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THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! I love you guys so, so much! THANK YOU! :)

I'm so sorry for the three week wait! I got really busy and I kind of ended up focusing more on "Anywhere But Here", but I'm working on getting stuff updated, so hopefully the wait for the next chapter won't be so long. I'm not making any promises though, because whenever I do with my stories, it never seems to pan out. So, I know a lot of you were extremely pissed at me about how the last chapter ended...one of you a little more than the others...and I'm sorry, but once again, part of the story. And there's a really weird conversation between James and Katie and I'm not sure how it got in here but it did so...yeah. Be prepared for that...Anyway, on with the chapter!

Warnings: Language and sexual innuendos.

Enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Crashing the Crasher

James' POV

"You look exhausted," Kendall commented when he approached me at my locker the next morning before school.

"Thanks, you look great, too."

"Sorry. But you don't look that good. What happened?"

"You don't want to hear what happened, because it involved my dreams and your sister."

"You're right," he said. "I really don't want to know."

Shane smirked as he leaned against the locker next to mine. "So, you're back to having sex dreams about Katie."

Kendall slapped his hands over his ears. "LA LA LA I AM NOT LISTENING TO THIS CONVERSATION! And don't you have a girlfriend?" he added to me as he lowered his hands.

"Yeah…I'm not a very good boyfriend," I said dismally.

"Well, she made out with Dak Zevon in a closet, and she's clingier than leeches, so she's not a very good girlfriend," Katie spoke up from behind Kendall. "I'm pretty sure she sucks blood as well."

"I don't want to test it out," Kendall said to her. "Since when do you wear leather jackets?"

Katie grinned, straightening out her cropped leather jacket over her hot pink dress. "You like? Mom bought it for me. I think she's just happy to have a daughter to go shopping with."

"Possibly. Anyway, are you two getting along? Because I thought there was bad blood with the whole ice rink thing and James dating Lauren thing and you two doing who-knows-what in the closet thing and you trying to get him back thing and wow, you guys have a lot of things."

Katie grinned. "What can I say? We're awesome together."

"Right…well, I'm gonna head to homeroom. See you two later."

"Later," Katie waved at him, and he went on his way.

Shane kicked away from the locker. "I'll be on my way too. I'm going to see if I can catch Kyle before class. Have fun, you two." He disappeared into the crowd, leaving me gaping after him.

It was too early in the morning for this, and I hadn't had enough coffee to deal with whatever the hell this was.

Katie smiled at me. "So, I talked to your brother yesterday."

"I'm already scared – is that a diamond on a necklace?"

She nodded. It was a black necklace, with a diamond shaped charm hanging from it. And from her ears were also diamond shaped charms. "Like them? Just showing my support for James Diamond, the guy who plays center on the hockey team. You guys have a game next week, right?"

I eyed her. "Yeah…"

"Sweet. Anyway, as I was saying, I talked to Shane, and afterwards, I decided it might be a good idea if I backed off a little bit."

I gaped at her. "What? Why?"

"Because I betrayed your trust when I rejected you, I've hurt you repeatedly. I want you, believe me, I'm not giving up on you. But I won't come onto you. When you're ready to, if you're ever ready to, you'll come back to me. And I hope you do. But until then, can we at least be friends?"

I paused, thinking over her proposition. On the one hand, I would miss her flirting. But on the other, it would be nice to actually get along with her again. As much as I loved our fighting, I preferred us playing nice with each other. And at least it would give me something to tell Lauren, that we were now friends. She couldn't complain if I was hanging out with friends, right?

At last, I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds doable."

She beamed, before hugging me tightly. I hugged her back, relaxing against her.

"Whoa, what's going on here?" Lauren had come up behind us.

I pulled away from Katie. "Just resolving our differences."

"Great…"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Katie flashed her a smile. "I'm not coming onto James anymore. He's all yours."

Lauren's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. So you can stop sending me death glares. I'm not going to steal your guy away from you."

"That's…really good to hear."

Katie nodded. "Well, I'm going to head to class. See you later, James."

"Yeah. See you later."

She bustled off, and Lauren faced me. "Do you believe her?"

"Yeah, actually I do."

