I was a little surprised when I walked into the classroom today and didn't see Diana at her desk. She was usually always one of the first ones here and it was so strange not to see that grin on her face as she waved me over excitedly first thing in the morning.

When hearing a snicker, it didn't take long for me to learn that I wasn't the only one who noticed Diana's absence.

"Aw, the little teacher's pet isn't here today"

"What happened to her?"

"Who cares? It'd be better if she never showed that pitiful dog face of hers around here again"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing right now. They had no business saying those things about Diana, especially when she wasn't here to defend herself. How could they talk about like that when they didn't even know her?

I didn't realize I was staring, no scratch that, full on glaring at those girls until one of them made eye contact with me.

"Can I help you mute freak?" She asked snarkily and I found myself not even bothered by her insult because I was still angry at what they had said about Diana.

"You don't know her, therefore you have no right to speak about her as if you do so I would appreciate it if you didn't" I said and the girl next to her rose a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"We don't know her? Everyone knows she's a little suck up who kisses the teachers asses for better grades and that's why no one likes her" she said and I just frowned.

"Your jealousy is disgusting" I said and they both looked at me in surprise.

"J-Jealous?! Of that dog? Don't make me laugh!" The first girl said but she was the farthest thing from someone who was about to have a laugh.

"You must be, that can be the only reason as to why you're so quick to comment on her absence. Especially since you don't like her" I said and the girl's lips thinned at my words.

Seeing that the two no longer had any more words to retort, I went to my desk.

Once sitting, I could finally feel the nerves in my body flying all over the place and my heart was just about two seconds away from exploding. I wasn't good at confrontation, at all, but I just couldn't let those girls keep talking about Diana like that. My body had reacted before I could even realize it, it was like an innate reaction.

It bothered me that they could so easily spew words like that without even thinking of how the person they were talking about was feeling. They didn't even know what could be going on in her life, yet they showed no remorse. I could recall each and every time where my old classmates would talk about me, talk about how my Mama was a whore and my Papa was a deadbeat. Talk about how I was just a mistake that they were burdened with.

It was truly sickening.

I never stood up for myself because back then I always thought, what was the point? I had believed it at the time to be true and continued to let them talk without saying a word. To the ones who said those things, or to anyone else. I kept everything I had ever wanted to say them, all to myself.

But what those girls were saying about Diana wasn't true at all. She worked and studied hard to get the grades she had. She wasn't someone who took the easy way out of things which is why I admired her so much.

Which is also why I couldn't let them continue to say those things about her.

I was grateful that the teacher had finally came and the class period was over quickly. I wanted more than anything else to be out of that room with those girls.

"Ceres, you okay? You look like a firecracker ready to pop" Ross said when he saw me enter our next class. Hayden was also with him and his face was that of concern when seeing me as well.

"It's nothing. I just need to calm down..." I said with a sigh and Ross crossed his arms.

"You wouldn't need to be calming down if it was nothing. What's wrong?" He pressed again and I shook my head.

"I'll tell you later. Let's just get through this presentation" I said and Ross nodded but the look on his face said 'you better'.

We had managed to get through our presentation just fine and while waiting for the rest of the people scheduled to present today to finish, I could finally feel myself calming down. I was definitely in need of a couple breaths but now all that anger from moments ago just turned into hunger and I was practically starving by the time lunch rolled around.

"So, spill. What happened?" Ross said as we sat down at our table.

"Some girls were talking badly about Diana..." I muttered as I used my fork to nudge the cherry tomatoes in my salad.

"That makes sense. It's unusual to see you get upset...well, to see you get worked up about anything really" Hayden said.

"And I told them they were jealous and disgusting" At those words, Ross nearly choked on his milk.

"You talked back? Woah, I didn't think you had it in you!" Ross said with a pat to my back which he probably didn't realize was kind of rough.

"What were they saying?" Hayden asked and I shook my head.

"I don't want to repeat it" I said and Hayden nodded.

"Well, now that we're out of class let's find out why the focus of this topic isn't here" Ross said as he pulled out his phone and began to call Diana.

