Tales That Must Be Re-told

In about half a second Adelaide turned around and began to run as if her life depended on it back to the buses. Completely forgetting about her fight with Jack, she crashed onto the bus, gasping for air.

Jack and Zack's heads shot toward where Adelaide was standing, both of them looking baffled.

"Jack... Bassam... Barakat," she gasped. "Get... your ass... here... now."

When he stayed still for a couple of seconds staring at her, she shreiked at the top of her lungs, "I SAID NOW, GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!"

At this, Jack jumped up, grabbed his phone, and shoved his shoes on. By the time Alex and Rian, followed by Matt with the video camera, had a chance to even venture out from the bunks to see what was going on, Jack was outside running behind Adelaide (maybe not quite as fast because of the difference in height) back to the spot she had just came from.

Adelaide stopped, causing Jack to nearly run into her from behind. She listened carefully but the only sound was the rustling of the trees around them from the wind.

"Adelaide, what the-"

"Shut up," she cut him off in a fierce voice. Apparently she was beginning to remember what had happened before her walk.

Jack obeyed, utterly confused. She started to walk along the edge of the trees, peering in. She groaned in frustration. "Motherfuckers, they left. They must have seen me."

"Adelaide, can you please tell me what the fuck this is about?" he asked, his temper beginning to rise a little bit.

She spun around, tears beginning to form. "Tiffany - Jeremy -"

Adelaide began to bawl and collapsed to the ground. In alarm, Jack rushed over and she allowed him to gently scoop her up in his lanky arms. Her knees were shaking so hard that he was completely supporting the crying girl.

She didn't have to say anything else, he knew what had happened. Maybe not the full gist of it, but he could put two and two together - he wasn't mentally incompetant.

As she continued sobbing into Jack's chest, he was at a loss of words. He couldn't have cared less about Tiffany; in the back of his head, he had known this wascoming happening all along. His concern was for Adelaide.

Neither of them could be sure how long they stood there like that for; it could have been minutes, it could have been hours. Finally, when Adelaide didn't have enough energy to cry any more, she was able to support herself and sat down on the grass on which they had been standing. Jack sat down beside her and pulled her towards him slowly; he wasn't sure how angry she was with him still, and didn't want to do anything too quickly as to make her move away.

However, it was evident that she couldn't have been too angry with him, since she let herself sink into Jack's upright body. He slowly put his hand along her jaw and turned her head towards him.

"Addy, I'm so sorry," he whispered with more sincerity than she had expected. Adelaide could see it in his eyes that he felt like a bag of shit.

She didn't reply, but her eyes said it all. She had forgiven him, and replaced the hurt he had put her through with a much more serious kind. Her face was still wet with tears; Jack carefully wiped them away with his thumb.

"I swear I'll make sure everything will be okay," he told her quietly and proceeded to lay down, bringing her with him.

They laid there in the grass, Adelaide snuggled up against Jack. She was so broken, so delicate. He wanted more than anything to let her know how he felt, that he cared for her more than anyone else could ever imagine.

But he couldn't.

Not only was she his best friend's sister, but his as well. Not only that, but it would be too uncomfortable and the very unoriginal 'we might ruin our great friendship!' statement was definitely a factor, too.

While Jack was in the middle of deep thought, Adelaide suddenly sat up straight, startling him.

"Let's go out somewhere and drink."

Jack hesitated. "Erm, pardon?"

She jumped up and held out her hand. "C'mon, let's go."

"Adelaide, you hate drinking."

"No I don't," she said. "I'm usually just too busy running around making sure you guys stay alive."

He stood up, a little surprised still. "Okay... you realize everyone will be on the bus still? We have no money, we'll have to go back."

She held up a finger and pulled out her phone and called someone. Jack watched as she put the phone to her ear.

"Hey Travis, what's up?" she asked. "Oh, not much. I was wondering if you could do me a favour. ... Well, I need you to lure my brother and his bandmates off their bus for a few minutes. ... I don't know, invite them over for an All Academy Kings party or something? ... Excellent, thank you. You're the greatest. Kay, bye."

Jack raised his eyebrows.

"We the Kings and The Academy Is... are hanging out and Travis is going to call my brother and invite them over. He'll text me when they're there."

He looked at Adelaide, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"I don't think I've ever seen you drunk before."

"I haven't been while I've been with you guys, anyway."

"Now I feel a little bad," he said and grinned. "That's like, part of being a teenager."

She shrugged. "Don't feel bad, it was always my choice."

Jack looked at her suddenly. His voice was softer. "Hey, are you okay about all of this?"

Again, she shrugged. "I'll live."

Adelaide looked like she was tearing up again. Instinctively, Jack pulled her towards him and rubbed her back soothingly.

This time, she didn't cry. One tear fell from her eye, which was absorbed into Jack's shirt since her face was in his chest.

"We might as well sit down for a few minutes and wait," she mumbled. Jack sat down cross-legged and pulled Adelaide into his lap, his arms around her.

The two of them sat there in silence until Adelaide's phone vibrated in her pocket. She slid it open and quickly read the text, just to make sure.

"Kay, they're off the bus now," she said as she texted a Thank you mucho :] reply to Travis. They both stood up and began to walk in the direction of the bus, not really saying much. Once they reached their destination they quickly got on the bus, not wanting to be seen.

"Are you going to change or anything?" asked Jack as he dug through his bunk to find his wallet.

Adelaide shook her head. "No, we can leave." She retreived her big purse which contained all her lifelines, including her wallet. She tossed her phone inside of it as well.

Jack turned towards her and smirked. "Are you ready, Miss Addy?"

"Oh, am I ever."

"To a club, then," said Jack, and the pair stepped off the bus.