Disclaimer: I don't owner Jeepers Creepers, nor any of the original content which can be found within this fic, they all belong to Victor Salva. Nicole Alkins, Raven 'Robert/Rob' Alkins, Jamie Camacho, Korey Martin, the new character Dante Alkins-Martin and Pazuzu (to an extent) all belong to the ever wonderful, enjoyable and incredible TheMortition so please checkout 'What Do You Want From Me?' and 'Exorcise Me With Your Possession' first because it might clear up any plot holes you might find this story has for you!

A/N: I think I've got my groove back on with this story! Writing this chapter just felt insanely natural and perfect I am loving every second of it, and most of all, I'm pleased I'm no longer forcing everyone who's followed, faved, reviewed and read this story! You're all incredible and the main reason I keep going! Without your support and general amazingness I'd never be able to write all of this! This chapter is sort of expanding on Noelle's relationship with the Alkins' family and introduces Korey's "adoptive brother" Dante-the less I say about him the better-who belongs to the ever amazing TheMortition.

For the rest of the week, my routine was mainly composed of leaning over the toilet, puking up my guts, alongside the very little amount of food I had left in my stomach. My daily routine was mainly composed of sleeping, vomiting, bathing, talking with my Nan, and occasionally texting one of my friends on the phone numbers Rob had so graciously provided me with. Jamie's replies were understandably awkward-showing he wasn't quite sure what his current opinion of me was; Emily's were positive, upbeat, radiating with sympathy and cheerfulness which no-one else I'd ever known seemed to possess; Korey seemed friendly and positive, which matched his in person personality, wishing me to get well soon; Pazuzu's humour was darker, with him making jokes about STI's and terminal illnesses, but I could tell it was nothing cruel or unkind; but Rob's were the most interesting to read.

His responses to my texts were almost immediate; always full of concern, compassion and kindness, something which originally I'd figured he'd never show me. The idea of him brutally murdering me seemed more realistic they first time we'd met. But as I sat on my bed, gently tapping away on my phone as I stared intently at the screen, I couldn't help but smile at the screen of my phone, in that typical teenage fashion, whenever I received a text from any of them, but especially Rob. It was odd, how both of our opinions of each other had changed so drastically, but I couldn't quite grasp why my opinion, never mind Rob's, had become so positive towards someone who'd formally seemed to negative towards me; and to him, it was probably vice versa.

Clutching the pink, purple and blue knitted armadillo Nan had knitted me when I was a little girl, I considered Rob's offer about visiting his families' store. Nan had gone to visit an ill friend of her's, Rose, leaving me alone for a couple of hours. Despite her age, Nan owned a car and could still competently drive, so I didn't need to drive her anywhere. I was feeling a lot better now, but Nan had insisted I had at least two weeks off school to make sure the virus had completely left my system. Originally she'd wanted it to be four weeks, but I'd managed to convince her I couldn't miss that much school, and she'd cut it back to two weeks. It was Tuesday of the second week, and I'd been spending most of my time since Friday-when I felt significantly better, and the profuse vomiting every couple of hours had ceased-baking pastries, cakes, pies and various other sweets my Nan specialized in. There was also her special chocolate and honey pie, a traditional family recipe she'd passed down to my mom, alongside her other daughter-in-laws and her own daughter. She hadn't taught me the recipe just yet, waiting till my eighteenth birthday, but I'd helped make the pastry regardless.

Nan was a huge comfort to me, dutifully standing by me, and being a mini-doctor in her own right. It was hard to believe someone of her age could rush around; fetching me cups of water and aspirins to sooth the pounding headaches which constantly seemed to be forming post-vomiting. I had no idea how I'd suddenly become so ill with no warning signs prior apart from a bad night's sleep; but pregnancy was well out of the question, thank God. I'd never really dated anyone when I lived back in Oswell, meaning I'd never had sex-something which was much more embarrassing whenever I had to admit it out loud-so that was physically impossible. As a child, I'd gotten ill easier than most children, but my mom's constant cleanliness and borderline OCD cleaning routine had contributed towards that, so I couldn't be sure why I suddenly got so ill. Maybe I'd just picked up a bug before leaving Oswell which only kicked in a couple of days after contamination; or someone in the restaurant Jamie worked at could've made me ill. I wasn't sure, but getting better was my main concern.

