Disclaimer: Hey, I'm back! I still don't own Jonny Quest or BB Mak's song, "Ghost of Me And You". Hope you enjoy this chapter. It's going to be more interesting, I promise... Here goes...

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"Bye Mom!" I called, "I'll miss you!"

When the jet flew out of sight, I sighed. As much as I love my Mom, I couldn't wait till she was gone so I could have some fun without her breathing down my neck.

It had been 2 days since I had arrived at Quest Compound. Things couldn't be better. A pool, weight room, VR Room, hover boards. Well, the hover boards looked like fun. Mom wouldn't let me near one for fear of my breaking my neck. Race said I could ride one when she left *wicked grin*. I couldn't wait.

Jonny, Hadji and I got along great, thank God. I was worried about Jonny and I since he and I had that problem the first day I was here. We almost had another problem. You know my room, the guestroom? Well, it wasn't a guestroom, it was Jessie's room. Race figured I should be near everyone and since Jessie wouldn't be here to use it, I could stay there. BIG mistake. Jonny's face turned an interesting shade of white. So much for my not being here to take Jessie's place. Fortunately, Race admitted his mistake and Jonny said that, really, it was no problem and I could stay there, it was just a shock. Crisis 2 adverted.

Now where were those hover boards?

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The phone rang. Now, at your and my houses, this wouldn't be a big deal, but here, you never know who might be on the other end. The President of our or another country, the FBI, or...

"Jonny, Robbie's on the phone!" Race yelled.

Oh, well, so much for excitement and mystery...

"That sounds like fun," I heard Jonny say, "Hadji and I'd love to come. Do you mind if we bring a guest?" My ears perked up, "We've got a friend who's staying with us all summer and if you don't mind, could we bring her along?"

There was a pause while he waited for an answer, "Great, we'll see you then. Bye."

"Dad, Robbie is having a party to celebrate summer vacation. Can we go? He said it would be fine to bring Cayla."

"Sure," Dr. Quest said, "When?"

"Tomorrow," Jonny said, "It's at his house."

"Fine. Tell Hadji and Cayla."

Hadji and I happened to be sitting 10 feet away on the couch and could hear every word said, but that was Ok.

"You up for a party?" Jonny asked us.

"Yes," Hadji said, "We have not seen Robbie or any of the others for a long time. It will be nice to see them again."

"Who?" I asked, feeling slightly confused. That seemed to be my main emotion at the Quest Compound.

"Robbie and some of the other kids who live a couple of miles away," Jonny said, "We've been friends awhile and he has a huge house so parties are always fun."

"Sounds good," I said, "What do I wear?"

Jonny looked at me funny and said, "Clothes."

I counted to 10. I must remember these are guys, "I mean, is it dressy or casual?" Good God, how dense do you get?

"Oh, casual" Jonny said, "Shorts and a nice shirt. It's going to be hot tomorrow."

The outfit immediately formed in my mind: Jean shorts and my crinkly blue halter top. If Race lets me out of the house in it. He may be laid back about hover boards, but not about this kind of stuff. He seemed to have adopted me on spot. That was fine with me. I liked him better than Dr. Quest. Race talks like a normal human, not like a physicist. He speaks fluent teenager.

I was just a little lot a bit nervous about the party. I wouldn't know anyone. At least I'd show up with 2 cute guys...

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"We're going to be late!" This is the usual response at my house when I happen to be running a little behind in getting ready. It's usually me holding everyone up. Not this time. I had been ready with time to spare in case I had to change. Fortunately, Race said I looked awesome and didn't freak when he saw my shirt. Hadji and I were ready to go. Jonny, however...

"Jonny!" Race yelled, "Come on, or we'll leave without you!" I was getting impatient and more nervous by the second.

Hadji, who seems to have a sense for these things, leaned over and said quietly, "You'll be fine. Robbie is very nice and we'll introduce you to everyone. You look very nice."

"Thanks," I said. That was what I needed to hear. I think Hadji and I have a psychic bond. He can always tell what I'm thinking and while he doesn't show much emotion, I can always tell what he's thinking about. Pretty good for knowing the guy for 5 days. Anyway, (drum roll) Here's Jonny!

He came down looking the same as he always did. He had combed his hair and changed his shirt. How long does that take? Certainly not an hour.

Race hustled us into the van and we drove for all of 10 minutes before pulling up to Robbie's house. If I had seen this house any other time, it would have looked huge, but since I had been living in the Quest Compound, this place looked fairly normal sized.

A boy in black shorts and a velvet blue-swirled shirt came out of the house and down the driveway. He was definitely cute, with brown hair, blue eyes, glasses and a very nice smile.

"Hey, Jonny, Hadji, long time no see," he said. We got out of the car and Jonny told Race we'd call when we were ready to be picked up. We waved good-bye and walked up the driveway.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" Robbie asked, "I'd like to be able to call her something other than 'Jonny and Hadji's friend from... um...'"

"Pennsylvania," I said. I was tired of waiting, "And my name's Cayla White. You must be Robbie."

