OH MY GOD! An update! a second chapter a continuation. Call it what you will but I have written more of a story. Yay.


Jake woke up slowly the next morning. He glanced at the clock once then buried his head beneath his pillow to ward off the incoming sunshine. Usually he could get away with another half hour of sleep before finally getting out of bed, but not that day.

"Jake," Haley called into his room.

Jake mumbled something and shifted beneath his covers, praying that the past seven years had all been a terrible dream.

"Come on, you have to walk me to school today and I absolutely cannot be late," Haley said saucily.

Jake sighed and groaned but did not move from his spot. There was silence for a few moments before he felt something very heavy land on his back. He cried out in pain as Haley landed on the sore spot on his shoulder in her effort to get him out of bed.

Haley sat still when she heard Jake yell but didn't get off of him or otherwise back off from her position. "Come on," she said again.

Jake growled and turned over, plopping Haley into the middle of his covers. She squeaked in surprise and Jake took the moment to throw his covers off in a flourish so that they covered Haley. He then turned around and started to tickle his sister. Haley squirmed and yelled but had no chance to fight back because she was tangled into the covers. "S-stop it…" she whined between gasps and laughter.

Jake grinned and let up. He jumped out of bed as Haley pulled the sheet off of her mussed hair. "That wasn't fair," she said.

Jake shrugged and opened his drawer. "Like I care?" he asked as he grabbed whatever was on top and ran for the door. He shut it quickly and heard the tell tale thump on the other side that suggested Haley had lobbed a pillow at him. He chuckled and walked quickly to the bathroom before his sister could come up with any more plans for retaliation.

Before too long the siblings had eaten their breakfast and were on their way towards school. Haley was still steaming about her treatment earlier and Jake could care less. "You sat on me," he pointed out.

"You didn't have to mess up my hair," Haley replied hotly. "I spend exactly twenty minutes every morning getting my pigtails set evenly. Now I may even be late to school. That's not fair," she huffed.

Jake rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Chill," he drawled. "You got at least half an hour before your classes start. We'll get there in time. Besides, that's your fault."

"I at least take pride in my appearance," Haley shot back. "I don't just run my fingers through my hair and say I'm ready."

"I do more then that," Jake huffed, scandalized that Haley couldn't tell that he put quite a bit of time in his 'look.'

Haley shrugged. "Well, that's what it looks like you do, anyways," she said bitingly.

Jake glared at his little sister but didn't retaliate because her school building suddenly appeared. Haley looked up to see her principal standing in front of the school welcoming her students into the building.

Haley turned around and waved sweetly to Jake. "Bye big brother," she said in a sing song voice. "I'll see you after school." And with that she turned around and skipped into the building.

Jake rolled his eyes and gave a small hello to the principal who nodded back then turned towards his own school building and quickly started toward it. As he ran into his homeroom just as the school bell rang, he sighed. For some reason it seemed like it was going to be a long day.

"Jakeie…" Trixie murmured quietly out of the corner of her mouth in an attempt to get Jake out of his stupor. Jake stirred on his desk only slightly but attempted to give the teacher a little more of his attention.

Trixie rolled her eyes and glanced back up to the front of the classroom. Jake gave her a sheepish smile and really did sit up for the rest of the period.

After the bell rang Trixie and Spud caught up to Jake in the hallway despite the mad rush to get out of the building. "Jakeie, it's not like we think school is all that but really you gotta start doin' somethin' or the teachers are gonna go down on you."

Jake sighed. "I know," he groaned as they reached his locker. "I'm trying. I'm just really… tired lately."

"Why?" Spud asked.

Jake shrugged and winced. "Well, my back hurts," he muttered. "And Haley didn't help."

"Ah, little sis problems," Spud said wisely as if he knew what he was talking about.

"Uh, Spud," Trixie said pointedly. "You dun have any siblings."

"No," Spud agreed. "But I know they can be annoying," he replied.

Jake sighed and shut his locker with a snap. He turned and hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder and shrugged as he accompanied his friends to their lockers. "Annoying, mean, rude and when everyone else is looking," he sighed, "perfect."

Trixie laughed and threw some textbooks into her own backpack. "She's prob'ly jus' tryin' to get attention from the adults," she said. "She's smart, cute and way above kids her age. She's got no one else to be with," Trixie pointed out.

Jake growled. "I know that," he sighed. "But why does she make it so hard?"

"Because that's her job," Spud said matter of factly. "A younger sibling must always annoy the older one. It's like… a law or somethin'."

Jake laughed a little and watched Spud lean over in his attempt to find his own things to take home among the wreckage that was his locker. "I just wish she had another side besides 'annoying' and 'little miss perfect.'"

Trixie and Jake watched as Spud gave one final yank and brought the entire contents of his locker onto his head. They winced and glanced down at their friend. Spud's only visible hand formed a thumbs up. "I'm okay," he assured them in a muffled voice.

They shrugged and Trixie turned to Jake. "She prob'ly does," Trixie told him. "But you haven't given her a reason to show you yet. Admit it Jakeie, you poke her as much as she pokes you."

"Since when do you take her side?" Jake asked with a raised eyebrow.

Spud grunted as he shoved the remainder of his junk back into the abused storage unit. "Just making sure you're a good big brother," Spud said with a grin as he attempted to close the door. "You know, so you do all that big brother…stuff…" he trailed off as the thought died a slow and painful death in his head. Spud then looked confused and glanced up at the ceiling as the locker shut with a click. "What was I talking about again?" he asked.

