SayItIsntSo

Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'In A Heartbeat' related whatsoever. All I have is this story and the characters that I made up. They belong to Disney and Alliance Atlantis and so forth. Thanks to all that have reviewed this story so far. You guys are the best! And for the sake of this entire series, Jamie is the younger of two boys in the family.

Parent Trap

Say it isn't so

"Do you ever get lost in that house?" asked Val as they turned to Tyler's driveway.

"Sometimes," he replied with a smile. "You'll get used to it after a while."

As they walked in his house, Val noticed an old man opening the door.

"You've met Jeffrey, haven't you?" Tyler asked Val about the family's butler.

"Yea. Good afternoon, Jeffrey."

"Good afternoon to you too, Ms. Valerie," he replied. "And you too, Mr. Tyler."

"You can call me Val."

"If you say so, Ms. Valerie."

With that, Jeffrey left.

"Ms. Valerie?" asked Val.

"Trust me," said Tyler. "Don't even bother."

Val laughed as Tyler led her inside.

"Feel free to look around. I'll just out my stuff upstairs."

After Tyler left, Val walked around the house a little bit. She turned into one hallway and noticed a dimly lit room. She went in and noticed that they were filled with a bunch of awards and pictures. As she looked around, she saw pictures of Tyler and his mom; some had William in them, and a few of Tyler and his friends. A single picture caught her gaze on one of the shelves. She went over to take a closer look. It was a picture of Tyler and his dad.

"He looks just like him," Val said.

On the picture was a small Tyler wearing a pint-sized football jersey as he sat on his dad's lap, who was wearing a business suit.

"I miss him sometimes," said a somewhat gloomy voice from behind.

Val turned and saw Tyler as she had expected.

"I didn't mean to come in here," she tried to explain.

"It's fine, Val," he said as he went over to her. "I'm not upset or anything."

"When was this picture taken?"

"When I was around eight years old…three years before he left."

"I'm sorry," Val started to say. "I shouldn't have come here."

"Hey," Tyler said as she grabbed her hands. "It's fine. Now come on."

As they exited the room, Tyler led them to the kitchen.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"A little," she said.

As they made their way into the kitchen, Tyler's mom was already there.

"Hey kids!" she greeted them.

"Hey Mom!" Tyler greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. "How was work?"

"The usual," she said. "Hey Val!"

"Good afternoon Mrs. Jenks," Val greeted, although she almost said Connell.

"You can call me Daphne."

"Well, I'll get the basement ready. Would you mind keeping Val company for a sec?"

"I'll be glad to," said his mom.

As Tyler left, there was an air of discomfort in the room.

"How's school going?" asked Daphne.

"Pretty good."

"How's your dad?"

"My dad?"

"I heard about his condition."

"He's doing great. Thanks for asking."

"You're birthday is coming up, right?"

"In a few weeks," said Val.

"Any plans?"

"It depends."

"Your sister, Brooke, works at the station as well, isn't that right?"

"She handles all the paperwork," she replied. 'How does she know all of this?'

"Do you want some ice cream? We have Mint-Chocolate Chip. You like them, don't you?"

"They're my favorite," Val said uneasily. "Do you mind if I ask how you know all of this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have been scaring you. It's just that Tyler talks about you a lot. More often than before since you two are going out now."

"Really?" Val asked as her cheeks started to turn red.

"Yes, but don't tell him that. He might get embarrassed."

"OK."

Just then, Tyler walked in.

"So, what has been my mom telling you?"

"Nothing in particular. Just, you know, ugly details about you."

"Really? Well, I'm sure we'll get to that topic some other time, right Mom?"

His mother smiled just as the door opened to reveal William.

"Hey everyone! Val, it's nice to see you again."

"You too, Mr. Jenks, I mean, William."

"Tyler, could you help me with some load here?"

"Sure," he replied as he headed to William's car.

After the guys left, Daphne started another conversation.

"I would like to thank you by the way."

"About what?" asked Val.

"For talking to Tyler. Whatever you told him during his birthday months ago, it really worked. He's getting along with William quite well."

"It was nothing," Val replied.

"Tyler's really lucky to have you. I've never seen him this happy."

"I feel the same way about him," Val said just as the guys returned.

"So, what's for dinner?" asked William

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few hours of talking, playing video games, and doing all other guy stuff, Hank and Jamie were beat.

"Do you want anymore soda?" asked Hank, who was sitting on the couch.

"Nah. I'm done for today."

"What else do you want to do?"

"To be perfectly honest, absolutely nothing."

"I'm glad. I'm really tired right now."

"Well, I have to get going. My parents should be home soon."

"Oh, that reminds me. How was your test?"

"Well, I don't mean to brag, but I only got the highest grade in class."

"Wow. How much did you miss?"

"Half a point."

"I guess all the hard work finally paid off."

"Tell me about it. Well, I'll see you tomorrow Hank?"

"See ya!"

"And did Marianne tell you yet?"

"Not yet."

"Well, I'm not supposed to say anything, but I just want to tell you good luck."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Jamie…wait!"

