I stayed home from school today. I was too depressed to go. I was surprised that Zoey even went, but then again, she'd soak up any chance of sympathy she could get. She had Chase and her friends to comfort her. I, on the other hand, only had Jasmine and she knew more than anyone that I didn't want sympathy.

It was September twelfth, one day after the anniversary of 9/11. Sure, I was sad yesterday too, but today was even worse since it was the official day that my dad had died. He was a fireman on a conference trip in New York and after the towers fell, he was there to help out. But of course, despite his best efforts to save as many people as she could, he paid for it with his life. He lived his life to be a hero. But he was a hero buried in New York instead of here.

But I still walked to the cemetery to think. Even though my father wasn't here, other peoples' loved ones were. The closest thing I had here was a memorial tomb with no body beneath it.

"That your dad's grave?" a voice asked me. I turned around and saw a boy with a gray striped hoodie and sun glasses.

"No," I answered sadly.

"Good. Because that's my dad's grave," he announced. I stood up from the ground and looked at him like I did something wrong.

"I'm sorry," I stammered immediately. Surprisingly, the boy started laughing.

"I'm kidding. That grave's from 91 years ago," the boy stated, making me feel stupid. I looked to the stone and saw 1920 as the time of death. "Which would make me old."

I shrugged and started to walk away.

"Was there a specific reason you were looking at random tombs?" he asked from behind me. I turned to him. I shrugged.

"Is there a law against it?" I countered.

"No," he answered. "But there is a law about skipping school."

He stepped near me and I noticed that he had blonde or light brown hair and slight dimples. He couldn't be any older than eighteen. But I couldn't really tell considering he had shades on.

"I should be saying that to you too," I replied. He laughed once.

"I guess you could..." he said and then held out his hand. He smiled so brilliantly that it almost made me forget he was a stranger at all. "My name's Riley."

"Did you turn in the paper?" Wes asked Chase at lunch.

"Yeah, with no help from you," Chase growled since Wes hadn't done anything to help with it.

"Whatever," Wes retorted.

"Where's Alicia?" Eli suddenly asked.

"I don't know. Ask your girlfriend," Mason answered, shrugging.

"Aren't you her best friend? You should know," Chase said bitterly to Eli. He and Eli started to glare at each other.

"Isn't your girlfriend her sister?" Eli reminded. Chase sighed and rolled his eyes as a response. "Ask her."

"What? Afraid of your girlfriend?" Wes teased.

"At least I have one," Chase spat.

"Speaking of which..." Eli said as Jasmine walked over. "Hey babe."

They pecked each other's lips and then Jasmine took a seat on his lap. It only took a few seconds before Chase spoke.

"Hey Jasmine, where's—"

"Oh, Zoey got held up in class. We were walking and then her teacher called her for something," Jasmine interrupted, assuming he was talking about Zoey.

"I meant Alicia," Chase informed unapologetically. Silence fell upon the table and Jasmine's expression dropped as fast as her eyes.

"What?" Eli asked, noticing the shift in demeanor.

"Jasmine, where's Alicia?" Chase asked again.

"She didn't come to school," Jasmine whispered.

"And why not?" Chase asked, leaning on the table. He asked out of a weird tone of distress and anxiety rather than pure curiosity or topic of conversation. Jasmine mumbled something beneath her breath for no one to hear, but Eli turned her and asked for a clarification. The other boys repositioned themselves in their chair as if they heard it too.

"What did you just say?" Mason asked. "Where is she?"

"Probably at the cemetery..." Jasmine whispered like she did before, but this time Chase heard it. His tension from before was flooded with worry and concern and caused him to get up to begin exiting. He didn't know why she was at the cemetery, but he didn't have a good feeling about it; something had been turning in his stomach all day. That mixed with the fact that none of them had seen her since Saturday made him assume the worst case scenarios in his head.

"Chase—" Jasmine attempted to call.

"Just let him go," Eli silenced. Chase marched out of the cafeteria so he could go find Alicia. He was about to leave but saw Zoey harshly exit another building and sit against the tree with her head in her hands. Chase stopped in his tracks. He thought about his decision: to comfort Zoey or find Alicia. His options were clear when he saw a blonde senior walk up to Zoey and start talking to her. Chase immediately knew it was Micah.

