March 19th, 2010

“Hey, Jordan,” Dawson smiled at me once school ended that day. “I’ve just been wondering if you know how Austin is. I’m sure his number is different now that he’s out of the country, so I haven’t been able to keep in touch with him.”

I felt kind of bad for Dawson. Austin had broken up with Emily for her, but then he had broken up with Dawson because he was going to Europe. I didn’t even know how serious their relationship had been, since Austin kept me out of the loop with those kinds of things.

“He’s fine,” I assured her, even though the last time I had heard from him had been the month before. “He’s having a really nice time in Europe.”

Dawson nodded. “That’s good. I was worried that he wasn’t going to have a good time there.”

I found that kind of hard to believe. How could anyone possibly have a bad time in Europe? I mean… it was Europe. There was really nothing else I had to say about that.

“He asked how you’ve been,” I told her, and it really wasn’t a lie. The last time I had talked to him, Austin really did ask if Dawson was doing okay. “I told him that you were doing well and he said that he was glad.”

Dawson smiled sadly, and I bit the inside of my lip. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say now, since she wasn’t saying anything anymore either. This was starting to get awkward, and I could only hope that she wasn’t feeling the same way.

“Well if it isn’t Dawson Summers,” Aimee smiled sweetly when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and only an idiot would have been fooled by it. “You And your boy name. Aren’t you going to be late to badminton practice, captain?”

“I was just talking to Jordan, Aimee,” Dawson informed my best friend with a scowl on her face. “I don’t think that’s a crime.”

Aimee sneered at the brunette standing before us. “Well you thought wrong. Beat it, will you?”

“Aimee…” I tried, but she wasn’t even listening.

“Jordan’s my friend too, Aimee,” Dawson now snapped, and I covered my face with my hands because I knew there was nothing I could do to stop the fight that I was coming. “She doesn’t just belong to you.”

“Well she stopped being your friend the second she quit the badminton team,” Aimee spat right back at her.

“I didn’t quit,” I interjected, but neither of them were listening to me now. “The school year ended and I didn’t try out for the team again.”

“Oh, okay,” Aimee nodded, surprising me because I was sure she hadn’t been listening. “She stopped being friends with you the second Austin broke up with you.”

Even I knew that that was a low blow. It was obvious that Dawson still cared a lot about Austin, and Aimee didn’t even seem to care at all. I didn’t even know why the two of them didn’t even like each other!

“Just because he wouldn’t date you doesn’t mean that you have to be a bitch to me,” Dawson scowled, and my eyebrows furrowed at the thought of my brother dating another one of my friends.

“I did not want to date my best friend’s brother!”

“You want to date everybody!”

“I do not!”

“Oh, you’re right,” Dawson suddenly agreed. “You just want to sleep with everybody!”

I stared at the two of them, starting to think that I had no right being there anymore. With wide eyes and my mouth agape, I took a step back away from them just in case fists would suddenly start flying.

“You don’t know me,” Aimee growled, taking a step toward Dawson.

Dawson sneered. “I don’t want to.”

“I’m going home,” I announced over their bickering, but neither of them even turned toward me. I let out a sigh, turning away and leaving them without another word. Getting in between their fight wouldn’t have made anything easier for me.

I sighed, glad to be out of that completely awkward situation. It wouldn’t have been that bad if they hadn’t completely forgotten that I was even there. And what would have I done if the fight had gotten physical? The last thing I could ever do was fight… I didn’t think that I’d ever have to fight anyone or defend myself someday anyway…

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“Jordan…”

“You can’t make me!”

My mother gave me a death glare, but I didn’t back down. I knew I was acting like a little kid, but I was sure that I had a good reason to.

When I had gotten home from school, I thought that I could just relax and watch TV or something. But no, I had forgotten how we were having a family reunion that weekend. My house was going to be packed with my family and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

“Just put on the dress; you know it’s Aunt Melody’s favorite,” my mother tried now, but even if she tried to guilt trip me, it wouldn’t work. “She made it for you and everything!”

“When I was in eighth grade,” I corrected, as if that made everything better. “It’s too small, Mom. It doesn’t fit.”

“Nonsense,” my mother now snapped. “You haven’t grown at all since eighth grade.”

That didn’t sound like a compliment. “Thanks, Mom.”

She rolled her eyes at me, not saying a word as she thrust the small, ugly dress into my arms before leaving me alone in my room.

“Stupid dress,” I grumbled, laying it out on my bed before glaring down at it with as much hated as I could possible muster. “I can’t even fit in you anymore.”

But I did as I was told, putting the dress on so my mother wouldn’t slit my throat while I was sleeping.

