"We don't need to go yet," Jessica insisted, sat up on her bed with several papers spread about, descriptions of things they'd need for the dance. "I'm sure they have the stuff gathered, and we can just decorate later, after lunch."

Ali gives her an unimpressed look, leaned back with raised eyebrows. "Are you really trying to avoid dealing with the kids on the last day?"

"Pssh, no!" Jess shrugged. "Of course not. But we're letting them sleep in, right? I mean, no need to bother them...and listen to their yelling--"

"Jess, did you know that you're a bad person?"

Jessica looked up with a grin, her eyes meeting Ali's. "Oh, I'm the worst."

Susan, who was on her bed at the opposite side of the room, looked over at them with raised brows and opened her mouth. Before she could say anything, though, the door to the girl's cabin burst open.

Jessica has seen Daniel in many states. When the Cobras were still on his case, picking fights after school. When he and Ali were fighting loads before they finally decided to break up. When Daniel came out to her, that was probably the worst state she's seen him in.

That is, until now.

Daniel was trembling, his eyes (what little Jess could see through the tears) were looking around, frantic and disoriented. He looked as if he were holding back, but also as though he didn't care what they saw or what they thought. His breathing was scattered, anxious, as though he'd ran there. He didn't look hurt, at least not physically.

"Daniel," Jess breathed. Daniel looked down at her, uncertain, before his shoulders relaxed just slightly. He collapsed onto the bed and allowed Jessica to wrap her arms around him. "Hey, hey, it's okay..." she started. Her heart felt heavy, and as she petted Daniel's hair, she knew nothing about this was okay. "It was Johnny, wasn't it?" She whispered. The other two girls must have not heard, but Ali grabbed Daniel a tissue box and was now looking at him as if he were an alien.

Daniel nodded. Shook his head. Nodded again. "He just..." Daniel managed with a raspy breath. "He just..."

"I'll go find him," Jessica stood, grabbing her bag.

"Jess, no!" Daniel protested, but when Ali wrapped a soft blanket around him, he pulled it closer, still sniffling.

"I'll talk to him. Trust me, it'll be fine, I'm just gonna bring him here. Okay?"

Daniel looked down at his lap, hesitant, though he nodded. "Okay, but I've already looked everywhere and couldn't find him. And I...I don't think it'll work. I--I want it to work. I really like him, and I don't care who knows. But he's--"

"A stubborn asshole?" Jess asked with a raised eyebrow. Next to Daniel, Ali looked even more confused, and Susan just rolled her eyes. She never had a penchant for drama.

Daniel managed a laugh, and it made Jessica smile as well. "Yeah...yeah, he is. Just...if you find him, don't let him give you too much shit, okay?"

"Okay, promise," Jessica nodded, walking out of the cabin, leaving Ali and Susan looking at Daniel expectant for answers.

---

"Are you a fucking cat, Lawrence?" Jessica had cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted, looking up a particularly tall tree fifty minutes after she had originally started her search. Up high on that tall tree sat Johnny Lawrence, cool as a goddamn cucumber, legs dangling as he eyed her curiously.

"Leave me alone, Andrews."

"Daniel's in a state, you know." Jessica replied, hands on the trunk of the tree, but it was too thick to shake the bastard out of.

"We're all in a state, idiot, that's how America works," Johnny shot back.

"Okay, that's it," Jessica put her hair up in a Founding Father Low Ponytail with her scrunchie, getting her bearings. "Susan's really the better climber when it comes to trees, but if I have to..." she started to climb the tree, one foot after another, just like a mountain.

"Oh, no," Johnny started. "You're not coming up here, I told you to leave me alone."

"Does this tree have your goddamn name on it?" Jessica asked, hissing as her hands got scratched on the bark as she clung to it's thick branches. "Suck my dick, Johnny."

"Since when did you get such a little pottymouth, underclassman?" Johnny sneered at her.

"First off, I'm gonna be a senior in the fall, so you don't even know what an underclassman is. Second, I got this pottymouth when you decided to--" Jessica grunted, swinging her leg up boldly to catch the next branch. "--to make Daniel cry..."

"You don't even understand," Johnny replied, shaking his head. Even so, he looked flighty as Jessica got closer, as if he were considering jumping. "He was crying...?" He asked, but his voice was so faint Jess was unsure if the question was for her or himself.

"Of course I understand," Jessica nodded, finally stopping across from Johnny, one branch down. "Johnny, I do."

"So, Daniel told you, huh?" Johnny scoffed. "Little shit can't keep his mouth shut even on the stuff that really matters..." He was avoiding Jessica's eyes, and although the sound was so quiet she almost didn't hear it, he sniffled. He looked as though he were in a state too--and not just one in America.

"Johnny," Jessica started, her heart suddenly pounding harder and faster in her chest. "He only told me because he was excited. He really likes you, and I think you guys have something special...and...I think I am, too..."

Johnny looked at her then as if she were a fictional creature. "You think you are...?" he shook his head, waiting for her to elaborate. As if she were stupid for not saying the one word that's been plaguing her since Daniel first told her about it.

"Bisexual." Jess managed. "When Daniel first told me about it, I thought it was just Daniel being Daniel, but then I thought about it more and more, and..." Jessica's face flushed, and she couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of this whole thing. "I mean, you think liking Daniel's bad? Jesus Christ, Johnny, I'm crushing on your best friend and your ex-girlfriend at the same time!"

"You," Johnny's face flipped through about seven emotions in three seconds. "You like Bobby and Ali? You're kidding."

"Not at all, unfortunately," Jess shook her head. "And the saddest part? I don't think either of them likes me back. But Daniel, he..." she breathed out a soft, sad little laugh. "He's gone for you, man. More than anyone. And I know you feel the same."

