okay. well, i didn't get a review, but you know, i think favoriting a story says just as much as a review does. :) still, PLEASE review! I need to know if i mess something up, or if you really like something. i just want to know what you think, so please review. and enjoy, too.

alrighty. here ya go. :) oh! the chapter song? it doesn't really fit, and i may use it again later. it's an awesome song. it's what i'm listening to now, and the title fits? :D anyways, you can listen to it if you want. Framing Hanley? Yes. They are amazing. :) i love them. lol.

anyways . . . . here's chapter 4. read, review, and enjoy. :)


00. Born Like This: Three Days Grace
01. Break Out! Break Out!: All Time Low
02. World So Cold: Three Days Grace
03. Someone Who Cares: Three Days Grace
04. You Stupid Girl: Framing Hanley


*Mika*

With all the help, minus Fang and Max—who hadn't come back since she angrily drug him out, which was cool with me because last I heard, he was simply hopelessly in love with her—we had all our stuff in our rooms within thirty minutes. Past those awkward introductions, there was some brief small talk, and then there was even an offer for food, but, well, Preston and I were terrified.

Her kids were the kids we were the opposite of us socially. At school, they fit in whereas we stood out. We were the misfits, the ones most people in their . . . social standing . . . would call the weird ones. How could we ever get along if they're like the others?

The most awkward thing was how they were all feeling nervous, anxious, and determined. And then one was confused because I could sense their feelings, it seemed. But that just confused me even more, because how could he know that?

I didn't focus on emotions much, although now that there were tons of people who I had heard talk, there were tons of voices in my head—in my heart.

And I hated it.

You see, when I feel what someone's feeling, it's like their voice in my head and heart saying what they're feeling. Weird, I know, but it's the way it is.

We finished with the moving process, like I said, quickly. Dr. Martinez had to leave to get a batch of cookies out, and Jason decided it would be best to follow her. Max at the word "cookies" came rushing right back in. So, we were all now awkwardly placed in the living room alone, making no sounds at all. There were the slight sounds of our breaths, the voices of their emotions in my head, and the clock.

That was it.

"I'm sorry, but I just have to ask," Will finally spoke up, breaking the thick tension very bluntly. But, it was okay. I liked his voice; very sexy and relaxing. Mysterious too, just like those beautiful piercing blue eyes of his—enough that it kind of turned me on a little, just the talking part.

For whatever reason, he laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head and looked down. "I, uh . . . ."

He didn't know how to go on, so I focused in on his voice in particular and heard it. Heard what he was feeling, guessed what he was trying to ask, trying to say . . . .

"Oh my tigers," I breathed softly, eyes widening a little as my cheeks warmed up. "I, um . . . I have no idea how or why I'm empathetic. I was just born that way. I'm not one to judge, so I really don't care that you're different. You can stop pretending to be normal and relax. Actually, I think being different is better. It explains my hair."

Yes. I'm referring to my awesome naturally black hair with bright electric blue, neon pink, neon green, purple, and red streaks.

"Wait just a minute," Ella said quickly, eyebrows furrowing. "What are you talking about?"

Preston's teeth ground together, and as he pointedly looked at me, I could just figure out what he was saying, even without knowing he was rather irritated at the moment. I could almost hear him saying, Mika, I thought we agreed not to talk about this until after they're married. But, he didn't actually say it.

"Things changed," I said quietly, giving him a sincere glance of apology. "I, uh, I didn't know this would happen. I was hoping it wouldn't, actually."

"Somehow, this girl can feel and alter emotions, too," Will explained to her, eyes still on me.

And he began feeling a spontaneous pool of emotions, starting with awestruck. Then moving to horny. Then moving from horny to embarrassed and frustrated; with himself, it seemed.

His random emotion process irritated me at first, but then, I was flattered. And then a little embarrassed too, because soon, we would be stepbrother and stepsister. Therefore, anything between us would just be weird . . . not necessarily wrong. Just weird.

I mean, personally, I didn't care. It's not illegal, it's not nasty, so why does it matter what people think?

Not that anything was gonna happen, because he just kinda seemed like the player type to me. And, he was about to be my stepbrother. Even if he thought I was the most beautiful, sexy woman on the face of the earth—if he does, he's just a moron, which is yet another reason to stay away—it wouldn't be enough.

Not that it wouldn't make me very happy to hear from someone as sexy as him . . . .

