* I realize again that I'm not posting regularly enough and probably losing pplwho read it.... :( I'm not so happy with this chapter. Gets a little romantic for what I want this book tp turn out like... I have changed a couple things but i will probably post it on fanfic's sister site i think... Love you guys! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!!!!! It will be creative progress for me!

- Blaster*

Chapter Five

(Mark's P.O.V starting. You will be able to tell when switched)

Mark was standing staring at them gaping until he forced his mouth to shut. "Mark, go to your room. I'll come up in a bit." Mark knew that whatever Lizzy told him to do was probably in his best interest. Being a fourteen-year-old MAN, he knew not to get involved in things that started with her screaming 'WHAT THE HELL.' 'It wasn't like he allowed her to boss him around like she was his parent or anything.' He consoled himself as he left. He treaded very slowly trying to hear everything that he could. He counted the stairs going up to his room, sometimes when he was younger, he would REcount. Mark tried to remember all the times when Wizzy, as he called her when he was three, told him to go to his room. The first time was when dad had left the first time.

'Mark walked into the kitchen hearing some crying. He was five and Lizzy was nine, and to him was the grossest thing. He wanted a BROTHER not a sister who tried to make-up on him! "Momma? What's wrong?" he had asked with his little six-year-old face.

"Oh Baby, its just… its just." She had spread her arms and let him crawl up into her lap, tuck his head under her hair, and kiss her cheek.

"Oh Baby I love so much." He remembered her whispering in his ear. Something that he would be told more than once over the years. That was their thing, he would hug her now and kiss her on the cheek, and she would say "Oh Baby, I love you so much."

"Mark, why don't you go to your room and make mommy a picture? That would make her happy!" That was the first time she every told him that. Then it seemed like a good idea to him, not realizing that the picture was just bait.

The next time was a year and a half later when dad came back. He just knocked on the door so Mark opened it, not thinking about mom not being there. "DADDY! YOU'RE BACK!" well that had certainly gotten her attention off her Lizzy Maguire show. Or Even Stephen whatever show she was watching at that time.

"Mark go to your room. Dad and I need to catch up." A ten-and- ½ -year-old, who at the time had a lot of attitude, was not planning to have a talk with him. There also, he meekly agreed, knowing that with dad being gone it WAS odd that he was just showing up again.

The third time was when dad and mom started fighting late at night while they were watching The Simpsons. Dad had just said something about mom neglecting us kids, and Lizzy blew up.

"Mark, please go to your room for a second okay? I'll be in a little while. But why don't you see if you can beat your high score on Donkey Kong." She had whispered in his ear, waiting for him to leave before her big explosion. At the time he was excited he got to play the Nintendo. He had been grounded (by dad) for throwing popcorn at his mom. It was something they did when dad was gone.

Mark stopped remembering the specifics and started remembering what Lizzy had said to him.

"Mark me and mom need time to talk, why don't you go start on your pyramid? I'll help you in a bit okay?" that time trying to tell him that her and moms crying meant nothing.

"Mark… would you please go to your room?" she said trying to hold down her anger and be pleasant with him.

"Mark GO to your room NOW please."

"Mark please go to your room and look for that hat, when your done we'll be ready to go."

"Mark go to your room."

"Mark, room please?"

"Mark maybe you should go into your room, and I'll fill you in later." Mark knew she would but he wanted to hear it happen. That very first time she came in my room with me hiding under my blankets, and held me. She told me that right now he had the chance of a lifetime. He could make a pact with her so that when she told him to go to her room she would always tell him what happened.' Mark slammed his bedroom door.

"WHO'S THIS?" I asked shoving my finger at her face.

"This is Linda, she works for the local news. Right now she's doing a segment about 'What Our Children are Really Eating.'" My dad was smiling ear to ear, he did the whole 'Spiderman Turns to Villain?' newspaper headline thing. He'd do that hand gesture when he wanted you to believe that a movie or show, was the biggest, most exciting, entertaining thing.

It didn't get past her when Cake-Face Big-Hair blushed with pleasure at the fact that my dad thought it was Brilliant. Cake-Face stood up, wobbling on her six-inch heels, and outstretched her hand.

"Oh, Baby, I've heard sooo MUCH aboutchoo." She had an accent that it reminded Lizzy of the crazy dude on King of the Hill's wife. Funny that she was a news anchor too, and had big hair.

I just looked her up and down, not shaking her hand, but instead putting it on my hip. "Really, 'cause you know I haven't heard ONE THING about you." I said moving my head around in an attitudy way.

"Oh, well… You know when your dad said you were beautiful, I thought… But your GORGOUSE!" She said changing the subject for the good.

