Beverly's football team was on a winning streak. For the past couple of Friday nights, the team had been winning game after game. Which was something they haven't done since before Spencer transferred. After the games, Jordan and Evelyn usually spent some much-needed alone time together. But, tonight their friends had insisted on hanging out at the cafe which was more of a sports bar at night.

"All I'm saying is going strictly off fantasy points, touchdowns are worth more than interceptions," Asher said.

Spencer smacked his lips lightly. "Man, come on! A pick can change the game."

"And a touchdown can win a game," Asher argued.

Layla and Evelyn both shared an eye roll listening to the boy's talk football. "Asher," Evelyn groaned, hitting the 8-ball into the pocket. "I won! Also...can we please talk about something else."

"We could talk about the Hernandez Halloween Bash next week?" JJ suggested. "I look forward to that party every year. Oh, man, I need to buy a costume."

"Actually, our birthday is in two weeks," Enrique corrected walking over to them with some random girl wrapped under his arm. "You guys better buy us some expensive gifts. I gotta take my lady friend home. See you!"

Jordan furrowed his eyebrows at the boy. "That's a different girl than who he walked in with...Isn't it?"

"Yes," Evelyn nodded, grabbing the bill from the waiter and handing it to her boyfriend. "Yes, it is. He's gross."

"Who asked for the bill?" Asher questioned.

"I did," Jordan answered, pulling his wallet out from his pocket. "Give me your cards."

"How much I owe?" Spencer asked pulling out some crumpled dollar bills.

"You know what? I'll pay for the bill. I did eat most of the food," Evelyn said, pulling the bill from her boyfriend's hand and removing the cards, and placing her own down.

Spencer shook his head at the girl. "No, no. I can't let you pa—"

"Too late!" she yelled, pushing his money away. "Plus, my parents give me more than enough money. It's fine."

"Come on, sugar mama," Jordan chuckled, lacing their fingers together and heading towards the door.

"Everyone's leaving?" Asher asked. "We're not going home early. My dad's out of town."

"Woah. All weekend?" Jordan asked, looking at JJ who pulled his phone out to text basically the entire junior class.

Asher hesitated. "Who are you texting?"

"Uh, everyone!" JJ exclaimed.

"What am I missing?" Spencer asked.

"Listen, Asher's parties, they're legendary, okay?" Jordan told him.

"He don't sound like he want to throw a party to me," Spencer noticed.

"Are you kidding?" Layla asked. "Asher lives for these parties. This will be the first one since he moved to the new house. It's the second-best party of the year."

"What's the first?" Spencer asked.

"Mine and Enrique's birthday party," Evelyn answered. "Also known as the Hernandez Halloween Bash. We were born on Halloween if it wasn't already obvious. But, every year we throw a huge house party for our birthday and everyone dresses up. It's in two weeks. So, make sure you have a costume for the night. Bye, Spencer!"

☆☆☆

The following day had come around and wasn't very exciting Layla and Liv had tried to convince Evelyn to come over to Layla's house to hang out. But, she thought the two should spend some time alone...and she still wasn't entirely comfortable knowing the huge secret hook-up between Liv and Asher. So, instead, she spent her time hanging out with her younger brother by the pool.

Later in the evening, Evelyn had ditched Alejandro with her dad and moved up to her room to get ready for the party. "Evie!" Enrique yelled, entering her room.

"In my closet!" she yelled back.

"How do I look?" he asked.

The girl scrunched her face up at his patterned button-up. "Why are you dressed like JJ? Wait...why does that shirt look so familiar?"

"It's the matching shirts he got us for our birthday," he answered. "Something about us being triplets."

"Oh, JJ," Evelyn sighed, picking up two dresses. "Which one?"

"That one. It's less...showy," he replied, picking out the plain black dress.

"Okay," she nodded, putting it back and grabbing the red dress with cutouts. "The other one it is. Get out. I need to change and then we can Uber to Asher's. I refuse to be stuck as the designated driver tonight."

"You got it," he saluted.

The twins ran down the steps after Evelyn had finished getting ready and bumped into their dad right when they were about to walk out the door. "Kids, wait!" Joaquin yelled, stepping in front of the door.

"Yes, dad?" the twins asked in unison, innocently looking up at their dad.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To a party," Enrique said.

"We texted mom. She said it was fine," Evelyn added.

He squinted his eyes suspiciously at the two. "Your mother's in Milan for a fashion show. It's 5 am there."

"Yes," Evelyn nodded, holding her phone up to his face. "We know. Look, she said, have fun!"

"That woman," he sighed, rubbing his temples. "Fine. Have fun. And you, Enrique, make sure nothing happens to mi princesa."

"Yeah, yeah, your pride and joy," Enrique groaned. "Look, dad, the Uber is here. We have to go. Bye!"

The Uber had dropped them off right in front of the massive house. There was music loudly playing from the outside of a balcony as they entered the backyard, and the whole junior class was basically there. "Bye. If someone starts bothering you. Tell me, I'll kick their ass," Enrique told his sister.

