April's POV – 10pm (night)

The jail cell was eerily unwelcoming, cold metal bars separating both the woman and men's cells. I gulped and looked over to the neighboring cell – Beau and Daniel were acting as though being arrested was an everyday occurrence for them. They were even playing cards with a fellow cell mate.

Damn them.

"Psst," I hissed, trying to get their attention.

Beau heard and glanced upwards. "Are we ever getting out of here? My mum is going to kill me when she finds out I've been arrested! I'm going to have to go back to England straight away. No, screw that, I have a criminal record now Beau. I'm seriously dead."

"Ap, you'll be fine. Someone is coming to bail us out. Stop worrying, okay? We're right here," he grinned at me and I scowled in response.

It was okay for Daniel and Beau - they were together in a cell, whereas I was by myself and seriously shitting myself. Never again are you messing with the law April Evans.

April's POV – Earlier in the day – 4pm

I pushed the door open and stumbled inside, slamming it shut after me. I let out an animated shiver and smiled at George and Elena, my roommates, sprawled across the sofa lazily. They mumbled greetings to me and I waved back, going straight to my room. I wanted to get out of these wet clothes as soon as possible – they were clinging impossibly close to me and I flt horribly gritty.

After showering and scrubbing at my hair and body for a solid 20 minutes, I decided to get started on homework whilst my hair dried naturally, the window cracked open an inch to bring a cold breeze into the room. Once I had finished, it was only 6 o'clock – I swung my legs out of bed and glanced out of the window, seeing the heavy drape of darkness that had fallen over the street below.

Oh winter, how I love you.

I ended up surfing the internet for a full half hour, avoiding all eye contact with the unfinished maths work that sat on my desk. A welcome, soft knock sounded from my door and I frowned, wondering who I was supposedly expecting.

Once I opened it, I froze in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Beau and Daniel were stood in front of me, now pouting. "Must you always greet us like we're unwanted guests?"

I shook my head at him halfheartedly and tiptoed, looking over his shoulder. "Where are my roommates?" I asked, seeing the sofa empty.

"They let us in and then left for dinner. People do have a life you know?" Daniel teased, leaning against the door frame.

"I know," I replied indigently. Where's Aiden? I felt myself wanting to say, but I bit my tongue, stopping myself. You are not some love-sick fool April. Stop acting like one.

"You went to Wal-mart?" I asked, smiling slightly at the shopping bags at their feet.

Daniel bit his lip, a smile twitching at his lips. "Yeah."

"What are you doing with all that toilet paper?"

Beau replied this time, blue eyes dancing with mischief as he bit back his laughter. At my expression, his eyes dimmed slightly. "We - well, nothing really."

"Beau, don't you dare lie to me," I warned light-heartedly, prodding him with my finger.

Daniel paused, tilting his head to one side like a bird, assessing it's options delicately. "We TP'd people's homes." My eyes widened.

"Only people we don't like," Beau interrupted, eyes wide with sincerity.

They looked at me as though I was a ticking time bomb, waiting for me to glare at them with disappointment or anger. Instead, to mine and their surprise, I did the complete opposite. "I can't believe you guys. You TP'd people's houses and didn't invite me?" I tutted animatedly. "Damn Daniel, I thought you were better friends than that."

"You sure about this April? Are you sure it won't ruin your pristine reputation?" Beau teased, still reeling in shock at my complacence.

I scowled at him. "I don't have a reputation – I'm April Evans." I replied coolly, eyeing the amount of bags on the floor. "How many houses are you planning to hit?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know – we have a lot of enemies out there."

"April, what bought on this sudden inner rebel of yours?" Beau asked, the ghost of a smile tracing his lips. I took a deep breath, hesitating. Why was I agreeing to go along with this dumb plan? Maybe it was because I had never done anything relatively exciting in my life for a long time – especially on a school night. Maybe I was just insanely bored - and avoiding my math homework.

But all I replied with was a simple: "For the heck of it."

2 hours later

I giggled in delight, my pulse quickening as we approached the next house, adrenaline being pumped into my bloodstream two-fold, igniting every fiber in my body, heightening my senses. This was Casey Bryler – a school bully who tormented a boy to such an extent, he had to leave school, and me, Beau and Daniel were going to teach him a lesson. With tissue rolls.

"You ready?" Beau yelled over the wind.

I nodded firmly in response, swallowing my excitement to assess the scene carefully. The rooms in the 3 storey house were dark, the only light illuminated the one in the porch, although it flickered every now and then. No cars were in the driveway - hopefully that meant no-one at all was home. I nodded at Daniel, signalling that the coast was clear. Then, I clutched the door handle, ready to jump out. He thrust several rolls of tissue roll into my hand and I accepted with trembling fingers.

I'm pretty sure we're breaking the law here. But I still feel like Robin Hood, because I'm technically teaching the bullies a lesson. Kind of.

I swallowed my guilt as the car rolled to a stop. Daniel turned in his driver's seat and grinned at me.