I was NOT having it, "Yeah that's probably because he hasn't seen his ONLY children in two years. And two years ago, I weighed a hundred and twenty pounds more than I do now. You know when your parents spilt it's true. It's REALLY hard on their children, I mean we had to send Mark to a class that taught him Karate so that he could get out all his rage. And me I ate like crazy, got super fat at one point, but after a year, I wanted to be stronger. So I would run to school, that four miles, then get changed there. And after school, I ran to this gym and I would get on the treadmill and run and run and run… AND RUN! Then I got into lifting weights," I said nodding, I could tell it was killing dad, while Big-Hair just looked confused. "And I would get ready and pump iron with some of the guys there, we'd see who could bench more. I went on this diet and lost all this weight, and I told myself that the next time someone broke my family's AND my heart, I would kill them." for that last part I just looked at dad. "And then a year and a half later I end up here at this house in Nebraska, with the person who broke it the last time, and none the less his new, improved gal-pal is here. So where does that leave us?" I pointed at her. "You haven't earned my respect, so no I won't shake your hand, and I won't be doing girly things with you either so don't think you can come in with your girly crap and pretend that I'm your kid. GOD YOU'RE LIKE TWENTY-FIVE! And you." I pointed at him. "Can shove it if you think that this trip here, which was FORCED on me I might add, is not ganna be some kind of happy reunion. We aren't goin' to go get ice cream, or go job looking. Or whatever you had planned, and you know why? Because I will be busy with the people who no me better than you. And they just met me today." I walked out the door towards the garage, then thought about it. I opened the door again, looked at him and said "I'm really disappointed at you dad. You should know better." And walked off.

"He can't live that far away I mean he works in this town right? He went to school in this town. He said it takes him fifteen minutes to get to the house, so where the heck is he?" I wondered aloud to no one. Elizabeth was standing in a phone booth by a gas station, looking for Nichole and Dominic's house. Mark was in the gas station buying a drink for him.

She looked over and there he was, walking out of the store with Mark in tow. "Hey, uh hi." She said. Now she wasn't so sure of what she was going to say with him standing there in front of her. "Um… Yeah, did you know my dad was dating?" she looked at him, her eyes filling up with the tears she had been fighting off for the last hour.

"Nope, come on you can tag along with me. I have the shift right now so I'm delivering some food but, if you wanna come you can." He smiled.

"Please." She wiped off her cheek, where the tears had spilled over.

"Cool, can I have shotgun?" Mark perked up at the fact of doing anything OTHER than wondering around. Liz had forgotten about her car in all the fuss, and grabbed Mark and got out of there.

"Whatever Mark." I said getting into the car. She leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes.

"So do you know who she is?" Dominic asked.

"No, he just said the local news lady. Apparently, she's working on a segment called 'What Our Children are Really Eating!" I said sarcastically.

"Linda? Seriously? Wow…"

"Does she have big, blonde hair, caked on make-up, and wears too of tight suits?"

"Yep that's her. Wanna hear something hilarious? When I was little she was like… three grades ahead of me, and I had the BIGGEST crush on her."

"God you make me sound like I'm five. My dad's girlfriend used to be three grades ahead of this guy I hangout with!"

"No… She's just… into older men." He smiled in the rearview mirror at me.

"That's fantastic. He could, quite literally, be her father."

"You're right she SHOULD be with a younger man. You know, some one like… ME!"

"Oh wow! You're such a TARD!" I laughed.

"Does anyone want to talk about something else?" Mark asked. I knew he wouldn't show it but, he was really bothered by this.

"What do you wanna talk about, punk?" Dominic asked him.

"Baseball. Or sports in general, something I'm good at."

"That's all you ever talk about, Mark. You need a new hobby. You should go back to Karate at least that was entertaining." I said playing around, knowing both of them would freak out.

"DON'T TELL HIM THAT!" Dominic protested looking horrified

"WHAT? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU ALWAYS LOVED MY GAMES!" Mark screeched at the same time Dominic had screamed at me.

"I was kidding! Gah man." I was laughing. "Why so serious?" I said in my creepy voice trying to recreate the Joker's voice.

'Where the heck am I?' I thought as I sat up in an unfamiliar bed, in unfamiliar clothes. The room was dark, and I was wearing guy-running shorts, that were obviously picked out for a girl to wear, and a pink shirt with a ketchup bottle on it and a burger. "Hello?" I asked.

The last thing I remembered was screaming at my dad and some woman with big blonde hair. A door opened and all I saw was a lot of bright light. I quickly threw my hand over my eyes.

