Brigid was waiting for Addison outside on the driveway the next morning just most mornings. Her slightly battered but still somehow well-loved car sat happily in the driveway behind Mark's ridiculously ostentatious convertible. Addison would have been perfectly happy learning how to drive and getting a car. Apparently, Eric was convinced that this would just be like throwing a red rag at a bull and Addison would end up driving it off the nearest cliff or into the local lake. It was nice to know that Eric really thought she was the dramatic one in the family when that title could, and should, have been given to Aaron.

"Morning" Brigid called through her open window as Addison walked down the driveway. She held up a paper bag that Addison knew contained one sesame bagel with cream cheese, Brigid's favourite, and one honey wheat and oat bagel with peanut butter which was Addison's favourite. She'd eat in English because she could never really handle food early in the morning thanks to her meds.

"Thanks" Addison said sliding into the passenger seat and taking the bag from Brigid. Brigid gave her a warm smile and nodded to the coffee cups in her car's cup holders. One would be a nutmeg latte, Brigid's, and the other would be a black coffee with a sprinkle of cinnamon, Addison's. The bagels and the coffees were part of their routine in the morning and had been since Brigid had learned to drive.

"You're welcome" Brigid said with a smile before she launched into a story about how her dad was being a pain in the ass. "Dad mentioned trying to get me a job in marketing. Next thing Dad will be telling me that I don't even need to go to college because I have a ready-made job waiting for me at the business. It's total bullshit." Brigid said with an irate look in her eyes. "You have no idea how envious I am that you will never have this problem."

Addison sipped her coffee then snorted loudly. "Yeah, that's because my father knows that he even suggests me working for him, I'd tell him exactly where to go. It didn't work with either Mark or Aaron and it certainly won't work with me." She pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah well, you know what my dad is like." Brigid said stopping at a red light and sipping her coffee.

"Yeah, he's...he's..." Addison said trying to find a word to describe Brigid's father that wasn't along the lines of dickhead or asshole.

"He's a bit of a douchebag." Brigid said. "You can say it."

"I'd rather not, the last time I called your dad a douchebag he heard me and looked at me like I was evil for nearly a month. It's like he has a beacon for when I'm rude about him." Addison said.

Brigid chuckled and shook her head as the light changed. "I really wouldn't put that past him to be honest." She said as she continued to drive. "So, did you do the English work due in?" Brigid asked as they neared school.

"We had work due in?" Addison asked with a smirk.

Brigid sighed loudly "You are a delinquent and if you even pass you're A Levels, I'll be shocked." Addison shot her a smirking grin to which Brigid rolled her eyes at. "Are you even going to try and pass English?"

"I could always copy your coursework." Addison pointed out.

"You're not copying my coursework." Brigid said even though they both knew that Addison would end up borrowing Brigid's work.

"Remind me again, what was the work due in?"

"A thousand words on chapter ten and chapter eleven." Brigid said while Addison pulled out a notebook. "What are you doing?"

"Writing it. Shouldn't take me long." Addison said with a shrug. She'd read the book they were studying more times than she could count. Brigid looked at her with awe.

"It pains me how freakishly smart you are when you out your mind to it." She said. "Still not remotely interested in applying anywhere?" She added.

"Can we please not talk about university right now? It's too early for you to guilt trip me." Addison said while she tried to frantically write in a moving car.

"Ok, we'll save it for later. Drink your coffee or you'll be useless all day."

"Thanks mother." Addison said. "Warn me if we're going over a speed bump. Miller will know I've written this just now if it's wonky."

"You really wouldn't last five minutes without me." Brigid mused. Addison had to nod in agreement because Brigid really was the one person she could always rely on.

---

English went without any detention slips being given out. Mainly because Addison was waiting for her coffee to kick in and was more focused on finishing her drawing from the night before to even look up from her sketch pad. Ms Miller was also waiting for her caffeine boost and merely assigned them a chapter of their English textbook to read instead of actually doing any teaching. She glanced over Addison's haphazardly written essay and gave her a rare warm smile.

