"Bloody hell," Jane cursed to herself. She had been looking for her Health textbook all morning and couldn't find it. And it happened to be the day they were taking the exam. An open textbook exam. Where could I have placed it? I've already checked under the bed, in the bed, in the living room, in the kitchen-

"Jane!" Wendy called. "You're going to be late for school!" She looked at her clock. It read 6:30 am.

Ugh.

"I'm coming, mum!" She figured it was better to fail the test than to not show up at all. Maybe she wouldn't fail. She had done some studying after all.

"Whatever were you looking for?" Her mother asked as she came downstairs and grabbed a banana for a quick snack.

"My Health textbook. We're having the exam on sex education today. It was supposed to be so easy because it's open note, but no, I just had to lose it!"

"What's sex?" Danny asked as he finished up his bowl of cereal.

"None of your business," Jane told him.

"Well did you look everywhere for it?"

"Yes! That's why I was up in my room for that long, mum!"

"Alright," she said. "Don't panic. I'll try to find it. When is your Health class?"

"It's my second one."

"I'll start looking for it now. You should only worry about getting to school on time."

Jane slumped her shoulders. "Fine."

"I bet it'll turn up soon, dear. Have a good day! Be careful on your way!" She nodded and walked out the door. Danny quickly caught up with her.

"Please tell me what sex is?" He begged, jutting out his lower lip.

"No. You'll learn one day. Your bus is leaving."

Danny gasped gasped ran towards it. Then he realized that it had actually just stopped on their street. "Hey!"

Jane laughed. "Bye Daniel!" She started her walk down the street. As she turned a corner, she heard someone yelling.

"I told you I don't have any bloody money!"

"Oh yeah? You'll give something else to me then!!"

Jane ran towards the voices and gasped she saw Mia backed into an alleyway by some random man with a mask on. "Hey!" She said sharply. "Leave her alone!"

Mia turned towards her. "...Jane?"

The mysterious man laughed. "And what are you gonna do about it, little lady?"

"Back off if you know what's good for you!"

"Was that supposed to be a threat? I could take the both of you right now with no problem!"

"Was that supposed to be a challenge?" Jane imitated the mock in his voice. She glanced over at Mia, hoping she'd get the hint.

Mia noticed that he guard was off, so she kicked him in the chin. "Ahh!" He bent over in pain.

"Actually," Jane smiled. "You couldn't even take one of us."

"Let's go!" Mia cried out, grabbing her hand and running. Jane kept glancing back to see if the man was following them. But he wasn't. Of course he wasn't dumb enough to show himself in public.

They kept running until they made it to the school. By then, they were both out of breath. "You think he'll come back?" Mia asked worriedly.

"Probably not," Jane replied. "He's such a wimp. We'll go the other way home just in case though."

"Wow..." she breathed. "Thanks for saving me back there. I would've never thought to kick him. It felt very...relieving to do that. I don't know if I should feel that way."

"It's self defense," said Jane. "Of course it's relieving. Do you know what could've happened if you didn't do that?"

"I'm...not sure I want to know."

"Me neither."

Silence.

Mia took a deep breath. "Jane...I know I've said this before but it's the only thing I can do. I've tried to tell them that you didn't sleep with Elliot, but they wouldn't listen. I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner."

Jane closed her eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath. "You know, I just realized something recently. It doesn't matter anymore. People will always believe what they want to believe and sometimes you can't do anything about it. So what if everyone thinks I had sex with Elliot? As if I care!"

"But what about your reputation?"

"Like I said, it doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that I have friends who will believe me."

Mia began to smile. "I'm happy that you don't care anymore, Jane. But what if you like another boy and he won't want to be with you because he heard the rumor?"

"I wouldn't like a boy who doesn't trust me or stick up for me in the first place," she said. She thought back to last night with Peter. "A girl like you doesn't deserve to be treated that way." Even the thought of his words made her blush.

"Jane? Are you ok? You look a bit red."

"Oh yes, I'm fine," she assured her. "I'm more than ok."

"Alright then. Let's head to our lockers, shall we?"

"We shall."

Isabell was happy to see her and have her a giant hug. "I missed you, Janie!" She said.

"I missed you too," Jane hugged her back. "I'm sorry for shutting you guys out."

"No, it's fine. I understand. I probably would've done the same if I was in your place. I feel like we-or I, at least, was selfish. I didn't think of how you would feel."

"I was selfish too," Mia admitted. "I totally disregarded your feelings."

"You guys. It's alright. Everyone makes mistakes. I get that you guys were afraid to tell me."

"Alright, enough of this mushy-gushy stuff!" Said Mia. "I want to tell Isabell about what happened on our way to school!"

"Ooo, I'm interested."

Mia finished telling the story right before the bell rang for first hour. They said their 'see you laters' and headed their separate ways.

As the time came closer to her second class, Jane felt more and more anxious. What if I bomb this exam? What if I get the lowest grade in the class? And it was all because I couldn't find that stupid textbook?

Jane was the last to turn in her test. It was so embarrassing because she was the only one without a book in the class and she was pretty sure everyone was looking at her weirdly.

When she sat back down at her desk, she heard someone whisper: "I bet she forgot her textbook because she was too busy screwing some guy last night." The person next to them laughed.

Jane wanted to walk right over to them and punch them both. But she thought better of it. She didn't want to get in trouble with the principal. Besides, what she really needed was to ignore it. It doesn't matter what they think of me, she reminded herself.

**

After hearing Mia tell the story again at lunch so Ben could hear, and again in art class so someone else could hear, Jane was more than ready to go home. Good thing the last bell just rang.

"Who else should I tell?" Mia asked they were walking back home. "Ooo...I think I should tell Christopher! It will be so hot to see him angry and over protective!"

