Finding Cloe

Beaner-Bop

Disclaimer: Have I ever owned it?

Chapter Nine: Lawn Party

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. -Helen Keller

If Ved remembered correctly, the lawn looked decorated as though someone had just gotten married. All the chairs were white, five seats to a table, which were also white, with large white umbrellas in the middle of each. White ribbons and flowers were strewn about everywhere along with a few white balloons. Ved blinked in surprise at everything, wondering where they got all the decorations, but then shook his head, knowing that that wasn't important.

He felt a nudge on his back and he turned to look at Cloe. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she was wearing a black t-shirt and slacks. He on the other hand was wearing a white dress shirt and tan dress pants. She nodded her head over to one of the tables (there were about ten or eleven) and he finally noticed that Allison was trying to get his attention. He looked back at Cloe and she nodded slightly, so no one else would be able to tell she was doing it. Ved began to walk over there, Cloe waiting a moment and then following behind him.

"Ved! How are you?" Allison jumped up out of her seat and ran over to him, giving him a hug. Ved hugged her back and could practically feel the glare that Cloe was sending to Allison.

"I'm fine. Last I checked, you saw me an hour or so ago." He joked lightly, not knowing what else to say. There were all ready three other people at the table, including Allison. One a boy, and one a girl. The boy was glaring at him harshly and didn't try to hide it.

"You're so silly, Ved." Allison laughed out, sitting back down herself. It wasn't until just a moment or two afterwards that Ved noticed where all their 'bad children' were. They were all kneeling down beside whoever the were partnered with, not being allowed to sit at the table. Ved looked to his left and noticed Cloe was already doing that.

"Alli, aren't you going to introduce us?" The other boy at the table said after a few moments of silence. Alli grinned at him and took her cue.

"Of course! My manners are just horrible lately. Ved, this Marcy and David. David, Marcy, this is Ved." She turned to them and shook her head sadly. "He got that latest bad child. It's so horrible! He's had to do most of the training." She turned back to Ved. "May I congratulate you Ved? You've done such a superb job so far with this girl, and we're all very impressed." Allison said, placing her hand over top of his. Ved raised a corner of his mouth for a moment, only being able to fake that much of his thanks.

Ram leaned back and stared at Jay thinking over his proposal. He backed away from him and opened the laptop that was in front of him and starting typing. What he was typing he didn't let Jay in on for a while.

"I'm guessing you're wanting a back-up team." Ram said casually as he kept typing on the laptop. Jay nodded. Ram let some air out of his mouth and kept on typing. "I only have a handful of people who can help…" Ram said. Jay was standing straighter and started talking before Ram had all of that out of his mouth.

"That's all I need." Jay said. Ram looked at him and raised an eyebrow at this.

"No equipment?" Jay looked down, embarrassed.

"Some equipment would be nice to…" But then his head raised as he reminded himself that Ram wasn't really his 'friend'. "What do I have to do for you?" Jay asked suspiciously. He waited for Ram to go into that act of his of looking innocent and doing his 'Who, me?' charade, but he never did.

"Nothing except…" Ram closed his eyes and brought his hand to his forehead, rubbing it harshly, as though he was making a decision he was sure he was going to regret.

"Except what?" Jay asked, getting nervous but having a feeling for once since he really knew Ram, that he could trust him.

"Take me with you guys."

The lawn party proceeded with a game of croquet, small sandwiches with toothpicks in them with lemonade. It all reminded Ved of a fancy wedding reception party and he wanted to bolt, just like he did when his parents took him to a function like this. Ved stopped for a moment and blinked.

For over three years, he never thought of his parents until that moment and it hit him like déjà vu. He was reminded that they were still apart of him, and all he could think was what would they think of him now.

He felt someone's hand on his shoulder and he turned to see David who was giving him a glare that could melt glass.

"Don't you go near Alli, you got that new boy? You go near her, and you're a bad boy before I can spit." David left with a smile on his face and Ved was very confused and slightly worried. He felt someone touch his hand but he new instantly that he had to look down. Cloe nodded and Ved knew that she was warning him to heed the boy. Ved hardly needed any help from anyone to figure that one out though.

Jay ran into the mall and nearly knocked Amber down and an angry Ebony stood a few feet away.

"Where the hell have you been?" Ebony crossed her arms and glared at him. Jay sighed and shut his eyes tightly, not in the mood for her.

"I was getting leads on Ved." He said, walking away. Ebony didn't like that at all.

"So, what? You just up and leave? Without telling me?" She was following right behind him as Amber stared at them and shook her head distractedly. Trudy walked in then and looked at Amber and immediately started in on her well-being.

Meanwhile, Ebony and Jay were still arguing.

"You could have left a note." She yelled at him. Jay winced and grabbed a duffel bag and went over to the chest where he kept his clothes and started pulling things out. For the moment, Ebony didn't notice this.

"I told you already, Ebony, I told you what I was doing." He stated as calmly as he could. He folded a pair of pants quickly and put them into the duffel. Ebony just huffed angrily.

"I don't get it. Why would you even care about the little twerp?" This made Jay's entire body freeze, which in turn made Ebony's do the same thing.

"What did you say?" He whispered. Ebony knew she had just skated onto thin ice and tried to back up.

"I didn't," She said, but before she could finish, Jay was glaring her down.

"You didn't…what? Think of my feelings? Use your brains? Use that piece of coal you have as a heart?" He whispered quietly. Ebony blinked at his tone and backed up a step which made Jay advance a step. "What did you not do, Ebony?" He asked slowly. She swallowed and looked away.

"I don't have to be treated like this. I shouldn't be treated like this."

Jay snorted.

"Then leave." And he watched her do just that.

-fin chapter-

A/N: This isn't going to be Jay/Amber so don't get to excited. As I was writing I realized it was going that way and…it's not gonna happen.