Chapter 12: The Cat's Out of the Bag… or not?

-x-

"You only want me to go home, don't you?" I said bluntly. So much for sincerity. And I took him seriously too.

He nodded defiantly. "Yes, it's a must. How could you trust these people anyway? There are some rather strange people here…" He seemed to be thinking of something as he paused but then continued rambling.

I sighed. Jack was an absolutely wonderful cousin who is more of a brother to me. I love him dearly. It's just sad that he's rather stupid.. I opened my mouth to say something, but loud knocking on my door disrupted my defence.

Knock. Knock. "Hello, anyone home?"

We both flinched at the sound of the familiar voice. …Devon…

-x-

The two stood there for a minute phased at the moment. They were quite shocked to hear Devon's voice outside the door. The revelation. The truth! It can all be revealed in a matter of seconds. It was rather a good time for either one of them to keel over and faint.

In the instant of another round of knocking, Chelsea snapped back to reality and practically threw her cousin Jack into her closet, "quietly" slamming the door at his face. Placing Jack's hat on her head, she stood hesitantly at the door, taking slow breaths. 'Just be casual' she thought as she took her final breath. 'It will be just fine…'

Taking the knob in her hand and the lock on the other, she slowly opened the door to find Reporter Devon protecting himself with his pen as Chelsea's puppy, Aidan, stood beside the man, growling and fur bristling. At the sight of his owner, Aidan immediately stopped his threat and passed through Chelsea's legs and wandered throughout her house.

"Umm…" Chelsea started, not really knowing what to do. "Sorry about that." She watched as the reporter regained his composure, fixing his black hat upon his head. "Aidan can be really pro-"

"I would like to speak with you." Devon interrupted. "May I come inside?"

Chelsea moved aside to watch the somewhat short reporter pass by through her door. She noticed by the tone of his voice that this was a serious matter. No jokes. And rude too. She never really liked the guy and thought she never would.

As Devon seated himself on the table, he looked around the house, which did not seem all that appealing to him. "Small home."

"Mmm… yeah." Chelsea couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as she watched before her the man that could reveal everything simply by talking to her. "Would you like something to drink?" She began her way to the kitchen. Anything to just stay far from him as possible would do, but before she could touch the counter he responded.

"No, please sit down."

Chelsea continued to stare at her kitchen, every move that she made, she had noticed she was hesitating through it all. And for the first time, she realized as she sat down before the reporter and stared at his eyes, she was afraid.

'No..' she thought. 'This was no first time… A first time in a long time yes, but I know this feeling for sure. Just like -'

"Tell me, Braden." Devon seemed to have emphasized her fake name as his brows rose. "How do you like it here in Sunny Island?"

Chelsea answered smoothly. "It's not bad at all. I happen to like it here a lot." She nodded with a little smile, hoping that her answer already made a difference.

" I see…." He quickly shifted to his elbows on the table, a smirk spreading through his face. "Then what would you say about leaving?"

Chelsea blinked. "What?"

"You do know that what you are doing, Chelsea…. Is wrong?" Devon continued. "Why did you run away from home?"

Chelsea didn't answer.

"Was it because you were sick and tired of it?"

"…"

"Couldn't handle being the only poor family with a horrible background? What about that brother of yours? Didn't he become a delinquent leaving you behind to be the heir to the throne?"

She felt her face heat up with anger. So much she wanted to just knock the reporter out cold right now for being so rude and to bring up her family into such a conversation.

"I..I have no idea what your talking about." Suddenly she felt this harsh sting on her cheek, causing her to fall on the floor. Looking up, she saw Devon standing before her, his hand raised into the air.

"Don't talk nonsense in front of me, girl. After all, your only the daughter of a peasant. Useless like your father." He smirked. "I've watched you grow up. I know your weakness. So you better say something now. After all.." He smiled. "This will become big money for me as it hit's the front page of all newspapers. "Ms. Acres' Finally Home'. I'm sure you'd want to see your mother and sister again right?"