"Hey, good morning sleepy head." I heard a girl's voice say to me. "It's me Nichole, Dominic didn't want to take you guys back to your dad's, so he brought you here. You were already dead asleep though." She laughed "There's some food down stairs, come on."

I got up and followed her to the door. She was wearing similar men's jogging shorts and a tee with cartoons on it. I walked down the stairs smelling bacon and something else delectable. The kitchen was a bright, happy room, which made you want to smile.

"Oh my Lord! You've gotten so BIG!" an older woman who looked about the same age as my mom, said getting tears in her eyes. I just looked at her. "I remember you when you were tiny! We went to New York when you were born to visit your mom and dad!"

"Excuse me?" I asked confused.

"Oh Darlin' you have no idea who I am, do you?"

"I'm sorry but no…"

"Oh well that's okay, I didn't expect your dad to tell you anything about us. You just sit down and eat and I'll explain after."

"Thank you." I said honesty, smiling at this unknown woman who seemed to be connected to the old, happy, couple my parents used to be.

"Just have a seat." She said pointing at a yellow table that Dominic was at stuffing his face with pancakes. "I'll make you a plate."

"Mom, I don't think it's fair that when it's just us, you NEVER make breakfast but when someone else is here. You make a HUGE meal." Dominic said between bites. I just laughed. I sat down beside Nichole and looked at a picture that was on the wall opposite of where I was sitting. It was of, who I assumed was Dominic, holding a baby on a fake leather couch, grinning ear to ear. I nudged Nichole and asked,

"Is that you?" pointing to the picture. Everyone just looked at me, including a man, I didn't see standing in front of the stove.

"No… That's you." Dominic said, after everyone else had turned around.

"Right, I should have guessed." I said shaking my head. His mom laid my plate in front of me. It had steaming eggs and blueberry pancakes on it, and the best-looking bacon I've seen in a while. "Thanks I haven't had home made breakfast in…" 'Since dad left, the first time.' I thought to myself. "Forever… Where's Mark?" I asked suddenly remembering about him in all this.

"He's upstairs… uh Dominic why don't you help me wake him up?" Nichole said.

"Fine." He said looking at his food longingly. As they got up and left, their mom sat down in front of me.

"Honey, Dominic told me what happened with your dad. I just want to know that even though you don't know us that this family knows you, and we love you. So if you want to stay here until your dad gets HIS ACT TOGETHER, that's okay with us… Did your parents ever tell you that they grew up in Bertrand?" I shook my head no. "Well they did, they were married here. I was your mother's Maid of Honor, and my husband here, Norman, was your dad's Best Man. We were really close with your parents, so when your mom got pregnant with you… they made us your 'God Parents' so to speak. If anything were to happen to them, we would get you. I don't know about Mark because after he was born your father had already ruined the friendship he had with us. But back to the story… your dad got a job in New York, he used to say that when you grew up that he wanted you to have EVERYTHING your heart desired. So they moved where he could get more money. And when you were born, let me tell you, you were the prettiest baby I've ever seen. Don't tell my children but, I used to wish that Nichole would look just like you, so when she was born at first I was disappointed." I laughed.

"So anyways, we went to visit your mother in the hospital, since there was some complications. Dominic thought you were the sweetest thing he ever saw! When you would visit us, up until you were three, he was your best friend, I swear. We have so many pictures of the two of you! There's this one that I keep in my room… well let me go get it." She got up and hurried away.

I looked at my orange juice and wondered why my parents never told me about these people. These people knew more about my parents and even about me, than I did!

"I know this is a lot to take in, especially with Ginger's crazy way of explaining things. But she means well. Your mother still keeps in touch with her. They talked last night actually, up until Dominic burst through the door with you in his arms. We thought he killed you or something." Norman laughed. He put his arm around me and squeezed, but quickly got up as we heard Ginger come back in.

"Here I got this, it's a photo album of you, all the way back to when you were in your mama's tummy."

"You know what really makes me mad? Is that I was never told about you guys. I mean, you know more about me than I do." I said starting to cry.

"Oh no Hon," Norman came back and put his arms around my shaking shoulders. "Maybe we should give her a break. Discuss this again later." He said to Ginger. I turned my head and put it against his chest. I didn't know these people but my happy, whole parents did, and that made them family. I cried into his chest getting his shirt wet. He rubbed my back like I was his daughter. If I thought about it, they did look familiar, from the few wedding photos I saw.

"Everything okay?" Dominic asked from the doorway.

"It's.. It's.. Fine." Ginger sniffled and blew her nose.

'THUMP,THUD! THUMP, THUD! THUMP, THUD!' my feet smacked against the sidewalk. I breathed in and out. After I was cried out, I went for a run. I had gone in a straight line for at least the last hour, just running and running. Dominic had decided to come but had to run fast to keep up.

