I stared at my phone, feeling the adrenaline in my system almost immediately spike.

Why was my mother texting me?

When I decided to leave England and move to America, both of my parents made the decision to cut me off, leaving me stuck in a foreign country with a brother I hadn't seen for years. As much as Alex said he didn't mind, I felt bad, and honestly, I missed my mother. We used to be close, and whenever I came home for the holidays, she would take me shopping or on trips around Europe to all the places where her and my father used to visit when they were younger.

But again, she had fully supported my father and cut all ties with me.

I stared for another few seconds at the message, then with shaky hands, turned the phone off and slipped it under my pillow. It was far too early to be dealing with it, and I could already feel the stress of the situation hitting me. The more I thought about it, the more I began to shake.

I climbed out of the bed, giving up on the girls waking up any time soon. They would be fine, they knew their way around well enough. With my mind racing, I tried to force in deep breaths and, as calmly as I could, started getting dressed for the day. If I asked nicely, Alex probably wouldn't mind taking me out somewhere, or if not, I could finish up some of the homework I still had to do.

Once I picked out an outfit and brushed my hair, I made my way back down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Greyson was still stood by the counter, staring into space. His attention flicked over to me when I walked in though, and he smirked when he saw my instant blush. I mumbled out a small greeting and bent down to the freezer, opening up the door and pulling out my mochi.

"Isn't it a little early for ice cream?" He asked, his tone teasing. I shrugged and dumped the rest in of the box onto a plate.

"It's never too early for ice cream..." I replied, grabbing a fork to eat them with. "Where's Kaiden and Alex?" My eyes barely had enough time to pick up on him tensing suddenly before he relaxed again, walking over to me and wrapping his arms around me again.

"They had do go somewhere, but they should be back in an hour," He mumbled, resting his chin on my head. I breathed out slowly, relaxing into his form and letting him bring me closer, until I was pressed up against him.

"Why are you down here again?"

"Sam and Jade are still asleep and I'm bored," I said, twisting to the side so I could grab my mochi.

"Do you want to go and do something?" I shrugged, shoving one in my mouth.

"Like what?" He paused, thinking for a second.

"We could go and get something to eat, but not many places will be open. Or we could go down to the beach," I nodded and shoved another mochi in my mouth.

"Finish those and we can go then," He said, stepping back. "I've just got to call someone, but I'll meet you down here in a few minutes," I nodded again, putting my plate down for a second before jumping on top of the counter, trying not to tense at his suspocious behaviour. Who was he calling? And again, why so early? He disappeared though, and I heard a few doors shut before finally, I was left in the silence.

My mind kept dragging me back to my mother's text and I started growing quickly fustrated at my situation. I was trying so hard to brush it off, to not miss home so much, to do well in school, to make new friends in an entirely new country, but now my mother was trying to drag me back to my past and my brother and his friends were hiding secrets from me. I sucked at dealing with stress, and this was literally the most stressful situation I had ever been in.

What if she wanted me to come back to England? Would my father even take me back at this point? They had always played such a big role in deciding in which direction my life was going to take, that for me to break off suddenly was like me flipping off everything they've worked for in the past seventeen years. At least Alex was still studying the subjects they had chosen for him, was still maintaining a perfect image, but I had completely broken off and gone my own way. I knew they had plans for me, big plans at that, but I had shoved them in their face and fled the country.

Maybe she just wanted to talk though. Maybe, she just wanted to understand why I had done this, had chosen to leave them behind and want to make a life for myself. If we just talked it through, we could possibly work things out between us, even if father never forgave me, we could always meet and visit Europe again, just like we used to. She had a more forgiving nature than my father, and I knew that if I just compromised slightly, maybe move home and study from there, I could fix the rift that had had grown between us. That way, I could study for the life I'd always wanted, but I could also uphold the reputation they had always wanted me to keep.

I sighed,shoving another mochi in my mouth.