«Madeline's POV»

Before I knew it, it was the morning of the party. The days flew by, really. I was freaking out, seeing as this was the first party I had been invited to. Or, at least told about. Thoughts were racing through my head like they were on a NASCAR speedway. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to dress for this party. I couldn't stop thinking about it, which started to get very annoying. But I haven't asked Flynn about it because I didn't want to bother him.

Whoa, what is this?!?! I DON'T want to bother him? Since when? I was starting to wonder if something was SERIOUSLY wrong with me. Whatever. I pull on my pants and tug on my combat boots to complete my outfit for school. Grabbing my backpack, I ran out the door to meet Flynn.

He looked out the open window up at me (at least I think he did, he was wearing shades) and said, "Ready for blast off in: 10, 9, 8, 7..." I opened the car door as fast as I could, knowing that he would actually take off without me. He did that once, cackling so loudly that I could hear it as he sped down the road leaving me in the dust. I, for one, did not think it was funny. AT ALL. I ignored him for the rest of the day, and let me just say, that was NOT an easy task.

"3, 2, 1!" He finished and we shot down the road. I guess you could do that with a Ferrari. I mean, I didn't know. The best car we had ever owned was an '88 Honda Civic. It was a hatchback--fancy, I know. I'm cool, I swear!

"Haha, not." Flynn said out of nowhere.

"Wait, what?" I asked, confused. Then it dawned on me. "Did I say that out loud?"

He nodded. "It really was quite funny."

"Quite? What are you? Some old english professor?" I tried to throw an insult at him, but hey. When it's six in the morning, you're not gonna be on your A game.

"What are you? One of the seven dwarves?"

Apparently Flynn could be on his A game at six in the morning.

"Thanks," Flynn said.

Dang it, was I thinking out loud again?

"Yep," Flynn answered my question.

"Why?"

"Because I'm not the one who's brilliantly stupid." He smartly replied. Oh, did I say smartly? I meant to say idiotically.

"Are you implying that I'm stupid?" I asked, mocking hurt.

"To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people, Madeline." Flynn spat playfully. He really was on his A+ game that day. I was just so tired, it was like my brain was incapable of functioning. Which sucked, because I had a test in AP Psych.

We pulled into the school and Flynn parked at his usual spot, where his fanclub awaited. His fanclub consisted mainly of, well...the entirety of the girls that populated the high school. Except me. Well, I was kind of the one who came WITH him. But that didn't mean I was part of the fanclub, right? I hoped not. The guys probably had me ranked as freaking President. It probably looked like I was clinging on to him, like a Koala to a tree. To the jealous girls of this school (by that I mean all of them) it looked like I came out of nowhere and stole their man. Yeah right.

Flynn linked his arm in mine and started skipping off to class. "Come on, Dorothy! Follow the white tiled hall!"

I groaned. "Not this again, Flynn!" He had tried to do that to me on Tuesday. I had refused.

"Of course this again, Dorothy!" He grinned.

If he wasn't this popular, the whole school would've ruled him out as the 'weirdo' that nobody could talk to. Instead Christine Grady got that title. How she earned it? She sat by herself in the empty field next to our lot picking dandelions. And EATING them. Talk about grotty.

"Flynn, stop!" I hissed. "You're going to make me late for Psych!"

"Don't be silly, Dorothy! I'm skipping with you to your class!"

I was praying for somebody to shoot me right then and there. Okay, not really, but this guy needs to take a chill pill.

"Chill pill?" The guy in question asked.

"Yeah, calm down." I said, realizing that I had thought out loud. Once again. I really should've fixed that. What if I had been thinking something embarrassing?

"Chill pill," Flynn muttered. "Oh crap! I didn't take my medicine!"

"What medicine?" I asked, it finally registering in my head how little I knew about this guy. Which is kind of bad, since we were doing a project ABOUT each other. Speaking of which, we hadn't worked on that in a while. We probably should.

"My ADD medicine," Flynn answered my question as the warning bell rang. "Got to get to class, see ya next block!"

"Unfortunately," I shot back and ran into my class. Looks like my game has upgraded to an A.

*

It was the end of English and Flynn and I were walking out to the parking lot. Well, he was going to his car while I was going to the buses.

I realized my shoe was untied, and was about to bend down to tie it when Flynn asked, "Can I tie your shoe?"

"Why?" I asked. "You don't want me falling for anyone else?"

"No, we don't want your face to get any MORE ugly. Then the balance of hot and ugly would be totally thrown off!" He grinned. "Speaking of which, are you ready for tonight?!"

"I think so," I answered. "Picking me up at eight, right?"

"Right-o!" He said and walked off to his car. "See ya later!"

"Bye!" I called after him.

What am I going to do for this party? I thought as I boarded the bus. More importantly, what was I going to wear?! I had to have at least one cute outfit. I hoped. Oh dear god, I most sincerely hoped that Meghan was not there because if she saw me walk through that door with Flynn I would be a dead girl walking.

I had taken work off that day (without my dad's consent) to go to the party. It had better be worth it, I thought as I climbed off the bus. I walked into the house and slammed the door shut--for no particular reason.

