Torn from the Present

Jealous

Luke Bolton was staring out the window, waiting for his cousin, Lorraine Evans, to arrive at his house. He wasn't at all happy that she was coming; on the contrary, he was very upset. He didn't like Lorraine for many reasons, many of which were because she had many talents, unlike himself, whom only had one: writing. Well, he could throw a ball into a basket, but he wasn't a superstar or anything. He was good looking, though. He had his mother's blue eyes, and his father's complexion and sandy-blonde hair. As a Black Escalade pulled up into the driveway, Luke stood up and walked into the family room, where his parents and sister were watching TV.

"They're here" he announced, with no emotion in his voice whatsoever.

"Yay, Lorrie's here!" Maddie, Luke's little sister said, hopping up from the couch she was sitting in. Maddie was only 5 years old, seven years younger than both Luke and Lorraine. Luke was born two days after Lorraine, so she always reined over him as the 'older' of the two.

Troy stood up, followed by Sharpay, so the two could set the table for dinner.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Troy called out, "Come in!"

Ryan opened the door, and walked in, followed by Lorraine.

Once Lorraine saw her cousin, Luke, she said, "Hey Luke!"

He just looked at her for a second then mocked her by saying with a lot of fake joy, "Hi Lorrie! It's been too long, hasn't it? We should go to the mall and get our hair done and our nails painted, shouldn't we?"

Lorraine shot daggers at Luke and said coldly, "Oh, shut up."

"Be nice, Lorraine" Ryan sternly told his daughter.

"He started it" she mumbled, so no one could hear her.

"Lorrie!" Maddie said, running to Lorraine, who hugged her little cousin. Lorraine sure hoped that Maddie wouldn't turn out like Luke did: rude, annoying, and mean. It wasn't his parent's fault; Troy and Sharpay were quite nice in Lorraine's opinion.

"Hey" Sharpay said, walking into the room, "How's my favorite niece?"

"She's ok!" Lorraine responded.

"Then how's my big brother doing?" she said, facing Ryan, hoping for the same answer as Lorraine gave her.

"Um… ok… but can I talk to you in private for a minute or two, maybe after dinner?"

"…Sure…" what was worrying her brother so much that he couldn't talk to Lorraine about? Sharpay thought in worry. "Dinner should be ready in about a half and hour, so why don't you three go outside and do something?"

"Ok, mommy, c'mon Lorrie, follow me!" Maddie said, while pulling on Lorraine's arm. The two walked outside, followed by Luke, who went strait to the garage and brought out a kickball, then threw it at Lorraine, who saw it coming and bumped it back to him. Luke, who didn't at all expect this, spiked it back over to Lorraine, who set it back to him. This continued for a good 10 minutes, without the ball ever touching the ground, until Maddie, who was bored with watching the two, grabbed the ball in mid air, and kicked it across the yard.

"Maddie, what did you do that for?" Luke yelled.

"I was bored with watching you!" she replied. For a five- year old, Maddie had some spunk in her.

"C'mon, Luke, It's ok, she's only five!" Lorraine said, trying to calm down her cousin, who was apparently really mad for such a small mistake.

Luke was about to yell something, but was interrupted by his dad, Troy Bolton, who called to the three, "Dinner's ready!" then walked back inside the house, closing the door behind him.

Luke walked across the lawn, up the stairs, and into the house without another word. Maddie and Lorraine just looked at each other, shrugged, and walked into the house and into the kitchen.

Dinner was uneventful, as usual. Sharpay asked Lorraine how her volleyball league was going, or other things along that line. Ryan asked Luke and Maddie questions, and Troy asked Ryan questions. It was a very boring to Luke, who wasn't the least bit interested in how the dance studio was going, or how Lorraine's volleyball league was shaping up. Finally, halfway through dessert, Luke couldn't take it anymore, he burst out, "Who cares? I mean, only Uncle Ryan bothers to notice I'm even here! The only thing you care about is Lorraine and how her life is going!"

Troy didn't like what Luke was saying, so he said, "Lucas Jared Bolton, what did your mother and I tell you about yelling in the house?"

"Not to do it…" Luke mumbled to his father.

"Exactly, so you will apologize and then go up to your room for the rest of the night, understand?"

"Sure..." he mumbled, as he trudged up the stairs.

"So..." Sharpay said, trying to lighted the mood, "Do you want to hear my big news?"

"Shoot" Lorraine said, pushing away her now empty plate.

"Well... I think you and I need to spend some more time together, so I'm officially inviting you to spend a month with me in our condo down in Florida. Will you come?"

Lorraine was speechless. It would be a really cool expierience, true, but...

"She can't go." Ryan said suddenly.

"Why not, it's not like she is doing anything else over her summer break"

"Shar, let me talk to you out in the hall for a second, ok?" Ryan said, standing up and walking towards the hallway. He was immediatly followed by a very confused Sharpay, who was starting to get annoyed by her twin brother.

When they got down further down the hallway, where no one could hear them, Ryan sighed, then said, " Kelsey wants to take Lorraine for two months."

"No... she can't...can she?" Sharpay stuttered. After 8 years of no contact, Kelsey suddenly wanted to take away Ryan's daughter; his pride and joy? (Really geeky, I know, but that's all I could think of!)

"Yes, she can, and I agreed."

A/N: Oooh, cliffy! I'm soo evil, mwahahaha! What do you think will happen to Lorraine? And what do you think of Luke and Maddie? Please Review, I really appreciate it!