Like a Train Wreck - 46. Chapter 46: Initial Connection

"Aiden!" Tara called out as an officer took her through the front, handcuffed now.

Aiden's head lifted and he looked up. "Tara?"

"They're arresting me!" She said before being pushed out of sight.

Aiden let out a breath and looked over at Jaemin and Miracle. "Really? Guys? Really?"

"Shes the dumb bitch that confessed on a text." Miracle stood up and walked towards the door. "Ready, Jaemin?"

"Don't worry, she'll...maybe just get probation." Jaemin half smiled and then walked out with Miracle.

Aiden walked outside. "Really? You know, if you want to play these phone games, what happens if I get yours, Miracle?"

Miracle laughed and turned around at the bottom of the steps. "Why don't you tell me."

"I get Eric's number." Aiden said, letting go of the door and it shut behind him.

"Unlike her, I'm not that stupid." Miracle laughed and grabbed Jaemin's hand and lead him off, walking towards their car.

"So how did you get those movie tickets anyway? And the Ruby Tuesdays receipt?" Jaemin asked, quietly.

"Well, the theater isn't far from Jack's house. He took his girl and they bought the tickets, went into the movie, left through the exit door. He picked me up, gave them to me and took me to get the phone from Dayna. Dropped me off at home when you guys picked me up." Miracle opened the car door.

"The Ruby Tuesdays receipt was old, just something to wave at Aiden, he wasn't close enough to actually see it." Miracle got into the passenger seat.

Jaemin started the car and laughed as he pulled out and drove on down the street.

"So, you hate Aiden?" Sean walked over to Miracle and leaned against the locker.

Miracle grinned and shut the door of the locker. "What's the letter for?" His eyes brighten and he looks at Sean "Bowling? Because that would be so awesome and new!"

"Oh, wouldn't it?" Sean grinned.

"They could fit one in the basement, just clear out all their old crap from the thirties that they hang on to." Miracle rolled his eyes. "And yeah, I guess you could say that I am not to happy with him."

"You know, it would be interesting to see if they had that kind of stuff down there. Imagine what people must of carved on their desks back then." Sean looked thoughtful.

"Probably random things while some boogy dancing music played in their head." Miracle said with a look of horror. "So uh.." He shook his head. "Why are you asking about Aiden?"

"Well..football, basketball, might as well rival." Sean grinned.

"Interesting." Miracle grinned.

"Prom was awesome." Sean laughed.

"Promise not to tell, my ex pulled it off. Set the whole thing up after finding all the cotton...candy overloaded sweetness of...Tara." Miracle cringed.

"Which by the way, yanking a bald spot on her was nice." Sean laughed.

"That was fun. Shes in jail today though." Miracle looked at Sean and then leaned closer to whisper. "She met some old greasy store clerk and he pretended to be innocent and let her rob for the money. Found the text on Aiden's phone, how she went on about how scared she was."

"Wait...what? Tara did that?" Sean asked.

Miracle looked away, giving a not so innocent side glance towards Sean. "That's what the evidence said."

"Oh, I think we're going to be friends." Sean grinned. "So my girlfriend wants to get a random group together, a random, diverse, drama potential, group together. We're looking for the right mixes and a sort of stage set to put everyone on."

"Well there is always Dayna." Miracle said.

"Seriously?"

"Invite her to it, I'll make sure she is a surprise just by herself." Miracle smiled. "And while you do hook people up that will clash, try to hook people up that might be of use to each other, would help with the drama more."

"Would a hacker be of use to you?" Sean asked.

Miracle grinned. "Most definitely." Miracle looked around thoughtfully. "Tara and Aiden are a given which makes me and Jaemin a given for our drama alone, Dayna is my little surprise in the making. I think each person should have their special thing, something that really makes them kick."

"And a set stage?" Sean asked. "Like, we want it to be kind of..well, themed. My girlfriend does, anyway."

"Well, no cheesy haunted house thing, overdone." Miracle grinned. "Although it would be twisted to have a suitcase of cash in an old house somewhere."

Sean nodded. "Well, I'll get back to you." He grinned and walked off.

"Don't tell me, an evil jock this time?" Jaemin walked up.

Miracle watched Sean walk off and then looked at Jaemin. "No, someone else who just hates Aiden." He pushed away from the lockers. "His girlfriend wants to throw some kind of gathering and she wants to pick people that she knows will start a drama fest."

"Miracle, we kind of road that train a long time ago and Melanie was good at it. Really, fucking with Tara is fun and all, for you, I am sure, but diving into those sorts of things again?" Jaemin shrugged. "Part of me just wants to grow above that."

"I just don't know what else there is. Kicking back with the gang might be cool when you're their age but it's really a buzz kill to me." Miracle started walking down the hall.

"Okay so what do you plan to do?" Jaemin asked and then he looked down. "Someone...taped something..."

Miracle looked down and pulled a torn off piece of notebook paper off the hip of his jeans and looked at it. "Well I plan to go meet a new friend." Miracle grinned. "See you later!" He then sprinted off, leaving Jaemin clueless.

Miracle walked into the library and looked around, heading by one of the tables.

"Blonde one, right here."

Miracle turned around to see another guy sitting there, rather attractive in a bad boy way, without going as extreme as Jaemin, although, aside from looks, Jaemin had seemed to lose that quality.

"Miracle?" He grinned.

Miracle looked at him and then the paper. "You're Issac?"

"Hopefully not for long." He then extended his leg underneath the table and kicked the chair across out.

