"How about we go and get some ice cream at 'Frozen Flavours?' Jane's mum suggested as they walked down the corridors of the busy shopping mall. The mall was crowded with teenagers that had just finished school. Most of them were walking in groups, talking loudly.

"Hey, look what I can do," a young teenage boy said, as he tried to do a trick on the escalators, he wobbled, lost his balance slightly and crashed into the person in front of him.

"Yeah, you're right. That was really cool Mike," a girl standing on steps behind him said. She rolled her eyes as she said this and a group of teenagers behind her laughed. The boy's face turned bright red. "We'll I'd like to see you do any better," he responded.

"Teenage boys can be some immature," Linda said. "I'm glade Scott's not like that. We need more boys like him around."

"Me too," Jane thought.

Frozen flavours was packed when Jane and her mum entered. Tables were crowded with teenagers and young children. Frozen Flavours was an ice cream parlour known for having unusually ice cream names and flavour and was always packed after school. Jane was glade to be taking a break from shopping and have some ice cream. They had spent a whole hours looking for shoes and still hadn't found the perfect pair. Jane had come here with Scott when they were both children. Her mum Linda and Scott's mum Trish would take them to Frozen flavours occasionally at weekends and school holidays. Scott's favourite flavour of ice cream was blueberry ice and Jane's was rainbow sherbet. She loved how beautiful the ice cream looked. When she was little she use to call in the rainbow ice cream as it had all the colours of the rainbow in it.

When they entered the shop Scott was sitting at a table in the corner of the room with Taz, but Jane didn't seem to notice as she and her mum walked over to counter. "I'll have a rainbow ice cream please," Jane said to the lady over the counter. She still wasn't sure what it was actually called. "What are you having Mum?" Linda's eyes were scanning the menu in front of her on the wall. "I think I'll have a Raspberry Kiss, or shall I have an Orange Sunshine? I'll go for an Orange Sunshine. Why not? It is summer after all,"

"Yes, it is," Jane thought glumly, but she didn't dare say it out loud. She remembered her mum telling her to be strong and she didn't want to disappoint her but it was so hard when Jane could feel her summer with Scott slipping away. What if he never forgave her? What if he decided that he wanted to spend the rest of the summer with Taz, instead of her? Even if she tried to get along with her she was almost certain that Taz would never grow to like her. It was always going to be hard, and what if Scott didn't even want her to hang out with them. What if Taz... Jane couldn't even bear the though. What if Taz became his new best friend?

Suddenly Jane heard the sound of a guy laughing. "I swear I've heard that..." Jane tuned around and gasped. Scott was sitting on a table in the corner of the room, but he wasn't alone. Taz's long red hair hung loosely down her back in lose curls. She looked beautiful. Jane had tried to curl her hair once, but it had just made her look like a poodle. Scott sat there with a blueberry ice but it had barely been touched and melting slowly in its pot. Jaz's ice cream was green and looking at it looked like the flavour of it was probably mint of green tea. Taz's had hardly been touched as well. Both her and Scott were laughing, talking for a few seconds then bursting into laughter again. Their laughter was loud and could be heard other every else's. Jane wondered what they were talking about. She had to find out.

"Come on Mum, I know the perfect place for us to sit," Jane said, leading her over towards Scott and Taz, hoping her mum wouldn't notice them.

"So I was thinking," Taz began. "That tomorrow after you've finished school we could go to our tree house. Grab a few beers on our way. Or we could try and get into the towns pub, the tree house is okay but it's kind of a bit childish don't you think?"

"Childish!" The word screamed out in Jane's mind as she sat down with her mum on a nearby table. And it wasn't there treehouse. Hers and Scott's.

Scott hesitated. "I guess it is a bit. Look, why don't we wait? I'll be eighteen in a few days' time, it will be legal then. "

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that," Jane heard Taz say.

"I guess it might be fun," Scott said. "If we actually got served though I'd be amazed."

"Remember when I got us the beer the other day in that shop? Trust me. It will work. I really like you Scott, you're cool to hang around with. And I know we've only know each other for a couple of days but..."

"Aren't you going to eat that?" Linda asked, looking down at Jane's untouched ice cream. "Rainbow Sherbet, or 'the rainbow ice cream,' as you use to call it was always your favourite.

Jane smiled a fake smile at her mum, scooped up a spoonful of ice cream, if only her mum knew that her heart was breaking, shattering into a thousand pieces right now.

"I like hanging around with you as well," Scott replied. "It's just such a shame we only have the summer left together."

Scott liked Taz, and not just as a friend, she was sure of it. Not wanting to wait around to hear the rest of the conversation to clarify what Jane knew was the truth.

