11. Homecoming

"Chris!" Jamie called for attention but Chris didn't even move a fraction. It was as if no one was there. Jamie stomped closer to him and upon reaching a bucket full of suds she stubbornly dipped her fingers and pulled it back full of blobs of tiny bubbles. Then, she stuck it over the tip of Chris' nose.

"What's that for?!" He scowled.

"Because you weren't listening!"

"Because I don't wanna talk to you!"

"And why?!"

"Not talking!"

"Your defiantly absurd!" Jamie hissed.

"And now I'm absurd?!

"Sorry! I didn't mean that…just listen. Just give me a minute"

Chris didn't answer. He ignored the stuffy blob and crossed his arms. Finally, he spoke. "Fine, one minute"

Jamie giggled a bit and continued. "Let me remove that first" She raised her hand and wiped the out bursting slop on Chris' nose. "Here it goes…" she sucked a mouthful of air and resumed. "I didn't thought of my actions very well. It was foolish, indiscreet and completely idiotic. I won't blame you if your not talking to me or your not even listening, it's probably the right punishment. I took my actions very childishly and disregarding everyone around me. I left even if I didn't know where I would do, even if I didn't had any money and worse, without saying a proper goodbye and most of all… I said things that I knew it would hurt you so much and I feel really stupid for it…" Jamie trailed of as Chris raised a finger but before he could even say 'times up', Jamie interrupted him.

"Wait! Before you cut me in and I swear I know I still have 15 seconds left…I just wanted to tell you how sincere my apologies are and that I'm deeply sorry for the big mistake I've done" Then, there was an awkward silence after that so Jamie added, "It's your turn"

"Oh…well, I promised myself –if ever your gonna come back again which I thought would never happen—I promised myself that I would never talk to you till you've learned your lesson"

"So you'll never gonna talk to me?"

"I didn't say no but I'll think about it" Chris answered in a way as if Jamie was the noble man and he was the sparkly damsel.

"I perfectly understand" Jamie nodded patiently. Again, there was a short pause and after that Chris spoke in a teasing pitch.

"Tweak" Jamie felt a hint of relief with the possibility of reconciliation.

"Jerk" she smugly replied.

"Twitter"

"Fool"

"Pigeon headed"

"Loathsome cockroach"

"Ass—"

"Hey! That's beyond personal already!" Jamie cut him off and then chuckled. "I missed this…I missed it a lot" Chris didn't replied back but Jamie thought she knew what his answer was, 'I could see you too' she mused.

Chris began to walk then abruptly stopped, "Ready your things"

"To where? Your telling me I can't stay here? I own this house too if I perfectly remember—"

"I meant to unpack and just to let you know, we've already caught the culprit and my car" He finished and stormed out. Jamie knew that would be their orderly conversation…for now.

"Where were you?! Where have you been?!" Sabrina's voice tingled with annoyance and great relief as Jamie pushed the steel door open. She was welcomed by big hugs and embraces.

"The tube" Jamie replied with embarrassment of her recent stow-away escapade.

"You went to the subway? We searched everywhere for you! Even Hugo and Gustavo was worried so they helped to find you in the middle of the night"

"Oh, I didn't wan to bother all of you"

"Jamie, your really crazy!" Sabrina exclaimed when she let go.

Her mom and their two other visitors sat at the sofa, making slight whispers, giggles and sniffs. Their so-called reunion was practically described as… 'Wet' because they sobbed and howled in tears. They didn't even talk, they just cried a LOT.

"She's all grown up"… "Yeah, and she looks exactly like you"… "I told you she's not Caesars'"… "You did not" Jamie heard the 3 as they discussed quietly at a corner when a voice suddenly spoke out of the blue.

"You beat the record I thought you'll be back till tomorrow"

"Louie!" Jamie jumped with glee as she swung her arms around Louie tightly.

"Ow—it still hurts on that part. It's a good thing that your mom knows how you think… their correct mothers are always right—or was that customer?"

Jamie laughed and replied, "I'm really, really sorry. I was—"

"No need, Jamie. Just don't do that again, your giving everyone a freaking heart attack"

Jamie raised her hand and promised, "I solemnly swear"

The 2 walked upstairs and headed to Jamie's room. They continued their prolonged conversation and Jamie started to unpack her things while she retold Louie the 'true' story.

"Really! But you won't believe Chris" Louie scoffed and rolled his eyes. "He's very unreasonable! He didn't even take the time to find you. It was so foolish and to tell you the truth, your too good for him. To think he's my brother, God damn it!"

"Louie, chill. It doesn't matter. He has every right to do that anyways"

"But, Jamie. You did what you had to do, isn't that enough for him?"

