"Leave me alone, Tyler." My ears prick up at the familiar voice and my eyebrows furrow. I stare mindlessly into my locker as I try to pinpoint whose voice it is. Where have I heard it before? Looking around, I try to find the source of the distressed voice and my eyes widen when I spot Anna, Reece's younger sister. She is backed against the row of lockers behind me by one of the most popular Seniors in school, Tyler Bishop.

"You didn't seem to mind the last time we were in a position like this." He sneers, looming over her. Although she is tall, she seems to shrink into herself under his stare, clutching her books to her chest.

I quickly decide that I can't just leave her in that situation as she is clearly uncomfortable. Slamming my locker door closed, I cross the hall, stopping beside Anna and Tyler. "Is everything okay here, Anna?" I ask her, moving my gaze between the two of them.

Tyler's gaze switches to me and his eyes do an obvious sweep of my body before he smirks. "Aren't you Preston's chick?"

I scoff, "He wishes. Can I speak to Anna now please? Alone?"

He turns back to Anna whom he still has trapped against the lockers. "Nah, I think I'm good right here, actually. Right, Banana?"

My eyes move back to Anna and she quickly shakes her head, her eyes wide and pleading for help. I straighten up, eyes narrowing into a glare directed at Tyler. "That's enough. Get away from her. Now." I don't know why he is tormenting Anna or what has happened between them in the past, but it is completely clear that she is uncomfortable with the situation. Boys just don't know how to take no for an answer, do they?

Tyler turns to me with a snarl, "And what if I don't?"

"I think you already know." A familiar deep voice speaks from behind me and I quickly turn my head, seeing Reece standing just behind me. He has a harsh glare set on Tyler and his whole body is tense.

Tyler chuckles darkly as he finally leans away from Anna. She immediately hurries over to me, standing slightly behind me and gripping my hand in hers. I squeeze our joint hands gently, assuring her that I'm here for her.

Reece steps forwards, briefly resting his hand on my shoulder to gently push Anna and I behind him. My heart stutters in my chest when his thumb brushes against the sensitive skin of my neck in a reassuring gesture. His hand quickly falls back to his side, curling into a fist as if instinctually. "I thought I told you to stay away from my sister." Reece practically growls, taking another threatening step towards Tyler.

Tyler stands his ground, glaring up at Reece. "And I thought I told you that I don't give a fúck."

Before I can blink, Reece's fist has connected with Tyler's jaw. But he doesn't stop there. He punches him again and again, Tyler's nose making a sickening crunch sound with one of the punches. Reece sends one last punch to his stomach which has Tyler keeling over in pain.

"How many times have I told you to leave her the fúck alone!?" Reece rumbles.

Tyler reaches a hand up and wipes the blood from his nose, chuckling. He meets Reece's gaze with a menacing glare, "Not enough." Then he turns, running down the hall before Reece can throw another punch at him.

Reece grunts softly, flexing and unflexing his fingers as if he is trying to hold back from going after him. He turns back to face Anna and I instead, asking, "What happened?" He seems a little calmer now, his face softer but body still tense. He bends down to pick up his headphones from the ground which must have fallen when he punched Tyler and he tucks them into his pocket while he waits for a response.

Anna moves forward from behind me. "I was just walking down the hall when he pushed me up against the lockers and started talking to me."

Why does it sound like this has happened before?

"What did he say?" Reece continues.

Anna sighs, squeezing her books to her chest with a shrug. "The usual."

This has definitely happened before.

Reece's gaze switches to me for a split second before it returns to Anna as if asking her a silent question. Anna turns to me with a thankful and almost proud smile. "Layla stepped in to help me when she saw what was happening. It was pretty badáss."

I grin, brushing my hair over my shoulder, and letting out a laugh. "Thank you. I know."

Anna grins and laughs with me, pulling me in for a hug. "Seriously though, thank you."

I smile up at her. God she's tall. "No problem." I then frown, flickering my gaze between her and Reece, "I have to ask though, what was that all about?"

Reece's face falls instantly, "I don't think-"

"Shut up." Anna cuts him off with a glare. "She's my friend now and I want to tell her. Don't try and stop me." Reece holds his hands up in mock-surrender, eyes widening. Anna smirks at him before turning back to me. "It's a bit of a long story. Do you want to come over after school?"

I nod with a smile, "Sounds like a plan."

~

"Do you have an inhaler? Because you took my breath away."

"Do you ever stop talking?"

Max ignores Reece's annoyed comment and keeps his smile focused on me. "Are you religious? 'Cause you're the answer to all my prayers."

I only shake my head. I have given up at this point. I'm in the car with the Carters once again, going back to their house after school. Max has been using these questionable pick-up lines on me the entire drive.

