A/N: Hey guys. Holy mother, it's been a LONG time, hasn't it? Well, I am back and ready for action! Just hold on while I strap on my cape! WHA-BAM! Okay, for all this energy I seem to be eminating, I'm actually extremely tired. Probably because I was up until one in the morning last night watching Zombieland, and then got up at 8 o'clock bright and early this morning. Which was technically really 7 o'clock because of freaking daylight savings time. But it was sooo worth it. Words cannot express my love for zombie movies. They are probably one of my favorite movie genres. And I still have Night of the Living Dead to watch tonight! Yippee!

Update: I went back and made a couple corrections that I hadn't noticed before, that my loverly pal pointed out to me. I accidentally kept putting that Ella was Max's STEP-sister instead of HALF-sister. Woops. I also failed to remember that Ella's eyes are BROWN not GREEN. Again...my bad. AND...to add to my list of failures...I got the age difference a bit screwed up, too. Should've been about two and half years difference instead of just one. Man...I am just SLAYING these details here, bitches. Sorry 'bout that, but everything should be good as gold now.

Chapter 5: The Weather's Pretty Nice in Hell

Max's POV

"I'm Valencia Martinez. I'm supposed to meet you here. I'm...I'm your mother."

I gaped at her wordlessly, feeling the corners of my mouth stretch out and crack since my lips were so dry from the several hours I'd spent on the plane. The woman behind the counter with my muffin was now staring at the pair of us with an amused expression. I supposed she was entertained. It must get pretty boring just sitting behind a counter all day and putting people's pastries in brown paper bags. At least now she got to watch a bit of a real-life soap opera going on. My...erm..."mother" smiled at my shocked expression and stepped forward to wrap me in a big hug. I stiffened immediately, not knowing what to say or do. She breathed a contented sigh.

"Oh you have no idea how long I've waited to hug my little girl. I've missed you so much, Maximum. Not a day goes by where I don't think about you and wish I'd been able to see you more. You've grown up so much." She took a step back to look at me and I felt immediately uncomfortable. Like I was being X-Rayed or something weird like that. I crossed my arms awkwardly. "I mean, sure...Jeb sends me pictures of you occasionally, but...It's nothing like seeing you in person." She grinned. But as she stood staring at me, the grin slowly slipped off of her face until she was frowning in concern. I became a little irritated. Jeese, lady. I know I'm not exactly the prettiest girl in the land, but you don't have to be all obvious about it!

"Do you have a black eye?" She asked quietly, holding up a hand to touch my face. I backed away from her reach before she could lay a finger on me and then stood awkwardly pressed against the counter. The woman behind it cleared her throat.

"Um...so, are you gonna pay for the muffin, or should I just put it back?" I eyed the brown paper bag gluttinously, debating which was more important. Reuniting with my long lost mother, or a lump of sugar-coated bread. My mouth started to water at the thought. I slapped a five dollar bill on the counter, grabbed the bag, and started to walk away without waiting for my change. The woman didn't seem to object. She had just been thouroughly entertained for about three minutes and then made extra money. Not a bad day's work, if I do say so myself. I heard my mom-No, it's too weird to call her my mom. I heard this Mrs. Martinez woman clicking along behind me to catch up. I looked over my shoulder. She was wearing a business suit and classy high heels. Yeah...there was no way this lady was related to me. This has to be a mistake. Dressy shoes could not possibly be in my genetic code.

I pretended to ignore her and made my way over to the nearest drinking fountain. I was parched dry, and my tongue felt like a strip of sandpaper in my mouth. The steady click of her heels behind me made me look nervously out of the corner of my eyes every few seconds. The sound made me quite paranoid. Like walking down the school hallway with a teacher right behind you the whole way. I stooped over the silver bubbler and pressed the little button that was supposed to make a fountain of water spout into my desert of a mouth. Instead, it gurgled weakly and emitted an uneaven flow that streamed down the slightly rusted spout. I cringed and stood up, a little embarrassed. Now not only was I practically dying of dehydration, but I also looked like an idiot bending over an unworking water fountain.

