Tori's POV

Last night when I wanted to leave with Mark I just couldn't do it. Hayden was there with his flashy smile and Mark was beside me with his heartwarming smile. For once I felt trapped. I know part of me should have kept my promise with Mark and gone outside with him to walk around the neighborhood. But then I would have ditched Hayden, or did I ditch Mark by not going with him? No I couldn't have ditched Mark because he was with me. The three of us actually all laughed and had a good time. But I felt like a mouse, searching for cheese in a huge maze. It was different though, like two different kinds of cheeses at either end and I had to figure my way out.

What bothered me was Mark's 'costume.' It wasn't a costume it was his future uniform and it bothered me beyond comparison. It wasn't like Cali's costume that I just highly disliked. No I hated Mark in that uniform. If he left was there a possibility he'd forget me? Why did he have to leave in the first place? I'd rather have him stay here with his friends and family.

Then there was Shawn. I had never seen him lash out like that. In a sense, he didn't look like himself. Like some evil thing inside him decided to come out. I didn't understand the reason for his behavior. Only then after he lashed out on Trent, I knew I should have warned him. I felt guilty for whatever happened. I could have had the chance in preventing it. Whatever it was.

After his little outburst everyone tried to get back to what they were doing but they kept wondering what had happened. So the party was cut short. I was forced to make up another lie to Mark and tell him I wanted to help clean up and see what happened to Shawn, I said Cole would take me home. At least Cole backed me up in saying he would take me home and that he could really use a helping hand. After that Mark left peacefully like he totally understood. A thousands pounds of guilt were left on my shoulders.

I didn't necessarily lie. I did have to help clean up. Plastic cups were everywhere and paper plates polluted the floors. The backyard looked like a tornado had passed through it. A very young, energetic, teenage tornado. Even the tree house was filled with things I didn't want to name. It took us three hours to clean just the house and by that time dad, Lilly, and Suzie had arrived. They had decided to go to sleep while we finished up. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to clean up. They looked pretty exhausted.

We didn't finish cleaning though. Cole and I collapsed on the couch and Blake just sat at the sofa. We decided we'd clean the backyard and take the decorations down in the morning. When morning did arrive, I woke up with a slight regret I'd have to clean more. I groaned to myself throwing my pillow at the window wishing the sun could go down and leave me to sleep. Then I realized that was impossibe so I sat up and noticed two things. One, the black trash bags near the door that were filled with trash. And two, I was still in my costume. I was so tired last night I had just fallen in bed and passed out from exhaustion.

I got up changing into some sweat pants and a sweat shirt before grabbing the black bags and moving towards the hall. Everyone seemed to be awake because all doors were opened. Except for Shawn. His door was locked and really loud music kept leaking from under his door. I still wanted to know what happened between him and Trent. The way Shawn hit him and threw him around was scary, if Cole and Mark hadn't intervened then there could be a possibility that Trent would be in the hospital today.

"Hey," I said as I walked into the kitchen. Everyone mumbled a 'good morning' or 'hi' except Blake, who gave me the regular cold shoulder. A part of me wished he'd give me a chance like his brothers did. But I knew it was like asking the wind to move a mountain.

Cole had some toast in his mouth as he was trying to force more paper plates into the trash bag. Blake was grabbing any bag he found and would thrust it over his shoulder taking it to the garage. Suzie, Lilly, and dad all sat around the table watching. Well Suzie looked in a trance. All the left over candy buckets were at her feet and she just stared down at them.

"Look at all this candy." Suzie used her time to say every word. Like she had to think it through.

Cole chuckled, "All for you if you hand me the duct tape on the table right there." He pointed at the roll of duct tape near the center of the table and Suzie handed it to him with a smile. He grabbed the end of the tape with his teeth as he stretched it out while his other hand tried keeping hold of the ripped bag.

"Where's Shawn?" I asked deciding to help Cole instead of Blake. I only knew Blake would swipe me away like a flea on his shoulder. I kneeled by Cole's side holding both ends of the rip together as he tried to get a piece of tape to cover it up.

