I should probably add here...I do not own these characters. Jorden is my creation, however. Here is yet another updated chapter with some minor changes...but I new one is coming soon.

Chapter 4: Self-Confidence Issue

"I think I have a serious problem or something," Jorden said, half embarrassed and half joking, as she let go of Lincoln. "I practically tackled you both. I have serious issues."

"You have no such issues at all," Lincoln said with biggest smile on his face. "New look? I like it," of course he couldn't resist bouncing her new curls up and down with his hands.

"You can leave them alone now," Jorden said taking hold of his wrists, pushing his hands back down to his sides. She hated when people played with her hair, she didn't care who it was.

"Fine, I see how it is," Lincoln said.

"I got a mini modeling shoot," Michael chimed in, just so that his brother knew he was the lesser of them.

"What is he talking about?" Lincoln gave her a look of betrayal.

"I was being completely silly. Very over-exaggerated. Nothing you would want to see or that I would want to repeat," Jorden said, confused on why this meant so much to him.

"I don't know, I got a kick out of it," Sara said. Jorden knew she was going to lose this argument.

"Oh, come on. Let me see," Lincoln was practically begging now. "You can't tell me that you like this guy over here…" he jabbed his thumb in the air toward his brother "so much more than me that you would give him a modeling shoot and not me," Jorden thought this was getting rather pathetic.

"I suppose you want me to one-up him so you feel superior. Should I model my new design for you then?" and as soon as the words left her mouth she wished she hadn't said them.

"A new design?" the boys were in unison.

"Design for what?" Sara was confused on why they were so excited by this news.

"Jorden designs clothes," Michael said quickly to clear things up for Sara. "Jorden, you gotta tell us what it looks like."

"She had the better idea though. She should model it for us," Lincoln said, fine tuning his brother's idea. "Come on, Jorden. Go put it on. Let's see it," he could barely contain himself.

"Yeah, come on Jorden. You know you're not allowed to do anything with your designs until they've been run past us," Michael reminded her.

"And like you two would be the authority of fashion," Sara joked.

"Then I guess it's a little for that since its already been turned down. The two of you were not in the best position for critiquing," Jorden explained to the two looks of shock and betrayal. "So there is absolutely no way I'm bringing that horrific thing out here for the three of you to laugh at. I was being sarcastic," Jorden said very determined to get off this subject.

"But you have a new design?" Lincoln asked.

"What if I do?"

"We want to see it. It's the rules," Michael reminded her again.

"That's right. The rules are in place to protect you from making a huge mistake in taking in something awful and wrecking your chances for future designs," Lincoln said.

"I know full well why we put the rules in place," Jorden said. "I don't plan on doing anything with any of my designs now so there is no need for the rules anymore."

"What?" the boys were in unison again.

"You can't mean that, Jorden," Michael was flabbergasted.

"Seriously Jorden, it would be everyone's loss if you stopped," Lincoln added.

"Is her stuff really that good?" Sara asked. She was again lost in their conversation.

"Her designs are amazing," Lincoln emphasized, "and it would be a travesty if she stopped trying to get them marketed."

"You should listen to him, Jorden. He's really smart when he wants to be," Michael said not being able to resist the chance to take a verbal jab at his brother.

"Sara, you tell her. Tell her that her designs are not the complete crap she thinks they are," Lincoln was insistent.

"I can't tell her that since I haven't seen any of them. Or have I? Like in a store or something?" Sarah said, noticing that Jorden was very uncomfortable with that suggestion.

"A couple designs got really close, but all were a 'no go'. I still can't figure out why that is," Michael answered.

"I know. I thought that one was it for sure. Do you remember it?" Lincoln asked his brother.

"Unforgettable, truly. Oh Jorden, show Sara that one. Just the one," Michael suggested.

"Yeah, show her that one," Lincoln added with enthusiasm.

"I'm not bringing anything out here. They're awful."

"You don't have to," Michael said. "She could go in there."

"No way, no one is seeing any of my designs. I'm sorry I mentioned them. Nothing against you, Sara really, I'm just very self-conscious when it comes to my extreme lack of creativity," Jorden desperately wanted to get off this subject.

"Not even the new one?" Lincoln was very disappointed. He was too good at the puppy dog face. Then Michael caught glimpse of his brother's efforts and made a puppy face of his own.

"Oh the two of you, honestly," Sara sighed. "No offense to you Jorden, but are these designs worth all of this."

"You bet they are," unison again and the boys returned immediately to their puppy dog faces.

"You guys are pathetic, you know that?" Jorden said with surrender. The puppy dog faces were too much. She had to give in. "One; that is all."

"One; got it. Which one, Linc?"

"I really like the one, but we haven't even seen the new one. What do you think?"

