Thinking of changing the cover of the book, which one do you guys like the best? slide left if you can't see it.

Dedication to the wonderful @Noxscrubs for the trailer on top. 

UNEDITED AND BORING. Please point out the mistakes I'll change it.

Lol sorry another filler/broken chapter, except maybe the last part, I'm sorry but I have to wrap up all the loose ends. But I'll update the next chapter soon enough considering that you'll kill me if I don't.

The first day of school after spring break was chaos.

News of Jake leaving coupled with the break up rumors circulating around Rebecca and Jeremy had brought a school to an uproar.

And if that wasn't enough, I'd shown up to school with Natalie Anderson.

Or more accurately she had showed up to school with me.

She'd arrived at my house in the morning when I was about to leave looked quite hassled.Apparently her car refused to start and she'd missed the school bus and the only way to school was a ride with me.

She didn't look all too happy about it but considering the heels she was wearing I could see why she'd picked me over the option of walking to school.

Rumors were all over the place, and according to Rebecca most people thought that we were staging a John Tucker Must Die sort of scenario to take down Alec and Jeremy.

When I'd asked her what John Tucker Must Die was she'd immediately scheduled another sleepover where she promised she would bring the movie.

I was grateful for it because over the past couple of days Rebecca always found a reason to stay over and at times drag Samantha over so that I didn't have to be alone.

Things between Samantha and I were awkward which was understandable considering that we had not spoken to each other in a month and all of a sudden gone back to being friends.

Rebecca had also admitted that she was shocked I'd just forgiven Samantha like that and I had simply shrugged.

If I could let go of over four years of Natalie Anderson's constant bullying and endless abuse sessions, I could just as easily forgive Samantha over this.

It didn't bother me that she almost slept with Alec or kissed him or whatever. It didn't, not one bit.

After all in the end that's what made me stop and reevaluate my relationship with Alec.

I know it was pathetic considering the fact that this probably paled in comparison to the other shit he had done but it was what struck home.

I should have cared, I should have been mad that Samantha did this, I should have been mad at Alec. But I wasn't. I should have been biting back jealousy and spitting fire, like I had done when I used to think Jake had a crush on Ashley.

For some reason just the thought of Jake with anyone else made me sick. It was as if I couldn't physically get myself to accept him with any other girl.

But when it came to Alec, years of him doing the exact same thing, going through girls line they were nothing had me impervious to this, and it had been my poor judgment as well as ignorance to blindly call those girls sluts and God knows what else to justify his actions.

I had no right to do that. But thats what I had done to convince myself that Alec was in the clear. But he wasn't.

I'd spent years covering up for him in my eyes and after Jake he'd done the same for my indiscretions immediately blaming it on him.

That's not how it was supposed to be.

The only thing that had truly been hurt at the time of the fight with Samantha had been my ego and let's face it after everything in the past few months, my ego was my last priority.

Besides as far as I could tell Rebecca had dished out enough shit to Samantha to make her feel guilty enough.

Rebecca had started a blog like I'd asked her too. The both of us had struggled with it for an entire day setting it up. She was kind of hopeless when it came to computers and I was pathetic when it came to designs.

We kept on arguing until finally at two in the night we managed to put it up. It was actually a total mistake considering the fact that I had dropped the soda on the keyboard and Rebecca in an attempt to clean it had pressed enter and voila it was suddenly live.

She'd named it Just Ask Juliet. Why she picked the name I couldn't figure out and even she was a little vague as to why she'd suddenly come up with it.

But she was happy enough. She desperately needed a distraction, ignoring Jeremy got especially hard when she was staring at the ceiling doing absolutely nothing.

For my hobby, I read. 
One book in particular.

Despite reading it a billion times I couldn't get enough of it, his writing, his sarcastic remarks and the way it made me laugh and want to cry at the same time.

And then there was the obsessive checking of my phone because I was afraid that it would either be a doctor calling about my grandmother or I was hopeful that it would be Jake.

My health had spiralled down quite badly too, I couldn't sleep very well and I forgot to take my meds quite often.

If Rebecca didn't shove it down my throat and give me at least one slap a day and yelling at me to stop being this person but I'd probably give up everything all together entirely.

But it was killing me. It was honest to God killing me to keep the entire smiley,I'm completely okay with this charade for my grandma. I was trying to be strong for my grandma but the minute I left the room I could barely stay on my feet.

Rebecca knew about my grandma and as for what had happened with Jake, she didn't know exactly what had passed between the two of us, just something big enough that made the entire situation a whole lot more impossible.

Rebecca listened to all my shit and fixed me up the best she could. I felt incredibly guilty about it all but I had a feeling that Rebecca didn't mind. Just like it was my way to break apart it was her way to fix others to distract herself from everything that was

Rebecca clamped down on a number of things too, and whenever I asked her she became guarded and I wasn't going to push her. The last thing I needed was to push Rebecca away just because I couldn't keep help but poke my nose into someone else's business.

Besides, Rebecca was tough. 


I on the other hand was a broken piece of china.

"You'd think people would have better things to do than pry into the lives of other people." Samantha says as she sits next to me in the cafeteria.

I shrug,"People are highly jobless."

