MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

Here's everyone's present: an updated! XD Oh yeah, nice present...kinda. ;P

Thank goodness for Christmas break...I've actually been working on this! –gasp- And...visiting my horse! A HORSE! A HORSE! RAINBOWSERENITY GOT A HORSE! –squeals like a schoolgirl- Hehehe. Totally made up for crap I've been going through lately. ;D

But enough about me! Why should I keep you waiting any longer? READ, MY MINIONS (yes Kat, that also means you!)!

Chapter Four

"So who was that dude you were talking to before?"

Chase blinked, shifting his grip on the books he was carrying. "Who?"

"That guy you talking to in the cafeteria. Which, by the way, you were doing so, I was being harassed by some new kid. But never mind that."

"What?"

"I asked you first."

He rolled his eyes, both of them. "Promise not to tell Ma."

"Sure."

Chase ran a hand through his hair, somehow not getting his hand covered in gel. I must take lessons from him one of these days. "His name's Andrew; and he's new. Apparently he used to be a Pokemon Trainer, and just transferred here. He had the same kind of luck Eric had."

"Sucks for him."

"Yeah. But we were talking, and I found out that he plays bass. Or used to take lessons, before he went off training, anyway. I'm trying to convince him to start it up again so we can start this band."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Right. Um, Chase, you kind of need more than a guitar player and a possible bass player to have a band."

"Hey, give me time."

"And I doubt you can sing for crap. Where are you going to find some awesome, sexy lead singer that will make people look twice at you?"

"Thanks Kally. So glad you're so supportive."

"I try."

Chase and I both suddenly sighed in unison. It was getting hot, and for once, I was actually regretting wearing so much black. Eric was working at the Pokemon Center, so it wasn't like he could pick us up; Jeff had gotten a ride to the beach with his surfer dude buds; and David was staying after school, as usual. Why anyone would want to stay in school is beyond me, but hey, to each their own.

But honestly, I could've caught the bus. I didn't have to follow Chase, but nooo, I was too desperate to find out who the heck he had been talking to. And now I was paying the price by sweating half my body weight off.

"How the hell do you walk home like this every day?" I asked.

He gave a half shrug. "Practice."

"You need to give me lessons."

"You wish."

"Shut up."

And he did. I'll tell you one thing about Chase; he does take direction well. Wish all brothers could do that.

---

When we finally got home, the house was, as David would say, 'in a tizzy'. Whatever the hell a 'tizzy' is. Ma was running back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room carrying random dinner-type stuff. Which was even more weird, because we never eat in the dining room; just whenever we have family over or something. You know, holiday-type madness. Ma says the boys give her too much of a headache for us to eat in the dining room all the time.

Chase ignored the tizzy-ness and clomped upstairs to our room, but I wanted to know what was going on. I stood in the doorway of the kitchen, raising an eyebrow.

"So Ma, what's with the setup?" I asked.

She let out a sigh, as if she'd explained it a zillion times already, which couldn't have been true since Chase and I were the first ones home. "Your father's bringing a new prospective employee over tonight. Sort of like a business meeting, only more... 'light-hearted'."

I snorted. Who was she kidding? Whenever Dad did this, he acted like he was still at the office and gave all his attention to the prospective employee. Never mind that these were the only times he actually came home before midnight, or that the only time he ever had dinner with all of us was during these little meetings. So while Dad schmoozed with the new guy, the rest of us would try not to add too much to the awkwardness around us.

I suddenly wondered what my birth father was like. Did he work from nine to five, or was it always overtime? If Chase and I still lived with our birth parents, would he make time for us, or would he always throw himself into his job?

Weird. I hated getting random thoughts about my birth parents; I didn't even know them for one thing, and for another, it just reminded me how, now matter how much I wished it, I would never really be a Merta; that I didn't have the roots everyone takes for granted.

"Um, Kalista, dear, if you don't have a reason to be in here, I really need to get this done," Ma snapped, interrupting my thoughts.

"Actually, I was getting a snack," I smiled sweetly, making my way through the madness and grabbing an apple before smirking at Ma and running upstairs.

When I got into our room, Chase had already made himself comfortable in the closet and was strumming away on the guitar. I tried to imagine that Andrew dude playing the bass along with him, and what they would sound like. I snorted. I'd really rather not imagine it, now that I think of it.

