"I'm sorry about, Chris," Zac murmured as he dropped down on the padded bench next to his sister.
   Jessica looked up from her textbook, sniffed loudly, and went back to reading. "Thank you."
   Rolling his eyes, Zac took the book. "I still think he's a freak, Jess. But he's a great guy, and I'll probably never like that he's a friend of yours, but he's a great guy."
   Grinning, she crossed her arms in front of her and kicked him lightly. "Hard eating crow, huh?"
   He laughed lightly and turned the book over in his hands. "Oh yeah," he admitted graciously enough before leaning back.
   Snuggling into his side like she used to, Jessica hugged him. "I still love you, Zac. Even though you were a pain in the butt about this."
   Kissing her temple he agreed, "I know. I just wanna know… why does he dress like that, hmm?"
   Jessica shifted slightly, and looked up at him. She smiled faintly, "I thought you would have been the first one to realize the reason, Zac. You and Tay are so good at trying to psychoanalyze everyone, I thought you'd have figured it out by now."
   Zac shrugged, "Apparently it slipped by me. I'm growing old, I guess. Not as quick as I used to be."
   Giggling, she leaned up against him again. "It's because of his dad," she explained quietly. "If he dresses like he does, then people might expect the dad left because he was a freak. Dressed oddly and wore freakish make-up. Some parents just can't handle their kids like that..."
   She sighed loudly, "But they wouldn't think the dad was gone because he kept hitting the mom, and later on him instead."
   Tightening his hold on her, Zac nodded slowly. "I get it now."
   "Good," Jessica murmured. "Maybe someday I'll fully understand it all myself too."
   "I can still call him a freak though, right?" Zac asked, trying to lighten the heavy mood some.
   She laughed weakly, "Well… just change it around some. You know, like phat. P-h-a-t. Do freak, p-h-r-e-a-k."
   Zac grinned and relaxed, "I can deal with that."