. The only person I hate more than you is myself for liking you so much at the same time."

I didn't mean to confess my feelings directly to him. But as long as he already knows… "You're like an ant. The bug, I mean. Ants are cute and cuddly and you want to protect them, but at the same time it's fun to watch them suffer on sunny days when you have a magnifying glass."

"…Huh? Jo, that made no sense at all."

"Kind of like our relationship…"

It's a known fact that Gabe and I have a complicated relationship. We hate each other, yet we hang out almost every day. We argue, I (used to) beat him up, and we've kissed. Three times.

Our first kiss was purely accidental and completely humiliating. I don't even count it as a kiss. It was more of two lips slamming into each other after I fell off a fake balcony. Not my fault.

Our second kiss was also an accident. Another humiliating, spur-of-the-moment accident. Unfortunately, this one was my fault. While I do wish that kiss never happened, without it I wouldn't be where I am now.

Standing outside the Principal's office, kissing Gabe Duncan. Again.

Unlike the first two, this is no accident. And unlike the others, I'm not afraid to admit that I kinda like it. A lot.

But hey, you know what they say. Third time's a charm.

Don't worry! There is another chapter on the way!

~ Beta