"Yeah tell me about it." She says,"You'd think they would care little more about things that actually make a difference in the world. Not who broke up with whom and why."

"Fuck me." Rebecca says sitting on my other side.

I take a sniff and raise an eyebrow,"Why do you smell like bleach?"

"I had to hide out in the supply closet so Jeremy would stop following me." She says,"I spent five minutes there before I realized that I got locked in it. So I had to spend the rest of seventh in a cold dark janitors closet."

She shudders,"Never ever ever doing that again."

I laugh and Samantha says,"You know you could just confront him already."

"Uh. No." Rebecca says munching on her fries,"I don't intend on confronting him until I'm a hundred percent sure I'm not going to kill him."

"Killing him will do everyone a favor." I hear a voice say.

When I turn around I'm shocked to find Natalie Anderson standing there.

"Hi." Rebecca beams up to her,"Glad you considered my offer."

Samantha and I stare from Natalie to Rebecca and then back to Natalie. We share a look, what's going on here?

"If it's alright, can I sit with you guys?" She asks.

My mouth drops and Samantha is pretty much mirroring my expression. I can't help comparing how similar this all is to the start of the year when Natalie came up to me and randomly apologised.

In the end I found it was all an act just to get in on Alec's good books but this time something had changed.

For starters Natalie didn't have her posse with her which sent a pang of guilt through me when I realize just how much damage I'd done.

But the thing that really made a difference as compared to before was that unlike last time Natalie Anderson looked genuine.

"Of course." Rebecca says,"They don't mind do they?"

Rebecca turns to me and I shake my head,"No, I don't mind. Not at all."

"I still think she's a bitch." Samantha prompts.

"Says the girl who slept with her best friends boyfriend." Natalie offers.

"But she makes a surprisingly good argument, though." Samantha says,"And I did not sleep with him. Not recently."

Rebecca rolls her eyes,"Samantha is just jealous. If you bring the bitchy to the group she doesn't know what she has left to offer."

"Hey!" Samantha defends as Natalie sits down,"I bring my amazing sense of humor here."

I laugh and pat Samantha on the back,"There. There."

Rebecca grins,"Sure, Sam. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"You know, you guys are shitty friends." Samantha says but she's still has a smile on her face,"Natalie welcome to the hallowed cafeteria table at the edge of the world. Remember we wear pink on Wednesdays."

"Ha!" Rebecca says,"I know you liked Mean Girls!"

"No I didn't." Samantha denies quickly.

"Liar, Liar, Victoria's Secret Thongs on fire."Rebecca sings.

They start bickering and I turn towards Natalie who was quietly eating her food,"So what made you come here?"

Natalie shrugs,"Rebecca is very persuasive."

Rebecca nods,"Truer words have never been said. Besides I've already punched her, I'm over it. I'm so sick of this school trying to pitt girls against girls. Besides it was Jeremy who was dating me, not Natalie."

"I'm at fault too." Natalie says and for a second I can't quite comprehend that Natalie Anderson was actually admitting to her fault,"The recording-"

"It's okay Natalie." Rebecca interrupts,"I'm over this. It's not like we are going to be BFF's but I have nothing against you. I just hope the two hours I spent trying to make you understand that you're better than Jeremy worked."

"It did." Natalie says,"And I feel far better."

Rebecca sighs, content. She's probably just ticked it in her list of things and people to fix.

"Speak of the devil." Samantha says as Jeremy makes an entrance.

Rebecca pales,"Oh shit. I need to-"

I catch Rebecca's wrist on time,"Don't run. You're going to have to do it sooner or later. Come on Bex. You can do this."

"Of course I can do this." She hisses,"I just don't want-"

"Rebecca!" Jeremy's voice calls out.

She shuts her eyes and groans,"Oh kill me now."

"Come on Bex." I say,"Take your own advice for once."

Jeremy walks up to her at the moment and the entire cafeteria has gone quiet.

Rebecca is going to kill me for this.

"Rebecca-"

"Can we not do this here?" She asks. Her voice is weary but it doesn't shake or falter.

"Well you've been avoiding me for the past week so I have no bloody option now do I?" He asks.

"What do you want to talk about?" She says,"We are over. Done. Finished."

"Just like that?" He asks,"After six months we are over? Just like that?"

"Six months is nothing Jeremy, especially when you couldn't even keep it in your pants for that time." She says,"Do you honestly expect me to forgive you after you cheated on me? I'm sorry I have too much self respect for that."

"I'm sorry." He pleads,"It was a mistake."

"A mistake?" She laughs drily,"Did you slip on a banana peel or something?"

"Rebecca-"

"No." She says firmly,"I don't want to hear it. You cheated on me. That's the end of the story I'm not going-"

"For fucks sake, I did it only once." He says,"I didn't mean to cheat. You have to give me a second chance you know Natalie is a slut-"

And that's when Rebecca punches him right in the face.

Jeremy nearly loses his balance and tumbles back clutching his nose.

Ouch.

"Okay, I've tried taking the high road but I'm over it." She says,"Cheating is unforgivable and it doesn't show what a player you are. Fucking around with the hearts of people doesn't make you a God it makes you a pig."

"Stop being a coward and admit it that it's your fault." Rebecca seethes, "Stop blaming her and man up and accept the fact that in the end its on you."

