Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Rocket Power.

Chapter 6: Hidden Lies

Reggie fell onto her bed and sighed. "Awesome party. But… Me and Twist… finally…" She rolled over onto her stomach and started writing in her diary.

"Dear Diary, Twister's party was unbelievably amazing! Thinking about it; ripping up Madtown, swimming at the beach, hanging at the shack, and spin the bottle. It was just too crazy. Twister and I kissed today. Long story short, I wiped-out at Madtown and he leaned to help me up and kissed me. Then in spin the bottle I had to kiss him again (and Lars. Yuck!). We agreed not to tell Otto, we figure that it would be too weird for him. To Twister it would be like me dating Lars! I say again, Yuck! I hope we can keep this a secret. I guess it's a day-by-day thing."

She shut her diary and shoved it under her pillow once again.

Otto burst into the room and jumped onto her bed. "That party was so tight!" He let out a laugh. "You had to kiss Lars and Twister! Ha ha!"

Reggie just raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you ever knock?"

"No," he replied, still jumping on the bed. "That kiss you and Twister had seemed real, like you guys wanted it to happen."

"Maybe I was more comfortable with him than I was with Lars. Twist and I have been friends since forever and Lars has been our enemy just as long. I probably would've been comfortable with anybody but Lars. God, he creeps me out."

"Okay, whatever. 'Night, Sis."

"'Night, little bro."

Sam sat on the edge of the bed in the guest bedroom. Heather sat under the covers and stared off into space.

"Heather, you okay?" Sam asked.

Heather snapped back to reality and said, "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for letting me stay with you and your mom."

"It's no problem, Heather, I couldn't just send you onto the streets."

"Yes, you could've. I was a complete jerk by dumping you on the moving day and you are being so sweet to me." She hugged him.

"What if someone does try to contact you?"

"They won't. I don't matter to anyone back there."

"That's not true. Your mom does, Stephanie does, and I'm sure your brother does."

"They won't call. Steph doesn't know that I'm gone and my mom and brother are probably to scared that Jason will find me if they contact me. I wouldn't be surprised if Jason has hit my brother by now."

"Well, you came a long way, you should get some sleep."

"That was an awesome party."

"It was… Good night." He kissed her forehead and left the room.

Otto was pacing restlessly around his room. "That kiss, it seemed too real. There has got to be something going on between them and I want to find out!"

"Go to sleep, Otto!" Ray called from the room next to his.

"It'll have to wait until tomorrow then!"

"Go to sleep!"

Otto shut off his light and fell asleep.

Reggie's eyes shot open with a "tap" against her window. She laid there questioning what it was when there was another "tap". She walked over to her window and looked outside.

Twister was down on the ground throwing rocks at her window.

Reggie opened the window and whispered as loudly as possible, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you," He whisper-yelled back.

"You saw me just two hours ago."

"I wanted to see you."

Reggie shook her head and smiled. "You're a goof, you know that?"

"Whatever makes you smile. Can you come down?"

"Raymundo would kill me if he caught me sneaking out the front door."

"What about the window?"

"The screen."

"You can remove it. It's not that hard."

"You've done this before, haven't you?"

"Once or twice."

Reggie rattled the screen and pulled it out of the window. She pulled herself out the window and dropped to the ground.

Twister hugged her and said, "Hey."

"So what are we going to do?"

"I have no idea…"

"Reggie?" Otto called as he opened her door slowly. "Reg, I want to talk to you about something." He looked around her room. "She's not here. Where is she?" He heard a laugh from outside of the window. "What the-" He peered through the opened window and his eyes widened at what he saw.

Reggie and Twister were laying down next to each other. Twister whispered something in her ear and she let out a laugh.

Otto was filled with anger. "How could they? How could she! They're so dead but I'll need to find proof. I can't let Reggie know I spied. I'll find proof tomorrow." He stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Reggie stumbled restlessly down the stairs and sat down at the kitchen table. Otto and Ray were already awake.

"Morning, Rocket-Girl," Ray said.

"Morning, Dad," she replied as she laid her head down on the table.

"Did you sleep well, Sis?" Otto asked, putting extra emphasis on the word "Sis".

"Yeah, I slept fine," she assured him but she kept her head on the table.

"You sure?" He harped.

"Yes, I slept fine."

"You want some breakfast?" Ray asked her.

She stood up and said, "no, I'm going to go hang with Sam and Heather. What's the deal with her anyway, Rocket-Boy?"

"I'm not sure, Sammy didn't want to talk about it," he replied.

"Okay, anyways, I'm out of here." She grabbed her skateboard and helmet and bounded out of the house.

The Dullard house was really quiet. Sam was sitting at the kitchen table alone and his mom and Heather were still asleep. The silence was brought to a halt when the phone rang.

"Hello?" He said into the receiver.