"Yeah, that's me," Robbie said, "I hope you have fun tonight. We'll introduce you to the girls and they can introduce you to the guys. It'll will give them an excuse to talk to them."

I grinned. Sounds like typical party from home.

We went inside and I was surprised to see about 30 people gathered in the house. "Robbie and the girls" was more like "Robbie plus 29 complete strangers". Deep breath. Good girl.

"Well, look who's here!" a girl said, "Jonathan Quest, were have you been hiding yourself?" She hugged him and Hadji and asked, "Who's this?"

"Melissa, this is Cayla," Jonny said, "She's staying with us this summer." He had an odd look in his eyes.

"Where did you pick her up?" Melissa asked, "India, Russia," she took a good look at me and asked, "Maybe Spain?"

I wasn't sure where this girl was going, but I didn't feel like finding out. I already decided I didn't like her, "He didn't pick me up anywhere. I came to the compound without his help, thank you very much. I'm what you could call a friend of the family's."

Melissa blinked, apparently surprised that I had ruined her fun, "Oh, well," she said and walked away.

"What was that?" I asked.

"She's always like that," Robbie said, "Ignore her."

News travels fast. Apparently, once people heard how I trashed Melissa, I won a good deal of respect. We had arrived at the party a little after 6 and by 6:30, I was introduced to every person at the party and met a few people that I liked a lot.

The guys left me in the care of Sabryna, Lindsay, and Toni (girl, not guy) and went off with David, Sam and Andy to talk about whatever guys talk about at parties. Melissa was apparently Lindsay's best friend, but she was off sulking once she found out that Lindsay thought I was cool. The surprising thing was, that while all the girls were dancing, none of the guys would get up and move, at least not to fast songs. I found this very annoying.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I walked over and grabbed Jonny's hand, "Come dance with me."

He looked a little surprised, which wasn't too surprising, but he got up and we started dancing. Or what he thought was dancing. I shot him a look and said, "Loosen up!"

He shot me a look to match my own and did as I requested. What an improvement! The trend seemed to catch on, as these things usually do. Almost everyone was dancing now. Except for Hadji which didn't surprise me. He's a very reserved kind of person, so I left him alone. At least until the next slow song. Then I asked him to dance. He looked surprised, but said yes.

He waltzed (yes, you heard me right, waltzed) me around the room. Apparently, the western style of dancing didn't appeal to him, but that was OK.

After I danced 3 songs with Robbie in a row, Jonny grabbed my arm and we started to dance. It was now 9:45. It happened to be one of my favorite songs, " Ghost of Me And You" by BB Mak. As guys have the tendency to do, they were all making noises while we were dancing. I looked at Jonny expecting to see him either red with embarrassment or laughing his head off. He has a weird sense of humor sometimes. This was not one of those times.

He was looking back at me with an odd look on his face. It was the same look he had given me earlier when I had come downstairs in my party outfit. I couldn't place the look, but it looked familiar from somewhere.

I looked at him and saw hat he wasn't looking at me, exactly. More like he was looking through me. Creepy. What was his problem? I wished I knew. Be careful with what you wish for...

"Jonny?" I asked. No answer. I was about to ask him again when...

I was experiencing one of my moments of claustrophobia. He was too close. No, his face was to close. What the...?

He was about to kiss me. OMG, what the heck...? His lips were about an inch away from mine when... he moved away. Not just away from my face, from me. In about 2 seconds, there was about 2 feet between us. Again, what the heck?

He was staring at me again, but this time he was looking at me, not through me. I didn't like this look one bit. Especially since everyone was now staring at us. All I had to say was, NOT MY FAULT. He started it and now he was PO'd at me. Peachy keen fantastic...

I was now staring at his back. he was walking towards Robbie and after a second of discussion, he walked off into the kitchen. I walked over to Hadji, who looked VERY confused. Darn, I was hoping he'd use his insight and figure this out.

I looked at him, sat down, and shrugged. Again, NOT MY FAULT! Hadji looked more upset than I probably did.

About 10 minutes later, Race showed up. Jonny had apparently called him from the kitchen phone and asked him to come pick us up. I said good-bye to everyone and got some of my new friends phone numbers. Hadji went to the kitchen to get Jonny and I went out to the car with Race. I climbed into the front seat. There was no way I was sitting in the back with the guys.

Hadji and Jonny climbed into the backseat and we pulled out of the driveway. Race must have noticed something was wrong, because he said, "Did you have fun at the party?"

He was met with silence. I looked out the window so he hopefully wouldn't ask me any questions. Race looked in the mirror at the guys and was met by Jonny's angry eyes and Hadji's shrug. Race gave up on questions and the rest of the ride was silent. I didn't realize I was crying until I noticed drops on the window pane when I knew it wasn't raining...

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Well? Wasn't that more interesting? To any of my friends reading this (probably Robbie), did you like the fact that you were included? I hope so. More chapters to come, if people review saying they'd like me to continue *hint, hint, hint* ! Anyway please review and for now, ja ne!