"If this is what you can do first thing this morning then maybe you might just pass your exam." Ms Miller said with a knowing look.

The rest of her morning lessons were pretty much the same; Addison pretty just went through the motions with her work which suited her just fine. After lunch, Addison waved Brigid goodbye and walked quickly into the art studio. Walking over to her normal, and thankfully always empty, table Addison sat down and began pulling out her sketch pad and drawing supplies from her bag. Art was one of the only classes Addison would never skip; after all, it was one of the only classes, if not the only class, that she didn't actively dislike and easily excelled in. Once all her art supplies were out of her bag, Addison pulled out her iPod and placed the earphones into her ears to drown out the rest of the students in the art room. It usually worked very well. Usually.

After several minutes, Addison became aware of someone standing almost directly behind her. She pulled out an earphone to tell whoever it was to go away.

"Hey, Addison. Is this seat taken?"

Addison looked up and wasn't that surprised to see that it was Dylan Willis. After all who would wear boots like that apart from Dylan? Like the day before Dylan was wearing the same worn leather jacket. Addison couldn't help but think about how interesting it would be to sketch that jacket purely because of the different textures and the subtle change of colours dappled across the worn brown material. She swiftly cursed herself inwardly, of all the things to think about she was thinking of Dylan Willis's jacket?

"No, it's not." Addison said with a shrug. Dylan gave her a slight smirk before pulling off the damn leather jacket, a backpack and placing them in front of him on the desk as he sat down next to Addison.

While Addison was busy making sure she had all of her supplies she assumed that Dylan would just sit there and bum about throughout the whole class. She was surprised when she realised that Dylan was pulling out a thick of sketch pad of his own along with a good supply of drawing pencils. Addison had to raise an eyebrow in surprise because Dylan Willis did not look like the type of person who would be into art.

Then again, Addison knew nothing about Dylan Willis apart from the fact that he smoked and had a slight attitude. Oh and that he apparently was a fan of Led Zeppelin according to the faded t-shirt he was wearing because Dylan didn't seem like the type of person to be one those hacks who wore a band t-shirt but couldn't even name one of their songs.

"What are we supposed to be working on?" Dylan asked Addison after a few minutes of silence. Addison paused the song she had been listening to and nodded down at her sketch pad that she had been working on.

"You might have known if you came to the class yesterday" Addison shot back not actually caring if she sounded rude. The small act of being nice to Dylan by saying that he could sit next to Addison was surely going to bite her in the ass. Now her table was no longer empty. She wouldn't be able to cover the table with her random crap now.

"Actually, I was in the head of sixth form's office yesterday so I couldn't make it." Dylan said casually as if Addison hadn't just snapped at him. "So what are we supposed to be working on?" Dylan asked again just as casually.

"We're working on our portfolios." Addison said "We have to hand them in for an evaluation at the end of the year." She then explained by nodding down at her own sketch pad, which was full of sketches she had been working on over the past several weeks. "It doesn't have to have a theme, it can be anything. We just have to show our own personal style."

"Huh, that actually sounds cool" Dylan said with a small smile in Addison's direction. "Any kind of medium?"

"Yeah. Mine is a mix of pencil drawings, coloured sketches and monoprint." Addison said. "You can go for anything as long as it's not digital." She added.

"Thanks." Dylan said. The smile still on his lips. Addison glanced at them for only a fraction of a second before looking away. She didn't want Dylan to think she was staring.

As Dylan moved to open up his sketch pad and retrieve his drawing materials, the slight smell of cigarette smoke told Addison why Dylan was almost late of the class. She silently cursed Dylan, as the smell of the cigarettes made her want one of her own from the crumpled up packet at the bottom of her tattered messenger bag. Brigid had been on at her for months to quit as she hated the habit with a passion.

