Oh my goodness em, vvv exciting! Eagerly awaiting more now!

I have to agree it's way better than Nancy Drew!

I wasn't worried about being quiet any more. I bolted, with Julian right behind me, through the front door, heading around to Lou's car. As I ran, I pressed the button on the car-door opener, and heard a satisfying 'bi-beep' as the car unlocked itself for us. I yanked open the door, hurled myself into the driver's seat, slammed it shut again and started to fumble with the set of keys as I heard more bullets thudding into the car. Julian tumbled into the passenger seat as I found the key for the ignition.
"Got it," I panted, giving it a sharp twist and hurriedly buckling up my seat belt as the car rumbled to life. Hoping against hope that Lou's car had automatic transmission, I looked down at the gearbox.
It was automatic.
"Thank God," I exclaimed as I threw the handbrake off and slammed the gearstick into reverse. A bullet whizzed through the back windscreen.
"Duck!" I yelled to Julian, and I gunned the accelerator. Out the corner of my eye I saw Lola dash away from the car as it sped towards her.
"Their car—" Julian managed to say. I was briefly able to glimpse the shiny red sportscar parked directly behind me before I turned the wheel slightly to the left. Without stopping, I rammed Adrianna and Lola's car out of my way with a noisy metallic thump, spinning it so that it fishtailed out onto the road.



"What car?" I said.
I steered the car backwards out of Lou's short driveway, before throwing the gearstick back into drive and speeding off down the road with a screech of burning rubber.
As I looked in the rear vision mirror and saw Lola scrambling to climb into the passenger seat of their now-heavily-dented car, I couldn't help but grin at my heroic movie moment.
"I thought Amelia was the only one of us who could drive!" Julian panted, turning around in his seat to look behind us.
"Hey, I've got my L's," I said defensively, "and I've done about thirty hours. The only thing I'm bad at is reverse parking and merging into oncoming traffic."
"Well, you can definitely reverse," Julian said, "and you can definitely merge into traffic. Literally."
"Julian," I said. "You're starting to get my sense of humour."
He laughed. "No, I just have a different definition of 'merge'."
The road out of Solitaria to Eridessa was fairly straight, so I could go even faster than usual, since there were very few bends in the road. If we weren't in such a hurry, I would have been able to admire the pretty forest through which we drove. I knew at some point we would be driving parallel to a relatively straight part of the Fawkes River, but it was shielded by the tall trees and shrubbery, so I wasn't sure where it was.



I think we were both feeling a bit too confident. I mean, I'd executed some astoundingly illegal and damage-inducing car manoeuvres without killing us all, we were speeding towards help and away from the bad guys (who were only just visible in the rear vision mirror), and the adrenaline combined with the speeding car was making me giddy with relief. I never even looked at any of the dials just behind the steering wheel. Not even the fuel gauge.
We'd been driving for about five minutes. Julian had informed me that Adrianna and Lola were very slowly gaining on us, but I'd figured that if I kept driving as fast as I could, we could outrun them - their car may have looked sporty, but ours had more power. That was until I saw a red light flashing on the instrument panel.
"What's that?" Julian asked, pointing to it.
"What?" I said, glancing quickly at where he was pointing while trying to keep my eyes on the road. When I saw what he was pointing to, though, I had to do a double take.
"No, no, no, no, no," I moaned as I caught sight of the flashing red 'EMPTY' light. "We can't have come this far only to run out of petrol!"
"Maybe the gauge is faulty," Julian said.
The engine cut out.
"I don't think it is," I said, a feeling of dread spreading through me.
The engine started up again quickly, and we were able to drive for about another thirty seconds before it cut out for a second time.
"We're screwed," Julian said, groaning. "And they're right on our tail."
I glanced in the mirror, and saw that they'd caught up while we were having engine troubles. They were now only about five car lengths away, and gaining fast.
The engine gave another valiant effort, starting up again promisingly, and it ran for another twenty seconds or so, until I felt the power steering cut out.
"Whoa!" I cried as the car veered towards a tree. I had to use all of my strength to wrench the steering wheel around and turn the car – and then the engine cut out again, for the last time.
"Oh, god," I whimpered, desperately pressing the accelerator, even though I knew it was of no use. The car's momentum carried us forward for a few more metres, before finally it ground to a depressing but stubborn halt. As a last-ditch effort, I tried starting the ignition again, but it refused to budge.



