I'm Adopted: Vengeance Edition.

That afternoon my mind was whizzing around so fast I knew I needed to talk to someone or go insane. If I called Michelle all we would talk about would be Matt... I needed to call Nicole, my best friend from back home.

I dialed her number in and waited as it rang.

"Hola, this is Nicola." She answered peppily.

"Hey Nik, it's Jackie." I smirked as an incomprehendible laugh echoed through the phone "Ow."

"Sorry... OH MY GOSH REALLY?! I haven't heard from you since you left! Babe! How are you?!" She asked loudly "Are you still in one piece? Did this new brother rip you to shreds yet? What's he like? Do you look alike? How's your parents? Are they cool? Where in California are you? Are you near LA?"

"I'm great. I'm in one piece... for the most part. He's cool, I guess. We look a lot alike, his friends all couldn't stop saying we look a ton alike. Mom and Dad are rad, Mom's like a life saver. I'm in Huntington, a little ways from LA, but not crazy." I laughed as she giggled.

"Huntington, isn't that near the beach?" She asked.

"On the beach pretty much. Dude this house is fuckin' HUGE!" I laid back on the bed and smiled "So what's new? How's Chilly baby?"

"Oh she's wonderfull, she misses you. Howls a lot, sleeps in my bed. Everyone misses you shit loads here. You have to come back soon and visit, I think Danny's having his Jackie DT's already." We both laughed "He misses you. So does Lara."

"I miss them too. Give them lots of love for me." I smiled and looked at the wall at the newly hung picture of the four of us in our tree house that we barely fit in any more "How's Anne and Kev?" I asked "How are they taking it?"

"They're... I don't know how to say it. They're still them, but Anne just seems sad you're gone. I dunno. Danny and I go over every once and a while to see them still, bring Chilly over for a visit. Everyone misses you. Some random guy at the ice cream shop asked where our loud friend was the other day... Lara almost started crying."

"OH MY GOSH!" I shouted "The one with the nose ring?!"

"Yah, him. Ohhh!" She giggled "You liked him.... right?"

"Fuck yes. Oh dude... DAMNIT! I should so come back and be all hey! Heard you were looking for me." I laughed.

"He'd totally get with you, we were talking for like an hour after his shift about you. Where you went, how we all thought you were doing, and he's a pretty cool kid." I could tell she shrugged with a smile.

"YOU TALKED TO ICE CREAM BOY? And really? You think he would? He's too cute..." I bit my lip and moved onto my stomach, listening as someone walked up the stairs. I just assumed it was Zack or Mom.

"Oh for sure. He'd so get with you, you're gorgeous. I bet you have all those California boys flocking over you now." She scoffed "Bitch."

"Oh... I don't even want to talk about California boys. So what's his name? You must have got a name! He's absolutely gorgeous, what is it? Hold on... lemme guess..."

"Ok guess." She laughed.

"Uhm... Casey? No... Carey! I saw it on his nametag! Carey." I nodded.

"Psycho! Dude, that's right." She shouted "He's amazing though."

"Oh I know he's amazing. I could never properly order ice cream if he was asking. I would practically melt, Danny had to order for me." I giggled "You should give him my number. I'll totally talk to him."

"Really?" She asked with a laugh "What if he's a creeper?"

"Nik? Seriously? He's gorgeous. Do I care if he's a creeper? Waaaiiittt... how old is he?" I asked, biting down on my lip. I heard the footsteps stop outside my door but disregarded it. Zack could shove a stick up his ass if he wanted to eaves drop.

"He's two months older than yooouu!" She shouted with a giggle "Perfect huh?"

"TWO MONTHS?!? Yess! I'll take one." I laughed "Really, if he asks again, give him my number. I'm sure Mom and Dad wouldn't mind me coming home for a while to see y'all and maybe hook up with Carey." I rolled over and sat up, throwing a pillow at the door "Hang on Nik.... GO AWAY ZACK!" I shouted.

The door swung open and I jumped back about a mile "WHO?!" Matt shouted.

"Oh fuck." I mumbled.

"Who is it?! Is it your brother?! CAN I TALK TO HIM!?" I could hear Nik in the background. I picked up the phone to my ear.

"Angry boy alert, shut up!" I hissed.

"Ohh.... should I hang up and stop talking?"

"STOP TALKING." I set the phone down "What do you want? Hasn't Zack talked to you yet?"

He stood still and shook his head "He isn't here, was he coming over to tell me?"

"Probably." I groaned "Go find him, it's his job." I waved him off "So where was I Nik?" I asked.

"Why can't you tell me? What is so important that he had to come find me?" Matt asked. I huffed "What the fuck is going on here? Why are you acting so weird?"

"I'm acting like a minor, like Zack thinks I should act. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm talking to one of my friends that I haven't spoken to in a week. Thank you." I rolled my eyes and laid backwards on my bed "So how's Lara holding up with.... Jase?"

"Oh, they're still together." Nik replied with a giggle "Who's the bitchy guy?"

"Oh, him?" I looked up as Matt glared at me, probably the most intimidating glare I'd ever seen "My brother's friend. Long story. Anyywwhooo, any boys in your- HEY! AH!" I grasped for my phone but Matt hung it up and tossed it to the floor, pinning me against the mattress "Matthew-... Matthew... MATT!" I shouted, I never learned his last name.

"If you want to full name me, you might have wanted to learn my last name, dear." He smiled and held my arms above my head, holding my legs down between his knees.

"Matt! Why are you such a psycho!" I growled and tried getting him off of me, but it wasn't working.

"I want to know what Zack has to say. And why you didn't tell your friend who I was." He brought his face closer to mine "What's going on here?"

"Zack doesn't approve of us, and doesn't want us going out. We had a huge argument, Mom found out, because Zack freaking spilled it to her, and now I'm acting like a minor, like Zack thinks I should. Because we had unprotected sex and everyone seems more worried about the legal effects this will have on you and no one thinks what I could be going through!" I shouted at him. His hands loostened around my wrists and I threw him off and to the floor "God. Will people leave me alone? I'm starting school in a new STATE this fall, I want to keep my life open."

"But.. I thought we agreed... I thought you didn't care what Zack thought?" Matt asked from the floor.

"I do. He's my brother. And until he can come to terms with us as an us, we're going to have to not.. be... an us. So if you can get him to be ok with it, that's fine with me. But until then," I reached down and picked my phone up "I'm called my bff back and getting the cute ice cream boys number. M'kay? Thanks." I fell back and dialed Nicole's number again.