Chapter Three: The pain that she feels overflows to a knife. She write on her arm, wants to give up her life.~Hero by Superchick

Nick awoke the next to an intense pressure on his back and something hot against his neck. He jerked around and squirmed until his sister's voice whispered harshly, "Stop that! If you keep thrashing about like that I might burn your ear off." Nick quickly stopped moving and was relieved of the pressure soon after. Cautiously, he sat up with his sister's permission. He turned to face her, "Meredith? What the hell are you doing?" he asked sleepily. "Trying to straiten your hair." she answered.
Nick's eyes widened. "WHAT?!" he cried. Mer slapped a hand over his mouth. "Ssh! Do you want to wake everyone else up? Now turn just a little please so I can get the front and sides of your hair." She said removing her hand. Nick quietly did as he was told. As Meredith went to work at his curls Nick frowned. "Wake everyone else up? Mer, what time is it?"

"4:30." she replied shifting herself higher to get a curl she had missed. "4:30 a.m? Why are you waking me up so early? No, better question, why are you straitening my hair?" Mer moved back to see how he looked so far. "I'm straitening your hair so you wont be recognized by anyone. I'm getting you up so early so we can go to Hot Topic and be there before some of the other kids and get some elbow room." Meredith got off the bed and began rummaging through Nick's dresser. "God, don't you have anything black?" she hissed over her shoulder. Nick shrugged. After a few more minutes Mer threw some black denim jeans and a red sweatshirt to her brother.
"Quick, get changed." she said as she clapped a hand over her eyes and turned to face the other way. Nick grumbled. realizing he had no choice in this. He pulled the jeans and sweatshirt on and said, "You can turn around now."
She ignored him and headed to his closet, pulling out the chain link fire escape ladder and lowered it out Nick's window.
He stared at her. "You do know we have a front door right?" he joked. She turned and placed her hands on her hips. "For that attitude you're climbing down first." He rolled his eyes but walked over to the window and carefully stepped out.

When he was on the last rung he jumped off. A few seconds later Mer was next to him, tugging at the ladder. She rolled it up into a more comfortable way to carry. Nick looked around. "Now what?" he asked, his voice sounding loud in the dark morning silence. Meredith didn't answer, instead she began walking down the sidewalk at a brisk pace. Nick followed her up to the corner of the block. Mer walked over to an SUV parked on the curb. She tapped on one of the back windows of the car. "What are you-?" Nick began but stopped when the trunk opened up. Meredith stuffed the ladder in then turned to Nick and tossed him some keys.
Luckily he caught them. "Wait why am I driving?" he complained. Meredith let out a loud sigh as she closed the trunk. She replied,"Did you forget that Mom and Dad confiscated my license." Nick nodded, he had forgotten about that. Meredith had gotten home way past curfew and Mom took her license away for a week. "But what about the owner of the car?" Meredith laughed,"Haley? She's asleep in the back seat. We're lucky she opened the trunk for us." Nick gave up and climbed into the driver's seat and Meredith sat next to him in the passenger seat. She turned and grabbed two to-go cups and handed one to Nick.
"What's this?" he lifted the cup, carefully inspecting it. Meredith took a swallow from her own. "Lattes. Caramel ones." He took a grateful sip and put it in his cup holder. Meredith finished hers and tossed it back into the McDonald's bag. Meredith then pulled out a set of instructions from the glove compartment and Nick started up the car.

"So, how's Leota? Left at the next set of stop lights." "You actually care about Joe's girlfriend?" Nick asked, shocked.
"Joe's? I thought you were dating Leo." his sister said. Nick laughed. Of course even though they lived in the same house, they had almost no idea of the other one's friends. "I figured. No, Casey is my girlfriend right now. And she's good. Hollywood Records is considering her." The car was silent for a moment until Meredith spoke up quietly again. "You need to head strait on I-94." Nick sighed, "I'm sorry Mer." She shook her head. "Don't Nick. It's not like it was your idea or anything."

Nick jumped when he heard someone else yawn. He saw Haley in the rear view mirror, stretching and brushing her hair out with her fingers. She frowned, "Mer who the hell is driving my car?" The two sibling in the front chuckled. "C'mon Haley, don't tell me you don't recognize Nick?" Haley stared at him for a few minutes before nodding her head. "Hey Nick-o. Could hardly believe it was you. And is it true you're emo?" Nick shrugged, unsure of what to say. Apparently Meredith had talked with her friend about yesterday's incident. Haley nodded, "Like sister, like brother. You crazy Lucas'. Ooh! I forgot I bought food." the redhead said before digging through the McDonalds bag. Nick frowned. "'Like sister like brother'?" he murmured, wondering what that meant. Holding her breakfast burrito in one hand, Haley leaned forward and tugged at Meredith's shirt sleeve in response to Nick's question.

Nick took a sharp intake of breath when he saw his sister's wrist. Even though there was only a small amount of skin he could see dozens of red, white, and pink scars. Meredith hastily tugged her sleeve back down. "Take Exit 332 when it comes up." Meredith said acting as if nothing happened. Nick did so too, pretending he hadn't seen his sister's pain for a moment. But Haley didn't let it go. She almost dropped her burrito. "Damn Mer! Some of those look more fresh than the last time I saw you."

The car's radio clock read 6 a.m as Nick pulled into the mall's parking lot. He kept his head down as they walked, praying he wouldn't be recognized by crazy fans. He nearly ran into someone though and Meredith grabbed onto his arm. "Nick, pay attention." she scolded. He looked up and realized the were already in line for the store along with 15 or so other people. "Why are we here again?" he asked.
"Because," Haley said, pulling up the hood of her black and blue checked hoodie. "There's a buy one get two free sale and I want another piercing." Nick noticed she already had metal in her tongue and four earrings in each ear. "What are you getting?" he asked. She smiled, "A belly button ring." The girls laughed as Nick squirmed at the idea.

A ring tone of Time Is On Our Side went off and Nick blushed, ducking his head. Almost everyone in this line probably despised anything by the Jonas Brothers. He quickly answered the phone before the chorus could begin. "Hello?" he answered.
"Dude, where are you?"
"Kevin?"
"No, it's the Easter Bunny. Of course it's me Nick!"
Meredith tapped Nick's shoulder and held out her hand for the phone. "Here Kev, Mer wants to talk." he handed her the phone.

"Hey Kev...Yeah, everything's fine....You worry too much Kevin. No we haven't been kidnapped...Shopping....Yes I know but don't you think that would be on the news by now?...No I don't want-Hi Joe....He's fine, I'm fine, everyone's fine...Well, tell mom to take a chill pill. We'll be home late...Oh, fuck...Um, whoops. Sorry? Tell Leo I said Hi! Bye." She flipped the phone closed and handed it back to Nick. He raised an eyebrow.
"'Um, whoops. Sorry?' What's that about?" Meredith sucked in a breath and shook her head. "Just that I hate out lives Nick. That's what." The doors opened and the group went in the store.
Still curious Nick looked through his calendar on his phone. Finding today's date he winced. "Oops." he mumbled and pocketed his phone.

Author Note: Hee hee. I left a cliff hanger. PLEASE review?