I woke up the next morning and realized the pain in my stomach was gone. I walked into the bathroom to try to wash away some of the sleep from my face before I went to the kitchen to see if Ashley was making breakfast. "I wonder what time it is?" I thought to myself as I walked out of the bathroom. The clock read 9:45a.m. Jake must already be up because when I look over at his bed, it's empty.

So, I go to the kitchen to see if I can find anyone but there is no one there. No one in the living room either. I make my way back to the kitchen to check for a note just as soon as I hear the front door open. I am just sitting down when they come into the kitchen. "Morning sleepy head." said Maddie smiling at me. "Where did you guys go?" I asked in my raspy, mprning voice. "Well, originally we were going to wait for you to get up before Ash made us breakfast," said Jake, "but we all got so hungry and Ash didn't want to make anything so we went to the store and got donuts." I could smell them and by the way they would taste even better. "Well, let's eat, then we can go look for your parents, Maddie." I said. "Ok, but you might want to change first." she said while giggling. "I was planning on doing that."

I had gone to bed wearing a pair of sweatpants and no shirt. I could tell that Maddie was amazed at how muscular I was. She was trying very hard not to show her amazement and it would have worked except for something. I couldn't place my finger on it but somehow I had found out. *"What is he thinking about?"* I heard but no one spoke a thing. It sounded like Jake's voice. "Did you say something, Jake?" "No." he said with question in his voice. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" "Sure."

We went upstairs to our room where we could talk in private. "Close the door." I said. "You said something downstairs. I heard you." "No, I didn't. I never said a word." "You said, 'What is he thinking about?'" "How did you know that?" "What do you mean? I heard you say it." "What?" "There's no need to yell, Jay. I'm standing right here." "I didn't yell." "You did it again." "No, I didn't." *"Sure you didn't."* "I heard that, Jake." Jake got this surprised look on his face like a "what in the world" look. "Do you believe in telepathy?" asked Jake. "Are you saying that we are telepathic?" "Yah, I guess so." "Do you think we should tell the girls?" "No, let's wait a while and try not to get that look on your face if it happens again. You know how Ashley is; she knows everything about us." "Yah, ok. You're right about Ashley, too. She is like a computer hard drive in what she can remember." "Do you remember if mom was ever like that?" "I think that is where Ash gets it from." "We should probably go back before they come up here looking for us." "Yah ok just let me change first." "Ok but, Jay, don't wear the same thing as me alright." "Ok."

After Jake left, I changed my clothes and put on a pair of black jeans, dark green shirt, and black and green high tops. I called this my "futuristic" outfit. Then I went downstairs to meet up with everyone and find out where we were going to look for Maddie's parents. When I walked into the kitchen, Maddie's eyes widened. "Really, Jay? That outfit?" said Ashley. "What?" I said, "Jake told me not to match him and htis is the furthest thing I have to not matching him." "Whatever." "You look like a spy wearing that." said Maddie. "Really? I thought I looked like someone from a technorobot future or movie." "Nope, you look like a spy to me." "Well, where are we going to look for your parents?" "I was thinking we should look at all the hotels and places people might stay." said Jake. "Yah and then check all the airports and train stations." said Ashley. "Sounds like a plan to me. What aobut you, Maddie?" "Yah, let's do it." We left the house and began walking to the nearest hotel which was about 45 minutes away.

Along the way, we kinda split into two groups; Maddie and Ashley were in front and Jake and I were in the back. "Hey Jake," I whisperedd, "have you noticed that Maddie sometimes blushes when I say or do something?" "No, not really. Why?" he whispered back. "Because this morning I said something when I still had my morning voice and I saw her blushing. She realized she was blushing and that I knew she was and that's when she turned around and grabbed the donuts." "That's why she did that. I was wondering why she turne around randomly like that." "That's not all. When she told me that I might want to change, she blushed while she was giggling." "Really? She must really like you, especially with your shirt off." "Haha, very funny, Jake. But seriously, if she does like me, why is she trying to hide it? Why doesn't she just tell me?" "Ok, one: She doesn't know you that well. Two: She is probably scared of what you would think of her or say to her. Why, do you like her?" "Ya, a little. Maybe. I don't know." "No, I think you like her. Come on, Jay. Tell me. Why do you like her." "I do not like her." "Yes you do, Jay. I can tell. Now, come on, tell me." "Ok, I realized that I like her when she blushed when I talked in my morning voice. And a lot more when she blushed when I had my shirt off." "Wow. You should really tell her cause she is crushing on you hard and you are crushing on her hard." "I don't know. I don't think this is the right time." "Oh come on! Now is the perfect time." "I don't know." "Come on, Jay." "I don't know how to tell her." "Just walk up to her and ask her if you two can talk alone. It's that easy, Jay." "I don't want to do that by myself." "I will walk up there with you, but I won't ask her for you." "Ok. I didn't ask you to." "Ya, I know, but I'm just saying'."

