Chapter 28

For a moment, the girl stalled.  She was staring at...our... parents, but then she looked at me.  Clearly she was studying me through her peripheral vision.  Something registered in her eyes, and it looked like she had an inkling that I was her long lost sister, but it didn't look like she would believe it anyway.

Not willing to admit the seemingly impossible, she said, "mom, dad, who are these people and why are they in here?..."

We all looked at her for a minute, but then dad broke the silence, "Candace, meet your sister Jezabelle."

For a moment, she turned her attention back to me, and just stared at me with big eyes (but they weren't as big as mom's had been.  I don't think anyone could beat it...).

While she studied me, I studied her.  She looked really similar to dad, while I was similar to mom.  She had long dark brown wavy locks pushed back with a headband.  She also possessed bright green eyes just like dad's.

While she stared at me, I couldn't help but think...I had never dreamed that I had a sister.  Sure I knew that, deep in my heart, these were really my parents, but I never even thought of the existence of a sister.  My 'family' earlier in life was just me and my mother and I never even really thought about a family having more than one kid...I guess I had just never thought about it since there were so little kids on the moon in the first place...but of course it turned out that that wasn't real...

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Candace speak, "wow, so I never thought that what my parents said was true..."  She looked at them skeptically for a few moments.  "Wow, mom and dad, you guys aren't crazy.  Here's the older sister I never thought existed...and you guys weren't joking, seriously..."  She started laughing nervously.  She wasn't taking this news as well as I was hoping when I initially saw her...

I got up to look at her closer.

Instead of letting the awkwardness continue to linger, I pulled her in for a nice, sisterly hug (I was secretly pretending that she was Ian, I admit it).  I whispered in her ear so only she could hear, "well, I'm here now.  Hello my sister.  Candace."  Chills ran up and down my spine.  As I already said, I never dreamed that I'd have a sister, much less one that reminds me of candy. After a moment of saying nothing, she whispered back, "welcome my sister.  Jezabelle."

I heard no distractions in the background, Ian and my parents must have been looking at us happy that we were hugging, that we were good.  But I wasn't really listening to the silent background, it wasn't until I pulled away that I realized that no one was talking.

As I pulled away from Candace, Ian got up and looked at all of us one by one.

"Um...it's nice to see that this is going so well...I'm glad that I could help you all with finding Jezabelle and what not...But, I'm gonna leave now.  I don't want to intrude on this little family moment..."

For a minute, I thought through what Ian had said.  My thoughts zoned in on the 'family' part.  I mean, I have a family.  A true family.  Sure it seems like they're not so totally 'normal' (but who am I to judge since I've only known them for half an hour?), but...they're not completely wacko like Harah had been.  I had a mom and dad-and also a sister-bonus!

But then I thought through what Ian had really said-he wanted to leave my side since he found it awkward as he isn't apart of my family (gosh, it's going to take a while to get used to saying that!).  I can't let Ian leave, because now that I think about it, what am I going to say when my parents start asking questions?  Questions involving what I've been doing with my life, how I came to come here...how could I answer those questions on my own?  No, I had to make Ian stay.

I gave him a look with big eyes, telling him that I didn't want him to go.  Then it clicked.  He looked at me for a brief second, then looked at Candace and my parents.  "Oh...um...nevermind.  I really don't have to go.  I want to get to know my friend's family..."  They all nodded, oblivious.  I wondered if they really believed that Ian is my 'friend'.  Well, he is, but they could easily think that he is my boyfriend even though he's not.  Oh, how I'd love for Ian to be my boyfriend...

Mom looked at us, "well, now that that's settled, I want Shelby to be apart of our little family moment.  Sheesh, she always has to be somewhere with Ray! When I was a teenager I actually liked to be home with my family!"  Dad looked at her and nodded.  Candace rolled her eyes.  "If only I had such an amazing boyfriend like Shelby and I would be gone more too!"  Mom gave her a look of death.  "Oh, come on honey. What would your mom and dad do if you weren't home with us?"  Again, Candace rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I'm going to call Shelby and call her over."

As this whole ordeal was happening, my stomach sank.  So I have another sister!  Another sister!  I thought it was too good to be true to have one, and now I have two!  Unbelievable.  It sounds like Shelby might be the cooler one... But really, my thought was quite sarcastic because at the moment, I was jealous of Shelby, my sister that I've never met!  I want a boyfriend too, but a real one....

