Revelation | ✓

Chapter 31

A/N: My dad's making fun of the new Polaroid camera I just got yesterday -_- he said it looks like something that came out of Whoville or Mickey's house in ToonTown.

Jack pulls me into a dark closet. I can't see anything, much less him.

"Your parents are in. Pretty much everyone from Chicago is." He and Ryde had been giving me updates like this for the past week. We've been so busy that I've been unable to get Ryde alone to ask him about that kiss. "Are you still sure about this? It's not too late for us to change the plan."

I shake my head before remembering that he can't see me. "I'm sure. I'm staying."

A little slit of light shows that he's smirking at me. "Metaphorically or physically?"

I kick him in response.

"I still don't know how you two came up with this plan." I shake my head in disbelief. "It's a little...elaborate for two teenagers to come up with, in my opinion." I don't add in the part about them being boys.

"Very carefully. We've been planning this for a while."

"I noticed."

We both fall silent.

"Is there something between you and him?"

I don't need to ask who "him" is.

"I don't know." I answer honestly. "We've been friends for years, but..."

I think he nods. "You become a teen and then everything's a mess." Thank God he didn't mention homones or pubrety. I would've had to hurt him.

"Pretty much, yeah."

He's quiet for a second. "Well, if it doesn't work out romantically between you two...you know where to find me." I'm about to ask him what he means when one of his hands rests under my chin and moves my head up. His lips press against mine and then he's gone in a flash of blinding light.

I don't know how long I stand there- five minutes at most, I guess- squinting and blinking and trying to clear my messy mind.

What in the name of hell just happened there?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"What's today's date?" I ask my dad, dropping onto my bed a few hours later.

He doesn't even glance over at me from whatever he's reading. "It's the fifteenth."

"Of?"

"March."

March 15th.  It's been a month since my birthday. "I'm fourteen?"

He blinks a few times and sits up, looking at me. "You are."

I shake my head. "I don't feel fourteen. Can I go back to being thirteen?"

My dad stands up and sits next to me on my bed. He wraps one arm around my shoulders and ruffles my hair. "I wish you could go back to being three, kid." He kisses the top of my head, and I lean against his chest.

"Did you and Mom ever consider having another kid?" I ask after several minutes of silence.

My dad inhales slowly, then exhales. He does this two more times before answering me. "Yes. But by then you were eight and we figured it was too late to have another one."

"Another one what?" We both turn around to face the door. My mom smiles at the two of us, her hand on her hip. She gets on my bed and crawls over so that she's on Dad's other side. He kisses the side of her head.

"Another me." I smile.

"Oh, I think one of you is more than enough trouble." I stick my tongue out at her, and she does the same.

My dad tickles my side a little. I laugh and try to get away, but he pins me down. I don't think I'll ever be equally matched with my dad. Scratch that- I know I'll never be equally matched with my dad.

He stops and pulls me up by my arm. "So, little girl, what have you been doing lately without telling your mother and I?"

I poke him in the side. "You know what."

My mom smacks his arm and gives him a stern look. "Tobias. You know she can't talk about it."

My dad smiles and kisses her forehead. "I know."

Mom and I both look at each other and roll our eyes in response.