"Is there a problem?" I asked, dropping the spoon back into my cereal bowl as I returned Brett's scowl. He said nothing, choosing instead to pound back the full glass of orange juice that Rosa had set in front of him.

"Madison missed curfew last night," he said, watching as my mother folded down the newspaper at his words. She looked from Brett to me, her eyebrows raised. My jaw had dropped open, only for me to snap it closed as I desperately thought of a way out of this one.

"I was only a few minutes late!" I protested, as my mother's botoxed eyebrows came as close together as her immobilized forehead muscles would allow.

"That is no excuse!" she said, setting down the paper for real this time. I shot Brett a glare so ferocious it should've physically injured him.

"Ask her who she was with," Brett continued, leaning back in his chair with a frown.

"Were you with that surfer boy again?" mom practically shrieked. Deciding I'd had quite enough of the breakfast inquisition, I shoved my chair back and stood.

"No, I was not with the surfer boy again," I snapped, "I was with one of the football guys,"

That shut my mom right up as she shot Brett a questioning look.

"Yeah, the biggest dick on the football team," Brett fired back. But I'd already made my way to the back stairs. I flipped him the finger as I took the stairs two at a time, unable to hear my mom's reply.

If that jerk thought he would get me grounded again, he had another thing coming.

I jumped on my phone as soon as I'd slammed my bedroom door as loud as I could. I ignored the late night text from Courtney telling me how much she wished I was at the party and instead scrolled down to Ethan's name.

I need to get out of here. Can I come over?

The text bubble showing that Ethan was typing a reply popped up almost immediately.

Can't get enough of me? I have that effect ;)

I snorted.

Seriously. I'm coming over.

There was silence for longer than I'd liked before the typing bubble came up again.

No can do Buttercup. Busy today, sry. Call u later.

With a growl, I chucked my phone down onto my bed. I was guessing my mom would come marching upstairs any second now to confiscate my phone and my car keys thanks to Brett's sabotage, so I resorted to my old faithful of weekend morning pastimes.

My poor Nikes hadn't seen a proper run in awhile. I layered a zip hoodie over my long sleeved shirt against the morning chill, but my breath still came in hazy plumes. The sun was up, but not high enough to warm the air yet as I pounded my way down the driveway.

It hadn't been easy falling asleep last night. Between the look on Tyler's face when he wanted to punch Ethan at the game, to the words Brandon had let out when he'd assumed I'd left, I'd been replaying the events of the evening over and over in my head. And that's not even counting Ethan and everything that had happened with him. Heat rose into my cheeks every time I thought about that part of the evening.

A part of me knew I really should've given Tyler a chance to explain himself, but now that I'd gone and made out with Ethan I wondered if I really wanted to know. Throw Brandon into the mix and I had no idea what to think. To top it all off, now Brett was even more mad at me than I'd assumed he was. If I'd known that leaving with Ethan and no-showing at the after party would've fired him up this much, I probably would've made a bigger effort to be home by curfew.

But who are we kidding, I probably wouldn't have even made it home if Brett hadn't interrupted with his text.

My feet carried me along the back roads that led towards the country club and the highway. Just when I was staring to hear the sounds of the interstate, I glanced back before crossing the road only to see a very shiny S5 pulling up behind me. I slowed to a walk as the car purred up, the passenger window rolling down.

"Well if it isn't the new queen of the freaks herself," Will Dawson drawled from the driver's seat. Deanna shot me a once over from the passenger seat, a cruel grin spreading on her face.

"Ohmigod what happened to you sweetheart? I don't think I've ever seen you look so awful in my life!" Deanna said archly, shaking her head as she looked me over. I was too stunned to see the two of them together, both dressed in fancy clothes this early in the day, to formulate a stinging reply. Well, that and the fact I was still trying to catch my breath.

"As much as we'd love to stay and chat, we have a brunch to get to," Will said, "And you might want to rethink that tank top with those pants. Looking rough today, Maddie,"

"Oh come on Will, she looks rough every day now," Deanna cackled, "Bye loser!"

Will slammed the accelerator and the Audi tore off down the street. I stopped walking, still catching my breath as I watched them drive on. So this was how Danielle Burke felt every time the A's teased her. If I hadn't been so preoccupied wondering where Craig was and whether he knew about this little brunch outing, I probably would've been more upset over their comments. Well, either that or Ethan's words about forgetting them were actually starting to sink in. I shrugged it off, rolling out my shoulders as I dug my phone out of my waistband pocket.

Did Deanna break up with Craig?

My finger hovered over the send button as I glanced up at the string of unanswered texts. It seemed a little callous that the first text I'd be sending to Courtney after a week of radio silence would be about Deanna, especially since all of hers were about how she missed me.

With a shake of my head, I erased it, opening a new text window. I fired off the exact same text to Victoria. The reply came back a few seconds later.

Idk? Am I supposed to care? Girl's a stupid ho.

I grimaced. As much as she'd dragged me to the football game, apparently we weren't that buddy-buddy yet. I stowed my phone, jogging to the other side of the road and turning back towards home.

                                                         *****************************

"You're a real shit, do you know that?" I said, bursting into Brett's room when I made it home from my run. He barely spared me a glance up from his video game.

"Is that Maddie?" a voice said over the TV. Brett rolled his eyes.

"Yes Brandon, it is," he said into his headset.

"Good morning princess!" Brandon called out over the TV. Something exploded on screen while another male voice yelled that he needed cover.

"Come on man, she's my sister," Brett grumbled into his headset, thoroughly ignoring me. With a huff I planted myself in front of the screen. He scooted over on his couch, leaning to see around me as he mashed buttons on his controller.