"Ready?" He whispered, switching off the headlights so the street was shrouded in darkness. I nodded nervously and fumbled for the door handle, swinging it open.

We crept behind a tree and Beau put his thumbs up, signalling that the coast was safe. We tip-toed around the thick tree trunk so the house was on plain view to us – I crunched upon frosted leaves, squeezing my eyes shut every time they crunched too loudly. A dog barked somewhere near the back of the house and I jumped, pausing. But no further movement came.

I smiled, confidence radiating over me over me and I winked at Daniel and Beau as we raised the toilet roll over our heads in unison. I drew my arm back, prepared to throw it when a sudden siren rang from behind us.

"Put your hands in the air."

The toilet roll dropped from my hand. It didn't take a genius to realize that the flashing red and blue lights reflecting off the glass window's of the house belonged to the police department.

"Now drop the toilet rolls and turn around kids."

Ah crap.

******

Great. I'm dead meat now. I'm going to have a damn criminal record. How are university recruiters going to react to that? Or employers? My eyes widened with the thought and a soft, inaudible whimper escaped my lips as my watched my future life flash before my eyes. At the end of the vision, I was lying dead, toilet paper wrapped around my body as I was lowered into my grave.

What the hell, April?

"April?" Daniel called softly, his voice mellow and yet loud enough to carry over without disturbing the very-bored looking guard on duty.

"I'm here."

"Well, where else would you be?" He teased jokingly, voice light.

I scowled. "Shut up, Daniel. This isn't funny."

"April, we're sorry. We didn't know we'd get caught - otherwise we'd never have taken you." He paused and I allowed myself to breath again. "But did you have fun?"

I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face and I leaned against the wall, nodding to myself. It took me a few moments to realize that I hadn't given a verbal response. "Yeah. I did. Thanks guys - and don't apologize. It was my choice to come with you; I would say that I didn't regret it one bit, to really make this moment special, but I kind of do." I admitted, grimacing.

Both of them laughed, murmuring that they were glad and we fell into a comfortable silence again. I settled back and glanced at the guard for the umpteenth time - he looked as though he was about to fall asleep and decided he wasn't in the mood to deal with a teenager asking about the legal consequences of TP-ing.

After a while, the guard's voice snapped my out of my half-weary state. "Alright kids, you'vw been being bailed, get up."

I scrambled to my feet, quickly stepping towards the bars as he physically slid them open. When I caught sight of Daniel and Beau, I stepped closer to them, hugging them both at once - they were just as surprised as I was at myself. But they were a very comforting sight after staring at that guard for a solid hour and they hugged me back warmly, laughing silently into my hair.

"See? It wasn't that bad was it TP girl?" Daniel mocked, poking my arm.

I rolled my eyes and smiled shakily back at him. I thought I was going to be stuck in a prison cell for the rest of my life – this was the first bad thing I'd ever done, and where had it landed me?

Bloody prison.

"You are officially a little rebel April Evans," Beau announced, ruffling my hair. I shook him off, pretending to be annoyed.

"Didn't think being a police officer would involve putting kids into jail cells for TP-ing," the guard grumbled to himself, throwing dirty looks at a smirking Daniel behind him. I grimaced in agreement and wanted to apologize for being an inconvenience but decided it wouldn't be appropriate – especially since I was now a bad ass and bad asses weren't supposed to apologize.

We rounded the corner and froze. Aiden, Emma, Carlos and Donna, stood before us, hands on hip, their eyes narrowed. I gulped and looked sideways as Beau and Daniel but they had disappeared, already saying their 'thump on the back' thank you. My stomach fluttered at the sight of Aiden and yet the glare he was sending at Daniel and Beau scared me slightly.

I walked towards them, Emma pulling me to one side as they thanked the officer and Carlos handed him an envelope, sorting out the bail. We exited the station after I filled out some minimal paperwork, the guard saying he'd let us off easy for today. Emma gave me a full 5 minute lecture, but eventually began to see the funny side of the situation, even though it took some convincing. Then, my gaze involuntarily drifted to where Aiden and Donna were standing with Daniel and Beau.

They looked like they were having a serious conversation. My heart squeezed at Beau's crest-fallen face after he stepped away from them. Aiden caught my eye, his gaze burning into my own; flinching, I tore my eyes away, face stinging.

After thanking Carlos, I had decided that I was going to have to face Aiden sometime. He made it rather impossible to avoid him - I was amazing at giving people to cold shoulder, earning me the 'bitch' title from my sister, Olivia, but with Aiden, he made it way too hard. I groaned quietly to myself - I knew I was going to have to face Aiden sometime. And I still had that fainting incident over me.

I reached him and scuffed my shoes on the floor, avoiding his eyes. I expected a witty remark to come from his lips, but another voice came instead, surprising me.

"So the good girl lands herself in jail." Donna commented, her voice not unkind. I looked up in surprise, silently wary of why she was here; granted, they were her friends, but she hated me. Why would she speak to me willingly?

Donna crossed her arms over her chest, raising a pale brown eyebrow high. "Oh, and I also heard your... friend," She emphasized the word, "left you for Noah."