"I know that's my name. Bye Hank!"

And in a jiffy, Jamie was out of the door.

"You're a pal, Jamie."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After he parked his motorcycle on the driveway, Jamie hurriedly went inside the house; something he didn't do since he was a kid.

"Mom! Dad! Is anyone here?"

"We're in the living room, Son!" called out his father.

Jamie was the younger of two boys. His brother, Peter, is in college.

"Mom. Dad. You would not believe what happened today."

"Is it about your test in English?" asked his mother.

"Yea…how did you know?"

"Your teacher called," replied his mom. "She told us you got the highest grade in class."

"Yea…I did. Why did she call?"

"She just wanted to congratulate you."

"She did that at school. Was there anything else? I know Mrs. Lowry, and she doesn't make that much house calls."

Mr. and Mrs. Waite looked at each other for a moment before returning their gaze to Jamie. Jamie shifted on his feet and decided that it would be better to sit down.

"Mrs. Lowry called because she wanted you to join this…um…club."

"What club, Mom?"

"Actually, it's more like an academic team."

"Ac…academic team?" Jamie said with a gulp. "How come I have a feeling that I don't want to hear what you're about to say next?"

"She asked if you could join."

"That's it. Well, for a minute there I thought I was going to be in the academic team. Thanks for telling her that I'm not interested…that is what you told her, right?"

"Well…"

"Mom! You didn't just put me in that team. I didn't even agree to that."

"She told us that your grade depends on it, you would be in charge of the literary language vocabulary category, it would be good for your college application, and all she needed was the parent's permission. Besides, you did pretty well on that exam."

"It was only one exam. One test. I can't be on the academic team. I'm not good enough for that."

"I told you he wouldn't be interested," whispered his dad to his mom. "I told you he won't be good enough."

"Wait…hold on…you don't think I can do it?" asked Jamie to his dad. "Are you saying that I'm no good?"

"No," replied Mr. Waite. "I was just saying that you won't be interested, and you never really did pay attention to any of this that I figured you won't be up for the challenge."

"Are you saying I'm quitter?" asked Jamie as his voice started to raise. "Are you?!? Are you?!?"

"No, not at all," said his dad. "And stop yelling. That is so irritating. You're starting to give me a headache."

"Is that all you think I can do? Give you a headache? Is that what you think of me?"

"Jamie, give me a break. You're brother was never like this."

"Now you're comparing me to Peter?" Jamie said in a very melodramatic tone. "Peter the perfect?"

"Jamie, all I said was that you won't be up for this. I have watched you since birth, and you hate when you fail."

"Well you know what, I'm going to prove you wrong. I'm going to join that academic team, and I'm going to prove to you that I'm no failure."

"OK, Jamie," started his dad. "That's great. Congratulations."

After his father's words sunk in, Jamie regretted the idea of ever opening his mouth.

"Wait! I didn't…"

"I knew you'd do it," said his mom.

"But I…" said Jamie as he spoke the last word.

With that, his mom and dad left.

"That was great, Frank," whispered his mother. "Nice acting."

"You did pretty well too, Helen," replied his dad.

Jamie sat on the couch for a while without any idea to what had just happened. He overheard his parents talking in whispers.

"I can't believe this!" said Jamie to himself. 'They just made me join the academic team. And it doesn't help that Dad was once a psychology major. The most annoying thing any parent could ever do to you is reverse psychology. I hate him. Well, I guess this is it. My life is officially over. Terminated. And my stupid mouth just won't shut up and had to say all of that. For once, I curse myself for not being a quitter.

Out of frustration, Jamie grabbed his bag and headed to his room. As he passed by his dad, he couldn't help but say something.

"Thanks a lot, Dad," he said sarcastically. "You're a really great father."

"I know. Nice speech by the way."

Jamie was about to scream, but he acted against it and went to his room with the door slamming.

"I hate my parents!" he yelled out loud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hank was in his room, finishing the rest of his homework, when the phone rang. He quickly got up and picked it up, hoping it would be Marianne.

"Marianne?" he asked.

"Hank, hi," said the voice on the other line.

"So, how was the dinner with your dad?"

"It was good. We had fun. We're still going somewhere though. We just went back to the house to get something."

"That's cool. So…"

"So what?"

"What about that thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Promise me you won't freak out?"

"I promise."

"My dad wants to meet you."

"Is that it?"

"Aren't you intimidated or scared?"

"Is there any reason why I should be?"

"Aren't you afraid if he'd hate you?"

"Do you think he'd hate me?"

"Not really. It's just that in the past, the guys that I dated were afraid to meet him."

"Well, I'm not," he said. " I'm a likeable guy, and there's no reason for me to fear him…is there?"

"Well, my dad is…"

"What?"

"I have to go. My dad's coming. I'll tell you all the details later. Bye!"

"Not again," he said to himself. "Why does she always do this to me?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dun dun dun! Another mystery : ) I hope you liked it! This chapter was quite long. I'll be back! ~ Scarlet182