[[ Part 6- Conversations ]]

Jaycee gave the woman at the counter a 5 Dollar note and took the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cone out of the ice cream tray on the top of the counter. She waited patiently for her change, watching as the lady searched the contents of the single cash register in the store. After confirming that there were only 10 dollar bills and 20 dollar bills, and no more change left, she headed back to Jaycee's counter.

"Sorry Ma'am, but we don't have any change. Do you think that you could find some?" The lady asked politely. Jaycee scanned the store, looking for someone who might be nice enough to either lend her money or exchange. Spotting a brown haired teenager in the corner, she told the other lady to hold on a moment and bounced off in his direction.

"Hi, would you happen to have any change for a 5 Dollar bill? They've run out of coins and I need to pay for my ice cream." She tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

He spun around. As soon as she laid eyes on his face, she instantly recognised him, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Jaycee?" He asked, his eyes wide and disbelieving. Jaycee made a quick recovery, smiling at him.

"Yep, that me. I'm sorry, I didn't realise that it was you." There eye's locked onto each others. His eyes are so green it should be considered a crime, she thought.

"Oh, that's Ok. So... How have you been? I mean, I know that I see you at school, but I haven't actually talked to you in awhile..." he paused and licked his own, already paid-for ice cream, waiting for an answer.

"I'm great, things have been... busy lately... How about you? Where's Amba? I thought she'd be around..." Jaycee asked timidly. "Meh, she had to go to some family reunion thing, so she's gone for the weekend" Alex replied cheerfully. More like she's at Benny's birthday bash sleeping with a bunch of guys. "That's great... Oh hey, could I have that change now? Don't want the ice cream to melt". He blinked rapidly then hurriedly reached for his wallet, pulling out change for Jaycee's note. "here" he mumbled. As he folded his wallet back up, the old picture of him and Jaycee fell out onto the ground.

As Jaycee went and paid the lady at the counter, she looked at the floor and bent down to pick up the misplaced photo. "Uhhh... You dropped this from your wallet." she handed him the picture and glanced up at him, seeing that his cheeks had turned slightly red. "It's OK, I have the same photo in my wallet too. Do you still remember that day?"

They began talking, about old things, how things were and how they used to be. At first it was kind of awkward, but slowly as they walked together through the Mall, both started to relax and the conversation started to flow to other topics of interest.

However, in Jaycee's head, the memory of him blushing at the fact that he had a picture of her in his wallet kept on replaying in her mind. Maybe he did like me a little after all those years? I mean, I WAS in his wallet, She wondered. Then again, that's not entirely good, since Amba was there too.

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I wonder how Matty knows Jaycee, thought Adele. She was on the way home from yet another boring day at school. In English they had managed to come up with a few ideas, but everyone was a little distracted, with Alex and Amba off to their usual thing, Jaycee lost most of the time, and Mariah… just being Mariah. Adele was getting used to the routine now, but she still hadn't managed to make many friends. Although she wasn't in the popular crowd at Delaney College, she was used to having a few friends around her.

Nearing her house, Adele noticed a few cars parked outside. Great, she thought. It looked like her mum had volunteered their house for the psychiatrist meeting. She couldn't go home. If this had happened last month, she would have gone over to Matty's house, but things were different now.

She kept on walking, passing her house, and headed down the road to Jaycee's house. She had no idea where else to go, besides, they had to work on the debate anyway.

She saw Jaycee's house and walked up the driveway. She stood on the front porch for a while, before she worked up her courage to knock on the door.

Fortunately, Jaycee answered the door.

"Uh… hi?" stammered Adele.

Jaycee looked at her suspiciously. "What do you want?"

"I though that we could, uh, work on the, uh, debate?" Adele cringed at the awkwardness.

Jaycee brightened. "Sure. Come on in."

Adele stepped inside and was surprised by the sheer magnitude of the house. "Wow."

Jaycee blushed and tried to steer Adele upstairs to her room.

They worked and talked for a few hours, having breaks here and there just to lie back and relax. Adele really felt like they were beginning a really weird friendship. Maybe this place isn't so bad after all, she thought.

While they were working, Adele noticed that Jaycee was a little distracted. She wasn't sure whether she had the right to ask what was wrong so she just kept quiet, assuming it was none of business.

Jaycee suddenly broke the comfortable silence they had created through their work. "I saw Alex today."

Adele raised her eyebrows. She wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to know where this was going. "So?" she questioned.

"We got to talking and…" She paused, mid-sentence.

"And?" urged Adele.

"We talked about heaps of old stuff… and there's something that happened that I'm not going to tell you, but it might mean that he likes me." Adele wasn't too surprised. She had thought that Jaycee liked Alex a little, but she had had no idea that Alex liked her, due to the fact that he couldn't keep away from Amba. "Well… what about Amba?" She had no idea what else to say.

Jaycee shrugged. "If he likes me and I like him then… Oh crap. Too much information."

Adele smiled and mimed herself sealing her lips. "I won't tell anyone, I swear."

Jaycee gave her a tired smile. Adele realised that Jaycee may be her first friend at the new school.

[[ Part 5- Email ]] <-- Back                                                                              Next --> [[ Part 7- Adele's Diary ]]