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[ J A X ' S P O V ]

There is someone outside the mansion.

    And not just anyone.

    A kid.

    He looks young—really young. About eight to nine years old. His dark curly hair falls over his face, covering his eyes, as he moves his head left to right, wondering if there's anyone here. I peer through the window, my eyebrows furrowed on confusion, as to why some kid is stranded on my front porch.

    The kid takes a deep breath, then rings the doorbell, his other hand clutching tightly to his red bag pack. He waits at the door impatiently, his lips pouting, his body bouncing on the balls of his feet. He stares down at his sneakers, then looks up at the door again, this time a frown falling on his lips when nobody comes to the door.

    Well, fuck me. Part of me feels bad for him, but what the hell am I supposed to do? I don't even know this boy. I'm supposed to let him in? What if he's a reporter in disguise? I can't take that chance. I can't.

    The press my face against the window, eager to see what the boy is going to do next. His gaze falls upon the windows, and I quickly duck behind the curtains so that he won't see me. I'm hoping that this boy won't call me out—

    "I know you're in there!" The boy yells. "Blaire? Is that you?"

    Blaire? This boy knows Blaire?

    I tell myself not to peek through the window for another glance so I wait it out. I hear the boy knock roughly on the door repeatedly and I groan. He's not going to give up, is he? That stubborn little shit.

    Cursing, I trudge to the door, unlocking the latch and flinging it open. As I expected, the boy is still standing there, this time looking real a bit irritated. He crosses his arms over his chest, and he pouts when I greet him.

    "What do you want kid?" I snap. I can't help it—I'm feeling really agitated this morning and it might be due to what happened last night with Blaire.

    The kid tilts his head and his eyes immediately light up. I do that to a lot of people—this boy is no different. The adoration in his eyes is clearly evident.

    His arms fall to his sides and an excited grin falls on his face.

    "Are you Jax Deneris?" He asks.

    "Yeah. But who are you?" I ask, arching a curious eyebrow.

    "Oh my god!" He starts to jump up and down. "My sister told me about you. You're him! That's so cool. I've never met a celebrity before. Okay, that's not true, I met your dad, Baxton once, when my dad was still alive and was friends with him—"

    "Whoa, boy. Calm down." I say. "Who are you again?"

    "I'm Eden." He sticks his hand out for me to shake. He beams at me, teeth showing. I don't return the smile, though I shake his hand hesitantly, still trying to figure out why he's here. "I'm Blaire's brother."

    "What? Blaire doesn't have a brother." I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the doorframe. "Don't lie to me, kid."

    "I'm not lying to you." Eden's smile fades from his face. "I'm her brother. Eden Sullivan. My dad—sorry, adoptive dad—dropped me off here because we're supposed to spend the weekend together. That's kind of our arrangement. Is Blaire here? She'll tell you. I'm not sure if she knows I'm coming over, though. She's usually supposed to come to my house to pick me up but my adoptive mom had some emergency she had to deal with and she already texted Blaire that I was going to come over early today..."

    Sweet baby Jesus. This boy doesn't know when to shut up.

    "Okay... just hold on," I say, trying to digest the slur of words that just came out from his mouth. "So you're Blaire's brother."

    "Is that the only thing you got from that?" He laughs. "Wow. My sister's working for a complete idiot."

    "What did you just call me?" I glare at him. "Listen, boy—"

    "My name is Eden."

    "—Whatever." I roll my eyes. "Your sister's not here. She didn't come home last night. I have no idea where she went so I don't know how to help you."

    Eden's face scrunches up in confusion. "So my sister didn't come back home and you're not the least bit worried about where she went?"

    I blink.

    Shit.

    "I'm sure... I'm sure she's fine," I say flatly, when inside, my heart is slamming against my ribcage so hard it's threatening to tear me in half. Shit shit shit. Holy fuck, what if last night's plan failed and Mr. Jenkins called the police and she's in jail right now—

    My phone rings from my pocket and I'm so fucking happy it's Blaire.  I slam my finger down on the answer button, relief flooding back to me.

    "You're alive," I breathe.

    "Why does everyone expect the worst out of me?" She snaps.

    "Where the hell have you been?" I try to avoid the vulgar language, seeing as how I have a kid listening eagerly to every word I utter right now.

    "I spent the night at Ben's house," she murmurs.

    Jealously slams into my chest and I clench my fist. I feel a muscle pop in my jaw.

    "Oh, that can't be good." Eden whispers, pointing to my face.

I ignore him and hold the phone tighter.

