I'd be lying if I said things were normal between me and Aiden. There was an unspoken tension between us ever since our conversation and we've barely spoken a few words to each other since.

So as you can imagine, it made one hell of an awkward car ride to school. So much so that my boyfriend has taken over that duty and now become my personal chauffeur.

Not that I'm complaining in any way whatsoever.

Telling Nixon what happened that night made him burst out in a hearty laughter but said he was proud of me for standing my ground. He also gave me a friendly reminder of how much he still despises my brother. To say that things are hostile between the two boys is an understatement.

Whenever Nixon arrived in the morning, the two share what I can only describe as a silent death glare. Neither one has said a word to the other and deep down I really hated it. Especially when Jake loves Nixon and sees him as a brother, it truly sucked.

But hey, at least no one's throwing out punches.

With our relationship not hidden from my family anymore we decided to become publicly official at school. This finally meant not having to wait the whole day to see my favourite person and no more sneaky make outs in the school's supply closet. Okay, maybe we can still keep the latter.

As one can imagine we were pretty much the talk of the school. Luckily for us we were only the hot topic for about a week until the gossipers had something new to talk about. I can't lie and say that I wasn't anxious. I hated being the centre of attention, that was my brother's thing not mine.

Nixon Ford was still the feared bad boy and it's crazy to think that once upon a time I was amongst those who thought that. The reality was that nobody knew the real him.

The person I know is actually a softie at heart who has so much love to give and would do anything to protect those closest to him. When we arrived we walked in with Nixon's arm around my shoulder, smiles plastered on our faces. I held my head high and concentrated on the beautiful boy who held me, knowing that everyone's eyes were on us. As hard as I tried to blur out the background I inevitably heard some reactions. There was a mixture of shocked expressions, 'no ways' and 'isn't that Ellsworth's little sister'.

But there was one person's reaction that stood out the most.

Stacey stood in her four inch heels and mini dress by her locker, surrounded by her followers. Sure I'd seen her angry countless times, whether it was at her stupid minions or over a broken nail, but this anger was different. She initially froze in her spot as soon as her eyes laid on me. Her gaze followed the muscular arm that was wrapped around me and when she realized who the arm belonged to her face paled with shock.

I could visibly see a vein popping out of her forehead as within seconds her face turned red. I felt Nixon stiffen beside me and I turned up to see a hardened glare on his face towards her. If looks could kill then Stacy Bennett would have been a goner. Worried that this would only fuel her reaction I was surprised to see that Stacey was now sporting what seemed to look like a genuine smile towards me.

I spent the whole day in confusion, trying to decipher what the fudge that was all about.

"We all know she's got issues but I had no idea that she was bipolar," Kay retorted.

I was sat with my two best friends at our usual lunch table. Nixon had met up with Ethan saying that they needed to talk about something. I made a mental note to ask for details later.

"Right? I mean who smiles right after someone gives you a death glare?" Izzy broke me out of my thoughts.

I sighed. "Something definitely smells fishy,"

"Are you sure it's not your tuna sandwich?"

I didn't have to turn around to know that the new voice came from Ethan, who ruffled my hair and sat down to my right giving me a wink. He even had the nerve to steal a chip of mine. With an unimpressed expression I replied whilst slapping his hand. "Hilarious Ross,"

"Dude, get away from my girlfriend and her food," I smelt him before I heard him. Nixon's arm found its way around my shoulders as he sat down and gave me a kiss on the side of my head.

"Yeah what he said," I smirked at Ethan.

"Oh you guys are so cute!" Izzy gushed.

"Thanks Izzy. I'll take the credit for that," Nixon was sporting his gorgeous smile at her that made my heart skip a beat.

"Hey! We all know I'm what makes us cute," I retorted.

"Sure baby. Whatever helps you sleep at night," He smirked at me as his chocolate eyes bored into mine.

We continued with our lunch, chatting amicably. You'd think things would be weird between Ethan and Kay but somehow they seemed to be acting normal. There was still the shameless flirting banter courtesy of Ethan and as usual, sarcastic witty responses from my best friend. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that the two clearly belonged together, but I didn't want to meddle. Ever since Ethan's confession about their kiss I haven't been told anything else so I thought it best not to ask.

It was finally Friday and the day went by quick, finishing with Nixon dropping me off at home. It was supposed to be date night but he got a call from Rick earlier. I could just tell by his whole demeanor morphing into anger.

This had been happening more often recently and we both hated it more than anything. I knew Nixon thought he was putting me in danger and felt super guilty every time he had to leave me. But I understood that he had no choice so I never stopped him. He told me that he's working on a way out so I trusted that he would.

Giving him a reassuring kiss goodbye I made my way inside and upstairs to my room, to find Aiden stood outside my bedroom door. I froze in surprise to see him there with his arms folded across his chest.

"Hey can we talk?" He asked nonchalantly. This is the first proper sentence either of us have said in a while, so I felt a little apprehensive about what he had to say.

"Sure," I nodded walking into my room.

