here we go!

I didn't know how long it took to calm me down, but I did, eventually. My clothes were stuck to my skin, soaking wet, and I was drenched from head to toe, shivering hard. Jack had carried me into the comforts of the cab, despite everything, and drove us all into garage. I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings, still a little shaken from what had happened just now. Seth had pulled me to his side and placed a protective arm around my trembling shoulder, allowing me to soak in the warmth of his touch. I was so freaking cold I felt like I had eaten 8 tubs of Ben and Jerry's and caught a severe case of frostbite, so severe it felt like my head had been buried under ice and caught in a snowdrift. After I got over that, I started to feel pathetic. Pathetic and weak. I was the one holding all of them back. I was sure whatever Sara and Seth had came here for was much more important than the wimpy kid sitting at the back seat between them, crying for no damn reason. They could have simply left and never turned back, but they didn't. I felt like a failure, cause I know that I had failed them. Wasn't the strong girl they thought I was.

Sara squeezed my hand, eyes sparkling with concern and worry, and pulled me out of the cab, along with Seth. Jack was approaching the table in the garage, looking worn and cautious. I wonder if it was because of me.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Jack said, his voice echoing through the empty place. Something, or rather, someone, shifted behind the table, then shouted back.

"We're closed!" Jack looked slightly uneasy at first, but slowly straightened up at cleared his throat.

"Oh there you are. Yeah, I know you're closed, but, uh, we've experienced a little bit of car trouble…" Jack looked beyond nervous. This might have been the first time I had ever seen him like that, stumbling for words.

"So, I was hoping that maybe…"

"We're still closed. You should've experienced your car trouble when we were open." Well this guy had one hell of an attitude. And was probably as stubborn as me, or maybe a little less, eh?

"Well, I'll work on that next time. This time, I really need you to…" Sara touched Jack's arm, trying to catch his attention. Jack looked down at Sara with a raised eyebrow, seemingly annoyed that he was interrupted from his debate with the mechanic.

"Jack Bruno… The only thing that will convince Eddie Cortez to reopen for business...would be a significant amount of money." She said wisely, tapping her temple a little as though she either had a migraine or she was in deep thought. Eddie's head snapped in her direction, confusion written all over his face.

"Wait a minute. Do I know you?"

"No, absolutely not, you don't know them from anywhere. I'll pay you double your rate." Jack pushed Sara behind him, veering from the original topic.

"Why not triple?"

"Done!" Eddie looked on in disbelief at the stack of cash Jack handed him, but looked even worse when he saw the state of Jack's cab.

"What'd you get in a fight with a Rhinocerus? Poor Rhino." Eddie commented while running a hand over the cab's hood.

"Poor rhino, I know!" Jack laughed along, causing the twins to follow his example and do some really awkward laughing. I nudged both in the ribs to get them to stop, unable to contain the soft chuckle that escaped my lips. Eddie shook his head.

"I don't even know where to start with this baby."

"Well, where you can start is replacing the front shocks, and the tie rods, and patch up the radiator fix the exhaust and if you have 4 tires, I'll take those too… you got one hour." Jack piped in, pulling us away as Eddie stared on in shock. Poor guy.

We walked out onto the streets, me still unable to stop shivering. It didn't help that the rain was relentless, still beating down hard on my already damp shirt. Seth must have noticed my state of cold, because the next thing he did was completely out of character. He pulled off his jacket and slipped it on my body, then conveniently looked away. I looked at him, then at his jacket on my wet body, then back at him, and smiled.

"Thanks." I walked forward, towards Jack, who was surveying the town. It was like any other, a nice homey feeling I had missed since Vegas happened, and held on to his hand.

"Jack." He looked at me, then at the jacket, his eyes narrowing. I rolled my eyes and snapped my fingers in his face, causing him to look back up at me and his eyes to soften.

"What are we going to do about those two?" I looked back to see Seth watching me intently, an unknown expression written on his face and Sara, looking around in wonder.

"I don't know." Jack said honestly, sighing. I squeezed his hand and smiled at him, shaking my head.

"No, I know. We need to help them, do whatever they need to do, because they trusted us enough to let us in. They told us who they are, Jack, that can't just be nothing. Besides, alien or not, they are still teenagers. Like me. I know you'd never leave me in my time of need. We can't do that either."

"It's not that, Sandra. It's difficult for me, to put your life in danger to help a bunch of strangers. You are important to me, Sandra, you know that right? I can't afford to lose you, like I lost my sister. You're the only thing left that's family." Jack looked lost, and I felt a kind of sadness weigh me down.

"You're not going to lose me, Jack. I promise. But you might lose them. They need us, Jack. They're counting on us to lead the way." I tugged on Jack's hand so he could stop.

"Listen, Jack. Don't worry about me. I'm going to be okay, and it's not me who is going to be in danger. It's those weird but amazing twins we've met less than 24 hours ago, but here we are. Fate brought them to us, and we can't let go. You've got that?" Jack nodded, chuckling a little.

