"Let me get this straight, Jay, you're going to a party?!"

Jay sighs and groans, getting really fed up with the same damn question being asked to him for the fifteenth time in these last two minutes of the call that he had attempted to make short and snappy for his currently 'absent and very busy parents'. Yeah, it really didn't seem like that right now.

"Yes, mom. I am." Jay mumbles back, trying to swallow his bitter tone to the blonde on the other side of the phone. He picks up the piece of paper which was used as an invitation to this said party and flips it around to see the information once again.

Must's:
-Must be 16 or older
-Has to be able to get there and back themselves - no rides by me.
-No silly string
-Have fun!
-Don't stare at my girl

Dress code:
-Girls HAVE to wear dresses and/or skirts, no exceptions.
-Long hair is preferred to be up, but if not, be warned.
-Boys are not allowed to wear joggers - jeans!
-Shoes have to be cleanable

Costs:
You must bring at least £3 with you. You're gonna wanna buy something - the food is amazing!
Drinks are £1.50
Hotdogs are £2.00
Sandwiches are £1.00

NO BRINGING YOUR OWN FOOD UNLESS IT'S SWEETS, CANDY, OR CHOCOLATE.

Party starts at 6 pm, ends at 1 am!

Be there or get beaten the shit out of. I'm looking at you, freaks. It's getting boring to watch you walk around with bruises. So have fun, or else.

"Jay you're going to a party?!" His fathers asks, clearly having taken the phone from Jay's mother.

"Yes, dad. I've just told mom," Jay rolls his eyes, trying to refrain hanging up on his parents then and there.

"You don't even like parties Jay!" His father says.

"I-I know, but I want to go. All my friends are going and-"

"And we won't know if you're safe."

"Mom-"

"Anything could happen to you!"

"Mom I'll be fine. I'm with my friends and I'll call if anything happens," Jay rolls his eyes again. He's almost alone all of the time so why do they suddenly care about his safety now?

"The answers no Jay."

"Y'know what? I'm going whether you like it or not!" Jay hangs up and rests his head on the kitchen counter.

~~~
"I have to wear jeans," Morro murmurs to himself. "I don't want to, but I have to."

Morro looks at his bed where he has two outfits laid out. One outfit is a pair of black jeans and a thin, dark green shirt with a pair of black converse. The other outfit is a black skirt with an off the shoulder dark green top and a pair of combat style boots. Morro sighs and puts the first outfit on.

He stares at himself in the mirror and looks back at the other outfit. Why can't I wear it? I know I don't like to wear it to school yet but...I'm just not comfortable in this. Morro sits back down on the bed and pulls on his converse. He stands back up, checks himself in the mirror and heads into the kitchen.

He grabs the £3 he set aside as well as his phone. Just as he goes to open the door, his mother yells from upstairs.

"MORRO!"

Morro sighs quietly. "Yes, mother?" Morro taps his foot impatiently, he's meant to be meeting Jay, Cole and Seliel at the bus stop.

"Why the fuck do you have these out?!"

Morro runs back upstairs to see his mother in his room, holding up the outfit he'd forgotten to put away. Morro bites his lip and sighs quietly.

"I was gonna wear them," Morro murmurs, trying to avoid looking at his mother.

"What kind of man does that make you if you're going to wear these?!"

"Mom, no one cares about gender stereotypes anymore!" Morro can't help but yell back.

"Morro! Don't talk to your mother like that!"

"I-I'm sorry father," Morro murmurs.

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Morro's father walks closer to him.

Morro looks up as his father raises his hand and slaps Morro in the face. Morro tries not to wince in pain. Morro's father slaps him again, this time hitting his left eye. Morro winces and takes a step back.

"Now get out!"

Morro runs outside, grabs his phone from his pocket and rings Seliel.

"Sel? You haven't left yet have you?"

"No, I'm just about to...why?"

"Can...can you bring some makeup?"

"Morro..."

"I-I know but my father he..."

"I know. I'll meet you, Jay and Cole, at the bus stop."

"I'll see you then."

"See you, bye."

Morro hangs up and continues his walk to the bus stop.

