Now I panic?

"Hey wake up, we're here."

I open my eyes to the jerk-wad's less than two inches away. They're the prettiest green i've ever seen; extremely light, with flecks of black and brown.

He blinks. "Are you gonna move? I need to get out."

I snap out of it and jump up, grabbing my bag and leaping forward... into Josh.

He hits the back of the seat hard, and I cover my mouth with my hands in mortification.

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry Josh! I wasn't looking where I was going, and I just woke up..." I stop at his slightly annoyed expression, mumble another sorry, and rush by and off of the plane.

Having grabbed my few bags at the pickup place, i'm about to turn to go when a hand grabs my arm. I look up to a somewhat out of breath Josh, staring at me in confusion.

"Why did you just run off like that? You didn't even give me a chance-"

He's cut off by a piercing scream from behind me. I groan, as my mother wraps her arms around me in a death grip. "Hi... mom."

Josh smiles. Mom looks up at him, and shrieks again; this time in my ear. Ow.

"Joshua!"

"Mrs. René."

She releases me, allowing circulation back into by body, and hugs him. I stare, lost.

"You know him?"

She nods. "His father is our best client." She looks over his shoulder, then whispers something in his ear. He nods and points over to the boy's bathroom.

Mom starts a bit, and turns to me quickly, taking one of my bags.

"Come quickly darling; your father is probably getting annoyed. Hurry please."

Just as i'm about to turn, the jerk-wad comes out of the bathroom, standing right in front of me. We glare at each other.

"You know," he starts, "That advice you gave me earlier was absolutely ridiculous."

"Really? You only won after I told you how to."

"I followed my own strategy thank you. Your technique was very childish.

I step up to him, smiling coldly. "I'm sure we could've gotten along great, if you didn't have such a huge ego and weren't such a jerk."

He sneers at me. "Why would I want to be friends with you?"

I step closer until my chest brushes his, running a finger down his cheek slowly.

"I don't know... I have a lot to offer. Like... I don't know... access to the secret code that only five people got at the release of the first five copies of Phantasy star. The code that unlocks secret worlds, clothing and leveled up weapons. I might have told you if you were nice to me."

He swallows, and I know i've got him. "You're lying."

"Really?" I lower my voice to a whisper. "My username is T3goldrush; i'll be on at eight. Feel free to come and get your proof." I step back, smiling happily and innocently again, sure to keep eye contact for a few more seconds before picking up my bags again.

"Let's go mom; we don't want to keep dad waiting. I can't wait to see what you've done with the house."

Mom turns to me when we're out of the pick up center, looking amused. "When did you get to be such a tease, Kortney René?"

I smile. "Mark taught me many things in New York that were essential to getting by as a girl there. Teasing, just happens to be the thing I was best at.

..................................................................................................

Wow. When they said they renovated, they really sounded modest. This is not a renovation; this is a home makeover. They practically built a whole other house onto what was already here.

"Welcome home!" Mom and dad beam at me, and I smile to hide my disgust.

"Thank you, but i'd rather you just tell me what i'm here for so I can go back to New York ASAP."

They stop smiling, then dad speaks up.

"You should get some rest first. We'll tell you tomorrow. I'd like to have at least one day with my only daughter. We'll take you shopping and go to lunch, then come home and explain everything. Goodnight."

They both hug me, then go down the hall to the living room(if they haven't turned it into something else, that is), probably to do some more work. I knew they wouldn't take a full day off, even for me. Whatever.

I go up the grand staircase, and walk down the hall to my door, bracing myself for an explosion of frills and ruffles, before opening the door and stepping in. I drop my bags.

They haven't touched my room.

At all.

Everything is just how I left it; posters on the walls, spiral notebooks on the floor, mix-matched sheets on my bed that hasn't been made for almost five years...

Nothing matches, nothing has been cleaned up, and quite frankly... it's nice.

I sit in my unmade bed, and take out my PSP, logging onto Phantasy Star.

There are a bunch of people on, for a Monday night. I walk around for a while, chatting with random people, until I notice someone following me. I turn my character around, turning my mic back on.

"So?" His voice comes through loud and clear. I glare at his character(who looks so much like him, it's ridiculous). "Are you going to show me your stuff?"

"Hello to you too." I make my person curtsy to his.

"Let's just go on a mission," he snaps.

I walk away, he follows. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not about to be bossed around by you. I don't care if you don't believe me; I don't have to prove anything to you if I don't feel like it." I stop, turning. "Now why don't you ask me nicely?"

"Fine."

.......................................................................................

We end up going on three missions together, during which I showcase all of my special stuff to him. We don't talk much, except to bark orders at each other during the BOSS stages.

Even though we don't talk, I think we're actually warming to each other; through the geeky- tech- world of Phantasy Star. But then he ruins it by screaming at me when I accidentally get us killed, because my power bar got down too low and I couldn't heal myself.

"Why didn't you listen to me?! I told you to refill your power gauge before we got to this stage. You are so stupid!"

I click my PSP off, resisting the urge to throw it at a wall.

After I change into my PJs, I send a quick text to the guys, asking if it's alright to call.

My phone rings immediately afterwards.

"Hello-"

"Kort! You're not gonna believe this! We got our big break. A producer called after the show, and said he wanted to sign us! He said you told him about us. Where in the world did you meet a producer?!"

I think back, not remembering. "I don't know..." Then it hits me. Josh! I grab my purse and dig through it until I find the card.

"Right! I met this guy Josh on the plane and I told him about you guys. He gave me his card but I never called him-"

"Oh my gosh, Kort, you are the best! We're gonna go celebrate. Bye!" He hangs up, and after a few seconds of stunned silence, I do too.

"Bye," I mumble to myself.

Sounds like they're over me leaving...