you light up my world like nobody else {HOLLIE!}

[JACKSON HIRSCH]

Ozzie and Andie were going to be the death of him.

Seriously? He should have just logged off the chat as soon as they started with him. Why couldn't people understand that he and Hollie were just friends, and always would be? At least, out loud for Jackson. The only one who knew any different was November, and he already let out all his feelings with her and hot chocolate the night previous. Now he had forgotten all about his more-than-friends feelings for Grace Holladay, and was back in public-Jackson mode. Public-Jackson was cheeky and funny and always positive and got along with everyone, or at least tried to. Public-Jackson was stubbornly maintaining a platonic relationship with Grace Holladay.

Real-Jackson was heading for Grace's dorm despite Public-Jackson's protests.

They probably needed to talk about some things from the chat yesterday. It was all kind of awkward, if you knew what Andie and Ozzie were thinking the whole time. Unfortunatley he did, but amidst all the immaturity, he noticed that Grace was sick. So he cooked some soup for her. Yes, Jackson could cook, but not a lot of things, and Grace was so much better. But he needed to bring something, after all, to make them both feel better, yeah? And so Jackson dug out his mum's matzah ball soup recipe and spent the morning making the Jewish staple. Unfortunatley, his hands weren't wet enough, so they were kind of eh while sitting in the soup and his hands were messy. He got them mostly cleaned off, but they still felt gross as he carried the bowl to Hollie's room.

He hoped beyond hope that Andie wasn't there.

All hopes were crushed, though, as he heard frantic clicking and laughing that definitely wasn't Hollie's. Sighing, he carefully held the lidded bowl in one hand while knocking on the door with the other. He heard coughing, and Andie's "I'll get it!", and then the door opened. "Wow, you're late."

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"Just go to Ozzie's room,"[/color] he replied with an eyeroll. He didn't have time for this. Which, actually, he did, because he probably needed to reheat the matzah ball soup anwyays, but still.

She looked at him, then the bowl, then back at him, and her face broke out into a huge grin and she didn't say anything.

"Shut up." Rolling his eyes again, he pushed past her and into the room, not bothering to see if she left before he smiled. "Hollie!"[/color] he said, and closed the door behind him. "I made you some soup, but I have to heat it up." He went over to the microwave and put it in, and took it out when it was done.

"Here, Hollie." He handed the bowl to the most beautiful girl in the universe Grace Holladay and sat down on one of Andie's beanbag chairs, facing away from her abnormal amount of posters. "How do you feel from last night?" he asked. Might as well get last night out of the way to begin with. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify]

[GRACE HOLLADAY]

Everything was just so confusing for Grace lately!

Maybe it was because she was blonde, she reckoned. After all, everyone told those blonde jokes, which were actually pretty funny, and it was said that blondes weren't the smartest of the hair colors...

But Grace Holladay was smart. She could fluently speak English, French and Portuguese (and was learning Spanish!). If her grades were an indicator, you'd have to agree that Grace had some brains going on. So maybe it was naivety? Those things she had said in the online chat were just innocent little nothings, yet she could tell by Andie's very loud laughter that she had obviously said something not so innocent. Grace wished she wouldn't do that! It was oh so embarrassing, and she didn't even know what she did wrong! No one would tell her, either, so Grace had been left feeling quite shamed. Oh, and not to mention the fact that she was coming down with something. She couldn't yet tell if it was a cold or something worse, like the flu, but it had kept her in bed all night. Grace couldn't even sleep; she just sat in bed with her laptop and watched Disney movies on this nifty site Putlocker, something Andie had showed her (Andie taught Grace a lot about the internet). Bundled up with her fluffy union jack blanket, a gift from her parents, Grace stayed up all night long wishing she could just feel better already.

Oh, and wishing someone would come take all the cupcakes away before 1) she ate them all and/or 2) they went bad.

Now, Grace, still in bed, was starring resolutely at the ceiling. Andie was laughing away at something on the computer, and Grace was glad that her friend and roommate was happy, because that's what mattered to Grace. She wanted her friends to stay happy, no matter what. Even if she was stuck in bed finding shapes in the popcorn on the ceiling.

Then, it was like the clouds were parting and the sun was shining through and the angels were singing! Jackson was here!

Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but Grace was bored and sick.

"Jackson!" Grace called out, her voice just a little raspy from all the coughing. Shucks, he made her soup! What more could Grace look for in a friend? He was surely the best one out there. "Thank you so much!" Grace took in the wonderful smell of soup, already feeling her scratchy throat being soothed. A moment of panic overtook Grace, though, when she realized her state. Her hair, which usually had enough crazy curliness to it, was wild. Her nose was pink while the rest of her face looked drained of color. If I look at a mirror, Grace thought, it will probably break. But...what did it matter? Jackson was her best friend, right? It was completely platonic, so Grace shouldn't have to worry about what she looked like. Oh, she did though. As Jackson sat on a beanbag chair, Grace fought the urge to invite him to sit on her bed. In a completely platonic way, of course. Beanbag chairs got uncomfortable after a while. Duh.

Grace took a sip of soup while she thought over her answer to his question. Mmm, delish. Smiling appreciatively, Grace said, "I still feel pretty bad," with a cough. After a second, though, it dawned on her that he wasn't just talking about the state of her immune system. Ohhh. "Umm. Well, confused really. Andie kept laughing and then squealing and I didn't know what was going on." A puzzled look crossed her face as she ate more soup.

[/justify]