Janis Ian isn't stupid. She knows her place in the teen heirarchy. Much as she likes to tell herself that she and Damian are "the coolest people you will ever meet", she knows that in reality, and through the eyes of the rest of the school, they are merely the Art Freaks. Nobodies. No one cares about their lives, what's going on with them, their feelings, their names half the time. They are merely the almost non-entities whose antics are fun to laugh at in the cafeteria.

Regina George, however, now there's someone worth knowing. Ask anyone you come across in the halls and they can tell you, in detail, what she did last night, and what she had for lunch today, and any number of other useless tidbits about her. Regina, Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith are the Plastics, Teen Royalty that walk among them. Well, not really AMONG them. Janis has days when she doubts Karen and Gretchen even know she's still alive.

Not Regina, though. Janis knows for a fact that Regina is painfully aware of everything Janis does. When Janis sits in the cafeteria, putting slices of baloney on Damian's face and laughing like a maniac, she can almost feel Regina's eyes on her. When she cuts class she would lay money that Regina notices that she's gone. When she walks down the hallways she sometimes even manages to catch Regina's eye. Regina's face never falters. She gives no outward sign of acknowledgement to Janis, and Janis is okay with that. Janis isn't stupid. She knows how far Regina would go to keep the current status quo.

So Janis will never let on. She'll play along, act the part of the bitter and twisted gothic girl, complain to Damian about how much she hates Regina. She's a good actress. Not even Damian has caught on to the truth behind the quasi-relationship between Janis Ian and Regina George.

When Damian asks Janis over for movie nights or out to parties, Janis says yes. Except for the times she says no. Those are the times she finds herself twisted among Regina George's sheets, gasping and moaning as Regina does things to her she has no words for. Those are the times she ends up with her face between Regina George's thighs, panting for breath but heeding the cries of "Don't stop! God, please, don't stop!"

When it's over, and Janis is lying in Regina's arms and they are both catching their breath, Regina talks to her. She tells Janis how someday, things are going to change, and everyone will accept their relationship for what it is and who they are, and Janis won't have to be one of the outsiders anymore, because she'll be Teen Royalty by proxy, almost like if she'd married Prince Harry or something. They won't have to pretend to hate each other, they'll be able to kiss in the hallways and walk each other to class like a real couple.

But they're not a real couple, not really. And when Regina comes down from her post-orgasmic high, she stops talking about this pie in the sky future, and starts talking about how it's late, and Janis should probably go. Janis goes. She knows that sometime soon she'll be right back here. But she won't say no. She can't.

Janis loves Regina George. Regina George loves her status quo.