[A/N: Don't worry loyal reviewers, I am not dead! After almost two whole months without an updated, here I am. Enjoy Chapter Five of "Deep Blue Something"]

"Parker," I heard my little sister scream. "Where are my headphones? I need my headphones for the trip!"

Tomorrow is Saturday, which means I will be in a van for four days with my parents and little sister. See, my mother is deathly afraid of heights. She's never been on a plane and doesn't intend to either.

"Maddy! I don't have your headphones," I yelled back. "Why do you need your headphones?"

She stomped into my room with her hands placed snuggly on her hips. She rolled her eyes at me and blew a piece of dark curly hair out of her face.

"So I can listen to Mandy Moore's new CD! Duh, don't you know anything about music," she huffed as she ran over to my dresser and sifted through my belongings.

"What did I tell you about going through my stuff," I screamed as I pushed her out of my room.

With that, she ran out of the room and trudged back to her room. Does she not know that I am about to pull my hair out of my head? Does she know that I am up to my shoulders in my share of teenage dilemmas? Of course not, she's nine years old. A nine year old has their share of problems, like if they lost a kickball game or they called someone else "stupid". It probably explains why my sister and I have our conflicting differences, she's nine and I'm fifteen. A six year difference between siblings is like the Stone Age and the Roman Empire. They're totally different and you really can't relate one to the other.

The last week has been exhausting. I've been up tossing and turning think about everything there is to be thought about. Mostly it's been the whole Ronnie and Gordo situation and seeing Eden. I haven't seen Eden since she left for college. When my parents visited her, I was sick with pneumonia and I had to visit my Aunt, while they were in Daytona.

I looked at the old brick red suitcase that sat on my bed. I started throwing random articles of clothing in it. My room was lined with various shirts, shorts, socks, and flip flops that missed when I was trying to throw them into the suitcase.

"Parker," My father called.  "How are we doing on the packing?"

I looked at him, "Alright."

"That's good," He smiled. "Just pack enough for two weeks, not two years."

"Uh huh," I muttered.

My father walked out of my bedroom and towards Maddy's. Like my mother, my father is a very peculiar person. Yet again, everyone in the family has a reputation for being weird. We're the "weird McKenzie's". I can't think of someone that's normal, in my family.

With that, I sat on my suitcase and clasped it shut. The suitcase was full of peasant shirts, halter tops, and oversized tee shirts for lounging. Also there were various sandblasted skirts, shorts, and a pair of wind pants. My CD collection was in another bag. The bag contained various CD's from "The Wedding Singer: Songs from the movie" volumes one and two to Bryan Adams.  

Everything confuses me about life. Such as boys, music, my sister, my friends, sandwiches, and David Zephyr Gordon. Who the heck has their child's middle name be Zephyr? Who in their right mind? Were his parents on nice, happy drugs?

"Parker," my mother screams. "Carly's here!"

Carly came gallivanting in my room with a stride in her step. A smile was plastered on her face and happiness beamed from her dark brown eyes.

"I am going to miss you so much," she squealed as she embraced me tightly. "You're going to be in Daytona for two weeks! C'mon! We've never been separated this long ever. This is quite a feat for people like us who've known each other since preschool."

"Carly," I choked.

"Yeah," she said as she embraced me tighter.

"I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry," she said embarrassed. "I guess I better go now, you know. You have so much more packing to do and I would be bugging you. I don't want to bug you, so I'll go."

She began to walk slowly out of the room, with her head drooping towards the floor. I could tell that she knew that she got on my nerves easily. How she knew, I couldn't begin to fathom.

"You're not bothering me," I said. "Stay awhile. Help me pack."

She turned around and looked at me with the same, depressed look on her face.

"I don't pack very well," she said half heartedly.

I knew something was up. Carly never turned down a chance to do something that kept her away from her screaming baby brother. She also never got depressed. Carly was a true blue optimist. I knew it, Veruca knew it, the American people knew it!

"Fess up," I sighed. "What's wrong?"

She looked at me and flipped a piece of black hair behind her skinny tanned shoulder, "Uh. Nothing's wrong. I'm just depressed that you're leaving. I mean, Veruca will probably get bored with me within a week and I have no one else to hang out with. So…yeah."

Carly was a horrible liar, she thought I believed her lies though.

"Seriously," I sighed. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. Besides the fact that Ronnie will never like me because he most definitely likes you a lot better than me. All he talked about was you, Parker! That's all we did when we were at the Digital Bean on Wednesday! We talked about you! Wake up and smell the coffee, Parker! Gordo hasn't gotten over Lizzie yet, he will never like you! And you're too busy batting your freaking eyelashes at Gordo to notice that you have a perfectly nice guy standing right in front of you," she rambled on. Her words became more hostile with each syllable, along with her face, which beamed a shade of dark red.

I looked at her with astonishment and she looked anywhere, but in my eyes. She shifted nervously as she stood near the door of my bedroom.

She spoke up again, but this time in a soft whisper, "I'm sorry. You don't have to do what I say, but I would appreciate it. Whatever you do, don't let my jealousy and rage influence your decision. Just…follow your heart. Even though you might think that I might throw a fit about whatever you choose, just do what your heart tells you. Wow…that sounded really weird."

As ditzy and clumsy as Carly could be, underneath it all was the introspective person I knew.

This also proved the fact that I knew since I was little…

"Things aren't always what they seem."