Nemesis: Chapter 37

Luke badgered Jessica into letting him meet her parents for the first time. Jessica took this as a good sign, that Luke was serious about their relationship. She didn't realise that he had an ulterior motive. Towards the end of the afternoon lunch, Luke finally got to speak to Jessica's dad on his own. Having had a stiff drink, Luke plucked up the courage to convey to him the message from his sister. Namely, that his estranged daughter Bea had tracked him down and was desperate to meet both him and her sister. Jessica's father was livid when he heard the news but had to keep his anger to a minimum to avoid raising the suspicions of his first born. Luke had to explain to him that Bea was ready and able to make contact with Jessica now herself, whether or not he agreed to them meeting.

Luke told Jessica's father that he wished that they hadn't met under these circumstances and that he adored Jessica and would never do anything to hurt her. He insisted that he would not tell Jessica a word and that it was up to him, as her father to decide whether to break it to her before her half-sister cornered her in a street. Going pale, the older man recommended that Luke leave his sight before he did anything he might regret. Once Luke had gone, Jessica's father told his wife what had happened and they decided that they could keep the secret from her no longer.

Before they went to bed, they sat Jessica down and told her the truth. Initially she was angry and upset at being lied to for nineteen years. But later she grew excited, for she had always wanted a sister. Growing up, she had been jealous of the bond between Rosie and Mia and though she enjoyed being Daddy's little princess she felt that she missed out on so much. She had no sister to share her secret crushes with or confide in with her darkest secrets, so had always offloaded onto Mia. Unable to sleep, Jessica phoned Mia up in the middle of the night. She had barely seen Mia in weeks, what with her going off with the brunette called Ava. Jessica felt that her friendship with Mia was slipping away, she couldn't afford to lose her at the same time as gaining a sister.

To Jessica's relief, Mia was ecstatic about the news and volunteered to go meet her half-sister with her. The following day, Jessica told her boyfriend the news, only to find him unsurprised and overly calm about it. Suddenly, Jessica realised that Luke had known all along and got him to reveal everything he knew. Luke immediately phoned his sister to organise their first meeting. It turned out that Bea wanted her three bandmates to come along as support, so the meeting would have to be done in public. Mia suggested hiring out the newly refurbished White Hart Inn, which she was sure that she could wrangle a discount for on account of what happened the last time she was there.

It was decided that Mia, Rosie, Luke and Mike would accompany Jessica to the get together, as the two lads could act as intermediaries with their sister should anything go wrong. Jessica had only met Leanne a couple of times but had never taken to her. Leanne seemed selfish and pompous, far too self-absorbed. She hoped that her sister wouldn't be anything like her bandmate at all.

The White Hart's owner Gary insisted that pretty bargirl Alice continue to work weekends in order to pay back the damage that she had caused. Alice was not too thrilled to lose her Saturday afternoon when she could be down at the rugby club and was even less thrilled when she found out that her old school rival Gabriella would be there too. Alice had always been jealous of Gabriella, especially her success with the boys. She was even more jealous of her now that she was in a pop band whilst she herself still worked in a pub. Nonetheless, she had a huge debt to pay off and would have to take the humiliation on the chin.

To coincide with the release of their music video, Dazzle had done an interview on a music channel on the morning of the get together. Hence, when they arrived at the White Hart Inn, they were all dressed in miniskirts as before. Except this time, Gabriella was wearing a blue top. They arrived to find Jessica, Mia and the others waiting for them. "What if she hates me?" worried Jessica, before they arrived. "From what I've heard my dad completely cut her off, how can she not despise me?" continued the scared redhead. "Come on Jess, it wasn't your fault, anyway I bet she's pleased to finally have a sister. You'll have so much catching up to do I'm sure" soothed Mia.

As Dazzle finally walked through the door, panicking Jess whispered to Luke, "which one's my sister?" "The brunette who looks like you silly" he replied, suppressing a laugh. Jessica ran over to Bea and gave her a great big hug. As the girls embraced, Leanne introduced her other bandmates to her brothers' friends. As Mia came over to welcome Gabriella, the blonde asked her, "Do I know you? Because I sense a glint of recognition in your eyes. "No, I don't think so" Mia lied, desperate to hide the fact that she had seen the girl in the YouTube videos over at Sophie's a few days before.

Gabriella then moved over too Alice. "Long time no see, how are things going for you at the moment?" Other than her rugby, Alice had little to shout about and so grimaced and lied, "oh things are going great, how are you?" "Oh, our debut video came out this morning, is the television in the corner able to connect to the internet, I'd love to show everyone?" "Well Gary's just had the whole place refurbished" answered Alice, shooting a dirty look over to Mia, "The Television is brand new. I'll see what I can do."

