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A few hours go by and still no sign of any parents coming outside. My mom did text me making sure that everyone was alive so far but nothing else. Sebastian and the guys were all playing baseball with a tennis ball and a plastic bat that Courtney had found in the garage. Summer is standing to the side cheering them on. Ugh. I know Sophie left a while ago, one of her cheerleading friends picked her up and Tessa is inside with the younger kids watching movies, but I haven't seen Harry for a while now, he probably ditched to hang out with friends his own age.

Olivia, Courtney, Quinn, and I are sitting on the lounge chairs next to the pool, sharing a family-sized bag of m&m's. There are a few other teens scattered across the lawn, either relaxing or watching the boys play.

"Okay, one more time," I tell Quinn as she grabs another m&m and throws it at me. I catch it in my mouth and we all laugh with a cheer.

"So, what are we dressing up as for Halloween? You realize it's less than two weeks away, right?" Courtney asks leaning forward to grab a handful of m&m's from the bag next to Olivia.

"I have dibs on Deadpool!" Olivia shouts raising her hand in the air.

"You're going as Deadpool?" Courtney asks confused.

"Damn right I am, I already have my costume," Olivia grins proudly.

"I'm going as Tinkerbell," Quinn pipes up.

"Well I'm going as Wednesday Adams," Courtney replies with a smile.

"I'm going as a medieval assassin," I smile.

"Yes, that is badass!" Olivia high-fives me.

I'm about to thank her when the back-gate slams shut loudly, causing us to look over. Zach stumbles through, looking around the yard until his eyes land on Olivia. Fuck.

A few of the other teens in the yard look over at Zach, but the boys playing baseball haven't noticed him yet.

"You little slut!" Zach shouts as he gets closer, his words are slurring slightly. Olivia looks around in confusion, not understanding what she's done wrong. "What, I won't fuck you anymore, so you have to tell everyone all this shit about me?" He shouts walking up to her.

"What the hell are you talking about Zach?" Olivia feigns disinterest, trying to keep up a strong front.

"Oh, really? Like you weren't the person to send out all the screenshots that you got from other girls!" He yells back sarcastically.

"I didn't send out shit!" Olivia argues back, standing up, in front of his face.

I'm freaking out when I look over and notice that the boys have stopped playing and some of them are walking over, Sebastian practically sprints next to Nathan.

It happens so fast I don't even think before I'm pushing Olivia out of the way and I'm standing in front of Zach as he lifts his fist to hit her. Hitting me instead.

I fall backward from the force of the hit, feeling excruciating pain in my cheek. Quinn and Courtney catch me before I fall to the ground and hoist me back onto my feet. Blind rage surges through me as I plant my feet steady and swing my right fist at Zach's face, effectively hitting him square in the face. He falls to the ground, less from the force and probably more so from the shock, nearly hitting his head on one of the lounge chairs. Nathan and Sebastian pounce on him simultaneously; Nathan grabbing his shirt by the collar and pulling his face up to him, raising his fist to strike. Sebastian stands over him ready for any sudden movements.

Zach's face is covered in blood, his nose and lip are gushing blood. He looks wrecked. Nathan hesitates and looks up at me with a shocked face. Sebastian whistles low. Zach seems a little disorientated, he groans loudly and the blood just keeps coming.

"Damn girl, you kicked his ass," Sebastian speaks up due to everyone's silence.

A headache is starting to form along with the constant throbbing in my left cheek. I look up a little dazed and see everyone staring at me and then back at Zach. Some of the boys come out from the small crowd and grab either side of Zach, pulling him away from the house and out the back gate where he came from. Nathan and Sebastian stand in front of us until Zach is gone from our view before they turn around to face us. I stagger back a bit causing Courtney and Quinn to grab me again before I fall and gently sit me on the lounge chair. Someone mentions something about an icepack.

Olivia is holding my hand apologizing and calling me an idiot at the same time, for stepping in front of her, I just squeeze her hand back in reply with a small smile on my face.

Nathan bends down in front of me and gently touches my cheek causing me to flinch back slightly, "I'm sorry, I just need to get a good look at it, okay?" I nod my head in reply and let him look at it.

Courtney runs back with the icepack and Nathan grabs it out of her hand, gently putting it to my slowly bruising cheek.

"How does that feel?" Nathan asks quietly.

"Good," I mumble with a faint smile, the ice numbing my cheek.

"Can I just say that I have the bestest friend ever?" Olivia hugs my back and I lean back into her warmth, Nathan follows with the icepack.

"And that she's a total Boss!" Sebastian shouts into the backyard, high-fiving Olivia.

"What is all the yelling for?" My mother walks out onto the patio with folded arms, heading in our direction.

"Oh, crap," Sebastian whispers.

"What the hell happened to your face?" My mother shrieks hysterically, rushing to my side, pushing Nathan out of the way and grabbing my face gently.

Courtney starts explaining the situation as other adults come outside from all the commotion. Mom and dad are furious and demand to know everything about Zach from all of us. Nathan tells my parents everything and my dad immediately takes out his phone and starts making phone calls. I think they're going to press charges.

"But I hit him harder," I explain looking up at my dad, "I did more damage than he did."

"You damn right you did," Sebastian squeezes my shoulder going into detail on what Zach looked like.

"Okay note to self, never piss off Charlotte Hayes," Carly comments from the side, with a light chuckle.

"Okay so maybe we won't press charges, but he hit you first so I want him dealt with," my mom, who is sitting next to me, looks up at my dad with a serious look, he nods his head in agreement.

Courtney's mom looks completely horrified that an event like this can happen anywhere near her house, and apologizes profusely to my parents, even though she was not in control of this situation at all.

"Okay, I think we need to take you home, now and rest up," mom stands up and grabs my hand, pulling me up with her. Sebastian and dad step forward to help out but I wave them off. It was just my head this time and thank god it wasn't my knee.

"Thank you for the information...," my dad trails off not remembering Nathan's name.

"Nathan, sir, and it's no trouble at all, I'm sorry I couldn't get to her in time," he looks over at me with a slightly guilty look. My mother pinches my arm, still staring at Nathan, with bright eyes. Oh, yuck, mom! I pinch her back widening my eyes telling her to back off.

"Thank you for helping though, very much appreciated," she shakes his hand with a big smile on her face.

"That's my son, always the knight in shining armor, coming to the rescue," a woman walks over pinching Nathan's cheeks with a proud smile on her face. That's gotta be his mom. "I'm Katherine Ward, Nathan and Carly's mother," she leans forward shaking my mother's outstretched hand.

"Clara, but you can call me Clary," my mother smiles brightly, immediately starting up a conversation with Nathan's mother.

Ten minutes later dad has to practically pry mom away from Katherine since they had hit it off so well with a promise of meeting up for coffee during the week. I say goodbye to all my friends, who promise to make plans during the weekend.

"He's cute," my mom mumbles as we walk to the car, Sebastian is holding a sleeping Maddie and Tessa is dragging her feet towards my car.

"Mom!" I shout in disbelief.

"Hey, just because I'm old, doesn't mean I can't appreciate genes, okay?" she laughs bumping her hip against mine.

"Oh, my God, you are so weird," I groan climbing into the car, holding the icepack against my face.

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Charlotte kicked ass!

I hope you liked the chapter! I've been a little sick so less writing is happening at the moment but once I'm better, it'll be back to normal!

Enjoy,

Sammipott xx