"Hey Maddie," I said when we caught up with the girls. "Ya, Jay." "Can I talk to you about something?" "Ya sure. What's up?" "Alone." "Oh. Ya, sure." When we got our distance form Jake and Ashley, Maddie said, "So, what did you want to talk about?" "I know this is going to sound weird, but I saw you blush this morning. And both times you did, it was me who made you blush. I know you have a crush on me and…" Right at that moment, Maddie turned and kissed me. "What was that for?" I asked half smiling and half in shock. "To get you to stop talking so I can. How did you know?" "Know what?" "That I like you." "Well first I saw you blush when I was talking to you in my morning voice and when you made that comment about me changing my clothes. Second, Jake told me that you have a huge crush on me. By the way, when did you start liking me?" "When we first met. No guy I know would have ever done what you did when they didn't know me." "Really? What kind of friends are they then?" "Oh, they're not my firends. At least, most of them aren't." "Then what are they?" "Admirers." "Oh." "You know what I don't believe I have an answer from you to a very serious question." "Oh. What is the question?" "Do you like me back?" After she said that, I gave her my answer: I kissed her. "That's my answer." I said with a huge smile on my face. "Really, Jay? You really mean that?" "Yes, I do." "When did you start liking me?"

I took hold of her hand and we started walking again. "When you blushed this morning was when it really clicked. Otherwise when I first saw you is when I started liking you." "Aww… Jay." "What?" "Nothing. It's just that you are so sweet and…" "And what?" "I don't know. I don't think I can think of a word to describe you besides Jayden. You're just Jayden." "Ya, I guess I am."

We walked up to Jake and Ashley, hand-in-hand and we couldn't stop smiling. "Ok. What's going on?" "Nothing," I said still smiling. Jake gave me an "oh really" look. *"Jay, what is going on?" "Nothing, Jake." "Jay, I know that look. You're dating her aren't you!?" "Maybe." "Really Jay? Why do you have to be so difficult? It's like I'm talking to a foreign language book that I barely understand." "Really? You're comparing me to a foreign language book?" "Yep." "You have problems, Jake."* "What are you two doing?" asked Ashley. We must have been making different faces while we were talking about?" "Ash, if we wanted you to know, we would have told you." "But Jay, the point is I want to know so why can't you tell me?" "Because I don't want to and it's on a need-to-know basis and right now, you don't need to know." "Yes I do need to know." "Ash, just leave the kid alone. He has enough girl problems as it is." said Jake mockingly. "Really Jake? You consider me a problem?" asked Maddie.

She could tell that Jake was kidding but she wanted to play along. "Jake, I think you'd better answer her before she gets mad." I said. "She couldn't do anything to me. Even if she tried, I could still take her down easy." "Oh really." said Maddie. The next thing I knew she had flipped Jake on his back and he was pinned down. Ashley and I couldn't believe our eyes. We were on the ground laughing our heads off and we were crying from laughing so much.

"You were saying." said Maddie. "Jake, you just got your butt kicked by a girl." I said still laughing. "Shut up, Jay!" said Jake angrily, "She could do that to you, you know." "She probably could, but would she?" "I might." said Maddie with a half-joking, sinister smile on her face. "Oh come on, Maddie! Really? You would really beat me up just because I fun of for Jake getting his butt kicked by you?" "No, but that might be a good reason if I ever do." "You'd better not beat me up because you might regret it later." "Oh. What could you possibly do to me that would make me regret it?" "Yah, Jay. What could you do to her? After all, you would never hit a girl." said Ashley mockingly. "I hit you, don't I?" "That's different. I'm your sister and last time I checked, boys don't hit their girlfriends." "Where did you get that from? Who told you?" "You just did."

"Yep. She's definitely our sister." said Jake. "Well, you taught her that." I said. "No, you taught her that. I taught her how to fight." said Jake. "Ah no. I taught her how to fight. You taught her how to manipulate someone with words." "Who cares who I learned what skill from. The point is is that I learned somehow and from someone." "Ashley is right you guys. So, stop fighting about who taught her what skill and just be glad that she can defend herself." "Yah, you're right, Maddie," said Jake, "now, let's go find your parents."