"Micah, just go away," Zoey sobbed.

"Look, I'm not here because—"

"Are you alright?" Chase asked crouching beside Zoey and interrupting whatever Micah had to say. Immediately, Zoey took him in a hug around his neck and he squeezed back. Chase stood up with Zoey's arms still wrapped around his neck. Maybe his stomach had felt sour because of her.

"Is everything okay?" Chase whispered to her.

"Yeah..." she lied. Chase released her and pulled away. He didn't feel any better. It had to be centered around Alicia.

"Don't hate me, but I have to go..." Chase informed Zoey after a brief moment of comforting her.

"It's fine. Go," Zoey allowed. Chase glanced at Micah who sat by himself at an adjacent bench. Even though he seemed like he put distance between him and Zoey, Chase knew he was still around for a reason. He walked over to him and towered over him as he sat.

"If you do anything to her, you better watch out," Chase threatened. Even though he was leaving to find Alicia, he had to make it known that Zoey was still his. He jogged to his car and sped off to the nearest cemetery. His anxiety calmed down when he got there, meaning Alicia had to be there if the uneasiness was tied to her. He drove through the one way street that weaved through the hollow ground and spotted Alicia...only, she was walking with someone to her side.

"Alicia!" a familiar voice called out. I looked to see Chase striding over to me.

"Your boyfriend?" Riley assumed.

"No..." Not even close.

"Alicia—" Chase said once he reached me, but then sized up Riley. "Uh who's this?"

"Riley," I answered. Why should he care? Chase looked...I don't know. On edge, maybe. "What are you doing here?"

"I—uh—there's a...our project!" Chase stammered as if he didn't prepare a reason for finding me here. "We need to work on our project."

"You mean the project that we already finished when you and your buddies infiltrated my house on Saturday?" I recalled. Chase gave a crooked smile and he ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh..."

"Yeah. 'Uh...'" I mocked, imitating his voice.

"Stop that," he snapped.

"'Stop that,'" I mimicked in a lower voice, as I walked away from him.

"Wait," he said, grabbing my arm. I jerked my arm away, making me wince in pain from my wrist even though he grabbed nowhere near it. "I'm sorry—"

"What do you want?" I asked him, stressed out.

"You need to be in school," he answered.

"Ah. And we're back to our 'breaking the law' topic," Riley mentioned with a smile.

"Dude," I warned in a laugh.

"Shut up," Chase ordered to Riley as well, only there was no humor in his voice. The boys glared at each other for a while before Chase turned to me.

"You need to be in school," Chase repeated.

"So do you."

"I was there. I have an excuse to leave," he stated.

"Oh? And what's that?" I asked, doubtfully.

"I have a pass to leave campus for lunch," he answered. Damn.

"I have an excuse," I lied.

"Oh?"

"I'm sick," I said before giving a fake cough. He cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't make me drag you back there," Chase threatened.

"I'll tell my sister," I threatened back.

"She won't care," Chase said, taking a step towards me. I mirrored his movements as I stepped back.

"Yes she will," I assured. "I'll make her break up with you."

"If you don't leave right now, I'll break up with her," he threatened and I stopped moving. I couldn't take any more steps—mostly because I had backed into Riley, but also because I didn't want Chase to break up with Zoey because I didn't know how badly it would crush her. Before I could do anything, Riley wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"I think that it's the lady's choice and she doesn't seem to want to go with you," Riley expressed.

"And I think that you should stop messing around in business that's not yours," Chase growled. It was more than just frustration in his voice though. There was a level of hatred added in as if they had an ongoing feud and this was just the icing on the cake.

"She was looking at my father's tomb stone!" Riley reasoned with a lie. I contained my laughter. "Therefore it's partially my business. So I may, in fact, ask why it's your business."

Chase kept his mouth shut and it seemed as if his chocolate eyes just got a shade darker.

"Are you her husband?" Riley asked. What?

"No," Chase answered in a well-duh way.

