Lifelines
(Sweeney Todd says 'Hi')

"It's thicker, like vicar. No it's grocer - it's green!"

"Stop singing!"

Thwap

"Hey! Who hit me with a pillow!"

"She did!"

"Edward! I did not!"

"Hah! Gemma likes Liam, Gemma likes-"

Pow

"AGH! My eye!"

"Serves you right!"

"Are you kids okay up there!?"

"Fine, dad!"

"Are you sure? Is Gemma still alive?"

"I'm alright, Mr.Bone!"

Thwap

"LIAM!"

"You hit me first!"

"It was friggin Edward!"

"..Oh."

Thwap

"OW!"

--

"Sweeney Todd says 'Hi'" Was all Gemma could think of to tell Kai on the green bus. Kai frowned at her and then chuckled.

"It's rated R, you know. For mature audiences only," He poked her shoulder, a good-natured glint in his deep golden eyes. As much as she stared at him, Gem couldn't figure out what Caitlyn saw in him. Sure, Kai was hot - nothing compared to Edward, of course - but there was no amazing thing about him.

"Psh," Gemma brushed it off as she looked out the window and the fast-approaching Bloor's Academy, "The only scarring bit was Liam's singing."

"Holy crap!" Kai sat up with a start, all of his expression rigid, "I nearly forgot! Can you tell Caitlyn to stay the hell away from the Kendrenski guy. He's a serious player. He's gonna hurt her or something."

Gem frowned and looked Kai over. His worried expression seemed completely honest, yet, "Kai, are you stupid or what?"

"Huh?" Kai asked, confused.

"The business about Caitlyn," She sighed. How hard was it for him to notice? Sure, boys were stupid, but she had been a whole lot less obvious with Edward and he had noticed eventually.

"I just don't want her getting hurt," Kai's eyes were truely befuddled.

Gem slapped him lightly, "Yeah, 'cause you're definately the best judge of that."

Kai was starting to get angry now, Gem could see that. It was her fault - she wasn't being very clear with him. But honestly, he was stupid. Taking a deep breath, she quickly added, "It's obvious that you like her."

"I hate a date with Lydia Lyson yesterday!" Kai protested, holding up both hands in a gesture of innocence.

"You went invisible and dumped Coke on a guy's head because he insulted her," Gem said, in that flat tone of voice she had so well perfected.

"So?" Kai asked, but a flush had come very faintly to his cheeks.

"Look, Kai..." Gem sighed, and this time her voice was serious, "The only way Caitlyn would end up with Izsak Kendrenski is if you didn't want her."

--

"Hey Kai! Hey Ed!" Caitlyn walked over, tossing her long mocha curls behind her shoulder. She hated dressing in the school uniform, but she could look good while doing it.

"Hey Caitlyn," Kai looked aside slightly, not meeting her eyes. He kept on walking straight ahead, polite but firm. His message was clear - he didn't want to talk at that moment.

Edward rolled his eyes and brushed stray hair out of his face, "Have a good Sunday, Caitie?"

Caitlyn frowned. She didn't like it when people called her Caitie. She let Edward do it - it was his friendly petname for her - but she wished Kai would. He gave her this talk about respecting her wishes, but it would have meant more to her if he had called her Caitie.

"Fine," She mumbled, and they shared a moment of companionable silence.

Lydia Lyson broke it. She flounced up to Caitlyn, her blond hair blowing in the wind. Her eyes were alight with some strange emotion. Maybe it was happiness that Caitlyn would finally be out of her way, "Kendrenski wants me to get your phone number for him!"

Somewhere up above, Kai stiffened. Caitlyn noticed this and let a tinge of smugness cross her face. She turned to Lydia happily, "You have something to write it down on?"

Lydia nodded and produced a sheet of wrinkled lined paper and a pen from her pocket, "Go ahead."

"613-826-0901" Caitlyn told her, "I live at number 12, Beechline road, at the base of The Heights. Tell him he's free to visit anytime."

Lydia nodded again, still not noticing that Kai was turning more into a statue with each passing second. He clenched his fists and turned away when Edward ambled up to him, "You okay?"