Miracle sat down when the chair was kicked out. "Why?"

"Well when I get out of this, I hope to work my way up the ranks, earn some illusive nickname and become the biggest virtual criminal this world has never seen."

"Very conspiracy theory." Miracle grinned. "Cool idea though."

"That's what I like about it, some people go conspiracy theory but really, it's reality, it happens, every day. It's happening right now. As we speak, bank accounts are being depleted, someones planning a big gut to some stock, one scheme or another." Issac closed the book he was holding.

"And he reads Alice In Wonderland?" Miracle's eyebrows lifted.

"Appearances." Issac laid the book down and opened his other hand to reveal a crumbled up page. "Now no one will never know what happens, no end..." He tossed the paper ball at Miracle.

Miracle caught it and laughed a little and laid it on the table. "Would be more creative to just insert Snow Whites ending in there. Get that 'WTF' effect."

"So, if you needed a favor, what would you like?" Issac smiled.

"Well..." Miracle looked up. "Are you any good at video editing?"

"What are we talking about?" Issac asked.

"Filming someone and then, taking the video and cropping a person out of it and putting another person into it."

"In the first persons place?" Issac cringed. "That's a little dicey. First of all, the person doing the reinactment would have to move exactly...and I mean exactly how the first person did, otherwise you will see the crop." Issac leaned closer. "That kind of stuff is much easier with photographs."

"Oh..." Miracle nodded.

"What are you trying to do?" Issac asked.

"Well...Tara went to jail, they charged her for fake robbing a store and splitting the cash with the clerk and Aiden got a confessing text and I gave his phone to the police."

Issac grinned. "I like how you talk in a way that's not lying to me about Tara but not outright admitting to me that you..."

"Shh!" Miracle looked around.

Issac laughed. "Who did prom?"

"My ex." Miracle said.

"Tell you what I can do. Look into webcams without people knowing it." Issac said. "Do you think Tara does anything...bad in her room?"

"I don't want to think about what she does." Miracle cringed.

Issac leaned across the table and placed a hand on top of Miracle's and leaned intimately close to him. "I think we're going to be real close friends." He grinned. "And lucky for you, if need be, I'll make a sex tape out of Tara, even if I have to be in it. All for you."

Miracle slowly nodded. "Really? What all did Sean say? He doesn't even know me."

"He put in a word, but I know what I've seen." Issac sat back. "English class is fun with you in it."

"Well right now, I want her to stay in jail." Miracle nodded.

Issac laughed. "Well, I'll see what I can do." He stood up and walked around the table and then leaned down and whispered in Miracle's ear. "Keep that webcam covered when you're not watching it." His hand ran down Miracle's chest and then he walked off.

Miracle looked up. "Where was he all this time?" Miracle shook his head.

"Oh! This is my song!" Miracle grabbed Issac by the hand. "You're coming!"

Issac laughed and slid out of the booth and headed towards the dance floor with Miracle.

Aiden watched the two run off as he approached the table and then he looked at Jaemin. "Why did you want me here?" He called out over the music.

"So we can be chumps together, though you're a double chump, I can laugh at you." Jaemin grinned.

Aiden sat down. "How is that?"

"Well Miracle moved on and then your bitch got arrested and here you are with me. Jolly good time." Jaemin smiled as he watched Miracle and Issac out on the dance floor.

Aiden looked at Miracle. "So whos the guy? Might as well learn my days lesson, right?" Aiden asked, sarcastically.

"Oh, you don't want to know who he is." Jaemin sipped his drink. "Though it says he keeps himself well secret if even you don't know him, should work for his goal."

"Well I've seen him around, obviously." Aiden said.

Miracle wrapped his arm around Issac's neck, grinding with him and then just as the song ended, he felt Issac pick him up and swing him around towards the table. Miracle laughed and stumbled near the table. "Oh look! Another buzz kill." Miracle laughed and fell into the booth with Issac.

"I see you've made a new friend." Aiden said.

"I make them easy, if I try." Miracle smiled and cuddled under Issac's arm.

"You know, wouldn't it be so funny if the team was winning and the game board just tripped and switched the scores?" Issac grinned.

"At the last second, like one point one seconds." Miracle's eyes widened and he grinned.

"So how is Tara in jail?" Jaemin asked.

"Betty Sue make a bitch of her yet?" Miracle laughed.

Aiden shook his head. "I haven't been."

"Careful, she could be hatching a plan for you next." Issac grinned at Aiden.

"Screw this." Aiden went to get up.

Dayna then walked around the booth, sparkling blue halter style dress, matching heels and her hair and face was all done wonderfully, as with Jasmine, she had the same potential. "Where are you going?" She grabbed Aiden's shirt and yanked him close and leaned her head around.

Jaemin grabbed his phone and snapped the picture and then showed it to Miracle. "Looks like a kiss to me." He mumbled.

"Dayna!" Aiden quickly pulled back. "Glad for the..uh...well, the make over. Bye!" Aiden then walked off, freaked out.

"You get it?" Dayna sat down.

Jaemin showed it to her.

"I did good." She smiled.

"Text it to my phone, I'm going to visit her in jail." Miracle laughed.

Issac sipped his drink. "Celebration!"

"We should drive her suicidal." Miracle said as he looked around, rather wasted. "We could get into her webcam and watch her do it..." He looked at Issac. "Can you get into her speakers? We can chant her."

Dayna's eyes widened and she looked at the table.

Issac laughed. "I never tried. There's a phone call that gets answered until they turn it off."