She wound her arms around my neck. "Just as long as you know who your girlfriend is. You look exhausted, by the way."

"Thanks, you look amazing, too."

She shrugged. "Sorry."

"Uh huh. Sure."

Lauren pecked my lips. "Come on, guess we should follow little Miss B.F.F's lead and go to class as well."

I nodded.

Katie and Stephanie joined Carlos, Lauren, and me in PE.

"All right, class!" the coach shouted. "We're going to be running laps today. Everyone, out on the track!"

There was a collection of groaning and whining as we dragged ourselves out into the brisk air, shivering in our PE t-shirts and shorts. I was pretty sure laps should have only been allowed during the spring. Or maybe never.

"Five laps!" he called. "Running or walking, but they must be completed by the end of class if you want credit."

There was another round of moaning and complaining, but at the blow of his whistle, we took off down the track. I broke out into a steady jog, expecting Carlos to catch up with me, but when I glanced over my shoulder to see if he was catching up with me, I found him back a ways, walking side by side with Stephanie. I caught sight of Lauren a little bit in front of them with her friend, but that wasn't a huge surprise. What was a surprise though was Katie hurrying to catch up to me.

I stared at her as she reached me, flashing me a smile. "Hey, Jamie-Bear."

"Hey…"

"What? You don't think girls can run?" she asked me with a smirk.

"No, I know they can. I'm just surprised that you're running alongside me."

"Well, you're not going very fast, and anyway, Sarah makes me do laps for conditioning. This is nothing new. I could do these in my sleep and not even break a sweat. Well, no, I might if you popped into my dreams." She winked at me and I blushed slightly.

"I thought you said – "

"I'm just telling it like it is," she replied simply. "Wouldn't you rather have a girl who's straight up with you?"

"Of course I would. But Lauren isn't exactly thrilled with your presence."

"If she isn't thrilled with me being here, then she can catch up with us and knock me out of the way. But I doubt she will. She's too busy telling her friend what a bitchy lying little slut I am."

I threw her a sharp look and she shrugged. "What? I heard her when I was racing past them. But if you notice, she's not telling me to back the fuck off of you. Instead, she's whining about how I'm stealing her boyfriend away from her with my man eating ways. If anyone's a bitchy lying little slut, it's her. You should really do something about her. I've met root canals less annoying than her. There are hookers who aren't as desperate her. Come on," she added at the hesitant look on my face. "You know I'm right. Even if I didn't want you, I'd still hate her. Carlos doesn't like her very much either. And I doubt the others do."

"I don't get why she's like this," I sighed, keeping my pace steady. "She was really nice and sweet when we first got together."

"Well, you two got together, like, two hours after you officially met," she pointed out. "You didn't exactly know her, so you don't actually know what she was really like."

"She seemed fine though. It wasn't until the New Year's Eve party that she kind of seemed to get a little…clingy."

"Well, that has to do with me," she said with a smirk. "But instead of going back to normal, she got worse and worse by the day."

"Exactly." I bobbed my head. "And I can't figure out why."

"I think maybe she was into the idea of being with you…but maybe not actually into you. She liked the idea of being with the guy who she had seen in the halls and in class. But when she realized that you had a cute, adorable, pretty little 5'1 girl clinging onto you as baggage, she had to accept that you weren't Mr. Perfect after all. I mean, how could you be? You've got me as half an ex. I'm one of the biggest bitches in school, James. But you like me for some reason."

"I'm masochistic."

Katie grinned. "Yes. Yes you are. Very much so. And Lauren really doesn't like that, because she knows that no matter what she does, she's going to end up losing to me."

"Not necessarily," I argued. "You don't know what's going to happen."

"No," she conceded. "No, I don't. But she's scared that she'll lose you to me, and she's holding onto you, trying to keep you with her. The James she wanted would never even be slightly inclined to fool around with me. But the James she wants doesn't exist."

I didn't say anything to that; instead, I just focused on the path, on the small, packed bumps under my feet.

"Has your mom met her yet?" Katie asked next.

"Not yet. She will on Friday night – Lauren's coming over for dinner."

"Oh yeah, Lauren said something about that. Is your mom excited to meet her?"