"Are you lost, Ma'am? Because heaven is a long way from here."

Sophie claps her hands together and giggles excitedly, "More Max, more!"

At least someone was enjoying this.

Max tips an imaginary hat at her, "As you wish M'lady." He clears his throat before continuing, looking back to me, "I lost my phone number, can I have yours?"

Reece snorts, a smirk on his lips, "Is that really the best you got?"

Max smirks right back at him, "Not even close. My lips are skittles. Wanna taste the rainbow?" He wiggles his eyebrows at me suggestively.

I think I just choked.

"Is your name Google? Because you've got everything I'm searching for."

"I don't think these can get any worse." Anna mutters tiredly.

Max raises an eyebrow, smirk deepening. Oh no. "Are you an omelet? Because you're making me eggcited."

My eyes almost pop out of my head.

"Oh, God, I spoke too soon." Anna whines, banging her head on the seat in front of her.

"I know you're busy today, but can you add me to your to-do list?"

We are pulled up at a stoplight now, and Reece groans, resting his head on the steering wheel.

I cough, trying not to laugh. "Excuse me?" I ask, turning to face Max.

He just grins at me, "Are you from Japan? 'Cause I'm trying to get in Japanties."

"Alright, that's enough." Reece says, turning down a road before going into a driveway.

"Yay, we're home!" Macy exclaims, jumping out of the car after Cody. I too step out of the car, only to be quickly dragged towards the front porch by two small sets of hands. "We want to show you our room!"

"Girls, give her some space to breath." Reece scolds them exasperatedly, unlocking the front door. The twins quickly pull me down the hall before stopping outside a white door. There is a sign stuck to it with tape, both their names scrawled on it with pink marker.

Sophie notices me looking at it and grins, "Reecey made that for us!"

I quirk a brow, "Really?"

"Yeah, Anna's painting us one with really pretty pictures because she's really good at drawing. But Reece made this for us while she's still making it. Do you like it?" Macy looks up at me expectantly.

I nod with a grin, "It's cute."

"Come on." Sophie quickly opens the door and pulls me inside their bedroom. The room is white with one accent wall which has gold polka dots all over it. There are two windows on that same wall with two single beds with baby blue bed frames in front of them. Their curtains are light pink, and their bed covers are white. A gorgeous doll house is sat between the two beds, against the wall.

"Do you like it?" Macy asks, tugging on my sleeve gently.

I look down at the two girls with a smile, "It's beautiful. I wish I had a room like yours."

"Well you can come over for a sleepover another night!" Sophie exclaims happily.

Macy gasps, "Yes! Reecey can help us build a fort and we can watch movies and have lots of candy! We can play dress up and do each other's hair and then watch more movies! And we can dance and make cupcakes and play board games and we can show you our dolls and have a pillow fight and-"

"Woah, what's this-" A deep voice cuts Macy's excited rambling short and I turn to meet the beautiful eyes that belong to none other than Reece Carter.

"Layla's going to have a sleepover!" Sophie squeals happily.

Reece raises an eyebrow, his eyes switching to me. My eyes widen slightly, and I put my hands up in mock-surrender. "I have no idea what's happening. They talk so fast."

Reece's lips turn up into a small smile which immediately has me floored. Why does he not smile more? It's gorgeous. And he has dimples! They are only faint as his smile is so small, but they are definitely there. "You get used to it." He tells me, referring to the twins' rambling. Then his face falls flat again, almost in a frown. "Anna's in her room, two doors down. She's waiting for you."

I almost forgot that was the reason I was here. I nod with a small smile, slipping past him and into the hall. I follow his directions and open another plain white door with a sign attached to it. This one is more artistic with a bunch of doodles and little drawings around 'Anna' in different shades of blue. Anna must have made this one herself. I walk into her bedroom and look around, noticing the neutral tones throughout the room. Her room is very minimalistic and aesthetic.

I spot Anna immediately as she is sitting in the middle of her bed, staring down at her phone with a giddy smile. She must have heard me come in as her head shoots up to greet me with a smile. I smile, taking a seat in front of her on her bed. "Is there a special someone I should know about?"

She blushes furiously, "Kind of..."

"Ooh, tell me all about it." I wiggle around giddily, excited to hear about the person she is talking to.

"Let's start with Tyler because that kind of leads onto that." Her smile falls slightly as she sets her phone down beside her. "I know that we don't know each other that well yet, but I can already tell that we're going to be good friends. I can feel it."

I nod, laughing, "I have that same feeling as well. I know we're going to be good friends and I'm going to support you, okay? You can trust me."

