Chapter two:

"Yea, that's about it," Ricky sighed.

"Wow, I never knew, honestly," Nicole shrugged as she hung up the phone. Was it true? What Ricky just told her kind of shocked her just a bit.

She often asked if things could get any worse, and usually supposed that they couldn't. She was wrong.

Ricky's half cousin? Why did his parents wait so long to alert him? Had her parents even known?

She decided not to tell them just now, let the dead bury the dead Nicole supposed.

*~*

"WAKE UP!!" Nicole rolled off her bed sluggishly. Saturday morning. Quarter after ten. "School shopping honey! Rise and shine!"

"Mother..."

Being a mom of a teenager is not an easy task for a parent, thought Mary Harman, especially one like Nicole. She often wondered why her daughter was so sheepish, and never wanted to answer to anything her parents said. Little did Mary know, however, that Nicole registered a much higher respect for the paternal part of the Harman family.

Ten Minutes Later

"Okay! Let's get a move on, mom, ... where to go? Oh, definitely Metro, maybe abercrombie, ... hmm, we can save that for last, I guess... oh, are we going to Spittsburgh today or tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," her mother sighed. Mary hated the long drive up and back from that blasted city. Plus, she would have to stop at her own mother's house, one person that never ceased to bore any living thing.

Nicole often pondered how her mom would feel once she grew up, and never bothered to drive three hours to visit her own family.

"Can I use the phone real quick?" Nicole asked, not even waiting for an answer as she picked up the receiver and dialed Lydia's number.

Ring.... ring...

"Hello?"

"Hey! Lydia, it's Nicole... I am going to be in Spittsburgh tomorrow, after mom and I are done school shopping, you want to meet up at the mall with everyone else?"

"Sure, that sounds good. Melissa, Sarah and I were all going to meet at oen anyway... but watch out, Steve might be there (Nicole grimaced)... oh, and one minor detail..."

"What?"

"Matt and John are going to meet us there. Total coincidence that you're going to show up. Sarah wanted to invite Pike, but we talked her out of it. Cupid struck her bad this year,"

"Tell me about it!" Nicole groaned as she thought about poor Sarah and her infatuation for that loser, Pike. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow around one then, at the food court, I suppose,"

"Yep, okay, talk to ya later," And they both hung up.

One Day Later

Farm after farm, porn shop after porn shop, on the way to Spittsburgh in the seemingly cramped Lumina.

It was eight o'clock in the morning; Nicole and her mother were on the road.

"Okay, you're meeting your friends at one? Well, good, that gives us time to get lunch,"

Psyched, Nicole pulled out her make-up bag and a mirror. Not only was she going to get some kick-ass clothes that cannot be found anywhere in State Hicksville, she was also going to see her friends, plus Matt and John, of whom she hadn't laid eyes on for almost half a year.

It seemed to good to be true. She shifted her gaze to the window and blankly stared at the cows passing by before her.

Was it too good? It seemed as if something was just bound to go wrong...

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