"No..." Riley repeated, understanding. "What about her baby daddy looking for your kids?"

"No." What was Riley talking about?!

"Her...boyfriend?" Riley guessed again?

"No," Chase sighed of grief.

"Ex boyfriend?"

"No—you know what? It doesn't matter what I am to her. I'm her friend and I'm worried about her not being in school right now," Chase shouted. Beneath his frustration towards Riley, I was noting his concern and defensiveness over me. I was confused as to why he was here though. Or why Riley kept messing with him.

"You're not of any title to her, so it's still her choice, is it not?" Riley asked, pursing his lips. Chase sighed and looked to me. But so did Riley. "Your call."

"Here are your options: You don't go to school and I'll tell everyone in my group to avoid you, therefore your English class is useless and your GPA tanks. Or two you go to school and explain to me why the hell you're at a cemetery looking at some random guy's dead father and then you go about your regular day. Your call."

"It's not just my father...he's hers too," Riley said out of nowhere. Even though I knew he was joking, I froze. He turned to me, grabbed my shoulders, and hugged me into his chest. "Alicia...we are brother and sister!"

"Oh the horror!" I said dramatically. Riley and I laughed together and then looked back to Chase as he stood there with a tense expression.

"Lili, you really don't want to see how pushy I am when I'm impatient," Chase warned. Did he just call me Lili?

"Fine, fine, I'll go back to school," I slurred as I started to walk to him. "But do not call me Lili again."

"Whatever Lili," I think I heard him mutter. Either way, I glared up at him as I started to walk past him.

"Bye to you too!" I heard Riley's voice call.

"Bye Riley," I called over my shoulder.

"See you at school," he added. Doubtful of his promise, I stopped walking and turned around to him and saw as he walked backwards with a cocked eyebrow and friendly smirk. He winked before we went our separate ways. I, on the other hand, was completely in trouble judging by Chase's dirty look towards me when I climbed into his car.

"What?" I asked all innocent-like. He just stared at me.

"I have nothing to say to you," he shook his head as he started the car and drove away. I looked out the window to see Riley leave or linger around the deceased-populated field, but then I saw as he no longer stood there. "I don't like him."

"Who?" I asked, confused at his outburst. Chase gave me a 'you-know-who-I'm-talking-about' look. I shrugged.

"Riley," he clarified.

"Um it's not really in my interest to know your opinions about people that you just met," I announced. Why did he act like I needed his permission or something to be friends with someone? Especially someone I met at a cemetery. I admit Riley was pretty cool and intimidating when he wanted to be, which is why I wondered why someone would be like that when they're visiting a cemetery...But this wasn't about Riley.

"How'd you know I was at the cemetery?" I asked.

"Jasmine told me," he answered.

"Then why'd you come?" I asked.

"You needed to be in school," he used his excuse like earlier. Only this time I didn't have Riley to make smart retorts.

"Obviously not..." I mumbled. And what? Watch the countless tributes and informative videos that every history class plays on every 9/11 anniversary to remind me of my father? Yeah right. Like I want to be breaking down in tears and cause any attention to myself. Zoey went to school and usually got attention from her friends and stuff, but not me. I only had her and Jasmine. No one else. So I just didn't go. My mom was obviously okay with it. It was my annual mourning day since she still went to work and Zoey went to school even though she still had the option to stay home.

"Why didn't you come?" he asked.

"I didn't want to," I covered up.

"You might as well not lie to me," Chase cajoled.

"I'm not. I didn't feel like going," I told. At least it was the truth...

"Why not?"

"Jasmine didn't tell you?" I asked. Since she obviously broke my secret by saying I was at the cemetery. She could've said I was sick or something...but God knows what The Group would do to 'make me feel better' if that were the case.

"Nope."

"Or Zoey?" I asked. Hmm. I would assume that Zoey would've told him days in advance so she'd have more sympathy, but I guess not.

"She hasn't said a word," Chase promised. "Although when I was leaving, I saw crying."

