"Trust is like paper, once it's crumpled it can't be perfect again."

~ Unknown

***

"Cole, Cole. Colby. COLE!"

I jump in my seat on the trunk of my car. "Ahhh..." I say half heartedly and surprised out of my head. Hayden looks at me from where she stands in front of me, looking exasperated.

"What?" I ask. Hayden and Amelia glance at each other, concerned looks crossing their faces. "Well for God's sakes, if you're not gonna say anything I'd like to go back to my thinking, thanks." I resume staring behind them.

"Cole -"

"What!?" I practically shout. Amelia looks at me sternly and Hayden says,

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

I take a sip of my extra large red cherry Icee, and reply, "What isn't?" I snap back.

"I don't know how to answer that," Hayden replies and Amelia nods in agreement.

At 10 a.m this morning, Amelia and Hayden had burst into my room, shaking me awake and shouting at me to get up. That's when I learned that "oh right it's Saturday" and "oh right it's Saturday", meaning that I should've been expecting this. Every weekend my friends and I get together, all five of us, no exceptions. From the time we get out of bed until however late that night we drive around town together, usually in my car, listening to music, going to the movies, buying crap from the gas stations, and much more. If it's one of those days where we don't feel like paying for gas or a movie or gas station food, we go to Caitlyn's house and binge watch our favorite tv shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime and other places you can watch things for free - Sherlock, Dr. Who, Shadowhunters, Teen Wolf, Pretty Little Liars etc etc. It's a sort of tradition, if you will. Right now we're waiting at Maverick, sitting on the back of my car and waiting for Caitlyn and Abbie.

"You've been acting weird Cole," Amelia says. I raise an eyebrow at her and keep sipping my drink. "You can't deny it."

Hayden nods and takes a bite of her Snickers bar,

"Yeah, you've been acting different all day long and you won't talk to us and I know something's wrong but it's annoying cause you won't freaking say anything -"

"Okay Hayden," I interrupt. "I think I get it."

Hayden sighs and stuffs the rest of her Snickers into her mouth, then wipes her hands on her jeans. Amelia keeps her concerned eyes on me, as if she wants to conclude something but is to unsure of herself.

"Oh for the love of God," I say to her and Amelia raises her eyebrows, looking amused. "If you want to say something just say it."

"You told us never to talk about it." She answers me and I scowl.

"Then why make a big deal about it?" I say in a 'duh' tone. Honestly, my friends can be so dull.

"Because!" Hayden says, ever the drama queen. Amelia pops a handful of hot Cheetos into her mouth and chews them thoughtfully. "We came to get you  this morning and your face was all weird looking -"

"It's called splotchy." I answer and then mentally kick myself. Smooth, Cole.

"Yeah whatever," Hayden is beyond annoyed. "Anyways, your room was a mess, your Fall Out Boy had been left playing all night, and you slept in your clothes."

I frown at her. "Doesn't everyone sleep with their clothes on?"

"Not necessarily," Hayden answers and Amelia and I look at her. Hayden's face reddens. "What just because I've been around -"

I cough. "'Been'." Hayden glares.

"Fine would you prefer slept?" She snaps. Amelia and I nod.

"It's a little more accurate." Amelia says. I nod.

"No need to sugarcoat it, Hays." I add.

"Uh huh, whatever floats your boat." We sit in silence for a moment. I've just begun to hope that they forgot what they were getting to a moment before when Hayden says,

"Hey! Now don't try to make me forget what I was gonna say! I'm onto you!" She points at me accusingly. I shrug. But before Hayden or Amelia can say anything more, I see Abbie's little white VW Jetta pull up into the parking lot. She honks as she pulls in, scaring the Bejesus out of Amelia and Hayden, and parks, opening her door and coming towards us with Caitlyn at her heels.

"So what's the plan, losers?" Abbie asks. She grabs my Icee and takes a sip. Little brat.

"Let's hit the Hub," I conclude. "Maybe see a movie afterwards?"

"Boring," Hayden drawls. She sheds her sweater off her arms and ties it around her waist, baring a lot of cleavage underneath a dark blue V-neck, and tossing her dark red hair over her shoulder.

Abbie shrugs. "I like the Hub idea," she agrees. "But there're no new movies out. I'd rather take a drive."