Oh shit. Can't think things like that, because he can feel as I become horny myself.

He grinned a little, because just like that, he did notice. "Um, so, she can know now. It's only fair we tell her brother also, and it's clear we can actually trust him, because he's kept her secret all these years. Why not ours?"

"If we can't manage under the same roof, there would be reason," Ali reminded him. "Not saying they're that kind of person who would tell the world, but I'm not saying they aren't either. I know we vowed to make it work for Mom, no matter what, but that doesn't mean they did and that they plan to."

"Oh, thank God," I sighed, tuning out all emotions so I could have a conversation without distractions. "Actually, um, Ali, I'm sorry to, uh, interrupt you two, but I can't help it. I just think you should know that we vowed to make it work however possible, so you guys aren't the only ones."

She gave me a small smile, something that, honestly, surprised me. "Is Jason a million times happier now too?"

I nodded, my eyes falling to the ground. "Yeah. Much happier. Happier than, well, ever. I'm glad you guys are determined to make it work too."

"I'll show you to your rooms," Emily suggested blissfully, surprising me with her sudden cheerful ways after she seemed so depressed earlier, like someone had just killed her dog or something.

I smiled softly. "Thanks."

And that's how the beginning of the first day with the Martinez family went. They all seemed pretty awesome.

Except Will . . . because he was . . . he made me want to slap him silly all of the sudden, the way he looked at me like a shiny toy, not a person. He didn't care that I had feelings, or that I wasn't just some doll he could stand up in his room and pleasure himself with.

And that irritated me. For whatever reason, it irritated me more than guys usually do. That alone confused me.

Why was he any different? It's not like that's the first time a guy's looked at me like that, thought of me like that to the point they turned themselves on, but Will doing it made me so mad. I wanted to beat his face in.

A knock on my bedroom door surprised me, to the point I jumped. I checked to see who it was by seeing whose heart voice was closer—that's what I call the voices in my head that tell me what someone's feeling—so I wouldn't be surprised.

"Yep, your favorite twenty-one year old hybrid," he informed me, noticing my curiosity.

I rolled my eyes as I pulled open the door, temporarily ignoring that statement to get rid of the confusion I was suddenly overwhelmed with. "That would probably be Ali or Fang as of now. But hey. You can always hope, right?"

He made a mocking expression of disappointment before rolling his eyes a little. "Anyways, supper time. Before you go, though, I just wanted to tell you something. Something serious. I just thought you might wanna know that if we weren't about to be stepbrother and sister, I would be interested in dating you."

More like fucking me, I thought, kind of wishing he could've heard that. But, he couldn't, so I just gave him my own sarcastic concerned expression right back. "Well, I just think you might wanna know that I wouldn't be interested in dating you."

That surprised him more than anything I had said or done yet. "You . . . did you just . . . ?

"Yes, I just did," I smirked, stepping past him and walking towards the dining room, where everyone was sitting around talking loudly about all kinds of different things. Strangely enough, Monique and Preston were seriously bonding, talking about their secret, what it's like to fly, etc. And he seemed genuinely interested in her.

Ever since he picked to stick with me, he hasn't really been the social type. So, it surprised me that he was flirting with a college girl.

And they were both definitely into each other.

When Will and I sat down, unfortunately beside each other in the last two empty chairs, Val and Jason both began trying to quiet everyone down. So, of course, I didn't even bother saying anything.

"We just wanted to know what your status was so far," Val explained kindly, giving us all a timid smile. She was so worried because she wanted nothing more than to make her kids happy, but right underneath that—just barely too, not even enough difference to see without a supersonic microscope—was her desire to marry Jason.

"And we'll ask you once a week," Jason added on gently.

Ali looked around at everyone, particularly Preston and me, before looking back to the two. "We've already figured out that we'll be fine together."

"M—Ali," Val smiled. "Thanks for being so quick to make us happy, but you can't decide this quickly."

"Well, we'll do something together tomorrow to prove it," she suggested. "All of us. I'm not sure what yet. I'll think of something. But, we will, and we'll all come back as if we're best friends because we really do get along. Sometimes, Mom, you can tell that quickly. We all bonded instantly. Remember?"

She sighed but nodded. "Alright. If you can all come back tomorrow night after spending all day with each other, and you can tell me by Wednesday that you really are certain you can stand living with each other, we'll talk about it."

