Saturday, midday

     It had to be Murphy's law. Jenna couldn't explain it any different. Everything went downhill at once and she was left with a mess of emotions to deal with.

And she felt like she deserved all of it.

If she could go back in time about a week—a little more even—she would change almost everything she had done.

She would make decisions differently, if she would have known what was going to happen.

She lost Frey, and it felt like he had ripped her heart out to stomp on it, even though Jenna was aware that Frey had been nothing but a gentleman. He had been honest, open, and he hadn't used her like he would've done a couple of weeks ago.

She had practically thrown herself at him, and still he refused.

She envied Daniel; she wished she was him. She wished she was the one Frey fell in love with.

She knew Danie deserved love. He deserved a guy like Frey that would once again make him smile.

But she couldn't just sit back and let everything happen. She knew there was something Frey felt for her. And something could turn into enough.

She didn't even know why she was obsessing over it that much, but she just did. It might had to do with the fact Frey had been the first guy she trusted enough after Robby had so brutally ruined her confidence; her trust in guys, or humans in total.

He had showed her there were still guys out there, that would change for the better if they liked someone enough.

If only she had been the one he wanted to change for.

"Jenna, I'm telling you," Lacy snapped at her, slapping her head softly. "Stop the silence, start telling us what is going on."

"Yeah, Jen, we're worried about you." Michelle sighed deeply when Jenna looked at her with a frown.

"Is Daniel not going to come? I... I kind of miss him."

"Sucks, you caused your fight yourself." Lacy shrugged. "You guys will be on good terms soon enough again."

"So..." Jenna bit her lip and took in a breath. "He's not coming because I'm here?"

"He's not coming because he's with Frey, and he's keeping an eye on him for some reason he does not want to clarify."

"He's with Frey?" Jenna frowned, a bit surprised, but mostly worried. Why was Daniel with Frey? He hadn't been in the club on his regular night of going out, while Jenna had hoped he would so she could apologize for her behaviour on Thursday.

She figured getting pissed while he was just being honest wasn't the most attractive quality, and if she wanted to stand a chance, she really needed to change for the better.

But if Daniel was with Frey, she worried it was too late already. None of what she had done to try and get Frey to fall for her had worked.

"Can we please just have a fun afternoon? We haven't hung out together for weeks." Michelle sighed. "Besides, I have to go in two hours, so can we go and grab lunch now?"

"We're going out for lunch?" Jenna asked surprised. Normally they would just hang out in her room, watch a movie, play a game, gossip, laugh. But they usually didn't go out for lunch.

"Yeah, we figured since Daniel isn't going to come over, we could go out for lunch because we won't have to keep in mind he has no money and he's too stubborn to let us pay for lunch." Lacy rolled her eyes but smirked afterwards. She liked the fact Daniel wasn't the type of poor guy that would take advantage of every single offer. He only ever accepted things that would benefit his mother or sister, never anything that would only benefit him.

Jenna shrugged in agreement. "Sure, we can grab lunch."

"Cool, let's go, because Michelle's got a date in two hours." Lacy jumped up and clapped her hands, while Michelle scowled.

"I do not have a date." She exclaimed, following Lacy out of the room. But Jenna hadn't missed the fact her face flushed.

"What, who are you dating? When did this happen?"

"Nobody, and it never happened." Michelle waved her hand dismissively. "Lacy is just fishing for answers about what I'm going to do."

"Than what are you going to do? Saturday is our day to hang out."

"None of your business." Michelle shrugged and smirked. "Keep fishing, I'm not going to tell."

"You are seeing someone." Jenna laughed. "Your face flushed. You only ever blush when we're guessing a secret right, or a cute guy is flirting with you."

"Maybe I blushed because Lacy is my date." Michelle nudged Lacy, who was putting on her shoes.

"What?" Lacy stood up right and stared at Michelle shortly. "God! Shelly! We agreed to not tell yet!" Lacy whined, but Jenna felt as if she was playing along with Michelle. Lacy obviously knew something Jenna didn't know, and now she really wondered what Lacy was going to do.

"It doesn't matter anyway." Jenna mumbled annoyed. "I have to leave in little over two hours too. So, I guess we're all busy, seeing you two are dating behind my back." She giggled, playing along with them, even though she felt left out.

It really didn't matter anyway. Michelle would tell her eventually, she always did. Just, not before she was ready to share whatever she kept hidden from her.

As long as she wasn't going to date Frey too, because she couldn't handle even more competition.

     Jenna nervously scanned her surroundings after putting away her bike, not wanting to be seen right now. Why did Mitchel insist on meeting in the mall? Everyone who knew them could be here, including Jenna's best friends.