Mrs. Martinez cleared her throat. "I have some bottles of water in my car, if you'd like." she offered pleasantly, as though this was not the most awkward situation the world has ever known. "We can grab your luggage and head out to the parking lot. I'm sure you must be extremely tired. We can get you home and get you some rest." I wasn't looking at her, so I let my eyes narrow. Why was she talking to me like I was eight years old? Did she think I was incapable of performing simple human tasks like drinking and sleeping? But I sighed to relieve the stress and then turned to face her.

"Yeah, sure." I answered a bit blandly. "I'll grab my bags and then we can leave." I toted my muffin bag around loosely at my side while hoisting my suitcase and duffle bag around in my arms, trying to get a steady grip on all three. As I wobbled towards the exit where Mrs. Martinez was waiting, she came forward to help me with them. I backed away quickly, not very fond of people touching my things. Besides, the fact the the necklace was safely tucked away in the suitcase, wrapped in about three layers of bubble wrap and in a box, did not help. "I've got it. I'm fine." I said stubbornly, trekking past her and pushing the door open with my back. I saw her grin knowingly to herself as she followed after me and a little wave of anger swelled in my gut. She was thinking that she knew all about the way I worked. All about how I thought and why I was doing what I was doing. I was being analyzed and it pissed me off.

But I bit my lip to keep my mouth shut so that I wouldn't say anything stupid. Normally, I would just come right out and say whatever was on my mind, no matter the consequences, but...I really wasn't in the mood. I was tired both mentally and physically and I was waiting for small plants to start growing in the chapped cracks of my lips. I started to walk out into the parking lot, dead set on getting to the car. It was only then that my newest guardian spoke up from a bit behind me. "Umm, Max? We're over here, hon." She was pointing in the direction the opposite way from where I was going. I grumbled a bit in irritation, even though there was no rational reason to be mad at her for pointing me in the right direction. It was a standard car, though a little oddly shaped with a long front end and a sort of square, also rather long back end. The windows were tinted black and the car itself was yellow, paled slightly by it's endless exposure to sunlight.

She popped the trunk and I tossed my scant luggage in along with the other clutter that was already there. Then she walked around to the driver's side and started to get in, leaving me standing a bit awkwardly at the back of the car. I shifted a bit and then closed the trunk before stepping tentatively to the passenger's side and cracking the door open. I ducked in with hesitation and adjusted myself in my seat uncomfortably, making many obscure scratching noises as I moved. Finally I was still and the car was dead silent. It was like sitting in the waiting room of an STD clinic and it being completely empty except for you and another stranger, and you both know that each of you has an STD, but you don't say anything because it's too awkward. Okay...maybe it's not EXACTLY like that, but you get the picture. It was weird as hell.

Mrs. Martinez didn't seem the slightest bit bothered by it, or at least she didn't let it show. She calmly reached into a little cavity between our seats and pulled out a waterbottle and handed it to me. It was lukewarm but I gulped it down like there was no tomorrow. She started the car right up and some weird classical music was playing on the radio. She looked over at me and smiled as she prepared to back out. "Seatbelt on, please." she said. It took me a minute to register what she was saying to me.

"Oh...yeah...right." I fumbled with the grey belt that I probably hadn't worn in five years and clumsily snapped it into place. When I was finished looking like an idiot, she backed out of the parking space and we cruised out of the lot and onto a long road with mile upon mile of black asphalt laid out ahead of us. I leaned my head back against the seat and closed my eyes, praying to whatever is up there that I could have a nice, quiet ride...

My plans did not go as I'd wished. As it turned out, Arizon scenery wasn't half bad. Lot's of dirt and sand-like turf and scattered coarsly green trees. The sky was bright blue with wispy white clouds, and the mountains framed it with their reaching peaks. It was actually very pretty. I would have been more than happy to just sit through a quiet car ride and stare out the windows. I could've even tolerated the classical music. But Mrs. Martinez had other ideas. I could see that she meant well, and just wanted to make friendly conversation, but that didn't stop me from wanting to yell "Shut the hell up!" the entire way. She was constantly asking me questions. It was like I was being interviewed, or taking a personality quiz. From "How is school?" to "What sort of music do you like?" to freaking "What did you have for breakfast this morning?"! I swear, there is not a question this woman has not asked me.

