"What's life without love?"

Song- Dance Dance; Fall out boy

I feel the bed shake next to me and it rise up. I open my eyes and see Cam climbing out of bed. "Where are you going?"

"I got to get home before Ma and dad notice I'm gone." He explains. I glance at the clock next to my bed which reads 5 am. "I'll see you in a couple hours, go back to sleep." He kisses my head and I lie back down, shutting my eyes. When I hear my window open and close I fall back to sleep.

I don't wake up to Theo's usual annoyingness. Instead I'm being lightly shaken awake by Grayson. When I open my eyes I see him sitting beside me with a bottle of water and Tylenol.

"I figured you would need this for your hangover." He tells me, I take note of the pounding in my head.

"How did you know?" I ask, grabbing the bottle from his hand.

"Let's just say you're not a quiet drunk." He laughs, kicking off his shoes.

"Does Theo-"

"No, even though you're a loud drunk he's an even heavier sleeper." He explains, getting comfy of my bed. I screw open the water and take a sip before taking the medicine. "Where is Cam?"

I look to him with a surprised look. What doesn't this child know? "Do you know everything?"

"I'm more observant than you think." He grins before letting out a yawn.

"He left earlier." I shake my head, regretting my decision when my brain starts to pound even harder.

Grayson leaves my room so I can get ready. I hazily stand up, wanting to curl back into bed and sleep the day away but I have school. I throw on some leggings and a hoodie. My curls were particularly crazy today so I put my hair into a bun.

I don't even attempt makeup, it would take too much energy. I grab my stuff and go into the kitchen where Theo is eating a frozen waffle, still frozen. I sit down next to him after grabbing a pop tart and prick my finger, checking my sugar.

"You look like shit." Theo mutters, taking another bite of his waffle. I roll my eyes and dramatically sniff.

"You smell like shit." I fire back, plugging my nose. Theo's smile drops and he lifts up his arm, sniffing his armpit. "Hey!"

I eat my food quietly, keeping my eyes closed to try and soothe my head. I feel so tempted to go to my room and crawl into bed but I have a test today that I can't miss.

"What's wrong with you?" Theo questions, poking my nose.

"Headache." I mumble, peaking one eye open to look at him. His brows are raised and he study's my face.

"That sucks." He leans back, eating another waffle.

When Cameron arrives we all pile into the truck. I sit next to Cam with my hood up and close my eyes until we get to school. All of my friends were hyper today and talked my ear off. I would nod and smile but not say much.

During Sara's class I fell asleep and didn't wake up until class was almost over. I looked around and Bri handed me a paper of the notes with my name at the talk. I sent her a thankful smile which she returned.

The rest of the day drug on slowly. I did horrible on my test but honestly didn't care. When school ended I got in the back of the truck and laid on Miles shoulder the whole ride. The second my head hit the pillow I fell asleep and didn't wake up the entire evening.

"Wake up." Someone hits me with a pillow. My eyes fly open and I shoot up. Addie, Miles and Brianna were all in my room. I look at the time and take note that it's the middle of the night.

"What the hell are you doing?"I groan, sitting up. Addie goes to my closet and grabs clothes before throwing them at me.

"Get dressed." She tells me, pulling me off the bed.

"What's going on?" I look to Bri and Miles.

"Don't ask me, she drug me out of bed too." Miles shrugs, leaving the room so I can get dressed. Bri and Addie follow him and I change before leaving my room. Gray and Theo are both dressed, with a tired look on their faces.

Addie and Asher drag us all out of the house and down the road, not telling us where we are going. We stop in Cameron's yard and look up at it. I lean on Miles shoulder, resting my eyes.

"Grayson, come with me to get Connor." Addie says, grabbing his arm.

"And Marlee, we got to get Cam." Asher pats my head, I open one eye and glare at him.

"Why me?" I whine, stomping my foot.

"Because you three are the only ones who know how to sneak into their house." He points at me and my brothers. "And Theo's too loud." I agree and lead them to the side of the house. There's a large tree we all climb up. A small roofing from the porch supports us all.

"Okay, Connors rooms around the other side. His window should be unlocked." I comment, Addie grabs Grayson and pulls him around to the other side of the house. I slide open Cams window, remember the time in middle school when Theo and I snuck him out to get slushees at 3 am.

I climb through his window into the dark room and see his sleeping silhouette on his bed. Asher trips over a shoe, almost falling. "Be quiet, you're going to wake up Sara and Dave."

"It's not like I meant to trip." Asher retorts, rolling his eyes. He walks over to Cam and chucks a pillow at his head. Cam shoots up and looks around with a panicked look in his eyes, when he sees me he calms down.

"What's going on?" He asks, rubbing his eyes.

"Get dressed and meet us outside." Asher instructs before climbing out the window.

"What's going on?" He repeats, looking confused as he climbs out of bed.

