Chapter Six

I nibbled on another French Frie out of the red-and-yellow McDonalds container, and Flea chose to play with her new cell phone. "990-h-a-w-t... right?" Flea didn't bother to look up as she confirmed the number of her sister's cell phone and entered it into the adress book on the tiny machine. The inside of the car was dark, and the backlight from the cell phone lit up Flea's face with a sort of eerie blue light. Outside, trees and small farm houses flashed past the windows.

I rolled my eyes at her and replied in an overly exasperated tone. "How should I know!? She's your sister!" I laughed slightly as Flea grinned and told me to shut up. Her grin was becomming more and more like Kiel's every day. With a sort of lopsided cuteness. Although, I knew she could never match the original. Kiel, although, was grounded for the weekend. That meant that we wouldn't have to deal with him; online or otherwise. I couldn't quite remember what he had done this time, though. I suspected he had gotten into another fight with his father. Dearest little Kiel had something of an anger managment problem. One that got out of hand more than necessary. He was quite good at being pissed off. And it worked for him in several ways. When he got into one of his pissed off moods, he looked dangerous enough to scare away everyone I knew. Including me. Although... he was kind of cute when he was mad.

Eyes widening, I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I needed to stop thinking about Kiel. And Colin, for that matter. Neither of them where here, so how would I keep Flea from lingering on them if I couldn't keep myself from doing so? Thus I needed to be on watch at all times. Advert Flea from talking about Kiel, obsessing over Kiel. I never did out loud, so I was covered in that aspect. But Flea was another story completely. I had to stay on my toes if I wanted to keep this weekend just Flea, Starr, and I.

"Home, sweet home." Flea's stepmother's voice sang out as we pulled into the drive. Her voice was kind of neutral and melodic, and always seemed to have a sarcastic/joking tone. Her darkish blonde hair was pulled back in a pink scrunchie, and her eyes stood out in vivid crystal blue. I smiled. She had really pretty eyes. "You brats comming in?"

I laughed and followed Starr out of the car door, and up the few stairs that led to the house. It was dark outside, but my eyes had already adjusted to the night sky. A few stars shimmered overhead; suprising, considering how close Amherstburg was to Windsor. If I had the time to concentrate hard enough, I could probably see the Casino Windsor lights running across the sky like the Bat Signal for people with money. At home, I could clearly see the six or so lights moving around the clouds and stars. Starr opened the front door and threw her backpack just inside, before hurrying back to the vehicle to grab more bags. I threw my bag inside and ran off to help her, as well. Flea hadn't yet made her first trip to the house, and I was wondering that had happened to her.

As I suspected, I shouldn't have worried. Just as I lept off the last step, I could hear her scream, and a clutter of luggage accompanied the sound. I put on more speed, bracing for the worst. What I found instead of a gruesom murder scene was a disgruntled Flea that had fallen with a heap of backpacks on top of her. An assortment of blue and pink backpacks had fallen from their stack in the back of the minivan, and right on top of Flea. With her dyed-blonde hair sprawled around her heart-shaped head and a bemused look on her face, she almost reminded me of the independant tom-boy I used to know. The Flea that I used to play volleyball with in her front yard, and an assortment of the neighborhood kids. Or backetball in the backyard. The independant Flea that spent several afternoons one week to paint her room, instead of letting someone help her or do it for her.

Independant. Ha. She's just Flea's body, with Kiel controlling everything else. Kiel deciding how she dressed. Kiel deciding how she spent her time. Kiel deciding who she should hang out with. And Kiel deciding when the relationship was in need of an "advancement."

And I missed the old Flea more that anything in the world...