48. Ch 48- Girl Talk

(A/N: hey, everyone! Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story, which has now hit five hundred reviews! I can't believe there have been that many, it's incredible! I'm so grateful for all of this.

Also, quick heads up- this chapter should go up on the day I go back to uni, so if things slow down again, my apologies. Once I've finished Journey For Unity, which I currently estimate only has another eight chapters, I'll return to just writing one story at a time, so uploads should be at a better pace then.

In the meantime, thank you all for reading, and enjoy!)

Tuesday morning came, and Jen Rosato was feeling in good spirits. As she headed out of her room, now fully dressed after her morning shower, she headed downstairs with a spring in her step, heading into the kitchen with a smile on her face. As she sat down at the table, her mom turned around, a pan in her hand frying bacon and a spatula in the other. Another pan was on the stove behind her, cooking some fried eggs. "Morning, sweetie," she greeted.

"Hey, mom," Jen replied.

"You're up early."

"Meh, I slept well last night. Dad go off to work already?"

"Yes, he has. He got called in early for something. Do you know if Jordan is up yet?"

This brought a grin to the high schooler's face. "Yeah, she got in the shower after I was done, so I imagine she should be down in a minute or two."

Sarah raised an eyebrow, bemused by her daughter's tone as she said that. "Okay… well, this bacon is almost ready, so feel free to grab some juice and some toast."

"Thanks, mom." She got up from her seat to go up to the counter, grab some bread from the loaf and put it in the toaster. Pushing down the handle, she then walked over to the fridge and pulled out the carton of orange juice, closing the fridge before setting it down next to the toaster. She pulled a glass out of the cabinet and poured orange juice into it, then returned the carton to the fridge just in time to hear the toaster eject the toast, now perfectly cooked. She put the toast on a plate and placed it and her glass of juice next to her empty plate on the table, sitting down to butter it. Once both slices were buttered, her mother placed three slices of bacon and two fried eggs on the other plate. "Smells great, mom."

"Thanks, Jen. I'm gonna go let your sister know that breakfast is ready. Try not to kill each other, okay?"

"No promises." She gave the woman a chuckle, making her roll her eyes as she walked away. As Jen started assembling her egg and bacon into a sandwich with her toast, she heard her mother calling for her sister, who came down about a half minute later, tying her blue scarf around her neck. "Hey, sis."

"Hey, Jen," she greeted back, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a carton of milk. She took the lid off and gave it a sniff, deciding that it was okay as she put it down, then shut the fridge.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking the milk is okay. Don't want to put it in my cereal if it's gone bad."

"Yeah, that's true, I guess. So, is that why Lincoln got sick?"

The day before, when Jordan has gotten back home after visiting Lincoln, she had told them that he had gotten food poisoning, which was why she had to take him his homework. "Yeah, one of his sisters must have forgotten to throw it out or something."

"That sucks. Still, it's not too serious, right?"

"No, thankfully not." She pulled out a bowl from the cupboard above her and used it to pour in some of her favourite marshmallow cereal, pouring the milk on top before returning it to the fridge. She then grabbed a bottle of water and put it on the table with her bowl of cereal, before sitting down opposite her sister. "He said he should be better in the next couple of days."

"Well, that's good, then. At least your boyfriend won't be out of school for too long."

Jordan's cheeks turned red in embarrassment, shooting a glare to the cockily grinning older girl. "Jen, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend, got it?"

"If you say so." Jordan rolled her eyes as she began to eat her breakfast, with Jen now slicing her complete breakfast sandwich in half, picking up the first piece. "Isn't it getting a bit warm for you to be wearing that scarf?"

"Hmm?" Jordan looked down at the scarf around her neck, gulping down her spoonful of cereal before responding. "Not really. I mean, I know the weather's saying a heatwave's coming, but this is a pretty thin scarf. Besides, I like it."

"I can tell, you've worn it every day since you got it. Lincoln must mean a lot to you, huh?"

"It's not like that!"

"Your bright red cheeks suggest otherwise." Jordan simply started to pout as she ate some more of her cereal. "Come on, what's wrong? Lincoln not a good enough guy for you?"

"That's not what-" She coughed, choking slightly on her cereal before gulping it down and washing it down with her water. "That's not… what I'm saying. Seriously, why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Trying to suggest I like Lincoln when I don't."

Jen gave a chuckle, taking another bite of her breakfast sandwich before speaking again. "I'm not trying to give you a hard time or anything. I'm just going to point out that, ever since you two started hanging out more, you've seemed very upbeat. More so than usual, at least."

"I have?" When her older sister nodded, she simply gave a "huh" as she ate some more cereal.

"I'm not saying you've been skipping about, shouting rainbows and kittens or anything cringeworthy. Just that you've definitely seemed a bit happier. Especially yesterday, once you'd got back from visiting the boy."

"Oh… I hadn't noticed. Sure, me and Lincoln have been hanging out more than before, though that's mostly because of gymnastics practice. And, yeah, I guess we've gotten closer since then, but we're just friends. I'm not looking for a boyfriend or anything like that, and I don't want things to get awkward between us."

