So this is what Romeo's sister might have looked like, Ben thought to himself. True, Jake looked little like Romeo, but the idea was not too far fetched.

The girl was about fourteen of fifteen. She had the same color hair as Jake, a medium brown, but her eyes were also dark as compared to Jake's hazel. She two braids in the front of her head that she had tied around to a knot in the back, leaving the rest to flow freely until it stopped a few inches below her shoulders. She was wearing a yellow tee shirt, sticking out from the dreariness of Northeastern American winters. That was all the impression Ben could gather from her until she was buried from view beneath the hugs of her family.

"Mom, mom, stop, of course I missed you. School was brilliant. I told you when you called on Sunday. Dad, I'm so glad to be back home. And don't worry, Jake, I already got you a Christmas present. I didn't forget about you."

Jake grinned back teasingly. "Well, if you've already got me a present, than I guess I can welcome you home."

Ben had known Ami Lapet for about ten seconds when he decided that she also seemed familiar in some way. Maybe she had a counterpart back in Verona that he had known; some servant girl in his household, perhaps? He could look into it later. She had many large suitcases with her; not wanting to interrupt their family reunion (he knew they were lucky to have one) he grabbed them and started loading them into the trunk of the car.

"I've missed home so much. So is great, but I couldn't be we couldn't go home for Thanksgiving."

"You don't go back until the last week on January," Jake told her. "That's my entire first semester is over by then. Quit complaining."

"Alright, big brother." Ami smiled. She'd missed this, the playful teasing of siblings that you couldn't quite replicate with her friends. "It's kind of cold out here, actually, and I forgot to bring my winter jacket. Do you think we could get going?"

"Of course, sweetie," her father told her. "Hop in the car."

Ami turned to drag her suitcases, only to find they were gone. With a frown, she looked up towards the car, only then taking in the fifth person in their midst. She'd forgotten about the exchange student.

He was about an inch shorter than Jake, at most, and not as broad of shoulder. From underneath his hat she could see sandy brown large curls sticking out. The skin on the back of his neck was a little too tan for someone native to the area. He was just shutting the trunk of the car and turning around to find the family look at him. He shrugged modestly and shoved his hands back into his pockets of his coat.

"Oh, Ami, this is Ben. I'm sure you'll get along really well," her father said, continuing to talk in the background. Ben smiled politely at Ami, his white teeth looking just as bright as the snow against his tan skin, and nodded to her.

Based on her five seconds of observations, she decided that there was something about Ben she couldn't quite put her finger on. Maybe it was the fact that he was apparently a very good friend of Jake and Matt, her brother's best friend, (she had heard this from her parent's phone calls) and seemed quiet. She couldn't imagine that. Back when they were little, and she had tried to play with them, being quiet had gotten her ignored.

Well, here he was, living and breathing proof that somebody could put up with her brother without constantly cracking jokes at him, besides herself. But then again, she and Jake were related. That couldn't really count.

Ami kept studying him when she thought he wasn't looking. Well, Ben wasn't looking, but he knew she was doing it. And he wasn't quite sure how to react.

Between that, and the awkward tension between him and Jake, he barely spoke a word throughout the evening, and when he did, it was something insignificant like, "Could you pass the water?" Now, more than ever, he wished he had those letters Jake had sent. They might give him something to say.

After dinner, Ben claimed the table to spread his books out on and started his homework. He was vaguely surprised was he heard the chair opposite him being pulled out and sat in, and was even more so when he looked up to see Jake's sister.

"What are you working on?" she asked. She rested her head in one hand, the other hand fidgeting on the table.

He blinked. So she wanted to get to know more about the stranger living in her house. He could respect that. "Latin," he answered, gesturing to his paper and textbook.

She nodded. "Why isn't Jake here doing his homework?"

"He always goes up to his room," Ben replied easily. He looked down to start working again. "This is probably to one time of day he doesn't have to spend with me."

There was something in his tone she couldn't place- not that she'd heard him talk that much, but still, there was. "What do you mean?"

Ben made a face at his homework. "Oh, we just have nearly identical schedules at school, and somehow we always spend most of the afternoon together, so…" he trailed off, hoping that answered her question.

"Jake takes Latin?"

"I said nearly identical," Ben corrected, but he was smiling. She was smart.

"Anyways, I, um, wanted to thank you," Ami started, biting her lip. She took a piece of her hair and started twirling it in her fingers.

"Oh? What for?"

"For helping me with the suitcases," she explained quietly, looking down. "I know you didn't have to, and, well, thanks."

Ben shrugged before realizing a verbal response might be necessary. "'Twas nothing. Really."

She smiled at the memory. His accent was different than what she'd thought an English accent would sound like. One of her friends from school grew up in England, and she sounded completely different. "I can't believe you've lived here for almost six months and didn't know what room was mine."

Ben blushed a little, remembering how he'd tried to help carry her things up to her room and had gotten lost. "I wasn't exactly looking for it at all."

