Songs for the Chapter: (What I listen to while writing-- might heighten the experience to give these songs a try while reading.)

What About Love- Heart

Love Bites- Def Leppard

BAD- Michael Jackson

{M A U R A}

It was a transformation like no other.

I wouldn't say it happened quickly, but looking back now... it kinda did. All of a sudden I was facing Jax's daily expectation of behavior toward him, striving to be the perfect partner for him. The stares we got were insane, though the other members of Jax's... group... didn't seem to mind me so much. Apart from Vick, of course.

But this time, I was doing things right. I was gonna prioritize Jon as well, no matter how much it seemed to irritate Jax.

I had to remember who my friends were.

After school every day he still drove me home, even if it meant turning down an invitation from Jax (who would give me a sour glance and brush it off). More times than not, Jon accompanied me to gymnastics (the girls had taken a liking to his navy blue eyes and dreamy smile). Depending on Jax's plans, we might even catch a bite after and talk about music.

One night Jon and I were lounging in my room, listening to Joni Mitchel and lethargically attempting to do homework for Chemistry.

"You gotta convert those six grams of NaCl to moles, and then divide by the 7 moles of solute. And boom, you've got molarity."

I scribbled all that down on my worksheet and sighed. "God, I can't believe it's still October. I'm pretty through with sophomore year."

He crawled to the edge of the foot of the bed and stared down at me. "Mine was pretty good. Junior year sucks worse girly, just wait until you're taking Government with Mr. Moore. His voice is enough to make you wanna commit suicide any day."

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "That's dramatic."

He didn't respond, so I looked up to see what was going on. His eyes were narrowed and trained on the window.

"What?"

"Look," he said thoughtfully. "Doesn't it look like your window is... moving?"

"No, silly," I said with a scoff. "My window only opens from the inside anyway."

Just then the window slid open smoothly, and in came Jax with an amused look on his face. My mouth gaped as he brushed himself off, seeming pretty happy with himself- that is, until he laid eyes on Jon leaning over the edge of the bed on me.

"What the fuck is going on here?" he asked hostily.

Jon, always cool in the fact of confrontation, gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Nothing, man. Just working on the Chem homework. Hey, what did you get for number ten?"

Jax's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Red, what the hell is he doing here? Don't you remember what we discussed?"

I raised an eyebrow innocently. "What do you mean?"

He groaned loudly and allowed his eyes to fall closed, massaging his temples slowly.

"I specifically told you not to fuck anyone else."

I giggled a little. "Relax, Jax. No one here is fucking anyone. Isn't that right?" I looked up at Jon, somewhat amused. Only he didn't seem to feel the same.

"Yeah," he said rather intensely. "Don't you trust us, Jax ol' buddy? No funny business going on here, no sir."

My smiled faded a little bit as I examined them both. The air was thicker than caramel, and Jon's smile was about as real as a barbie doll's. Jax's anger was the only genuine feeling in the room, which only got worse when Jon put his hand on my shoulder.

"Well, Jersey boy will have to be leaving now." Jax stared at me hard, waiting for me to agree with him.

"I'm sorry," I said, confused. "Did we have plans tonight or something?"

He scoffed, obviously annoyed with the both of us. "No, and what difference does that make? I'm here right now, which is more important than... 'chem homework'."

Jon just looked at me with neutral eyes. I know exactly what they should've been saying.

"You could've at least called first..." I looked up at Jon helplessly.

I knew how I felt about Jax, but I promised myself I wasn't ever gonna treat Jon badly again. He didn't deserve that just because I chose to get together with Jax-- through everything he was still my best friend, the only one who knew how to pick me up from the ground.

"It's fine," Jon yawned, getting off the bed and gathering his things. "Now, when I pick you up for school tomorrow morning, do you want a cheese danish? Or the kind with cherry filling?"

Jax's grimace deepened. Jon's eyes were glued to his.

I swallowed hard. "Cheese is fine."

Jax glared at me deeply, but Jon was gone before the situation could escalate any more.

I smiled weakly and pushed some hair behind my ear. "We got... 0.86 Molar for number ten. What did you get?"

He stalked to the bedroom door and kicked it shut. "I didn't do that stupid ass homework."

I stood quickly, realizing that this wasn't going to be swept under the rug.

"Listen, Jax-"

"No you listen, and I won't have to say this again. You're not gonna have that kid in here alone with you... matter of fact, I don't want him in your bedroom at all. I have half a mind to tell you to drop him all together..."

That didn't sit with me well. I ground my jaw and said nothing.

"But I'm feeling generous, so I won't. Am I understood?"

"Yeah," I said. I understood him, but that doesn't mean I was going to obey.

"Good," he responded, cracking a smile as he proceeded to unbutton his shirt. "Help me get these pants off."

I sighed, still kinda pissed off, and thought about what might happen if I denied him sex. He did just show up unannounced at my house, and then kick Jon out... but making a big deal about it would only worsen the situation.

"Sure," I said quietly.

{...}

I looked at the setting sun nervously.

Jon was already suspicious when I declined his usual offer for a ride home, and if I didn't get outta there soon I was gonna be late for gymnastics. With qualifyers coming around, it wasn't a good move. Plus, Jax was being snippy with me.

And it's not like we were really doing anything anyway- Jax's whole group was compiled on the steps of an abandoned building on the South side, "making sure things were right" with Jax's territory.

He wasn't paying attention to me on purpose, but he would have a problem if I tried to leave.

Vick looked just about as amused as I did. She kicked at the stray pebbles lying around, scoffing everytime Danny or one of the guys said something particularly stupid.

