Disclaimer: Okay you guys should know the drill by now. And the song isn't mine. It's called "How Does It Feel" by Sugarcult.

[A/N: There is one really bad word in this chapter. I swear, I didn't put in there. It's in the song. Sorry guys.]

Chapter 9: A Softer Side… At Least For Awhile

It was Friday night. It had been hours since Bright had asked Amber out, but it was still all she could talk about. She was in the guest room with the other girls talking it over. The boys were all in Ephram's room, not talking about it. They all knew that Ephram had issues with Bright, and they didn't want to chance getting something thrown at them.

"Eph, have you gotten any new CD's since you moved here?" asked Skuzzy.

"Yeah, they're in the back of my CD case," he responded, without much emotion. He was upset about Amber. He was also, immersed in X/1999.

"Where is it?"

"Against the wall on the left, bottom shelf of the bookcase."

"Got it. Okay, lets see what's in here. The Ataris. I got that for my birthday. The All-American Rejects. I stole that from Kay. Don't tell her. I'm in the process of burning a copy for myself and giving it back to her. Good Charlotte? I don't know why you have that, but I don't want it."

"It's actually not that bad."

"Whatever you say. What else is in here? Simon and Milo?"

"Oh, that's Delia's. It's not bad, but I don't want it. I don't even know why it's in there. Take it out, I'll give it back to her later."

"Okay. Um… let's see, I think I have all the rest of these… except this one. Sugarcult? Is it any good?"

"Yeah, you'd like it. Here let me see." Ephram took the CD from Skuzzy, and put it in his stereo. He hit a few buttons and within moments rock music filled the room.

Well I'm back in the class

Falling out of your past

All the letters that I wrote

And you thought as a joke

And the phone never rings

When you're cold and it stings

All the holidays suck

By myself 'cause I am fucked

And I'm dying, dying, dying

So how does it feel?

How does it feel?

'Cause it's tearing me apart

How does it feel?

How does it feel?

'Cause it's tearing me apart

By the time the song was over all the girls had joined them in Ephram's room.

"That's awesome. Where'd you get it?" Taylor asked.

"This kid at school, Wendell. He's all right. Sorta weird though."

"Burn me a copy!" Bryan called out.

"Yeah, me too," they all said.

Kayliegh was looking at the shelf of the books nearest her. On that shelf there were picture frames. Most of them were empty, but there were four that jumped out at her. One held a picture of Amy. It looked like a school photo. The second had a picture of the group of them in Ephram's living room in New York. The third held a picture of Julia Brown. The fourth photo was of a girl she didn't recognize, a beautiful brunette with greenish-blue eyes, and her arms wrapped around Ephram. 

She picked up the picture and looked at it for a moment. "Hey Eph, who's this?"

He over at her to see what she was talking about. "That's me," he replied calmly.

"I meant the girl, moron." This attracted everyone else's attention. They wanted to know who the mystery girl was.

~*Flashback*~

Ephram and Jordan were outside his house one day fooling around when Delia came outside too. She had something in her hand but it was hard to tell what it was. Or at least it was until she whipped it out and started trying to take pictures of her brother, and his friend.

"Delia put the camera away!" Ephram yelled. He hated it when she did this.

"Ephram, come on. She's your sister; she wants a picture of you. How can you deny her of this?" Jordan said. Ephram was getting the feeling that they had planned this.

"Fine. Delia, you can take one picture, and make it good."

"Can Jordan be in it too?" Delia asked.

"I suppose," he sighed. Jordan smacked him in the arm, and then stood next to him.

"Well, if you want Jordan in it, we may as well make it look good." Ephram pulled the girl into a hug, and looked over at his little sister, who promptly took the picture.

~*End of Flashback*~

"A friend, her name's Jordan," he said, hoping they would leave it at that. But he knew they wouldn't. He knew his friends all too well.

"Well, when do we get to meet this friend?" Kelly asked.

"You won't. She moved." He knew that he was lying to them. What they don't know can't hurt them, he thought.

"Too bad," Jake said. Amber smacked him.

"Get a grip Jake!"

*****

"Molly! Where did I put my jeans with the lips on the butt?"

"In the top pocket of Kay's bag I think."

"Kay, where's your bag?"

"In Eph's room. Just kick Bryan in the shins if he's still looking for his Gravitation manga. He left it at home, but he's not listening to me when I tell him that." A moment later there was a thud, a yelp, and Amber yelled, "It's not in there, dumbass!"

Saturday afternoon Amber was running around the house trying to collect random items she needed to get ready for her date that night. Everyone else was either sitting in the living room, or helping Amber look. Ephram was moping. He couldn't believe one of his best friends was going out with his worst enemy.

"What the hell did I do with my 'Ooh la la' shirt?"

"Jake took it and hide it under Ephram's bed," Josh said.

"Jake I'm going to hurt you!" Amber yelled over her shoulder.

Jake threw a couch pillow at his brother. "If it makes you feel better I did it because you look hot in that shirt and didn't want moron-boy to get any ideas."

"Jake that's so sweet, in a sick, disgusting way," Amber said coming back into the room. "But thanks all the same."

Amber walked into the bathroom. "Hey, Kelly. Come help me. And bring your make-up bag."

"Now she can't even put on her own make-up? I swear I'm getting ready to shoot her," Kelly muttered, walking towards the bathroom.

