Isla's POV

"Honey, I love you. Your dad and I should be back late tonight." My mom says, kissing my forehead. "Your sister and brother should be home in an hour. I left money for y'all to order food."

"Thanks, mom. I love you too."

As my mom walks out of my room, Kaira walks in with the boys and she looks at me. "We need to talk about today, Isla." Kaira says and all the boys nod their heads in agreement. Great. Didn't I already have a bad enough day? Do we really need to talk about it?

I fall back on my bed with my pillow covering my face. "Do we have to?" I groan.

"Yes. What would have happened if we didn't find you when we did?" She worriedly looks at me. "Has it ever gone this far before?"

I stand up from my bed and walk across my room to stare out my window. "No." I sigh. "The name calling and even being hit is a normal occurrence, but not being dragged into a room. I shouldn't have said anything to Chelsea in math. I should have known better but, I-I just couldn't stop myself."

"She's a bitch and deserved every word and more." Nick groans as he lies on my bed and throws a pillow in the air and catches it.

"Maybe," I whisper, "but I shouldn't have sunk to her level. I'm better than that. I don't need to put others down to feel better about myself. I'm supposed to lift people up, not put them down."

Lucas walks over to me and grabs my hand. "For as long as I have known you, Isla, you've always lifted people up. That's what makes you so special."

I look up and stare at Lucas. "You remind me so much of... never mind." I hate thinking about Luke. It's been five years and I still miss him.

"What are we going to do about Chelsea? I have a feeling that things are going to only get worse." Hayden gives me an apologetic look. "Sorry Isla, I'm just being honest."

"I know, Hayden. I have no clue what to do anymore." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I just want to finish this year and head off to college. The farther I am away from all the people in that school, the better." Lucas has a pained look after hearing what I said, "but I can't leave my family. I would be lost without them. I will probably try and go to a college near here." It surprised me to see Lucas relax after I said that I would be staying local. Maybe he still does like me.

"What college is everyone planning on going to?" Kaira asks. The boys all shrug and I start laughing to myself. Kaira is definitely getting annoyed with us. "What's so funny?"

"I thought I was the only who hasn't applied yet, but I guess not."

"What are y'all waiting for?" Kaira screeches.

The guys shrug and I say, "I still have to do something before I can apply. I'm hoping to start applying sometime next month. What about you? Where do you plan on going?"

Kaira turns beet red and whispers quickly, "IdontknowIhaventappliedeitheryet."

Nick faces grins, "What did you say Kaira?"

She huffs, "I said I don't know. I haven't applied either yet." We all look at her and start laughing. "Wow we are a bunch of losers if you ask me." She murmurs causing everyone including herself to laugh harder.

"We should probably head downstairs. Isabelle and Isaac should be home soon." I say.

Lucas' POV

The front door slams open and Isaac and Isabelle run in. "Girls night!" Isabelle squeals. She is running around the living room. Her teacher must have loaded her full of sugar.

"I'm hanging with the guys." Isaac hollers

Isla gives her brother and sister a hug before saying, "I'm thinking it's a movie and ice cream sundae type of night." Everyone erupts in cheers, "But first, what does everyone want to order for dinner?"

"Pizza!" Nick, Kaira, Isabelle and Isaac yell.

"Chinese!" Hayden and I scream.

"Ha ha. Pizza won!" Nick says jumping up and down. Sometimes I think he was drop on his head as a baby with the way he acts

For some reason I am really in the mood for Chinese. "Hey, Isla didn't vote." I say as I look at her. Maybe there is still a chance for Chinese to win.

"I'm not eating pizza or Chinese. I want Italian." She giggles. "We can order all three."

"Wait, that's an option?" Nick exclaims. "Italian! Italian!" He shouts. Yep. He's just an overgrown child.

Kaira punches him in the stomach, causing him to groan. "Jeez, woman! For a small package, you sure are violent."

"Oh stop. You're acting like a five-year-old." Nick makes a pouting face at her.

"Isla," I call out to her, "I can pay for mine and the guys."

"No. My mom gave me plenty of money for dinner. It's her way of thanking y'all for helping out."

Isla grabs her phone and starts ordering the food online. She never asked anyone what they wanted, she just ordered like she knew. She looks up from her phone and sees everyone staring at her. "What?" She asks innocently.

"You didn't ask us what we wanted before you ordered." Hayden states.

She smirks, "I know. How about we set up for the movie while we wait for the food to arrive."

After much arguing on how we should set up, it is decided that we will all sit on the floor with a bunch of pillows and blankets. Hayden and I start moving the furniture to the sides of the room. Kaira, Isabelle, and Isaac gather up every pillow and blanket that were in the house. Nick picks several movies out for us to watch, while Isla busy herself in the kitchen grabbing plates, silverware, and drinks for us.

