Chapter content warnings: swearing

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

No one was more surprised than Lily when, Monday at lunch, Danika had come up to their table and asked if Lily wanted to go with her and Courtney to get manicures. She'd agreed out of pure bafflement and then pretended not to hear Trixie and Spud celebrating behind her that she wasn't going to be going to the skatepark with them that afternoon. As soon as the last bell rang, Lily was off like a shot, worried that if she wasn't by the front doors to meet Danika and Courtney immediately that they would leave her behind. She was the first one to arrive, Courtney and Danika sauntering over several minutes later.

"Ready?"

"Yep," Lily said, trying not to sound too eager. "Whenever you are."

Lily felt a little left out of the conversation right away as Danika and Courtney started going over something that had happened in an English class that Lily was not in. Lily fidgeted with her shirtsleeves as they took the bus to their 'usual nail place'. Did they invite her out just to ignore her all the time? Barely anyone had spoken to her since they'd left school and Lily was starting to wonder if it was all some cruel joke.

"What did you do this weekend, Lily?" Danika asked. "We thought we might see you and Rose out again. Lacey had a party on Saturday."

How was Lily supposed to know that if no one had told her? "On Friday night we had a double date with Rose and Brad and we went to karaoke." And then she had locked herself in her art studio all day on Saturday, trying to process Friday and then on Sunday, she had made herself a nuisance by sticking to her mother's side, all so that she could tell Jake she was busy and that's what she wasn't texting him as much as usual but the truth was that Lily didn't want to look at her phone because Marcia had never answered her. None of that was something she felt like she could tell Courtney and Danika, however.

"Ooh, how was karaoke?" Courtney asked. "It sounds like fun."

"I was too embarrassed to get up and sing," Lily confessed.

"Girl, that would be me," Danika said. "I'm with you."

"Everyone else did. Brad does a really good Taylor Swift."

Danika and Courtney snorted with laughter as they headed into the nail place. It made Lily feel so much more included that she was the reason they were laughing.

"Can Jake sing?" Danika asked once they were settled with their nail techs.

"Apparently. He didn't tell me but I guess he and Rose talked about it. They did like four duets." Lily shrugged, trying to be casual about it but there must have been something in her tone because both Courtney and Danika's heads snapped at the same time to face her.

"Lovey duets?" Courtney asked and Lily nodded because, well, they had gotten progressively worse throughout the night. "Is that weird?"

"Well, she's my twin sister and he's my boyfriend –"

"Which is why it would be weird," Danika said. "Were you okay with it?"

"Not really but it's not like they asked me." Not once. Not even after Jake got back to the table after the first duet, talking about how much fun he'd had and how he had already signed them up to sing something else, once again putting the song choice into the hands of Jared. Then, after they had come back from a cutesy version of Anyone Else But You, Jake had told Lily she should probably slow down on the sangria without asking why she was drinking so much sangria which was not at all like the Jake that she knew and it just made her want to drink more.

"Aww, that wasn't super nice of them," said Courtney sympathetically. "But, Jake's always seemed like a good dude. I'm sure it didn't mean anything."

"Or it did," Danika said. "You know all the stories that they tell about Rose."

"What stories do they tell about Rose?" Lily asked. "I just met her, don't forget."

"She's kind of …" Danika dropped her voice. "Well, kind of a whore. Everyone knows that Brad sleeps around like he does because she does the same thing. And, like, because she doesn't respect her relationship, she doesn't respect anyone else's."

Courtney scoffed. "No way."

"They do say that!"

"Well, I know they say it," Courtney admitted. "But we've all seen Brad chasing girls at parties and stuff and we've never seen Rose do that. And, I've never heard someone else saying that they've slept with her."

Danika rolled her brown eyes, leaning over into Lily's personal space. "This might be weird where you're identical twins and all but Courtney used to have a major crush on your sister. She will still defend her."

"You're into girls?" Lily asked.

"Pan and proud," Courtney replied.

Lily nodded, making a note to figure out what pan was later. Was that different than bisexual? She could ask Courtney, she supposed, but there was none of that easy going openness that Marcia had and Lily was embarrassed about all of the things that she didn't know yet.

"And, Rose is just a super bitchy person," Danika continued. Lily nodded at that because that was definitely true. "I wouldn't trust her."

"What has she ever done to you?" Courtney asked. "I barely remember the last time either of us spoke to her one on one."

"Word travels." Danika shrugged.

"I mean, she's been pretty cold to me," Lily said. "Mom says that I've got to have patience with her and everything and I'm trying but it's hard when she doesn't care about anything."

"That's what I'm talking about," Danika said. "If even her own sister says it, Court, there's got to be some truth to it."