"When you said you were a freak, you weren't kidding. I got to take a break." He said. He was starting to lag behind me.

"Fine." I said sitting down on the sidewalk. That was the first time we had talked the whole run. I scooted over to where he had sat down on the curb and put my bare feet on the road.

"I can't believe you can run that fast for a whole hour and not slow down. And your bare foot!" he said trying to catch his breath.

I looked at him and smiled. "I'm a freak of nature, I know." Someone drove by and honked and he waved at them. "Do you remember me?" I asked. "I mean from when we were little."

"Yup, sure do. You were a lot cuter back then though." He laughed.

"Yeah like I could be any cuter than I am now." I said joking around. "Did you know who I was even when you came to my house the other night?"

"Yeah. Why do you think I was so surprised that it was you in the mall that was getting all crazy?"

"I didn't even think about that yet. Huh. You know I took lessons for five years. Yep, that's why I rock at it." I said informing him. "I feel like a total jerk not remembering you guys, especially with your mom and dad being so kind, they treat me like I'm your sister or something."

"They love you that's for sure… my mom has all your school pictures from kindergarten to… sixth grade I think, in a photo album with mine and Nichole's." he laughed and shook his head.

"Do your friends know who I am?"

"They know who you are but most of them don't know that your dad used to live here. The parents of this town don't talk about your mom and dad much. Him moving here after everything that happened wasn't' really smart on his side." He said getting serious. He looked at me, "Let's not talk about this anymore, alright?"

"Alright fine, what do you wanna talk about." I asked

"ME! Duh!" I giggled at him. It was his typical answer.

"Okay so what about you?" I asked looking at him questioningly.

"Well, where to start!" he laughed

"What's your favorite color? Start there." I suggested.

"Mmm Green, maybe, I don't know. What about you?"

"This will sound weird but Black. What's your middle name?" I asked, it would be nice to know something about his family.

"Michael. Your turn."

"Alexandra."

"Elizabeth Alexandra Moore… that's a long name. Sounds like the queen of England's name."

"I know, why do you think I go by Lizzy? Even though it's like a twelve-year-old's nickname. I've tried them all, Beth, Liz, Lizzy, Eli, Elli. Okay so next question!"

"Mom, I swear he's with some chick here! You sent me to fight off Satan in his homeland!" I said to my mom over the phone sitting on Nichole's bed while she was in the process of giving me a makeover. Dominic and Mark had moved the XBOX into her room so when I said that Dominic turned and said, "So are you saying that Bertrand is Hell?" I just shushed him.

"Who was that?" she asked for the third time. I walked out into the hallway.

"Okay Mom, you really want to know who I'm with right now. I'm with your Maid of Honor Ginger's son and daughter. Why didn't you guys ever tell me about them? It would kind of be nice to know that if you and Dad ever died I'd go to strangers. Why didn't you ever tell me about myself mom? They're a part of my past. They know me better than I know myself, you know how bad that hurts? To know that strangers know me AND my parents better than I do?" I was starting to cry. "Why did you and Dad have to be so stupid anyways? I mean I understand why you got a divorce, he was a jerk, but why'd you constantly hide the past? It was like you didn't want me and Mark to know you were ever happy! But I remember Mom so your pitiful tries really didn't help! You could have told me… YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME! I thought that we told each other everything, I see I was wrong though. But you know what? I will figure out the truth, I don't need you for that. Or my 'FATHER.' Look I need to go. Bye, I really hope you see that you can trust me Mom, I really do. You've hurt me." I hung up on her. I walked back in the room.

"Wow you got a little harsh there Liz, you know you just made her start bawling her eyes out right? That's just great! Hand me the phone so I can fix your problems." Mark said, he was angry at me, he didn't understand. It wasn't his past…

"Mark, you have no idea… They didn't cover up four years of your past. They didn't lie to you. You go ahead and call Mom, do whatever you won't. You can go stay with your father if you want, but I'm not. You have to realize Mark, who protected you all these years from their fighting and arguing and who sat with you when they would be screaming at three o' clock in the morning. When you leave me, I can't protect you. When you step out of my reach, you're gone, I'm sorry but if you call her I can't protect you from what she'll say or who she'll blame." I said, realizing that I was being pretty nasty. But he had NO IDEA at what they could do.

"Fine, I'll call her in the morning then." He said.

"That's all I'm asking. She'll be reasonable tomorrow." I said being more kind now.

"Okay stop talking, you're making me mess up your make-up." Nichole complained.

"Oh God not her make-up!" Dominic said making fun of her.

