"Cara, Cara," a fist slammed on my bedroom door at an ungodly hour of the morning, well 10:30 but that was sinful for a Saturday.

"What," I moaned burying my face deeper into my pillow and pinching my sheets tighter around my head to block out the world of the awake around me.

"Are you decent?" This voice was different, deeper.

"Decent or not we're coming in," that was definitely Nico and a beat later my door was being thrown open and I was bombarded by a torrent of noise and movement.

"Wake up!" A heavy weight pounced on the bed next to me causing me to moan in annoyance.

"Too early," I complained curling myself up into a compact ball.

"It's never too early for the wicked," I was surprised by a jab in my side, it was definitely Grey who was sat on me, maybe even Nico too. It was hard to distinguish between the lumps squashing down the sheets beside me.

"I'm sleeping," I whined, "it's Saturday."

"Yes, and you have a charity event to attend to in ... an hour and a half," Mitch's deep voice sent me catapulting up rod straight in my bed.

"Did you just say an hour and a half?" I twisted around to face him as my head swam from my sudden movement.

"Nice hair," Sawyer's quiet tone commented from the end of my bed where he stood making himself as inconspicuous as possible in the corner. I touched the birds nest of matted hair piled on top of my head.

"Maybe an hour because we have to drive there," Mitch added as he leaned against my wall casually.

"Well," Grey toyed with his fingers stiffly, "I'm not that bothered with getting there on time." It was obvious to the whole room that he was dreading the hours to come.

"Great, because it will take me a while to get ready," I propped myself up and rubbed my temples with the tips of my fingers in a futile attempt to wake my mind up.

"We need to get dressed anyway," Mitch shrugged.

"Shit," I huffed, "I don't have anything to wear. What even is the dress code for this kind of thing?"

"Not black-tie-fancy but you'll-be-in-the-company-of-millionaires-fancy," Grey explained. My stomach filled with dread, why the hell did I sign myself up for this?

I wasn't part of their world of millionaires and royalty, and I couldn't pretend to be, I belonged somewhere so separated from this lifestyle it was on a whole other planet. I wasn't like the Silent Boys, my wardrobe didn't have several spare tux's, one for black tie events and another for casual brunches. I didn't have the most powerful man in the state on speed dial in my phone, I didn't luncheon with the sons of lords and dukes. I'd found my way here by chance and stayed here by luck but I never knew when my luck was going to run out and everyone would look straight at me and see the girl I'd been hiding this whole time.

"You must have something to wear," Mitch prompted throwing open my wardrobe.

"Do I look like someone who owns something acceptable for a charity event?" I raised my eyebrows incredulously.

"What about this?" Mitch plucked out a black skin tight silk dress I reserved for especially important clients of my moms. Jackson loved that dress. Correction, Jackson used to love that dress.

"Too inappropriate," I regarded the low cut hem and dipped neckline that would reveal a bit too much cleavage for midday on a Saturday.

"This?" Mitch suggested a cream blouse, my one respectable item of clothing, it was obvious he had no idea what he was choosing though.

"Too much like I'm going for an interview," I critiqued.

"Just go naked," Nico quipped. I shot him a hard look.

"Does it really matter that much?" Grey complained, "it's an outfit, everyone will see so many outfits they'll have forgotten what you were wearing the second you turn around."

"So I don't care what they think of it," that was a lie, "it's about how good I feel in the outfit."

"Why don't you ask Ben, his moms a designer so he probably has more of an idea about these things than us," Mitch suggested.

"Thank you," I pointed at him, "finally a good idea."

"Hey, I think my going naked idea was great," Nico teased overly flirtatiously.

"Of course you did," I rolled my eyes to the back of my head as I peeled the sheets away from my skin and clambered out of my bed in my rumpled tartan pyjama bottoms and band tee. My hair was still sticking out wildly in my unattractive bed head. "I need to shower and make myself human before I talk to Ben," I marched over and held open the door for them as their queue to leave, "so I'll see you when I'm done."

"Are you kicking us out?" Mitch's eyes widened incredulously as he grinned.

"Goodbye," I swept a hand towards the door.

With load protesting loans the four boys left me in peace. I showered slowly allowing the hot water to unwind my stuff muscles and relax me. I remained in the shower until all the mirror was completely fogged over with steam and my skin was flushed bright pink in heat.

Then I washed my face and brushed my teeth with my hair twisted back in a towel on top of my head. I found myself glancing at the mirror again and again as if trying to catch my reflection unawares and prove that the girl in this fancy school wasn't really me and this reflection was just a facade like everything else. But each time only my overheated face would stare back at me, eyes wide and searching for something but I was never sure what.

I decided to raid my closet first before I put Ben up to the job and ruined his Saturday lie in. All I found was hanger upon hanger of band tees and jeans and flannels and basic t-shirts. Nothing remotely appropriate. Until in one desperate last attempt my hands dug right to the back of the space to find, amongst the odd random shoe and clothes that no longer fit but I had no heart to throw away, a black pencil skirt and beige dress.

First I tried on the skirt and white blouse Mitch had picked out earlier but still I looked like I was going for an interview for the secretary position. Then the plain dress nearly the same shade as my skin colour. It was a soft fabric that didn't irritate my skin and fell nicely around me, not too tight but not too lose. The top half was synched in and had little cap sleeves but the bottom floated out into a skirt that swung around my thighs.

It wasn't perfect by any means and I was sure it would look like trash next to all the designer outfits worth more than my whole wardrobe but at least it was something decent that I could feel confident wearing. I made it a little more my style by adding a thick black chocker and black block wedges that have me an extra three inches off the ground.

Makeup was my next worry, we'd never really had the money for expensive makeup brands mom and I and if we did only mom was allowed to use it anyway. She was so naturally stunning I could never understand why she plastered her face with so much makeup but she seemed to enjoy the slight disguise it gave her.

"My imagination isn't as good as yours Cara," she'd told me one night as she stroked a manicured finger down my cheek, "you have the power to imagine yourself becoming the person you want to but I have to create the person I want to see in the mirror with makeup."

So with little experience and little desire to try and gain any I settled with some simple concealer, blush and mascara in the fear that if I did any more I would do it wrong and end up looking like a clown. That wasn't a worry I wanted to add to my ever growing list.

"Cara, are you ready it's time to leave?" Again my door was assaulted by the continual banging of a fist so I threw it open to save the door the pain. Grey nearly fell through in surprise as he was caught off guard.

His eyes trailed up and down me slowly before he finally cleared his throat and stepped out of the way allowing me to pass.

The three other boys were waiting either side of the corridor, their eyes burrowed into me in the same way Grey's had. I was under the scrutiny of three microscopes, each more in depth that the last.

They were all in pressed black trousers and crisp shirts, Grey's shirt was navy, Mitch's white, Nico's salmon pink and Sawyer's baby blue.

"So you found something to wear?" Sawyer commented smirking ever so slightly.

"Don't you start," I warned stabbing an apprehensive finger at him.

The boys spoke only with their eyes on my long bare legs or revealed collarbone or swing of my brown hair down my back all the way to Grey's car. Their silence was unnerving, they may be the Silent Boys but that didn't mean they had to live up to their name.

"Ready?" Grey broke the silence as he spun around in his seat to face the three of us wedged into the back together.

As I'll ever be.