Visiting Rob was becoming more and more appealing, but I decided that visiting Korey first was a better idea. He'd texted me his address, 51 Parkmore Crescent, which was near the Earth Child Emporium, so I figured I'd pop into Korey's house, then visit Rob, and possibly Pazuzu and Emily ,at their store on the way home. White Street was apparently only about ten minutes' drive away from Parkmore Crescent and on the route back towards Nan's house anyway, so it seemed like common logic.

Looking towards my clock it read 3:31 PM. It was hard to believe I'd been sleeping since 7 AM after a night of painful headaches, coupled with period cramps because it was 'that time of the month' for me, something which had only managed to increase the uncomfortableness I'd been put through during the late hours of Monday to the early hours of Tuesday morning. I'd managed to fall asleep at around four o'clock, only to be woken up at seven due to Nan doing her daily work at a charity shop in the town centre. Sometimes the amount of energy she possessed completely amazed me; she did more work than half of the teenagers I knew. The shop was open from 8 AM-6 PM and I was surprised when she told me she did all ten hours of work necessary. Nan said she enjoyed meeting new people in the shop, but the long, strenuous hours and the fact she was seventy-one still made the decision to work for ten hours slightly surprising. My Nan-always full of surprises.

Parkmore Crescent was typically suburban, even for the standards of a small town like Prescott. The houses were all identical, with the only distinguishing features making them different being adjustments and customisations made by the residents themselves. Every house was covered in a smooth, white plaster which was chipping around the edges; being three stories high once you included the attic and fairly squarish in shape. They had an identical set of two, white paned windows on both the upper and lower stories on the front side of the house; with a small front garden, and white wooden gate leading through to what I assumed was the back garden. Each house had small porch, most of which had a couple of chairs and a table on, with several plants, and a grey slate roof. Overall they looked slightly odd-an amalgamation of modern housing and traditional Southern church style homes out on the bayou. It was like they weren't sure which look they liked more so they spliced two very different home styles together.

But I had to agree they looked like good sized family homes. Korey had mentioned during the lessons we'd had together he lived with his dad, soon-to-be stepmother and he had a soon-to-be stepbrother who often hung around the house, despite having his own place back in Miami where Korey had moved from. Apparently things had become stressful there due to an incident with a mentally unstable priest claiming Korey, who attended a Catholic school, was possessed by a demon; and after the whole affair had died down, they'd moved here. Ironically, Pazuzu and Korey were already dating, and Korey had hinted Ms Alkins' had contributed to Korey's dad agreeing to move out here to Prescott County. Apparently she could be very charming and persuasive whenever she wanted and/or needed to be.

My car had slowed to a practical crawl by the time I saw No. 51 come into view from my position in the driver's seat; the sign at the end of the street informed me I could only travel fifteen mph because there were constantly children playing in the street. That was true. As I drove I saw gaggles of children aging from as young as six to as old as thirteen standing on the sidewalk or sitting on lawns or lounging on porches; the entire atmosphere was that of a homely, suburban dream which felt slightly odd. It gave the small town a somewhat cityish vibe to it, reminding me of the neighbourhood I'd grown up in in some aspects.

The peach coloured ribbon I'd threaded at the bottom of the small section of my hair I'd platted flitted into my view as the light wind breezing in through the open window pushed it into my vision. I'd straightened my hair after brushing it, despite it being naturally straight; to make sure I didn't look as awful as my sickroom pallor had made my skin look. I had deep lavender circles under my eyes and a sickly complexion; the circles had been hidden with a layer of foundation and I'd used some blusher to return the colour to my cheeks. Hopefully the expert application of my eye liner and mascara would drive people away from the chapped, cracked texture of my lips; and I made a mental not to by a chap stick the second I found a shop with them in-stock. And I hoped my outfit would contribute to ignorance in favour of ignoring my ill appearance.