"How do I look?" I said plopping back down on Nichole's bed two hours later. She took me into the bathroom and changed so many things it scared me. She curled my hair into ringlets, pulled the top back, clipped it, and let the rest hang behind me all curly. She put make-up on me I never even heard of, curled my eyelashes, and painted my nails hot pink. I was a girl, but not that much of a girl. I was starting to think she might even stuff my bra!

"Like… not you." Mark said looking immediately.

"That's what I said! I have on so much make-up, I swear, my face should be dragging the ground right now." I laughed.

"Uh, wow!" Dominic said. "You should really go get in the shower and wipe it off. You're starting to look a bit like Cake-Face…"

"WHAT? Ugh, seriously? Crap, okay, I'm getting in the shower." I said walking towards the bathroom, again, grabbing some towels, and getting undressed. I climbed in and turned the hot water on. Letting the hot water work out all the kinks in my muscles. I looked at all the soap they had. It almost looked like everyone used a different kind. There was strawberry, coconut, AXE Chocolate, French Creek bar soap, something that said SQUEEKY CLEAN on it, and last but not least, cashmere. Did cashmere have a smell? I sniffed the soap, and apparently, it smells like Mountain Fresh laundry detergent. I thought about it and opened up the lid to the AXE. I took a big whiff, getting a little tipsy on the smell, if that is possible. I love AXE! I grabbed the strawberry and used it, letting the smell overwhelm me. I even used strawberry shampoo and conditioner. Then I grabbed the AXE and washed my hands so I could keep the smell. I still could not believe that I was spending my Saturday with Mark in tow, and even more surprised, to be spending my SUMMER with STRANGERS.

I walked to Nichole's room after getting dressed in the clothes she had come and laid in front of the door. I opened the door and fell onto her bed. "Do you have a hairbrush I could use?" I asked, even after the shower, I immediately twisted it up in a towel.

"Yeah, here." She said walking over to her 'desk,' which she had converted into a make-up table. She tossed me a brush that had a squishy handle.

"Well, we're ganna hit the sack… so 'Night." Dominic said getting up and walking out. Mark yawned and gave me a hug. I brushed my hair and got under the pink, furry, covers. I felt like I was sleeping with a big, puffy, cat.

"He likes you, ya know?" Nichole said matter-a-factly.

"I'm sure he's just being friendly. I mean, he knows me, right, from a long time ago so…"

"RIGHT! THAT'S just being friendly."

"Okay, well I'm going to sleep, goodnight."

"Nichole? Where are you?" I asked again louder. I woke up to people talking in the hallway, but Nichole was not in bed. "Okay, that's it." I said flipping up the covers. I opened up the door, and there was just a staircase, that kept going and going. "Hello?" Mark? Dominic? Nichole?" I said quietly not wanting my voice to travel. "Hello? NORMAN? GINGER?" I hollered. Someone was walking down the stairs. "HEY! WAIT UP!" I screamed. I started running down all those stairs, as fast as I could. I tripped falling off the stairs and into the darkness. I hit my head on something hard, blood immediately dripped on my face. It was covering my face! I could not see it was bleeding so badly. What did I do to my head? I reached up and felt the back of my head, where it hurt the most, my hands reaching nothing. I looked at my hands and they were not there.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!" I screamed, while scooting my back against what I thought was a wall.

"Darling Dear… If you get up and come here, I can help you."

"Who are you?" I asked, now thoroughly afraid of the darkness that was consuming me.

"I'm your Grammy. Do you not remember me? We used to sit at the table," I was suddenly in a kitchen chair. The kitchen around me was all-dark, except the light over the oven were Grandma was standing. "And you my Darling Dear would make cookies with me. I must say though, you look different from the last time I saw you. I cannot put my finger on it though… HMM? Here my Little Ladybug, have a cookie." I saw everything but Grandma's head, the light was not allowing me to.

"Grandma, what about my head though? I hit it when we were in that dark room."

"Baby, you hit you head? Let me see?" it was mom, standing next to Gram, but the happy mom. "Awe Baby! I'll get ice." She said hugging me.

"Momma, I think I'm in a dream." I said as she walked away.

"Oh, Darlin' you are in a dream, you're a dream!" Ginger said appearing in the seat next to me.

"Oh Ginger, where were you? I screamed for you. And Dominic and Norman and Nichole."

"Oh well Norman and I were laying Dominic down for a nap. That's why we didn't hear you." I looked at Ginger and she was younger… almost twenty, maybe older. Her hair was pitch black, and all flipped out like hair in the 80's.

"Oh well, that's okay I guess. Where am I?" I asked.