“I told you it still fit you!” my mother exclaimed, and all I could do was glare at her flatly for making me wear this ridiculous thing. “I told you that you haven’t grown since eighth grade.”

That was a lit. A complete and total lie. When I was in eighth grade, the dress went down to my knees. No, at the age of sixteen, the dress barely made it to my mid-thigh.

“Anyway, there’s a surprise for you today,” my mother now said as my father came into the kitchen from the backyard behind us. “I’m sure it’ll be something that makes you feel happier about this family reunion.”

“I don’t think anything could make me feel better about this,” I grumbled, not knowing if either of them heard me or not.

“What’re you wearing?” my dad now asked, as if he had been completely oblivious the entire time he had been in the room with us. It would have been funny if I wasn’t wearing the ugly dress. “Isn’t that the dress that you wore to Melody’s birthday party? And at Melody’s Christmas party? And every time you see Melody?”

I made a face at the mention of my obnoxious Aunt. “Mom made me wear it.”

“Meredith,” my father started, turning toward his wife. “Do you really thing that dress fits her? I know my sister made it and everything, but that doesn’t make it any less… ugly.”

I stifled a laugh, and my mother looked at my father disapprovingly. “Paul.”

“I agree,” I had to say, even though I was sure it wasn’t about to make anything better. When my mother turned to glare at me, I lifted my hands up sheepishly. “What? Dad said it first, not me. Glare at him. Or better, glare at this dress like I am.”

My mother gave me a look before turning back toward my father and giving him the same look. My dad and I then glanced at each other and burst out laughing right before the doorbell rang, signaling that the family reunion had begun.

“Jordan!” Aunt Melody exclaimed when she saw me, and I almost covered my ears at the sound of her nasally voice. “Aw, look what you’re wearing! That dress has always looked so cute on you!”

I was sure it did look cute on me to her. She hadn’t seen me in anything else since I had been in seventh grade.

The entire party dragged on for the next hour, and I would have hid out in my room if my mom had let me. But she made me walk around and talk to pretty much everyone, and it was something that I dreaded even more than seeing Jesse Jacobsen.

When I ran right into someone, I nearly fell onto the ground, but was luckily able to keep my balance. I was about to snap at the person I had run into only because I was already annoyed with this entire situation, but then I saw who it was.

“Austin!” I gasped, and I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked at him and then to the brunette girl standing next to him. “You’re… you’re here! What are you doing here?”

“It’s a family reunion, isn’t it?” he grinned, stepping forward and wrapping me in his arms tightly. “I wasn’t going to miss this for the world!”

I felt like crying. I bit the inside of my lip, wiping at my eyes when Austin finally let go of me. I just couldn’t believe that he was actually standing before me; I hadn’t seen him since nearly a year before!

“Who’s this?” I now asked, trying to change the subject from me and to the girl that was now behind Austin. She was beautiful, but I hadn’t ever seen her before, so I knew that she wasn’t family or anything. And she had been standing really close to Austin…

“This is Rachel,” Austin introduced, and the girl smiled at me. “She’s my girlfriend.”

I had to bite the inside of my lip to stop myself from making a face at my brother. And just how long had he been dating this girl? And how long did he not tell me, just like the rest of his girlfriends?

“Oh, hi,” I greeted, smiling at her instead of glaring at my brother. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

Rachel nodded. “It’s very nice to meet you, too. Austin talks about you all the time.”

She had an English accent, the kind that you would hear in a Harry Potter movie. I really shouldn’t have been surprised, since she was from Europe and everything… I guess I was just too ticked off at my brother to really use my brain for anything else.

But I couldn’t help but smile just a little bit after hearing that Austin talked about me all the time. If only I could say the same thing to her…

“Oh, there’s my dad,” Austin now said to Rachel, grabbing on to hand and turning her away from me. “We’ll talk to you later, Jordan!”

I stared off in the direction they had gone off in, my mouth agape in complete shock. Did he seriously just blow me off like I wasn’t a big deal at all? I had always been his top priority, ever since we had been children. What had happened now?

Was it the dress? It had to be the dress.

“Did you know about Austin’s girlfriend?” I had to ask my mother now as I made my way into the other room, yanking at the stupid dress I was wearing when it got caught on the doorknob on the door to the foyer. “Because I certainly didn’t.”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you about Rachel?” my mother blinked, and I felt like punching a wall. “I assumed that you knew.”

“No, I didn’t know,” I nearly growled, eyeing my brother and his girlfriend now across the room. “But that really shouldn’t be a surprise since Austin never tells me anything.”

“Wait, is Austin here?” my mother asked, her eyes wide now when she finally looked at me. I nodded, and she excitedly got up from her seat and brushed out her skirt. “And Rachel’s here with him? I finally get to meet her!”

