23The doorbell rang, interrupting her time to listen to Rock. Her parents didn't approve of her listening to anything other than classical and soft rock, so she had to buy heavy metal and rap CDs with her own money, and hide them in her closet from her parents.
Raelin glanced at the clock. It was exactly eight o'clock. Damn, he was good. She had expected him to be late like a lot of other guys he knew, but Jack had impeccable timing.
She bolted down the hall towards the front door, greeting Jack with a quick smile. " I didn't expect you to be so punctual."
" Well, I know how annoying having to wait for someone is." Jack laughed. " Thanks so much for saying you'll help me study. When Larry said he was sick, I totally freaked out, but he said you might help me out, and so, well thanks for doing this."
" No worries. I understand. Sometimes people need a little extra help. So what concepts do you need help with?" Raelin asked.
" Well I was having a hard time with algebraic conversions and-"
Screaming from the other room cut Jack off, and the both of them fell silent to listen.
" I can't believe you went out and spent 400 dollars on stupid shoes! Do you want us to be broke? Is that your goal in life? You're just so stupid! I can't believe you would do this!" Her dad yelled at the top of his lungs. Jack say Raelin's blank face.
" Oh shut up!" Raelin's mother screamed back. " You're not any better, taking your clients out to pricey restaurants, your "executive" seminars in exotic locales. You spend hundreds of dollars a week. You're unbelievable, you're just so selfish! I-I don't even know why I married you!"
Raelin then flinched, opening the front door and beckoning for Jack to follow her. He tagged after hesitantly, shooting another glance over his shoulder towards the loud voices. He shut the door behind him, the shouting of Raelin's parents growing significantly quieter.
" Sorry about that, you should just tune them out. They never stop. So uh- -yeah, what did you say you needed help with?"
Jack shifted slightly, sticking his hands in his pockets. " Um, algebraic conversions, and um, scientific notation."
" Oh, okay. That's not too bad." She smiled slightly before another round of insults were traded. There was a short pause of silence between Raelin and Jack.
" Why don't we go over to the diner to finish up studying? It's probably quieter there."
" All right, that sounds good. I can even explain in the car." Raelin nodded following Jack to where he had parked his car.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
" Halloa! It's Miss Skiffins!" Raelin joked when she caught sight of Marian studying in a corner booth. Marian glanced up, laughing when she heard that. Raelin was in her English class too, and they often joked about the comical scene towards the end of Great Expectations. That and they often bashed the main character Pip, and competed to see who hated him more.
" Hey, wanna join?" She offered, moving some of the library books off the tables. The two sat down gratefully, surveying the almost empty diner.
" Hey-uh guys-uh, can I take your order?" Fox came up to their table in an apron, trying his best to act nonchalant and aloof, but not quite able to pull it off.
Jack looked puzzled. " Yeah, um a vanilla shake and-" he turned to Raelin. " What do you want?"
" I'll have a strawberry shake. Thanks." She looked confused upon seeing the boy she had a crush on working in the diner. Fox turned to go, but Jack grabbed his arm.
" Dude, why are you working here this late?"
Fox sighed. " Well-I'm off in five minutes, then we can talk." He dreaded anyone finding out his state, and each step away from the table felt heavy and like his feet were made out of lead.
" Here's your order." He stated when he returned, putting the tray down, and pulling up a chair for himself.
" So uh, why are you working here? I mean, why do have a job with such serious hours?" Raelin asked softly, earning a look from Fox.
" This is something no one knows, so you can't tell anyone." He glanced around them all. " I'm serious, if any of you do, you'll be in major trouble by me."
" We're cool. So talk." Jack said supportively.
" Well, Raelin first off I want to say sorry about the other day when you came up to me. I wasn't exactly a great person to you, but it was kinda because of this. I mean, not that I'm working here, but the reason why I'm working here and the bill you found have to do with each other. I'm not like you all. I don't have money. I mean, I'm serious, you can't tell anyone any of this." Fox said, a haunting look in his eyes.
" We won't." Marian stated firmly.
