"I'm here to see your mother" Tara says and I freeze again.

"Um, she's not home right now" I stutter out not knowing what to do.

"It's okay, I can wait. May I please come in?" She says and I nod, mentally giving myself a pat on the back for cleaning up all the beer and wine bottles earlier.

"Please, sit on the couch. Would you like anything to eat or drink?" I ask and she shakes her head no and turns her attention to the TV.

I sit next to her just waiting for my mom to get home.

When I hear the car pulls up a warm feeling picks up in my chest and I know whats coming, an anxiety attack.

I stand and walk slowly towards the door and open it.

"Mom, you have a visitor" I say pointing to Tara.

"Tara? Why are you here?" She slurs and I cringe hoping she doesn't realize.

"Are you drunk?" Tara says concern lacing her voice.

Of course she'll realize she's an adult.

"No, not at all. I just want my daughter to go get me food. Go now, I want pizza. Leave me and Tara to talk alone. Drop off pizza and then go to work and get out of my house" She slurs and I nod grabbing my wallet, phone and keys and running to the car.

I quickly get a pie and drop it off at the house with a thank you from Tara and an eye roll from my mother.

I have nowhere to go so I guess the park is okay.

I make my way to the park and sit down on a bench while listening to music.

I start humming 2002 by AnneMarie.

"Leah, what are you doing here?" I hear Ellie say and I look up to see Ellie and Christine looking at me.

"You're mom is at my house so my mom kicked me out" I say laughing and Ellie joins in.

"Well, I would love for you to hang out with us. I was just telling Christine how close you and my brother are getting" Ellie says nudging me causing me to roll my eyes.

"He's nothing more than a fr-" I start to say but someone runs into me.

"I-I'm so sorry. Here, let me help you up" A boy says who looks to be a little older than I am says. He has gorgeous green eyes and blonde hair that is styled perfectly.

"Um, yeah. Thanks" I say and he gently grabs my hand helping me stand to my feet. I cant help but to ignore the piercing pain in my side.

"I'm Tyler. My friend and I were passing a football and I didn't see you there. Are you hurt?" He says noticing my shortness of breath.

"I'm Leah. Don't worry about it. Nothing out if the ordinary for me" I say trying to lighten the mood.

"Well I really would love to take you for coffee or something as an apology" He says causing a warm feeling to course through my body.

"You don't have to do that" I say blushing.

"Well, here is my number if you change your mind. Shoot me a text" He says hanging my a piece of paper, winking and then walking away.

"Listen Leah, I totally ship you and Mason but that is one hunk of man" Christine says wide eyed.

"Oh shut it Christine" I say laughing.

"He totally likes you Leah" Ellie says causing me to roll my eyes, laughing.

"He wouldn't of even noticed me if he didn't plow me down" I say giving them a look.

"And he asked you to coffee" Christine mentions.

"Because he ran me over" I say shaking my head. "Listen, he's cute and all but I'm not looking for a relationship. Hęll, I didn't even have friends until I went over your house Christine" I say looking at them.

"Okay, okay fine. But at least go over there and give him your number or text him so he has it" Ellie says and I shake my head no.

"He's not interested in anything about me. I'll leave him be so that he can go find a girl who wants a relationship" I say maybe a little too loud.

"Might want to lower your voice sweet cheeks. The whole park can hear you" Tyler says smiling at me, causing my face to flush red.

"Ohhhhh" Ellie and Christine chorus causing my face to become even more red.

"I'm getting out of here" I say walking away causing Ellie to laugh.

Leah's such a sweet person and I miss how close we used to be. I can tell Mason genuinely likes her and it makes me happy. He hasn't had a friend like her in a while. All his friends are assholes how just want to screw girls and use them. I know I'm known as 'the popular girl' but I care about everyone. Especially my brother. He's my twin and he's helped me through so much. HIs friends are bad influences and I'm glad he has Leah now to keep him down to earth and in check.

I also feel like she's hiding something. I'm not sure what it is, but my goal is to get her to trust me enough to let me in.

Tyler seems like a great guy for Leah and I'm not sure why she won't just go for it. Maybe she likes someone else

My thoughts get interrupted by someone running over to us.

"What's her number?" Tyler says and I pull out my phone, finding Leah's number.

He quickly plugs it in and changes the contact name to 'Sweet cheeks' and thanks me.

Damn, I wish that would happen to me.

That was kinda weird. My phone bing's a couple times scaring me.

-------

Mason: Hey Le. I was just wondering how you are. Bella misses you:(

Leah: Hey Mas. I'm doing alright, aww I miss her too. Maybe if its okay with you I'll stop by after school?

Mason: Yeah, please do!

-------

Unknown: Hey sweet cheeks

Leah: How'd you get my number?

Tyler: Your friend gave it to me. Soooo

Leah: Of course she did. Soooo?

Tyler: Coffee, tomorrow at Starbucks. 5, I'll meet you there ;)

-------

I give up trying to fight it, mostly because i have work there at that time anyways so I'll be there as it is. I also never pass up the opportunity to get coffee or a Strawberry Refresher.

I start to make my way back home, seeing that its starting to get dark outside.

"Hi honey, how was everything? I heard you ran into Ellie" Tara says and I nod, smiling. She's such a happy person and just seeing Tara's smile makes me smile.

"Um yeah. I saw her at the park" I say and my mom tells me to sit. I carefully sit and my mom nods at my actions.

"Aw, I haven't seen Ellie in a long time. How is she" My mother says and Tara smiles. She seems different. Sober.

"She's great. She had missed Leah. I'm glad they found each other again. And Mason seems to like her as well" Tara says causing me to roll my eyes. Why does everyone feel like that! And how is he always brought up this way in every conversation.

"Ohhh, Mason. Hows he? He was always such a good looking kid" My mom says causing me to throw up in my mouth at how she's talking about him. Not that he's good looking, just the tone in her voice.

"He's great, footballs good. His friends are okay, besides Leah obviously. He's not an average jock thankfully. He treats women with respect and I couldn't be happier about that" Tara smiles and I nod. If there was one thing about Mason that I would say stands out, that would be his manners and how well raised he is (obviously asides from his looks).

"That's great to hear" My mother says and Tara nods.

"Well I better get going. Leah, please stop by tomorrow after school. It's great having you over" Tara says and I look at my mom for approval.

"Take her, can she stay there? I'll pack a bag" My mom 'jokes' causing Tara to laugh.

"Any time" She says walking out the door.

As soon as the door closes my mother turns back into the women I had grown to know and starts yelling at me.

"How the fück did she get our address? Why did you tell her where we lived. You're friends with Mason and Ellie now? What a leach. I always knew you were a piece of shįt. Don't come home tomorrow" My mother screams at me and I nod running upstairs.

I quickly make a group chat and text Ellie and Mason.

-------

{L-Leah M-Mason E-Ellie}

L- Hey guys, your mom invited me over tomorrow. Just checking to see if it's alright with you.

M- Oh yeah, thats great.

E- YOU SHOULD SLEEP OVER!! TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!

L- I would love that.

M- Imma crash it.

E- You're so annoying Mason 🙄

M- Love ya Elles.

L- Aww, so cute.

E & M- Shut up Leah.

L- 😘😘

M- See ya tomorrow

E- Bye bįtch ❤️

L- See ya

-------

I smile knowing I might actually have some friends who actually care about me.

And with that conversation on my mind, I go to sleep. Not worried about what the future holds.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Trying to update as much as possible! I'm also gonna maybe do some word counts as well! Stay tuned for another update soon!

Word count: 1631

~Leah