~~~
Cole rubs his mothers back as she, yet again, is vomiting up the contents of her stomach. When she finishes, Cole grabs her toothbrush and gives it to her. She accepts it and shakily stands up before flushing the toilet and washing her hands. Cole watches to make sure his mother doesn't pass out, as she is extremely pale right now. His mother brushes her teeth, puts the toothbrush away and turns to Cole.

"I'm sorry for making you wait around Cole," his mother says, putting her toothbrush away.

"It's okay, I just want you to be okay," Cole hugs her and nestles his head into her shoulder.

His mother shakily hugs back and rests her head against his. She shakily runs a hand through his hair, the simple touch soothing Cole. Cole tightens his grip on her.

"You should rest mom," Cole says when they pull away.

Cole leads his mother into her and his fathers' room and helps her lay down. He pulls the covers over her and kisses her forehead. His mother smiles and grabs his hand. She rubs circles on Cole's knuckles. Cole sits down on the edge of the bed and holds her hand with both of his. His mother slowly drifts off. Cole gently places her hands under the covers. He jumps when a hand falls onto his shoulder. Cole looks behind him to see his father stood behind him. He smiles sadly at Cole and rubs his shoulder gently.

"She'll be okay Cole, she's strong, she'll get through this."

Cole smiles sadly and wipes his surprisingly wet eyes. "I-I hope so."

His father kisses Cole's forehead and hands him £3. Cole takes it and puts it in his hoodie pocket. His father leads him downstairs and towards the back door.

"I'll ring you if anything happens. I promise. Now go and have a good time."

Cole smiles weakly, hugs his father goodbye and starts to walk towards the bus stop. Cole feels his eyes fill with tears when he starts to think about his mother again. She's getting worse. She's spending nearly all her time in the bathroom vomiting or sleeping. She'd vomited blood earlier, although she'd tried to hide it from me. A couple of tears roll down his cheeks. Cole quickly wipes them away and starts to think of two of his favourite memories of his mother.

"And done," Cole's mother says as she finishes adding the finishing touches to the cake.

Eight year old Cole comes running in and climbs onto a kitchen chair. Cole licks his lips and pushes the plate towards his mother, expecting her to put a slice of cake on the plate. His mother laughs and cuts a slice of cake and puts it on Cole's plate before pushing it back to him. The cake is gone in under two minutes.

That memory is one of the reasons why cake is Cole's comfort food.

Cole's mother is sat in front of a blank canvas, holding a palette full of different colours. Five year old Cole comes in, wearing a painting apron. His mother smiles and kisses his head.

"Hello Cole."

"I wanna paint too mommy," Cole says, reaching for the palette in his mother's hand.

His mother pulls out his painting board, attaches a piece of white paper to it and sorts out some colours for him. Cole dabs his finger in some of the paint and starts to finger paint.

Half an hour later, Cole's picture is a massive blob of colours. His mother's picture is a portrait of Cole smiling and painting.

Cole unlocks his phone and scrolls through until he finds the picture his mother painted eleven years ago. A few more tears roll down his cheeks as he looks at the picture. Cole wipes his tears away, puts some music on and carries on his walk to the bus stop.

~~~
Seliel stuffs the makeup Morro asked for in her bag, along with £3. She closes it, flips it onto her shoulder and starts to head out. Just as she arrives at the door, she spots Scarlett doing the laundry again. Seliel clenches her hands into fists. They're out. Why are they making her do it?! She doesn't even live here! Seliel runs over and crouches down next to Scarlett.

"Why are you doing this?" Seliel asks, pulling Scarlett's hands away from the laundry.

"Sel, I'm just trying to help," Scarlett replies.

"B-but you don't even live here!"

"I-I know Sel, but you're parents need help and I'm trying to give them that help until I move out."

Seliel sighs and runs a hand through her hair, making a mental note to speak to her parents about this later. She stands back up and fiddles with the skirt of her dress. She pulls Scarlett up and pulls her away from the washing machine.

"You're having the night off. I'll speak to mom and dad when I get back."

Scarlett smiles in relief. "Thank you Sel, I'll see you soon. Go and have fun."

Seliel smiles, says goodbye and heads out towards the bus stop.

Seliel has only been walking for five minutes when she hears someone yell her name. She turns and smiles widely when she sees her boyfriend jogging up to her. Cole is wearing a black hoodie with dark green accents, black jeans and black and dark green converse. Seliel is wearing a dark purple dress and white heels. Cole smiles and grabs her hand, kissing it gently. Seliel blushes and smiles back, standing on her tiptoes to kiss Cole on the cheek. Cole smiles widely and intertwines their fingers, leading her towards the bus stop.

As they arrive at the bus stop, Jay is already there, on his phone. He looks up and smiles when he sees them. Jay is wearing a white t-shirt with a plain blue shirt over the top. He has black jeans and blue and white trainers. Just as the bus pulls up, Morro runs over, panting heavily.

"Did...did you bring it?" Morro asks once they've all sat down at the back of the bus.

Seliel opens her bag and pulls out the makeup. Morro shakily pulls his hair out of his eyes and Cole takes it, holding it out of the way. Seliel pulls out the foundation in Morro's shade before squirting some on the sponge. She raises it to Morro's face and gently presses it against the now purple bruise. Morro winces and tries to move away. Seliel grabs his arm to keep him still. Seliel finishes and puts the makeup away. Morro smiles and thanks to her, putting his hair back in place.