Mom stood up and dialed on her phone.

"Hey Shelby, come home. I have a surprise for you!....I know that you're relaxed, but seriously, you need to get home now!  You know that I'm usually pretty flexible, but this time you really need to get home...Oh, young lady, get your butt home now!...Yes I know that you're eighteen now...Alright then, bye.  You're going to be grounded for this."

"Alright gang, so how about we go to the beach?"
Questions came up in my head, "Um, why the beach?"

"Because your sister always goes there when she's relaxing with her boyfriend.  They're not park-y kind of people.  Oh-and by the way you have two sisters."
I laughed hard after she said I have two sisters-it was just the way she said it.  You would have to be there.

About twenty minutes later, we arrived at the beach.  In the car we barely talked, but it wasn't as awkward as it sounds.  I looked out the window, mostly since I had never seen the route we went on, obviously.  I had barely been in a car since I had been here-the only times I had I've been nervous since it was for my job interview (huh, I wonder what's going to happen with that?), and when we were looking for my parent's house.  I had been a little too nervous then.  Sure I'll be seeing my other sister soon for the first time, but it just can't beat seeing my parents for the first time.

When we got to the beach, we went through this building and went out the back.  I could tell that mom and dad were searching the shoreline for Shelby.  "Oh, they must be in their usual place."

"Must be," dad agreed.

We walked, and walked, and walked on the sand.  Shelby and Ray were obviously very far away.  Note to self:  I gotta do that with Ian when we become boyfriend and girlfriend...

Soon we saw Ray and Shelby in front of us.  They were sitting on a towel near the shore (quite far away from the beach house, too.)  What amazed me was that, when I got closer, I realized that they were wearing swimsuits.  And...it was like sixty degrees out.  Who wears swimsuits when it's that cold?  But I was pretty sure they never actually went swimming.

As we walked closer, I practically melted when I saw the way that Ray was looking at Shelby.  He was giving her those sappy lovey-dovey eyes that I've always wanted to be looked at with.  I mean, I guess I've sort of been looked at like that from my past boyfriends, but since it wasn't really real it doesn't matter anymore.  It's just an advanced computer program that can imitate emotions just like a human can-but the computer doesn't actually mean it.  So I've never really been loved...

It wasn't until my mother spoke that Shelby noticed us, "Shelby!"

Quickly, she got up, peeling herself away from Ray.  As she got up, he just readjusted his position and sat and watched.

"I can't believe you guys came to look for us!  Can't a girl have quality time alone with her boyfriend?"

Mom rolled her eyes.  "Shelby.  You wouldn't believe it if I told you..."

At first she looked at mom with a mixture of skepticism and annoyance.  Then, her eyes started to dart around everyone.  It wasn't until she looked the second time that she noticed me there.

She continued to look at me as she said, "mom, what is this?"

For a minute, no one said anything and Shelby continued to stare at me and Ian.  But mostly me.

This time it was Candace that broke the silence.  "Hello!  Really Shelby, that's no way to look at our sister."

Shelby's expression wasn't quite what I had been anticipating..."This is a joke, right?"  Her eyes lingered at mom and dad.

Mom raised an eyebrow and smiled lopsided.  Dad just shook his head.  "You guys are hilarious, you know that?  What a great intricate joke...how did you get in on this sis? So what's my sister's name now.  Bob?"

Slowly, she walked to me looking in the distance.  At first her expression looked amused.  Personally, I tried not to change my facial expressions at all-I didn't know quite what to think.  I don't blame her for thinking this is a joke, but should I like it or think it amusing?

Then when she came close, her eyes grew (like I haven't seen that facial expression enough today!), and she studied my face closer.  Obviously she could tell I really looked like mom.

When she stopped in front of me, I pulled her in for a hug and whispered in her ear, "see?  I really am your sister.  I'm Jezabelle."

She smiled, and stupidly said, "I'm Shelby..."

After getting settled for a little while, sinking in our new family, Ian pulled me aside.  He came close to my ear (I secretly wished that he was coming closer to kiss me, but when he started going by my ear, I knew that thought was too good to be true) and whispered, "now that we've got you back with your family, we just need to wait on the call to give you the job as lab assistant.  See, I never lied when I said I was going to help you get on your feet!"  I smiled happily.  Ian has been so good to me.