"We've known her longer than Lily has," Courtney said. "I don't think that's really fair."

"What else do you think about her, Lily?"

"I think it's rude that she's putting effort into knowing my parents but I never have any idea where I stand with her. Sometimes she acts like she wants to be sisters and then sometimes it's like I'm not even there! If you're going to be mean then be mean all the time. Is it so hard to let me know where I stand with you?"

"Preach, girl," Danika said. "I think that's all totally valid."

Lily continued to vent, glad that there were friends that she could open up to. She didn't notice that Courtney had gone completely silent.

(-.-)

Courtney: Did you do something to piss off Danika?

Rose: No. What are you talking about?

Courtney: she invited Lily to go with us for manis and they're both just sitting here roasting the shit out of you

Rose: WTF? Are you serious? WTF are they saying?

"Hey, Rose, come on! You're not going to learn how to skateboard by sitting there," Jake called.

Rose didn't move from the bleachers. "In a sec! Hey, Trixie, will you come over here for a minute?"

Trixie sat down next to her. "What's going on?"

Rose showed her the text thread from Courtney. "You go to school with these guys; I only see them at some parties. What do you think?"

Trixie scrolled. "Danika called you what?! That is so against girl code."

"She's talking like I've literally stolen her boyfriend from her or something," Rose said. "I've never done that. I wouldn't have ever called us friends but I would have called us friendly."

"Lily is such a snake. She doesn't know you at all. And it's not like she's never been a bitch, she just doesn't think cute little innocent Lily could ever be. In her head, everyone's so mean to her all the time for absolutely no reason." Trixie scowled.

"Okay but do I trust Courtney? Is she trustworthy?"

Trixie handed Rose her phone back and reclined against the bleachers. "I mean, that's a hell of a story to make up if she's just trying to cause drama."

"Right."

"I mean, I don't know Courtney that well. We've shared a couple of classes but she's a theatre nerd and they tend to stick together. I know Danika a lot better – or, at least, I thought I did. Before Jake was with Lily, he and Danika were together for, like, three months over the summer. It was kind of serious but it fizzled out as fast as it started. I always thought she was cool. A little catty, maybe, but never without a reason. She does talk a lot though."

Rose: Did you ask her why she has such a problem with me?

Courtney: She just says it's because of your reputation. IDK, she's going a little hard if it's just about that.

Rose: a little?

Courtney: I'm her best friend. It's not like we sit around and talk about you but your name has come up before and she's never acted like this

"I should just ask her what her problem is," Rose said aloud to Trixie. "If this is as weird as Danika is saying, I could probably fix it."

"By selling out the fact that her best friend tattled on her? Mmm, probably not the best way to do it."

Rose hated to admit that Trixie was right. If she tried to fix the problem this way, she was just going to cause more drama. Rose just didn't like the fact that people were talking about her like this. She knew that she couldn't stop it but most of what Danika was saying just wasn't true. Rose didn't even sleep with her own boyfriend; she wasn't some kind of maneater.

"Do I just let her talk about me like this? That's not reasonable either."

"Next time we're all at a party, befriend her," Trixie said. "Either you'll prove her wrong or you'll have a better chance of actually catching her say something."

Rose mulled it over and arrived at two conclusions. "You're a genius and I'm so relieved I'm not on your bad side."

Trixie laughed, slinging her arm around Rose's shoulders. "Me too. Come on, let's go see what the boys are up to."

Rose put her arm around Trixie's waist and they walked off together.

(-.-)

Spud watched Trixie walk away and then he turned to Jake, who wasn't looking at him. They'd gone through the normal routine of Monday, all of them eating lunch at the same table and then heading to the skate park afterward, but Jake had been quiet in all of the classes they'd had together and had really only spoken to Lily at lunch.

"Hey, man, we're sorry for trying to imply that there was anything weird going on with you and Rose. We know you're worth Lily and we know we need to respect it more." At the very least, Spud needed to have a conversation with Trixie about keeping their Lily-bashing more between themselves.

"It's kind of a shitty thing to say," Jake said. "Like, we're all friends and we give each other shit for everything and be honest with each other and all of that but you guys are really hard on Lily, for no reason. And if Rose had been a dude, you wouldn't have even thought it was weird that we were becoming friends."

"Because you're not at all into dudes," Spud said under his breath.

Jake slumped against the wall, glancing over at Trixie and Rose.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"I can try." Jake glared at him and Spud backtracked. "No, you know I can, especially for you."

"I think I got so pissed off at you because you were … right. A little. Maybe."

"You like Rose!?" Spud exclaimed, maybe a little too loudly, because Jake clamped a hand over Spud's mouth. Spud mumbled into Jake's palm, "sorry."

