A/N: Since it took me forever to update, here's a nice, not long at all, totally small, short and sweet summary of past events. I'm really sorry, and I actually mean that truthfully, because I was being a little asswipe about not updating. :(

Addie's dad and Charlotte's mom get together and everyone moves in_Addie goes to a sleepover and hears the rumors about Lilith Dark_"Lilith Dark" appears at a bonfire on the beach and pushes Capucine into the fire pit (yikes!)_"BlackCandyHearts" spams Addie's Facebook_Gossip emerges about the death of freshman Damian Cook_Addie meets Charlotte's ex, Jett (the breakup was said to have been caused by Lilith)_Addie meets Zane_Addie and Charlotte take Charlotte's cousin Tandy trick-or-treating, and during the car ride Charlotte explains to Addie about Lilith threatening her and that one of these threats including her breakup with Jett or it would mean his death_Charlotte goes to a party, and Addie and Tandy meet Zane and his little brother Brian while trick-or-treating_They meet Castiel and he and Addie secretly want to screw each other_They leave and are stalked by "Lilith"_Addie goes to look for Charlotte and leaves Tandy and Brian with Zane_"Lilith" chases the three into Siren Woods, where confusion ensues for Addie when she follows as Zane shoves her to the ground and gets shot in the shoulder, she blacks out_Tandy runs to Castiel's house and he calls the police_Addie wakes up on the edge of Siren Woods in a crime scene with cops and shit_A body has been found_Taegan tells Charlotte and Addie that it was the body of Lilith Dark_Addie has a coffee run with Castiel and a pep talk with Lysander_Addie finds diaries on the history of Sweet Amoris that are written by a "Camille Dark"_She passes out in the library and has a dream about Lilith killing Charlotte and herself_Wakes up to find Castiel leaning over her and he walks her home and there's some nice sexual tension_Charlotte receives a threatening text from who she believes to be Lilith_Zane tells Addie his fears of Lilith being a ghost and tells her of a time when he and Jett found out that Lilith had it out for Charlotte_Addie finds information regarding Camille Dark's father being the founder of Sweet Amoris, then known as Chorus_Alexy tells Addie that Leilani Armstrong, a senior at Sweet Amoris, died_Inside look at the deaths of Damian and Leilani, the latter mentioning a mild restraining order between Zane and Jett which resulted in Zane being moved to Addie's history class_Addie and Charlotte find out that Cadence had been cheating on her husband and Charlotte's father, Antonio, with Addie's father, Taegan_Addie is furious, believing it to be a disgrace to her mother, Jacqueline, who died when Addie was seven from a drinking problem, and Taegan remarks that he and Jacqueline were never together to begin with_Addie drives to the school in a rage, where she runs into Castiel, and they have a little moment.

It's very confusing, and when I finish this story I'll probably go back and rewrite these first eight or so chapters. Questions? Pm me, and reviews are lovely, inspiring things, but no flames. Pointless comments, I can deal with.

There's a lot of profanity in here. Hm. I should probably change the rating...

Disclaimer: I don't own My Candy Love

Chapter 9—The Tsunami

Sunday, November 15

"This is probably the first time you've ever let me in your room. Hey, I haven't seen Olga around lately. Did she get fired?" I remarked, shutting Charlotte's door behind me. Her brown hair and a golden hue to it with the light of the morning shining through her window as she lounged against her pillows, looking down at the screen of her phone as her thumb wiped across the front of it, and her eyes, which never settled on one shade of green, looked to be particularly brilliant emerald today.

"Yeah. We don't really need her. And don't get used to it. I have something to show you."

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes—or, at least, what sleep I had gotten. I'd stayed in the school for an hour, and I'd given Castiel a vague explanation for the bawling, telling him about my mom's death and the predicament with Charlotte's parents and my dad. He hadn't said much, but he'd stayed with me; when we released each other, the absence of his body heat like winter laughing in my face, we'd walked to the staircase and sat down, shoulders touching, looking out the window perpendicular to us, the hallway stretching down past the corners of the walls. The sun had been down by then, due to autumn's tight grip on the town. For a while, we just sat there, shoulders and arms and hips and legs gracing the others' with their presence. But due to the never-ending string of texts from my dad, I ended up leaving, although when I inquired about Castiel's being there, he replied that he had been there with Lysander, who was probably wondering where he was.