Of course, alot of my answers were something along the lines of "I don't know", but still...It gets tiring after awhile. Finally, just as I was contemplating how badly I would be injured if I jumped out of a moving car, we began to enter what looked to be a small town. Mrs. Martinez took her eyes off the road for a second to beam at me. "Welcome to Sierra Vista, Arizona." I won't lie...it wasn't a bad town. There were mountains lining the skyline and the sky itself was still a perfect, cloudless blue. The weather was amazing. Seriously, it was probably the best weather I've ever been in. Warm enough to be comfortable, but slightly cool enough as well without the annoyance of a breeze. But, of course, at this moment in time, we could've pulled up in Las Vegas and I still would've considered it my hell on earth. Anything that was not MY town...was a shithole.

All the imperfections of Sierra Vista seemed lined up in front of me now. The vegetation was too parched for my liking, the roads were bumpy, the sun glared down on me from all directions. The whole place looked like a ghost town to me. The roads were deserted, and there wasn't even a house in sight. Mrs. Martinez spoke up again. "Don't worry, most people are at work or in school right now. That's why it looks so empty. Plus, we're only just coming in. A little farther ahead, there starts to be houses and things like that." Her words did not reassure me, though. I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of my window, and tried to ignore the bumps we continuously rolled over. My stomach was growling (I still hadn't touched my muffin. I was too thirsty.), but I was almost too pissed off to eat anything. We passed a gas station or two and then finally got into what must have been the main part of town.

A few stores and restaurants lined the sidewalks, with gas stations scattered about, boasting their gas prices and buy-one-get-one-free sales on hot dogs and pork rinds. We passed a police station, and a post office as well. A sign indicated that there was a mall a little ways in. But we never got the chance to pass it. Before I knew it, we had cruised into the inhabited part of town. A few more stop signs, some trees, some dry grass, and a long, black pavemented drive with houses slightly spaced out down it. I stifled a groan of self-pity. A woman outside of her house in jeans and a large t-shirt was watching her two little boys scribble chalk on their driveway. She was sitting on the porch with a glass of iced tea, a magazine in her hands and a radio beside her. Mrs. Martinez slowed the car. "Hold on just a second, honey. I just want to say hi to Bobbi." She pulled over to the drive way and rolled down the window.

"Hi, Bobbi, how are you?" she called. The woman named Bobbi squinted down from where she was sitting. I heard the sound of country music playing from the radio. I almost broke out into tears. The woman smiled and waved. Mrs. Martinez said hi to the little boys, both of whose names she knew, and then started driving again. Oh good God...I was moving to a hick town. Oh why me? Oh why ME? "Well, this is it." Mrs. Martinez said. I opened my eyes and we were pulling into the driveway of a fairly good sized house. Most of the walls were made up of cream paneling, but the front part where the front door was built in extended a bit from the house itself and was made of pale brown bricks. There was a single garage to the left of the front door, and two upper story windows above it. To the right of the front door was a large groundlevel window looking out onto the front lawn, and two small upper story windows above it. The roof was pale brown like the bricks. A little cement walkway lined with tiny green plants led up to the front steps.

"Welcome home." Mrs. Martinez turned off the car and hopped out, going around to open the trunk where my bags were. I remained frozen in my seat, trying to take everything in. I remained that way for a long time before there was a sharp rap on my window. I started and looked over with a freaked out expression on my face. Mrs. Martinez laughed. "Are you going to get out of the car, or are you just going to sit in there all afternoon?"

"Yeah, yeah..." I grumbled, undoing my seatbelt. "I'm coming, I'm coming." I cracked the door open and stepped out into the refreshing weather. It had been getting a little overheated in the car. Mrs. Martinez was lugging my duffle bag up the walkway already, having left the suitcase for me to grab. I snatched it up, slammed the trunk a little harder than necessary and followed her, irritated. She unlocked the door with a tiny golden key and slipped inside. I did the same, and was immediately greated with the rush of air conditioning. I sucked in the cold air with great pleasure to my lungs, and tried not to notice how dry my throat still was. Or how hungry I was slowly becoming. The inside of the house just looked like the standard design. I won't be bothered to describe it any further than that it was SPOTLESS. Like...the kind of spotless where it looks like nobody has lived in the house for ten years, but a maid still comes in and cleans it every day anyways.