She cupped her cheek softly as she felt the salty sting of tears well up in her eyes. She forced it back, knowing that revealing such tears would show memories she wanted to forget. Of course he'd know her weakness. Auntie would tell the jerk anything just for them to be together. All this reporter cared about is money.. Just like all the others.

She smiled under the shadow of the hat. 'But…I'm not one to talk am I?'

-x-

Meanwhile, Jack was stuck in the closet in a rather messed up position. Some boxes were pushing his back, Chelsea's drawer inside the closet was practically trying to make him trip, and the clothes around him made it really stuffy. He was surprised to see that there was enough space for him to actually fit, but soon came to an understanding that this was a walk in closet. Though it wasn't easy being quiet in such a place when all inanimate objects were out to get you.

He leaned in close to the door of the closet and slowly opened it to see Chelsea and Devon sitting at the table. Looking at Chelsea's face, he instantly became worried. Knowing Devon, he was one of those greedy money makers, the kind that scared Chelsea since her step-father was the same. People like this make Chelsea come to her realization that she's one of them too.

'But there's no way that Chelsea could be greedy. She's far from greedy, unlike those bas-… idiots.' He frowned as he remembered that he was refraining from using "baddie" words. It was eating his system alive.

Suddenly, he heard a slap and instantly looked out the crack to see Chelsea falling off her chair to the ground, Devon towering over her.

Man don't wanna make Jack angry. Too bad that man did.

He was about to bash through the doors and punch the living lights out of that jerk. But drawing back his elbow too quickly was a bad idea as his funny bone collided with the drawer beside him, he fell backwards, causing a loud destruction to occur within the closet.

-x-

Devon and Chelsea paused as they heard the clunking and banging and cracking coming all from the closet.

"What in the world was that?"

Chelsea stood up quickly and scurried to the closet. "I'll go check it out!" She quickly said, disappearing behind the door.

Once inside, she clicked on the light and found Jack sitting inside a box, his legs and arms in the air, and his face seemed to portray the perfect mixture of confusion and pain.

"Why are you making so much noise?" Chelsea whispered.

Jack didn't answer as he just stared at her with his emerald eyes. "You… You're crying."

Chelsea paused as she looked down at her feet to find small puddles of tears on the wooden floor. More tears came from her eyes, ready to join those on the floor. It came to her as a surprise to find herself crying as she gradually slumped down to the vacant floor, doing her best to wipe them away, but they just kept coming back.

Jack slowly eased himself out the box and quickly bent over Chelsea, wiping her eyes with his sleeve. He then wrapped his arms around her shoulders, rocking her gently as he rested his chin on her hat.

It was quite strange to Jack to see Chelsea crying. Above all, he hated seeing her crying. He never had a sister of his own, but he was related to Chelsea by blood. It was only natural that he would think of her as his sister, especially after her real brother left her behind. But this wasn't crying, Jack knew this. It was just tears that ran down. There was no feeling at all. And that's was why it was hard to see her like this. she did not grow up with feelings. She grew up by actions.

"What's taking you so long?" Jack heard Devon call out.

The voice of that man made Jack shiver with anger. Jack knew that he was not the kind to think things through and make lousy decisions, but this was a risk he was planning to take. Holding Chelsea by the arms, he stared at her flushed face long and hard. He inspected her cheek which was glowing red under the light, swelling up immensely.

"Chelsea." He whispered, taking off his hat from her head. "Stay here." He was about to get up, but was stopped as he felt her hand grasp on to his sleeve.

Her voice was soft. "You're not going out there, are you?"

He closed his eyes for the moment, placing his large hand on hers, grasping it tightly, and forcing her to let go of him. Turning off the light, he opened the door and drew up a breath to see Devon leaning against the table.

Jack chuckled, slapping on his hat. "Heh. Sorry I took so long. Had to fix up some things in there. And it was getting hot so I changed.. You know, to get out of all that sweat." He inwardly smiled to himself as he noticed that Devon had not noticed the changes of height and speech. Then again, he didn't think anyone would notice since the two of them looked like they were practically twins.