Jamie wasn't able to answer. Then, Louie looked at the door as if someone was standing behind it impatiently waiting.

"I think someone also wanted to talk to you and I quote 'I really missed her just don't gobble up the momentum and lock her inside all day'" Louie tied to make his voice shrill and grinned. Then, he stood up and turned his back. Upon reaching the door knob he paused and spoke, "Before she ruins the door. Jamie, welcome back…err rather…welcome home"

Jamie watched Louie as he dart out and heard Sabrina said sarcastically, "Finally! I thought you'll wait for twilight, Lou" Then, Sabrina immediately stepped in when her gaze shifted to Jamie.

"Hey!" Sabrina beamed.

"Lou? Did I hear that right?" Jamie grinned as she opened her wooden cabinet.

"Yeah, yeah…" She trailed off and her face became serious. "I'm glad your back. It was devastating during the time you were gone off wondering to Never land. I really thought you'll never gonna come back and just imagine, escaping through a twisted window would whip up your escape. If the situation was less tense, Louie would be rolling on the floor laughing. Your last minutes was practically hilarious"

"Tell me about it. Oh, well that's Jamie"

"Uhm, Jamie. I don't want to ask you about it but… I really wanted to know" Sabrina's uneasiness outshined her beauty.

"Go on"

"Alright…uhm…have you… have you talked to Chris already?"

"Yes but he's not listening and I won't blame him"

"I'm sorry for Chris' actions. He's absurd, narrow-minded and weigh too rude but it's all a front, a camouflage. I know you already know but from the start but you see; Chris doesn't give his trust easily to anyone. Reflecting on the unfortunate things that happened to him and to be emphasized his big family problem it wasn't easy"

"I understand" Jamie nodded and agreed.

"But he didn't think twice to give it to you. I think you've noticed, he just speaks whatever he feels when he's with you like he says everything to you which he doesn't normally do. Honestly, Chris hasn't—rather—never had fallen in love. Funny, but he's a very late bloomer, he hasn't experienced these kinds of emotions before and it's hard for him to handle that. The thing is the 3 of you, coincidentally, doesn't have fathers and with that we didn't even figured it out, weird huh?"

"Very and absolutely" Jamie responded and sighed while Sabrina tapped her back.

"Just give him time. Eventually, he'll give up"

Once again, Jamie nodded and took a deep breath.

"I'll let you rest. I know your very tired"

"Thanks, Sabrina"

"Sab"

"Right"

They both smiled at each other and then Sabrina left. It was a dreamless night for Jamie and she slept peacefully with her mom on her side. It was a frustrating day and as expected at the end of the day the sun would be replaced by the moon.

The next morning, everyone including Bethina, Mary Liza and Josephine enjoyed a lavish breakfast. Chris had a small scoop of food and he was completely quiet much like he was mentally somewhere else. After a brief while, Sabrina stood up and tingled her glass with a teaspoon.

"Excuse me, everyone. I would like to say something"

Everyone jerked up and gave all ears to her.

"Because of Jamie's homecoming, I decided to whip up a small party since it'd be a few months before my birthday I thought it would be a good reason to have a pre-birthday bash and in time for our small secret celebration. Secret because we wouldn't want to have an angry mob with bows and arrows pointed at Jamie since the 'controversy' hasn't fully evaporated so no media would be invited for Jamie's safety. The media's just waiting. Now, enough of the negatives here's the fun part. The theme of the party is a masquerade ball to help us with the 'cover-up'. I'd be inviting some of myfriendsso formal attire and I'm expecting everyone to be in their best behavior…" She trailed off, glaring at Louie.

"Sabrina, you don't have to" Jamie interrupted, feeling a little anxious.

"No. I insist just trust me on this. Right, Chris?"

He didn't answer back as if he didn't hear anything.

"That's a perfect idea I love it!" Mary Liza agreed. She was more enthusiastic than everyone with in the brood.

"I don't know. It's—"

"Oh. Com'mon, Lou" Sabrina interrupted Louie as she flung her fingers at his broad shoulders.

"But Mrs. Princeton wouldn't that be too much? I mean why wouldn't we just stay indoors, enjoy the serene and quiet scenery and forget about that barbaric idea?" Bethina objected with disgust.

"Bethina, Sabrina's right we should loosen up a bit and it'll be perfect for a 'reunion' party for all of us. Don't you think so, Josephine?" Mary Liza politely retorted.

It took her a minute to answer, "…I think it would be great"

"Oh…Alright" Louie agreed as well while he enjoyed Sabrina's touch.

