Author's note: I want to correct my mistakes in the last chapter, where I wrote step sister instead of half sister. Anytime it says step sister in chapter one, it is meant to say half sister. Anyways, on with the story.

-T-

Joseph looked hard at the girl he had never met that was sitting in his apartment, on his couch, near his mother. So Rose Wilson was her name. A half sister he had never knew. Though Addie had not said it yet, Joey knew that the girl was his father's daughter. She looked too much like him not to be, and not to mention acted like him. Joseph gave her the once-over again and wondered how a teenager could have naturally white hair and not look old.

"You know, it's pretty cool of you to let me stay here, Mrs. Kane," Rose said, crossing her legs and swaying her foot quickly.

Addie sighed but didn't correct her again. "Well, you're welcome."

Joseph poked his mother to get her attention, then signed, "So why did she come here of all places?"

She ignored the question and looked back to the teenage girl in front of her. "Rose, do you understand sign language?"

Rose shrugged. "Some. So I can communicate with what's-his-face enough, I guess."

Addie now appeared to be very irritated and she said sternly, "What's-his-face's name is Joseph. Now, I'm going to show you to your room, so get your things and follow me."

Rose picked up her messenger bag and followed Addie, her shoulder brushing Joseph's as she passed. He took a step backwards to avoid any further confrontation, but Rose was already halfway down the hall anyway.

Addie took Rose into the spare bedroom beside Joseph's and showed her where everything was briefly. "You can put your things anywhere, I guess. Now you'll be going to Joseph's school probably tomorrow, or at least until you... go home."

Rose looked peeved. "School? I thought coming here would get me away from that."

"Sorry," Addie said. Joseph read the look on her face and it seemed to say, You're not going to stay here all day and bum off of me, honey.

Rose shrugged and sat down on the bed, and Addie looked at her watch. "I have to get back to work, Joseph, so your father will get back before I do. You can show Rose around the neighborhood, if you want." She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead, then grabbed her purse and left the apartment.

After a few minutes of silence, Rose said, "So you're a mama's boy, aren't you?"

Joseph couldn't tell if she was being nice or not, so he didn't answer, and she didn't wait for one anyway. She stood up and stretched and asked him to show her around the house. Or basically told him to. He waved her forward and gave her a quick tour in an almost blind confusion. One minute he had been doing his regular daily routine, then the next minute his half sister he hadn't even known existed was in his house and temporarily living with him and his mother, so he was still absorbing the shock and the suddeness of it, though he tried not to let on. When they got to his room, Rose seemed to perk up at the sight of his music sheets and art canvas.

"Woah, looks like you're pretty busy most of the time." She scanned the room with her eyes, then made herself comfortable on Joey's bed. If he would have been this kind of person, he would have pushed her off, but he wasn't and so he didn't. He just nodded.

Not seeming to be able to stay in one place for long, Rose stood up and flipped through the papers of Joey's drawings. He could tell she thought he was a good artist, but she didn't say so. She just threw the papers on the bed and looked out the window. Joseph was tempted to ask her questions, like where she came from and why exactly she was here, and why here of all places? Didn't she have any other family? In a way it ticked him off that she had just popped up out of nowhere and came in and made herself at home the way she was doing now. Didn't she have any respect for other people's privacy? He raised his hands to ask her these things, but she turned around and interrupted him.

"So why is your mom so intent on me going to school? I have better things to do, you know."

"Haven't you gone to school before? It shouldn't be anything new," he signed.

"Just because it's old doesn't mean I have to like it." She crossed her arms and headed towards the bedroom door, then stopped and turned back around. "I guess you've already figured out how I know your dad."

He felt like saying something nasty in return, but didn't. He nodded stiffly and decided to be honest. "You wouldn't know how uncomfortable this is for me. You seem right at home, though."

Rose waved her thin hand as if to dismiss the statement. "I just don't let little things like that bother me."

Little things? It was pretty big, if you asked him. "So, did you know anything about me before you came here?"

"Sure. I basically heard about a mute little blond kid; I expected you to be younger, really."

I would think so, he thought. He asked her how old she was.

"Fourteen. I think you're a year older, right?" He nodded. "Thought so. Didn't really know, though, Daddy didn't tell me that much about you."

For some reason that sentence made Joseph want to punch her. But not being a voilent person, he finally signed, "Why did you end up here?"

"Am I really that unwanted?" Yes. "My mom went away for work and didn't want to leave me home alone. I guess she was afraid I'd burn the house down again or something. So, are you going to show me around the neighborhood like your mom asked?"

Sure...