~~~
Pixal is doing Skylor's hair when Kai and Nya arrive. Skylor opens the door to see Kai in a red top and black jeans/shorts with red trainers. Nya is wearing a short red dress with black tights and red ankle boots. Skylor is wearing a white dress with orange accents, white tights and white ankle boots with orange accents. Skylor hugs the twins and then leads them upstairs to where Pixal is waiting. Pixal is wearing a black strapless dress with pale purple heels.

"Nya you look stunning," Pixal stands up and hugs her.

Nya freezes up a little bit before hugging back. "Not as stunning as you and Sky," Nya murmurs into Pixal's shoulder.

They pull away and Nya fiddles with the hem of the skirt of her dress. Kai hugs Skylor and kisses her cheek, making the redhead blush softly at the action. Nya pushes her hair out of her eyes and looks at herself in the full-length mirror. She tears up as negative thoughts run through her mind.

You're too fat

You need to lose weight

You look terrible

Jay will eventually dump you because you're too fat

Nya sniffles and wipes her eyes before the others see her tears. Kai and Skylor are sat cuddling in the corner of the room and Pixal is adding some final details to her makeup.

"Nya? You okay?" Skylor asks.

Nya jumps and turns to look at her friends and brother, who are all staring at her. Nya coughs weakly.

"Y-yeah I'm okay...j-just recovering."

Nya secretly crosses her fingers behind her back, hoping they brought her lie. Luckily for her, the other three drop the subject and go back to what they were doing earlier.

