Author's Note: I'm back

Author's Note: I'm back! Yay! #People run; I frown in puzzlement# Anyway…sorry I haven't written in so long. I don't have a real excuse. I'm just lazy. Though school is something of a nuisance. I'm trying not to write such long author notes now, since I when I went back to read my first "Missing Fi" chapter, I noticed that all my notes took up more room then the actual story! Oops. =o) Well, onward through the fog! R&E (Read and enjoy!)

Disclaimer: Firstly, I don't own Seventeen magazine, nor do I get any money for it (you'll see why I mentioned that later. I'm an odd little person, ain't I?) I also don't own So Weird, nor am I making any money off of this story. (Note: If I did, however, own So Weird, it would no longer be a kiddie show. #Smirks smugly#)

One more note: Oh, and I'd like to thank "Jack Phillip's Girl" for her reassurance that I'm not the only one who freaks out with booster shots, as well as anyone else who's reading this story, even though its been beyond forever since I first posted it.

CAUTION: Cursing ahead! And beware of my evil mind tricks! #cackles# Hahahahahahahaha…

****Carey's POV****

It is mid-afternoon, and we're all on the road again. I am, needless to say, bored. My father, esteemed roadie Ned Bell, is driving the bus (as usual), my mother, workaholic Irene Bell, is jabbering on the phone (as usual), Molly and her son, Jack, are playing cards (as usual), Annie is chatting with friends on the Web (as usual), and I am stuck here on the couch like a jackass, pretending to read a magazine, though what I'm really doing is fantasizing about Fi. As usual. Everything is like it has been since Fi left. Boring as Hell. All the fun and excitement and joy in my life seems to have been absent from it since that day. But I know that, should anyone ask, I'd plaster a smile on my face and say, "The world is my oyster," or some other equally ridiculous saying, making sure that no one knew, or even suspected, how things really are away from prying eyes. Yup, everything's just dandy with me. Super fan-fucking-tastic. I sigh, which gains a questioning glance from Jack where he sits at the table across from his mom, shuffling the cards for another game of Poker. Personally, I like Go Fish. I won't admit it to anyone, of course, but it's true. It's Fi's favorite card game, too. Ah, Fi. Whenever I begin to think of something else, anything else, my thoughts somehow manage to swerve and weave their way back to her. Honestly, I don't think it's natural to love someone so much. To me, she's more than a friend, not quite a lover, but definitely an obsession. What's wrong with me? I know I don't deserve her, but I can't help wanting her. Strike that--I don't want her, I need her. I'm so confused. I offer Jack a cheerful-looking smile of reassurance and return to "reading" the magazine. He resumes shuffling, his curiosity satisfied for the moment.

****Jack's POV****

What's wrong with him? He's been acting so…well…weird lately. I don't know what's going on, but I do know that the Carey I see now is not the Carey I once knew. I notice him let out a melancholy sigh, and I glance over at him, silently asking him, "What's wrong?" He offers me a weak-looking smile, his own nonverbal way of saying, "Nothing." He looks back at the magazine in his lap, pretending to read. I know he's not reading it, though. I'm more observant than people give me credit for. I know that there's no way in Hell that anyone, especially Carey, would be so damn interested in Seventeen magazine that they would stare at the same page in it for an hour, like he's been doing. I make a mental note to talk to Annie about it, and then turn back and continue shuffling the cards.

******************************* Later *******************************

One card game later, with my junk food stash considerably depleted (Mom's idea of Poker chips), I make my way over to Annie's room. I knock softly, and at her bubbly chirping of, "Come in," I enter. She turns around to see who her visitor is, and smiles hugely when she sees that it's me. I swear, when she smiles, she lights the whole room up. What did I ever do to deserve such a great girlfriend? "Jack!" she squeals in delight, as she rushes over to quickly close and lock the door behind me, after which I am enveloped in the mother of all hugs, and showered with a barrage of kisses. I can't say that I mind, though. Even though we travel on the same tour bus and are constantly around each other, we're always delighted to have moments alone together. We haven't told anyone about our relationship, except Fi. I think Carey suspects, but I don't think that he really cares one way or the other. With this thought, I am reminded about what I came here to talk with her with in the first place, and I reluctantly break our impromptu make out session. "Annie…" I manage to wheeze, after hurriedly breathing in a much-needed breath of air. I don't get any farther then that, however. She gives me a little pout, and that's all it takes to break my resolve to talk to her about what she thinks might be going on with Carey. I'd rather kiss her silly, and that's exactly what I do. Damn, she knows me too well. That's my last thought before the kiss deepens and all coherent thought leaves me.