What if Michelle's plans involved going to the mall?

Neither Lacy, nor Daniel would probably be here. They never went to the mall since they both didn't have enough money to go and shop for clothes. Lacy never bought clothes, she just took whatever Jenna and Michelle were throwing out. Daniel had a lot of Samuel's old clothes, ever since Samuel grew up a little and started treating Daniel like a friend.

But neither ever shopped for clothes.

But Michelle might, and so might every other person she knew.

She tried to shake the nerves off while she headed towards the lunchroom in the back of the mall, where Mitchel was already seated in a booth in the far-right corner.

She rolled her eyes when she noticed he bought ice cream. Who the hell buys Ice cream on a cold November day?

"Finally, you're here." Mitchel grumbled when she sat down.

"Eh, I'm five minutes early, so don't give me shit about being impatient."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes and took a bite from his dessert. "I need more money."

"Excuse me?" Jenna frowned, but refrained from answering any further as the waitress stopped by to take her order.

She ordered a soda and turned back to Mitchel. "I'm not giving you a dime. He's with Frey right now. You're not really succeeding to keep up your end of the deal."

"Hey, the deal was getting him to fall for me again. I can't work magic. Rome wasn't built in a day either."

"At least you're aware that it's quite a job to get you to be likeable." Jenna sighed and silenced when the waitress brought her the drink she ordered.

"Hey!" Mitchel snapped his head up to stare at her, annoyed and obviously not liking his company either.

The things she did to get the man she wanted; she was sickened by her own actions.

"I need more money or this deal is over anyway." Mitchel continued eventually. "It's costing me my whole goddamn allowance to feet his fucking family. I can deal with paying his food. But he always gives everything to his mother and sister."

"Mitchel, I'm not paying you more. On the contrary..." Jenna sighed. Now that she was in front of Mitchel, hearing him bitch about paying for the food for the sick mother of the boy he loves, was telling her she really couldn't continue with her cunny plan.

She felt guilty, paying Mitchel to distract Daniel from Frey. It wasn't okay, she knew that from the start. But she had hoped that if she would tell Mitchel exactly what to change about himself, he would actually change for the better. She just payed him to make the deal more appealing for him.

But he wouldn't change. He never did before and he wouldn't ever in the future. Mitchel was an asshole and he didn't deserve someone as kind and sweet and caring as Daniel.

For that matter, Daniel deserved someone caring too. Someone like Frey, who did change for the better just because he fell for Daniel.

"On the contrary, what?" Mitchel grumbled, notifying Jenna of the fact she had stopped talking mid-sentence.

"The deal is off." She shrugged. "I'm not going to pay another dime. You're an asshole, you'll never change, and Daniel deserves much better."

"What about that Frey? Are you going to give him up? You know Daniel is with him right now, right? He didn't want to hang out because he's with Frey. He's been there since he ended his shift last night."

"I know." Jenna sighed deeply. "But Frey said he fell in love with Daniel, and... It's done. Frey wants Daniel and I think they feel the same. I know they feel the same."

Mitchel let out a humourless laugh, slamming a hand on the table as soon as he stopped. "I want Daniel back, and I need you to tell me how to behave to get together. You know it's a perfect win-win situation for the both of us. I'll be as charming as I can be, Daniel falls for me. Frey doesn't stand a chance and you'll be the girl who picks him up after the downfall and get together with him."

"If that's what is in for the both of us, I see no reason to pay you for it. I don't want this deal anymore, Mitchel. I've been a cunning little bitch and I hate everything about myself when I look in the mirror. Daniel is my best friend and I stabbed him in the back. I'm done, I'll take my loss. But at least I'll be able to look at myself again. If they are in love, neither of us stands a chance."

"You know Daniel belongs to me..."

"You sound like Robby, and that's not a compliment. Daniel belongs to nobody, but I think he does belong with Frey."

"Don't act like a goody-two-shoe, Jenna. What will happen when I tell Daniel about our little deal? You'll lose your friendship for good, and Frey along with it. And probably those other friends of yours too."

"As if I'd let you tell them first." Jenna chuckled and waved her phone, quickly typing a message to send to both Daniel and Frey; telling them she needed to tell them something and asking them to please listen to her before they would listen to Mitchel.

If she wanted to save her friendship with Daniel, it was time to come clean and confess to him what she had done. Only than would he be able to trust her again. If he would find out because Mitchel would tell, he probably would have trouble trusting her ever again.

And right now, her friendship with Daniel mattered the most to her. And if that meant she had to let Frey go, and let Daniel be happy with him, so be it.

Words: +/- 1957

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