I have never been one to whine and complain. I usually go with the flow. However, Mason brings out different sides to me and non of them are good.

"Mason, it's three in the morning,"I cried out and throw my pillow at him. "Can't you turn off the game now! You've been at it since eight."

"Go to sleep," He muttered.

"Wow, I wish I would have thought of that. It's almost like something is keeping me awake and it's my fault. You're right, I should go to sleep."

Mason ignored my sarcasm and said nothing which made my blood boil.

"You are so infuriating! Shut it off!"

"Nah man, I'm not even tired bro. We could play a few more matches," Mason said to someone on the other end of his headset. He completely ignored me and I about had enough. Between being tired and Mason annoying me on purpose, I was about to explode.

I growled in annoyance, "You drive me crazy!"

He chuckled at my frustration, "Oh, I do now?"

I grabbed my second pillow and placed it over my ears. I tried my hardest to tune him out but it seemed impossible with his screaming. He was loud and I was surprised that no-one had filed a noise complaint. The walls of the apartment weren't exactly thick.

~~~~

The later hours of the morning came way too quickly. I was sleeping lightly when my phone began to ring, waking me up from a restless slumber. It was Lacy calling to see if I wanted to eat breakfast with the group. I would have turned her down if my stomach hadn't decided to have it's own symphony to let me know I was hungry.

It was about half past seven when I reached the dining hall. I felt as if I had a hangover without having the fun night before. I just wanted to crawl back under my covers and hide away from the sun and the noises of the morning.

"Woah, what happened to you," Erica looked me up and down with wide eyes.

I have to admit, I didn't really put much effort into my appearance. My hair was messy, I had no make up and my outfit screamed, 'I just crawled out of bed,' which I had. Luckily, I had enough energy to brush my teeth. That was the most I could do.

My pointer finger landed on Mason who just struggled like he had no idea why I'd point at him. He still looked flawless as ever and it made me especially angry. No bags under his eyes though we only slept about four hours.

"Someone decided to play video games all night. I asked him multiple times to shut it off."

"I couldn't leave my team hanging," Mason shrugged again.

Lacy looked at me as if she heard the most annoying news ever and rolled her brown eyes.

"I'll go get you a coffee," Lacy stood up from her seat. "You look like you may drop at any second."I replied a quick thank you as she got up and left.

"Tell me you don't have any classes today," Marcus spoke. "

"Calculus,"I groaned. "Thats literally the worst class I could have for today. Not only is the class boring and I'm extremely tired, but the professor absolutely hates me."

I had thought I was just being silly at first but I'm most definitely sure the professor hates me. Mr. Tie made it obvious that he wanted me to fail. When he's giving me F's on things that I know I worked hard on, its seemed likely. It couldn't possibly be that I am horrible at math....I should probably find someone to tutor me.

Lacy arrived with my coffee and I instantly began to sip on it. As I drank my coffee, Cj started up a conversation about anything and everything. I think he was trying to keep me awake. Between the caffeine making it's way into my system and Cj's energetic vibe, I felt more awake. Sadly, the moment was taken away when my phone began to ring in my pocket. The cringe ringtone blasts through the room and I quickly see who it is before answering. Once again, remind me to change that.

I wondered what she would be calling for? I excused myself from the table and headed outside to have a little more privacy.

"Hey, mom?"

"Alex, How are you? I hope I didn't wake you. I completely forget about the time difference," She commented

Her voice sounded sweet and happy She was always so cheery in the mornings. One of the things I wish I had in common with her. I'm more like my dad in that sense, a bear in the morning. We both wanted nothing more than to hibernate.

"I'm doing great. I was just having breakfast with my friends. How's everything over there," I hadn't spoke to anyone in my family for a while. Everyone was so busy with their own things and I was busy with class. There were a few texts here and there but most conversations were short.

"Everything's good. Your father got a raise and your brothers are actually going to school!"

My father was a business man. I can not tell you a single business he work for. They were never a secret but he never stays at one business for long; so, there was no use in learning anything about his work.Though he makes sure to move up as many titles as he can before moving on to a new job. As for my brothers, let's just say they were quite handful.

"That's great mom, how are the twins?"

