Pirates of the Caribbean still doesn't belong to me. Neither does Jack Sparrow. God, do I hate that fact.

EVERYONE READ THIS – I just rented Edward Scissorhands and it is an awesome movie. I like it more than POTC! Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to go rent it. I LOVED it. I guarantee you'll like it, and if you don't, then something is seriously wrong with you.

Chapter Nineteen

Oh no, Ariana thought, her body tensing up as the sound reached her eats harsher than usual. Fear gripped her like an iron fist as her stomach dropped to her toes. No, this CANNOT be happening. Not now. Please let it be a delivery guy or something. . . If the unknown visitor caught sight of Jack, it would unleash a slew of questions Ariana couldn't answer. Maybe she could hide him somewhere.
"Jack – " She turned to him, only to find that he was heading straight towards the door.
"Who's that?" he questioned as he went, his brow furrowed in wonder.
Damn his curiosity, she thought rather harshly. "Jack, wait!" She extended an arm as if that would bring him away from the door.
But he was already in sight of the mysterious guest. The three girls shot after him, unsure of what to do but realizing they had to do something.
An exclamation of "Oh my God!" came from the other side of the door, accompanied by the sound of someone jumping up and down.
Ariana's stomach knotted instantly as she recognized the voice. She felt a cold wave of anxiety wash over her as if she had fallen fifty feet into frigid sea water once again when her friend Alix came into view, standing behind the half-glass door with a mixture of surprise, joy, and confusion on her face.
Jack opened the door, eyeing the teenager. "And who might you be?"
Her curly brown shoulder-length hair framed her tan face as she stared up at him with dark brown eyes that practically mirrored his own.
"You – you're – you're. . ." She stood with her mouth slightly open for several seconds before slowly reaching out and poking him. "Are you real?" Under normal circumstances Ariana would've found it humorous.
He gave a slight laugh of amusement. "Of course I'm real. I'm standing right in front of you, aren't I? How could that be if I wasn't real?" Was this girl feeling all right?
She gazed at her main celebrity crush (or so she thought), taking in everything about him to keep as a mental image since she knew she couldn't take him home. Although, Ariana had apparently done just that. Her brow creased in addled curiosity. "What are you doing here? And why are you dressed as Jack, and using the accent?"
"What do you – "
He was swiftly cut off as Ariana hurriedly jumped into the conversation. "You see, he's. . ." She searched for any explanation. It felt as if a huge eraser was being dragged across her brain and wiping out each idea that came to her. Who was she going to tell her? Not the truth, obviously. . . But she had to come up with something, before Jack opened his mouth again. "He's. . .here – because. . .we – won a contest!" Her voice rose as she latched on to the sudden lie that formed itself in her head. "Yeah! We won a contest to have Johnny Depp come and spend the day with us, and he would be in his Pirates of the Caribbean role! Because we just love that role so much." She added the last sentence to make it seem more credible. It seemed to work, as Alix was slowly nodding.
"That is SO not fair!" she burst out after a few more seconds of gawking, causing Julie to give a small jump of surprise. "How come you didn't tell me about the contest?"
Ariana was once more at a loss for words.
Kelsey spoke instead. "Because we were the last ones to enter. It ended at a certain time and we entered, like, minutes before it, so we didn't have time to tell you about it and give you time to enter, too." The words flowed smoothly, as if she had already had the whole fabrication planned. Ariana raised her eyebrows, impressed.
"Oh. Well why didn't you tell me that you won?" There was a hint of masked suspicion in her voice, though barely perceivable.
"I guess we just forgot since we were so excited," Julie told her. She never had been very good at lying. . .
"Uh huh." She didn't appear entirely convinced, but since she had no knowledge of the truth of the matter, she couldn't discredit their story. She looked at Jack again. "Can I spend the day with you guys?" Hope shone on her face.
Oh boy, Ariana thought anxiously. What do I tell her now? In reality, there'd be no reason for her not to stay. . .but with the time we've had, what IS reality anyway? If I tell her to leave, she'll know something's up. . .She's not stupid, after all. . .Or she might just think we're sending her away because we're bitches. . .
"Can I give you a hug?" Alix suddenly asked Jack.
He looked down at her and was silent for a few seconds. He shifted his gaze to Ariana, questioning with his eyes what he should do, but she appeared lost in thought and wasn't paying attention. He decided that he couldn't act here as he would normally, for if he did, he would decline her request. But from what he could tell, he was obviously someone she knew, somehow, and saying "no" would probably cause some problems. Besides, she seemed like a sweet enough kid. What could it hurt?
"Um. . .of course," he answered, still sounding unsure.
She smiled wider than he thought possible for a human being and wrapped her arms around him, nearly squeezing all the air from his lungs in the process. He put his arms around her lightly and waited to be released, receiving his wish several moments later. Yes. . .I can breathe again. . .
Maybe if I tell her that he has some kind of disease. . . No, that wouldn't work. . .
Ariana was still searching blindly for ideas, anything that would come to her, unsuccessfully. Maybe I can tell her that he can't have more than three fans around him at a time. . . No, that's stupid. . . What if he just doesn't want to be around more than three fans at a time? That might work. . .but then again maybe it won't. . .it would make him sound like a jerk. . .