Trixie shook her head. "Look, what Spudinski is tryin' to say is, you don't have to be her best friend but give her a chance, you don't know what it's like to be an outcast. Besides, I gotta stick up for another girl, you know?"

"Ah," Jake said with a laugh.

Trixie grinned then pulled out her skateboard. "So, we hittin' the half pipe or are we hittin' the half pipe?"

"I wish," Jake sighed. "I gotta get Haley then go to Gramps' shop. I promised mom last night. Then she found out about my test grade," he added.

Trixie and Spud both winced. "Good luck with that," Spud said while giving Jake a pat on the shoulder.

"Tomorrow then?" Trixie asked as they walked out of the school.

"Totally," Jake replied and waved as they parted ways. He sighed and started down the road towards Haley's school.


Fu Dog looked up as the bell rang at the front of the shop. He watched Susan's kid wander in looking very tired and returned to his vigilant post on the recliner. Jake sighed and dropped his backpack behind the register and went into the living area behind the open doorway.

Fu raised his head and gave Jake an unmistakable grin. Jake glanced back down with an odd expression. The kid never quite knew what to make of his grandpa's dog. Sometimes he acted like any other dog and other times he seemed almost like he knew a lot more then Jake did. Still he gave the old dog a pat on the head and sat on the arm of the recliner. "What up, Fu?" he asked.

Fu snorted and put his head onto his paws. 'If only you knew, kid,' he thought to himself.

"Ah, Jake, is that you?" Lao Shi called from the upstairs area.

"Yeah, I'm here gramps. Mom said you wanted to chat or somethin'?" Jake called back.

Lao Shi came downstairs, looking the way Jake always remembered. His movements were slow as if he thought about every step before he took it and his hands were carefully tucked out of view into his sleeves. He was also still as short as always and Jake found himself fervently wishing for at least the hundredth time that he would take his height from his dad's side of the family. "Indeed," he said and walked into the room. "But first of all, we should have tea."

Jake sighed; he figured his gramps would want tea. He always wanted tea. He thought he saw Fu grin out of the corner of his eye but when he turned to look the dog was staring off into space.

Lao Shi cleared his throat and Jake looked back at old man. "Okay," he said defensively. "Tea. I get it."

Ten minutes later everyone had steaming cups of green tea, including the dog. Jake glanced down at the rather odd sight but quickly brought his attention back to his gramps when Lao Shi set his cup on the table. "First," Lao Shi said. "Your mom tells me that you've been having growing pains lately?"

Jake opened his mouth then closed it. "Well," he shrugged. "Kinda. Not… growing," he said oddly. "I think I hurt my back or somethin' at the skate park."

"Oh," Lao Shi said, his eyes glittering. "Your back hurts?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah. More like my shoulders," he said. He then shrugged and took a sip of the tea. "No big, it'll go away soon."

"How long has your back been hurting," Lao Shi pressed.

Jake sighed, obviously annoyed at the interrogation. "I don't know," he ran his fingers through his hair and let out a slow breath. "Um… two weeks. Maybe?"

"Hm…" Lao Shi said quietly. His expression changed into a more thoughtful one as he slowly sipped on his tea.

"Um gramps, I got homework, so what do you need to talk about?" Jake asked again.

"Why haven't you told anyone for so long?" Lao Shi asked, ignoring Jake's own question.

"I don't know," Jake sighed. "I wipe out skateboarding all the time. I didn't notice it from any other crash until it kept hurting. I don't tell mom every time I fall or she'll never let me hit the park again."

Lao Shi took another long sip of tea and slowly swallowed it. Jake finally started to think something might be going on. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, from talking to your mother, I simply thought you had started but it's clear that it's no longer the case," Lao Shi said to himself more then to Jake.

"Started what?" Jake asked, getting more frustrated by the second. "Look gramps, I know you're into the whole mystical sayings and junk but I have stuff to do so…"

Jake's small rant was cut off by his grandfather placing his teacup firmly onto the table. Jake was silent for a few seconds before Lao Shi finally decided to talk. "Jacob," he said quietly. "I was hoping this could wait a few more weeks but it is clear that we don't have that time anymore. It's about time that you find out more about your mother's side, my side of the family."
Jake grinned. "What, you came from China? Gramps, I…"

"Not that," Lao Shi said stiffly. "Listen to me," he said sternly and Jake quietly placed his own cup on the table. "Your mother and I are part of a very long and old family line from China. And it is a line whose blood you have inherited."

Jake bit the inside of his lip to keep himself from saying something cheeky or sarcastic about how cheesy the whole thing was.

"Jacob Luke Long," Lao Shi continued. "Your mother and I are dragons, and so are you."


Sorry about the month long wait. I'll avoid starting something before the ACT next time. Hopefully this next chapter will come your way in a week or two.

And the story... Ohhhh the cheese XD you can cut it with a knife and put it on crackers it's so tangible. Now the fun stuff begins. Thanks for putting up with my crazy OOCness and my continued struggles with dialogue. Enjoy and hope you all had an awesome turkey day.

As always, hugs and cookies to my reviewers and in spirit of the season, some pumpkin pie as well. See you next chapter.