*tablefliprage*(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Chapter 4

Jackie got out of her room and headed to the stairs, trying to keep as quiet as a cat, so she wouldn't wake up her mother.

Unfortunately, she tripped on a vase when she was passing Jessica's room. She fell and hit the floor with her chin.

"Ow! Ow! OWW, THAT HURT!…" she screamed without meaning to. She quickly covered her mouth with both hands and looked at her sleeping mother. All the blonde woman did was turn around in her bed and give a big yawn.

"Phew…" the albino sighed in relief. Then she went downstairs and headed to the back door. She opened it, went outside and closed it behind her. After that she approached Raimundo until they were close enough to talk lowly.

"Hi" he complimented.

"Hi," she replied "I almost thought you weren't coming."

"Pfff! Are you kiding? There was no way I was gonna miss our little meeting. Even if my life depended on it. And besides, I promised."

Even though Jackie noticed Rai was hiding something behind his back, she ignored it and smiled at him. "You like my company, huh?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. What about you? Do you like my company?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. It's only the second 'meeting', but I like having you here."

Raimundo couldn't avoid the blush that appeared on his cheeks. No one had ever told him something like that, but he saw no reason to blush.

They stayed silent for a moment, looking at eachother without knowing what to say, until the wind dragon decided to show the tech genious what he was hiding behind his back. He lifted the bouquet to her chest level, looking shyly at the floor.

"I… brought these for you…" he said, feeling his cheeks warm because of the blushing.

Silence.

Rai looked up at Jackie and he noticed she was surprised. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open.

After staring like that at the flowers for a moment, she carefully grabbed them.

"Oh my god… they're beautiful!…" she approached her nose to the roses "And they smell so good! Thank you so much, Raimundo."

"It was nothing, really. But… maybe you should give it another look… Tell me, what do you see?"

Even though she was confused, Jackie did as Raimundo told her to.

"I… I see… nothing…"

The brazilian monk looked from her face to the roses. Then he grabbed the bouquet. "Excuse me" he said.

He spun it around and gave it back to the pale teen.

"How about now?"

The redhead stared at the flowers for three seconds before her eyes widened again. It was a face, and you didn't have to be a genious to find out whose face it was.

The white roses resembled the skin, the red roses the hair and there two circles of yellow roses on it's forehead. There were also two red roses that meant to be the eyes.

"I see… myself…" she looked up at Raimundo "You draw my face… and it's perfect."

"Não é tão perfeito como você."

"Aww…" Jackie pretended that whatever Rai said was touching.

Raimundo didn't fall for it, though. He knew the girl didn't speak brazilian.

"You didn't understand what I just said, did you?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "But the way you said it makes it sound very sweet."

The boy laughed. "I'll translate it to you then. I said 'It's not as perfect as you are'"

"See, I knew it was something nice…"

They smiled at eachother, but it didn't take long for Jackie's smile to fade.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel kinda ashamed. I mean, you brought me this beautiful bouquet and I've got nothing to give you…"

"You don't have to. I didn't give it to you because I wanted something from you."

The gothic girl's smile reappeared and she looked back at Raimundo's emerald eyes.

"Yeah, but still…"

"Look, I just…"

Raimundo cut off when he felt Jackie's lips pressed against his cheek. After that, she wraped her arms aound his neck, giving him a big hug.

Fortunately for Rai, that same hug didn't let the pale girl see how much he was blushing. He felt his face so hot he was sure he looked like a tomato. He tried to stop it by explaining in his own head that there were no reasons to blush.

'Why are you blushing so much? She's just thanking you, that's all.'

It seemed to work a little, and Raimundo finnaly had the 'courage' to hug her back.

But, when they broke apart, Jackie noticed Rai's red cheeks.

"Raimundo, you're blushing so much… are you sick?" she asked in a worried tone.

"What?… oh, no… I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me. You didn't have to come if you were sick! Look, come inside and I'll make you some tea. It'll make you feel better."

" No!… There's no need, I'm fine… and besides, camomile tea is the only one I like…"

Jackie stared at him in the eyes and smiled.

"You are such a lucky boy…"

"What? Why do you say that?" Rai asked, feeling confused.

"Camomile is the only tea I have in my house. That's why you're a lucky boy."

"Well, yeah, but…"

Raimundo cut off again when he saw Jackie's expression. Her crimson eyes were begging him to accept the offer, and, for some odd reason, he couldn't refuse it.

"Oh, alright… if you insist…"

The goth smiled once again, took the brazilian boy by the hand and led him into the house.

Jessica Spicer woke up in the middle of the night, thanks to the 'nature call'. She went to the bathroom arguing with herself.

"Jessie, you really should stop drinking so much soda before bed!"

The blonde woman was about to lie down, when she spotted two figures in the backyard.