"I don't know," Cole pasted the tape over the rip, "But he better hurry up. I am not going to take down all these decorations. He helped put them up he better help take them down too."

"Like I always say," dad said from the table as he took a sip of coffee, "If you can make the mess, you can clean the mess."

"Amen." Cole muttered tossing the bag towards Blake.

"I think that's all the trash." Blake sighed and sat at table stealing some water from Lilly's glass. When he was done drinking he looked up at Cole. Of course I was just a see-through blanket to him. "Should we go get Shawn?"

"Yeah just because he snapped last night doesn't mean he's not going to do work." Cole grumbled getting up and extending his hand out for me. I took his hand and he hauled me up like I was a feather.

"Snapped?" Lilly asked. Dad looked up from his newspaper like he was now curious also.

"Yeah he had to much sugar," Blake answered quickly. One thing that I noticed in Blake, he's very quick. In everything. Especially lying though. "He just had a sugar rush and did crazy things. Don't worry, he's just having a sugar hangover."

"What's a hangover?" Suzie asked. Everyone turned to dad. While he explained to Suzie what a hangover was Blake stepped forward and started walking upstairs. I trailed after Cole who was following the leader, a very annoying, heartless, and bad leader.

Blake reached Shawn's door first and tried opening it but as I had assumed, it was locked. The music behind the door lowered down a bit when Blake tried turning the door knob and it only seemed to be making noise. "Shawn open the door."

"Go away." Shawn sounded different from the other side of the door. Kinda like he had a cold, I even heard a few sniffles and I wouldn't have been surprised if he sneezed. It was getting colder outside and to increase the chances of him being sick his room was right over the garage which had no heat. He probably did catch a cold, but something was telling me it wasn't that. If he had been sick he would have at least come downstairs to get some medicine or something.

"Shawn open the door." Cole stepped in front of Blake and stood by the door while I stayed in the back. "Dude come on. I'm not cleaning up after you. Get your ass downstairs....please." I almost laughed the way Cole meant to sound harsh, yet he could never pull it off. His harsh tone ended when he tried to be polite.

"Leave me alone dammit! Can't you see I don't want to come out!" Shawn must have thrown something at the door because it slightly jerked towards us and we heard a thump.

I pushed both Blake and Cole off the door and moved towards it. "Hey Shawn listen whatever happened last night...it's not your fault ok?"

"How do you know something happened?" We heard him say.

I actually didn't know something happened. I just assumed because why else would he be bothered? I also knew Trent had something to do with this, he had given me a warning and I chose to ignore it. God I'm so stupid. "Shawn what happened? What happened last night between you and Trent? What did he do?"

No answer. All we heard was the music and some shuffling in his room.

I sighed, "Shawn let us in. Look, Blake and Cole are here at least tell them. They're your brothers." Part of me felt like I was trying to coax a little boy out of his room. Talking gentle and trying to convince him, yeah I felt like I was talking to a little boy.

There was still no answer. We heard more shuffling and I looked behind me at Blake and Cole. Blake just had this hard glare on me, the usual. And Cole was looking down while biting his thumb. Finally we heard a click from the door and it opened up. What I expected was a angry or furious Shawn. What I saw was a boy with red puffy eyes and tear streaked cheeks. He kept sniffling to avoid the runny nose and his room was trashed, all his clothes everywhere and his costume was literally ripped. All Shawn wore were boxers but he held a blanket around his shoulders since his room was cold.

"Em dumped me." Those three words filled his eyes with more tears and I stood there unknowing what to do. I tried to look at Blake and Cole for support, but Cole looked bewildered and Blake just stood there with a straight line across his lips.

"What-what do you mean she dumped you?" Cole asked rubbing his thumb against his knuckles.

Shawn walked back into his room and we followed, Blake shutting the door after he entered. "Sacked, broke up, dumped, left. Do these not ring a bell Cole?" Shawn crawled onto his bed while I tried to stepover everything on the ground, scared I might step on something fragile and snap it in half.

"Why?" I asked sitting on his rolly desk chair after I had ventured through his polluted floor. This didn't make any sense to me. Shawn really does love Em, and I know she loves him with equally. I didn't understand what could have possibly been running across Em's mind when she brought down those lethal words onto Shawn.