“I’m guessing that he was the surprise that you were talking about,” I drawled flatly as she ran right by me, as if I wasn’t even there anymore. Was it really that important for her to meet her son’s girlfriend right away? I sure hoped she wouldn’t act that way whenever I brought my future boyfriend home…

I looked over to see my mother enthusiastically talking to Rachel, who was enthusiastically talking back to her. I could see Austin excuse himself for some reason, so I used this as my chance to speak to him.

I pushed through my family members as gently as I could, but I really felt like just pushing them all over when I found it difficult to get through then. Since when had I had this many family members?

“Austin,” I called out, grabbing onto his arm and nearly tripping over myself before he could leave the room. My brother looked back at me and smiled, but that quickly went away when he saw the look on my face. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were dating someone else?”

Austin smiled at my sheepishly, but I was expecting as much from him. “Well, I didn’t know how you’d react to it…”

“I’d react to it better than I am now!” I snapped, hitting him in the chest as hard as I could, but he seemed completely unfazed. I sure needed to get stronger… “You know how much it bothers me when you don’t tell me something as important as this!”

The sheepish smile on my brother’s face didn’t disappear, and he said nothing to defend himself. All I could do was stand there and stare at him, not believing that I actually thought he would be honest with me while he was in a completely different country.

“I feel different about her, Jordan,” he suddenly admitted now, and I stared at him with wide eyes. “I really liked Emily and Dawson, but… I don’t know. I just feel different about Rachel. I feel like I could marry her someday, you know?”

No, I did not know what it was like to think I could marry someone. Mostly because the only guy I ever spoke to was Jesse Jacobsen, and he was definitely the last person on this planet that I would marry.

“You’re eighteen, Austin,” I told him, of course being the rational one out of the two of us. “You’re turning nineteen this year. Are you seriously thinking about marriage when you’re so young?”

“When you’re in love, Jordan,” Austin started, and I made a face because I was pretty sure he was about to get preachy, “all you can think about is spending the rest of your life with that person. Maybe someday you’ll just want to run off with the person you love, no matter what age you are.”

I scowled now, disagreeing with him completely in my head. I wasn’t going to commit myself to someone at such a young age… I’d wait until I was at least twenty. At least by then I was going to be an adult for a little while and in college…

I had thought that I had been in love with Dallas, but I couldn’t have been more wrong about that. I was nothing more than a child, and I was really still one at that. I didn’t think I was going to know what love really felt like for a while.

“Love is an unrealistic thing,” I shrugged merely now. “At least, right now it is.”

Austin rolled his eyes. “Spoken like a true child.”

“Just because I’m wearing a dress from eighth grade doesn’t mean--”

“Why do I have a feeling you’ve been going on about that dress all day?”

That sure shut me up, because he had pretty much just proved that I really was still a child, no matter how smart I was or how mature I acted.

“Jordan!” I heard someone call out, and I sighed as I waited for her to make her way to me after trying to get through all of our family members. “Jordan, could you do me a favor, please?”

“What, Mom?” I asked without even turning toward her.

“I need you to go out and get something for me,” my mother informed me, and I made a face at her. Was she really being serious? “It shouldn’t take you that long.”

“Why me?” I whined, unable to help myself. I might have had my license, but my mother never let me drive to school or to the store because it apparently wasted gas since I could easily just walk there.

“You’re the host, Jordan,” my mother snapped.

“No,” I corrected. “You’re the host. I’m just your daughter who you forced to come in this stupid dress.”

“We’re out of napkins because Melody spilled guacamole all over the place. Could you please run out and just get them for me?” my mother now asked through clenched teeth, obviously trying to ignore my smartass remark.

“Napkins?” I parroted, not believing my ears. “Use a towel!”

My mother’s eyebrows furrowed at me, and I knew that arguing with her wasn’t the smartest thing I could do. “Jordan.”

“Fine,” I sighed, turning away from her and toward the door and stalking my way toward it. “But don’t be surprised if I get kidnapped or something and never come back! It’ll be all your fault for sending me out! And it’ll be your fault for making me wear this stupid short dress!”

I could have thought I heard my mother roll her eyes. “Jordan, it’s the middle of the day.”

“You never know!”

I was just trying to be a snotty teenager, which was working, but I really didn’t know what was out there in town, even in the middle of the day. Ever since I had seen Jesse being beaten up only a few weeks before, I was always being more careful around town. I hadn’t even seen him since I left him in the alleyway with that strange guy. I didn’t even know if he was alive or dead anymore, and it really kind of bothered me.

