Unedited as per usual. I stayed up until 1 am to finish this chapter, I'm exhausted, goodnight.

|| ** || ** ||

Christmas was as good as it could be this year. As per family traditions we stayed in our pajamas all day on Christmas Day and ate until we couldn't move. My grandmother made her famous crepes and Sebastian and Harry ate so many that they had to lie down for a bit or they would vomit. Presents were exchanged and Nathan had even called me to wish me a merry Christmas, even though we were both unsure of what was happening between us now. We mutually agreed to not mention any of the issues that are going on right now over the phone, because we didn't want to start a fight.

We spoke for almost an hour until we concluded that we would talk face-to-face at Derek Shaw's New Year's Party tonight. It was the most anticipated party since the start of high school. The twins were coming with along with the girls, and maybe Quinn if she was up to it. I still hadn't been able to see her since that night but we've talked over the phone a couple of times and she sounds a lot better.

"Okay, kids have fun!" My mom shouts out dramatically as the twins and I leave the car with grimaces. She is so embarrassing. "If any of you puke on any of my shit at home, all three of you will be cleaning the entire house."

The students scattered around the lawn, laugh loudly at our mother which makes us practically sprint to the front door of Derek Shaw's house.

"Love you, my precious babies!"

"Remind me why we let her drive us?" Sophie hisses next to us, dodging a puff of smoke from some random guy.

"Because I didn't want to leave my car here if I got sloshed," I explain, shoving Sebastian before he steps on my foot.

"You know she does that on purpose, just to torture us," Sebastian laughs at our mother's antics.

"I'm glad that you're enjoying this," Sophie remarks sarcastically.

He laughs louder, slapping hands with guys as we walk through the house. Okay, Mr. Popular. "Babe!" We all turn to the voice and see Aidan standing near the kitchen with two drinks in his hands.

Sophie bids us farewell and practically sprints over to Aidan, jumping in his arms with a grin. Aidan even cracks a smile and hugs her close, trying not to spill the drinks.

I find myself smiling at them. "Ugh, gross." I snap my head at Sebastian's stupid brother response and smack him behind the head.

"Don't be an ass, she's happy," I scold him, looking back at the couple.

"Yeah, well, it's still weird, okay?"

"Don't start this shit with me, Seb, you will lose," I warn him, hoping he's not reverted to his possessive ways.

"I'm not, seeing my sisters with anyone is weird. Like can you imagine Tessa getting a boyfriend? And we all know he's going to be some kickboxing, sporty guy, I can't kick his ass, he'll kick mine first."

I roll my eyes at his stupid imagination and walk towards the back porch where we're meeting our friends.

"Hey Char, you know I love you, right?" Sebastian says randomly, causing me to stop and look at him for a minute.

"Are you high?" I chuckle, stopping us in the kitchen to grab a drink.

"I'm serious, just that you were so chill with Liv and I, it made me realize how much I was a dick about Soph and Cole," he scratches the back of his neck.

"Dude, you're her brother, your natural instinct is to protect us from douchebags. Now, I'm not saying Cole is a douchebag, I'm just saying that you and your friends have been known to be a bit 'loose' with girls," I tell him, waiting for him to contradict my statement. He doesn't. "I don't blame you for trying to protect her, look how happy she is now, we barely see her anymore because she's always hanging out with him and their friends, and we all remember how much of a hermit she was before."

He chuckles, taking a sip of his drink, nodding along to my statement. "I feel like her and I have really bonded these last few months, I was always an ass and going out all the time and she was always home and shy. We've actually made a point to spend at least twenty minutes each day just talking to each other, it's great."

I lean forward and hug him tightly, "That's awesome, bro. I love you."

He hugs me back tighter, "Love you too."

We break apart and walk together out the back door and find our friends standing around a table filled with snacks. Olivia is scarfing down as many pretzels as she can and I'm slightly afraid she's going to choke. I look over at Sebastian and see the brightest smile on his face as he watches his girlfriend talking with bits of pretzels flying out of her mouth.

I walk over and Courtney turns to me with a big smile on her face, "Hey!" she leans over and squeezes me tight.

Olivia pushes her over and tackles me in a hug and I laugh, hugging her back. You would have thought that we hadn't seen each other in months instead of a week.

I lean back and look around trying to see if Quinn is here when my eyes stop on her and Lilly standing next to each other with smiles on their faces. I move towards them as I see Olivia literally jump on Sebastian, covering his face with kisses and crumbs.

I hug Quinn closely, "I've missed you," I whisper in her ear and she hugs me closer.

"Missed you too, I'm sorry for not talking much," she replies.

"Oh please, I think you had a good excuse," I chuckle giving her one last squeeze and pulling away. "Hi, Lilly," I smirk and she blushes, leaning on Quinn.

"Hey, Char," she grins.

"You're welcome to sit with us at lunch any time," I tell her, reaching out and rubbing her arm in comfort.

"Thanks," her grin gets wider and she looks over at Quinn, who is already staring at her with a smile.

I feel an arm hesitantly reach around my waist and squeeze me gently, I turn away from Quinn and Lilly and look up at Nathan.