Ten minutes later, they leave Skylor's house and walk towards the party.

~~~
Morro, Cole, Jay and Seliel are the first out of the group to arrive.

"Greetings," Zane says as he walks up with Lloyd.

Zane is wearing a white t-shirt with a pale blue shirt over the top. He is wearing white jeans with white and pale blue trainers. Lloyd is wearing a green hoodie, pale blue jeans with white trainers.

"Hi," Morro, Cole, Jay and Seliel reply in sync.

It's another ten minutes before Kai, Nya, Skylor and Pixal show up. As soon as Jay sees Nya, he blushes heavily. In his eyes, Nya is the most beautiful girl he's ever met. Pixal walks over and takes Zane's hand. Nya walks towards Jay. Jay frowns when he spots Nya shaking. Jay takes her arm and pulls her to the side.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jay asks, holding her hand.

"Yeah...j-just a little cold," Nya shivers slightly. "We walked from Sky's."

Jay nods and smiles down at her. Nya weakly smiles back and hugs Jay, seeking warmth. Jay rubs her arms, trying to provide warmth. Nya snuggles closer and quits shivering.

"Ready to get this over this?" Morro asks.

Everyone else nods. Jay gulps as his breathing starts up, starting to get nervous. Nya grabs his hand and rubs circles on his palm, trying to ease Jay from having a panic attack.

"Hey, Jay. Jay shh it's okay. We can leave whenever you want to okay?" Nya says gently.

Jay nods shakily and takes a few deep breaths, successfully calming his breathing. The others go into the house and then Jay and Nya reluctantly follow them.

As they walk in, the school jocks are in the middle of the room all drinking and laughing about something. As soon as they see the group of ten walk in, they stop and stare at them. Seliel steps back so she's hidden behind Cole. Jay pushes Nya behind him protectively. Zane wraps an arm around Pixal and Kai does the same to Skylor.

"Let's go and sit down somewhere quiet," Lloyd suggests when he spots the discomforted look on Nya's face.

The group walk away from the main room and into the quiet second living room. The group sit in a circle with Nya on Jay's lap. Jay wraps his arms around her and pulls her closer. Nya leans against his chest. Cole pulls Seliel into his side and she grabs his hand.

"He...h-he stared at me," Nya murmurs.

"Shh, who did?" Jay soothes her.

"N-Nadakhan," Nya whimpers, shaking slightly.

"Hey, hey shh. Shh, it's okay. It's okay," Jay rubs her back and holds her closer.

Nya whimpers and grips his shirt, murmuring something incoherently. Jay kisses her forehead and rocks her.

"I-I didn't like it," Nya whimpers.

"Shh, I know. I know," Jay whispers to her.

"I'll kill him if he tries to do anything," Kai and Jay say at the same time.

Nya smiles weakly and grabs Jay's hand, squeezing it gently. Jay rubs circles on her knuckles, successfully calming her down. Jay smiles and kisses her hair. Nya leans against his chest and closes her eyes. Jay rocks her gently. Skylor turns to look at Kai.

"How is she?"

"She's still sick, hence her shivering and coughing, and she's still having her nightmares," Kai replies, sighing shakily.

Skylor grabs his hand and squeezes it gently. Kai wipes his eyes and smiles at her. Kai pulls her closer to him, allowing her to lean on his chest. Seliel sits next to Cole, as far away from the door as possible, still feeling a little uneasy. Cole grabs her hand and gently rubs her back. Seliel smiles softly and rests her head on his shoulder. Zane takes Pixal's hand and intertwines their fingers. Everyone jumps when Kai's stomach growls.

"Heh, sorry. We...we haven't been given much food."

"What do you mean?" Skylor asks, rubbing circles on Kai's knuckles.

"They caught us when we came back a couple of nights ago, so they're punishing us by not giving us any food," Kai explains.

Skylor and Jay stand up and pull the twins to their feet and then lead them into the main room where the food is. Skylor drags Kai to the table and grabs four plates. Jay tries to drag Nya over but she shakes her head.

"I-I'm gonna stay here just in case he stares at me again," Nya fiddles with her red bracelet.

"If you need anything, holler," Jay says kissing her forehead.

Nya nods and blushes. Jay walks over to the food table. Nya leans against the wall, biting her lip nervously when she doesn't see Nadakhan anywhere. She squeals when she feels a hand rest on her arm. She looks up to see Nadakhan stood in front of her.

"What...what do you want?" Nya asks, shakily.

"What are you doing by yourself?" His words are a little slurred.

"My...my boyfriend is over there," Nya murmurs quietly.

"You could always ditch him and come with me instead," Nadakhan whispers in her ear.

Nya shivers and tries to back away from him. Nadakhan grabs her arm and drags her towards the stairs. Nya fights against his arm, trying to break away from him. Nadakhan only tightens his grip, making Nya tear up.

"Hey! Let go of her!"

Jay must have seen Nadakhan trying to take Nya somewhere. Nadakhan loosens his grip on Nya's arm, making her able to break free and run to Jay. Jay wraps his arms around her and rocks her as she starts shaking. Nya wraps her arms around Jay's torso and pushes her head into his chest.

"Do you wanna leave now?" Jay asks her gently.

Nya nods shakily as Jay leads her back into the room where the others are waiting. Kai and Skylor follow them.

"We're gonna go now. Nadakhan tried to take Nya upstairs with him," Jay explains, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around his shaking girlfriend.

The rest of the group grab their stuff and start to head towards the front door. Nya groans quietly and places a hand on her forehead as she starts to feel dizzy. She sways slightly and places a hand on Jay's arm to keep herself upright. Jay looks down at her and immediately notices that she's a lot paler than she was earlier.

"Hey, sweetheart, you okay? You're really pale."

"I-" is the last thing Nya says before her world goes black.

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hope you're all staying safe and well.

Credit to bunnieeeeeex for everyone's outfits (excluding Morro's)