It was cold outside, and the stupid dress wasn’t making it any better for me. My mother could have at least let me put on a coat, or even pants, before she made me leave…

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t a pretty little girl in a pretty little dress,” a slurred voice suddenly said, and I nearly jumped into the street when I turned to see a bum-looking man grinning down at me. “Just what I was looking for.”

If he wanted the dress, he could have it. I wouldn’t even scream if he tried to take it off himself. I’d willingly take it off and give it to him.

He smelled like cheap alcohol and cigarettes, which only turned me off even more. It was the middle of the day, and there were people across the street, so I wasn’t as afraid as I would have been if it was during the night or if there was no one around.

“Excuse me,” I gulped anyway, trying to step around him as easily as I could, but this guy wasn’t about to let me go. “I need to get by.”

“No, you don’t,” he slurred, grabbing onto my biceps before I could get by and pulling me closer to him. “You need to stay right here with me.”

“No!” I shouted, trying my best to yank myself away from him. “Let me go! Let go of me!”

Right before he could start dragging me away, he suddenly stopped. I stared up at him in surprised, letting out a yelp when he suddenly let go of me and fell to the ground, the back of his shaved head scratched and bloody. I looked up to see someone I definitely wasn’t expecting standing there, his hand bloody from punching the man.

“Well,” Jesse started, not out of breath at all. “This is kind of surprising for the middle of the day.”

I didn’t look up at him; all I did was stare down at the unconscious body of my attacker. I wiped at my eyes to stop any tears from falling, still in shock that this had almost happened in the middle of the day.

“You okay?” he asked now, taking a step toward me, but all I did was take a step back away from him. “Emery.”

“I’m fine,” I sniffed, even though I didn’t know if it was a lie or not.

In a way, I was kind of relieved to see him. I almost thought that he had been dead, since he didn’t pop up randomly when I didn’t want him to. I was also kind of surprised, because he didn’t have a scratch on him. The fight might have been a few weeks before, but he had been so badly beat up…

“You sure?” Jesse frowned, not looking like he believed me at all. “You look really shaken up.”

I was sure that I did look really did look shaken up! I had pretty much been attacked right out in the open, right in the middle of the day! I didn’t even know how I was supposed to react to all of this!

“How did you do that?” I asked, ignoring his question as I looked down at his hand, which had blood from the man lying at our feet on it. “How did you knock him out so easily? And how did you win and survive a fight against four other guys? What are you, invincible?”

At first, Jesse looked panicked at my questions, but his face quickly melted into his normal smirk. I stood there, waiting anxiously for him to answer my questions as he took another step toward me.

“You really want to know?” he asked, and I blinked at him in surprise. He was really going to tell me, just like that? “Do you really want to know my secret?”

He was so close to me now that our chests were nearly touching as I said, “Yes.”

“I’m a vampire.”

I blinked over his shoulder. “What?”

“Yep,” he chuckled, and I found myself frozen. “I’m a cold-hearted, blood-sucking vampire. And you know what?”

I think my whole mind went blank. Was I actually going to believe that Jesse was a vampire like an idiot? Sure, it would explain a lot, but vampires weren’t real!

“What?” I swallowed, a little unsure of myself.

“I want you and your blood.”

Before I could push him away from me and his lips away from my neck, he took a step back and started laughing like the complete asshole he was. I stood there, my hands clenched into fists, not believing that I had actually just fallen for another one of his stupid pranks.

“I’ll get you back for this, asshole,” I spat, turning away from him and back toward the direction of the store. I was no longer upset about the near attack, deciding to take the long way home when it was time to walk back home. “Just you wait and see.”

“I’m so terrified I’m shaking!” he called after me, but I didn’t stop and acknowledge that he was even there anymore. He had pretty much taken advantage of me when I was vulnerable, and that was something I hated the most. After almost being attacked and nearly numb, of course I was going to fall for anything he said! Even something stupid about being a vampire!

I had to defeat Jesse Jacobsen somehow. This feud of ours had been going on for nearly three years, and I was getting sick of it. It had to end somehow.

But I wasn’t going to lose.

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This chapter is a reunion in a lot of ways. With Jordan's family, her brother, and then Jesse, since she hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks after the fight.

Well, it's summer! :D And it has been for a few days. I thought that I'd be able to sit on the computer and write all day like I did last summer and the summer before that and the summer before that... but since I went to a different school with different kids this year, I have new friends that actually want to go out and do things almost all the time.

And I just realized something. This is completely off topic and pretty irrelevant, but I just realized that Jesse didn't get anything for Jordan for her birthday in the original book. She just got beat up by Erica and then got fighting lessons from Jesse and Alex. Um... Happy birthday?

I think I might go change that later... -___-

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! <3