She smiles gratefully, "Thank you. Okay, well... I guess this story starts last year when I was a Freshman. I had just started at Northwood High. You already know that Reece has his best friend, Liam, and they're very close. Reece is quite closed off and he doesn't really like to get close to anyone. Occasionally the two of them would make friends with someone new but it never really lasted long. Nothing like the friendship the two of them have.

"Anyway, Freshman year, a new guy started at our school, Tyler. He seemed like a nice guy and Reece and Liam let him into their little group. They'd hang out at school, go to Tyler's football games... It seemed to be growing great, I had started to think that maybe someone was finally going to join their friendship on the same level as Reece and Liam. I thought it would be really good for him.

"Soon, he introduced Tyler to my family. He was always nice and super polite, but Max never seemed to like him. He always goes with his gut and it's usually right. I should have trusted his opinion on Tyler, but I was stupid. I see that now." Sighing, she continues, "When Tyler first met me, he was really nice and sweet and caring. He grew closer to me than any of my other siblings – except for Reece of course. Eventually he told me that he had feelings for me, and he asked me out on a date. I stupidly agreed and he took me out to dinner, acting like the perfect gentleman and everything. He kissed me that night and it was pretty much downhill from there.

"Reece and Liam didn't really like what was going on between us, but I assured them everything would be fine. Tyler was their friend and he was lovely to me. I didn't see how he could ever do anything wrong by me." Anna lets out a shaky breath, tears coming to her eyes. I quickly reach out and grab her hands, holding onto them tightly. She sends me a grateful smile. "One weekend, Tyler had convinced me to go to a party he was throwing. I had never been to one before, but he persuaded me pretty easily. I went to the party with him, Reece and Liam didn't go. I got a little drunk that night – I had never had alcohol before and I quickly realized that I was a lightweight. Tyler didn't really care.

"At some point, um- Tyler he- he took me upstairs to his room. Drunk me thought that it was great – I'd get to spend some time alone with the guy I liked. He um... I slept with him that night. He was my first time. I thought that it was perfect. We would be together officially then, and we would live happily ever after." Anna laughs bitterly through her tears, "Clearly that never happened.

"I woke up the next morning in his bed, alone. I was confused I was confused as to why he wasn't there as soon as I woke up, but I assumed he was downstairs making us breakfast or something. He wasn't. I was alone in his house that was still a mess from the party the night before. I called Liam to come pick me up because I didn't want to face Reece at that moment." She smiles a little, "He held my hand the whole way back.

"The following Monday, I went into school, hoping to see Tyler. He hadn't been answering any of my calls over the weekend and I was worried. The minute I walked in, I spotted him sucking face with A- um, some cheerleader. I was so angry, I didn't understand how he could do that to me. I confronted him and he laughed right in my face. He told me that the only reason he even got close to me and Reece in the first place was because he made a bet with the football team that he could take 'the bad boy's little sister's' virginity." She scoffs, "I punched him after that. But it was nothing compared to what Reece did to him. Tyler was in the hospital for a week. I'm not sure why Tyler didn't press charges though. Maybe he was scared I might twist the story of the night of the party and claim it was rape? I'm not sure, but I would never do that. Reece did get suspended though."

Anna runs a hand through her hair, letting out a small sigh, "Now, Tyler likes to torment Reece and I every chance to get. He likes to rub it in our faces how much he hurt us. So do his friends sometimes. I don't know why they do it though because they just end up on the receiving end of Reece's punches. I just wish I hadn't gotten played so easily."

Once she has finished her story, I stare at her for a moment, my mouth open in shock. "What. The. Fúck." Anna laughs, a grin appearing on her face. "No, seriously. And you called me a badáss? You punched him! God, I really want to punch him too." I laugh a little. "You are seriously so strong. I can't believe that douche did that to you."

She only shrugs, "It's in the past now. I'm mostly over it."

"Thank you for telling me."

"If we're going to be friends, I think you deserve to know. Especially after what happened at school today."

I nod before a grin lifted my lips, "So, a better topic now, this person you're talking to..."

She blushes furiously ducking her head, "What about him?"

"It's Liam, isn't it?" I ask, raising my brows.

Her mouth falls open in shock, "How did you-"

"The way you talked about him says it all. The fact that he picked you up the morning after the party. He held your hand?" I exasperate.

Anna smiles shyly, "Yeah, it's him. I've had a crush on Liam ever since I can remember. He and Reece have been friends since they were kids and he's always been so kind to me. Lately we've been acting as more than friends, like cuddling and stuff. I think he likes me too, but I'm not sure."

"I bet he does. The way you've described your relationship, there's no way he doesn't have feelings for you." I smile.

"You think so?" She questions unsurely.

I nod profusely, "I know so."