Okay guys, I'm very excited!

Why?

Well two reasons. 1) Because it's a new chapter update! This is definitely one of my favorites. I get to show you a little inside look on Karen's life around her house.

And 2) Because the question at the end of this chapter is one of my favorite questions that I love to ask people, ever! :D

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day you guys! Or as I like to call it: any regular day. :P haha I told you people I'd update today ;D

And I'd like to take the time to thank each and every one of you guys. While I read the reviews from the last chapter, most of you said you guys were crying at how nicely I wrote my chapter. And I'm just sitting here like 'Wtf? o_O' cause guys, my writing isn't that powerful! I still have a lot to learn. Just putting that out there. Don't mistake me, because I am extremely flattered you guys think that it was a good chapter ;D and I love you all for that.

Also, special shoutout to SnowTiger for your comment :)

SPOILER ALERT: Karen goes home in this chapter :P

Disclaimer: never did, never will (own ROTG).

Previously on the last chapter...

"Z-Zander?" I asked.

"Thank god you're still okay!" he said, pulling away and looking at my shocked face. He looked relieved and happy to see me. "Come on, let's go home." He said. With his arm around my shoulder, he brought me to his car and sat me in the passenger's seat.

Then he got into the driver's seat and immediately drove out of the park and straight home. I was still shocked. I was staring into empty space, just processing what was happening.

'I'm going home now… away from Jack…'

"You okay, Karen?" he asked.

I looked at him and forced a smile. "Never felt better."

Chapter 13: Finally Home

When we got back home, which was in less than 5 minutes, I groggily got out of the car. I followed behind Zander who opened the door to the house with the keys and let me go inside first. I walked inside like a zombie would and looked around at my house.

I'm finally home…

"Are you sure you're okay Karen?" Zander worriedly asks.

I look over to him. "Yeah, just…really tired…" I said. "I'm going to get some sleep now, okay?" I asked. He nodded and I started walking to the stairs when I heard Jamie and Sophie yell my name excitedly.

"Karen! You're back!" Jamie says, happy that I'm back. Sophie who doesn't seem to know where I was, grinned at me. "Did you have fun on that field trip?" she asked me as I smiled at her.

"The best field trip ever. But I missed you two!" I said, kneeling down to hug them. Then Abby came down the stairs and barked at me as I smiled and scratched underneath her ear, where she likes it most to be scratched.

"Missed you too Abby." I said.

I stood up and pat Jamie and Sophie on the head. "Guys, I'm really tired right now, I'm going to go to sleep now, okay?" I said to them. They nodded and I walked up the stairs, going to my room. I opened the door and closed it, falling on my bed.

I smiled at the familiar feeling of the cool bed sheets against my back. I looked at the time. It was almost 4:30.

I sighed. So I'm finally home…then why does it feel like I'm not?

I turned around so I was lying on my stomach and I buried my face into the pillow and cried until sleep started taking control.

…

"Karen!" I felt someone's body weight onto the left side of my bed and then two arms around me. My eyes opened and focused on a head of black hair. She broke the hug and looked at me with shining eyes.

Alex…

I smiled at her. "Hey Alex." I said, sitting up in my bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. She laughed. "I'm so glad you're safe!" she said, hugging me tightly again. I hugged back, but I couldn't help but not hug with the same amount of enthusiasm.

I quickly looked at the time. It was now 5:27.

She broke the hug and sat on my bed. "You are so buried under school homework right now…" she said as I smiled. "But you're so lucky, spring break starts in 3 days!" she said excitedly.

I forced my smile up and listened to her babble about everything. She can get so crazy sometimes. Well… okay, all the time.

She cut herself off when she saw the look in my eyes.

"Karen…what's wrong?" she asked.

I looked at her. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You seem…different." She said.

I shook my head. "No, it's just that I'm really freaking tired I can barely keep my eyes open." I told her.

Her arm travels up to my shoulder and gives it a friendly squeeze. "Then you go to sleep, I'll be here tomorrow around six to pick you up for school. That is, if you're going?" she asked. I nodded. Even though I don't want to go to school, I have to, to keep my grades up.

