Disclaimer : Once again, the great and wonderful Meg Cabot owns everything! Well, almost.
The plot line is my friend and my idea and the characters of Anne, Adriaan, and Alea are ours
as well.

Oh my gosh! You guys are the best. I am so glad that you have stuck with me and my friend's story, that's great! Especially since I haven't updated in a while. I am SO sorry. Basically, I'll tell you what happened. It's all about being a senior in high school! That has taken my time, like, 24/7. Then my computer crashed like two days after I posted the last chapter. So I really haven't been too happy because of it. It really sucks! Oh well, now I have my computer back and can give you all what you've been wanting. Another look inside Jesse's brain! YAY!LOL. Alright, here's chapter 14, hope you enjoy. (oh yeah, and review!)

Jesse's POV:

I strode into the mission and then to Father Dominic's office. "Hello? Father Dominic?" I said a little loud, so that he could hear me. Maybe he wasn't even here.

"Jesse?" He came out of the backroom; arms loaded with miles and miles of books.

"Nombre de Dios, Father….Let me help you." I exclaimed, taking some of the books and
setting them on the floor. "What were you trying to do?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm just trying to figure out how you came back to life so suddenly, without warning…." He kept looking through his books and hadn't noticed the cut on my face just yet. I silently hoped that he wouldn't look up to look up to see my face (which now had a fine line of blood trickling down it, from Paul's one and only good punch), because I know how Father Dominic is on fighting….I have seen him become angry with Susannah more times than one for putting herself in danger and fighting. I hoped he would not try to lecture me…after all; I had won and taken care of a "little" nuisance.

"Jesse, have you found a suitable place to live yet?" He looked up and I realized that I was going to get a huge speech about the importance of not fighting. "Oh my goodness Jesse, what happened?" He asked, sighing tiredly.

"Oh, it is nothing Father….really."

He gave me a knowing glance. "how is Paul, by the way?" He asked, nonchalantly as he gathered a few medications from a medicine cabinet. I knew what a few of the medications were, due to having to apply them for Susannah whenever she became engaged into a fight….which was quite often.

I gave Father Dominic a look that seemed to convey the idea that I did not want to talk about that particular piece of vermin. He nodded knowingly and began applying alcohol to the cut that happened to be above my left eye. I wince, but Father Dominic took no notice of this. "You never answered my question, Jesse."

I looked up at him, which proved to be a rather painful experience because my eye seemed to be swollen just a bit. "No, Father, I have not found a place to live yet. I was just thinking along the lines of that subject when that little…."

"Jesse." Father Dominic warned.

"I am sorry…." I replied curtly, before continuing. "When HE came by and we fought."

"Well…." Father Dominic looked as if he were casting around in his mind for a different topic so that my anger wouldn't rise again. "I believe that you should begin thinking of somewhere to live." He looked at me.

"But where Father? I have no money and as you can plainly see….anyone who saw me would think that I was el stupido by my clothes."

"May I make a suggestion Jesse?"

I looked at him for a second. "Sure."

"We can go in to town today and get you some normal clothing and by then we should be able to find you a place to live."

I was practically speechless. "Father, I could not ask you to trouble yourself."

"Nonsense Jesse. Besides, I know Susannah would have wanted you to be as comfortable as possible…."

I saw that familiar look of sadness in his eyes and knew that it matched my own."We will find her Father. I know it. She is still alive."

He just gave me his pitying look that told me he didn't believe a word I was saying. I dropped my gaze to the floor and just sat there until we were ready to leave to find me some clothes.

About half an hour after our little discussion, we were standing in front of a small shop that promoted suits and ties….very rich looking outfits. "Um….Father?" I looked at him questioningly. I really did not think that "casual wear" consisted of suits and ties.

He seemed to read my mind. "Of course, this is not what we need." He nodded his head towards a store across from the store we were standing in front of and began walking towards it. I followed him and when we entered, I saw what looked like thousands of different articles of clothing for men from wall to wall."Ah! Here we go." He walked over to a young woman with a red shirt on that promoted the store.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, my friend here needs some….updated clothes. I can't seem to help him, so if you wouldn't mind I would like your assistance on the matter."

She grinned and looked at me. I saw something in her eyes that made me fell rather uncomfortable, but I extended my own hand anyway and shook the hand that she was offering.

"Alea Maxwell." She stated, grabbing my hand and shaking it firmly. "But everyone just calls me Ali." She grinned and continued to stare at me.