" Positively. Fox, you can trust us."
" Alright, well, like I said, I don't have much money, and it's me, my mom, and my little brother and sister. When I was ten my dad left us for some chick and he took any money we had. Now I have to work to make any income possible. I mean, my mom has a job, two in fact, but it's nothing to support three kids with. I work here as much as possible, and try to support us on it, but it's still nothing compared to what we should have."
Jack's face was blank. " Dude, why didn't you tell me before? I could have helped you out a little if you ever needed anything."
" Yeah, you should have told someone." Marian agreed. " You can get help."
" I don't want help." He shook his head. " I want to be normal; I want to be like everyone else."
Raelin sniffed, offering a small smile. " But you do seem so normal; I mean, at school you seem perfect. I know people that would kill to have your status in school."
" Yeah, well they don't know I'm helping to support myself and two other little kids. My life isn't all it's cracked up to be, but I try to make it look pretty good. You know, it's kinda good to tell someone that, but I do need to get back to see how my lil bro and sis are doing. They're home alone."
" Well, we're here for you if you ever need to talk." The Asian girl offered sincerely.
" Yeah dude, we got your back. Peace."
" Definitely." Red hair was tucked behind an ear.
Fox got up and started walking, but turned back around. " I'll take you up on that offer sometime, but hey, you guys should tag along with me to a party on Friday at David Herd's house at eight. His parents are out of town."
" You got invited to David Herd's party?" Jack's voice was incredulous. " That's awesome! His parents went out of town last year, and that was the biggest rager ever! You really are one of the most popular guys in school!"
" Heh. If only they knew." Fox grinned sheepishly. Let's meet back here in the diner before we got together to the party."
" Yeah. It's getting kinda late, my parents are going to worry. See you on Friday. Peace!" Jack saluted, getting up. " You coming Raelin?"
She shook her head. " Marian offered to drop me off. It's no biggie. See you."
" Okay."
After he left, Fox returned to the table briefly, now toting all of his stuff.
" Hey Raelin, um, you agreed to help Jack with his math, do you think you could help me too?"
" Oh sure." She smiled, before turning back to her friend. " What were you saying?"
" Nevermind."
" Aight. So I'll see you tomorrow then Fox?"
" Yeah. Night ladies."
" Bye."
Raelin shot a suspicious glance to Marian. There was something the freckled, red-head wasn't telling her.
" Something's bothering you Mair." Raelin pointed out. " Come on, you can trust me."
Marian sighed. " You're lucky to have such a perfect life. I mean, look. All the guys come to you for help, your parents pay attention to you solely, and you get good grades."
" Believe me, my life is far from perfect." Raelin replied evenly and seriously.
" What are you talking about? Yes it is. I'd give anything to be like you."
" NO you wouldn't. Let me tell you it is not the garden of Eden over at my place."
" Whatever. My parents always ignore me. Nothing I do is noted or appreciated. Everything is Richard, Richard, Richard. For crying out loud, my mom puts the school newspaper, the one with my article on the front page on the fridge, in such a way that it is covered and you can't see my article. Honestly!"
" But you hide it very well."
" School's just an outlet. I try to do good so that they pay attention to me. So far it hasn't worked."
" School's an outlet for me too." Raelin agreed. " But I have to do good because my parents want me to."
" That must suck."
" Like you wouldn't believe." She grinned to her friend. " But at least I deal with life better than Pip."
" Oh yeah, anyone could deal with life better than that pansy. I swear, we should rewrite the whole book Great Expectations and have a modern-day chase scene."
" With speedboats and sniper guns!" Raelin laughed.
" Definitely. That would be a great chase scene. Not one where you ram another wooden boat, and people fall out of the boat, and drown. How stupid can you get. You want Matrix style stuff. That's interesting."
" I couldn't agree more. How about that girl-Ana is it? The bunny girl?"
Marian pretended to gag. " My god that girl. She always tags along after us when we don't want her to. Remember that time in class when we tagged her EMSO, and she had this confused look on her face when she couldn't understand it?"