Julian and I sat there panting, staring straight ahead at the road which would have led us to safety, if it wasn't for something as fundamentally simple as petrol. We knew there was no point in getting out of the car and running.
"There's a book I've read," I said, glancing in the rear view mirror. Lola and Adrianna's car had pulled up right behind ours, and I saw both of them get out and start walking towards us. "The hero keeps saying that as long as you stay alive, you have a chance of survival."
"It doesn't take a genius to work that out," Julian pointed out, just as my car door was suddenly yanked open. A hand reached in and grabbed my upper arm in a bruising pincer-like grip, before I felt cold metal touch the side of my head.
"Get out," Lola snarled. She didn't leave me much choice, though, as she hauled on my arm so that I almost fell out of the car, stumbling as I tried to regain my balance. Lola didn't help the matter by hitting me hard on the side of my face with her free hand.
"You get out, too," she yelled to Julian, who hurriedly opened his door and clambered out, holding his hands up awkwardly.
Lola snorted. "Put your arms down and just come over here," she said.
Julian lowered his hands and started walking around to the driver's side of the car. "Don't hurt her," he said.



"I won't, as long as she doesn't try anything," Lola said, looking at me with contempt. "You guys just don't give up, do you? You break out of a store room, then break in to a house, steal a car, and don't stop until it runs dry. Unfortunately, though, your luck has just run dry, too."
"The police are coming," I lied. "Any minute now."
"Really," Lola said loftily. "Even though it's a full moon and your hero cop is a werewolf right now?"
Damn, I thought. She smiled evilly. "Nice try, honey."
Adrianna came over, holding two sets of handcuffs. She handed them to Lola, then went to open the back door on the driver's side of the car. Lola grabbed my arms, forcing them behind my back, and snapped the handcuffs on.
"These belonged to a, uh, recipient of my services," Lola said. "We always thought they'd come in handy some day. Them and the gun."
"Your services?" I sneered. Adrianna was fiddling with something on the inside of the car door as I spoke. "What services?"
"Nothing you need to know," Lola said. She grabbed Julian's arms and handcuffed him as well. Then she stepped back, still pointing her gun at us, while Adrianna went over to open the rear car door on the passenger's side.
"I wouldn't try any great escapes from this car," Lola said airily. "Although I think that would be difficult enough with your hands behind your back."
"Why don't you just shoot us?" I said bitterly.
Lola raised an eyebrow. "You want me to?"
"No!" Julian exclaimed quickly, and Lola smirked.
"Nah, I'm running out of bullets," she said, "and the rest are stashed in my bag. But don't worry. I'll use them if I need to."