When I got home, the house was silent; I passed Dad and Cadence's door, but the light was out and there was no sound. I doubted either of them were asleep, considering the excitement of what had just occurred, but I'd only had a few freak-outs like this in my life, and the way my dad generally dealt with them was to let me blow off some steam and act like it didn't happen. It was an extremely masculine thing to do, and, frankly, I thought that Diesel had always handled things better.

My dad was a good parent. There was no doubt about that. But, he fell somewhat shy of the standards, or expectations. Even though he often referred to me as his "little girl" he was pretty lenient with me, and pretty trustworthy, even if he didn't always agree with the way I acted and the way I dressed. And when problems arose, he usually got angry and blew his lid, then paraded in a counterfeit normality. My brother, Diesel, had been more of a problem-solver when he was still around and not away at college. I missed him often—we had been practically joined at the hip, and our relationship had never suffered any damage growing up.

"Yay, more surprises," I said snidely. "Just what I need."

"Yeah, I doubt you're going to like this, but it's important, so suck it up," Charlotte responded. "It's about Lilith."

Shit. "Did you get another text?" I asked, walking up and flopping onto the bottom of the bed as if it were my own.

"No..." she paused, a frightened look crossing her features briefly. "No. These are old, and they have to do with what happened last night."

A mixture of suspicion and fear welled up within me as I crawled up and sat against the pillows as well, but at a decent distance from my step-sister. Damn, her bed was soft. "What?"

She angled the screen of her phone towards me. I squinted and leaned in, seeing a screenshot of a text conversation. The label at the top of the messages said, "Freakshow".

I don't see why you insist on harassing me with empty threats. Honestly, you're pathetic.

I'm pathetic? Darling, what's pathetic is you prancing around as if your life is perfect and Mommy and Daddy are happily together and love you SO much.

What the hell are you even talking about? You don't know anything about me or my life. You're a complete wannabe and a whore who gets what she wants by giving up a used putty-tat.

Well, I'm getting a good screwing, and...

Charlotte swiped her phone screen, revealing a continuation of the conversation.

...you're just getting dumped!

"Didn't she threaten to kill Jett if you didn't—"

"This was before that. She sent me that text the third day after she left school, and I never heard from her until the text I got...the text I got last week."

I frowned. "Did Jett dump you?"

"We..." she faltered. "If you tell anyone this, I'll make you regret it—"

"Do you take lines from Amber?" I interrupted. "Just get on with it. I don't run around repeating things like Capucine or publishing them like Peggy."

"Lilith started this rumor—"

"You got pregnant."

"I am NOT," she snarled. "It was a stupid freaking rumor. Will you let me finish?"

"Ugh. Yeah."

"Anyway," Charlotte huffed, "she started that rumor, and a bunch of others, like that Jett had cheated on me, things about me being lesbian—"

"Ew."

"—that we had threesomes with my friends, that it was incest, all this disgusting crap that just makes me sick to my stomach," she spat out. "And she would get other kids to act like it was true and to spread it more and more. The day she sent me that text, the rumors were still around, and Jett and I were always fighting over them because so many people believed them, so he broke up with me. He said he couldn't take it anymore."

"And that stopped them?"

"Lilith wasn't around to make any more, so they died out," she replied bitterly. "And because there was talk that I had started them, Jett never tried to get back with me. He hasn't talked to me since then, really. And now he's looking at you."

I scowled. "Seriously Charlotte, that was one time, and he was being a dick. Either way, Castiel scared him off," I said with a flip of the hand.

She groaned. "I know. Amber was pissed."

"About her..." I started, drawing her attention, "How did she react to those rumors? Were you guys friends?"

Charlotte furrowed her brow. "Yes. She, Li and I were all friends. And they started other ones, about Lilith. They were on my side."

My eyes widened before I could stop them. "They defended you? I mean, in their catty, bitchy way, but they actually defended you?"

"Of course!" she snapped. "Despite what you may think, no one is one-dimensional."

"I know, but I think I and everyone else was under the impression that they would ditch you if that kind of thing happened."

"Shut up, you have to see the rest of this. My mom and your dad are probably going to come up here at some point and confront us about last night, so you need to read this." She put the phone back into my line of sight.

Oh, bullshit. Jett loves me, and I love him.

Haha! He's going to leave you just like your daddy did!

My dad never left me, he's still with me. Are you just randomly throwing out whatever comes into your head to hit home?

Oh, Cherry, you don't understand! :) That bastard left you even after he screwed over my mother. Apparently Auntie wasn't good enough for him, either!

