Disclaimer:
I don't own Peter, Sophie, Shelby, etc… I don't own the names DKNY, Abercrombie, Hot Topic, etc… I'm not using this for money… Yatsa, yatsa, and yatsa.
Claimer:
I own Xan Aleeza Noellesen and Nickolas Francisco Noellesen.
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I Hate You
Part One
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A rose by any other name would smell as sweet – Juliet from Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)
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July 24th, 2000
11:46 am
English
Nickolas Francisco Noellesen watched the new girl from across the room. Her name was Kerrie Patricia Donovan. She was sixteen and she was a Trailblazer. Her brown hair was waist-length and in huge curls. Her emerald green eyes were hidden behind a pair of designer sunglasses although she was indoors. Her clothes were something Peter wasn't happy about – All she had were designer clothes like DKNY and Abercrombie and things from Hot Topic. Right now she was wearing a skin-tight white leather t-shirt, with black skin-tight suede pants and a sweater around her waist. She was wearing black high heels and a necklace with a gothic cross on it.
"Nick. Earth to Nick." Juliette Waybourne said, waving her hand in front of Nick's eyes. They were in English, and for the fourth day in a row (since Kerrie joined the class), Nick was staring at Kerrie – and ignoring Xan when she asked him a question.
"What?" He asked, blink for a few seconds.
"If you like her, ask her out." Auggie said, leaning over the table to talk without Roger hearing.
Roger, however, still heard, "Would you guys like to share with everyone what you were discussing?"
Nick looked up, "Nope." He said, nastily.
"Lose the attitude, Nick, or you'll be on kitchen duty." Roger warned. Lately Nick's horrible attitude and cruel nature had landed him on room isolation for two days, Kitchen duty all day Saturday, and at the rate he was going, there would be more in store for him.
Nick forced his sudden rage to subside and spoke again, "No, there is nothing that I would like to share."
"Okay." Roger returned to the blackboard, and Nick and the teens went back to talking – on paper.
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12:12 pm
Lunch
Peter was standing in the doorway of the lunchroom, watching Nick stare at Kerrie. Nick could barely get the spoon to his mouth, and he was missing mostly. Most of his lunch (which by the way was chicken soup), was ending up in his lap – he didn't even flinch.
"Nick?" Daisy said, "You hoo…"
Nick looked up, "What?" He asked.
"Are you aware there's a pool of really hot soup on your pants?" Xan whispered to him.
Nick looked down, "Aw, man!" He yelled and ran out of the room.
Meanwhile, the rest of the table was laughing at the top of their lungs. After a few minutes, the laughter evaporated and turned to talk.
"What is with him?" Scott asked, curious why Nick had a sudden obsession with Kerrie.
Xan looked up, "We lived in New York City very, very briefly. For like, two weeks, and during that time, which was when we were eight, he had a crush on this girl named Kerrisa. We called her Kerrie."
Peter was sitting nearby, and overheard Xan's comment. He didn't recall seeing that the twins had been in New York City – to his recollection, the file said they never even went into the cities. They'd stayed in the backwoods towns, before meeting the Georgians and moving with them to Niagara. And he definitely remembered that Kerrie wasn't short for Kerrisa – but it could be. He stood up and walked over to the cliffhangers' table. He sat down beside Xan, and looked at her.
"Can I speak with you for a moment?" He asked.
Xan was taken aback, and then spoke, "Sure."
Peter stood up and Xan followed him out the door, across the campus, and into his office. Peter sat down in his chair, and Xan sat down on the couch.
"If I show you a picture, could you tell me who it is?" He asked.
"Okay."
Peter stood up and opened the filing cabinet, flipped through the manila envelopes, and took a picture out of one. It was an eight year old with brown hair and green eyes. "Do you know this person?" He asked handing her the picture.
"Yeah. That's Kerrisa. How'd you find this?" Xan asked. Peter was slightly curious.
He suddenly was hit with an idea and looked back at Xan, as she shoved the picture back into his hands, "What's Kerrisa's last name?"
"Danning."
Peter jumped up and looked in the cabinet again. He pulled out a file, read through it for a second, and looked at something. 'Her name was Kerrisa Patrish Danning, and then her mom remarried to Allen Donovan and she changed her name to Kerrie Patricia Donovan.' He thought to himself. Mystery solved.
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July 29th, 2000
8:21 am
"I'm going to kill Nick!" Xan yelled, running into the girls' cabin. Sophie was surprised by the teen as Xan ran into the bathroom and slammed the door. The blonde-haired woman jumped up from her spot on Kat's bed where they'd been discussing the wedding.
She ran over to the door and knocked on it, "Xan. Xan, open the door!" She yelled through the wood.
"No! I'm never coming out! Not until Kerrie leaves!" Xan yelled back, the sound in her voice an obvious that she'd been crying.
Sophie looked at Kat, "Try and get her out of there. I'm going to go talk to Peter." With that, she walked out of the cabin.
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8:25 am
Peter looked up as Sophie walked into his office. He looked up at her, "What's the matter?"
"Xan just ran into the girls' dorm screaming that she hates Nick, and she's not coming out of the bathroom until Kerrie leaves."
"Why?"
As the conversation continued, neither was aware what Kerrie's presence in Horizon would do to Xan.
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9:00 am
"Hey, Nick!" Kerrie yelled across the room. As he walked over, she leaned against the wall and blinked her eyelashes seductively.