"I don't like the thought of her dating Kendrenski..." Kai muttered through gritted teeth.

Edward attempted a grin, stuffing his hands into his pocket, "I'm sure she doesn't like the thought of you dating Lyson either."

Kai looked at him strangely, and Ed could see pure confusement in Kai's brown eyes as he murmured, "But it's not the same thing..."

"I don't understand what you mean..." Edward said, though a logical solution was starting to present itself in his mind, "Wait, you mean..."

"You won't tell, will you?" Kai pleaded, somewhat desperate, "I like her but she doesn't like me. So what's the point?"

--

There was a special presentation that morning. The drama class had apparently been working all last week for a series of short little skits. Some of the music students, including Edward, Audrey and Lydia, had been chosen to provide music for the piece. Edward spent the first few minutes warming up on his saxophone as he listened to the crowd talk restlessly. He played a few tunes, ranging from Beethoven's 9th to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and finished off with music from Pirates of the Caribbean. Audrey was sitting next to him, her steel-blond hair in a bun as she played her clarinet. Lydia sat on the other side of the room polishing her flute. Edward planned to watch her and Kai.

What Kai said had been completely idiotic, but it wasn't like Ed could tell him that. It was obvious that Caitlyn liked him, and Kai was so blind he couldn't see it. They were perfect for each other.

Then the curtains opened and the auditorium game into veiw. Edward searched the crowd for Kai and found him and Haley watching from the back. Haley had decided not to be in this presentation, as he had missed a day because of the shop.

Then Caitlyn flounced onstage and began her dramatization of the beautiful but wicked villian. Edward toodled away on his saxophone as Lydia warbled on her flute. When a break came for the musicians, he took the time to look at Kai. The brown-haired boy was watching, riveted. Edward noticed his eyes were fixed on Caitlyn.

Unfortunately, Lydia noticed that too.

Edward sighed. It was going to be a long day.

--

Gemma was the second to arrive at their meeting place, the old stump. She mvoed flamboyantly, her golden curls bouncing in perfect time with her slender body. The first to arrive was Kai. He was sitting on the stump with his eyes wide open.

And he was glaring. Kai glaring was never ever a good sign.

Liam came to stand beside her, hands pushed forecefully into his pockets. There was some unseen tension between all of them today. Something almost forceful.

Edward was the last to arrive, his blond hair spiked and slicked casually. He was looking as good as ever, Gemma noticed. Except for that large zit on his forehead.

Honestly, he should use ProActin.

Caitlyn didn't arrive, and neither did Haley, a fact which made everyone uncomfortable. Something was up.

"So I talked to my dad about shadow powers," started Edward, looking slightly less uncomfortable than he felt, "And apparently there was this Naren Bloor person who could control shadows. Except she used them to send messanges."

"So you think that- "stared Liam, catching on.

"Mmm," Edward nodded, "I think that this shadow theif is related to her."

"No way," Kai started, but he didn't really mean it, "So this Naren person has a son?"

"Or a daughter," Gemma chastised him, then paused, "Did you say... Bloor?"

Edward nodded slowly, "Yeah... She was the daughter of Bartholomew Bloor, a good Bloor."

"Pfft," Kai glared, recovering from his abashed look, "No Bloors are good."

"Yeah," agreed Liam, "This Naren Bloor chick is probably training her kid for evil or something."

Gemma nodded, "I mean, she was stealing..."

Encouraged by his support, Kai went on, "We need to get rid of these shadow people."

"Hold on!" Edward yelled, surprising them all. He quieted down once they turned towards him, eyes wide. He bit his lip and ran a hand through his messy blond hair selfconciously.

"I wasn't finished. Dad says Naren helped him. So I think that maybe Naren had a child and that child can control shadows. But I don't know anything about why she wants something from Ingledew's. Dad and I are going to visit Naren next Saturday."

They all nodded slowly, agreeing quietly. As much as they all wanted to solve these problems, they had a certain reluctance in going through the actions. Kai ran a hand through his floppy brown hair, in a much more suave style than Edward. "So what about the voice in the wall?"

