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I pull away from Nathan breathless, "I have to go."

He pulls me closer and kisses me again, mumbling against my lips, "No, you don't." I giggle, trying to sit back up but he traps me with his arms.

"Your parents could be home any second," I warn halfheartedly trying to stop his lips from brushing my neck.

"I don't care, we were doing homework and lost track of time," he comments and I can practically see the smirk against my neck. I shove him gently.

"I do, and besides my family is flying in today and I have to be there to say hello, we're going out for dinner before they check into their hotels," I remind him, looking over at the clock on the wall above the television. The last few minutes of a movie we were supposed to be watching while doing our homework, plays in front of us as we lie on the couch together.

"But you've only been here for ten minutes, and I haven't even finished my homework yet, you were distracting me," he pouts leaning up on his elbows, staring down at me.

"Try adding seventy minutes to that ten, and I am not to blame for you being distracted, you were the one that started this," I laugh, kissing his lips softly before sitting up. He doesn't budge and I sigh lightly, "You're going to see me on Saturday remember?"

"That's two days away," he sits up, letting me sit up and grab my shoes. "And what am I supposed to wear?"

"Well it's just a Christmas party, so it's kind of fancy," I tell him, standing up with a smile, "but I'm showing you off to the family, so look good," I tease, pointing at him with a grin. I pack away my homework and stand up, waiting for him.

"I'll do my best," he winks, grabbing my hand, and pulling me closer. He kisses me slowly before grabbing his keys and walking over to the kitchen, "Snack for the road?"

"You know me so well," I sigh dreamily and we walk outside to get in his car.

"Do we get to make out in the car for ten minutes?" He asks with a pout, trying to make me feel bad.

"Five minutes," I counter.

"Nine minutes and I'll stop for Chick-Fil-A on the way to your place," he answers with a smirk, knowing me too well.

"Fifteen and you get me a milkshake," I open the passenger door and slip in the car.

"Deal," he grins, reversing out of his driveway and placing his hand on my thigh as we drive to Chick-Fil-A.

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"Tessa, your soccer shoe things are lying in the kitchen, get rid of them before I do!" I hear my mother yell from downstairs.

"Coming!" She yells back and I hear her stomping down the hall.

"Hey Soph, do you know where my curler is?" I lean out of my bedroom doorway and wait for her reply.

I see her hand lean out her bedroom with my curling iron in it, "I got it!" She yells back and I rush to grab it from her hands.

"Ah, my eyes!" Sebastian lets out a high pitch scream as he walks out of his bedroom and sees me half-dressed. He covers his eyes with his hand and tries to navigate down the hallway.

"Watch it, moron," Tessa shoves him as she comes back up the stairs with her soccer boots in hand.

"Are you dressed?" he demands, keeping his eyes covered.

"Yes, you idiot," Tessa rolls her eyes and walks past him, into her room. "Mom says that people will be here in five minutes!" Tessa informs the rest of us. I run back to my bedroom to finish my outfit.

Maddie walks out of her room in a cute dress, "Can I have a snack?" she runs to the top of the stairs and yells down to my parents.

"Seb, where the hell are my shoes?" Harry yells in frustration.

"No, people are going to be here in less than five minutes, Madeline, you can eat something then!" My mom replies.

"On my feet," Sebastian replies smugly. I hear a thud and Sebastian whine, "Ow, dickhead."

"But I'm hungry," she whines loudly.

"Peter! Deal with your daughter," I hear my mom call for my dad.

I hear my dad close their bedroom door and come down the hallway, "She's your daughter too," my dad laughs, walking passed our bedrooms.

"Not when she's whining." A doorbell goes off throughout the house. "People!"

Over an hour into the party, I'm standing next to my Aunt Jenna with Nathan next to me, holding Baby Josh. Aunt Jenna and I are watching the two of them interact with pouts on our faces at their cuteness.

The whole time he's been here, he's been holding Baby Josh, even when we were walking around the room and I was introducing him to some of my extended family members or friends of the family, he's had Josh in his arms.

"Hey Little Man, want to go terrorize your cousin Sebastian?" Nathan asks Baby Josh in a stage whisper. Baby Josh just garbles and Nathan takes that as a yes. "I'll be back in a bit," he looks at me and leans down to kiss me quickly in front of my aunt, and moves through the small crowd of people throughout the house.

Aunt Jenna holds out her hand for a fist bump, "Damn girl, you win." I laugh loudly and return her fist bump. "I mean, he is so sweet and he's nice, like how many teenage boys do you know that are as genuinely sweet as him?"

I blush with a wide grin on my face as I scan the rest of the room. Olivia and her dad are destroying the song Jingle Bells for anyone that is within hearing distance and Courtney is recording the whole thing with Quinn next to her, chatting to Georgie and her sister, Lily. Harry is standing a few feet away with a drink in his hand, probably thinking that no one can tell that he's got his eyes on Georgie. But I know.