"I'm not sure…Right now she just seems kind of resigned, you know? And Shane isn't helping matters. He keeps saying we should invite you over, get some real personality there. Brad – my mom's boyfriend – is the only one who seems willing to give Lauren a chance, but even he seems a little reluctant."

"Brad…he's that firefighter guy, right?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, that's him. He's going to be there on Friday for moral support – I'm just not sure if it's Mom or me he's going to be lending the moral support to."

"You know, I could come over," Katie suggested. "If you want me to. I mean, I know it's a dinner for your mom to meet your girlfriend and I wouldn't want to intrude on it – "

"I'm not sure you would be intruding…But Lauren would be pissed."

"I'm sure she would be."

"It's not worth it. So, thanks for offering, but no thanks."

She shrugged. "Okay. Enjoy yourself."

"Not likely."

"You don't think you're going to enjoy having dinner with your mom, your mom's boyfriend, your brother, and your girlfriend?"

"No, I don't."

"Why not? Besides the fact that Shane isn't her biggest fan."

"I'm just not sure how Mom and Lauren are going to get along."

"Ah. The mother and the girlfriend. Well, when I met your mom, she seemed pretty cool. Granted, I'm not sure she knew what our…relationship, if you will, was at the time, but…"

"She had an idea," I told Katie. "She knew enough to get the picture."

"Ah. Well, if she treated me as nicely as she did when we were just fooling around, I'm sure she'll be the freaking queen of England to Lauren."

"But what if the queen of England isn't nice?" I asked worriedly.

"How can she not be? She has to be gracious, otherwise people would complain that they weren't getting their money's worth."

"True…"

"Anyway, your mom's a sweet person. I'm sure she'll do her best to make Lauren feel comfortable."

"I guess."

"She will."

We had finished our first lap by that time and were beginning our second one.

"So, what're your plans for the rest of the day?" Katie asked me.

"You mean besides school and hockey practice? Probably just hanging out at home. Why?"

She shrugged. "Just wondering."

"Did you want to hang out…?"

"Well, I mean, we could if you wanted to…Only if you want to, though."

"It could be fun," I volunteered.

"How's your girlfriend going to feel about it?"

"She'll live."

"In any case, it'll give her more ammo to use against me – yeah, she went out to eat with my boyfriend! Can you believe how slutty she is?"

I chuckled. "Depends on where we go to eat."

"Yeah, don't take me to some fancy schmancy Italian restaurant, okay? It'll make you look really bad in front of Lauren, and we wouldn't want that."

"Not in the least."

"Burger Mania work?" she asked, naming off one of the local burger joints in La Castillo.

"Definitely."

"Cool. Make sure you tell Lauren beforehand though, otherwise she'll freak out and accuse you of cheating on her with me."

"The horror. I have cheated on her with you," I pointed out, lowering my voice and glancing around to make sure no one was nearby. "We made out twice on New Year's Eve."

"And you loved every second of it," she retorted. "You weren't complaining."

"Because I'm not stupid enough to complain about making out with you."

"One day, you're going to have to admit to the world that you want me. I hope you know that."

"It's occurred to me."

"Good. Oh, look, we're catching up with Lauren. You better tell her that you're hanging out with me after school, because I can't promise I won't bring it up in the girls' locker room. After she made it very clear that my chest is lesser than hers yesterday, I could use a good bitch fight."

"Katie – "

"Come on, she deserves it. She thinks she's so great because she's like a 36C or something…"

My face heated up. "Um…36D…sometimes a 36DD, actually."

She set her jaw. "Good for her. I hope she enjoys the back pains, the guys staring at her boobs, and the struggle with shopping for bras."

"Katie – "

"Whatever. Go and tell her. I'll see you in chem." Before I could say anything else, she had dashed off, short legs pumping surprisingly hard and fast. I guess we were done talking for the time being…

At least she wasn't ditching me for after school.

That was something…right?

Katie's POV

By the time PE was over, I was hot, sweaty, and on the verge of screaming. James had ended up slowing down to walk with Lauren and her friend, and she did not look pissed off in the least. Apparently she had decided I wasn't a threat to her. If only she knew we had made out on New Year's Eve…twice. If only she could hear my conversations with James. If only she wasn't in my life.