"I think we haven't seen the new one," and there was a few moments of silence as the boys turned both options over in their minds. "Okay, we'll see the new one," Michael said, coming to a decision for the both of them.

"Fine, I'll go and get it," Jorden turned toward her room to get her new design. She still could not understand why they so desperately wanted to see it.

Jorden returned from her room with a boutique style clothing bag hanging off a wire hanger. "Here it is," Jorden announced with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

"That's it?" Michael asked. "All we get is a plastic bag on a hanger?"

"I have to say it's a little…uncreative," Lincoln said posing in deep examination. "It lacks a certain…individuality."

"The bag is not the design and you know that so knock it off. I really don't like this design so don't be too harsh," Jorden did not take their humor well.

"Us? Harsh?" Michael asked pretending to be immensely insulted.

"How can you say that? We have never been anything but fair and encouraging to you and your designs. The fact you even think we could be harsh is just….harsh," Lincoln adopted his brother's look of betrayal.

"You guys are just ridiculous," Sara chimed in.

"Thank you. We know," Lincoln said with a big cheesy grin.

"Here it is…without the bag," Jorden said as she hung the bag on the coat rack, pulled toward the middle of the room, and unzipped it.

Hidden beneath the dress bag was a white blouse with a v-neck and three-quarter sleeves that tapered down to hang off the arm at the elbow. Toward the bottom of the blouse there was a band that wrapped around and came together in the front, off center, with a silver metal hoop. There was also a pair of blue jeans and a denim skirt on the hanger.

"Are the jeans part of the outfit?" Sara asked.

"They came from the store. The shirt is the only thing I designed. I took them with when I pitched the design to show that it could be casual or fancy. What do you think…and don't hold back," Jorden added.

"How could you hate that?" Lincoln asked like the simple fact was impossible.

"Easily, actually," Jorden retorted.

"I'd buy that in any store," Sara said. "And you're right…it can be either."

"It's a fully functional shirt," Michael said.

"Blouse," Jorden and Sara corrected him simultaneously.

"Blouse, excuse me," Michael corrected himself in a sassy tone.

"Yeah, Mike. It's clearly a blouse. Get it right, jeez," Lincoln could not resist getting back at his brother.

"You'd have called it a shirt too," Michael came back.

"I know my fashion vocabulary, unlike someone else I know."

"Alright guys, enough. I'm putting it away now," Jorden interrupted their argument knowing full well it could go on all night.

"They didn't even consider that design?" Michael asked.

"No, they didn't," Jorden replied quickly trying to change the subject.

"Personally I think they don't know what their missing," Lincoln interjected. "They would make huge bucks off that."

"Now you guys are just trying to make me feel better, and I gotta tell ya its not working," Jorden was desperately trying to get off this topic.

"That's seriously what we think," Michael replied. "I just don't understand what they were thinking when they let that go."

"They had to have given you a reason, right?" Lincoln asked.

"Not really, they just said it wasn't what they were looking for."

"I think they don't know what they are looking for," Sara said.

"It's no big deal," Jorden said as she went back to her room and returned the zipped dress bag to her closet. When she returned Michael and Sara were walking into the spare room and Lincoln was investigating her movie shelf.

"What are all these tapes? They're only labeled with dates and some letters like 'G', 'D', 'S', and 'FS'." Lincoln picked up one labeled with a 'G' and popped it in the VCR just as Michael was emerging from the spare room with a new set of clothes in hand.

"Can I use your shower, Jorden?" Michael asked.

"Sure go ahead," Jorden answered from behind the refrigerator door.

"Mike, come check this out," Lincoln summoned with a wave of his hand.

"What are you watching….wait do I want to know," Michael teased again.

"Ha, you're funny," Lincoln smirked back. "Did you know Jorden did gymnastics?" he asked Michael.

"What are you talking about, she never did gymnastics," Michael said with confusion written all over his face.

"Then who is on this tape, cuz it looks a lot like her?" Lincoln asked motioning at the television.

"Turn it off, Lincoln," Jorden yelled, in a horrified tone, from the kitchen.

"Why, Jorden? You're amazing," Lincoln said while continuing to watch a balance beam routine.

"Was," Jorden corrected him. "And it wasn't that great."

"You have a major self-confidence issue, don't you?" Michael asked.

"What do the rest of these labels mean?" Lincoln asked, picking up a tape labeled 'FS'.

"I'm not telling you cuz you'll really want to watch them when I do," Jorden said.

"I'm gonna watch them either way, Jorden," Lincoln retorted.

"Me too," Michael said.

"What are we watching?" Sara asked emerging from the spare room.

"Videos of Jorden's past athletic talents," Lincoln answered.

"Really? What kind of talents?" Sara asked.

