A/N: Hey! chapter 3... not that anyone out there is reading. If you are, thank you and please don't take out your anger on the computer screen when you finish reading the injustice I do the KND name. I suck. Read on.

CHAPTER 2- Mistakes II

Wally POV

"Ay, Wally! Don't forget; training Thursday, 'kay?" Ace Kidd, one of the quarterbacks for the school football team called from aross the field.

"Ah'm team captain, Ace, Ah think Ah should know when ma team trains!" Me and Ace had a love-hate relationship. Sometimes he was fun to hang out with, and he always got a decent job done, but other times... I wanted to beat the crud outta him. It didn't make things any better that we both liked the same girl. The only difference was that he was a lot more open about it than I would ever be. I physically tensed every time he went over there, acting all smooth and cool with his gelled-up hair and black shades. But she turned him down over and over again. It wasn't as if she had any shortage of boys asking her out, but it brought me more than just a little bit of happiness every time he was broken, and had to face the long walk back to the "jock" table. Okay, so maybe it was more hate than love.

I pulled up my old Holden Ute in the driveway of my house, turning down the stereo and heaving my schoolbag out of the back. That car is one of my most prized possesions. It was like a little bit of home; every time I heard the engine splutter into life it reminded me of Aus. I entered through the door, hearing mum in the kitchen cooking something that smelled good.

"Hello, Wally dear!" She greeted. "How was practice?"

"It was foine. This football'll nevah be as good as back home though." According to me, the rugby back in Australia was the best sport that was ever played.

"Oh, I know dear. But there aren't any clubs around here... or anywhere for that matter. I'm afraid this is the best we can do," she sighed.

I knew that mum always tried to make it easy to fit in in the US, but it would never be home. Lately it had been worse than usual, and I can't understand why. I couldn't remember ever being homesick when I was younger, but then again, I couldn't really remember anything from when I was young. Everything before the my thirteenth birthday is just a big black blob, like a painting smudged beyond repair.

"Wally, honey, sit down a minute." I was little taken aback by that. My mum was never usually this serious. I took a seat at the kitchen counter.

"Yeah, mum?" I asked, a little worried about what was coming next.

"We know you've been feeling a little... homesick lately. So, we've arranged for a little holiday this winter break."

I looked over to her. Her face was a mixture of anticipation, excitement and trying to hide all of the above.

"You mean- we're-" I stuttered, trying to grab onto one thought at a time.

"Yes Wally. We're going back to Australia." I was extatic.

"Seriously? Ah, mum you're tha best! Ah can't wait!" Mum just chuckled and shook her head slightly at my childish outburst.

"Well then it's going ta be a long 3 months for you, Wallaby," she smiled. I didn't care. It didn't matter how long I had to wait, it just mattered that I was going.

"Thank you so much, mum! 'Ave ya told Joey yet?"

"No, Ah was just going now. Do you wanna tell 'im?"

I thought for a moment. Me and my little brother didn't always get along that well, but we did have our moments. But, I wasn't sure how he would feel about the trip. He was only just born when we moved and he didn't really know the place from anything but pictures. I said I would anyway, and walked off down the hall to his room.

"Hey, Joe, how's it goin'?" I greeted from the doorframe.

" Ah, hey, uh. What da ya want?" He replied quickly. He looked a little caught off guard, and a little guilty, his hands under the covers like he'd hidden something there. He seemed to be trying to work whatever it was without looking at it. It was probably one of those strange contraptions he used with his friends in that secret agent game they were always playing. I smirked.

"'Ay, 'ay, don't get crabby! Ah just came up ta talk to ya," I shot back in a mock-defensive tone.

"Well, okay, what's up then?" He said, now looking a little more curious. I sat down on the bed.

"Joey, do ya like coming from Australia?" I wasn't sure how to bring up the subject, so I guess I was playing it by ear.

"Uh, Ah dunno. Ah don't really think about it much."

"Do you wanna foind out?"

"...Ah guess."

"What 'ave ya got planned ova winter break?" I asked back, wondering if this was going to develop into the actual topic any time soon.

"Not much. Just hangin' with ma friends, really."

"Well, clear ya schedule, mate. We're goin' back home."

There. It was out there. Now how would he react?

"Cool! But won't it be cold there?" he queried, looking genuinely excited but a little worried. I laughed.

"Nah, mate, it's summa ova there when it's winta here."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah." I said with a chuckle."So you're not mad about going?"

"No! It sounds like fun! And you and dad are always watching footy on sattelite. Maybe we'll actualy be able ta go to a game!" He cheered, a little spark appearing in his eye. I couldn't help but smile down at him and ruffle his hair.

"Ha, maybe. Okay, squirt. Ah'll seeya then."

"Bye!" I had a strange feeling that he was talking to someone after I'd left.

I made my way up to my room, thinking about how me and my bro could get along really well sometimes. There were some things that we just couldn't stand about each other, but then, that was just one of the catches that came along with the bond of brotherhood. I turned into my room and flopped down on my bed, only to be called straight back down for dinner. After I was finished, I returned and let myself fall back onto the covers. Before long I was asleep.

-Dream-

"Hi Wally!" Called a small, dark-haired girl, wearing a green sweater that was at least 6 sizes to big.

"'Ay, Kooks. What's up?" greeted a short, 10-year-old boy that looked sightly like Joey.

"We're watching Rainbow monkey happy funtime hour! Come on, you can still catch the end!" Came the overly cheery voice.

The boy gagged.

"No-ho-ho way!" He scoffed, waving his arms back and forth to add effect. "There is no way I am watching rainbow dorkies for a whole hour!"

"Well, you did miss most of it 'coz you were out at your grandparents house, but don't worry! There's still ten minutes left!" The young asian girl was weilding a bright blue monkey with a rainbow halo above its head.

"Yeah!" The boy started. "ten minutes to get outta here!"

The girl was visibly saddened, and lowered the monkey to the couch.

"But Wally..." she whined, putting on the puppy dog eyes. The boy tensed. Not gonna fall for it this time, mate, he told himself. Be tough.

"Pleeeeease?" Came a pleading voice that awoke Wally from his pep talk of sorts. If this was a game, Wally wasn't winning. He cursed himself and balled his fist as he, like always, cracked.

"Oh Oh-kay," He relented, taking a seat on the couch, mumbling to himself.

"Next time I won't give in..."

-End Dream-

Nigel POV

I loaded onto the bus after school, like any other student who wasn't lucky enough to have a car. I had been saving, and I was almost there. Just a couple more weeks of work...

I sort of liked being the new kid in town. It was like an experiment. I liked seeing the way the different cliques responded to my presence. Some, like the "skaters" or the "preps" ignored me altogether, obliviously by the skaters and very pointedly by the preps. I laughed at the fact they thought they could hurt me or bring me down by pretending I didn't exist. The math geeks were always trying to convince me to join the mathletes, and the music department analysed me for an instrument case every morning when I entered school. But I was more into things like book club, and the school's lazer tag team sounded like fun. I'd been talking to Abby, the team captain who also sometimes did articles on the school blog, when there was space to fill. But she, and Kuki, a very... optimistic girl who hung out with her, seemed to spark some sort of strange emotion. I couldn't know them, could I? My parents told me that I had lived in America before we moved back to England, but I couldn't remember anything before that day I woke up, in a bed in London, somewhere between my thirteenth and fourteenth birthdays. Apparently I had been studying on a scholarship at a boarding school in Canada, when I fell and broke my leg badly after falling down a flight of stairs, and was sent home until it had gotten better. I didn't recall a boarding school, or any fall, but once I got home, I just couldn't imagine leaving... again? And dad had managed to get a job in our old suburb, and though I couldn't convince him that I didn't remember anyone from there, here I am.

There were a few people who gave off the same feeling of nostalgia as Abby and Kuki. Hoagie Gilligan, the AV club president who could fix anything, according to Kuki an Abby. Wally Beatles, the captain of the football team, who was the toughest player the team had known, but didn't seem to actually like playing the game. Patton Drilovsky also raised some deja vu. He was on the football team with Wally, and took it upon himself to train the junior team. There was Fanny Fulbright, a testy member of the girl's volleyball team, and Rachel McKenzie, school captian. Everyone knew her, and she knew everyone. She was attractive, with blonde hair skimming her shoulders, deep hazel eyes and lightly freckled face. She wore an orange and black tiger striped T-shirt , dropped at one shoulder, with a green tank top underneath, a pair of khaki shorts and black high-tops. She was nice; never took things too seriously yet never lashed out or yelled. Something about her made me think she was just a born leader. I wondered weather she'd had any experience at it, just for the fact she knew just how to keep an audience of over six hundred high school students listening and interested. I admired her for that. It wasn't easy to do; almost as difficult as managing a school full of kids with no teachers. Not that I disliked kids, unlike some other teens I had seen.

I got off at my stop, and walked down the street to my house, returning to the hazy subject of my childhood. My father was disappointed when we'd moved back here, down-hearted that we couldn't buy back our old house. To tell the truth, I was a little releived, for two reasons. I mean, how strange would it be to live in a house you had supposedly been raised in, but had no recollection of? and how was I supposed to tell dad that I had no idea how this place was set out, where everything was, and how to get around the neighbourhood, which I have now "re-learned." I pondered on the subject quite a lot, especially after moving back here, thinking up stories and conjuring explanations as to why my mind might have actually wanted me to rid my mind of these things. My mum said I'd never been bullied, and that I really had a wide range of friends who I was very close with. I never bothered to ask who these "friends" were; they wouldn't ring any bells, I felt sure. And anyway, it would just be strange to go up to any old person in the schoolgrounds and say; "Hey! We were best friends as kids, until I moved, broke my leg, moved again, twice, and was only just informed out I knew you at all!" What would happen from there, I wonder? A total smackdown? A call to the local mental hospital saying that 'I think one of your patients has wandered off'? An attitude-filled; "Stay away from me, freak!"? Or, the much less likely, but still possible in the way that it's possible that I have actually been on a prank show for the past 3 years of my life; 'Oh, sure! Just come sit with us, we've got a lot of catching up to do! Hey, do you remember that time...' followed by the rush of returning memories and the reassurance that I was, in fact, sane. Yeah, no way was I going to try to reunite with any of the people that I don't know but apparently grew up with. I was happy trying to fit in with Abby and Kuki, even if they did make me feel strange sometimes. Rachel and Fanny hung out with them sometimes, and we'd talk about real things, not like the cheerleaders who gossiped and gasped aand giggled and went behind backs. These people talked about things like music, which I liked, and real issues that weren't made up and texted. It was nice, and I didn't mind being the only boy there. But then, the familiar feeling was stronger around them. It was like I was being restrained, and no matter what I did, I couldn't break the chains. But the thing is, I don't know what's being restrained. A thought, a feeling, a memory? Oh, well, I thought, just try to ignore it and fit in like a normal person. Because I was pretty sure I wasn't a normal person. Trying to ignore the feeling that I was more than a humble 10th grade student, I continued walking towards home. Walking, walking... there used to be an easier way to get home, right? Like a jet or something... I can have a strange imagination sometimes.

A/N: Well... not much. If you didn't know this, I am Australian, so I'm making Wally a hard core Aussie! I love watching rugby, even though some people (like my uncle, the captain of Manly!) get really hurt while playing it. That 's why I think that AFL players here in Melbourne are way overcredited compared to the NRL.

...sorry, I feel really passionate about this subject. Okay, if you've read this reveiw I tell you, REVEIW! Numbuh 25 is out.

Peace! (Y)