Rachel

When Marco had left I turned to Jake. He had turned a nasty shade of red and had a vein popping from his temple. He literally looked like a bull ready to charge.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"You tell me," I said. "Why didn't you come to the funeral yesterday?"

"How the hell is that any of your business?" he raged.

"I was at your house yesterday," I said. "Did you know that?"

Jake looked puzzled. Then it hit him. "What morph were you in?" he asked furiously.

"Fly," I said simply. "But me being present while that interview was going on affects nothing, except for one little detail."

Jake winced. "And what would that be?" he asked.

"I was on the phone with you when the car crashed, did you know that?" I walked closer to him; the way a person does in the movies when they're tormenting someone. It was working too.

"Obviously," Jake replied. "I was conscious…"

He stopped suddenly. He realised his mistake. But it was too late.

"So you do remember," I said triumphantly.

Jake remained silent, staring at me furiously.

"When I was on the phone with you, I heard something, just before the crash," I continued. "I'm sure you remember what it was."

Jake took a step back from me as I drew nose to nose with him.

"You're blackmailing me!" he said. "Who do you think you are?"

"You could go to a nuthouse Jake!" I shouted deliriously. "You could go to juvie! Just so your dad wouldn't be called a reckless driver. Just admit it. He was the cause of the accident."

Jake seemed to smile. "Why don't you prove it?" he whispered.

He turned around and that was the last I saw of him. I had a sinking feeling. I thought I had it. Obviously I had underestimated Jake's sense of mind.

……………………………………………..

"What's going on?" Cassie asked as I joined them outside the cave. Jake had left.

((Jake didn't say anything when he left,)) Tobias said.

"It's nothing," I shrugged. "Just the usual leader-warrior thing."

"Except that he's not our leader anymore, is he?" Marco pointed out shrewdly.

"I just told him off for not going to the funeral," I said, walking down the cove.

I looked along the beach and was not surprised to find it completely deserted. The Visser's tail was gone, but there was a patch of red, where the blood had spilled. In the distance I could make out the street. Ongoing cars were oblivious to what had just happened. But not for long. Faintly I could hear sirens drawing closer. The police, maybe even the paramedics, were progressing towards us. Three kids standing in spandex with a bird on a deserted beach was not how I wanted to be uncovered.

"We got to get out of here," I said. "Now."

"No complaints there," Marco muttered, racing back into the cave.

I had no doubt which animal he planned to morph into. Which animal wouldn't be noticed much on a beach? There was only one answer to that. Seagull.

……………………………………………………

"Rachel, I will not tell you again," my mum said angrily from my bedroom door. "Get up."

I rolled around on my bed, trying to find my bedside table clock. My blurry vision told me it was eight o'clock in the morning on a Sunday, but my mind wasn't digesting it.

"Rachel!" my mum screamed, despite the fact that she had told me she wouldn't warn me again. That's lawyers for you.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and squinted back at the clock. "It's only eight!" I raged, my brain finally finding the energy to read time. "Wait till noon."

I heard my mum give a groan. "You want to sleep until twelve?" she asked, disbelievingly. "What do you think the chances of that happening?"

I sat up in bed and squinted at her. The light coming through my bedroom window seemed blinding at the moment. She was dressed in a grey outfit. A nice, lengthy skirt and a top and business jacket to match. She was holding a portable mirror to her face and smearing on red lipstick.

"Where are you going?" I yawned.

"I have work," she said. "I need you to take care of Jordan and Sara for me."

"Why can't dad do it?" I asked.

"Because your dad has left town," she said, staring up at me pitifully. "Breaking news down at the station, they wanted him back. Something about raving animals down at the beach."

"You let him go without saying goodbye?" I asked, dismally, taking no notice of the animal remark.

"Sorry sweetheart," she said, now applying eyeliner.

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"He has to provide for child support some way," my mum answered.

I stared at her. "What did you just say?" I snapped.

She looked at me. "Get out of bed, Rachel," she said. "I'm leaving in five minutes and if Sara doesn't get her daily dose of the Telitubbies at ten, I'm going to be hearing all about it for a week until I buy her the season on video."

She stalked away and I collapsed back on my pillow. Wondering why my dad had left without saying anything.

"Rachel!"

Just another exciting day for Xena.

…………………………………………………………………

"So, how was your short lived holiday?" I asked Marco as I met him in front of the school gate.

Marco looked up at the school building. "Crap," he said. "But looking up at this piece of junk, I wish I were still at home."

"Hey," Cassie approached us. "Jake's first day back at school."

"Before you say anything," I interrupted her. "I'm not going to comfort him."

"I wasn't going to say that," Cassie objected.

"Sure," Marco muttered. "And monkeys can fly."

"Speaking of monkeys," I said, looking down the sidewalk as three familiar figures gained closer and closer to the school and us.

Ed, Mark and Nathan were hard to miss. Three goonies, one with pointy black hair, one with a large nose and one that looked like Marco.

"You're blocking our way," Ed said when they reached the gate.

"Really?" I said, smiling. "Hadn't noticed."

Nathan stepped up from behind Mark. "You'll notice in a minute, sweetheart, when I have my lips locked onto your's."

I shuddered uncontrollably at the thought of his horrible tongue reaching into my mouth.

"Say that again," I snapped, clenching my fists into balls.

Nathan was about to open his mouth, undoubtedly to say it again, when he was interrupted by none other than my cousin.

"What's going on?" Jake asked, stepping out of the arrived school bus. He looked between Nathan and me suspiciously.

"Jake, my man," Mark said, slapping Jake on the back.

Jake ignored him; in fact I thought I might have seen him roll his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"Your cousin's a feisty one, Jake," Nathan said. "She better watch her back or I might…"

I think I might have snapped right then, because I had a pretty good idea of what Nathan was planning on doing. Jake did too and surprisingly he had something to say about it.

"Hey," he snapped. "You're not going to do anything to her, alright?" he said and Nathan looked at him shrewdly.

"What?" Nathan said.

"I'm serious," Jake said, now speaking calmly. "Not with my cousin."

Nathan seemed angry at being spoken to like that, but he got over it quickly.

"Whatever," he said. "Come on, I've got something for you."

Mark and Ed gave Nathan a smile and together with Jake, walked around the school building and towards the gardens which were mostly empty around this time.

Author's Note Don't worry pplz, Rachel has alot to do with Jake getting better! I just like torturing them!