I jump and flinch back.

Mackenzie flinches too.

"N-nothing. I swear. I didn't, she, and I, it wasn't..."

"Relax Jade, it was just a joke," Mackenzie rolls her eyes.

"Get out!" Jade yells pushing her out of the room.

Jade slams the door and I flinch again.

"I didn't kiss her. She came on to me. I swear. I wasn't, I didn't, I mean---"

"It's okay, trust me I know what a freak my cousin is. I leave you alone for one second and she attacks you!" Jade plopped next to me.

I force nervous laughter.

"Anyways, I got a letter from my mom," She sighs, showing me the unopened envelope.

Usually, her dad sends her letters, never her mom.

"Are you going to open it?"

"Why bother? Haven't heard or seen her in over ten years." Jade tosses it to the floor.

"Jade," I pick the letter up.

"I don't want to look at it, you open it." She says.

"Are you sure?"

"Just do it," She crosses her arms.

With a sigh, I open the letter.

My eyes scan the page and the messy handwriting.

"Well?" Jade asks.

"She wants to see you. She said she's moving closer. That she's clean now and that she misses you."

"Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it," Jade avoids my gaze by looking away.

"Hey, you okay?" I move to comfort her.

She shrugs.

"You can talk to me," I assure her.

Jade grabs the letter from my hand and without reading it rips it up and throws it on the floor. I frown at her.

"Come on," She grabs my hand and drags me out of the room.

She pulls me downstairs and into her car. I let her drive me wherever. We drive to the ice cream parlor order our usual, I pay using my allowance money. Then we sit on the curb and eat our ice cream, just like we used to.

"Parents are dumb," Jade says out of nowhere.

"Yeah? I agree, my dad is dumb. You know when he first moved to Mexico, he couldn't even speak Spanish." I snort in amusement.

She smiles.

"You know who isn't dumb?" I ask.

"Who?" she looks at me.

"You." I put a cold dollop of ice cream on her nose.

"Hey!" she giggles.

I laugh as she attempts to lick it off.

A kitten comes out from behind the dumpster and walks over to us. It mews and begs for food and water.

"Aw! Look at its wittle face." Jade says.

"No way your aunt will let you keep it."

Her aunt is allergic to cats.

"But Skylar!" she picks up the kitten and shows it to me. It cries out.

"Jade," I warn.

"Then you keep it." She pushes it towards me. I have to set my ice cream down to hold it.

It's tiny, only a little bigger than my palm. It's a fluffy tabby cat. Its hair is all matted and gross.

"No way, my mom will kill me. It's bad enough with Dukin."

"Skylar," She pouts.

The kitten mews.

Its cute beady eyes draw me in, when I turn to Jade, she is making the same face.

"Please, please, please," She begs.

"It probably just got separated from its mom," I say getting up to investigate.

The kitten won't let me put it down instead, it claws to my shirt and cries out even louder.

"Look it likes you," Jade says.

"Ow, ow, ow, could it like me less painfully?" I pull it off me making it retract its claws from my skin.

We walk over to the dumpster and instead of finding a mom cat, we find a box full of similar-looking kittens.

I look at Jade and she is giving me a look.

"No," I say.

She bends down and picks up the whole box.

"Jade!"

"Come on!" she runs off towards her car.

"Jade!" I run after her.

In the end, I snuck six kittens into my room. Jade helped me clean them up and we gave them water. Then jade went to the store while I watched them. She came back with loads of cat food and two litter boxes as well as cat litter.

"I am so dead," I chase a cat into the hall and quickly move it back into my room.

"This one can be fizzy. This one is chubs. This one is puff man. This one is fluffy," Jade picks them up one by one and names them.

"Will you stop!" I hiss.

"That one is Cloud," she points to the cat in my arms, "and this baby is Countess Poufy."

"You are silly," I shake my head.

We set out a plate and put some canned food on it for the kittens they devour it, they are starving.

"I'm telling mom!" Oli opens the door to my room.

"No! shh!" I pull her in.

"Skylar! We can't have cats we have Dukin!" Oli says.

"I know, but someone just left them. We had to save them," I said.

"No way you are getting rid of my baby Countess Poufy," Jade pets the cat as it eats.

"Come on Oli, just help me hide them from mom," I say.

She looks at the little adorable faces and sighs.

"Fine," She relents.

"Yes!" Jade cheers.

"But I want one." She bends down to inspect them.

"I want this one." She picks Cloud.

"No way, Cloud is mine." I pout.

"Fine, then this one."

"That one is Fizzy," Jade says.

"Fizzy, I like it." Oli smiles.

We ogle the kittens until they are tired and curl up in their box on one another to sleep.

I set up a little area for them in my room, between my window and bed so if my mom were to open the door, she wouldn't see them right away. I use old textbooks to close them in and put the litter boxes next to their box. The food and water bowl are by the wall.

"Take care of my baby, I will be back tomorrow to cuddle and wuvs it," Jade cooes.

"I will," I roll my eyes.

"Good, think of it as joint custody. We are the parents now. I will pay kitten support and you will watch the kittens," Jade says.

Oli and I both snicker in amusement.

"Now I am counting on you Skylar, don't give my babies away," Jade says leaving.

I look at the kittens, they are really cute. But no way my mom will let me keep them once she finds them. So freaking dead. But I'll do it, for Jade.

The things I get myself into...