"Bleh!" Jackson closed his eyes as the light came on suddenly. He was sent straight to the nurse at the academy because he didn't have fatal wounds as Eugene did. Just a minor head wound since he hit grass.

Jackson blinked multiple times, slowly getting used to the light when he came face to face with Bianca. "Hey."

"Hey. Nice to see you're alive." She nodded, sitting in the chair close to him.

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged. "It's parents' day today, right?" She nodded, "My parents aren't here. They made sure to tell me they were in Guam after I called them to try and tell them I was attacked. I wasn't able to get a word in."

"I'm sorry." She sympathized. He shrugged again, not wanting to talk about his parents.

"Don't worry about it. What about you? You got any parents coming to parents' day?" He turned to her.

"Nope, I really hope Gabrielle never shows." Bianca shook her head before she turned back to him, "By the way... I got your voicemail and—"

"My darling daughter. I made it. Wouldn't miss this for the world." Gabrielle smiled at her. Jackson gave the woman a disgusted look as Bianca stood up.

"Uh, um. Parents aren't allowed to be in here. Unsanitary reasons. Please leave. I'll be right out." Bianca glared at the woman while speaking to her harshly.

"My darling, I want to see you. What should we do? Go and eat?" Gabrielle ignored her comment.

"Yeah, actually, there's this great coffee shop that Bianca can take you to. You just have to leave because I'm contaminated with diseases... and you wouldn't want to have said diseases." Jackson lied to help Bianca.

"Of course, young man. What's your name?" She smiled at him.

"Out!" Bianca now shouted. Once her mother was out the door, Bianca closed it and leaned against it.

"No offense, but she gives me the ick," Jackson honestly informed her. Bianca scoffed with a nod as she leaned back on the door. "Why is she here then? You clearly do not want her here."

"She probably wants something from me." Bianca stared at the floor.

"Money?" The boy suggested.

"No, she probably wants me to do something else." Bianca implied something Jackson didn't know about.

"Alright... Well, do you need backup?" He questioned her, now leaning up. His hands rested on the clinic bed.

Bianca noticed, "Can you even stand without being wobbly? How is backup going to work then?"

He stood, his whole body hurting. But he planned if he ever needed to do something like this, "I'll take Advil. And I have the perfect costume for when I'm in pain. I have a plan."

Bianca stared at him in disbelief, "Oh dear God. I'm terrified to know."

"Tell Xavier to give me a piggyback ride to my dorm room. And I'll meet you at the coffee shop." Jackson said to her. Bianca nodded.

"Oh! Look-ie here. Two nice women. Oh, darn, there goes by back again." A man with a beard, glasses, and long white hair walked by them. But Bianca could recognize his eyes from anywhere. It was Jackson Lee. Dressed and acting like an 85-year-old. Jackson used the cane he had to walk himself over to Tyler, who stared at him oddly.

"You look familiar." The blonde pointed out.

"I'm very famous. Back in those... olden days, anyways. What do I want? Uh, what's the usual for elderly men?" Jackson asked.

"Black coffee," Tyler answered. Jackson stared back in disgust but he still had to play the part.

"Uh, yes! One large black coffee. With two creams in it. I'm old, not that old." Jackson spoke in his old man voice. Tyler nodded, making the drink with ease before handing it to him.

Jackson walked back, purposefully going slower by Bianca's table before sitting. The girl watched the boy in disbelief. It was mostly because people were falling for it, no one realized that he was a 16-year-old.

"How did you find me?" Bianca asked her skeptically. Jackson purposefully sat to face Bianca as she stared down at her mother.

"The Morning—Song community misses you. I miss you." Gabrielle answered back.

"And by community, you mean cult?" Bianca called the woman out. Jackson didn't know what it was but if Bianca didn't like it, he wouldn't either.

"We are a personal development movement that helps others take control of their lives."
Gabrielle tried to clarify to her. But the girl already knew.

"After you take control of their bank accounts," Bianca added with a nod. The boy took a sip of his coffee, silently groaning when he forgot to put the creamer in and all he tasted was black bitter coffee.

"I haven't come here to fight, Brandy Jane." He heard her say. He immediately started coughing to distract as Bianca had a hurt look on her face.

"Getting old sucks." The man looked between the two, getting a nod from Bianca.

"My name is Bianca. New name. New life." Bianca raised her voice to her.

"Yeah!" They turned again to see old man Jackson, "The trees are looking splendid."

"It's time to come home," Gabrielle informed her.

"That place was never my home." The girl argued.

"Gideon said you'd resist," Gabrielle uttered.

"Don't say that man's name to me. You'd think he'd give a damn if we weren't some single mother and her daughter that weren't sirens." Bianca cut her off.

Gabrielle showed the ring, Jackson's jaw dropped when he saw it, "That's no way to speak to your stepfather."

"You actually married him?" Bianca asked the woman in disgust.

"He wants you to come home so we can be a real family." Gabrielle urged her.

"Hard pass. He's already got one siren to do all of his bidding. Goodbye, ma. And I don't want to see anymore Morning-Song bracelets anywhere near this town." Bianca glared at her, standing up.

Gabrielle pushed her back into her sweat, "My siren song is drying up. Recruitment numbers are down, and the wrong people weare starting to ask questions. This wasn't a request."

Bianca wasn't fazed, "And if I refuse?"

"Then everyone here is gonna know how you sirened your way into Nevermore." Her mother revealed. Bianca met Jackson's eye. He put his finger on his lips to keep her quiet.

"I finally make something of myself and you wanna destroy it?" Bianca asked her hurt.

"You haven't made squat, Bianca." Her mother insisted. "You're just scanning a higher class of people. But they are not your friends. Sooner or later they'll see through you. A siren can never change her scales."

"Excuse me!" Gabrielle turned to see the older-looking man staring her down. "You don't get to say that when all your friends probably don't exist!"

He ripped off his wig and glasses, his beard still on, "Yeah, that's right. I am Bianca's best friend, and I am here to say, she's done so much more within the school year than you have in a month. And screw you! You have no right talking shit about things you don't know about, and that includes Bianca."

"So screw you!" He threw her wig at Gabrielle and then ripped his beard wig off, and then grabbed the coffee she had and spilled it on the floor.

"Dude!" Tyler yelled at the coffee spillage.

"Sorry!" He apologized and walked outside the door.

AN: Get you someone who would dress up as an old man for you just so you can have backup.