After my Uber picked me up, I got home and immediately passed out on my mattress right when my head hit the pillow.

Of course, I wasn't surprised when my dreams were filled with Tyler, however, this time it was different.

It was as though I never left, but instead of us surviving his accident together, he spent it resenting me.

I woke up at four in the morning, struggling to fall back asleep until it was six.

When I woke up again, it was from a notification text from my phone, which came from Claire, saying if I'd like to hang out.

After spending the day together, I spent the rest of the night watching some films.

When Monday rolled around, I thankfully wasn't woken up by a blaring alarm, instead, it was from the smell of hash browns.

I smiled giddily as I twisting my body off of the bed so my legs were hanging off.

"Honey you up?" My dad shouted from downstairs, and I replied before heading to the bathroom.

Once I freshened up, I went to my dresser and changed into grey sweats and a navy green t-shirt.

"Hi dad," I greeted once I was downstairs.

He looked up from the stove for a split second before putting the cooked hash brown on a plate.

"Hey sweetie. Here, I put it separately on a plate for you," my dad said, handing me a plate filled with three hash browns.

"Thanks," I smiled, taking a seat on the bar stool.

"So you unpacked all of the boxes for the kitchen?" I asked, noticing that all the boxes that were scattered on the counters were now empty, showing off the silver marble countertops.

He nodded and took the seat next to me. "Yeah," he nodded.

"How's the case going?"

Dad sighed, rubbing his temple for a second before taking a bite of his hash brown. "Hard. Like I told you before, they want to trial him as an adult but he's still a kid."

"He's 17, right?"

"Turning 18 in the summer," he nodded, checking his watch.

"Oh Mandy, you have to head out if you want to get to school on time," he said and I quickly finished a hash brown before grabbing my bag.

When I left the house, I immediately pulled out my headphones from my bag so I could listen to music.

After five minutes passed from my walk, I was nearing the park that stood across from my old house when suddenly, a car that was definitely going twenty over the speed limit passed me.

The roof of the car was off and music was being blasted but I kept my focus on the park.

"Hey, girl," someone said on my left, and I looked over to see that same car driving slow next to me.

"Evans," I said, furrowing my eyebrows.

I noticed another head in the car and nodded my head in greeting. "Hi Travis."

Travis, the lovely person he is, grunted and looked forward.

"Heading to school?" Evans asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Nope. I'm heading to the abandoned building that I store deceased bodies," I retorted, and he laughed.

"I actually have some people, would you mind if I kept them there?"

I scoffed and looked forward so I wouldn't miss bumping into the woman walking her two dogs. "No. Your dead bodies, your problem."

When I looked back to Evans, I noticed a smirk on his lips. "Well that sucks," he eyed me up and down before sitting back on his seat. "I'll you at school baby."

As Evans car sped away, I stared at the car in shock as the word baby repeated multiple times in my head.

That's what Tyler used to call me.

For the rest of the walk, it consisted of me wanting to clench my heart to stop it from aching so much.

Right when I got to school, Claire appeared from the side of the hall, ripped a paper off of the pin board and jogged to me.

"Hey A!" Claire greeted me and I nodded in acknowledgement.

She bit her lip and slowly handed me the paper in her hold. "Do you wanna join with me?" She asked, and I read the paper, only to see that it was a notice for book club.

"No..." I cringed.

Claire sighed. "Party pooper."

I shrugged and began walking to class.

➸

After Chemistry and History passed, it was finally lunch.

When I was in my History class, I noticed Erin sitting in the backseat so I went to sit next to her. By the time the bell rang, we headed to the cafeteria together.

Once we bought our food and chose a table to sit at, Claire stormed into the cafeteria and narrowed her eyes on the table we were sitting at.

"Hi," Claire said once she was next to the table, and I pulled out the chair next to me.

She took the silent offering and took a seat, all while keeping her eyes on Erin, who looked like she just wanted to sleep.

"How do you both know each other?" Claire asked and I couldn't hold back my laugh.

"While you were flirting with Travis, Erin and I were up on the roof, throwing," I couldn't help but laugh. "Balloons filled with beer.

Claire furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at us weirdly. "Why would you do that?"

Erin pressed her elbows on the table and leaned herself forward. "Because it was fun. Not sure if you know that word considering how tightly strung you are."

I choked on another laugh and Claire cleared her throat. "I'm going to the bathroom," she said as she stood up.

When Claire was out of ear shot, Erin began talking. "You wanna come over tomorrow?"

"Sure," I nodded. "It was the same house where the party was, right?"

Erin nodded. "Yeah. We can go after school."

Just as I was about to respond, someones warm hand rested on the back of my chair, gently grazing my back.

Once I've looked up, I saw Evans, who was fashioning a sharp jaw line at the moment.

"Why is she here?" He asked, and it probably wasn't to me.

"She's my new friend. Which may be a new term to you considering you haven't made one in over five years."

Evans rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Whatever Er-Bear," he smirked once before leaving, of course not before sending me a wink.

I blew out a puff of air as I attached my attention to my meal in front of me.

Jeez, he's actually sexy.

➸

After Evans left, Claire returned, and we spent the rest of lunch, well, eating.

When I got home after school, I finished my chores and began doing homework until my father returned to work at five.