I flopped onto my bed, dumping the contents of my backpack onto it. I considered doing homework for a second, but naah...that would actually involve working. And who does that anymore?

I bit into my apple, wishing David was home so he could do my homework for me. I had no idea how long he was going to be staying at the school though—he'd been working on some project for what seemed like a million years. Something to do with those show jumping Rapidashes he loves so much.

Chase's guitar playing was starting to irk me even though I could barely hear it while he was in the closet, so I grabbed a random CD from my pile of stuff on the floor and put it into my stereo, jamming the 'Play' button. Instantly, a punk rock band came blasting through the speakers. I smiled and sang along with the words, belting out every tune.

"KALISTA, TURN THAT THING DOWN!" Mom's voice bellowed from downstairs, though I could hardly hear it through my music and singing. I didn't want her to be in a bad mood for the dinner though, so I actually obeyed for once and turned it down. Funny, whenever any of my brothers do this same thing, she tells them to shut up in addition to turning it down. Guess I've just got the magic touch.

For the next two hours, I listened to my CD's and Chase's guitar clashing while singing all the lyrics to myself and trying to muster up the energy to do something other than to try to muster the energy to do my homework. And at exactly six-thirty, just when I thought I'd finally found the strength to do that, Mom yelled, "KIDS! WE HAVE COMPANY!" like it wasn't planned or something.

Chase stopped playing and poked his head out of the closet, rolling his eyes. He gently put his guitar away and I groggily stood up.

"Time to play the part of the good little children," I sighed, patting my Meowth ears. I always loved seeing these new prospective employees take a glance at my hair—it was always amusing.

"Good?" Chase said. "Since when are you ever good?"

"Shut up." I punched him in the arm. I saw Jeff and David coming out of their room, and Eric coming out of his at the same time. Good. We could suffer the walk downstairs together.

"You need to keep that stupid excuse for a Pokemon out of my room!" Jeff was yelling at Eric. Oh, great. "It's Ember is out of control, dude! It nearly burnt my board! And you know how much those things cost!"

"Only because you never shut up about it," Eric muttered. "Why can't you stop leaving your stuff where Torchic can get at it?"

"What's your deal dude?!"

I glanced at Chase. Aw, great. No chance for a Nice-Family-Dinner-So-We-Can-Prove-To-People-We-Can-Get-Along-And-Live-Happily-Ever-After with Jeff yelling at Eric. Once you got Jeff in pissed-off-angsty mode, you couldn't shut him up.

"Boys," a warning voice came from the living room. It took me a second to realize that it was Dad's voice.

"Yeah boys," I sniggered. Yet I actually couldn't help but wonder if Dad forgot he had a girl, too.

Once we were all downstairs, Jeff and Eric were quiet, though you could tell they were dying to just beat each other up; David had a glazed look in his eyes that told you he'd spent too much time in front of the computer today; and Chase and I would've just rather been anywhere else.

"Kids," Dad said, all prim and proper in his suit and tie like this was a business dinner instead of something in his own home. Which I guess, really, it was. "This is Mr. Pien."

"Hello Mr. Pien," we chorused.

'Hello," he greeted warmly. I raised an eyebrow. He must've not spent enough time at Devon Corporation to have any sanity left in him. He was really tan, with short, blunt, blonde hair and green eyes that seemed a little too squinty.

If Dad hired him, they needed to put him where the public couldn't see him. Otherwise, people would get the wrong idea about Devon.

"I hope you don't mind Mr. Merta," Mr. Pien said to Dad, "But I brought my son with me. He actually seemed quite intent on coming with me tonight."

"The more the merrier!" Dad replied with fake enthusiasm. I sighed, wondering how long this dinner was going to take.

"Good," Mr. Pien smiled. Someone materialized from behind him, and my mouth fell open.

"This is my son Josh."

Aw, shit.

"Nice to meet you," Josh said to my dad, shaking his hand. Ugh. Sick, sick, sick.

"Hello," Dad replied, and I knew he was inwardly cringing at Josh's choice of outfit, which is the same thing he'd been wearing at school that day. Only now, a bar glinted over his left eyebrow. Lucky Psyduck.