Miracle's eyes widened. "I want to get her to do it on graduation, right on stage. Maybe get her fucked up on some drugs and then hypnotise her. Anyone know any dirty people we can hire to do it?" Miracle looked around.

Jaemin looked at Miracle. "That's a bit twisted."

"Oh, like what you did wasn't?! I want her to give a speech of what a failure she is, a nice long speech and then she does it, a stab to the heart or a slice of the throat." Miracle laughed a little and then sighed.

"Well, I did my part, I'm going to go." Dayna said, uncomfortably. "Bye." She smiled and then stood up and walked away.

"I should get you home." Jaemin said.

"Not going home. I want to stay with Issac tonight." After Issac got up, Miracle grabbed onto his arm and stood up. "Bye, Jae." He walked off with Issac.

"Wha...?" Jaemin shook his head. "I get rid of one guy and another comes?!" He slaps one of the drinks off the table and gets up and goes to leave out the back exit.

Jaemin walks back into the loft and slams the door.

Damien laughed as he watched 'I Love Lucy' until he heard the slam of the door and looked up at Jaemin. "Woah! What's got you so pissed off?"

"I get rid of Aiden and then another guy comes along!" Jaemin crossed his arms and narrows his eyes as he looks around.

Damien grinned. "Who's this one?"

"Issac." Jaemin answered bitterly.

"What's his story?" Damien asks as he reached into his bag of chips.

"Computer hacker extraordinaire" Jaemine rolls his eyes.

"Hmm, he could be useful." Damien shoved some chips into his mouth.

"I don't care what he could be if he's getting in my way!" Jaemin grabs a dart and from all the way across the room, he angrily throws it, the dart lands to the far side on the board.

"Well maybe you could reason with him. You haven't mentioned him until now, so...how long has he really been in the picture?" Damien looked at the dart board. "And that sucked."

"Reason with him, I don't do reasoning, thats like begging." Jaemin fell on the couch beside Damien. "What's Lucy Ricardo up to? Watching her is like watching Miracle."

"She locked the main star of her husbands show in the closet and put on her costume so she could be in it." Damien grinned.

"I wish Miracle had her loyalty, Lucy could just find another husband in the business that would give her a chance." Jaemin reached into the bag of chips.

"But Lucy has bad acting, unlike the actual actress. Wouldn't it be awesome to get paid to act good at acting bad?" Damien laughed.

"Miracle would say, kind of twisted." Jaemin watched.

"In his head again, fun super power." Damien took a drink of his beer. "Hey, let me see that picture you guys planned for, whats her name, Tara?"

Jaemin dug out his phone and pulled it up and showed it. "That's Dayna. She didn't actually kiss him. She just pulled him close and kinda put her head that way for like a second and I got the picture and he left all freaked out."

"How long do you think they will keep Tara?" Damien asked.

"Well, I suppose her family will hire an excellent attorney, gather all the witnesses they can and put the pieces of that night together. Honestly, Miracle should kind of give her a way out if he wants to keep doing things to her, he doesn't seem interested in trying to get Aiden back, which keeping her in jail would give him the opportunity to do."

"School have cameras on the outside?" Damien asked.

"Probably across the parking lot. We pulled up along the street, outside the school. Miracle and I scaled the wall where Dayna was and he slipped Tara's phone into her pocket and we went in and did our thing. The cameras would show that Tara's car never went anywhere. That's probably what will get her out of it." Jaemin shrugged.

Aiden heard a knock on the door and opened it to find Miracle there. "Oh..." He looked around, confused. "Why are you here?"

"I'm still your Mom's patient." Miracle crossed his arms. "Shes good at what she does, I'm not giving that up over you."

Aiden nodded. "Okay, I figured you might of but, I'm fair and I won't give you trouble. I'm not that kind of person. Tara is out of jail. They checked the school security, her car never left and they never saw her go out and leave."

"Well I'm happy for you." Miracle forced a smile.

Aiden frowned. "I don't know why it has to be this way, it doesn't, you know? It doesn't change anything. We're not together, in fact, I told her the truth about me. She said she was okay with it. She still clings though, acts like everything is like it was before."

"And you just let her? She still must mean something to you." Miracle looked down. "How did she really react?"

"Truthfully? She got quiet..walked around, looked at the wall, didn't say anything and then her parents came home, then she snapped back into herself and it was as if nothing had happened." Aiden said.

"Aiden, I saw this lifetime movie once. This guy and his new girlfriend came back to his hometown where his high school sweetheart lived and she still wanted him, her room was a shrine of memorabilia. I don't remember why but the girlfriend was dropped off at a hotel while the guy went to stay at his parents. The girlfriend found out there were no rooms and something went wrong with her phone and so she had to walk to go find a hotel. The ex ran her down with a truck, injured her and then all innocent like, pretended to help her and then held her hostage in her home, used her phone to text the guy, made him think she needed to be away." Miracle said, describing the movie.

"What's your point?" Aiden asked.

"I'm just saying what could happen to people when they don't want to let go. She left the country and expected you to be right here waiting for her to share the glory moment of prom and all the moments there after." Miracle shrugged.

Linda smiled as she walked into the living room. "Miracle, hello."

"Hi, Miss Alexander." Miracle smiled and when Aiden stepped aside, Miracle walked in.

"Shall we go to my office?" Linda gestured towards the hall.

Miracle nodded and followed after Linda and went into her office and sat down in the chair where he normally sat.

