Disclaimer: I own nadaaa! :)
A/N: I wanted to wait to put this up... but uh, I can't because I have no self-control, lol. Enjoy! ;)

Chapter Twelve:

Tuesday was a very long day for Coral Moore. While avoiding Shannon like the plague, she found her body still ached wildly from falling off the motorcross bike. Still, she did everything by herself while Shannon watched silently, his eyes glowing annoyance. She liked pissing him off, she liked knowing what she was doing made him angrier everyday.

Getting food was tougher. Shannon made her talk to him in order to survive. It was fully annoying to the younger one, but she knew if she didn't eat, she'd be only more irritable and Coral planned on keeping her promise with Jeff.

"You need to go to school," Shannon said, handing her a plate with two slices of pizza. If it was one thing she had learned over the past few days, it was that Shannon survived on a diet of take-out. How he maintained a healthy diet with his wrestling, she didn't know, nor did she truly care. All she knew was that she didn't mind. Chinese Food and pizza weren't bad things.

"I'll go when I want to."

Shannon scowled. "How do you expect to graduate on time if you miss days?"

"I don't care about graduating."

Another scowl fell onto Shannon's lips. "Do you know how bad this makes me?"

"Do I look like I care?"

Shannon sighed, slapping the table. "Are you trying to make my life hell?"

"Yes." She went to turn, yet faced him once more. "And for once in your life, why don't you realize this isn't all about you." Then, Coral grabbed a soda from Shannon's fridge and stomped her way up the steps, ignoring the yipping from one of Shannon's 'dogs'.

By Wednesday, she was ready to lose her mind. Shannon and she had been at each other's throat since they'd woken up and Shannon was extra irritable since he was going away for a wrestling show, one to which happened to take a long, complicated route on the road he wasn't familiar with.

He truly couldn't have been gladder, as sad as it sounded to see Jeff's signature car pull up in front of his house. Jeff came up the steps, dressed in a South Pole sweatshirt, eyes determined.

He didn't knock, entered on free-will, much like Shannon liked to do at Matt's. Seeing the two siblings staring off into opposite directions, he sighed. "Can't you two ever get along, just for one day?"

Coral snickered. "You should be happy he still is breathing."

Shannon rolled his eyes. "You should be happy I haven't put a muzzle on you yet."

"Oh yeah?" Coral snapped back. "You should be happy I don't burn those little rats you call dogs in the stove."

"Oh, nice comeback," Shannon said with a snip in his voice. "That one hurt so bad."

"I'm sure," she chided. "You're just mad because you can't think of anything else—"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" Coral said, standing up, nearing toward Shannon.

He lurked too, jade eyes fueled with anger. "Enough!" Jeff yelled, stepping between the two. "This is ridiculous. Coral, get your shit together and bring it out to the car. Shannon, go cool off. You both act like you're five." As both the blonde's headed in opposite directions, Jeff sighed, exhausted. He was glad he didn't have to deal with their arguing twenty-four-seven. Never before had his constant use of hair dye made his hair fall out, but he was sure if he spent more than a half hour in the Moore household, it would fall out from the tension floating in the air.

Seconds later, Coral came bounding down the steps, a suitcase in her hands. It was almost the size of her. "Do you really need all that for a two day trip?" he asked, astonished.

She smiled softly. "I'm a girl."

"You looked like you've packed for five girls," he mumbled, shaking his head. Then, he shook his keys and called out, "We're leaving, Shan!"

He barely heard the muffled reply, "Good… keep her as long as you like!"

With another sigh, Jeff ushered Coral out the door, closing it behind him. He knew he was in for a long week.

About a half hour later, Jeff and Coral were on the highway, a soft Pearl Jam song playing. It was silent otherwise in the car as Jeff drove, his eyes tense on the road. Coral was looking out her window, her emerald eyes locked on nothing.

"Are you going to tell me why you need to see your ex-boyfriend?" Jeff asked calmly.

Coral tensed. "No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she said.

"Well, I sort of have to know where to go once we get to Virginia. I can't just magically show up where he is staying, you know."

Coral sighed, rubbing her hands on her jeans. She mumbled something incoherent. When Jeff just stared at her, she rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine," she mumbled. "Destiny's Prayer Rehab Clinic."

Jeff's eyes widened. "Your ex is in rehab…? For what?"

Coral didn't meet Jeff's gaze as he stared at her. For the first time, she felt uncomfortable around him, like he was going to judge her for dating a Coke addict. Little did she know, Jeff was someone who also happened to struggle with drugs in the past.

"He's addicted to Coke. It's sort of why we broke up. It was hard to keep a relationship when he's not allowed to be out of the clinic."

"Is he recovering?"

"I don't know. I haven't heard from him in a while now. I… I-I miss him."

Silence entered the car. "You know," Jeff started quietly, looking back at the road. "I've had some of my own trouble in the past with drugs…"

"You have?" Coral asked, interest in her voice.

He nodded solemnly. "I've been suspended for it twice now. I was especially a mess back when I was in my first stint with WWE. They fired me for it back then and for a while, I was just… I don't know… a mess."

Coral nodded. "Mike had an overdose and he nearly died. I found him just shaking, his eyes rolled back. He wouldn't respond to me either. He started to puke then. Turns out he had mixed the cocaine with pain killers. After they pumped his stomach, I made him promise to go to rehab. I didn't think his parents would send him so far away."

"Rehab is tough," Jeff agreed. "It must be hard for him."

"He hates it. No one there really likes him, but it's for the best. He's a good person when he's clean, but when he's high… it's a completely different story. He's totaled two cars, nearly fell through a second story window…" Coral stopped, tears coming to her eyes. Jeff saw how much Mike meant to her with each word she spoke. He pulled over on the highway, stopping the car. Then he pulled her into a hug, comforting her as she sobbed. "He and my father were the only people who I had… now I'm alone."

"You're not alone. You have me, you have Shannon, you—"

"Shannon doesn't give a damn."

Jeff pulled her off him. "You need to realize he does. He's not used to shit like this. You're putting him on a roller coaster."

She shook her head, making Jeff sigh. "Let's get going. We only have an hour more."

Jeff sighed again, seeing that their conversation was over. Was he ever going to get the girl to open up more, to understand that Shannon didn't hate her? To understand she wasn't alone in North Carolina. As he pulled back out onto the road, he was honestly beginning to doubt it.

A/N: I (big heart here) this story. And the plot thickens... READ AND REVIEWWW!! :D