Aiden went to sit on the ottoman situated at the foot of my bed as I sat at my desk to face him. My heart was beating quickly out of anxiousness, wondering what he wanted to speak to me about.

"I'm here on behalf of Stace,"

"What?" I was taken aback. They were the last words I ever thought I'd hear.

My brother took a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He spoke, "She calmed me down about the whole you know, situation with Ford." I rolled my eyes at his tone as he continued speaking. "But that's not why I wanted to speak to you. She's having a little get together tonight at her place and wants to invite you,"

I didn't even have to take two seconds to think before I answered. "Hell no,"

"Mar-" He groaned in frustrated but I interrupted him.

"She hates me. And I hate her. It's not happening," I crossed my arms to look more intimidating.

"Stace doesn't hate you Mar. She didn't have to invite you but she chose to. She's nothing but nice to you, so whatever hatred you have it needs to go. Do you know how it makes me feel seeing my sister hate my girlfriend?"

I scoffed at the hypocrisy. "I know exactly what that feels like,"

My brother's eyes darkened in anger and his whole posture became tense. But I ignored him feeling determined. I mentally thanked Nixon for my recent development of confidence against my brother.

There was no way in hell that I was going over to that gold digging wench's house.

****

I found myself staring at the gold digging wench's house.

It was a humble abode, your average two story house with a well kept garden and white picket fence. Parked in the driveway was what I noticed to be Stacey's car.

On the outside things looked pretty normal but I knew that the inside was actually home to the devil's spawn. My idiot brother threatened to chop off the head of my childhood teddy bear if I didn't go. To make things worse he even got my dad involved so I basically had no choice. I begrudgingly changed into a denim shirt dress, paired with white sneakers and my YSL bag wanting to make the minimum effort, yet still managing to look cute.

So here, half an later, I found myself at the last place I ever wanted to be. My traitor of a brother had driven off, leaving me all alone. Apparently he had plans tonight and was going out of town for the weekend. I was so rushed that I didn't even manage to text Nixon about my new formed plans, but I figured I'd just tell him later.

I took a few deeps breaths, mentally preparing myself for the evening ahead, before knocking on the door. To my dismay I was faced with Stacey Bennett in all her glory. Annoyingly, her long blonde hair was perfectly curled and her makeup was immaculate as always. She was wearing a short navy dress that left little to the imagination. She was sporting a warm smile at me, which caught me by surprise. I didn't know whether to be scared or happy in this unfamiliar territory.

"Hey Mara I'm so glad you made it! What a cute bag!"

I stood there dumbfounded at the sight before me. I felt awkward and unsure about what the right reaction was. At the back of my mind I was still being cautious at the new personality my brother's girlfriend had adopted, wondering if there was an ulterior motive. Biting my tongue and deciding not to jump to conclusions I thought I'd give her the benefit of the doubt... for now.

Putting on the best smile I could without showing the awkwardness I felt, I replied and walked into the house. "Thanks,"

She closed the door behind me and led me into the living room where two of her minions were sat. Just like Stacey they also seemed to have changed personalities, being nothing but welcoming and nice.

Initially finding the whole thing awkward I seemed to relax the more we spoke. I was already here and thought to make most of what was happening. The quicker I get through this the quicker I could leave right? The girls had told me that they were expecting a few more people to arrive but in reality they meant a lot.

A couple of hours went by and I found myself in the middle of a full blown house party.

I recognized a few familiar faces from around school but I didn't actually know anyone well enough to spark up a conversation. I went from finally being able to relax to feeling super awkward again in the midst of booming music and crowded house.

A small part of me wondered if my brother knew if this was going to be a party. Putting my thoughts aside, I lost the minions so I decided to look for Stacey. I pushed my way past the hot sweaty bodies towards the kitchen and sighed in relief as I saw my brother's girlfriend by the breakfast bar. She made eye contact with me straight away and beamed.

Forcibly handing me a red solo cup she spoke. "Here Mara drink this,"

I shook my head. "No I don't drink Stacey," I winced mentally at my last experience of alcohol. I swore to myself to never go through that again.

"I know you don't. It's just Sprite," She winked.

Smiling back I downed the drink, the cold sprite quenching my thirst. Within minutes it was replaced with another. After a couple more cups I found myself feeling a little dizzy and I swear I started to see doubles of everything. That was odd right? I was only drinking soda. Deciding it was because of the body heat of many people, I stumbled my way through the back door wanting to get some fresh air.

Woah, I felt weird.

"You okay there darling?"

I turned around in surprise to see an older blonde guy with a smile on his face. Or was it two blonde guys? I squinted to get a better look but I ended up stumbling and losing my balance. Expecting to meet the ground I felt myself being held up by unfamiliar muscular arms. I was surrounded by a scent that I didn't recognize.

"W-What's happening? Who are you? I-I wanna go home," My speech was slurred and weak. I knew something wasn't right.

"Shh it's okay sweetheart. I've got you,"

"Do it quickly Rick. Get her into the car,"

Wait, was that Stacey's voice? And Rick?

Before I could process anything, my vision went black and I was met with darkness.

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