I'd picked out a simple, yet pastel coloured outfit to try and bring some colour to my complexion, making myself look less well…fittingly unwell in a physical sense. My orange, a sort of blend between peach and tangerine, t-shirt was tied off in a small knot at the side, exposing some of my pale skin; it had the word 'Free' printed on it in a navy so deep it looked black and the writing was swirling and extravagant with three small birds-one above the word, one below, and one flicking off the last 'e'-for decoration. My skirt was pale blue, denim and buttoned up the front, reaching above the knee but covering my thighs, with a brown belt threaded through the waistband to keep it closer to my skin because it was slightly too big for me. I'd finished the outfit with tan wedge lace-up shoes and I'd brought along a wide, loose fitting cardigan just in case the weather took a change for the worst. Overall, I was very coordinated, right down to the peach colour of my finishing ribbon.

There was a small gap on the pavement outside Korey's house, just short of the drive where a maroon coloured Nissan Altima sat. Gently parking, I got out of my car, locking the door behind me and slipping the keys into the small, over the shoulder tan purse I'd brought with me, and walked towards the front door. There was a 66 Harley Davidson parked nearer the house, but it was pitch black, and I took an educated guess that it belonged to Pazuzu.

Waltzing into the house was out of the question, probably because Korey's family would be home, and I wanted to make a good impression on them by not just storming into their home, unannounced, with only a text from Korey confirming I could come over just over half an hour previously. He'd seemed pleased I was well enough to get out the house, but understood school was out of the question in case I infected everyone I came in contact with. As I contemplated this, I gently padded up the front porch steps which the pathway led up to, curling my hand into a fist and gently rapping on the door.

After standing on the porch for just under two minutes, I heard a latch click from the other side of the doorway and the door was gently pulled open. It wasn't Korey. It was a woman, who I assumed was his future stepmother, but I couldn't put a name to the face. The woman had a dark tan, the sort you get from a sunbed, and her skin looked slightly wrinkled where her laughter lines were, probably due to the heat from the tanning bed. She could've just lain outside in the sun, but the deep, rich, almost overpowering tan indicated it'd been done mainly through salons and not sunbathing. She was shorter than me, about 5'3", despite being in her mid-forties; her weight was healthy and she had circumstantial bosom, so she wasn't the stereotype of most women in their mid-forties with a child or children. Her hair was black, but I figured it was dye because of the limp, somewhat straw-like texture of her hair-excess dying I assumed. She was wearing a pair of lemon yellow jeans, a black-and-white striped t-shirt and had a black waistcoat over the top. Overall she looked fairly stylish and young, despite her overly-dyed hair and tan wrinkles.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely, although she sounded tired, and from inside, I could hear a baby gurgling. Did Korey have a younger half-brother or half-sister?

"I'm sorry," I smiled at her. "I'm Korey's friend, Noelle, from school. We arranged that I could come over a while ago."

"Oh yes!" She smiled at me and stepped aside, allowing me to walk into the hallway, looking instantly prettier now that she didn't look as confused and tired. "I'm Vickie," she introduced herself politely, holding out her hand which I shook, although I could tell she thought me slightly odd for being friends with Korey. They didn't seem to be on bad terms, but I had a feeling she probably didn't approve of Pazuzu and Korey's relationship; not in the homophobic sense, but I could imagine Pazuzu wasn't the most responsible of boyfriends at times. "They're in the living room, with Dante," she added the last part apprehensively but didn't elaborate. "Go right through, Korey's waiting."

"Thank you," I nodded politely at her before heading through to the front room, which I picked out because it was the only room with the door ajar. The living room was made up of warm, autumnal colours, with two red, comfy looking sofas, and a matching red chair; a white carpet with a beige rug with tan leaf patterning on it; the wallpaper was green, contrasting well with the peach and red coloured curtains. There was a white fireplace opposite the doorway with a crackling fire, and there were several photos on the wall behind it of floral plants, with a white vase of snowdrops, a clock and two candlesticks either side of it for decoration. There was an oak coffee table in between the two sofas, and it had two cups and a bowl resting on it, with an afghan throw partially hanging on the side pointing towards me.