"Mum," Jane said in a quiet whisper, her voice was wobbly.

"Jane, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Her Mum asked concerned.

"I... I'm fine. I'm just... I'm not hungry. Can we go?"

"Erm... okay," her mum replied, looking down at her still nearly full ice cream pot.

It was now seven o'clock and Jane was sitting on the window seat in her room. Tears rolled down her face and onto her diary, smudging the ink. She had told her Mum that she didn't feel well and skipped dinner, telling her mum she was going to lay down, hoping that her Mum would think that was the reason she wanted to leave so soon in the ice cream parlour. The radio was on and it was now playing a song by Keith Urban. His new single 'Come Back to Me.' Keith Urban was Scott's favourite singer. More tears filled her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. Hot salty tears. Suddenly she lost it. She lifted her arm back and threw her diary across the room. It hit the floor with a thud. Jane's was shacking as she picked up a nearby photo of her and Scott. Her eyes were blurred with tears so she could hardly make it out where the photo had been taken but Jane reckoned it had been taken the day they had finished build their treehouse. Wiping tears away from her eyes Jane noticed that there was sign above the tree house. The sign was wooden and nailed to the top of the treehouse with nails. On the wood were words carved into it that read 'Scott and Jane's Treehouse.' The sign wasn't like that anymore though. It was now hanging by a thread and it was chipped in so many places. "Come to think of it the tree house does really need a bit of fixing," Jane thought. "It has done for quite some time now. But what's the point when Scott's leaving in three months' time?"

What was the point? Would Jane still want to visit the treehouse when Scott was gone? Or would it just be too painful? Filled with too many memories? When they were younger they had promise one another that it would always be there treehouse, till the day they died. But Scott had invited Taz up to their treehouse. They swore they would never let anyone else in. It was true that they were only kids then, and when you're young you make promises, promises that mean something at the time, but then you grow up, and those promises made end up just becoming words said.

Jane swallowed hard. "You're being stupid!" A voice inside her head told her. "Stop acting like a child. It's only a tree house. So what if Scott wants to let someone else into it?"

"But it's not just anyone," Jane thought. "It's Taz."

Jane didn't feel like going into school the next day so she told her mum she still wasn't feeling well. She just couldn't bear the thought of bumping into Scott. What was the point anyway, they would only be watching movies on DVD whilst being allowed to talk to their friends. You could watch movies so why did they make you go into school to sit and watch them? Yesterday Jane had watched a total of three movies at school, Maleficent, Dolphin Tale 2 and one of the Twilight movies. She couldn't remember which one.

"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?" Jane's mum had asked her earlier on this morning, standing over her in her smart work clothes as Jane lying in her bed. Jane's Mum was a teacher, but she wasn't a teacher at Springbridge High. No, she was a teacher at a primary school in the town of Sunfield where she and her Mum had gone shopping yesterday. She had tried to get a job as a Primary School teacher at Springbride Primary School but there hadn't been any job going. Still, Sunfield wasn't far away. Only about a ten to fifteen minute drive in the car.

"I'll be fine Mum," Jane had reassured her. "I think I'm just going to go to sleep now, get a bit of rest."

"That's a good idea, you need to be well for Scott's party on Friday. Oh my god, I can't believe it's only three days away. In three days' time Scott will be eighteen. He's grow up so fast. You both have. In a couple of months you'll be seventeen. Oh my, I better go before I start getting too emotional. I'll see you this evening. I have to stay at the school for a few hours to finished writing my assessments on the children but I'll try and be home as soon as I can." She bent down and kissed Jane of her forehead.

Even though Jane had watched three movies yesterday she didn't care. Grabbing a bag of popcorn she shoved it in the microwave, looking through a box on DVD's she had got from her wardrobe, trying to decide which one to watch. Picking one she put it in her DVD player and went downstairs to collect her popcorn.

Just as she was about to enter the kitchen to collect her popcorn she heard a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" Jane wondered as she walked to the front door and opened it.

"Scott!" Jane blinked, she couldn't believe it. Scott was standing right in front of her, on her doorstep.

"What... what are you doing here?"

"I heard you weren't feeling well," Scott responded.

"But... I mean, how did to find out? Aren't you suppose to be at school?"

"I had to check on you first, see how you were feeling. My mum was leaving to go to work the same time your mum was, I was in the kitchen finishing my breakfast and I heard everything she said. Yeah, my mum's not one for talking quietly. So how are you feeling? Any better? I suppose not. Not in the space of ten minutes anyway."

"I have a confession to make," Jane said, her voice was quite.