"Yeah. If you need to be rescued by your band of groupies I got you," Evelyn grinned, as they went their separate way. As Evelyn made her way her way through the house she spotted her curly-haired best friend in a corner by herself. "Olivia Baker!"

"Evelyn Hernandez!" Liv mocked wrapping her arms around the girl. "Layla convinced me to come."

"Wow. Good for her, you staying at home and watching Girls Trip on repeat was getting depressing," Evelyn groaned. "Wait here. I'll get us some drinks. Non-alcoholic for you. Of course," she said, running off to the bar and pouring a vodka and pineapple juice for herself and a regular pineapple juice for Liv.

"Thank you," Liv said, lifting the cup to her mouth but getting the cup snatched from her hand before it could even pour down her throat.

"Wait!" she yelled, quickly taking a sip. "That one's mine. Sorry. Probably shouldn't have gotten us both pineapple juice," she giggled.

"Where's your boyfriend? Surprised you two aren't off sucking faces somewhere," Liv said.

"Yeah...I don't know," Evelyn shrugged. "His text was super cryptic. All he said was will explain later. Love you."

"Weird," she hummed.

"Hey, is it just me or is Asher's house like super...bare? Like, empty and not too homey?" she asked, looking around. "I mean, I can't see Asher's dad putting up pictures of them together but at least some team photos or something."

"I never paid attention to Asher's old house that close," Liv chuckled. "So, maybe it's just you."

"I guess," she huffed, looking up from her drink and spotting Spencer. "Spence! Hey!"

"Hey, Evie," he said, giving her a short hug.

"We should check out the poker game," Evelyn suggested. "I guarantee someone's already naked."

"Naked?" Spencer whispered, following the two girls over to the room where the poker game was happening. "Why is JJ naked?"

"You can bet just about anything in this poker game—Money, clothes, anything of value," Liv explained.

"This is why Asher's parties are so legendary. But, stay away from the dare chips. Trust me," Evelyn added. "I once lost $1,000 plus, the clothes off of my back when I played. Haven't played since."

"Spencer!" Asher called out, seeing him with the two girls. "Jump in, man."

"Nah, I'm good," he denied.

Everyone at the table groaned. "Come on!"

Asher prodded. "The only person at the party who doesn't want a seat at the table?"

"I'm just trying to keep my clothes on, alright?" Spencer told him.

"Just bet money," Asher told him. "Yeah, I saw you holding on to all that cash today. Or is that, like an emergency fund?"

Spencer reluctantly walked over to the table while the two girls exchanged the same look. "I don't know what Layla sees in him. Like, yeah, Asher's decent looking. But, he's so arrogant," Evelyn scoffed.

"Agreed," Liv whispered into her ear. The two girls spent their time standing right next to each other with their arms crossed as they watched the game of poker go on. Layla had ended up winning Spencer's dare chip and was now giving him a dare.

"Go skinny dipping in the jacuzzi," Layla told him.

"Easy. How long?" Spencer asked.

"Well, that parts up to you...and Olivia Baker," she challenged.

"Go you!" Evelyn smirked. "Have fun, Livvypoo."

"Evie!" JJ yelled out, watching as the girl was now standing alone. "Want us to deal you in?"

"No," she deadpanned. "I'm still scarred from when you and Ash played me out of $1,000 and my clothes!"

"Hey! In our defense, we gave you your clothes back," JJ told her, putting his attention back to the game. The group eventually ended in the garage and watched Asher and JJ get into Asher's dad's Porsche.

"So, you think Liv and Spencer are into each other?" Evelyn asked Layla as they stood in the garage with the rest of the crowd.

"Definitely," Layla grinned.

"That's weird," Evelyn hummed. "I thought you were into Spencer for a while. But, that'd be weird considering you have a boyfriend."

Layla giggled nervously. "So weird."

"Oh, that is how you drive a car!" JJ yelled, as the two boys came back from the drive and walked up the driveway.

"Alright, everybody, let's get back to the poker game," Asher told them.

The two girls walked up to Asher looking over his shoulder and noticed the way the car was rolling backward. "Asher! Asher, the Porsche!"

Evelyn had gone off to find her brother and instead bumped into Spencer. "Hey, have you seen Enrique?"

"Pretty sure, I just saw him leave with a blonde," Spencer answered.

"Damn, that whore!" she hissed. "Not the blonde. Enrique. Uh, I guess I'll Uber by myself."

"Want me to wait until it gets here?" Spencer offered. "I was on my way outside, anyways."

"Sure, thanks," she mumbled, following him out to the driveway and watching as the Porsche was getting towed.

"Asher's your friend, right?" Spencer asked, looking at the sad boy on the curb.

"Sometimes," she answered. "For the most part, yes."

"You notice anything strange—"

"Yes!" she yelled cutting him off. "He had no family pictures in his house and I noticed it earlier and brought it up to Liv. But, she didn't think anything of it."

"Should we?" he asked pointing at the brunette on the curb.

Evelyn nodded. "Yeah, probably."

"I know that look," Spencer told Asher, sitting next to him.