"Nice to meet you, Alea….my name is Hector de Silva and I would like to find some casual clothing."

"of course….and you can call me Ali." She smiled at me and batted her bright blue eyes, before walking to the back of the room and through a small door.

"Well, Jesse, if you're going to be okay here, then I'm going to go and finish up some paperwork at the mission."

Father Dominic turned to leave. "Father?" My voice was kind of shaky, though for reasons I couldn't even begin to fathom.

He turned back around and must have saw the apparent anxiousness of my face. "It's okay, Jesse. Just be you. The world isn't that much different from when you were…." He dropped his voice. "….Alive." With that, he turned around and walked out the door, leaving me alone with….Ali.

"So, Hector….you're Spanish huh?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Nombre de Dios! I turned around to face her. "Yes."

"Could you say something in Spanish for me? PLEASE?" She smiled and tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and began twirling a strand of it around one finger.

I rolled my eyes and then looked back at her. "Do you understand Spanish?" I asked, before I got into trouble.

"No….but I'd love to learn." She touched my arm.

This was getting very confusing. "Nombre de Dios, como estupido eres tu? Mi querida es Susannah, tu idiota." (a/n: Translation : "How stupid are you? My sweetheart is Susannah,
you idiot.")

She just grinned. "That is so sweet! You must have all the girls chasing after you. I bet your girlfriend is SO jealous." She was staring at me pretty hard.

"No, actually…." She interrupted me.

"You don't have a girlfriend?"

I almost laughed then, but kept it down to a slight grin. "No, I meant, she doesn't care. She's not that type of person."

The look on this girl's face was one of complete loathing. I almost laughed aloud again, but decided to save the girl the embarrassment. I grinned at her and her now completely red face.

"Miss…."

"Alea."

I grinned. "….Alea, can I just pick out some clothes now, please?"

"Sure." She replied, sounding angry. Although I do not understand why. I proceeded to follow her around the store, picking out different sets of clothing and went to try them on.

I went into the dressing room; arms loaded with pants…something called jeans and shirts. I began changing immediately. I decided that I liked all the pants and so I kept those. I did not like some of the shirts, but I thought that the button down shirts looked nicely on me, so I decided to keep those. I tried on the last couple of shirts that I had left and then was getting ready to leave. As I was shrugging my shoulders out of the last one, Alea came bursting in wanting to know if I needed any help taking any of the clothing back. She still seemed to be in a particularly bad mood since our little conversation. I stopped in my tracks and she came bursting into the dressing room.

"Hector, did you need anyth…." She stopped speaking and stood, staring straight at my chest. She must have realized what she was doing after a few seconds, because she beganexclaiming how sorry she was and the fact that she shouldn't have just barged into the room. Her face was a deep scarlet color.

I stopped her. "It is okay. Just….next time you plan on barging into a room while someone is changing, you may want to let them know first." I grinned at her as she shut the door and then breathed deeply as I changed into the outfit that I was going to wear out of the store, which consisted of a black button down shirt and a pair of….khakis….I think that is what they are called. I went up to the register and paid for my outfits with the money that Father Dominic had given to me on the way over to the store. He had showed me how to count the specific change for my clothing and so I gave her the direct amount. She smiled at me and gave me the change for my purchase and wrote something down onto a little slip of paper and handed it to me, along with my clothing.

Before she could say a word, I graciously thanked her and told her that it was…um…nice to meet her and then I quickened my pace to the door, however before I could reach the handle, she called out to me.

"You'll find her." She called. "And by the way, I'm not a complete idiot, Jesse." She grinned as I walked out the door.

How did she know my name? And what was she talking about…."you'll find her"? Did she mean….no she couldn't mean that. She didn't even know Susannah. I became so confused that while I was walking from the shop to the mission, I bumped into a short brown-headed girl as she was walking along the sidewalk. "Sorry." I mumbled before continuing on my journey towards the mission. Little did I know that when I got there, I would have an interesting proposition, from two people who I thought would never talk to me or know me in my life…or….afterlife considering.

Okay, there you have it! Now, to answer a few questions and fix a few booboos….. First of all, when I was answering questions before, I was sleep deprived and I wasn't thinking clearly. When I said that he wouldn't be able to see Susannah, I meant, he wouldn't be able to see Maria. Don't worry, everything will be revealed in the next couple of chapters or so….(I hope) Anyway, thanks for reading and chapter 15 will be out soon! You guys are the greatest and now you know what to do glances at the little purple button.