“Why did you kill Lou?” I asked bluntly.
Lola raised her eyebrows. “Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters!” I said angrily. “He didn’t do anything wrong, he was providing you with a place to stay, for God’s sake! Why did you have to kill him?”
“He got in the way,” Lola snapped. “Now shut up, or I might just shoot you anyway.”
I heard Adrianna fiddle with something on the other door, then heard the slam and felt the car wobble as she closed it. She stood up and nodded to Lola over the roof of the car.
I felt the gun being jabbed into my back. "Get in," Lola commanded, and I somehow managed to clamber in to the back seat of the car and shuffle over to the passenger's side to let Julian in. Once we were both in, Lola slammed the door shut.
"What did they do to the doors?" I murmured, twisting so that my handcuffed hands could reach for the door handle.
"I think they safety-locked them," Julian said, his voice hollow.
I yanked on the door handle, and it didn't budge. "What?" I asked.
"The back doors of cars sometimes have child protection locks," Julian explained. "So that little kids don't open the car doors while the car's moving. The parents have to open the door from the outside."
I sighed. "Great," I said. "Child protection. Wonderful. I've always wanted to be protected from children."
The driver's door opened, and I tensed as I saw Lola get in. She sat in the seat for a moment, just looking out the front windscreen, before slipping the gearstick into neutral and taking the handbrake off. The car gently rolled forwards a little, then stopped.
She twisted in her seat to face us. "I'm afraid the ride's going to get a little bumpy," she said blandly. "Sorry."
I snorted. "You won't get far without petrol," I pointed out.
She raised her eyebrows and stared at me – chillingly.
"Watch me," she challenged.
I felt the car start to move, like magic. Lola took hold of the steering wheel and slowly, deliberately steered it so that it was facing the forest on the side of the road. I turned in my seat to see Adrianna leaning on the boot, pushing the car along the road towards the trees.
"What are you doing?" I exclaimed, as Lola continued to steer the eerily silent car.
"You'll find out," she said enigmatically.
I exhaled, exasperated. "Well, I'm an impatient girl," I snapped. "So why don't you tell me?"
"Because then you'll just try harder to get out," Lola explained.
The front wheels left the bitumen, bumping over the side of the road with a soft buh-bup. The back wheels soon followed, and with an almighty push, Adrianna sent us rolling into the forest. The front of the car was pointing down, and Lola started gripping the wheel harder.
With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I asked, "And why would we do that?"
"You'll see," Lola said.
The car was moving faster now, careening dangerously through the undergrowth. At first, I was gently rocked from side to side in my seat, but as the terrain became steeper, it felt like a giant had grabbed hold of me and was flinging me from side to side in the backseat.



"Stop!" I shrieked. There was a loud thud beside me as Julian's head was hurled against the window sickeningly. He swore, and groaned.
"Shut up!" Lola cried, still steering her way dangerously through the forest, crashing through branches, flattening small plants—
Adrenaline washed over me like a cold shower when I saw where we were headed. The Fawkes River was straight ahead.
"Bye!" Lola yelled, as she threw open her door and leapt out of the moving car, chucking herself sideways and rolling harmlessly onto dirt.
"NO!" I screamed. The river was getting closer. We hit a tree, and the car was thrown viciously sideways, hurling the driver's door shut again, and sending the car heading faster still towards the water and an agonizing death.
"Julian!" I shouted. "Hold your breath!"
He looked at me, dazed. "Ellie…"
I tried to shuffle myself forwards, desperately lunging backwards for the handbrake—
There was a gigantic splash and I was tossed violently back into my seat as the car hit the water. For a few seconds, we floated gently on the surface of the river.
"Oh, my god," I whispered.
Then the front of the car pitched forwards and we began to sink.

...I do apologise about the increasing dodginess of some of the pictures There are one or two really terrible Photoshop jobs in the above chapter and also the next one, so I'm sorry about that. However if you stand several feet away from your computer screen, tilt your head sideways, and squint, the overall crapness becomes a little less noticeable.
Also it was getting more and more difficult to take the in-game shots in the first place! "OK, I need a shot of a car floating in the middle of the river - and also of two teenagers looking horrified in the back seat of said car with their hands behind their backs." Arghh...

Thanks for the comments again! Interesting, I've never actually read any of the Nancy Drew stories - I was more of an 'Enid Blyton's mysteries' fan when I was younger.

I can't really see crapiness in the last picture xD And yeah photoshoping is pain. try adding guy in the car and also adding rain effects xD

regardless, great job.

Yikes! Who's going to rescue them?

Ooooh, intense!

Ohhhhhh, you can't leave us hanging after that! I have to know what happeeens!

Lola stood up, brushing twigs and dirt from her clothes and face. She's never had to make the jump from a moving car before, and she thought she'd done rather well, under the circumstances. Even her gun had landed safely after she'd thrown it out – it was sitting undamaged on the ground, a few metres away. She retrieved it just as Adrianna made her way down to the water's edge.



