Eventually the two boys made their way to the Middle - it had been so long that it took a few wrong turns to jog their memories. They found Lily, sitting on the dusty, leafy ground with her up-do undone. Her brown hair looked almost auburn in the dying light and it fell down her back in dark waves.

When she turned her breath caught in her throat as she recognised the young man who'd arrived with Jacob. "Um. Hi?"

"Hi. I'm Dylan Evans. I kinda live here."

"Ah," Lily replied, pretending not to react to how much more attractive he'd gotten. She stood up, realising she was sitting cross-legged in front of Dylan Evans, probably flashing him a glimpse of her underwear.

Lily was not the only one who recognised the other. Dylan had not been able to get another girl into his head since that fateful day, the day of the Incident. However, he still pretended that he didn't remember her, he had a reputation to keep up.

"So, I think the party's almost over," Jacob said, subtly implying that they should go back inside.

"Shoot. My mom's going to kill me."

"Why?"

"My dress. Duh. It's messed up and... Oh God, no," Lily said, turning around and indicating the dusty back of her ruined dress, "Shoot. It is. It's torn. Damn, I must have ripped it on one of these stupid branches."

"It's just a bit of dust. It's nothing, you can just shake it off. The rip? Not so much."

"She's still going to kill me. It's designer," Lily whined. The thought that she was doing this in front of her number one crush, the boy she'd liked for three years straight, seemingly never occurring to her.

She started to plod back to the house, the two other boys following closely behind.

---/|\---

"Lily, darling, what did you do to your dress?" Her mom asked, her tone suggested she was a caring mother but her glare was icy.

"Jacob and I went outside for a bit of fresh air but I tripped over some stupid stone gargoyle."

"You didn't break anything, did you? That guitar of yours cost us a fortune, we'd have to-"

"Take it back to the shop. I know. But actually I didn't break anything. Thanks for being so concerned about me and my wellbeing," Lily interrupted, taking off her jacket and throwing it on the arm of the couch. "Is there any milk in the fridge?" She asked, drifting over to the kitchen on instinct.

"No dear. Now give me that dress, I'll see what I can do."

"One sec, Mom. I'm not stripping in front of Dad and Nate with the drapes open," She slammed the fridge door shut, stormed to her room and slammed that door shut as well.

Yanking off the green dress, Lily sighed and shoved on a baggy t-shirt and a pair of loose pants. She dived onto her bed just as the realisation hit her; she'd had a normal conversation with her dream boyfriend. Dylan was everything a girl could ask for; handsome, charming, loveable, sexy too. And she hadn't even stammered over any words, granted, she hadn't said much but still.

Reaching blindly for her bedside table, Lily tried to locate her phone, knocking over a pile of cash and plectrums and a bottle of water (about a month old) in the process.

Eighteen texts and three missed calls greeted her as she turned her phone screen on.

-You have missed calls from Jazz, Eleanor and Richard.
-You have text messages from Jazz, Eleanor and Richard.

Sighing heavily again, Lily scrolled through the messages. All were asking where she was on their notorious movie night. Jazz's caps lock was 'stuck' on (as usual) for all fifteen of her texts and the swearing grew until the text became so profane that all the words should've been censored. Eleanor's text was long-winded and tedious, so much so that Lily didn't bother reading the whole thing, she just didn't have the energy. The two texts from Richard were short and to the point, it made sense as he never wasted any time.

Lily signed on to the Whatsapp group chat and fired a message to her three closest friends.

Sorry guys. Mom had a big work do. I had to go. Met Dylan Evans properly this time though.

Replies were pinging almost immediately.

Jazz - You lucky bitch.
Eleanor - Well, at least you had a good reason. Jazz left as soon as we figured you weren't coming.
Richard - OMG! What was he like? Dreamy, I bet. Those eyes... That jawline...

For the third time in five minutes Lily sighed. She exited the chat and rolled over in bed.

"Lily? I need that dress."

"Come in and get it, Mom." After a few seconds the door opened about an inch.

"Lily? Are you decent?" Nate asked through the crack. Typical, Lily thought, Mom gets him to do her dirty work.

"Yeah, I'm decent," she waved her brother in for no reason.

The dress was crumpled and on the floor next to Lily's guitar. He bent down to pick it up, throwing a pack of make-up wipes onto Lily's back he did so.

"Thanks Nate," she said as he left the room. She rolled over and swiped as much of the heavy make-up as she could from her tired brown eyes.

The phone pinged non-stop throughout the night. Lily had to turn it off for a full night's sleep.

---/|\---

Lily's alarm slowly got louder and louder until it finally pierced through her dreams. She rubbed her eyes fiercely.

"Morning sleepy head."

"Wha?" Lily replied. She noticed her father sitting on the edge of her bed, a small glass of orange juice in hand. His eyelids drooped and he had dark circles under his deep brown eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in years. "What's wrong? Daddy? What's wrong?" She said, sitting up straight and enveloping her dad in a warm embrace, as if the roles were reversed.

Johnathon's eyes watered and he sobbed into his daughter's shoulder.

"Your mother... She's-She's leaving me," his warm British voice was racked with sadness and guilt.

"Well, you've always agreed with what I've always said. Your wife can be a female dog," Lily attempted and a small chuckle and a weak smile was produced.

"How will I ever get by without you?" His hand ruffled her already tangled hair.

"You won't have to. I'm staying with you, right?" A larger smile shone through his tears.

"Right. Want a lift to school?" He said, changing the subject and wiping away tears. Lily nodded and shooed him out of the room so that she could get changed.

She swore to herself not to cry about this until she was out of that car. She needed to keep it together for the both of them. To stay strong for the both of them.

After a quick shower and another, more thorough wiping of her face, Lily threw on a pair of jeans and a light pink polo tee. She pulled one half of her hair into a braid over the loose, free-flowing half.

She stole a piece of toast off Nate's plate, ignoring his protests, and a bottle of water as she dashed out to her dad's cute little Hyundai Hatchback. She swiftly picked up her school bag on her way out of the door.

Lily jumped into the passenger seat, slammed the door behind her and bit down on her (or rather, Nate's) toast. Her dad and she made perfectly normal conversation and managed to avoid the subject of her mom entirely.

However, she could feel a bubble rising up in her chest, a bubble that would make her choke up, burst into tears and vomit all over the inside of the Hatchback.

The car slowed and her father put it into idle again.

"Have a great day at school," he said giving her a quick peck on the cheek. She jumped out of the car and walked through the entrance of the school.

--/|\---

Lily reached her locker to find Jazz and Richard already waiting for her.

"What the hell, Lily? You can't just drop a bombshell like that and then expect to be able to walk away!"

"Oh. Yeah. 'Guys, I met Dylan Evans, the most handsome guy ever. TTYL.' That's just not fair. I want to know. Was he-"

"That's enough, guys. Leave her alone. Her mom just told mine." Of course Eleanor knew already, their moms were best friends. Eleanor's arm wrapped around Lily's shoulders.

"Wait. What's happening? What's happened?" Jazz said, the southern twang to her voice calming Lily down a little.

"My mom and dad... They're getting a divorce." Soon enough all three of the students were crowded around Lily in a large group hug. Tears streaked down her face as Richard mumbled encouraging words to her under his breath.

"You'll get through this. I know how you feel. You're strong, your dad's strong, Nate's strong. The three of you can get through this if you just stick together..." And so forth. Until a familiar voice broke through their bubble, softly, but unwanted nonetheless,

"Lily? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Sure. I'll be fine," she said wiping away tears and drying her eyes.. "See you in Math, Jacob."