Revised version of chapter.

***

Death and Rebirth

Chapter Two

Bargaining

***

Amelia tapped the eraser of her pencil against the paper, her mind wandering from the equations she was supposed to be solving. She hated algebra. Half of it had no use anywhere other than a test. And the other half was for jobs you'd never have anyway.

The tapping slowed, then stopped as she looked amongst the things on her desk. Mostly just pens and pencils, some extra paper. But in one corner there was a wooden picture frame with little stars burned along the edges. It held a picture from when she was about six or seven, of her and her mother in Central Park. Her mother was behind her, tickling her stomach, and the little Amelia was laughing and trying to pull away.

She stared at it for another moment, then pushed it face-down on the desk with a little more force than was necessary.

Pictures were memories. She didn't want to remember her mother right now. Unfortunately, her uncanny ability to control her thoughts seemed to have left her recently, and she was unable to get her mother - and what she did - out of her head.

The sight of her leaving felt simultaneously as though it were happening right now, and as if it had happened a thousand years ago. The memory was still fresh in her mind, constantly replaying itself, yet time had slowed down since it happened. It was hard to believe that it had only been three days.

There was a soft tap at the window, and Amelia turned to see Kelly kneeling on the other side. She had a worried smile on her face, and was balancing a plate on her left knee.

Amelia slowly got up from her chair, unlatched the window, and opened it. She moved off to the mirror by her closet, picking up the brush from the small table beneath it. She started brushing her hair slowly as Kelly spoke.

"My mom made you cookies."

She continued on another section of hair, unresponsive.

"They're peanut-butter. Your favorite." She waved the plastic-wrap covered plate around where she would be able to see it in the mirror, had she been looking. But her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be holding back tears.

It was unnerving. Amelia had cried more in the past three days than she had in her entire life.

"I really thought she cared," she said quietly, opening her eyes the slightest bit. "I really did."

"She did care, Ames."

She turned around to face Kelly directly, pain showing clearly on her face. "Then why did she leave? If she really cared, she would have taken me with her. If she cared, she would have told me where she was going, given me an address or a phone number. For God's sake, Kelly, if she gave a damn about me she would have said good-bye!" The tears finally started rolling down her cheeks. "What does that tell you? She left without a second thought about me, like I wasn't her daughter, like I don't even exist...."

She shrugged defeatedly and collapsed onto the bed. Amelia had never needed comforting before, so Kelly had no idea what to do.

"I really thought she cared about me. I really thought she was the one person around here who really loved me, and still might even if I wasn't her daughter. Either I have never been more wrong in my life, or she loved that bastard more than me."

***

One month. One whole, entire month, and nothing. Thirty days, and it was as if Amelia's mother had simply dropped off the face of the earth. No letter, no phone call, nothing. At first she had thought - hoped, really - that maybe her father was throwing away letters, hanging up on phone calls, and that her mother actually had tried to contact her, it just hadn't gotten through.

But he had gotten another job about two weeks ago, and wasn't home in the afternoons. Wasn't there to throw away mail or answer the phone. Wasn't there to intercept messages that never came.

But Amelia was there. To listen to silence, hoping for the ring of a phone. To sift through mail, hopping for a letter with her name on it.

She was there to see that they hadn't come, and probably weren't going to.

***

The fire escape stairs just outside Amelia's bedroom window were probably older than she was. There were patches of rust where the rain would run off of the most, and it wasn't unheard of for someone to cut themselves on the metal. But some of the people in the surrounding apartments had taken the liberty of dressing the catwalks up a little.

There was an elderly woman who lived a few doors away from her. She probably had more flowerpots than anyone in the building. Some were regular flowers, some were strawberries, there were even vines growing from one, covering much of the wall.

But most other people just had one or two pots of flowers. Many of them were set along the steps on the stairs. It was one of these plants that Amelia was picking at one night. She was so deep within her own thoughts that she barely realized she had pulled off a flower, and was practically mutilating the individual petals.

She had tried everything. Waiting had produced no word from her mother. It had only given time for her mind to torture with a thousand and one possibilities of what had happened, where she had gone. Given her time to go over every detail again and again. Wondering why this fight was so different from the rest, what was so unusual, what had gone wrong. It was made all the worse because she couldn't answer any of these questions, couldn't figure out the why of anything. But she had figured out the what, what exactly her mother had done.

She betrayed Amelia. That was the only way it could be described.

It was obvious that she didn't like her husband any more than Amelia did. It was obvious that they both wanted to get away from him. Her mother had gotten an opportunity to do just that, and had betrayed her by not allowing her to share in that opportunity.

After waiting an entire month, to no avail, she had taken matters into her own hands. Her mother had an address book that held the names and numbers of most everyone they were related to. Using Kelly's phone, so as not to raise her father's suspicion and anger when the phone bill came, she called them all, one by one. She explained the story to the ones who didn't already know, and asked if they had heard anything from her, a phone message, postcard, anything. It was a hopeless endeavor, and she knew it, but she had hoped... hoped for the impossible, really. But she called everyone anyway, and each time the answer was the same:

"No, I'm sorry, Amelia, I haven't heard from her."