"Madeline?" Dad asked. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," I called back up.

"Why are you home so early?" He questioned.

"I took work off today," I explained, running into my room, hoping to avoid further inquiries.

Instead, he came to me. Knocking on my door, he yelled, "Madeline Rose Schultz! Come out right this instant!" Long story short, I went out right that instant. Dad barely ever yelled.

"Yes?" I said, acting like nothing was wrong.

"Why did you take off work today? You know we need as much as we can get."

"I-I'm going out with a friend." I hesitated to tell him the truth.

"Madeline! We need money and you're busy going out?!" Dad tried guilt me into not going, but all it did was make me mad.

"You know what, Dad?" I advanced closer. "I'm the one who works her butt off all day earning money for this family while you, YOU! The ADULT of this family sits on his butt in front of a computer doing absolutely NOTHING! I have NEVER taken a day off of work, even when I was SICK and you're telling me I don't work enough? How DARE YOU?! I have never gotten to live like a normal teenager, making friends, going to parties. Instead, I get to watch from the sidelines, washing tables and serving people ALL DAY. And, FINALLY, when I actually make a friend and take ONE DAY off of work to go out like a NORMAL person, you tell me it's not right. This is the first friend I've made since I was EIGHT. Eight, Dad! That's not right. A little girl should have friends who help her out.

"And Lux, little Lux has grown up without a mother. She has a father though, who relies ENTIRELY on me to take care of her while he's holed up in his work room, doing what? Oh, that's right. NOT GETTING JOBS. His daughter, at the age of sixteen has THREE jobs and is able to balance all of them while he has ZERO. And he tells her that's NOT enough? You know what that is? That's SICK." And with that, I pushed past him and ran out out the door crying. I didn't stop running until I reached Blythe Landing Park, a place that was a good fifteen minutes away from my house.

I sat perched on top of a rock and cried and until I couldn't cry anymore. I'm pretty sure I even fell asleep at one point. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Madeline?" The familiar voice asked. I lifted my head up and saw Flynn's friend, Gaige. "Are you okay?" He asked.

I laughed bitterly. "Does it look like I'm okay?"

"Not quite." Gaige observed.

"Thanks for that, Captain Obvious."

"Hey, you asked." Gaige put his hands up. "What happened?"

"I got into an argument with my dad and it's 7:30 and Flynn is supposed to pick me up in half an hour and I have nothing to wear and I can't go back!" I gushed, tears starting to surface again.

Gaige wrapped his arms around me in a warm embrace. "It's going to be okay," He said. "You'll be just fine."

"B-but how?" I whimpered, feeling more vulnerable than I had in years.

"Your Fairy Godfather Gaige is going to help you out." He grinned, scooping me up bridal style and carrying me over to his car. "I'll call Flynn and tell him to pick you up at my place. You can borrow some of my sister's clothes to wear to the party."

"Thank you so much." I whispered, snuggling into his comfortable leather seats.

"No problem," Gaige said and reached over to squeeze my hand comfortingly.

About fifteen minutes later, I was sitting in front of a vanity in Gaige's sister's room wearing a black and white aztec romper paired with white converse. Electra was eighteen and was going to the community college. She looked exactly like Gaige, except in female form. She had carefully curled my hair about ten minutes earlier after throwing my outfit at me and yelling, "FASHION EMERGENCY!" No joke. She was scrambling around, gathering all her makeup to slather onto my face. I really didn't want her to, but she insisted.

I stared off into space as she applied mascara and eyeliner. I impatiently tapped my foot as she put about fifty pounds of concealer on my face. Finally, she was finished. I peaked at myself in the mirror, and was surprised at the results. I mean, I looked like me, but prettier. I liked it, but it didn't make me feel myself. Nevertheless, I thanked Electra and ran downstairs to wait for Flynn.

Unexpectedly, he was already there. I glanced at the clock; it was 7:55. He was five minutes early. Very un-Flynn like. Grinning, I went over and said hi.

"Hey," He grinned back. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Just hold on a sec." I walked over to Gaige to say goodbye. "Thanks so much. For everything." I gave him a meaningful smile and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

Then I walked over to Flynn and hooked my arm through his. "Ready for departure, Pilot."

He laughed. "As long as you're by my side, Co-Pilot." And with that, we were taking off on a ride to Devan's house.

Not a long while later, we pulled up in front of a huge house. It wasn't quite a mansion, but if you put my house next to it...let's just say mine would look like an ant, and his would look like an elephant. "Here we are." Flynn announced. I peered out the window and inspected the yard. Red cups were littered across it, all around. I could hear the music blasting from inside so loud it hurt my ears. I doubt that mattered to anyone else, since they all were probably drunk. I, for one, did not plan on doing that. Knowing Flynn, the first thing he was going to do was chug down a beer and get to dancing with his friends.

Question was, what the heck was I supposed to do. I followed close behind Flynn as he burst through the front door, which was already open. "HEY!" The guy known as Devan shouted across the room when we entered.

"HEY!" Flynn yelled back and ran through the commotion to greet his buddies. I, on the other hand, stood frozen on the outskirts of the room, not sure what in the world to do. Just as I was about to walk over to Flynn and try to weasel my way into their conversation, a girl I'd never seen before approached me.