I have 16 year-old, twin brothers, Zach and Thomas. You can imagine the nightmare I had to live with. They were really good at pushing my buttons but I loved them nonetheless. Then there was my oldest brother, Shawn. At 5 years apart, we weren't exactly as close as say I was to the twins. Shawn has played baseball for as long as I can remember which lead to him being drafted into the MLB. We haven't talked much since he's been busy.

I got pushed around a lot growing up since I was the only girl. I can't say I'm not thankful for it but I could have gone with out the constant bruises and fights.

"The same," she huffed. "They still fight constantly."

They may be twins but they are just as different as day and night. I have never seen two people so different in my life. I always thought that the boys wanted to make sure they were as different as possible. That way no one would confuse them for the other.

"Of course, that is nothing new," I laughed

"Oh, hold on a minute."

The line went completely silent for a moment.

"Mom? Did I lose you? Hello?"

"ALEX," I cringed away from the phone.

"Zach, are you trying to bust my eardrum,"I cursed. "You need to work on being more quiet. Anyway, how is everything?"

"It's good, not much has changed-Thomas shut up-I'm more interested in how college is" I could hear muffled talking and shuffling in the background which must be Thomas.

"Its fine, hard work though. Make sure you take pre-calc in high school or you may end up dead like me."

"Whatever. Did you meet any girls? Feel free to give them my number!"

Even though he couldn't see me, I rolled my eyes.

"You haven't changed," Not one bit.

As I was talking, I glanced up to see the group coming out of the building.

"Alex, it's time for class," Erica whispered. I held up my pointer finger to tell her I needed a minute to finish speaking.

"Who was that," Zach wondered.

"My friend Lacy. Zach, I gotta go to class. I'll talk to you later."

"Give her my number," He shouted before I end the call. I realized how much I was starting to miss my family. Homesickness always hits you at random times. I slipped my phone in my pocket and headed to class. The sooner I got there, the less I would focus on missing my family.

I let out a cry of relief when I realized I could finally go home and sleep at the end of class. All my lectures were two hours and I could barely hold my head up through the last one. I'm pretty sure I made no sense on the written portion of my syntax exam.

I got to the apartment as fast as I could. I think I actually ran at some point. Sleep washy motivation to move. I fumbled with the keys for a second before pushing the door open. Instantly, I froze at the sight in front of me.

I was not in the mood for this.

Mason was aggressively making out with some girl. The sound of lip smacking and saliva made me want to gag. I hadn't seen the girl before and knew she wasn't a girlfriend.I didn't really care who she was.What I really cared about was sleep.

"Hey," I cleared my throat to try and grab their attention. They didn't move and kept swallowing each other's faces. My nose scrunches up in disgust. Watching people make-out was the worst.

"Hey," I raised my voice a little louder. They finally pulled away and I cringe at how messy they looked or at least how the girl looked. Mason looked unbothered and put together, aside from his puffy and red lips.

The girl sighed and got up, "I guess I gotta go."

"Yeah, we'll talk later," He pauses for a moment. "Sasha."

The girls eyes widen and then narrowed.

"It's Sarah," She raged and slammed our front door behind her.

"Wow, you couldn't even get the name right. You just makeout with random girls now,"I scoffed. I mentally scolded myself for not waiting even a minute to jump on him.

"Jealous," He assumed. He had a smirk on his face and I wanted to punch it off. I felt betrayed by myself as a slight heat rised on my face. No Alex, you are not blushing because he thinks you're jealous of that random girl.

"Of course! Who wouldn't be jealous of someone being used as an object. Grow up."

He shrugged and leaned back on his bed, his arms tucked behind his head.

"Don't lie, you'd love to be used by me. I bet you're used to being used."

"Excuse me? What the hell does that even mean? You disgust me."

"The feeling is mutual."

~~~

"Mason, not again go to sleep," I shouted and sat up against. the wall. It was already midnight and I was sleeping good.

Mason had chilled with his all night gaming last night but I guess that ended tonight.

"Let me finish this level! I can't sleep until I beat this," He shouted back.

"You can play tomorrow. Turn it the fuck off!"

I had lost all my patience with him. It was a video game for crying out loud. Not to mention, he wasn't playing online, therefore, it could be paused. He tried to tell me he was playing online like I wouldn't know the difference.

"Fine, after this round," He turned his attention back to the screen. Round after round passed and yet he was still playing.

By now I was tired of it. I got up and walked over to the counsel and look for the power button.

