Hey all you awesome readers of Fanfiction. PersonNatalie here with a new chapter of The 12th Task! I decided to show more of the guys in this chapter and actually a bit of Kim's dad. This chapter introduces you to some of the subplots of the story. Hope you like it! Btw, if you noticed some spelling errors and things like that in this chapter or the previous chapters, it's because I typed my chapters on my iPod.

Jerry Martinez was in love. Sure, he had liked many other girls before, but this was different. He had never really truly loved those girls. And now he couldn't even remember them because there was only one girl on his mind.
That girl was Grace Ryan.
Jerry knew he wasn't supposed to be feeling this way. Not when she was dating his best friend. He could never do that to Eddie.
"Kids! Dinner!"
The sound of his mother's voice interrupted his thoughts and he headed downstairs to join his family for dinner.
He took a seat at the dining room table between the twins, Marcus and Maya and after answering a few questions from his mom about how school was going, he went back to thinking about Grace. His peaceful daydream was soon rudely interrupted by his siblings.
"You seem out of it today Jerry. You thinking about anything? Or anyone? A girl maybe?" His older sister, Isabel teased.
"Shut up," Jerry mumbled, shooting his sister an annoyed look.
Maya was suddenly interested. "Who is it?"
"I bet it's that blonde chick he's always hanging out with," Carlos remarked.
Marcus grinned. "She's so hot."
"No, it's not Kim," Jerry said quickly.
Isabel raised her eyebrows. "Ohh. So there is someone then?"
"I never said that!" Jerry exclaimed. "Can we please just talk about something else?"
His siblings were disappointed that they weren't going to find out who his mystery crush was but they agreed and changed the subject. But Jerry didn't hear a word they said because he was thinking about Grace again.
xxxx
This was a big night for Milton. It was the night that he and Julie would be introducing their families to each other. They had spent the week creating a list of things to ensure that everything would go perfectly. Julie had made sure that her younger sister, Ally would keep their little brother, Nick out of trouble and Milton had observed his mother carefully while she prepared dinner, ready to stop her if she made even the smallest mistake. It was a few hours before Julie and her family would be coming over and Milton was beginning to stress over what her parents would think of him.
"What if they don't like me? What if they say I can't date Julie anymore?"
"Calm down Milton. Everything's going to go great," Kim reassured him. "Her parents are going to love you."
"But what if they don't?"
"You've seen the movies. If they say you can't date her, tell them how much you love her and nothing they do will keep you away from her. Then they'll be amazed and realize that you're perfect for each other and then blah blah blah you and Julie live happily ever after," Kim replied.
"That really works?" Milton asked.
"Most of the time...but they'll like you anyway so you probably don't have to use that."
"I hope you're right Kim."
And Kim was right. Julie's parents had instantly taken a liking in her boyfriend, impressed by how much of a gentleman he was. Both Milton and Julie's parents had declared the two perfect for each other.
That night, Milton took a marker and placed a large x on his calender, and smiled to himself. Everything was going perfectly.
xxxx
Around the same time, Eddie had been on a date with Grace but it was different than the last few times. It wasn't as fun. Their hearts just weren't in it. Both of them had decided they were in love with someone else but were worried about breaking the other's heart. After a long moment of silence, Grace finally spoke up.
"Eddie, we need to talk."
He nodded in agreement as Grace began.
"I don't really think this is working out."
Eddie shook his head. "Me neither."
"So do you think we should-"
"Break up? I guess so."
"We can still be friends, right?" Grace asked.
Eddie nodded and smiled. "Of course."
They both felt relief as they got up from the table. And then the two went their separate ways.
xxxx
Jack grabbed two cans of coke and plopped onto the couch beside his older sister. "Hey Mags. Whatcha watchin'?" He asked, handing one of the sodas to her.
She thanked him and shrugged. "Oh just a show. I don't even like it that much," she admitted. She turned to her brother. "Soooo, what's going on between you and Kim?"
Jack rolled his eyes and took a sip of coke. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on Jack. I've seen the way you look at her. And you've been going to her house practically every day. You obviously like her."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't. Aw dang it!" Maggie crossed her arms, feeling defeated.
Her younger brother grinned. "You can't beat me."
Suddenly, Maggie smiled. "I guess you're just too chicken to admit you like her."