Devon crossed his arms with a raised brow. "Hmmm.. Strange. I'd be expecting you to be crying as of right now."

Jack laughed as he shut the closet door behind him. "Me? Crying? Yeah right. Stupid remarks like yours can't beat down a guy like that."

"I was specifically meant a GIRL like you." The reporter added.

"Yeah… about that." Jack started. " I dunno what your talkin' about, bud. I ain't no girl."

"…Then why were you so weak before?"

"You caught me off guard. What else was I supposed to do?"

An electrical stare off began between the two men, that is until Devon blinked and Jack made his victory gestures.

Devon narrowed his eyes. "There's something different about you…"

Jack smiled. "There's also something different about you, too. Did you gain wrinkles over the years? It really adds to your look."

That obviously pulled the last straw as Devon blasted out, "Stop with the joking already!"

Jack sighed and pulled up a chair to sit on. "Geez, old man. Take a chill pill and relax." He instantly felt one of those stinging slaps that he witnessed on Chelsea. He clenched his fists, holding back his punch. Jack was surprised that the reporter had some muscle.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that…" Devon dropped his hand to his side.

Jack smirked as he stood from his chair. "And what are you? My mother? What kind of guy slaps guys anyway?" The farmer was finally fed up by this guy. "Okay… I'll show you, Devon. I'll show you that I am clearly a guy."

Devon stood his ground, looking at him intently.

-x-awkward-x-

"Okay.. I'm convinced…" Devon stared at the wall with a deep frown on his face.

Jack zipped up his pants and began buttoning his shirt. His face was heated and his lips also made a deep frown on his face. "G-Good… You better not mention this to anyone."

"What can I do… to make it up to you, Braden?"

Jack looked up from his shirt, forgetting that his name at the moment was Braden, and smirked. A long, never ending train of requests ran through his mind, all leading up to Devon being dead…but.. He reconsidered… remembering that Chelsea was waiting in the closet.

-x-

Chelsea's POV

I opened my eyes to find myself staring at the ceiling. I was in bed. Sitting up and looking around, I found Jack sitting next to my bed, his head bent down. I was guessing he was asleep. . Looking around more, I found my house to be rather dark. Was it already night time? …I felt something pull at my cheek and found a bandage covering up the cheek where Devon slapped me. What Happened? …

"AH!" I suddenly busted out. "Devon!" I seemed to have startled Jack as I saw him jump next to me, making me jump also in response.

Jack looked at me with wide eyes and yelled, "Goodness Gracious, Chelsea! Don't scare me like that!"

I mumbled a sorry to him, then asked, "What happened to Devon? Where'd he go? Did he figure ou-" I stopped as I noticed Jack standing up, drooping to my table. I clearly could see a cloud of despair raining all over him and depression written all over his back. Which made me cut to the chase, but before I could make a sound out of my open mouth, his hand shot up to my direction. "Don't….ask." He then cried. "I've already lost my dignity.

Let's change the question. "What. Did. You. Do?"

He turned around, looking at me with a queer face. "There are things never to be mentioned, dearest Chelsea."

I jumped out of bed and continuously began pestering him to tell me. Annoyingly, he just started up with excuses and comebacks. I chased him all around my one room house, to the kitchen, to my bedroom side. He suddenly began to speed for my front door and I tackled him over, both of us colliding to the floor.

"Tell me!" I yelled.

"No!" Jack paused and dramatically added, "I'll never tell you, Chelsea."

I sat on top of him then began shaking his collar. "Tell me! Tell Me! Tell me!" I may have sounded like a little kid as of right now, but it was fun and enjoyable to be the younger out of two.

"Chelsea!"

We both stopped and looked at my front door, now open. Standing there, looking down at us was Denny and Vaughn, who was dragged along by Denny to come over. It was rather awkward, seeing the two men during our sibling moment, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

"What's this?" Denny yelled, pointing at us.

"Ah.. Denny… I could explain…" I said, hands releasing Jack and pleading my innocence.

"Chelsea. Who. Are. They?" Jack stared at me, his eyes shifting between me and them.

