DISCLAIMER: See Prologue.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first chapter I've written in awhile that I've really, really liked. There's Finn / Kristal drama and then you find out a LOT more about Vanessa. (You'll find out what I mean when I leave you with the cliffhanger at the end.) We get into Jacqueline's head, too. But, yeah, I really like this one. Hope you do, too!
REPLIES TO REVIEWS:
Reading Addicted: Hahaha, thanks! I'm happy to be fourteen now. And she does mess with it, a little bit, anyway, but Finn definitely has a really good reaction to her in the beginning of this chapter.
Luvmusic87: Great, thanks so much for your opinion! I don't think I'm editing the previous chapter, at least for a little while.
Cheyowl: Lol, I'm glad! And I don't think she should be with Finn, either… but she certainly does. :)
Lily1111: Thank you very much for the suggestion! There will definitely be some crying Jacqueline at some point, but Tony will be having a very different perspective in this story than you'll think. You'll find out what I want to do with him at the end of the chapter.
Corndoggies13: Well, you definitely see Finn's reaction, and it's a pretty good one, I think. I will be adding some Sizzy in maybe five chapters or so, but I'm not sure exactly.
Booklover1598: Yeah, I think that song might work, actually! Any more song suggestions, let me know, as always! Glad you liked it.
Heroherondaletotherescue: Your review was one of my favorites. I'm definitely trying to make you guys go insane with this story – the end will be even worse, trust me. :)
Awesomeness: I can't promise that Kristal will stay away from Finn, but I'm glad to hear you don't want them together. And thanks so much for not sugar-coating. :)
DoodleMistress: Aww, thanks! If there's ever anything I can do better, let me know!
XxStarrEvansxX: Hahaha, I like the name you gave Kristal. You'll definitely like the beginning of this chapter, I assure you. :)
MidNiteFay415: I think I'm going to have some Jacqueline / Finn drama in the next chapter, but I'm not sure yet. He'll probably tell her about Kristal's "offer." (You'll find out what I mean as you read.)
Missy1234567890: OMG, thanks so much! I hope you like this chapter, too. And Kristal should back off – but we all know she won't. :)
Guest: Aw, thank you so much! I want to punch Kristal sometimes, too. But I have an actual sort of good back story about her in the back of my head that you should find out about in the last few chapters of this story.
XxGiRlOnFiRexX: I'm glad you liked that! I didn't want to give her only one side, you know? It's something that irritates me when I read stuff like that. And yes, I definitely don't want you to trust her – and you definitely won't by the end of this chapter. And I love long reviews, so don't apologize! :)
Arocksprpl2: I want him to eat her, too.
Jaclyntaylor0504: Glad you liked it! Keep reading to find out what happens between Kristal and Finn. :)
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Finn looked at Kristal with a blank expression on his face, the first of many that would follow in this conversation, he presumed. She looked at him expectantly, as if she were waiting for him to be ecstatically jumping around or something.
"Um, congratulations…?" Finn said, after a moment. He honestly didn't want to care, because why should it matter at all to him?
You miss her, the voice in the back of his head reminded him. At least, you miss the "old Kristal." The one you used to love.
"Thanks," Kristal replied nonchalantly, shrugging a little with her shoulders. "It was about time to break it off, you know? He just wasn't that important to me. Not like—" she looked at Finn more directly "—some people."
Finn avoided her gaze, looking down at his hands in a manner similar to Jacqueline. He was mad she'd said that, and although he tried to force himself not to say what he was thinking out loud, Finn couldn't hold his words back. "He seemed pretty damn important to you when you were making out with him while we were still together," Finn spit out harshly.
Kristal's face looked pained for a moment, as if his words had actually hurt her, but almost immediately her expression switched back to her normal one. "Look, I just wanted to tell you, okay? In case you, you know…." She trailed off, a smirk playing across her lips.
"What are you talking about, Kristal?" Finn asked wearily.
Kristal just rolled her eyes. "Finn," she said sweetly, putting a hand on his shoulder gently. "I know you've been kind of… depressed, I guess I'll call it, ever since we broke up. But, now that I'm through with Raphael, you know… Maybe there could be an 'us' again."