"You played with Natalie's feelings and you've played with mine." She continues,"And you have no right to call her a slut. Newsflash Jeremy she wasn't the one who was dating me. She wasn't the one who should have said no. She was in love with you and you used her because you were pissed of drunk and I wasn't enough.We both loved you and you screwed us both over which means that you deserve to be alone."

"I am not a dog that you tell me to heel and I'm going to come running back to you." She says,"Nobody is at fault except you and I love myself too much to give you a second chance especially when I know that I deserve better than this."

"I love you."

"I-I-I loved you too." She falters for a second and for that brief moment I can see through Rebecca's calm but it vanishes quickly and its replaced by determination.

"But It's a privilege to love me, not a right." She says,"And you lost it the second you cheated on me. So yeah, we are over. For good."

And with that she turns and walks out of the cafeteria the crowd parting as she makes an exit.

For a second its deathly quiet in the cafeteria. No one moves, no one says a word, all of us looking the doorway through which Rebecca just left.

And then Natalie stands up and starts clapping.

And pretty soon everyone has joined her, all of clapping and cheering Rebecca's name.

I smile and clap as loudly as I can and Natalie glances over at me.

Although she doesn't say it out loud her amused smile and her glance says it all and for the first time in many many years I can't help agree with her.

Looks like Seaview High finally found it's true Queen.

_______________________

April and May flew by surprisingly quickly.

I finally stopped moaning about and being a pouty child who forgot to eat my meds and was too scared to be alone.

It took some getting used to and a couple (okay a lot) of slaps and pep talks from Rebecca's side to get to a place where I wasn't falling of a cliff, all the time.

I became more open with my grandma and instead of just pretending to be okay with this I finally started to come to terms with the fact that this was going to be the way it was.

It was hard, I still cried at least twice a day but it was getting better. Instead of focusing on all the things that would lie in the future I tried focusing on the other smaller parts like how my grandma could still manage to climb up the stairs faster than me (in my defence I'm too busy trying not to trip and die) or the fact that despite everything she was still the strongest person I knew.

Alec and I didn't talk. 
We saw each other in the hallways had awkward pauses as we contemplated whether we could say something, anything to each other.

Before one of us made a move the other would walk away and it would almost always be him.

I wanted to be friends, I wanted to be the kind of people we were with each other where he would tell me about his day and I'd tell him how much I had left to study.

Maybe we would never go back to that. We could never be the Alec Evans and Clara Wilson talking while sitting on their window sills. But I wanted to be friends even though I had no right to.

I had no right to give him the can we still be friends line. We had done too much to each other to recover in such a short span of time and I had to trust that things would pan out in course of time.

Natalie and I became friends. Sure we weren't going to be braiding each others hair anytime soon but it was none the less a start where we could have a civilized conversation without wanting to kill each other.

I started helping her with her studies and like Rebecca she tried to get me to start wearing things that according to her didn't make me look like ten year old homeless person on the street.

That's exactly why I needed Rebecca. Without her I would have definitely lost the battle against the two of them and I'd probably have to wear skirts and dresses which would mean that I'd flash at least a dozen people a day when I fell flat on my face because of the heels in my shoes.

Samantha and I went back to being the way we were. She still felt guilty but none the less we were back to our usual sleepovers and ganging up against Rebecca and her ridiculous ideals about love.

Rebecca, she became the glue that held everything together not breaking once or even bending for that fact. She was as put together as could be and everyone in school loved her.

She didn't go back to Jeremy but she didn't move on with anyone else either. She went back to her romance novels and her fangirling over fictional characters and she said she was content.

Her blog had been an instant success and she got at least two and half a million views already in the course of the two months. In fact, Samantha had recorded and put up her entire Jeremy fiasco and put it up on YouTube and it had nearly touched a million views in two days before it mysteriously got pulled from the net.

Our finals started and I studied my butt off. It was a great distraction and I was determined to do well. My acceptance letter from Cal-Tech had already come and I'd started the process to get in.

It wasn't too far away just an hour drive from here and I decided against taking a dorm there and commute everyday so I could be closer to grandma.

She'd probably kill me once she found out but I wasn't planning on telling her until all the applications for dorm rooms had been shut down.

It seemed like a legit plan.

And as for Jake..

I did my best to practice the out of sight and out of mind treatment. It had been two months and I'd heard nothing.

It wasn't as if I'd expect him to come back after everything that had happened but it still hurt. It was even worse than the last time, at least then I'd had a reason to hate him.

But the worst thing was that even if Jake did come back, Eric would always be a damn problem.

Talk about Ultimate cock blocker.

So now I was just stuck, gradually learning the fact that there was a very strong possibility that I would never be able to get over Jake Henderson.

The best I could hope for now was cats.

"It's over." Rebecca says,"Good Lord its finally done. Not that I really studied, I can just stop feeling guilty about it."

Our final exams had finally come to an end and now there was just five days left for graduation.

Thank God. I couldn't wait to get out of high school.

Rebecca would probably drag me to prom with her, I had promised her that I'd be her date and after that I was done. I was so so done with high school.

I'd been made valedictorian which meant that I got the great honor of boring people with a long inspirational speech that I didn't know how to write.