"You're in your bed," I was laying in my red bedroom in New York. "You hit your head pretty hard." Said a little boy. Grandma was standing at the end of my bed, the little boy hovering beside me; Ginger was lying beside me, and Mom standing behind the little boy, holding ice.

"Who are you?" I asked the little boy. He rolled his eyes exasperated.

"Dominic? DUH!"

"Baby, take the ice." Happy Mom.

"Ladybug you need a cookie, take a cookie." Said headless Grandma.

"Darlin' you need to rest." Ginger ordered.

"Come play with me! You don't look that hurt." Little Dominic whined.

"BE QUIET EVERYONE!" My In-Charge Mother came in with a nice suit on, and walked over to Happy Mom. Everyone else disappeared.

"I'm her Mother I'll give her the ice." In-Charge Mother grabbed the ice pack.

"But… But I am her Momma. I need to take care of my baby." Happy Mom pulled on the ice pack.

"She's MY daughter!"

"No I have to protect her! She's MY Baby!"

"Lizzy, pick!"

"Baby, let me have the ice. I'll wrap it in a sock how you like it."

I reached for the ice, but they were to far away and I fell into the darkness off my bed. "HHHEEELLLPP!" I screamed, falling further.

"HHHEEELLLPP!" I screamed hitting the floor. I looked around. Nichole was looking at me from over the bed. Big Dominic was standing over me, smirking, nonetheless. Mark was just staring from behind Dominic.

"Are you okay? You were talking in your sleep and it kinda scared me so I went and got Dominic."

"Uh, sure, I'm fine. I guess." I said blinking. 'It was just a dream.' Dominic put his hand out, again it was as if he was asking me to forget about everyone who hurt me and trust him, just as Nichole did that first day. I grabbed his hand and pulled. Ending up right in front of him. His buff chest right there, just wanting me to touch it. To make it worse, I had kicked off my shorts in the middle off the night and now I was in my underwear. I let go of his hand super quick and grabbed my shorts, slipping them on super quick.

I sat on the bed and flopped back. "What time is it?"

"TWO AM!" They all moaned at the same time.

"Well I can't go back to sleep right now!" I said laughing. I scooted over for Dominic to sit on the bed. Mark crawled up between Nichole and me, lying down. I lay down beside him, grabbing his hand and holding onto it. We all just lay in this bed, not talking, all of us squished against each other. Mark was the first to fall asleep, and the first to break the silence.

"I love you Wizzy." He mumble.

"Love you too, Maxi." When Mark was little, he could not say the L in my name. So he called me Wizzy, I would get so mad at him, I started calling him Maxi. I do not know why but that's just what came to my mind when I was thinking of a name to call him back. Maybe it had to deal with the fact that I was holding a box of Maxi Pads when he yelled at me to hurry up. Him screaming through the bathroom door at me, "Wizzy hurry up!"

I screamed back "Shut it, Maxi." He always thought I was calling him Maxine. If he only knew. I shook my head.

Nichole was the second to fall asleep. She didn't say anything, we just heard her start snoring.

"So Wizzy huh?" Dominic whispered in what he thought was my ear. Really, it was my nose.

"He called me that when he was little, and when he gets SUPER tired. He couldn't pronounce the letter L." I laughed quietly, laying my head back on the pillow.

"So why do you call him Maxi?" Oh God. I really didn't want to discuss THAT at the moment. THAT being Maxi Pads.

"At the time I was… Watching a movie, and there was some chick named Maxine. Him calling me Wizzy, used to make me SUPER mad, so I called him Maxi." I lied. That would be how many times in the last few days? A lot that's all I know. "So anyways…" I said wanting to change the subject.

"Thumb Wars." He said grabbing my hand.

"Hey not fair, my hands twisted. You have to move in front of me." He twisted around sitting Indian style, without letting go of my hand.

"Okay, so how I remember is that… you have to hold down your opponent's thumb for five seconds to win." He said playing with my fingers, making them do what his fingers should be doing. "You can snake hole, just not while your being pinned… like while we're counting the five seconds you can't snake hole. ANYONE WHO DISOBAYS THE RULES WILL BE LOCKED AWAY IN THE DUNGEON."

"Cause we have a dungeon on hand." I said giggling.

"Prepare to be taken down." He smiled cockily.

"Okay so… one, two, three, four. This is how we start our war. GO!" We started off our thumbs sticking straight up, waiting for someone else to make the first move. "You're sooo losing!" I taunted.

"I don't really think anyone's making any progress. We're really just holding hands right now." While he was distracted, I pinned his thumb.

"Right, one, two, three, four, and this is how we end The War!!!" I win!" I started 'Raising the Roof.'