I was on the highest step, and Jax was seated a precarious two steps below. As carefully as I could, I slid down so that I could whisper in his ear.

"Hey."

"What?" he said, somewhat coolly.

"When do you think this'll be wrapping up?"

He looked at me accusingly. "What, you gotta date?"

I rolled my eyes. "With my gymnastics coach, yeah."

"Jax, check it out." Danny's playful demeanor from a few seconds ago was nowhere to be found as he nodded across the suddenly empty street.

There was no mistaking Green Eyes and his gang, stalking toward us steadily. Panic knifed through me-- we hadn't seen each other since he tried to date rape me at his party, not to mention that I wasn't too keen on him knowing that I was associated with Jax... I definitely didn't want Jax to know about Jesse and me either.

Jax rose quickly and started down the stairs. "Stay there. Don't move," he remembered to tell me at the last minute.

Luckily for me, Jesse wasn't looking in my direction.

Danny, the twins and Vick stood a few feet behind Jax in a menacing formation, mimicking the one Jesse's group made. Overall, they looked a little tougher than a few high school kids with backwards Cubs hats.

"When I heard you were here, blatantly occupying my new territory, I have to say... I didn't believe my associates here. Had to come down and see with my own eyes." Jesse seemed to laugh, as if this was all a big joke.

Jax rolled his eyes. "Well, you see us. What do you really plan on doing about it?"

Jesse's smile turned down a little. "You're stubborn. That's the only reason why these fools respect you, isn't it?"

Jax shrugged. "Whatever works. Daddy's money seems to work plenty, now doesn't it?"

Jesse grinned. "Whatever works."

They had some more, 'evil I run a gang' banter back and forth, and I could see that things weren't going anywhere fast. The guys seemed too caught up in their pissing contest to notice my absence, so I slowly crept down the stairs in the hopes of slipping away.

As I was tiptoeing toward the nearest alley, I made eye contact with Jesse, just long enough for him to register who I was.

He dropped his conversation completely. "Cherry!"

I froze, fear consuming me from my head to my feet. My mouth went dry as Jax's eyes narrowed with anger.

I stood up straight, staring at him blankly. "What?"

Jesse looked at Jax. "Yes, Cherry. What are you doing so far from home? The South Side has some... potentially dangerous characters lurking. Come on, I'll take you home."

Jax perked up like a flower in the sunshine. "You fuck off, that's my girl."

Jesse's eyes widened with sick pleasure. "Oh really? That's pretty impossible, since her parents and mine both agree that she is going to be my girl."

Jax spun around and came to me quickly, wrenching my wrist. "What the fuck is he talking about?" he whispered, just urgently enough for me to realize that this was the worst possible outcome.

I choked. "Uh... well... our families run in the same social circles. He came over once."

"What?!"

"It was before me and you, I promise. Really."

Jax ran two frustrated hands through his hair. "Then why does the motherfucker seem to think the two of you are fucking engaged or something?"

I shrugged helplessly. "I don't know! We can just go if that's what you want, we don't have to deal with him. I... I don't want him, you know that."

He glared at me, but took my waist in his hands at the same time. "I don't know shit. As of five minutes ago, you didn't even know this cat."

Danny rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Jesse's smile was fading.

"I'll tell you what, Jax, since you two don't seem to be coming to decision by yourselves over there. Cherry, she's... she's just the bee's fucking knees, don't you agree? So beautiful, those big eyes, freckles, all that red hair. You give me her, and you can have all the land you want."

The man to Jesse's left looked at him with all the world's surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Oh I'm serious," Jesse mused. "We can end it all right here. I mean it."

Danny swallowed hard. Vick smirked with pleasure, and everyone looked up at Jax, waiting for his inevitable yes.

I fully expected to be roughly shoved into the 'possession' of Jesse (they were already talking about me as if I were jewelry, or a car rather than a person), but something remarkable happened instead.

Eyes pinned on Jesse, Jax wrapped his arms around my shoulders and drew me into his chest.

"Never," he spat.

Jesse's smug smile turned ugly, and was replaced by a grimace. "You know what, I'm talking to the wrong person, aren't I? I need to talk my dear friend, Cherry. Come on over here."

His eyes settled on mine again.

I looked up at Jax.

"If you move a muscle, I swear to fucking god." Jax buried his nose in my hair.

"Jax," Danny said roughly. "You're being completely stupid right now. At least let her go talk to him, maybe they can... work out some sort of alternative."

Jax glared at him deeply. "She will not give it up to that bastard, not now and not ever!"

I have to say, I was flattered. Maybe that was a little vain of me, but who cared? Jax actually valued me, that meant a lot more than anything he'd done yet.

"But," I said calmly, "maybe it would be smart for me to talk to him. See if there's anything I can do-"

"Red-"

"Besides having sex with him, that is, to make this situation better for all of you. It would be pretty selfish of me not to."

"She's right," Vick agreed. "Never thought I'd ever say that, but it's true."

"Yep," Danny said.

"God damn it," Jax sighed, tugging on the roots of his hair. "Five minutes. Five minutes, and then your ass'd better be right by my side again."

I looked at him and nodded solemnly, and nodded.

I turned toward Jesse. His emerald eyes dragged themselves up and down my body slowly, disgustingly, before a smile spread across his face.

I had my work cut out for me.

{A/N}

IN CASE Y'ALL DIDN'T KNOW... I'M FINISHING LOVE SYMBOL!

In a several-part finale, I will finally bring some closure to the series. For more info, check out my page, or the newest update on any of the LS books.

I'll keep up updates on this book as well tho

THANKS Y'ALL