"Maybe one of us could like, get detention or something," volunteered Edward.

"I already have it," Kai said neutrally, "I dropped my books in the hall on the way to the drama assembly. But I dunno if I can find the voice again."

"What's up?" Caitlyn's voice drifted towards them. She flipped her cell shut and put it into her pocket. She met Gemma and Liam's confused stares and sighed, offering 'Izsak' as an explination.

Gemma exploded, "You ditched us to talk to Izsak! Honestly, you just met the guy. You don't seem to care at all about anything here; you're too busy worrying about your stupid relationship status. You're acting like such a bitch now. You'd probably just spend your whole detention IMing this new guy, anyways."

"Gemma-" Caitlyn asked, completely surprised. She hadn't known how much of a snob she'd been.

Gemma turned away, refusing to talk to her.

Kai met Caitlyn's eyes for a split second, and then he looked away. He bit down on his bottom lip, tapping his foot impatiently. Caitlyn looked at Liam, who fidgeted and dropped her gaze. Only Edward looked at her, and he was obviously uncomfortable.

"Guys?" Caitlyn whispered remorsefully. She looked at them slowly.

"It's alright," Edward murmured, determined to try to work things out, "Kai has detention, so he'll try and find the voice in the wall. Me and maybe Gemma and Liam are going to go see Naren Bloor to see if she is related to anyone with powers like Haley described."

Caitlyn swallowed, "Then I'll get detention too! I'll come with you, Kai, and see if can help you find the voice. It's the least I can do."

Out of the corner of his eye, Edward thought he saw a smile tug at the corner of Gemma's mouth. He was then distracted by Kai's low voice. "I suppose. I mean, help would be great and all..."

Gemma looked at Kai, sure that he was imagining the awkward situation in his head. She looked back at Caitlyn, determined to make things right and spend some time with her crush. She looked at both of them, both completely oblivious to each other, and she sighed.

Everyone was so damn thick.

--

It was night, and Edward was trying to fall asleep. Liam was beside him snoring, and the Gunn boy was pretty loud. Ed shifted from side to side, trying to find a good position, when a strange light filtered in through the window.

He looked up nervously at the strange lights that were dancing on the wall opposite him. Dark blots seemed to move around, forming shapes and- words?"

'Hello, Edward' said the shadows.

--

Charlie Bone was worried. Worried because his wife was sick and possibly delusional. Worried because the Bloors were up to something again. Worried because Edward was too concerned with his zits to fix a simple problem.

"Charlie?" asked Olivia weakly, grasping for Charlie's hand.

Charlie squeezed her hand comfortingly and pulled the thermometer out of her mouth, checking the temperature. It hadn't changed. He shifted the ice that was on her forehead, and tucked a hair behind her ear after it had blown away from the air from the fan. He leaned down and kissed her gently, murmuring that it would be all right.

"So, what did you see?" he asked, sitting in a chair beside the bed.

"I just looked out the window," Olivia murmured, "I saw... I forget. I didn't know. I screamed and ran outside, then I ran into Gemma's brother..."

"Gemma's brother," asked Charlie awkwardly, "Do you remember his name?"

Olivia nodded and pulled Charlie close to her before whispering the name in his ear.

"Tristan."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Don't flame me for finally updating. I'm sure you all needed to read this xD

So now you know who Tristan's parents are.

Oooh.

Excitingness.

And Naren trying to contact Edward, eh?

So Gemma showed a bit of her temper and I showed another shot of the adults, like someone asked.

Plushie Time

DotCiki gets a Caitlyn plushie with a IHATELYDIA FANCLUB FOR LYDIA HATERS badge.

Storms-Are-My-Nature gets a Gemma plushie. When you squeeze it, she yells at Caitlyn.

ShadowRose gets a Charlie Bone plushie that squeaks and warbles and rambles on about Olivia.

So, review, nya? That is, if you still care about my fic.

Much love,

-Eagleh.

This chapter is dedicated to me cuz I wrote it xD