"When?" Even though I should focus on the fact that my sister's boyfriend skipped over her crying to find me, I was focused on Zoey actually crying. I had made a comment that she liked sympathy before, but she was too stubborn to actually cry in public. There had to be something to trigger her after ten years.

"During lunch," he answered.

"She has History before lunch," I mumbled to myself.

"So what about History?" Chase asked, catching me by surprise since I thought you couldn't have heard my quiet voice. As I chewed on my bottom lip in nerves, I suddenly felt Chase's warm hand on mine. "Alicia, whatever it is, I'll be there for you if you need. I just want to know."

I slowly pulled my hand away from his, seeing as he's my sister's boyfriend, and took a deep breath. I didn't like it when people said stuff like that. It only meant that when you told them something, their first words are going to be "I'm so sorry" even though they had no clue what you're going through. Unlike my sister, I didn't quite fancy sympathy—fake or genuine—from anyone...especially on the topic of my dad's death. Even though I semi-opposed it, my body reluctantly started to tell the story.

"In September of 2001, my dad was in New York on a department trip—he was a fire fighter," I started. "When the towers fell, he was one of the first squad of firefighters to help out. He did what he could. So then shit happened and he's one of many that ended up in the hospital with thousands of other people...and then he died. Ten years from today."

I didn't cry. I had absolutely no emotion in my voice since I had done my crying years ago. I just braced myself for the cliché lines of sympathy that Chase was about to say...

But instead he grabbed my hand and I looked down to it as he stopped at a red light. He looked in my eyes and I noticed that his were back to a light hazel color with green on the edges. "I think that your father was a heroic man with great character that raised a hell of a strong daughter," Chase started. "Oh...and then there's you."

I smacked his shoulder as he laughed and drove when the light changed to green.

"Jerk!" I laughed. I realized that this was probably the first day that a genuine laugh came from me on this day. "That wasn't the reaction I was expecting."

"I know, that's why I said it," he said, pulling his hand away from mine. "But I'm serious, you're strong, Alicia. Most girls I know would've broken down in tears just telling that news."

"I don't have tears anymore," I said with a straight face.

"Everyone has tears," Chase muttered.

"Well I got rid of mine years ago," I informed.

"He's your dad; you're allowed to be sad. You can't be hard as a rock all the time."

"Sure I can," I said, determined.

"Whatever. I bet you're just good at telling the story that you just don't cry and you're just making me think you never cry," Chase accused. Something knotted in my stomach when he said that for some reason.

"I've never told anyone else straight-forward like that," I announced. Usually I'd say 'ask Zoey,' or they would know since his death was on the news since he was assistant chief of our city.

"Then thanks for sharing," Chase replied. I looked over to him and he looked to me and flashed a smile.

"I think you owe me lunch now," I said out of nowhere as I had a plan to score some actually edible food outside of school.

"Um why?" he asked, confused.

"You just earned some major boyfriend points for my sister," I announced. I saw him raise his eyebrows as he looked at the road. "And now when Zoey's crying, you can comfort her and know why so she doesn't have to explain it to you and cry even more. But I assure you, she does like the sympathy card, so you might want to use that."

"Wow," was all he said.

"What?"

"You're trading in your sister's physiological and emotional ways of thinking for food?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered confident. What sister wouldn't? Chase broke into a small laughter and then eventually towards the end of the car ride, he surprised me by buying food from McDonald's.

As I expected, Chase used his "points" because he was acting like a boyfriend was supposed to. Usually he didn't interact with Zoey the way he did today. He held her hand as they walked to class, hugged before they departed, and then whenever they had spare time, she was cuddled up to his chest with his arm around her shoulders. As I watched them talk under a tree—a smile wide on Zoey's face, which was the first time in a while today—I couldn't help but wonder if they've kissed before. I mean they must have. I was the only person I knew of that was reserved in physical affection.

"You're jealous," I heard a voice behind me say. I turned to see Wes.

"What?"

"You're jealous...of Chase and Zoey," he repeated with clarification. Why did he always think I was jealous of something? He must be projecting.

"No. I'm just remarking on the success of my given information in return for excellent nutrition," I informed in smart talk with hesitation.

"English," Wes ordered.