"Alex, what are you doing," Mason watched my hand as it hovered over the power button. "Don't be a bitch. I haven't saved yet."

"You have to the count of 3 to save and then I'm turning it off."

"What? I'm not a child. You can't just-

"One."

"Alex, you can't be serious!"

"Two."

"Just one more game."

"Three. You said one more game along time ago," I smirked.

I moved my hand closer until I pressed the button. He let out a growl and got up to turn it back on. I blocked his path the best I could. I giggle to myself as I think about how the only reason I can block him is that he's not tall enough to actually do something. It's kind of adorable.

"Now go to sleep," I lightly pushed him back against the couch and made my way back to my bed. Mason walked over to his side of the room not long after.

"Bitch..." he mumbled under his breath.

"Goodnight Mason! Sweet dreams!"

After a few more minutes, I finally fall asleep.

The next morning I was woke up to the feeling of cold water running down my face. I quickly shotup and let out a gasp. He did not do my own prank back on me!

"Mason," I roared. Just as I was about to grab ahold of him, he made a run for it and managed to make it out of the apartment.I pinched the bridge of my noise and sighed in frustration. Mason Chains kills me. I used his little prank as an excuse to get ready for class.

"Today we will be analyzing a text from the great William Shakespeare. I'm sure many of you had read one or multiple pieces in high school. Non of this should be foreign to you. Everything you read will be on the midterm. Now, you may go. I'm done teaching for the day."

It must be so hard being a professor. You know, being able to end class whenever you feel like it. You get to decided how to spend the class. Last week my CALC professor literally took a nap and told all of us not to disturb him.Now I'm starting to think about becoming an English Lit professor. Seems easy enough right?

"Each frame cannot even be off by 0.1 milliseconds or it will cause you to have to start the animation all over. If the camera is at the wrong angle you'll also have to start over. If you have any questions, ask your peers. You may begin."

Animation was always stressful. We were studying clay animations. We had to try and create our own .I found this type of animation difficult yet fun. There were so many rules. So many easy mistakes.

I go to move the doll slightly to the left. I was extremely focused. I didn't want to mess up and have to start all over.

"Alex, do you mind if I work with you?"

I drop the doll as the voice of someone beside me startled me. I was not expecting anyone to talk to me.

"CJ," I was shocked to say the least."When did you get into this class?"

"About two days ago. I just hadn't shown up until now. I actually had no idea that this art building existed until now, " He admitted.

"What on earth made you want to join film? No offense but you don't seem like the type." He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess something sparked my interest."

"Moving clay dolls is pretty interesting"

"hm, it is."

~~~~

After class I had came home town empty apartment. There was no Mason in sight. I looked to see if he had texted me or left me a note to explain his absence but there was nothing. Later that night, he wasn't at dinner either.

"Have any of you heard from Mason? He wasn't at home," I asked.

Lyndsey was the first to say anything, "Nope, haven't seen him all day. He's probably out doing whatever he does."

"What exactly does do?"

"Masons pretty secretive," Dylan answered. "He likes to keep his business to himself. I'm sure he'll be home later tonight after he's done. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Dylan spoke like he didn't even know his best friend. I knew the two were close but maybe they weren't as close as I originally thought.

I took Dylan's advice and tried not to worry about Mason. When I arrived back at the apartment he still wasn't there. I thought about texting him bur realized that he'd probably be angry. if I interrupted whatever he was doing. He was most likely with a girl.

I let the thoughts pass and I focused on my assignments instead. At a quarter past ten, I decided to go to sleep as I was began to feel exhausted.

Hours later, I awoke to the sound of front door shutting.

"Mason," I mumbled. "You're finally home."

I got no reply from him, instead he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.

"You know, you could have told me that you weren't coming home."

He suddenly scoffed, "I don't need to tell you shit."

I rolled my eyes, "I know. I just meant that I didn't know where you were and I didn't know-

He stepped towards the end of my bed, "Don't worry about where I am. It's not of you business. Did you think that I may have wanted a night away from you and your constant bitching? You make living here a nightmare with your whining and being nosy all the goddamn time."

He spewed a few more insults at me but I didn't not care to listen to them. I was too busy looking at his face. The sun that shone through the window made it easy to see him clearly and the nasty gash across the left side of his face.

"What hell are you looking at," He snarled.

"Mason," I frowned. "You're bleeding."