"Hey, babe," he leans forward, kissing my cheek softly, knowing not to try his luck in front of all our friends.

"Hi," I reply quietly, not sure how to approach the issue at hand.

"Wanna go for a walk?" he asks, reading my thoughts.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea," I tell him and he grabs my hand leading us further down the backyard.

We walk until we're out of earshot from any partygoers; I lean against the tree trunk and he stands in front of me, waiting.

"You should have stood up for me," I tell him simply.

"I did, at the party-," he blanches, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Once, you stood up for me, once. And that wasn't even the worst moment," I tell him sternly.

"Char, look, I'm sorry-."

"I don't want to hear that you're sorry, I want you to respect me. I get that Summer is a very close friend of yours but you have let her get away with everything. Did you even talk to her? Even once?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest and staring into his eyes.

"Well, no, but I thought she would just get over it once I stopped talking to her," he shrugs, knowing his excuse is pathetic.

I explode, "She's obsessed with you, Nate! And you know it! You not talking to her is probably what started this whole fucking thing! I never told you to ignore her when we first started dating, I just told you that I didn't like her and I told you about every stupid thing she's done to me since seventh grade."

"I thought me ignoring her would stop all of this, I didn't mean for it to get so out of hand," he replies quietly.

"Well, look at where it's gotten us! We've been together for over two months and look at the shit we've been through!" I throw my arms in the air.

"I'll fix it this time, I promise."

"I sent the rap sheet to Quinn," I blurt out. He freezes and turns to me with wide eyes.

"You what?" He asks quietly.

"I sent it to Quinn, if anyone deserves to have it, it's her. I won't send it out, I told you I wouldn't, but what she did to Quinn was despicable and you know it," I answer looking at him pointedly. "I don't think she's going to send it out, though, if you're worried. Quinn is the nice one out of the four of us."

He takes a deep breath and looks into my eyes, "You're right. What she did was despicable and I've never despised someone as much as I did in that moment. I hate that she did that to Quinn, it wasn't fair, and in can't speak for Summer but I'm sorry. For everything, she's done to you and your friends over the years."

I can feel my façade starting to crack and I don't want it to. "Nathan, I really like you. So much," I whisper. "But if something like this happens again, I don't know how we're going to work."

He moves forward and grabs my cold hands in his warm ones, "It won't, I promise," he replies sternly, showing me how serious he is. I sigh deeply and nod my head a little, telling him that I believe him, and he leans forward, kissing me slowly.

I lean into him and kiss him harder, moving my hands into his hair and pulling on the short strands, softly. One hand rests against my cheek and the other rests on my waist as he pulls me closer, deepening the kiss.

We pull away after a few minutes and just stand in an embrace for a few sweet moments. "Just so you know, I really like you too," he grins and I laugh and lean in to hug him to me.

Walking back to my friends feels almost like a walk of shame with the way that they're staring. I roll my eyes when Olivia smirks at me and suggestively wiggles her eyebrows. Quinn's eyes sparkle with the grin on her face and Courtney raises an eyebrow and I nod my head slightly, telling her that I told him what she had pointed out on Christmas Eve. Her blank expression cracks a small smile and she turns away to talk to other people around us.

A song comes on from inside the house causing Sebastian and Olivia to start screaming it across the yard.

"Baby you know that I miss you

I wanna get with you tonight but I cannot baby girl

And that's the issue, girl you know I miss you

I just wanna kiss you

But I can't right now

So baby kiss me thru the phone."

We all immediately rush inside to the makeshift dancefloor in the spacious living room and dance to the whole song.

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

We're all sitting outside for ten minutes until we should go inside for the sixty-second countdown for the new year. Quinn and Courtney are laughing about Bradley Thomas stumbling around the backyard, drunk off his ass. Olivia and I are lying against one another on the porch swing, swinging slowly. Nathan and Sebastian are on the grass chatting with some of the baseball players about how they're going to kick ass this season coming.

"I love you guys so much," Quinn says out of nowhere, "Just for accepting me and not judging me for-," Olivia cuts her off.

"There's nothing to accept, you're Quinn, just who you've always been, nothing has changed that," Olivia tells her softly squeezing her hand gently.

"Well, I was wondering when I would catch a glimpse of you four," we hear a snide comment come from behind us. Quinn's eyes are wide but guarded; Courtney puts a hand on her knee, calming her down. Olivia rolls her shoulders like she's getting ready for battle and I just stand up and face the bitch.

"Hi Autumn, I was starting to think your desperate ass wasn't going to show tonight, guess I was too quick to make assumptions," I tell her with a smile and she scowls.

Michelle, that competitive bitch, and Penelope, that idiotic bitch, stand next to Summer as a backup.

"I know you saying my name wrong is just you not being able to think of any good insults," she smirks at me.

"Oh, trust me, I have a few things up my sleeve," I warn her as Olivia stands up next to me.

"I'm sure you do," she replies condescendingly. She looks behind me and her smile widens, "Hey Quinn, how was your Christmas?" Michelle lets out a snort and Penelope chuckles.