Caitlyn nods and says, "Yeah let's do that. We can go to my house later tonight. There's a new episode of Shadowhunters on gomovies and we have to get caught up anyways."

We all agree and Abbie and Caitlyn head inside the gas station to get some food. I unlock my car and start it up, scaring Hayden and Amelia off the back and plugging in my phone for some music. Abbie and Caitlyn come out moments later with two or three bags of junk and my friends pile in, Abbie in the front seat, Hayden in the middle in the back and Amelia and Caitlyn on either side of her.

"Which station kids," I ask, scrolling through my Pandora stations. "OneRepublic, Panic! At The Disco, or Skillet?"

"OneRepublic!" Hayden says and the others agree. I can't help but groan, that station has all the new popular music that I absolutely despise. I reluctantly put on OneRepublic but then I perk up when one of my favorite songs comes on.

"When I was a kid,
I used to buy and sell gravity,
I knew how to fly,
And I would teach you for a fee,
Broke every window,
In my hotel heart,
When I was only 5 years old,
But 12 years scarred..."

I crank up the volume and smile at my friends dancing and singing in the backseat and I pull out of Maverick, coming up onto the main highway. Abbie and I grin at each other and start singing along, our voices cracking and wailing to the song we know so well,

"And I'd hear the same voice,
Echo in my mind,
Said, 'Son you got an angel to chase the devil at night..."

We all take a breath at the same time and yell the chorus together, the windows rolled down, probably making people's ears bleed with our terrible voices.

"When I was a kid! My grandfather was a preacher! He's talk about God! Yeah he was something like a teacher! He said, 'God only helps those, who learn to help themselves'!"

I turn right at the next light making my way to the Hub.

"He was a million miles from a million dollars, but you could never spend his wealth!"

Hayden starts playing air piano and Abbie rocks out with her, singing solo for the next few lines,

"I took a little faith,
And put it in a parking lot,
I drove to a strange town,
Full of 'have' and 'have nots'..."

Her pretty voice rings throughout the car and I use what little practice I've had with harmony to sing the next lines with her,

"And as I walked through that storybook life,
I was looking for an angel to chase the devil at night..."

"Damn!" Hayden shouts over the music. "Kill it Cole!" I roll my eyes and we break out singing the chorus together again.

A few minutes later, I pull into the drive through of the Hub.

"Welcome to the Hub, order whenever you're ready." Says Mitch's voice.

"Hey Mitch it's Cole," I inform him.

"Oh hey kid! What'll it be?"

"Hey!" I yell at my friends over Halsey. I crank down the volume and ask, "What do you want?"

"Two white mochas!" Hayden says.

"Regular coffee." Caitlyn says.

"Caramel latte." Abbie finishes us off. I turn to Mitch's voice and give him our order. He gives me the total and Abbie finds the money in my wallet as we drive up to the window.

Mitch smiles at us after he slides open the window. "Hey kids," he says smoothly, handing over our drinks. He winks at Abbie who blushes. "Hey Abs."

"Hey Mitch," she answers. I hand back Amelia, Hayden, and Caitlyn's drinks and take mine and Abbie's from Mitch.

"Thanks dude." I thank him and give him his money.

"Hey no problem," he says. He stuffs the money in the cash register and in a second, he is right back to staring at Abbie. I hold back a grin. Oh he's hopeless.

"What're you guys doing today?" Mitch asks. I shrug.

"Nothing much." I reply. Hayden giggles in the back seat at Mitch's smitten stare at Abbie and I try to keep myself from kicking her.

"Hey if you want, we're going to my house later tonight," Caitlyn says from the back seat. "We're going to catch up on Shadowhunters, if you want to bring the guys over." Mitch's face lights up and Abbie looks away from him abruptly, pulling out her phone and pretending to text somebody.

"Sure!" Mitch agrees, a little to obviously. "I'll shoot you a text, Cole." He smiles at us - us meaning Abbie - and we drive off.

"What the hell was that Caitlyn?" Abbie snaps once we're back on the highway. Caitlyn shrugs. Oh Lord.

"You do know that Mitch is absolutely, head over heels for you right?" She asks Abbie. Abbie's face reddens and she gulps down some of her caramel latte.

"So?" She says, her face straight and stern. Damn, kudos for the poker face.

