Soooo...

because I felt bad for not uploading when I originally planned to, I decided to upload another chapter! Enjoy!

Review replies at the end of the chapter!


After kissing Aunt Carrie goodbye, the two started off towards school again. Usually, they took the bus at 6:40 and got to school around 7:00 but today, it was late.

It didn't help that it was hotter than the devil's armpit.

"Oh man," panted Jesse, "are we ever going to see the light after today?"

Jess shook her head weakly and collapsed onto the olive green bench. "We're lucky it's still early morning... Just imagine noon."

"Don't even let me think about it."

She suddenly pushed herself off the bench and stood up, back hunched. "Even the bench is hot..."

"You probably shouldn't stand next to me then," he crookedly smirked. She just rolled her eyes and wiped her forehead. "Shut up."

Jesse checked his phone and sighed. "6:55."

Jess just groaned super loudly and fanned herself.

Jesse's hands started to lose a grip on his phone from all the sweat on his hands, so he slid the small Cloud back into his pocket. With a huff and a sigh, he looked at his sister. "How many degrees do you think it is?"

She just looked at him back and shrugged. "Maybe 89 degrees? 92? Knowing California, it's probably 92." (A/N: Yes, they live in California :D)

"Probably is," he nodded before wiping some sweat from his neck. He was jealous of Jess- she got all the sweat on her forehead and nose while he got it on his back, neck, and underside of the chin. No wonder all his shirts smelled so bad.

"Oh my gosh, there's the damn bus!" she suddenly exclaimed while pointing down the street. He craned his neck to look past her and he shouted in joyous relief.

"YEEESSSSS!"

~*Ω*~

"Do we really want a table right now? It's sooo hot, I'd rather just be inside," Jesse said.

"Well, we gotta have a spot to sit in the mornings... Besides, I think people are going to fill up the classrooms because of the heat, which will make it hotter even with the AC on." Jess threw her backpack onto one of the tables in the quad and sat down, slouching.

"It'll be hot either way, Jess. But inside with everyone else will still be cooler than out here."

She rested her head on the table and sighed. "You do you. I'll just... stay out here..." Her eyes started to close slowly and Jesse shook his head.

"Don't overheat, sis. I don't want you to faint when I'm not here to catch you."

"Jay, I'll be fine... If need be, I can be cooled down in the nurse's office." The table was starting to pool up a puddle of sweat underneath her head and she frowned. Wiping the body fluid away, she decided to rest her head on her hands instead.

"Whatever you say. I'll be in the inside hallways."

"Okay. See you in second period."

Jesse went his separate way and Jess continued to inwardly curse the sun on her probably-drenched table.

~*Ω*~

"Petra?" The brown-haired twin stood still in surprise at the sight of the mysterious female a few feet away from his locker.

"Oh? Hey, Jesse." The auburn-haired teen flashed a cool smile at him.

He returned it and then leaned against the lockers, crossing his arms. "What are you doing in the boy's locker room?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be helping Coach Gabe get settled, but since he's a little distracted right now, I decided to try and... hmm... reclaim some property of mine."

"Property?" He took off his backpack, shirt, and suspenders and went up to his locker, cracking his lock.

"You don't need to know. Anyway, what are you doing? School hasn't even started yet." She raised an eyebrow and her eyes flicked to his shirt and torso.

"It's hot if you haven't noticed. I wanted to wear my PE clothes instead of my normal jeans and suspenders." He opened his locker and pulled out a different shirt and his PE shorts. Throwing the other shirt on, he then awkwardly smiled at Petra. "Could you... maybe go on the other side of the lockers for a bit?"

Petra simply stared at him and then turned around so her back faced him. "No need. Besides, I don't care about body shapes and whatever. I've seen you shirtless and in your boxers a lot of times, remember?"

He quickly put on his shorts and rubbed his neck awkwardly, accidentally wiping a lot of sweat onto his hand. "Y-yeah, well..." All he could emit was a nervous laugh.

"Done yet?"

