Chapter Sixteen

Jess had gone straight to bed when she got home, too exhausted to speak to Tally, too tired to even try to get the glass out of her hand. All she wanted was to curl up under the covers and pretend that this day had never happened. She lay there waiting for sleep to come, but it didn't. Instead, her head was filled with thoughts, images and feelings. I'm such a screw up! She thought angrily. First I can't protect Laila against Tally, then I go and have a fight with a vampire - an actual fight, with real violence - and then to top it all off I kiss Luke! This is got to be the worst day I've had in a very long time.

There was a light tap at her door. 'Jess? Are you awake?' Tally's voice travelled in from the hallway. Jess sighed, ignoring her sister. She didn't want to speak to her, not if she could avoid it. After a few seconds Jess heard the sound of a piece of paper being slid under the door. Nice try Tally, Jess thought. But if I don't want to hear what you have to say then I definitely don't want to read it.

OOO

Tally stepped away from the door. She knew Jess was mad at her. Everbody was mad at her. If she'd have known what would happen to Laila then she wouldn't have done it. She had just assumed that Laila would have a few hallucinations - she didn't think she'd be putting her life in danger. Now everyone was treating her like she was some kind of unholy monster, they were disgusted by her - she could see it in their eyes. Diandra and her father were downstairs right now, no doubt talking about her. Maybe she should apologise one more time - she'd been saying she was sorry all night long, but maybe if she kept saying it they'd start to believe her.

Slowly she crept down the stairs, pausing outside the kitchen. Larry's hushed voice floated out into the hallway. 'Why? Why would she do this, D? I just don't understand how she could do anything so...so...' He sounded close to tears.

Diandra sighed wearily. 'Don't forget who her mother is Larry. Tally's always been so much like Stella.'

A hot anger flared through Tally at the mention of her mothers name. Stella Devereaux had walked out on her family years ago when Tally was only four years old. She didn't remember much about Stella except for the fact that she had been a terrible mother and an even worse person.

'That's no excuse. She's Jess's mother too,' Larry replied. 'And Jess would never dream of doing something so cruel.' The anger inside Tally grew. She hated it when they compared her to Jess - it was impossible to match up to her, so why should she even try? In that moment Tally realised it would never matter how many times she said sorry, nor would it matter how much she meant it. They had all made their minds up about her. As far as they were concerned Tally was a disappointment to them all - a monster in the making.

The red headed witch turned her back on the kitchen and made her way back upstairs. If that's the way they want it, Tally thought bitterly, then that's the way they'll get it. Why bother trying to make-up for my mistakes? They'll never give me a chance. Never.

OOO

Her hand was so sore. Jess opened her eyes sleepily and looked down at her palm. The glass was still there and all the memories from the day before came back to her. A sickness churned in the pit of her stomach. Surprisingly, she'd had a peaceful nights sleep, but now she was awake she felt as though she was in the middle of a nightmare.

She climbed out of bed and walked over to her bedroom door. She noticed the envelope on the floor and remembered that Tally had pushed it under her door last night. Looking at it now she noticed that the handwriting wasn't her sisters; it was Calebs. She reached down for it quickly and ripped it open.

Jess,

I came over like you asked but no one's here. What's going on? I hope you're okay. Call me when you get this.

I love you,

Caleb xxx

Great, Jess thought. Just great. He had been expecting a phone call from her last night and she hadn't even thought to call him to let him know what had happened. He was either going to be very annoyed or very worried. The thought of going to school was becoming less appealing by the second. She was going to have to tell him everything that had happened. But could she? Could she really tell him everything? That would mean telling him about what had happened with Luke. She was so ashamed - how could she have kissed him? What had come over her? It felt so right at the time but now it seemed so wrong. How could she do that to Caleb? She was a terrible girlfriend. Suddenly she thought of Luke and all she felt was anger. He was the one who'd kissed her first! How could he put her in such an awkward position?

She couldn't think about that now. The only thing she could focus on was getting through the day without going crazy. If she could just do that then maybe everything would be okay. Although somehow she doubted it.

OOO

'Okay, last one.' Jess winced and looked away. The bell for first period had just rang and she was sat in the nurses room having the glass shards removed from her hand. 'All done,' the small plump woman said wiping at her palm with an antiseptic wipe. 'I'll just strap a bandage on and you'll be free to go.'

She was almost ten minutes late by the time she entered Mr Logan's classroom. 'Nice of you to join us Miss Devereaux,' Mr Logan said sarcastically as she hurried into the classroom, her head staring down at the ground. She didn't need to look up to know that both Luke and Caleb had their eyes fixed on her. She slid into her seat beside Caleb and looked up at him nervously.

'I am so sorry,' she whispered to him, her eyes misting with tears. Caleb shifted along the bench to be closer to her and put an arm around her shoulder, worry furrowing his brow.

'What's wrong?' he whispered.

'It's a long story. I'll explain later.'

The lesson dragged, but finally the bell rang. Jess and Caleb got to their feet but before either of them had a chance to speak Dora and Luke were approaching from either side.

'Jess you look terrible!' Dora told her at the same time as Luke asked, 'Are you okay?' She closed her eyes and shook her head in agitation.

'Can you guys just leave me alone for a little while?' she asked. 'I need to talk to Caleb.'

Dora looked puzzled but nodded her head, 'Yeah sure.' Luke nodded too, but Jess noticed that his expression was not one of bewilderment. He thought she was going to break things off with Caleb, she realised.

Talk about arrogant! Jess thought angrily. She shot an icy glare in his direction and suddenly he did look bewildered. Jess didn't care. At that moment the most important thing to her was getting things back on track with Caleb. She slid her arm through his and led him out of the classroom.

