CrazyA: Hey you guys! Back with another chapter!

Jack: That's right! And this one is, by direct Jess-quotes, is 'totally fluffed-up'

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7. Good Thinking
'As I burn another page, as I look the other way, I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane'- Diary of Jane, Breaking Benjamin

Jane fell backward, completely blown away by the hit. It was more shock than anything else that made her cry. Never had her dad hit her before. And over something so little as this...

"Jane..." her father started, his eyes softening a little. Jane just got up, put the trash in the bin with a shaking hand, and slowly walked upstairs. Jack heard her steps creak as she made her way, and her quiet sobs echoed in the empty silence that filled the house.

"Steven," her mother said. "What have you done?"

"I was trying to teach the runt a little lesson!" he fumed.

"So you punched her in the face?!?"

"It was a slap, Gwen!"

"It might as well have been a punch!" she cried, her face turning red. "Can't you see how badly it's affecting her? She's going through a rough time now, and we're not helping her if we get fussed about something as little as groceries!!"

Jack just watched on, unable to move from this awkward situation. As they fought and fought, getting louder and louder, he sighed and slowly crawled out from his dark hiding-spot, quickly chasing Jane up the stairs without being seen.

She was in a tight little ball, leaning against the far side of the room. Her skull-candy headphones were clamped to her ears, and Jack could listen to her playlist even from across the room. Her eyes were tightly shut, and she didn't even know that Jack was standing right in front of her.

"Please stop..." she whispered over and over again. "Please stop, please stop..."

Jack watched her, not sure what he should do. He could tell her to get over it, quit her whining, and move on. He could spin a wheel of 'it's okay, don't cry, you'll be fine.' But when it came to it, he only did one thing...

...he sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.

Jane blinked, shocked at the act, but didn't struggle. She stopped whispering her chant, and her breathing slowed down to a normal pace. The fast, hot tears that exploded in her eyes dried up, and she slowly closed her eyes... peace at last.

"Thanks..." she whispered in a hoarse voice. That crying really took it out of her. She rubbed her eyes stubbornly, trying to seem stronger than she actually felt.

"It's okay," Jack said quietly. "You don't have to hide any tears when it comes to something as twisted as this... you must be terrified."

Jane shrugged her shoulders, her knees pulling in tighter and tighter. "Not terrified... more angry than anything else..."

"Jane my girl, if you're not scared of that then you must be fearless..." he said, smiling widely at her. She smiled back, resting her chin between her knees. "What are you scared of then?"

"Don't laugh, because I know it sounds stupid..." she warned, chuckling slightly. "... Dying alone..."

Jack blinked. It seemed so strange for such a young girl to be worried about never being loved. She had her whole life ahead of her, and yet she was worried about that. But then again... that spell of his might have an effect.

"What about you?" she suddenly asked. "What are you afraid of?"

Jack blinked and looked away, his arm retreating as he curled up his own legs and copied her position. "None of your beeswax..." he muttered.

Jane looked away, both hurt and disappointed, and looked out the window instead. The white wonderland lay beneath her, making her feel slightly more at peace. The angry, loud-as-hell song she was listening to just became white noise to her as she let out a wistful sigh. Jack heard the sigh, mistaking it as one of disappointment. "Fine... I'm scared of the knight that should've killed me off... happy?"

Jane looked back over to him. "Why didn't you want to tell me? It isn't embarrassing or anything if that was what you were worried about."

Jack shrugged. "I'd just rather not think about it, that's all."

"Good point..." Jane said quietly. She wanted to ask more questions, but was too scared to. She didn't want to be shunned out again by him. Plus, it might've brought up some bad memories. So instead, she looked him up and down and asked as politely as she could... "Did you want to have a shower?"

"Say what?"

"What," Jane said with a smile. Jack smiled back, chuckling with her at her small but funny joke. "But seriously, you might be wanting one after ages and ages going without."

"Good point," Jack said, still getting over his chuckles. "But one problem, how are you going to sneak me to the bathroom?"

Jane thought it over for a minute before staring at where a neck should've been on Jack's body. "Is your head removable?"

Jane crept carefully down the stairs, Jack's headless body taking exact footsteps behind her. If someone were looking at her from the front, then all they would see was just Jane carefully making her way down the stairs with her unusually-heavy-looking toiletries bag.

"Jane, you're probably one of the smartest teenage girls I've met in a long time..." said her black-laced bag.

"And soon I'll be one of the most punished girls you've ever met if you don't keep quiet..." Jane hissed, lightly swatting the pumpkin hidden inside.

"I can't help talking if there's a can of deodorant shoved up my ass."