Josh then turned to us, and when he raised an eyebrow, I knew he'd spotted me. Damnit.

"Why, hello Kalista," he smiled smoothly. Gag me.

"You know her already?" Mr. Pien asked, surprised.

"We met today at school. We actually even had lunch together."

Sick, man.

"Well, isn't that nice," Mr. Pien smiled. "Glad to see you're already making friends."

I resisted the urge to run to the bathroom and puke.

Dad cleared his throat. "Well then...my wife's waiting in the dining room, why don't we proceed and talk about this position you're interested in?"

I heaved a sigh as my brothers plus Josh followed the business men into the dining room. Ma was busy rearranging everything, and looked mildly shocked to see Josh with us.

"Oh, we have another guest?" she said through gritted teeth.

After more introductions, Ma looked over her perfectly set table. "Oh, well, we have some space...it'll be a little crowded, but I can sit you next to..."

Five minutes later, I was squished between Chase and Josh.

Why me?

"Isn't this just the funniest coincidence?" Josh smiled slyly. I had no idea what sort of crack he was smoking, because I didn't see one thing that was a bit funny about this situation.

"Is he really your dad, or did you pay him to put up with you so you could torture me?" I muttered.

He shrugged. "Believe me, I was as shocked as you when I came here. And I supposed he's not technically my father, but he raised me, so that's a father figure in my eyes."

"Huh?"

"I was adopted," he translated, shrugging like it was no big deal.

I blinked. "You were?"

"Yeah. Isn't it kind of obvious?"

"I guess. That's weird...Chase and I were adopted too."

Josh glanced over my plate and at Chase, who was staring down at his food, not saying a word, with visions of guitar chords probably in his head.

"You guys twins?" he asked.

I rolled my blue eye, which didn't seem to unnerve Josh in the slightest. "Isn't it kind of obvious?"

"Harsh, Merta," he smirked. "If that is, indeed, your real name."

"You know—"

"Will you two lovebirds please keep it down?!" Jeff cried, interrupting everyone's conversations except for Dad and Mr. Pien's, who were discussing Business Terms. "I'm trying to eat here!"

"Excuse me?!" I cried. "What the f—"

"Kalista, that's quite enough," Ma said sternly, knowing exactly what I was about to say. I succumbed and shut up, knowing that when Ma wanted to, she could be Disciplinary of the Year.

"Lovebirds, eh?" Josh smirked again. "Interesting he thinks of us that way."

"One more comment like that and you'll have more than an eyebrow piercing," I muttered.

"Touchy, touchy."

When I was sure no one else was looking, I flipped him off. I then stood up and put on my best painted smile. "Ma, may I be excused?"

She looked up, a little surprised. I think she had forgotten us kids were there; she was too busy schmoozing with Dad and Mr. Pien. "Sure, dear," she replied.

As I grabbed my plate and stuff and walked towards the kitchen to dump it off, for some reason, I was reminded of when Stacey had told those cheerleaders—her own clique—off in my defense. I have no idea what made that pop into my head, but it did...and even now, I couldn't believe all of these freaky people were associating with me. Crazy.

I walked out of the kitchen and try to start up towards my room, but of course, Josh had magically appeared in my way. I was in no mood for his cockiness, so I attempted to shove him out of the way.

"Why the hostility towards me?" he asked, stopping me in my tracks. He sounded sarcastic, and yet, somehow sincere. It was some sort of tone I couldn't really place. "We've known each other for barely a day, and already, you act like you want to kill me. Is this how you treat all the new kids?"

"Just the ones who piss me off," I hissed, spinning on my heel. "From the second I met you today, you've done nothing but act like some sort of cocky bastard to me. Your smart ass comments might work on someone else, but not me!" I then attempted to get away again, but he actually had the nerve to grab my arm and stop me.

"That legend still rests within you," he whispered. "You need to know."

Time seemed to stop for a moment. He stared into my eyes with an emotion I couldn't read, and I felt myself freeze. I had no clue what he was planning on doing, but it got interrupted when Jeff burst through the dining room door.

He snickered when he saw us. "Lovebirds! Lovebirds! Ha, ha, ha, ha-ha, ha!"