"I let you win that one." He said staring at me as if I was a retard.

"SUURREE you did!" I laughed a little loud making Mark stir.

"Wake up you crazy children!" Ginger said, "Time for church."

"Church?" Mark asked.

"Yeah you know like… God, Angels, Jesus. That whole thing." Nichole laughed.

"I've never been before." Mark said.

"WHAT? You've NEVER been to church before?" Nichole asked not believing him.

"Yes you have Mark, you just don't remember. It'll be good for you to go, but I should go home. I need to talk to my dad, he's probably freaking out. I'll come next time though!" I gave Ginger a hug, and walked out of the bedroom.

"At least stay for breakfast!" Ginger called, but I pretended not to hear her. I blew past Norman who was sitting on the couch reading the news, and wearing a suit.

"SEE YA around Norman!" I called behind me as I flew out the door, running down the road. I blew by some 'HELP WANTED' signs, then backed up and looked at it again.

"HELP WANTED!

Looking for a server/waiter.

Paying $6.50 an hour,

Pleasant work area

Flippin' Sweet Café

It's Flippin' Sweet!"

I wrote down the address and phone number on my hand, and just kept running.

"Hey do you need a ride or something?" I turned and looked, and Sophie was sitting in her older Honda Civic.

"No I'm good. Just jogging home from a run." I lied. Kind of…

"Oh well, I just heard you came from Dominic's." She was looking for a rumor to spread about the new girl.

"No, not Dominic's. Nichole's, I mean I know they're the same place but I wasn't there for Dominic, I was actually hanging out with Ginger and Norman. They really love me." I was confused and off my game. I knew the last thing I said would hurt her, because they never liked her.

"Oh well I thought you were heading home?"

"I am." I said staring her down. "Look, I don't need a ride, I'm fine. Thanks for you concern. Oh and I'm sorry about what happened to you and Dominic. I mean it's sad that your not over him." I started running again.

"Wait, who told you? I wasn't over him, I mean." she asked keeping pace with me. She just made a mistake, and she knew it to.

"You just did." I said smiled at her. She started to drive off.

"Have fun jogging." She said it as if I was doing some horrible thing.

"Dad? Are you home?" I asked opening the door. "Hello?" Rusty immediately came running for me, as if he had known me my whole life. Sadly, he probably DID know me as a little kid, I just didn't remember.

"Hey Wrinkles! How you doin'?" I asked Rusty rubbing his ears.

"Elizabeth?" I heard my name called.

"Yeah?" I asked this voice. An older woman came through the living room door holding a basket of clothes.

"You fajar's at vork." She was definitely a Greek.

"Um, on a Sunday?"

"Yes… he never stop. Except for you." She didn't really know much English I guessed.

"Uh, okay. By the way, it's Lizzy." I told her.

I walked up stairs and took a shower in my own bathroom. I changed into my clothes and lay on my bed. I could practically SMELL New York. It wasn't that Bertrand was a bad city, or that the people, aside from Sophie, weren't nice. I just missed New York so much…

"Coming!" I called to the door. I was wearing a Spanish skirt that came to my knees and a red tank top. Therefore, when I opened the door, it wasn't what I expected. There was a bag burning on my front porch. Not just one but FIVE! "CLASSIC!" I yelled across the lawn. I shut the door, went to the kitchen and filled up a cup of water. I walked back out and I saw a couple of faces I didn't know peeking around the side of the house. I poured water on the bag, and smashed them with the shovel lying on the porch. "I expect for you to come clean this up, in the five minutes you have before I call the cops." I called to them.

"What? NO PLEASE DON'T CALL THE COPS!" the one guy whined. "Dude Andrea is ganna KILL me!" Clairance and Owen walked out from behind the house.

"Clean this up. You're not funny!" I looked at them. "And your not getting anything to clean it up with. That means pick it up with your hands, and you will NOT be coming in my house to wash them."

"Dude come on… We're NOT cleaning this up with our hands." Owen looked at me, thinking I was kidding. I wasn't.

"That's fine," I whipped out my cell phone. "And now I know who you are to. Your not very smart you know that? I guess the cops will be here in… two minutes." I watched as Dominic's car drove down my road, wondering what he was doing.

"No. No, No, we'll pick it up with our hands. Owen god your so dumb. I thought you said you did this and never got caught." Clairance punched him in the arm.

"Dude I have. I don't know how she caught us…" He mumbled back.

"Oh, I know why, it's because I lived in NEW YORK!! I played pranks all the time. To tell you the truth I knew exactly where you were hiding. I'm no fool. Oh, and I will be calling your girlfriends to let them know." I was freaking the out and I could tell. I crossed my arms smirking. I had them in the palm of my hand. I could probably make them mow my yard also.

