"Hey, this is Jess. You know what to do."

*BEEP*

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Jess had made his decision days ago - he had to, to tell the school - but it wasn't until this morning that he'd gotten around to making the necessary calls. It had been early enough in California that he'd gotten the answering machine when he called his dad, and Jess was more than a little grateful for that. As much as he appreciated Jimmy's offer to hold up his end of their deal - something that still honestly shocked the crap out of him - Jess had thought long and hard about what it would be like to live in California, and realized he couldn't do it. If the past year had only taught him one thing, it was that he was good on his own, better than he was being supervised or monitored. It was scary to think that he dealt with the world best when he had no support system, but then, it wasn't like he'd ever had much of one to begin with, not with a fruit loop for a mother.

Not all of that went into Jimmy's message, though it might have run loudly through Jess' head. As far as the message was concerned, he stuck to the basics - it was weird, and it was the total opposite of what he'd wanted when he first got to town, but he was staying in Fandom for the summer, and after that...well, he didn't know yet, but he still had time to figure it out. When he was done, he called and left a message for his mom as well, to wish her a happy Mother's Day. He wouldn't have been surprised if she didn't remember what day it was until she got the message, but it was the thought that counted.

Honestly, Jess was starting to think that having parents was more trouble than they were worth. The calls were over though, so he wasn't going to spend the whole evening brooding in his room. Probably.

[Door and post are open!]

Even though Jess still felt a little weirded out when he thought about last weekend, he didn't want Joan to think that she made him feel weird with the whole God thing - he was pretty sure she'd had enough of that in her life already. Hanging out seemed like a good way to make sure she knew he was cool with things, so Jess had gotten pizza and was waiting in his room. All he needed now was Joan.

[For Joan, please!]

Jess had a perfectly fine evening not going to prom, especially considering the disaster it had been to try to get to his prom last year. Sure, he'd missed the catfight, but he was pretty sure he could get the details from someone who'd been there once he finished his coffee.

[For a surprise visitor!]

Jess wasn't usually quick at waking up, but he felt even more groggy than usual this morning as he got caught up in memories of the vivid dream he'd had about some vapid blonde named...Jessica? The more things fell into place, the more he realized it hadn't been a dream, and it wasn't long before Jess's head was under the pillow as he buried himself away from everything and everyone. Maybe Buffy wouldn't be mad at him for being a bitch to her, and maybe Anakin hadn't realized who he was talking to. But right now, Jess wasn't counting on being that lucky.

[Establishy unless the roomie wants to laugh at him. :D]

When Jessica woke up and found herself in an unfamiliar room, she didn't let herself get worried right away. After all, she wasn't bleeding, she didn't have amnesia, she didn't feel like she'd been in any kind of car accident, there was no sign she'd been kidnapped, and she was still dressed fabulously. A quick glance around the room showed no sign of Elizabeth, but she was sure that her twin would come and find her eventually. When she did, Jessica was sure she'd take great pleasure in being a pest and waking her back up.

[Establishy, except for the roommate if she wants. Jess is Jessica Wakefield from Sweet Valley High, because I am a horrible person.]

The thing about being the loner type was that Jess didn't do a whole lot of talking unless he had to. So, while he was fully aware that something had been wrong with Ms. Aldrin in class today, the idea that the problem could spread hadn't even occurred to him, and he was perfectly content to stay sprawled out on his bed with a book, and not locked away in hiding somewhere. Surely, that wouldn't be problematic at all.

Jess had no desire to go outside and possibly get pelted with snow, so he was staying inside today, where it was warm and dry and well-lit. Child Development class had gotten him thinking way too hard about himself and his mother, and he was trying to drown that all out with some heavy reading.

[Door is closed, post is open!]

Jess was kind of glad that he had the room to himself today, so Buffy didn't have to witness the way he was glaring at his phone. The day had started with a weird message from some guy he didn't know, and he'd just barely gotten back to him when he found himself with another message, from Anakin of all people. Getting to yell at him felt good, but not as good as the voicemail from Angela was, and he hoped that what he said to her was clear enough to balance out the crap from the start of the day.

That hope didn't last long after he listened to the message from Peter, and if he was a little more annoyed in his response than necessary, it couldn't be helped. By the time he got to his second anonymous message, he was ready to throw the phone against the wall, but not before he called back and stuck his phone underneath a pile of his clothes. Sitting down and reading was the only thing that could calm him down now.

[Mostly establishy, but open if anyone wants.]

Jess didn't think he'd ever been as happy to see his bed as he was when he came back to his room after Ethics class. Jar Jar was gone, hopefully far, far away, and all Jess wanted to do was enjoy some quiet, catch up on the sleep he hadn't gotten for the past miserable week, and dream of fun ways to kill Anakin.

[Open!]

After making Jess promise to call her, and threatening warning Luke that she'd visit him soon, Liz packed her things and left, leaving Jess alone with Luke. He sat on the edge of the bed, and watched Luke re-pack the few things he'd taken out of his bag. "So, that was fun," he deadpanned. "Have you got everything?"

Jess was not the kind of person who signed up for matchmaking. And he was pretty sure he hadn't hit his head and gone temporarily crazy and signed up for matchmaking. So he couldn't figure out why he'd received a note about being matched up for Homecoming, but it looked correct enough for him to chalk it up to the fact that this place was his own personal hell.

He didn't know who Francine was, but he hoped that she hadn't been expecting this either. That would make deciding whether or not to take the whole thing seriously a lot easier.

[Open!]

Jess didn't have much of anything to do after Ethics class, so he headed back to his room to relax and continue pretending that nothing had happened over the weekend. Honestly, the pretending was keeping him sane.

[Open!]

Jess had figured out that being in his room on Mondays wasn't safe if he wanted to be alone while reading, and after his most recent encounter with the lake, the town wasn't looking like that great of an option either. After some exploring, Jess managed to find a quiet spot along the beach where he was seemingly out of sight, and got settled.

[For one.]

It wasn't a strange thing for Jess to be reading. What was strange was the fact that he was reading for class. His Literature class seemed like it might actually be kind of cool, aside from the students who thought porn and television were more thought-provoking, so he was sitting back and re-reading some of his favorite novels, in case they had a chance to come up.

[Door is closed, post is open.]

After the last two days, Jess was debating whether his first course of action should be to call Sasha and Jimmy and chew them out until his throat hurt, or to write a letter to Rory apologizing to her and warning her about guys named Anakin. Neither option seemed particularly pleasant, so for now, he was sitting on his bed, reading and wondering whether or not he wanted to finish unpacking the rest of his clothes.

[Open.]

I would have done this yesterday, but "Jess" and "bandwagon" just do not go together.

( A little bit about Jess Mariano )