Sisters

[Cerise]

Sorry I havnt Commented in ages! Well heres one

I'm loving it! You can really see how your writing gets better and better Chap by Chap. I cant wait for the next Chapter, so Nick's coming back to the Bay? Yay

[I love music]

Here's a new chapter, and hopefully without any major plotholes this time.

All soaps have those!

Eli, what can I say? (Actually, I almost said "Jade" instead of Eli then, that's how wrapped up I am in this story.) This chapter was really good.

It almost seemed like the rest of the family was a bit annoyed with her for not grieving enough. But Jade grieved.

It takes talent to use very few words to say a lot. Those two lines say everything.

"Well, what do you suggest? A dark sheet covering the window and dead weed?" Jade snapped back.

Kirsty looked shocked. It was more like her to answer like that.

Great dialogue and definitely a typical Kirsty/Jade conversation!

She had made sure Kirsty saw her, and then she had ran off again. Kirsty had taken the hint, and went home telling everyone Jade just wanted to be alone.

I like that. The way she knows Kirsty will understand.

I loved the "ice cream with cherries" flashback, especially Dani's Sorrydaddy it's nevergonnahappenagain and I especially loved the way Jade wanted to stay loyal to Dani's memory.

Really enjoyed reading this chapter, Eli.

[Eli]

Thanks for the comments and reviews

Chapter 19

Mickey McAngus was one of Hollywood's most respected and admired directors. Every Christmas his mansion up in Beverly Hills was crowded with stars, and outside hopeful teenagers were hoping to get in to the hottest part in the state.

Only the prettiest people got in, and only the ones with the right postal code. West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Laguna Beach and Newport beach were all accepted (if you had the looks of course) while San Diego was too close to Mexico, San Fransisco was for poor people and downtown LA was crowded with all kinds of people.

As the respected man he was, he needed to set some standards. If every high school kid was let in to his priceless mansion they would soon be coming in bus loads from Arizona, Nevada and all other dumps around the country.

He was maybe a respected man, but not a very pleasant man.

Not even a family crisis was enough to get a few days off, so Nick Smith was fired the day he called and told he had to go back to Austria or wherever he was from. Who would want to leave this for another country anyway? Plus, the boy should be begging to stay. Even though the movie was just a Hollywood B-production (which Mickey usually disagreed to direct) is was a Hollywood-production, and no one had ever said no to working with Mickey McAngus before.

"The character of Jason Carr will after a recasting be played by Jeff Henderson from Portland, Oregon," Casting director Dina Michaels announced.

Mickey spat on the ground. Oregon! This family crisis had to be something really bad after all if Nick Smith was willing to give it up to someone from Oregon...!

"Katie?"

Katie didn't reply, she had been so distant and weird since... Since everything was changed...

"KATIE!!" Laura's loud yell finally got through the invisible, but obviously sound-blocking wall around Katie.

"What?" Katie replied.

"My English notes, please!" Laura said, and her "sister" passed them.

"What are you thinking about when you're like that?" Laura asked.

"Like what?"

Laura rolled her eyes, Katie could be so distant and deep sometimes!

"Like, in a whole other world!" she said, "You don't hear or see anything!"

Katie shrugged.

"Just... stuff," she said, "The twin swap and how thing would have been if it never happened."

Laura sighed, sometimes she couldn't believe how she'd ever thought she and Katie were sisters.

Kane Phillips dumped down on the bed next to his wife.

"Is it today Hayley's brother is coming?" he asked. Kirsty nodded.

"Will went to the City to pick him up earlier this morning, so he's probably here already."

Kane laughed silently to himself.

"What?" his wife asked.

Kane turned over on his side and looked at her, still smiling.

"I just wondered if he still hates me..."

Kirsty couldn't help smiling herself. "Probably," she said, "But you know, he'll probably forget that when he sees Jade."

"Because he hates her too for breaking up with Seb?" Kane asked.

"No," Kirsty shook her head, "He's so in love with her."

Kane stopped smiling.

"Maybe none of this will matter at all," he said, suddenly sounding really thoughtful.

"What do you mean?"

Kane shrugged.

"He's not coming back because of her, he's coming back because of Hayley," he said.

Kirsty nodded again, and moved closer to her husband.

"I wonder when Noah will wake up..."

Kane put his arms around her.

"He'll wake up soon," he said, "He's a fighter you know."

"Just like you?" Kirsty teased, smiling at Kane. He laughed.

"Yeah babe," he said, "Like both of us."