"Samuel? Is that you? Is she there?" A frantic woman cried into the phone.

"Mrs. Waters?" Sam replied, recognizing the voice.

"It's Mrs. Rally now but, that's not the point! Heather ran away from home! I've been digging around her room, looking for phone numbers or any clues of where she might be. I found your number on her bulletin board. Is she there?"

Sam walked down the hall and opened the guest room door slowly. He thought for a moment, Should I tell her? "Yeah, Mrs. Rally," Sam whispered as he closed the door, "she's here and she's safe."

"Oh, thank God! How'd she get there? Did she contact you first?"

"Well, she told me that she took a Greyhound to New Mexico and then she hitch-hiked from there to Ocean Shores."

"Hitch-hiked! Doesn't she know how dangerous that is?"

"I already lectured her about that. I didn't know she was coming. She showed up at my friend's sweet-sixteen."

"I want to go there and bring her back home!"

"Okay, I know that this isn't my place to say but Heather told me what has been happening with her step-dad. If he's abusive, why don't you leave him?"

"It's not so simple, Samuel. I lost my job a few months ago and I haven't been able to find another one. That's why. Without him, I wouldn't have any income. Once I get a job, I'll leave but I can't before that."

"That's understandable. But may I make a suggestion?"

"Of course."

"Let Heather stay. I'm not saying this because I like her, which I do, but I'm saying this for her own good. Have you seen her arms?"

"Yes, I have."

"Let her be on her own for a while. She's welcome to stay here as long as she wants. When things are better back there, she can go back. She just needs to clear her head."

"You're a smart kid, Samuel, and that's a good idea. Thank you for telling me she's alright."

"No problem, I got to go."

"Bye."

"Bye." As he hung up, he heard a knock on the door. When he opened it and saw Reggie standing there.

"Hey, Sam," she said. "You and Heather want to hang out?"

"Heather's still asleep, I think I should wait for her."

"That's understandable. What's the deal with her anyways?"

"I really don't want to talk about it, I just got off the phone with her mom."

"Oh okay, well, see you later."

"See you."

Reggie ran right over to Twister's house and knocked on the door. The door swung open and Lars stood in the doorway. A smart-ass smirk stretched across his face as he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "Came back for another kiss?" He said.

"Ew! No! Is Twister here?" She replied, shaking off his disturbing words.

"Why do you want to know?"

"'Cause I want to hang out."

"Why?"

"Oh my God, Lars! He's my friend and I want to hang with him because Sam and Otto have better things to do! Now just go get him!"

"What's going on?" Twister asked, coming up behind Lars.

"Your brother's just interrogating me. Apparently it's now custom whenever someone wants to talk to you."

Lars spun around and got Twister in a headlock. "What's going on?" Lars demanded.

"I don't know what you mean," Twister gasped.

"What's going on between you two?" He demanded again.

"Don't tell him, Reg…"

"Well, we…"

"Don't Reg!"

"Twist, he's cutting off your circulation. Besides, we agreed not to tell Otto but we never said that we wouldn't tell your brother."

"But-"

"Okay, you caught us. We're dating. We kissed at his birthday party last night, before spin the bottle."

Lars lessened his grip and let Twister go. "I figured. Run along," he added sarcastically.

Reggie walked into the house and Twister raised an eyebrow. "Hanging here?"

"Otto. He could be anywhere."

"Right." He led her up to his bedroom and shut the door behind them.

Otto stepped onto the beach. Surprisingly, he ignored the amazing waves that were crashing on the sandy shore of Rocket Beach. He wandered over into the usual hangout and started digging around, looking for something. He paused for a moment, thinking where to look next. He dropped on the couch in order to take a breather but the keys to his Mustang dropped in between the couch cushions.

"Damn it," he mumbled. He pulled up the edge of the cushions to reveal his car keys and the pile of pictures. He picked up the keys and pictures. He flipped through and hesitated at two certain photos; the kiss and the one Sammy took while they were sleeping.

Reggie and Twister sat on his bed, making out while Linkin Park blasted in the background.

Reggie broke herself away from Twister and said, "I got to go."

"Why?" Twister cooed in a soft voice.

"Ray and Otto will be wondering where I am."

"Okay, fine," he pouted.

She kissed his forehead and left his house. She ran up the stairs of her house and yelled, "hey Otto," as she ran by her little brother's room. She jumped ontp her bed and sighed a huge sigh. "Life is good."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Otto said from the doorway.

Reggie looked up at him and replied, "Why would you say that?"

He came farther into the room and dropped the photos on her bed. He watched as she looked at the photos and her smile turned to a frown. "Is life still good?" He asked coldly.

AN: Hi Everybody! Thanks for all the reviews! I'm so sorry that it took so long to update but I've been really busy. The play that I'm performing in is premiering this week! Not-right-now62, it's good to know that your back and keep writing your fic as well. Please review!