"There you go," Lola said, gesturing towards the sinking car. "Another successful hit. And no bullets required, either."
Adrianna nodded, staring at the car as bubbles started coming to the surface. She thought she could see the two teenagers thrashing around inside, trying to get out.
Lola looked at her. "Adrianna?" she said, tilting her head. "What's up?"
Adrianna shook her head. "I don't know, Lola," she said. "They were just kids."
"No, they weren't," Lola corrected her sternly. "They're bodies. That's all they are. A bunch of human parts assembled together like a machine. Nothing more."
Adrianna kept staring at the car, watching as it gradually became fully submerged. She flinched when the top of the roof went under and a sudden gush of air and water sprayed out, like a whale surfacing to breathe.
“Don’t tell me you’re finally starting to grow a conscience,” Lola sighed, exasperated. "Remember what I said about becoming attached, Adrianna: you can't. You have to distance yourself from the hits, otherwise you start getting sentimental, and that's when you make mistakes. You know my saying – bullets in bodies. Slugs in skulls."
"How can you say that?" Adrianna exclaimed, turning to face Lola, away from the sight of the car. "They were just children. They were somebody's daughter, somebody's son, somebody's best friend."
"That didn't stop you with Joanna, though, did it?" Lola said fiercely.
Adrianna looked away. "That was different," she said. "There was never enough arsenic in those muffins to kill her, just enough to make her sick."
"No, there was enough to kill her, and you knew it," Lola said matter-of-factly. She started walking back up through the forest to their dented red sportscar. "Come on," she coaxed. "We've gotta get to the airport soon. Paris is waiting."
Adrianna didn't move. "I'm not going," she said.
Lola stopped, amazed. "What?"
"I can't do this any more," Adrianna said. "This…killing. I can't live with myself."
Lola stared. "Well, there won't be any more killing in Paris."
"But there will be," Adrianna said angrily. "Someone always finds you, always knows who you are. Someone will find out that we're the brilliant assassination team that they've heard about: the brawn and the brain. And I'm tired of being the brain behind so many people's suffering."
She walked up to Lola. "So here's what I'm suggesting, as your friend," she said seriously. "You go to Paris. Take all our money with you. Become someone new. I won't tell a soul. I'll take the car and our stuff and stay here, and I'll find somewhere else to go. But I've had enough, Lola. I'm done with this."
Adrianna started to walk away, up the slope, distancing herself from her former best friend. Then she heard a click.
"I can't let you do that, Adrianna," Lola's voice said from behind her.
Adrianna turned, half-knowing what she'd see, but she was still shocked to find her best friend pointing a gun in her direction.



"What are you doing?" she whispered.
"Protecting myself," Lola replied. Her face was twisted into an expression of pain and apology. "I'm sorry, but you're either with me, or you're gone. That's just the way it has to be."
Adrianna was stunned. "Lola," she whispered, horrified. "I'm your best friend! Don't you remember?"
Lola looked at her sadly. "Yes, I do remember," she said softly, haunted. "Once."
"You know I won't tell anyone," Adrianna said sincerely. "Why would I? They'd throw me in jail!"
"I can't afford to take that risk!" Lola hissed. "I'd go bloody insane in prison and you know it." She gestured with the gun. "No, you have to come with me, otherwise you're a loose end."
"So will I just be another body?" Adrianna spat angrily, teeth clenched, tears flowing. "Another—machine? Something that you dump by the side of the road for the animals to eat?"
Lola shook her head. "Don't be so dramatic—"
"All our years together and you're this selfish!" Adrianna cried. "I can't believe it!"
"Shut up!" Lola yelled, raising the gun decisively.
Adrianna watched silently, tears streaking her cheeks.
Lola's face was contorted in pain. "All those years, and they have to end like this," she whispered, gripping the trigger.
Adrianna squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the end—
There was a bang, and a thump, followed by the sound of a tree branch crashing down to the ground. Adrianna opened her eyes in surprise.
Lola was standing there, frozen, gaping at the person who had just seemingly materialised in front of her.
"Victoria?"
"God, you're a heartless bitch," Victoria Guildenstern spat, her words dripping venom.