Jade was no longer the person she used to be. A year ago she had been a bulimic dancer, but now she had given up both throwing up on purpose and dancing.

But she still worried about her weight sometimes, and she didn't feel comfortable with herself unless she worked out at least three times a week.

The week after the shooting had been the first week in many years she hadn't done any kind of workout at all. But that week she had felt so bad nothing could make her feel worse.

Now she was back to the normal routine again, running at the beach whenever she had time for it.

It felt good, she could be alone and think about things she didn't want to share with anyone while she was getting a nicer body.

Running made her happy as long as she didn't run into someone she didn't want to run into. Like Kane or Seb...

But today she wasn't running into anyone, she was just running...

Neither of them had said much since they left the airport.

They both told themselves it was because Nick was tired after the long flight, but they both knew that wasn't true. Somehow it was a bit awkward and tense between them.

When they had been reunited Will had smiled, and they had said a quick and awkward 'hello' before they hugged in a very awkward and macho way. More like a bump into each other than a hug actually.

They were almost in the Bay now. Will was the one to break the silence first.

"Do you mind stopping by the Caravan park before we go to Irene's?" he asked, "Irene is working, and Beth said we could have dinner there."

"Sure," Nick muttered while thinking how weird it would be to see all the Sutherlands again. A lot had changed since he left. Rhys had married Beth, and Kirsty was no longer a Sutherland. In two ways actually, she was really a DeGroot, but now that she was married she was also a Phillips. But to Nick she would always be a Sutherland too. In his head Jade and Kirsty would always be the Sutherland-twins.

There had been a pretty hard workout. It was very hot, but Jade didn't let that slow her down, so when she came back to the house she was pretty much drowning in her own sweat, and more than ready to have a long shower.

She didn't even notice Will's car just outside the house, so she just continued up the stairs and opened the front door.

"Jade is that you?" Beth called out from the living room.

"Yeah," Jade replied, and continued into the living room where she froze.

Right there in front of her, no more than five feet away was Nick Smith.

"Hi..." he said, wondering how he could have thought meeting Will was awkward when he knew he'd had to meet Jade eventually.

Jade didn't reply, right now all she could think about was what a horrible first impression she was giving Nick by turning up sweaty and bushy.

"Hi," Nick repeated. He obviously didn't think she'd heard him the first time.

Jade didn't reply this time either, she just turned around and ran upstairs.

[I love music]

That was really good, Eli. I particularly liked the introduction to this chapter, with the behind-the-scenes story of Nick's return from the movies. Even the mixture of unusual and more usual names were well thought out and made it more realistic.

Liked the short Kane/Kirsty scene with the very easy, familiar converation.

Poor Jade! Things like that always happen when you're hoping to make a good impression on a guy...

[Eli]

Thanks

And don't worry, a short review is better than no review at all

To be honest I'm getting pretty sick of this fic now, but I will finish it. I just don't update as often as I used to because I have three fics in progress at the moment, and I'm finishing Dark Tunnels soon, so I'd rather finish that before I get any deeper into this story. But hopefully there will be a new chapter next week or something...

[Cerise]

Hee you said that a Month ago

Can we expect another Chapter soon?

[Eli]

I'm so sorry, I have been so busy, and when I haven't been busy I haven't been in the mood for writing at all!

But I will update soon, promise!!

[Eli]

Chapter 20

The bright California sun was burning on Ariana Appleby’s back. This project was amazing!

She had been in showbiz for ten years no, and she knew the difference between a good and a bad project.

The realityshow about young actors trying to get big parts without any limited budged at all, for example; it had been a bad idea.

Luckily she had seen it, and avoided humiliation and bad publicity for her youngest client.

But this show... Maybe it was a classical high-school drama, but there was something about this idea. Maybe it was that the producers and crew actually seemed to care about the show, not only the money.

Ariana turned around and walked over to the coffee trolley.

”One frappuccino with coco,” she said, and handed over two dollars.

”So...” the beautiful, young girl replied and took the money, ”You’re in showbiz?”

Ariana had to pull herself together not to roll her eyes. Everyone in Hollywood was a gold-digger. Even the cabdrivers and hairdressers were secretly hoping to be discovered one day and make bis money.

”No, sorry,” she replied and took er coffee, ”I’m a financial counsellor.”

The executive producer, Mark Donaldson walked over to Ariana.

”What do you think?” he asked.

”I think you have to give me the number to your casting department,” Ariana said and took a sip of her coffee, ”I want to sign Nick Smith up for an audition as soon as he’s back from down under.”