"You're just like your mother. So much of a talker, you can't outsmart her with your mouth." And for once, even though he was talking about my parents, I smiled.

We arrived in a bustling diner in the town, its doors wide open to invite people in. The smell that wafted through the air reminded me that I hadn't eaten since breakfast. God, I was starving.

"Over here… come on, sit, sit. Sit down." Jack ushered us in. After my little pep talk with him, he seemed to have assumed all responsibility over us. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. He stared around warily, when suddenly Sara piped in.

"I hope you do not act upon your thought of making a fast break with your niece… out of the back door of Ray's, escaping Stoney Creek. Never to look back at us again." I gaped at him in horror. How could he? After all that talk? And I thought I had gotten it through his thick-skulled head. What a waste of energy.

"H...how…how do you know that?"

"My sister also has the gift of telepathy. She can read the minds of those nearest to her" Seth added, his face returning to its usual stony expression. My eyebrows flew skywards. Aww, damn it. Now I can't even think freely? Jack looked downright pissed off.

"Really? Well, you tell your sister that here on Earth, reading minds? Very rude. Don't do that." Jack was about to say something when a blonde waitress came over with a bright smile on her face.

"Guys! Welcome to Ray's! My name is Tina, and I'm gonna be your server." She directed her gaze to us and gasped. "Wow, look at the three of you." My heartbeat quickened. Did she know who they were?

"Ah… what'd you mean look at the three of them? They look like just three regular, innocent… uh, all American kids." Jack stuttered, laughing awkwardly. I shot a glare at him. Way to be unsuspicious.

"Well, it looked like they just rolled around in a pigpen… right before dinner, that's all." Jack seemed to relax a little at that, when a man walked up to Tina.

"Evening, Tina!" Tina spun around, her smile widening, if that was even possible. She was one happy lady.

"Sheriff Anthony!" She greeted, and for some reason I thought of the ways we were supposed to greet sheriffs. I mean, were you supposed to bow like you do to kings and queens? Or just call their names and be like, "Hi there, I am Sandra!". There's also the salute, but I doubt that would work very well.

"Your table's waitin' for you. I'm going to send you a round of freedom pies huh?"

"Sounds good. Thank you." He walks away, and there goes my chance to do a splendid bow. Oh well. Tina turns back to us after getting the pies ordered.

"Alright. Now why don't the three of you come with me and we'll get you all cleaned up, huh?" I nodded, feeling oddly disgusted with the grime on my body. I needed… to get rid… of it.

"Hurry back!" Jack shouted after us as he picks up the menu, but not before looking around again.

"Why are you guys here?" Tina looks from Seth to Sara to me. My eyes widen to the size of those saucers containing ketchup for the frito fries. She knew?

"We are here for a mission. Our planet is not what it is before. It has been polluted and we are here to find the evidence we need to show the government we can regenerate the plants and trees in our planet. Sandra here, has been on Earth since birth. She is a half-breed and her parents died being hunted down by our military. She is currently on the mission with us." Ouch. That hurt. He is seriously insensitive about girls' feelings alright.

"What about you, Tina?" Sara asked in concern. Tina sighs, the smile finally wearing off her face.

"I have come to Earth to find a new life and in hopes of settling down and starting my social experiment. I want to find out more about Earth's culture." She turns to me. "Maybe you might be able to help me after all this is over."

Suddenly, Seth pulls me to his side.

"She will be following us back after all this is over." He says, in a stiff and cold tone. I stare at him in shock.

"I am?" I felt oddly violated. How come I never get to make my own decisions?

Seth stirred me away from Tina, who immediately knew when she isn't wanted and went to the kitchens. I spun around to face him, very pissed and angry.

"What the hell, Seth? I never said I was going to your planet." Seth flinched at my words, hurt and pain replacing his features. I immediately felt sorry for him but waited for his explanation.

"Look, I'm sorry for making decisions for you but I do not wish for you to stay on this planet any further. It will only jeopardize your life and do Jack Bruno further harm. That is not very desirable." He said in barely a whisper, his eyes trained on the ground. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Well too bad, 'cause it's my decision whether i want to stay or not, and I'm not leaving Jack all alone." My voice lowered to a whisper. "I'm all he has you know."

Seth looks up, his eyes clouded in sadness. It's probably one of the first time he has ever showed that much emotion ever since he first came. I knew these type of people, because I am one of them. They put up brick walls around them, and when one slowly tears them down, they need to shatter the glass border they put around themselves. And all that leads to is hurt, because those people are going to find out that we are not worth it and stop trying so hard to tear down our defenses. The broken glass shards are going to hurt us when we try to pick them back up and make ourselves whole again. And every single time we get hurt, we learn from our mistakes. We improve on building our walls and make them stronger. So it's harder for others to tear it down and reach us. Harder to help us. Harder to hurt us.

But something about this special blonde alien makes me start wondering how long my walls are going to last.