Lola was lost for words. "What are you doing here?" she managed to gasp.
"I got a text message," Victoria fumed. "And a missed call. From Ellie. Asking for help. So I thought I should give it."
"Well, you're a bit late," Lola said loudly. "Ellie's dead. So is Julian. They're in a car on the riverbed right now. Fish food."
"Is that so?" Victoria whispered menacingly. Lola took an involuntary step backwards. "You killed my fiancé, stone dead, and he never did a thing to harm anybody," she hissed. "My child is going to grow up without a father because of you, and now you're going to pay."
"Your child won't be growing up at all at this rate," Lola snarled, her eyes flashing as she raised her gun and pointed it at Victoria.
Victoria laughed humourlessly. "Do you really think bullets can stop a vampire?" she mocked.
Lola could only watch as Victoria darted forwards with supernatural speed and twisted the gun away from her. With a cry of astonishment, she saw the weapon fly out of her hand and land softly, several metres away. Victoria clutched her wrist in a vice-like grip, and began to twist.
The vampire advanced, raising her other hand to grab Lola by the throat, and Lola screamed in pain as her wrist was broken. She stared in horror as Victoria's flaming red eyes glared into her own, her pointed teeth bared, hands like marble around her neck, crushing her airways—



Suddenly, there was a bang, and Lola doubled over despite Victoria's hold. Victoria jerked backwards and stared towards the source of the noise.
Adrianna was standing there with glassy eyes, holding Lola's smoking gun.
Lola looked down, shocked to see red spreading across her front. "Wh—" she gasped. "How—how could you…?"
"Bullets in bodies, Lola," Adrianna said tonelessly, her voice cold and detached. "Remember that."
She fired once more. Lola's head snapped back violently, a round hole between her eyes, and she sank to the ground, dead.
Victoria looked at Adrianna, gobsmacked.
Adrianna slowly lowered the gun, and gazed at Victoria, eyes bright. "I tried to stop her from killing him, you know," she said, sounding choked. "I told her not to. He was so kind to us." She took a deep breath. "I'm so, so sorry."



Victoria bit her lip, shaking her head as the flood of pain within her threatened to overflow. Her shoulders shook as Adrianna came slowly over, dropping the gun once again on the ground, and embraced the vampire in a hug of shared suffering and sorrow. They clung to each other for a moment, until the quietness of the night was broken by a splash, followed by a loud gasping sound.
They both turned in surprise to look at the river's edge, where Ellie was dragging a limp Julian out of the water onto dry ground. Her hands were still handcuffed in front of her as she hauled his body into the leaf litter and dirt, frantically pressing on his chest in a rhythmic pattern, then forcing his mouth open and breathing into it. She repeated this for a few cycles before Julian finally gave a great gasp and spluttered back to life, coughing up water and shaking drops from his eyes.
Ellie thumped him on the back as he continued to heave the water from his lungs. "Keep coughing, that's the spirit," she panted.
Then she glanced up, noticing Victoria and Adrianna for the first time. She looked down, seeing the lifeless form of Lola lying on the forest floor.
She glanced up at the shocked Victoria and Adrianna again.
"Victoria," she gasped. "Do you never answer your phone?"






All that and I didn't even get the fluffy brown blanket.
You know how in movies, if there's a girl that's gotten all wet, at the end she always ends up wrapped in some kind of blanket (usually some gross shade of brown)?
Well, I didn't get it. Julian got it, even though he's a guy and they're meant to tough it out. Just because he went all unconscious on me, he was the one the paramedics wrapped in the blanket (it was white though because they obviously have no imagination), while I just stood there, soaking wet, sticky in places I didn't know I could feel sticky as my jeans started to dry out.