"Thank you!" Ella squealed. "Oh, Mom! I already have it envisioned! It'll be right outside, in the backyard during sunset, with—"

"Actually, Ella, I'm pretty sure they're set on going to Vegas," I interrupted teasingly, although I was completely serious.

Her eyes widened in surprise as they all looked to Val. "Mom . . . you are?"

She grimaced, and I suddenly felt bad. Really bad.

Will rolled his eyes, clearly not understanding my sudden mood shift from joking and happy into guilt. It wasn't something, I guess, his sexist mind would allow him to comprehend.

"Vegas sounds awesome!" Jackson exclaimed, after I'm sure Val explained why she hadn't told them yet. "Can we bring a friend? Who just so happens to be a female?"

"Um, no," Ali answered for her. "What girl's parents would let her go off by herself with a fifteen-year-old boy to Las Vegas? Supervised or not?"

I shrugged and laughed a little. "My best friend Sarah's parents would, actually. Odd family. They would actually encourage her to get wasted and get hitched, strangely enough."

"Yes, Sarah!" Preston and Jason both exclaimed, almost in unison.

"She should come," Jason said by himself, nodding encouragingly. "After all, she is family. Ask her parents."

I shrugged. "I'll ask her."

"Wait, Sarah Patrick?" Jackson asked quickly, eyebrows rising a little in question.

I nodded. "You know her?"

He snorted. "Yeah! She's awesome! All my friends say she's a freak, though, and she's apparently got an STD just because of who her best friend is? I don't know. I don't question that stuff in details, but she was in my Biology class with me."

I didn't realize I had a fork in my hand until I squeezed it and accidentally stabbed myself, but I didn't really even notice that until Preston jumped up from the table, eyes wide as he looked at my hand.

"Um, Mika? Yeah. Put the fork down."

And I did, very quickly, but it was still bleeding.

"Oh!" Val exclaimed quickly, her own big brown eyes widening. "Let me help you with that, sweetie. What exactly happened?"

"I, uh, remembered something very irritating, and, um, that caused my fists to clench," I lied, aware my teeth were probably noticeably grinding. "I'm okay, though. I can handle it. Thanks, though."

"Mika, don't do this," Preston murmured lowly, stepping out of the dining room and into the bathroom with me so he could talk to me in private. "Unless you want to talk about your past. No normal seventeen-year-old knows how to clean up wounds that bad."

"Well, we all knew she wasn't normal," Will snorted, surprising us both as he began getting out supplies from the medicine cabinet in here.

I glowered harshly up at him. "Will, get out of my fucking way and leave my conversations between Preston and I alone! Got that?"

He just smirked at me. "What? I was told to come help show you where everything is. You've got a lot of explaining to do, missy. After dinner, we shall talk."

"Um, no we shall not," I snorted out-loud. "You can go sit in your room and talk to yourself, and I'm gonna go to mine and sleep."

He continued to smirk triumphantly. "I'll just tell everyone then."

My eyes narrowed to almost slits as I looked at him, and he just smiled pleasantly over at me. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, believe me, I would."

"Fine," I finally agreed, after the two of us continued looking at each other with different glances, mine being pure rage and his being pure arrogance. "But not tonight. And you have to explain everything to me too."

I wanted to scream just for agreeing to talk to him in general, but especially alone. In his room.

And Preston wasn't here to smack me for being so stupid either. Once Will got here, he disappeared.

That traitor.

"Alright. Tomorrow night, then," he said simply, placing the things I would need to help myself on the counter. "It's a date."

"Ugh, no!" I very loudly exclaimed in his face. For the next parts, I got quieter. "It's not a date. The words you, me, and date will never be in the same sentence."

He was still just as smug as before. "They just were."

"That doesn't count," I snapped firmly, noticing the now bright red hand I had. This conversation made me forget that I was bleeding.

Val came back there, nodding for Will to clear out and give her space. "Come with me, sweetheart. This is going to take more than a Band-Aid. We'll go back to my room, and we can fix you up there."

With a sigh of defeat, I followed her into the master bathroom, where she began working diligently on fixing up my hand. It gave me lots of time to think, because thinking always distracted me from remembering the pain.

And through thinking, I began regretting the conversation with Will that enclosed a promise to tell him about my past tomorrow night!

Ugh. Stupid Mika.