'What's going on Jess?' Caleb asked once they were out in the hallway.

'We have to have a really long talk about something,' she said solemnly. They both had a free period and headed out to a secluded spot on the far side of the courtyard. They sat on a patch of grass under the shade of a tree and Caleb looked at her expectantly.

'So...?' he asked.

'I really don't know where to start,' Jess said gazing off into the distance.

'How about telling me what that phone call was about last night? And where were you when I came over? Did you get the note I left?'

Jess nodded, 'Yeah but not until this morning. I got home really late and Tally slipped it under my door while I was asleep, or at least while I was pretending to be asleep. I would have called you straight away if I'd have found it last night.'

'You really scared me,' Caleb told her. 'I thought something terrible had happened.'

'It has,' Jess whispered. Caleb took hold of her hand then looked down at it in shock.

'What happened to your hand?'

'I got glass in it,' she replied quietly.

'How did you do that?'

'I...I...got into a fight,' she said with a sigh.

'A fight!' he asked incredulously. 'You!'

Jess gave a slight remorseful smile. 'You think that's unbelievable? Wait until you find out who the fight was with.'

'Who?' he asked.

'Malachi,' she said in a whisper.

'Malachi!' Caleb yelled. 'As in Malachi Thorpe!'

Jess nodded.

'Jess! What the hell is going on with you!' Jess sighed and proceeded to fill him in on what had happened last night after she'd gotten off the phone with him. She left out the part about her kissing Luke.

'I can't believe this,' Caleb said with shock. 'I don't know what's harder to get my head around - Tally almost killing Laila or you smashing a bottle in Malachi's face.'

'To say that it was a strange night would be an understatement,' Jess said quietly.

'Wait a second - didn't you say that all this happened after our phone call?' he asked.

'Yeah,' Jess replied.

'So if none of that stuff had happened when you called me why were you so upset?'

Jess took a long sigh. This was it. The moment she'd been dreading. She had to tell him - everything.

'I was upset,' Jess began shakily. 'Because I had to tell you something and I wasn't sure how you would take it.'

'What?' he asked, his face full of concern.

'It's about Luke.' Jess said seriously. Caleb's eyes narrowed in suspicion. 'I didn't tell you this before because I was just hoping that if I ignored it it would go away.' Caleb didn't interrupt, he just sat there, holding her hand and listening intently. 'You see, I've been having these dreams for a long time, really weird dreams. And, well... I kind of found out that these dreams are memories from a past life.'

'What does this have to do with Luke?' Caleb asked.

Jess stared down at the grass for a long time before looking up into Caleb's kind ocean blue eyes. 'He's part of the dreams, Caleb. He's part of my past life. He was my husband.'

Caleb's lips parted but it took him a few seconds to find his voice. 'Are you sure?' he asked finally.

Jess nodded. 'We had an argument last night before I called you. I realised I had to tell you what was going on. Keeping it a secret from you was driving me crazy.'

'What aren't you telling me Jess?' he asked quietly, still holding her hand. Jess bit her lip nervously. If she didn't tell him the whole truth the guilt would just eat her up and torment her - plus the fact that keeping the truth from him was unfair to Caleb.

'Well like I told you,' Jess continued. 'Luke was at The Onyx when I got there, he was the one that stopped the fight between me and Malachi.'

'And?' Caleb asked.

'And...and...we kissed.' Caleb's face fell instantly and his eyes filled with hurt. Suddenly Jess was crying.

'Caleb, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen, really I didn't - it just, I don't know why I did it, I can't explain, but -'

'Do you love him?' Caleb whispered, cutting her off mid sentence.

'Caleb, I love you!' Jess replied reaching towards him.

'I know you love me Jess,' Caleb said his face set in stone. 'But that wasn't the question. I asked you if you loved Luke.'

Jess sighed. 'Life times ago,' she said wearily. 'I loved him life times ago - but whoever I was then, that isn't who I am anymore.'

'Of course it is,' Caleb replied sadly. 'You may have a different name and you might not look the same, but your soul? That hasn't changed Jess. That's the same. The same soul that was connected to Luke.'

'I didn't ask for this, Caleb' Jess whispered, silent tears sliding down her face.

'So what now?' Caleb asked.

'What do you mean?' Jess said feeling confused.

'What happens with us? What happens with you and Luke?'

'Nothing happens with me and Luke,' Jess replied adamantly. 'You're the one I want to be with Caleb. I'm so sorry that I betrayed you. But if you can't forgive me... I'll understand.'

'I need time to think about this,' Caleb said getting to his feet. Jess nodded. He looked at her sadly before turning and walking away. Jess dropped her face into her hands and let her tears run, soaking the bandage. Why did this have to happen to her? Why was she cursed with a little sister who got her kicks from torturing humans? Why did Luke have to show up the way he had? Her life was a mess and there was nothing she could do about it.

Authors Note: Okay, so that was chapter sixteen and there are still quite a few things that need to happen before I can wrap the story up, which means there are lots more chapters to come! Please stick with it - but tell me if it's getting boring, or if I'm dragging things out too much! Also, even though I've already decided who Jess is going to end up with in the end I'd love to know who you think she should choose, Caleb or Luke? It was kind of a difficult decision for me to make and I'd like to know what other people's opinions are. This is only the first story of three that I plan to write about these characters but she will choose one by the end of this story.

Thank you to every one who's reading this - I just hope it hasn't got boring yet, but like I said there are still a few plot twists to come, so please stick with it:)