"That's right," I muttered.

She scoffed, a small sarcastic smile tugging her lips from the corners. "Well I must say - kudos to you for standing up to her." Her compliment went past my head and a small fire burned inside of me at seeing how close Aiden and Donna were. Oh my lord. Am I actually feeling... Jealous?

"Aren't you going to thank me?" Her tone became brittle once again.

"Thanks," I said dryly.

She rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving me and Aiden alone.

"We're going to a diner. You haven't eaten dinner yet, right?" Aiden asked.

I nodded absent-mindedly, glancing up at him, memories of the kiss rushing back to me. We drifted behind the rest of the gang in silence. I could feel his curious gaze burning a hole in the side of my face, but I was determined to ignore him for as long as possible, not wanting him to question me about why I damn well fainted.

"April?"

"What?"

"April?" He repeated annoyingly.

"What?" I snapped again. His eyes twinkled in the moonlight and his invitingly cherry pink lips curved into a smirk. "So you landed in a jail cell?"

"No, I just visited jail for some down time." I scowled, scuffing my shoe on the floor.

"Ha-ha. Very funny, April. You know that had the potential to be serious, right? You're lucky Carlos knew the officer and got you out of there, safe and sound. Although to be fair, I doubt you would have been seriously charged for TP-ing anyway. Petty criminals like you are more of a nuisance, rather than a danger."

"I'm not a criminal!"

"Sure."

I hadn't realized how far we'd walked until I saw a little diner, nestled between darkened shop windows. I squinted, assessing the exterior. Golden beams of light flickered inside, revealing tattered red sofas and a bored looking waitress, hand on chin, seemingly listening to an old radio sitting on the counter top. It looked like something out of a 70's movie.

I paused, suddenly remembering something. "Wait. Where's Diego and Nina?"

Aiden let out a huff and rolled his eyes. "They said they'd wait in the diner for us, whilst we bailed you out." He pouted like a little child, throwing a glance in the direction of a booth.

I let out a little noise of admiration at the sight of Diego and Nina in the booth and Aiden winced, making a vomit sound. "Stop putting a downer on the mood," I scolded.

We reached the booth and I assessed the slightly oily looking table and tattered seats. We were the only people in there and I noticed a neon red sign flickering in the doorway saying 'open 24/7.' I felt a pang of sympathy for the waitress, sending wary looks towards our group.

Imagine working alone in a diner at night, not knowing who could walk through those doors.

I shuddered at the thought and caught the waitress's eye, smiling apologetically. She raised her eyebrows in return and shrugged her shoulders, cranking the radio up, which was currently belting out a Beetles song. I think it was Penny Lane.

"Oh and April – nice move fainting when I kissed you on the cheek." Aiden added in a whisper, his lips brushing my ears as he spoke.

My mouth dropped open. I looked around quickly to see if anyone had heard, but they were all busy talking with one another. He jumped into the booth quickly, leaving me breathing heavily as I sunk into my seat in embarrassment, leaning against my elbow so my face was covered.

Smooth April. Real smooth.

Diego and Nina were now pouting unhappily about being squashed against the window. I wriggled in my seat, pleased about having a seat in the aisle where I was free to stretch my legs and I peered down the table, wandering how a booth could be so large that it managed to fit all of us in. I avoided Aiden's gaze and dropped my eyes, sinking even lower as my stomach clenched in embarrassment.

The waitress appeared and duly took our orders, her voice a droned monotone in the back of my mind. Laughter and voices filled the little area loudly and I felt a weird sensation in my stomach. This felt right – being here, with these people made me finally feel as though I could fit in. I mean this is the happiest I've felt in a long time. A small smile crept onto my face as my eyes traveled in adoration from face-to-face.

Heck, I was even happy Donna was here. She was strangely nice to me earlier. Well, if that was called niceness, anyway. The only thing missing was Kayla... My lips curved downwards and I looked up momentarily catching Emma's eye.

She frowned at my expression, her green eyes glistening as they mentally tried to work out my emotional state. The side of my mouth curled up into a small smile and shook my head, shaking off her questioning gaze, my eyes practically informing her that I would tell him later.

I looked down at the huge portion of curly fries the waitress had slipped in front of me. Me and Daniel shot each other a gleeful look and we dug into our food, him still joking and commenting about my sudden 'rebel attitude.'

Somehow the topic of Noah and Kayla in the parking lot came up and Daniel and Donna coaxed (well, forced) me into telling everyone how I'd stood up to them, because there was 'rumour' going around school about it. I mentally rolled my eyes at the thought. This seemed to grab most of the table's attention; initially, they were initially questioning and defensive about the whole situation, but I explained that I'd stood up to them - that I hadn't let them walk all over me - and then, Beau thought it necessary to order a second round of ice-creams to celebrate 'Little April's Victory." Idiot. But I smiled nonetheless because who wouldn't smile at Beau.

Maybe... Just maybe, this kidnapping didn't ruin my life...