Gossip

There was a constant banging on his door. Someone was trying their damndest to get his attention. Maybe, he thought, if he laid in bed with his eyes closed and ignored it whomever was trying to hammer their way through his door would leave him alone...

However, this was not the case. Instead, they decided to turn their knocking into a rythmic tune.

With a groan, Raleigh pulled himself up and wandered to the door. Opening it, he was nearly the next thing to have a knuckles rapped upon him by a mohawked teenager. Realising that there was no longer a door in front of him, the lad looked up with a grin.

"What...?"

No answer came from the punk, but from the head that popped up behind him, a grin on her face. Pushing Jojo aside, she wrapped her arms around the ginger haired male, exclaiming his name.

"I never get hugs liks that..." mumbled Jojo.

"You're not my uncle," Kate replied, ushering her relative back into his home. Jojo following her, he quickly made himself comfortable on the sofa, swinging his long legs over the arm and grabbing a discarded magazine, flicking through it.

Raleigh frowned at Kate. "Shouldn't you to be in school?"

"I've got something better to do," Kate said with a smile. "Gossip is you've been seen at the school - but you're not visiting me. Also, according to gossip you've been spotted with some fourth years."

Raleigh frowned. "I do still have friends at that school." He glanced at Jojo "Why'd you bring him?"

"He's my secretary," Kate announced, gleefully. "And Jamie was working."

"I prefer the title 'P.A'," responded Jojo, not looking up from the magazine. "Personal assitant."

"Perverted Asshole," Raleigh replied.

Jojo grinned. "That too."

Raleigh looked to Kate again. "Why are you paying attention to gossip anyway?"

"Because you, my dearest uncle, are a source of much gossip. Now, coming back to New York I can understand, and yeah, you knew a lot of the students of Constance, but, while I know you and Lake were close, its not Lake you're seen with."

"Dimitri wouldn't approve," Raleigh replied, moving to the little kitchen to make himself a coffee. "He's very possessive of Lake." He glanced to Jojo. "Speaking of Dimitri - Lake is not a happy bunny where you're concerned, Joseph."

Jojo's grin had spread from ear to ear for the briefest of moments until Kate turned to glare at him. Under her glare, he shrunk into the seat, pulling the magazine up onto his head as if it would protect him.

"What did you do?"

Kate thwapped Raleigh's arm. "Now is not the time to talk about Jojo and how he thinks with only one part of his anatomy," she replied.

Judging by her expression, Raleigh decided that it wasn't a topic he wanted to get involved with. Obviously whatever had happened hurt more than just Lake. Kate would tell him when she was ready. Moving to his little kitchen, Raleigh set about making drinks for his intruders.

"Its not a fourth year that has my attention," he said as he poured boiling water into his mug. "But he's friends with them, so I guess thats why I've been spotted with them."

Kate frowned in thought as she looked between her uncle and her friend on the couch who was gnawing on the edge of the magazine with his front teeth. "A third year, huh?"

Jojo threw up his hands defensively. "Just because Abbie is a fourth year doesn't mean I know all of them and their friends! He's a very secluded person."

"Does Sidney know him?"

Raleigh grinned, leaning on his elbows on the counter, watching the pair with amusement in his eyes. "You always were the social whore, Joseph."

Jojo scratched his head, grinning sheepishly. "Dimitri told me that he wasn't going to come and smash your face in because you're not hitting on his Lakeski, but on someone named...Elliot...?"

Just the mention of his name had a small smile curling at the corners of Raleigh's mouth. Kate caught instant sight of it and pointed a finger directly at his face. "Elliot! You fancy Elliot!?"

"What's wrong with him?" Raleigh asked, arching a brow in confusion. "There's just something about him that I find endearing."

"You do know he's not even legal, Raleigh!?" Kate exclaimed.

Raleigh sighed, ruffling a hand through his hair. "I know, I know. Its just...I really like him, and I think he likes me too."

"I've heard that he's cursed," Jojo said. "Anyone that he cares for either disappears or dies."

"That's just gossip and rumors, Joseph,"

Kate frowned, leaning against the counter her uncle stood behind. "There was a big fuss over one kid dying some time back," she said. "I think I remember seeing a little blond kid. He looked absolutely devasted. That must have been Elliot." She turned around and looked Raleigh in the eye. "You better not die or disappear, Raleigh," she warned.

He gave his niece a small smile. "Kathleen, you shouldn't believe everything you hear. Elliot and I...We're friends. If something happens between us I'm not going to force it. I know the risks, but there's just something about him. After all that fuss over Evan, I really don't see myself jumping into anything. If something happens - it happens."