"Leo, are you home?" I hear along with the sound of the front door closing.

"Mm," I groan and take the pillow from over my head.

"Leo?" My mom says again, this time opening my room door.

"...good morning."

"Good afternoon...boys," she says in surprise as she looks around.

After the party, Danny, Matt, and Zach decided to crash at my place. Mainly because I was the only one sober enough to drive. Oh, and somehow Evan ended up here too. I don't remember him crawling into the back of the van, but he must have. He and Zach are on the floor closest to the window, Danny is on the floor closest to my door, and Matt is in my bed.

"Are you going to work?" I mumble and look up at her through the gleam of sunlight.

"Well, I just got back from the bakery. But, it's my day off from the diner, so...pie for breakfast?"

"Now I'm awake," I sigh happily and finally force myself up, climbing out of bed and over Zach and Evan.

I follow her into the kitchen and sit on the bar stool by the counter.

"It's blueberry-" my mom starts to say until she sees me holding a fork and opening the box. "I'm assuming you're not sharing..."

I shake my head, "not pie." Especially when it's blueberry.

"I'll make everyone else..." She opens the fridge, "eggs." I watch as she takes the carton out, "and then I'll go grocery shopping because all we have...are eggs."

"I can go for you," I say through a mouth full of blueberry filling.

"On foot? On the subway? That's too much-"

"No, Danny will take me."

"Take you where?" I turn and see Danny walking up, stretching and yawning before sitting on the stool next to mine.

"The market, we need to get food."

"You do not have to do that, honey. I can go myself, don't let Leo boss you around," My mom laughs lightly.

"I don't mind, mom. I'm here all the time anyway, and I'm used to him thinking I'm his chauffeur," Danny rolls his eyes at me.

I scoff, "shut up, you're not a good enough driver to be a chauffeur."

"I'll do better, Mr. Blakely, please don't fire me," he teases.

"Oh! Speaking of Blakely, Heather called."

"What? When? Why didn't you come get me-" I start to say but my mom shushes me.

"It was earlier, jellybean. Heather said she didn't need to speak to you. She just wanted to say she's canceling your next tutoring session."

I furrow my eyebrows. "Well, did she say why?"

"No," my mom shrugs before sliding a plate of eggs up to Danny and then turning back around to keep cooking.

"Maybe she's sick," Danny suggests when he sees the confused look on my face.

"Maybe..." I agree. Though, I didn't tell him about Heather drunkenly wanting me. She's not avoiding me now, is she? "I'll be right back," I say under my breath as I grab the phone off its post and carry it into my room. Everyone else is still asleep, so I don't feel too awkward calling her like this. I had her write her number down on my desk in marker, she put her name above it in pretty letters as if I'd forget who wrote it.

"Hello?" A woman's voice emits from the phone, I recognize it as Mrs. Blakely's.

"Uh- hi, is Heather home?"

"To whom am I speaking with?" She sounds as intimidating as she looks.

"Leo...Rylin, we've met. I'm a friend from-"

"Heather's asked that we not take your calls. Goodbye, now."

...yeah, she's not sick.

"...did Harry get into your stash?" Jace asks when we step into my suite and are immediately hit with the smell of weed.

"He better not have...I spent a lot on a really good strain from Hawaii." I hurry toward my room, and huff when the smell gets stronger the closer I get. "Harry! I swear to God-" I stop shouting when I open the door and see Sarah on my bed, smoking my weed.

"Well, hello baby brother," she smiles at me, "and Jace...is that you? My how you've grown. Are you legal yet?"

"Not quite," he chuckles.

"You can keep a secret, then. Can't you?" Sarah smirks, and Jace eyes her in amusement.

"I-" he starts to respond, but I interject.

"Why are you here, Sarah? Aren't you supposed to be out stripping in Las Vegas somewhere?" I scowl at her.

"Aw, I missed our sibling banter," she puts her hand over her heart. "I'm visiting for a few days, aren't you happy to see me?"

I stare at her disbelievingly, "you need more money, don't you?"

"Actually, no. Although, you could never have too much." Sarah sighed, "where is our dear father, anyway?"

I shrug, "his office. Most adults choose to have a career...instead of dropping out of college and partying every night."

"Most people suck," she narrows her eyes at me.

"You should go...before he gets home.

Trying to get my father to look at me as more than an immature teenager is hard enough without my sister being a prime example of the Bailey heirs never growing up.

