Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high.

Damien

"Soooooooooo. Booooorrred," Ryder complained as he was upside down on the couch. He tried moving to a sitting position, but he just ended up falling on the ground.

"Idiot," Bennett laughed and continued to read 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

"So how do you kill a Mockingbird?" Ryder asked and got back up.

"You do know that it's not actually about killing a Mockingbird, right?" Bennett asked, using his finger as a bookmark and closed the book.

"Right," Ryder dragged as he raised his right eyebrow. "Yeah, 'Cause the title isn't 'To Kill a Mockingbird'." He snorted, and Bennett threw a pillow at him.

It felt good to be back home. Two years ago, I left. Something terrible happened to my family. I was weak and in order for me to gain strength, I gathered a crew together.

They followed me and trusted me, making me the leader, not only because I formed the crew but because I was fit to lead them.

It was hard leaving my best friends and not to mention the girl of my dreams; Mae Anderson but I had to. The only thing I had trouble with was getting her to speak to me.

When I moved back here over the summer, I had my friends fill me in on her. They said she still wears her hoodies and never talks to anyone. I want to talk to her, and I want her to respond back with her voice, not just a paper.

"You come back to town after moving away the second time, and you're still no fun," Ryder said. Bennett threw another pillow at him but missed.

"Is that your only weapon?!" Ryder asked, slightly angry.

"I can use my fist, but I'd break your face," Bennett snapped and opened his book again.

"You won't," Ryder smiled, sarcastically.

"You're right. Your head's rock solid." Bennett said and returned his eyes to his book.

Four years ago, which was freshman year, I moved back here with Bennett and Ryder. I didn't only leave after freshman year. I used to live here when I was about seven years old. At that time, I didn't know Ryder or Bennett. After I moved when I was younger, I met them.

"But you have to admit, he's being boring," Ryder tried.

"It's probably because of Mae," Bennett said.

"Mute Mae," Ryder joked, so I socked his arm with the back of my fist. It wasn't even that hard to cause him to fall to the ground, groaning in pain, but he did anyway. "OoowWW." He dragged and sat back down.

"Don't call her that," I told him.

"What? I just don't understand how someone doesn't speak for over ten years."

"Maybe you'd understand if you understood what you don't understand," Bennett told him, and I smiled because of Ryder's confused face.

"I don't even understand what you just said," Ryder said.

"I don't understand how you're supposed to be smart," Bennett mumbled.

"I can't even imagine not speaking for ten years."

"Trust me... we know," I told him.

I truly don't understand why she never spoke to me when I would talk to her. I was really happy I was speaking to her, but I guess she didn't feel the same.

It was going well until one night that ruined my life and my brothers' life. I still remember it like it happened yesterday. My brothers understood, but I felt bad. How could I not? They were our parents.

"This house is too quiet," Ryder groaned. He sat up and looked around, squinting his eyes as if something suspicious was happening. "Too quiet."

"Where are your brothers?" Bennett asked.

"Still in Italy, but they'll be here in a few days," I told him.

"In Italy with grandma De Vil," Ryder chuckled.

"Watch out, She might... lynch you," Bennett laughed, but Ryder threw the pillow back at him.

"You're too lame," Ryder told him and shook his head.

"What? I thought it was funny."

I have three brothers. Who are occasionally, annoying, but I love them to death. They'd never let it down if they knew. Even though they still know. It's a family thing; an unspoken love.

They always pull pranks. That's why Ryder was suspicious because when they're home, the house is never quiet. I always get them back for their pranks. My brothers are triplets, but you can kind of tell them apart, which is a good thing.

One time, they covered their birthmarks and kept switching their names. It was annoying for me, but entertaining when Ryder kept getting mad because they kept playing with him.

The oldest of the three is Deacon, he has a birthmark on his left eye. The middle is Declan, he has a birthmark on his right eye, and the youngest is Dylan, who doesn't have a birthmark at all.

They pretty much look the same, so their light birthmark is the only way other people are able to tell them apart, but I have my ways.

Right now, my two idiots and I are hanging out. That consists of Bennett Sol and Ryder Lynch.

We've been best friends since we were eight. We were always causing trouble and picking fights. People were always scared of us. The only two people who weren't were Mae and her brother, Zachary. That's how I noticed Mae again in my freshman year.

She didn't try to talk to me or get scared, but I found out she never spoke to anyone that wasn't her brother. I would always try to get her to talk to me but she wouldn't give in. She was stubborn.

I looked at Ryder, and he was throwing a tennis ball up into the air while laying on his back. He threw it up, but it landed on his face, making me and Bennett laugh.

He threw the ball at Bennett, so Bennett threw it back at him, but Ryder caught it. "You're throwing that at the captain of the lacrosse team, you really thought I wouldn't have caught it."

"Well, you are a bit of a dumb ass, so I assumed you would have thought, the ball was just getting bigger," Bennett bit back. "Besides, you didn't even catch it before."

Ryder laid back down, and I was bored again. Time to annoy my friend. I really was bored, and they weren't doing anything that was entertaining me anymore, so that left me to my last resort.