"What look?" Asher asked looking at them sit next to him.

"In my neighborhood, there's a look you see on a lot of the faces," Spencer told him. "Desperation. It's easy to spot. It's a different look than fear."

Asher asked. "What makes you think I'm desperate?"

"Oh, please," Evelyn scoffed. "I might not know that look Spencer's talking about but, I'm pretty observant, Ash. New house, bare walls, and you've been extremely sketchy all day. It just didn't feel right."

"Look, we know you're in trouble, bro," Spencer told him, watching as Asher tried to storm off.

"Look, you two don't know anything," Asher said.

"I know somebody who can fix that," Spencer said, nodding towards the Porsche.

The three teens had caught a ride in the tow truck and wounded up in Crenshaw at some mechanic shop. "Are these cars...stolen?" Evelyn asked.

"Nah," Spencer said. "I mean maybe. Look, don't ask, alright?"

Asher pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around Evelyn's shoulder, noticing her skimpy outfit and the way she was shivering. "Here. You seemed cold."

"Thanks," she mumbled, shoving her arms through the sleeves.

"This is Asher, and Evelyn," Spencer introduced to the mechanic before turning to point at the Porsche. "And this..."

"Alright, so what are we looking for? Good as new or good enough?" Big J asked.

"Good as new," Asher responded.

"That could take some time. I have to order the original parts. At least a week," he told them.

"How about good enough?" Spencer suggested.

"We've got everything we need, right here. Trust me," he told them. "It'll look good as new."

"So...how much is this gonna cost?" Evelyn asked.

Asher shook his head at the girl. "Evie I—"

"Shut up," she said placing a hand up at him and pulling her card out from her bra.

"Nice gesture," Big J told the girl. "But, we don't take credit."

Spencer pulled out a wad of cash. "How's this?"

After about an hour of silence and waiting as the car got fixed. Asher spoke up. "You saved my ass, Spencer."

"Whose car did we just fix, man?" Spencer asked.

"It belongs to the family that owns the house," Asher admitted. "They're always out of the country. We rent the guesthouse so I can play ball at Beverly."

"Why are you doing this, Ash?" Evelyn asked. "None of us are going to judge you."

"Because last year, I wasn't pretending," Asher sighed. "We were loaded. We lost everything overnight. Was I supposed to change who I am? I don't know how to be the poor kid. Especially when I'm surrounded by all my rich friends!"

"Spencer, we got a serious problem!" Big J yelled.

"Where's the Porsche?" Asher asked as they stood in the empty lot.

"Good question," he said. "I parked it right there. Someone must've boosted it."

Spencer had then walked the two teens over to Alvin's barbershop where Coop was so that he could talk to her.

"This is sort of sketchy," Evelyn whispered, sitting next to Asher outside of the barbershop and watching a car pull up in front of them.

"What's up, Spence?" Shawn asked. "Me and him go way back. We used to get into some trouble back in the day. I remember we played darts in my uncle's garage, tore that board up. And he picked up a football one day and never looked back. Suddenly, I was a bad influence. So when Coop called, I thought nah, she must be playing, Spencer James don't need anybody's help—"

"Cool story. Are you done?" Evelyn blurted out.

"She's drunk," Asher mumbled placing a hand over her mouth.

"I know this is hard for you," Shawn continued ignoring them and looking directly at Spencer. "I'm gonna need you to say it because we equals now. Say it. You need me."

"Spencer you don't need to do this," Asher told him.

"I need you, Shawn," Spencer said.

"I made some calls, but it wasn't my crew. But you can't boost a car that pretty and not be running your mouth about it," he said.

"So you know who has it?" Evelyn asked.

"Your girlfriend is persistent. Let me speak, damn," Shawn scoffed, looking at Asher.

Asher shook his head. "Oh, she's not—"

"He doesn't care," Evelyn hissed.

"I really don't," Shawn deadpanned. "Come on. Let's take a ride."

"All of us?" Evelyn asked.

"Oh, no," Shawn said. "Just Spence."

"Just uh, chill here. Coop will take care of y'all," Spencer said.

"So...we just sit here?" Asher asked, looking around the neighborhood and sitting down on the curb.

"I guess," she sighed, joining him on the sidewalk and leaning her head against his shoulder. "Spencer leaving us alone was a bad idea. You're like a poster for getting people in trouble."

"Thank you," Asher said. "I mean, for coming with us and all of that. You didn't have to...and we're not as close as we used to be but, you still did. You made things easier," he admitted tilting his head down to look at the girl.

"No problem," Evelyn mumbled. "I won't tell anyone. And I'm not saying that you should tell people about your current situation. But, lying won't make things better."

"I know," Asher said. The two sat on the curb in silence until they saw bright headlights of the Porsche with Spencer right behind the wheel.

"So, how's it look?" Spencer asked pulling up in the Porsche.

"Good enough," Asher chuckled.

"Come on, y'all," Spencer chuckled. "Let's go."

"This was one hell of a night," Evelyn giggled, peeking her head between the front seats to look at the two.

1x03