She approached her own window, narrowing her eyes so she could see better. Soon those narrowed eyes became wide when she noticed that those two figures in the backyard were her daughter and a boy that was a deal taller than her. Suddenly her eyes spotted something interesting: Jackie was holding a bouquet, and she could swear it was of roses. Could it be… a gift from the boy?

It seemed they were just talking, like good friends. Just friends. That's when, before she knows it, Jackie was kissing the boy on the cheek and, afterwards, hugging him.

Jessica couldn't avoid the smile that formed in her lips when she saw how much the boy was blushing.

The two teens broke the hug and, after a few moments of talking, Jackie grabbed the boy's hand, leading him into the house.

The blonde woman got dressed in her robe and headed to the stairs.

In the shadows of the forest, someone watches as Jackie pulls Raimundo into the Spicer Mansion. If you were next to him, you could see an evil smirk as two yellow reptile-like eyes stared at the two teens.

Suddenly, a certain disembodied head appeared behind the figure.

"Seems like you have some competition, Chase Young" Wuya said in a teasing tone.

The evil dragon lord smirked even more.

"Indeed, it does. But it will be much more interesting this way. And I think he may be useful" he replied.

"Useful?" the evil spirit questioned, confused "Useful for what?"

"I could use him as a bait to attract Jacqueline to me. I'm sure she would do anything to save his life…"

"Ah, my dear Chase… now why are you wasting your time with that stupid girl? You know I can give you much more. Join me and forget her." Wuya offered.

"I believe you misunderstood me, Wuya. I'm not interested in her. What I'm interested in are the profits of procriating with her."

"Ooohhh… now I get it… the prophecy, right?"

Chase looked at her "Exactly."

Wuya looked back at the Spicer mansion and a movement caught her eye.

"Well, well, well…" she said "looks like we're not the only ones spying on our young friend."

Chase looks at the mansion's backyard again, and spots a little dragon heading to the huge house.

"Dojo." he said in an annoyed tone.

Kimiko couldn't sleep. She never stopped thinking about Raimundo and his sudden change of behavior. What if he lied? What if he really met another girl last night?…

"What if he's going to meet that same girl again tonight?" she asked herself.

The japanese girl started to feel nervous. She got up and quietly headed to the boy's room.

When she was about ten metres from his bedroom door, she turned around so she could see if anyone was coming behind her. Of course, thanks to the darkness, that was a difficult task. She started walking backwards, getting closer to the door.

Suddenly, her back touched something, and she could tell it was someone else's back. At the same time, another figure, much smaller, slightly hits her hip, also with his back. She yelped and abrutly turned around again, and the other two figures did the same. It took a while for them to calm down and get accustomed to the darkness, but when they did, they recognized eachother and sighed with relief. Kimiko, Omi and Clay were all standing in front of Raimundo's door.

"What in tarnation are ya'll doin' here?" Clay asked in his Texan accent.

"Nothing" Omi immediately answered.

"Nothing" Kim immediately answered, at the same time as Omi.

Clay arched his eyebrow (the one that wasn't hidden by his huge hat), giving the other monks a questioning look.

Omi sighed again, but this time in defeat.

"Very well, I give up. I came here to see if Raimundo is in bed…"

"Really?" Kimiko asked, surprised "I'm here to check on him too."

"So am I." Clay replied.

"He has been acting most strange lately. I have no idea what entered inside himself…"

"That's 'got into him', Omi." Kimiko said.

"Or that."

"I agree with the little fella. Seems like his head is somewhere else."

"It doesn't seem. His head IS somewhere else." she replied.

"Well, then. Let us discover if Raimundo is still in bed…"

Omi started to open the door when, all of a sudden, a voice came from behind them.

"May I ask what are you, young monks, doing in front of Raimundo's room so late?" Master Fung asked.

"We? Huh… we just came t'check on Raimundo. We were afraind he was feelin' sick again…"

"I see… well then, I will go 'check' on him for you…"

The old monk entered the brazilian boy's room and approached his bed, while the other monks watched from the now opened door.

When Master Fung got next to his apprentice's bed, he smiled. There was a teddy bear pretending to be the boy's head and some pillows under the sheets, pretending to be the body.

He made the fake movement of putting his hand on the monk's forehead. He also faked a little examination of the 'body', and then got out of the room, carefully closing the door behind him. After that, he turned to the other monks.

"He is fine." he said "He has no fever, he breathes normally and he is sleeping pecefully. Maybe you should do the same…"

The older monk wished them goodnight and went away, leaving the three Xiaolin monks alone, standing at their friend's door.

"Master Fung is most correct. We should all go back to bed."

"Yeah…" Clay yawned "night everybody."

"Goodnight, Clay" Omi and Kimiko replied at the same time, and they all got separated, each one heading for his/her own room.