Mark gave her a number, and with a smile and a good feeling about this, Ariana turned around.

”He’s in showbiz, right?” the coffee-girl asked as Ariana passed by the trolley, ”Are you his financial counsellor...?”

”Jade? Jade? Open up!”

Unwillingly Jade forced herself off the bed and unlocked the door.

”What do you want?” she asked.

Kirsty didn’t even wait for Jade’s approval before she made her way in to the room.

”Why don’t you want to talk to Nick?” she said, not wasting any time on small-talk.

”I want to talk to him,” Jade sighed honestly, ”I just was a little... surprised to see him here.”

”Jade!” Kirsty exclaimed, ”You knew he was coming!”

Jade shrugged.

”I know,” she said, ”I just... It’s been so long...”

”Oh my God!” Kirsty gasped, staring at her sister, ”You’re still thinking about that letter, aren’t you?!”

Jade blushed, and avoided Kirsty’s look, trying to come up with a good answer.

”You’re thinking about the possibility of the two of you getting back together, aren’t you?” Kirsty continued.

”Kirst, keep-it-down!” Jade whispered desperately.

”Well... maybe, but why not?” she continued, trying to defend herself.

”No, Jade, no! This is wrong!” Kirsty said, shaking her head, ”He didn’t come back to see you, he’s here for Hayley!”

”Well he will need someone in this difficult time!” Jade replied, forgetting everything about keeping it down.

Kirsty continued to shake her head.

”Do you really want to be that girl, Jade?” she said, staring at Jade, ”Do you really want to be someone who makes her move when he’s vulnerable? Don’t you see he’ll take anything now? You’ll just end up heartbroken!”

Jade stared at Kirsty, angrier than ever.

”This conversation is over,” she said, very determined, ”Out.”

The conversation with Kirsty made everything so much harder, because now there was no way Jade would ever talk to Nick. Kirsty was right, but at the same time Jade wanted to believe she was wrong.

The time went by so quickly, and suddenly there was only one week left of Nick’s stay in Australia.

Jade spent all her time trying to avoid Kirsty, Nick and Will. It wasn’t easy, but it got easier as she learned some tricks.

However, it didn’t always work out, and one morning she ran into Nick in the diner.

”Hey,” he muttered, blushing a bit.

”Hi...” Jade replied, they couldn’t look at each other.

”How are you?” He asked.

”I’mfinethankshowareyou?” Jade said, very fast.

Nick smiled a bit, ”I’m fine,” he said, ”Wanna sit down and have a cup of coffee with me?”

Jade looked up at him and smiled.

”Yeah, sure,” she said, and joined him at a table in the corner.

”So... when are you going back?” she asked, feeling like she had to keep the conversation going.

”Next week,” Nick said.

”Oh.”

Awkward silence again, it was just the way it was.

After the awkwardness things got a little better, and Jade actually went as far as asking if Nick wanted to go for a walk at the beach with her.

Suddenly there was no silence. They had so much to talk about!

But it was all meaningless stuff. Nick talked about all the celebrities he had met, and how empty and funnily dumb his stylist Vivica was; Jade talked about sunburn, jellyfish and parties at the beach.

None of them mentioned the letter.

Nick sat down in the sand, and Jade sat down next to him.

It was getting cloudier, and after living in the Bay for several years they both knew that meant it would soon be raining.

It was getting colder too, and Jade shivered as a wind from east blew in from the ocean.

Without asking Nick put his arm around Jade.

”Are you cold?” he almost whispered, and Jade looked up on him, a bit scared, but happy at the same time.

”No, I’m fine now,” she whispered.

When the raindrops started falling from the sky a minute later they were kissing.

[I love music]

However, it didn’t always work out, and one morning she ran into Nick in the diner.

Eli, that’s lazy writing and I think you know it! Other people, who can’t write as well as you, jump from topic to topic without any introduction. You can write much better than that. Take a little more time and build up a scene. It would have read better like this: However, it didn’t always work out. One morning, as usual busy checking Nick was nowhere around as she left carrying a bag of doughnuts, she managed to walk right into him!

That said, some great, realistic moments to their meeting up again after so long:

”I’mfinethankshowareyou?” Jade said, very fast.

Awkward silence again, it was just the way it was.

Nick talked about all the celebrities he had met, and how empty and funnily dumb his stylist Vivica was; Jade talked about sunburn, jellyfish and parties at the beach.

