Although Jessica was successful in avoiding everyone over the weekend, the tranquility didn’t last when Monday forced her back into her reality. The reality that Yuri had a major crush on her, that Taeyeon wanted her to disappear, and that Jessica wanted to do everything to disappear too.

“Where were you this weekend? Your dad said you were out.” Tiffany leaned over disrupting her peaceful morning away from drama.

“Just around…” Jessica didn’t admit that she was locked in her room and asked her dad to lie for her all weekend. He assumed she was having girl problems and did probe, but every time she left her room for a meal, his eyebrows furrowed like he wanted to know what was wrong.

“That …the other girls and I went to an amusement park. It was fun and Yoona got so sick it was hilarious.” Tiffany started laughing as if they were good friends again.

Jessica gave an awkward laugh, “She must have ate too much again before going on a ride.”

“Exactly! Like last summer! She can’t control her glutinous ways.”

“Heh yea…” Jessica tried her best to act normal because she could only think of her pathetic life avoiding her friends in her room. This was not any way to make up for lost time with her friends or how to make-up with Taeyeon, but right now Jessica’s instincts told her to run. Get away from this pain and run away to a place where she didn’t have to deal with these teenage problems ever again. These were the same feelings she had back in high school when she ran away the first time.

“Hey Tiff and Jess.” Yoona sat next to the duo.

“I was just telling Jessica how you wasted 2 good corndogs after going on the Hellivator.” Tiffany snickered.

Yoona groaned at the memory, “Why did you have to tell her that! Why not tell her the juicier gossip?”

Jessica’s ears perked up wondering what could have happened at the amusement park, “You know that tall guy on the soccer team?”

Jessica looked at Yoona like she was speaking a foreign language, “What?”

Yoona rolled her eyes, “Minsu? He is tall and in your French class I think.”

Jessica thought for a moment, “Oh yea. I think I know him.”

“Anyway, we were at the amusement park and we ran into him and his friends.”

“You are taking forever telling this,” Tiffany sat there bored, “Get to the good stuff.”

“Oh yea he asked Taeyeon to prom!” Yoona and Tiffany both squealed in joy but at that moment, Jessica’s heart sank like a rock.

“Oh cool.” Jessica managed to get out fighting through the lump in .

“Our short friend is so popular! This is like 3 guys now.”

Yea Jessica knew and wanted to forget, “D-did she say yes?”

Tiffany thought for a second, “I am not sure…she is pretty secretive about it. I am not sure if she agreed to any of the boys that asked, but I am positive Minsu is her type. He is athletic, tall and super good looking.”

Jessica didn’t know if she should be relieved or not that Taeyeon hasn’t agreed to go to prom with any of those guys. Yet.

“Alright class settle down, we are going to start.” The teacher finally arrived and started the lessons for the day ending the questioning.

For the remainder of the class, Jessica couldn’t focus. She had a lot of questions. Like why did Taeyeon not tell Tiffany that she already agreed to go to prom with one of those guys? Tiffany was her closest friend after her and Jessica had a falling out so Tiffany must know if she said yes right?

For the next few classes, Jessica had a hard time concentrating with her mind wandering to dark places and making her heart heavier and heavier as if it was to burst.

“Jessica are you okay? You like tuned-out the whole morning.” Tiffany stood over Jessica’s desk.

Jessica brushed her fingers through her hair, “Yea. I am fine. The lessons were not very interesting.”

Yoona came up after collecting her books, “You find them interesting most of the time?”

Jessica and Tiffany chuckled, “Are you hitting the library or join us for lunch today?”

Jessica gathered her books, “I am starving.”

Tiffany hooked her arm around Jessica’s, “Great! We missed your face.”

On the way to the lunch room, Jessica gave herself a little pep-talk of how she needs to be more social and running away from her problems will not fix it. Jessica decided to put on her brave face because she knew right now she would be seeing Taeyeon once again.

“TaeTae!” Tiffany jumped her shorter friend who was standing innocently in the lunch line.

Taeyeon nearly fell over, “Hey Tiff.”

Jessica almost melted when she saw a huge smile on Taeyeon’s face, but that lasted 2 seconds because after Tiffany’s bear hug, Taeyeon spotted Jessica and the frown reappeared.

Like her knight in shining armor, Yuri was there to throw her arm around Jessica and pick up her sinking heart, “Nice to see you here.”

Jessica gave her friend a gentle smile than an answer.

Slowly their friends gathered in line with the rest of the group but Jessica kept looking over Tiffany to get a peek at Taeyeon. She wanted to be the one to make Taeyeon smile and not look at her like she was the most foul thing in the world.

“She will come around eventually.” Yuri whispered in Jessica’s ear.

Jessica let out a long sigh, “I don’t have forever.”

