A/N: I'm amazed at the responses I've gotten already! I adore you guys, and your reviews--they seriously make my day. I'm trying to stay semi-true to the characters' personalities, so I thought Jude's reaction to the envelope and Kwest's indifference might help with that. Thanks for everyone who hit that pretty purple button at the bottom, and to anyone who's just reading. Some more mature language begins in this chapter and will probably be present throughout the rest of the story, so you've been warned. Unless, of course, you don't bother to read author's notes. If you don't, you really should, they can be extremely help things. Alright, lots of love to everyone and I hope you like this chapter! One or two more should be up today.

Chapter 2

After a very unproductive and pointless morning, Jude took off for home at lunchtime with no intention of coming back.

She unlocked the front door of her empty house and tossed her keys on a small table near the entryway. After a quick detour to the kitchen for some ketchup, Jude dumped herself on the couch in the living room and bit into her double cheeseburger with no pickle. There was nothing on TV but soaps, which she never watched, so Jude settled on an XM music channel. Gotta love satellite. There were at least fifty different channels that were actually radio stations, but with practically no commercials or annoying radio hosts.

Quickly polishing off her burger, Jude dug into her fries. It was nice having a car, and a license. She could go to McDonald's whenever she felt like it and didn't have to beg Sadie or Jamie or someone else to take her. Unfortunately, by the time she had the option of McDonald's every day, it'd lost its appeal. But some days, nothing in the world tasted better than a greasy double cheeseburger and really salty fries.

Obviously, this was one of those days.

Eventually Jude finished her lunch in her very lonesome house and disposed of all the trash from the food. With a final slurp of her Coke, she tossed that in the garbage can as well. Now what?

Just as Jude was contemplating calling Mason to see how the rest of his tour was going, her phone rang.

Did she and Mason have ESP? Or could it be him, finally returning her call after the single voicemail she left him?

Flipping open her phone, Jude realized it was neither of the two guys unless they were calling from a different phone, which she doubted.

A shiver ran down Jude's spine as she hit 'Answer' to find out who was behind the unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Finally sober again, now, are we?" a muffled voice taunted.

Shit. She knew that voice. If only she could remember the name, or something.

"What do you want?" Jude asked, hoping her voice came off as calm and strong.

"I take it you received my little 'gift' this morning?"

She unintentionally released a sigh. "Yeah."

"Doesn't sound as though you liked it much, Jude." he laughed.

"I wonder why?" the sarcasm spewed from her mouth. Blackmailing her was one thing, but then he had to go and laugh about it to her face? This was one stupid kid.

"Ah, ah, ah, Miss Harrison, now is not the time to get snippy with me. Someone's in a sour mood, PMS maybe?"

Jude was trying her best to send death rays through the phone. It didn't work, because he continued to talk.

"I guess I'll get to the point. Meet me at Lakeside Park in an hour, near the jungle gym. Don't bring anyone. Don't tell anyone where you're going. Basically, don't do anything stupid, because if I don't give a friend a phone call at a specific time telling him exactly what he expects to hear from me, he's going to sell those lovely photos of you to the highest bidder. Understood?"

She had to clench her teeth to prevent herself from doing something she'd regret. "Yeah. I'll be there."

Click.

"Bastard."