"Yey! So no other suggestions, comments or violent reactions?"

Finally, no one decided to argue.

"Great! So it's up Wednesday evening, 6pm sharp at our villa. It'll be brilliant! And oh, I'll be handing out maps later incase anyone gets lost"

Chris suddenly stood up and stormed out, leaving everyone wondering and confused of his response reaction. Jamie didn't think twice and quickly followed him.

"Chris! Chris! Wait! Wait, what's with you?!" Jamie panted as Chris took huge strides. "What's the matter with you? Everyone just wanna have a good time and all of a sudden your beginning to be rude, acting like a jerk the way you always do. Everyone's being positive and here you are ruining everyone's efforts, would you stop and listen to me?!"

Chris halted to a stop and faced Jamie. The anguish in his eyes was too obvious, "You know I don't even care! I'm sick of this, Jamie and for the record Sabrina cooked up a marvelous plan of having a party for you. Yippee! Yeah, everyone's happy because you came back and what, like nothings happened?" He said sarcastically.

"I don't know what's wrong with you but this isn't just about me. Imagine the effort everyone's putting just to forget everything down and be okay again. It's over, it's finished, it happened would you just get over it?!" I'm not asking you to forgive me because what I did is truly unforgivable but for the sake of everyone else would you just pretend to be happy?"

"Pretend? I'm sick of pretending, Jamie! And sorry to put your hopes down but I'm not even going to that pesky ball, dance or whatever it's called!" He said acidly.

"What?! But why?"

"I don't wanna waste my time attending that blasted social gathering"

"But…you have to go. It'll be fun and Sabrina said she's inviting your long-time-no-see friends. That'll be great" Jamie replied, making her voice calm.

"I would hate to burst your bubble, Jamie but would you just give it a break. Those are Sabrina's friends their not my friends"

"Friend or not, your going and you can't do anything to stop that"

"Your sick, go see a doctor! And what role would I be in that party? A court jester, a funny mascot? I don't have any business there so what's the reason for me to go?"

"But…it isn't complete without you! Your going, you have to"

"Sorry, wrong number. I refuse! I don't even know why I'm talking to you and just because you're…my sister, your meddling with my decisions?! Well, newsflash I don't think so. I won't and that's final!" He growled and scowled as he stomped to the garage and slammed the door shut.

"But I'm not…!" Jamie immediately shut her mouth. She crossed her arms and snapped thought to herself that Chris wasn't still aware of the whole 'true' story. "Mm-hmm…like to play games huh? Well, let's just see about that!" Of course, we all know by now she had made an, oh-so perfect plan.

It was already late afternoon, Jamie and Sabrina talked for hours in the first's room about every detail from Jamie's bizarre journey to the much awaited celebration. Sabrina gasped and awed at the right places of Jamie's stories and in return Jamie enthusiastically agreed with Sabrina's brilliant ideas.

"One thing… I don't have anything to wear" Jamie anxiously stated as she bit her nails.

"I'm sure you have one there or I'll lend you one, don't worry. All you just have to do is wait for Wednesday, that's all"

"Hmm…I hope I can. Perhaps, not jumping off a high building and splitting my head in two with my oh-so good luck" Jamie breathed and rolled her eyes.

"Of course you can" Sabrina laughed and forcedly changed the topic, "Anyways, your mom totally rocks!"

"She does?"

"Yes, she does" Sabrina's voice turned to a low murmur and then she spoke again, "Actually, Jamie. I envy you"

Jamie was surprised with Sabrina's response. Was she hearing right? Sabrina Princeton, a heaven-sent angel from the world of Gorgeouslandia envied a creature like her. "Am I being deaf or my head's just twisted?" She baffled.

"No, your absolutely fine. I should know because my parents divorced when I was 7 and I was left with my father's custody so I can really tell. She's awesome! She knows a lot about fashion, culture and everything. Your really lucky, Jamie. If you still don't know that I'm telling you, you are" She paused. Her face lit up and smiled, "I'm really thankful she knows you very well"

"Me neither. I'm still surprised how my mind works" The two laughed at the thought and then played a game of truth or dare. Jamie was really thankful with how things turned up great but of course she knew she had two dreadful major problems on her head: One, Chris—his mistaken brother for the love of God. Two, What would she wear?!

Authors' note: … I am currently writing about the last chapter of this bizarre story that popped into my head one late afternoon while watching H.P. Time does do on so fast… oh well, thanks for the million gazillion suggestions and comment everyone's giving me.. I've made an account on as some people urged me to so I'll be glad if anyone of you would take a glimpse of it there. Thanks! And hoped you enjoyed. =))