"What is it?" Scott asked.

"I'm not actually sick. I just didn't feel like going into school today so I told my mum I wasn't feeling well and she believed me. I guessed she would have though, since I'm not usually the kind of person who lies."

Scott mocked a gasp. "Jane Webley you are such a rebel."

"Yeah well, you like rebels so I guess that's a good thing."

"What?"

"Well, Taz is a bit of a rebel, isn't she? I mean what with buying the illegal beer, driving her mum's sports car without a licence and she probably doesn't follow rules."

"So what if she likes to take risks? What's wrong with that? Scott asked her. "We've taken risks before. Loads of risks. We've snuck out the house late at night to have picnics by the lake, we've built a tree house in the woods not even knowing if it was legal to do so and claimed it our own. We ditched school one day because it was such a lovely day and spent the day by the lake."

"Yes, well I still feel guilty about that day," Jane cut in.

Scott laughed. "Yes, it did take me a while to persuade you to do it but YOU DID IT Jane. YOU DID IT!"

"It's just that the risks she takes are... and her attitude." Jane tried to find the right words.

"I know what you mean," Scott said. "But when I'm alone with her I see a different side of her. A different side that you might not have seen. She's not as mean as you might think she is..."

"You like her, I get it Scott, that's why you're saying these things." Jane'

"Well yes, of course I like her, she's my friend," Scott replied confused.

Jane gave a laugh. It was high pitched and piercing. "You won't even admit it, will you?" Her voice was raised.

"Admit what? Jane I swear I have no idea what you're talking about," Scott cried.

"I think you should leave," Jane told him, and before he even had a chance to try and respond she slammed the door in his face.

Jane started to cry. She slid down the door and fell to her knees on the floor. She didn't want to get up, what was the point. So there she lay, crying her eyes out. Why wouldn't Scott admit it? They were best friend. Best friend tell each other everything. Well, at least they us to be and they use to anyway.

Jane ran up the stairs and into her bedroom, slamming the bedroom door shut behind she her ran over to her keyboard. How could Scott defend Taz like that? She only had one side to her, Jane knew it. Jane had found in the past that whenever she was upset that playing always made her feel better. Jane sat down on the chair in from of the keyboard and began to play a song, she played it with emotion and sang the words as if she meant every word that she was singing.

The next day Jane was walking home from school, she knew she wouldn't be able to get away with pretending to be sick again. She was walking along the pavement when a bright red sports car pulled on the side of the road next to her. Jane heard the sound of a window being rolled down.

"Hey, Jane!" It was Taz, Jane recognised the sound of her voice. She didn't want to speak to her, forget what her mum said about trying to get along with her for the sake of Scott. She just didn't want to know her.

"Have you heard the news?" She called, her head sticking out of the car window, a lady with long brown hair was sitting next to her. Jane guessed it was probably her mum.

Jane carried on ignoring her, picking her pace. The car rolled forward slowly.

"Scott and I are singing together at his party in the karaoke contest."

"Just keep walking," Jane told herself. "Just keep walking."

"He doesn't want to sing with you anymore Jane." Jane turned to look at her, a smug smile was plastered across her face. "He want to sing with me." And with that, the car drove off, skidding as it did so, quickly picking up speed.

Jane could hear her heart hammering hard against her chest. "He doesn't want to sing with you anymore," a voice inside her head echoed. "And it's all you fault. You were so jealous that your best friend had made friends with someone else. Just because the two of you have been friend together for years. Never hanging out with anyone else. Always with each other." Jane tried to ignore the voice inside her head but it just wouldn't be quiet.

"She likes him, as more than just a friend, that's obvious. And maybe he does like her back as more than just a friend as well but even if you don't like her. Surely he should be able to like and have feelings for whoever he wants to."

Jane knew the voice inside her head was right. She didn't want it to be, but it was. Scott should be able to be friends with who he wants to be and have feelings for whoever he wants to. What did she expect him to do, ask her every time he met someone knew if it was okay for him to hang around with the. I guess, she just hoped that if he was going to have feeling for someone. If he was going to fall for anyone, that it would be her. They had been friends for years. They knew each other's deepest secrets that they wouldn't tell anyone else. Not even their parents. They mad each other laugh, they had so much fun together. She felt something when she was with him, a strong connect. And that connection felt like it was destiny, fate for them to be together. Jane wondered if he felt that way around Taz. Surely he couldn't? They'd only known each other for a few days. Jane sighed, she knew what she had to do. She had to apologise with Scott. She couldn't sing with her, she just couldn't. She was his best friend, and it was his eighteenth birthday party.