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We come up the Ward's driveway and come to a stop behind all the other cars lined up. I stare up at the house as we climb out of the car.

"Why do I have to be at this stupid thing?" Olivia asks as she pulls on her dress. I smack her hand away and she scrunches her nose at me.

"Because you are my emotional support," I inform her with a grin. Sebastian walks up to us, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows.

"You look gorgeous," Sebastian leans over and kisses her cheek softly as she grins.

"Gross," Tessa mumbles, as she pushes past us.

"Oh, don't be so grumpy, little one," he smirks at her discomfort. That's right, Tessa is wearing a dress.

"Stop enjoying this," she threatens, tugging on the hemline.

"Tessa's in a dress, Tessa's in a dress," Maddie skips over to us, singing.

"Stop it, twerp," Tessa threatens, stepping forward. Maddie's eyes dance with laughter as she smirks, twirling in her dress.

"You two, stop it," mom hisses at the two of them as they get out of the car. We all meet in front of the car and head towards the doorway.

"I don't want to be here," I whisper to Olivia who is walking next to me while holding Sebastian's hand.

"Just relax, I'm sure it'll be fine," she gently rubs my arm. I nod my head as we all walk up the driveway in a group.

The house is lit up and voices are carrying through the closed front door. Dad stands on the doorstep and knocks heavily due to the noise.

"Okay, everyone be cool. I want best behaviors from everyone," Mom says nervously. We haven't seen any of the Wards since Nathan and I broke up so she's a little tense. "Tessa put the Sharpie away!" We hear a grumbled 'Fine' and I can't help but smile at what she was thinking of doing with it.

The door opens in a flourish. "Clara, Peter! It's so good to see you, come in, come in!" Katherine exclaims with a grin. My mother and her exchange hugs and we slowly move down the line of greetings until her eyes land on me.

I'm silently analyzing her face to watch for when her smile changes to a grimace and she kicks me out before I can get through the door but her smile doesn't waver as she pulls me into a tight hug.

"How are you, darling?" she asks, gently pulling back but not letting go of me completely.

"I'm good-great actually. I'm great," I stumble over my words and smile widely, hoping to show nonchalance.

"That is wonderful to hear, I'm so happy you could make it, and congratulations on getting into Columbia, that's amazing!" she smiles sweetly at me as she lets me go so that I can walk into the house behind the others. "Oh, Tessa, sweetheart, we have the kids room all set up for all the kids, so you and Maddie can just head down to the basement when you're ready," she informs Tessa with a smile, shutting the front door behind us and wanders back into the house to the rest of her guests.

Tessa whirls around in the foyer and faces our mother, enraged, "Kids room? Are you kidding me? I'm a teenager, I deserve to be up here with the rest of them!" she whisper-yells at our parents.

"They have a chocolate fountain downstairs," my dad replies with a blank expression as he fixes his tie on his suit.

Tessa stands still, "Yeah, okay, see ya suckers," she grabs Maddie's hand and speed walks to the kitchen, turning back to look over her shoulder, "Call me if there's any drama," she points at us, making sure we all heard her.

This should be fun.

We all slowly start to split up the further we get into the house; Sophie makes her way over some friends that she recognizes from school, mom and dad are the 'popular ones' of the adults, which means they have to stop every two feet to talk to someone. They greet almost every person they see.

Sebastian went to get Olivia a drink and when I asked for one as well, he just laughed and walked away.

"Ooh, they have those mini hotdogs, score," Olivia grins, grabbing one off a passing waiter. "You, know," she says while chewing, "I knew Nathan's family was rich from his SUV but damn, this is on another level!" she states, gawking at the magnificent house.

"Do you see the girls?" I ask looking around the room. The sliding door has been pulled open, leaving the screen door shut to get air circulating through the house. I notice more people standing on the patio, recognizing a few families strewn about the property.

"Charlotte, sweetheart, how are you?" Mrs. Layden walks up to us, her fake smile shining bright. She is covered in expensive jewelry and the big diamond on her finger dazzles in the light as she strategically places it on her chest.