We ordered takeout while we tried to find a movie on Netflix to watch.

After successfully finding a movie after what felt like an hour, we sat down comfortably and ate our food in peace.

When Tuesday rolled by, I woke up at 7.30am by my alarm and got ready to school.

Thankfully, my dad decided to drive me to school, letting me avoid bumping into anyone.

"I'll probably be late tonight sweetie," dad said, and I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked to him while he was focused on driving.

"How come?" I asked.

He sighed as he began to turn into the schools parking lot. "Gonna try finding a deal with the judge," he responded with, and I nodded.

"Is it cool if I go to my friends house after school?" I asked, but I already knew he would say okay. He thanks God every time I make plans with people.

Dad nodded viciously as he put his car on park in front of the schools entrance. "Yeah, of course. Just let me know when you get back home."

Okay," I smiled. "Bye dad," I said, kissing his cheek before opening the passenger door.

Right when I left the car, my dad drove away, and I began walking to the entrance, only to stop by the sight of Evans leaning against the school wall beside the door.

"Hi," he greeted, pushing himself off of the wall, walking until he's standing right in front of me.

"Hey," I said, smiling briefly.

He stared into my brown eyes, before looking down to my outfit. "I think this is the first time I saw you wear jeans," he commented and a single laugh left me.

"Don't count on me wearing it again. It's been thirty minutes since I've put them on and I already regret it," I admitted and he nodded in understanding.

When Evans stared into my eyes again, I felt at loss of breath, staring into his familiar eyes.

Suddenly, someone took their spot next to me, and threw an arm over my shoulder. "Hey losers," Erin greeted.

"Mandy, why you talking to him?" Erin asked.

Evans moved his gaze away from Erin and put them onto me. "Mandy?"

Erin removed her arm off of me and crossed her arms over her chest. "My nickname for her. Problem?"

He rolled his eyes and moved away from the both of us slowly. "Nothing," he raised his hands up in surrender as he slowly entered the school.

"What's up with the two of you?" Erin asked and I ripped my gaze off of Evans, who was currently inside of the school.

"Nothing," I responded fast. "Why?"

"It's just..." Erin sighed. "Nothing."

My eyebrows furrowed, and I kept my eyes on her.

"Let's just get to class, Mandy," Erin said, walking to the door.

➸

School passed by smoothly, and by the end of the day, I rushed to my locker to drop off some things I won't need for tonight.

"Hey, you ready?" Erin asked from behind me, and I nodded, shutting my locker.

"Let's go."

We both walked side by side until we reached the Erin's black jeep. "I love your car," I commented as I buckled my seat belt.

"Thanks," she smiled. "I saved some money up, and my parents helped chip in."

I nodded. "My dad will never let me get a car."

She rolled her eyes dramatically as she put her car into drive. "You're going to be 18 in... how long?"

"My birthday's on February 27th," I replied, and her eyes widened briefly.

"There! In a month, you'll be an adult," she thought for a moment before continuing. "And trialed as an adult so don't do anything illegal."

"Got it," I laughed.

We sat in silence until I noticed what street we were driving on. "This is a new neighborhood, right?" I asked, paying attention to all the houses I've never seen before when I once lived here.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. "It was built about five years ago. We moved here around then."

"Where did you use to live?" I asked.

Erin shrugged. "Same neighbored. But our house... it wasn't surrounded with good memories, so we decided to move and make better ones."

I nodded in understanding, and sat silently as Erin drove to her house.

After a few minute passed, we were parked outside of her pebble brick colored house. "Let's head inside."

We both hopped out of the car and went to her front door, where she unlocked it with her keys before letting me inside first.

Once she disabled her house alarm, she turned to face me. "You wanna drink something?"

I shook my head as I slipped off my Adidas shoes. "I'm good," I said, looking around the now organized house, which completely looked different compared to how it looked on Friday.

I didn't realize that Erin was already making her way upstairs until I heard her footsteps. "Wait for me," I shouted before rushing to the stairs to catch up to her.

When we entered her dark grey room, my eyebrows raised by how dark her room looked with the black curtains covering the windows.

"Uh, do you have a bathroom I can use?" I asked once I've looked away from the Scream poster on her wall.

She nodded. "Through that door. I share it with my brother so don't mind his shit that's literally everywhere."

"Okay," I laughed, heading to the closed door that was only a few feet away from the rooms entrance.

After finishing my business in the bathroom, I noticed her brothers bedroom door was slightly open, and I couldn't help but peek inside.

His room was dark grey as well, however, instead of having different colors of furinture like Erin had, all his furniture was black.

Curiosity filled me as I began to creak the door more open so I could see better.

Slowly, I walked in, paying attention to how empty his room looked, except for the soccer ball he had in the corner of his room and a bunch of paperwork on his desk next to his bed.

I took another step on his carpeted floor and saw a picture frame on his tall dresser.

My brows furrowed and I took a few steps closer to it, only to be shocked to my core when I saw who was in the picture.

Two loving parents, standing next to each other, while the father held their daughter in his hands, and the mother held their little boys shoulders as he stood in front of them with the biggest smile.

A tear trailed down my cheek when I noticed who that smile belonged to.

Tyler.

➸