Anyway, there’s a chunk missing from this story, right? How exactly did we manage to get out of that car?
As the car went under, there I was, yelling at Julian to keep breathing as long as there was an air bubble in the car. Of course, he didn't listen, and started hyperventilating.
This was actually quite unhelpful. Apparently most people think that, if you’re about to go underwater, hyperventilation will pack extra oxygen into your bloodstream and allow you to stay under for longer. In reality, you’re not taking much extra oxygen in. You’re just breathing out carbon dioxide at a much faster rate, and since carbon dioxide content is what the brain measures, it gets tricked into thinking your blood has a lot more oxygen than it actually does, and so it sends the impulse to breathe in way too late. By that time, of course, you’re dizzy and probably underwater, and you black out.
I didn’t really have the time to explain all of this to Julian though. I was too busy trying to loop my chained wrists around my legs, thus bringing them in front of me rather than behind my back. They make it look so easy in movies, I thought. Why shouldn’t I be able to do the same?
Well, I nearly dislocated my damn shoulder. In fact, it made this horrible noise at one point and it was pain like I had never known before, but thankfully I was still able to move it, and eventually I managed to bring my chained wrists around so that they were in front of me. I noticed Julian was trying – and failing – to do the same. By that time, the car was almost resting on the riverbed, and taking on water fast.
Since I knew I couldn’t open the door even if it wasn’t ‘child-locked’, thanks to the immense pressure of water against the outside of the car, I grabbed the window-winding lever and started tugging, while thanking my lucky stars that Lou didn’t have electric windows. The window went down just a few inches before water came gushing in with the force of a fireman’s hose, hurling me back through the car and knocking Julian under the surface of the water. Thanks to the window, the car started taking on water even more quickly, and the air bubble was shrinking at an alarming rate. While the water poured in, I grabbed at Julian’s hoodie and lifted him back up to the last remaining air, where we both took a gulp before the car was fully flooded.
I managed to fight my way back over to the window and wound it down all the way. It was then pretty easy to swim out through the window, but no way was I going to leave a blacked-out Julian to drown at the bottom of the Fawkes River, so I swam round to the other side of the car, wrenched open the door, and pulled Julian out of the back seat. While my lungs screamed for air and my vision started to dim, I kicked against the car and rose up towards the surface, where I broke through the water with much noisy spluttering and gasping.
It was quite a task to then drag Julian to the side of the river, and then perform CPR to get him breathing again. For a minute, I thought it was too late. You wouldn’t believe the relief I felt when he finally coughed back into life. Then, as you already know, I looked up and saw a dead Lola on the ground, next to a teary Adrianna and stunned-looking Victoria, whom I had been desperately trying to call earlier.
It all sounds rather unbelievable, doesn't it?
That's just the kind of girl I am.

Lol Awesome!

Outstanding!

I can't just leave the story there – I have to give it a decent eppy-log. Because so much stuff happened after that night, it would be exhausting to write about it all in a narrative style. You'll just have to make do with journal-style.
What a shame.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was finding out about the Desslers, who were not actually under witness protection. Their real surname is Bolton: Gregory and Meredith Bolton, with their children David (Nathan) and Caitlin (Joanna). Anthony/Gregory was known in the criminal underworld as a brilliant computer hacker called the Information Salesman. He believed that all information should be freely available to all people, and that there should be no such thing as 'classified' information or hidden government files, etc. For a price, he would 'sell' this information to certain people. The Boltons fled to Solitaria when one of their clients threatened to expose them.
Lola and Adrianna, wanted fugitives after a hit went wrong, soon found out where they were. They asked Gregory to help them forge some travel documents so that they could escape overseas, but this went against his philosophy: he wasn't just a computer hacker, he specifically only sold information. They managed to convince him to work for them by poisoning Joanna/Caitlin with a muffin laced with arsenic.
It was Joanna's poisoner, Adrianna, who exposed him in the end, as she told the police her whole story following her arrest. A whole bunch of police descended on the Bolton's home as they were trying to bolt for it (Ha, ha!...pun), arresting Anthony/Gregory and also Marie/Meredith. Nathan/David and Joanna/Caitlin were sent away to be put into foster care.