Josh quickly let go of me. "Shut up!" I yelled at Jeff, running over to him and punching him really hard in the arm. He's got muscles from surfing, but believe me, when I get pissed off enough, those arms of steel don't mean a thing.

"Kalista! Get off!" he whined. I rolled my eyes. Wuss.

Josh was smirking as Jeff went into the kitchen, holding his wounded arm. "There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?"

"Buddy, you have no idea," I muttered, clenching my fists.

"No," he said in that weird voice of his eyes. "I think it's you who has no idea. Someday...you're going to let me tell you."

"What are you smoking, and where can I get some?"

He just smiled as his dad and mine came out, shaking hands. Guess all the schmoozing worked and Mr. Pien got the job. Hooray for him.

"Someday..." he trailed off as his dad called for them to leave. Finally, he left, and I was still standing there, my heart racing like it was about to fly out of my chest.

---

Around eleven that night, Chase and I were in our beds, trying to fall asleep, although I couldn't. After Josh had left, I tried to call Donna and ask her to make sense of this, but she had apparently been working on some art project and was too in la-la land to talk to me.

I stared up at the ceiling, where my freebie posters from Dark Pokemon 'Dise looked down at me. I couldn't sleep—my conversation with Josh kept replaying over and over in my mind.

"Chase?"

He snored.

"CHASE?!"

He snorted again, waking himself up. "Huh? Wuzdamadda," he slurred.

"Nothing. I just, er...wanted to talk."

He hadn't even opened his eyes, but I knew he had heard me. "Kally..." He yawned. "Some of us are trying to sleep here. I need to meet with Andrew tomorrow morning and talk some stuff over with him."

"Okay, fine then...go back to sleep."

"No, no, you got me, you might as well talk." He opened his eyes, sat up, and crossed his arms, looking at me sternly. Geez, he could be a grouch when he wanted to be.

I rolled my eyes and rolled to my side. "Never mind. Go back to sleep."

"No. Talk."

I sighed, knowing he wasn't going to let me off the hook until I did. "Have you ever wondered if...if maybe there's something big out there for us?"

"What brought this thought on?"

I heaved a sigh. "Josh said some things today that just really pissed me off...but made me wonder at the same time."

"Josh?"

I rolled my eyes. "That other guy that was here? The kid of the dude Dad was hiring?"

"Oh, right."

"Yeah, well...I dunno...he just made me think."

"That's some miracle."

I threw my old stuffed Eevee at him. "Shut up."

"Hey, watch—"

"—The hair, I know." I sighed again. "He said it looked like my eyes held a legend."

"What about mine?" Chase pretended to sound offended.

"Ha, ha. Consider yourself lucky he's not talking to you. I need to get him off my back."

"You will."

"Yeah, I know. 'Night Chase."

"Goodnight," he replied, yawning and flopping back down onto his bed, instantly falling asleep.

I envied him. It was a long time before I could fall asleep...and I hated to believe it was because my heart was still racing.

---

-evil grin-

I'm so mean to my characters.

But not to my reviewers! I LOVE YOU GUYS! –major glompage-

Harunohi—YAY PIE! –snarfs pie- And that wasn't a fridge, it was a freezer! :D

WildTotodile—Thank you very much! ;D –bows-

Karania-- -continues- Wow, that never gets old XD Or maybe just because I'm easily amused.

Hakura0—Yes, you should –wink wink- And yeah, people have been saying it's moving slowly, but I think it's just because Lindsey was updated once a week while this has been being updated once a month. Trust me though, it'll be picking up nicely soon. ;)

Kat—I have updated! Now bow to me! XD

ZeroChan—Heh heh, even half-asleep reviews are acceptable. ;) And what, POPCORN? No PIE?! –gasp- FOR SHAME!

Emerald Milotic—Thanks for your reviews! –huge grin- Here's an update, now you'll know what's happening...for now ;D

LoneHowl—Eh, okay, THEN you can dis him XD

Heh heh, you'll see...you shall ALL see...-evil grin-

zippi—Confusing my readers? I guess I'm doing my job! XD How IS she going to get there, indeed...

-squeak squeak- I hope everyone has an awesome holiday! Eat lots of cheese and candy canes, but not cheese-flavored candy canes! And don't forget to review!