If only she didn't have the body of a fucking Victoria's Secret model. Being cute and petite only got you so far in this world. Being 5'5, blonde, and busty would get you so much more attention, and it just wasn't fair. She didn't deserve James, not in the least. She didn't deserve to have what I wanted. And she didn't deserve to get complacent about it.

I hoped Mrs. Diamond hated her guts when they finally met. I hoped Shane would finally let his family know how much he disliked Lauren. And I hoped Brad the Firefighter would decide Lauren really needed to go.

I hated her. I fucking hated her. Her and her perfect hair and perfect face and perfect body and perfect double-Ds. How the fuck did James even know that anyway? Had he seen her bra? Had she told him? Had he asked? Did he even care?

I was the first girl to finish my five laps, and the first one in the locker room. I found myself standing in front of the full length mirror, fighting back tears. The thing about James was that he had the ability to make you feel beautiful and perfect even if you were an absolute mess. But the second Lauren's bra size had been brought into the mix – which was, as much as I hated to admit it, strictly my fault – everything had hit home. She had him. She was with him. She was sitting at drive-ins with him, climbing all over him in the backseat of his car.

And suddenly I was comparing myself to her more than ever.

I just wanted to go home, curl up in my bed, and stay there for the rest of my life.

I wish I had never met James Diamond.

The locker room door swung open and I quickly scurried into one of the shower stalls, but not before catching sight of Lauren and her friend.

"Doesn't it bother you?" her friend asked her. "Your boyfriend hanging out with the little ice skating slut?"

Little ice skating slut? Excusez-moi? Are you craving a good bitch slap? Because if you keep talking about me that way, your face is going to be so bruised…

"Please," Lauren snorted. "Why would I? She looks like a little boy."

Wow. And the verbal punches just keep coming. And I do not look like a little boy…Not my fault my body's different then what's considered the norm.

"True," her friend agreed. "But didn't she and James Diamond have something…?"

"Yeah, but it's over now. He realized his mistake and moved onto me."

I fought back a snort of my own. Then explain to me why he kept making out with me on New Year's Eve.

"Good," her friend said enthusiastically. "Because she's such a bitch. And a slut."

"Right? She's, like, stalking him. She apparently texted him when we were on winter break, trying to convince him to let her dirty talk to him. I saw her texts on his phone by accident. And now she's all, oh, I'm your new BFF, aren't I just so innocent? to him. Please. Give me a fucking break. If she doesn't try to blow him under the table at the restaurant, I will be very shocked. And James is just lapping it all up like a golden retriever lapping up water on a hot day."

I smirked slightly. Did she just compare her boyfriend to a dog? Oh, this was gold…Sheer, beautiful, shiny gold. I couldn't wait to hear what she said next.

"Can't she get the message?" Lauren's friend asked, sounding like she was rolling her eyes.

"Well, she might if James told her to get lost."

"So, why doesn't he?"

"Because he's too nice."

Also because he likes the way I kiss him.

"Eh. He needs to do something about her."

"Agreed."

I took that moment to step out of the shower, a towel wrapped tightly around me as several other girls walked into the locker room. I shot a smirk at Lauren and her friend and proceeded to get redressed.

"At least I actually have boobs," Lauren muttered darkly.

"That's getting really old, really fast," I informed her, slipping my denim jacket on. "And your boyfriend liked my boobs just fine when we were together. He never had any complaints."

Her eyes narrowed and I just smirked all the more widely. "Problem?"

"No. No problem at all, bitch."

"Wow, nice insult. I've never heard that one before." I rolled my eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to head to chemistry, where I'll be partnering with your boyfriend. How do you feel about that?"

She just glared at me, and I smiled sweetly at her, before walking out of the locker room.

I managed to get through ice skating practice without too many complaints from Sarah, and when she gave me her usual lecture about watching my weight, I tuned her out, almost tempted to plug my ears and sing at the top of my lungs.

At last, I headed to Burger Mania, pulling up beside James' car. I climbed out and headed into the restaurant, immediately spotting James. I slid into the booth, on the bench across the table from him. James looked up from his menu and smiled at me. "After the way you ran off during PE, I wasn't entirely sure you were going to show up."