****Carey's POV****

I hear a loud thump come from Annie's room and smirk. Do they actually think that we're all so stupid that no one would figure out that they're a couple? They're not exactly subtle, I notice. This is confirmed as I hear a very muffled, very feminine giggling, followed abruptly with silence. Well, to be fair to them, their plan seems to be working all right. Fi would have noticed immediately, as I have, but Fi isn't here, a fact that I am more painfully and acutely aware of with each passing day. But, returning to my original train of thought: my mom is much too busy to notice such things, Clu isn't exactly the brightest, and isn't here very often anyway, and I think that it's very possible that my father and Molly are just naturally oblivious. The fact that "the children" are growing up has probably eluded them. Then again, as I turn my head, I see Molly staring at me with a hungry look in her eyes. She's been staring at me more and more with that look lately, and I want to scream in frustration every time she does it. But what would I scream? Certainly not the truth. After all, I couldn't very well stomp up to her and yell, "Listen, I don't like the fact that you're lusting after me! The fact is, I happen to be in love with you're sixteen-year-old daughter, whose natural perfection has led me to become a cutter in the hopes that I can bleed out my flaws, so that I'll one day be worthy  enough to declare my love and marry her! Oh, and by the way, don't worry about having that 'sex talk' with Annie or Jack; they're both well versed in that area. You might soon be a Grandma!" Nope. That wouldn't do at all, so I simply turn back to Annie's airhead magazine and hope that Molly will stop scrutinizing me soon.

She doesn't. I'm really uncomfortable by this time, so I get up and announce that I'm going to take a nap, and wake me up at the next stop, please. After I enter the room Jack and I share, I flop down on my bed. On second thought…I get up and lock the door. Jack was occupied, and he wouldn't be stopping by anytime soon. I feel better now. Once again, I take a few small steps to my bed and collapse onto it like a boneless mass of flesh. I roll over onto my back and stare at my ceiling. I stay like that for a while, just looking at the cracks in the plaster, thinking. Thinking. I've been doing much too much of that lately. Sometimes I'm afraid that I'll waste away here on this little bus, just thinking my life away, instead of actually doing. I think about Fiona, and I wonder if, when the time comes, I'll be able to tell her the way I feel. I think about doing it a lot, but I wonder if I actually have the courage to do it. I shut my eyes tightly. Too much thinking. It's making my head spin. If I'm not careful, I might just turn into a damn philosopher, like Clu's been studying to be. Man, he'd have a field day with me if he ever found out all the thoughts that run through my head. But then again, so would Freud. I open my eyes. The dizziness is still there, but it's fading rapidly. It finally goes away, and by this time, I feel my eyelids become heavier and slip down over my eyes, as I slip into the world of dreams.

Author's note: #Still cackling# …hahahahahahahaha! #Takes deep breath after such extensive cackling# Aren't I evil? I don't know, there's just something about Halloween that brings out my dark side. Well…to be truthful, I'm always like this. Oh, well. At first, I didn't intend to mess with the minds of my loyal fans (hehehe…such a shameful thing for me to do, I know), but temptation proved to be too much, and I gave into my Muse's prodding to, "Give the story some zest already!" Humph. The wench.  I think she's been sneaking off to watch those blasted soap operas again… #curses#. Well, seeing as how she's the only muse I have at the moment (really, why is the Romance/Angst muse the only one to show up when I feel like writing? I don't like to make Disney's boy cuties go through bad stuff, but I do. Blast her!), I'll have to make due. Anyway... stay tuned! (P.S. Nope, I don't believe that I have a living, breathing Muse, like the show presented them…it's just a way of referring to the place where my inspiration comes from, wherever that may be. After all, I'm not crazy. Right? #Silence# Darn, where did all the voices in my head go? Ha!)

One last author's note: #Narrator glares and holds up a bat menacingly# Uh, we'll see if the narrator will come back in later chapters. I just couldn't find a good place to fit him/her (whatever), so don't think I've dropped that idea entirely. #Narrator drops bat, satisfied; I sigh in relief. People shake their heads, disappointed#