"Aren't you cold?" asked a worried voice.

Her attention snapped away from her wallowing to see Kelly, wrapped in a small blanket, on the bottom step.

"No." She returned to pulling the tiny flower petals apart.

Kelly watched her for a moment, trying to figure out what was the best thing to say next.

"My mom's making spaghetti." No response. "And those breadsticks you like."

"I've been eating at your house too much anyway."

"No you haven't," she said sympathetically. "We don't mind, really. And I'm not about to let that madman who calls himself your father feed you."

"I can cook my own food. Besides, he's not here half the nights." It was true. He had been spending many of his nights in bars and clubs, and Amelia was always asleep by the time he came back. He was usually still asleep when she left for school.

"All the more reason for you to come over."

Amelia raised her eyes to meet Kelly's, letting them stay there for a moment.

"You're gonna keep bugging me until I give in, aren't you?"

"It's not as if you're in the emotional shape to fight back like you normally would," she retorted with a smirk.

"Fine, fine, fine." She stood slowly, and followed Kelly back along the catwalk to her apartment.

***

Amelia's eyes darted to the clock for the tenth time in the last five minutes. David Kellerman was sitting at a desk only a few feet away, and was bragging, as he did so well. He bragged about so many things, normally. His family's summer house, the month-long summer trips to every corner of the world, the Benz he had been promised for his sixteenth birthday, the wonderful penthouse he lived in, and basically everything else that had to do with his family's money.

He also bragged about his skills as a hacker.

Everyone in the school knew it. He had the best computer system money could buy. He would do things, hack for things, for the right price, for anyone in school. He'd written more than a few viruses for people with grudges, seeking revenge. Right now he was whispering to his surrounding friends a replay of his latest venture.

From what she had heard, one of his friends had paid him to get a girl's number out of the school database - and paid ferociously too much, with how easy he made it sound.

"Piece of cake." David gave one of the other boys a small scrap of paper, with a phone number hastily scrawled on it. "I'm tellin' ya, if they're gonna have the computers hooked up to the internet, they should really put up some firewalls or something."

Amelia turned back around in her seat, letting her senses drift from their conversation and back to her own mind. Thinking. Thinking that if someone could hack their way into a school computer for a phone number, what was to stop someone from finding an address on a higher level? What was to stop someone from finding out where someone was, anywhere in the country? Answer: for a hacker, nothing.

She looked up at the clock again. Goddamn it, ring!

As if on cue, the final bell sounded, releasing them from school for the weekend. Amelia shoved the book she had been "reading" into her backpack, and dashed out the door to her locker. Kelly caught up with her a few seconds later, opening the her own locker, right next to her friend's.

"Hurry up." Amelia was putting her things into her backpack as quickly as she possibly could. Her eyes kept darting down the hall, to where David was about to go out the main doors of the school.

"What are you doing?" Kelly was hurrying to close her locker and keep up with Amelia as she began down the hall.

"Bargaining," she said over her shoulder.

She followed her down the corridor, watching her carefully. A smile slowly crept onto her face as she did. There was a confidence in her friend's step that she had not seen in almost two months. A confidence that showed itself in even, paced yet quick steps, in a posture that had been absent for some time now.

This was the Amelia Harper she knew. Back for the first time since the disappearance of her mother. But... why now?

"David!" she called, just as he was began to push the doors out. He turned around, smiling when he saw who it was. God bless whatever spell it was she put all these boys under.

"Hey, Amelia," he said. "What can I do for ya?"

"I wanted to talk to you." She looked to his small group of friends out of the corner of her eye. "Privately."

She nodded to Kelly to follow her out the door. As she turned back to David, she saw the sly look he exchanged with his friends. The very sight of it made her want to gag.

"Don't flatter yourself, Kellerman. Your chances with me are none and nil."

She led the way out the door, followed by Kelly, who she knew was smirking, and David, who no doubt had a confused and defeated look on his face.

Outside the school's front doors and off to the right was a small alcove with trees and a few benches. Barely big enough for three or four dozen people to stand in at once, but it was empty now. Perfect.

Amelia turned around to face him, but her eyes wandered around for a moment. Finally she said, albeit guardedly, "You're a pretty good hacker, right David?"

"Most definitely," he replied, sounding as if he was trying to impress her, despite what she had told him a few minutes ago.

"Good enough to teach someone else?"

He hesitated, studying her face. He found nothing, which did not help to diminish his sudden suspicion. "Yeah...." he said slowly. "Why? You want me to teach you?"

"Yes." Her words had a sort of finality to them.

He watched her closely. "I hate to break it to you, Amelia, but my time is valuable, I don't work for free."

"You'd be reimbursed," she said calmly.

"How? I thought you were saving all your money for a motorcycle."

"I am." Her calm was becoming eerie.

"So how're you gonna pay me?"

"B's. On your next report card. Math and science."

Everyone in school knew that David was a brilliant hacker. They also knew that that was about the only thing he was brilliant at. He got C's and D's in everything but computers.

