Okay, so I know I said this story was going to be on hold for awhile. But I had an inspiration last night, and stayed up way to late writing this. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do :)

DISCLAIMER: Eh, you know the drill.

DEDICATION: To Caris. As usual!

Chapter Nineteen: Mr. James Dean

"Here we are,

face-to-face,

same energy,

you and me,

don't wanna be,

enemies..."

-Hilary Duff, "Mr. James Dean"

Lana and Astrid had decided to have a girl's night after Drake had, well, been himself. So they set up in Astrid's room; soda and popcorn that a Nala had brought, nail polish, and even a few chick flicks on DVD that they had found. All in all, it would have been the greatest in-FAYZ girl fest ever, except for one thing.

Caine, Edilio, and Orc were there, as well.

"Tell me again why you three insist upon staying here?" Lana questioned, sounding exasperated. She and Astrid were lounging on Astrid's bed, Patrick by their feet. Orc was sprawled on the floor, and Caine and Edilio were fighting over the remaining chair. "This is Astrid's room, you know, and you're making out girl's night in completely awkward."

"You think we're gonna split up when we're in Nala's lair?" Caine asked incredulously as he levitated Edilio off of the chair and dropped him on the bed next to Patrick, claiming the recliner for himself. "That would be idiotic. So, deal with it." Astrid and Lana simultaneously rolled their eyes and popped the movie ("27 Dresses") into the DVD player.

About ten minutes into the movie, Orc groaned loudly from the floor. Lana shushed him, but he continued. And then Edilio started groaning, and even Caine rolled his eyes and joined in. Lana took the movie out, and the noise immediately stopped. "You guys are so immature," she complained. "All I was trying to do was make Astrid feel better, and you three had to go and ruin it."

"Slow down, chica." Edilio held out his hands. "We're not the root of the problem. Drake did it, really, not any of us." Caine raised an eyebrow and held up the battered deck of cards from the church.

"Poker, anyone?"

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Drake squinted as the breeze filled with salt spray from the ocean hit his face. He had found a passage in the castle that led to the highest turret, the unfinished one, hanging over the ocean. He was sitting on a dangerous precipice, his feet dangling, the waves breaking on the castle's face far below him. If he fell from this height, death was inevitable. But Drake was far past caring.

He should have been dead already, a bullet in his head, and Little Pete should have never gone to Nala. Drake sneered; this was all Astrid's fault. Her and her uppity attitude, thinking that she had saved his life when she had just been stupid. Drake smirked at that. Astrid the Genius, the stupid one.

And then, there was the issue of Sam.

Even dead, he was still a problem. Drake rubbed his forehead with his only hand. Sam. How he hated Sam. The death of that laser-handed freak had given him immense pleasure, but now it was coming right back to bite him in the whip-arm.

Because Lana was right; however he hated to admit it. If they had any hope of surviving this castle of death, it was together. And there would be no unity if two members of the group wanted to dig out the eyes of each other; namely, Astrid and Drake.

But there was no way this side of eternity that Drake would approach Brain Girl first. Hell would freeze over while pigs flapped their little wings and a whole choir of fat ladies sang in the background before he would be the first to talk.

And then Astrid sat down next to him.

"Whoa," Drake said loudly, scooting backwards a few inches. "Oh, it's only you." Astrid halfheartedly rolled her eyes, and Drake noticed her glum expression and dull eyes.

"Yeah, it's only me," she deadpanned, running her fingers through her short, blond hair. "Sorry for disappointing you." Drake's eyebrows furrowed.

"How'd you find me?"

"It was a mistake, believe me. I wanted somewhere quiet to think, and I came up here." She stood up. "I'm guessing now that it was a bad idea."

"Yeah, it probably was." Astrid made a small, disgusted noise in the back of her throat and made to leave. "But you can stay, if you want. I won't bother you." Drake didn't turn around- where had those words came from?- but he heard Astrid sit on the other end of the precipice, and as he glanced over, he saw that her feet were dangling, the same as his.

Be careful, his brain said, and his lips almost formed the words before he realized what they said. He immediately bit them back. He had never said the words be careful to anyone, nor had he wanted to. Drake himself was never careful. So why should he give a damn whether or not Astrid...

"You'd better be careful," she said from her end. "I mean, if you don't want to slip to your death. I don't want to have saved your life for nothing." Drake silently pulled his legs back to a safer place, watching as she did the same.

"You're still hung up on that, aren't you?" he said finally. "The whole "saving my life" thing." Astrid crossed her arms as if she was cold.

"Yeah, I guess I am. And for a good reason, too," she added defensively.

"Really. Like what?" Drake couldn't help baiting her; watching Astrid explode had proven to be rather entertaining. But he was in for a surprise.

"I don't know." She sighed. "I really have no idea why I want something back from you." She sounded almost as if she was talking to herself. "You're the worst, most horrible person I have ever met, but I gave up my brother for you. Why? Why?" She whispered the last word, looking from the grey, stormy sea to him.

He swallowed. "Are you regretting it?"

Astrid clenched her eyes shut, face contorting in pain, and then her eyes slowly fluttered open. "I should, shouldn't I?" Drake tried to smirk, but it came out looking like a sad smile.

"Probably."

"And I'll never get an apology for what you did to Sam, will I?"

"Unless you want a lie. And frankly, I think I've had enough lies thrown at me to last a lifetime." Astrid's blue eyes stared into Drake's dark grey ones for what seemed like an eternity.

"And I'll never know who you really are, will I?" she finally whispered, her voice sounding pained. Drake looked away, back at the roiling waves.

"Unless you want to. And nobody has ever wanted that."

Review, please!

:Hyperactive Lioness: