In the wake of all the distrust and intrigue, all the youth decided not to have their regular meeting at the hall the next day. Instead, they opted for a night out in Eridessa.
Well, some of us did, anyway. Artemis and Mystery, ever anti-social, decided to stay home (Artemis wanted to work on some poetry, while Mystery said she wanted to stay "in my field of paper flowers and candy clouds of lullabye, watching my purple sky fly over me", to which we all just nodded patiently). Nathan was already in Eridessa, visiting his sister in hospital.
Amelia spoke directly to Hannah. "Are you coming with us, Hannah?" she asked.
Hannah looked at her, her jaw slack as it so often was, but I thought I saw the corners of her mouth twitch upwards a fraction. She shook her head clumsily from side to side, let out a soft grunt, and started lumbering out of the room. As she went out the doorway, she half-turned and looked at Amelia and I, lifted a hand, and nodded her head. Then she continued out.



Tia snorted. "What was all that about?"
Amelia glared at her. "I think it was her way of saying, 'I won't go, but thanks for the invite'."
"Hey," I said suddenly. "Where's Julian?"
This, of course, prompted grins from the two vampires and my brother. They looked at each other, and I rolled my eyes. Whatever the answer was, it appeared Julian wasn't there.
"Jake and I are going to check out some of the clubs," Tia announced, twirling her hair and smiling at Jake. "Aren't we?"
"Yep," Jake said, hugging her waist from behind. I noticed Tamara roll her eyes in disgust.
That left Amelia, Tamara, Adam, Anastasia, Oswald and myself. Eventually, we decided to go bowling. We were able to borrow the Rosencrantz's people-mover*, and Amelia drove us in.
I wound up in the back, sitting next to Anastasia. She looked at me, then said "Are you still upset about the store room thing?"
I looked at her grumpily. "I can't imagine why," I replied.
"Can you get over it?" Adam called from a seat further forward. I suggested he do something very unpleasant to himself, but he just laughed.
"Well, I feel kind of bad about it now, if that helps," Anastasia said to me.
"Me too," Oswald added, twisting around in his seat to look at me with his glowing red eyes.
I looked out of the window impassively for a minute, then turned back to look at Anastasia with a raised eyebrow and a half-smile on my face. "'Kind of bad'?" I repeated.
"Yeah. It was slack. I'm sorry."
I looked out of the window again, then said "Whatever." But they seemed to take this as forgiveness, which is what I'd intended.
We eventually arrived at Speedy's Bowling, our favourite bowling alley. It was decorated in cheerful 50's style décor, complete with checkerboard linoleum flooring and Formica tables in the small cafeteria. Classic 50's rock and roll music was playing on a large jukebox in the corner. Some dusty pinball machines stood over on one wall between some arcade games. I was surprised we didn't have to follow a dress code demanding poodle skirts to get in the door.



We quickly claimed a lane, although it was fairly quiet, and started our game. We earned ourselves a nasty glare from the manager when Oswald forgot about his vampire strength and hurled a bowling ball down the lane at a terrifying speed, where it ploughed through the skittles with a thunderous crash, shattering two of them and leaving a dent in the wall behind. Oswald apologised to the guy and offered to pay for replacement skittles, but the manager just sighed and waved him away grumpily, telling him to behave and tone it down a little.
Between goes, I chatted to Amelia and Tamara (who, by the way, ended up winning by a mile) about Joanna's poisoning, and we all agreed it was very mysterious. Amelia seemed particularly suspicious of Lola, since we were all convinced that Lou didn't do it, and Adrianna looked too girly and incapable of such a feat.
We'd almost finished our game, when the door to Speedy's abruptly clattered open, and Tia and Jake entered. Well, by 'entered' I mean they almost fell through the door, laughing hysterically and clearly very, very drunk.
Or high.
Or both.
As we looked on in mild disbelief, Jake suddenly grabbed Tia in a firm embrace, and they started passionately making out, complete with hungry groping hands and a soundtrack composed of moans and heavy breathing.



"Oh, man," Amelia muttered.
"God, Jake!" Tamara yelled. "Get a room!"
"They're completely trashed," Amelia added.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," I replied.
The drama intensified as the manager walked over to the snogging couple and asked them to leave. They didn't even appear to hear, so he shook his head and walked over to a telephone, where he started dialling.
After about five minutes (during which Tamara sealed her victory, winning by more than twenty points due to a couple of amazing strikes), some police arrived. Tia and Jake were now both sitting on the floor, giggling and trying to talk to each other.
"Hey, Dad!" Tamara called. I looked up and noticed that one of the policemen was her father, Christopher. He saw her, gave a little wave, then turned his attention to the inebriated pair on the floor.
He shook his head sadly. "Jake, what's going on?"
Jake kept laughing even as he looked at his father. "Oh, hey, sorry man," he giggled, prompting hysterical laughter from Tia.
Jake turned to face her, still giggling. "Look out," he stage-whispered. "It's the fun police."



Tia burst into noisy laughter again, and the two policemen exchanged a look. I wondered if Christopher was going to arrest his own son. He took a deep breath.
"Turn out your pockets, Jake."
By this time, our group had fallen silent, and were all watching the proceedings with great interest.
Jake unsteadily got to his feet, and Christopher took the opportunity to plunge his hands into the pockets of Jake's jacket.
"Hey—hey, what're you doing?" Jake slurred, surprised.
Christopher slowly pulled his hand out of the jacket pockets, retrieving a small plastic bag. In it were two white pills.
Tamara gasped beside me. "Where on earth did my brother get those?" she whispered.
"Dunno, but I sure hope they're just Panadol or something," Amelia said.
Christopher looked angrily at Jake. "Where did you get this?"
Jake looked confused, his eyes unfocused. "What?"
"You have illegal drugs in your possession!" Christopher barked. "I didn't raise you to be like this!"
Jake's skittering eyeballs tried to focus on the little bag in his father's hands. "Oh, nah, man," he said seriously. "They're not...they're just tricking you."
Disappointed, Christopher walked behind Jake and handcuffed him. "Jake Rosencrantz…"
He started reciting what I called the 'arrest' speech. Tia started to swear at him angrily, but he took no notice.
"…you do not have to say or do anything, but anything you do say will be recorded and may be used in court…"
In a matter of minutes, Jake and Tia had been led out of the bowling alley, leaving us astounded and with renewed respect for Christopher – arresting his own son must've been the toughest thing he'd ever had to do. As the doors swung open and shut with their departure, I thought I glimpsed a figure standing on the pavement outside. I squinted - surely it wasn't...?
"Back in a minute," I muttered to the others.
"Where're you going?" Amelia called.
"To get some fresh air," I replied.
I walked purposefully out of the bowling alley. It was quite dark, and difficult to see much, but after walking a little towards the back of the building, I found – of all people – Julian.



I was surprised. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
Julian turned to look at me, startled. Then he shrugged. "I was passing through, and I heard everyone was here at bowling," he replied. "I wasn't sure whether I should join you or not."
It was then I noticed he was wearing a characteristic white mask over half of his face. "What, so you're trying to be the Phantom of the Opera now?" I asked.
Julian laughed shortly. "No, I just thought I'd try and make a fashion statement."
"A fashion statement," I repeated, smiling wryly. "Now, there's something you need to work on."
He didn't smirk. Instead, he seemed to swallow and turn away.
Sensing my chance, I took two quick steps over and pulled at the mask. Almost simultaneously, as it came away from his cheek, he lashed out surprisingly with his hand – possibly to strike out at me, or possibly to instinctively hide his face. Whatever happened, I copped a sharp slap on the face, and he swore loudly. But I had still managed to pry the mask away.
In astonishment more than pain, I turned back to face Julian, and saw an ugly red gash running across his cheek.
A gash that looked oddly similar to his mother's scars.



I gasped. "Oh, my God…"
"That bad, is it?" he asked, his voice strained. He tried to shrug. "I thought it looked pretty sexy, actually."
But he wasn't his usual cocky self at all. Silently, I handed the mask back to him, and he quickly replaced it.
There was an awkward silence for a minute, where we both didn't look at each other. Instead, we stared down at the pavement, as though mesmerised by the cracks that wound their way across the concrete.
Eventually, I broke the silence. "So, I guess it's…a genetic thing, then?"
Julian nodded. "It would appear that way."
I just looked at him, and he glared at me. "I don't want your pity, of all people," he muttered.
I felt real tears sting my eyes. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head, as if to acknowledge what I said. Then he sighed. "I got my lines wrong. I was meant to say 'Damn you, you little prying Pandora', wasn't I?"
I was surprised. "You know the Phantom of the Opera?"
He nodded. "My mum, she watches it all the time," he said. "It's one of her favourites, even though it makes her cry, every single time…when the Phantom is rejected by Christine…"
He trailed off, and for a moment his eyes looked unnaturally bright. With a deep sense of sadness, I quickly drew the parallels between his mother's life and the Phantom's.
I tried another attempt at conversation. "So, how does it stay on, anyway?" I asked.
"Superglue," he replied, straight-faced.
I smiled. "No, really," I said. "I've often wondered how…"
"That," he said theatrically, "is a secret between me and Phantom."
"Do you know him?" I joked.
"What, the one from the movie?" he asked. "The one played by that Butler guy?"
"Yeah," I said. "Can you introduce me?"
He looked perplexed. "Why?"
I shrugged. "He's really freaky, but strangely attractive."
Julian looked at me in disbelief, and started to laugh. "You think a murderer with an obsessive fixation and a facial disfigurement is attractive?" he cried, grinning. He shook his head. "Girls…"
"I don't care about looks," I said simply.
He looked down and scuffed his toe on the ground. "Nice to know there's someone who doesn't," he said bitterly. "Unlike my excuse for a father who I never even knew." He paused. "I don't even want to know him, to tell you the truth. Does that make me a bad person, Ellie?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so."
He sniffed. There was a brief pause, and I was about to speak again when I heard a shout.
"Ellie?" a voice called. Footsteps. "Is that you?"
"No," I called back. The footsteps came closer.
Amelia appeared out of the darkness. "It is you," she said, then stopped when she saw who I was with. "What, no bloodshed?"



I was about to respond, but saw her squinting at Julian. "Is that a Phantom mask you're wearing?"
Julian got in before I could say anything. "Yeah, it was for a role play thing at one of the drama clubs in Eridessa. Just a small part, you know."
Amelia nodded, not entirely convinced. "Right," she said, glancing from Julian to me. "Phantom. Small part. OK. Um, Ellie, are you coming? We're leaving."
"Yeah, I am," I said. I glanced up briefly at Julian. "You coming?"
He shook his head. "I'll make my own way home," he replied.
"You sure?"
Shrug. "Yeah. I got a taxi here, I can get a taxi back again--"
"Or you can just grab a lift and save the money," I pointed out.
He shook his head again. "It's OK. Really."
I raised my eyebrows, but he seemed resolute. "Well, OK then," I said. "See you."
He waved goodbye, and I walked off with Amelia. She hissed in my ear, "What on Earth was going on back there? You were actually civil, and you're never civil to each other. And what's with the mask? He doesn't do role playing! What are you two up to? And—"
"Let's just say it was an interesting conversation," I said shortly, and she dropped it.

--------------------------------------------------
* "People-mover" = minivan. (Because really, if a vehicle designed to seat 6+ people is considered a minivan, then regular vans must be enormous!)

Poor Julian. And I wonder what Jake meant by "They're just tricking you."

Poor Hannah, I wish she could have gone with them! And poor Julian. Maybe Ellie's mother can help find a cure for him and his mother though!

A few days later, I received a text message from Tia, inviting me to a party she was throwing. I called Amelia for advice.
"Are you going to Tia's thing?" I asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "Apparently she invited all of us." By 'all of us', Amelia meant all the teenagers in Solitaria.
"Oh, OK…then I'll probably go," I said.
"Yeah. Me too."
I turned up at the Mink's place a few minutes late. I could hear the party was already in full swing, somewhere around the back. I knocked on the door of their huge Mediterranean mansion.
Tia's mum answered the door with a percussive jangle of jewellery. "Hi, sweetie," she said. "Just go round the side, they're all out the back."



"OK," I said, a little irritated. I hated being called 'sweetie'. It made me sound like confectionery.
I walked around the side, where there was a pathway between the enormous garage (the only one besides the Rosencrantz's that housed two cars) and the far more enormous house. I soon located the source of the party noises.
Tia's dad was playing DJ, standing in a small booth behind enormous speakers which were blaring out house and techno music. Nearby was a buffet table loaded with salads, cold meats and jellies for dessert. Next to that was another table with pizzas and barbequed hot dogs. I knew I wouldn't be hungry by the end of the night.
Nearly everyone had arrived by that time and were standing around chatting. Tia's place was well set-up for entertaining large crowds – there was the large stone patio, with the DJ booth and food tables, as well as a lower paved area with a bar and portable fireplace. There was a pool, a spa, and an indoor entertaining area with lounges, coffee tables and a karaoke machine. That room also had its own small balcony.
Tia came over to greet me, dressed in a short black skirt, tight-fitting low-cut tartan top, and black boots.



"Hi, Ellie," she said.
"Hi," I replied. "Is Amelia here yet?"
"Yeah, she's over in front of the fire," Tia said, already uninterested in me and moving away.
I went over to join Amelia by the fire, where she was chatting to Tamara and Anastasia. "Hey," Amelia said, looking up at me.
"Hey," I replied, sitting down.
"Do you know," Amelia said to me, "apparently Tia's thrown this party because she's missing Jake? And she needed a distraction."
"What's happened to Jake?" I asked Tamara.
She sniffed. "Well, he was arrested and taken away for questioning and all. I don't know exactly what's going to follow, but Dad's decided to place him under his own personal house arrest for at least a few months. And I," she said, sounding pleased, "get to make sure he doesn't try and sneak out, like he so often does."
"You wouldn't side with your own brother?" Anastasia said, smiling.
"Nah!" Tamara said shortly. "Can't stand him a lot of the time. I'm more than happy to be his jailer."
"Sisterly love," I commented.
"Poor Tia," Amelia said, sighing. "She can't be with her lover boy for all that time."
"Hey," I protested. "Sarcasm like that is reserved only for me."
"You wish. I'm surprised she hadn't dumped him yet, you know."
"Oh, she probably will soon."



We stayed there for a while, chatting about nothing in particular. I watched as the last few invitees rolled in. I noticed Julian arrived later than I did, wandering in, trying to sneak through unnoticed. He was still wearing his Phantom mask. When I saw him arrive, I felt strangely happy. As though I would've been disappointed if he hadn't come.
Where did that come from? I wondered. I hate the guy!
I was still trying to figure out why I was so happy when Amelia said, "He's still wearing that?"
"What d'you mean, 'still'?" Tamara asked.
"He was hanging around outside the bowling place last night," Amelia said. "After 'going to an Eridessa drama club'." She'd made inverted comma signs with her fingers as she'd spoken.
"Why didn't he come in?" Anastasia wondered.
"Maybe he didn't want to be seen in his mask," Tamara volunteered sensibly. "Although I don't know why he couldn't just take it off."
I stayed silent, feeling it wasn't my place to reveal what was concealed beneath the mask. Julian would tell everyone when he was ready.
"What were you two talking about last night?" Amelia asked me teasingly.
"What?" I was caught off guard.
"You and Julian. You were talking about something before I arrived. Something 'interesting'," she said.
"Oh." I shrugged and studied my fingernails. "Nothing. I'll tell you later. It's complicated, anyway."
"What did you do to your nails!?" Anastasia asked in horror, looking closely at my hands.
"I painted them," I said. "Sparkly silver. It's the only nailpolish I own."
"Dude," Tamara pointed out. "They look worse now than they did before!"
I laughed. "I know. I was bored."
"It's chipped already…" Anastasia was dismayed and started telling me how to do my nails properly in the future.
As we kept chatting, I glanced back towards where I'd last spotted Julian. Tia was in the process of greeting him, and I noticed her pointing to his mask. He leaned back, bringing his hand up to his face, smiling slightly, gently fending her off. She kept bugging him for a while, until he got visibly annoyed and said something angrily to her. She responded with her own snappy retort before going to serve the food.



A loud belch nearby brought my attention back to our small group by the fire. Adam had come up behind Anastasia and burped in her ear.
"Adam!" she complained. "That's disgusting!"
"Hello," he replied, grinning. "I got you a drink."
"I don't accept drinks from other people," Anastasia said.
"You do now," Adam replied, handing it to her.
She took it and sniffed it gingerly. "This is alcoholic," she said suspiciously.
"No, it's not," Adam said. "Try it."
Anastasia tossed a small amount of the drink into the fire, which blazed alarmingly on contact.
"It is, you idiot." She gave it back to him.
"No, you take it!" he protested, pushing the drink back towards her.
"No!"
"Yes!" With a particularly sudden shove, he pushed the drink back towards Anastasia, where it spilt all over her lap.
Amelia, Tamara and I flinched, wondering what would happen next. Adam looked sheepish.
"Oops," he said.
Anastasia leapt up, hissing at him. "You're in big trouble now, Adam!" she yelled, and started chasing after him.
Tamara sighed. "Your brother seriously needs help," she said to me.
"Is that his way of flirting?" Amelia asked.
"God, I hope not," I replied, watching the chase.
Anastasia, being a vampire, was very strong and a very fast runner. It didn't take long before she'd caught up with Adam and grabbed his arm in her vice-like grip. She started hauling him towards the pool, in much the same way that she'd dragged me to the community hall storeroom.
"You're really cute when you're mad," Adam said, struggling.
"'Cute', am I?" Anastasia growled.
"Yeah, like an adorable kitten."
"Really," Anastasia hissed at him angrily as they neared the pool. "Well, I think it's time you had a drink of your own."
With little effort, she calmly pushed him into Tia's pool, fully clothed. She stood back, looking at him in satisfaction as he came to the surface, gasping and shaking water out of his eyes.



"Oops," Anastasia said scathingly, and walked off to find a bathroom.
"Snap!" Tamara said approvingly as she walked past us. I think I saw Anastasia smile.
"Hey," I said to Amelia. "Where's Hannah?"
Amelia looked around. "Dunno," she said. "Maybe she's not coming?"
"Maybe," I said vaguely. I'd been counting heads, reasoning that without Jake, there should have been twelve of us at the party. Instead there were only eleven.
"I'll ask Tia," Amelia volunteered, getting up from her seat and going to find the hostess.
Adam clambered out of the pool, soaking wet and leaving a trail of puddles as he walked. As he walked past me, I caught his eye and grinned.
He grinned, too, before flicking water into my face from his dripping hands.
"Hey!" I cried, wiping the drops off with my hands. Little droplets had landed all over my glasses, too, so I took them off to wipe them on my top.
"Brothers," Tamara muttered.
"Tell me about it," I agreed.
Amelia soon returned, shrugging as she sat down. "Apparently, she's coming later," she told me.
"That's good," I said, then turned to Tamara. "Did you see Hannah got a MySpace?"
"Really?" Tamara said, surprised. "Cool."
I looked at Amelia, whose forehead was slightly wrinkled as she considered this reaction. It meant that Hannah had only added certain people – probably, I thought, just myself and Amelia.
"Guys!" Tia called out in a sing-song voice, addressing everyone. "The food's ready now!"
"Excellent," Tamara said, stretching and getting up. "I'm starving."
Soon there was a great cluster of people around the food tables, helping themselves to hot dogs, pizza, turkey (turkey?) and salad. I eagerly headed towards the pizza, but noticed…
"Bacon?" I said to myself sadly. "Why?"
"You can always just pick it off, El," Amelia pointed out, overhearing me. "Don't let the dreaded meat spoil a good slice of pizza."
I decided to take her advice, taking a piece of pizza and carefully picking all the bacon off before eating it.



I started surveying the people at the table while everyone around me chattered between mouthfuls. Julian, I saw, was having a little difficultly eating his pizza, since the mask obviously restricted some of his face movements a bit.
He noticed me watching him, and our eyes met for a minute. I'd never noticed just how brown his eyes were - like the fine dark chocolate made with 70% cocoa that I liked better than ordinary milk chocolate.
Stop! I thought to myself, breaking the eye contact quickly, instead staring intently at my pizza slice. Why am I comparing his eye colour to chocolate? This isn't right.
Anastasia finally returned from the bathroom, her clothes now only showing a faint mark where the drink had spilt. Adam followed a little while later, still wet, but not dripping everywhere.
"Hope you don't mind me borrowing some fresh undies of yours, Tia," he said as he sat down.
Tia looked horrified, and I had to assure her that my brother was an idiot and was only joking. She exhaled loudly with relief ("Thank God").
"So, Jules," Adam said, "what's with the mask?"
I bit my lip, wondering exactly what was going to follow this question. The table went quiet – everyone wanted to hear the answer. Julian looked briefly at me and raised his eyebrows fleetingly before he calmly said "I'll show you" and removed the mask.



The reactions were spectacular. Amelia gasped loudly and pressed her hands over her mouth, Tamara's eyes bugged, Adam's mouth fell open, Anastasia and Oswald stared in dismay, Nathan gazed in wonder, Artemis burst into tears, and Mystery said "Without the mask, where will you hide?"
Before Julian could try to respond to Mystery's latest Evanescence quote, Tia interrupted. "Urgh, that's gross," she exclaimed, screwing up her face. "Can't you do something about it?"
Julian's eyes flashed. "Do you think my mum would still look the way she does if there was a way to get rid of it?" he said pointedly.
Tia seemed to consider this, her face still etched with revulsion. "It's still yuck," she shuddered.
"No, Tia, tell him what you really think," I snapped sarcastically, glaring.
She gazed back at me, surprised. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think you could be any more insensitive? It's not like it's his fault."
She shrugged indifferently. "It's still gross," she repeated.
"Wow, you just make friends everywhere you go," I said. "I'm sure that attitude will be helpful when you go running off to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune, or whatever. Good luck with that."
Tia's black-rimmed eyes narrowed. "At least I have a couple more friends than you do, Ellie."
I pretended I was deeply offended. "Ooh, Tia, I'm deeply offended," I said flatly.
"You're real charming, Tia," Amelia added. "I notice no one's come to your defence so far."
"If Jake was here, instead of in jail," Tia snapped, glaring at Tamara, "he'd protect me."
"I wouldn't count on that," Amelia said.
"He's not in jail!" Tamara exclaimed.
"He might as well be," Tia said.
"And you should be, too, if you were sneaking into clubs with a fake ID, drinking underage, and taking drugs," Tamara shot back.
Tia reddened. "At least I know how to have a good time," she said.
"Your idea of a good time is breaking the law and destroying your body?" Tamara said with raised eyebrows. "I know what I'd prefer."
"Bowling!" Tia snorted. "Children go bowling."
"OK, um…guys?" Oswald interrupted. He was rubbing his forehead, brows knitted, eyes shut. He looked like he had a migraine. "As much as I'm enjoying the catfight, it would be great if we could get back to the actual party."
We all fell into an uncomfortable silence, during which a lot of staring at food occurred. Eventually, we returned to normal (if a little strained) conversation and food consumption. In an effort to steer the party back towards normality, Tia suggested that once we'd finished eating, we should gather in the indoors party area.
Which we did. Mystery surprised us all by immediately going to the karaoke machine, but didn't surprise us when she began singing 'Bring Me To Life'.



"Your sister is just so predictable," I commented to Amelia after we'd sat down.
"Careful," she warned. "That's a Delta Goodrem song. Delta's pop. You might upset her."
"Who, Delta?"
"No, my sister."
We chatted for a minute or two, until I felt an urge.
"Um," I said to Amelia. "Do you know where the bathroom is in this place?"
She shrugged. "No," she said. "You could ask Tia."
"I'm kind of trying to avoid her, if you haven't noticed," I said, going off to search for the bathroom on my own. Thankfully, Tia's dad was still there on the patio, packing up the DJ booth.
"Excuse me, where's your bathroom?" I asked.
He fixed his ice blue eyes on me and smiled. "You're the third person to ask that this evening," he commented, then pointed behind him. "In there, at the end of the hallway."
"Thanks," I said, walking through the door and coming to a very short hallway. There were doors at both ends and one going off to the left. I headed for one of the doors at the end, and to my relief, found the bathroom.
Ahh.
After I'd washed my hands in the ivory basin with the gold taps and dried my hands on the pure white Egyptian cotton hand towel (hung on a smooth gold ring), I headed back out into the little hallway. As I walked past one of the other doors, I heard a soft chuckle coming from the room behind it.
Curious, I gently turned the door handle and entered the room. It appeared to be an enormous library, similar to the one in Amelia's house, only with much posher surroundings. Sitting on one of the lounge chairs in the middle of the room was someone I knew.

"Julian, you're an absolute party animal," I said. "You should really calm yourself down."
Julian looked up at me, raising one eyebrow. "I'm not really into loud music."
I shrugged. "Neither am I. I'm more into bathrooms, myself. Have you had that experience yet?"
Julian shook his head and returned to his book. I bent down, trying to see what he was reading.
He saw me trying to look, and tilted the book so I could see the cover and spine. " 'What Were They Thinking? Really Bad Ideas Throughout History' ", I read aloud, before sitting down on the couch near him. "Sounds interesting."
"I was surprised to find it, actually," Julian said. "In fact, I was surprised to see that the Minks even had a library. I thought it might've been fake or something, but all the books are real – I've checked."
I glanced around at the shelves of books lining the walls. It certainly looked impressive, but it didn't have the same atmosphere as the well-stocked library of Amelia's father. It felt like a library maintained only for show, and the couches seemed too stiff, as though they were hardly ever used. The books looked too new, the shelves looked too neat.
"What were you laughing at?" I asked.
He smiled. "This," he said, handing me the book and pointing to a quote.
I read aloud, "'Things are more like they are now than they have ever been. President Gerald Ford'." I laughed, handing the book back to him. "Typical."
"It's an excellent quote," Julian said, still amused. "Very poignant. Good observation, I thought."
I smiled. "Let me know if you find any more," I said, starting to get up.
"I thought you didn't like loud music, either?" he said, sort of hastily.
I shrugged. "Not the techno rubbish Tia's chosen," I said. "And not Mystery doing her best Amy Lee impression, either."
"What music do you like?" Julian asked, sounding interested.
I sat back down again. "Well," I said, "mostly, you know, pop-rock sort of stuff. At least that's what I call it, even though other people don't. You know…Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, Paramore…my brother calls it 'teenybopper rubbish'."
Julian smirked. "What do other people call it?"
"Everyone has different opinions," I said. "Like, for example, some people day Green Day is punk, and other people say they're not. Some people say Paramore are pop, and others say it's rock. It's impossible to pin genres on music these days, and I don't care. I just figure if it sounds good, then it's worth listening to."
Julian nodded. "A good philosophy," he said.
"What do you like?" I asked.



He sat back. "Depends, really. Some instrumental songs, some rock bands…Red Hot Chilli Peppers are pretty good."
I shook my head. "Can't stand them."
"Don't care, as long as it sounds good," Julian replied quickly, deliberately.
I smiled.
He smiled.
"Thanks, by the way," Julian said.
"For what?"
"For unleashing your stinging sarcasm on Tia," he said.
"She deserved it," I said.
"But you didn't have to do that," he said.
I shrugged. "Yeah, I did."
I smiled.
He smiled.
It was getting silly.
"Well," I said, getting up again, "they'll think I've fallen in if I don't get back soon."
"Fallen in?" Julian asked.
"Into the loo," I said over my shoulder. I stopped again. "You said instrumental songs, right?"
"Depends, but yeah," Julian said.
"What about classical?"
"Some classical is alright," he said.
"Do you like Vivaldi?" I asked.
"Vivaldi's excellent," Julian replied.
"I agree," I said, smiling. We had something in common! "Although," I added, just as I walked out the door, "Vivaldi is baroque, not classical."
Julian rolled his eyes. "You always act like you know everything," he said.
"That's because I do," I replied, and left.
As I walked down the little hallway and back out to the party, I tried to make sense of our conversation and my feelings, which I totally didn't understand. I leaned against the wall, frowning.



“No, no, no, Ellie,” I mumbled to myself, eyes shut. “You don’t like him. You always fight with him. He’s arrogant, he’s patronizing, his eyes are not food, you do not like him. Stop it.”
But why did I keep visiting his MySpace profile every single night?
Why was I disappointed when he didn't turn up to a group outing?
And why, whenever our eyes met across a room, did I quickly avert my gaze, as though embarrassed – and notice him doing exactly the same?
I shook my head vigorously, driving the thoughts from my mind as I walked back into the party room and sat down next to Amelia again.
"Welcome back," Amelia said. "Mystery's moved on to 'My Immortal' now."
"Wonderful," I said.
We both watched Mystery for a minute as she stood there, eyes closed, clasping the microphone in both hands, gently singing.
"She's actually not that bad," I said to Amelia.
"She's had lots of practice," Amelia said. She paused. "You know what I've noticed?" she said, changing the subject. "Hannah still hasn't arrived."
I frowned. "Do you want to call her?" I suggested.
Amelia nodded, and motioned for me to follow her out onto the small balcony attached to the room. Since Hannah didn't have a mobile phone, she called her home number.



I listened as she spoke to her mother. "Hello, Mrs. Reilly? Yeah, it's Amelia Meyer here. Um, we're all at Tia's party and were wondering when Hannah was going to turn up? . . . no, now . . . Tia's party. You know, the Minks? They—sorry?"
Amelia's expression changed suddenly, and I saw her face darken. "You didn't know?. . . well, did Hannah know?. . . you're sure? . . . OK. OK. No, don't tell her. Look, I'm really sorry to bother you, Mrs. Reilly. We—no, no, I'll get it sorted out. We thought she'd been invited. Anyway, I'll take care of it, don't worry. Thanks. . . OK. Bye."
She hung up the phone with a snap. "Hannah was never invited to any party," she told me, in a forcedly calm voice.
"What?" I exclaimed, furious.
"Tia was lying," Amelia confirmed, striding back indoors to where Tia was standing, cigarette in one hand and drink in the other.
Amelia strode right up to her, with me following closely, and stuck a finger in her face. "You lying, insensitive, scheming bitch," Amelia spat.
Mystery stopped singing, staring at the fight that was unfolding.
Tia rolled her eyes and let out a puff of smoke. "What now?"
"You told me you'd invited Hannah," Amelia said quietly. "But you never did any such thing, did you?"
By now everyone had gone quiet. So everyone heard as Tia replied.
She snorted derisively. "God, no," she said. "Why on Earth would I want that fat, spastic zombie at my party? She'd probably just drown in my spa."
Amelia, in a very uncharacteristic spurt of intense fury, snatched Tia's drink from her hands and threw the contents into her face.



Tia was shocked, and stood there for a moment, trying to comb the droplets out of her hair. Everyone else was silent, just watching.
"Thanks for inviting me," Amelia said coldly, and stormed out of the room.
"Yeah, thanks. Crap party," I added, storming out after Amelia. Tia was left in shock, standing in the middle of the group of people she'd invited, devoid of any allies and covered in some kind of alcoholic beverage.

Thanks again for the comments, people. They brighten my day.

Tia definitely had that coming. Sheesh, what an unpleasant person she is. The pictures are good. Julian is a very attractive guy. I'm glad he and Ellie are getting to be friends. I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens next.

^Totally agree, ugh, Tia deserved everything she got. She's so arrogant. Poor Hannah, I really like her!

Tia had it coming.

Heh, seems people don't like Tia very much. Yes, she is a pretty nasty character.



Thank you! (I'd actually just had all my wisdom teeth surgically removed a day or two before I took the pics for this chapter - that was in early Feb - and was worried they might be slightly crappier than usual due to not quite thinking straight. It's nice to be reassured that the pictures aren't too bad.)

Only suggestion I can make about pictures is trying to play with the angles, so they look realistic. Like in some pictures, some poses seem to unnatural and broken. I'm not trying to offend. I have not played TS2 for a while, so when I come back to them later this week, I will probably take worse pictures XD

Haha, thanks. And no, I'm not offended I do try my best to make things look as realistic as possible, but sometimes, when I look at the enormous collection of 'pose boxes' scattered on nearly every lot, and then have to search for the right combination of selections from all the pie menus that come from those pose boxes...I tend to think 'Oh, that one will do' fairly often (And sometimes there simply isn't any way to get the sims to do exactly what I want. Or there is, but then their foot disappears through the floor, or something, which is frustrating.)

I am same in most cases XD

Can't wait for update :D

A few days after the party, Amelia invited me to sleep over one night. I accepted, knowing that sleepovers at the Meyer household are always full of interesting surprises.
Unlike last time I was there, Dream remembered to cook dinner that evening. After I'd dumped my overnight bag in Amelia's room, we both headed downstairs to the dining table to eat.
Dream was standing in the kitchen, humming and smiling as she sniffed a pot, which was cooking on the stove.
"What's that, Mum?" Amelia asked as we came into the kitchen/dining room.
"This, my dear, is kidney stew," Dream replied dreamily.
Amelia looked aghast. "What?"
"Kidney stew," Dream said again. "Herbs, spices, mixed vegetables, and goat kidneys."



Amelia swivelled to face me. "Don't worry," she said to me. "I'll make pizza."
I felt relieved. Bacon was one thing. Kidneys were entirely another.
"Maybe you should cook more often," I suggested to Amelia.
"Oh, I do," Amelia said. "I cook normal food for me and Artemis and Mystery most nights, since Mum is physically incapable of cooking anything, um, edible. I'm actually becoming a pretty good cook." She paused. "Home-made pizzas, chicken salad, and beef stroganoff are my specialties."
We didn't have to wait too long before Dream let out a piercing, mysterious birdlike cry ("That's her way of summoning us to dinner," Amelia explained as I covered my ears with my hands). Soon, family members came rolling in.
Artemis sniffed the air. "I smell the burning scent of an animal slain," he announced dejectedly.
"Take me away from me!" Mystery cried.
"Has this animal been killed and prepared according to the rules and regulations?" Arthur enquired, pointing at the stew.
"Certainly, dear," Dream said.
Amelia's eyes narrowed. "Wait, Dad," she said. "What rules and regulations?"
Arthur then proceeded to recite a long list of food preparation procedures from multiple and various religious texts. Amelia's eyes glazed over as he spoke.
"Still searching for truth?" I asked her, and she nodded.
Somehow, we all managed to sit down at the table and not run away from the plates set before us. After Dream sat down, we waited while Arthur gave thanks for the food to several different deities. It took a long time, after which Dream insisted on reciting a chant she'd read in a book somewhere.
Then we were permitted to eat.



"Don't touch it," Amelia warned me. "Trust me, she never gets offended."
Artemis looked sadly at his plate. "This kidney was once part of a living thing," he mourned, sullenly prodding it with a fork.
Mystery was also looking unhappily at her meal. "I'm frightened by what I see, but somehow I know that there's much more to come," she said.
"I'm making pizza later, guys," Amelia told them.
Artemis looked at her. "Vegetarian?"
Amelia nodded. "Yep. Whatever you like."
Artemis paused, then said, "Vegan?"
Amelia frowned. "Well, probably not," she said. "Vegetarian will have to do." Pause. "Since when did you become vegan, anyway?"
"Today," Artemis said.
Arthur was the only one of us who was actually eating the meal. He noticed his family's reluctance to join in, and said, "Look, it's only an illusion. If you have the knowledge that it doesn't taste bad, it won't. It's only an illusion. Reality is whatever you make it."
Suddenly, Dream cried out, clutching her throat. Amelia stood up suddenly, rushing over.
"Mum!" she said urgently. "What's the matter? Are you choking?"
"The forces," Dream replied breathily. "They're...they're coming!"
Amelia looked slightly exasperated, but rubbed her mum's shoulders comfortingly. "I'm sure they'll leave in a minute," she said encouragingly.
"No, they're here!" Dream insisted. She pressed her hands over her ears, knocking Amelia's arms out of the way. "They're here! I need my amulet!"
Amelia just kept looking at her mother with concern. "Why do you need your amulet, Mum?"
"I am at risk of being attacked by negative energy if I don't have it with me!" Dream said, distressed. She got up suddenly from the table to look for it, breathing rapidly and flapping her hands.
"There's no such thing as negative energy!" Arthur called after her. "It's only an illusion!"
Amelia glanced around, and saw a necklace lying on the kitchen bench. "I've found it, Mum," she called, holding up a necklace with some sort of dull gemstone attached to a silvery chain.
Dream hurried back into the room. "Oh, thank goodness," she murmured, clutching the necklace with both hands. "I could feel the energy rushing towards me, hot like fire…I must record it in my book of shadows." And she rushed out of the room again.
Amelia sighed. She seemed to decide that dinnertime, though unusually short, was over, and started collecting untouched plates of kidney stew from everyone - everyone except Arthur, it appeared, who was still bravely eating the meal, constantly muttering "illusion, illusion" between mouthfuls, his eyes darting wildly from side to side as he ate.
Meanwhile, Artemis had stood up and had slouched over to the fridge, where he let out a desperate cry. "There's no milk left in the fridge!" he gasped desperately, tears brimming in his eyes.



"Then run down to Lou's and get some more!" Amelia said. "And put down the butterknife!"
Artemis, looking thoroughly grieved, put down the butterknife with which he'd been preparing to cut himself again. He slouched out of the room in tears, with Mystery following.
"God," muttered Amelia.
"Don't take the Lord's name in vain!" Arthur yelled, and I jumped.
She ignored him, glancing in mild disbelief at the knife on the kitchen bench. "He can't even summon the courage to pick up a sharp knife. Hopeless."
"Do you want him to pick up a sharp knife?" I asked.
"Who said 'summon'?" Dream called from another room.
"No one," Amelia called. She sighed, tossed the knife back into one of the drawers, and looked at me. "What kind of pizza?"
"Whatever you want it to be," I said.
Amelia rolled her eyes at me. "Don't you start. Dad is bad enough. Never answers a question with a proper answer. It's a wonder I'm still sane in this place."
She ended up making two small vegetarian pizzas, and then added barbecued chicken pieces to one of them. While they cooked, we both stood in the kitchen chatting and occasionally having a brief pretend swordfight with the wooden spoons. Arthur eventually finished his kidney stew, put the plate in the dishwasher, and walked straight back to the library with a furrowed brow.
When the pizzas finally finished cooking, Amelia took them upstairs to the second floor. Artemis and Mystery insisted on staying in their own rooms, even when Amelia suggested we all eat together in the middle room. Amelia just sighed, split the vegetarian pizza in half, gave some to Artemis and some to Mystery, and then plopped herself down on the couch next to me, where we quickly finished off the chicken pizza.



"Ah," I sighed in satisfaction. "That definitely beats kidney stew."
"That's not the worst meal we've ever been served," Amelia said. "Mum tried deep-fried spiders once."
"Ugh!" I exclaimed. The pizza threatened to resurface for a minute. "How did you deal with that one?"
"Same way I deal with all the others," Amelia shrugged. "Don't eat them, and find something else to eat later. Like pizza. Or macaroni and cheese."
"Where'd she even get spiders from, anyway?" I asked.
Amelia shrugged. "Who knows."
The door to Artemis's room slowly opened, and he shuffled out, clutching his journal. "I've written a poem and I wonder if you could tell me what you think," he said quietly to me and Amelia.



Amelia shrugged. "Go for it," she suggested, slouching back on the couch.
He cleared his throat. "It's called 'The Milk Is Gone'."
Amelia rolled her eyes and I hid a smile as he started reading.
"My heart is a black abyss,
And as cold as snow.
Cut my soul and let it bleed,
Crimson sorrows flow.
The rose and its thorns
Are shattered
Lying broken and crushed.
Sadness and shadow.
My suicide in the dark.
Rain."
Artemis looked to us for an answer. "Well?"
"It's lovely, Artemis," I said. "Very deep."
"Thankyou," he said quietly, retreating back into his room and shutting the door once more. From behind Mystery's door, I could hear the mournful strains of Mystery singing something about 'going under' and 'drowning' and 'falling'.
"I think," Amelia declared, "it's time to retire to my room."
"I think that sounds like a good idea," I agreed.

For the rest of the evening, we just hung out in Amelia's room, chatting about different things and listening to music and watching TV and checking Amelia's MySpace and yelling at Mystery to stop singing and yelling at Artemis to stop playing his guitar and then yelling at him to stop crying or he'd make his eyeliner run. All part of a typical night at the Meyer's house. At one point, after we'd been banging on Mystery's door to tell her to be quiet, Dream wandered up the stairs completely naked.