Just loved that! It made me smile and I love moments in fics that make me smile!

None of them mentioned the letter.

And the drama at the end of the paragraph was good.

Glad to see Nick and Jade back together, hope it lasts!

[Eli]

Thanks for the review, ILM. I know my writing in that chapter was kind of lazy, I'm just getting a bit sick of this fic... Anyway, here's a new update:

Chapter 21

The sun was rising higher and higher on the bright blue sky, making it almost impossible to believe there had been a storm just a few hours earlier.

The only signs of the rain yesterday was clean streets and a fresh smell of newly washed coastal smalltown.

A narrow ray of bright sunlight found its way through Jade’s curtain and reached straight for her eyes.

Still sleeping she tried turning away to get away from the uncomfortable light in her eyes, but she ended up hitting her head in the open drawer in her nightstand, and woke up with a hurting forehead.

Great, just great! If she was lucky she’d get a nice big bump there, something nice to show everyone in school.

Yesterday was almost like a blur. Well, actually it was very clear, she just wished it could be a blur.

After kissing Nick she had told him she had missed him, and then they had kissed again.

It had felt so amazing to kiss him again, but now it was all just a mess.

When they had split and he walked home Jade had realised what a mistake this had been.

”Jade, looks like you’re up,” Mr. Burnett said. Jade swallowed.

”Actually, sir,” she replied, ”Can I do something else?”

Paris Burnett smiled.

”Oh Jade,” he said, ”No time for nerves if you’re gonna be on stage.”

He blinked, and Jade took several deep breaths.

”Yeah, come on, Jade,” Nick joined. Oh, how she hated him for doing this to her.

”I can’t believe he said that,” Jade began reading nervously, trying to pretend Nick was someone else, ”I was sure he really cared.

I thought he was my perfect prince, that we were perfectly paired.”

Nick looked at her, but not like he had done earlier.

”I love him more than life itself,” Jade continued, trying to control her thoughts, ”His wit, his charm his smile...

To lose all that, for just one day, is far too long a while.”

Nick almost looked sad, like he finally understood the tiniest little bit om how hard this was on her.

”So many things I have done wrong, perhaps I will do more.”

No one could stop her now, no one...

”And yet my love remains for him...”

...Nothing...

”Though he’s walked out the door.

He isn’t thinking like he should, madness has had its claim.”

...Nothing or no one, except maybe herself...

”And I have been through far too much, of his terrible love scam...!”

Her voice broke.

Seeing Nick and talking to him like that, telling him the truth with someone else’s words...

To others it was just a play, to her it was the truth.

”I’m sorry,” she whispered, and ran out of the classroom with tears streaming down her face, ignoring the ones calling her name.

If anyone just knew how hard it had been to get over him the last time. And then she had had a reason to hate him.

Now she would still love him when he want back to Hollywood without her.

”Silly schoolgirl, falling in love and making a fool of yourself,” the evil little voice in her head whispered.

And for once Jade agreed.

”The weather down under is great,” Nick said, smiling, ”almost like Hollywood.”

”Oh, I doubt that,” Ariana laughed, ”But I’m glad you’re okay, because I have some news for you.”

”You got me an audition for that TV commercial?” Nick guessed.

”Better.”

”The guest star on General Hospital?”

”Even better,” Ariana replied.

”I give up!” Nick said, ”Tell me!”

”Okay,” Ariana said, sounding like she was expecting a drumroll, ”I have got you an audition for what I’m pretty sure is America’s next high school success.”

”No way!” Nick exclaimed, ”How did you do that?”

”I have my moments,” Ariana laughed, ”And that’s just the bad news. You wanna hear the good ones?”

”The bad news?” Nick said, getting confused, ”What are the good news?”

”Let’s just say I went in hoping for a guest role for you, and went out with... Are you ready?”

For a moment Nick was so excited he forgot he was on the phone and not talking to Ariana in person, so for almost three seconds he just stood there nodding before he managed to pull himself together.

”Yeah, tell me!” he said, too excited to feel stupid about the nodding.

”You’re auditioning for the lead,” Ariana said, ”So if you do a good job you might just be America’s new teen star and hunk...”

The maximum dose of Aspirin for adults was, according to the leaflet, 4 grams a day.

Jade took two 500 milligram pills.

50 milligrams for the nightstand, and 250 for last night with Nick.

Then she got dressed, took a deep breath in front of the mirror, and prepared to go tell Nick they were done. For ever.

700 milligrams for the hardest conversation in her life.