"Um, yeah, yeah... You can turn around."

She looked over her shoulder and then turned around fully. "You know, I can see way more of your muscles when you have your PE clothes on." Jesse stiffened and gave her a sideways glance with wide eyes. She shrugged. "When you have your normal clothes on, you look like a bundle of sticks."

He socked her shoulder.

"Ha, but really, though, have you been working out? You seem a lot more fit than last time I saw you."

He threw his old clothing into his locker and slammed it shut after relaxing, locking it. "Jess and I have been working more on the farm and we've been sparring in the old barn. It's pretty fun; We've been getting really good at hand-to-hand combat. We haven't been going all out, of course. Both of us would be in the hospital."

"Nice," Petra said with a small grin. "With my new job, I've been having to learn a lot of self-defense and I've been fighting a lot of things."

"By job, do you mean the whole underground trader thing? And by 'fighting a lot of things,' do you mean sometimes you get attacked?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you wanna call it. The buyers often give me puzzles or they try to deceive me and cheat me out of my deals. I usually solve the puzzles and when they try to break my deal, I go after them and either get what I originally was supposed to get or keep the item I was trading. They try to fight their way out sometimes, but I win most of the time." She quickly winked.

"That's kind of shifty, isn't it? Asking for one thing but then another unexpected thing happens instead?"

"Doesn't matter to me. For the right price, I'll make a deal with anyone. Besides, have you ever seen... a Wither core?"

Jesse's eyes became wider than the medals he received in fourth grade for being a good sport and he focused all his attention on her. "Don't say that out loud!" he whisper-shouted. "Where'd you even get a Wither core? Those things weren't produced anymore after in 2010!"

"I have connections, Jesse. And I have quite a few. But it was a pain in the ass to get it... I had to go through a lot of trouble to even talk to the guy who knew where the last manufactured batch was being stored."

He gently grabbed her shoulders and stared right at her. "Petra, Wither cores are super powerful in terms of energy and processing. They stopped manufacturing them to prevent them ending up in the wrong hands- are you sure trading the cores with this guy is safe? What's his deal, anyway?"

"My contact is strange and is a bit socially impeded but everybody's got their own thing. Plus, I'm not wasting all that time I spent going through the Nether. It took a long time just to even find the abandoned storage unit. As long as he's willing to pay- I earned that stack of 2000 dollars."

"You- wait, you went through the Nether? How long ago was this?"

"... Last night? I came home around four in the morning."

"So, in a single night, you walked through the Nether with everything smelling of death and fire, probably fought a few Ghasts, and got a bunch of Wither cores which shouldn't be legal to have without a government license. I mean, I DID become acquaintances with Gabriel and get jumped by a bunch of Order of the Stone haters with knives and stuff, but still. It's pretty cool being you, huh?" He wiped off some more sweat which had been dripping off his chin but he noticed there had been less sweat than 15 minutes ago.

She looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds before shifting some of her weight to one leg and placing a hand on her waist. "You know, you could come with me..."

Jesse's mouth slightly opened and he blinked in surprise. She started to walk out of the locker room and he grabbed his backpack and ran after her.

When he had caught up with her outside, she coolly put her hands in her short pockets. "I mean, if you're too nervous, I totally get it. But I wouldn't mind a little backup."

He opened his mouth as to say something but nothing came out. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "You want me, to come with you."

"Consider it my charitable act for the day," she said in a flowing manner. A smooth smile followed.

"I'll consider it whatever you want me to consider it- so long as I get to come," he chuckled with a glance to the ground.

Petra looked at her watch and she sighed. "Well, I think Coach Gabe is done with his soul-searching. I better get back to him. See ya later, Jesse."

"See ya." He watched the auburn-haired girl in admiration as she swayed away with a light, quick pace.

~*Ω*~

A small groan left her lips as a bead of liquid streamed down her cheek. "Humidity is nothing, Jess, you can live... it was hotter on the farm... You're fine..."

