Title: Shadowland: Jake/Sleepy's POV

Rating: Probably K+

Disclaimer: I do not own these stories. The talented Meg Cabot does, of course.

Summary: This is the Mediator, book one: Shadowland. But, it's in Jake/Sleepy's POV. It's about his feelings in the book, and his feelings for Suze. Just what exactly is going on? And why is his step-sister so frequently on his mind?

After school that day, I noticed David was extremely excited about something. As soon as Suze got in the car, I realized what it was.

He began prodding her and complimenting her on how exciting it was that she was so popular on her first day and how awesome she was for saving Bryce.

I didn't say anything, because I definitely agreed. I just didn't want to say that I agreed. After all, I didn't want Suze to know that I thought of her as anything more than an annoying little sister.

I was trying to keep my mind off of Suze and how amazing she was as I struggled to get the car to start. Then, I heard her mention that she just did what anyone would do in her situation.

I tried not to laugh. Yeah, right. Like anyone would just risk their life for a stranger. I highly doubted that.

Suze was just absolutely and utterly amazing. I also couldn't help but think about how she looked today. And then I was really really frustrated.

WHY WOULDN'T THESE THOUGHTS GO AWAY? AND WHY COULDN'T I GET THIS STUPID RANGER TO START?!

"All of you shut up!" I heard myself screaming. I don't even know what I said next, but it was something about Brad and David hitting each other and yelling in my ear, and Suze's big, attractive head.

But I don't think I said attractive out loud. At least, I hope I didn't.

Later that night, I had to work my delivery shift, but there was nothing new. Sadie hit on me, I couldn't get my mind off of Suze, and I was incredibly tired. Yeah, nothing new.

It didn't help that when I got home, Brad informed me that Suze got at least four calls tonight. Once of which he heard was Bryce, calling to get the details about his date with Suze on Saturday. Then, she had another call, in which Kelly invited Suze to her new party on Saturday.

I'm not sure why Brad thought I would be interested in Suze's life. Of course, I was interested, but I hoped he didn't know that.

So what that my stepsister was now becoming really popular and going out with my best friend? Big deal….

Why should I care anyway?

The bad thing is that I did care. I cared a lot, and that is what made me so angry and frustrated. I didn't want to care.

Caring about it was annoying and tiring and frustrating, and well, weird. I hated it.

And yet, I couldn't just stop caring. It's like I had no choice.

I was frustrated beyond belief, and I just groaned into my pillow, trying once again to fall asleep as I rolled over.

Why couldn't I sleep much anymore? I was already tired enough from my job and school, now throw Suze into the mix. It was definitely unfair! That's what it was.

And completely frustrating. And embarrassing. And weird.

Think about it. How embarrassing is it that I can't get thoughts of my stepsister out of my head? If my parents knew, they'd go ballistic. If Brad knew, I'd never hear the end of it. If Suze knew, well I'm not sure what she'd do. Either insist to move back to New York or possibly get her gang to kill me. I didn't really know, but I definitely didn't want to find out.

As you can see, it was absolutely horrifying. I was horrified and appalled at what a sick human being I had become. I mean, being jealous of my best friend going out with my step sister. What was my problem?

After lying like this for what felt like eternity, I must have drifted off at some point.

Finally, when I woke in the morning, I felt completely exhausted. I did not sleep well at all.

I was running around trying to find the keys to the Rambler. I could have sworn I left them on the key hook in the kitchen. All the while, I'm shouting for someone to wake up Suze, because for some reason she was still in bed.

What was up with Suze, anyway?! Why was she sleeping so late? Didn't she know she was going to be late, and I was going to have to leave without her. Well, if only I could find my keys!

Of course, I would have waited for her, but David said he'd be in trouble if he was late for another assembly. I admit, I may be having some weird feelings about Suze, but they weren't enough to get my little brother into trouble when he didn't even do anything.

Finally, Suze stumbled down the stairs wearing the shirt from yesterday, but with different pants. It was all wrinkled, and you could tell she had just rolled out of bed.

She looked tired. But yet, I still couldn't bring myself to say she looked horrible, because she didn't. Tired, yes. Horrible, not at all.

I had to tear my eyes away from her and keep looking for my keys. Why am I always running late? Why is my life so difficult sometimes?

I saw that as soon as Suze heard me mention my missing keys, and she ran back up to her room to grab her leather jacket. I then saw her rush over to the landing and drop the keys. A second later, she strolled by, pretending to find them.

I narrowed my eyes at her, but I didn't say anything. What was I going to say?

Oh, Suze. I'm watching your movements so closely that I noticed that you didn't really find the keys there. You had them all along.

That wouldn't go over so well. Considering most people wouldn't have even noticed, because it was so subtle. Then again, most people aren't completely watching their stepsister's every move, unable to tear their eyes away.

As you can see, I definitely couldn't say anything. So instead, I just pretended to go along with her story—for now.

"Here, Slee—I mean, Jake, I found these on the landing," she said, handing them to me.