Johnny started to shake his head, but stopped with a sigh. "I can't...I mean, Bobby and Tommy and them--"

"They aren't gonna say shit," Jessica insisted. "At least, I wouldn't like Bobby if he was an asshole about that kind of stuff. Besides, you don't have to tell the whole world or go to one of those New York Pride riots--"

She was surprised, then, when Johnny let out a faint laugh. "Larusso would want me to go to one of those. He'd probably wear a big flag, too, that bastard..."

There was a beat of tense silence, and then: "You think about him a lot?" Jessica whispered.

Johnny met her eyes then, briefly, as if fearing her gaze would burn. "All the time...I was so selfish, caught up in Daniel that I didn't even pay attention...how did I not notice how close you were getting with my ex?"

"Oh, relax," Jess rolled her eyes. "Nothing's gonna happen, she's the straightest person I've ever met."

"Why?" Johnny asked. "Because she was a cheerleader? You were, too...and I was number one at my dojo...I guess it's not just little shrimps like Larusso..."

"Yeah?" Jessica asked with a crooked smile, putting her hand in Johnny's free one, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. "You're lumping all of us in there together, then?"

Johnny frowned, but he didn't push her hand away. "Don't push it, ginger. I just mean that, like...he wants this to be forever. He probably wants us to, like, tell the world and then get a house with kids and a dog and stuff...and I don't know. In the camp was fine, but outside..." he took a shaky breath, meeting her eyes briefly before looking away. Jessica had never seen him so adamantly avoid eye contact for so long, like some kind of antisocial outcast. She wondered what she could do to make sure he didn't feel that way, if there was a way.

"You don't have to be anything out there that you aren't already in here," Jessica replied. "Just...come back and talk to Daniel. I know him, he's not gonna make you tell anyone you don't want to. He sure as hell won't, he's not even out to Ali...well, he might be now, but that's unimportant. Hell, it took him forty-five minutes and a box of macaroni to tell me! I'd be surprised if he can even manage the words even if he wanted to."

"Oh, he can manage some words alright, the mouthy little shit," Johnny insisted, biting his bottom lip nervously, but even so, a smile started to tug on his lips. The involuntary kind, and that was the tipping point; it meant that everything had to be okay, because Johnny was just as gone about Daniel, if not more. Jessica could feel his hand start to sweat, but she didn't want to pull away, didn't want to spook him. He looked up at Jessica, smiling cheekily, a bright, non-candid way that unsettled her. "So this was really a ploy to get me to talk to him? What is this, middle school?"

"Well," Jessica started, but she had no line of defense. "Yeah. I think you should. Do you know how lucky you are to have someone like Daniel? Not all of us can have that, that...thing you have, like you're tied together. No matter where you go, you're stuck with him. You just get to decide if he's your worst regret...or your best decision..."

Jessica looked at him curiously, and it seemed Johnny was struggling to grasp everything, but he nodded. He laughed. Jessica wondered then if his heart was pumping enough blood to his brain, with how distant he looked. Johnny Lawrence was...an absolute dumbass, Jessica thought. But also? Not that bad, really. Not that she'd admit it.

"I don't think Daniel wants to give me another chance," Johnny insisted. "I don't deserve one. He's gonna get tired of me, Jess..."

"No, he won't," Jessica said. "He's far more patient than I am, and I haven't gotten tired of you yet." The sky above them rumbled, clouds mulling about and shifting in their uneasy dull grey light. Jessica looked up uncertainly. "Come on, let's get back to the cabin. You can talk to him in private, and if it goes well, I'll let you live another day." She started down the tree, looking up to see if Johnny would follow. After the longest few seconds of hesitation, Johnny nodded to himself and started down with her.

"You're very generous, you know," Johnny commented, sounding only slightly sarcastic. "Very sweet. It's weird Larusso hasn't tried to snatch you up, he seems like a little bitch that'd like a headstrong girl to boss him around." With that, he landed nimbly on the ground, dusting off his clothes as Jessica landed as well.

She scowled at him briefly but walked ahead, content with letting him trail behind. "That's no way to talk about someone you like. Besides, we caught each other at a bad time, just after my ex cheated on me. I'm a lot happier being friends, anyway. And it all worked out for the best anyway, right?"

She heard Johnny walking behind her, but even still she tensed. It wasn't as if he was going to bolt and lead her on a chase, but even so. She could run. "Yeah, we'll see." Johnny's voice replied softly.

Jessica wanted to talk more, to reassure him, but she held her tongue as she lead him back. Nothing like a bit of long, tense silence. She worried her lip to the point of soreness before glancing back at him. His face was dark, shadowed like a guy in a movie. Back in school, she always thought preppy guys like Johnny were shiny and perfect, didn't have a single issue. Being on the cheer squad, she hung around guys like that a lot, guys that felt that a cute cheerleader was their birthright for playing a sport well.

"You're better now," Jess commented simply, returning her eyes to the front, where the girl's cabin was in sight.

"What do you mean?" Johnny asked with something of an almost bratty huff. If Jess wasn't mistaken, the sight of the cabin was making him nervous. Skittish.

"I mean that, like...you seem like the kind of asshole that'd peak in high school, but...you're getting better. Nicer. I didn't believe Ali when she said it, but she's right." Jessica replied, stopping outside the door. She went to open it, but before her hand went to the knob, Johnny took it in his. Squeezed. His hands were sweaty.

"Thank you," Johnny sounded like he was struggling for words, for breath.

"Do you need a minute?" Jessica asked, squeezing his hand in return.

"No," Johnny shook his head. The gray clouds overhead rolled and loomed, casting the day in a bleak light. "Now or never, right? Here's to a new chapter."

Jessica opened the door.