My dad and his friends are standing by the fireplace, laughing, and drinking the good whiskey while my mother floats around the room being the best hostess, while her friends sneak her sips of wine every chance they get.

Nathan is now standing with Sebastian near the back door and they're both playing with Baby Josh, taking turns throwing him up in the air. Tessa and Abigail are standing behind the couch, casually talking but every so often they throw a peanut, trying to see who can get the most peanuts in our annoying neighbor, Mrs. Junie's hair. So far Tessa is winning.

Maddie and Mia are standing over by the snacks with their hands in the chip bowl. At this rate, they're going to puke before dinner.

Sophie and Aidan are talking with our grandparents and they seem to be having a good time. Aidan keeps his hand on Sophie's knee and nobody has said anything about it, which I take as a good sign. Sophie's best friend Lia and her family are standing with Carter and his family, having what looks like a hilarious conversation.

I look around the room and grin at the organized mess that is the Christmas decorations. Mom had given us strict instructions on how to set up everything and we decided to ignore her completely. There is glitter everywhere, which dad was not too happy about but it's Christmas so who cares, and Maddie made it her mission to cover the house in garland.

"Sebastian, Harry and Nathan can you boys please come to help me in the kitchen?" I hear my mother call their names over Olivia's horrifying solo.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Aunt Jenna asks and she takes a sip of wine.

"About two months-ish, we've been hanging out for three but I didn't know he actually liked me until just before Halloween," I laugh. "I really like him, Aunt Jenna," I tell her quietly, watching Nathan across the room, handing Baby Josh over to Uncle Ian, Aunt Jenna's husband.

"Well, it doesn't matter if you've been with someone for one year or one month when you know, you know," she smirks, winking, and brushing my hair softly.

"Nate said the same thing to me after I told him Chase and I ended things," I smile fondly remembering the day he brought me Chick-Fil-A after injuring my knee.

"I think Chase was just a summer fling, happens to the best of us," she squeezes my arm gently and we walk over to Olivia once Quinn has pried the karaoke microphone out of her hands, "God, you're a terrible singer," Aunt Jenna tells Olivia who cackles loudly and throws an arm over her shoulder.

"You're just jealous of my skills," she taunts, with a lazy grin.

"How much have you had to drink child?" Aunt Jenna laughs and shakes her head dramatically.

"Just enough," Olivia teases with a smirk.

"Someone get her some water, I am not on babysitting duty tonight, that's what you kids are for," Aunt Jenna moves Olivia's shoulder onto mine and takes a sip of her wine while I keel over slightly.

"Can you stand up by yourself?" I ask, shoving her arm off me. She stands up straight and rolls her eyes, laughing.

"Relax, I'm fine, not even a little tipsy," Olivia smiles, taking a sip of her drink.

Courtney walks over to us with a grin, "Got the whole thing on camera." Olivia high-fives her and we all walk over to the kitchen.

"Harry, I said I wanted the mashed potatoes on this counter, not that counter!" My mom scolds him and he huffs loudly in frustration. "Sebastian, I said glass bowls not ceramic!"

"Abort, abort," Olivia whispers, turning us back around and scurrying us far away from the chaos.

We stop in a secluded corner and look at each other before we all burst into laughter.

"So, what's going on with the whole Summer thing, have you sent out the info?" Courtney asks quietly.

"No, it's still on my laptop, I was looking at it right before everyone got here. I feel like it's too risky, like a picture of me in a towel is one thing but sending out all the stuff she's done that nobody even knew about," I trail off with a shrug.

"Maybe just keep it as insurance? She's left you alone for the past couple of weeks, maybe Nathan told her to back off," Quinn offers up with a smile, hoping that all of this is over since Summer hasn't bothered me again.

"So, we'll keep it as insurance, but how weird is it that Jackson was the hacker?" Olivia asks, starting a new conversation.

"Oh my god, right? I honestly thought he was just some dumb jock," Courtney giggles. We all laugh again and our high spirits lead us to eventually butchering Santa Claus Is Coming to Town with the karaoke machine.

Half an hour later I'm walking upstairs to my room to touch up my lipstick when I see Nathan standing in my room.

I lean against my doorway, "Can you read minds?" I ask teasingly and walk over to him with a grin.

"What is this?" He asks pointing to something on my bed.

"My laptop, why?" I ask with a light chuckle.

"Not the laptop, Charlotte, what's on the laptop," he turns the laptop screen in my direction and my heart rate picks up at the blackmail on Summer.

"You logged onto my laptop? And that's nothing," I answer quickly, walking over to my laptop, trying to shut it.

"You call Summer's rap sheet, nothing?" He asks sarcastically with a stony expression.

