I drove onto Isla's street and parked near her house because there were already a couple of cars in the driveway.

I got out and locked the car before walking to the door. Before I could knock the door opened and a guy stood in front of me. I would guess that he was about 17 or 18. So as old as me.

He looked me up and down and smirked. "Well what do we have here?"

Before I could respond, I saw Isla shoving past the guy.

"Levi, leave her alone."

She gave me a hug and led me inside. We walked to her kitchen and I saw a few adults. Some were helping with the food while others just talked. Isla pulled me to a woman who was checking on something in the oven.

She had almost as blond hair as Isla so I'm guessing it was her mom.

"Mom," Isla said, confirming my guess.

The woman stood up and turned around to us.

"Yes?"

"This is Kennedy," she said and looked at me.

"So you're my daughters friend. It's so great to finally meet you," she cheerily said and gave me a big smile.

"It's nice to meet you too," I held out my hand but she engulfed me in a big hug. I tried not to let on that I couldn't breathe but when she let me go I was thankful for the air that filled my lungs again. Okay...maybe I'm overreacting a little bit.

"Why don't you go the the game room until dinner's done," Isla's mom suggested and turned back to the food.

"Yeah, let's go."

We walked down the hall and entered a lounge/game room. There was a big couch up against one wall and an entertainment stand with a TV and a play station up against another wall.

There were 5 other kids in here who ranged from the age of 6 to 17. There were two girls, about 6 and 8 years old playing with dolls in a corner. The other three were all guys. Two of them looked close to my age, so about 17 or 18 and the other boy was about 14. They were playing some video game and not paying attention to us.

Isla walked up to the console and paused the game. The boys groaned in protest but Isla shut them up with a look.

"Guys, I want you to meet--"

"Kennedy?"

I looked over to see who called my name and I saw Luke standing up from the couch.

"Luke?"

"You guys know each other?" Isla asked, full of curiosity.

"Uh, yeah. We ran into each other in the mall. Literally," Luke answered.

The guy from before, Levi, stood up and walked towards me. He stopped in front of me and held out his hand.

"I believe we haven't had the chance to officially introduce ourselves. Levi Brooks. Not related to any of these weirdoes but best friends with Luke."

He smirked at me and I hesitantly shook his hand.

"Kennedy Andrews. Isla's best friend," I told him and drew my hand back.

I saw Isla roll her eyes and Luke watching us intently. Isla walked up to us and pushed Levi away.

"I told you not to bother her." She turned to me and smiled. "Let me introduce you to everyone. So you already know Luke and Levi, the younger girl in the corner is my sister, Jenny. The older one is my cousin Freya. And the boy over there is Freya's brother and my cousin, Matthew."

He looked at me and winked. Wasn't like 14?

"Oh, and if you're wondering, Luke's also my cousin. And Levi just tagged along."

"Please," Levi scoffed. "You all were begging me to come here. But I'm glad that I'm not the only one who isn't family," he said and smiled slyly at me.

"Levi, she not interested. As a matter of fact, she's unavailable," Isla informed him and rolled her eyes.

"I don't mind," Levi said while Luke asked "You are?" with a frown.

"Uh.." I wrinkled my forehead as I tried to think of something. "It's..complicated."

Isla gave me a questioning look and I gave her an 'I'll explain later' look in return.

"Well in that case," Levi said and slid closer to me.

Luke pulled him back by the collar of his button up shirt and sat him on the couch. Levi rolled his eyes and took his controller again. Luke did the same and got ready to unpause the game.

"You wanna play, Kennedy?" Luke asked and held out another controller towards me.

"Yeah, play with us. Isla never does and the girls are too young," Levi added.

I looked at Isla and she motioned for me to take the controller. I grabbed it and started to walk to the couch.

"Come sit by me, sweet cheeks," Matthew said and patted the empty space next to him.

Luke smacked the back of his head while sitting down next to Levi.

"Ouch!" Matthew groaned and massaged the back of his head while Luke talked.

"She's too old for you, buddy. Don't even try."

"True love has no age limit," he argued and smiled at me. "Doesn't it?"

I chuckled and went to sit next to him. He got a big smile on his face when he saw that I was walking towards him and sat down next to him.

"Told you!" he smirked at Luke and got ready to play.

Luke gave us a funny look and I just shrugged.

______________________

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," I said and hugged Isla.

"Alright. Oh! And remember, you have soccer practise tomorrow."

That's right! I almost forgot.

"Okay. Thanks for reminding me. Bye guys!"

I waved to the other five before walking towards my car. They waved back and Matthew shouted: "See you soon, my darling!"

I felt a pang in my chest when he called me by that nickname. I had managed to forget Ryder the whole time I was there. I was having so much fun that I even forgot to explain to Isla what had happened.

I gave them a forced smile before driving off.

_______________________

I walked through the front door and saw that the TV still on. There were two figures sitting on the couch and paying close attention to what was on the screen.

I yawned quietly and placed Dylan's keys where he had left them. I took off my heels and walked up the steps softly, not wanting to cause any attention onto me, if it was really was who I thought was sitting next to my brother.

