| Cody |

RING RING RING

"Make it stop!"

"Answer that!"

Groaning, I roll over onto my side, and right off the lumpy couch I was on, face first onto the hardwood flooring. "Ouch", I mumble as I try and stand on shaking legs. "Ugh. My head." I complain as I use my hand to hide from the blinding light that's pouring in through the drapes of my teammate's living room.

The complaining of my friends and strangers who also attended the party ceases when the ringing of my phone stops - only for it to start again three seconds later. I don't mind this time though, the caller is helping me find my phone.

I venture back to the couch that I had graciously rolled off of like a drunken Olympic Gymnast, and find my phone lodged between the seat cushions. I unlock my phone, immediately turning the brightness down as it only adds to my headache. I notice the caller as Ellie and wonder why she's even calling. I leave the living room, not wanting to disturb the almost dead teenagers.

"Hello?" I croak out, immediately walking to the kitchen for water and helping myself by leaning into the sink and drinking straight from the faucet. "Ahh, that's better." I wipe my chin and bring the the phone to my ear. "Sorry. Hello?"

"Oh, it is you! I thought I called some old man." Ellie laughs only resulting in my pulling away from the phone since she's too loud.

"Nope. Not old, and definitely not a man. Anyway, what's up?"

"You said you were gonna call me back last night?" She tells me, but it sounds more like a question.

"I did?"

"You were drinking last night, huh?" I can practically hear the smirk on her face.

"I didn't want to but-" I cut myself off as flashes of last night replay in my mind - before I had anything to drink. "Oh shit."

"What's wrong?"

"Uh. Nothing. Um...why are you not at practice?"

"Don't change the subject. What's wrong, Cody? Are you okay?"

Her constant questioning was breaking my willpower not to spill about Jack, who should tell her girlfriend what she did herself and in my clearly hungover state - I don't have a lot of willpower.

"I'm fine, don't worry. I just forgot to call Hope and tell her we were staying here. I gotta go though, wake up Jack, wherever she passed out. I'll definitely call you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Later, Cody."

I hang up on my Aussie, hoping to God that I don't find Jack in bed with someone else, and I begin my search for my stupid best friend. I'm just glad that Jack called Hope last night to tell her that we'll be staying here, at Ally's. I end up in the basement again, and find Jack passed out on the pool table, hugging a pool cue.

"Wow. Jack. Really?"

She jolts up, holding the cue as a weapon as she prepares to swing at me, before her hangover clearly hits her and she sways from side to side, dropping the wooden weapon to the ground, only to increase her own headache as mine was begining to settle down.

"Why are you awake?" My friend asks as she rubs her eyes and yawns, making me wish I had a breath mint to throw into her mouth before realizing that my own breath can't be much better. I suddenly really want to go home.

"Here." I hand her a glass of water and some ibuprofen before helping her down from her makeshift bed.

"Thanks."

"We have to go." I tell her, sternly as I remember her making out with the girl from last night, who is also passed out in the basement. Jack catches me glaring at the girl.

"Relax, nothing more happened." She guides me towards the stairs and we make our ascension "And I didn't forget so you can drop your death glare. I'll tell Ellie today."

"Good." I mumble as we head for the front door, and out to my car as my phone rings. "Oh no. Oh fuck, no."

"What is it?"

"It's my mom! Apparently she's already called seven times in the last hour." I rush out, feeling panic setting in.

"Calm down, Maxi. She's in Orlando, all she can do is yell." She tells me, to which I nod, knowing she's right. "It's Hope we gotta worry about." I gulp when my friend mumbles her addition to the sentence.

"We're so screwed." I let my phone continue to ring, too scared to answer Alex which I know will come back to bite me in the ass, but I've mastered the art of procrastination. "Did you tag me in a post..scratch that, a few posts, last night?!" I screech at my best friend, already know she did because of all the notifications on my phone. "No wonder Alex is trying to call me!" I moan, letting my head hit the wheel.

| Jack |

Walking into our shared house was nerve wracking. In all honesty I didn't know what to expect, so I knew for a fact that Cody had no idea what we were in for. By the time we got home it was 10 AM, so we both knew Hope would definitely be awake.

"Here we go." Cody murmers as she slowly opens the door, trying to be as quiet as possible.

It's freakishly quiet when we enter. Not a breath to be heard in the living room beside our mildly, panicky heaving. We venture to the kitchen, to find it empty. It's deathly quiet, which only adds to our anxiety. We flinch when the beeping of the coffee machine indicates that it's ready, and gains our attention. I watch as Cody walks around the kitchen island to the machine, and lifts the paper that was beside it, reading it aloud.

"I figured you would need this. I'll see you both soon. Hope." Cody looks up to me, the note not helping the relieve the look of utter fear in her eyes, probably because the note was emotionless. Is it odd that she seems more afraid of Hope than Alex? Nah, probably not.

I pour myself a cup, and one for my best friend, and avoid her gaze while she stares at me.

"Well?" She asks, still staring at me.

"What?"

"You know what." She breaks her stare, only to roll her eyes at me. "Call her."

I only sigh, knowing I have to. I pull my phone from my pocket, and leave the room to call Ellie.

| Cody |

I hear the slight muffled sounds of Jack's voice and even though I can't make out her words, I can hear the nervous shake of her usually sure and confident words. It's the first time in our friendship that I've taken someone else's side over Jack's, but that's because until I met my mom, I didn't have anyone else.

While I don't want any involvement in my best friend's relationships, she can date who she likes, I don't care about that but this time she hurt my friend and that's not okay.

I'm busy thinking about my Australian friend when I hear Jack begin to yell. I fight every urge in my body to walk to the door and put my ear to it. Thankfully, for my eavesdropping side, I'm distracted by the opening of the back door and in walks Hope. I freeze, immediately. My eyes wide in fear, as if a serial killer just waved at my with an axe in his hand and a creepy smile.

"Uh...hi." I mumble, stuttering on my words as I run out of air and forget how to breathe. My lack of oxygen isn't helped by the fact that Hope doesn't speak a word, she simply looks at me for what feels like an eternity. Then she does what I least expected - she cracks a smile.

"Relax kid." She laughs as I finally heave a sigh of relief and take a seat at the island, suddenly feeling lightheaded from my ragged breaths under Hope's stare. "Where's Jack?"

I point to the kitchen door, leading to the living room, stopping Hope when she moves to go see Jack. "Don't. She's talking with Ellie." I turn back to my coffee, knowing Hope is staring at me, questioningly.

"What's going on?" Hope stands on the other side of the island, demanding my attention despite my attempts to look anywhere else.

"She messed up."

| Jack |

"Ellie, I said I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." I continue, begging. "Can you please calm down so we can talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about Jack. We're done."

Before I can say anything, she hangs up and I'm left with a feeling I've never experienced before. I feel like I can't breathe, like I'm gonna be sick. My heart just fell into a deep, black pit and it's all my fault.

I take a few minutes to compose myself before I face the wrath of my best friend. I can tell she's trying to stay out of it, but I also know that Ellie is important to her and the fact that I hurt her, isn't gonna go down well with Cody. Exhaling, I finally walk through the door to the kitchen, hoping to retrieve my coffee, only to come face to face with an annoyed looking Cody and a disappointed Hope.

Living here just got interesting.