Luckily for Spud, neither Trixie or Rose had looked up from Rose's phone, otherwise Jake would probably be toasting his ass by now.

"But, are you serious?"

"Maybe, like a small, little crush," Jake said, not looking Spud in the eye. "It's not something I'm going to do anything about because that would be probably the dumbest thing I've ever done in my entire life. She's my girlfriend's identical twin. There's no way any part of that ends well but I don't know. When we were at karaoke on Friday …"

"Yes?" Spud pushed. Who knew when Trixie and Rose were going to stand up and he needed all the details and he needed them all now. "What happened?"

"We sang You're The One That I Want, you know, from Grease?"

"Sure."

"It was our third duet of the night and I'd been thinking about what you said all night and I'd been drinking but when we were dancing and singing to each other, I thought about kissing her."

"Maybe you were just drunk," Spud said, because it was the thing to say.

"Then why did I text her more than Lily this weekend? Why is it that I can't get her out of my head? Why is that right now when I'm stone cold sober and she's not made up and wearing a dress that makes her tits look fantastic, do I still want to walk over there and put my arm around her and kiss her?" Jake shook his head, looking disgusted with himself. "I am trusting you to not say anything and to also not use this against Lily. I don't want drama. I want to trust my friend."

"You can trust me, dude," Spud said. "I get it. I hear you. Rose is awesome and you and Lily have been together for a while. Maybe it's just getting all mixed up in your head."

Jake nodded, looking a little more relieved. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"And, Jake, look, I know we don't like Lily but that doesn't mean you can't talk about her with us. I promise if you're venting, I won't hold it against you."

"Thanks," Jake said, "but there's nothing wrong with Lily; there's no reason to vent."

To himself, Spud thought that was the problem. It was something that they had gone over before and Spud kept his mouth closed. It wasn't the time to push Jake and he'd never been good at that. It was more Trixie's job.

"Here come the girls," Jake said, and then he stepped forward. "Hey, Rose, ready for more lessons?"

"Bring it on," she said.

As Jake helped Rose find her footing on the skateboard, Spud and Trixie hopped on their boards, heading to a safe distance away. Spud hoped the movement didn't look too coordinated because Jake was going to think that Spud was immediately running off to gossip about him.

"I have so much to tell you about Lily," Trixie said. "What were you guys talking about?"

"He was still ranting about Brad and karaoke," Spud lied, but he hated to do it to Trixie's face. He was sure that she was going to spot it. "You know, about the Asian thing."

"Ugh, can't blame him there, that was rude," Trixie said, and then she immediately moved into a debrief of the conversation that she'd been having with Rose.

And she never noticed Spud's lie at all.

(-.-)

Jake waited just inside the school doors, waiting for Lily to arrive at school. He was surprised when Danika leant against the wall with him.

"Hey."

It wasn't that they didn't talk anymore, exactly. Their break-up had been swift and mutual and, even though it had taken a little while for them to figure out how to be friendly again, they had managed it. But, Jake and Danika hadn't been close friends before they'd started dating and they didn't remain close after the break-up.

"Hey," Danika said. "I was looking for Lily."

"She's not here yet."

"Mind if I wait with you?"

Jake shrugged. "How was manis?"

"Good. Like my colour?" Danika held up her hand and Jake nodded. Lily had sent a photo of her hand, Danika's hand, and Courtney's hand to him yesterday afternoon, showing off how they had all chosen shades of blue. "It was cool to hang out with Lily. She was way chattier than I thought she was going to be. I don't think of her as someone who talks much."

"It takes Lily a while to be comfortable," Jake acknowledged. "She sounded like she had a lot of fun with you guys."

"We'll hang out again," Danika said, "Especially if you guys keep coming to parties which you should. It'll be nice to have more public-school kids than private school kids."

"Yeah, I guess it's a weird mix," Jake said. "Let us know what happens this weekend and maybe we'll stop by."

"And it'll be so fun to actually see Lily and Rose together after everything Lily told us yesterday. I always kind of suspected that Rose Hunter was like that but she's so much worse. Poor Lily, having to live with that." Danika sounded positively gleeful as she related the information but it just left Jake confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"About what a nightmare Rose is to her." Danika rolled her eyes, poking at Jake's side. "Come on, if she told someone she barely knows there's no way that she hasn't told you."

"I mean, she's mentioned stuff," Jake said noncommittally. "I was just wondering what she said to you."

