CHAPTER TWO

If I Wanted To Negotiate I'd Be A Lawyer

~Jessette~

(Song: We Are Family-Sister Sledge)

Jessette's perfectly arched eyebrows furrowed, as she pulled a single strand of jet black hair and twirled it around her index finger before letting it hang in her face before she said, "You can't be kidding with me."

Her mother glared at her, her blue eyes, the same shade at Jessette's piercing.

"You aren't kidding," Jessette replied flatly.

"Hon, she's just staying over for a couple of months," Jesse's mother, Lena Banks huffed impetuously. She was tired of the fact that she had to explain to her daughter at the fact that her cousin was going to move in into Jesse's penthouse in an hour. And if there was one thing that Jesse disliked, it was people invading her territory and her home of course. "They were supposed to stay at the Estate but I thought it would be better for my sanity if she had her own space. I know you both quarrel."

"But Mom, I already decided that my friends and I were going to use the penthouse this weekend." Jesse proclaimed firmly, clenching her fist under the dining table, but in the inside; she'd felt like a part of her just died and went to hell. Or this was just some really bad dream that she wanted to snap out of.

Her mother told her the penthouse Jessette and her friends had wanted to use to throw their annual end of the summer party was now unavailable because of, what? A fashion disaster? She'd been trying to convince her mother for the past hour ten minutes that Kara staying at their extra penthouse would be stupid, they should rent another hotel room. She already told her friends about the problem, but lied and said that her parents were hosting a luncheon there. It couldn't hurt to try though.

"I'm sorry dear but we've made arrangements with the West's since your uncle doesn't want Kara staying by herself in that big house," Lena replied sadly, knowing for that fact that Jesse wasn't quite ecstatic about the West's visiting their home.

"Isn't staying in the penthouse almost the same thing," she argued. There had to be some loophole.

"No." Her mother remained firm. "We're closer in case should something wrong happen."

"Now that's just wonderful," Jesse buried her face in her hands; her black hair covering her porcelain face. Now she knew that she had died and went to hell.

The West's were Jesse's family, and Jesse couldn't believe that she was related to such people. Kara West was the dreariest of the West's — no, she was the most pathetic creature to ever cease to exist. In Jesse's experience, in all honesty she knew that even the most deeply flawed individuals had something of value about them. Like an incredibly fat girl was an amazing swimmer, or a dumb person had a nice singing voice, or a complete social nerd could wipe anyone out in football.

But Kara West had absolutely nothing of value of, not that she could think of. She was thin, but not in the model type of way either. But she was so scrawny she made her best friend, Skye put to shame. But that wasn't the best thing about her either because her bones and elbows were visible under her incredibly pale skin it almost freaked the living daylights out of her. She had no hips, and no boobs; her chest was as flat as a billboard.

She also knew for the fact that she never shaved, despite the fact that she had blond hair; they were also long which reminded her about fat, hairy spiders. But that was far beside the point.

Sure, she'd lived in Miami before but that didn't mean that she'd spent hours of tanning and flirting with hot boys. Oh no, she spent her time catching up on her reading. Her face was so featureless and plain you would be able to see right through her, if that was even possible. Although, she had nice full lips but that didn't make up her lack of eyelashes.

Her clothes were beyond horrid, and they were even close to designer to speak of — once, she'd worn an extremely puffy sleeved Kelly green dress on picture day in second grade. Jesse had secretly stole her album and flipped through the pages, and she'd her class pictures and the best thing she'd even worn in her third grade picture day was overalls and an oversized tee underneath with bland grey socks and a pair of green shoes that made her want to puke.

How someone with almost as much money as Jessette herself, could dress so badly was unclear to Jessette.

"Alright, why don't use the pool or the gym?" Jerry offered earnestly. He slid into his leather jacket and walked through the door.

"Right, I can't just go up to Skye, Brett and Lashaye and tell them my stupid aunt and uncle are going to Europe and leaving their pathetic daughter behind to burden us, are taking up the penthouse and then my mother told me that we can use the gym room for a party?" Jesse snarled, colder than she'd anticipated but continued. "You know Todd is going to use the gym that night and his friends are staying over. So, the gym is a big no- no."

"You can always do it at either at Skye's, Brett's or at Lashaye's." Lena said defensively, her bluish violet eyes brimmed with the slightest hint of anger. "It is not obligatory that you and your friends are going to have your little fling at the penthouse. Now is it? I'm sure that Skye and your friends are going to understand that the penthouse is going to be used for a while."

Jesse's perfectly curved shoulders slumped in defeat. "We're using The Scene."

"Great! So what's the problem," Lena asked, her narrow eyes pointed at Jessette.

"Nothing I guess." Jesse walked up the stairs that curved around like a loop and walked down the long hallway towards that crystalline door to her room. She blinked her eyes, and scanned the room for her blackberry and found it sitting atop her bed. She stuffed it in her bag turned back to leave the room.

Dingggggg-Dongggggg!

"Jessette! Kara's here, come down and say hello," Lena's voice shouted from the intercom installed in Jesse's room.

"Great, now that's just pure brill." Jesse proclaimed in her sort of British accent as she checked her makeup and her outfit. Her black hair was straightened perfectly, and she'd just redone her highlights today. Her outfit was flawless.

It was time.

She flipped her hair back, and slowly made her way down the stairs like a princess at a balll. Her violet eyes had shone of disinterest that Kara was now at her home. Jesse liked to keep her inner feelings to herself, so she wasn't like the short-tempered type of people.

Kara's back was turned, talking with her uncle so she didn't see Jessette.

Jessette cleared her throat and Kara turned around, while Jessette face twisted into pure horror.

"Hello, it's nice to meet my cousin again." Kara smirked, blinking her long eyelashes.