Hayden's POV

Sleep didn't come easy to me last night. I look at my clock. It's only four-thirty. There are still a few more hours until we have to be at school. I take a quick shower before throwing on some jeans and a black t-shirt. I grab my hoodie to put on later and walk downstairs to make breakfast for everyone.

Our so-called slumber party was a nice distraction from what was posted about me on the school social media yesterday. Isaac, Nick and I each slept in our own rooms. Luke let Killian sleep in the guest room while he slept downstairs on the couch. Isabelle shared her room with Emma and Isla shared her room with Sofia.

The house is still quiet meaning I am the only one awake. I walk into the kitchen and have my life scared out of me. I wasn't expecting to find Luke sitting at the counter drinking a coffee this early in the morning. I rarely ever expect to see him in the morning because he's not a morning person.

"Damn, dude, you scared me. Why are you awake?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I haven't been sleeping much lately. You?"

I rake my hand through my hair. "Just nervous about today, I guess. For the first time I'm going to walk into school, and everyone is going to know that I don't have a family. To make matters worse, they're going to think I killed my family."

"Firstly, you have a family. You have Isla, Nick, Isabelle and Isaac. Beth still loves you. I'm pretty sure Killian and Sofia aren't going anywhere either. And hopefully you still think of me as family. Not only were you my best friend, but you were also a brother to me."

"Thanks, man," I say as I give him a side hug. "You're right, Luke. I do have a family. It's the people in this house, and that includes you." Luke seems so relieved by me calling him family. "You know, you're not alone either. We all still care about you, even Nick. You made a mistake, and you don't deserve to keep being brought down for it."

Luke's eyes tear up. "Thanks. That means more than you will ever know to me."

"Want to help me make breakfast? I'm sure everyone is going to be waking up soon, and they're going to be hungry." I ask.

Luke walks over to the fridge. "French toast or pancakes?"

I check the cabinets to see what we have before deciding on French toast. As I work on the French toast, Luke fries the bacon and makes scramble eggs. Once I am finished with the French toast, I slice some bananas to put on it.

"Breakfast!" Luke and I yell at the same time. Everyone quickly comes downstairs. Isla and Sofia are already dressed and ready for school like me and Luke while everyone else is still in their sleeping attire.

Isla surprises me by hugging me. "Thanks for making breakfast."

"You're welcome, Love, but Luke helped me too."

Isla runs over to Luke and hugs him too. "Thanks for helping with breakfast." I'm not going to lie; I felt a pang of jealousy when she hugged him.

He lightly kisses her on the forehead. "Anything to help out, Sunshine." Luke's is a good guy and I'm glad that our friendship is returning to normal, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to hand Isla over to him. I'm in love with her, and I am determined to make her mine.

After breakfast, once everyone is ready, we leave for school. Sofia rides with Isla and they drop the three younger ones off. Nick, Luke, and I ride with Killian in his truck promising the girls that we will wait for them at school before going in.

Killian is driving with me in the passenger seat while Luke and Nick are sitting in the back seat. Killian's truck may be old, but he's taken good care of it. It's a four-door, so it fits the four of us with ease. We could probably even squeeze a fifth person in it if we really had too. The car ride is awkward, to say the least. With Chelsea exposing my life yesterday, everyone else is nervous on who she will target today. Killian breaks the silence. "Don't worry too much about what other people say at school today. You have all of us on your side."

It's nice having a couple more people join our little group. Killian and Sofia seem like great additions. "Thanks, Killian. That means a lot to me."

We pull into the parking lot and wait for the girls to show up. I can already feel everyone staring at us and we haven't even gotten out of the truck yet. About ten minutes pass before the girls pull up next to us. We exit our vehicles, and the six of us enter the school with everyone staring at us.

Several people watch at me with pity in their eyes while others give me looks of disgust. We all go our separate ways to get our books out of our lockers. Orphan. Killer. Murderer. Those are only some of the things written on my locker. I feel bile rising in my throat. Tears are threatening to spill out of my eyes, but I refuse to let these poor excuses of people see my cry. I plant a blank expression on my face and shut my locker door. I know how to love and be sweet, but I also know how to be cold and wicked.

Several kids start to approach me, but I glare at them with my icy gaze, causing them to quickly turn around and walk away. A hand is placed on my shoulder. I turn to meet the person, ready to tell them off, but calm down when I see that it is Isla. She's distraught. "I'm so sorry, Hayden. This is all my fault. I'll do whatever it takes to fix it," she whispers.

Her just standing next to me makes it a hundred times better. I crave her touch, her smell, her voice. How does she not see what she does to me? "Love, it's not your fault." I wipe a single tear that falls from her beautiful eyes. "You being next to me is more than enough help." She smiles and wraps her small arms around me. The entire world could turn against me and as long as I have her by my side, I wouldn't care. She links her arm with mine and drags me off to our friends.

Our arm link doesn't go unnoticed by our friends. Nick nods and winks at me, but Luke and Killian both seem taken back by it. Luke is still in love with Isla, so I'm sure that's why it's bothering him, but I am not sure why it's bothering Killian. Really, it is no big deal. Isla was just trying to offer me comfort and it was meant in nothing more than a friendship type way. Although I do desperately wish it meant more.

Sofia must have felt the tension because she pulls Isla away from me and links her arm with her instead. "Ready for History, boys?" Sofia asks, smirking.

Nick bangs his head on a locker a few times. "Do we have to go to History?" he whines.

"Of course not," Sofia says, smiling.

Nick's eyes brighten like a kid on Christmas. "Really?"

Sofia rolls her eyes. "Obviously you have to go, idiot. From what I've heard, you've already missed too much." Nick groans but follows the rest of us to History.

