"Coffee?"

"Uh, thanks, but no."

"Are you sure? We've got a long night ahead of us" Caitlyn said, holding out the cup to me once more.

I took it and placed it on the desk, away from the stack of papers I was writing on. I had no intention of actually drinking it, who knows what she may have put in it.

She eyed the cup and gave me a small smile. I raised my brow in question.

"What?" she asked innocently.

I shook my head and picked up my pen. She was right, we did have a long night ahead of us. Our English project was due the next day and we were only just beginning, thanks in no small part to Caitlyn's lack of interest whenever I reminded her.

By the time we had found the last poem and written its summary, I had a pounding headache. It may or may not have been brought on by the constant whining of a certain brown haired cheerleader who shall remain unnamed.

"Well, I'm off to bed," Caitlyn said as she opened the study door.

I nodded and after placing the last page in the folder, I followed her.

"Night, Camille," she said, opening her bedroom door.

"Night," I replied, stepping into mine.

***

"You look like crap," Casey teased, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Thanks," I said, rolling my eyes. "It's my new look. Like it?"

"Love it," she gushed.

I laughed and tugged at her arm. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"It's a pep rally, Camille. The game won't start until after and besides, these things never start on time."

"A pep rally that you should be a part of," I said. "What's up with that?"

She shrugged and led the way to our seats in the bleachers. Madison was already there, saving them for us. I hardly saw Sophie since the night of the party and she wasn't at school all day.

I scanned the basketball court and located Carter sitting with the jocks a few rows below us. He seemed to be back to his usual self and I rolled my eyes when I saw Logan nudge him and point to a girl sitting on the other side of the court where the opposing team was.

It was their first game of the season and my first high school game ever. So, I was way more excited than they were.

"Have you guys heard from Sophie?" I asked. She would've shared my excitement and made watching the game even more fun.

"Yeah, she should be here on Monday," Madison answered. "Mother nature paid her a visit, so she's probably curled up in bed with a pint of ice cream."

"She usually takes a sick day every month to deal with 'that pesky little brat' as she calls it," Casey added.

I nodded and turned my attention to the front when the cheerleaders started their routine.

Casey stiffened beside me and I took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She probably wasn't ready to talk about what was bothering her but I had a feeling that it had something to do with whatever had soured her mood at the mall and would probably explain why she wasn't down there with the others.

She poked me and leaned in closer, "We're about to have company," she whispered.

I gave her a confused look. Was Sophie joining us after all?

She pointed to the row below us. I looked down just in time to see Aiden smile at me before coming toward our row.

"Where's he going to sit?" I wondered aloud.

That question was answered when the guy sitting next to Madison stood and gave Aiden his seat. He then made his way to the group Aiden had just left and sat with them.

Casey nudged me and I ignored her. She was under the impression that there was a spark between Aiden and I, which I denied, of course.

While his smile might be a work of art, I knew boys like Aiden were not my type. He was so out of my league that I felt guilty for even thinking about him. Girls like me didn't end up with boys like him. Maybe in someone else's fairytale, but not in mine, and I'd do well to remember that.

After the game (which the team won by the way), I was standing with Casey waiting on the guys to congratulate them when Caitlyn came up to us.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked Casey, who reluctantly followed her to the school's parking lot.

I'm not gonna lie, I was more than a little curious to know what was going on and a bit annoyed that I'd been left out of the loop.

Loud noise emanating from the direction of the parking lot caught my attention. I walked toward the scene that was currently unfolding but stayed out of sight when I saw another girl who I didn't recognize, arguing with Casey. Caitlyn was standing with her arms crossed, her expression mirroring Casey's, and neither of them looked pleased.

"And the plot thickens," I mumbled.

A guy who I think I recognized from the swim team went up to the trio and pulled Casey away. She shrugged him off and stormed over to where I was standing, trying but failing to be invisible.

"Oh crap," I muttered. Would she think that I was spying on her? Well you were, kind of, my subconscious reminded me.

"We're leaving," she said, not bothering to stop.

"Isn't your car parked that way?" I asked, pointing behind me.

When she didn't respond I followed her but was sure to keep a little space between us.

I followed her back inside but stayed at the door while she went to talk to Carter. She pushed past the kids surrounding the team and pulled him away. I don't know what she said to him but pretty soon he too looked as angry as she did.