    "You didn't think to tell me where you were going?" I seethe. "I thought you were..."

    "Dead? Yeah I know. But I'm alive. Breathing. Not behind bars too. Yay me," she deadpans. "Don't worry about me. I'm on my way back."

    "Yeah... about that," I eye Eden. "Your brother is here."

    "What?" The sharpness in her voice prickles my ears. "What on earth is he doing there?"

    "No idea. Something about... adoptive mom and... house and..." My voice trails off. "I don't know. He explained it to me but he was rambling and I tuned out somewhere. The point is, you need to get here right now." I turn away from the boy and this time whispering the words, "I have absolutely no clue how to handle him."

    "I seriously do not have time to lecture you on how to take care of kids," she groans. "Jax, just let him in. Keep him busy. I'm almost there."

    "Fine," I snap. "Get here fast."

    When she hangs up on me, I slip the phone back into my pocket and turn to Eden, who's staring expectantly at me.

    "So... you wanna come in?"  I ask him awkwardly.

    He rolls his eyes at me when he steps into the mansion. "Of course I want to come in. Like I'm just going to wait out here like a fool."

    This boy has an attitude.

    I can see why he's related to Blaire.

    "You want some milk?" I ask. "Want to watch some television?"

    "I'm not five, you know." He turns to glare at me. I eye him back, as if saying how the hell am I supposed to know what you want?

    "I didn't say you were five," I tell him, folding my arms over my chest.

    "But you're treating me like I am. You can't bribe me with food and entertainment to keep me occupied." He places his bag on the chair and slides into another one, placing his hands on the kitchen marble counter. "I'm actually eleven, you know."

    "Okay," I whistle.

    "You don't care, do you?"

    "Kid, I don't even know you," I tell him, not exactly answering his question.

    "But it wouldn't hurt to get to know me." He taps the surface lightly with his fingers. "What do want to do?"

    "What do you want to do?"

    "Do you always answer questions with more questions?" Eden stares at me, his interest piqued.

"Do you always ask questions that make people feel uncomfortable?"

"Why? Am I making you feel uncomfortable? Do you want me to stop? But I don't want to stop. I want to get to know you better-"

Jesus Christ. "Do you always talk this much?" I lean forward, holding his gaze.

    "Yes. When I want to be friends with someone." He says, crossing his arms over his chest, the corners of his mouth lifting into a smile.

    "You want to be friends with me?" I scoff. "Kid, I don't think that's a good idea. Your sister is my friend. Sort of. And she hates my guts."

    "Maybe she has a good reason to." He shrugs.

    "Maybe she does."

    "But I still want to be your friend," Eden protests. "You seem like a cool guy."

    "I am cool." I smirk. "But I'm not a good person."

    "Nobody ever really is." He shrugs, hunching his shoulders.

    He turns to unzip his bag, then shows me the bunch of DVDs. "I brought the Karate Kid for Blaire and I to watch today. And a lot of other fighting movies. You like fighting, right? Blaire told me all about it—how you were undefeated for like four years, well three, if you don't count last season where your opponent forfeited..."

    Shit. This guy just can't stop talking. I sigh, burying my head into my hair, wishing Blaire would be here now so I don't have to deal with this.

    "Have you watched the Karate Kid?" He thrusts the DVD at me and I force myself to look up. "Did you watch both versions? I like the 1984 one. William Zabka is my idol—I don't really care if he's supposed to be the villain—I like villains a lot. Like Loki. And Jaafar from Aladdin. And Chucky—god, you gotta love that doll. Anyways, Johnny Lawrence from the Karate Kid is like one of my favorite actors of all time— "

    "Yeah. Okay. Cool." I say, taking the DVD from his hands. "Never watched the Karate Kid before. Both versions."

    "And you call yourself a fighter." He scoffs.

"That's not-" I pause, then take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I force a smile on my face and seethe, "Look, if I put this on, will you shut up?"

    "Only if you promise to watch it with me until Blaire comes."

"Why can't you just watch it alone?" I groan.

"Because it wouldn't be fun," Eden says. "I'll promise to shut up if you just sit with me and watch the movie."

    "Deal." I nod.

    And this is the start of my unlikely friendship with Blaire's brother, Eden.

☸☸☸☸☸☸

    Half an hour later, both Eden and I are sprawled on the couch, munching on popcorn as we watch Ralph Macchio beat William Zabka's ass through the screen of my television. Eden has his legs on top of mine—at first I kept shoving them away in annoyance, but he just keeps doing it, so after I while, I give up.