Adrianna Smythe was arrested and charged for the many crimes she and Lola had committed over several years. It emerged that Lola was a well-known hired assassin – she went around doing the dirty work, while Adrianna masterminded the actual 'hit' process so that they wouldn't get caught, as well as handling all the communication between Lola and her clients. You could say that Adrianna was sort of Lola's secretary. She says that Lola shot Lou because he'd found their weapons and forged travel documents hidden under a loose floorboard in the shop. In typical self-preservation mode, Lola killed him before he had a chance to say anything, even though Adrianna disagreed with her actions. Anyway, Adrianna's now in prison, and she'll be staying there for a long, long, long time.



Adam tried asking Anastasia Guildenstern out. She smiled nicely at him and refused, saying it would cause too many problems and that she'd prefer to stay 'just friends' for now. I think Adam was a bit crushed. He'll get over it.



Mystery and Artemis Meyer transformed into completely new people within the week. Artemis shed the eyeliner, removed the red streaks of dye from his hair (it's now a uniform black) and bought new clothes with the money he got from selling his guitar on ebay ("I really don't think I'll ever be able to play it properly, even if I did get lessons"). Mystery also changed her look and now speaks normally – however, she still loves Evanescence and enjoys singing along in her room, as she did before. Dream and Arthur haven't changed, so Amelia still has to battle with unpalatable dinners.



Tia Mink apologised to Hannah for not inviting her to her party. When she found out that Hannah was turning fifteen soon, she organised an even bigger party in her honour, inviting everyone in the village. Although all the adults left after the first few techno songs, all the teenagers stayed to give Hannah a party to remember. At the end of it, she even managed to say 'Thank you', despite her speech being slurred. We all cheered.



Jake Rosencrantz was sent to a juvenile rehabilitation centre by his father, as well as having to pay a pretty big fine for possession of an illegal substance. Tamara says that although she enjoys not having Jake around, she would prefer it if he was back home. Upon hearing that Jake would no longer be around for partying and sexytimes, Tia promptly dumped him, then immediately embarked on a plan to win over some guy she'd met in an Eridessa club.



Victoria Guildenstern gradually got through her grief, and chose to entrust Debbie Rosencrantz with the running of Lou's shop. It took a while to get the shop up and running again, but Debbie eventually had it back to the way it was before (although her coffee still doesn't quite match Lou's). She even remembered to sell me those books I'd ordered in.
Victoria officially changed her surname to R'hu, and a few months later she gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl vampire-alien, whom she named Louisa. She's incredibly cute. Amelia and I have both volunteered for evening babysitting if required.



And as for me and Julian?...

I was over at his house one evening, quite soon after the big adventure. We were both sitting in his room, in front of the fireplace, watching the flames flickering away.
“Your bedroom is huge, Julian,” I murmured. “Easily twice the size of mine…and I still can't believe you have a fireplace in it.”
He shrugged. "Well, the chimney was already there for the one downstairs," he said. "So I guess whoever built this house just decided to add another one."



"And you got it in your room," I said, looking at him and smiling.
"I did," he said, also smiling.
"It's almost…" I trailed off.
He looked at me. "What?"
"…romantic," I said, grinning coyly.
He looked at me, smirking. "Don't go there, Ellie," he warned.
"Why not?" I protested. "Come on. It's getting to be pretty obvious."
Julian sighed. "I guess not," he said.
There was a pause, during which we both stared at the flames a bit more.
"Actually, I invited you over here to ask you something rather important," Julian began.
I kept looking at the fire so he wouldn't see me smiling to myself. "Yeah?"
"You don't have to say yes, or anything," he said. "I mean, it's just a question. And it's completely up to you. And I should mention that I don't actually believe in romantic love - it's a flawed concept that's been popularised by Hollywood films and, well, really, it's nothing more than a simple biological mechanism to ensure humans find a mate to further the species, but…"
He paused again, and I said, "Julian, just spit it out, will you?"
He sighed. "Would you like to be my—my, uh, girlfriend?"
I looked at him, smiling again. "Well, I definitely don't want to be your boyfriend."
He snorted, and rolled his eyes. "I knew I could count on you," he said, shaking his head.
I shrugged. "I thought you just said you don't believe in romantic love?"
"I don't," he said. "I think it's too…I don't know. But I thought, you know, we could be…a couple. If you wanted to."
"I think I would definitely like that," I said, putting an arm around his shoulders.



