Since the absolute horror film that was Tuesday night, I've been reflecting big time on the sins I've made that have led me to this. It's possible that God wasn't too happy about when I spit into Carson's drink last week, but it's not like he actually drank it– well, not all of it anyways. Or maybe he was recalling when I accidentally flipped off a random pedestrian when I almost forgot to stop at a crosswalk, but in my defense, the old bat came out of nowhere. Either way, I think the punishment of having to live with Carson for an entire year was a bit on the extreme side.

His parents had agreed with mine that he should move in on Saturday rather than when they leave in the middle of the week, so that he has time to get settled in before school on Monday. My mother wasn't too thrilled when I protested that arrangement by comparing it to the grim reaper scheduling your execution only to show up a few days early.

"Madeline Spencer," Jason called, bringing me back from my thoughts. "How many times do we have to discuss your zoning out problem?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So sorry," I responded. "I hope I didn't miss another one of your thrilling stories about a secret rendezvous with your parents' pool boy."

He shot me the middle finger from across the table and launched a crouton at my face with the use of the spoon. I let it hit my cheek and then fall onto the table in front of me before chucking it back at him. Luna quickly grabbed it out of his hand, much to our protests, before we could decided to start a restaurant-wide food right.

Her, Jason, and I were all out having lunch at the holy grail that is Panera, as per usual for our free period on Fridays. While Jason was as chipper as ever, and just as excited as always to share uncensored sex stories, I was a bit distracted by the idea of Carson moving in with my family tomorrow.

"So," Luna said, looking at us both warily as if waiting for us to pull more croutons out of our asses and unexpectedly fire them. "We're all still on for the mall tomorrow, right?"

"Yup," Jason responded, stuffing a forkful of his salad into his mouth. "But only if you buy me some of those soft pretzel bites while we're there."

"Sure, J," Luna said, rolling her eyes. "It really takes a lot to make you happy, huh?"

They looked at me next, expecting me to confirm my own attendance to our trip to the mall. "Sorry to disappoint, but I can't," I responded, then proceeded to quickly stuff my mouth with a spoonful of mac n' cheese to avoid any further questions.

"Um no," Luna said, skeptically. "I asked you Tuesday afternoon, and you said yes, so legally, you're required to come.

I pointed my fork at her accusingly, "I never said yes, you just interpreted my silence as a yes. Besides, something came up."

"What's more important than the movies with us?" Jason asked. Oh, if only they knew.

"Plenty of things. World peace. Shakira. A speck of dust."

"I'll choose to ignore that sass," Luna said, lowering her brows at me. "But I would like a formal excuse as to why you are canceling on us last minute."

I rolled my eyes, "Should I have my doctor fax over a note to you?"

"Yes, but I won't accept it unless it's in MLA format," She chided.

Jason shook his head, "You two are stupid. Seriously, Maddie, why can't you come?"

I shrugged, "Sorry, I just can't."

* * *

I shimmied into a pair of loose-fitting jeans, jumping up and down in frustration as I struggled slightly to pull the denim over my ass. I groaned as Dylan continued to blabber away on the phone, where I had him on speaker, resting on my desk on the opposite side of the room.

"No, Dylan," I yelled at my phone, cutting off his rant. "I looked around– I couldn't find your sunglasses here."

After spending approximately five seconds looking for a shirt before deciding I didn't actually care, I grabbed the sweater that had been haphazardly tossed onto the edge of my bed, and threw that on instead, favoring time more than fashion– a rare occasion for me.

I heard him let out an exasperated sigh, "Can I just come and look for them?" He asked. "I'm close by anyways, I could be there in-."

"No!" I exclaimed, running over to my phone with wide eyes, almost dropping my phone on the floor in mid-panic. "Dylan, you can't come over."

"Why not? Maddie, there's the party tonight, and I really want those glass-"

"Dylan, I have to go, I have a... uh, yoga class in ten minutes," I closed my eyes, internally cringing at my horrible lie. "I'll call you later if I find them."

"Since when in the hell do you do-" I hung up on him before he could finish his question and catch me in the middle of an extremely bad lie.

It was only a few moments later that the doorbell rang, meaning the recurring nightmare I have been having since Tuesday was about to waltz its way into my reality. I heard my mother calling for me to answer the door as I made my way down the stairs.

For a moment, I considered just not opening the door for him; seriously, what was the worst that could happen? It's not cold enough for him to freeze to death and there's too much daylight right now for him to be kidnapped. Honestly, inviting him on such a beautiful day would be a disservice when he could be enjoying the sun and soaking up some Vitamin D.

When the doorbell rang again, and my mother made another shout from the kitchen, I relented and opened the front door. Carson was standing on the front step with his arms crossed over his chest and an impatient look on his face. He had on a backpack as well as a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and a large suitcase was standing next to him on his left.

"Move," Carson ordered, brushing past me as he entered very impolitely into my house.

I rolled my eyes, "Wow, you sound so appreciative. I guess I'll just let you wander the halls and allow you to find your bedroom on your own. Shouldn't take you long, there's only 4 floors."

"Princess, my patience for you is already wearing thin," He responded, reluctantly turning to face me.