"I'll fix you something to eat, and then I'll show you around. You can just leave your bags at the bottom of the stairs." Mrs. Martinez pointed to where she had already plopped my duffle. I rolled my suitcase over to it. Just as I was about to turn and follow Mrs. Martinez into the what I presumed was the kitchen, there was a loud bark and a little, black dog came bolting down the stairs and jumped up on me, his front paws digging into my knees.

"Whoa...easy there little guy." I pushed him off of me lightly and stooped down to scratch his ears. I was rather fond of dogs, and even my current circumstances couldn't supress the comfort I felt in knowing I would at least have a little dog to keep me company at the very least. "What's your name, huh buddy?" I flipped the little dog tag on his collar over. It read Total in large print. I rose an eyebrow. "You've got a weird name, pal." I said quietly, patting his head. He looked up at me with his little black eyes and let out a little whine. I smirked and then stood up. Mrs. Martinez was bustling around in the kitchen, making what looked to be a sandwich. She turned and smiled when I walked in.

"You can sit down if you want." She gestured briefly to three chairs waiting in front of the little island in the center of their kitchen. I walked around awkwardly and pulled one of them out. There were several minutes of shifty silence before I cleared my throat to break the ice reluctantly. I wasn't really in the mood to talk, but If I asked the questions this time, it would save me from getting interviewed again.

"So, um...that's a cute dog you've got." She didn't even look up when I said this, but continued searching in the refrigerator.

"Oh, you met Total, huh? Yeah...he's sweet. One of the little neighborhood girls found him last year running around the block with no tags or anything. We kept him here for a few days while we put up flyers. Nobody claimed him after a few weeks, and we've had him ever since." She finally found what she was looking for and pulled out a plate covered in plastic wrap. "I hope you like turkey sandwiches. I'm afraid we don't have much food in the house right now. I haven't had a chance to go shopping 'cause I've been so busy making preperations for you to come. You'll have to come with me some time this week and tell me what you like to eat." She set down a plate with a turkey sandwich, a pile of chips, and a handful of grapes. I stared at it for a minute, and then tentatively took a bite. I hadn't eaten anything that didn't come out of freezer or a cardboard box in months.

"Um...thanks..." I said gruffly, not making eye contact.

"Well, you're welcome." Mrs. Martinez smiled and unwrapped the corner of the plate she had pulled from the refrigerator. She extracted a single chocolate chip cookie and offered it to me. "You want one? They're pretty good if I do say so myself." I took it from her and bit into it. It was like a piece of heaven had fallen down to earth, been coated in chocolate, and baked in an oven. It took all the muscles in my head to keep my eyes from rolling back in delight. She laughed as she watched me wolf down the cookie. "There's plenty more where that came from, so feel free to help yourself." She pushed the plate closer to me and I grabbed another one, intent on savoring it this time instead of vaccuming it. "Well, I'm sure you could use a moment or two to yourself. You finish eating, and when you're done, come and get me. I'm going to run upstairs and see if I can finally fix that damn toilet in the guest bathroom. We've been having plumbing issues with it for months. I'll show you around when you're done." She smiled at me with a tender gleam in her eyes and then grabbed a cookie for herself before making her way out of the kitchen and upstairs.

I was left alone in the large kitchen. Just me and my plate of half eaten food. I sat eating for a few more minutes before I got too restless and I had to get up and move. I didn't quite want to go upstairs just yet, so I decided to take up some time by exploring a little bit. Of course, I didn't really want to leave the kitchen, and unfortunately kitchens never really have anything to explore, but hey...at least it would waste time. I glanced at the clock that was built into their microwave and saw that it was 1:56. I looked through a few of their cupboards, only to find that they had no good kinds of cereal and hardly any junk food. The sliding glass doors that looked out onto their back porch revealed a dry little area with a bird poop-stained table and a few wooden chairs. The hole in the table where the sun umbrella would have gone was currently vacant. And a quick glance at the refrigerator revealed lots of pictures of what I presumed to be relatives of Mrs. Martinez. I wondered if she lived in the house alone, or if she had a husband. It didn't appear to be so. There was no sign of man anywhere in this house. No beer in the refrigerator. No piles of dirty socks lurking around corners. No, no...this house had been womanized.

