In Parallel - Chapter 2

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Beth had as hot a shower as she could handle. She never had any problems coming up with the answers to all life's questions in the shower; outside the bathroom, not so much. Go figure.

She let her mind wander, relaxing for the first time in a while. Fighting with her sister did that to her. How screwed up was that? Once Beth started feeling light headed, she decided she was probably close to parboiled and should get out or she'd black out. If her sister had to come in and get her that would not be pretty.

When she got out of the shower Meg had disappeared into her room. Beth was glad because if truth be told, her sister was getting a little shrill herself these days. As she toweled her hair, Beth thought back to the photo she had buried in the bottom of her backpack. It was actually a really cheesy picture. One of those grade pictures from junior high. Beth still couldn't look at herself in it without grimacing. What was so embarrassing was Beth's complexion. She didn't have acne or anything, but she was pale. So pale you could see the fine veins in her face. She always found sunlight so bright when she was young she never went out in the sun much, hence her ghostly complexion. That, added to her fire-engine red hair, had earned her the nickname Irish. And would Meg leave well enough alone when she found out? Of course not.

What made her keep the picture was not her ghostly visage but that of a friend she had back then. Maybe a not friend, she only really ever talked to him once, but he talked to her like a big brother would even though they were the same age. He talked to her like she wished Meg would talk to her.

Beth smirked, thinking back on the conversation. If it hadn't happened to her she would have sworn it was straight out of a bad chick flick. She'd been sitting in the library, in a study carrel, muttering about always moving, never being able to actually get used to anyone or anything because by the time she finally learned the ropes her family was moving again.

Beth had stood up, to retrieve her math textbook from the shelf on top of the carrel, when she met the eyes of the guy sitting in the carrel facing hers. Before she could stop herself she had snapped 'what are you looking at' which had the effect of making the guy grin, and he was really kinda cute when he grinned. What he said next was nothing short of a con however.

'Nothing. I was just thinking what the odds were that I'd hear somebody complaining about the same stuff I do when I think I'm alone.'

Beth snorted and rolled her eyes. 'Yeah. Sure,' she grunted as she sat down heavily and flipped open her math book.

The guy got out of his chair and stood up, looking at her over the top of the carrel. His movement drew Beth's eyes away from her book and she noticed he was all skin and bones, and had that kind of disjointed look that a lot of guys had at that age. His smile disappeared and he had this very serious, very intense look on his face.

'Look, I don't know you or anything, but I know something about moving all the time. Not being able to talk to anybody, especially not family. The thing is, you've got to go your own way you know? If the people who say they love you really love you then they'll find a way to make it work. You've got to compromise, but so do they.' He held her eyes for a few moments and then seemed to realize he'd been staring, looked away with a sheepish grin, and sat back down. At that instant the bell rang and Beth headed for her next class. She didn't see him for the rest of the day.

Beth had been kind of embarrassed, having a heart to heart with a guy she didn't know about something so personal. Almost all the guys at that school would have run off and started joking with their friends at her expense. It was a given, they were guys. But when she didn't overhear anything in the hallways or bathroom, she was curious. Beth found out the guy's name was Jake and that he'd been there for about 2 weeks before she'd arrived. Nobody knew anything else really. Except that he'd disappeared as fast as he'd appeared. By the sounds of things Jake had moved the day after they'd chatted in the library.

It hadn't meant much at the time since Beth and Meg had moved within days of the encounter, but on occasion she thought about Jake and what he said. She'd tried to approach Meg a couple times to try and talk to her about finding some kind of happy medium between Beth's dreams and Meg's crusade, but Meg had never understood and Beth just couldn't make herself clear enough so she dropped the subject. As time went on Beth came to realize that while she was compromising all over the place neither her father nor Meg were giving more than an inch, and on those rare occasions it was mainly just to keep her from throwing tantrums in public.

Beth tied her hair back in a french braid and realized that things were going to have to change, and soon. This little crusade that her sister had started and their father supported really had no space for Beth. She wouldn't mind being somebody's wife, actually. Though not in the 2.5 kids and a picket fence kind of way but in the equal partners, someone-you-can-lean-always-lean-on kind of way. Meg thought it was cute, but not in an 'aw, isn't that sweet' kind of way.

Beth was just wondering what the hell she was going to do to change things for the better without completely alienating her sister when Meg bounced into the bedroom, twirling a map over her head.

'I found him!' she crowed.

'Found who?' Beth asked.

'Sam Winchester! That's who! You, Bethy, are a genius!' Meg crowed as she danced around her sister.

'What in the hell are you talking about?'

'You told me to work on picking Sam Winchester apart, right? Well I figured I'd take your advice. A little bit of Ouija, some scrying in the chalice and we have a winner! I know the best time to mess with him. I know where Sam Winchester is going to be, when he's going to be there and best of all? He's going to be alone!'

'Ok, Sherlock, so you know some stuff. That may not lead you to him. You know this isn't an exact science. Variables change. You used your blood to scry in the chalice, right? That could skew the reading. Dad would not be thrilled if you blew time and resources on some random guy.'

'Very true, Watson, but may I introduce you to the piece de resistance? Thank you, automatic writing!' And with a smirk Meg smacked Beth in the chest with a piece of notebook paper.

'Irish, meet Sammy.'

Beth snatched the sketch away from her sister and saw an older, cuter Jake smiling back at her.