I skip out of the cafeteria following Gabriel who, with his long strides, makes it so I have to skip to keep up with him.

Arriving at our destination, Meanie opens the door for me and we walk in together.

I sigh.

Gabriel, despite his punk look, is such a gentleman.

I stride into the room and immediately let Sarah take control.

We run over to the racks and we start throwing clothes at Gabriel until we are satisfied that we have chosen the best pieces.

We dash into the changing room and have Gabriel hand us the items that we need.

I think we spend an hour trying on clothes, but I do not protest because Sarah will only ever need me to try them on once.

Finally, I come out wearing a black t-shirt dress with a red graphic phoenix on the front. I have short black shorts underneath that are hidden and red shoes like from the Wizard of Oz.

Gabriel looks me up and down wide eyed and breathes, "Wow."

I blush and look down.

"I'll change, sorry," I murmur.

I didn't think that I was that ugly...

"Ugly?!" Meanie repeats horrified.

I gape at him.

"You can read minds?!"

Gabriel gives me a confused look.

"You said that out loud, Sang," He informs me.

"Oh," I say quietly.

Gabriel absently mutters, "I can't believe she has confidence issues worse than me."

Honestly, if I were normal, then there would've been no way I would have heard him.

Thank goodness I have inhuman hearing.

"You have confidence issues?!" I gawk.

Meanie flushes and gives the tiniest of nods.

"Wha—? But you're so awesome and handsome and such a good artist! You were the one that painted the mural at Bob's Diner, aren't you? I just... What?! How can..." I ramble senselessly not even finishing my sentences a few times.

"You think I am handsome? You like my work?" Gabriel blurts out amazed.

"Well, duh," I answer casually with an eye roll. "Besides, everyone loves your artwork. When was the last time someone said something bad about it?"

I need to know the answer.

So I can hunt them down and kill them for hurting Gabriel.

He may be a Meanie, but, at least in my head, he is my Meanie.

No one hurts my Meanie.

Gabriel ponders sadly, "Well, I guess I can't remember really, but people don't always like my work."

I snort, "Stupid, people aren't gonna always like your work. There are always going to be haters. Deal with it, darling. Your work is amazing whether or not others recognize it."

"But is it normal for your parents to hate your work?" Gabriel protests.

I think I found a new addition to my kill list...

"Beep normal!" I proclaim.

"Wha—? Did you just say "beep," Trouble ?" An amused Meanie asks.

"Yup. Just repeating what you told me," I inform him with a wink.

"That's not— You know what? I'm not even going to try."

I pout and give Gabriel a hug while I get up to go change.

"What are you doing?" Meanie queries.

"Changing," I answer in an obvious tone.

"No!" Gabriel blurts out before blushing and back tracking. " I mean, you look nice. You shouldn't change. I mean, unless you want to..."

I grin at his babbling.

"That's okay, Meanie. I know looking at me can be hard sometimes. It normally is with ugly people," I reassure him.

Gabriel blanches.

"Trouble, you are absolutely gorgeous! You can't say stuff like that! No, ****, you can't even think stuff like that!" Meanie exclaims.

Huh?

"Oh, I see what you're saying," I say knowingly with a wink.

I hook my elbow through Gabriel's and walk us out of the room.

Maybe Meanie isn't so mean after all.

***

Now, everyone but Raven is on a mission.

Apparently, they need to look and sound professional and aristocratic.

For some reason, they think that the tattooed Russian doesn't fit that description.

"Raven!" I sing out.

" Yes, my Kitten? " He answers in Russian.

"We need to find something to do!" I announce.

Raven looks like he has an idea but doesn't want to share.

"Spit it out already!" I order exasperated.

Big Bear decides, "Let's get lunch."

It isn't what he was thinking of, but I don't push the matter.

"Okitay!" I chirp.

I start toward the cafeteria, but Raven grab a my hand and pulls me the other direction.

"I want to go to a restaurant," Raven says almost enthusiastic and mischievous.

I shrug and follow him to his black Mustang.

"What kind of restaurant are we going to?" I ask curiously.

Raven takes his time before answering, "One that specializes in fruit."

Raven doesn't say anything else for the rest of the short drive.

Something smells fishy...

Eh.

Must be the tadpole and minnow salad I ate in one of my many dreams last night.

Finally, we pull up to a modern looking black building with a mint awning and a sign reading, "Fruit Emporium."

Raven ushers me in and the inside is incredible.

It is full of fruit displays and fruit products. There are juices, smoothies, fruits that are shaped like all sorts of things. There are flamingos, flowers, and flames all made of different fruits cut differently and arranged differently.

Half of the fruits are ones that I don't recognize.

But that is probably because I don't eat many fruits.

"Sit down, my Kitten," Big Bear orders with a grin.

I sit down and take in the incredible shop while the large Russian brings me a cup full of fruit.

"Thank you, Raven," I say gratefully in Russian. "No one has ever taken me out to a restaurant and gotten my food for me before. I feel like you boys spoil me."

Raven's eyes turn dark.

"This is not spoiling, Sang."

Strange answer...

