I do not own the rights to anything having to do with Instant Star

Rating- PG-13

I really really love detailed reviews, tell me what you liked or hated please! Tell me if she's too Mary Sue, that's the one territory I'm afraid of venturing into!

At about seven thirty, Jude took the Metro over to apartment complex Chloe had written down on the napkin. Apparently Chloe had told the doorman about her because she was sent right in and up to the top floor.

Jude stood outside the apartment door, and heard strains of someone singing a very bubbly song in what sounded like French. Jude knocked and seconds later heard a laughing voice call, "Instant Estrella?" Jude rolled her eyes, Chloe was a little odd. Jude answered, "It's Jude." At that, the door swung open and Chloe sat there, amused smile on her face wearing an old Hanson shirt that looked like it had seen better days. Chloe let Jude in and commented absently, "estrella means star in Spanish." Jude nodded, "what's with the Hanson shirt?" Chloe laughed, "laundry day, it's Quincy's..." Jude stood behind, very baffled which was odd this early into a visit.

Jude walked in and noticed immediately that the whole place had wood floors, a rug wasn't in sight. As she followed Chloe into a big open living room, "I expected thick carpet." Chloe shook her head, "neither of us like it, my wheels sink into it, and Tommy hates it because it collects dust."

Jude was confused, "collects dust? Is he that much of a neat freak?" Chloe looked at her blankly, "no, Tommy has asthma, it's aggravated by stuff like dust, didn't you know?" Jude shook her head and rolled her eyes, "he's a mystery. Were you singing in French?" Chloe just shrugged "Yeah girl, it's kind of a folk song, but more I've been workin' on the railroad, then Indigo girls."

"Do you want something to drink? Coffee, Tea, soda, juice, water?" Jude chuckled, "I didn't know you guys lived in a supermarket." In response to that Jude heard a deep throated chuckle as Chloe went into the kitchen. "We can never agree on what to have in the apartment, ergo we keep a lot in the fridge, but seriously do you want anything to drink?" Jude nodded, "I'll have a soda, anything colaesque." Chloe murmured in assent and after a minute came back into the spacious living room with a Coke and a bottle of water in her lap.

They sat there in silence for a minute, Chloe was humming a little tune while examining her cuticles when Jude spoke... "Can I ask how, um, how you..." Chloe finished her sentence brightly, "lost my ability to walk?" Jude nodded as she felt her cheeks turn pink.

Chloe smiled good naturedly, "Jude, there are very few things in life that embarrass me, four of them that I can come up with, three involve seeing my brother doing anything with his girlfriends of the week, and the last, well that involves A 1 Steak sauce and Jack Daniels."

Jude snorted, "the first three I agree with, but steak sauce?" Chloe blushed, "long long story, one that I'd rather not get into, I was very very drunk... But, back to the point, Jude, I'm a cripple with an ex boy bander for an older brother. I'd be hiding in a cave by now if I was a particularly sensitive person."

She finished her sentence, took a sip of water then said, "want an overview?" Jude nodded and Chloe started to speak. "Okay, first you've got to understand the fact that the spine has three section, cervical , thoracic and lumbar. There are two more, the sacral and the coccyx but those are essentially the end of your spine. Now, when you break a part of your spinal cord, the amount of movement you have after you well recover is the only word I can think of, depends on how high up the injury is. You can be a quadriplegic, paraplegic and tetrapelegic. I am a quadriplegic, C9, cervical vertebrae nine is the one I broke. The meaning of quadriplegic is that I have impairment in all four limbs, I still have feeling all over my body but my legs don't move unless they spasm. I can move my arms as you can see, I have biceps, the tricep on my right arm, and my finger movement is a lot better on my right hand. Did that make any sense?"

Jude took a moment to process it all, then said slowly, "I think I just learned more about the spine in five minutes then my bio teacher could cram in all year." Chloe chuckled, "That is precisely why I think the best teachers are the ones who have lived their subjects, probably why I liked college so much, Jesus I hated high school, it bored me."

Jude looked at her curiously, "you went to a normal high school?" Chloe smirked a little amused, "yes, I mean it was a private school but same deal, homeroom classes lunch classes and homework." Jude nodded, "Why didn't you just get your GED or get tutored privately, I bet Tommy would've paid." Chloe hooted at that, "Pay, Tommy?" Then she looked at Jude seriously, "I wanted the whole ugly cap and gown thing. School is both a necessary and temporary evil."

Jude rolled her eyes, "bet you graduated with a four point oh." Chloe shook her head, "three point five." Jude threw her hands up at that, "did you ever fail a class?" Chloe shook her head, "nope, did get a couple D's on mid term grades though. Thought Tommy was going to disown me when he saw that report card." Jude shook her head, "Tommy hates school, he was tutored." Chloe nodded, "Quincy and I are very similar people, yet very very different, we both weren't too fond of school but I got through it for the both of us."

Chloe looked at Jude, "Little birdie told me you're havin' some trouble in school. I'm planning on sticking around for awhile so if you need any help I can take a look at it if you want, I just can't do advanced math."

Jude groaned, "barely passed math." Then a thought hit her, "Chloe, why do you call Tommy, Quincy, I mean isn't that...oh." Jude just remembered the comment Tommy made about his name not being Quincy, she squealed, "you have the real name don't you?"

Chloe laughed, "I have a name, I'm not telling if this is our mom's name, my middle name, or our actual last name, but the name on my license is Chloe Dominique-Chantal Boulanger." Jude gaped, that is a long name."

Chloe laughed, "very long and very French, after all, we are from Quebec, originally from France." Jude took a chance, "Is Tommy his real name?" Chloe exhaled deeply, "nickname..." she said shortly, Jude persisted, "not short for Thomas is it?" Chloe shook her head, "no, no, I can't tell you, he'd kill me." Jude gave her the patented puppy dog eyes, Chloe cursed, "ah fuck, okay, you're not going to believe me and I'm swearing you to secrecy... Theo time." she said quickly then blushed bright red, "you, tell no one..."