"Cooper?" I stared at what appeared to be my older brother standing ten feet away from me, alive.

He took a step forward and I took one back. Noticing my reaction he remained where he was. "Hey Daytona. I've missed you."

"No." I shook my head at him and turned to leave, "You're not Cooper. He's dead. This is just a nightmare." I heard his footsteps approaching and then a hand grabbed my arm.

"Does this feel like a dream Daytona? Look at me. I'm your brother. I'm here." I could hear him struggling to keep his voice even.

I spun around and looked into his eyes, "If you're my brother then where was the place I went to for my sixth birthday?"

I searched his eyes to see gauge his reaction, "No where. You decided to stay home because you had come down with the flu. But since it was your birthday, I tried to bake you a cake but accidentally burnt it instead."

Tears filled my eyes and I scrunched my eyebrows together. My voice came out barely above a whisper, "It's really you isn't it?"

He nodded his head and he smiled, "Yeah. It's really me."

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as if there was no tommorow. "Where the hell have you been? Wait no, I saw you die. What the hell Cooper?"

I stepped back a little frustrated. For the past two years I've gone through hell and back twice because everyone thought he died.

"It's a long story, and it's not meant for tonight." His mouth set into a grim line and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No you can't say that it's not meant for tonight! Do you know the hell I've had to endure because you weren't here? Because you were dead? No there's no way you possibly could." Tears filled my eyes again and a single one trailed down. I swatted it away before it could fall past my nose and I rubbed at my eyes to prevent more from falling.

"Fine. I'll tell you, but you have to promise to not tell anyone I'm back okay? No one must know." His voice was deadly serious and I shivered.

I thought about what would happen to me if I didn't tell anyone. I would carry around more guilt then I already did, the chances were my father would most likely continue to beat me, and who knew what else.

But at the same time, something told me that if I whispered a word of this to anyone else that I wouldn't see my brother again for a very long time, or worse, never again.

"Fine. I promise not to tell. Now, where have you been?" I laid down on the grass, looking up at the stars.

Cooper laid down next to me, "That night someone very dangerous was following us. They wanted to get back at me for something I did, and since they now knew about you, you were in danger. So to protect you I had to disappear. I had to die." He took a breath and let it go, "I purposely crashed the bike, not enough to hurt you, but enough that no one would question how I got died and how you walked away without any major injuries. Then I disappeared."

"Who were you running from?" I turned to my side and he did the same.

"Do you know the Loaded Guns?"

I sat straight up, "The Loaded Guns? As in Colton's gang?"

He sat up too, "Wait you know him?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah, he raced a few of my friends over me."

"Wait," he sat up even straighter, "He raced a few of your friends, and you went to whoever the winner was?"

"Well kind of. He wanted me but Logan and Jordan raced so he can't mess with me anymore." Cooper jumped up and paced in the grass.

He ran his hands through his hair, which had grown significantly longer in the two years he'd been gone. "Oh this isn't good." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. "I hate to do this Daytona, but I've got to leave."

"No, no. You can't. I just got you back." I wrapped my arms around him and put my head into his chest. "Please. I can't loose you again."

He took my face in his hands, "You'll see me soon Day. I promise. I just have to take care of some things right now." He placed a kiss on my forehead and left, opening the gate to our backyard and disappearing under the cover of the night.

After several minutes, I walked back upstairs to my room. I rummaged through my closet to find the old picture I had of my brother and I.

When I found it, I climbed into bed, clutching it to my chest, and cried myself to sleep.

That night I didn't have anymore nightmares.

******

The next morning I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking downstairs. It was enough to cause me to swing my legs over the edge of bed and run down the stairs.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty." My mom said while flipping over a piece of bacon.

"Morning Mom." I hugged her around the shoulders and sat down at the table. I watched her as she flipped the bacon and set it on a plate. It wasn't a sight I got to see a lot anymore, she was hardly home for more then a day at a time.

"Hey Mom? When are you leaving next?" I crossed my fingers under the table she would say Monday. If she left Monday, she could see me off for my last homecoming dance.

She flipped another piece of bacon before she answered, "Tomorrow morning. My flight leaves at six."

My heart dropped into my stomach. "Oh." I sighed out and looked down and shoved the feeling of disappointment into a vault in my head.

"I know you have homecoming soon. I tried to get my boss to push back my meetings, but he wouldn't listen." I could hear the disappointment in her voice as well.

"It's fine Mom. I get it, it's all okay really." She left the stove for a minute and gave me a hug before kissing me on the forehead. Taking the plate off the counter she set it infront of me.

"Okay, well eat up, because if I'm correct you haven't picked out a dress yet. Have you?" I smacked my forehead and started to shove bacon strips on to my mouth.

"No I haven't." I said between chewing, "Thank you for reminding me." I swallowed the bacon and gave my mom one more hug before running upstairs.

I ran into my room and grabbed my phone shooting a text to Charlotte and Marissa asking if either of them had bought dresses yet.