" Hah. That was priceless. Like, 'I speak bunny, why can't I understand you?.' Jeez, that was great."
" Or actually, it's ' I watch Turkish movies-don't you?.' We all do, don't we?"
Raelin shook her head. " Cricket. Cricket. Cricket chirp."
"She should go into the convent now and save me the trouble of being around her." Marian joked, not able to keep the smile off her face. She really loved goofing off with Raelin, whether it was in English class and they plotted to kidnap the six-year-old son of their English teacher and hijack his truck, or outside of class.
" That's a little mean."
" But so true. I swear she gets all the answers to the tests by telepathy. Lapine telepathy."
The smile that came from the Asian girl was brilliant. " She is the youngest in the whole grade. She's not supposed to even be a senior. She should be in sophomore year. Jeez, she was home schooled, and way too smart. I want an FM shirt. Randomness right there."
" I want one too." Marian agreed wholeheartedly. " But it would be great if you wore one though, and went 'What? I'm 100% Irish, got a problem with that?' to everybody."
" Hah. I knew you were going to go to that."
" Wow, we must have mental telepathy. The same evil wave lengths."
" Not Lapine telepathy though."
" Nope. Can't pull off the accent. So sorry."
" Not in the least. Can't do it. Nuh-uh."
Marian sighed. " I wish I was as cool as you Ana." She said sarcastically, laughing along with Raelin.
" We're so mean. But that makes us great."
" I know, I know. I'd feel bad, but she gets too obnoxious."
" Yeah. Tell me about that. I hate it."
" Abnormality isn't always a GOOD thing. Wait, that was mean."
Raelin shrugged easily. " The world doesn't revolve around the rabbits."
" WHAT?" Marian dramatically brought her hand to her mouth in a drawn out gasp. " I believe in the Hazelcentric theory! You dare refute it? Just kidding. Really, just kidding."
" I know."
" Remember, do nature a favor and shoot a bunny!" Marian teased with a wink. " Jeez, it's 11:30! And there's school tomorrow! Come on, I'll take you home."
" Thanks."
Marian smiled. " No problem. It was great talking to you. We should discuss English class and Ana, and those bunnies more often. It's really quite-intellectually stimulating. I feel really good now."
" That's good."
The two left the diner with smiles, and Marian singing " God Bless my overbite" to make them burst into more peals of laughter that echoed in the almost empty parking lot.
~A/N: So now I must leave you all. And I'm in a very good mood, now listening to Linkin Park. Good music. Lol, so click on the shiny button in the corner, and make me happy. I'm looking forward to one from you MK! By the way, you didn't review for the last chapter, the one with the sisters arguing. Most displeased. And you have to update!~
Colleenie: I'm so glad you like it. I promise I'll update my other story quickly. I'm almost done with it. Another paragraph or so, and then I can post it up too.
Lilleo: I'm glad you like the idea. I was inspired by seeing it acted out. My friends wrote it, but they let me take the plotline and tweak it so it's not like their original play. It's different. And the chapters will be getting longer, I promise. It's just that I'm wrapping up another story, so I have to devote time to that, so I don't have all that much for this. Well, actually I have all the other chapters written, and those are getting steadily longer, so never fear.
CurlieQ16: So glad you like the sisters. They're a few of my favorite characters. My friend really has those arguments with her sister, and since I love her dysfunctional family so much, I had to include her in this story, and have those funny interactions with her sister. Glad to have you aboard. Hope you stick around till the end.
~p!c0~ : You guessed it! Jack is gay. He doesn't admit it until later. But this presents a problem in a future chapter. You'll see it more clearly. I'm so glad you like the way I started it off. My friend Colleen said it was not very interesting, but I had to do it that way so that people got an insight on their lives, and what makes their life not perfect.
Quicksilva-brumby: I will update that sometime. And I'm so sorry about not reviewing for you! I promise I will! I was just away on vaca, and had no access to a computer, so I couldn't review or update! I'm so sorry. But I will get back on track! Thanks for reviewing. And I still like the name Pico. Lol. ;)