"I feel sorry for you, and I'm going to be your friend."

"I don't want to be your friend." Cath said as sternly as she could. "I like that we're not friends."

"Me, too," Reagan said. "I'm sorry you ruined it by being so pathetic."

Fangirl (pg 43) Cather & Reagan

v

Veronica had decided she wanted the girl who sat beside her to talk to her (after the girl not speaking to her the whole week)

She had found out basic information.

Her name is Adriana

She is thirteen

She is intelligent, and a pianist.

And she was best friends with Sarah Leonard.

"Hello!" Veronica said cheerfully as she sat down next to the girl. Today her hair was pink.

"Hi." Adriana said without looking up from the screen of her laptop.

"I'm-"

"Veronica Millar, age sixteen. In "foster care" but we both know it's just an act." Veronica was stunned into silence. How did she know all this?

They said she was very smart though, so she decided that was the only way. Her acting couldn't be that bad. Could it?

"Don't tell anyone." Veronica said.

"Didn't plan on it." Muttered the young girl. Veronica sighed, knowing that that she probably wouldn't get a better response than that yet, so she decided to let her go… for now.

For the past week Curtis had tried to avoid Kat as much as possible. It seemed juvenile, but he was so worried that she would figure out what was wrong before he knew how to tell her.

He didn't want her to leave him, he loved her. And as much as she hated admitting it, he knew she loved him too.

He didn't want to hurt her though and this definitely would.

He sat in his office working on papers for a case when the door opened.

"Wanna go for lunch?" he looked up and saw Kat standing there.

He was momentarily speechless, not knowing what to say. What was the right answer? He wanted to say yes but knew if he did he would spill.

"I need to tell you something." He blurted out then cursed himself for doing so.

"What?" Kat asked. She was slightly worried. Was he breaking up with her?

"After the soul crushed and I got the divorce I was dating this girl named Rachel for a bit then she broke up with me." He started.

"Okay, why do I need to know this?" she asked in confusion and raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Well, last week she called me and told me to come to see her, so I did and she told me that she broke up with me after finding out she was pregnant… I have a kid I never knew about." Curtis said.

Kat stood stunned. Her boyfriend had a kid he never knew about?

"I'm sorry I didn't tell-"

"Shut up for a minute." Kat said as the information processed through her brain.

"Okay, it's okay." She said aloud. To herself and to him, "what's her name?"

He pulled the photo out of his pocket and handed it to Kat, not speaking.

"Oh my god." She said as she recognized the girl in the photo.

"The last person on our list to visit is Joshua Cain," Nick said as he looked at the list. "Whose gonna go?"

"I'll go with you," Will said as he looked over at the three. He had been gone on vacation for a week and wanted to be useful. Nick nodded and the two left the room.

"How long did Sarah live with you?" Nick asked as the two sat in the living room of the small house. Joshua Cain sat in front of them.

"Two months," Joshua said. He was drinking a beer and hand a hot dog in the other hand. "Glad the bitch left."

"And why is that?" asked Will.

"Didn't do nothin' but complain," Joshua said as he finished a beer. "wan' one?" he asked as he looked at the two cops.

"No thanks." Nick said. Will agreed with him. "Did you hear from her again?"

"Of course. Friends with my foster kid," Joshua said. "Adriana, she goes to that same fancy school. Don't know what is wrong with the public school, but that girl refuses to go."

"What's wrong with public school?" Joshua asked. Adriana was dusting a shelf, her hair pulled back into a pony tail.

"I don't like it."

"You never been in it." He said and stared at the girl. Adriana was short for her age of twelve. Her hair fell down halfway down her back.

"Sarah said it is bad." Adriana stated as she turned to look at him.

Joshua glared at her back. "Sarah is dead."

"Her legacy lives on." Adriana stated.

"Sarah's word is law with Adriana, even when she is dead," Joshua said. "Fucking annoying."

"Thanks for your time, Mr. Cain. We'll be in touch." Will said as he stood up with Nick. The two cops left and the door shut behind them.

As the two friends and partners walked towards the car, Nick looked as though he was thinking about something. "I have a bad feeling about him." he said.

"I do too." Will agreed.

"Did you know they're investigating Sarah's death?" one of the girls said in gym. Veronica tried to act as though she had not a clue what they were talking about.

She quickly found out that they gossiped, a lot. But they were the only ones that talked to her, Adriana hardly spoke to her.

"So stupid," The guy that walked up said. "They think that one of us did it. We didn't."

"I know, right." A girl said then turned to Veronica, "have you heard about it?"

"About this Sarah girl? Nope." She lied. She had been briefed about it by her mom. She was going to the station after school, to see her and tell the cops what she had found out so far.

"Well, she was sixteen when she went missing. Shorties best friend, the two were always together. We were some of the last to see her." This peeked Veronica's interest.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She had to go somewhere though, so someone probably saw her before she… you know… departed from this world."

Veronica nodded. "She was a piece of shit though. Deserved it." A boy said.

All of the sudden, Veronica felt a hand on her bare elbow. She looked to see Adriana, and this time wig less.

She noticed the girl was always wearing a life-like wig. And now she wasn't. Her long hair was pulled into a ponytail.

"Be my partner," Was all she said and promptly drug Veronica away. Veronica was shocked and pulled away only when they were across the gym.

She looked at the girl oddly.

"You needed a way out," Adriana said simply. "I refuse to let you be sucked in by them. Therefore you will stick with me. You are in no way replacing Sarah though," Veronica nodded as she noted the slight warning in Adriana's tone.

The girls hit the volleyball at each other and did their warm ups.

Veronica noted that while Adriana was short, her limbs were all skinny, and in the lighting she could almost see that her skin wasn't as smooth as it appeared. Also, in the bright, washed out lights, Adriana's makeup was slightly darker in certain spots.

"Why do you wear wigs?" Veronica asked.

"I always have wanted to have a different coloured hair without dying it. Sarah had a bunch so she gave them all to me," Adriana stated. "I like them. I usually don't wear them at home though, Mr. Cain doesn't like it."

Veronica nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, were you and Sarah close?"

"Like my sister, the one I never had," Adiana said quietly, and blinked back tears she hadn't shed since she was six.

I do not own Cold Case or Fangirl