I was about to duck down to see what their freezer contained when a photograph caught my eye. I stood upright again and placed a finger to it, as though to make sure it was really there. It was a picture of Mrs. Martinez and my dad standing in front of a bench entangled with morning glory flowers. In Mrs. Martinez's arms, was a tiny baby, all bundled up with tufts of light brown hair poking out of the blanket. There was no mistaking it...she was holding me. And odd feeling welled up inside me. A constricting sort of feeling that made my throat ache. I looked away quickly from the photograph to the one below it. It was my latest school picture. I was smiling nice and big, but only because of the ten dollar bill folded away in my pocket. I hated school pictures, but Jeb would give anything to get me to take a nice one that he could send to the relatives so that he could convince them we were one big, happy family. I growled. What right did this woman have to put up a picture of someone she'd never met on her refrigerator? Like pretending a close, intimate relationship was there. Only the most important people in your life went up on your refrigerator. I ripped it out from under the magnet and tossed it into the nearest garbage can. She had no right...

Suddenly, there was a loud clunk from somewhere upstairs, and then an odd rushing sound. Mrs. Martinez started to yell. "Oh shit! Oh no, no, no! Stop! Stop it!" My eyes went wide. Uh oh...how had they found me so soon? This was impossible. There was no way it could've been... "Max! Ahh, Max. come here! I need help!" I darted to the kitchen drawers and started yanking them open until I found a knife sharp enough to cause injury if need be. I grabbed it and then hauled myself up the stairs as fast as I possibly could. The hallway was lined with several doors, but the one on the very end was open. I rushed towards it and threw myself inside. It was an ordinary guest room, but the lights in what must have been the bathroom were on towards the back of it. I stepped onto the carpet, but after a few seconds I noticed that it was wet. I looked more closely at the door. Water was pooling out of it steadily. There was clinking and clanking to be heard from inside.

"Mrs. Martinez?" I asked tentatively. There was no answer at first. I tried again, stepping closer to the door and soaking my shoes. "Um...Mrs. Martinez? Is everything all right?" I poked my head into the bathroom. She was kneeling near the toilet, her pants and shirt drenched with water that was still spewing out of one of the pipes. She finally heard me as I stepped into the bathroom, and spun her head around.

"Oh, thank God. Can you give me a little help here with this wrench? I don't quite have the muscle, I'm afraid." She laughed a little bit and stepped back to give me room. She looked down at my hands, which were clutched around the knife. "Why do you have a butcher knife?"

"I umm...I was just...no reason." I set it down awkwardly on the counter and knelt down to grip the wrench. My clothes were now soaking as well. I wrapped my hands around it and twisted, and twisted. Until the pipes were tightly together again, and the flow of water stopped completely. Mrs. Martinez breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh phew...that was close to being complete disaster. It's lucky I have you around here. I never should've tried to fix the damn thing. I'm absolutely no good at home improvement things like this." She sighed heavily and looked around at the damage. The bathroom was thoroughly soaked, and the carpet outside of the room was drenched as well. Suddenly, a yapping Total burst into the room and started to run around. Once into the watered area, he began to roll around on the floor like he was playing in a puddle. Technically, I guess he was. Mrs. Martinez laughed a little bit. "Oh dear..." She turned to me where I was still squatting near the toilet. "Well, it doesn't look like you'll be able to stay in here for a couple of days. I need to get somebody in here to make sure we don't get water damage, and well...who wants a room with sewage water all over their carpet?"

I stood up and rung out my shirt over the toilet. The water splashed all over the place. "Umm...okay..." was all I could say. I hadn't even been here for an hour, and now it was like she was consulting me on the best decisions to make.