"So how are things, any updates, news? It's been a while, I haven't seen you since prom." Linda sat at her desk. "I don't want to make this personal Miracle because that is not how I work but after what happened to Aiden..."

"I don't lie in therapy, if you do, what's the point of it?" Miracle frowned. "We got to prom, we walked in the door and as soon as we did, there was Tara and I might as well have not existed."

"Tara." Linda nodded, knowing Tara quite to well. "She was Aiden's girlfriend before...he came out. He didn't come out until she left to take classes out of the country."

"Yeah well from what I heard, that's what she did and that she rushed back to win." Miracle said.

"To win prom." Linda nodded.

"And I don't understand how Aiden was voteable. He said he put himself in the running when she was there and that if he took himself out, it would have took her out unless she found someone else."

"It would have, it was couple dependent and with her being out of the country, it would have been difficult for her to have found someone else, at least anyone meaningful. She thought Aiden still loved her." Linda said.

"I had nothing...to do...with what happened to Aiden." Miracle looked down. "My ex found out everything about Tara, he must of knew about the possibility of what would happen and set the trap." Miracle looked up. "I am really sorry, but my ex told me all of it, right after they went on stage, said all I had to do was say yes and then...I did and the balloons came down." Miracle frowned. "There was nothing funny about it, I was angry, hurt, betrayed. He wanted to take her up there, present her to everyone. It was like Brad, the way he kept me a secret and then presented Sarah by his side to everyone."

Linda wrote a few things down. "I keep things professional, Miracle." She looked up. "In my opinion though, your ex is the one that created the situation, played on your impulse for what was really something that he wanted to do. I called the office from New York and got copies of the files that Jordan kept on you."

"Jordan?" Miracle looked alarmed.

"Yes, just your standard therapy stuff. I just wanted some older documentation on you which comes in handy right now and because of the things I looked over, I understand what you mean when you speak of Brad. I also got files from Miss Carter, that is really all there was, I kept things really quiet. I know you came here not to be found, your stalker and all." Linda nodded.

"Yeah, so long as you got them from...the office Jordan worked at and...the principal of the school." Miracle paused. "The place where Jordan worked, is it legit?"

Linda looked up. "The place has been in business longer than you have been alive. Jordan was very much a new hire. They went into his office to talk to him and found...a sex tape of you being played on his television during a break he was taking, he had been immediately fired."

"I gave that to him. It was for kicks, I wanted to see if he'd be professional or not." Miracle said.

"Well the sex tape was returned to your, well, Craig and your Mom. Jordan ran out, they called the police on him, he likely would have been arrested. Aside from that, his work was quite impressive otherwise." Linda wrote more things down.

"He was good at it." Miracle nodded.

"I don't really want to waste our session making comparisons." Linda looked up at Miracle.

"Well like I said, it was like Brad." Miracle said.

"Which is interesting. Jordan made a trait chart where his theory was that you had an affair with Kevin because he matched Brad in persona but he differed in the fact that he was kind and loving and didn't treat you horribly."

"Right and Aiden was the same way."

"Until prom in which you perceived yourself as being swept under the carpet while he went on stage with Tara to show everyone something presentable and expected?" Linda asked.

"Kind of, maybe. Like when you go to those rich peoples parties. A rich man has to be with a rich woman, if he goes with a poor girl, shes a gold digger, unacceptable."

Linda nodded. "And she may not dress a certain way, act a certain way, she might not know all the rules. The guy does though. And he can either choose to show his family whats presentable to them or stand up against them for what he really wants."

"Exactly." Miracle nodded.

"And what is going on with the situation now?"

"Aiden is being very passive. He said he told her the truth but I think shes in denial. She clings to him, goes around with him, acts like everything was how it was before but he's just..kind of there as far as I know, shes like a puppy clinging to a persons leg." Miracle frowned.

"I got in a fight with her at school, everyone saw it. She hit me and I ripped some of her hair out and we screamed at each other." Miracle said in continuation.

"Maybe you should try to be civil with her, one on one and see what comes of it." Linda suggested.

"Well she was a snob at the prom. She walked up, acknowledged me for as long as she had to and then took Aiden away and that's when my ex slipped in and told me everything about them." Miracle looked out the window.

Linda grinned. "I think I have just the idea."

Miracle walked into the guidance counselors office. "Hello?" He walked over and sat in one of the two chairs.

"Glad to see you." Miss Alexander smiled. "We're waiting for one more guest."

Tara walked in and looked at Miss Alexander and then over at Miracle. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Have a seat." Miss Alexander waved at the other seat.

Tara frowned and took the other seat.

"I'm Miss Alexander." She looked between the two.

"Linda's sister?" Miracle asked.

The woman smiled. "You can call me Sally." She looked between them. "Earlier this year we had an extended project, a biography project with assigned partners where you were to write a biography about your partner. Now I know the year is coming to an end and there isn't much time so consider this an essay instead. And don't slack on it, I'll know if you slack on it. Point being, I want you to both do the project together."

"I already did it!" Miracle's eyes widened.

"I'd rather die." Tara closed her eyes and rubbed her head.

"Okay, Miracle, that car you have, what if you traded it in and...Linda took care of the rest of the cost? We're talking brand new, whatever you pick?" Sally asked.

"Wha..? For real? She sends me to Australia and now she'll get me a car?" Miracle's eyes widened.

"She said to do whatever I have to in order to make this happen." Sally slightly grinned, wondering if Linda would cuss her out later.

"Try to bribe me, lady." Tara crossed her arms.