Brilliant.

I laugh as I pull over to her house,"Oh come on, it can't have been that bad."

"Ugh, no." She says,"Speak for yourself. You live for this shit I don't-"

Her voice trails as she catches sight of the car currently sitting in her drive way. It's a posh black sedan, with tinted windows, the type you'd see in movies or something.

I know it's not her parents, the Reynolds as far as I could tell were not very rich and even if they were, they were certainly not the kind to spend it on a car that looked like that, they were far too eccentric.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Rebecca ducks down in the space between the seat and the dashboard.

"What are you-"

"Drive." She says,"Now. You have to get me out of-"

"What?" I ask,"Why?"

"Now!" She yells and I quickly back out of the driveway.

We are a good two hundred meters away until she finally let's out a deep breath and clambers back to her seat.

"You want to tell me what that was-"

"Watch out!" She yells and I slam my leg on the brake and the car skids to a stop only a few meters from the sedan in the middle of the road blocking the entire lane.

I quickly turn around to back to find yet another black sedan there. There was no way I could back.

Okay this was getting way too James Bond for my liking.

"Wonderful." Rebecca mutters,"The little shits are following me now."

"What-"

Rebecca let's out a very long sigh and she opens the car door,"I'll explain later. We are still on for the sleepover aren't we?"

"Y-yes?" I stammer out unsure.

"Good." She says,"I'll be there at seven."

And with that she shuts the door of my car and hops into the sedan in front.

The sedans disappear so fast after that I'm not quite sure whether I imagined the whole thing or not.

_______________

When I finally reach home I'm both tired and exhausted. The entire thing with Rebecca has my mind swirling, trying to understand what exactly happened.

In fact, I'm still wondering if it really had happened.

I open the door and let myself in. I'd probably check on my grandmother and then go to sleep, I'd barely slept yesterday prepping for my biology exam.

I hear movement and I instantly freeze.

I know for a fact that my grandmother sleeps at this hour and she's never ever awake, not even by chance. The few pills she takes after lunch knock her out for good.

"Who is it?" I call out.

There is a shuffling sound from the kitchen and a clattering of a plate.

I swear to God I'll kill them if they go anywhere near my Kit-Kats.

"Go away I'm armed." I call out, trying to sound brace.

"I sure as hell hope not, because then I would start questioning how your grandmother has been raising you all these years."

I jump almost losing my balance and falling on my butt but I manage to catch myself on time.

My mother stands in front of me, her blonde hair tucked into a sensible bun and she's wearing a pantsuit with her blazer in hand.

What the-

"I suppose you had school today?" She says looking at me up and down her lips pursing as she critically scans me.

"Yes. My final exams got over." I say,"What are you doing here?"

"Isn't your graduation this week?" She asks.

"Yes." I say,"Why?"

"That's why I'm here, to see you graduate." She says,"Your father will be coming the night before, he has work."

My mouth drops open.

"What? Why would you do that?"

"At the end of it we are still your parents." She says.

I blink.


Is she kidding?

"Are you sure Conrad Henderson's not my father?" I ask sarcastically and immediately curse my loud mouth.

My mother doesn't even look the least bit surprised at my comment,"I was wondering when Jake would tell you about my affair. I'm surprised it took so long. But no, we were together only for a brief period of time that summer. It ended a year after that."

I blink not quite sure what I was supposed to do with the pile of information just dumped on me. I wasn't expecting her to be so brutally honest with me, I was expecting total denial.

I was hoping for total denial.

"Besides I think Conrad Henderson has impregnated one too many women and has enough scandalous children, don't you?"

"What?"

My voice is unbelieving and shocked. Did my mother just insinuate that she knew about Alec?

Holy shit no way. 
How-what?

"I meant Jake." She says innocently but there is something about the smirk on her face that I can't quite shake off,"He's scandalous enough on his own, don't you think?"

I'm still not entirely convinced. 
But how could she know?

Did she know Alec's mom?


I'm not sure.


I don't think so.

"I didn't know that he had knowledge of my little transgression until this year, after you started dating him." She continues.

"Is that why you had such a one eighty about him?"

She shrugs,"Yes, I suppose. But Jake Henderson is just like his father Clara. He's ruthless, he's cold and he will always look out only for himself. I suppose you've ended things for good considering the fact you're here and he's all the way in New York. The boy is nothing but trouble. He will always be his father's son."

The bitterness in her voice makes it obvious that clearly it wasn't my mother who ended the fling, but Conrad Henderson and she wasn't too happy about it.

Can someone please give me an empty bucket so that can puke in it?

"Okay. Good for you." I say,"You can think whatever the hell you want about him, I know who he is. I don't need a lecture on what kind of a person-"

"If he's so good like you say, where is he now?" She asks.

Oh God, its been quite literally two seconds since she's been here and she's already giving me advice.

Hasn't she ever read the parenting book where it says in order to be liked by your daughter stop insulting the boy she's in love with?

Oh right, be a parent first.

I clench my hands,"Whatever my relationship status with Jake Henderson may be its certainly not anything you're going to have a say in. I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation before and I'm not-"

"Will you ever stop punishing me?" She asks.