"You snitched. You're an ass," I said, moving to block the screen from his new position. With a groan, he paused the game and pulled off his headset.

"Ethan Wheeler is a shit excuse for a human being. Stop hanging out with him," Brett said flatly. My eyebrows lifted.

"Oh really? And who are you to say so?" I demanded. He rolled his eyes, pulling his headset back on.

"Just trust me on this one, okay? Stay away from him Maddie, he's bad news," Brett said.

"Explain!" I snapped, still not moving. Brett grumbled anew, pushing himself off the couch. Before I could stop him, he lifted me up, carried me out of his room, and dumped me in the hallway as I shrieked and kicked and screamed. The door to his room slammed and locked behind him, but that didn't stop me from pounding on it. With a growl of frustration, I gave it a final kick before I stalked off towards my room for a shower.

So apparently everybody hated Ethan. I wasn't surprised, especially considering the few words he'd ever exchanged with the A's were to insult them. That being said, why were Brett and Brandon so determined that there was something wrong I didn't know about?

When I'd scrubbed away my temper tantrum, I toweled off my hair as I checked my phone again. I hadn't heard a peep from Ethan since he'd blown me off that morning and that wasn't sitting well with me.

Let's go to the Beanery

I waited for a reply, but when none came after five minutes, I packed up my weekend's worth of homework and grabbed my car keys.

"I'm going to study!" I called to no one in particular. Mom had disappeared after breakfast and dad had left earlier that morning to golf, becoming the ghost parent he always was on the weekends.

When I pulled up to the Beanery, I recognized a few cars I didn't want to see parked in the lot behind the small standalone building. I slid a pair of sunglasses on as I did a quick drive by, craning my neck to see inside.

Sure enough, Courtney, Tierra, and Katie were sitting on the cushy leather couches right near the window, laughing and smiling together as they pretended to do their homework. While I watched, Deanna came from the counter to sit with them, still in her brunch clothes and clutching a fresh latte. It was an activity I used to take part in, heading to the coffee shop on the weekends to "study", which really meant gossiping and planning ways to torment the lesser beings of high school. With a grumble, I stepped on the accelerator and headed for downtown Clairview.

As I racked my mind for a better place to study that wasn't the Starbucks that was sure to be overrun by freshmen, a red coupe passed me going the other way. I did a double take as Ethan drove by, a familiar brown haired girl in his passenger seat.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" I hissed to myself, whipping a three-point-turn at the next stop sign despite the honks from the oncoming traffic. I slid in a few cars behind Ethan, doing my best to keep my cool.

I knew I should've been more worried about that phone call last night. I hated myself for letting Ethan's kissing distract my brain from what it had clearly been zeroing in on. Ethan and Dakota were obviously hiding something and I intended on finding out exactly what it was.

I followed his car all the way to the interstate, wondering where the heck they were going when he pulled on and headed south. I kept my distance, having learned a thing or two from secret agent movies. If you follow a car too closely, they catch on and run away...or something like that.

Ethan signaled off for the Waverly Beach exit a few miles later, along with a plethora of other cars with surfboards strapped to their roofs.  It got harder and harder to follow from far away as the surfboard cars pulled in to parking spaces next to the dunes. Luckily, Ethan pulled in to one just in front of me, so I ducked as I drove past and found a parking spot of my own.

My heart was hammering in my chest as I debated what to do. Did I get out and confront them? Or did I lurk here and follow them? And what the heck were they doing at a beach like this?

I craned my neck to see along the row of parked cars, only to spot Ethan and Dakota disappearing between the dunes as they headed to the beach. Ethan was wearing a dark button down shirt and distressed jeans, while Dakota was wearing a sweatshirt and skinnies. Clearly neither of them was planning on swimming.

Gritting my teeth, I undid my seatbelt and walked in the other direction towards the next beach access path. Thankfully the beach was relatively busy, with plenty of people walking their dogs and surfers in thick wetsuits against the November chill. I plunked myself down in the sand near the access path, casting my eyes around as I pulled my hood over my head. Thankfully I still had my bag filled with homework, so I pulled out my Shakespeare book to make it look like I was reading.

When my eyes finally found them, I couldn't keep my brows from crashing together. Dakota was high fiving someone that looked suspiciously like Corey from Ethan's band, while two other guys sat on a huge log of driftwood on the beach. Ethan fist bumped them before taking a seat on the log too. Dakota took a few steps back and as she crouched down, I realized she was taking pictures.

What the what?

The boys moved every time she stood and motioned with her arms, no doubt telling them where to sit or what to do. Eventually, they pulled out their instruments, arraying themselves over the driftwood with the water in the background. When I'd watched for long enough to be sure Ethan wasn't on a secret date with Dakota, I dusted the sand off my derriere and made my way back to my car.

Okay. So maybe Brett and Brandon's warnings had gone to my head. I mean, it was no secret he was friends with Dakota. They were lab partners and part of the same social circle after all. The fact the other guys from his band were there was reassuring and I was starting to feel more than a little crazy for having followed him all the way out here.

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So do you think Madison went overboard by following Ethan? And what's the story with Dakota and Ethan being so sneaky? I hope you liked this chapter, and if you did then I'd love for you to vote and comment! :)

This one is dedicated to an awesome reader and commenter, reckless-paranoia, whose story Frigid Flora is a fun read about a girl who hates being touched and how she accidentally draws the attention of the school's flirtatious jock. It's well-written and the dialogue is awesome! Thank you for being such a supportive reader, I always look forward to your comments :)