"Well having taken most of your classes out of the country, it would make you ineligable for valedictorian. But...if you want, we can transfer those grades here and pull it through anyway. I hear you did really well over there." Sally smiled.

Tara frowned and looked over at Miracle. "Are you giving in?"

"For the car? I'll deal with you." Miracle looked away.

"Fine, how does this go?" Tara looked at Sally.

"Well, as I said, the year is almost up so..for a week, you handle how much time, the schedule, so on and so forth, you get to know each other as much as possible and then turn in to me a two page essay. Simple enough?" Sally smiled.

"Fine." Tara got up and grabbed her bag.

"Okay." Miracle grabbed his bag and walked out of the office.

Tara frowned and crossed her arms once she was out of the office and looked at Miracle. "So, time and place?"

"Oh if this were New York, I would pick some dark alley in the middle of the night to scare you." Miracle grinned and looked at her. "How about, library, lunch period?"

"That's when I do my social life here!"

"The quicker we get it done, the quicker we are out of each others lives." Miracle turned and headed off.

"So test it out tonight, Tara's webcam, just record it, ten minutes, twenty, I just want a test run, a sample. I think it would be cool to see it." Miracle grinned.

"Will do." Issac smiled. "And speak of the she devil." Issac stood up. "Later." He walked off.

"I'm here." Tara looked at Issac and then took the seat that he once claimed and sat her note book down and flipped it open, a pen in her hand. "If we work hard, I can fill out the two pages in a day."

Miracle forced a smile and flipped open his notebook and grabbed the pen he had laid on the table. "You first."

"Okay, where you born?" Tara asked.

Miracle's fake smile faded. "I..don't know."

Tara looked up, confused. "You don't know?"

"Funny, of all the things I could of asked my birth Mom, I never asked her things like that." Miracle said.

"Your birth Mom? So you were adopted, why?"

Miracle grinned. "My Daddy decided to sneak off and join the military, we needed money, he knew my Mom wouldn't of let him go and so he had to sneak away. It was supposed to be a three month run but then he vanished without a trace. She waited and then decided if she couldn't have a whole family, why have one at all? Of course, this was all after she broke him up from his girlfriend who he already had another child with and she stole him away, hence my name, I'm her human personification that she was the winner. Karma's a bitch, I guess."

Tara frowned and started writing. "So how did you...meet her again?"

"Well after my suicide attempt, I came home after mandatory suicide watch. My adoptive Stepford Mom decided it would be easier to bring her back than to deal with it herself. It was an open adoption so it was easy to do." Miracle shrugged.

Tara nodded. "So how did things go?" She asked.

"Well, rocky in the beginning and then I told everyone what happened to me the first time I was adopted, my real Mom felt really guilty, we started to slowly connect after that. She didn't know what really happened to my Dad until she watched the video tape that he had left her, she never watched it until we met again, I was five when he left so that was a long time not knowing what had happened."

Tara looked up. "What happened in the first adoption."

"You'd love that dirt wouldn't you?" Miracle stared at her.

Tara stared at him. "I don't see this as dirt." She laid her pen down. "Aiden said you had a rough life, now I am understanding why."

"You really want to know?" Miracle sat back in his chair. "A man adopted me when I was eight, he took pictures of me and filmed me and exploited me." Miracle looked down at the table. "He didn't stop there." He looked up at Tara. "But not only did he do that, he was the kindest man, he loved me, he adored me, he said this was love, this was what you did for love, sex for love." Miracle shook his head. "I've told this story so many times I remember it line for line." Miracle looked at Tara. "Do you want to fill your page with that?"

Tara stared at Miracle with a sudden look of sympathy. "What happened to him?"

"He promised to love me forever, then the cops caught him and took him away. Then I tried to find someone who would promise me forever by doing it just like he taught me. And then I learned that's not real, that isn't how it really works." Miracle grew quiet.

Tara looked down. "I'm...so sorry."

Miracle slowly nodded. "Next question."

"Right." Tara nodded. "Um...why did you...move here from New York?"

"Stalker." He looked up. "We did everything we could, he was impossible, so I had to leave and go into hiding."

Tara's eyebrows lifted. "Probably shouldn't write that either." She sat the pen down. "Lets get real, we both know this assignment is to make us get along."

"And now you pity me and that's going to make you nice?" Miracle asked. "Because when I talk about myself...everytime...I want to break down, because despite how much of a bitch I try to be...I'm just broken."

"It's not pity." Tara said.

"And what's going to make me nice to you?" Miracle asked.

"I don't know. I was a bitch at the prom, I wanted Aiden to myself." She frowned. "He told me the truth, I didn't want to believe it."

"Tara, I don't want to make you a bad guy but, you leave the country, you expect him to wait? I don't know much about how normal relationships work but..."

Tara nodded. "I know it was a lot to ask but understandably, in that time, he discovered something about himself. I just didn't want to accept that. We were great last year, I have so many happy memories." She smiled briefly. "I guess it's time to let him go."

"He won't have anyone." Miracle looked up. "It's not your fault but I don't wait on people, I hate confliction, though in my book it's okay if I'm conflicted, let that be hypocritical of me, I've found someone else that I could potentially like."

"Maybe...we could be friends? If we patch it up then we have each other and Aiden has us, even if it's all friendships, sometimes friendships mean more than relationships." Tara half smiled.

Miracle looked up. "Did you get hair extensions or something to fix it? I'll pay you back for it." The hint of a smile appeared.

Tara laughed a little and touched at her hair lightly. "They managed to fix it up."