Jane paused in her steps, wondering how the heck that was possible if he was just a talking pumpkin, before shrugging and continuing the path. She reached the bottom of the stairs and quickly scooted away from the kitchen where her parents were still fighting about what her father had done and to the bathroom.

Once Jack's body quickly tip-toed into the tiled room, Jane closed and locked the door silently. She opened up the bag and pulled out Jack's head, setting it down beside the sink while and leaning back casually on the counter-top.

"We're going to have to be quick about this," Jane said in a whisper. She walked over to the shower-taps, the headless body moving out of her way as she went past it. With a few grunts and finger-strains, she turned on the taps and smiled at the sound of water hitting the floor of a bath.

"At least we can talk a little louder now," she said with a smile, facing Jack's head. "But it's going to be hard to convince my parents there's only one person in here if I have an hour-long shower. So..." she looked down at a watch on her wrist, setting a timer for ten minutes. "This... should... help."

Jane just stared at her blankly before opening his mouth to make a sarcastic comment. "This isn't mission impossible, you know."

"Well when a pumpkin-headed stranger suddenly explodes into your life, you would do the same thing," Jane answered back. She turned to his body, which was just standing there with nothing better to do. "Now get undressed already, you're wasting time."

She turned around and faced her back to his body, looking instead at the pumpkin sitting on her bathroom sink. Jack smirked as a painful blush spread across Jane's face at the sound of a belt being unbuckled. She glared at him and faced the towel-rack, trying to avoid him entirely. She folded her arms across her chest, waiting for the sound of the curtains to be drawn closed so that she could turn around again.

Jack whistled his favourite tune as he stripped off, throwing his clothes in the corner of the room. It was Jane's decision for him to do this, so he was going to make it last. That way, when she snapped at him she would be the one to take the blame.

And he loved it when that happened.

He stepped in the bathtub and pulled the curtain to a close, Jane turning around at last. All she could see (if she wanted to watch him shower, that is) was a black, headless silhouette behind the plastic yellow flowers of the curtain. She turned to the pumpkin and studied him, coming up close to him and looking at him all over.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked, getting more irritated by the second.

"Don't you need to clean up, too?" Jane asked. "Don't you grow mould or anything?"

"Meh, I'm alright."

"What about your teeth? If you want to give them a once-over then I'm sure I can get a spare toothbrush from somewhere..."

"Kid, I'm fine," Jack growled. If he wasn't busy in the shower, he would've been strangling her by now. But then he saw the bruise slowly developing on her cheek and shook the thought from his mind. She had been through enough already.

But Jane was already rummaging through cupboards, finding the one thing she knew he needed. "I told you, I don't need a stupid toothbrush!" Jack growled again. Jane shook her head and pulled out a tiny red box, opening it up to reveal a match.

"I gotta say it Jack," she said as she tried striking it. "I like you better when you're lit up." The head of the match turned to black, surrounded by the flickering orange warmth, and she carefully walked back over to Jack. "Open wide, okay?"

He did, stretching his mouth as far as he could until she could fit nearly her entire hand in there. Jane was surprised how big it was, even though he had been giving the same Cheshire-cat grin ever since they met to show off that size.

She lit the wick and pulled out, shaking the match until the ambers faded and the flame died out. Jack's eyes flickered back into life, and he gave her another smile. She smiled back and retreated back to the cupboard, leaving the matches out on the sink-top.

"Question: Why do you have a set of matches in there?" Jack asked. Jane pulled out several candles, lining them up in a row along the sink-top.

"The same reason why I have these," she said as she pulled out candle after candle.

"In case a devilishly charming pumpkin came knocking upon your bathroom door?" Jack asked, raising a sly eyebrow.

Jane chuckled and shook her head. "Just in case there's a blackout or something... plus, candles can be very soothing after a rough night." She paused for a minute, thinking what she just said over in her mind. "Hey, do you mind if I-"

"Go ahead," Jack answered. Jane smiled and started lighting more candles, turning off the light afterwards, just as the ten-minute timer went off on her wrist. She quickly picked up a towel and threw it through the curtains, Jack's blind hands catching it easily. The water still running in the background, he wrapped it around his waist and stepped out.

"You're in," Jack said. Jane smiled and turned around, facing the bathtub, and got ready for her strip. Since Jack didn't have any pyjamas or any other clothes to wear, he just pulled the same outfit back on. He carefully placed his head back on his shoulders and started doing up the buttons of his shirt. But as he did up the button on his collar, he got a glimpse in the mirror of a side-on Jane unbuttoning her dress.

She was... curvy.