A few minutes later….

"Oh…" Denny mumbled. "So you two are cousins…." He suddenly stood up and pointed at Jack. "But cousins shouldn't be doing that!"

I sighed, pushing the fisherman down to his seat. "We weren't doing anything, Denny."

Vaughn, who was seated next to Denny, looked at me. "So harassing your cousin by making him lose his consciousness by shaking him repeatedly is not anything? I must have seen wrong or something…" I karate chopped him on the head as I was passing his chair. It still seemed to make no affect.

"And these two…" Jack grimaced. "are your friends? I had no idea…"

"Yeah." I smiled, noticing a dark aura radiating off of him. To have more fun, I added, "Awesome friends."

"Yes sir-ree! Though, I met Jack earlier." Denny said, then pointed behind him. "We met back at the beach remember? Before I knew you two were cousins."

Jack nodded. "And I bumped into him, also." He glared at Vaughn and I could feel the intensity as Vaughn glared back.

I wasn't sure about the feeling between the three men. Two of them are continuously having stare offs (the winner unknown) and one of them is just flying in space out there. Men are weirdos, but I happen to be "one of them" too. We need a better name for ourselves.

I then remembered to ask for their late coming tonight. "Is there a reason why you two came here late tonight?"

Denny's eyes flickered and he grinned. "Yeah. I saw that all those reporters were suddenly leaving today. They said that Chelsea girl has nothing to do with Sunny Island and that there was no reason to stick around. They just left in the last cargo ship."

I noticed Vaughn's eyes take interest too. "Chelsea huh?" His eyes seemed to sweep over Jack, then to me. "I see…" He then looked away. What was that?

"Hey, it's getting late." Jack said, looking at his worn down watch. "You two should get going."

Denny frowned, getting out of his seat. "You just want to push us out of here, don't you?"

Jack nodded, bluntly saying, "Yes. I want you to leave and never come back."

Denny then came up to my back and slung his arm over my shoulders. "Man, Cousin Jack's being mean, right Bray?"

"Well -" I started, only to get interrupted by

"What are you saying, calling me "Cousin Jack"?" Jack questioned him, standing up from his seat.

I looked over to Vaughn to see he was just being a spectator now. He sure was good at blending in even though he was a cowboy with silver hair. Something like that wouldn't easily pass by me for sure since it's rather.. different.

"Yeah." Denny grinned, patting my back. "After all, Braden and I are brothers! Right?"

I started again. "Right, but -"

"Excuse me, dude, but you two look nothing a like."

"What? Do you have something against us looking nothing alike?" Denny defended. "You don't know family issues in our lives!"

I bit my tongue. I knew that Denny was joking but - "Hey, Denny, you should -"

The fisherman continued joking. "Do You want to hear our sad sad story of our family?"

Jack suddenly pushed his chair with his foot. It screeched again the hard wood floor and made a loud THUNK against the wall. He then said lowly, "I know you may be joking, but please don't make fun out of family issues."

Crap. He snapped. It's always like this whenever something like so is mentioned in front of me. I don't take it as serious as I did before anymore. "Jack, it's fine. It's no reason to get angry over."

This time, I heard Vaughn's voice behind me. "Denny, we should go."

I turned around to find Denny staring at the both of us before being turned away by Vaughn, leading toward the door. I quickly walked to the door before they could reach it and opened it for them. As they passed, I quietly said, "I'm sorry. Jack is just really pro-"

"No…I'm sorry." Denny quietly mumbled as he went away in the dark quickly.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my head and looked up to find Vaughn, looking at the same direction where Denny walked off to.

"He… shouldn't have said such things jokingly huh?" Vaughn slowly came to look at me and smiled. "don't worry about him. I'll… cheer him up…somehow." He then moved away, following Denny into the night, leaving me at the door.

Closing the door, I turned to see Jack staring at the ceiling. Then he looked at me, his lips moving and inaudible words coming out of his mouth.

-x-

Yay, I hated Devon. :D

Thank you for reading.

- Do Jo