What was she about to call me? I couldn't help wondering, but I had more important things to worry about right now.

I narrowed my eyes and raised my eyebrow at her suspiciously.

"Oh really? I could have sworn that I left them on the key hook last night," I said, pointedly.

She dropped her gaze from my own. Aha! I knew something was up.

"Ha. Well, I guess not," she said, shrugging her shoulders and turning away quickly.

I dropped it and followed her out the door. We were already late enough as it was. I didn't have time to deal with this now.

But I did want to know where Suze had been late last night?

I got home around eleven, so she had to have gone out after that. Where, exactly, had she gone? And why?

Was she sneaking around to see some guy? Bryce, maybe?

Nah. Bryce wasn't like that. Even though, he did mention that he liked danger. Still, I doubted that it was him. Anyway, I could just ask him today in school if I needed to.

Was it someone else, then? Was it some other guy?

My chest tightened. Exactly how many guys was she seeing?!

Oh, wait. Maybe it was the gang thing. That must be it.

She must have been out looking for a new gang. That would explain why the keys were in her leather jacket. And why she had to go out so late, instead of normal waking hours.

Although, sadly, I'm not sure which scared me more. The idea of her in a gang or the idea of her sneaking out late at night to meet some guy.

And that was really scary. I shouldn't care if she meets up with other guys, but I do care. Not only do I care, but I care way too much! I really hated this.

Although, you would think that if she was meeting up with some guy---or even sneaking out to meet up with a gang—she'd have the decency to fill the tank with gas. Because, I noticed that there was not the same amount of gas in the car as I had left the previous night.

Yeah, Suze. You are SO busted!

Then, I definitely couldn't help my annoyance when we got to school two minutes too late. Sister Ernestine gave us all the evil glare until we made our way to our place in line. I looked over to notice a bunch of yellow caution tape, as well as Father Dominick talking to a CBTSPD—Carmel by the sea police department—personnel. What had happened?

What was up with this school, anyway? There was always something weird going on around here.

Later, I found out that apparently, a group of vandals had broken in and sabotaged the place, breaking off the head of the statue of Father Serra. Who would do something like that? A gang?

And then I froze.

No. It couldn't be. Suze wouldn't really break into school and vandalize the place, would she?

I know she seemed tough, but that was a bit much, even for her.

Was it just a coincidence that she happened to have the car keys the same night this had happened? And that she felt it necessary to hide the fact that she had the keys in her black leather jacket—which was clearly used for sneaking around at night with her last gang.

Could it be just a coincidence? It definitely didn't seem like it.

I was distracted by my thoughts when I saw Sister Ernestine come around and shoo everyone back to their classes.

It wasn't until a while later that I heard a huge commotion in the hall and someone came running down the hall shouting that Father Dominick and Bryce had been killed.

WHAT?!

Everyone went running out of their class to see what had happened. I think I ran faster than anyone. Well, until I saw Suze running.

And let me tell you, that girl was fast. Maybe it was from outrunning so many gang members in the past, I wasn't sure.

I finally caught up to the scene in time to hear that a giant cross in the priest's office was about to fall on Bryce when the priest showed up and pushed him out of the way.

I think someone had it in for Bryce. That's for sure. What was up with this school?!

I heard Sister Ernestine threaten Suze (and everyone else) to get to class, and I briefly heard Suze mention something about our mother—yes, OUR mother, because she was my step sister, which was why I definitely shouldn't be thinking about her so much.

Anyway, I briefly heard her mentioning calling our mom and having her news crew come down to the Mission. Sister Ernestine shut up after that, and I smirked.

Suze was definitely something else.

I looked over and saw Bryce being pulled out on a stretcher first. Apparently, he was lucky and had only broken a collar bone. But he was moaning as if he was dying. I rolled my eyes and looked over to watch Suze's reaction.

Suze looked amused and….disgusted?!

Ha! Take that, Bryce!

No! What was wrong with me?! My best friend just got his collar broken and he's in pain, and I'm over here, glad that Suze is disgusted with his reaction.

By this time, I was really disgusted with myself. And I'm pretty sure that if Suze knew, she'd be disgusted with me as well.

I saw Father Dominick being pushed out next. Now he had it bad: broken ribs and a broken leg. Ouch!

It was nice of him to save Bryce, though. I always knew he was a nice guy, but I guess it was just cool to know firsthand. It was nice to know that he really cared about the students.

I saw David run over to Suze. It was so cute that he was so infatuated with her.

Except that, well, it wasn't cute. Because I felt the same way—to an extent—and it DEFINITELY wasn't cute. It was sickening.

So seeing this—mixed with Sister Ernestine's threatening face—I turned and headed back to my class.

Things with Suze around just kept getting more and more interesting.

A/N: End chapter five. I hope that you all are enjoying this so far. Any more recommendations? Suggestions? Comments? PLEASE review?! It makes me very happy!

Thanks for reading!