"Guys, I can't believe we've successfully completed our first working week!" I shouted, holding my drink up in the air. Now, this felt like something that we should go out to celebrate.

The restaurant around us was buzzing. Staton sat next to me, his hand on my thigh rubbing tiny little circles with his finger tips. Waiters and Waitresses rushed around from table to table, making sure everyone had what they needed. Chatter filled the background, sounding like a lull of voices pulled a warm blanket over the place.

It felt good to be doing something normal. To live a life that others would see as normal as well. I felt for just a moment that my mother would be proud of me if she could see how well we were doing. That was, if she hadn't hated me my entire life.

My dad though, on the other hand, would have been proud of me. The typical Cinderella story danced through my life. The wicked mother, the loving father that passed away. I was never able to watch that movie growing up because I felt so bad for the main character. If only I had known that I would later become the main character.

"It sure was a long one." Julia slumps her shoulders as if the tiredness was finally setting in. I felt the same, my body filled with aches and bruises from moving boxes all day. Staton would come home from the tire shop absolutely exhausted, collapsing on the bed the second he was finished with dinner.

"But doesn't it feel so good to be earning our own money?" Staton adds, wiggling his shoulder. We were all so lucky to have the same day off. None of us had planned it that way but we all took the chance to sleep in, spend the morning catching up on chores that had been missed throughout the week, even though Aria and Breygan still didn't have a job.

I wondered what they did all day. There was no way they weren't bored just sitting there with the two of them. Then it hit me and a sudden bile grew in my throat. They were alone all day, I knew exactly what they were doing.

"It actually does feel really good." I smiled, looking at the handsome man sitting next to me.

"We get it!" Breygan rolled his eyes. Aria sat next to him, holding his hand under the table as if no one would have noticed.

"Sorry?" Julia questions, turning to meet eyes with the blonde haired boy.

"We fucking get it! You guys are kicking ass, doing things, making money. Can you stop throwing it in our faces?" He threw his hands in the air, his voice raising more than any of us would have liked.

"Hey man, you need to chill out." Staton's voice was stern. He looked at Breygan as if he was a child about to get a spanking if he didn't adjust his attitude.

"Whatever," Breygan downed his drink, waving the glass in the air for the waitress to grab him another. Soon a woman came rushing by. "Another please."

"Haven't you had enough?" Aria mumbles. Her eyes looked down at the floor, hiding her face behind her hair. Why was she acting so shy? Was she hiding something?

"No, and I didn't drive so leave me alone please." Breygan snaps. The rest of the group looked between each other. Why did we continue to allow him to treat us like this? Breygan should have never come on this adventure with us, but none of us owned our own vehicle. We needed him even if it was just to get out of the state. Luckily Breygan had been more willing to allow us to drive his vehicle while he didn't have a job, but we would need to convince the group that we needed a second car.

"Speaking of cars...we kind of need to look into getting a second one. When Aria and Breygan finally get a job, we won't be able to line our schedules up as easily anymore."

"What do you mean by finally?" Breygan's words shot across the table like ice in an ice storm, causing small cuts on our skin like razor blades.

"Aren't you still looking?" Staton shrugs, fiddling with the fork. Before anyone can respond the food is at the table.

Perfect timing!

"Doesn't this look delicious?" I muttered, eyeing the other girls to help me out. It seemed neither of them were paying attention.

"Yeah fucking delicious." Breygan growled, his anger turned towards me as If I'd ruined the whole mood just by commenting on a plate of pasta. "And no Staton, I haven't even tried. You all have been doing so well covering everything. I'm going to be a stay-at-home-whatever, that's what I've decided for my career. I don't need to prance around in these low end jobs acting like I'm somebody I'm not."

The words still felt like daggers and I was nervous that if I took too many more hits I wouldn't ever be able to recover.

"We aren't trying to pretend to be something we aren't, you dumbass! All we are trying to do is give ourselves a better life. Unlike you the obstacles in our lives were out of our control, but when it comes to you the only piece of shit standing in the way is you." The whole table turned to me in shock. No one had ever expected sweet little Maple to react like that.

I was sick of this treatment from my mother, and I took care of that. But now I'm sick of this treatment from someone that was supposed to be my friend. Here I was attempting to take care of that one too.