"Wow, he's really done a number on you, huh?" She stood up from my bed. "You're just as miserable and boring as he is," Sarah said bitterly as she glared. "I think I'll stay...and I'm having a welcome home party at Visconti."

I scoff, "good luck with that. Your old socialite friends became junkies and can't even make page 3 anymore."

"Don't worry about my guest list, Trevor. Let's not forget that when I'm in New York, you're in my shadow. It's always been that way," she crosses her arms. "You're Sarah Bailey's little brother...and you're not invited." Sarah purses her lips, "but you can come, Jace. Oh, and bring whatever girl you're entertaining these days."

"Why?" Jace asks as if he's considering going.

"So you'll have someone to keep you warm until I'm ready to leave."

He smirks and I shove him back.

"What?" Jace huffs.

I scowl at him before shaking my head and walking away, "screw you, I hope you enjoy each other."

"Thanks, baby brother," Sarah says sarcastically, "I'll tell Alison you say 'hi,' okay?"

I stop and turn to shoot daggers at her, "...what?"

"You didn't think I'd find out?" Sarah laughed. "Well, you did so much to make a name and reputation for yourself as some sort of bachelor...and then suddenly you're chasing after a girl and groveling at her feet. Word gets out."

"I grovel for no one."

"Alison Sinclair means nothing to you?"

I chuckle and shrug my shoulders, "never even heard of her."

"Heather," My mother lets out a long sigh, "you've hardly touched your food."

"I'm not really hungry," I push the fork around my plate.

Honestly, the smell is enough to make me sick. I've been hungover all day.

Between the feeling of never wanting to drink again and never wanting to see Leo, I've been a mess, cringing and whining at the thought.

"Are you feeling well, darling?" My father asks in concern.

I give him a false smile, "I'm fine, just a bit stressed. I have a..." my mind tries to come up with an answer, "a poetry assignment to work on."

"Oh, you have always been wonderful at that sort of thing," her tone is insincere. My mother has never liked that my hobby was writing rather than fashion.

"Nothing I come up with is good enough to hand in. I can usually only write poetry when I'm upset." I don't have one happy poem.

"Well, it's nice to know you're not in distress," my father chuckles while my mom smiles at his joke.

Distressed? No. Humiliated? Yes.

However, Roses are red, violets are blue. I cannot believe that I...tried to kiss you, shouldn't be what keeps creative writing alive at Addington.

"I'm sure that anything you come up with will be great, dear," Mother sighs, signaling she's bored of this topic. "In the meantime, the Kendal's have invited us for Thanksgiving dinner. Isn't that lovely?"

"Do we have to?" I groan.

"Yes," she furrows her eyebrows, "are you and Jace in disagreement right now? You always spend thanksgiving together."

"It's fine," I shake my head.

"That explains it," my mom says to my dad while motioning toward me, "the loss of appetite, the locking herself in her room all day. They're fighting."

"This is not about Jace-"

"I hope you can work it out, Heather," he says disappointedly. "The company was just about to sign a 5-year contract with Kendal enterprises."

I scoff in disbelief, "I'm sorry my personal relationships risk your business, dad."

"That's not what I'm saying," he makes a rebuttal, "it's just better for everyone if you two are together and happy."

I stand up from the table, "if you'll excuse me, I'm really tired and would like to go to bed now."

My father sighs, "goodnight, love."

I say nothing in response and quickly head toward the stairs.

It's just better for everyone if you both are together and happy.

We can either be together or happy, but not both at the same time.

I care about Jace, but neither of us gives each other that feeling anymore. He doesn't smile when he sees me. I don't fall asleep thinking about him. We can go an entire week without speaking and not even worry about it.

I don't want to be Mrs. Heather Blakely- Kendal.

I don't know what I want.

"Hurry up!" My brother says in frustration.

"I'm trying!" I huff and yank the stereo out of the dash.

"Let's go!" He nods toward his truck and I follow after him, running with the stereo tucked into my jacket.

"Three today," Spencer says once I get into the passenger side. "Not bad."

"Just drive."

"Worried?" He chuckled.

"No," I lie.

"Mom and dad aren't going to find out," he shook his head. "Relax. It's good money."

"What about the cops? You don't think we'll get caught like Tommy?"

"Tommy was stupid. He got too cocky...started snatching them in broad daylight," Spen says nonchalantly.