"What?" He asked.
"I've been wondering if you'd have dinner with me tonight. I mean my group is full of people who know nothing about the city." She asked, sweetly.
Nick nodded his head happily, "Sure. I'd love to."
Xan was watching the two from her spot in the lodge with a glare on her face. Peter had dragged her out of the bathroom about fifteen minutes before, and she was not happy about having to watch Nick fawn over Kerrie or Kerrie's obvious attempts for Nick to as her out.
"Xan? You okay?" Sophie asked, walking over to her.
"Look at them. It's disgusting." She commented, "She's liked him since we were eight. She wrote him some letters that I found in the mail and never gave him. They were full of I love you's and I want you's and she even said once that if Nick never wrote her back she'd kill herself."
Sophie took in what Xan was saying, and then looked toward Kerrie and Nick.
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9:30 am
Xan sat down at the table for a late breakfast, and took a seat across the room from everyone else. Jeff, Roger, and Peter were the only other ones in the room, and were curious why she was eating late. It was Saturday, so she was allowed (She wasn't on duty for anything until ten), but still, she usually never ate late without Sophie, Nick, Shelby, Daisy, or Kat. This time she was completely alone.
Peter got up, "I'll be right back." He said, before walking over to her and sitting now next to her, "Hey."
Xan didn't give a reply.
'Not again.' "Xan, are you okay?"
Silence.
"Don't want to talk?"
Finally – Xan nodded her head. She was tired of talking. All that talking had done was bring more pain. Pain of remembering their father, the pain of knowing what went on their old house, the pain of beginning to lose her brother to Kerrie…
Peter put his hand on the top of her head, and then wiped away a tear as she began to cry. He could do nothing for her at the moment, but pull her into his lap and rock her. He did his best to comfort her, but without knowing why she was upset, he could only say things that could fit any situation.
As she began to quiet, he noticed that she'd fallen asleep. And as he studied her face, he noticed the bags under her eyes. Shelby had hinted the day before to something being wrong with Xan, but Peter hadn't been able to talk to her – Sophie wouldn't let him out of his office until the guest list was finalized.
Peter sighed and shifted Xan in his arms so he could carry her back to the dorm. He stood up, walked over to the other table, said good night to the other guys, and walked out the door. As he walked across the campus, the Cliffhangers watched him curiously, but upon looking at the face, they sighed and went back to what they were doing. Shelby watched for a few more seconds before looking back at her work. Peter walked over to the stairs, just as Sophie was coming down them, and he tried to edge past her (Xan was becoming heavy in his arms even though she was only a hundred pounds) but Sophie caught a look at who he was carrying. She followed him up the stairs, to the dorm, and then helped to put her in bed.
After going back onto the porch (So Xan wouldn't wake up), Sophie looked at Peter and spoke, "I was just coming to talk to you about her, Nick, and Kerrie."
Peter waited for her to continue.
"Xan hasn't been sleeping much, her school work has been a little poor then usual, she won't talk, and I found this." She handed him Xan's secret diary – the one with the map out of Horizon.
Peter flipped through the pages, and came upon the one marked July 27th, 2000.
July 27th, 2000
I can't believe her! I can't I can't I can't!!!!! She's taking him away from me! He's my brother! Mine! I need him! Not her! Why did she have to come here?!?!?! Why WHY WHY!?!?!?!? It's not fair! It's not!
Both adults grimaced and looked at each other, before walking back into the dorm to check on the teen. The stressed strings were going to kill Xan if they weren't cut – and cut soon.
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July 30th, 2000
2:43 pm
"The one thing you hate about yourself is…"
Group was beginning and Xan was not pleasant. Not at all. Of course, Nick was happy and smiling when it came to everything but his sister. He had fought with her the night before and they weren't on speaking terms currently. They didn't even want to be in the same room together. However, saying to Peter or Sophie that they'd had a fight wasn't acceptable to either of them, even though Xan would've gladly told Sophie, but they'd been taught when they were young that fights were a family matter to be kept between them.
Juliette's chipper voice brought Xan back to reality, "I hate this." She held out her arm to show the spot where she'd cut her herself. After a moment, she put her arm back on her lap, and looked at Xan, "Your turn."
Xan, as usual, took a moment and then grabbed her notebook from behind her. She uncapped the pen, and wrote in huge letters EVERYTHING. Tears trailed down her face and she got out of her chair, making a beeline for the door.
Sophie got up and went after her, which normally Peter would've said to give her a few minutes, but this wasn't normally – Xan was, in her mind, losing her brother, causing her to revert back to her original state of mind from when she joined the Cliffhangers. Peter couldn't remember ever dealing with that. He could remember another set of twins, Kathros and Christos DePetrillo, who'd had a problem with the strings. But with the DePetrillo twins, Kate and Chris had been willing to try and when Chris started to like a girl named Corey, Kate pushed for them to go on a date. Xan and Nick were on the other end of the spectrum – Neither was willing to cut their strings, Xan wasn't happy for Nick, and Corey hadn't never met the DePetrillo twins in her life while Kerrie had known them since they were eight.
Peter wasn't sure what to do anymore.
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To Be Continued…
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Cassie Jamie
Also, I was bored outta my mind yesterday, and since I was working on my web pages to begin with, I made up a page with quotes and poems that my help Higher Ground writers get inspiration when they're blocked. Anyways, click here to see it (WARNING: the writing is a bit small. I'll fix it later.)
