A/N: Time to try my hand at another 'Tower Prep' fic. Wish me luck! Now I'm not exactly sure if CJ does know her real name or not or if she just knows it as CJ so here's a little one-shot on it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Sorry, peeps.
"Caroline Jennifer, maybe?" offered Ian, tossing a tennis ball up in the air before letting it fall back into his palm.
"Eh," replied CJ, her gaze flitting to Gabe and Suki as the four hid from the rest of the world in the observatory. It was so peaceful. The perfect place for thinking.
They were brainstorming CJ's real name. Not just her nickname. Unless CJ was her real name. But none of them believed that.
"Carly Jessica," said Gabe as Ian tossed the tennis ball to him. "Or Cleo Jaqueline. Something like that. I mean, do you even know your heritage? English? Irish? Something?"
CJ just shook her head, curling up more into the couch with her knees tucked to her chest; Suki remained beside her as the two best friends almost always were.
"Cecilia Joy," breathed Suki, blowing the hair out of her eyes. "Really, just saying it probably won't help you remember. It might, but I don't think it will."
"It's always worth a shot," reminded Ian, catching a lame throw from Gabe. "If it'll help you remember or at least make you feel better, we're here to help."
CJ couldn't help but feel the way Ian's words seemed to lift her out of her crummy mood. And his smile always sent shivers running down her spine and made her want to fix the little bit of frizz in her hair. Ian always had a tendency to say just the right thing that made her feel better. That was why she liked him. Nothing could really change that.
"Yeah," said Suki, putting a hand on her friend's. "We're here."
"Thanks," breathed the brunette girl, her eyes glittering with grateful emotions.
"Catherine Jane," said Gabe, still throwing ideas out there. "I think Jane sounds close..."
CJ just shrugged. "Nothing's really sounding right at this point. Maybe you're right, maybe I won't just remember it."
"I'm having a hard time with thinking of things that start like a J," said Gabe, pressing his fingers to his temple.
Ian threw the ball at him. It hit him square in the chest. "Come on, Gabe. Keep trying. It can't be totally impossible." He smiled at his friend as he picked up the tennis ball. "How about Catie Jenelle?"
"Nothing," sighed CJ, really starting to lose hope. She knew her initials weren't exactly easy. C didn't have much. J was even harder. But for some reason, they always just worked together. And it made sense for her nickname to be CJ. It just sounded right.
"Cayla Jhane," offered Suki, running her fingers through her black hair. "And it's Jah-nay." She sank back into the couch. "This really is getting hard… Are any of them striking you yet?"
"It's useless," CJ buried her head in her knees. "I'll just go on without knowing my name for the rest of my life."
"Carter Jade," said Ian, really wanting to help her out. She always looked so pitiful when they all said they remembered something and she remembered nothing. And he hated seeing her look away whenever they reminisced about their past lives and she remained lost.
"Casey Jamie." Gabe chucked the tennis ball at Ian who caught it with ease. His preflex was a bit of a helper. "That one sounds right. You look like a Casey."
"Yeah," agreed Ian, firing a smile off in CJ's direction. "You do look like a Casey." He just wanted to be helping, even if it was just a little bit, even if it was just to give her some hope. He wanted to help.
"Callie Jaylynn," suggested Gabe, catching the tennis ball from Ian again. "Caylie Jocelyn." He shrugged. "I'm running out of material here, guys. Drawing a total blank."
Ian hung his head for a moment as CJ seemed to look more depressed by the second. He hated seeing her depressed like that. "Come on, there's plenty of names out there. We haven't even considered the fact that it could be some kind of foreign name."
"I'm out," said Gabe, tossing the tennis ball to Ian for a final time. "I got a meeting with Emily in a few minutes and I gotta get back to the main building or someone'll get suspicious soon enough. And I can't be late for Emily."
"Gabe," said Suki, trying to get him to stay, but he was already gone, ducking into the entrance to the tunnels and disappearing below the observatory. She flipped her hand in the air, blowing him off. "Who cares," she huffed, curling her legs under her to sit more comfortably.
"Hey," Ian began, realizing something. "CJ backwards is Jaycee."
CJ perked up for a second, her gaze meeting his. She felt warmth shoot through her system as if someone had just injected adrenaline right into her heart. "True."
"So it could be Jaycee," said Ian, tossing the ball back up into the air, tearing his gaze from CJ's no matter how much he wanted to keep looking at her. "Or Cassie Jezebel or Colleen Jenny or Cara something or Carrie something."
"The possibilities are pretty much endless," groaned CJ, leaning her head back so that her neck was pressed into the back of the couch and she was staring up at the ceiling hopelessly. "This is ridiculous. You guys can just leave. This is such a waste of time."
Suki gave her friend a half-smile. "CJ, you'll figure it out eventually." The Asian stood up, straightened her skirt out, and disappeared where Gabe had vanished only a few minutes ago."
The brunette girl noticed that Ian still hadn't left. She could still hear him tossing the tennis ball into the air and then catching it again. "You know, you can leave too."
"I'm not going to." He was silent for a moment and then CJ felt a body sit on the couch beside her. She pulled her head back up and turned it to find Ian looking at her, beautiful brown eyes serious. "When I got here, people helped me figure out what was going on here." A soft smile began to tug at the corners of his lips. "And I'm here to help you figure out what happened before this."
She rested her head against her knees again, still tucked to her chest. "We've run out of names, Ian. You know that."
His head tilted to one side and he looked at her long and hard. Her brow furrowed, wondering what he was up to, but she didn't speak. She just let him think. And he finally said, "You look like a Casey."
CJ smiled weakly, finding little pleasure in having Ian all to herself. She liked him a lot. She possibly could've loved him. But she just wanted to know. She wanted to know so badly she could taste it. "Just go, Ian. You have better things to do than sit here with me."
"CJ, you really don't want to be alone, and we both know that." He kept watching her, eyes intent on hers, trying to read her like she could read him. Everyone was her open book. Ian wanted her to be his.
"Just go. Please." She managed a half-hearted smile, really just wanting to sit there and mull over all the names that she had been given. "I'll be fine, I promise."
Ian leaned closer to her and pressed his lips to her forehead, trying to comfort the girl. Then he stood. "Just don't stay here too long, okay?" He grinned at her adorably and then moved towards the entrance to the tunnels. "I'll be in my room if you want to talk some more." And he vanished, down into the system of intricate tunnels that ran through the walls of the school.
CJ couldn't help but feel the blossoming warmth in her heart from being so close to Ian. She wanted more of those moments in her life. Maybe the past didn't matter. Maybe only the future mattered. Whoever she was, she was enjoying the future. For now, her name could be forgotten.
She went down in the tunnels to follow Ian. CJ wanted to keep talking.
A/N: I liked it. Did you like it? Tell me in a review!
~Sky