While she walked towards her room, a voice kept echoing in her head, but this time, it was assuring her that there was nothing suspicious about Rai.

'C'mon, Kim. You're being paranoid. Raimundo just felt sick last night and that's it! End of conversation!'

She finally arrived her bedroom and stopped thinking about her friend. She went to bed and, now that she wasn't so worried about having a love rival, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

The two teens went inside the house and Raimundo glanced at everything around him. God, was that house big… in fact, it was huge! (no wonder. It was a mansion!)

"You don't mind waiting here, do you? I'm gonna make the tea. You can sit if you want…"

The girl headed to the kitchen, leaving him alone in the living room.

The boy stared at the big room. There were some couches and in front of them was a large TV. He sat down and looked at the TV. He had the big will to turn it on, but he tried to resist it. He thought it was kinda rude and besides, he didn't want to wake up anyone in the house.

He started remembering his last meeting with Jackie Spicer instead.

FLASHBACK:

"When I saw you in the mirror, I noticed you were sad. So I've wanting to ask… what's the matter?"

"It's mainly because of what my dad does to me… but nevermind that…"

END FLASHBACK

The answer she gave him worried him. Whatever her dad did to her, it wasn't nice. What if he hit her, or made her starve… or even worse, like…

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind from the dirty thoughts he just had.

Raimundo was so busy trying to imagine what Jackie's father did to her to make her so sad he didn't notice a woman approach the couch. She was already behind it when he heard her breathing. He slowly turned around to see a blonde woman in her early thirties, thin, tall and with light blue eyes.

Before Rai could say anything, the woman covered his mouth with her hand.

"Sshhhut up and be quiet!" she ordered "I'm not going to hurt you, kay?"

"Mmpf mmpf?" he made some muffled sounds against the woman's palm.

"Which part of 'Sshhhut up' didn't you understand?"

Raimundo stopped his attempts to talk.

"I'm going to release you now, and I want you to make no noise. Deal?" she proposed.

Raimundo nodded. He didn't know why, but for some odd reason e felt he should do as the woman said. He knew he could trust her. She removed her hand from the boy's mouth and sat down next to him.

"Oh, how rude of me. I'm Jessica. Jessica Spicer. Jackie's mother. And you are?…"

"Raimundo. Raimundo Pedrosa. Jackie's friend."

Jessica gave him a teasing gaze.

"That's hard to believe. Especially after seeing you blushing so much when Jackie gave you that kiss. Anyone would say that you two are more than friends…"

"You… you were watching us?" Rai asked, surprised. And embarassed.

"Can you believe that I only noticed you two outside on that precise moment. Talk about bad luck!"

Raimundo felt kinda annoyed. He and Jackie spent so much time outside, yet Jessica had to see them only when they were having a moment.

"Look, lady, I don't wanna be rude, but if you want to talk with Jackie, just call her and leave me alone, kay?"

"Oh, no! Nononono… no… no… I don't want her to now I've been here…"

"Well, in that case, better hurry up, cuz I bet she won't take long to get the tea ready."

Jessie looked at Rai, giving him a serious gaze, and then giggled.

"Hehehe… that's what you think, Raimundo Pedrosa. When the tea is ready, one of the teacups will fall on the ground and break, spilling the tea it contained. Then she'll slip on the tea and fall and all the other tea stuff will break too. After that she'll take an eternity to find something to clean the floor with, and when she finds it, she will slip again and fall on her butt. And since the tea must stil be hot, she'll probably burn her pretty ass."

" 'Pretty ass'?" he asked.

"Have you ever seen her just wearing her bra and panties? Cuz when you do, you see her ass and before you know it, you have a huge nosebleed."

Now, Raimundo had his eyes really wide. And a big blush on his cheeks.

"That's kinda pervert, specially if the one that says it is her own mother…" he said.

"They're facts, what can we do?… Anyways, after she cleans the floor, she'll have to make the tea again, which means we have plenty of time, don't cha think?"

Raimundo still wasn't buying it.

"What makes you so sure that…"

"3…2…" Jessica interrupted him "1…" she lifted one finger, slightly pointing to the kitchen's door. Sudenly, a crash was heard, followed by the sound of someone slipping and more crashes, louder than the first. Before Rai could say anything, Jackie screamed from the other side of the door.

"It's okay! I just broke one of the teacups… and all the other stuff…"

Raimundo stared at Jessica with wide eyes while he heard the pale girl talking to herself.

"Now, where does my mom keep the towels…"

"Like I said: plenty of time…" Jessie said.

The wind dragon nodded, still dumbfounded.

"Jackie never told me she had a friend. How long do you know do you know her?"

"Huh… about two years…"

"Two years? I don't believe it! She would have told me by that time!"