"Well, well, well!" A familiar, somewhat scratchy voice called from the left hand side of the room, where there was a large, white cabinet with dishes, glasses and other bowls stacked in it pressed up against the wall. "Look who showed up in this one horse town!" When I turned to face Pazuzu Alkins, I was not expecting him to literally be wearing a cowboy had to match the Wild West style dialogue that had preceded me turning towards him. There was something incredibly surreal about seeing him with a black cowboy hat perched on his head, his black hair sticking out from under it-jell not sticking it upwards in a series of crude spikes, and he was dressed like a cowboy too. Heavy black jacket, that for once wasn't leather, but his black leather pants made up for that, and he had a white dress shirt underneath. His lacking of shoes or socks revealed his bare feet, and his toenails were alarmingly long. He had a small, child's plastic gun in his hand and was pointing it at me. "You haven't got your gun, Ms O'Hara?" He asked me, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head. "No, sir."

He stuck out his foot and kicked another plastic gun towards me, allowing me to bend over and pick it up before standing. "Now we're equal!" He grinned at me and raised an eyebrow, stepping up onto the back of one of the red sofas, looking twice as tall as usual and aiming his toy gun at me. This Wild West re-enactment was interrupted when a tiny, two year old boy toddled into the room from the archway which lead to the kitchen on the right hand side of the room. He was miniature, even for a two year old, and had skin even paler than the likes of Jamie and Pazuzu. His skin was so pale it was tinged blue around the edges, he had straight black hair similar to Pazuzu's now it was flattened, with a red cowboy hat placed upon his head which was kept secure by a piece of string tied underneath his chin, securing it on his head. His eyes were deep grey, almost purely black like Pazuzu's, but distinctively grey. He had long fingernails like Pazuzu's toenails, and was gently clasping a toy gun in his own small, fleshy hand.

He was dressed in a miniature cowboy outfit: white shirt, black waist coat, black pants, and he was grinning in that traditional cutesy way little boys could pull off. "Look Dante!" Pazuzu addressed the little boy, who I assumed was Korey's little half-brother. He looked up and winked at me before continuing to address the adorable child. "O'Hara's shown up to grab our loot!" Dante gasped at the mentioning of me, and began giggling, clapping his hands together in delight. "We've just gotta wait for Korey Kilpatrick to show up, and then we're good to fire!" He announced, causing Dante to giggle even more.

As if it was a stage cue, Korey walked into the room then, and he was similarly dressed for the occasion. He was wearing a long, deep brown coloured overcoat which swept the floor, and had a similar white dress shirt underneath, which was partially covered by a tan leather waistcoat. He had brown jeans on, and he too was barefoot. "Whoa whoa whoa!" He raised his hands in the air, signalling a cease of possible fire, and showing he too had a toy gun. How many did these guys own? "This isn't fair, Pazuzu." He scolded his boyfriend. "She needs to be dressed up too, or it isn't authentic, and Dante won't have learned anything!" Pazuzu rolled his eyes but lowered his gun and looked at Dante.

"Lower the gun, Sundance Kid," he told the little boy. "We gotta wait for her to deal with her 'girl stuff'." Dante pouted, looking incredibly adorable, but lowered his fake gun and looked at me, grinning in a cheeky, yet charming fashion. "We've got a spare costume for you," Pazuzu told me, jumping off the sofa and walking over to me.

"Did you take my measurements somehow?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow, although I was slightly worried he had.

"'Course not!" Pazuzu rolled his eyes. "We just guessed!" He told me, slapping me on the shoulder gently with his gun. "Em's Calamity Jane, Rob's Rob Butler, Korey's Kilpatrick and I'm Pazuzu the Kid!" He grinned at me again. "And I figured you'd make a brilliant Noelle O'Hara." This time he followed it with a wink and took his phone out of his pocket, beginning to text. "I'll invite Rob over now and we can have a proper cowboy shoot out!" He announced, making Dante begin to clap his hands enthusiastically again, although this time he bounced on the balls of his feet, clearly delighted at the idea of a full cowboy game. "Korey got you it at the weekend whilst you were ill, hope you don't mind." He told me and I smiled at him.

"I'd love to play!" I told them both. "And I'd never let your little brother down." I looked at Korey who was standing next to me.