Reaching into her bag, Addison pulled out not the crumpled packet of cigarettes but a bottle of fully caffeinated coke. She would have preferred coffee, preferably without sugar and milk as that was how she had started drinking it over the past few years, but the school only sold it at lunch. It was also fairly disgusting and nothing like the coffee Brigid got her each morning. After the lack of sleep Addison had gotten the night before thanks to her new medication, she needed all the caffeine she could get. Even it was just from a bottle of coke.

While she had been busying herself with drinking and rummaging through her bag, Addison had failed to notice Dylan working intensely on a sketch in the sketchpad in front of him. Feeling like she needed to get back to her own work, Addison placed the bottle back into her bag and tried to figure out why the sketch she'd done the day before was not working. Just like the day before, she couldn't figure out what it was that was wrong with the sketch and ended up opening her other sketch pad, which was more of a doodle pad than anything.

The concentration on Dylan's face was fascinating and it was that look that caused Addison to look away from her own sketch and down towards Dylan's sketch pad. When she saw what Dylan was working on, she had to stop and look in slight awe. The sketch was a beautifully realistic pair of hands holding a steaming mug. By the look of the slender wrist and neat looking fingernails, the hands belonged to a woman. A wedding band was on her ring finger and the amount of detail put into the ring itself made Addison thoroughly envious because the sketch truly was very good and highly detailed.

Addison watched with captivation as Dylan added a slight amount of shading to the mug and the concentration in his face reminded Addison of the zone in her own head that she went to when sketching. Dylan's brow was furrowed and he even began to chew on his lip as he squinted his eyes clearly looking for an imperfection even though there wasn't one, the sketch was perfect.

Pulling her eyes away from both Dylan and the sketch, Addison returned to her sketch of a bird in flight after she changed the song playing in her ears. Thank God her art teacher, a twenty-something-year-old named Ian, was relaxed enough to never care that his students spent most their time during class eating food, drinking coffee or listening to music. As long as they handed in a pad full of gradable sketches at the end of every term Ian wasn't remotely interested in what they did during class as long as it wasn't illegal or 'bloody lame'. This suited Addison just fine because it meant she could sit at the back of the studio, listen to music and just draw whatever the hell she felt like for an hour and a half without being interrupted by the idiots around her.

"So, no detentions tonight?" Dylan asked after nearly half an hour of silence. Addison paused the track that had been playing and glanced over at Dylan. "You were almost silent in English this morning...after yesterday I assumed that show was normal" Dylan added in a way of explanation.

"Well, it's still only the afternoon." Addison said shrugging. Dylan raised an eyebrow in Addison's direction and his eyes were so full of questions that instead of looking away, Addison stared Dylan Willis down. Dylan did not look away, which was a surprise as most people normally went scuttling if Addison glared at them. "Apparently my presence is required tonight at a family dinner so no detention for me." Addison explained. She looked away once she realised what she had said. As she carefully added definition to one of the bird's wings of her sketch, she could tell that Dylan was watching her. Addison had already made the mistake of looking at Dylan for too long. Eye contact normally meant that the other person could see too much of you because weren't eyes the window to the soul or some spiritual crap like that?

"You know." Dylan started to say and Addison snuck a quick glance across to him. "You make it sound like detention would be more fun than a dinner with your family." Dylan said, a playful smirk creeping across his lips.

"When my brothers are involved, detention is always the better option." Addison admitted surprising herself because no one ever heard about her family issues apart from Brigid. Addison had to admit that the thought of being sat at a dinner table with not just Eric but Eric, Mark and Aaron made her wish that there was some way to get out existing for just an evening. Eric and Mark being in the same place for longer than a few minutes was never a good thing. It always seemed to end in one of them saying something, normally very loudly, that they really should not say. Part of Addison found it pathetic that a twenty-seven-year-old and a twenty-four-year-old could act so childish at the same time as acting so resentful to one another. The pair of them made Addison, at eighteen, and Aaron, at twenty, seem like they were the mature siblings. Aaron shouldn't ever be referred to as the mature sibling in any possible situation.