Shawn went to the corner of his bed that was set up along the corner of a wall. He hid half his body and held a pillow to his chest. Now I realized what kind of music he was listening too. They all had some sort of love related theme. The One That Got Away by Katy Perry. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Let Her Go by Passenger. Just all the songs he kept playing didn't seem like the appropriate things to listen to if you just got out of a relationship.

"Trent...he-he showed Em something. An-and she doesn't think I've ch-changed." Shawn had been crying so much his voice hiccuped whenever he talked. It was breaking my heart seeing him like this. He always joked around, played around, made people laugh. I don't think I've ever seen Shawn in a state where he's not kidding around. Even last night, after beating up Trent, he shrugged everyone off and told them to go back to what they were doing.

"So...what happened?" Blake asked sitting at the edge of the bed. Cole took a seat on the desk and we all watched Shawn.

He wiped his entire arm across his face. "She um..." He sniffled, "I walked away for a sec-second to get dri-dri-drinks. When I came back. Tr-Trent was sitting be-beside her. She ran away, I-I chased after her. We-we went outside an-and she said I would never change from being a play-player. She didn't be-believe me when I said I had changed. Tr-Trent showed her some ve-very bad things I had done at other party's."

I was out of words and all I did was frown. The little son of a bitch. After thinking it all over I realized it was all my fault. If I had never cuffed Trent and took pictures sending them to Shawn and others, then Shawn would have never said anything in the locker room. Trent wouldn't have been so mad and Shawn could be living a nice life with Em. Then there was the fact that Trent had given me a clear warning last night that I chose to ignore.

"That little mother fucker." Cole clenched his fists. "He's been a real pain in the ass this year. How were we ever friends with him?"

"Oh please," I whispered under my breath, "He learned it all from you three."

Although I whispered I knew they all heard me. Shawn just closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing, he knew it was true. Cole's eyes softened a bit, he knew it was true also. Blake definitely knew it was true. But he looked angry, not regretful. "Why are you in here?" He asked me, "Your not even helping."

"I was just saying..." I muttered looking down. It annoyed me how I felt intimidated by him at times. Only if he caught me at the right time or in the right mood then I would feel intimidated. I shouldn't be intimidated though, I stood up to him plenty of times.

"Leave her alone Blake. She's not the issue at hand." Cole turned his attention back to Shawn. "Come on man you can't seriously think she's the only fish in the sea right? They're plenty of other girls out there."

"After knowing me for almost eighteen years you'd think you'd know I'm never serious." Shawn sighed and Cole muttered something inaudible under his breath.

"He's right though Shawn," I tried to encourage this theory on, "There are other girls out there. I mean you make everyone laugh. It won't be hard to find someone else."

Shawn choked on a sob as he spoke, "But I don't want any other fish!" He sounded like a little boy wanting his lost pet to come home. "I want this fish! The pretty one with the sparkly eyes. The one that liked me for me. The one who got me to read and the one that would cuddle with me whenever I'd read to her. I want that fish! Not some stupid replacement. I want the girl that I fell in love with."

At this point I couldn't hold it back. I felt tears stinging in my eyes just by looking at Shawn. He looked so heartbroken, so helpless. I never even thought he had a heart. The school had a way to travel rumors and stories around so I always assumed the Parris brother had no heart. Getting to know them has showed me that two-thirds of them have a heart.

I knew for a fact Shawn's brothers had no idea what they were suppose to do. So I climbed in beside the sobbing Shawn and hugged him tightly around the side. I layed my head on his collar and he hugged me closer to his side like a teddy bear. "It's going to be fine Shawn." My voice slightly cracked. I didn't think he'd be able to bring tears in my eyes, but he managed to. The way he looked so helpless it was unbearable. This wasn't the Shawn I had grown used to loving, this was something broken that needed to be pieced together. "Don't worry we'll think of something."

No one said anything for a good while. I just didn't know what to say, so I comforted him instead. "Well damn..." Cole said breaking the silence that had fallen between all of us. He was looking down at his hands as he realized he had everyone's attention. "Shawn I'm sorry. I just...I don't know how to help you man. Your my little brother and I can't do anything to help."