"Hey, do you know Sean?" Miracle asked

Tara rolled her eyes. "Oh god I wish I didn't." She laughed. "It's funny actually. I dated him during football season but I really liked Aiden the whole time but he was so quiet, I really wasn't sure how to approach him. My sister was a senior at that time. I caught Sean with her after one of the games, just when basketball season was starting. So I guess you could say I traded stars when seasons were trading games." She grinned.

"Well he said something about wanting to do a gathering with diverse people to create drama or something."

Tara rolled her eyes. "Probably one of Tanya's dumb ideas. They still date. She went to community college just to stay close to him and then when he graduates, shes just going to transfer to where ever he goes."

Issac sat on the couch in Damien's apartment, he looked around at all the other men and then across at Philip who sat on the coffee table in front of him.

"So could you hack into a bank?" Philip asked.

"A bank? They would have like mega security." Issac looked over at Miracle and then listened to Jaemin's pacing foot steps behind the couch. He then looked at Philip again.

"Okay, maybe to big of a job. What is the biggest you could do?" Philip asked.

"Well a variety of things, webcam viewing, cracking passwords to say doors, other computers and such, that would be assuming that I could get by the security, home computer security is in no comparison to something like a bank." Issac explained.

"So you could do hospitals, hotels, things of that nature?" Philip asked.

"If you wanted drugs or a free room." Issac laughed. "Though for the first, I would hope you could convincingly pull off the chicken scratch handwriting of a doctors prescription. I mean I could get you into the room where they just keep the dope but the camera's are everywhere."

"But you could shut the cameras off?" Philip asked.

"Probably, if the camera's recording source is connected to an outside feed, which I am sure they are. You cut the monitors and the recording source off from the world, shut them down, the camera's might see but the feed never goes to the powerless source. Then you have to be quick though, because who ever watches them, well they just have to get them running and online again."

"I see." Philip nodded.

"I could do an ATM, go past all the basic menus and select the last account pulled up and reaccess it and withdraw more money, you just have to duck so the invisible camera doesn't see you." Issac shrugged.

"We'll consider." Philip said.

"You do that and..also consider this." Issac leaned forward and grinned. "I leave when I want. I have big plans for the future and those plans don't include a biker gang." He stood up and looked over at Miracle. "Are you coming?"

Miracle nodded. "Yeah." He stood up and followed Issac towards the door.

Jaemin frowned, watching them walk out, wondering what he would have to do to pry them apart.

Once outside, Miracle looked over at Issac. "I just had an idea.."

"What?" Issac grinned.

"You know that stalker I told you about? Could you get into his webcam?"

Issac laughed. "I would need something to trace him."

"What about his phone number?" Miracle asked.

"I could GPS him and..if there are traffic cams, access those but..unless I really dig my brain, I can't think of how else his phone number would help. It could get me into his phone too, possibly."

"Well his phone has a camera, I think. Everyones does." Miracle said.

"Then lets go." Issac grinned and walked off.

"Let me see your phone." Issac said, sitting at his computer.

Miracle handed it over. "It's in the contacts, his name is Eric."

Issac grinned and looked through the phone and then typed the number into his program. "GPS it..." He mumbled.

"Well, where is he?" Miracle asked.

"New york. On that little island right there." Issac zoomed in on it. "There is a house there." He zoomed in closer. "A mansion."

"That's where he had the party." Miracle said.

"I'm going to need you to call him to make the connection. Once I'm in, even if he hangs up, I'm still in." Issac said.

"Then he'll find me." Miracle's eyes widened.

"I can scramble the signal. Where ya wanna be? Saudi Arabia?" Issac laughed.

"Does it change the number too?" Miracle asked.

"Yeah, to where ever I make it from." Issac said.

"Well last time I talked to him, I told him I was going to South America. Make it Belize."

"You got it." Issac hooked the phone up to a cord and then ran another program and handed Miracle the phone. "Call and talk until I wave my hand at you."

Miracle took the phone. "Okay." He looked at the computer. "So it's ready? It'll show Belize, location and number?"

Issac laughed. "Yes, go on."

Miracle nodded and pressed Eric's name.

Eric heard his phone ring and paused his movie and answered. "Hello?"

"It's me." Miracle said, watching Issac work on the computer.

"Oh, the classic way you respond. I never get tired of it. Your tiny little voice." Eric smiled.

Miracle rolled his eyes. "So, how's the wheather?"

"It's sad and it's raining. The city misses you." Eric said.

"Well South America is as beautiful as I thought it would be. We were just down by the sunny beach."

"It's funny how you hop from West Virginia to Australia, with a Florida phone, is that where you really stay? But then you hop to California? Then again, that was a pay phone stuck in the ground. Real hard evidence." Eric laughed.

"So you think I'm really in California? Where do you think I'm at?" Miracle asked.

"Well Kevin is there, that's where he went to college, is it not? Should he be paid a visit or will you come and pay me a visit?" Eric asked.

"That's a little naive, Eric. If I am able to hop around like that, with all those phone numbers, why do you think I would have to be at a pay phone to use that number?" Miracle asked.

"So Kevin gave it to you?" Eric questioned.

"Why would I put my friend at risk? Maybe that was my intention. Maybe I thought that you would get the fact that I would never put my friend in danger so you'd know I was never really there." Miracle looked at Issac.

Eric nodded. "Good point. Still odd that you would guess that number. I mean make up a California number, sure but to happen to guess one?"

