"Wake up, Matthew," I feel a hand on my shoulder and jump instantly when I remember I'm in jail..a holding cell, but still.

"Oh," I sigh in relief, "it's you."

"Yeah," Danny's dad nods, "you're free to go. Your parents are waiting for you in the lobby."

"I made bail?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"Bail?" He chuckles, "no, you just don't have a record, and I put in a good word for your character. Plus, Spencer said you didn't have anything to do with stealing the car...or the radios, and that he pressured you into lying to protect him. He's pleading guilty to get you out."

"What?" I say in shock, "how much time is he going to get?"

"Hard to say," he shrugged, "the same amount as Thomas if he's lucky. He won't be put in the same place though, we'll probably send him to Connecticut."

"Connecticut? You can't do that!" I argue, "why can't he be with Tommy? You don't even know if he did it or not, he's just trying to look out for me. Why can't you keep searching for another guy, huh?"

"Off you go, now, Matthew," he sighs and stands outside of the cage they locked me in. "I've got work to do."

"Yeah, me too," I mutter angrily.

I'm going to kill Leo.

"Oh, Audrey," I say deviously as I knock on the door, "you wouldn't happen to be naked, would you?"

"I'm fully clothed, Trevor," I imagine that she's rolling her eyes, "you can come in."

"What a shame," I say jokingly.

"Is there something I can help you with?" She sighs.

"Should we order-in for dinner or do you want to go out?"

"I'm not hungry," Audrey looked up at me from her book, "if you're bored, order some entertainment. Isn't that what you usually do?"

I chuckle, "like I'd have to pay for it."

"Of course, not," she says sarcastically, "Trevor Bailey has every girl at his beck and call." I nod smugly. "All it takes is a second glance."

"I can have them after the first one," I smirk.

"Then what are you still standing here for?" She dares.

"Because," I scoff through laughter, "If I were to bring another woman to bed with me, I wouldn't even have the condom wrapper torn open before you told Alison."

"I'm just a gracious friend," she said deviously.

"Mm, and you'll be remembered for it," I replied facetiously. "Nonetheless, I'd rather not have to start all over again with her. Especially not before our ski trip. I'm looking forward to that."

"I'm sure," Audrey said indifferently.

"the master bedroom of my chalet...a burning fireplace...a king-sized bed...and our warm, naked bodies writhing on top of it."

"Don't forget to change the sheets beforehand. I imagine she's not going to be the first writhing girl beneath them."

"What an active imagination you have," I say slyly, "would you say you spend a lot of your time imagining how I am in bed?"

Audrey raises an eyebrow at me, "go pack your bags, Trevor."

"Already done," I shrug, "I can't say the same for you...second thoughts on Gran Canaria?"

"I was going to Madrid...am going— maybe, I'm still deciding."

"On what exactly?" I ask out of curiosity.

"Whether or not I want to be alone in another country for Christmas."

"Alone?"

"Heather is going to stay, I think," she rolls her eyes, "family, I suppose."

"Well, you can't be alone on a holiday. You'll come with us."

"Oh, no," she says without hesitation, "I'd rather not sit around while you and Alison have your hands all over each other. Besides, I don't ski."

"There are other things to do, Audrey. It's a chalet— there's a jacuzzi. And, don't worry about being the third wheel. You'll be the 8th or 9th, we're flying private, of course."

"We as in?"

"Jace and Evie, Ethan and Milligan— and their plus-ones, if they're bringing any."

"...Ethan's going?" Her facial expression goes cold.

"Jace coaxed me into extending him an invitation. Deal breaker?" I know there's bad blood between the two...but I've never asked for details...I couldn't care less, really.

"No," she tried to sound nonchalant, but I heard the emotion behind her voice. "When do we leave?"

"Hello—" I say in surprise when a woman opens the door. I never met Zach's mom.

"Hm," she says with a smile, "a bit young for Peyton— you must be here for Zach."

I chuckle, "yes, I'm Evan, it's nice to meet you."

"I'm Marcia, Zach's mom, come on in," she opens the door further to let me through.

Zach looks just like her.

"Should I just—" I point toward his room.

"Oh, yeah, go ahead, sweetie. He's just finishing up some homework," she said casually.

I nodded and treaded the hall down to his bedroom.

I knocked quietly at first but swallowed my nerves and knocked harder so that he would actually hear me.

"Yeah?" he called out, and I opened the door.

Zach only glanced at me before returning his attention to playing his game.

"That's funny," I spoke, "this doesn't look like homework."

"Homework wasn't going to get me to level 17," he shrugged.

"Priorities, right?" I laughed lightly and sat next to him on the floor. "Hey," I said hesitantly to start a real conversation.

"Hi," he replied, not breaking eye contact with the TV.

"We haven't talked since that day...I miss you."

"It didn't seem like a good idea to be seen with you in school, but Karlie's not going to say anything, so you can relax if that's what this is about."

"It's not...I mean, that's good, but— I just wanted to talk to you," I say with a small smile.

"What about?"

Why are you being so apathetic?

"We left off kind of weird, don't you think?" I question.

"Sure, you kissed me to keep me from walking away from you after you admitted to hooking up with someone. That's weird, I guess."

"I figured that if you walked back inside mad at me, I'd never get to kiss you again."

He sighed and paused his game, "maybe, you shouldn't."

"Why would you say that?" My heart sinks.