Finn was tired of the girl standing before him, tired of the way she acted like she could control him with a few simple words, tired of the way she acted like she deserved the world on a silver platter, tired of the way she could still make him miss her, tired of her.
"There's not going to be an 'us' again, Kristal," Finn said coldly, "so get that through your head. I'm, to put it quite clearly, sick of you. I freakin' loved you, Kris, and you treated me like I meant nothing to you. I don't really give a damn about you and Raphael, and I think you should leave. Now."
Though Finn was too angry to notice it, Kristal's eyes flashed with pain as he was speaking to her. Still, her tone changed almost instantaneously back to normal. "Look, Finn," she said, her words and tone similar to his. "Tell me when you get over that little infatuation with that Jacqueline chick, 'kay? Because when you do, I guarantee you'll be taking me up on my offer."
And, with that, Kristal tossed her blond hair over her shoulder and left the room, slamming the door behind her.
—•—
Jacqueline was trying to walk down the hallways without passing out, throwing up, or doing some other embarrassing thing after leaving Finn in the infirmary. God, she hadn't had one of these panic attacks in such a long time.
She hadn't actually ever had a panic attack until Mrs. Ferrival had begun hitting her. It was then, she remembered, sitting in that darkened room and pressing a hand onto her recently reddened cheek, was when it had all set in.
She wasn't safe there, inside of the orphanage with an evil woman who would hit little kids, but where else could she go? She wasn't even ten yet, and she was the oldest out of all the young girls, whom she had to protect. Tony had been adopted, and there was no one left for her, no one she could trust.
She had been, to put it frankly, quite alone.
Jacqueline, the little eight year old girl, had been so frightened that her breathing had turned into almost hoarse wheezes. "What am I going to do?" she remembered saying, practically screaming the words that echoed off the walls of the room.
You can't think about this now, she reminded herself. Of course, that was true — if Jacqueline spent too much time thinking about the orphanage, she'd be so lost in her own flashback and her terrifying thoughts that she might never be able to get out.
Slowly, Jacqueline sat down with her back resting against the cold wall and put her head between her too-thin knees, a result of never having just the right amount of food in the past two years — five days at the Institute wasn't really making much of a difference in her appearance yet.
She didn't know how long she had stayed there, breathing slowly in and out and counting in her head, but Jacqueline imagined it had probably been a good twenty minutes or so, maybe a little less. It appeared that she had finally calmed down enough, and just as she was about to stand, a voice pulled her out of her head.
"Jacqueline?" she heard Vanessa say.
"Hey, Ness," Jacqueline said weakly, looking up at the dark-haired girl from her position on the floor and giving a small, feeble smile.
"Look, don't take this the wrong way, but…" Vanessa trailed off, clearly trying to think of a good way to put whatever she was going to say next. "Um, you know what, never mind. Are you okay, Jacqueline?"
Jacqueline stood up slowly, not wanting to move too quickly and make herself sick. "I am now. At least, I think so."
"Well," Vanessa said, "'thinking so' doesn't really count, at least not in my book. C'mon, you're coming with me."
Reluctantly, she followed Vanessa down the hallway. Though Jacqueline had never told her about her past at the orphanage, Vanessa had somehow known not to grab onto her arm or something and drag her to wherever it was they were going.
She was very thankful for that, because she couldn't really handle any more panic attacks today. One was definitely enough.
—•—
Vanessa and Jacqueline were sitting in Vanessa's bedroom. The last time Jacqueline had been in here was last night, when Vanessa had been helping her get ready to go out to Pandemonium. It seemed, to her, like that the night's events had occurred ages upon ages ago, after what had happened.
Jacqueline couldn't help but remember what terrible shape Vanessa had been in last night, when she had been sobbing into Clary's arms about both her true brother (whoever he was) and her, though not by blood brother, Finn.
It wasn't right for her to be here now; Vanessa should be resting or visiting Finn or something, not talking to Jacqueline about why she had been sitting on the floor, of all things.
"You're giving me that look," Vanessa said bluntly, pulling her hair into a ponytail and away from her face.