"I'm boooooored. Let's do somethinnnggg," I whined. I knew they hated it when I whined, but it was funny to me.

"Why the hell are you bored?! You have a game room, a movie room, and so many other rooms that you can do stuff in. Don't. Whine." Ryder snapped. My plan was working already.

"Shut up! You have the same rooms, and you're still bored. I know you are," I retorted.

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"BOTH OF YOU MORONS, SHUT THE HELL UP!" Bennett yelled. He's always gotten in the middle of us to stop the tantrum Ryder always has.

"Okay, okay. No need to yell. Let's go to the mall I need some new shoes." Ryder suggested, and we stared at him. "What?"

"Why not just say kicks?" Bennett asked and tucked in his lips in to prevent him from laughing, but Ryder just blinked at him. "But I'm down."

"Me too." We all got up and started walking out.

"Shop-"

"No," Bennett shot down, so I pushed Ryder.

"Dork," I mumbled, and he shoved me back.

"I'm older than both of you, show me some respect," he said, and Bennett and I laughed.

"Nice!" Bennett said as he saw my car. "New paint job?"

"Yeah, green; my favorite color," I said. We got in and fastened our seatbelts before I turned the key in the ignition.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Bennett said when my car rumbled underneath us, and I laughed.

"Yeah, you wouldn't know, considering you have a Jeep," Ryder teased.

"That Jeep was expensive, it took me a while to pay it off," Bennett defended. Ryder's phone buzzed, and he got excited.

"There's a sale for video games! Step on it!" Ryder said, so I peeled out of my driveway. "Your grandmother drives faster than this!"

"Hey!" I said as I drove faster. "She doesn't even drive."

"Exactly," He said.

"There's a red light," Bennett said.

"Don't even think about it! That red light's a trap, it takes five minutes. There's not even cars coming." I sped up and passed the light.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT!" Bennett yelled at me as I kept switching lanes to avoid cars. "We could have died! A big ass truck could have came, and we could have died! Do you get that?!"

"Relax!" Ryder and I said.

"No! You relax!" Bennett grabbed Ryder's collar and nearly dragged him to the back seat with him. "I'm too young for this shit!"

"Do you regret joining the gang?" Ryder asked, and Bennett let him go.

"Never."

"Then be quiet."

"Don't ever do that again." Bennett sulked. It wasn't the first time I've done that; it's just, he was never in the car when I did it.

We headed to the mall, and I found an empty parking space. It didn't seem like a lot of people were here.

"Dammit! The sales over," Ryder groaned in anger. "It's all your fault!" He turned to me.

"Don't even start!" Bennett warned when we all got off the car.

"My fault?! How is it my fault?!" I asked, incredulously and locked the car doors.

"If you wouldn't have been driving so slow, we would have made it," he said, and I scoffed.

"Can you not fight?" Bennett asked.

"Don't be a hypocrite," Ryder snapped.

"Let's not do that now," I told Ryder, but he looked confused.

"What the fuck do you mean?!"

"You're fighting with Bennett!" I said, and he took a step closer, so I did the same.

"What's going on, boys?" I looked to my right and saw the chief. "Is there a problem?" Ryder and I separated.

"No, sir," we said in unison. He looked different from the last time I saw him.

"Your walkie-talkie," Ryder said when the chief's walkie-talkie went off.

"I'd prefer if you called it a handheld transceiver," the chief said. He spoke into it as Ryder snorted.

"Yeah, and Ryder prefers to be called Lynch but people still call him Lunch," I chuckled.

"Well, hopefully, I won't see you later," he said when he stopped talking into his handheld transceiver, and we laughed.

"I make no promises," Ryder said, and Bennett bumped him with his right shoulder.

"We'll try our best," Bennett smiled, and the chief left. I kept looking at the chief and I noticed he walked with a slight limp.

"We'll try our best," Ryder mimicked in an ugly voice.

"I don't sound like that."

"I don't sound like that," Ryder mimicked, again.

"Real mature."

"Real mature."

"Ryder's an idiot."

"Bennett's an idiot."

"Both of you are idiots," I said. I heard the chief's car driving away, so I turned back to look at him as they were walking away. "He looks different."

"Yeah, he just got the job," Bennett told me.

"So he's new?" I asked, and he nodded. "What happened to the other chief?" I asked.

"Apparently, he died. Drinking and driving," Ryder said, and we walked into the mall.

"Let's eat first, I'm starving," Bennett suggested. We all nodded in agreement and headed to the food court, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw her.

"What's wrong?" Bennett asked.

"She's here," I whispered.

"Who?" I swear sometimes Ryder can be so oblivious.

"The tooth fairy. Who else, dumbass? Mae," he put his hands up in surrender, so I turned back and just watched her. In a noncreepy way. I promise.

Right, 'cause there's a noncreepy way of watching someone.

It looked like she was sitting with a guy I did not recognize. "Damn, she's on a date," I heard the guys snickering in the back of me, but it turned into a full-on laughing fit. It stopped once I give them the 'I'll kill you' look.

"Who would take someone to a food court for a date?" Ryder asked.