"I am not!"
"Then why don't you right now?" She challenged.
"I think I will. I like Kim! Ha, see I'm no chicken-" He froze when he realized what he had just told his sister and face-palmed. "I'm an idiot." Then he sighed. "Okay, I like Kim. So what?"
Maggie smirked. "I knew it! Jackie's got a girlfriend!"
"What are you, five? And she's not my girlfriend. We're just friends."
Maggie shook her head. "You keep on telling yourself that Jackie."
Jack rolled his eyes and soon his attention was back on the TV.
xxxx
Kim lay on her bed that night, her laptop in front of her as she checked her email. She had sent an email to her dad a few hours ago, telling him about John's invention but he hadn't replied. Alan was downstairs with her family. She could hear them laugh and she wanted so badly to be a part of that, but she just couldn't do it. She hated Alan, right?
She thought about what Jack had told her. How they never would have become friends if her parents hadn't divorced. What would have happened if she had never moved?
She closed her laptop and put it away as she pulled out her book, hoping to forget about her dad and Alan. It was Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. (AN: OMG I love this book so much. If you haven't read it, YOU NEED TO! IT'S SO EPIC!) Alan must have left sometime while she was reading but she was too engaged in the book to notice. (AN: This next part is an actual line from the book.) "There was somebody in the room...somebody all wet and dripping...Beatrice Taylor come from the river.
She had only to turn her head and she would see her.
But she couldn't turn her head...
If she were to call out...
There was no one else in the house. She was all alone...
She heard footsteps-"
Suddenly, Kim's door swung open, causing her to shriek and fall off her bed. Then she realized it was only John.
"Gosh John! Don't do that to me!"
He chuckled, handing her the book that had fallen of the bed as well as she picked herself up of the floor. "Sorry. Didn't know you were reading a murder mystery."
"Yeah, well I was." She sat back down on her bed.
"Did Dad say anything about my invention?" John asked hopefully.
"I'll check." Kim grabbed her laptop and pulled up her email. There was one from her aunt, a couple forward messages from Grace, some spam, and one from Rudy, but none from her dad.
"Sorry bud," she told her brother, giving him a sympathetic smile.
But being the optimist he is, John just smiled at his older sister and said. "It's cool."
"Is there anything else you wanted?" Kim asked.
John sighed. "Yeah...I know you really don't like to talk about it but..."
Kim raised an eyebrow. "But...?"
"Why can't you just be nice to Alan?"
Kim frowned. "Yeah, let's talk about something else."
"I'm serious Kim."
She sighed. "Look John, I just don't like him, okay?"
"But why?" John cried. "Mom likes him, Lucy likes him, I like him. Why can't you?"
Kim didn't answer. She just crossed her arms and looked down at the floor.
John lowered his voice. "I know you're still upset about Dad but trust me, Alan isn't going to replace him. He just wants to be a part of your life."
"Well I don't want him in my life."
"Please. Can you just give him a chance?" John pleaded.
Kim was taken aback by the look on her brother's face. He had never looked more serious in his life than he did now.
She sighed. "I don't know."
xxxx
James Crawford sat at the desk in his office he had in his apartment, going through his email. There was one email that caught his attention. It was from his daughter.
To: Dad
Hey Dad!
Guess what? You know how John entered that Young Inventor's contest at school? Well he won 1st place! And his invention is going to represent his school in an even bigger contest! Isn't that great? Anyways, John and I would love to hear from you so if you could please answer back that would be great.
Love,
Kim :)
James smiled, proud of his kids. He was about to reply when there was a knock at his door.
"Hello? James?"
It was his girlfriend of five months, Mary. Dang, he still had to tell his kids about that. He looked back at the email.
"James?" Mary called again.
"I'll answer it later," he said to himself as he closed out of his email and opened the door for Mary.
Mary kissed him. "So where are we going for dinner tonight honey?" she asked him.
"Why don't we eat in?" James suggested.
"Alright," Mary agreed.
James served some chicken and rice and they began to eat. Over dinner, they discussed work and their relationship and by the time they finished and Mary had left, James felt like he was forgetting something.
"Oh well," he thought to himself. "It's probably not important."

Not exactly my best work…but anyway, if all of you could review and tell me what you liked or didn't like about this chapter, that would be awesome. Also, I know how most of this story is going to go, I just need help on one thing, a subplot for Rudy. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll have a new chapter up soon!

-Natalie