"For abandoning me? For never being there for me? During Christmas you quite literally told me that I wasn't part of your perfect little family." I yell,"Do you genuinely feel like I shouldn't hold a grudge against that?"

"Stop being so naive Clara." She says,"You saw how you act with that boy around. Do you genuinely expect me to laugh it off with you after you got arrested?"

"Well then how do you explain all these years and the fact that neither you nor dad are ever here." I say,"How do you explain abandoning me?"

"I was young, I had dreams." She says,"If you had a kid right now, what would you do? I wasn't ready for the two of you and when I got the job offer, I took it."

My face hardens,"Well I'm sorry I came in your way."

"Do you ever wonder what would happen if we took you with us to New York? What you would have become?" She asks.

I stop at that. My parents had made a lot of mistakes but leaving me with my grandmother hadn't been one of them. In fact it was the only thing they had ever done right.

"That still doesn't give you the right to waltz in my life and start acting like you can tell me how to live my life." I say,"You made your choice. Live with it."

She sighs,"I'm done having this discussion."

"Good that makes two of us." I say and I'm about to leave when she stops me.

"Your sister sent this for you." She says as she hands me a large brown envelope.

My scrawny handwriting is on top of it and with a start I realise that it's my application for MIT.

Why the hell would she send this to me now?

"Thanks." I manage to mutter and turn to go upstairs hoping that when I come down next time, my mother is gone.


________________

"Hi Mrs Wilson." Rebecca says when my mother opens the door,"Great to see-"

Before she can complete the sentence I've already grabbed her by the wrist and pushed past my mother.

I drag her upstairs and push her into my room where Samantha is already waiting.

"What the hell!" Rebecca yells rubbing her wrist,"That hurt."

"You have a lot to explain." I say.

She laughs nervously,"No I don't."

Samantha raises an eyebrow,"You're a pathetic liar. Clara told me all about the action movie sequence that went on in the afternoon."

She snorts,"That was hardly an action sequence, if it was there would be guns and cars flipping around and a hot guy with me. All I got was Clara and her Bug."

"Hey!" I defend,"Don't insult my Bug. It's cute as hell and I'd like you to know I'd be an absolute joy to be in an action movie."

Samantha snorts,"Your speed limit is twenty miles per, please do tell us where the action comes in."

"The action where I don't crash into another car and die in a giant ball of fire." I say.

Rebecca nods,"She's got a point you know. One thing that's not going to happen when Clara is driving is any chances of us dying."

"That's not true." Samantha says,"There is a very high probability of me dying of old age."

We all crack up at that and Rebecca says,"Okay great, so I want to binge watch-"

Samantha and I continue to look at her expectantly.

"Oh come on!" She says,"Its not that big of a-"

She takes a look at our expressions and then puts her hands up in a manner of surrender.

"Fine. Shit I can't believe I'm about to do this." She says and takes a deep breath and then she puts her hand forward as if she wants to shake hands with me and says," Hi my name is Juliana Windsor."

"Huh?" Is my intelligent response.

She rolls her eyes,"My real name happens to be Juliana Windsor, Rebecca is my middle name and I'm the other child, as in the illegitimate child of senator John Windsor who is currently dragging me to stay with him. That's why there were so many cars there, I'm trying to avoid him but he's literally backing me into a corner."

There is utter silence in the room as we stare at Rebecca. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the entire thing when Samantha speaks up,"Juliana, really? You look way more like an Emma or a Madison."

It's Rebecca's turn to stare at Samantha.

"What?" She asks.

Samantha shrugs,"Clara don't you agree?"

"I'm going to be honest I was betting on Chanel or even Poppy or something." I say,"Juliana just seems so-"

"-Not Rebecca."Samantha agrees.

Rebecca stares at me and then at Samantha and then back at me," Is that all you got out of it, that my name-"

"Wait." I interrupt my mind finally processing everything she said,"You're moving to DC?"

Rebecca nods,"Y-Yeah I'm leaving in August, I'm going to attend Georgetown."

A sort of silence blankets us. It's the fact that Rebecca is moving away that kind of sticks despite the fact that she revealed that she was the illegitimate child of one of if the most powerful men in the United States is what creates more of an impact.

"That sucks." I say realizing that my best friend was going to move to the other side of this country.

"I'm still calling you Rebecca, I don't like Juliana much." Samantha probably ,"Plus I think that your father is an arrogant snob with too much money and if he comes to power he'll screw up the entire country."

"I don't like Juliana either that's why I use Rebecca." Rebecca says.

Samantha and I share a discreet look knowing that Rebecca was still hiding something. But we decide to let it go considering we really weren't in the position to push anything more out of her.

"-And I don't really watch politics enough to know how he is, I'm not really sure I want to." Rebecca finishes.

"Why are you going to DC even though you don't want to?"

Rebecca immediately freezes and Samantha changes the topic quickly realizing that this was the end of the conversation and forcing Rebecca to say more wouldn't help at all.

"Oh my god do you remember the time......."Sa.mantha starts

And so we start talking. We talk about the future and we talk about all our memories with eachother.

We talk about all Rebecca's boy crazy moments and we talk about Samantha's failed relationships. We talk about the crazy things I did for Alec's attention and we talk about the love of my life, the floor . We recount all the kisses and intimate moments I shared with it whenever I tripped and fell flat on my face.