Yuri chuckled, “just be overly nice or something. Taeyeon isn’t a cruel person so just show her you truly care.”

“I don’t know how much fight I have left,” Jessica feeling dejected every time her attempts to make-up with Taeyeon were turned down.

“It won’t be easy but I think you can do it. At least make-up with her before prom. I don’t like seeing you down like this all the time.” Yuri gave Jessica a quick pat on her back before skipping Jessica to get her food first.

Jessica shook her head as she trailed behind Yuri to get her food. So many thoughts were in her head and she knew Yuri was right. Maybe she needed to gather all her courage to face this problem with love no matter how many times Taeyeon ignores her.

Going to the table, Jessica saw a safe seat next to Yuri but then there was the seat next to Taeyeon open. Her talk with Yuri and short walk to the table, Jessica decided she needed to bite the bullet, so Jessica sat next to Taeyeon. Suddenly all eyes were on Jessica in surprise, especially Taeyeon.

Taking a big bite out of her food, Jessica ignored the curious stares from her friends and the lasers coming out of Taeyeon’s eyes.

Tiffany cleared , “So about prom…”

Jessica rolled her eyes inside her head hating the mention of the wretched dance that is the cause of her current heartache.

“I was thinking of going together and I wanted to rent a limo. We can meet at Sunny’s place because she is near most of us. What do you think?”

“It would be nice going together.”

Tiffany slapped her hands together, “Great! Now I need a count so raise your hands if you are going.” Jessica hesitantly rose her hands after Yuri gave her a death glare and mental note that she better be coming, “Awesome! Now raise your other hand if you have a date.”

Jessica looked around and only Hyoyeon and Tiffany had their hands up, but Taeyeon did not. Three boys asked her to go so why is she not going with one of them?

“TaeTae what about Minsu?”

Taeyeon shrugged, “I don’t know yet.” She picked at her food, “I am still thinking about it.”

Tiffany gave an adorable pout probably thinking the same thing the rest of the group was, “You should make a decision fast before they change their minds and ask someone else.”

Taeyeon didn’t answer and just continued eating her lunch, not liking the sudden attention.

“Well I am going with Nick!” Tiffany said proudly, “Who are you taking Hyo?”

“An upperclassman who already graduated,” Hyoyeon said nonchalantly.

“Okay…so we have 11 and a questionable 12^th?” Tiffany wrote some numbers on her hand smiling away at organizing this event for her friends. “Okay we will get 2 limos then,” Tiffany jotted down notes in her overly fluffy and pink notebook she always carried around.

Jessica heard her friends talking about more things related to prom but Jessica didn’t care. She had her attention back on Taeyeon who looked just as uncomfortable as her about this whole dance. When Jessica talked with her about prom, Taeyeon was excited and happy so many people showed interest in her, but since the fight. Taeyeon was disinterested and alienating herself from the talk of boys and the dance. Jessica knew it must be her fault. Words she said that day were not true but the damage was done. Taeyeon must feel like she is a or a with all these boys asking her out. Jessica didn’t how to fix what she did.

“Okay it is settled we are all going to the mall after school to pick out a dress!”

Jessica looked at Tiffany in shock, “What?”

“Well for those that don’t have one of course.”

Jessica groaned remembering she was one of them that didn’t have a dress yet.

“Raise your hand if you already picked out a dress.” Tiffany counted herself and Sooyoung, “What! How can you all not have a dress yet?! All the good ones will be picked over by now!”

The group shrugged all knowing they were not nearly as excited as Tiffany for this dance. There was nothing against going to a dance but the thought of such a romantic event like these made most of the group uncomfortable with of the lack of dates. Not like they weren’t pretty or popular and most of the girls were asked but Yoona and Sooyoung rejected most of the offers. They didn’t want to be caught in a high school relationship so close to graduation and Yoona had to help at the dance. Jessica assumed her icy demeaner and infatuation with someone else deterred most possible suiters, Yuri was clearly gay and Sunny and Seohyun were not interested. Leaving a most of the group dateless.

“Cancel all your plans. We are doing a group trip to the store!”

Luckily, the lunch bell rang and the girls scattered, not saying one way or another if they were going.

Yuri bumped into Jessica quickly at the locker, “We should go shopping.”

Jessica laughed, “I am not sure if I want Tiffany deciding my prom-wear.”

Yuri leaned her head on the cold metal door, “come on it would be good to go. Just ignore all of Tiffany’s suggestions and listen to me.”

Jessica laughed, “Okay then. I will go.”

“Great! See you after school!”