I hide my grimace with my fake smile, "Mrs. Layden, I'm great, thank you so much for asking. This is my best friend, Olivia," I pull Olivia closer to me, introducing her.

"Hello, dear, Olivia, was it? What was your last name?" She asks casually as if I had mentioned it before. She looks down at Olivia, her lip twitching to curl. That was something I always despised about these kinds of parties, if you aren't made of money, they couldn't care less about who you are.

Olivia smiles brightly, not letting this woman's attitude affect her. "Olivia Grace, ma'am. Don't worry, you only have to deal with me for one night. It's amazing how high you can keep your nose when you're looking down at someone," Olivia winks and pulls me away from the gaping old woman. "God, now I remember why I can't stand coming here, it's like dealing with a room filled with people like Courtney's parents."

"Hey, I'm not proud of it either," Courtney catches the end of our conversation as she struts up to us, in her tight black dress.

"Damn girl, you look hot," Olivia whistles with a smirk as Courtney gives us a twirl.

We stand in the living room, talking for a few moments about school and other gossips; like how Summer hasn't bothered anyone at school the last week she's been back, she kept to herself and has stayed far away from us. She tried to talk to Nathan the other day in the cafeteria but he ignored her until she went away. Hearing his name makes me realize that this party is all for him and I look around the room and spot him standing with a few older men, laughing, and joking around. My hands become clammy and I look away before he can notice me staring.

People are mingling around the room, drinking wine, or champagne, stuffing up the room with their egotistical selves. I catch my mom's eye across the room, as one of the other mothers drones on about something uninteresting; she winks at me before downing her glass of wine and excuses herself to grab another. That's my momma.

Olivia pinches me and I yelp looking back at her about to ask what her problem was when we see Courtney's mother, Meredith, walk up to us with a frown on her face.

"Courtney fix that twisted strap," she mutters angrily untwisting Courtney's dress strap, "We have to look presentable not like we're at a circus." She continues fussing over her daughter's appearance until she notices Olivia and me standing there. "Hello girls, you both look lovely, Olivia you look beautiful in a dress." Olivia's lips are pursed as she gives a tight smile and a nod of thanks.

"Mom, it's a dress strap, calm down, it's just the Wards, not royalty." Courtney tells her softly in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't tell me how to act, watch your manners," she warns, walking away in a huff, plastering on the fake smile required for one of these parties.

"She gets lovelier every time I see her," Olivia grins at Courtney teasingly.

"At least you don't have to live with her, she's never like this with Kai, and he once farted the alphabet," she grimaces, thinking of her little brother.

"That's because Kai is a lost cause," Olivia informs her with a smile.

I look around the room again and stop short on a figure making their way over, "Oh god, he's coming this way," I groan quietly, moving closer to Olivia.

"Kai? I thought he would be downstairs," Olivia turns to look in the direction I was looking and sees Nathan heading our way.

He stops in front of us, with a nervous smile, "Thank you for coming, I'm really happy that you're here- all of you. You girls look great, sorry you had to put on a dress Olivia, I know how you hate them." His smile widens when Olivia laughs lightly agreeing with him.

"Well it's not like I had a choice to come," I reply sarcastically before I can stop myself.

His shoulders deflate but he tries to keep the smile on his face, "Right, I hope you have a good night and enjoy dinner." Courtney and Olivia thank him and I stay quiet as he walks back into the crowd and people are calling his name from all over trying to get his attention.

I look back at the girls, "That was awkward," I roll my eyes.

"Only because you made it awkward," Courtney points out, confused.

"What? Am I supposed to jump into his arms?" I ask, my mood worsening.

"No one said you had to do anything, even staying quiet would have been fine but you didn't have to act like a bitch," Olivia backs up Courtney, looking at me with a frown.

"So, we're just supposed to ignore what he did and become best friends?" I ask in disbelief.

"Would you stop this pity party?" Olivia snaps, lowering her voice so people don't look over at us. "I have been patient and understanding while you've been in this downward spiral but I cannot let you slip into this character you've become. It took you a week to get over Chase, I get that you didn't love him the same way you did Nate, but the rest of us don't want to walk on eggshells around you anymore." She grabs my arm and pulls me towards a secluded corner of the room so that we are not interrupted. Courtney stands silently next to her.