"Join the club," Ephram murmured. He didn't think anyone had heard him, but Kayliegh had been listening.

"Ephram, I'm thirsty. Why don't you come show me where you keep the soda," she said.

"In the fridge, just like they were in New York."

"Ephram, I need you to show me," she glared at him until he looked up and realized that she wanted to talk to him.

"Okay, fine." He pulled himself upright and followed her into the kitchen.

"What do you want Kay? I have sorrow to wallow in."

"That's the thing Eph. I'm trying really hard to figure out what this so called sorrow is. Amber is one of your best friends. She hasn't had a date in like a year, probably more. You should be happy for her, and yet your not. You're pulling off the broody, apathy-filled Ephram that SHOULD have gone away long, long ago."

"Yeah, but her 'date' is Bright Abbott. He was unbelievably mean to me when I got here. He ripped one of my mangas in half and then gave me a black eye. When Colin, his best friend and Amy's boyfriend, died, he beat me up trying me up to keep me away from Amy. He's never been nice to me. And as if that's not bad enough I'm in love with his sister. It's just not fair. If she really wanted a boyfriend why couldn't she go out with Skuzzy? I mean he's liked her since like eighth grade."

"First, she went with Skuzzy?"

"Really? When?"

"Right after you left, however that's not the point. Eph, listen to me. I love you, and Amber loves you, and the rest of us love you. But you really need to get over it. Bright is just a big bully. I'll bet he always been, and he probably always will be. But you know what, if you saw her smile when she talks about him, none of this crap would matter anymore. And as for this whole thing with Amy, she still loves you so just ask her out."

"She does? How do you know?"

"Amy told Bright, Bright told Amber, and Amber told me. We weren't supposed to tell you, but I've been here three days and I'm already sick of this thing between you two. I can't even imagine living here."

"Really? So she likes me?"

"Yeah, now get over it. And please, for the love of god give up on this thing with Bright."

"Alright. Fine." And with that he turned and walked out of the room. Kayliegh followed him. "You're sure she likes me?"

"Call her if you want."

*****

Finally, after much waiting, and whining from Amber, Saturday night came, and with it came Bright. Amber had to beat the crap out of all the boys to stop them from acting like her father, and then with that done, she left.

Once they were in the car, Amber turned to Bright and asked "So where are we going tonight?"

"Well, I was going to take you to the diner, but then my friend Dave called me last night and he told me he's having a party tonight, so I thought that we could go to that, if that's okay. If not we could still go to the diner. I really don't care."

"No, the party's cool. It'll be interesting to see what you small town people think a party is."

"Oh, you think you know what really partying is?" he said playfully.

"I'm from New York City, I defiantly know what real partying is."

"Well, then lets see if this is… up to your standards."

*

Two hours and countless beers later Amber was still standing. This amazed Bright. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"Hun, I'm Irish, and a New Yorker. I can hold my liquor. It's you I'm worried about."

"Me? I haven't had that much. I want to be able to drive home."

"Okay…"

"What? You don't believe me?"

"Not really."

"Well, too bad. I wouldn't lie to you."

"Whatever. So tell me, anything interesting happen around here lately that I should know about?"

Bright thought for a minute. "Well, there was that car crash last week."

"A car crash huh?"

"Yeah, Ephram's girlfriend was in it. She died. Her baby too."

"Wait… Ephram's girlfriend… had a baby… and they both died?"

"Yeah, it was really sad."

"What was the girls name?"

"Uh… Jordan something."

Amber stood there in shock for a second. "Bright, can you take me home?"

"Sure…"

*

The house was dark when Amber got home, but she knew that her friends were all still awake. She quickly said goodbye to Bright, then ran up the front steps. Someone had had enough sense to leave the door unlocked so she could get in. She opened the door and closed it silently behind her. She stood in the darkness until her eyes adjusted, then made her way upstairs. Instead of going to the guest room like she was supposed to, she went straight to Ephram's room. She opened the door as quietly as possible, at least until she whacked Josh with it. "Sorry, Josh," she whispered. As soon as the door was closed she started to yell. "Ephram Brown what the hell is wrong with you!!!"

"What did I do now?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what? Amber, it's late, your drunk, and not making any sense. Go to bed."

"Why didn't you tell me what happened last week? You know Bright told me? It started to make sense when he said last week. I remembered that Amy said you hadn't been answering the phone. That's what you do when you're sad. Then he said car crash. That confused me, but I let it slip. But then the words girlfriend, baby, and died, came into play. It sort of started to make sense. But it all became so clear when he gave me a name. Jordan. WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!!!!"

Jake whispered in Josh's ear. "Is she making any sense to you?" Josh shook his head.

"Amber, I can explain it all."

"How Ephram? How are you going to explain to me why you didn't tell me about the car crash that killed your girlfriend and your baby?"

By now the other girls had noticed Amber's yelling, and come to find out what was going on.

"Eph, what's she talking about?" Taylor asked.

"Guys, I'll explain it all in the morning."

"NO! Ephram, you can't do that. You're going to tell us NOW!" Amber said.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! I'LL TELL YOU IN THE MORNING!" he yelled.

He had scared even the very persistent Amber. They said their good nights and went to bed, all of them wondering what was going on.

*****

[A/N: That's it for this chapter. In the next, he explains what really happened to Jordan. See you all later.]