Chapter 2

Brett stood in front of the door. He looked back down at his phone, and read the text again.

Hey, my mom left for the day, wanna come over?

He had swiftly replied, showing his happiness for this opportunity.

Yes, of course I do! I'll be over soon! <3

Not the most boyish way to respond, but he knew she'd probably be happy. As he stood in front of the door, he waited, until someone opened it. Standing there was none other than Natalie's mother, Tessa.

"Tessa?"

"Brett, call me Mrs. Anderson, I'm married now."

"Right, Mrs. Anderson. Uh, I thought you left?"

"Oh, you got the text, I see. No, I merely invited you over because I want to speak to you about Natalie."

"Is she alright?"

"Yes and no. I promise not to blame you for anything right now, alright?"

"Fine." Brett said as he followed her inside.

Mrs. Anderson sat in the couch, were her ex husband and Natalie sat. When Natalie noticed Brett, she glared at her mother, who shrugged innocently.

"Now," Peter, Natalie's father said. "Natalie, what exactly were you thinking?"

"Well, whoever it was chucked a rock at my head, almost hitting it, so I chucked the rock right back."

"And," Mrs. Anderson said. "You caused property damage. Quite a lot of it, actually."

Natalie scoffed, but said nothing. Mrs. Anderson nodded. "Now, your punishment,"

"Punishment!" Natalie exclaimed, her voice high and squeaking towards the end.

"Yes, punishment. Can't go off free, you know."

Natalie sighed. Peter shook his head. "Tess, that punishment is too much! She was the one who was attacked! Whoever threw it first should-"

"I didn't make it, the police did."

Peter paused. "Right, of course they did."

"What's the punishment?" Brett asked, concerned for Natalie.

"She has to fix up the apartment building."

Natalie's mouth dropped. "Excuse me?"

"Yes, it'll be tough, but you have to do it otherwise you'll go to jail sweetie."

Natalie's face was showing clear signs she was furious. "Don't call me sweetie!" Natalie cried as she got up and stormed off to her room. Brett sighed no went to follow her.

When he got to the door he softly knocked and called to her, asking if he could come in. When he heard a yes, he opened the door and found her lying on her bed, tears streaming down her face.

Brett sighed and walked over to her. "I don't get why I'm the one being punished. I mean, I was the victim, right?"

Brett rubbed her back. "They don't have a lot of proof to convict someone else, I'm sorry. Do you know who threw the rock at you?"

Natalie sighed and shook her head. "I don't know who did. If I did, I'd have said or described them."

"Right, of course you would've." Brett said. "Hey, look on the bright side! You'll do something no one else has done before, so you can feel more unique than you already are!"

Natalie smiled a little smile. "Yes, that is true, but I still am uncertain about it all, that's all."

Brett sighed and kissed her forehead. She smiled, so Brett kissed her cheek, and he kept kissing her face until she got stuck in a kiss attack.

Brandon sat in the second story, looking out the window. He sighed as the memory cam flashing back in his mind.

He'd been guarding with Darrick when he noticed a girl watching the house. He'd been upset, and became fearful. He'd grabbed a rock and chucked it towards her, though his old memory buried deep inside him had willed his arm to aim more towards her head, and he'd almost killed her. He felt like a monster, almost killing her. She looked nice and pretty, and he knew that she probably had a boyfriend and a family that would kill him if they knew he'd tried to hurt her.

Brandon then noticed a cop car pull up. He stood up, his blood freezing in his veins. Had they come to find him?

But, Brandon noticed the same girl he'd chucked the rock at get out as well, and she looked annoyed. A truck pulled up behind them, and it was filled with tons of supplies for building and fixing houses. Some loaders came out of the truck and started dropping things off in the front yard. It looked like lumber and other construction materials.

Brandon stood up and rounded up the others, explaining that they had to go. Now.