Jessica smiled, “see you then.” Watching Yuri skip down the hall, Jessica knew Yuri wanted to find time for them to be together. Jessica felt bad for flat out rejecting Yuri but she was glad Yuri acted the same around her. Closing the locker door, Jessica smiled and found herself looking forward to the dress shopping. Something she didn’t get a chance to do when she was in high school.

----------------------

Tiffany tapped her foot irritated, “Seriously? What happened to the rest of the group?”

Yuri shrugged, “I don’t know. Sunny hates shopping, Sooyoung already has a dress and Yoona probably had to help save a cat from a tree.”

Everyone laughed at Yoona’s gentle nature although they were sure she was busy with school counsel activities, “Shameful. I will give them a good talk tomorrow.”

Calming Tiffany down, Taeyeon spoke up, “Which store did you want to shop at?”

The distraction tactic worked as Tiffany returned to her cheery self, “There is a gem down this way.”

The group moved towards the store and Yuri and Jessica trailed behind the others, “are you happy you came now?” Yuri nudged Jessica a bit pointing at Taeyeon’s back causing Jessica to blush.

“Of course.” Jessica hooked her arm around Yuri’s arm, “come on we are going to lose them. Tiffany walks fast when shopping.”

Yuri grinned widely at the skinship and it didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the group when they spotted Jessica and Yuri coming into the store, “You two have gotten close.”

Jessica gave Yuri a quick hug, “She is my partner in crime.”

Yuri giggled at the double meaning of it, “Yep we are like peanut butter and jelly.”

The other girls laughed except Taeyeon; She seemed to disappear into the clothing section right after they arrived. Jessica noticed Taeyeon’s strange behavior but the distraction of beautiful dresses made the rest of the group not notice Taeyeon’s vanishing act.

“Hey Jess, what about this one?” Jessica went over by Yuri who was obsessed with all the clothes on the one rack, “which one?”

Yuri held up a low-cut dress all smiles, “This one.”

Jessica swatted the dress down, “No way in hell. That is way too revealing for a high school dance.”

“Please! Just for us to see then.”

“No way am I feeding your ey fantasies,” Jessica laughed looking at a rack with better necklines.

“If not for me, how about Taeyeon?”

Jessica whipped around and hit Yuri on the shoulder, “Yah! Shut up. She doesn’t even swing that way.”

“One way to find out,” Yuri smiled and handed Jessica the dress, “Go quick. I saw Taeyeon enter the dressing room too.”

Hesitantly, Jessica took the dress and ran to the changing room next to Taeyeon. Undressing, Jessica slipped on the dress that clearly highlighted her cleavage, “I do fill out the dress nicely…” Jessica looked herself once over before exiting the dressing room and bumping into Taeyeon, “Sorry…”

Taeyeon looked up and her face went down to Jessica’s chest, “s-s-sure…”

Jessica giggled at Taeyeon’s fascination with the dress in one particular place, “D-do you like the dress?”

Taeyeon stumbled back getting a good once over of Jessica in that bombshell dress, “I-It is nice…”

Yuri rushed over with two thumbs up, “Yea! This is what I am talking about! You look great!”

Jessica laughed, “I am still not getting it.”

The other girls came over with all the commotion, “Wow! Jess! You look hot!”

Yuri looked at her own chest, “I wish I could fill that dress out like you.”

“I don’t think you can wear that to the dance with the dress code…” Seohyun said being the good girl of the group.

“Thank you Seohyun. I won’t be getting it. Yuri thought it would look nice on me.” Jessica answered but her eyes went back to Taeyeon who was hypnotized by Jessica in that dress.

“I think you should still buy that dress. For a hot date.” Tiffany suggested.

Jessica laughed, “yea right…anyway show is done here girls. I need to find a different dress.”

“Aww just one more turn.” Yuri yelled out waiting for her show.

Jessica turned around once and winked before changing back into her normal clothes. Finding herself in a great mood, Jessica giggled a couple times wondering if she should really buy this dress or not. It did captivate Taeyeon.

“So are you going to get it?”

Jessica laughed, “I don’t have the money for two dresses.”

Yuri bumped Jessica’s shoulder with her own, “Taeyeon liked it.”

Jessica’s face burned up, “Um yea she thought it was nice.”

“I saw her. She couldn’t keep her eyes off you in that dress.”

“Really?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. She isn’t as straight as you think. I say if you have a good rack show it off.”

Jessica slapped Yuri to go away, “Stop it! I am not buying it no matter who it attracts.”

“I get it! I was just saying there may be other ways to get Taeyeon’s attention. After dress shopping, we should get some clothes for after school activities.” Yuri winked before diving back into finding a dress.

Jessica rolled her eyes as she mindlessly went through the rack of clothes in front of her, “Other ways to get Taeyeon’s attention?” It just occurred to Jessica then that she could be playing this game with Taeyeon all wrong.