"Whatever," Caitlyn gives up. "Though you won't be able to deny it when he comes over tonight." She takes an innocent sip of her coffee.

"I'll kill you one of these days," Abbie grumbles. I roll my eyes at the pair of them and turn up the music again.

We're just about to take a left off of the highway, headed downtown, when Hayden suddenly shouts,

"Ah-HA! I KNEW it!" I jump and swerve to the right into the lane that leads to the suburbs, not exactly where I planned on going.

"Jesus, Hayden!" I yell. "What's your damn problem?" Hayden looks at me in the rear view mirror and grins.

"Your mom told me you were out last night with a boy! THAT'S what I was trying to say back at the gas station!" My heart freezes inside my chest and I feel all eyes on me, expectantly. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.

"Cole, please tell me she's kidding," Caitlyn says. I purse my lips and swallow. Oh God.

"C'mon Colby," Hayden begs, leaning over to rest her elbows on the center console. "Spill it or I'll punch you." She says. My friends wait for an explanation. They don't exactly get one.

"It's not a big deal," I try to assure them. Amelia looks at me, stupefied.

"Not a big deal, Cole?" She repeats. "You haven't hung around a guy one on one like that since..." there's a silence and my friends glance nervously at each other.

"Him." Amelia finishes, deciding she didn't want to speak the name. Smart.

"Cole..." Abbie says and I slam the steering wheel frustratingly.

"It's not a big deal!" I say. "So who cares if I was hanging out with Mac last night at McDonald's? It's not like -"

"Mac?" Caitlyn interrupts. "As in, Mac Thompson?" They all look at me for an answer.

"Yeah so?" I say. She and the others exchange knowing looks. Then they grin. "What?" I ask nervously. "What's going on guys?"

"Well you wouldn't know this but," Amelia answers and Hayden holds back a burst laughter. "He's one of the guys that come with Mitch whenever we make plans."

"Not that you would know," Hayden adds. "Cause you never like hanging out with them."

I clench my jaw. Great. This is just what I need. Another night with James Maclean Thompson, which means more eyerolls, more sarcastic remarks, and more walls to put up. Perfect.

"There is no way you're skipping out tonight." Hayden says.

"Especially not when you haven't told us the whole story." Abbie joins in. All of my friends look at me expectantly again.

"I told you, there's nothing to tell!" I say and I turn onto the street where Memorial Park is, and I pull up into a parking spot.

"It's either that or you just don't want to tell us." Abbie concludes and Hayden nods, unbuckling herself.

"Yeah or," she adds and leans forward. "You're scared to tell us."

"That goes right along with 'you don't want to tell us' Hayden, you dipstick!" Caitlyn shouts, smacking Hayden's arm.

"Or," I say, completely over this conversation. "There's nothing to say because I've already told you." I unbuckle and sip down the rest of my coffee.

Hayden ponders for a second and then answers, "Yeah no that's not it."

"Agreed." The others say. I sigh and tell them,

"I'm done with all of this. I don't want to talk about it right now."

Abbie groans and that ends it. Thank God. I was just about to murder them. Why? I don't even know. What's such a big deal about me hanging out with a boy? My mom was surprised - okay, understatement - my friends are dumbfounded. What's so intriguing about it? Yes I know I haven't hung out with a guy like that since... that happened. But -

"Oh crap, Cole." Abbie says. "Duck."

"What?" I ask, surprised.

"No questions just duck." She hisses. Hayden looks outside and her eyes go wide.

"Cole get down, now." She orders me. Amelia and Caitlyn chime in in agreement with the same looks on their faces as Hayden and Abbie.

"Won't you tell me what it is first?"

"Shut up, Cole! Get down right now!" Hayden scolds me, pushing me in my seat.

"What's going on?!" I shout. Hayden's eyes lock with something outside the front windshield.

"It's him." Abbie whispers in my ear and I turn around in my seat abruptly but freezing at the dark blue eyes behind the windshield.

***

Author's Note

Cliffhanger! Sorry guys I just had to.

If you haven't followed nemesis1412 yet, make sure you do! I'm getting ready to start doing the QOTDs so you guys can have a say in what goes on in the remaining chapters.

Also, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my best friends Amanda, Casso1127 and 20Mickey20 who the characters Abbie, Caitlyn, and Hayden are based off of. You guys are awesome!

Lotsa Love
~ Cara❤️