We continue to talk about how dumb high school is and Rebecca valiantly tries to defend it only to lose pathetically. We talk about how much we've all grown, well everyone except Rebecca of course, she's still short and we talk about the things that made us friends, that broke us apart and the things that got us back together.

But in the end while recounting the best moments of high school we realized that it was the best part of those four years because we were together. Because we had lived through all of it, the laughter, the tears and all the boy drama together.

And even though we were going our separate ways it didn't matter, We'd always have eachother no matter what.

______________________________________

"Clara?" Rebecca asks once Samantha is asleep.

"Yeah?"

"Are you still in love with Jake?"

"Yes." I say,"Nothing has changed in the past twelve hours since I told you that."

"No." She says,"If you could meet him again, would you? Despite knowing that there is a very good chance that it may not work out because he's going to be there and you're going to stay here with you're grandmother?"

I pause for a second.

"Yes."

"Why?" She asks,"Aren't you scared its going just going to break your heart all over again?"

"I am. But I need to see him again. Even if it's just to say goodbye again, I will." I finally say,"He deserves to know the truth. That in the end I chose him. I will always choose him. That voicemail I sent that night was a version of me who was convinced that he'd come back. That in the end we were always meant to be despite all the odds we would make it work. In that voicemail I told him, that I loved him and that I needed another chance to tell him that. I wanted him to come back."

"Now I've finally become the girl he described in that journal. The girl who is brave, the girl who can hold on and let go. I finally feel like I've become the girl who Jake Henderson fell in love with." I say,"And it kills when I realize that maybe he doesn't love her anymore."

"The way he looked at me the last time Bex, I-I can't-" I take a deep breath,"He...."

I trail off unable to say the rest.

"What would you do now if I were him and you had one last chance to make things right?" She asks breaking the silence that had settled between us.

"As much as I love you Rebecca, I'm not going to kiss you." I say.

"Nobody asked you to kiss me idiot." She says, "I'm just asking what you'd say to him."

I get up from my side of the bed and reach up to my drawer taking a small charm out and handing it to Rebecca.In the process I knock over the MIT application envelope which had been siting on the table. I don't why I haven't thrown it yet, I make a mental note to do so as soon as I can.

Rebecca looks at the charm confused for a second and then recognition dawns in her eyes," It's one of the charms from the bracelet he gave you. What happened to the rest?"

"He threw it that night and it broke." I say,"I just picked up that one."

"Why?"

"Because that's how it all began didn't it?" I say,"With that."

She stares at it for a little while longer and then asks,"You would give this back to him?"

"Yes." I say, it's a scenario I'd pictured for months, that Jake was back and I had a second chance,"I'd give it back to him and say a bunch of soppy crap but in the end if he loves me he'll understand why I picked up that particular charm."

"Hmm."

And that's all she says before going to sleep.

_______________________________

"Where is Rebecca?" Samantha asks as she finishes applying mascara. I don't know how smart that is considering the fact that it's raining like there is no tomorrow.

I suppose it makes sense, prom is one of the last time we actually make an effort. So even I had managed to put myself in a dress but that's as far as my effort had gone. Apart from that all I'd put was a little bit of mascara and lip gloss and that's it.

"I don't know." I say,"I haven't seen her since she suddenly upped and vanished after our sleepover. All I got was a measly text which said out of town, will be back for prom."

"What do you think of this entire Juliana thing?" Samantha asks.

In Rebecca's absence we discussed her entire revelation in length. Although we didn't make a very big deal in front of her it was only because we didn't want to push Rebecca. We both saw how hard it was for her to tell us the things she did and Rebecca had always been secretive when it came to her past.

In the days she was gone both Samantha and I had decided to keep our mouths shut about it when she came back and not pester her with questions and let her tell us more in her own time.

Rebecca was a gossip queen but we knew that when it came to it, she could keep secrets like a vault.

"We need to give her time." I say and Samantha nods.

"I still think prom just the night before graduation is the dumbest thing ever." Samantha says as she dabs he last bit of blush, "Nobody is going to show up sober tomorrow."

"True." I say scuffling through the drawers.

The final days leading up to prom had gone past in a blink of an eye now that the end was so near I couldn't quite believe it.

"Did you find what you're looking for?" Samantha asks and I shake my head. I'd lost the charm after my little conversation with Rebecca because the next morning I woke up I couldn't find the charm and neither could I remember where I had kept.

Guess it was the universe's way of telling me that things were over. Really over. For good.

My phone starts ringing and I pick it up when I see it's Rebecca.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"I'm right outside your house waiting for you." She replies.

I run over to my window and push back the curtains to get a view of my driveway. Sure enough there is a limousine standing there.

"Did you hire-"

"No." She says,"Figured I might as well start exploiting Daddy Warbucks from now. I've already bought a butt load of shoes. Being rich is so much of fun though you always made it look so boring."

I laugh,"Hey my graphic t-shirts don't come cheap."

She sighs,"I give up on you."

"I lost the charm." I say quietly.

There is a pause.

"You did?" She asks lightly.

"Yeah do you remember where I kept it?"

Another pause.