The whole group settled around the television as Alice miraculously got the wifi working and loaded up the video. Alice particularly enjoyed the parts when Gabriella got messy whilst Bea shot Jessica an embarrassed look when she realised just how much flesh she had on show, especially during the upskirt moments." "Goodness Bea, you were brave" teased Jessica, "I know we are going to get on just great." Without thinking, Mia turned to Gabriella and said, "Why, you got lucky comparably speaking this time didn't you." "What do you mean this time?" asked Anais, her interest suddenly piqued. "Oh nothing" Mia lied. Gabriella looked at her and stared.

Enjoying the moment, Alice interrupted the gaggle and announced, "What Mia isn't telling you is that she knows a few girls who went to our school Gabriella. The other day I saw her in here with Emily, one of Ava's sister's friends. I bet Ava has showed her the video of you being pied. As we are already on YouTube, why don't we watch it now?" The rest of Gabriella's bandmates looked at her in shock, why hadn't she told them about this before. Gabriella blushed as Alice loaded it up. "Hey that's my sister" Anais cried. "Really, you're Miss Dumont's sister? Well I've a few other videos that I think you should watch" teased Alice. "That sounds interesting" Anais replied, "but it'll have to wait a minute. Does anyone else need the toilet? No? Alright then, I'll be back in a minute." With that Anais disappeared to relieve herself.

As the girls were watching the video, Alice brought out the dessert trolley as requested by Mike who was feeling rather peckish. Gabriella moved over to Mia, "Well, I don't know how I can thank you for uncovering the messy moment from my past. But I think this will do for a start." With that, Gabriella picked up a lemon meringue pie and smashed it into Mia's face. "Hey, you can't do that to my sister!" Shouted Rosie as she picked up a key lime pie and slammed it into Gabriella's pretty features. In retaliation, Leanne picked up a strawberry cheesecake and ground it into Rosie's face. Laughing, Leanne was soon cornered by her brothers. Mike slammed a chocolate gateau into her face, whilst Luke poured a jug of custard over her. "Don't mess with my girlfriend sis" Mike warned.

Grabbing a jug of cream, Leanne moved over to Jessica who having moved away from the food fight was engrossed in a conversation with her half-sister. Just as Leanne was about to pour the cream over the redhead, Luke pipped up, "don't mess with my girlfriend either!" Leanne disappointed, shrugged her shoulders and instead poured the cream over the unsuspecting Bea. "Hey, that was mean, you can't do that to Bea" Jessica cried. "Can't I?" Leanne laughed as she picked up another jug of custard and poured it over her soggy bandmate. Grabbing a trifle, Jessica went to slam it over Leanne's head, only for Bea to stand up to try to stop her, resulting in the trifle flowing all over her instead. Annoyed, Bea pushed Jessica's face down into the tiramisu. Running to her aid, Mia threw a custard flan at Bea, knocking her backwards into the dessert trolley causing another chocolate gateau and jug of custard to rain down upon her.

Alice stood laughing at the messy girl's fate. "I don't know what's so funny" snapped Gabriella before picking up the last remaining trifle and slamming it into the girl's face. "Oh wait, yes I do!" Alice then upturned Mike's abandoned pint over Gabriella just as Gary walked back in. "Not again!" he cried, "Thank goodness I decided against carpets. Alice, is this your doing?" "No sir, it's my fault" admitted Gabriella, truthfully. "I won't leave here until I've cleaned it all up." "Thanks for saving my bacon Gaby" gushed Alice, I had plans to go to the new gameshow with Gabe next week, I didn't want to miss it." "Really" Gabriella replied, "You'll never guess what. We've been booked to appear on it as special guests, I guess we'll see you there." "Well I never" exclaimed Jessica. "Mia and Rosie are two of the actual contestants, along with Ava and Sophie, we're all going down together as well!"

Bea meanwhile, by far the messiest of the group was trying to clean herself off. "I'm sorry for pieing you sis, I didn't mean for us to get off on the wrong foot" apologised Jessica. "Hey, let me help clean you up." Suddenly on the same wavelength, Alice passed Jessica the bottle of seltzer water that she had been eyeing up and the redhead sprayed it over her prone sister, emptying its entire contents as the whole gang laughed sympathetically at her expense. Once the bottle was empty, Bea got up and gave Jessica a big sloppy, messy hug. "Don't worry, I forgive you, I'm glad that I have you as my sister."

Just then, Anais came gingerly out of the bathroom. "I wouldn't go in there for a while if I was you" she warned, "Now, what did I miss?" Everyone else picked up whatever scrap of pudding they could find and hurled it at the French girl. Covered in custard and trifle Anais remarked, "Goodness, you guys are all crazy, let's do this all again some time!"