A few minutes later I got a text from both of them saying no.

I silently cheered to myself and picked out a random outfit from my closet. I slid black ripped jeans on and added a red crop top and my leather jacket. Brushing my teeth real quick I grabbed my phone and ran down the stairs.

At the end I tripped over my shoes and almost sent Mason flying backwards when I crashed into him. Luckily he caught me before I could crash into him hard enough. "Woah where's the fire?"

"At the homecoming dress shop. Homecoming is in a few days and I haven't bought a dress!" I tightened my ponytail and pushed past him. At the last second I asked him, "Care to going?"

"Nah I'm good. I've got plans today. Thanks for the invite." I nodded my head and rushed out the door.

My motorcycle was in the drive way so I threw my leg over it and backed out of the driveway.

Ten minutes later I stood in front of the store while waiting for Marissa and Charlotte. My phone buzzed and I looked down to see what it was:

Charlotte:

Sorry cant make it 2day. Not feeling good.

So I guess that means I would only be waiting for Marissa. I was pretty sure Marissa went to Riverbend, so I thought it was nice that she agreed to come dress shopping with me even though her home coming was two months away.

"Daytona!" I looked to my left and saw her, newly died, brown hair bouncing up and down as she skipped down the sidewalk. She waved at me and I waved back. Then slowly I stopped waving when I saw who was behind her.

"Jordan?" I looked as the dark hair boy, who currently looked completely unamused at everything, walked in step behind Marissa.

At the sound of his name his eyes shot towards me and widened in surprise. "Oh Daytona. I didn't know you'd be here."

"Yeah I told you I was meeting up with a friend of mine." Marissa shot him a 'duh' look and he rolled his eyes.

"So since it seems you guys have already met I'll keep introductions short. Daytona, this is Jordan my brother. Jordan this is my friend Daytona." My mouth hung open a little and as Jordan walked by, he closed it.

"Wait. You two are related? But you look nothing alike!" I shifted my eyes between Jordans black spiky hair and cold blue eyes and Marissa's brown hair and warm blue ones. "Well, actually you guys kind of do look alike now that I know you are related."

Draping his arms over my shoulders and resting his chin on my head Jordan sighed, "That's what my dear sister forgot to tell you. We're half siblings. Different mom, same dad." He took his arms off of me and opened the door to the store, "Now are we going to go shopping for dresses or are we going to chit chat out here all day." Marissa went in first and I followed behind her.

The store was huge. It had two stories and it went back farther than I could even see, so I figured I'd start here and make my way back.

I looked at the dresses on my left, they were all mostly long so I turned to my right and started looking there.

Ten racks and forty-five minutes later, I was still empty handed. I threw my head back and let out a groan, "I can't find any cute dresses!"

"Hear." Jordans voice came from behind me and I jumped a little, getting startled.

In his hands he held out a black dress with lace around the shoulders and down the arms. A smile found it's way to my face and I took it from him. "Thank you!"

I rushed into an open dressing room and tried on the dress. It fell right near mid-thigh and clung to my body in all the right places.

Automatically I fell in love with it. I did a dance to myself and took it off and walked out of the dressing room.

"So what'd you think?" Jordan was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"I love it so much! I'm buying it right now!" He laughed a little and followed me to the register.

I placed the dress on the counter and pulled my debit card out of my phone. "Will this be it for you ma'am?"

I nodded my head, "Yes ma'am it is."

"Your total is $175. 46." I gave her my debit card and she swiped it and handed it back to me. "Thank you have a nice day."

"Has Marissa got her dress yet?" We walked out of the store and I had to cover my eyes from the blinding sun.

"Yup. We planned on going to an ice cream parlor after we shopped. Care to tag along?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Sure. As long as I get to pick the place. I know a really good parlor."

He agreed to my terms and texted Marissa where we were going then we walked down the street in the direction of Mike's Gelato. It's wasn't exactly ice cream, but close enough. They'd have to settle for fewer calories this once.

"So how's it been with Colton? Has he tried anything lately?" I shook my head no. "Nothing? That's weird."

I turned to face him, "Why's that weird? Shouldn't we be glad that he hasn't tried anything?"

"If it were anyone else, yeah, but this is Colton. He won't let you go that easy. By the way, what did you do to have Colton going after you?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't really know. The other day I remembered that I beat him in a fight once, but I don't think he'd go this far." Plus if Colton was really the leader of the Loaded Guns, then how did he loose to me? I know I'm good, but I'm not good enough to beat a gang leader. That part I still couldn't understand. Unless that really was a different Colton Derry.

"Here we are!" I stopped us infront of Mike's Gelato and sucked in a breath, "Man I love this place." I pushed open the door and it hit the bell, alerting everyone of our entrance.

"Welcome to Mike's Gelato. What's scoopin'?" I checked the big blackboard to see what their flavors were for the day.

Currently they had: Blueberry, strawberry, chocolate, coffee, vanilla, cookies n' cream, pistachio, and pineapple. I ended up ordering a small blueberry and topped it with chopped strawberries.