What are you talking about? You're totally insane! If you keep this up, I'm fucking reporting you to the police!

But sweetie, then you would never get any answers. ;) Ciao!

"Gilipollas," I muttered.

"What?"

"You're a fucking dumbass for not reporting her," I snapped. "Do you see what she's getting at?"

"It sounded like she meant my family and hers were somehow connected. But at the time I thought she meant my dad leaving all the time on business, which he did a lot. I thought maybe she was insinuating that my dad was cheating on my mom with Lilith's mom—I don't know if she meant her biological mom, or her foster mom, because she was adopted."

"That's kind of what it sounds like. But what does she mean by 'Auntie'?"

"This is it," Charlotte said vaguely. "I never understood it, but...I think it has something to do with what we just found out."

I stared at her. "How did Lilith know anything about your life?"

"I don't know," she moaned. "Some things she knew from the school files, I'm sure. She always got into those. Nathaniel caught her once, and she tried to come onto him—"

From my bra, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out and, to my complete shock, the screen read, New Message: Sabrina.

"What the hell?" I maundered.

"Who is Sabrina?" Charlotte queried. "What an overused name."

I gave her a dry look. "She's my friend from my old town."

"Okay? So why is it such a big deal?"

"She hasn't texted me since before I moved," I explained, just as my phone buzzed again and this time, the screen said, New Message: Aeron.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed. "I haven't even—oh, fuck me, did I even break up with him? I am such a jackass! It's been months!"

Charlotte barked a laugh. "Did you forget to break up with your boyfriend? How is that even possible?"

"I...I think I did...he left me a note, did I text him that night? Wait, I remember...oh, thank God."

"What?" Charlotte drilled in amusement.

"I broke up with him after he gave me the note. He put it in Beau's collar, right before I broke up with him. I found it later," I replied.

Charlotte stared at me. "You're a bitch."

"He knew I was going to—"

"He knew?" she interrupted. "God, you are a bitch!"

"I'm a bitch? Hello, the only girls bitchier than you are Amber and Lilith!"

"How can you just make a joke out of that?" she demanded. "This is serious! She texted me not that long ago!"

"I find lots of things funny."

"She chased you down on Halloween! You can not be serious!"

"I totally am," I deadpanned, opening up the message from Aeron first.

Hey

I almost laughed. What a weird time for just "hey". I opened Sabrina's message before replying, curious about the simultaneous timing.

Hey

I rolled my eyes and went back to reply to Aeron.

Hey!

"Is he good-looking?" Charlotte interrogated, looking thoroughly interested.

"Yeah," I replied halfheartedly. "He is."

How are you?

Good. You?

Great, I was just checking on you :) Diesel texted me saying he couldn't get a hold of you or your dad. Since I hadn't heard from you I figured he was legit

"Diesel?" I muttered aloud. I didn't remember get any calls or texts from him, but I might have dismissed them last night when my dad was trying to get ahold of me in the school.

Sure enough, when I checked my recent calls, I found that Diesel had called me three times around the time I had been listening to Cadence's conversation on the phone, and four more when I was with Castiel. Instantly, I felt guilty for making him worry.

Oh, I was busy, I didn't realize he called

Yeah. No biggie, he wasn't panicking or anything lol. How's life over there? What's your new school like?

"Wow, he sure is a sweetheart," Charlotte said in a monotone, leaning in. "Most guys really don't care."

"He doesn't care, he's just trying to make conversation. He knows what girls like."

"Why would you break up with him then? You're so stupid," she sneered.

I rolled my eyes. "Hello, five hour drive. And I wasn't that into him."

"Five's not that bad."

I ignored her.

Fine, and pretty cool actually

Yeah? What are the kids like?

Great, they're really easy to get along with. It's...pretty interesting around here right now

Meaning...?

There's just a lot of excitement, like—

Charlotte snorted. "Can you stop texting your boy toy and help me figure this out? I have a bad taste in my mouth. Besides, isn't Castiel enough?"

—some crap on Castiel happened

"What—damn!" I snarled, glaring daggers at Charlotte as I realized what I had typed in.

"...That makes no sense," she stated, nodding her head at my screen.

"I know," I snapped. "It got all messed up when you were talking!"

Charlotte smirked. "He's on your mind so much, you have to tell your heartbroken ex about him!"

I was about to reply when a knock came on the door. "Addie. Charlotte."

"That'd be your dad," Charlotte muttered.