"He's adopted," Korey said quickly, although he was still smiling. "His parents just left him on our doorstep one night when we were living in Miami, and we decided to adopt him. Vickie can't have any more kids, so she and dad decided he'd be the perfect addition to our little family; but, truth be told, Pazuzu and I act more like his parents half the time because dad and Vickie have to work. Tuesday's Vickie's only day off, so most of the time, Pazuzu's mom has to come over and take him back to the shop with her. He's great with the customer's though-takes after Rob in the charm offensive." Korey laughed slightly, sounding like a proud father.

"Doesn't Jamie join in with you guy's cowboy games?" I asked, but Pazuzu answered just as Korey opened his mouth.

"To be honest, I don't really know if I like the guy." He admitted and Korey shook his head, as if he was displeased at Pazuzu's brutal honesty. "He only really hangs around with us because he's a huge Rob groupie; I often get a sense he has to put up with me and Em, but genuinely likes Korey and Rob underneath the surface-"

"Actually," Korey butt in. "For a while he showed a bit of interest in Jamie, Rob I mean." I nodded, but felt an odd sense of intense, uncontrollable jealousy begin building in my chest, making me feel like I wanted to shout about how unfair it all felt; but Jamie had met Rob first, so I was considered the one the jealousy should be directed at. "In fact, he showed a lot of interest…" Korey mused, leaning down and picking up Dante before continuing explaining. As Dante was now nearer to me, he began gently tugging on the small plat of hair I'd got, but it wasn't harsh, and he was grinning at me merrily. "Then you showed up," Korey met my eyes then. "And Rob just seemed to lose any interest he'd ever shown in Jamie…" He shrugged slightly, gently squeezing Dante's cheek, making the little boy giggle.

"It was like he'd never even been interest in Jamie." Pazuzu resumed speaking now, folding his arms across his chest and walking back over to the sofa, pulling a white bag from behind it and walking back over to us. "The second he met you, he just seemed to put all of his previous interest in Jamie onto you. You just seemed to spellbind him, it was like you had some power to manipulate his emotions, but in a good way." He smiled slightly. "He cheered up the day he met you, like he was certain he'd met someone he knew he'd be attracted to or something…" I tried not to let pride overwhelm me, but it washed over me like a tidal wave before I could stop it. "And he just showed no interest in Jamie since. I swear he's actually avoiding the guy now or something; he seems to make him really uncomfortable now. Seriously, ever since you got that bug, Rob's been spending all of his free time at practice or working in the store; always making sure he's preoccupied so he doesn't have to see Jamie. It's weird…" Pazuzu sighed. "Ignore me!" He grinned again. "Go get changed, I'll text Rob and Em, we can have a blast!" He winked and I nodded.

"Where do I get changed?" I asked him.

"There's a bathroom opposite this room." Pazuzu answered, and I figured he knew Korey's house plan as well as he knew his own. "If you need anything, just give me or Korey a shout," he told me, grinning. "I mean, neither of us are into women, so we're not gonna get turned on by walking in on you getting changed though." He winked and I shook my head, although I was smiling. I crossed the hallway, as instructed, and opened the bathroom door, stepping inside and locking it behind me. I stared at the cast on my arm; I had a doctor's appointment in two weeks' time, to get the cast taken off my arm, and I couldn't wait. Finally I wouldn't have to retell the same story, and my forearm would cease getting uncomfortably hot, irritated and sweaty underneath he cast.

Korey's downstairs bathroom was fairly simple; white tile walls, white and navy tiled floor, a rigged glass shower, toilet, sink, mirror and a silver towel rack with a navy bathmat. Overall, fairly simple and impersonal. Gently and carefully, I slipped off my clothes, placing them into the white bag the clothes had come in, having already taken them out and placing them on the towel rack so they didn't get stained or wet on the floor in case it was somewhat damp. The outfit wasn't a typical red number, and thank God it wasn't a traditional, long Wild West dress which would've probably ended up with me falling over. The top of the dress was a black and yellow gingham check with a v-neckline and the lower part of the dress was a creamy yellow satin pencil-skirt shape, matching the creamy yellow involved in the gingham pattern. I pulled the peach ribbon out of my small plat, placing it in the bag, and tied my hair back behind my head in a high ponytail. The outfit came complete with my own black cowgirl hat and creamy yellow boots. Wow. I really owed either Pazuzu or Korey some money.