"Mum!" Amelia cried, shocked. "We have a guest, remember!?"
Dream didn't seem to hear. I wondered what on Earth had been going on downstairs.
"Don't worry, nothing's happened," Amelia hissed, reading my mind. "I think she's just been to a ceremony in the woods."
"Naked?" I exclaimed.
Amelia nodded. "To be 'closer to nature'," she explained, rolling her eyes again.
"Right," I said. "Maybe we should just stay in your room from now on."
And that's where we were when I heard it. We were sitting in Amelia's room, talking away and listening to the radio, when I heard the familiar empty fifths being played gently on a piano.
I sat up suddenly, frozen, and listening. "Oh my gosh!" I cried to Amelia.
"What?" she said, perplexed.
"Turn up the volume!" I exclaimed, taking out my mobile at the same time. "It's our song!"
I was still dialling my Dad's phone number as the singer began to sing:
"I'll be your shelter in a storm,
And in the dark, I'll be your light…"
Dad answered on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Dad, tune your radio to 104.1 right now!" I said excitedly. "It's our song!"



"Really?" he exclaimed, and a few seconds later, I heard the same music in the background over the phone.
"It is!" he cried happily. "Well, who would've thought…"
He started singing along, and I joined him over the phone as Amelia watched me, now completely confused.
"Did your Dad write this, or something?" she asked, and I nodded. "Me too," I said between words.
As the music built up to the chorus, both Dad and I sang with gusto the lyrics I'd penned:
"Take a look, deep inside yourself,
Hear what your heart has to say,
Look above, reach up to the stars,
You can move mountains today,
Just keep moving forward, open the door,
I'll be right beside you if you start to fall,
Together…
Together we can make it through."
Amelia groaned. "That's so bad!"
"I know!" I grinned. "And I wrote it!"
Dad and I sang to each other until the song finished. I listened carefully to the DJ as she spoke about the song.
"And at number one this week, that's our new Australian Idol, Rhiannon Turner, with 'Together'. We'll be catching up with Rhiannon tomorrow on our breakfast show…"
"Did you hear that!?" I cried to Dad. "Number one! Just like you said!"
"That's astonishing!" Dad exclaimed. "Although, obviously it was mostly due to your brilliant, heartwarming chorus lyrics…"
"Yeah right, Dad," I laughed. "You wrote it."
"That's amazing," Dad said again. "I have to call George. Have a good night."
"I will. Bye."
I pressed the 'off' button on my phone and looked at Amelia, an ecstatic expression etched across my face. She smiled in return.
"Number one, eh?" she said. "And do you get to share the royalty payments for every copy sold?"
My jaw dropped. "Oh, my gosh," I said. "Yes. I do."
Amelia smiled again. "That's awesome," she said.
"At least, I think I do," I said, thinking. "Dad said he was going to call his agent, George, but I'm not sure if he'll remember to ask about that…technically, I should, because I helped write the song…"
Something about Amelia's face distracted me. "What?" I asked, my smile fading.
Amelia shook her head. "Nothing."
"Not 'nothing'," I insisted. "What?"
"Nah…" Amelia looked hesitant, then seemed to make up her mind and continued in a rush. "It's just that…sometimes, you don't know how much I envy you. Here I am, stuck in this place with fruitloops for family, spending my afternoons trying to stop my brother killing himself and my sister from ruining her voice box and my mother from blowing up the house trying out 'spells' and thinking up creative ways to avoid steamed asparagus and tripe for dinner, for God's sake. And then, there you are, the wonderful best friend with awesome parents and a normal house, eating normal food, and now you're going to be raking in the money to boot. Plus, you always get brilliant marks in everything you do, and you've got parents who care about you, and you're excellent at writing, and, God…what I wouldn't give to be you sometimes."
My jaw dropped again, and I stared at her, stunned. "Amelia," I said.
"What?" She wasn't smiling now.
"My brother locked me in a store room with the person I hate as a little prank," I began. "My mother spends so much time in her lab, or out in the greenhouse with her plants, that I only really see her for a few hours in the evenings. My father's always getting distracted in the middle of conversations, and he keeps dashing off to jot down the latest melody or song lyric or idea that's entered his mind. I spend so much time in my room, reading, because my family are always too busy to talk to. Plus, how do you think I get those 'brilliant marks'? I have to spend hours and hours, nearly tearing my hair out, studying and working hard to get those. And look at you! Even though you say I'm good at writing – although I don't think I'm very good at all – I'm hopeless at art. You're an amazing photographer, and you can capture stuff as it is, not how it's imagined, the way I do with writing. Plus," I added, "you have your driving license, which no other teenager here has got. To top it all off, you're the most caring, loyal and honest person I've ever met, and I think if you weren't my best friend, I might be a lot less sarcastic and a lot more like Artemis."
Amelia looked tearily at me. "Do you really mean all that?" she asked.
I nodded. "Of course I do," I said, giving her a hug.



We stayed like that for a moment, and when we broke away, Amelia was smiling through her tears. "That was quite a speech," she said approvingly.
I shrugged. "You're lucky it was coherent," I said.
After that, we both decided it was time to go to sleep. After we had quick showers and changed into our pyjamas, we went back in Amelia's room for the rest of the night. Amelia turned off the lights and got into her bed while I lay down on a spare bed she'd set up for me.
I figured it was about time to voice something that had been concerning me – and it would also serve a double purpose in distracting Amelia from her ridiculous notions of jealousy. "Amelia?" I began.
"Mmm?"
"I think I like someone."
Amelia sounded interested. "Who? Someone I know?"
"Yeah. Julian."
Amelia let out a snort. "Good one, Ellie," she said. "So do you actually like someone?"
She thinks I'm being sarcastic, I realised. Steeling myself, I tried to correct her. "No, really. I think I like Julian."
Amelia sat up. "Are you being serious?"
"Yeah."
Silence.
"What were you guys talking about outside bowling that time?" she asked, intrigued.
"Stuff," I said evasively. "What do you think I should do?"
"I don't know. I thought you couldn't stand him!"
"I thought so too! But now…I'm not so sure."
"Are you insane, woman?"
"Possibly."
Silence again. Amelia shifted around under the covers.
"How do you know that you like him?" she asked.
"I keep feeling like I want to give him a big hug," I said lamely, addressing the ceiling.



Amelia snorted again. "A big hug?"
"It's how I feel whenever I like someone," I explained, slightly embarrassed. "Like you know David Tennant? Doctor Who?"
"Yeah."
"I want to hug him. Nothing more."
Amelia sighed. "I have to say, most people want to do something more than just hugging when they like someone."
"I know, but I'm different. And I hate it when guys take their shirts off. I prefer guys when they're fully clothed."
"So, on your honeymoon night, you plan to just hug your husband while he's got all his clothing still on," Amelia said.
"Well, it'll probably be different by then…"
More silence.
"You never cease to amaze me, El," Amelia said, sighing. Pause. "Should I tell Julian that you want to hug him?"
"No!" I exclaimed loudly. "Don't tell him anything!"
Amelia laughed softly. "I won't," she said. "But it is pretty funny. I'm going to be interested to see what happens."
"Me too," I said, yawning. "Me too."

Amelia's family make me laugh, especially Artemis and Dream...The Milk is Gone, what a classic!

I love Amelia's family. You have so much imagination. As crazy as they are, they seem very real.

And just like Amelia, I'm going to be very interested to see what happens between Ellie and Julian

I laughed at her naked mom for some reason XD Great update keep it up :D

Apart from my confused emotional state, all of us in Solitaria lived fairly normal lives for the next two weeks. There were only two things particularly out of the ordinary: Tia was a social outcast due to her treatment of Hannah, and I successfully got my revenge on Adam one evening.
After meeting as usual at the hall, he decided to visit Oswald and Anastasia for a few hours, while I went home. Seizing my opportunity, I snuck into his room and sat down at his laptop, where I spent a few minutes hacking into his MySpace account and sending peculiar comments to various people, as well as defacing his profile and changing his password. After I was done with that, I found a folder on his hard drive where his high scores and game data were stored for his favourite game, some car racing thing he played all the time, and deleted them. Then, to complete the humiliation, I played the game several times and set new high scores in my name.
I know, I know, it's all very juvenile and immature. A seventeen-year-old should have better revenge ideas than that. But gosh, at the time, it felt so good.
Grinning, I left the laptop exactly as I'd found it, and went back to my room to read and wait for him to notice my changes.