"Odd things happen in this world, Eric. Like Cody's Mom disappearing. Or Martha ever having a motive to kill Robin and slice her fetus out knowing it would die."

Issac gave Miracle a weird look.

Miracle looked at Issac and shrugged. Issac simply went back to work on his computer.

"Few good points, the oddity of fate." Eric sighed.

Issac waved his hand.

"Well I have to go, we're going to a tiki bar down the way. It's been nice talking to you, maybe I'll call again when I'm in Saudi Arabia." Miracle then hung up.

"I'm in." Issac grinned, seeing the inside of Eric's house.

"Check and see if he has one of those front cams." Miracle said.

Issac clicked a button and then saw the phone zooming away from Eric's ear. "Creepy."

"That's him." Miracle said as Eric's face came on the screen momentarily before the camera met the surface of a table, hearing a television start when Eric unpaused his movie.

"It sounds like he's watching Titanic, I hear that music." Issac said.

"Go to the back camera again." Miracle said and Issac clicked back over and simply saw the ceiling.

"This is probably only good for hearing things." Issac made a face.

"Let me call Jaemin." Miracle grabbed his phone and dialed Jaemin up.

Jaemin grabbed his phone and looked at it with a weird expression before answering. "Hello?"

"It's me. It's Miracle."

"How the fuck are you calling from Belize?"

Miracle blinked. "Oh, Issac must still have my number cloaked."

"Oh, sorry." Issac shoved some potato chips into his mouth.

"I had to call Eric so Issac could hack into his camera phone and now we're watching through his camera, though we can only see his ceiling but we hear. He's watching Titanic." Miracle explained.

Jaemin started laughing. "That is so fucked up. So now you got Eric thinking you are in Belize?"

"I don't think he believes I am in any of the places I call from, he likely doesn't know where the fuck I'm at." Miracle said.

"Yeah, well now that you've been teasing him up about it, he is likely to actually start tracking our friends so...I am afraid to say that we might have to really cut contacts this time." Jaemin said.

"Well he was really suspicious when I messed up and used a pay phone in California over spring break. He threatened to go after Kevin. I kinda told him I wouldn't be dumb enough to put my friend in danger by doing that. He acted like he bought it but I don't know." Miracle said.

"Are you serious?!" Jaemin sighed. "I'm not Kevin's biggest fan but...damn. Miracle, if you weren't really in California, how would you get the pay phone number unless Kevin gave it to you?"

"Well for starters, when I did the call, Kev was in The Carribean and I played it off as a lucky guess, an odd twist of fate, like how Martha would have a motive to kill Robin and cut her fetus out knowing it would die."

Issac's chip chewing went quiet.

"You better hope he believes that." Jaemin said.

"Well I don't hear him ordering anyone to go." Miracle said. "Issac if he made a call, could we hear it?"

"We would hear him, if the other person spoke loud enough, possibly, but this isn't like a phone tap. I mean I could work it that way, we are inside his phone, I just connected to his camera specifically." Issac explained.

"I hate this part!" Eric yelled.

"He's talking." Miracle said and leaned close.

"Jack is a dumbass. If they both went on opposite sides of that piece of metal and climbed on at the same time, it would of balanced!" Eric coughed.

"Sir, are you okay?" Asked one of Eric's concerned maids.

"I'm fine!" Eric coughed.

"You know how you get when you get in an uproar." The woman said.

Eric took a deep breath and sighed. "Just go, woman."

"I'll record all night, see if anything interesting comes up." Issac said.

"Do you need my phone?" Miracle asked.

"No, I just needed the initial connection, now I'm in, you can have the phone back. If he shuts the phone off though, or it dies, I am out." Issac said and then he disconnected Miracle's phone from the cord.

"Thanks." Miracle smiled and walked towards the door.

"Oh and hey..." Issac called out.

Miracle stopped and turned around.

"If you want, I have an app version of that phone scrambler, next time you come over, I can download it to your phone, you pick any country and it randomly masks your number and signal, so long as you have it active. You could be running down the block and it could be GPSing you running through China." Issac grinned

"Funny, I'll come by and pick that up, definitely." Miracle smiled and walked out.

Issac looked at his monitor and sighed. "Do something interesting..."

"Aiden...." Tara walked over with that teasing voice, a smile on her face.

Aiden ate another fry and looked up at Tara and raised his eyebrows. "What?"

She sat down across from him. "I invited a guest for our lunch today."

"Who?" Aiden asked, appearing in a rather bad and disinterested mood.

Tara frowned. "What's wrong with you?"

"Life...just really sucks." He looked at her. "So can I just sit here and be that depressed loner kid?"

Miracle walked over to the table with a box and sat it down and grinned. "The surprise is here!"

Aiden looked up at Miracle and then at the box.

Miracle took the top off the box and it was a cake with chocolate frosting, two white flags that crossed each other at the top and his name beside Tara's in white cursive lettering. He sat the lid aside and sat beside Aiden. "Who would of thought it?!"

Tara frowned. "He's in a horrible mood." She looked at Miracle.

Miracle frowned. "Why?"

Aiden looked at the cake but still appeared unaffected. "I just don't want to be here anymore."

"Oh no." Miracle shook his head and grabbed Aiden's face and made him look. "I've been there before, you do not want to go to that place, trust me." In fact Aiden's words only began to bring back the memories of those feelings that he had a long time ago.

"I feel alone." Aiden looked down. "I love you Miracle, I wanted everything to be special."