"I wasn't going to do anything with it-," he cuts me off.

"Then why do you have it?" He asks forcefully and I take a deep breath, not cowering at his angry tone.

"It's just insurance, in case she comes after me again," I simply reply.

"Insurance? Jesus, Char, this is a fucking rap sheet!" He raises his voice at me.

"And she sent out a picture of me in a barely-there towel, what's your point?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Are you kidding me? If this was sent out she would never get into any college or job, that's why her parents had these crimes expunged!" He argues back, pointing at the list of things she's done.

"Well, maybe the world deserves to see her for the person she is! I mean vandalism; public indecency; drug possession, who the fuck is she? Her parents' money can't hide everything she's done," I reply reciting some of the charges that were laid against her.

"She was in a bad place," he sighs, wiping his hands over his face in frustration. "That's why her parents sent her on vacation, to get over her bad streak."

"That's not an excuse. A vacation for breaking the law, are you fucking joking?"

"The fact that you were willing to send out her rap sheet to everyone over some petty things from your childhood is fucking ridiculous, you know that, right?" He glares at me and I keep my expression blank. "You're being just as petty as she is."

"I wasn't going to send it out!" I shout at him breaking my resolve. "I was probably going to hang it over her head, not send it out, I'm not as fucking insane as she is!"

"I can't believe you would even do that," He says in disbelief. "It was just a picture of you in a towel, it's not like you have a bad body."

"The world could tell you how beautiful you look every day, but if one person tells you you're ugly or not good enough, that's the voice you hear in your head every time you look in the mirror. I didn't ask her to steal my clothes. Do you know how humiliating it is to have your privacy invaded like that? For everyone to give you their opinions on your own body?" I tell him with tears in my eyes.

"That still doesn't give you an excuse to retaliate like this, who are you?" he fumbles.

"Someone that is doing what she can to protect herself from further destruction."

"I'm going back downstairs, delete that, now," he states walking out of my bedroom.

I scoff and roll my eyes, walking out of my room, leaving my laptop where it is. When I get downstairs, Nathan is standing in the living room with some of the men and Carter, chatting and laughing like we didn't have a massive fight two minutes ago.

Olivia and the girls are split around the room talking to various other family or guests strewn about the house. I'm walking towards Olivia to fill her in on what's just happened when I hear a ping from my cellphone in my pocket. I take it out to see the message when I hear a few more pings coming from a few of the other phones in the room. I hear a gasp from Sophie and immediately open the picture image Summer sent to me.

My fingers freeze on the screen as I stare at the picture in confusion until I realize what's happening. I look up at Olivia, who is already staring at me with shocked wide eyes. She didn't know either. It's as if time stands still and I don't snap out of it until I feel someone grab my arm tightly and I look up at Sebastian, with his phone in his hand, looking around the room for someone else.

"Quinn!" Courtney yells out suddenly, through the loud noise of the adults who aren't paying any attention to the few teens in the room. Quinn shoves past us with tears trailing down her face. A few of the adults look over in confusion.

We all move quickly, pushing past lingering adults, trying to catch Quinn. A bunch of us end up outside and Sebastian is the fastest one to get to her. I look around and notice Harry, standing next to a concerned Georgie and Lily, with an ice-cold expression on his face. Even Carter and Nathan are frozen with blank expressions.

Quinn slumps down to the floor, her quiet wails trailing through the wind; Sebastian holds her up gently. Courtney, Olivia, and I move forward slowly with tears in our eyes at seeing our best friend like this.

"We love you so much," Courtney tells her quietly, her voice breaking as we stand a foot away from her. I look over my shoulder, my eyes gazing over Nathan, Carter, Sophie, Aidan, Lia, Tessa, Georgie, Harry, and land on Lily; I give her a smile and nod for her to come over. Her cheeks are stained with tears as she slowly comes forward.

Olivia taps Sebastian on his shoulder and he looks over, having a silent conversation with us. He nods slightly and takes a step back letting Lily take his spot. Lily hugs Quinn tightly and whispers words of encouragement to her. Quinn looks up at her with tears in her eyes and Lily leans forward kissing her forehead softly as she whispers, "I'm so sorry it came out like this." Quinn lets out a sob and buries her head in Lily's neck.

We turn away, giving them some privacy, and everyone looks at each other not knowing what to say or do right now. I think about the picture Summer just sent us, and probably the rest of the school; Lily and Quinn kissing behind what looks like the gym building. My scowl deepens as I take a deep breath. I march over to Nathan and stand in front of him with my head held high, Olivia and Courtney stand behind me.

"I don't care whose side you're on, but she will pay for this," I tell him simply and walk past him back into the house, where I have to pretend for the rest of the night that one of my best friends wasn't just outed in front of the whole school by the devils reincarnate.

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3077 Words later...

Until next time,

Sammipott xx