"Now he's in jail," I sigh.

"And you're pulling his weight."

Not by choice.

"Can you drop me off?" I ignore his response.

"Got a chick?" He raises an eyebrow in amusement.

"Nah, Zach got a PlayStation for his birthday. I told him I'd come by and try it out with him."

"A PlayStation?" Spencer's eyes widen. "Nice. Someone must really like him."

"Yeah, he's cool. Just go down the street and make a right," I direct.

"I know where I'm going."

Then stop talking to me.

My eyes wander out the window at the amount of people who have to lock their doors because of guys like Spencer. Me too, I guess.

"This is it, right?" He says as he pulls up to the apartment building. I reach to open the door, but he stops me. "Here— your cut," Spencer places a stack of cash in my hand.

"Thanks," I sigh and shove it in the pocket of my jeans.

"You did good, you deserve it," he pats me on the back. "See you at home?"

"Yeah, see you Spen."

See you in jail. Maybe we'll share a cell with Tommy. The three Jensen brothers back together again. Mom would love that.

I walk up each set of stairs until I reach Zach's floor and spot Peyton and a couple other girls.

She rolls her eyes and speaks to them, "another one of Zach's friends."

"He in there?" I point toward the door.

"Yeah," Peyton says in annoyance, "go," she opens the door for me.

I'd call her a bitch but I think it would make me a bad friend to Zach. She's always been stuck up and mean. Leo is the only one who didn't care...he fell in love with her or something. Peyton finds it funny— funny enough to be nice to him.

"Zach-" I almost knock before I hear the sound of laughter and the tv. I open the door to find him sitting at the edge of the bed along with the kid from the party. "Am I late?"

"No, you can battle the winner...which will probably be me because Evan sucks," Zach says smugly.

Evan gave him a sly look, "Oh yeah?" He chuckled, "We'll see who'll be sucking."

I snickered to myself. That sounded so gay and they don't even know it.

"So, uh— Evan," I try to make conversation, "you go to Chester too, yeah?"

"Mhm, tenth grade, JV baseball," He says like he's reading what's under his yearbook photo.

I barely see Zach, and I didn't know Evan until yesterday so...I was never looking for him. Tommy went to Chester after he was expelled from Miller High, now his old friends are my new ones.

"Evan and I were thinking of joining sci-fi club too," Zach says happily.

"Cool?" I furrow my eyebrows. "You're best friends or something?" I ask since they seem weirdly close.

They both looked over at each other and laughed a bit before looking back at the screen, "Yeah," they say simultaneously.

"Okay..." I don't see how that was funny.

"Hey!" A loud voice makes all three of us look toward the door. "Whose head do I need to bash for not inviting us?" Danny says as he walks in the room with drinks, and Leo laughs behind him holding a bunch of junk food.

I point at Zach, Zach points at me, and Evan points at Zach.

"You should all be punched for being narcs," Danny shakes his head. "By the way, Zach, your sister's a bitch," he says as he puts down the Gatorade.

I gasp, "we're allowed to say that?"

"No!" Leo said sternly.

"What'd she do?" Zach asks as he tosses me his controller. He lost.

"She was talking shit about my baby," Danny's jaw clenched.

"Val?" Zach questions.

"His van," Leo and I say at the same time.

I hear stifled laughter and look over to see Evan trying to hide his smile.

I lean toward him and whisper: "He loves his van more than his girlfriend."

"That's terrible," Evan chuckles.

"...do you have one?"

"No, I'm still learning to drive," he says casually before pressing play on the game.

The fact that you figured I was talking about the van...

"I couldn't even defend her," Danny continues, "Leo changed the subject with all his flirting."

"You still like Peyton?" Zach says in surprise.

"Yeah, so?"

"I just thought— since you and...I know you're into...never mind," Zach went quiet.

"There's nothing going on with me and her," Leo said sternly, catching onto who Zach was talking about.

Zach nodded, "can you tell her I said thank you for all of this," he gestured toward the PlayStation and the stack of games. Mortal Kombat, Primal Rage, Total Eclipse. Those alone cost over a hundred. Plus the $300 on the console...

"...Heather gave you that?"

"Four controllers, six games. It's sick," Evan added. "She's not your girlfriend?"

"Do you have one?" I ask again, this time more directly.

Evan glances at me and then at Zach who was already looking at him.

Danny laughed in the sudden tension, "what did I miss?"