Jen nodded silently for a few seconds, finishing the first half of her sandwich, making Jordan wonder what she was going to say next. When she finished her bite and drank some more orange juice, she gave a modest smile to her sister. "I get what you're saying. And, seriously, I'm not trying to ruin your day or anything. Just curious, you know? You're my little sister, I wanna know when you've found a guy you like."

Jordan couldn't help but give a small smile at this. "Well… thanks, Jen. Just… try not to tease me so much."

"Can't always promise that." The two sisters laughed, the serious aura in the room fading away before Jen looked her sister in the eye. "Ah, come here." She pushed her plate and glass over to Jordan's side of the table, then got up and walked around to sit next to her sister, pulling the smaller girl into a hug that she returned quite happily. "Just do me a favour- if that changes, the second something happens with you two, I'd better be the first one to know."

With a roll of her eyes, Jordan told her, "whatever you say, sis."

After the two girls had finished their breakfast, they decided to walk together to school, talking on the way about things like the compliments Jen had received about the fashion show, gymnastics practice and how much more boring middle school will be once Jordan passes sixth grade. Eventually, they reached the elementary school, which was already filling in with students. After waving goodbye to her sister as she headed off to high school, Jordan entered the front doors and immediately joined the ever filling crowd of students to find her locker. She put the books that she wouldn't need for the morning classes and her gymnastics clothes into the locker and took out the ones she would need, putting them into her bag before closing her locker. As she turned to go towards Mrs Johnson's classroom, she saw Clyde and Lincoln's other friends heading towards them.

"Hey, guys," she greeted.

"Howdy, Jordan," Liam greeted back.

"What's up?"

"We wanted to ask you how Lincoln was doing," Stella told the girl. "Apparently, when Clyde tried to call him this morning, Lincoln was asleep or something."

"Yeah. I texted Lincoln this morning to ask him how he was doing, but he only texted me back about a minute ago, so I'm guessing he slept in."

"That makes sense," Clyde reasoned. "Whenever I come down with something, my dads say I should try and sleep it off. So… how was he?"

"Well, he wasn't doing too bad when I saw him, but from what he told me, not great. Apparently, he got food poisoning." The others all winced, mildly disgusted by the image of Lincoln throwing up. "Yeah, I was the same."

"Well, that sucks," Zach sighed, him and the others all giving a frown.

"Fortunately, the doctor told him it wasn't too bad, so he should be better in a day or two."

"Well, that's a relief," Clyde said, giving a small smile. "I was worried it was going to be something serious."

"You're always worrying," Rusty pointed out.

"Never hurts to be cautious."

Stella gave a small smirk as she shook her head at them, before turning to Jordan again. "Well, thanks for letting us know he's doing. Me and Clyde are going to go see him after school. You want to come with us?"

"Thanks, but I have practice later. I might go and see him after practice, but I'll definitely give him a text to see how he's feeling."

"Alright, sure. Well, see you later."

"Okay." So, they headed toward the classroom, with Jordan heading in after them. She took her seat next to Mollie, and while Joy wasn't currently in her seat behind her, Kat was sat behind Mollie and talking with her. "Hey, girls."

They turned to face Jordan, the brunette giving her a grin. "Hey, Jordan," she said to her bestie. "So, how was visiting the sick patient?"

"It was okay. Turns out he had food poisoning, but he should be okay in a day or two."

"See? Told you he wasn't trying to avoid seeing you."

"Yeah, you're right. We talked about it, and everything's cool."

"I bet he's feeling better after a visit from nurse Jordan, though," Kat teased, her grin matching Mollie's. "Though, I'm guessing this wasn't something you could kiss to make it better."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Jordan grumbled, easily getting where they were going with this. "Seriously, what is it with you guys and suggesting there's something between me and Lincoln, huh? First Jen, and now you girls. Seriously, I don't need this."

"Aw, come on, we're just messing around," Mollie insisted. "Besides, you and Lincoln might be good together."

"Yeah, well, neither of us are looking for anything like that."

"Did he tell you that?"

"No, but I'm pretty certain. We're friends, alright? Nothing more, nothing less, so stop trying to say that I like Lincoln."

"About time you admitted it!" they suddenly heard Joy say, just as she walked in to take her seat behind the scarfed girl. "What, did something happen between you two when you went to visit him?"

"Did you hear any of the conversation we had just now?!" Jordan asked in an exasperated voice.

"Eh, just the last bit." And just like that, Jordan's forehead met her desk, an irritated groan being let out. "What, did I miss something?"

"Pretty much," Kat told her friend. "She's just spent the last two minutes insisting that she and Loud are just friends."

"I really don't need this today."

Fortunately for her, she got a moment of reprieve when Mrs Johnson entered their classroom. "Okay, everyone, settle down!" She declared, silencing all chatter in the room. "We've got a few things to address before the first class begins, so let's get through it quickly. McBride, since Loud is still sick at home, I trust that you can take him is homework again?"

