AN: Ahaha. Another chapter up. Yay! This one's cool. :D Enjoy!
The next day was a little different. Greg obviously couldn't go swimming because of the stitches in his arm, but that wasn't going to stop the others. Except Sara. She didn't even change into her swim suit. She walked into the living room and sat on the couch next to Greg, everyone else had already left.
"Why aren't you swimming," he asked her.
"So I can keep you company," she said simply.
"Cool," he said. He knew trying to convince her to go to the beach anyway was a waste of time. And personally he was touched that she would skip out on the beach for him.
The two watched movies that Greg had brought and talked and joked around. Like normal, like any other day. Late in the afternoon, the phone rang.
"Hello," Sara said answering the phone. She listened to the person on the other end and then handed the phone to Greg.
"It's your Lila," she explained. Greg took the phone happily.
"Hey," he said. "Did Ty tell you and everybody about my trip to the hospital," Greg asked.
"Yeah," Lila said. "Trent was worried a shark bit your head off. But that's not the reason I called."
"What's up?"
"Um...it's about Jasmin," Lila said slowly.
"Did something happen," Greg asked quickly, his mind immediately jumping to very bad conclusions.
"She's not hurt or anything," Lila said hastily. Greg breathed a sigh of relief. "She had kittens," Lila squealed. Greg's eyes widened and Sara looked at him expectantly.
"Really," Greg breathed.
"Yeah. Mom won't let us near them. They're all in a cardboard box in your room. They're soo cute."
"Oh my god."
"Yeah. I can't wait for you to get home. There's six of them. And all of them are pure white, except one. He's all black except for a little spot over his right eyes. He looks kind of funny actually. He sticks out like a sore thumb."
After saying his good byes to his sister, Greg hung up the phone and looked at Sara with a huge grin on his face.
"Jasmin had kittens," he told her.
"Did you know she was going to have kittens," Sara asked. Greg shook his head.
"If I knew, I would've brought her with me," he said.
Greg was quite eager to share the news with the others, when they got back. Cassy immediately asked if she could have a kitten and Fredy followed suit. Greg got a pained, considering look on his face.
"I like my kittens," he said, almost whining. "You can't have the black one," he said quickly. "But I guess so."
"You'll be able to see them," Cassy pointed out. "We are your friends after all."
"I guess," Greg repeated with a small shrug.
"You're awfully possessive," Nick said. Greg shrugged again, a grin on his face.
"And you cannot have a cat Fredy," Ty said to his brother.
"Why not," Fredy asked, sounding closer to 5 then to 16, almost 17.
"I'm allergic," Ty pointed out, an amused smile on his face.
"Your point being..." Fredy said, making his brother laugh.
"Can I have Fredy's cat," Nick asked quickly.
Greg seemed very amused with all these dealings over his cats. He laughed softly and then nodded. "Okay. But I want the black kitten and at least one other," he stated. He didn't really mind giving away kittens to his friends. Like Cassy said, he would see them again.
It struck Sara as a bit odd that they were dealing out all the kittens, and yet no one had even seen the kittens yet. No one in this beach house anyway.
"No Kiley," Sara said quickly, catching the look on her foster sister's face.
"What," Kiley said swiftly, trying to look innocent.
"No cats." Sara said. "Miss- uh...Mom wouldn't allow it," Sara said quickly, trying to cover up her slip of the tongue. But only Kiley and Greg caught Sara's slip. And it almost hurt Sara to call her foster mother mom. But hiding her secret was more important.
Kiley gave her a look and Sara sighed. She knew Kiley would keep giving her that look. That slightly-very-disappointed-though-I'll-deny-it-all-even-though-you-really-should-tell-them-because-they'll-love-you-anyway look that Kiley was good at pulling off.
"Um...Guys," Sara said loudly over all the arguing over who would get the kittens and all that. But silence came quickly, and Sara was shocked. They looked at her, because she had interrupted their fun and arguments, and obviously had something important.
"I...I have something to tell you. Kiley...Kiley's my foster sister. I've been in the system for... quite a while," she said. She didn't want to put a date, a time on it, even though she could without a problem. "So...um... yeah," she finished lamely. Greg reached out for her hand and squeezed.
Nick looked at her and their eyes connected for a moment and he nodded. Like he understood. Like he had a similar problem. She didn't see Warrick and Fredy staring at her also, like they understood too.
Sara knew that everyone had secrets, it was human nature. But maybe, just maybe, these kids, the Nerd Squad, came together because of them. Because these secrets...put something in themselves, made them seek out these kids. Maybe everyone felt at home in their little group, because each could sense the secrets of the others. And they loved each other anyway.
Maybe they were connected on a deeper level and that's why they understood. They wouldn't pressure each other, but let things come out. Unless of course the targeted secret merited special interest. Or the person doing the targeting was Kiley.
Secrets...some secrets felt better when shared, some felt worse. Sara didn't know where her's fit in. Maybe somewhere in the middle. But she didn't know exactly because she didn't speak her whole secret. She only told them one part. It was all she could handle at the moment.
Kiley looked at her foster sister with pride and happiness in her eyes. Kiley didn't mention that Sara had neglected to tell the whole story, and neither did Greg.
'One step at a time,' Sara thought.
And the odd thing was, the same thought had formed in the minds of every last person sitting in that room, for one reason or another. Maybe they really were connected on a deeper level then the surface.
Or maybe it was just a coincidence.
Yeah. And maybe man-eating jelly beans were flying out of Sara's nose.