A/N: Sorry for the late update gang! A little bit of a shorter chapter, but I'm just using it to bridge the next couple of plot points. Hope you enjoy!

The next couple weeks of school are much easier. The football team eventually gives up hassling Jared and Paul, finally just letting them be. Jared has an actual routine for schoolwork and is getting all his assignments in on time. His test scores even go up.

It's pretty much all because of Kim, who comes over to study and hang out pretty much every other day. It's her way of making up for her newly lost weekends. She got a waitressing gig at the diner, and she works pretty much the whole weekend.

Two weeks before homecoming, Laura corners Jared at school, outside their shared drawing class.

"So?" she demands, hands on her hips. Jared looks around the hallway, desperate for either an escape or a clue.

"So what?" he finally asks. This class is after lunch, so they usually have a couple extra minutes before class actually starts.

"Homecoming, Jared," Laura says like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"What about it?" The game is always easy, usually against Forks or something, and they usually win.

"When are you going to ask Kim?"

"Why would I?" he asks, genuinely confused. They're already dating, so wouldn't it just make sense that he goes with Kim? Who else would he ask?

"Jared, just because you guys are dating doesn't mean you're off the hook," Laura says. "I'm telling you as a friend. Boyfriend still does the asking."

"Okay… so should I just ask her after school then?" He can hear students making their way in from lunch, and even Mrs. Branwell, their teacher.

"Romance is key, Jared," Laura points out. "Look, this dance is still happening before your first anniversary, so you're still in the honeymoon stage. You need romance and grand gestures."

"So, I don't have to ask Kim to prom?"

"Of course, you do!" Luckily, or maybe unluckily, Mrs. Branwell finally comes by to unlock the door.

"Hurry in!" she says, waving them inside. "We're going to be working in pairs today, for a portrait project." Laura grins at Jared and he smiles back, glad for the built in project partner. Mrs. Branwell assigns projects a lot, often citing her favorite catchphrase—

"And remember, class, art is a collaborative effort!"

They sit across from each other and Jared pulls out his charcoals, sketching out a rough frame.

"So, explain to me why I have to ask Kim to dances, even though we're together?" he asks, drawing rough guidelines for her features.

"It's simple," she says. "Dances are like, the one chance you have to be declarative about your emotions. It's special!"

"Okay, so I have to ask her to homecoming," Jared surmises with a wry smiles. He begins to fill in her features, focusing on her expressive eyes. "Romantically."

"Exactly," Laura says. Then, she smirks at him, her eyes wicked. "If you play your cards right, it might even help move things along, you know… in the bedroom department." Embarrassed, he accidentally snaps his charcoal in two.

"Exactly," Laura says, giving him a knowing smile. It's not like Jared's never thought of it, the, uh, bedroom department, but it's not like he can just bring it up. The other day's kiss still has him reeling a little bit.

"What about you?" Jared asks, a little desperate to change the topic. "Who are you going with?" Laura shrugs at that.

"No one's asked me yet," she says simply. "Worst comes to worse, I'll just third wheel with you guys."

"You should just go with Paul," he suggests. It makes a lot of sense, anyways.

"I guess I will, if he asks me," Laura agrees. "Speaking of, there's only a small window of opportunity to ask now. Get a move on with Kim."

"So, when am I supposed to ask her?" Jared asks, keeping his eyes down as he fishes out a new charcoal.

"Probably in the next few days," Laura says. "Kim and I are supposed to go dress shopping this weekend."

"So do I do it before or after?" Jared asks, focusing on putting the last few touches on Laura's face. He managed to capture the almost filthy smirk she was sporting. Proud, he turns the canvas over for her to see.

"Damn, you're good, Jare-bear," she says. Jared sneaks a peek at her canvas, where, to his mortification, she's drawing his shocked and embarrassed face. Mrs. Branwell comes around the classroom, surveying everyone's work.

"This is excellent work, Mr. Cameron," she says. "You really captured a lot of personality in the portrait."

"Trust me, Mrs. B, the real thing has personality has enough personality to spare," Jared teases.

He thinks about Laura's advice pretty much the rest of the day, especially in his shared classes with Kim. Homecoming fever had caught pretty much every girl except her. Maybe she just didn't care about things like that.

At the end of the day, Kim and Laura split off so they can go down to Forks Public Library. Both girls finally got their SAT scores back, and while Kim had exceeded her goal, Laura was just a few points short of hers. Kim had promised to help her study for a retake.

Jared drives Paul over to Sam's, where he's insisting they start up daily patrols again. One of the leeches got a little too close to the border last weekend and Sam's been bugging about it.

"You should ask Laura to Homecoming," Jared suggests as they pull out of the school parking lot. "Then all four of us can be a group."

"Fuck me, I forgot about homecoming," Paul groans, slumping back in his seat. "Why Laura?"

"Cause we hang out with her and I'm already going with Kim," Jared says, poking him hard. Paul scowls, swatting his hand away.

"You think say yes without being all clingy and shit?" Paul asks, running a hand through his hand. "She's cool and all, but I'm not after a girlfriend. I'm not letting what happened to Sam happen to me."

"Shit, Paul," Jared says, disapproving. "Don't fucking talk about that."

"I'm just saying," Paul grumbles. "Lucky Leah's away at school."

"Never mind," Jared says. "Just ask Laura, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I will," Paul says. "Come on, ready to go leech hunting?"

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!