"Uh, y-yes, Mrs Johnson," he replied, not wanting to let her know that he hadn't been the one to take Lincoln his homework. When he looked over at the person who had, she mouthed back "I owe you one", to which he simply nodded.

"Alright, in that case, let's do the register. Andrew?"

So, after the register and all other morning announcements were handled, the day went on as usual for the fifth grader. The first class was English, and while she was by no means excelling in this class, she thought that the book that they were reading- the story of a young girl who has to emigrate to America from Vietnam and settle in a new country, told through a series of free verse poems- was quite interesting, and she ended up reading a chapter ahead of the others. She didn't mind, though, as it simply meant less homework for her. The next class, however, was science, a subject she wasn't as fond of. She especially didn't do that well at chemistry, and her lab partner was Kat, who had developed a bit of a hatred for the subject after the girl guru incident. Combine that together, and it was no wonder when a puff of smoke came up from their beaker, covering their faces in some kind of dirt.

After getting checked by the nurse to make sure there weren't any adverse effects and cleaning the dirt off their faces, they rejoined their class for recess, and neither were too pleased to find that a photo of their scientific mishap had been taken and published on InstaSnap, but they knew it would blow over eventually. In the meantime, they sat together at a bench in the playground and chatted about other things. Of course, this included a bit more teasing at Jordan for her 'friendship' with Lincoln, irritating her again but she let it slide. They returned to the classroom for library studies after recess, which meant they would work by themselves on an independent project, so Jordan was able to sit down at a computer by herself and focus, calming down after recess.

Eventually, lunchtime came, so the students all eagerly made their way to the lunchroom. Jordan and her friends all queued up, slowly making their way toward the canteen to get their meals.

"I hope they don't have those fish tacos, again," Sadie spoke, giving a slight shudder. "Last time, I almost gagged at the sight of them."

"Yeah, I'm pretty certain people have gotten sick from eating them," Joy recalled. "You'd think they'd be taken off the menu the first time that happened."

"From what I heard, when Principal Huggins tried to speak to the cooks about it, they threatened to use his skin to make pastry," Kat told her friends with a wince, one they all shared at the idea.

"Still, can't be worse than the fish tacos," Mollie argued, to which they shared a bit of a chuckle.

Fortunately for the girls, when they reached the canteen, they saw that there were still some burgers up for grab- smaller and not as greasy as the kind you'd find at a Burpin' Burger, but definitely the best option in their minds. Jordan was at the front, so she grabbed one of the burgers and put it on her tray, grabbing some veg to go on the side and a sauce packet to go with her burger, as well as a bottle of water and a knife and fork. Once she had paid for it, she waited for her friends to grab theirs, before they found their usual table.

"I kind of wish they'd let us eat outside," Jordan mused as she picked up her knife and fork. "It's pretty nice out today."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Joy said in agreement. "It's gonna get hotter, but for today, it would've been nice for a barbecue or something."

"Just imagine, once it starts getting hotter, Jordan might have to leave her scarf at home," Kat joked, to which the girls other than the one in question all tittered.

"And why's that so funny?" Jordan asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you know why."

And yes, she did know why, but hearing them say it still made her growl. "Seriously? This again? You've been doing this all day, and I keep telling you, we're just friends! I had enough of it from my sister this morning, I don't need it from you guys too!"

"Woah, Jordan, calm down!" Mollie insisted, eyes slightly widened by the outburst. "We're just joking!"

"Yeah, well, I asked you to stop, because it's not funny! You're just being annoying now."

"I mean… don't you think that's a bit much?" Jordan looked at her best friend in slight disbelief, before scoffing and standing from her seat, picking up her tray. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you guys," was all she said as she walked away, leaving them all a bit stunned.

"Did we… go too far?" Sadie asked the others, a frown forming on her face.

"Just… let her cool off," Mollie replied, though she didn't sound completely confident. "She'll come round, things will blow over before practice later."

Not hearing any of this, Jordan made her away through the dining hall, approaching the table where Lincoln's friends were sat, unpacking their packed lunches. "Hey, guys," she greeted, getting their attention. "Would it be okay if I sat here?"

"Sure thing, Jordan," Liam responded, the others all nodding.

"Thanks."

She sat down opposite Stella, who noticed the somewhat somber look on the girl's face. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just… my friends are kinda being jerks today."

"Really? How come?" Clyde asked, before getting an elbow to the ribs from Stella.

"Clyde!" His face fell when he realised what she was trying to say, before she gave Jordan a small smile. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want."

Jordan returned the smile in kind, telling the Filipino girl, "thanks."

"Aww, man!" They heard Rusty complain, pulling out a purple juice box. "I thought I told my dad, I hate grape juice!"

"Really? I love it! You wanna trade?"

"Sure!" He handed the juice box to Jordan, who swapped it with her bottle of water. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Anyone wanna trade for my tuna sandwich?"

"Zach, no one's ever gonna trade for that," Clyde told the boy, which had the rest of the table chuckling, including Jordan.