"I have no idea." I shake my head. He looks out the window before quickly kissing me and changing. I leave a minute before him so we're not suspicious. When we're all standing in the yard I say "Will you two tell us what's going on now?"

"You'll see." Addie hooks her arm in mine and we walk down the street. We walk to the school and my confusion grows even more.

"We have to spend every day here. I don't want to be here at night too." Theo pouts, stopping in his tracks.

"Come on." Asher says, pulling Theo along. We walk around the school and to the baseball field. When we're all inside Asher and Addie finally talk.

"We're playing baseball." Addie claps her hands together.

"Don't we do that all the time?" Connor questions, yawning.

"Yeah, but this is different." Asher interjects.

"Different because it disrupts my sleep schedule." Cam snorts, kicking some dirt around with his foot.

"No because tonight we're not playing for a score or college. You're playing for fun." Addie shakes her head and throws a baseball to him. Brianna and I exchange a look and start walking towards the bleachers.

"Nice try!" Asher places a hand on both of our shoulders. "You're playing too." We both groan and turn to him.

"Do we have to?" Bri asks, pushing one of her brown curls out of her face.

"Yes, we're all doing this together." Asher pokes my nose and then Bris.

"This isn't high school musical." I scoff, walking to the group.

"I wish it was." Theo says bitterly, humming a song from high school musical.

We divide up in teams. I was with Miles, Bri, Grayson and Asher. Addie, Connor, Theo and Cameron were on the other team. We all split up to different bases since we were the outfield first. It's safe to say I do not have the athletic abilities in the family.

The ball flew right past me 3 times and once it was flying at me so I ducked. We switched and luckily I was better at batting. I hit the ball and ran 3 bases before Theo caught it. When Grayson hit the ball I kept running until it was a home run.

An hour and a half later the game was tied. Either one of the teams needed one more home run to win. We were infield and I was up to bat. Everyone else had already hit and it was all up to me to win.

"You got this Marlee!" Miles claps his hands.

"You can win this!" Asher shouts, cheering me on.

"You guys really overestimate my athletic abilities." I comment, grabbing the bat in my hands. Cam holds the ball, ready to pitch.

"Just hit the ball!" Grayson yells out just as Cam throws it. I close my eyes and swim, I hear the clank of the ball and open my eyes to see it fly across the field. I drop the bat and sprint all the way through the bases as Theo and Addie try to get the ball.

"Home run!" Asher screams, throwing his hands up in victory. Miles and him lift me onto their shoulders, cheering. The other team comes up to us, smiling as well. Once we clean up all of our stuff we lay on the field, watching the stars until the sun rose.

"Guys, don't we have school?" I question, sitting up alarmed.

"Marlee, it's a teacher work day." Bri reminds me, laughing at my panic.

"Oh yeah." I lean back down, watching the sun rise over the horizon with my friends and family surrounding me.

The next two weeks pass uneventfully but are two of the best weeks of my life. Cameron and I spend every minute we can get away from everyone together. We sneak off to the stairwell during class, he shows up at my window at night just to lay with me so I don't have any nightmares.

I was home alone, Theo spending the night with Cameron for "guy time" as he says, even thought they'll probably watch sad movies that make Theo cry. Grayson was with some friends along with Connor but were coming back here later and Mom was at work.

It's weird being alone without a sense of fear. For the first time in a while I feel safe by myself. I watch movies, paint and journal. I've been going to therapy for a while now and I actually enjoy it sometimes.

It's almost 12 and I'm in my room watching a movie when the front door opens. I hear Connor and Grayson talking loudly and then shushing each other.

"You gotta be quiet man, we're gonna get caught." Grayson laughs, being louder than Connor.

"No ones here, silly goose." Connor makes a boop sound. I get out of bed and walk to the living room where both boys are leaning on each other.

"Marlee!" Grayson stumbles over to me, alcohol radiating off of his breath.

"Are you drunk?" I hold Grayson arms and help them both to the couch.

"What, noooo. Why would you say that?" Connor lies very badly it's almost funny. I send them my biggest mom look I can muster up. They both shrink down and glance at each other worriedly.

"Okay maybe a little." Grayson holds his hands close together but Connor pulls them apart. "A lot."

"I thought you guys were going to the arcade." I sigh, sitting on the table across from them.

"We were but then cute girl and party." Graysons words slurred together and Connor erupted into a fit of laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking about..." he trails off, his smile dropping. "I forgot."

"Let's just get you two to bed, we'll deal with this in the morning." The reason I let them drink with us was so they wouldn't go out and do this but obviously it didn't work. I basically carry them to the bathroom.

I hand them rags to wash off their faces and made them brush there teeth before dropping them in Graysons room. They begged me to read them a story so I read part of a children's book but they passed out during the first page.

When I get back to my room I lay on my bed and check my phone to see some text from cam.

His worried text made my heart swell. I smile to myself, texting him back.

I set my phone down and turn off my light, falling asleep with Cam on my mind. He's always on my mind.

❤️