Zac knocked on the front door of Cinder's house, wondering why she hadn't picked up her phone. Maybe she had fallen asleep.
Mrs. Manchester cracked the door the tiniest bit. "Can I help you, young man?"
"I'm here to see Cinder." Why was she treating him like a stranger? "Is she here?"
Mrs. Manchester's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You . . . you want to see Cinder? Didn't you get her message? She never wants to see or hear from you again. She requested that we move to Oklahoma City. She wants no contact with you, your brothers and sister, or Skye or Matt, ever again. Sorry."
The door slammed in his face before he knew what was going on. What to do now, he pondered. An idea came to him. He edged around the house, an old Victorian, and looked up the back wall. Directly above him, on the second story, was Cinder's window. The light was on.
A white trellis led up to the window. Zac jumped onto it and began climbing before his bravado wore away. "Dude, I'm a real Romeo now," he exclaimed.
Taylor, Skye, Matt and Jess arrived at the Hanson's house around midnight. Ike was in the living room when they came in.
"Oh, hey. I didn't expect you guys to be home for another couple of hours. You just missed Veronica." His sweaty face and disheveled hair were proof of that fact.
"Yeah, it was kinda dead tonight," Skye lied through her teeth. In truth, everyone was trying to pretend that nothing was wrong, and doing a hellishly pathetic job at it.
While Taylor and Skye continued their acting, Jess and Matt snuck away unnoticed. They were upstairs in Jess's room before they knew it.
Jess gave Matt a smile that a 13-year-old shouldn't even see, let alone give, as she shut her door and shot the bolt home. "Now you're all mine," she purred, pushing him back onto the bed.
Tay's pager went off, breaking into the tension-filled silence in the room. "I'm blowing up, man." He looked at the number. "I have to take this call. You understand?"
Skye waved a hand, silently dismissing him. He flew out of the room like a bat out of hell and grabbed the cordless phone before locking himself in the bathroom. "What is it, Amanda?"
"Wanna sit on the porch?" Ike offered in his friendliest voice.
"Sure," Skye answered, following him. They settled on the railings, each lost in their own thoughts until Skye spoke again. "I'm sorry, Ike."
He turned to meet her eyes. "Sorry about what?"
She looked down, biting her lip. "Everything. Sorry I was a bitch, sorry I said I didn't love you, sorry I called you jealous and pathetic. Sorry I didn't believe you about Taylor." Her voice trailed off as tears rolled down her freckled cheeks. "I didn't want to believe it."
Ike held out his arms and she immediately threw herself into them. He kissed her forehead gently. "I love you. I just want you to be happy."
"I love you too. Can you forgive me?" Skye treasured the moment while she waited for his yes.
A half-naked Matt moved off of Jess. "We have to quit. Now." He pulled his shirt back on.
"No we don't," she protested whinily. "I don't want to stop." Even as she argued with him, she began pulling on her clothes.
Matt ran his hands through his short hair, making it stand on end. "Jess, I can't keep doing this. I want you so much that I can't handle it. So please, just don't tease me anymore. From now on, this is strictly a kissing relationship."
Jess stuck out her bottom lip. "No. I don't want it to be strictly kissing." She pressed her body against his. Her voice was hardly a whisper in his ear. "I don't want to stop. I'm ready. I want you. Give it to me."
"Are you drunk?" Matt pulled away. "You are thirteen fricking years old! I am not giving anything to you. Not only is it illegal, it's also immoral. I don't care if you're my girlfriend; you're a virgin and you'll stay that way tonight, if it's up to me."
"It's not up to you." Jess removed his shirt for the second time that night. "Age is just a number. There's nothing wrong with us doing it. We are in love, we are together, and we are both consenting. And sober. Don't make me make you want it more."
A knock on the window startled Cinder out of her sleepless rest. "What the . . ." She peered out of the glass. "Zac? What are you doing?"
He huffed and puffed as she helped to pull him through the window. "Your mom . . . don't want to see us . . . slammed door . . . homa City . . ."
"Catch your breath," Cinder advised.
His heart rate decreased and his breathing returned to normal. "I said, your mom told me you didn't want to see us anymore. Right before she slammed the door in my face, she said you were moving to Oklahoma City. Don't you love me anymore?"
"Of course I do. I never said any of that. She made it up. And she's forcing me to move." She reached over to tousle his hair.
"Well, what are we going to do?"