"Nope. Sorry, babe." He swung his backpack over one shoulder. "I can get into the school's system myself and change 'em."

"True," she said to his retreating figure. "But you run the risk of someone getting suspicious and figuring out what you're doing."

He stopped and looked her in the eye from over his shoulder. "So what do you suggest?"

"Tutoring. I'll tutor you in math, Kelly'll tutor you in science."

"Really?" He looked skeptical. "And what if Kelly doesn't want to tutor me?"

"You don't have a problem with it," Amelia looked over her shoulder, "do you Kelly?"

She shook her head. In reality, she did, but she was sure that she wouldn't once it had been explained. "Not at all. You'll owe me, though."

"Of course." She turned back around to David. "She doesn't have a problem." She held her hand out to him. "How about you?"

He looked from one girl to the other, thinking over their proposal for a minute. He finally nodded a little.

"Alright," he said, shaking Amelia's hand. "You got yourself a deal."

***

"So," Kelly asked calmly, taking another slice of pizza, "you wanna tell me what that was about?"

It had gotten dark out, and rather cold, even for March, but they sat on the fire escape anyway, wrapped in jackets and eating the food Kelly's mother had ordered.

Amelia took a drink of her Coke, staying quiet for a moment.

"Well.... You've heard him brag about how he can get into anything, dig up information."

"Yeah."

"Well, if he could get into a school computer for a phone number... you see where I'm goin'?"

She did. It was difficult not to. Amelia wanted to find out what had happened to her mother. "So that explains the return of the Warrior."

"Excuse me?"

"You," she said, thinking it ironic that she knew everything that was happening around her, but was at times unaware of herself. "You're a warrior, Amelia, everyone knows it, you can tell just by looking at you. But you haven't been that way for almost two months, since your mom left. It's just nice to see you back to your old self. The old Amelia that would stand up to anybody, wouldn't back down.... The karate thing doesn't hurt either."

"Kung fu," she said absently, rubbing her cold hands together.

"What?"

"Kung fu," her attention seemed to have returned to the conversation, "not karate."

Kelly shrugged the mistake off. "Whatever. Either way, you could probably kick Jacob Cromwell's -" movement behind Amelia caught her attention, and she turned to see her little brother standing there "- butt. Hi, Billy, whatcha doin'?" she finished in an obviously annoyed tone that sisters always use.

Amelia looked down from her place on the steps. You could tell that the two were related. Same face, same near-white hair. Same intolerance for each other.

"Who's Jacob Cromwell?" Typical little brother: nosy.

"Biggest bully in the sophomore class." Amelia spoke, leaning against the cold railing. "Bane of our existence."

"What's that mean?"

"Go. Ask. Mom."

"Don't want to." He reached for the closed pizza box, which was still keeping three more slices warm. Just as he was about to open it, Amelia put her hand on it, keeping it closed. In doing so, she had moved to be just in front of his face, and she took the opportunity to hit him with one of her infamous glares.

"These aren't for you. Now, go back home before you freeze."

He obeyed, if not for the look she gave him, then for the tone of her voice.

Kelly stared after him as he walked back along the catwalk. "God bless you and that Scary Face, Harper."

"It's a gift," she smirked.

***

Their trade almost wasn't fair. They were teaching each other two different things, but one was learning much more quickly.

They met almost every day at David's house, as he was the one with the computer. They would alternate - hacking lessons one day, tutoring the next. Amelia was, of course, much quicker to learn hacking than David was at his own lessons.

They didn't have much time, though, whatever was being taught. Between her job at the cafe, homework and martial arts lessons, there was rarely more than an hour free in her schedule. On weekends, she was able to spare three a day, but with the vast amounts each had to learn, it hardly seemed like it would be enough.

"Oh ye of little faith," she said, sliding her chair back from the computer desk, two months into her lessons.

David got up from the floor, where Kelly had been helping him study for his biology test, and came to examine the computer screen. It took only a single look to send him into shock.

"I don't believe it..." Not realizing that Amelia had moved his chair, and was still in it, he tried to sit down where it would normally be. He landed on the floor, rather ungracefully, and, from the looks of it, painfully.

"And that," Kelly chided, "is what we call karma. Your karma for doubting her. I'll be needing that five bucks before we leave, by the way." Ah, the beauty of a sure bet.

"But you've only been at this two months!" He yelled, seeming oblivious to his place on the floor, and to Kelly. "It took me almost a year to hack the high school computers!"

"Yeah." Amelia stared at the screen, a superior smirk on her face. "This is gonna be one of those student-surpasses-the-teacher things."

David could only sit and gape at her, unsure whether to be humiliated at being out-hacked by a girl, or to be amazed.

***

Not as long as I thought it would be. But I decided to move some things from this chapter to the next. I know I said this would be more "Matrix-oriented" than the last, and I guess it kind of is, but the next one will be even more. There's two things I'm really looking forward to writing. I might put them both in chapter 3, I might save one for chapter 4. I'm not sure yet

R+R!! : )