"Hey what are you doing here?" Owen asked Dominic as he walked up the porch.

"Uh, the better question is what are you doing here, and why are you picking up crap with your hands?" He looked at me smirking.

"Your girlfriend is making us do it." Owen glared at me.

"SHUT UP WILL YOU! YOU'RE GANNA MAKE IT WORSE!" Clairance smacked him in the back of the head with his dirty hands.

"They thought they could pull a prank on the 'Master Prankster' herself. You know the flaming bag of crap thing. Now I'm enjoying watching them clean up all five bags." I grinned at Dominic. "Owen's just making it more entertaining. Oh and I'll be calling both their girlfriends." I added. Dominic just laughed.

"So you ganna hang around for a bit?" I asked him, not looking at him. "You missed some." I added to the two tards.

"Might as well. Mark's hanging out with my dad, so I got bored. I think he's teaching Mark how to fix a roof or something." I laughed at him, shaking my head.

"'Kay well go pick out a movie, or something. I'll wait for these tards to finish up." Dominic walked inside, leaving me with Owen and Clairance.

"So you two, eh?" Clairance asked. "Andrea told me it would happen."

"Uh no. I've known him since I was three, we're just good friends. Andrea of all people should have known that, being best friends with Nichole and all." I said getting angry and I didn't know why. Normally I kept my cool in situations like this.

"Look we're done just let us go please! My hands stink." Owen complained.

"What movie did you pick?" I asked Dominic plopping down beside him.

"I have no clue!" He laughed. "You dad has a TON of movies I've never even heard of. It had an explosion on the front though so who knows."

"So my dad is at work on a Sunday." I shook my head. "I come in and this lady comes out and is like 'Oh Elizabeth, you dad isn't here, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, something about him taking off for work only for me!" I was annoyed.

"Effie's sweet when you get used to her." He said. Rusty climbed up on the couch lying on Dominic AND me!

"You crazy old dog." I laughed, rubbing his ears. Dominic yawned, stretching, for a minute I thought he was ganna do the stretch and put my arm around her as a joke, but he didn't.

"I'm blaming my sleeplessness on you. Just so you know. You should feel guilty." He glared at me.

"It was your idea to play Thumb Wars. Besides your just complaining because you lost! I have more thumb power than you!" I laughed. I realized one of the reasons I liked him so much was because he talked as if he was from Florida. I grew up in New York but everyone said I sounded like I was from Tennessee. Not that I had the southern accent. I just talked like Emma, she was from Tennessee and that's how I was used to people talking. Dominic didn't pronounce oil as oal. He also didn't say fangers instead of fingers. When people talked like that, it had the, look the other way and don't look back, effect on me.

"You talk like-"

"SHHH the movie's starting." I complained elbowing him in the ribs.

He reached over and covered my mouth with his hand. "You… are very… ANNOYING." He said looking me in the eyes. Again, my heart started to gallop out of control. His eyes were so beautiful, that blue, that almost looked like ice. I wonder if he had contacts. He moved his hand up onto my cheek and leaned forward. He was going to kiss me I could tell, it was obvious. He got even closer… all most there and I had to ruin it. 'I don't want this right now. I want to stay his friend! The person he stays up with and plays Thumb Wars with or Rock Paper Scissors with.'

"DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?" I blurted out, pulling back before he could do anything to ruin it.

He laughed. "Uh, yeah… I got them a couple years ago." He explained. That made them less amazing. I wished they were real, just to make him even more beautiful. He moved his hand off my face. Instead, he reached for my hand, which I let him do that. I mean, he pretty much held my hand all last night, right? So it wasn't a big deal.

We were silent for a while just watching the movie, which turned out to be surprisingly gory.

"I'm sorry." I said, and I was. I didn't want him to ruin the relationship that we had now, but me refusing just made it awkward.

"For what?" he looked at me as if he really had no idea what I was apologizing for.

"I mean… Its not as if I wouldn't LOVE for you to kiss me, but I mean I don't want that right now. I've known you for how long? Three days? I mean… I like just sitting around doing stupid things with you, like playing Thumb Wars for three hours straight." I smiled at him.

"Techniclly you've known me since you were…" He made a face. "Two weeks old. So ZERO wierdness." He was serious you could tell.

"Still, a little wierdness." I said. I noticed that whenever he talked, convincingly, he moved his hands all OVER the place. just one more thing that made him intresting. It made me wonder where, or who, he got it from.

*Still not all the way done with chapter five but thought i should post it for comments on this awkward situation that i'm not really liking as the author..... TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!!*