I shrugged. "I don't break promises." I picked up my own menu and flipped it open. "So, you told Lauren during PE? I saw you walking with her and that friend of hers."

"Her friend's name is Jenny. And yeah, I told her."

"I thought so. They came into the locker room bitching about me."

"I'm sorry," he said honestly.

"Not your fault. Well, maybe if you weren't so fucking hot and nice we wouldn't be in this mess, but whatever. I don't care if girls bitch about me. As far as I'm concerned, if those two don't like me, then I must be doing something right."

"About what I told you about Lauren…" he began, but I held up my hand.

"It's none of my business and frankly, I'm not sure I want to know how you know what size bra she wears."

"It's not…I don't know from hands on experience. She told me."

"Oh. Well. Okay, then."

He nodded. "She seemed to think it was really important."

"I'm sure she did. Girls compete over bra size a lot…"

"Why?" He looked genuinely confused, head cocked to the side like a confused puppy. Huh…I could kind of see why Lauren had compared him to a dog, but since she hadn't done it in a nice way, I wasn't going to give her any credit for it.

"It's…it's…" I licked my lips as I scanned the menu. "It's complicated. Weird. I can't really explain it."

"It's not like it makes you any less female if you're…um…smaller," he pointed out, a little awkwardly.

"I know that. It's just…something that we get a little touchy over. Like guys and dick sizes," I added, figuring that I'd use an example that he could relate to.

His eyes lit up with comprehension. "Ohhh…okay. Well, I still think it's stupid. It's like that competition that I know some of you girls have with who can eat the least, or who can slather the most makeup on. As far as I'm concerned, if you're not eating, then something's wrong. And who wants to date someone who looks like a clown? Girls are so much more beautiful all natural."

I smiled a little. "You only think that because you're one of the good guys. At Carlos' New Year's Eve party, Jett Stetson acted like me having a smaller chest was a bad thing, but it was okay as long as I put out."

"Yeah, well, Stetson needs a good kick up the ass."

"That he does," I agreed. "That he does."

"Is Lauren really that pissed off?" James asked after a moment of silence, sounding slightly worried.

I looked up at him. "It's just something else for her to bitch about. Why? Are you worried she'll break up with you?"

"No. I'm just worried about what she might say to you."

"Don't worry about that. I can take whatever she throws at me. Believe me, she's nothing compared to me in the bitch department. I may be tiny, but we both know I'm vicious."

He laughed a little. "Very true. I've experienced that viciousness firsthand. I'm pretty sure I still have bruises from when you and Stephanie launched that attack on Carlos and me in PE."

"That's what you get for being a hockey head," I informed him, waggling my finger at him. "You should've known better."

He stuck his tongue out at me. "Shut up."

I grinned and turned back to my menu. Our waitress arrived a couple minutes later and we ordered drinks. She headed off and returned pretty quickly with them, before taking our food orders. Once she had left, James turned back to me.

"How was Sarah today?"

"Not too bad, she's definitely been worse."

"That's good, I guess."

I nodded. "It is."

We chatted for a little while longer, before the waitress arrived with our food. Just as we began to eat, the restaurant's door chimed and James glanced up over my head. "Oh, shit…"

"What?" I turned around. "Fuck."

Lauren was strolling towards us, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.

James groaned as she approached. "What're you doing here?"

"I just wanted to come and see my boyfriend," she cooed, kissing his cheek. "Oh…Katie," she sneered my name out.

"Lauren," I sneered back before rolling my eyes at James. He looked every bit as pissed as I felt; she even had to shove him so that he would scoot over and make room for her. She grabbed one of his fries, biting into it.

"So, what're we talking about?" she asked, flashing us a smile.

"About clingy, whiny, bitchy girlfriends," I snapped as I mentally cussed her out. Unbelievable. She had fucking one upped me. She had one upped James! And he wasn't even doing anything wrong!

Crashing her dinner with the Diamonds was starting to sound like a very good idea…

Yeah...so...Lauren pissed both James and Katie off...She's doing great here. Anyway, did you guys like the chapter? Love it? Hate it? Please review and let me know! I love hearing from you guys and I always appreciate it :)