"Okay then. See you tomorrow! We got some catching up to do." She said with a smirk, getting off my bed and walking towards the exit. "Have a nice sleep" she said with a smile.

I forced on a smile. "Yeah, thanks…" I said as she left, closing the door on her way out, leaving me alone in the darkness of my room. I sighed as I lay back down on my bed, closing my eyes to fall asleep again.

But it just didn't come again this time. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts. Jamie and Sophie came into the room around 6 and tried talking with me but I kept telling them I was tired.

Jamie seemed to be more confused, because he thought I would have been happy after getting away from that place.

I sighed. I did not want this to happen. Why did it have to happen?

That night I fell asleep at around 10 and Alex came at my house to wake me up at 6:50 and we barely got to school on time because I overslept. I had to stay after school to get my work done. When I got home I was just in my room, staring at my ceiling as I lay on my bed.

I can tell Zander and Alex are getting worried about me. I didn't come out of my room ever since I came back and they can tell I'm not acting like myself. It's already been a day that I've been acting like this.

Zander came upstairs a few times asking if I wanted anything to eat. I told him I didn't feel hungry and this just left him more confused on my behavior. Alex seemed to have enough and with Zander's permission, she came upstairs telling me we needed to hang out.

"Karen, we need to hang out." She said, pulling on my arm.

"I don't wanna…" I said childishly, turning around in my bed.

"Yes you do. There is something wrong with you and maybe hanging out will do the trick." She said.

"There's nothing wrong with me, I promise." I said.

"Oh really? When was the last time you went on the internet? And for how long?" she asked.

"Um…afterschool…for like…10 minutes." I said. Afterschool today I tried to get my thoughts off of Jack and tried going on the internet to see if that helped. I particularly went on Tumblr but I couldn't concentrate with cute couples randomly showing up on my dashboard (home page). All the cute couples reminded me of what Jack and I had, so eventually I stopped and just decided to go to sleep.

She crossed her arms. "See. Every day you're on the internet, and suddenly you stop? There is something wrong with you." She said.

When I denied again, she just rolled her eyes. She then went to my closet and picked out a clothing combination and threw them on my face.

"I'm giving you 5 minutes to change. If you don't come out of this room in 5 minutes, all dressed up in those clothes, I will come up here and change you myself."

I cringed. "You wouldn't…"

She smirked. "Oh, wouldn't I?"

I got up. "Fine…jeez." I said, standing up.

She smirked and left the room, closing the door on her way out. That jerk… she knows how I hate that. Not that someone forcibly tried to dress me before; it's just that I dislike that. Her of all people know that.

I looked at the time. It was just 4:20. I changed into the clothes she chose for me and fixed my hair before walking out of the room and going downstairs. Zander seemed surprised that I finally came out of my room while Alex on the other hand smirked.

"Let's go." She said, swinging her keys around in her finger, opening the door to go outside. I put on my sandals and followed behind, giving a smile to Zander, telling him I'll be okay.

And then we were off.

She drove us to the mall. I really didn't want to go hang out right now; I'm definitely not in the mood. But the power this crazy chick next to me has is unbelievable. Even now I'm confused to how I give in so easily.

'I'm just that nice, I guess.' I thought, humoring myself.

When we got to the mall I found myself enjoying myself a little. I finally got my mind off of Jack. We went around looking at pretty jewelry, even bought some too. We went to an ice-cream shop and got some ice-cream. Went to a photo booth and took weird pictures, and pretended to be mannequins at store booths and then scare people, and then running away from the security.

Just the usual.

I actually had a great time tonight. Didn't think of Jack once. We were just walking towards the exit of the mall, laughing at that last security guard we ran away from a few seconds ago.

Just then I stopped in my tracks, gasping at the person just a few yards away. He… he looked like Jack! The back of his head and his hair looked exactly like him and plus I know Jack has those combination of clothes. I was pretty sure…

"Karen?" Alex asked, confused as to why I stopped.