A much larger groan escaped her mouth and she half threw her torso back. "Who am I kidding? It's burning." Slapping some water off her forehead, she took a glimpse of her phone, wondering if Olivia had answered her text yet. There was nothing- and Axel hadn't even looked at the awesome meme she sent him half an hour ago.

Jess rested her head on one of her arms (again?) and tapped her chin rhythmically. "Since there's pretty much nobody here, maybe I could sneak into the choir room... And the choir teacher doesn't come until 7:45." She smiled to herself and stood up, putting her backpack on.

"Adventure!" she grinned.

~*Ω*~

Jess looked around her before slowly unlocking the door, turning the pins around so it stayed open. Taking out the paper clip, she listened to the hinges creak as she slid into the classroom, attempting to close the door quietly behind her.

The lights automatically turned on and she could hear the sound of the AC starting up. Good. Now she wouldn't sing in the scorching heat. She would be singing in the comfortable cool instead.

Digging through some file cabinets nearby, she found what she had been looking for and closed the drawer with a little whistle.

"Listen to the sounds above, they're calling out to you," she hummed underneath her breath. "Waking up won't save the voice screaming through."

"You'll find a way, you'll break the glass, the shards we call fate will all fall apart-

Don't make a noise, don't make a peep, just listen to me and hear the songful art."

She giggled as she flipped through another page of the sheet music and tapped a black key on the dusty baby grand piano in the corner of the room. They weren't supposed to learn this song until January, but she decided to be a few steps ahead.

With the way she was singing, she was glad it was only her in the lonely classroom. Nevertheless, she had fun and continued to belt out high notes, knowing her choir teacher would reprimand her later for using her voice so carelessly.

A little frog in her throat wouldn't be a problem for only a day.

~*Ω*~

"Hey, Jess," called out the male twin. "Yeah?" responded the female.

"I'm going to come home later, so you don't have to wait for me today, okay?"

"Why's that?"

"I'm gonna be with Petra for a bit. She's taking me to see something cool."

"Oh," smiled she, "have fun then." Her brother grinned back at her. "Thanks, sis." He walked away, leaving Jess alone on the crowded concrete path, a bittersweet yet rueful smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

~*Ω*~

Since her voice was ragged-sounding from her solo concert in the morning, she didn't sing in chorus. She didn't have the power to sing either.

Her brother was getting closer to Petra and they were hanging out more. He was smiling more. Jess was happy for him but why was she so envious of him? There was no reason for her to wish she spent more time Petra- she actually wanted Jay to get closer to Petra because she knew things he didn't.

Then why was she so jealous?

The thoughts weighed down on her shoulders and she felt herself being dragged down. Her strength was slowly being drained, and she simply crossed her arms as she sat in her seat, unaware of the carefully pitched voices around her.

It's just Petra and Jay.

It's just Jay and Petra.

I don't understand.

She held her head, unsure about the sudden change in mood and atmosphere. Why had everything become a shade darker? Why was the whiteboard looking a little gray? It wasn't because of a black marker that was carelessly wiped off- it was just... gray.

A dog barked in the distance and she snapped back to class. The choir teacher was standing behind the baby grand piano and was conducting "Lux Aurumque," holding his hand out gingerly to keep everyone's voice soft.

The sopranos held out a soft yet dark tone and she blinked a few times. The baritones sang a deep note and shook the whole classroom.

The tenors resounded throughout the floors and the walls, entering the song with a powerful blast of energy, and Lukas glanced at her, retreating when he saw her glare back at him.

Forget this stupid emotion. She wasn't going to let it bring her down for the rest of the day. She was going to continue to do her best and give it her all.

She stood up and sang with a powerful vibrato, bringing in an entirely new element into the sacred harmony.

Lukas stole another glance at her when she wasn't looking and softly smiled as he quieted down.


RapidSammi - hEY LOOK! ANOTHER CHAPTER :D Also that's pretty much me whenever I do anything exercise related

sailor . mikuchan - I heard there was a song called that but I never actually listened to it hmm