A/N: Oh man, two days in a row! (well it would have been if wasn't in read-only mode so I could have uploaded it yesterday...) Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter then the others. Don't expect me to update a lot like this all the time, I've just been bored, It's supposed to rain until Friday, so much for my vacation! Oh well, I'm still out of the house, and the rain is kinda nice :D

A/N2: Thanks again to Scott (salsipuedes/knoodelhed) for reading over this and fixing a few things, and coming up with the chapter name.

Ch. 5: Trouble...and More

Opportunities come only if you take risks
You can't steal second with your foot still on first

---

It had been two weeks since Reggie saw Twister's dad hit him. She was kicking herself now for promising not to tell anyone. Every time he had a new bruise she begged him to let her help, but he always refused.

One night Twister asked Reggie to come over again, his parents were out at a party, and there was no doubt Raul would be drunk when they got home.

Reggie and Twister sat down in the living room watching a movie, for the first time in a while Lars was home, but he was upstairs in his room.

Sure enough, Raul came home drunk. He gave Reggie and Twister a look of disgust.

"Maurice, I need to talk to you upstairs. Now." He said angrily.

Twister got up, Raul grabbed his arm, and practically dragged him upstairs. At the same time, Lars was coming down the stairs. He shook his head and plopped down on the couch next to Reggie.

"So... whacha watching?" Lars asked.

Sandy sighed and walked into the kitchen.

"Does he hit you too?" Reggie asked quietly.

Lars looked at her, surprised. "Once," he paused, "...I hit him back."

"Why don't you help him?"

"I'm never home when it happens."

"You are now."

"Yeah, but if I go up there, he'll be really pissed, not at me, but at Twister, and the next time he goes into one of his rages I might not be here..."

Reggie sighed.

---

"Why is she over here?" Raul asked his son.

"She's my friend, we were watching a movie." Twister replied, avoiding contact with his fathers eyes.

"What have you been telling her?" he grabbed Twister's shoulders and shook him.

"Nothing. We just watched the movie!"

"Don't give me that attitude!" Raul gave Twister a hard shove backwards, causing Twister to hit his head on the wall behind him.

Raul walked back down stairs, calm as could be. Once Reggie was sure he had gone into his bedroom she went upstairs to Twister and held him until he fell asleep, just like she had on that first night Reggie found out about the abuse.

Reggie left at around midnight, Lars was still watching the TV.

"Lars, I need to tell someone. He needs help." Reggie said.

"No, I'll take care of it."

Reggie thought for a second, a few years back she and the guys made a truce with Lars and his friends, they promised to just stay of out each others way, and things would be fine. "Okay," she said finally. Lars offered to walk her home, but she insisted on going alone. She walked home, Otto was waiting up for her.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"Twister's house, why?"

"Just wondering...what's going on?"

Reggie bit her lower lip, debating weather or not to tell him. "Nothing, we just watched a movie is all. And I'm a big girl, Otto; I don't need you looking out for me."

---

The next day Marisa and Reggie had their job interview. Trish had already had her interview the day before. Reggie's interview was at eleven. She got up at nine, went to the kitchen, and made herself some breakfast. After that she went back upstairs and took a nice long shower, then she got ready and went downstairs, her father was sitting on the couch.

"Dad, can you drive me to the ice cream parlor on your way to work? I don't want to get dirty." Reggie asked, she and Ray hadn't really talked too much since she applied for the job.

"Sure, princess. Look, I just want to say I'm sorry. It's your life and I have to let you make your own decisions."

"Thanks dad." Reggie smiled.

Ray drove Reggie to the ice cream parlor, and then drove off to the shack. Reggie walked inside and up to the counter.

"Hi. I'm here for an interview."

"Ah, yes," she pointed to a little room in the corner of the store, "just go right in there."

Reggie walked into the room, it had a little plaque that said 'manager' on it. Inside was a guy, he looked to be in his early to mid 20's. He's the manager? He looks kinda young, he's kinda cute though... Reggie thought. The manager stood up and reached out his hand.

"Hi. I'm Greg Miller, you must be Reggie Rocket."

"Yeah, hi." Reggie smiled and shook Greg's hand.

"Have a seat. I'm just going to ask you a couple questions."

"Okay," she sat down.

"So...have you ever had a job before?"

"Well, I've helped my dad at his restaurant."

"Oh? What kind of things did you do there?

"Different things, dishes, cleaned tables, worked the register."

"Ah, that's good. How are you with people?"

"I'm great with people. I think I work better with people than by myself."

"That's good." Greg nodded.

The questions continued for about ten minutes. Then Greg said, "Well, thank you very much, we'll give you a call by the end of the week."

"Okay, thank you." Reggie shook his hand again and then left.

---

Marisa's interview was an hour after Reggie's, her Mom dropped her off and she went inside, her interview went pretty much the same as Reggie's with the same "Well thank you very much, we'll give you a call by the end of the week," at the end.

When she was walking home she saw Sam standing alone on the pier, looking out over the ocean. She walked over to him. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Sam snapped out of his trance, "Oh hey, I'm just thinking, sorry."

"It's alright, anything you wanna talk about?"

Sam turned and faced Marisa, they stared at each other for a moment, and then they kissed.

---

Lars was sitting around at home, flipping through the channels when the doorbell rang. He got up and answered the door.

"Yeah...?"

A/N3: Oh the suspense. Twister's getting the shit beat out of him, Reggie's getting a job, Sam's cheating on Sherri, and who the hell is at the door? Muahahaha. Only I know. :D Keep the reviews coming, I love you guys!