Jacqueline's eyes widened with curiosity. "What look?"
Vanessa rolled her eyes, sitting on her bed and facing Jacqueline. "It's the look that everyone gave me when my brother Tyler died. That look that's filled with pity and sadness and the 'I'm sorry for your loss' thing."
"Oh," Jacqueline said dumbly. "Sorry."
"Nah, it's okay," Vanessa said, shaking her head. "Everyone else has known for a longer time than you have, anyway, and they've all gotten used to it. I guess I just wasn't expecting it yet, because I hadn't really told you openly."
"If you don't mind my asking," Jacqueline said quietly, "how long has it been?"
"He was seventeen, and I was twelve, so almost three years, now." Vanessa paused, swallowing. She looked as if she was about to cry, and Jacqueline certainly didn't want that.
"Look, we… we don't need to talk about this," Jacqueline said kindly, trying to be soothing. "It can wait for another time; I won't mind." It's not like she didn't want Vanessa to talk to her about her brother's death, but she didn't want to make Vanessa sadder than she already was, either.
Sometimes, Jacqueline was almost thankful that she hadn't known her parents, because she had never felt that horrifying sense of loss that others felt when someone close to them died. But then, other times, she'd be envious of the children she saw in the city, walking down the street with their fingers intertwined with their parents' hands. Or, she could even be angry — they had died (in a car crash, so she had been told) and left her completely alone, trying to solve her problems and the problems of the other girls in the orphanage.
"I wouldn't want you to be the only one to not know," Vanessa said after a moment. "But, if you don't want to know…."
"No, tell me if you want to," Jacqueline told her.
"Well, when I was twelve, my brother was taking me to go fight a demon that was hanging out near one of the subways. It would've been my first time trying to kill one, because I was so young at the time. Tyler told me the demon wouldn't be all that hard to kill, but…" she trailed off, clearly trying to find the courage to say what came next. "The demon targeted me, because I would be easier to kill than my brother, and it immediately tried to lash out at me with its poisonous tail. But, my brother… he stepped between us and took the full-force of the attack, similarly to what happened last night with Finn and you. He passed away later that night."
"Oh, Ness," Jacqueline said softly, and she stood up and gave the dark-haired girl a hug. It wasn't a long one, of course — it was Jacqueline we were talking about here — but it showed her care for Vanessa. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.
"C'mon, don't get all sentimental on me," Vanessa said, trying to put on a brave face, though there were tears in her eyes. She pulled away from Jacqueline, and said in a careful, "let's change the subject" sort of tone, "So what are you going to do this week, Jacqueline, now that you have off from training and everything?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. "I still have training."
"But Finn's hurt, isn't he?"
"Yes," Jacqueline replied, "but, um, Kristal's brother, Tony, is going to be training me for the week. Do you know him?"
"Do I know him?" Vanessa laughed, smiling for what felt like the first time since the girls had spoken. "Jeez, yes, I know him." In a softer tone, she added, "Jacqueline, can you keep a secret?"
"'Course I can," Jacqueline said, raising her eyebrows and wondering just why Vanessa looked so happy. "What's up?"
Vanessa blushed. "Ever since I first met him, I've kind of… had a crush on Tony."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've had that ending planned for a REALLY long time now, and I'm super excited to bring it up!
Anyways, do you guys like it, because I want to hear your opinions! Did you like the way Finn basically said, "Screw you," to Kristal, or the way Kristal knew exactly the way Finn thought about Jacqueline? What about Vanessa's crush? (I know it sounds like they're far apart in age, but it should make sense, soon.)
I really loved this chapter, and I hope you do, too!
Of course, I don't know exactly what I want to do with Chapter Twenty-Five, but I'll figure that out at some point. :)
MY FAVORITE QUOTE FROM THIS CHAPTER: "Tell me when you get over that little infatuation with that Jacqueline chick, 'kay? Because when you do, I guarantee you'll be taking me up on my offer."
Maybe we can get two hundred reviews on this chapter? I would be ecstatic if we did! You know, it's been about three months since I started writing AGL? Wow! That's really cool!
Have a good weekend, and Happy Father's Day!
Until next time,
-Mimi