*Insert disclaimer here*

Well, here's a new chapter for you guys! Sorry for the long wait; I've just started Sixth Form, and I've had to study like crazy these past couple of weeks. Anyway, thanks to all of you that are still following this story; you guys are amazing ^^ So, without further ado, I give you Chapter 9 of 'Secrets'!


Chapter 9


"Urgh…what the hell…?"

Samantha's eyes opened, and she stared groggily into the expanse of her room. The room was still dark; she had to focus quite a bit on her alarm clock on her bedside table to see that it was still early.

"…5am? Are you shitting me?"

Usually she wouldn't use such language, but her mood was foul. Her sadness from last night had now morphed into pure anger, and a scowl had already plastered itself across her face. To put it blankly, she was pissed.

She rolled away from her bedside table, choosing instead to stare at her bedroom wall. She reached her hand out and traced the wall; the cold bumpy texture of it interesting her for a few short seconds before the boredom reared its ugly head again.

"Ugh! For crying out loud! Why me?" she grumbled, covering her head with her quilt, "Why the hell did I have to be the one who wakes up first?"

With an irritated huff, she scrambled out of bed, and walked into her bathroom.

"Well, no use trying to get back to sleep now. I'm friggin' awake," she mumbled, her eyes narrowing into slits as she began to run her bath.

"I doubt even Phineas and Ferb will be awake now."

The statement caught her off guard a little; she hadn't even realised that she had been thinking about the two boys.

"I wonder how Ferb is? He was acting kind of weird yesterday…" she murmured to herself; turning off the taps and disrobing. She stepped into the warm bath water, and a sigh of bliss left her mouth. Her muscles seemed to relax as she began to submerge herself in the water.

"Aah~ That's better…relaxing…wait a minute, I know!" she said excitedly, her bad mood seeming to vanish as she scrambled out of the bath tub. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself; marvelling in how soft the material was quickly, before running back into her bedroom. She dashed to her beside table, and pulled open one of her drawers. She rummaged through it; quickly finding what she was looking for. She pressed a button on her Ipod and the screen came to life. She slid her finger across the screen, unlocking the contraption and making a series of apps appear. She selected an orange looking square with a musical note on it, and a list then appeared. She walked back into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her, before selecting one of the songs from the massive list. There was a short pause, and then a calming piano melody started to play. She sighed deeply, and placed her Ipod on the side of the bath.

She allowed her towel to drop to the floor, and then she slid back into the bath; her eyes closing as the bubbles, warm water and piano in the background sent her into her happy place.

She soon found herself humming along to the melody, and the bath water swirled around her as the swayed a little to the music.

"Well…I better get ready. If I stay in here too long I'll end up a shrivelled old prune," Samantha said suddenly, sitting up and grabbing her conditioner, squirting a moderate amount into her hand. She massaged it into her scalp; her eyes closing at the nice feeling. And then she dunked her head completely under the water. Under the water, the sound of the music became muffled, and she simply listened to it for a few seconds; allowing herself to become hypnotised by the music once again.

Pretty soon, however, she had to come up for air. She gasped as her head hit the surface, and her eyes flung open wide. Her hair was now a red waterfall cascading down her back, and she reached backwards to grab a handful and wring it out gently. She grabbed her soap and massaged it in her hands; collecting suds and spreading them over her body. She then dipped her body back into the water; allowing the suds to be rinsed off.

With a hefty sigh she reached forward and pulled the plug, before standing and grabbing her towel. As her hand touched the fabric, a new song started up, this one a lot more upbeat and happy. She giggled a little bit, and wrapped her towel around herself and striking a pose before murmuring, "Victory!"

She laughed at her foolishness, before grabbing her Ipod and exiting the bathroom. She turned her music off immediately, and made her way to the wardrobe.

"Well…what to wear, what to wear…" she chanted as she opened her wardrobe doors; her fingers grazing the many fabrics of her outfits. She scanned her clothes, before she caught a flash of lilac out of the corner of her eye.

"…Yeah…" she smirked; pulling her item of choice out of her wardrobe. It was a knee-length lilac dress, sleeveless and a little bit frilly. Usually, she would have grimaced at the sight; she wasn't a very 'girly-girly frilly' kind of person, but today, she felt like she had to make an effort. She didn't know why, but for some reason, she felt like something was going to happen.

She grabbed her undergarments from the top drawer of her dresser and slid them on. An early morning chill was beginning to wrap around her body, which she thought was odd since it was the middle of summer. Her dress followed soon after; the silky fabric sliding across her skin easily. She gave herself a quick once-over in her wardrobe mirror, before grabbing a hairbrush and tugging through her fiery red locks. She could only exhale a hefty sigh when she noticed a clump of her hair fall to the floor.

"Damn stress. I hate what it does to my hair…" she grumbled, before picking up the stray clumps of hair, and discarding them in the nearby trash bin.