"I'm guessing they're eventful dinners." Dylan said.

"Yes, the fire and the police departments would agree with you on that one." Addison muttered under her breath. Dylan looked at her like he was trying to gauge if Addison was joking or not. When he saw that she wasn't, Dylan gave her a sympathetic smile.

"That sounds like the kind of dinners my family would have if we didn't have our Mom there to rule over us with her iron fists." Dylan said.

"Iron fists, really?" Addison asked smirking slightly because Dylan Willis did not look like the type of person who was ruled over by anyone, especially a parent.

"Nah, she's a pussycat really but she was pretty badass in her youth if the stories are I've been told were true." Dylan said leaning back in his chair and chuckling slightly before he went back to his sketch. "If it weren't for Grandma Willis ruling over with her iron fist then my Mom would have been a real tearaway apparently." Dylan added. There was still admiration in his voice. Dylan Willis was clearly a mama's boy.

"It's good." Addison nodding towards Dylan's drawing. She was desperate for the conversation to steer away from the talk of mothers. It wasn't that she was bitter, she just found it hard hearing people talk about their parents with such love.

"Huh?" Dylan asked looking back to Addison.

"The drawing, I mean you're drawing...the drawing is really good."

"Oh...thanks..." Dylan said as his face went from lightly tanned to a violent red blush. Clearly, Dylan was someone who didn't really notice their talent. "You like art too I guess...I mean you were sketching yesterday..." Dylan added still blushing.

"In English?" Addison asked raising an eyebrow because she didn't actually think anyone ever noticed her in English apart from Brigid or Ms Miller and the latter was only because Addison was sarcastic to her most of the time. "Yeah...I guess I was." Addison said after a moment.

She was about to say something about Dylan's style, drawing style that was, when her phone blared loudly. Led Zeppelin's Ramble On filled up the room for several seconds until Addison looked at the screen and, after seeing it was Aaron, canceled the call. She sent Aaron a quick text explaining that she was in class and would ring him back later before shooting an apologetic look over towards Ian. He just gave Addison a nonchalant shrug. A phone ringing in his class was one of the less exciting or rebellious things to have happened.

"So...Zeppelin?" Dylan asked nodding down at Addison phone.

"Huh?" Addison said as she tried to think why on earth Aaron would be calling her in the middle of the day unless he'd decided to go on a random 'adventure' and had ended up on the ferry to France...again.

Then again Addison had seen him that morning and Aaron was under house arrest until next week because of his last spur of the moment adventure. Maybe he'd attempted to do his own laundry and flooded the kitchen...again. Addison could hardly say anything because she couldn't remember the last time she'd even washed a single sock, she just threw her clothes into the laundry hamper and hoped that Eric wouldn't rummage through her pockets on his quest to prove Addison was a delinquent. The time Eric had found several condoms in Addison's back pocket had been amusing for everyone but Eric. Mark had even given Addison a clap on the back and made several jokes about how she was becoming a lady.

"Your ringtone, it's Led Zeppelin." Dylan said.

"Oh yeah...yeah my brother Mark always used to play their stuff." Addison said shrugging but Dylan looked seemingly impressed by it. Addison gave him a small nod and swiftly returned to her sketching. The look as on Dylan's face would have easily distracted her if Addison carried on looking at him.

They stayed sitting in near silence for the rest of the class which didn't actually seem as awkward as Addison would have assumed it would be. Dylan's sketch of the pair of hands flourished until Addison couldn't see a single fault with it; Dylan was talented and that was plain to see. It was surprising to Addison, seeing as Dylan looked like the last person to be such a talented artist. Then again Addison knew from her own experience that appearances were always deceptive, she knew nothing about Dylan so, therefore, she had no real reason to assume that Dylan wouldn't be talented. Part of her was annoyed that she actually wanted to know more about Dylan Willis.

That was never really a good sign.