"Hi," She said. "I'm Audrey."

"I'm Madeline." I replied with a weak smile.

"This doesn't look like your crowd," She remarked. "No offense."

"None taken," I said. "I only came as a favor to this guy I know."

"Ooh," Audrey said, clapping her hands together. "Which guy?"

"Flynn Chaste, do you know him?"

"Do I? Of course. He's the hottest guy in the school, EVERYBODY knows him."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you a fan?"

"No," Audrey said, surprising me. "That guy is a douche. Always has been, always will be."

"Tell me about it." I grinned.

"Wait, you're that girl the cheerleaders were spreading rumors about, right?"

"Unfortunately," I said grimly.

"Touchy subject?"

"Not really." I told her.

Suddenly, Meghan appeared in front of me. "Has somebody FINALLY made a friend?" She gasped, drawing some attention.

"At least I have real friends, unlike you." I shot her a fake smile. A large crowd had gathered around us.

"I like your makeup, what did you do? Dump your whole face in?" Meghan sneered.

"Bitch please, you're so fake, Barbie's jealous." I sneered right back.

"You know what?" Meghan acted unfazed. "You look like a slut in that."

Out of nowhere, Flynn stepped in front of me. "Hey guess what, Meghan? You look like a slut in EVERYTHING you wear so BACK OFF."

It was in that moment that I realized I didn't hate Flynn Chaste anymore. In fact, I liked him. But not in the way I had originally thought. I liked him as MORE than a friend. But I sure as heck was going to deny it if someone asked.

"OOOOH," All the guys yelled as Flynn slid his arm around my shoulders and dragged me away.

"What were you thinking?" He asked, his words slurring together slightly. Great, I realized. Flynn was drunk...already.

"I can handle myself, thanks." I shrugged out of his grip and made a move to dart into the crowd.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't chase after me. Never in a million years would Flynn like me. I mean seriously, he's probably using a pickup line on another girl right now as they down alcohol together. Gross.

"You look like you could use a drink," An unfamiliar guy sidles up to me.

"And you are?" I asked suspiciously.

"Darren Winters at your service." He beamed at me.

I had to admit, this boy was very cute. "I'm Madeline."

"So, you want a drink?"

And I was so caught up in the moment that I accepted his offer. Plus, I wanted to prove to Flynn that I could handle myself. "Sure."

He poured me a cup and then downed one of his own. Just as I was about to put the glass to my mouth, and hand swiped it away from me. I glared coldly into the very distinct sea-blue eyes. Flynn. "Don't drink that."

"Why shouldn't I?" I said defiantly.

"Well for one thing, do you even know what's in there?" He raised an eyebrow while I shook my head ashamedly. "And for another, you don't drink, and you shouldn't start." He finished protectively.

"Thanks for looking out for me." I muttered, embarrassed that I had almost let myself do that.

"Yeah whatever," Flynn waved it off. "Now to more pressing matters, I'm pretty much hammered already so I need you to drive me home."

I rolled my eyes. "Will do. Bye, Darren."

"Bye, Madeline." He waved goodbye as I stalked off into the crowd with Flynn in tow. I really hate driving. I passed the test, but I hadn't driven a car since I did. Once I was outside, I looked for people I could catch a ride with. I saw a big van getting ready to pull off. I ran over to them and poked my head through the door. "Can I get a ride?" I asked.

"Um, there's not enough room in here." Meghan said from the back, even thought there was obviously plenty of room. Oh, she's in here, I thought.

"Right, because your makeup and ego take up all the space." I smirked, turned around, and made a beeline for Flynn's car while he stumbled along behind me. He was SO drunk, and it made me mad. How come we had to leave just for him? It was all about him.

I pushed Flynn into the car and angrily drove off from the party. I hadn't driven in forever--not since the nightmares started. My hands shook against the wheel in fear and irritation while I thought, This is all his fault. I hated him. Okay, maybe not as much as I acted like I did.

"Madeline?" Flynn slurred.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I think I kinda..." He trailed off. Oh god, please don't let this be one of those drunk love confessions. "I kinda hate you."

I sighed in relief. "I kinda hate you too, Flynn."

I pulled into the driveway of his...MANSION?!? WHAT? Of course he had to have a bigass mansion.

I hauled him out of the car and supported him on the way to the front step. He SO owed me for that.

Flynn tugged the keys out of his pocket. I slid them into the keyhole and pushed the door open.

The lovely view I'm greeted with?

Two people freaking EATING EACH OTHER'S FACES. With a shock, I realized who the guy was.

"Dad?" I ask at the same time Flynn yells, "MOM!"

Well, shit.

A/N: excuse my French

also, that's Flynn's house to the side. I just wanted to pick a really cool looking house tbh

dedicated to SparkleyEyesHailey again-I don't care if you can't do it twice bc she totally deserves it. you go girl!

AND OMG THIS CHAPTER IS SIX PAGES! THAT'S THE LONGEST I'VE EVER WRITTEN! TOO HYPE MAN
AND THEY ONLY GET LONGER FROM HERE!!!!