The reflection turned around and blinked at Jack, her bra nearly falling off her chest and her dress around her ankles. "No peeking, naughty pumpkin!" she cooed, giggling madly. Jack yelped in surprise, still staring at the reflection of Jane. Her pale body glowed in the candle-light, and her bare skin revealed her close-to-flat stomach.

"Hey!" she yelled, fading Jack's imagination-bubble away. "Didn't you hear me?!? Quit perving!"

Jack yelped again and turned around, not getting the image out of his mind. It was kinda creepy seeing her like that... being 'flirty'. It just didn't match up right. Jane, blushing madly, quickly got rid of everything else and hopped in the shower.

An awkward silence filled the air, only to be broken occasionally by Jack's whistling. He was looking away from the shower, but for one minute he couldn't help himself. He looked over to the shower, seeing her silhouette in a perfect curvaceous line. His whistling died down as he lost focus on it, more and more amazed that one tiny teenager could hit puberty so fast.

Special delivery from the boob-fairy.

"You better not be looking when I get out of here," Jane said as she struggled to turn off the taps. With a strain, they finally turned to a close and she reached around the curtains for a towel. After wrapping it tightly around her chest, cutting the fabric way above her knees, she stepped out.

Luckily, Jack had enough sense to pretend that he hadn't been watching her. He looked away from the sink and to Jane, wide-eyed and pretending it was the first time she had revealed that much skin. The bruise on her cheek didn't distract him from everything else about her, especially the tight dancer's legs that showed off underneath the white material of the towel.

"Can you turn around again?" she asked. Her brown eyes were glowing in the candle-light, and the water droplets dripping off her skin were like fairy-lights. As much as he hated to admit it... Jack thought Jane was... well... beautiful. He nodded and turned around, listening to the sound of her hands rummaging through the toiletries bag, pulling out her pyjamas.

Making sure he was fully turned around with no mirror in sight, Jane pulled on her PJs faster than ever before and gave a quick spray of deodorant. She walked past Jack and to the door as he finished blowing out the last candle, leaving the only light in the room as himself. Jane looked around the corner, seeing that her parents were still fighting. They didn't even notice that their only child had gotten out of the shower.

"Hey, don't I need to be in there?" Jack asked, pointing at the toiletries bag in her hand.

"They won't notice us..." Jane muttered. "Even if we had a million and two cymbals crashing our way through the house, they wouldn't even blink."

Jack stared at Jane for a minute, a smirk on his face. "A million and two?"

"It's my favourite number," Jane replied with a shy smile. She walked out naturally, but still quickly in case she wasn't right. Jack followed closely, relaxing once they were out of ear-shot and half-way up the stairs.

When they reached the top, the first thing they saw was the lonely king-sized single. And then came the other problem...

"So... who's sleeping where?" Jane asked, turning to him for the answer.

"Well obviously I get the bed. Seeing as I've owned it for hundreds of years until you showed up," Jack answered.

"Hell no! It's my bed!" Jane cried. "I'm not giving it up! Besides... it's comfy..."

"Exactly! So I'm gonna sleep in it!"

"No, I am!"

"I am!"

"I am!!"

"I call dibs!"

"Real mature, Mr Potato-head!"

"It's a pumpkin!"

"Whatever, same difference," she shrugged off, folding her arms and turning away from him. In their angry silence, a light bulb 'pinged' into Jane's mind. She tried pushing the bulb away, but it kept pushing back until she let out a sigh and gave in.

"Jack, get in the bed..."

"I'm glad to see you're finally seeing reason..." he said, smirking with absolute smugness.

But Jane shook her head, "You didn't let me finish... you have to get in backwards." Jack blinked and started walking backwards to the patchwork-covered mattress. Jane laughed, shaking her head as she walked past him and to the bed. "Get in with your head at the foot of the bed... so that your feet are at the head..."

"You have no idea how weird that sounds," Jack commented, walking normally now.

"Actually, I've got a pretty good idea..." Jane replied. She watched as he unpicked the sheets at the end of the bed, took off his shoes, and folded the blankets over the top of him. Jane sighed and threw him the pillow, knowing that it would be uncomfortable to sleep with his head digging into the wooden panels.

"Thanks," he replied, resting his head on it. "But just wondering... why do I have to sleep like this?"

Jane sighed and pulled back the covers at the top of the bed. "So that I've got room to sleep, too... now scooch over, I've got barely anything here."

"Wait a minute, we're sleeping together?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Don't be such a sook," Jane replied, yawning halfway through. "Today's been exhausting and I really want to get some sleep." She put her head down on the mattress, closing her eyes.

"I guess you're right..." Jack said stubbornly. "But I still reckon that I should've got the bed to myself... goodnight."

"Goodnight..."