Now that she was clothed, she decided it was time to sort the rest of her out. She trudged back into the bathroom, and turned on the cold tap on her sink. She opened her medicine cabinet above her sink, and her hands gripped a toothbrush and some toothpaste. She yawned a little, and then proceeded to plaster her toothbrush with the mint-flavoured toothpaste.

As she brushed her teeth, Samantha took a good look at her face in the mirror. In all honesty, she looked a wreck; there were bags under her eyes due to the lack of sleep and the crying the night before, her skin was a tad paler than it should've been, and her hair - although just brushed - looked frizzy and unkempt.

Yep, she thought to herself, I'm a shit-show.

She rinsed out her toothbrush and her mouth with tap water before putting everything back into the cabinet, and walking back into her room. She sighed a little, before walking around the small space and picking up stray items; chargers for her technical things, notebooks, clothes. She put everything back where it belonged, before making her bed.

As she glanced around her now tidy room, she couldn't help but smile. It looked so much better now. And how long had it taken her? Only…Samantha face-palmed; it had only taken her 30 minutes. It wasn't even late enough to go downstairs.

With a sigh, she plonked down on her bed, and grabbed her oh-so-familiar X-Box controller and headset. She turned on the console, and allowed the screen on her TV to come to life; the bright white and green colours flashing across her vision making her happy.

No one was online, much to Samantha's dismay; she really needed some friends to talk to at the moment. But no matter, she still had her game. Without hesitation, she clicked on the Play Game option, and allowed the screen to fade to black as it loaded the game. She checked her bedside clock; 5:33. She had a while to play her game and level her team up.

The screen fading back into white caught her attention, and soon, the piano melody she had listened to earlier morphed into the title screen. She allowed a small smile to grace her lips; just listening to the music had calmed her greatly.

"Blue Dragon Farming EXP montage, here I come…"


"…Samantha? Please talk to me. I'm sorry…"

Samantha let out a hefty sigh, before turning her attention away from her book to glare at her father.

"What?"

Her tone was blunt; clearly showing that she was not in the mood for any of his games, nor had she forgiven him.

"…How are you?"

She knew what he meant, but she wasn't going to tell him how she really felt.

"Fine."

"…You get enough sleep?"

"Yes."

She turned her attention back to her book, trying to concentrate on the small print strewn across the page. Right now it looked like a completely different language.

"…Good book?"

"Well this sentence I keep reading is terrific! Admit it, Dad! You're trying to get on my good side, aren't you? Just because I insulted you and your son, you think you'll get me wrapped around your little finger this way, don't you? I'm not so stupid as to fall for something like that again, Dad! You should know that by now…" she snapped, instantly regretting her outburst when Francis walked up to her, an angry look on his face.

"Can't you see I'm trying to make this work, Samantha? I'm not trying to get you wrapped around my finger! I'm attempting to make you happy!"

"Well, fat lot of good that's doing! All you are doing is making me angry! Y'know, sometimes I wish you would just piss off back to your wife-"

Her retort was interrupted by a harsh slap; the sound echoing throughout the quiet living room. Samantha's head was turned to the side; the impact from her father's slap forcing her to do so. She was speechless; she had never been slapped before, even by her mother.

A moment passed; neither of them saying a word. It was then that a small aching began in Samantha's cheek, and she moved her head.

The glare she sent her father could have killed him.

In seconds, she was out of the house; sprinting as fast as she could to Phineas and Ferb's home. She didn't even care if her father ran after her anymore. She just wanted to be near someone who wouldn't hurt her.

"Hey, Samantha! How're…whoa…" Phineas' voice was the first to greet her as she yanked open their backyard gate; panting terribly as her cheek throbbed.

"Are you okay, Samantha? Hey; you're bleeding!" Phineas yelled, running over to her and pulling her into the backyard; closing and locking the gate behind him.

Samantha touched her cheek without thinking and winced; blood? Had her father's slap drawn blood? She took her hand away from her face to look. Sure enough, there was blood coating her fingertips. The sight shocked her into realisation, and suddenly the impact hit her full on. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and a choked sob passed through her clenched jaws. Her hands came up to shield her face, and she fell to her knees; beginning to cry.

"Samantha! Hey!" Phineas yelled; running over to her and pulling her into a tight hug. She leaned her head against Phineas' shirt; soaking it with saltwater tears.

"Sshh… it's okay, Samantha…it's okay…"

The words barely even registered with her, but she was glad that she could trust someone. In truth, she felt so betrayed right now it was painful.

"…It's all my fault," she whispered, "it's all my fault…"


Annnnd done! Yet another depressing chapter, lo and behold! Anyway, music for this chapter; the first one being Waterside from the Blue Dragon Soundtrack, and the second one being Thumbs Up! Also from the Blue Dragon Soundtrack! Yep; I loved that game! And I still love; six years after it was made! Anyway, until next time guys!

~Fallen~