"Uh...yeah." In all honesty, she didn't care. They were safe now, and that's all that mattered. She felt no need to tell anyone. Besides, her mum would probably never let her walk to school again if she told her.

Jane made sure to keep an eye out for the man as they got closer to Mia's house. Mia was still chatting it up. No wonder she nearly got jumped, Jane thought. She's oblivious to everything!

"And then he said-"

"Alright, Mia." She had to interrupt so she would stop talking and pay attention to her surroundings. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh, you too!" Her friend smiled. Jane nodded and watched to make sure she entered her own house. For all she knew, Mia could've still been daydreaming about her boyfriend and end up walking into someone else's house.

"Hello Jane," Wendy greeted her daughter he moment she stepped in the house. "I'm very sorry, but I couldn't find your textbook anywhere. I looked through the whole house."

Jane sighed. Dammit, I almost forgot about that. "Yeah...it's alright. I think I failed the exam anyways."

"I'm sure you didn't, dear. You're a very smart young lady."

"Thanks," she faked a smile. "I've got homework to do. I'll be down in an hour or so."

"Alright! Your father will be home soon!"

Jane nodded and went upstairs. But she wasn't going to start on her homework just yet. She still needed to look for that book.

So she searched her whole room again. And guess what? Nothing. Now she had a bigger problem than just failing the test. They had to return their textbooks by the end of the year. If she didn't have it, she would have to pay the full price for it. And it was far from what one would call 'cheap.'

"Ugh!" She angrily stomped her foot and paced around her room for a few minutes. She then opened her window, knowing Peter would come at some point. Her anger disappeared when she thought of him.

When she was with him, the last thing she thought about was school. She never thought about anyone who had done her wrong. She only thought of him.

And if it hadn't been a dream- she was pretty sure it wasn't- Peter kissing her felt like the greatest thing. She felt like she was flying without pixie dust. It was a whole new kind of flying. Was it bad that she desperately wanted to kiss him again?

The problem was, Jane wasn't sure if he liked it. He did leave right after. And he acted very awkward, which was either a good thing or a bad thing. She decided that she would ask him.

But when he showed up at her window she chickened out. It was way harder to ask him when he was actually there. She almost didn't notice her health textbook in his hands.

"Hey," he said. "Here's your book back."

She blinked. Well that explains it. "Peter...you had this the whole time?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Well," she grabbed it from him. "I kind of need this for school. I was almost late this morning because I was looking for it." She placed it in her backpack. "Why did you take this?"

"I was curious," he replied, rocking back and forth on his heels. "I came back here last night because I left my hat and I almost fell over it. You really shouldn't leave important things on the floor." 

"I guess not. Especially with you around." A thought came to mind and she almost had a panic attack. "You don't let the Lost Boys touch it, did you?"

"No," he answered, much to her relief. If they had their hands on it, they would've surely ripped a few pages out. "I was up all night reading it."

"You-what?" Jane's eyes widened. There were so many things in that book that she was certain Peter didn't know of. "How much of that did you read?"

"Almost all of it."

She turned bright red. "Well, uh...what did you think of it?"

"Some of it was really boring, but then I flipped to the part about how babies are made. That was...strange. It's weird picturing it in my head."

Jane chewed on the inside of her lip. Oh my gosh...what am I supposed to say about that? "Um...yeah, I thought the same at first, but when you get older, it's not as strange anymore."

"When did you hear about it?" He asked, intrigued.

"Well...I was 12 years old when we first learned."

"12?! That's so young! Do they expect you to have babies at that age?!"

She couldn't control her laughter. "No, Peter. We start learning about the reproductive system at 12 years old because that's around the age of puberty. And it's also a required class when you are 15-17 years of age."

"Puberty? I think I read about that..."

"Puberty is when you start growing up," she answered.

"Growing up? So...wait, does that make us grownups since we're older than 12

"Not yet. We are still going through puberty at this age."

"Puberty's really long," he stated. "When does it stop?"

"For for girls it stops at around the age of 18. For guys it's 21," Jane said.

"So...that means if I aged every year I'll be younger for longer?"

"Actually, 18 is the legal age of adulthood here."

"But if boys are still going through puberty at 21, why are they adults at 18?"

"The law and biology are different, Peter. Girls and boys have to both be counted as adults in the same year. Otherwise we'd have a lot of problems."

"Like what?" He asked.

"Like...20 year old men trying to be with a 15 year old girl. They would use the fact that they are still growing as an excuse."

"Oh..." he grimaced. "That doesn't sound good."

"Exactly."

"So back to the thing about how babies are made," Peter said. "I read that women have to carry babies in their stomachs for 9 months. That's so long! Wouldn't that hurt?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly know, but I can guess that it sometimes feels uncomfortable," Jane replied. "I think the most painful part would be when she gives birth."

"Oh yeah...cause it comes out of...well," he scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah. Ouch."

Jane nodded quickly. Why does he have to ask me these questions? Why did I have to leave my book on the floor?

"And there's-"

"Hey, Peter?" She cut in. "I, um...appreciate these questions, but I have homework to do. Maybe we can talk about this sometime later?" Her face was crimson.

"Oh yeah, sure." He smiled. "Can I take this book back for one more night?"

"No, I need it for school." She paused. Should he even be reading about this stuff? Well, he is 16 now. He should know. "How about this? After school I'll get you your own book about the reproductive system?"

"Really? You can do that?"

"Of course. But it'll only be a rental. I'll have to return it within a month."

"That's fine. Thanks Jane!"

"No problem." She smiled sheepishly. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep!" He happily leapt out the window.

Jane was still blushing furiously after he left. Oh my goodness. What have I gotten him into?