The doorbell rings and Isla runs to answer it before anyone else can. The first to arrive is the pizza guy. He hands her six pizzas, and she puts them on the dining room table. Next to arrive is the Chinese food. She is handed six containers of Chinese food that she sets on the table next to the pizza. The doorbell rings once more revealing two delivery guys. One has four pans of Italian food plus a larger container of salad and the other delivery guy is holding two larger boxes of cupcakes, cookies and brownies.

We all make our way into the dining room and stare at the food in amazement. "Are you planning on feeding an army?" Kaira says while drooling.

"No, but I figured everything sounded good so we could have a buffet instead." Isla grins as she hands plates to everyone. I love the way this girl thinks.

Everyone fills their plates and heads to the living room. Isla sits up against some pillows towards the back of the room with Kaira on her left side. Nick sits by Kaira and I sit next to Isla on her right side. Hayden joins me on my other side while Isaac and Isabelle sit in front of us closer to the tv.

Nick gets up and puts the first movie in. 'Despicable Me.' I start laughing. I should have known he would pick a cartoon. Once again, he's an overgrown kid. I roll my eyes at him. "It's for the kids." He protests.

"We would rather watch Transformers." Isaac states causing Nick to glare at him while everyone else laughs.

"It's okay, Nick." Isla says sweetly. "I like 'Despicable Me' too." Nick smiles proudly at her.

"I knew Isla was my favorite person here." He says and sticks his tongue out at the rest of us.

The night passes quickly with us also watching part two and three of 'Despicable Me'. Isaac and Isabelle fell asleep sometime during the second movie. "Where are you going?" I ask Isla as she stands up.

"I'm going to put Isabelle and Isaac in their beds." She says as she walks over to a sleeping Isabelle.

"Let me and Hayden carry them for you." I say as I nudge Hayden to pick up Isaac. "Isla, hurry up and pick out the next movie before Nick makes us watch another cartoon."

Isla smiles. "Thanks, guys," she makes her way to where they keep the movies and starts going through their massive collection as Hayden and I carry her siblings upstairs to their rooms.

After getting Isabelle and Isaac into their beds, Hayden and I head back downstairs to join the others. Nick is lying with his head in Kaira's lap and seems very pleased with himself. Maybe they would make a cute couple. Okay, that made me sound like a girl. At least he is willing to make a move. I take my spot next to Isla sitting closer to her than I did when we were watching the cartoon movies, but I definitely don't have the guts to put my arm around her or lay my head in her lap like Nick does. "What movie did you pick?"

"Warm Bodies. It's my favorite." She exclaims. I have never seen the movie before and was surprised by it. Who knew a zombie love story could be good? Well I guess Isla knew, but you get my point.

By the time we finish the movie, everyone is tired. Isla tells us that our sleeping arrangements will be Nick, Hayden and I will each get one of the three guest rooms while Kaira will sleep with her in her room. We all head to our room, but I notice Isla just staring at the front door like there is something wrong. After a few minutes of staring at the door, she pulls out her phone and calls someone. Whoever she called must not have answered their phone, because she hangs up without saying a word. She walks over to the big bay window that is in her living room and looks out with a concerned expression.

Instead of heading to my room I go and stand beside her. She is startled by my presence, because she jumps slightly when she sees me. "Are you okay?" I ask, concerned by what's bothering her.

"Yeah...umm... It's just..." She trails off while concentrating on looking out the window, "It's already after two in the morning and my parents aren't home yet."

I look down at her face and can now see that she's fighting back tears. "Maybe they had business that kept them longer at the restaurant." I try offering hope.

"Maybe. They're normally home by twelve, and when they're going to be late, they call or at least text me. I've tried calling them but they're not answering their phones." She puts on a fake smile, "I just have a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach."

I hate seeing her agonize over her parents like this. "We'll wait for them together," I say as I hold out my hand for her to take. She looks at me for a moment before hesitantly taking my hand. I walk her over to one of the couches that we had pushed against the wall earlier and we sit. Her small hand fits in mine so perfectly. We make small talk about what we did over the summer before she starts yawning. I wrap my arm around her, and she leans her head on my shoulder. In a matter of minutes, she falls asleep leaning against me. I wish we could stay in the moment forever. If I could only tell her how I feel about her, how I have always felt about her. Would she even believe me? Would she think less of me if she knew my home situation? We just recently became friends and I don't want to ruin it. Is it worth the chance to tell and hope that we can be more? I wrap both of my arms around her and let myself fall into a peaceful slumber, knowing the girl that means the most to me is lying next to me.