Jordan ordered a medium pineapple and we sat down near a window so we could watch for Marissa to show up.

"So you beat him in a fight once and now he's seeking vengeance or something?" He ran a hand through his hair and let out a huff. "He may be a bad person, but I don't think something like that would set him off. Plus, he's the leader of a fucking gang, and he let you beat him."

I sat back and crossed my arms, "Excuse me? I'll have you know that I'm an undefeated boxer." I turned my chin up at him and for a brief second the corner of his lip turned up, but in a second it was gone.

"Hey I didn't mean any offense by that. I'm just saying, he's a leader of a gang. No one should be able to beat him." I nodded my head.

"I had the exact same thought earlier actually." I stared at my gelato wondering why he was after me and if he was done.

A hand clamped down on my head and gave it a pat, "Hey, don't sweat it. Logan, and all of us will take care of him if he pulls anything on you. Okay?" He let go of my head and I smiled knowing that I had amazing friends who cared so much for me.

I opened my mouth to say something when a familiar brunette came running down the sidewalk. "'Bout time she showed up." Jordan shook his head as Marissa threw the door open and walked in panting.

"Do you know. How far. I had to run. To get. Here?" Her sentences were chopped up as she tried to catch her breath. "So you guys started eating with out me?"

I looked at Jordan and smirked, "Sorry. We waited for awhile, but the ice cream started melting." I tried to hold back my laughs, but ended up letting them loose. Tears stung my eyes as I bent over the table laughing, "Just kidding. We totally didn't even wait for you."

She rolled her eyes and stomped over to the counter and placed her order.

I looked over at Jordan who was looking at me with a full smile on his face. His blue eyes were crinkled and you could see his perfectly straight and white teeth. "Wait. You can actually smile," I asked.

His right eyebrow jumped up, but his smile still remained intact, "Yup. I can actually smile. Only on rare occasions like this one though."

"What's the occasion?"

"This is the first time you've laughed in awhile isn't it?"

My stomach flipped and the smile slipped off my face when he spoke, and only because it was true. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. In fact I couldn't remember the last time I actually laughed instead of just giggling.

When I didn't respond Jordan took my silence as a yes. "You know, you have that type of happiness that just radiates. When you smile, it causes other people to smile too, and when you laugh, others hearts warm."

I didn't know what to make of his comment but I nodded my head. "So what've you been up too Daytona? I haven't seen you in awhile." Marissa sat down next to her brother across from me.

"Nothing much honestly. Just causing havoc at home, the usual." Marissa nodded her head and pushed a strand of long brown hair behind her ear.

"Cool cool. Well if you ever have any free time, let me know. I'm practically always free."

Jordan snorted, "Yeah because you don't do anything around the house. Even mum and dad get on your case. And they're the most relaxed people on the planet."

"I do do stuff!" Marissa slapped his shoulder and he smirked.

"You said 'do do'." I laughed at their sibling quarrel and remembered the last time Cooper and I had argued like that.

Usually the memory would've made me sad, but I guess knowing he wasn't dead made it all that much easier for me to deal with his "death".

"I can't believe I'm related to you. You are so immature!" Marissa rolled her eyes as she put the last spoonful of gelato into her mouth.

"You're so immature." Jordan and Marissa continued to mock each other when my phone rang in my pocket.

I pulled it out and checked the caller ID.

"Hey guys I'll be back. I need to take this call." I stepped outside and answered the phone.

"Hey what's up?" I sat on one of the benches in front of the store.

"Are you busy?" Logan asked on the other end.

"Not really. I'm out with Jordan and Marissa right now though, but we were just getting ready to leave."

His end was silent for a second longer than normal, "You're with Jordan?"

"And Marissa yes. We went homecoming dress shopping and you should see the dress Jordan picked out for me."

"So you and Jordan go shopping together now huh? Is he taking you to homecoming as well?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes even though I knew he couldn't see me. "Don't be ridiculous Logan. He just happened to pick out a dress and I had already spent over half a hour looking for one so I bought it. And no, I'm still going to homecoming with you."

"As long as you know that you're going with me that's all I care about." I rolled my eyes again but I also smiled. "Ill be at your house in ten minutes." He hung up before I could even let him know that I was a good five minute walk from my bike, and a ten minute drive from my house. But something told me even if I let him know that, he wouldn't have cared.

I opened the door and stood at the end of the table. "Sorry to run, but I've got to head on home."

"Oh it's not a problem Daytona. Jordan's and my arguing was only going to get worse from here on out anyway." I gave a hug goodbye to Marissa and Jordan. We walked out of the shop and headed our separate ways.

Okay so I'm going to keep this A/N real short bc I'm super tired rn.

This is what her dress looks like:

Also I apologize for any spelling errors, grammatical errors, or typos. I read over it, but sometimes it easy to miss.

On that note, if you see any, please let me know.

I hope you all have a good day!

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Love you all! 😘❤

~May