"No."

"Does this mean that there is no hope now?"

Another pause.

"That's up to you to decide, isn't it?"

I sigh,"Yeah you're right. I'll be right down."

Turns out Rebecca did exploit Daddy Warbucks true to her words. The car was as decked up as much as possible and because of the flag that she had conveniently managed to put, it could break almost all headlights without consequences.

We got dropped straight in front of the hall and despite the heavy rain, we were relatively dry. I didn't mind getting wet. The rain always reminded of the night that Jake came and stood in front of Rebecca's house in the middle of the pouring rain.

The time when we kissed.

When we entered the crowd didn't part or stop at our enterance like last time but we still managed to gain a fair amount of attention.

We may have mellowed down now but both Rebecca and I had both created enough controversy to last for a long time. Plus Rebecca looked stunning in her deep blue gown and Samantha stood out in her red gown that matched her hair so I couldn't blame them for staring.

Samantha had a date of course and she excused herself almost immediately going off with the newest victim.

Rebecca and I danced and we talked. We actually spoke to people we would never have otherwise and it kind of hurt when I realized that I could have been friends with a lot of them had it not been for our high schools stupid clique system.

But I had fun.

In fact my night was going pretty well until a boy suddenly interrupted Rebecca and I while we were dancing, which was basically jumping and waving our hands in the air like crazy people.

"Do you mind if I borrow her for a moment?" I'm stunned to see that its Alec who has barged in. I half expect Rebecca to go ballistic like she usually does with Alec but instead she just smiles and gives my hand a small squeeze,"Of course."

She turns to leave when Alec says,"Rebecca, I'm sorry about all the things I said. I didn't-"

"I know." She interrupts,"Tell your best friend he's a turd, won't you?"

And then she leaves.

We both look after her and laugh.

"She's really something else." Alec says,"I'm sorry about all the things I'd said about her, she-"

"Rebecca is made out of titanium." I say,"She'll get over it."

"Will you?" I stay silent and Alec takes my hand and guides me to the dance floor and I'm unsure about what's happening.

He puts his arms around me but there isn't anything intimate about it, in fact it's slightly awkward and unsure.

We don't move much just stand there gently swaying.

"I'm sorry it's taken me this long to finally talk to you." He says,"But it's hard for me to even start to apologize for everything that happened between us, everything I said that day. And I-I needed time to come to terms with everything that happened between us."

I stay silent as he continues,"I'm sorry about what I said that night during Ashley's wedding, I didn't-"

"I know." I say.

He sighs,"When you ended things that day, I couldn't believe that it was all over. That we were over, I still can't."

"I know." I say,"I understand. And I know I have no right to say this but despite closing the window to the relationship we had, do you think there is any chance we can open the door to our friendship again? I-I want to be friends."

"I know." He says,"I-I want us to be friends too. But it's going to take me time to get used to the fact that we are going to be just friends."

"Do you think we are going to be able to do that?" I ask,"Be just friends."

"I don't know." Alec says,"I hope we can though."

Silence stretches between us and its almost unbearable.

Alec decides to break it,"So what about you and Jake?"

Although it's an innocent enough question and he doesn't mean it as taunt my throat still closes up.

"H-Hes gone." I decide to say,"I'm not sure what that makes us."

I know what it makes me, the girl in love with the boy who she can never have. Looks like I'm right back to where I started.

"I didn't mean to throw it at his face so cruelly. About us having the same father that is." Alec says,"If I could take it back, I would. I guess a part of me just hoped that he'd tell me it was all a very large joke. The co-incidence of how Jeanine and my dad meeting-"

I agree,"The co-incidence was too ridiculous. How it just happened that your father and his mother got married. It was too-"

"I know." He says,"But they make each other happy. I don't know what Conrad Henderson's relationship with my mother was but I know Jeanine makes my dad happy, and in the end he is my real dad regardless of...."

I nod.

"To think they would never even meet if it hadn't been for your mom."

I freeze.

"What?"

Alec nods clearly not noticing my change of tone,"Yeah. When my dad went to the convention all those years back it was your mom who set up Jeanine with him. Another co-incidence right?"

Besides I think Conrad Henderson has impregnated one too many women and has enough scandalous children, don't you?

Oh my God.
My mother knew.
My mother knew all this while about the fact that Alec was Conrad Henderson's son.

And the entire reason she'd made Jeanine meet Alec's dad was to get back at Conrad Henderson for sleeping with her and ditching him.

Damn. 
I can't believe I'm saying this but that was some revenge.

"Yeah." I echo,"What a co-incidence."


__________________________

"And finally the thing all of you've been waiting for."

The principal is on the stage getting ready to announce Prom King and Queen.

I'm still a little shocked about all of it, the fact that my mom was behind the whole thing just because Conrad Henderson ditched her. Seriously don't mess with a Wilson.

I was happy because there was a future for Alec and I, at least as far as friendship was concerned.

It would take time and it may never happen but I was willing to hope for the best.

The Principal was currently giving some long ass speech about the prestige that came with being the Seaview Senior Prom King and Queen that was driving me to sleep.

Even Rebecca next to me who was the kind to listen to all of this with utmost attention, was texting. I suppose I understood because she was no longer in the running for prom queen because she'd withdrawn her name from the ballot of Prom Queen despite being nominated.

