Behind her, stood Aaron, Danny and Justin- a look of shock on their face.

And, their eyes were on me.

Me, with shreds of the blanket and a scissor, in my hand.

***************

"Oh my god." Avalon whispered, edging slowly into the room. She looked towards Aaron, tears in her eyes.

And, now it was all coming together. The truce had all been a lie. This was a set up all along. I scoffed in disgust, resisting the urge to go stab her with the scissors.

This was bigger than the 'feud' between the two of us now. She had taken a token of Sam's love and, essentially, spat on it. This link between Aaron and Sam had been destroyed and, all for what? To oust me as a liar? Is that all?

I balled my hands into fists, at my side. She had said she cared for Aaron; she had said she would do anything to make him happy.

With her actions, the only person she was making happy was herself.

I'm sorry, Sam. This happened because of me. I could have done something. I should have done something.

I don't know why I believed her woeful facade. A part of me wanted to believe her, I guess. A part of me wished that we could have been friends. I know, it was gullible of me, but I never knew she would stoop this low.

I was fuming and must have been red in the face. And, considering I had not known Sam too long, I wondered what Aaron must have been feeling.

I took my eyes off Avalon, who was currently sobbing over the remains of the material, and looked to the boys who were still stood at the doorway.

I was shocked to see that, the boy who always had a smile on his face, had a pained look instead. Danny was upset, an emotion that seemed foreign to associate with such a boy. His gaze remained fixated on the torn mess, his fists clenching. Yet, sadness wasn't the only emotion coursing through his veins; there was anger too. This was evident in the way his knuckles were turning white, from clenching too hard and his cheeks were tinted red. His gaze, however, didn't change and he stared- with glazed eyes- at the carnage, breathing heavily.

I looked over at Justin to see his cold eyes staring at the mess. His gaze switched from staring at the mess to staring at Aaron, from the corner of his eye. I was expecting the 'infamous glare'; I was expecting someone to be slapped on the side of the head. But, nothing came as he stared at both the mess and Aaron with cool and observant eyes. He was probably trying to assess the situation and suss out what chaos was going to occur. But, no one- not even Justin- could predict the outcome of this perilous incident.

I slowly and cautiously turned to Aaron. I knew he was going to be sad, but I wasn't prepared for the look that met my eyes. He wasn't just sad. He was broken, that I could tell. He stared, in despair and confusion at the torn blanket. He slowly moved into the room and gathered the material in his hands. I watched intently as he placed them on the floor, putting it together as thought it was a jigsaw puzzle. Yet, it wasn't a jigsaw puzzle; it was an important memoir for Aaron and now it was gone. Avalon had destroyed it and I couldn't help the sobs that escaped my mouth.

Regrettably, this took Aaron's attention off the blanket and he turned to me, a blank look in his eyes.

I wavered under his stare, panicking as he stood up slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. He moved closer to me and I scolded myself mentally for breathing heavily.

You are not the culprit, Alexis, so stop acting like you have something to hide!

Aaron came to a halt in front of me, his eyebrows furrowed in anger and his fists clenched. He dragged a hand through his hair before looking me in the eyes, again.

Breathe, Alexis. Breathe.

He moved his hand towards me and I clenched my eyes shut, fearing the worse. But, what I felt was far from painful. I opened my eyes as I felt his warm hand wipe away at the tears that were cascading down my face in endless streams. He stroked my cheek before speaking.

"Don't worry, we'll find out who did this." He promised, his voice gentle and comforting.

"What?" I choked out quietly, through tears, but Aaron was too engrossed in staring at the mess on the floor.

I gasped slightly, turning my gaze to look at Avalon. I was expecting her to be angry, at this point, but she carried on staring at the blanket pieces in sadness as though she actually cared about what had happened.

I don't know, if I should be impressed or disgusted by her acting skills.

Aaron turned back to me and opened his mouth to speak, but Avalon interrupted him, her voice a scarce whisper.

"Yes Aaron, we need to find out who did this! We need to..." She had stopped now and was staring at me with narrowed eyes. Her hand rose shakingly in my diretion before she continued.

"Alexis, wha-what are those scissors doing in your hand?" She muttered quietly, but she made sure that everyone heard. Her mouth was wide open and she pointed a finger towards my hand.

I glared her way, menacingly before opening my mouth to speak, but I too was interrupted.

Danny banged the side of the door, an angry look on his face.

"Who cares about what she's fucking holding?!" Danny's voice boomed and I recoiled slightly when he cursed. I had never heard him curse.

Aaron nodded his head firmly, taking his gaze off Danny and onto Avalon.

"Danny's right, I want to get this fixed."

Avalon, once again, took this as a cue to speak again, walking to Danny and Justin as she did so.

"You're right. You're right. Okay, clues- let's look at the clues. Who was the last person in the room before it happened?" She said, her eyes glancing at me briefly.

This time, it was my turn to interrupt her. In all honesty, her revengeful tactics- as disgusting as they were- wasn't the thing causing pain to my heart. Right now, I was not bothered with whatever Avalon had in store for me, but- rather- how all her tactics had affected Aaron.

"Aaron?" I spoke between tears, resting my hand gently on his arm which earned both Aaron's attention and a glare from Avalon. I revelled in both, before continuing.