"Come on...lets get you a change of clothes and then we'll figure out where you're going to stay. Also, I should probably call the carpet cleaners, or a plumber or something." She looked confused for a minute and then left the room. I grabbed the knife from the counter and followed her timidly. She handed me one of my duffle bags. "Go change in the down stairs bathroom. I'm gonna make a quick call, but I think I know the perfect place you can stay." She grinned pleasantly and walked away. Oh dear God...

"It'll be perfect. I can just move an air matress in until we can get the carpeting fixed. She kind of reminds me of you, a little bit. I'm sure you'll get along perfectly." I was tagging along behind Mrs. Martinez, who was running up the stairs again. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I couldn't catch a second to ask her. "She should be home in an hour or so. I'm sure she won't mind if you get your stuff set up, though." We had reached the top landing, and I finally had the breath to speak up.

"Um...who are you talking about?" Mrs. Martinez paused and turned to look at me.

"Well, Ella, of course." she said as though it had been the most obvious thing in the world. I raised my eyebrows and waited for further explanation. "Ella..." she tried again. A confused look came over her face. "You mean...Jeb never mentioned...you don't know who Ella is?" I wanted to roll my eyes. It's so annoying when people ask questions like that. If I knew who she was, do you think I would be so lost? I kept my answer as civil as I could.

"Umm...I don't know who the heck you're talking about, but...I've never heard of and 'Ella' in my life. Who is she...like...the live-in maid or something?" That would explain why this place was so spotless. Mrs. Martinez looked gravely serious, though.

"Max...Ella is my daughter. She's your half-sister." I froze. Woah, woah, woah...rewind. Did she just tell me I had a long lost half-sister too? What next...I find out that I was actually beamed down from space, and my real parents were aliens from Mars?

"My what?" I said, skeptical as to whether I had heard her correctly.

"Your half-sister. Her name is Ella. She's my daughter. You two are actually not too far apart in the age department. Like two...two and a half years apart maybe. I can't BELIEVE Jeb didn't tell you about her." She seemed absolutely shocked that he hadn't mentioned anything. Sheesh...I don't know how long ago she knew my dad, but it must have been a LONG time, because the Jeb I knew NEVER mentioned anything of importance to his lowly children. At least that's what I was finding out now. For crying out loud, the man kept the whole other side of my family a secret from me for fifteen years.

"Yeah...well...Jeb doesn't tell me very much, it seems like. I didn't even know you existed until three days ago." Her jaw dropped in shock.

"Oh my God! You didn't? Oh, I'm so sorry, it must have been so awkward! I was under the impression that Jeb had told you all about me. I had no idea." She went on for awhile, just apologizing for being so overwhelming. And then she started fuming about how Jeb could be so careless and misunderstanding. I let her do so. It was nice to hear someone heaping the blame on my father instead of me for a change. "Oh, he can be so dense sometimes! I'm gonna call him up after you get settled in, and give him a piece of my mind! What kind of a father keeps his own child in the dark about her own mother. Ugh...he can make me so angry sometimes." She started moving with an agitated pace a bit further down the hallway. Hmm...I might just be starting to like this woman.

Creak, creak, creak. I listened to the rickety noise of the bed frame creaking as I shifted myself around to get more comfortable on the edge of the matress. This Ella chick's room looked like something out of a Disney Channel movie. Fortunately, she was a little old for Hannah Montana and Joan Brothers posters to plaster the walls, but it was the height of perfection-of-life that those movies emanated. Shiny hardwood flooring, matching mint green dresser, desk and bed frame. Five or six bright, flowery pillows were perfectly positioned at the head of the bed. The dresser was filled with all sorts of summery clothes. The bottom shelf of the desk was filled with books with titles like The Princess Pact and The Girl Who Knew Too Much. The statue of a ceramic, painted kitten rested next to an alarm clock whose backlight glowed purple. And a cream rug with chocolate brown polka dots was positioned with precise crookedness on the floor. The only thing missing a cat curled up at the foot of the bed.