"But you must've past the door loads of times! Weren't you curious?"

"I had a whole new country to be curious about." And a whole new time period. "Besides, my family's house is even bigger than this one. We have lots of rooms that I have no reason to use. I didn't think anything of it."

"That makes sense," Ami agreed. She tried to think of something else to say. It wasn't odd that he was well-off back at home; after all, if his parents had the money to send him here, he couldn't have been poor. She stared at him working as she tried to figure out what seemed strange about him.

Maybe it was just the fact that he was quiet, and she had just gotten back from music school, a school of performers. She was one of the quietest students there, too, and he seemed just as withdrawn or more so than she. Maybe that was it.

Ben looked up to meet her eyes, just smiling at her and returning to his work, not commenting on the fact that she was staring or that she had started to blush when he caught her. Embarrassed, and not exactly sure why, she stood up and exited the kitchen.

Still curious for more information, she climbed the stairs and entered Jake's room without knocking. Sure enough, like Ben had told her, he was there. He was lying on his bed, listening to his IPod, rather than doing homework. He cracked an eye open when she entered, closing to door behind her.

"Can you take out your headphones? I want to talk to you."

Jake, but paused his music and did what she asked, sitting up. She also sat down on the foot of his bed, cross legged. "What's up?"

"Can you tell me a bit more about Ben?" she said casually.

Jake made a face. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. What's with the attitude? Mom told me you were practically attached to each other."

"That was before."

"Before what?"

"Before I realized what a jerk he is."

Ami frowned. "He seems really nice."

"Of course he does. Seems a lot of things. Seems being the key word."

"He's not?"

"No."

Ami waited for more. After all, this was her brother Jake. He was always ready to share his wisdom (or lack thereof) with the world. Sure, he got really moody from time to time, but he was still usually willing to talk. Even if it was to snap at her and then go off on a rant.

"Why do you think he's not nice?" Ami asked, knowing full well these words could start Jake on a wild temper tantrum. Instead he just sighed and looked away.

"Don't worry about. I'm sure he'll act perfectly fine towards you. Just don't be surprised if he starts staring at you randomly."

"Um…okay?"

"Probably has a dead girlfriend or something," Jake muttered, barking out a humorless laugh.

Ami's face melted into one of horror. "Jake! Don't joke about things like that!"

His voice flat, he replied, "I'm not joking."

She stayed still, a bit shocked, waiting for her brother to explain. Eventually he sighed and started his explanation. "Ben's kind of messed up. There was some tragic accident back in his hometown, and a couple of close friends of his died."

"That's awful!"

"I know."

"How…" she trailed off.

Jake shrugged. "Beats me. Won't say a thing about it."

"You shouldn't be so mean to him just because he doesn't want to talk-"

"Ami. One, don't tell me what I'm doing wrong."

She glared. "You do it all the time."

He ignored her. "Two, I'm not mad because he won't talk about it. I might not want to talk about it either if something like that happened to me." He looked at his sister. "Look…" he started, but then cut himself off, sighing. "Never mind."

"What?"

"You can tell me," she said softly, crawling closer towards her brother.

"It'll sound stupid."

Ami rolled her eyes. Jake and calling feelings stupid. He hadn't changed a bit. "Not much change from normal, then?"

Jake snorted. "Fine. I…I used to think Ben was a really good friend. But…then I realized…"

Ami recognized that Jake himself was still troubled by whatever-it-was-he-had-realized, but she was practically bursting with impatient curiosity. "Realized?" she asked.

Jake turned away from her. "He doesn't care."

Ami frowned, her eyebrows crinkling. "What do you mean?"

Jake shook his head. "He doesn't care about m- about anybody. Me and Matt? We're just replacements for his friends. Just distractions from the pain that they're dead. I used to feel sorry for him, but…that's not fair. That's not fair that we should be so nice to him when he's not really paying attention to us, at all. It's not fair that I could have trusted him so much when-"

He cut himself off. "Sorry. I didn't mean to start yelling like that."

Ami shook her head. "No, I'm sorry for disturbing you. It's my fault. Thanks for talking with me."

He mumbled something in reply. Normally she wouldn't have pursued it, but the words somehow sounded familiar. "What was that?"

Jake smiled at her. "'Twas nothing. Really. You should get to bed; you've had a long day."

She nodded, thinking over the phrase he had chosen. He'd obviously picked up that expression of dismissing thanks from Ben. He probably did it often.

Jake's angry words also floated up in her mind. Somehow, an angry stranger who was still recovering from the deaths of others and the schoolboy helping her with her things and diligently working on Latin homework didn't add up. Lost in thought, she headed back to her own room, passing Ben's on the way.

She caught a glimpse inside his as she passed by. He was no longer at the kitchen table. Instead he was a dark figure, also sitting on his bed, staring broodingly out the window.

She kept thinking about her brother's words as she changed into her pajamas. Stupid Jake. He was feeling more betrayed than angry, really. If only he figured that out, then maybe Ben would open up more.