~Part Seven~

Jake groaned as she pulled her blanket up over her head and flopped onto her stomach, trying to drown out the midday sunlight that was filtering in from the window. She didn't care if it was noon...she wasn't ready to wake up yet.

Sighing as her cell phone began to ring, she reached down, pulling it from her bag and bringing it under the blankets to her ear. "Hello?" she mumbled, her voice still thick with sleep.

"Hey there beautiful," a clear, masculine voice replied from the other end of the line.

A small smile lit up Jake's face as she sat up, brushing the hair out of her eyes with her free hand. "Hey," she answered, clearing her throat. "Are you back? I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time for the start of the semester tomorrow."

"Well," he began, pausing for a moment, "I just got in and I was heading over to meet Cathy and Brad for lunch in about fifteen minutes or so. I thought you might like to join me."

Jake looked down at herself, running a hand through her hair as she took in her disheveled state. "I really would like to, but I haven't even rolled out of bed yet. I'm a total mess."

"Ah, come on. I haven't seen you since I left," he countered smoothly.

"Justin..."

"What if we left in forty-five minutes?" he asked, as she dropped back onto her pillow.

Shutting her eyes and letting out a deep breath, she reluctantly gave in. "Okay, I'll meet you in front of the school."

"No need, I can swing by the dean's place."

"No, I uh..." she paused a moment, forcing herself to shrug off the previous night's emotions, "I camped out in Bella's dorm room last night."

A pleased tone came over his voice, "Perfect timing, I'd say. I'll see you soon then, Jackie."

"Yeah."

Turning off her phone and tossing it back into her bag, Jake stood up, throwing the blankets off of her legs. After all, just because she'd had a rough night, that didn't mean she should lock herself up for the rest of the day, did it?

Grabbing her backpack off of the floor and walking out of the door, her resolve was set. She wasn't going to let Hamilton get to her.

But first...she really needed to shower.

. . .

A few minutes after the noise from the shower receded, Hamilton stepped out of the bathroom wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, running a towel vigorously through his wet hair. Without warning a dark blue t-shirt pelted him in the head, falling limply to the floor at his feet.

"Hey!"

"Hurry up, I'm starving...and I don't want to become a victim of your mom's cooking when she gets back from the school and finds us here," Sheryl told him, pulling a set of keys from her purse.

"It's not my fault that we're leaving late," Hamilton mumbled, tossing his wet towel onto the bathroom floor. "If you hadn't insisted on hearing every little detail about what happened last night from twenty different vantage points, and then given me a lecture on the 'dos' and 'don'ts' of how to treat Jake now that I'm back, we'd already be gone."

"Ho, ho!" Sheryl said, crossing her arms. "Two can play at that game, if you really want me to go into the 'whys' right now. I don't mind. We can even talk about how much you love the new style of your room, or your cozy couch-bed. There are plenty of things we can discuss to kill time until your mom shows up."

"So, how's your new roommate?" Hamilton asked, quickly changing the subject and hurrying faster to tie the laces on his shoes.

Sheryl hid the smile on her face. "She's...great. Just the kind of person you can be good friends with."

"Cool. So, you think you'll get along okay?"

"We'd better, or it's going to be a really long week."

Standing up, he led her out the door. "Friendly's?"

Pushing him toward her car, she smirked.

"Definitely."

. . .

Stepping out of the gas station, Bella rubbed her neck, massaging the sore muscles there. She must have spent at least half of her morning under the hoods of old, broken down New Rawley vehicles. It may have been a great way to turn a profit for her family's business, but with her dad being out of town for a good portion of the summer and then again all day today, it was a bit overwhelming. She was just glad that he'd be back tomorrow in time for the start of the new school year.

At least Grace hadn't run off somewhere for the day...yet.

Leaning against one of the pump stations and biting her lip, she contemplated for the fifth time whether or not she should head over to Friendly's in the pretense of getting some lunch. Hamilton and Sheryl had dropped in only twenty minutes earlier, and she knew it would be better if she could just give Sheryl an answer about helping her and be done with the whole thing. The only problem was...she wasn't quite sure yet that her answer was no.

It took her a few moments to register the flashy blue Mercedes that had pulled into a parking space across the street. By the time she came back to herself, Justin and Jake were already walking through the door of the small cafe.

Feeling a large pit forming in her stomach, Bella rushed into the gas station and yelled up to her sister to come out front and watch for customers, ignoring her cries of indignation as she ran quickly over to Friendly's.

As the bell tinkled over the open door, her eyes focused in the dim lighting just in time to see Justin pulling his arm out of Jake's grasp and begin heading toward the back booth where Hamilton was sitting with his back turned. Sheryl was currently immersed in a menu across from him and didn't appear to have noticed the angry teenager stomping in their direction either.

Seeing the mixed look of fury and dread on her best friend's face, Bella did the first thing she could think of.

"Justin!" she called pleasantly, pushing passed other customers to come to a halt right in front of the scowling boy and stopping him halfway from his intended destination. Now that she had his attention, she grappled for something to say.

"I umm...I noticed that your car was making a slight...humming noise when you pulled in, so I came over to let you know," she lied quickly, pushing a stray strand of hair nervously behind her ear.

Rolling his eyes, Justin sneered. "I didn't notice any noise, Bella. You're blocking my way. Move."

Undeterred, she continued on pleasantly, "Well, it's always harder to hear when you're inside the car. Why don't you bring it over to the gas station and I'll have a look at it really quick. On the house," she added, hoping that it might help. She smiled up at him, doing her best to look oblivious to what was going on.

"I'll come later."

"That wouldn't work. I...have appointments later. I'm really only free for another thirty minutes or so. And, you know, it's always better to have it checked out when it's just started. Otherwise, the longer you leave it the more chance you'll have of..."

"Here are my keys then," he said, pulling them from his pocket and shoving them into her hand. "Go take care of it."

Giving him a long stare and holding in her mounting frustration, Bella changed tactics. "Listen Justin, Jake really doesn't need this right now. If you go over there and pick a fight with him, it will just make it worse for her."

"You're right on one thing, Jackie really doesn't need this right now. What she needs is someone who will take care of her problem...Him," he growled, nodding his head in Hamilton's direction.

"Just let her take care of it in her own way. She's a big girl and she doesn't need you playing the hero right now."

Shaking his head, Justin snorted. "And she calls you her best friend. What a laugh! If you really cared you'd know what she wants and help, not just stand there and pretend he'll go away." He leaned in slightly and dropped his voice so only she could hear, "Now, for the last time...move out of my way townie or I'll move you myself."

The pure disgust she was feeling at that moment must have shown darkly on her face because moments later Jake was slipping her hand into Justin's, standing in between the two of them.

"We're going to Fannie's for lunch instead, okay? Come on," she said quietly, hoping that she wouldn't be heard by Hamilton, but unwilling to look over to find out if his attention had been drawn to them already.

Bella watched as Jake pushed Justin toward the door and smiled briefly back at her to show her gratitude for trying to help. She returned her smile weakly, and watched until they drove away.

"So, I take it Justin Caldwell is dating Jacqueline at present."

Bella jumped, spinning around to glare at Sheryl. "I would really appreciate it if you didn't do that."

"Sorry," she said, smiling apologetically. "Bad habit."

Bella turned back to face the window and stood there for another moment, thinking to herself before addressing Sheryl once more.

"Well, he was right about one thing," she mumbled. "I shouldn't just be standing here. I've known what she's wanted since Hamilton left...and like it or not, I can't pretend he's going away."

Sheryl waited quietly, watching as Bella's resolve hardened.

"I'll help you."

"Thank you."