And We Run (Jade/Tony) ●

[Jasmine Lawson]

The day was cool as Jazz set up camp in the golf course area not far from her father's home, her real father, Jaden. It had been only a few years since she had found out that her mother had lied to her all these years, Stephen wasn't her real father, he had no relation to her whatsoever. Yet, her mother had let Jazz go on believing a lie for almost all her life. It was shortly after that that Jazz started to rebel against her mother, she wouldn't be controlled, not anymore. That had only made things worse though, what with her baby half-brother getting into all her things, screaming at the top of his lungs when she took things away from him. If she so much as touched the brat, he screamed and then she would get yelled at. Oh, how she hated her mother for treating the brat better than she had ever treated her.

This time she had caught that brat with her favorite book and he was tearing pages out of it. All Jazz had done was yell at him and yank the book away and you would have thought she had tried to kill him with how loud he cried and screamed at her. To top it all off, she was the one who had gotten in trouble because she 'should have known better'. Jazz wanted to scream, to tell her bitch of a mother to go to hell, amongst other things, but she didn't. All Jazz did was take apart her favorite vacuum cleaner into neat little individual pieces after making sure to leave the house a mess. Maybe it was immature of her to do such a thing, but hey, if the bitch was going to make her life a living hell then Jazz could just as easily return the favor.

With the tent set up, all Jazz had to do was pump up the air mattress and set out the sleeping bags. She had already called her real brother, Tony to see if he wanted to camp with her and if he could get away, there were enough supplies to last a few days at least. If she had her way, Jazz would never go back home but there was only so much she could do on her own. Jazz hated to rely on anyone, especially when that someone wanted her to fit inside this perfect box and be the perfect little princess. The very thought of dressing in pink, wearing makeup, or doing anything 'normal' teenaged girls were supposed to be doing made her gag. She was more than content with her skateboard, t-shirt, jeans, and signature baseball cap turned backwards. Her mother hated it, but then, she hated a lot of things about how Jazz chose to dress. Heh, Jazz could still remember her reaction when she had cut her long hair short just because she was tired of dealing with it. She had thought that her mother would have a heart attack or something with how badly she reacted.

At least out here she was free, she didn't have to answer to anyone or do anything that she didn't want to do. Jazz preferred it that way, nobody tried to force her to do anything out here, she was her own master at least until someone found her again. School was the only place she could be herself, the only place that she could let down her guard and have fun. Her friends may not understand why she liked science so much or why she enjoyed motorcycles and other things but they at least accepted her. Tony accepted her too, she could relate more to her and Jaden than she could to her own mother and Stephen. That was perhaps why she was camped out pretty much in Jaden's backyard, she wanted him to find her. Perhaps if she could convince Jaden to let her live with him, she would be able to get out of the hell hole she was living in right then.

"Come on Tony..."Jazz muttered under her breath as she turned her skateboard over in her hands. She had texted him a while ago already telling him where to meet her. The only thing she hadn't told him is that the golf course was close to where their real dad lived. As far as Jazz knew, he wouldn't be the one that would come searching for her anyway. It would most likely be Stephen or one of her mother's idiot friends. Still, this was the best chance Jazz had at at least seeing him again, maybe they could even talk to him if he noticed them. Either way, even if Jaden never turned up, Jazz would be able to have fun with Tony, she always had fun when he was around after all.

~~~

Jade Alabaster
Anthony Vaughn

[Anthony Vaughn]

Before his sister had text him, the day had been shaping up to be a boring one. He’d already been skateboarding, on a walk, to get ice cream, and played fetch with Jake. It felt the day was dragging out forever, which was a feeling the little redhead couldn’t stand. He had been moments away from texting on of his friends to see what they were up to when his phone had started vibrating in his hand. He’d opened the text immediately, and her invitation to go camping for a few days was something that he couldn’t pass up. He already knew his mother wasn’t going to miss him. He could literally just text her once each of the days and say he was staying with someone and she wouldn’t care. Somewhere deep down it hurt, but his excitement over staying with Jazz masked it.

His guitar case was laid out on his bed, and some clothes were folded relatively neatly in the bottom of it. There was enough to last him for a day or two, though honestly Tony didn’t care about dirty clothes or being dirty in general. A pair of ball shorts were thrown in the case, and then his guitar was laid carefully over the clothing. The case was closed, and then thrown over his back. He walked down the stairs, out the front door, grabbed his skateboard, and set off down the road without so much as a question from his mother or stepfather. His familiar, Jake, loped along beside him as he rolled down the street. He would have went faster, but he didn’t want to take the chance of falling and breaking his guitar or something.

Finally, he reached the golf course where she had told him to meet her. His board was tucked up under his arm as he began walking over the grass. Perhaps he should have stuck to the trails or whatever, but Tony went out of his way to do things that he wasn’t supposed to, really. Jake walked beside him, pressing into his side every now and again. For some reason, the area seemed vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place why.

As his sister and the campsite she’d set up for them came into sight, he threw his hand up over his head to wave enthusiastically at her. It had taken him a little longer to arrive than it normally would have, but the guitar case on his back would be enough of an explanation for her. He played in front of Jazz sometimes, but he was quick to stop if she complimented him at all. He really wasn’t good at it (or so he insisted), so he didn’t like people telling him he was. He closed the last bit of distance between them, grinning bright at her. “Hey, Jazz!” He greeted as Jake moved forward to nose his sister’s hand affectionately.

[Jasmine Lawson]

Patience was something that did not come easily to Jazz unless of course she was building something that required time. That was different though, every good mechanic knew that it was folly to rush a job unless they wanted more problems later down the road. Waiting for Tony to show up or at least text her back was tedious though and Jazz wondered if he was even coming. What was taking him so long anyway? Did he stop for ice cream along the way or worse, fall off his skateboard? Biting her lower lip, Jazz mentally pleaded for Tony to be safe. If he was injured in any way, shape, or form and she was here... No, Tony was ok and besides, if he ran into trouble he could always call her. That was the whole point of cell phones anyway, to call in case of emergencies.

This was silly, Tony was fine. There was no reason that he would be hurt or anything like that, it was just taking him a while to get to the campsite...that was all. Just when Jazz was about to text Tony again just to see where he was and what was taking so long, she finally saw Tony approaching the campsite. A grin appeared on her features as she sighed in relief and waved back at him. From this distance she could see the guitar case which could very well explain why it had taken him so long to get there in the first place. Jazz wasn't a musician by any means but she knew that the guitar case had to be heavy to say the least of things. She wouldn't hold it against him, of course not, it wasn't like he would have been able to get there any faster with that thing on his back.

"You made it!"Jazz chimed as she held her hand up for a high five. Shortly after that Jake nuzzled her hand, bringing her attention to the dog. Smiling down at the dog, Jazz scratched the dog's ears before looking back up at Tony. "Do you want help with your stuff?"Jazz asked after a moment, gesturing to the guitar case on his back, "I got everything else set up while I was waiting for you,"she continued cheerfully, motioning to the tent and makeshift fire pit next to her. "All that's left is to decide what to do next~,"Jazz chimed, smiling at Tony as she spoke.

~~~

Anthony Vaughn