"Gymnastics," Michael replied.

"Wow," was all Sara said as she came closer to the television. "That was really amazing," Sara said as the routine on the tape ended and Lincoln stopped it.

"No more tapes, Lincoln," Jorden hoped that Lincoln had never found the tapes.

"What's 'FS' mean?" Lincoln asked as he popped the 'G' tape out and the 'FS' tape in and pushed play.

"Figure skating," Jorden said softly and in a bit of shame.

"Figure skating?" Lincoln could hardly believe what he just heard. "Oh, I've gotta see this." The tape started, the music began to play, and there was Jorden in a costume seemingly floating across the ice doing spirals, triple toe loops, and aerial toe touches.

"Now how is it that we never knew you could do this?" Michael asked.

"It's not something I like to broadcast," Jorden answered.

"If I was that good at anything, I'd want to broadcast it to the world," Lincoln said as he went to switch to a 'D' tape.

"No more tapes, please," Jorden pleaded to Lincoln.

"You've been keeping secrets. I really want to know what this 'D' is."

"No, you really don't," Jorden was getting desperate.

"I think we really do," Michael said motioning for his brother to play the tape.

On screen now was dark. Pitch black. Nothing.

"Oh man, a busted tape?" Lincoln asked.

"No, unfortunately. This is a dance recital from years ago," Jorden just hung her head.

"Dance?!" Lincoln's interest had suddenly jumped. The lights on the tape now revealed a stage and dancers were coming out onto one by one as the music started. "Where are you, Jorden? I can't see you."

"I'm there, just wait."

"Where?"

"Give it a second," Jorden was not looking forward to this at all.

The camera suddenly panned around to the back of the auditorium. The spotlight revealed Jorden as she danced her way down the aisle, up a small set of stairs, and onto the stage.

"Wow," was all Michael had to say when the tape ended.

"I never knew you could move like that. I see you in whole new way now," Lincoln said never taking his gaze off the television.

"I wish I could move like that," Sara said.

"That's enough, now," Jorden said reaching for the TV attempting to turn it off.

"No, no. I want to know what this 'S' is," Lincoln said.

"No, Lincoln. Please do not watch that tape," Jorden was pleading now.

"You can't be that bad of a soccer player," Michael said.

"Its not soccer," Jorden said.

"What is it then?" Lincoln asked. He pushed play on the VCR.

"No judgment, that's all I ask," was all Jorden had to say.

Again the tape was black. Then lights came up and revealed Jorden on the stage. It looked like the same stage from the previous tape, but this time Jorden was the only one on it. The music started and then Jorden began to sing. Sara just stared at the tape with a look of inspiration on her face. Michael and Lincoln just watched with amazement. Jorden was searching frantically from face to face to face for any sign of reaction to what they were watching. She got nothing. No one said anything until the song ended.

"That was beautiful," Sara looked like she was about to cry.

"That was… yeah I think Sara pretty much summed it up," Michael said.

"I have just one question," Lincoln said. "Where in the hell did that come from? That was fantastic, amazing, and….and beautiful!"

"I think you all are tone deaf or something."

"And there's that wonderful self-confidence issue rearing its head again," said Michael with some more teasing.

"You can't seriously think that was horrible?" asked Sara.

"Yes I can," said Jorden.

"Where on Earth did you get that idea?" Michael asked.

"Let's see? The more appropriate question would be where it didn't come from. I can answer that too. Apart from you three and my students, the only other person who tolerates my singing is Lena."

"Well then Lena, your students, and us three are the only sane people on the planet," Lincoln said. "Anyone who thinks that's bad singing needs to get their ears examined."

"Thanks guys, really, but I think you're off base just a little."

"Whatever you say, Jorden," Michael said and continued to bathroom for his shower.

"Is my bed in here cuz there is no way I'm sleeping in that room with the two of them," Lincoln asked.

"No, that's my room Lincoln," Jorden said.

"Then where am I sleeping?" Lincoln asked with a forlorn look.

"Well you could sleep on the floor on an air mattress and a sleeping bag or you could take the couch," Jorden replied as she made her way into her room. "Good night," she said as she closed the door behind her.

"Great," Lincoln said. "Tonight's gonna be great. How do I always get the short end of the stick? This just isn't fair."

"You could come in here with us if the living room is too scary for you," Michael teased his brother again.

"No thanks. I don't even want to know what the two of you are gonna do in there," Lincoln retorted.

"We'd keep it PG with you in there," Michael kept 'em coming.

"Good night, Mike," Lincoln said rearranging the pillows on the couch and grabbing a blanket from the linen cupboard.

Michael closed the door behind him and Sara as Lincoln took his spot on the couch. They didn't stay there for long because just then the sound of smashing glass came echoed through the apartment.