"So, Raven, am I allowed to get a tattoo?" I ponder thinking of how awesome his tattoos are.

Raven choked a little on his fruit.

"I think that question would be best to ask Mr.B. He might get a little upset if you got a tattoo without asking him."

I pout but nod my head, completely understanding.

Raven looks relieved.

"Raven, so you miss Russia?" I ask softly.

"There are things I miss, and there are things I don't miss," Raven answers unusually serious.

Raven spends the rest of our lunch telling me stories about Russia.

For some reason, I feel like there was a reason behind his choice to get fruit cups, but I don't know or really want to ask. I'll ask him another time, I guess.

***

"Luke!" I shriek.

"What?!" Luke yells frantically and spins around to look at me.

"We goin' or not?" I ask pointedly.

The day had been pretty boring, mostly because I was too excited for now.

The time I get to make a new friend and meet Kota's family.

I race to Luke's car and buckle into the driver's seat.

Deciding that Luke is taking too long, I hotwire the car. I rev the engine as Luke meanders out and honk the horn like a madwoman.

Luke goes pale and races to the car.

He throws the door open and leaps in. He flung the door so hard that it slams shut behind him.

"Chill, Always. We're in a hurry, so I am driving. BTW, your car was pretty easy to hotwire."

I think he tried to say something back, but I turn on the radio and blast the music.

Dancing and driving.

Who knew how much fun the two could be together?

Luke is still clutching the handle and trembling when I smoothly park the car in front of Kota's house.

I sprint out of the car and up to the house.

I don't the doorbell only once and wait as patiently as possible.

Wouldn't want them to already be annoyed with me.

Eventually, after a century of torturous wait, the door is opened to reveal a woman that looked a lot like Kota.

"Hello," She greets me with a welcoming smile. "You must be Sang."

"And you must be Ms.Lee," I trill back.

"Please, call me Erica. It is a pleasure to meet you," Erica says moving to let me in.

I follow her to the dining room where a girl a bit younger than me is doing homework. She is really pretty with the same brown hair as Erica and Kota and big brown doe eyes.

"Oh my goodness! You are adorable!" I squeal. "I love your shirt!"

She is wearing a pink shirt with a black peacock on it that I just adore.

Jumping at the sound of my voice, she looks at me with wide eyes and a light blush on her cheeks.

Are you allowed to claim someone as your sister?

"Thank you. My name is Jessica," Jessica grins at me.

"And I'm Sang!" I announce.

"Oh, we know," Jessica says mischievously with a look to her mom. "We have heard a lot about you from Kota."

What?

When has he had the chance to tell them about me?

He rarely stops back at here and when he does it isn't for too long.

Eh.

Wait!

"Did he say anything about the explosion?!" I ask quickly and slightly worried.

"What explosion?" Erica questions with a furrowed brow.

I wave the question off with relief filling me.

"Nevermind that. Jessica, what would you like to do?"

Erica smiles and announces that she is heading off to go do some work in their office down the hallway.

"Hmm... Do you know how to cook?" Jessica suggests hesitantly.

I beam.

"Darling, you came to the right person. I am an excellent chef. Now, to the kitchen!"

I march to the kitchen with a smiling Jessica.

My little sister is so cute!

Wait.

I whirl around and ask her, almost accusingly, "How old are you, Jessica?"

Startled, she responds quickly.

"Fifteen."

I grin evilly.

Wyatt is sixteen.

I think.

Now all I have to do is set my sister up with my brother.

That sounded way less disgusting, creepy, and cringy in my head...

Wait.

Isn't this my head, too?

Huh.

I probably just have two brains.

Or I am confused and being ridiculous again.

Jessica is giving me a strange look.

Like I am the crazy one here.

Psht.

As if that would ever happen.

"What shall we make today?" I proclaim my question as I give a clap of my hands.

Jessica blinks.

"Umm... Do you want to make a cake? I have been craving a piece of chocolate cake."

"Ooh! I've always wanted to try chocolate cake!" I squeal.

I've read several recipes and made cake for Master, Father, and Marie, but I have never had the chance to try chocolate cake, just red velvet and carrot cake.

Jessica gives me another look, but she grins and gathers the supplies all the same.

Soon, we are mixing and pouring and working up a bit of a mess making a Brooklyn blackout cake which I read a recipe for not too long ago. Because there is so much to do, we don't even need to find something to do while the cake is baking.

Finally, we are done with our chocolate masterpiece.

Jessica does the honors and slices three pieces of cake.

Erica walks in following her nose.

"I knew I've been smelling cake!" She exclaims.

"Here you go, Erica," I say with a smile and pass her a slice before tucking into mine.

We all let out moans at the extreme chocolate perfection.

It was a bit tricky with horizontally slicing the cake and putting in layers of filling, but it wasn't too hard, especially since it tastes like this.

"Better slice a fourth piece for our prisoner," I decide with a sigh.

Luke had been awful while we were cooking.

He took a while to come in because, for some reason, he felt the need to inform his brothers that I know how to hotwire a car. Luke then kept distracting us and saying we were messing up and tasting everything.

So we locked him in Kota's room.