"I'm so sorry, Aaron. I know, you're hurt. We all are. But, Aaron, trust me..." I gripped his arm tighter to emphasise my words.

"This single piece of 'material' isn't the only symbol of love or connection between you and her. No physical object can ever hold a connection that strong. You love Sam and she loves you and that's not in the blanket; it's in your heart. And, no one, can take that away from you. All those pictures on it? They're memories, Aaron. You still have them, inside your head. Sam wouldn't want to see you upset.... I wouldn't want to see you upset." I said, breathing heavily at the end. He needed to understand this.

Aaron stared at me intently before placing his hand over my hand that was resting on his arm. He gave a slight smile and I smiled back.

But, the smiles did not last long.

Before I could process anything, Avalon pulled my hand off Aaron's arm, pulling him closer to her. She looked at me, a menacing glare in her eyes.

"Aaron! Can't you see what's she's doing?! It was her! The scissors, her being in the room and, now, this pathetic excuse to comfort you to take the blame off herself!"

She eyed me up and down before continuing.

"You're disgusting." She spat out.

That was it.

This whole time, I kept mute about what had actually happened, not for Avalon, but for Aaron. What she had done was despicable to even believe. I did not want to be the one responsible for causing Aaron that much pain by telling him the truth. I did not want his trust to break again.

But, I could not tolerate this going on any further. She wasn't only disrespecting me and Aaron; she was disrespecting Sam and that was not okay.

"How dare you stand here and lie like that? Do you have any sense of what you just did? I know you hated me, but not to such an extent where you would attempt to frame me, using Sam's blanket?! You did this, Avalon. We both know you did. You're pathetic. I never knew how it felt to hate someone so much, until now." I finished, breathing heavily.

Everyone in the room was silent, at this point. I turned my head slightly towards the forgotten boys, at the doorway.

Danny's eyes darted between me and Avalon, confusion etched into his face. However, Justin's facial expression showed anything, but confusion. One look at his face and, I knew, he had it all figured out. His jaw was ticking in anger and I suppressed a smug smile. He believed me.

I turned back to Avalon to see her fuming with anger. Her eyes flittered around the room, at all of them, anxiously before turning back to me.

"How dare you, you hideous bitch!" She screamed, her hand flinging out towards my face.

Before, her heated hand could make contact with my face, Aaron had a tight grip on her wrist, pushing her back slightly. He talked through gritted teeth.

"I don't hit girls, but you're really tempting me right now."

"Do it!" Danny shouted from the sidelines to which Justin smiled slightly. But, only slightly.

Well, at least, Danny's not confused anymore.

Avalon gasped before pulling her hand out of Aaron's grasp.

"How could you defend her when you should be defending me?" She screeched, staring at him incredulously.

At this, Aaron's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You? Wait, why should I be defending you?" He asked, his tone laced with genuine curiosity.

Avalon stormed forward, suddenly, grabbing his face between her hands.

"Because, us, Aaron! Us!" She shouted, tears running down her face.

At this, the confusion on Aaron's face seemingly grew.

"Us? What do you mean, us? What are you talking about?" He questioned, moving slowly out of her hold. He looked at me for a slight second as if I would give him the answer, but I avoided his eyes. He needed to do this himself. I was not going to get in between this.

Avalon was growing increasingly agitated at his responses, that I could tell. She backed away slightly, before pointing at him accusingly with a finger.

"All those things you said and did? What about that. Aaron? Letting me back in? Saying you missed my laugh?Was that a lie too?" She questioned, her voice a mere whisper.

My mind immediately went back a few hours back.

I turned to Aaron to see him with a look of affection on his face. He was looking at the ground, yes, but I knew he was mesmerised by her laugh and his words confirmed this. He sat back into the sofa and ran a hand through his hair.

"God, I missed that laugh." He said, a euphoric smile on his face.

I shook my head and dismissed the thoughts; dismissed how hurt I had felt at his words.

Aaron raised his eyebrow slightly. The annoyance was clear on his face.

"I wasn't talking about you. I was t-"

"Save it, Aaron!" Avalon cut him off and Aaron scoffed in anger, but Avalon ignored this, wiping the tears that rolled down her cheeks.

"That's just so typical of you, Aaron! To string a girl along!" She shrieking, poking a finger at his chest.

Aaron groaned in frustration.

"When, Avalon? I said it at the beginning and I'll say it again now: I want nothing more than friendship. I acted with you like I act with all my friends and you know that." His voice boomed and Avalon recoiled slightly, but only for a second. She, suddenly, held him by the top of his shirt, pulling him closer.

"I know what you want, Aaron, even if you don't know what you want! Years ago, you told me you loved me, you jerk! Where's that love now, Aaron! Where!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

Aaron tore her hands away from his shirt and brought her closer.

"I don't love you, Avalon, not anymore. And, love? You're gonna preach to me about love? You don't know the fucking meaning of the word. You didn't know it when you left me and you don't know it now." He said exasperatedly, moving away from her. It was clear he was very angry, but Avalon paid no heed to this and continued.

"You still love me and you know it!" She screeched.

Aaron dragged a hand through his hair in frustration.

"I don't love you, Avalon. How can I when I love Lexi?" He shouted.

Everything stopped for me there.

Aaron froze in his tracks, having realised what he said.

But, I couldn't concentrate on anything over the beating of my heart.

__________________________________________