[ 21 ] 2013 

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"One should never play by the rules, Mirror Boy. Haven't you ever heard that all is fair in love and war?"

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That night at the school, Niall was sat in the stands, conveniently right behind where the cheerleaders were doing there routines and he could watch Andrea. The soccer players in front of the cheerleaders were of no interest to Niall. When he joined St. Genevieve's, he had been forced to join a sport or a club. His problem was that there were so many to chose from and all of them wanted him to join. What better than having one of the mysterious new kids on the team?

Calum had suggested joining the soccer team, but Niall didn't feel like joining them. After thinking about it for various days, he had gone with the track and field guys. He was already good at running because of his tracking skills. "A real track dog now." He had joked with Andrea when she asked which team he had chosen.

Like all the pretty girls at St. Genevieve's Andrea had been invited to join the cheerleaders.

Niall brought his phone out to check the time. The players were getting ready to begin and Calum was nowhere to be found. Niall thought his friend would be there, not only because he was on the soccer team but because Harley would be cheering for the soccer team.

As if sensing his thoughts, his cellphone vibrated in his hand with a text from Calum.

calum: hey niall, will you watch harley for me?

niall: u aren't coming by?

calum: i can't. so promise you'll take care of her, yeah?

niall: i think she's well taken care of with jack, but ok. 

Calum didn't reply to Niall's message, but Niall made sure to keep an eye on Harley. He owed his friend Calum some loyalty.

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Ashton stood at the doorway to the library while Calum looked through each book, page by page. His foot tapped on the ground nervously. His eyebrows knitted together in irritation at the still figure of the ghost watching him. Looking up to meet his hazel eyes, he spat, "Why do you keep watching me, pervert? Are you a faggot?"

"Boy, you need to watch your language." Ashton said, his voice full of something that resembled parental authority. "Didn't your parents teach you some manners?" But soon, he answered his own question. "Of course not, with a family like the one you have..."

"My family is dead now!" Calum shouted, grabbing one of the books he had already inspected off the desk and chucking it at the boy at the door way. He well knew that Ashton was but a mere soul that had no human weight, but he did it anyway. The book went straight through him and crashed against the door with a thud. "Let the dead rest." Ashton saw there was a hint of pain in the raven haired boy's eyes which he tried to hide. As bad as his family had been, he loved them. And they loved him.

Ashton sighed. "That was out of line, Calum. I offer you a sincere apology."

"I don't need it." Calum told him. "Now will you tell me what the fuck you keep staring at?"

Never moving from his spot by the door, Ashton answered, "I was just thinking about your grandfather and trying to figure out who's son you are. But I'd never be able to guess. I never even met Richard Caine, Con's first son."

"My grandfather had three children; Richard, Cole, and Clarissa." Calum informed him.

"And you're Cole's boy." Ashton guessed. From the information he knew and the one he had discovered, he was beginning to put some crucial pieces together. He knew it wouldn't make sense for Calum to be Clarissa's son, because then he wouldn't have gotten his grandfather's last name. It had to be between Richard and Cole, but at least it had been narrowed down.

Calum scoffed, "Yeah. I'll tell you everything about my family so that you can somehow use that information against me."

"Not all of us are like you." Ashton reasoned. "I'm trying to help."

"Why would you help me?" The raven haired boy eyed the ghost with suspicion. He would have thought Ashton would be thrilled to have Harley all to himself now.

"Because," Ashton began, a slight hint of sadness in his tone. "Harley would never admit it, but she likes you too."

"But she loves you." Calum pointed out.

"I don't doubt it." The boy with golden blonde curls nodded his head. "But she has feelings for you too, and if I help you, I know she will be very happy. Besides, I don't want to get her by having you taken out this way. It just doesn't seem fair."

A bitter laugh escaped Calum's lips in the next moment. He thought the boy from a past generation to be daft. Had he been in his place, he would have jumped at the opportunity to be with Harley without anyone else getting in the way. "One should never play by the rules, Mirror Boy. Haven't you ever heard that all is fair in love and war?"

"I don't like to win that way." Ashton said with a serious face. When Calum said nothing after a few minutes, he repeated his earlier question, "So you're Cole's boy then?" The way everything seemed to connect in Ashton's mind, he knew that had to be the case. The only other option was Richard Caine and he was only a half sibling to Con's two other children. Richard was not related to Claire because the one who had given birth to him was another, Anne-Sophie.

"Why do you keep insisting that Cole is my father?" Calum said in a tone of annoyance.

"Because its what would make sense logically." Said the boy standing by the door.

"But..." Calum thought about it. "We would only be half-cousins because my father and her father were only half siblings. Half-cousins can date, right?"

Ashton crinkled up his nose at the thought. This was a moment in which the information he had ignored in his law classes at the university might've come to be useful. He wracked his mind for any memories, and only small bits of information came to mind. "Well...you technically could date and even marry her. But that just sounds a bit too disturbing. I highly doubt Harley would ever go for that."