"Jack…?" I whispered, ignoring Alex's confused stare.

I dropped my bags and started walking towards his direction. I started jogging and before I knew it, I ran into him, hugging him from behind. "Jack!" I said, shaking a little. I wanted to say more and just spill my heart out and apologize to him but nothing came out of my mouth.

The body of the person stiffened and he looked back to face me. My head shot up to look at those brown eyes I can get lost in any day. But when I looked up, my eyes widened and I broke the hug. It wasn't Jack.

I blushed embarrassingly as I backed away a little. "Oh, shit, fuck, sorry, my bad, I thought you were someone else… sorry…" I said, running a hand through my hair embarrassed. "Awkward…" I mumbled in a slightly higher voice. He just stared at me like I was a crazy person and that just made my cheeks burn even more. "Um…bye." I said, turning my back towards him and walking away back to where Alex was waiting.

She stared at me with a 'what the hell was that' expression. "Should I even say anything here?" she asked.

I blushed embarrassingly and grabbed my two shopping bags. "L-let's just go…" I said, taking the lead with Alex silently following me from behind. Soon she caught up and opened the trunk to her car so we could put our bags in there.

I got in the passenger's seat while Alex got in the driver's seat. She had her hands on the steering wheel for a second after starting the car but she sighed and turned the keys so that the car wasn't starting.

She turned to look at me. "So, wanna tell me what the heck that was back there? Who's 'Jack'?" she asked.

I sighed. "I don't want to talk about it okay? Can we just go home?" I asked her with pleading eyes.

"Nope. I'm not starting the car until you tell me what happened." She said stubbornly. I tried to stop what happened next but my heart said otherwise. Tears flooded my eyes until they blurred my vision and flowed out. I looked away and buried my face in my hands, crying.

"H-Hey, what happened?" Alex asked.

I felt her rub my back soothingly as a friendly gesture as I continued crying. "I-It's nothing…" I said through hiccups of my crying.

"You wouldn't be crying if it was nothing." she pointed out.

I shook my head with my hands still covering my face. "I really don't want to talk about it…" I mumbled, small hiccups escaping my lips.

"Karen, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way." She asked. "And you know I will go to such extends." she said, almost threateningly. I almost laughed- almost.

So instead, I rubbed my eyes and bit back the next set of tears.

You know what, screw this. I'll speak my heart and maybe it'll make me feel better spilling my heart out to someone and talking about this.

"Jack…he was…my kidnapper." I said, starting the story. I looked at her expression and I saw her eyes widen. So I continued to tell her the whole story. Everything. Everything that happened between us. Spilling out my love life with Jack.

After I finished my story, Alex smiled and gushed at me. "Aww, that's the cutest thing I've ever heard!" she said, fangirling on the spot.

I smiled bitterly as tears started showing up again. "Right, but I have zero contact information about him and I broke his heart in the end right before I left. I finished the plan but now I feel like shit and I can't handle this. And I can't make things right either!" I said, rubbing my eyes repeatedly with the sleeve of my shirt.

Alex smiled sadly at me and rubbed my back. "I apologize in advance if what I'm about to say is some really crappy advice but this is basically all I kind of have to say. I believe you're your love to Jack is real, and I've never encountered true love before so this is kind of new to me." She started. "But it's going to be okay. If it's meant to be, you'll be together again." She said as I sniffled.

"Thanks, I guess…" I said.

But in all honestly, I didn't think it was possible now. I used to believe in all that, about true love and stuff. If it's meant to be you'll be together again. But I'm not even sure anymore.

She started the car and drove us out of the parking lot and drove me home in complete silence, the only noise was the music from the radio station.

(Unknown P.O.V)

I looked back at the address written on a piece of paper in my hand and looked around for this area out what seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Well it did make sense in a way. There's no gang I've ever heard of that has their secret organization in town. Unless it's like a ghetto part of town. That I understand.