He came home later that evening, and as usual, I heard him go into his room, followed by the soft creak of his desk chair as he sat down on it.
I waited a few minutes…nothing.
What was he doing?
Then, the sound I was waiting for: a strangled bellow of shock and rage, followed by a thump (I wasn't sure what that was, perhaps he hit the computer?), and then stomping footsteps approaching my room. The door flew open. "What the hell, Ellie?" my brother fumed.
I looked up from my book innocently. "I don't know, Adam," I replied. "What is the hell?"
"You should know full well," he spat. "I just went to my MySpace to find my layout completely changed, comments asking why I was sending spam comments to people, particularly Anastasia, and a ton of photos in my album that I never put there. Of course, I only know this because I had to view my profile rather than logging into it, because someone has changed my password!"
I clicked my tongue in sympathy. "Bummer," I said. "Don't you just hate MySpace hackers?"
Adam seriously looked like he was about to kill me. Instead, he settled on swearing very colourfully at me, using a multitude of words that I'm sure my parents wouldn't have liked him to say.
I waited for the barrage of verbal assault to end, then said calmly, "Maybe you shouldn't go around locking people in store rooms with their enemies, and then never apologising."
Adam looked stunned. "That was frigging ages ago!" he spluttered.
"So you've had ages to say sorry, but you haven't," I said. "Plus, there are a whole lot of other annoying things you've done that have so far gone unpunished. I had some catching up to do."
"Change it back, Ellie, or I will seriously make your life hell," Adam threatened, furious. "Starting with telling Julian how much you're deeply in love with him."
Now it was my turn to be shocked. I actually felt the blood drain from my face.
"Wh—I'm not deeply in—" I spluttered, trying to form a basic sentence. "How did you know that!?" I bellowed finally, standing up.



Adam's expression changed from incensed to smug. "You should put a lock on that journal of yours," he said, nodding towards my 'Soltaria' story-journal that was lying on my desk. "It's just too interesting to resist. I had a ball reading it while you were at Amelia's a week or so ago for that sleepover."
Now I was angry. "How dare you read my private journal!" I yelled, enraged.
"How dare you mess up my MySpace!" Adam countered.
"I deleted your high scores and saved games in that car game of yours, too," I sneered, and watched his face spasm alarmingly.
"You what?"
"Maybe you should put a padlock on that laptop of yours," I said. "It's almost too interesting to resist."
Adam pulled his phone out of his pocket, flipping it open theatrically. "Well, you can start restoring my MySpace and game data, or Julian's going to get a fascinating phone call."
"And you can put that phone away," I countered, pulling my own phone out with equal dramatic flair, "or I'm telling Anastasia how much you love her."
Adam seemed to consider this for a moment. Checkmate, I thought.
He narrowed his eyes at me, his gaze flicking between my face and the phone I brandished in my hand. I just glared fixedly at him, hoping to wear him down with my penetrating stare.
I let out a tense, exasperated sigh. "How about a compromise," I suggested.
"How about you just fix everything you've broken?" Adam snarled.
Ignoring him, I said, "If you apologise to me for locking me in the storeroom and reading my journal, I will tell you the password for your MySpace, and we both won't tell anyone any secrets."
"And what about my high scores?" Adam hissed.
"I'll tell you how to get them back," I said.
He stood there, grinding his teeth, eyebrows plunging, breathing heavily, and generally behaving like a rhinoceros. I stood there, arms folded, waiting for his answer.



Finally, he exhaled noisily. "OK," he said. "I'm sorry I locked you in the storeroom and read your journal."
"You have to mean it," I said.
"For God's sake, Ellie, what else do you want?" he cried.
"You're not showing any remorse!" I said.
"That's because I'm bloody angry!"
"Well, stop being angry!"
"I can't just go and turn off how I feel!"
"Work on it," I suggested, beginning to dial.
Adam noticed. "Stop that."
I looked at him again, challenging. "Say sorry."
"I did."
"Mean it."
"I did!—OK." He sighed loudly and whirled his arms around a bit. "I am really, really, sorry for locking you in the store room and for reading your journal. I feel very remorseful."
He looked grumpily at me. "Password," he demanded, "or I call Julian."
"He wouldn't believe you anyway," I said flippantly. "But it's 'bananasrcool08', all lowercase, with the 'r' as in the letter, not the word."
"Thankyou," Adam said grudgingly. He started walking out of my room, then paused. "'Bananas are cool'?" he repeated incredulously.
"It was the first thing that came to my head," I said. "Now get lost."
"You still haven't told me how to restore my games," he said.
"The files are all in the recycle bin," I said. "If you don't know how to put something back from the recycle bin, you've got problems."
He trudged out of my room, leaving me to metaphorically kick myself for leaving my journal lying around. Thank god he didn't find my real journal, the one I actually record my private feelings and stuff in! Then I probably would have refused to give him the password at all.
Still, the writing in this journal is incriminating enough.
"Did you save a copy of the code for what was on my MySpace before you wiped it?" Adam called.
"Nope," I called back. "What an oversight. I'm so dreadfully sorry."
"Keep that attitude up, and I'll ring your loverboy," Adam called.
"Empty threat," I called.
I heard the house phone ring in the hallway, but couldn't be bothered to go get it. I was still sulking. Let mum or dad get it, I thought. I started rummaging in my desk drawer, looking to see if I had an old padlock I could perhaps fix to my journal.
The phone rang for a while, then stopped suddenly. I kept rummaging, wondering if I even had a spare padlock (does anyone? Seriously, who keeps spare padlocks in their desk drawer?), but after about half a minute, I heard hurried footsteps coming up the stairs.
I opened my door just as Mum pounded on Adam's door, so I heard her say "Quick, we've got an emergency meeting at the hall. Something's happened."



"What?" I said, startled.
"I'm not sure yet," Mum explained to me quickly, taking off her lab coat as she spoke. "Debbie Rosencrantz just said to get to the hall as quickly as possible, so we're going now. Let's go."
"In the car?" I asked.
Mum shook her head. "No need, we'll just walk quickly."
"Someone else been poisioned?" I asked.
"I don't know," Mum said, sounding snappish.
"Just let me clear my profile…" I heard Adam mutter.
"No, Adam, we have to go now," Mum insisted.
"It'll only take a minute—"
"Now!" Mum said forcefully.
"OK…" Adam grumbled, swivelling on his chair and glaring at me as he came out of his room. I shrugged at him.
It was only as we were walking out of our front gate that Mum's sense of urgency really caught on, and I started to panic.
"Mum, do you have any idea—"
"No, I don't, Ellie," Mum said irritably. "Debbie just called me and said she was calling everyone in the town to get there as soon as we could because she had some important news. It didn't sound good."
My stomach lurched, and my overactive imagination started dreaming up worst-case scenarios. Joanna's dead…someone found, and killed, all the Desslers…we've been struck by a plague…someone's house is on fire…there's been a werewolf attack again…Amelia's a werewolf…Amelia's dead… the government want to redevelop the land…we all have to leave Solitaria…the hall burnt down…someone's dead…
By the time we actually reached the hall, I was a bundle of nerves. My mind continued to present me with horrible situations, but kept sticking on one in particular, like a broken record player: Amelia's dead…someone's dead…Amelia's dead…
"I have to go to the loo," I gasped to Mum, and bolted for it through the crowds of hushed-talking, anxious people. Luckily it was unoccupied.



Whenever I get nervous, my digestive system ties itself in knots. My stomach rumbles, and then I have to find a toilet extremely quickly, where I…well, I don't think you need to know the details. Let's just say it's an explosive experience.
And that's where I was when everyone else heard the news: sitting on the toilet, trying to listen through the door, horrified at what might be happening on the other side. I heard a sudden stillness in the hall, and the too-quiet, muffled noise of Debbie Rosencrantz speaking calmly to the assembled. Before the muffled speaking finished, there was a scream: a piercing, full-throated animal shriek of pain that ripped through me where I sat. It went on and on until I heard someone else speaking rapidly, obviously trying to calm someone down, followed by noisy, racking sobs and hushed, sympathetic tones.
By now, my nerves were at breaking point. I wanted to scream through the door: Tell me what's going on! I need to know what's happened!
But nature prevented me from leaving. I had to be sure nothing embarrassing would happen once I got out.
I waited a few minutes, until the volcano in my stomach had stopped erupting, then finished up, washed my hands, and nearly broke down the door in my haste to get out. I hurried towards the archway which led to the general community room of the hall—
I stopped dead in my tracks, everything hitting me at once.
A few faces turned towards me, etched in varying degrees of pain and suffering.
Debbie was still talking – something about a police investigation – but I didn't hear her.
Victoria was hunched over on one of the couches, crying hysterically, being comforted by her mother, Sophie.