"So? Can I spend the day with you guys?" Alix's expectant voice interrupted Ariana's thoughts and she looked up.
"Um. . .I don't know about that. . ." Ariana began hesitantly, not knowing what else to say. She didn't want to hurt Alix's feelings by making her feel like they didn't want her there. She had to come up with a reason, and a good one.
Alix's face took on a sad, perplexed look. "Why not?" Her voice had lost all the zest it had possessed just moment before, and already Ariana felt horrible.
"Because. . .it's just that. . .well, you see. . ." She swore in her head. Why couldn't she ever think of anything anymore? Was she cursed?
Jack noticed how drained Ariana seemed and said to Alix, "It's just that. . .the people that sent me here, they – they said that I could only spend the day with these three, and no one else. That's all it is, really." He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully, uncertain of what to say. He thought that maybe Ariana and Kelsey talking about winning a contest to spend the day with this Johnny person, whoever that was, maybe meant that he was Johnny in this world, and that someone or some people had sent him here. Wow, he was confusing himself just thinking about it. . .
"Oh. . ." She still had that disappointed, unhappy look on her face that made him feel as if he'd said the wrong thing. Had he? He wasn't sure. After all, he didn't have the slightly clue as to what was going on. . .not much of a clue, anyway. Suddenly her head snapped up to look at him, her eyes sparkling with new anticipation. "Well who says they have to find out if you have one extra fan with you? It's not like they're following you around or anything like that."
"Well, it's not like we know if they're following him around or not; after all, stars these days have security all over them. How do we know that someone isn't following him to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble or anything like that?" Ariana explained, grateful that she was finally able to come up with something.
"Well, how do we know that someone is?" Alive shot back, determined to spend the day with her favorite actor.
"I just don't think we should take any chances, that's all." She didn't want to act unfair, but she couldn't let Alix stay; she just couldn't. She would risk her finding out that he was really Jack in many ways that she didn't want to see happen.
"Oh, but you should! You should always take chances, that's what they're there for!" Alix said, a glimmer of desire still in her eyes.
"Well, you see. . . my – security – " he said the word in a rather confused voice, not really certain of what it meant, "has been known to follow me around when I go places. I don't want to risk this day being ruined by them, or you getting in trouble for being here, do you?"
Alix sighed with displeasure. "But I don't get to see stars like you often, you know! I LOVE you! I've seen all your movies, and they ROCK! I just really wanna spend the day with you 'cause I don't know if I'll ever get this kind of chance again! And besides, even if your security is following you around, even if they catch me, what are they gonna do? Throw me in jail because my friends won a contest to be with you and I wanted to see you too?"
"I really don't know, but – I think it's better if you leave before they find you here, if they are following me, which they very well may be."
The hope had now disappeared from her eyes and was replaced by severe disappointment and sadness. Ariana wanted to kick herself, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. She couldn't let her stay. It would be way too jeopardous.
Alix looked at Ariana and said, point a finger at her, "You better take pictures and video tape him and whatever else you can do! I want as much of this day as I can get!" Then she looked back up at Jack. "Do you think that could possibly autograph a picture or two for me? Please?" Her tone was practically pleading.
"Um, I'll – see what I can do," he told her. What the hell is a video tape?
She beamed. "Thank you SO much! You don't know how much that means to me! Can I give you a hug goodbye?"
"Of course," he replied, and she once again threw her arms around him and he could swear his ribcage was pushed up at least an inch. He hugged her back and, a while after, she reluctantly let go.
She fixed her eyes on him. "Bye." Then she grudgingly turned and walked in the opposite direction, looking back at him until she was out the door and around the corner of the house.
"Wow, I can't believe we got away with that," Ariana said, relaxing. "I wonder why she didn't ask to have us take a picture of her with him."
"Maybe she forgot," Julie suggested, shrugging.
"Maybe."
"What in hell's name is a camera?" Jack asked, shutting the door to the porch and turning to eye the three of them.
"Just never mind that, you wouldn't understand," Ariana told him, waving a hand.
"Well what about that girl? Who was she? And how did she know me? And why did she want to hug me?"
"That was one of my friends. She knew you because. . .in this world, you're. . .somebody else, let's just put it that way. She wanted to hug you because you're really well-known here and she's a fan of yours."
"I'm somebody else here? What in the blazes does that mean?" Bewilderment was etched into his face, though he had already assumed he was not Jack Sparrow in this world.
"It means. . .that. . .it means something that would confuse you some more, so don't even worry about it." She hoped he would accept her answer.
He was about to inquire further into the matter when he remembered something else she had said. "I'm well-known here as well?" He grinned.
She grinned back as she replied, "Yeah. But let's not get into that."

A/N: Okay, it's finally up! I was having a bit of writer's block, and I still kinda am, but I'll try to add more as soon as I can! (Writer's block is the reason this took so long to get up, and why it's kinda short. DAMN YOU, WRITER'S BLOCK, YOU BITCH!)