Mrs. Martinez had run off half and hour ago to go call Jeb after showing me briefly around. I had heard her yelling at him for a couple of minutes, but things seemed to have quited down. Now I had no idea what to do with myself. I had already poked around the room enough to meet my satisfaction. There was nothing interesting in here that I could find. I hopped off the bed and started pacing randomly. A necklace on her jewelry stand caught my eye, and made me think of the necklace I had been carrying around with me. I raced over to my suitcase, unzipped it, and dug out a giant wad nestled in between a few of my sweatshirts. The was was actually several layers of bubble wrap rolled around a small shoe box that containe a few more layer of bubble wrap and then the taaffeite necklace. I had really become quite paranoid in regards to it. I peeked under the lid just to be sure it was still there, and then started to put it away. I was readjusting it rather forcefully back into place, when I knocked loose my deoderant and it skidded under the bed.

"Damn..." I muttered, bending down to see where it had ended up. It was all the way in the middle of the area under the bed. "Of course." I said, exasperated. I tried to worm my way under to reach it, but it was such a large bed that I ended up entirely underneath it just to get it. "Stupid deoderant." I was about to start worming my way back out when I heard the door open. Waiting to hear Mrs. Martinez's voice, I froze. But instead, an unfamiliar voice greeted my ears.

"Yeah, my mom's on the phone again. She didn't even say hi to me when I got in." There was a pause. "Yeah, I know. She's been on the phone for, like, three days straight. Something about my long lost half-sister coming to stay for a couple weeks." There was yet another pause. "No, I'm not even kidding you. That's exactly what she told me. Her name's Max or something. She sounds really wierd." I gritted my teeth together. This bitch was talking smack about me before she even met me? Oh...it was on! I swiveled around on my stomach to get a look from under the bed. All I could see was a pair a black flats and bare ankles pacing around the room. This must be Ella. She was either on her cellphone or she was a schizophrenic nut job. For the sake of my ability to function properly, I prayed it was the first one. She continued to talk for a little while. It seemed she had no other interest other than to bash me.

"Yeah, I've seen her picture before. We get a new one every year. If you ask me, she looks like one of those girls you see on those juvenile detention shows. Yeah...those ones." She stopped pacing for a minute. "Yeah, my mom told me she was in some sort of trouble. She sounds like a total psycho freak." Okay...that was it. This chick wanted to talk smack about me? She could do it to my face! I started to pull myself out from under the bed. When my head broke out into view, Ella gave a huge shriek and leapt back. "Oh my God! Some weirdo just crawled out from under my bed! I've gotta call 911!" I stood up and started advancing towards her. She screamed again. "Ahhh! Mom, help!" She was a skinny little thing with dark brown hair and large, brown eyes. I grabbed her by the collar of her designer shirt and held her face up close to mine.

"Listen, the next time you're going to talk trash about someone, at least have the courtesy to MEET them first." I said angrily. She yelped and pulled something out of the purse she was clutching. It took me a second to recognize it as pepper spray, but it was too late. She held the can up to my eye level and proceeded to saturate my corneas with the burning liquid. I released her shirt with a groan of pain and stumbled backwards, rubbing my flaming eyes fiercly. "Son of a bitch!" I said loudly. Then came the noise of footsteps thunking up the stairs.

"Who the hell are you?" I heard Ella shout. I tripped over the edge of the rug and fell backwards onto it, stilly clutching at my face in agony. The door banged open. Mrs. Martinez's voice filled the room.

"What's going on in here?" I managed to pry my watering, red, swollen eyes open just to see what was going on. Ella was standing, looking terrified, pressed up against her dresser. Mrs. Martinez was in the doorway, looking back and forth between me and Ella. "Well..." she said a bit awkwardly. "I see you two have met eachother."

A/N: Haha, I finished it! Suck my balls, I finished it! Ahem... Well, after a century (or something like that) of writing, countless packages of Snyder's Honey-Wheat Pretzles (those things are the bomb!), and approximately a thousand interruptions in my writing...It is finally completed. I'm sorry if it's a piece of crap. Please go easy on me. This is my first chapter since I got back, and it's taking me a little while to get back into the swing of things.

As for you, Shayna18...please message me ASAP and tell me what you thought. Any changes you want me to make. I'm yo homegirl, G!