Edited

"Why aren't you laughing, Cutie?"

A normal person would gawk at how hot he is first, then answer him, answer his question, and that'd be the end of it.

I'm not normal.

Yes, I do take the take to thoroughly appreciate his strong jawline and the shape of his plump pink lips. His clear—How doesn't he have any acne??—white skin. The perfectly shaped dark brown eyebrows arched on his forehead. His hair, kinda like his eyebrows, is a chocolate color at the roots. It quickly lightens up into a honey brown towards the end.  It looks so soft, I bet it'd feel just as fluffy as a marshmallow. His eyes, mostly green with hints of blue, staring at my face with amusement. His lips are sealed shut, but a smirk fights its way to the top.

"You ok?" He murmurs, probably thinking I'm getting sick again.

In truth, I'm ok, physically anyway. Mentally, I've sunk too far into my mind. It's kinda like I'm a little kid again the way I'm so awestruck by the contrast between our two skin tones. His's so pale, while I am as dark as they get.

"Hi?" Finn looks curious as he titles his head to the side, raising one dark eyebrow high in confusion.

I stay quiet, not wanting to talk to him. The idea of keeping my thoughts to myself is way more appealing, but I know that if I follow through with that plan, I'll end up making myself appear weirder than I already seem to be.

I hate not having a choice.

Nodding my head quickly to his questions, I look back down to my bare feet.

Finally. Your creepy un-wavering stare was starting to creep him out!

Fighting with Jax in this particular moment doesn't sound like the greatest of ideas, it never is, to be completely honest, so I let him win.

Sorry?

If he didn't live in my mind, I'd add 'not sorry', but he does. So playing nice it must be.

"I'm gonna be honest with you: I do not understand what you just nodded to." Finn pauses for a second, waiting for me to say something. Nothing leaves my sealed lips once it's over, so he resumes talking. "It probably meant you were ok." His last words are more to himself than me.

Silence settles in a moment later, so I curiously lookup.
Like five minutes ago after I had my panic attack, everyone is looking at me. A brown-haired guy with eyes glazed over from boredom. The twins eye-killing Finn, and the girl outright glaring for whatever reason.

Huh?

I don't have to get the time to ponder over the girl's glare because she opens her glossed lips, and with the sass of a high school queen bee, asks, "What do you want?"

The question is directed at me, and everyone who wasn't already silent, shuts their traps, waiting for my answer.

"Ah...ah..um.." 

Use real words, Stupid!

Right.

"B-Beatrice asked me to g-get Jaylin and J-Jace..." I feel like some tied my tongue in a knot or something, there's seriously no other explanation as to why the sentences come out the way they do. Plus my voice sounds squeaker than one of a mouse, and my words are hardly understandable, even to my ears.

"Oh! You're our new sister, then?" Brown-haired guy questions, the look of excitement expanding on his tan face at my nod. "Awesome! I've always wanted a sister."

The girl I'm going to guess is Jaylin, shoots him a death look at this, and Alex proves how smart he really is by asking, "Wait, I thought Jaylin was your sister?" Scratching his red locks, and genuinely looking confused.

"Yeah, I thought I was your sister." She mimics him, a flare of anger hidden behind her somewhat-not-actually playful words.

"Oh, sorry. I just meant I always wanted a cool sister." He smirks, eyes truly joking as the twins laugh at the priceless expression on Jaylin's face.

"Go die in a hole." She snaps, voice sweeter than artificial sugar. She then pushes the twins to the side and starts down the driveway to her house.

"Wait for m-" Jace quickly looks at me. "Us!" He yells to Jaylin's shoulders.

In a few moments, it becomes clear she's not going to stop, so Jace shrugs, looking a little annoyed. "Ok...then. Let's go home, um..." He looks in my direction once more.

"Jacqueline."

"Pretty name." The twins are quick to speak.

"T-Thanks." Even though my stuttering overwhelms the little word, there's still a bright side to saying it: my voice sounds somewhat normal: no extra squeakiness.

Oh wow. So impressive.

"Helloooo?" Jace interjects, drawing my attention from Jax and onto himself.

At my blank expression, he repeats himself. Luckily for me, no annoyance is hinted at the action. "We should get home. Mom is probably upset at how long we've been gone."

"O-ok."

My eyes wander off in the direction of Finn as I get ready to follow Jace back to the house.

One last look won't hurt.

Is what an idiot, me, said right before they got caught.

Turns out Finn's eyes were already on me, so when I turned to look at him, we made eye contact.  The thought of looking I know in the eyes is unpleasant, so imagine how much more it is when it's with a stranger.

Practically snapping off my neck in the process, I whip my eyes away from him and look in the direction Jaylin left moments earlier.

Little Jax's thoughts of how awkward and weird I swim around my mind in the seconds that follow, but I could honestly care less.

A huge part of me has always accepted the theory that I was cursed with some time of gift that makes me make act weird whenever I'm in a guy's presence. There's seriously no other explanation as to why I'm always this awkward.

Slightly shaking my head to myself, I turn my head back to the center and walk towards Jace. I take no more than a step and a half before Alex blocks my path. "Wait, how about my hug?"

What hug?

As that thought leaves my mind, another enters: Why does he even bother asking?

Much to my unhappiness, Alex is already practically hugging me already: only a few inches of space separate our bodies.

"Forgot about him," I almost jump at the sound of Felix's voice. I didn't realize he was right behind me until now. "And hug me instead."

"No-" Alex starts but I stop by going against everything I've taught myself and the odds and give him an awkward side hug, also known as me leaning into him a little, and tapping his shoulder gently.

I repeat this action for Felix too, and then quickly walk out from the middle of the two wacko's, my heart beating at a hundred miles per hour.

Usually, I wouldn't randomly touch someone new until I'd known them for a minimum of a week, but with the twins, I had to make an exception for the benefit of my tired body.

I knew for a fact that they were about to start fighting for real, and I'm positive no breathing exercises would have stopped me from fainting this time around.

I let out a quiet sigh, and follow Jace back to my new 'home.'
________

Hey beautiful people! Thanks so much for reading! I appreciate all 24 of you guys who have given this book a chance. I know it's boring right now, but I'll try to pick things up soon:) 

BTW: I know I've updated three days in a row, but I gotta say: doing that is exhausting. I publish chapter 5 along with a cast list, sometime tomorrow or the day after, and after that, I'm taking a little time off.

Till the next update:

Love you guys,
Liv❤️

DF: Jul.6.17
WC: 1,254