"What the fuck did you just say to me?" Breygan's eyes were the widest, and he finally leaned back in his chair. "I'm quite impressed you were able to take your foot out of your mouth for long enough to come up with something actually half worth something." He scoffed, turning his head away to search for his next drink. The waitress hadn't brought it yet, and I could tell that was yet another thing annoying him.

"Okay guys, I think we all need to calm down." Julia interjected, taking the first bite of her food. No one had even touched their plates, and watching her finally devour some of her food reminded me of how hungry I was.

Maybe we would all feel better after we ate.

Time seemed to tick slower than ever before. Normally when it moved this slow we were children waiting to wake up on Christmas morning, but this was a completely different feeling. There was no excitement. Just the silence of friends and the chatter of every other restaurant goer.

It'd never been so awkward between our group, usually when Breygan would get in a mood he could just leave, and we wouldn't see him for a few days. That didn't work here in California. The more time we spent with each other the more things were starting to crumble and break apart. Were we really friends because we liked each other or were we just friends because all of our parents had forced us to hang out at one point or another and it was just easy because we all understood.

Once my plate was cleared, and the waitress had taken all of our dishes we sat awkwardly waiting for the check. No one would make eye contact with anyone else.

"Listen," I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I guess I better figure it out quickly.

The whole group turned to look at me, startled by the sudden break of silence.

"We can't keep going on like this." I muttered, trying to fill the void that was around us. We were supposed to be friends not enemies, and the more we attacked each other the harder this was going to be.

"Yeah this has gotten a little out of hand. I know I wasn't around all the time, but I've never seen the group fight like this." Julia added to my response. I smiled at her, as if it was enough to thank her for coming to my savior. She wasn't, she lived in the town over, and went to her own school. It was usually only on the weekends we would see anything of Julia, but it seemed like she paid more attention to our group than we did. She wanted to be a part of it, and to feel like she belonged.

"I don't know what the fuck you want me to do." Breygan interjects. He still seemed tense, but now that he'd had his second drink he came off much more calm. Aria had her arm intertwined with his, leaning into him for comfort. It didn't matter how mean he was, she would always defend him. That killed a small little part of me, because I knew he didn't treat her well. I wasn't so sure what her obsession was with him, but she was my best friend, at least used to be until her and Breygan really started this on again off again thing.

"I have to admit something." Aria mumbled, pulling away from Breygan. She leaned against the table, pausing only for the waitress to put the receipt down.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to urge her to open up to us.

"I feel absolutely horrible for only applying for one job. I couldn't find where it was and so when I finally did and it was too late to interview I gave up. I didn't want to go through that embarrassment again so I just stopped trying. My parents would always get everything for me and this is the first thing I've had to work at. I've never had to fail before and I hated it." This wasn't like Aria to open up like this, the tears were filling her eyes, and I wanted to jump across the table to help her.

Julia filled in though, her hand rubbing Aria's back.

"Aria, it's okay, you just need to put yourself back out there. Find something that interests you more and go for it." I said.

"Yeah, like that fucking grocery store interests you?" Breygan scoffs. Suddenly all of our eyes were on him again and it felt like we were at war once more.

"It didn't at first, but it's paid for all the damn food you eat so I think it will have to do." They didn't realize how hard it was to work in a grocery store after the events we'd run into in Oregon. I didn't even want to mention it again, but they weren't there for the couple of nights I came home and started sobbing from fear. Staton was the only one there for me when I needed emotional support so I could pick myself back up and head to work the next day.

"Yeah whatever, just leave Aria alone, she doesn't need any more pressure." Breygan wrapped his arm around her, pulling her back into him. Cutting her off from saying anything else she could or would have said.

"I think we can let her speak for herself." Staton is the next to speak.

"It's fine, I said what I needed to say. Let's just get heading home, and tomorrow we can plan on going and getting another vehicle so that I don't make things too difficult when I get a job." Aria seemed defeated. Honestly, all of us seemed defeated.

What had happened to the friend group that once was so strong and seemed to get along so well? How had we crumbled so far in such a short period of time? I felt horrible that the friendship seemed to be ruined, all because this was my idea to run away.

Why would they ever listen to me?