He glanced at me. "What, no more witty sarcastic comments?" he said.
"Not tonight," I replied, and he moved slightly closer.
"Keep in mind, though," he said to me, "this doesn't necessarily mean that I like your attitude."
"'Course not," I said. "And I still think you're arrogant and patronizing."
Julian smirked. "You realise now that you'll have to send a sympathy card to yourself."
I stared. "What?"
"Remember?" He nudged me. "You once yelled at me that if I ever got a girlfriend--"
"Ohh," I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I can't believe I said that."
"I can," Julian said, still smirking.
"Thanks," I said, "for reminding me of how much of a bitch I am--"
"You're not a bitch, Ellie," he said. "You're just you."
"No, I'm a bitch."
"I don't think so," he said, moving his face extremely close to mine…I saw him close his eyes and tilt his head slightly—
"Uh, Julian," I said abruptly.
His eyes opened. "What?" he said, alarmed. "What have I done wrong?"
"Nothing," I assured him quickly, "absolutely nothing. It's just that…" I sighed. "Stand up."
Looking thoroughly confused, he stood up, and I stood up, too, facing him.
"You sure know how to ruin a mood," Julian said, bemused and bewildered.
"No, no, there's just something I want to do first," I said, coming towards him.
He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "And what is that exactly?" but stayed still as I came towards him and embraced him in a big bear hug.



I sighed happily. "I told Amelia once," I said, still hugging, "that I knew I liked someone when I felt like I wanted to hug them. Nothing more. Just a big hug."
There was silence. We hugged for a few more seconds, until Julian gently broke us apart.
He looked me very seriously in the eye, and said, "Ellie?"
"What?" I asked innocently.
He sighed. "You are a strange, strange person," he replied.
And then he kissed me.

THE END

...and that's the last chapter of Solitaria! (I'll leave it a few days before changing the thread to 'completed'.)

Anyway, thank you very very much for reading and commenting, it really did make my day I'm going to be writing a sequel soonish, so I'd love it if anyone has any specific feedback they'd like to offer, maybe. Or ideas for the next one.

I wrote this actual story a couple of years ago now, and looking back on it I can see flaws EVERYwhere hopefully the next story might not have quite so many. However if people here still enjoyed it, I'm happy!

I didn't see any flaws. I enjoyed it immensely. I'm looking forward to your next one.

I did too! :3 I'd love to see a sequel

That was great! I really enjoyed it and I agree - definitely a sequel! When they're older maybe....

Aww wow, that was an exciting ride and I'm sad to see it end, but the promise of a sequel has left me (and probably many here) with hope. :D

That was wonderful, I couldn't see any flaws and I can't wait to read the sequel! It was so tense in the some of the last few chapters, it was killing me! But I'm glad everything was resolved, especially Artemis and Mystery getting make-overs and Hannah's party.

I couldn't see any flaws either, it was really good! Great ending and so much drama. Woo for a sequel!

As a final thing, I feel I should thank everyone who made any of the custom content I used in the pictures. Obviously since there's so much, I can't list every single thing here. However, the most useful custom content items by far were the various pose boxes I used to set up poses and facial expressions - the pictures really couldn't have happened without them! So here are some links

The two that I used most often were:
Custom modelling poses overlay hack v2 by decorgal (ridiculously helpful - I used facial overlays in pretty much every single shot!)

Custom prop hack by decorgal and Adele

I also occasionally used:
Loading screen poses animbox from jd-movies
Depression animation box by Trendy Hendy
Movie action box by Littlesimgirl
Cup of Poses v1.2 by eletrodj
Fighting poses by SynapticSim
Props Hack by Jixs

As for the sequel, I can't promise when it will be uploaded, and it could be quite a while...but I am definitely going to write it. So stay tuned

(And thanks for the rating everyone! Much appreciated!)