After getting changed, I crossed the landing back into the front room, and found Korey, Pazuzu and Dante waiting for me. "I seriously owe one of you guys some money," I told them, gently placing the white bag down next to the sofa on the right hand side of the room.

"No you don't!" Pazuzu slapped me on the shoulder again and grinned. "My mom's loaded, Noe," it felt slightly odd to be called 'Noe' again, but comforting at the same time. "This didn't put the tiniest, meekest of scratches on her bank account, don't you worry. Besides! Em was the one who picked out the costume for you, so if you owed anyone money, it'd be her. But you don't, so don't even mention it!" He winked and slapped me on the shoulder again. "By the way, we were thinking of having our duel out in the field's behind my house, that okay with you?"

"Sure," I smiled at him and nodded. "But seriously, I'm driving." I told him.

"No you're not!" Pazuzu raised an eyebrow and grinned at me. "Rob's totally want to let you ride with him on that glamorous bike of his," he winked at me again. "If it's alright with you, Korey can take Dante, himself, Em and I in your car and you can travel with Rob. You two really can be a modern day Rhett Baker and Scarlett O'Hara!" He laughed, but as he opened his mouth, the sound of a bike cut him off and he raised his eyebrows at me. "I think they're here."

As if Pazuzu was a director of some film, Emily ran into the room, like some pink, silken whirlwind of cuteness. Her blonde hair had been tied into two bunches either side of her head, finished with pale pink bows, and matching the entire pink theme of her outfit. She wore a pink and violet checkered shirt, white short-shorts, pink, authentic cowgirl boots and a white cowgirl hat. She had a plastic gun with her, hanging off a pink holster threaded through her pocket and she was grinning at us all, her eyes shining. "Noelle!" She launched into a hug based attack upon seeing me, throwing her arms around my neck and pulling me downwards into a bone crushingly tight hug. Note to self: Emily-Rose Alkins is a lot stronger than she looks. "Omigod!" The entire sentence came out smushed together. "It is so amazing to see you!" She grinned, pulling away from me and jumping up and down excitedly. "We really need to go shopping and have our hair done and-"

"Stop acting like you're on Class A drugs." An irritated, yet beautiful voice cut through Emily's speech, and Rob Alkins stepped into the room. "Seriously, are you on M-CAT?" He asked her, raising his eyebrows as he stepped into the room. His own outfit was similarly cowboy based; his cowboy hat placed on top of his dark hair was pitch black, making his skin look ethereally pale. He had a normal, black t-shirt on, with a white waistcoat on top, but no jacket on top. He had black jeans and white converses on his feet-and he two had a toy gun. "Hey Noelle," he looked instantly breath taking the second he smiled at me, walking over gracefully, in a relaxed fashion and hugged me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. He smelled strongly of cigarettes and honey, two smells I'd never associated with each other before.

"Hey Rob!" I was aware how obviously infatuated and somewhat immature I sounded in the high-pitched, over excited tone of my voice, but Rob brushed it off and gently pulled back, although he still had his hand on my shoulder. "Pazuzu said you've been doing baseball practice, how's it been going?" I asked him, undoubtedly grinning like an idiot.

"They've been going wonderful," he grinned back at me, his eyes glowing somewhat with an emotion I couldn't automatically place. "I have my game in two weeks' time and I insist you're attending. My special guest or whatever." He laughed somewhat, and it was incredible, making me smile even more goofily at him. "Can you come? It's on a Friday."