"You," I said. He flipped me off, so I passed it to Bennett, and Bennett tapped on a stranger's shoulder as he was passing by and flipped him off. The stranger flipped off his friends, and it continued. It's a weird game that our town plays. Don't ask.

"They're not on a date," Bennet replied while trying to cool down from his laughing fit.

"And besides, that's her brother Zachary," Ryder teased. How am I supposes to know? He looks different, I've been gone for two years! And I never spoke to him freshman year. I looked back at Mae, and she was still texting. I was pretty sure she was texting her brother.

"I thought you said she talks to her brother, "I said, once I turned back to the guys.

"She does when the halls are mostly clear, or when they're by themselves. One time we turned the corner, and she was whispering something to him. But once she saw us, she stopped talking,"  Bennett recalled.

"And besides, those girls look too close to her, so she probably doesn't want them to hear her," Ryder reasoned.

I turned back to Mae and saw that she was still eating. She was going to take another bite when she stopped and looked my way. I backed up but ended up hitting my head on what felt like a rock.

"Ow!" Ryder groaned and clutched his head.

"Are you okay?" Bennett asked.

"Yeah, thanks for caring," Ryder smiled.

"I was talking to Damien," Bennett said.

I looked back to Mae; she had gotten up and walked to the trash can to throw away her trash.

"Can we eat now? I'm still starving," now Bennett's the one who was whining.

"Yeah, let's go," we got pizza and found a seat to sit on while we ate our pizza.

"We should have gotten Pineapple," I told them.

"I'm Italian, and I like pineapple on my pizza," Ryder mimicked me in an annoying voice. "But if my grandmother found out, she'd kill me."

"I'm French, and I like mayonnaise on my fries," I mimicked him back. Pineapple on pizza is so good, I just can't tell my grandmother because she would kill me.

"Hey!" Ryder shouted. "Don't knock it until you've tried it." We both looked at Bennett to mimicked him.

"I'm Mexican," he said, and Ryder and I looked at each other. "The 'M' can stand for mature something you wouldn't know anything about."

"Ooo burn," Ryder laughed and looked at me.

"He's talking about you too," I said. Ryder looked at Bennett, to which Bennett just shrugged.

*~*

We finished eating, and I passed by a store when I saw her, I'd recognize her anywhere. She was wearing a dress, looking more beautiful than I thought possible. I saw her stiffen, and I knew she could feel me staring at her, so I backed away and went into a different store.

"What are you doing? Why are you in this store?" Ryder asked. "Kinky." I looked around and saw that it was a sex store.

"Oh, my god," I said. Ryder walked in and started looking around before Bennett went in and started dragging Ryder by his collar.

"Mae. I saw her, and I knew she felt me staring at her, so I came in here to hide," they just nodded and got in the back of me.

We peaked out of the store and saw her texting. She put her phone away and looked around.

"Do you think they sell condoms here?" Ryder asked.

"Hmm," Bennett hummed. "I wonder if they would sell condoms in a sex store. I think that would be a little-rated R don't you think, Ryder?"

"You really need to work on your sarcastic tone," Ryder told him. "If I didn't know you, then I would have thought you were serious."

"It's sarcasm," Bennett told him.

"I know."

"Really?" Bennett asked, and Ryder smacked him. Bennett smacked him back, but I didn't pay them any more attention.

I turned back to Mae and a couple of seconds later, her brother came to her side and looked around. He told her something, but she responded with a nod, so they started walking away. I felt bad for scaring her.

Go after her.

"I'm gonna go apologize for scaring her, I didn't mean to," I started walking after them, but they were already so far away. I saw them, but by the time I was close, a blacked-out Camaro with a small dent in the back drove away. I'm guessing that was Zachary's car. The guys came after me and stood by my sides.

"You're gonna see her at school tomorrow so don't worry," Ryder said, so I nodded. I knew he was right; I'd just apologize then.

"Let's go. I'll drop you off." I said. We went back to my car, and I drove off. I dropped off Ryder first and went to Bennett's house.

My phone rang, so Bennett answered it. "Hello."

"I'm bored, again," Ryder said through the phone.

"Aww, you already miss me," Bennett said before laughing.

"As if," Ryder said, and Bennett stopped laughing.

"What are you doing?"

"We stopped to get food," Bennett lied.

"You assholes!"

"Yeah, at In 'N Out," Bennett said, knowing that it was Ryder's favorite place.

"I hate you both," Ryder grumbled.

"He's messing. I just pulled up to Bent's place," I said, and Ryder got quiet. After Bennett got out and sighed, he handed me the phone.

"Bye," he told both of us.

"Bye, Ten," Ryder said, and Bennett laughed.

"You good?" I asked, slightly concerned. Bennett looked at his house and closed his eyes as he nodded. He opened his eyes and closed the door.

"Did he leave?" Ryder asked.

"Yeah," I said and waited until Bennett went inside.

"We-"

"I know, but he doesn't want to," I said, and Ryder hung up. I waited for a little, just in case Bennett came back out, but he didn't. I backed out and drove home. I drove off to my house, which was extremely guarded as it has to be.

I headed up to my room and got ready for bed. I laid down and hoped for a dream, a really good dream but knowing me, it would never come.