Sorry for this chapter being a bit short...
But well... Some of the others will be longer :)

Not so long now till... well... You're gonna have to wait and see (or guess) :P

Anyways.. ENJOY!! And make me happy by leaving reviews :P


Chapter 24 - She's Been Different

Abby walked into the classroom right before the bell rang. Seeing that Luka sat on their normal seats, she quickly sat down at the empty chair furthest away from him. He had noticed her when she walked in, so shrugging his shoulders he gave her a confused look.

Abby just looked down, trying to avoid his gaze. It wasn't that she didn't want to sit next to him, she just couldn't. She wasn't even sure why, but somehow she feared that it would break her down, that she wouldn't be able to keep herself together.
I
t wasn't because it was Luka that it scared her, but just the thought of any kind of contact, physical or spoken, it didn't matter, creeped her out. She was amazed by the fact that she had been able to handle school these past couple of days, but she had really, really tried to block everything else out and just focus on school and home work while being there.

Of course Luka had noticed. He had tried to get her to talk, but somehow, and she wasn't even sure how, she had been able to make up all these little excuses to either postpone their talk or just altogether drop it. She did still talk to him, but she tried keeping it to a minimum.

"Abby!" Her head snapped up as the teacher pulled her out of her thoughts, her heart skipping a beat. "Can you tell me the definition of a homogeneous mixture?" She bit her lip, starting to fiddle with a hair tie around her hand. She knew the answer, she just couldn't get herself to talk. "Abby?"

"Ehm... A substance which is pure throughout. Normally only consisting of one kind of compound or element. Like pure water." She was looking down again, not sure if what she was saying was even correct.

"That's right. Just speak up next time, I could barely hear you." Biting her lip she nodded while still looking down, happy when the teacher went on with the lesson.


Abby threw her back pack onto the floor as she walked into her room, not caring about the fact that all her books fell out and she'd probably fall over it a few seconds after when she'd forgotten it was there.

"Abby?" Letting out a breath she fell onto the bed, forcing herself not to wince in pain. "Is there anything wrong?" She quickly glanced at her brother who was reading a book, most likely homework, on his bed.

"I'm fine Eric, just leave me alone." He was quiet for a few seconds, and she knew he was trying to think of something to say. He had always hated it when she was in a bad mood or wouldn't talk with him.

"But..."

"Please, Eric. Just shut up!" She hadn't meant for it to come out the way it had. It sounded so mad. Angry. Evil! She took a deep breath and bit her lip, looking across the room to her brother. It broke her heart seeing him like that, just starring shocked at her with tears appearing in his eyes.

Sighing she got up and sat down next to Eric on his bed, putting her arms around him. "I'm so sorry Eric, I didn't mean it like that." She put her head on his shoulder, gently stroking his hair.

"It's okay, Abby." She carefully shook her head, wanting him to know she did it, but didn't want to move away from the comfortable spot her cheek had landed. It wasn't okay that she yelled at him. Every since he had been a baby, Abby had been the only one who'd been there for him, the only one he could trust. The only one he could always count on. And she never got mad, or sad. Or she did, but she never let him see it. He barely never saw her upset. He was used to her being his rock, so that one time every second year, or maybe not even that often, when she accidentally yelled at him or got mad at him, he broke down. Because that was always so unexpected.

"No, it's not alright Eric. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Moving a bit back she turned him around so he was facing her. Taking Eric's hand in hers she looked down, biting her lip. She felt a need to explain her recent behaviour to him, but had no idea how to do so.

"Look, I know I haven't been myself lately." Looking up she saw Eric starring at her, giving her his full attention, so she looked back down. "I wish I could tell you why, explain why I am the way I am, but I cant." She bit her lip, looking at her bitten down nails. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, I really do, but I don't know the answer myself." She was lying, and she hated it. Of course she knew why she was acting the way she was, but she couldn't really tell Eric the truth. She looked up at Eric as he squeezed her hand, his way of telling her that it was okay. "I guess it's just some kind of stupid, teenage girl thing." She gave him a fake smile, which she had become a professional at doing lately. Smiling back at her, he threw his arms around her, hugging her tight.

"I don't care what weird teenage syndromes you have, Abby. I'll always love you." This caused Abby to smile. A real smile, not one of those fake ones.

"I love you too, Eric." She pulled back and messed up his hair, which she knew he hated. "Now, get done with your homework. I need to go to work." Eric just nodded as he tried straightening out his hair again, but continued laughing insanely when Abby did stumble over her school books.

"It's okay, Abby, I'll put them back into your bag. Just leave, I know you're probably in a hurry."

Abby sent her brother a smile. How had she ended up getting such a perfect brother? Or more specifically, how could such a perfect, young, innocent boy possibly have ended up in such a screwed up family. He deserved better.


Luka was starring blankly into space as he stuck his fork into his pizza, not even noticing that his father was looking at him.

"What's wrong, Luka? You never eat you pizza with a fork, you always use your hands." Getting pulled out of his thoughts, he plinked a few times before putting his fork down and looking up at his parents.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking, that's all." When the silence was getting too awkward, he picked up his Hawaiian pizza and took a big bite. He wasn't really hungry, but he needed some distraction from his family's glares.

"You sure? You've seemed pretty distracted lately." He took a deep breath and looked at his hands on the table.

"I'm sure, mom. Just got a lot of things going on." For a few seconds everyone stayed quiet. Luka hated the silence, it was so unusual in their home.

"Hmm. Okay I guess. If you insist." He was about to say something, to defend himself, but never had a chance before his brother cut in.

"He's having girl problems. I think Abby's mad at him or something. She's barely speaking to him." Sending his brother an evil look, he kicked his shin under the table.

"Stop talking about things you don't know anything about, Niko." His older brother held his hands up defeated, shaking his head.

"Hey, I'm not trying to offend you, I'm just stating the obvious." Luka sighed and looked back down at his food, not sure how to respond.

"Is it true, Luka?" He closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking up at his parents who were waiting for him to answer.

"I don't know." He let out a breath. "I don't know what's wrong. Ever since we came back from Croatia she's been different." He stopped talking as he saw the look his mother was sending him. He knew what she meant, what her opinion was, but he still didn't want to believe her. Even though her theory did seem more and more likely, he kept telling himself that she was overreacting, that she was mixing her job into her personal life. Into his life.

"Well, cheer up Luka. I'm sure everything will work out just fine." He gave his dad a small smile before picking up his pizza again, starring at it in his hand.

"I hope so." He continued starring at the pizza slice in his hand, debating on whether or not to eat it. After a few seconds he sighed and put it back on his plate.

"I really can't eat anything. Can I be excused from the table? I need to start my chemistry report." He looked up when no one said anything.

"Sure. Go ahead." Nodding a 'thank you' he got up and picked up his plate. "Just leave it, we'll take care of it." Putting it back on the table, Luka nodded before leaving the kitchen to go upstairs to his room.