Danika seemed more than happy to share the information, detailing what Lily had said and Jake just listened, feeling more and more confused. He knew that Lily and Rose didn't have any easy relationship – Lily complained about it every day. But the way Danika described it, Lily was living in a war zone with a terrorist for a twin sister with no hope of escape. The person that Danika was describing wasn't even close to the person that Lily described and it was certainly a far cry from the Rose that Jake had come to know.

"You just better be careful, is all," Danika said.

"Me?" Jake said, snapping back into the conversation. "Why do I need to be careful?"

"Because Lily is so jealous of your relationship with Rose and that's how you lose the girl."

Jake chose the funnier path with Danika because that was a conversation to have with Lily, not Danika. "Hey, I didn't lose you. You broke up with me."

"Yeah," Danika said, laughing about it now. "And it was the right call. I stand by that."

"Me too," Jake agreed, holding up his hand in mock surrender.

"Hey, guys." Jake looked away from Danika as Lily strode up to them. "What are we talking about?"

"How I want you to come to Stacey's party on Saturday. It's her eighteenth so it's going to be a big one. Everyone can come," Danika said without missing a beat.

"Um, sure," Lily said, looking up at Jake. "I don't think we're doing everything on Saturday."

"No, I don't think so," Jake said. "Text the address."

"Bring Spud and Trixie, even Rose," Danika said, then as she was walking away, she bent and whispered loudly in Lily's ear, "if you can stand to be around her."

"I think I like parties," Lily said, smiling up at Jake.

"We need to talk," Jake said, "come with me."

"What about?" Lily asked. "Is everything okay?"

Jake didn't answer her until they had found a secluded spot, far from anywhere Spud and Trixie would possibly be at this time of the morning. He didn't want a single person to see them arguing because he didn't want to be part of the high school drama mill, the way Lily seemed intent on them being.

"Did you tell Courtney and Danika that I was in love with your sister?" Jake demanded.

Lily's jaw dropped. "What?"

"And did you call Rose a whore and say that you hate that she talks to your parents and that you wished you hadn't found her?"

"Wait, wait," Lily said, putting her face in her hands. "No, wait, this all got so twisted."

"I know you're struggling to get along but, really, Lily, how would you feel if she said anything like that about you? Especially to someone who will tell everyone what you said."

"Danika's my friend."

"You don't know Danika that well yet," Jake said. "So, what? Do you not think I'm loyal to you? Do you think I'd just run around and cheat on you? With your sister!?"

"That's not what I said," Lily said, finally peeking out from her hands. "I said that it made me uncomfortable on Friday when you were singing love songs to Rose."

"And you didn't tell me about that because?"

"I didn't know how!" Lily cried, tears leaking from her blue eyes. "It was hard to say something like that and so I just didn't."

"To me. It was hard to say it to me? Don't you understand how that makes me feel? Finding out how you were talking about me from my ex-girlfriend."

"I thought she was my friend," Lily said.

"And maybe she is. I don't know and neither do you because this was your first time hanging out with her. You shouldn't be sitting around bitching and being catty."

"I was just following the conversation, trying to fit in," Lily insisted. "They were talking about weekend plans and I told them about karaoke and then they were talking about Rose's reputation and I was telling them what I knew about Rose –"

"All negative, apparently," Jake interrupted.

"Why are you defending her?" Lily asked. "Was I right?"

"No, I just don't understand what's happening to you," Jake said.

"Maybe I'm growing up!"

"Growing up is not sitting in a room gossiping about someone else in the same way you hate when Trixie and Spud do it about you. Growing up is not dragging my fucking name through the mud!"

"I didn't –"

"But you did." Jake shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

Jake wanted to put his arm around her shoulders and comfort her but he couldn't. He was mad. He was mad at her, he was mad at himself, he was mad that finding Rose and giving Lily's family what they had wanted had turned all of their lives so upside down.

"Jake, I'm sorry." Lily reached for him first and normally that would be enough to undo him. Lily wasn't the affectionate sort and Jake spent so much time feeling like he was begging for her attention that any time she initiated, it made him giddy. "I said sorry."

"Lily, honestly, I don't think you get it. I think you're sorry because I'm mad, not because you feel anything. So, I appreciate the apology but I need to go think about this and so do you."

"Jake, wait! I said sorry!"

Jake walked out the door, wishing that Fu would call with some dragon emergency so that he would have the excuse to hit something. He stocked down the halls, his hands in his pockets, thinking that the person that he wanted to hit the most was himself. He had to stay away from Rose because if even Lily could see it, maybe this thing was going to get away from him before he tried to stop it. Jake stalked down the hallway, getting to his first class early enough that the teacher was looking at him suspiciously. Jake didn't care and he sat down at his desk, putting his head down and covering his head with his arms.

How the hell had everything gotten so messy?