"...Hello...? Ew, you sound gross" Ross said and Hayden and I looked at him confused as he continued to talk to Diana.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna hang up before you get me sick through the phone. You better not come here until you're better....haha! Yeah, whatever, I'll let them know how you're doing. Oh! Wait, you'll never believe what Ceres did-"

Before Ross could finish his sentence I grabbed the phone from him and hung up the phone.

"W-What'd you did that for?! I wanted to tell her what you did for her!" Ross whined as he tried to grab his phone back but I held it away.

"I don't want her to know that people were talking about her..." I said and Ross stopped trying to grab his phone after I said that.

"She's right, Diana doesn't need to hear things like that" Hayden said and Ross just gave a little sigh.

"Alright, alright. The hero's good deed will go unrecognized" He said and I gave his phone back.

"I'm not a hero...and it's fine, I just wanted them to stop" I said.

"Ceres, you don't give yourself enough credit" Hayden said and there was a look in his eye that I couldn't distinguish. I was curious as to what he meant by that but something in me just didn't want to question his words.

The rest of the day went by relatively quickly, I had eventually learned that Diana was home sick with the flu. I guess everyone was getting sick due to this unfriendly weather. I just hoped I wouldn't be next to fall sick.

When Max and I came home, it was to a very unexpected sight of Kade with a suitcase in his hands and Ares just watching him from the couch while Roman also stood off to the side.

"What's going on?" I asked as I walked over to where Ares and Roman were.

"I'll tell you what's going on. You people don't appreciate me around here and I've had enough! I'm leaving!" Kade cried.

"What...?" I said and beside me, Max crossed his arms.

"Can't believe I come home to this bullshit everyday..." I heard him say as he shook his head.

No one really said anything to Kade, even as he continued to carry out his dramatic act.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye..." Kade said with a frown as he moved the suitcase in his hand as if to put emphasis on the fact that he was "leaving".

"I'm walking to the door now with a heavy heart" He said as he walked, very slowly, to the door. No one said a thing as he continued to go about his slow walk and once he reached the door, he looked back at us.

"I'm about to open the door and leave you guys forever!" He said but still, none of us said a thing. I for one had no idea what to say, I mean, he wasn't really going to leave was he?

"I opened the door!"

Still no response from us.

"One foot out this door and I'm never coming back!"

"I bet you that damn suitcase is empty" Max said with a snicker at the end of his sentence and Ares nodded in agreement while Roman just gave an irritated sigh.

"Kade, get in here" Roman said with a deadpan expression and just like that Kade closed the door and threw the suitcase across the room.

"Alright, alright. No need to beg, I knew you would all come to your senses" He said as he shrugged off his coat and put it back on the wall hook.

"What did you guys even do that made him want to run away?" Max said.

Max's question was quick to be answered by Kade who had came over to us.

"Roman and Ares have a secret they won't share with me!" Kade said and Max groaned.

"You were gonna run away for that? What the hell?" Max said but Kade had already turned to Roman who wasn't trying to hear whatever nonsense Kade was about to spew.

"How is it that you trust this idiot who has the mouth of a motor more than you trust me? Your favorite brother?" Kade said as he looked to Roman who seemed to be fed up with Kade's constant questioning.

"Motor?! What the hell does that mean?" Ares said as he stood up in protest and Kade glared at him.

"Don't act like you don't remember that time I came home late one night and you snitched on me faster than I could even step foot in the door" Kade said and Ares rolled his eyes.

"We were kids, you know kids can't keep secrets for the life of them" Ares said.

"No but seriously, you were gonna run away?" Max asked and Kade turned to him with an exasperated expression.

"Of course I wasn't! It was so Roman would feel bad and then give in and tell me whatever he's hiding" Kade said but obviously his elaborate plan didn't work.

"You really are something else..." Roman said.

Something told me that whatever it was that Roman was hiding, it was going to see the light very soon.

[A/N]: Just wanted to bump my Q & A suggestion from last chapter to this chapter. You guys can ask any questions you may have, because you never know, you might have the same question as someone else who is a little too shy to ask! (I'm also bumping this because I don't have fifteen questions yet lol). As always, thank you reading, commenting, and voting!