"Whoa, whoa… take it easy… we already know eachother for two years, but we've only become friends last night…"

"Really? Only last night? Then what was your relationship like before last night?" Jessica asked, surprised.

"Well, we were… enemies. My friends and I always thought Jackie was… well, a boy… named Jack Spicer. For the past two years he's been fighting us. Of course, most of the times, he lost and had to run away, and we were always calling him a coward. Or, in this case, her." Rai explained.

"I wouldn't call her a coward at all. How many are those friends of yours?"

"Three."

"Now think about it, Raimundo. It's been four against one. And like you said, she obviously couldn't win. Still though, she never gave up. She kept trying for two years now."

"Wait… you're right! Spicer isn't a coward, on the contrary, she's really brave!"

Jessica nodded.

"But I still think it's ironic…" she said.

"What?" Rai asked.

Suddenly, Jackie screamed again.

"OWW!"

That made the boy get up from the place he was sitting.

"Jackie," he called "are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I slipped on the tea again…"

Raimundo sat down again, sighing. Even though Jessica told him what was gonna happen, he couldn't help being worried about the girl. And he wondered why…

"As I was saying," Jackie's mother continued "it's ironic because the only human friend Jackie has is a boy that used to be her enemie."

"Only 'human' friend?" the brazilian repeated the sentence, which confused him. What the hell did Jessica mean?

The woman smiled, ignoring his confusion. She stood up and headed to the hall, soon coming out holding something. She sat down again and Raimundo noticed that the object she was holding was an envelope, and before he knew it, she was delivering it to him

"This is for you. It's an invitation for Jackie's birthday party. But you must go well dressed, cuz it's a formal party."

"Whoa, wait a sec… we might have a little problem… you see, I don't have money enough to buy a suit."

"Not to worry, boy. I'll take you shopping and help you finding a good suit for you, and I'll pay it. No problemo!"

"But… are you going to spend a big amount of money on me?"

"Maybe…"

"Why?"

"Because I noticed Jackie was very anxious today, and I'm pretty sure that the reason for her anxiety is you. You seem to make her happy, but she would be a lot happier if you went to the party. So I'm decided to spend as much as I need to dress you up" she explained.

"Oh… okay, then… I guess I could go…" he said.

"Splendid! How about tomorrow at three?"

"Yah, okay…"

Jessica stood up and started walking towards the stairs, but when she almost reached them, she stopped and turned around.

"Oh, and just to remind you, don't tell Jackie about our talk or that invitation. It'll be a surprise. Okay?"

"Kay. I promise I won't tell."

"Good. Well, I'm leaving now. I'm sure Jackie will soon be here with the tea…" she said. Then she started going upstairs and murmured "…and a burned ass…"

Raimundo smiled. When he met Jessica she kinda annoyed him, but in the end, he would say she was quite funny.

Jessica was already upstairs when Jackie entered the room with the tea.

"Sorry I took so long. I had to make the tea again" she said.

"No worries. You said you slipped on the tea. Are you hurt?"

"No. Well, I think I burned my ass, but I'm alright…"

Even though he was still surprised that Jessica predicted everything and all she said really happened, he felt the urge to laugh. He always thought it was funny when a woman was so clumsy.

Dojo managed to get under the couch without nobody noticing. He heard the conversation that Rai and Jessica Spicer had, and now he was listening to Rai and Jackie.

'This is starting to get interesting… It's almost like a soap opera…' he thought to himself. 'Master Fung will surely like this!'

"Jackie, do you have any other friends?" Raimundo asked while grabbing a cookie.

"Of course… there's the Jackbots, Wuya… well, maybe not Wuya, but I have other friends…"

"Besides the Jackbots? Who?"

Jackie smiled.

"I'll show you as soon as we finish the tea."

Later, the two teens got out of the house and into the forest, followed at the distance by Dojo… and the Heylins.

When they arrived the lake Jackie turned to Raimundo.

"Wait here, kay?"

He nodded and she approached the lake.

Then she started singing. It was a song with no words, just with the sound of her voice (almost like the theme from the movie "Titanic"), and Raimundo was marvelled. He didn't even noticed his eyes closing while he listened to the beautiful sound that was Jackie Spicer's voice.

When she stopped singing, Rai heard a growl coming from behind him. He opened his eyes and slowly turned around, quickly noticing that the growl came from a wolf.

"N-n-nice little w-wolfie…" he started to back up, but the wolf also started walking towards him. Raimundo was about to call the albino girl's name, but she started talking before he could say anything.

"Hi Lucy!" she said, ran towards and petted it's head, and, for Raimundo's surprise, the wolf didn't harm her.

In a blink of an eye, he was next to Jackie, petting not just 'Lucy', but also many other animals that gathered around them.

A smile formed on Raimundo's lips.

'So this is what Jessica meant by 'only human friend'…' he thought.