"Yes!" I nodded at him, feeling myself smiling at the premise of being invited to a game by the school baseball star, Rob Alkins. "I have my cast taken off on the Thursday night before anyways, so I'm not going to be as awkward in my movements when I attend." I told him, still smiling, although I could feel my face begin to flush slightly. There was something seductive about his unnaturally godlike beauty, but I wasn't complaining about how outwardly beautiful he was, and now I was beginning to see he was internally beautiful as well. Even though he had flaws like the rest of us. "Um…" I paused slightly, remembering something which had happened in Art the only day I'd been at school. "I think I've been invited out by someone in cahoots with your baseball team." I told him, and saw a flash of jealousy shoot up in those hypnotizing eyes. "Consolacion De La Cruz," I told him, remembering the Latino young woman who'd spoke to me in Art, being automatically friendly.

The jealousy vanished the second he realised this person had been female and he smiled at me. "Ah yes! I know who you're talking about. She's the girlfriend of Isaac Flynn, our bowler. Now I understanding why she was asking about me." He chuckled to himself and looked at me. "You want to go out with her?"

"Sure," I nodded, wanting to make some friends' outside the small group who'd accepted me. I was grateful and cared about these people to the extreme, but I knew making other friends was the healthy option, so if it came to issues between me and Jamie, he could stay with the gang and I'd spend time with other friends. Although I could imagine Pazuzu or even Rob telling me to not allow myself to be pushed aside, I owed Jamie; he was the first friend I'd made, and I couldn't betray him by forcing him out of the group he'd been in first. "She was mentioning something about me, her and a girl called Tessa Parrish going out for coffee or something back in Oswell."

"I'd recommend you go," he told me. "Consolacion's great, she's Cristian De La Cruz's twin sister, and Cristian's probably my best friend. As for Tessa? I haven't interacted with her as much, but from what I've heard and seen, she seems great." He smiled at me again, tugging my ponytail gently.

"You have a best friend?" I asked him, slightly surprised someone as seemingly isolationist and standoffish as Rob had chosen a boy to be his best friend.

He laughed and nodded at me, raising an eyebrow. "It sounds insane, but I do have friends outside the group; sure, I always eat lunch with my family and closest friends, but I can't be completely trapped with my family. All of us have friends outside the group who we hang out with after school and go into Oswell with." He informed me. "Cristian isn't into baseball, he's more based around stuff like self-defence and weight lifting, but he's one of my oldest, most trusted friends."

"Allies!" Called Pazuzu, who was busy buttoning up Dante's black coat, threading golden buttons to keep him wrapped up warm.

Rob rolled his eyes but smiled still. "Allies, okay," he gestured towards the door. "Want to travel with me?" He offered and I nodded, chucking my car keys at Korey who caught them and nodded. "See you guys at the field," Rob called as we walked out the house and over to his bike. "As I was saying, I do have a small collection of people I hold near and dear to me. Our little gang consists of Cristian, Jesse Moore-he's also on the baseball team, we joined around the same time, and Elijah McGowan, the son of one of my mom's friends." He told me as he climbed onto his bike and gestured for me to get on the back.

"Don't I need a helmet?" I asked him and he chuckled again, shaking his head.

"I trust you're sensible enough to hold on tight."

"Okay…" I felt somewhat nervous, but managed to push my fears aside and climbed onto the back of the bike, my skirt riding upwards somewhat as I did so. "I'll continue explaining when we get to the field," Rob told me, slamming his foot down on the pedal and off the bike rocketed.

The field behind the Alkins' family home was huge. It was full of rich, golden wheat which had been hacked short in the past couple of weeks for harvest. It had become so short even Dante could be seen coherently in the field at his tiny height, making me feel instantly at ease. I would've constantly been worrying if there was a possibility of Korey's little brother going missing.

"Alright!" Pazuzu announced, spreading out his arms like he was about to burst into song. "We're gonna pick teams, and Dante, seeing as you're the most dangerous of us all, you get to pick your team first!" Dante giggled slightly again and immediately pointed at Korey, who smiled gently at him. "Who else?" He asked. Upon being asked that, Dante did something which not only seemed to surprise Pazuzu, but also surprised me. He pointed on pale, chubby finger at me. "You want O'Hara?" Pazuzu raised an eyebrow, before faking a theatrical gasp. "Dante, you have broken my heart," he bawled, raising his hand to his forehead in mock faint. "You have chosen the sheriff's daughter over your long standing ally; you are a cruel posse leader!"