"Nathan fucked up, big time, but he's trying to do something. Summer hasn't bugged you since she came back from suspension because of him. And he has respected your wish for space so you can think things through and hate him all you want. But let's be real Charlotte; you haven't even tried to move on and that tells me that you don't want to let go of him."

"He-."

"I'm not finished," she snaps at me again and I shut my mouth quickly. "You keep telling him to stand up for you but he can't even stand up for himself, yet. You don't need him to stand up for you, you are Charlotte Fucking Hayes! You're the girl who punched Penelope Cooke in the face when she called Courtney and me sluts. You told Chase to stop being an asshole and you're the girl who took a punch like a fucking boss and hit Zach back harder! You have had to deal with Summer since seventh grade and you still don't let her break you. Would it be nice for him to stand up for you even once? Of course, it would, and until he does so, make him work for it."

Courtney shoos away a waiter that was heading in our direction, keeping this conversation as private as we can.

"Nathan got the picture to disappear at school and he's threatened anyone who even tries to talk about what happened with you and Quinn. Did you even realize that no one has bothered you in the last week and a half? Sebastian told me he's been trying to start fights with any guy that mentions you," she grabs my shoulders and squeezes gently, "He needed that wake-up call to realize how stupid he is, but if you still don't want to be with him then tell him to go fuck himself and leave it at that."
"I want my best friend back, not this sorry for herself girl that acts like she's on an episode of some cheesy ass soap opera. You didn't let me wallow with Zach and I'm not going to let you wallow with Nate. Hold your head high and tell everyone to come at you because you can handle anything. You need to realize that you are amazing, or I will make you have a come to Jesus moment," she threatens seriously.

My body is frozen at the way Olivia is talking to me, and all I can do is open and close my mouth, too afraid to say anything back at her and trying to absorb everything she is saying.

"Forget about all the Summer drama for just a second, okay? The perfect boyfriend doesn't exist, Char, that is a fact that you're going to have to come to terms with," Courtney offers up.

Olivia snorts. "Could you ever imagine Sebastian as the perfect boyfriend?" Olivia asks sarcastically with a fond smile on her face.

"I am the perfect boyfriend, babe," Sebastian, hearing the end of that sentence, walks over to us, and smiles brightly.

Olivia raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest, "Says the 'perfect boyfriend' that left to get me a drink 45 minutes ago, and has come back without a drink, and chocolate on his face."

He shrinks under her stare down and looks at the floor, wiping the corners of his mouth when he replies, "Tessa kept bragging about the chocolate fountain," he shrugs at his pathetic excuse.

"See what I mean?" she turns back to face me, "If Sebastian and I had to break up over him doing something stupid like Nathan did, we would have ended things before they even started."

"She's not lying, you know," he leans closer to her and wraps his arms around her waist as he stands behind her, "We're very jealous people, and putting us together just equals disaster sometimes, but I love her crazy ass too much to not try my hardest to fix my mistakes," he places his head on her shoulder with a silly grin.

"I love you, too," she rolls her eyes playfully. "Okay, hold up, we are so freaking adorable, couple goals right there," they high-five each other. She looks back at me, her expression turning serious again, "I'm not saying that you need to act like everything is okay again; I'm saying that you need to see what he's doing to fix it, and go from there."

"How are you so good at this?" I ask quietly, running my hands through my hair, trying to organize my thoughts.

"It's a blessing and a curse," she replies with a sigh.

"Thank you, for metaphorically kicking my ass," I answer with a small smile.

"No problem, but if this happens again it won't be metaphorical next time," she informs me seriously and leans forward to hug me tightly. "Wait and see what happens, just trust me, okay?" I lean back and look her in the eye as I nod my head in agreement.

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Sometimes you need your best friend to kick you in the ass to make sense of things!

Happy Wednesday everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next one is gonna be a goodie!

What did you think of the outfit choices??

Until next time,

Sammipott xx