"This is too hard for you, and I don't want to be the reason you have any problems," he explains, "you're off the hook, you can do whatever you want now...no problems."

"You think letting me off the hook solves my problems?" I scoff in disbelief.

"I don't see why it wouldn't," Zach raises an eyebrow at me.

"Because I'd still be fucking crazy into you," I say in frustration. "I could be with Annette right now, it would be so much simpler. She's hot and cool enough to be around, but she's not going to watch ten shitty sci-fi movies with me just to find one good movie. She's not going to get lost on a subway with me just to hang out. She won't spend hours on the phone or invite me over to play videogames until the middle of the night and consider it a date."

"That's stupid shit-"

"She's not you."

"I'm not going anywhere," Zach shrugs, "we can still do all of that stuff..."

"So, what's the catch?" I ask skeptically.

"You do your thing, and I do mine."

"No," I shake my head.

"I wasn't asking." I sighed in annoyance and leaned in close to him, "you can't change my mind," he said.

"Then why aren't you moving?" I say when our lips are inches apart.

"I don't want to."

"...but you said-"

"You do your thing...and I'll do mine," he grabbed my face and pulled me onto him.

"Danny, I'm cold," Val complained and hugged herself close for warmth.

I watched Danny slide his jacket off and hand it over to her.

"Now, aren't you cold?" I asked in amusement.

"Doesn't matter," he shrugged.

We're due for a snowstorm in just a couple of days, and yet, Val thought it was practical to come outside in a cheetah print mini skirt. Of course, you're cold.

"Hurry up, so we can head back inside."

He insisted on lighting up, but Val doesn't let him smoke in the van and if you smoke a joint for even a second in my apartment building, the smell lingers for 3 days straight. At that point, my mom would just assume it had something to do with me.

"Here," he tries to pass it to me.

"...fuck it," I shrug and grab it from his fingers.

"Really?" Danny says in surprise when I take a long drag. He always offers out of courtesy, but I usually refuse...I guess I wouldn't mind being high right now.

"Yeah, why not?" I take another puff and hand it back.

"No reason," he shakes his head, "I've got an ounce if you want it."

"Maybe, I don't know...probably not. I don't want it to be a habit," I seem to form those easily...skipping class, smoking, wasting space in my mind on people who don't have me in theirs.

"It might get you out of your head, so you can enjoy this break while we have it," Danny suggests.

"I'm not in my head, Danny, and I know how to enjoy myself without that," I motion toward the joint. "I'm fine, trust me. When have you ever known me to be alone when I didn't want to?"

He chuckled, "when mom caught you making out with Angelica Thompson in 9th grade and grounded you until New Year's."

I sighed at the memory, "she only let you and Matt come over...and little did she know that incident is what made me start taking girls into my bedroom instead of the living room. I was being good at first— she ruined it."

"Yeah, right," he said disbelievingly, "you went from the couch to the bedroom because it made second and third base more fun and easier to get to."

"That's only half true," I admit, "it was easier to get to, yeah, but it was equally as fun on the couch."

He nodded in agreement, "a blowjob is a blowjob no matter where you are."

"Danny," Val complained to urge him to change the subject. I looked over at him and he returned the glance before we both fell into a fit of laughter. "Oh, it's so funny," Val said sarcastically, "talking about second base and blowjobs."

"Head is third base, baby, second is just making out and fondling."

"Angelica let me get to second base really fast," I smirked, "I should call her sometime."

"If there's nothing stopping you," He said like it was a question and gave me a look that meant to think hard on what the answer was.

I stare down at the ground rather than responding.

All the best ways to get off of something involves getting on something else. People stop cigarettes by using nicotine patches, they stop heroin and start taking methadone, and I can stop having feelings for one girl by feeling up another. It's science or something.

"Is that Matt?" I turn to where Val is looking.

"Oh, yeah," I say in confusion at the way he is stalking over here.

"What the hell is up with you?" Danny furrows his eyebrows when Matt is close enough to see him.

"You fucking narc!" Matt shoved me hard, the stair against my back keeping me from moving anywhere.

"Have you lost your shit?" I swiftly stand up to come face-to-face with him. Danny stood up almost as quickly as I did, and I watched Matt's eyes shift from him to me as he contemplated his next move.

"Yeah, I lost it somewhere in jail after you told the cops about Spence and me," he huffed.

"The cops? I didn't— I asked Danny's dad if he could help, and he said you wouldn't be in any trouble."

"What?" Danny sighed in disappointment.

"I'm not in trouble because Spence is taking the fall. You should have minded your business and kept your mouth shut."

"What are you so cross for? He was kicking your ass and making you steal shit you didn't want. He should take the fall," I say in my defense.

"That's my brother, you dick," he shoved me again, and I shoved him back immediately, my jaw starting to clench in anger.

He tried to launch at me, but Danny grabbed him and held him back before he did something he would regret.

"Your brother is juicing, Matt," Danny interjected, "he's on steroids, alright? Why do you think he's been so fucked up and aggressive?"

"No one asked for your help, neither of you. You should have stayed out of it," Matt kept fighting to get to me.

"You're making a mistake," I say through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, you would think that. You're a traitor to your own people, Leo. You go to that fancy fucking school and fuck rich girls and forget where you actually belong," he spat. "I hate you, and I can't wait until everyone sees you for what you are...dumb ass poser," Matt shrugs off Danny's grip on him, "get off of me, I'm going."