Wonderful, shit was about to go down. I ignored the confused text from Aeron and put my phone back in my bra, calling out in more than a statement than a question, "What?"

Dad let himself in as soon as I uttered the words. Cadence followed him in, her cerulean eyes round and sad as he shut the door behind her. "I suppose we owe you two some answers," she lamented. I didn't miss the estranged look on my dad's face as he saw Charlotte and I sitting on the bed, looking somewhat peaceful.

"Um, yeah," Charlotte said haughtily.

Cadence strolled to the edge of the bed and sat, while Dad remained standing. "...I'm assuming you two overheard my phone call to my...to Antonio," Cadence began warily.

We didn't reply. We must have looked ridiculous, like a pair of unlike catty teenage girls who had bonded over some sort of secret out of a movie.

Oh, wait.

"I...I'm sorry I never told you, Charlotte."

"Well, you were cheating, so it's to be expected," said girl replied harshly. Cadence winced.

"Listen, girls," Dad said, rubbing the back of his neck and sighing. "I mentioned that there was more to the story than that. And there is—a lot more."

I sent a poisonous look his way. "Great," I snarled.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "If you want the damn truth, Addie, then you should know that you've believed a lie you conjured up yourself your whole life."

I recoiled. "Excuse me?"

He paused, seeming to regret the phrasing of his words. His forest-green gaze softened so much, if I didn't know him better, I would think him about to cry. He opened his mouth, then closed it, and Cadence sat with her lips pursed. They seemed to be on the edge of anticipation, and that made me extremely nervous.

"Jacqueline..." he faltered.

"Weren't together, yeah, yeah," I huffed. "Please, elaborate, I would love to know how I lied to myself subliminally."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I need you to stay calm. Both of you," he added, glancing at Charlotte. "Because I don't have any idea how to soften the blow."

I felt as if I were shrinking. This conversation was going much faster down a much steeper, taller hill than I had anticipated. A strand of hair fell into Charlotte's face, but she didn't move at all.

"Jacqueline and I were not together," he exhaled. "I wasn't lying. Because Jacqueline is Cadence's sister."

Charlotte was rigid.

Me?

I was numb.

At our lack of response, Dad seemed to hesitate. "Jacqueline and I were not a couple. Ever."

"I..." But...he held her in his arms when she died. And...what about...

What about me?

"I..."

"But...Addie?" Charlotte breathed. "You have to be lying, because Addie—"

"Addie isn't Jacqueline's daughter," Cadence murmured hoarsely. "Taegan's, yes, but not Jacqueline."

"Then...she was my aunt?" Charlotte's face was pale, as if she had just realizing something grave.

Her mother nodded. "Yes."

"Diesel?" I whispered.

"You're both mine...both ours," he said. Those words, ones that I didn't think he would ever have to utter, made me reel.

This just couldn't be right!

"No!" I sobbed, the tears bursting far worse than the night before. I hated it, but they were unstoppable. "You're lying to me!"

"I'm not, Addie." He came around the bed trying to get to me with his arms outstretched. I could see the pain latched onto his features even through the blur of tears, but the betrayal was unbearable. I shoved him away as best I could, a wail ripping from my mouth. I heard the familiar stampede of paws closing in and a snarling bark from Beau; he only used it when he thought I was in some kind of pain.

"Adelaide!" Cadence cried reaching desperately for me with tears trailing from her eyes. I scrambled over Charlotte's legs just as a thump came from the door, a howl emerging from the other side. I managed to dart over, flinging the door open as Beau dropped down to four paws, recognizing me instantly as a morose whine escaped him. I shot across the hall to my room, ramming the door open as the canine leaped in after me. I slammed it shut, locking it as I collapsed on the floor. Beau let out a low, half-howl, half-whine, and I curled my body around him and pulled my phone out of my shirt once again, dialing a familiar number.

"Addie? Jeez, it's about time!"

"He lied to me!" I caterwauled.

"What? What are you talking about? What's going on, Addie?" he pressed as I fumbled for words. A horrifying thought crossed my mind, unhindered by the knocking and blubbering of my dad behind the door and Diesel's confusion on the other end of the line. Images flew through my mind of my dad, Cadence, my mom—my mom? My...my what? I began to doubt myself, my birth...

How long...

Just how long had they been together?

My dad's dark skin and blond hair and Cadence's blue eyes were all I could see.

...both ours.

Jacqueline wasn't my mom.

Cadence was.