"Not when you're around." Argued Calum with a roll of his eyes. "When you're around she forgets all about me." His phone beeped on the desk and he picked it up in his hand. He had an incoming text message from Niall.

niall: andrea said there's gonna be a party at luke's house after the game if they win.

calum: i hope they lose.

niall: sry to disappoint bt they're up 2-1. dirk from the team says u should've dropped by.

calum: the team is not as important to me as harley.

niall: well ur girl is really enjoying herself today...cheering for jack.

calum: jack needs to die.

niall: so r u going or not?

calum: im not welcome into luke's house. we hate each other.

niall: when has an invitation ever been needed for people like us? i'll just mind control the security guard so he can let u in. but u need to do something or ur gonna lose that girl.

calum: okay, i'll be at luke's house tonight. 

Ashton realized Calum wasn't going to tell him who his father was. But there were other ways of knowing. For one, he thought he could ask Claire, but she would never speak. The whole situation was playing out in her favor somehow, or else she'd have talked by now. Other people who might know were the Quinns, they were neighbors of Calum and his family when they were still alive. He would need a find a way to talk to Harleen.

Every bit of information was important.

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Calum parked his car on a neighboring street and walked to Luke's house. Already from a few houses down he could hear the blaring music. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. For all their lives, Luke Hemmings always had more than the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. It had once been Calum's family, back in the sixties, but they say the family's grandfather Lucas Hemmings had become a crazy workaholic one day and accumulated impressive sums of money, which he inherited to his son Logan and daughter Joyce. 

Luke's father Logan had been just as dedicated to his job as Lucas had been. And provided his children, Cindy and Luke, with the best toys and the most expensive electronics. Luke and Cindy were also known to throw the best parties because they liked to spend money and spoil their guests. 

They were allowed these priviledges because their parents were never around. Calum wondered if their parents even cared about them.

Just as he had done after the homecoming dance that felt as though it had happened ages ago, he jumped the cinderblock wall and into the rose garden where no one went. It was on the far edge of the property and required a ten minute walk to get there. 

This time, Harley was not there.

He wished she was. He wished she was back to normal.

He followed the stone path that led out of the rose garden that had a small maze surrounding it. Calum remembered it from Luke and Cindy's fifth birthday party. Back then, he had actually been invited to a party at the Hemmings' home. That year, Alice in Wonderland was Cindy's favorite movie and forced everyone to show up to the party in wonderland costumes. Calum, after refusing and resisting for hours, went to the party dressed as the Cheshire Cat. Cindy had whined to her father for weeks and he had a maze constructed of tall shrubs and bushes. 

Once he left the small maze, it was very easy to get out of, since it had been constructed for five year olds, he could see the party lights from afar. The colorful lights shot up into the night sky and danced around to the beat of the music.

As he got closer, he saw Harley. She was wearing her black and yellow cheerleading uniform. Her golden blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a big black and yellow boy rested on her head. She smiled wide as she talked to some of the other girls on the squad and Calum paused in his stride. He didn't want to aproach her. In the delusion she was in she no longer remembered she had powers and was acting like any normal teenaged girl her age.

Perhaps, Calum thought, it was better for her this way. If they couldn't find a solution that could save her she would have to remain that way.

From beside him came a voice of a familiar ghost, a boy who was experiencing the same pains he was. Ashton sighed, "Doesn't it surprise you how beautiful her smile really is?" He asked. "Its a shame we didn't get to see it often before, when she was busy doing shifter things that took up all her time and energy."

"She's happier this way." Calum muttered.

"That doesn't mean she wasn't happy before." Ashton tried to reason with him. "It only means this is what make her happiest because her mind is blocking out the rest. She knows you and me, but her mind won't let her remember how important we are to her. We can't let her live in that delusion forever."

"Maybe its better this way. It'll keep her out of trouble."

Ashton shrugged. "Trouble will have a way of finding her whether she remembers who she really is or not. I can't get close to her because she might talk to me and scare her friends. But you should approach her." The golden haired boy insisted.

Calum scoffed, a small smile making way onto his lips. "You're talking to me like we're friends."

"We certainly aren't rivals right now. Harley isn't paying attention to either of us." Said the ghost.

"When she returns to normal," Calum began, "then everything will be better."

Ashton only nodded in agreement.

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i updateddddd!

i really wanted to update sooner, but i had the flu for a few days and the mere action of moving made my body hurt. on sunday and monday i stayed in bed all day. on tuesday i was able to walk and stuff, but i was still sick. yesterday i was feeling better, and today i feel much better but i'm still pretty sick. so yeah, i'm a very sickly person. i have the weakest immune system. i think i spend half of my life sick. haha. anyway, i planted some more information for you guys in this chapter so make sure to really pay attention ^.^

ummm, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO MY CHINESE FRIENDS. IF YOU'RE READING, I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING DAY. it is the year of the goat, and my favorite team's mascot is the goat. so hopefully this will be a good year for them.

question of the day: what do you think about harley and calum being related? i have something planned for this. i have been planting evidence to prove or disprove this from the very beginning, so i don't know if some of you noticed ^.^ so comment what you think about this and yeah. have a great day.

thank you so much for reading. 

i love you!

-clary xx