"Then here's a solid suggestion," I started. "Move elsewhere. I hear the dog kennel down the road provides a bed and three meals a day. Google even gives it four stars; I think it'd be perfect for you."

He opened his mouth to say something, but wasn't given the chance as my mother entered the room, a large smile plastered on her face.

"Carson!" She said, embracing the boy in a hug that he had been ill-prepared to receive. I watched in disgust as she showed affection for him, before finally pulling away and allowing Carson to breathe. "I'm so glad you're here."

He smiled innocently, "Thank you for having me."

"Oh, please," She said all flustered, waving her hand. "The pleasure is all mine. I've always wanted children."

"Mother, I'm standing right here," I said, irritatedly.

She turned to look at me and pursed her lips. "I meant multiple children, dear." She turned back to Carson and straightened out his shirt for him, running her hands over his shoulders to smooth out the fabric, and he didn't so much as twitch until she had released her hold on him, as if scared to test her.

"I made some sugar cookies," My mother continued addressing Carson. "If you're hungry for lunch, I can make something else as well. I wasn't certain what you like to eat."

Carson met my mother's eagerness with politeness. "The cookies are more than enough. You didn't have to go through that trouble for me, Mrs. Spencer."

"It was nothing," She beamed, letting out a giggle like she was a little schoolgirl. I could feel my breakfast slowly rising in my throat. She folded her hands in front of her, "Well, I'll let you get settled in before I pester you any more. Madeline, darling, would you show Carson to his room?"

I glanced at Carson menacingly. "Certainly," I responded, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'll be in the office if either of you need me," My mother said before walking away and disappearing down the hall.

I made no movement toward the stairs and continued studying Carson with disdain. He rolled his eyes, "What?"

"I'm still waiting for you to learn some manners."

"Will you please show me to my room?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Of course," I smiled innocently. "Now, was that so hard?"

"Yes."

I decided not to push my luck any further and only accidentally stepped on his foot as I passed by on my way to the stairs, not waiting to see if Carson followed behind. If I was a good person, I would have offered to help him with his things, but if God's already punishing me, there's no point in showing compassion now– showing him to his room was more than generous enough in my book.

Of course, my parents, being the great hosts they are, actually furnished an entire guest room to suit Carson. I thought the effort was a bit dramatic considering it was only Carson; it's not like he is a celebrity, or literally anyone else. They even furnished another guest room for his little sister, Katie, even though, she lives at her boarding school and would be staying there while her parents were away.

I stopped on the top floor in front of the door that was conveniently located directly across from mine. "Here you are," I said, opening the door, revealing a fairly large guest room, painted in grey.

There was a wide window stretching across the extent of the back wall of the room, but the blinds were drawn almost completely shut, which left the room with dim-lighting. The bed was pushed against the right wall towards the middle of the room, and was dressed in white sheets with a thick, black comforter. A grey bench lay at the foot of the bed, directly in front of the television, which stood on the black dresser on the opposite wall. A nightstand sat on either side of the bed, each adorned with a black lamp, and a shaggy, grey carpet covered most of the dark hardwood floor.

Carson muttered a single 'thanks' as he brushed past me into the room, taking only five seconds to turn around and slam the door in my face, affirming my belief once again that this was going to be one very long year.

* * *

Carson has yet to have been officially moved in for four hours yet, and, somehow, he has managed to already give me motive for murder. A little while after dinner, my mother, if she can even be called that anymore, left me alone in the house with him after getting called into the hospital. Even after I specifically asked her to let someone else perform the coronary bypass surgery on the ER patient that had a heart attack, she insisted there was 'no other doctor available' and that she had 'no choice' but to do it herself.

Carson wasted no time in taking advantage of a house vacant of parents, regardless of the fact that this was not even his own house. He had invited a girl from school over to give her, what she would refer to as 'the best day of her life' when asked about it by her friends at school on Monday, and was now currently in the process of telling her not to call him again with no sense of subtlety. The entire exchange went on for no longer than an hour and a half, and the walls in my house were pretty thick, but somehow I still heard enough to go deaf.

I knew it was finally safe to leave my room without being blinded or permanently scarred when I heard a pair of heels stomping down the flight of stairs, followed by the slamming of a door. I grabbed Dylan's sunglasses– which turned out to be in my refrigerator– off of my dresser and left my room, hoping to avoid another encounter with Carson today.

Of course, I could never be that lucky.

"Where you going?" I had barely made it down two steps when his voice startled me. He was standing in his doorway, half-dressed. When I didn't respond right away, he took it upon himself to continue. "And why are you wearing that?"

I looked down at my outfit, flattening my loose-fitting white jeans which were held around my waist by a thick Gucci belt– that I may or may not have spent two weeks' worth of paychecks on– and tugged down on the sleeves of my tighter-fitting sheer black top which lay over a velvet pink bralette top. I straightened out my gold necklace before responding with an air of disinterest, "Jason's party."

"I'm coming," He stated, as if that should mean something to me.

"Really?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "You're not too busy tainting my house?"

"Envy is not a good look on you, princess."