Logan joined them and said something, and then they all looked at me.

"What?" I mouthed.

Logan came over to me and said that he was taking me home.

"Why?"

"Because Carter asked me to," he said and motioned for me to follow him.

The drive home felt longer than usual, I reached over and turned on the radio and let the music fill the silence that had followed us from school.

When Logan turned onto my street, I unbuckled the seat belt. He parked the car and turned the engine off but didn't say anything so we just sat there listening to the noise of the city. I couldn't help but think about how different the night was here. Back home, it was always so quiet, sometimes I thought I'd go insane without having some sort of music playing in the background. But here car horns honked, doors were slammed, the screeching brakes of vehicles driving too fast, and sirens greeted me.

Logan cleared his throat and I glanced at him. He gave me a small smile and I rolled my eyes. "Let's not do the whole awkward thing" I told him.

He cracked a smile and draped his arm over my shoulder, pulling me into him.

"You don't have to tell me what's going on if you don't want to" I assured him.

"It's not my story to tell, cupcake."

"Okay," I said with a small shrug.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and saw Caitlyn's name. "Why are you calling me?" I asked.

"Logan's phone is off," she said breathlessly. "You guys need to come back... Now!" she added with a little more urgency.

Logan poked me. "What's up?"

"That was Caitlyn," I told him. "We need to go back."

Back at the school, Caitlyn was waiting, furiously pacing the almost empty parking lot. She stopped pacing when she saw the car pull in.

"What's going on?" Logan asked her, slamming his door shut.

They made a dash for the entrance and I followed behind, only catching bits and pieces of what she was saying.

She led us down the deserted hallway and into the gym. The first thing I saw when I entered was swim team guy slumped on one side, clutching a bloodied shirt to his nose which I assumed was broken. The girl that was arguing with Casey earlier was sitting next to him, sniffing softly. On the other side, Carter stood with his arms folded while Casey yelled into her phone.

"What the hell happened?" I asked no one in particular.

"Ask him," swim team guy grumbled, pointing at Carter.

I took a cautious step toward him. "Carter?" I said softly. "What happened?"

Before he could reply, someone opened the door and I turned to see who it was. "Aiden?" I asked, surprised to see him there. Where did he fit into all of this?

"Hey, Camille," he said with a nod in my direction. He walked over to swim team guy and helped him to his feet before coming over to us.

Carter ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

"You guys seriously need to sort your shit out," Aiden said looking between Carter and the others. "You do realize how close you came to having us all suspended, don't you?"

I glanced at Logan since we were in the same boat, neither of us having had anything to do with whatever Aiden was talking about. When he met my gaze he tried to smile but it didn't come out quite right, so he just shrugged.

"It wasn't even my fault," swim team guy said angrily.

"Well it sure as hell wasn't mine!" Carter snapped.

"I don't care," Aiden said, crossing his arms. "But we need to have an explanation by Monday for Principal Harp and I'm guessing that you four aren't planning on telling the truth, right?"

"I'm just gonna make a guess here that "you four" means swim team guy, mystery girl, Carter and either Casey or Caitlyn," I said slowly.

"You're a genius, Camille," Caitlyn stated in mock astonishment. "By the way, he's Blake and that's Savannah," she said pointing at swim team guy and the girl who was now gripping his arm.

"Whatever. Is someone going to tell me what's going on here?" I asked, raising my voice slightly.

"Would you be quiet?!" Caitlyn hissed. "We're already in enough trouble as it is without your loud mouth getting us in even more. We're not even supposed to be in here!"

I glared at her and she crossed her arms.

"Now is not the time and this is not the place for this conversation," Casey said, speaking for the first time. "Let's just go home and on Monday we'll regroup and come up with a believable lie."

The others just nodded or shrugged while I sulked. I still had no clue what happened. Well I had one clue but it wasn't enough and I didn't get why I had to tag along if no one was going to tell me.

I could've been sleeping or at least trying to fall asleep.

For some reason, the thought depressed me.

We filed out of the gym and into the parking lot, where everyone got into their respective cars.

I couldn't help noticing the hurt look on Carter's face when Savannah got into Blake's car or the sad smile that Casey gave him as she got into hers.

Well, this is an interesting development.