But the universe hates me and the third step creaked when I stepped onto it. The guys on the couch turned around and saw me on the stairs.

Dylan and Ryder looked at me and waited for me to explain why I'm coming back so late. Which I wasn't even. Sure, it was already dark outside and might or might not be a little after 11pm.

"I'm back?" I said unsurely.

"We can see that," Dylan said. "But why so late?"

"I got caught up and forgot the time," I simply explained.

Both of them looked like they don't believe me. Why? I was telling the truth. I really did forget the time. After we started playing we soon got called for dinner. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. And the food was delicious. Then us seven went back to the game room and just hung out.

"So...what did you do?" Ryder casually asked.

Wouldn't you like know.

"Like I said. I was with a friend," I said without any emotion. "I'm going to bed." I walked up the rest of the steps and fell onto my bed once I reached my room.

I was really tired.

I brushed my teeth and changed into some shorts and a tank top before climbing into bed and falling asleep quickly.

_____________________

"Kennedy, get up! We're gonna be late!"

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. It was too early to be awake already. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up that long yesterday.

After I had fallen asleep, I woke up at around 2am and couldn't fall asleep until about 4am. I had been thinking about all the Ryder drama and Isla's family. Luke was really sweet. He was the complete opposite of Ryder. Like day and night.

While Ryder was cocky he was humble. He was more of the shy type while Ryder radiated confidence. But just like Ryder, he was amazing with kids and cared deeply about his friends.

I pulled the covers down and glanced at my alarm clock.

8:40am.

I had 20 minutes to get dressed and get to school.

My eyes widened and I tried to stand up but manage to get tangled in the sheets and fall face first to the floor. I threw my hands out, still being able to protect my face but the rest of my body falls after me.

"Ow," I groaned and rubbed my hip bone. "That's gonna leave a bruise."

I wobbled to my closet and threw on some black jeans and a cropped gray jumper. I quickly tied my hair in a high ponytail and grabbed my phone, backpack and gym bag. I ran down the steps and into the kitchen.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?! " I asked Dylan who was typing on his phone and walking to the front door hurriedly.

"I thought you were already awake!" he defended and grabbed his keys. "Now hurry up! We have 14 minutes to get to school and we usually take about 10."

I opened up a cabinet and get out the granola bar box. Then, I noticed that it was empty and threw the box away while muttering a few curse words.

I followed Dylan to the door until I realised that I didn't have any shoes on.

"Oh..crap!" I cursed and dropped my bags onto the floor with a 'thud'. I ran back up the steps and tried to put on some black ankle boots as quickly as possible.

When I got outside, Dylan was already in the car and tapping his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel.

"Finally!" he groaned when I got into the car and threw my bags to the backseat.

He started to drive immediately in hopes of not coming to late to school.

____________________

Exactly 11 minutes later we got to the school and Dylan parked in an empty spot. As we got out the bell rang and students started to walk inside the building to get to class.

I automatically walked to the room that I had my lesson in and barely when I walk through the door did I remember that I had english and that Ryder was in this class.

I kept a cool facade and walked into the classroom. I was the last one to get there. Even Mr. Stevens was already here. And he was usually never this early.

I knew it. The universe officially hates me.

Before I could even reach the first row, Mr. Stevens stopped me.

"Miss Andrews, why are you late?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes before turning to face him. I already had a bad morning and did not need him to make it any worse.

"Do you really wanna do this right now? Because we both know what's going to happen. You ask me where I was, I reply with some sarcastic comment, you get irritated, I annoy you even more and you just tell me to go sit down. Did I get everything?"

"Just don't do it again," he said and walked to his desk.

I smiled sarcastically at him and walked past the rows of seats to my window seat in the very last row. Next to Ryder.

I ignored him when he smiled at me and just sat down. I leaned my head on my hand and stared out the window. I really wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

Mr. Stevens blabbering is ignored by every single student and no one's really paying attention. But he of course doesn't notice and keeps talking about some random theory about the difference between mail men and delivery men.

I doodled some random sketches in my notebook when I felt something poke my shoulder. I ignored it and focused on what I was drawing. I got poked again and I gripped my pencil harder. I got poked once more and harshly turned to my right while my pencil broke under the pressure.

"What?" I snapped.

Ryder looked taken aback by my sudden outburst. I shook my head slightly and got another pencil to draw with.

"Hey, you okay? You've seemed kind of off since yesterday afternoon," he asked.

"I didn't think you'd notice," I fired back quietly and kept my gaze locked on the paper in front of me.

"Of course I noticed. Why wouldn't I? I notice everything about you," he explained and smiled kindly at me.

He looked adorable doing that. I almost forgot why I was even mad at him. Almost...

"Well I'm fine," I said through gritted teeth.

"When someone says they're fine they usually mean the complete opposite. So what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on. So will you just keep to yourself and stop worrying about me? I'm sure there are plenty of other girls who would love your attention," I told him and finally looked up at him with a blank look.

Oh and by the way, those other girls have bleached hair, very little clothing and their name starts with an 'A' and ends with a 'shlin'.

But I kept the rest of the sentence to myself and went back to my sketch.

Ryder gave me a weird look but didn't ask me anymore questions.

Smart boy.