Tara reached for Aiden's hand. "It's okay, look, I messed it up but we...well we worked it out. See the cake? White flags, we threw them up." She tried to smile but it quickly faded.

Miracle's hands slowly fell from Aiden's face. "Aiden...I really wanted that too. The thing is...you tried to make everyone happy and you can't do that, you stretch yourself thin and it never works." Miracle looked over at Tara and then down at the floor.

"Of course it didn't work." Aiden said.

Miracle took a deep breath and then looked up. "Aiden, you have such a good future ahead of you and so many opportunities. I'm not the world, I'm not it. You just...have to be strong and...get through it."

"And why can't you be with me? You're fucking friends with Tara now and you can't forgive me?" Aiden looked at Miracle and shook his head.

Miracle sighed. "It's not about not forgiving because I have..but Aiden, there is someone else. And it's not Jaemin so don't even go the way of competition. It's someone else."

"Issac." Aiden nodded.

"Well, not really officially but there's interest." Miracle looked at the cake.

"Innocent little angels are devils in disguise." Aiden reached up and wiped at his eyes.

Miracle's eyes suddenly widened. "What did you say? Where did you hear that from? Did Jaemin tell you that?"

"No, my Dad wrote it on the back of a picture of him and my Mom in the hospital after I was born, the only picture there is, he split when I was a baby. I got it in the mail this morning. Kind of made me think of you." Aiden said.

Miracle slowly started to stand up. "Do you realize who your...who your Dad is?"

Tara looked between them, confused.

"What?" Aiden looked up.

"David said that to me, but that's not the whole quote. Innocent little angels are devils in disguise. They drive you into things, ruin you and then they get away." Miracle fully stood up. "David, he was your Dad. Your Dad's name was David, wasn't it?"

Aiden looked up at Miracle, disturbed. "That was his name."

"David Alexander..." Miracle just stared at Aiden.

Tara looked between the two, shocked and at a loss for words.

"Miracle, whats going on?" Jaemin walked up.

"David was Aiden's Dad..." Miracle said.

"What?" Jaemin's eyes widened.

"I...I swear I didn't know." Aiden stood up. "Miracle, I had no idea."

"I have to get out of here." Miracle turned around and grabbed onto Jaemin who quickly guided him out of the lunch room.

"Hey, Miracle!" Issac ran up the hall when he saw Jaemin practically dragging Miracle out of the lunch room. "What's going on?"

Jaemin turned towards Issac. "Something not good. You got anything important? Because if not, Miracle is upset."

"Eric got a phone call." He looked between the two. "Do either of you know who Erica is?"

Miracle looked up. "Shes my Mom."

Issac walked up to them and pulled his phone out and scrolled through to the video. "Bathroom." He nodded and the trio went into the bathroom nearby.

"Play it." Jaemin said.

Issac nodded and hit play.

"Eric, there is something really important we need to discuss." Eric's Father said on the phone.

"Dad? What is it?" Eric asked.

"Jeremy has been spotted in New York. Several of our men have seen him and attempted to capture him but he has evaded all attempts." The man said to his son.

"Why the hell would that man be in New York? First of all...the dude was gone when that bitch gave up her kid for adoption, as stupid as she is. She thought all you do is go to the docks, sign a paper and a woman just takes the kid and his luggage and walks off?" Eric laughed.

"Well if I knew why he was here I would be much more content. I wonder myself why he would come here not knowing where Erica is, I mean as far as you know, the woman said he disappeared, right?" The man asked.

"That's what she said, that's what she told our girl, said she didn't want a family if she couldn't have the real thing. It's all in the files. We tried to pull a Paula on her later and by the time we went back, the house had a for sale sign on it and she was gone. So if we couldn't find her, how would he? And she obviously couldn't find him, otherwise she wouldn't of had a problem anyway." Eric sighed, frustrated.

"Well I have had men watching Craig's house and keeping close eyes on Erica, although I don't think his intentions are to reunite with her, if his being here isn't coincidental. Reason being is naturally the woman would be furious with him. If he is here on purpose, he is probably looking for Miracle. Send Rachel out, have her scout the streets, be the distraction."

Eric nodded. "Will do."

Miracle looked up when the recording ended. "They think my real Dad is there."

Jaemin shook his head. "Miracle, we can't do it, not yet."

Miracle pulled away and looked at Jaemin. "But I have to tell my Mom, she has to find him. I don't care, Issac has the program, we can scramble it and they won't find us."

"Yeah? Your Mom doesn't and if they find out that you contacted her, that puts her in danger." Jaemin grabbed Miracle by the shoulders and sighed, closing his eyes. "I know you've been waiting for something like this forever...but it just can't happen."

"Jaemin..." Miracle looked down.

Issac looked at Miracle. "Listen, I'll go home and see if I can work on something, a way to get the message across without anyone catching anyone." He walked over to Miracle and rubbed his back. "Just relax."

Miracle pulled away from Jaemin and then hugged Issac. "Make it happen."

"I'll try." He hugged Miracle and then pulled back, looking into his eyes and a small grin appeared as his hand lifted and his thumb brushed across Miracle's cheek. "And I'm stubborn when I want to solve a problem." He then pulled back and walked out of the bathroom.

Jaemin rolled his eyes and looked away until Issac was gone. "Want me to walk you to your next class?"

"Yeah." Miracle nodded and headed out of the bathroom with Jaemin.

The door to the middle stall opened and Sean walked out and grinned. "Conspiracy theory. Tanya will love this one." He laughed and looked down at the text he had been typing to her and hit send.