I caught sight of Amelia's face in the crowd, streaked with tears, and for a moment I felt relieved: At least she's still alive…
She noticed me standing there, shocked and still not understanding what had happened. Her face crumpled as she started making her way gently through everyone towards me.
"What happened?" I whispered, heart thumping, dreading the answer without even knowing what the answer was.
Her lip quivered, and she brushed tears from her cheeks. "It's Lou," she said, her voice cracking. "He's—he's been shot. He's gone, Ellie. Gone."
Once again, my brain was hit by a barrage of emotions and thoughts all at once: Amelia in tears – Victoria crying – Lou gone – gone – shot?
"Shot?" I whispered, my mind swirling. I felt tears start springing into the corners of my eyes.
Amelia nodded, forgotten tears dripping off her chin now. "Shot."
I breathed very quickly, feeling the drops of salty water streaking small rivers down my cheeks. Lou was gone.
"Oh, my god," I whispered as it hit me. The tears flowed faster now. My throat constricted, my head throbbed, my nose was blocked…
Amelia hugged me, and finally, the shock and anxiousness overflowed. I clung to her as I cried, and felt her chest shuddering as she took shaky breaths in and out, knowing that she was crying too. My scrambled brain kept focussing on the one thought: Lou was gone.



He was the one person in the town who everyone was friends with. You couldn't help it – since he ran the only shop of any kind, most people came into contact with him quite regularly, and there wasn't a single one of us in Solitaria who didn't like his loyal, caring, and slightly mischievous personality. He was the leader of our tight knit community, who was always ready to help with utter selflessness. More than just a shopkeeper, he was a good friend of everyone – someone you could really count on.
The thought that someone so kind and gentle had met such a violent, shocking end made me sick. Someone had taken a gun and fired a bullet into him, tearing his body apart, taking the life of someone special in a single, bloody act of brutality.
It made me angry. An angriness which only intensified as Amelia tearfully added, as though an afterthought, "Victoria found out she's pregnant today."
I gasped. Pregnant?...
I glanced back into the room full of bereaved people, and my gaze fell upon the weeping vampire. The image would be one I'd remember for the rest of my life: the sight of Victoria, sobbing desperately into her hands on the couch, grieving for the father of her unborn child.

Well that was depressing :/

Thanks for the comments again everyone! I'm trying to update this about once a week, but with all the work piling up for university I tend to lose track of time...please hit me over the head with an imaginary pillow if I haven't updated the story for over a week.

On a side note, this is something that made me lol a bit: as I was gathering all the sims at the community hall lot to take the pics for the most recent chapter, I let them mill around for a minute (free will was 'on' at this point) before entering all the cheats etc. I noticed, in amongst the crowd, in the background - a disturbance!




Amelia hasn't forgiven Tia yet. :D

^ Tia did deserve it.

I liked all the sibling rivalry, reminds me of me and my brother. But Lou!! Dead!

That was an extremely sad chapter. I wonder who shot him.

This is sad, and I thought drama in Veronaville is sad D8

great update, keep it up Also, rated this :D

Wow... so dramatic. I'll be keeping a read on this one

I woke up the following morning with puffy eyes and a hollow feeling in my stomach. It took a while for my brain to remember the events of the previous night, but when I did remember, it was like a tower of bricks falling down inside my skull with a loud crash:
Lou's dead.
He was shot.
Victoria's pregnant.
A whole town grieves.
I let out a deep sigh and rolled over, staring at the wall. I didn't really want to get up. I didn't want to face everyone else, didn't want to struggle to hold back tears during normal conversations, didn't want to discuss the horrible news.



It was my first experience with death. I was surprised at how well I was handling it. I'd always imagined how I would react to the death of someone I knew, someone I was friends with: I'd collapse into a depressed, shocked state of mind, staying in my room for days, crying at the drop of a hat for no apparent reason, other than remembering a sudden moment connected with the deceased. I thought I'd never be able to look at a picture of them again without bursting into tears. I thought I would take weeks, if not months, to heal.
Instead, I felt as though my mind had divided in two. One half was emotional. It was angry and sad and empty and everything else you'd expect a mourning person to feel.
But the other half shocked me. It made me feel like I was, deep down, a cold, heartless human being. It shrugged, and thought, So he's just not going to be around any more. I can live with that. It suppressed the emotional half of my brain, overriding any notion of hysterics, as though it was telling it to grow up and snap out of it.
It was this side of my brain that caused a numb, passive feeling to invade my body, prompting me to get out of bed and start the day as though nothing much had happened. It's just that there was one less person around.
I drifted through the morning. I ate breakfast like a robot with my family – none of us wanted to talk about the previous night's news. I had a shower, brushed my teeth, got dressed, and sat down at my computer to start the schoolwork for the day.
But my mind wandered, unable to concentrate on the lesson. I tried another subject, but to no avail. I felt like there was something I had to do before my mind would settle. I believe it had something to do with my anger.
I stood up, left my desk, walked downstairs and announced that I was going for a walk. No one objected.



As I walked towards Lou's shop, I wondered why I felt so compelled to find answers to his death.
Teenagers only solve crime cases in unrealistic storybooks, I told myself. In the real world, it's the police that do the case-solving. Sometimes, the case isn't even solved.
It's not that I don't trust Christopher. I just want to see something for myself. Ask some questions.
As if he'll answer them anyway.
He might – he trusts me.
It's a police case. He can't give you details.
I can try.
Is this how schizophrenics feel?
"Stop it," I muttered to myself.
I soon found myself outside Lou's shop. It had yellow police tape stretched in a border all around the perimeter, and Christopher's car was parked out the front. The shop seemed to have a completely different atmosphere: empty and impersonal. Lou had always filled it with life. Now it was full of forensic investigators with cameras, fingerprint dust, plastic bags and numbered markers. A makeshift memorial had already started to sprout up next to the letterbox.



I stood there for a while, looking in at the scene, until Christopher noticed me and came over. "Ellie, what are you doing here," he asked quietly, shaking his head sadly.
I shrugged. "I was just curious," I said.
"You shouldn't be here," Christopher said.
I pointed to the tape. "Hey, I'm on the right side of the tape," I pointed out. "Technically, I'm allowed."
Christopher let that one go. "Were you after something from the shop?" he asked.
"No," I replied. "Do you have any suspects yet?"
"You know I can't tell you—"
"You don't have to tell me who they are, just if you have any," I interrupted.
Christopher pressed his lips together. "We are currently questioning two women who are helping us in our enquiries," he told me.
I smiled. "I'm not a journalist. You don't have to talk like that."
Christopher sighed. "Just used to it, I guess."
"So, it's Adrianna and Lola then," I said quickly, trying to catch him off guard.
It worked. He didn't say anything, but I saw a slight flicker of alarm in his eyes. He quickly replied, "I didn't say that."
"But who else would the two women be?" I asked.
"There are plenty of women in this town, in case you haven't noticed," Christopher pointed out.
"But even to me," I said, "they seem like the obvious choice, don't you think?"
Christopher frowned. "I think you should not try to solve this yourself, Ellie, and leave it to us."
"Actually, that's exactly what I was telling myself before I came here," I said truthfully. "Don't worry. I'm not trying to solve it. I read too many stories where people end up in huge trouble if they get involved."



Christopher seemed to relax, and gave me a half-smile. "That's good."
"Found the murder weapon yet?"
"Ellie…"
"Just asking."
Christopher looked tense now. "Well, I'm not answering," he replied sternly, just as a voice crackled over his radio: "Still no sign of the murder weapon, Chris. We've searched the grounds and the house, inside and out."
Christopher sighed, glaring at me. I just smiled back at him as he responded to the voice on the radio.
When he'd finished speaking, he sighed. "I have to get back to the investigations," he told me. "I strongly suggest you go home."
I nodded. "OK. I'll do that."
Christopher nodded. "Good."
He started walking away. I was struck by a sudden thought.
"Hey, Christopher?" I called.
He sighed, turned around. "What is it, Ellie?"
"Who's going to run the shop now?"
He shrugged. "It will belong to whoever he says it belongs to in his will."
"Do you know—"
"Not yet. Goodbye, Ellie."