The entire time in History, people look at us,whispering stuff about me and my friends. The more they stare and whisper, the worse I feel for Isla. She had to go through this everyday by herself. I wish we would have stepped in sooner to help her. She didn't deserve this. We don't deserve this.

To help better shield the girls, we switch seats in history. In the back row, closest to the window, is Nick. Next to Nick is Isla, and then I sit on her other side. In front of Nick is Luke and next to him is Sofia with her brother on the other side of her.

Math goes a lot like History, except Tyler has been transferred into our period. The moment he walks through the door Isla visibly tenses up. When Tyler notices Isla, he smirks at us. He takes his seat on the other side of the classroom and stares at Isla the entire time. I place my hand on top of Isla's and squeeze her lightly. "Don't worry, Love. He can't do anything to you. We won't let him." She smiles and nods her head in understanding.

Before class is over Tyler walks over and directly stands in front of Isla. "I'll see you in art next period."

"You don't have art," I growl. "You're supposed to be in athletics."

He smirks at me. "I dropped it after the three of you dropped athletics. Our teams don't stand a chance without y'all, and I'm not one for losing. So, why should I waste my time?" he spats. "Besides, I would rather be in a class with this beauty," he says as he grabs a piece of Isla's hair and twirls it around.

"Big mistake buddy." Killian snarls as he shoves Tyler on the floor. "Keep your hands off of her unless you want me to break your nose again." Tyler just smirks before walking away to gather his stuff.

Tyler didn't bother Isla in Art, but he is at the same table as Killian, Luke, and me. Thankfully, he didn't get put at Isla's table. He tried to get the teacher to move him to Isla's group since they also have an opening, but Nick told the teacher that him, Isla and Sofia had already started their group project, and had it planned out perfectly. I can't believe the teacher believes him. Especially since there is no group project. I swear our teacher is an idiot. Shouldn't the teacher know if he assigned a group project for his own class?

When the bell finally rings, we all go to our separate ways to our lockers to put our stuff away.

Isla's POV

Someone taps me on my shoulder while I put books in my lockers. I look behind me and expect to see Sofia or one of the guys, but instead come face to face with someone I fear. "T-Tyler? W-What do you w-want?"

He takes a deep breath. "I need to talk to you, but your damn bodyguards are always surrounding you."

I take a step backwards from him, but my back encounters my locker not allowing me to move away. He inches closer to me making it impossible for me to get away. I tilt my head down and close my eyes. I don't want to see him. He puts his hand under my chin lifting it. "Isla, open your eyes and look at me please." He pleads. I slowly open my eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you again, and I am really sorry about before. I didn't know the truth at the time." He looks deep into my eyes. "I shouldn't tell you this, but I have to warn you that she's going after Lucas next or should I say Luke. She wants him to pay for choosing you over her."

He opens his mouth to say more but he's shoved harshly to the ground. "I told you to stay the fuck away from her. Are you that stupid?" Killian roars causing everyone's attention to fall on the three of us. Killian is about to attack or maybe even kill Tyler when Hayden and Luke step in and stop him.

"Calm down, Killian," Luke says sternly. "He's not worth it."

"I'll kill him!" Killian barks. "He had his hands on her and she was pinned up against the wall."

Hayden runs over to me and starts checking me out to make sure I'm not hurt. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

Tyler is now standing back up. 'Go!' I mouth him before returning my attention back to the three guys who look like they're starving lions reading for a kill. "I'm fine, Hayden." I walk over to Killian and place my hand on his chest. "Please calm down. I'm fine. Really I am." Killian looks at me. His eyes are wild, but he soon calms down against my touch.

Nick and Sofia soon come running to us. "What the hell is going on?" they both yell simultaneously.

We've already drawn enough attention to ourselves that I just want to escape. "Let's go to lunch and I'll explain there."

We hurry to the willow tree. They all have their eyes on me curious as to why Tyler could be so stupid to approach me. "Tyler said he needed to talk to me," I begin. "He said he wasn't going to hurt me, but he needed to talk."

"You didn't believe him, do you?" Luke asks bitterly.

I look at Luke like he's crazy. "I wasn't going to talk to him," I snap. "He wouldn't let me escape. He then told me that you're next, Luke. He even called you Luke. He said she wants you to pay for choosing me over her, and by she I can only assume he meant Chelsea." The color drains from Luke's face.

Killian and Sofia seem confused. "What's the problem with Tyler calling Luke by his name?" Sofia asks, perplexed.

Luke gulps. "The only people who know me by Luke are all sitting under this tree. Everyone at this school only knows me by Lucas. Luke is associated with my past."

Luke's phone starts ringing, and he answers it. "Hello, Beth?"

"....."

"What? Why right now? I'm at school."

"....."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

Luke disconnects the call with Beth and just stares at his phone. "I need a ride to Isla's to pick up my car."

"What's going on?" Hayden asks.

"I don't know, but Beth needs me to come home immediately to talk," he says.

Hayden looks at me. "Would you be okay if I took the SUV?" I nod my head.

"I might follow him to Beth's to make sure everything is okay."

"That's fine. Just let us know what's going on," I respond.

Hayden then looks at Nick and Killian. "Are you two okay with watching over the girls?" Both guys nod their heads in agreement.

I throw my keys at Hayden and he catches them with ease before he and luck run off to my SUV.

There's a bad feeling settling inside of my stomach. "Do you think this could have anything to do with what Tyler said?" I ask my remaining friends.

Killian and Sofia shrug their shoulders. Nick looks at me with a desperate look. "I hope not, but we are talking about Chelsea."

The bell rings signaling that lunch is over and we make our way to our fourth period class. All of us are worried about Luke and the warning Tyler gave. I was hoping to run into Tyler and ask him more about it, but I didn't see him the rest of the day.

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A/N: As usual don't forget to comment, vote and follow! ~KJ <3~