-T-

Joseph was woken early the next morning by a loud crash in the next room and then a radio blasting rock music. He practically fell out of bed from the blast of the racket, but he caught himself on the guitar case beside his bed before he hit the floor. He heard a door slam down the hall and voices yelling, so he got up and pulled on some clothes to go see what was going on. Rose's bedroom door was open, revealing that the radio in her room was the source of the music. Addie stood in the doorway in a robe, yelling, "Rose, turn that music off!"

"What?" Rose yelled back. "Can't hear you."

"Rose!"

Joseph walked into the room and brought a fist gently down onto the radio button, and it switched off. Addie sighed, pushed back her hair, and lowered her voice. "Rose. Please don't turn your music up that loud. Especially this early in the morning. Now go get ready for school, and I'll drive you both there."

Rose shrugged and mumbled something about 'music haters', and she got a glare from Joseph. Little did she know, music and art were his life. He found it a way to express himself, especially after the misunderstanding years ago that had cost him his voice.

The ride to school was quite loud, since Rose talked about anything and everything the whole way. Joseph sat in the front passenger's seat and leaned against the window, attempting to ignore her but finding it quite hard. There was something about her voice that just made him want to cover his ears, and it had been like that from the minute they had met. He wasn't one to dislike someone right after first meeting them, but his half sister (and he was uncomfortable with calling her that, but he didn't know how else to classify her) was good at making herself unlikable. He wasn't used to boisterous people, and besides, she had just showed up out of the blue and happened to be his father's daughter that no one seemed to have ever known about. Well, Joseph planned on finding out more about her one way or another. Just flat out asking her was too stressful.

They pulled up in front of the high school, and Addie unlocked the doors. Rose grabbed her few books and jumped out of the car impatiently, and Addie turned to face her son. "Now Joe, try to make Rose feel as comfortable as possible. It might only be a week or so that she's here, but we've got to try. I know you can do a better job than I can."

After she said the last sentence, Joseph realized that she was as uncomfortable and ticked with this situation as he was, and he didn't blame her. It was obvious that her husband had cheated on her years ago, and the result was hard to deal with. Joseph wondered what Addie would say to Slade when he got home from his business trip.

Joseph had to admit that he kind of missed his older brother Grant, though the two had clashed repeatedly with each other a lot before Grant moved away a few months ago after he turned eighteen. His brother had been a show off and sort of a loudmouth, but after living with Rose for a day, Joseph decided he would rather have ten Grants than one Rose.

Addie leaned back and kissed his forehead, then patted his shoulder. "Try to put up with her as best you can." Then she drove away after Joe got out of the car.

"You need to show me to my first class, you know. I don't want to be late on my first day," Rose said as they walked with other kids into the school.

Joseph shrugged. He had no idea where her first class would be, so he thought it would be easiest just to drop her off at the principal's office and let him take care of her. And besides, he had his own schedule to keep as well, and he honestly didn't want to waste time sorting things out with Rose.

"Go down that hall and turn right, and you'll find the principal's office," he signed. "They'll tell you what to do."

Rose hugged her books to her chest. "I don't know anybody here."

You didn't know me either, but that didn't stop you from being weird, Joey thought. But he just smiled to reassure her that it would be all right.

She followed his directions down the hall, and he sighed with relief after she disappeared from sight. He had sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a little sister, but he had never pictured it like this. Rose wasn't just annoying; something about her seemed almost dangerous.

On break after the first class, Jared Thomas stopped Joseph in the hall. "I heard you got a sister coming to this school now."

Jared didn't even understand sign language, so why bother to answer? Joey just looked at him, trying to communicate with his eyes that he wanted Jared to mind his own business. Did Joseph feel protective of Rose? Not really. She seemed perfectly capable of taking care of herself; shoot, it might be better fit if she watched out for him.

Joseph turned to walk away, but there was a sudden loud explosion, and he jumped to the ground and tried to protect his head with his hands. He felt bits of metal shrapnel hit his back, and when all seemed clear he raised his head and was shocked to see the lockers were nearly blown clear out of the wall. Jared was sitting beside him, looking dazed, cursing confusedly under his breath.

Still on his stomach, Joseph saw a roundish piece of broken metal laying beside him, and he picked it up to get a better look at it. When he brushed some of the ashes away, he could make out an orange S on the middle of it. It almost appeared to be some sort of bomb.

"Woohoo!" came a loud whoop from down the hall. Joseph set the piece of metal back on the ground and pushed himself up from the ground as Rose came literally running down the hall. "Wasn't that just awesome!"

"What did you do?" Joey signed angrily, then siezed her arm.

"I was just having a little fun, good grief."

Joseph stared at her in disbelief as the principal and teachers came running from every direction. Rose wasn't just different, or even weird; she was out-and-out crazy!