Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.

AN: Another chapter...because I feel like it...hope you like!

Chapter 3:

Shira frowned at her homework. She couldn't CONCENTRATE! She stared at her laptop blankly, the page already opened at Bach's Wikipedia page, but she couldn't absorb any of the information. She would have to try later.

As she closed her computer, her phone rang.

She glanced at it. Unknown number.

Hang up.

She flopped down on her bed, before her phone rang again.

She looked at the number.

Unknown number again.

Hang up.

A second had barely passed before her phone rang again. She growled, and slammed the button forcefully. Answer.

"Hello?"

"Ah. Shira Lopez?" She was stunned at the smooth male's voice that answered her.

"Who are you?"

"My, my, she was right. You are blunt."

"Who are you?" Shira repeated, panic starting to cloud her thoughts. Without hesitation, she grabbed her jacket.

"You are a perfect match for my stepbrother." The voice continued on as if she hadn't said anything.

That stopped Shira short. "Sorry…what?"

"He is a tad bit blunt himself, you know. And a bit aggressive as well, but I'm sure you understand that." The voice was completely unaffected, and Shira was starting to get annoyed at the voice. She growled into the phone.

"Who the Hell are you?"

The person on the other line tutted. "Be careful with your language. How does he put up with you?"

"What?!" Shira demanded, beginning her descent down the stairs. She opened the door, starting to run to Diego's house. She had a pretty good idea who would know what was happening, and that person was currently in that house.

She banged on the door, stopping when she saw Diego open the door, eyes wide with shock. "Shira?"

"Ah, is that my half-brother?" The voice continued.

Shira frowned, but Diego must've recognised the look on her face, as he snatched the phone out of her hand. "Who's this?"

Unfortunately, Shira couldn't hear anything that was being said, but Diego's face tightened in anger, and he spat out a stream of unintelligible and rapid Spanish words at the phone, who replied in the same language.

With that, Diego hung up, handing the phone back to Shira.

"Who was that?" Shira asked, hands on her hips.

"No one." Diego replied. Maybe a bit too quickly.

"Diego."

"Shira." Diego replied to her glare.

Shira glared at Diego, but Diego only replied to her glare with his own bright green eyes, which had darkened. "Please."

Her expression softened slightly, but she still frowned. "Fine. But answer me one question, and I won't ask anything else."

A sigh. "Go ahead."

"Who was that on the phone and why did he say he was your…half-brother?"

Diego sighed, and looked around, before answering her in a low voice. "Shira…my family is…complicated." Shira nodded in understanding. One thing that Diego had confided in her was that his family situation had led to him being put into Half-Peak Boarding School while they sorted it out.

"And, my…dad…" He cringed. "Is not the most understanding or loyal of people…."

"So…" Shira was starting to understand. "He had an affair."

"Not just an affair." Diego looked like he regretted what he was saying, but ploughed ahead anyway. "Several affairs."

"Several?" Shira asked. "But…your parents are married?"

"They…split up." Diego muttered.

"But the man sounded…he sounded…" Shira didn't want to say it.

"Older?" Diego asked, eyebrow raised. "All of them are. I'm the youngest. Well. Until about six years ago."

Shira gaped at him. Complicated was the way to describe his family situation. Parents who split up, a dad who had not one, but several affairs with children before Diego was born, and now a family situation that was disastrous. "Then…what was the situation with Half-Peak?"

Diego frowned. "Only one question." He made to close the door, but his voice travelled out before the door fully closed. "A hint - it had something to do with me and my stepparents."

Shira noticed the way he said parents, not just parent.

She shivered, suddenly feeling cold.

She looked up.

A storm was brewing.

Diego sat on his bed, glaring angrily at the wall. Why the hell was his damn family getting involved? And calling Shira of all people. How did they even get her number? He snatched his phone up, texting his sister furiously. He hated being a tattletale, but if his 'family' was going to start regularly calling Shira like this, he couldn't have Diana wondering why angry voicemails would be sent to his half-siblings' phones.

He clicked 'Send' before leaning back. Okay. He had been through more stressful situations. But he wasn't any closer to finding out who the hell sent that doppelganger, even after spending so long looking up any books on magical creatures and known magic-users that would have a grudge against him or Dillon. Or any Whites for that matter.

This was going nowhere. And he couldn't even tell Diana. He turned around, forcing himself to relax. He just needed a few hours of sleep. And then he'd come up with something.

He didn't notice his phone vibrate on the bedside table.

Diana frowned at the passive-aggressive text that Diego had sent her. What half-brother would be idiotic enough to call her younger brother's girlfriend? How did they even get her number?

She quickly dialled a few numbers, frowning when said half-brother didn't answer his phone. She looked up a word document on her laptop, frowning in confusion. That was odd. He had soccer practice. She dialled his coach's number. After confirming that her half-brother was, indeed, at practice and had been for the last one and a half hours, she leaned back in her chair.

Who the hell called Shira then? She dialled Diego's number, but after several rings, was sent straight to voicemail.