"You're just the first to actually love someone." Blake added awkwardly slightly rocking from side to side. "So...what do you want us to do to help?"

Shawn shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe jus-"

The door flew open and Suzie walked in munching on a Snickers. "Don't tell dad-" She took a look at Shawn and her eyes turned from mischievous to confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Shawn got dumped." Blake said without any effort to make it a sore topic. He's harsh even with his brothers.

"Wow thanks so much Blake." Shawn pulled me even closer which I found very odd since I didn't think he could get me closer than I already was. He was squeezing me around the waist which I found to some discomfort but not nearly as bad as I would think.

At first Suzie looked confused like she didn't understand what the big fuss was about, "I'll be right back." She put her Snickers down on the table and zipped out of the room and running outside where we couldn't see her anymore. We waited for her to return and when she did I slightly smiled with what she brought. In her right arm was two jugs of ice cream, chocolate and vanilla. In her right hand she had a bottle of caramel syrup and chocolate syrup. In the left arm she had a bowl with five spoons, and finally she brought a recyclable grocery bag filled with chocolates. "Ice cream to num the heart. Spoons for everyone. Chocolate to dip in caramel for a sweet yet bitter taste." She said each item as she placed it at Shawn's feet.

Shawn smiled a bit. It felt good to see him smile. When I looked at the other boys they were smiling too. Even the heartless one who hates me to the edge of the world and back. Must I mention his name, doubt it, everyone knows he's the one with a stone heart. "Thanks Suzie," Shawn said as he was handed the bowl. We each grabbed our spoon and opened the ice cream containers. Shawn was the first to go as he piled his bowl with vanilla ice cream. Everyone else just ate from the containers. "Ice cream never tasted so good." Shawn put a chunk of delicious desert into his mouth. I waited for him to get a brain freeze but it never happened as he continued stocking ice cream on his tongue.

"Oh!" Suzie said putting her spoon down and grabbing the grocery bag. "You have fo try Hershey with caramel dip." She grabbed one of the mini Hershey bars from Halloween and unwrapped it. Then she grabbed the caramel and squeezed some onto the Hershey bar. "Here," She moved it towards Shawn's mouth, "Try it."

He didn't look convinced but he opened his mouth and Suzie layed it on his tongue. He chewed and his expression changed slightly. "That's actually really good." He smiled again which I found as another accomplishment.

"Of course it's good," Suzie said with a roll of the eyes, "Why do you think they make chocolates with caramel fillings?"

"How do you know about this Suzie?" Cole asked taking some more ice cream and combining it with a Twix bar. "Like how do you know about the ice cream and chocolates and..." Cole waved his arms around all the things Suzie brought up, "Stuff."

Suzie looked towards me as if asking for permission. I knew exactly why Suzie knew how to handle this kind of stuff. In my sophmore year I had a boyfriend but his dad got a job in a different state. So he had to move. I was a mess though when he left. We'd agree to break up only because we knew long distance surely wouldn't work. Mark and Cali had come over to make sure I was alright, and Suzie had stayed with us.

I nodded to Suzie letting her know she could tell them if she wanted to. I didn't really mind it was a long time ago besides right now I was to concentrated on dripping some chocolate syrup on my spoonful of ice cream. She smiled a bit and looked towards Cole. "Tori had a boyfriend. When they broke up I had ice cream."

The first reaction was Blake laughing, "Tori had a boyfriend?!" He erupted in even higher laughter, a very loud full hearted laughter, it was surely giving him pleasure hearing this news. If this was the way to make Blake laugh then he really did have a pretty messed up mind. "Oh god," Blake said between laughs, "Poor guy. No wonder he dumped you."

"Actually he-"

"Yeah your right poor him," I said cutting off Suzie before she said anything. I decided to just cut the subject and let Blake think whatever he wanted. No matter what I said he'd still find a way to laugh.

"So what did you do Tori?" Shawn asked looking down at his ice cream, "Like what happened after you two broke up?"