    "He's doing too many kicks. Obviously Ralph is going to find an opening and beat his ass." I yell at the screen. "Stupid."

    "Agreed." Eden nods, his eyes still glued to the television screen.

    Barely a few seconds later, I hear someone fiddling with the doorknob, but I'm too engrossed with the movie that I barely hear Blaire step into the living room.

    "Eden?" I hear Blaire from behind me. "Jax? What the hell—"

    "Shhhh!" Both Eden and I say in unison.

    "But how did you guys—"

    "SHHHHHH!" We say even louder, never once even looking at her. I hold my breath as the fight ensues, the suspense of it all killing me slowly inside. Eden is gripping my leg so hard and I don't even realize that he's doing it until he draws blood from it.

    I hear Blaire sigh from behind me, and then I hear her place her bag down on the floor and join us  on the couch. She settles herself next to me and she pulls her legs up on the sofa, crossing them.

    "What are we watching?" She murmurs.

    "The Karate Kid." Eden says.

    "Why?"

    "Because I want Jax to show me how to do that." Eden points to the screen at the exact moment Ralph thrusts his leg upwards, his leg smashing into William Zabka's face.

    "Holy shit!" I swear. "That can't be legal!"

    "So are the many things that you do. But you still do them anyway." Blaire sneers.

    I glare at her. "You really wanna have this argument? Because darling, I will whoop your pretty little ass in it."

    She throws her head back and laughs. God, I love her laugh. It's one of the most amazing sounds I have ever heard.

    What the fuck, Jax? You've gone soft on her.

    I look down at my crotch and cross my legs, muttering curses under my breath.

    Definitely not soft.

    Eden rolls his eyes. "Blaire, keep quiet. We're trying to watch the movie."

    "Okay, okay. I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'll try to keep my mouth shut."

    I know she's trying to keep a straight face, but I see a hint of a smile on her face. I can't help but tear my eyes off the television and really look at her. I notice that she doesn't smile a lot—not at me, at least. So when she does... it's a sight that I never want to forget.

    Blaire is a rare kind of beauty.

    I can't believe I never noticed it before. But now I do.

    She's so fucking beautiful.

    She catches me staring at her and she frowns. "What?"

    "Nothing," I quickly say, looking away.

    I try to watch the movie again, but I can't seem to concentrate, not when I feel her presence beside me. I can't seem to shake it off. Every little movement she makes causes me to lose my mind a little bit more. She uncrosses her legs, then crosses it again, then she sighs, scrunching up her face.

    "Something wrong?" I lean over to whisper.

    "No." She shakes her head.

    "You're lying."

    "I can't talk about it," she whispers back.

    "That's what you always say." I shrug. "I'm really not surprised."

    She stays silent for a while, as if my words had such an effect on her. She inhales a sharp breath, then parts her lips, like the words are just at the tip of her tongue.

    "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I shake my head. "I know. You said before that I'm not a trustworthy guy."

    "No," she murmurs. "It's not that at all. I... I trust you."

    I glance at Eden, who is too engrossed with the movie to listen to the conversation ensuing between Blaire and I. I point to him subtlety, then revert my attention back to Blaire. "You can tell me later."

    She nods.

    I turn to the television again, but not before I feel her shift closer to me. She lets her head rest on my shoulder and her hand slides into mine. I link our fingers together instinctively, staring at our hands in wonder. I don't know what the hell possessed her to hold my hand. Maybe she's just being friendly Maybe she seeks comfort from me.

Whatever the case is, I like it. This holding hand thing.

    I've rarely done it before and this gesture—no matter how minute it is—touched something inside of me, igniting a certain feeling that I very much want it suppressed. But it's far too late now; it has burst open and it sings in my veins, sending a rush of it through my entire body.

    The feeling I get when I fight in underground tournaments can't even compare to how I feel right now. It's as if my world had been spinning off-axis for a long time and it is finally righted itself. I'm no longer out of my mind. My vision is clear—focused—and I don't think I've had such clarity in my life before.

    I don't just like this girl.

    I think I'm falling in love with her.

    Well, shit.

☸☸☸☸☸☸

A/N: By the time you're reading this, I'll be at prom. Don't worry. I'll send pictures to the Dia-Hards group. (;

Nothing much happens in this chapter and I'm sorry about that, but the next one won't disappoint. I promise!

And also, YAY for Jax having caught them FEELS now! #progress

Next update: Friday (duh!)

Love, Claudia.