Dante shook his head, but he was laughing at Pazuzu's overdramatic response, and clapping his hands together as if he was exited. "You want to begin?" Korey asked him gently, but he shook his head and Korey cocked his head to the side. "What do you want to do?"

"Walk!" Dante's voice was quiet and humble, unlike the brash and loud tone most toddlers commonly spoke in when they were at the first stages of speech.

Korey grinned at his little brother and turned around, facing the field. "Alright people, you heard the boss! He wants to go for a walk before we wage in our war-needs to survey his territory. Let's go." With that, Korey began walking through the short wheat crop, hand tightly clutching Dante's, who had his lower half hidden by the corn, but his black hair was visibly striking. Pazuzu snickered slightly and turned on his heels, bounding after Korey and leaving Em, Rob and I to stand there.

"Let's go then," Rob grinned and began walking through the corn, the short height of it making him look abnormally tall, but it didn't even cover my knees, so I was no different. Emily and I set off behind him, with Rob walking a couple of paces before stopping and holding out his hand towards me. "Want to hold my hand?" He asked politely, and I was surprised he hadn't just taken mine in his own like most boys would. It was a slightly old-fashioned gesture, but I found it romantic and graciously took his hand, smiling like an idiot the entire time.

"Woohoo!" Emily sung prettily, her voice high-pitched and melodious, like a tiny, blonde and pink bird chirping beautifully from a tree. "Nobody knows it! When I was down-I was your clown. Woohoo!" She was singing Elton John and Kiki Dee's iconic song 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', and it was evident by the way her pitch changed whenever she was signing either part. Part of me though Rob would tell her to stop singing but he just smiled and shook his head, grinning down at me.

"You enjoying this?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I nodded, biting my lip slightly, but I felt more at home with these people than my original friends had ever made me feel. "I'm having a great time. You guys have been so kind to me and I've done nothing in return to thank you for your kindness." I sighed, gently resting my head on his arm, looking up at him. "I really have to thank all of you for being so accepting of me, even though there's two members of your family I haven't formally met."

"You can come over once the shoot-outs done!" Emily called, pausing her singing for a second. "Meet mom, Alastor and Alkins!" She grinned at me. "You can even stay for dinner with us if you want, that is…" She paused, blushing slightly. "If you can eat food again without being sick."

"Emily!" Rob hissed but I smiled at her.

"No! It's fine!" I told them both. "The vomiting part of the bug has ceased, now all I get is these really pounding headaches; so I'd love to come for dinner with you. I'll need to text my Nan beforehand though, would it be okay if I invited her over to your place for dinner too? She's been so wonderful whilst I've been ill and I'd hate to leave her alone."

"'Course you can." Rob assured me. "Your gran practically became our second adoptive grandmother to be honest, the amount of time she put into visiting our crazy, dysfunctional family." He laughed and shook his head, still grinning at me. "But I definitely don't see you as my adoptive cousin or something. You're definitely someone I'd call my friend," he told me, but he sounded strained, as if he wished we could be something more. To be honest, I wished that too. "You're someone I think we need," he told me, running a hand across his jaw, where slight patches of stubble were forming. "You aren't like Jamie." He told me. "He seemed lovely but…Something about you is just so much more appealing to be around." He admitted.

"That's probably the nicest thing someone's ever told me." I gushed, blushing madly. "Thank you, thanks to all of you, you've been so wonderful, not getting pissed at me for getting ill a matter of minutes after meeting some of you; and accepting me into your family. Emily, you picked me out a wonderful dress. Pazuzus' cheered me up throughout being ill with his sarcastic and dark sense of humour. Korey for just being so wonderfully kind and compassionate towards me. Even Dante for not being terrified of me!" I laughed slightly. "Jamie for befriending me and letting me meet you. But of course, you too Rob." I told him, squeezing his hand. "You didn't need to apologize for acting a little odd towards me…I was off with you. But I'm so glad we've started over and everything's so wonderful now. I feel like I'm in some crazy fairytale." I laughed and looked at them. "Thanks." They grinned back, Emily looking the picture of everything adorable and cuddly; Rob looking insanely handsome, and for once in my life I felt accepted.