I turned back to the stairs, putting on Dylan's sunglasses because if you can't beat your haters, you should always block them out. I hummed, "Then it's a good thing I wear Gucci."

* * *

"Madeline!" Jason called, waving his hand as high as he could so that I could spot him over the crowd of people that had already infiltrated his house. I made my way over to him where he stood with Dylan and Luna in the kitchen.

"Took you long enough," Jason exclaimed dramatically. "The party started an hour ago."

"The first hour of a party is always boring anyways," I replied. "It's always better to be fashionably late."

"Well, I'm glad that you showed up," Dylan said, taking his sunglasses from my face. "After you blew me off this morning. By the way, how was yoga?" He lip quirked up dubiously, eager to catch me in my earlier lie.

"If was great, if you must know," I said, lifting my head up. "I do quite a mean downward dog."

Dylan shook his head and laughed, obviously aware I was lying, but pushed no further. Zach entered the kitchen soon after, coming to stand beside Luna and casually tossing an arm around her.

"Where's Carson?" Zach asked. "Out of all of us, he's the least likely to ever be late to a party."

I shrugged, "I saw him on my way in. The L-Squad is near the front of the house, so he's probably somewhere near there."

The L-Squad: a group of the self-acclaimed most popular girls on campus. Really, they were just three girls who used their money and 'mean girl' capabilities to terrorize everyone.

Lisa is the standard airhead. She gets by with everything because her dad's a very feared lawyer. Lacey is a 'model' and let it go right to her head after being an extra in a dog food commercial. Lana, the worst of them all, the leader, spent each day ridiculing the nerds, and hitting on Dylan, Carson, and Zach. Especially Carson. Her and I are not friends.

"Nah, that's doubtful," Dylan said with a shake of his head. "He's already screwed each one of them."

"So?"

"So, you know about his rule," Jason added.

The rule– a stupid one-time. Carson is infamous for never sleeping with the same girl more than once. It's a rule every girl in the school knows, and a rule every girl thinks she'll be the exception to. Especially Lana. However, all that have tried have failed to prove that he will someday make an exception. It's quite funny, really.

"He really needs to let that go," I said. "He's no Leonardo DiCaprio."

Dylan tilted his head quizzically. "Madeline, Leonardo DiCaprio is like 50."

Luna and I shared a look of puzzlement before responding at the same time, "And?" Dylan rolled his eyes and Zach looked somewhat offended, but the boys let the matter drop. I continued on, "Anyways, I really don't believe if Carson had the opportunity with Lana again, he would waste it."

The boys all glanced at each other with a look in their eyes that said they all disagreed with me, but Luna supported me which was all that really mattered– her and I individually have more brain cells than all three of them combined.

"Well, I'm going to go find Carson," Dylan said, after our conversation had died out. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

It wasn't long after Dylan left that Zach and Luna headed off together, probably to find a private area to make out in. I didn't have much time to think about it because Jason had yanked me by the arm and begun dragging me outside to the back patio.

"Where are we going?"

"I need you to meet someone," He answered cryptically as we moved past the crowded porch, and the area near the shrubs that was littered with vomit and empty red solo cups. We kept going past the pool and only stopped once we had reached the furthest part of his yard, tucked away by a couple of trees.

He pulled us into a small gathering of people that had closed themselves off to the rest of the party as they talked and laughed amongst themselves. Jason let go of my arm so that he could place his hands on the shoulders of a tall guy with his back to us.

Jason pulled the guy a little ways out of the circle, and presented him proudly to me.

"This, is TK," He explained. "My friend."

TK was very slender and easily towered over Jason, making him look short as hell. He had reddish blonde hair that was styled into a long crew cut and framed his face really well. I guessed, based on the seniors other people making up the circle, he was probably a year older than us.

This wasn't Jason's first boy 'friend,' but it was the first that he had actually introduced me to in a very long time. Jason was just as troubled as the rest of my friends in staying committed to one person, but he did have a very valid reason as to why.

"Your friend?" I asked with suspicion.

"Something like that," TK explained, resting an arm around Jason's shoulder. Jason elbowed him in the rib to dissuade him from disclosing anymore.

"T, this is Madeline. She's my Bffl."

TK cringed, "Babe, that's just not a thing anymore."

"Anymore?" I asked. "I don't think it ever was a thing."

The red-head nodded in agreement, "Yeah, no."

"Hey, you two just met. Do not double-up on me," Jason commanded.

"I don't know J, I like him," He and I continued our banter just to piss Jason off. "I think he's going to be my new Bffl." He shot me the middle finger and gave TK another elbow to the ribs when he agreed with my statement.

I knew that some of Jason's irritation was real, and I was proving his point as to why he hates introducing me to guys he hooks up with. He's very careful in ensuring I never get to know them enough to become friends with them, so that when Jason eventually moves on from one to the next, I'm not attached enough to be upset about it.

"Anyways," Jason said, eager to change the topic of conversation. "We have much more important matters to discuss than this."

"Namely?"

"Finding you a man."

"Jason, it's a party," I retorted. "The best there is here is a drunken hookup."

TK and Jason shared a look. "I think we can arrange for that."