When I had asked her why she had simply shrugged and told me that becoming Queen didn't mean anything anymore, especially when she'd always imagined Jeremy to be King with her.

Rebecca nudges me,"You need to come with me."

There is something about her tone that's overly excited and she's beaming that makes me wonder what's going on.

"Where?" I ask.

She doesn't answer my question but simply grabs my hand and pulls me at the back of the hall where the sole window was.

It was raining terribly outside as if someone had opened a very large tap up in the sky making it unclear for anyone to see more than a few hundred meters outside.

"What are you-"

She leaves my hand and goes and stands next to the window.

What even-

"And The Prom King for the year 2015 is Alec Evans!"

"Rebecca." I say,"What are you doing?"

"Okay so I'd gone to DC." She says,"But on my way back I may have taken a detour to New York."

"What?" I ask,"I don't understand."

She's got the biggest grin on her face as she takes a look outside the window.

"Clara?"

"Yeah?"

"You need to see this."

"What?"

Her smile is so wide that it looks like she may combust with happiness.

"Him."

This time I don't even bother to look out through the window and I make my way straight to the door, stumbling and tripping all over my dress but I don't care.

"And the Prom Queen for the year 2015 is Miss Clara Wilson."

I throw open the door.

And standing there in the middle of the pouring rain is Jake Henderson.

______________________________________

AUTHORS NOTE: I know I'm sorry.

But you have no idea how relieved I feel tying up those loose ends. 
1st how Clara's mothers entire outlook on Jake changed all of a sudden. She liked Jake but when she found out that he could ruin her relationships.

2) It always seemed kind of ridiculous how Jake's mom and Alecs dad magically met each other. Lol turns out it was Clara's mom getting payback on Conrad Henderson for ditching her.

Seriously don't mess with a Wilson

Clara: Give me a second I'm still trying to recover.

Readers: You and me both.

Author:Yeah especially from the bad grammar.

*Everyone turns and looks at Author*

Alec:Why are you insulting your own grammar?

Author:*shrugs* Well there is no one bad left to insult my grammar, almost all of them are good.

Michella:What about me?

Author:*grumbles* Just wait till Clara opens her MIT application. Everyone is going to start LIKING you too.

Rebecca:Who cares about the MIT application. I need JAKE. I didnt go all the way to New York to see Michella.

Jake:Why I'm flattered.

Rebecca:You should be. You better not sink my OTP, I've invested far too much time and tears on this.

Readers: Preach.

Author:You're telling me. It's been three years. T H R E E Y E A R S. I started this book in January 2013. It's almost December 2015 now.

Clara: So basically I've been mentally and emotionally tortured for 3 years.

Rebecca:I'm kind of sad its coming to an end. Who am I going to ship now?

Author: You shouldn't be sad but afraid. You think Clara had it bad, LOL wait for Just Ask Juliet. But if it makes you feel better I like you better than Clara.

Clara: Jeez thanks.

Jake: Don't worry I still like you. *turns to author * I still like her don't I? Or is this another one of the and we can't be together because of Eric?

Rebecca: Nope. Nope. No. I will kill something if that happens. I can't take it anymore.

Clara:Me too. Preferably the author.

Author: Lol. You guys wish. All of you are at my mercy MUHAHA HAHAHA

Samantha:*turns to all the characters* Let's gag her and put her in a corner. Im pretty sure we can write a better ending for this.

Rebecca: Already done.

Author:*mumbles through gaga* Let me go losers.

Clara: Okay let's start. How do you start a new chapter on wattpad?

Samantha: It's obviously the squiggly plus button.

Rebecca: But that says new story, we need new chapter.

Clara: Wait, wait what is this book called again? It clearly can't be Just in Time because I'm never on time.

Jake: It's obviously Jake Henderson has the most adorable face ever.

Rebecca: Uh. Uh, it's obviously Rebecca is the best best friend ever.

Samantha: It's most likely to be Clara Wilson; The Whiner forever.

Author:*mumbles something incoherently*

Clara: Wait... I think I got it. It must be Just Ask Juliet.

Rebecca: No, that's the spin off about me. Are you even paying attention?

Clara: Road Trip to Love?

Samantha: Where the hell is the road trip? Plus you're taking the trek to love because it's taking us way too long to get to the ending and we are all dying trying to get there.

Clara: The Guy Next Door?

Jake: No way, that would mean the entire book is on Alec. And he's a loser. I can't be in a book named because of him-

Alec: Ha told you guys! I'm awesome.

Rebecca: No but didn't Jake live next door to-"

Author:*Finally breaks out of bonds and snaps fingers and all the characters disappear.*

LOL NOBODY IS GOING TO KNOW THE ENDING BUT ME!

Jake:*reappears* So please don't forget to comment vote and tell us what you think.

Rebecca:And thanks for all your support on Just Ask Juliet. I can't wait for you guys to start that book.

Author: and dont forget to follow me because I'm awesome

Everyone: LOL you wish.

Next Update: I NEED TO FINISH THIS BOOK BY THE END OF THIS YEAR AAAAAAH

P.S: Should I hold a one shot competition?