"It was great, thanks for asking," Quinn replies casually, throwing Summer off.

"Where's Lilly? Is she still around?"

Quinn stands up, but Olivia throws out an arm, stopping her from coming forward, "Don't talk about her," Quinn threatens lowly.

"I'm not afraid of you," Summer replies and lifts her chin up slightly.

"Oh, you should be, trust me," Olivia chuckles loudly.

"Why are you even here Summer? Nobody asked you to come over here, are you that desperate to get Nathan's attention that you're willing to initiate a fight?" I ask her with fake curiosity.

"I'm not desperate-."

"Are you sure about that?" Olivia asks with a grin. "Did anyone praise you for outing someone? Especially when that someone has done absolutely nothing to you? You couldn't get a rise out of Char after the picture of her in a towel so you went after her friends?"

"Chase turned you down and you decided to resend out a picture of me because you were jealous that I dated him and then Nathan and you couldn't even get one of their attentions?"

"He didn't turn me down-," she scoffs.

"That's not what we heard, from a very reliable source," Olivia smirks.

At that moment, Nathan, Sebastian, Carter, and a couple of the other guys walk up the porch to check on us.

"Just leave Summer, it's pretty obvious no one wants you here," Nathan tells her and I breathe an internal sigh of relief. Finally, he's speaking out.

"You don't mean that, Nate, Charlotte just has her claws in you too deep, right now. Don't worry, I'll help you and everyone see her for the bitch she is," she smiles nicely at Nathan.

"Damn you're psychotic," Sebastian mumbles from behind Olivia.

"I think you've shown people enough of me for one lifetime, don't you think?" I ask sarcastically, referring to the picture.

"Nope," she replies simply.

"Go away, Summer," Nathan steps up next to me and crosses his arms over his chest, staring at her with a blank expression.

Her triumphant expression fades and desperate anger replaces it, "You're the one that started this whole fucking thing!" she shouts at him.

"Summer," Nathan warns, taking a step towards her but she sides steps him.

We can hear the crowd inside shouting out numbers but none of us in this circle are paying any attention to the clock.

"If it wasn't for you-," she starts, shoving a finger in his chest, poking him roughly.

"Summer, knock it off," Carter growls at her from behind me.

"Happy New Year!"

"He was the one that dared me to steal your clothes in the first place!" she shouts at me, over the loud cheers coming from inside and pointing straight at Nathan. I whip my head at Nathan with wide eyes and watch him look away from me, guilty. "Oh, yes, he dared me to take your clothes and I had to come back with solid proof hence the picture, weren't those his exact words, Carter?" she asks with a wicked smile on her face.

I stare at Nathan, not knowing what emotions are coming off my face as I try and process her words. She's lying! She's a liar just trying to get a rise out of you! But the beaten expression on Nathan's face only confirms my fears.

"Not such a perfect boyfriend, is he now, Charlotte? You don't even know him the way I do," her words stab the knife deeper in my chest.

"That's enough Summer!" Carter yells, moving forward to push her away, but it's too late. I step forward before anyone can touch me and hit her in the face as hard as I can. Nobody moves a muscle. She staggers backwards, grabbing onto the porch railing for balance, her face the picture of shock.

Nathan tries to reach out for me but I smack his hand away in a rage. Courtney grabs my shoulders, pulling me further back. "You knew," I whisper, my heart wrenching in my chest, "You knew how much that picture affected me and you knew that you were to blame this whole time." I think of all the moments over the past year that that picture had haunted me, scared of anyone finding out that it was me.

"Charlotte, I-," Nathan starts, trying to move forward again but Olivia stands in front of me, stopping him.

"Don't you dare," Olivia warns him with a terrifying expression that causes him to take a step back.

"I spent weeks since we had started dating and even before then, crying in my room with you comforting me, telling me you how disgusted you were by her actions when it was you this whole time!" I spit at him, rage taking over. "Did you know she had that picture this whole time? Did you know that she was going to send it out? Did you know about Quinn?" I ask question after question.

"I'm sorry," his voice breaks but I speak over him.

"Sorry is not going to fix this, you should have told me the truth from the beginning," I point at him, glaring, not even caring that tears are falling down my face.

"I didn't know how, I was scared you wouldn't want anything to do with me, and then I started falling for you," he trails off his voice cracking.

"Do, not, use that as an excuse right now!" I yell loudly in a blind rage, shoving him away from me, shocking everyone.

"Okay, we're getting out of here," Sebastian says, pulling me away from the scene quickly, my friends trailing behind me.

"Happy New Year, Summer," Quinn says quietly as she stands in front of Summer, hitting a button on her phone, and putting it into her pocket.

The first ping goes off, followed by a lot more in succession and I know exactly what has happened without even needing to reach for my phone. Quinn just sent out her rap sheet.

|| ** || ** ||

I am posting this chapter because I felt like it was a good place to end off 2018 for me, next chapter will come out in the New Year!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Thank you so much for the love and support for this book, you guys are amazing and seeing your comments make my days!

Until next time,

Sammipott xx