I looked at the old warehouse building from back in the 1980s. I could see it from a block away, some trees blocking my vision. That warehouse building was shut down, going bankrupt. Everything was moved out, and no one else has used it either. Now it's just a big empty warehouse.

At least, that's what I thought.

"This must be the place…" I said to myself, after taking a small glimpse at the graffiti on the nearby cement wall. When the warehouse was in perfect view, I saw some guys outside. I counted 3. Okay, not a big deal. I can handle them.

I walked towards them and they looked at each other confused. After they stared me down while I was walking towards them, one of the guy's eyebrows rose. "Hey, aren't you from-"

"Jack Overland's gang? The Guardians? Yes. I am." I finished for them. They were silent for a while.

"Why are you here." another asked.

"To speak with your boss." I said. Smirks broke out on each of the guy's faces and they chuckled like I was telling some hilarious joke.

"You're kidding, right?" he asked.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" I shot back. They looked into my eyes and saw my serious stare.

"You seriously want to meet the boss?"

"Yep. I have a proposition."

"What kind of proposition."

"I'll announce it when I see him."

They looked at me with that 'no way in hell' stare. I just rolled my eyes. "It may or may not come with revenge on Jack Overland."

They smirked. One of them nodded their heads to the doors and the person left. I stood here waiting for several minutes before he finally came out.

"The boss would like to see you." He said. 'Finally.' I thought, walking over to him. He escorted me inside and less than half of everyone in the entire room was staring at me. The others were either playing poker, arm wrestling, smoking, or talking to their gang friends. I didn't feel any reason to be shy or insecure.

We walked passed them and into a hallway, walking up some stares to a single door upstairs. It had the gang symbol on it. A black horse, fit for a dark knight. This symbol was actually, now that I think about it, on the bandana's each gang member had and wore.

When I got through the doors, I saw him. There, sitting in his seat behind a desk with a room filled with different weapons and a gigantic map of the city labeled of all the important places. There was only one window but it was shut behind the dark curtains. They weren't even curtains, just a random dark cloth hanging up there to hide this room from the sunlight.

"You're from…The Guardians?" the man asked. Surprisingly he wore some formal clothing, if you forgot about the bandana tied around his left bicep.

"Yes I am. I have a proposition…" I said.

He pointed to the chair in front of him. I went towards it while he shooed the other guy away to wait outside the doors. And he did.

I sat on the chairs, hearing them squeak. But I ignored it and looked into the boss's eyes. His expression told me to continue. "I came here to make an alliance between just you and me." I stared. He curiously looked at me to continue what I was saying. So I did. I told him all about what happened to Jack. I told him he would get his revenge on The Guardians, especially Jack, if he followed my plan.

After revealing my plan, he smirked evilly. "Thank you for the information." He said. Through his eyes I saw a glint of mischief, and not the good kind. "If I may ask…why are you forming this…alliance?" he asked.

I just smirked at him. "My own personal pleasure." I answered.

Finally…Finally things would go my way.

Haha! I hit you guys with a random P.O.V in this chapter! :D

So I actually found time to upload. For my history class we have to create a timeline online with the list of events occurring that triggered or happened in World War 1. -_- this actually took more time than anticipated.

Now the tests and studying is finally over! Whoo! Now I can have time to get together my story.

Okay so I maybe would be updating in over the course of the next 3 days or less. You know me, never perfect with timing ;)

Today's random question: Okay, so let's pretend two boys (or girls. No judging here.) are standing in front of you. They love you both very much. One is a real life person. (It could be someone from your school; it could be a celebrity, whatever. Anyone from this planet.) And the other person is a fictional character that you hold very dear to your heart. (From any book, TV show, anime, etc.). Who would you chose to be with and why?

Haha that was actually a very hard question.

I asked some of my friends, most of them chose fictional characters. (Of course, I did too XD) But I'm curious as to what you guys would choose!

And just for good measure, I'd like you guys to tell me who you think it was who the unknown P.O.V was based around. Just so you know, I won't tell you who it is until the next chapter. ;D

Aaight guys, have a good rest of the day!