(Edited)

I stared at the ceiling, contemplating on what to do. My mind was all over the place, and my emotions weren't making it any easier. Do I want to let it go and pretend that I don't remember them like they are doing with me? Could I walk past them and act as if I knew nothing?

I groaned, tossing and turning in my bed. I couldn't help but sigh out loud with frustration. I was awake before my alarm again, and I couldn't turn my thoughts off and go back to sleep. How was it so easy for them to walk passed me and not show that they knew me in any way? I couldn't do it! I couldn't bring myself to forget that I knew them. I had to face them because I wasn't like them. If it had been me who remembered them and they didn't know who I was, I would have at least tried talking to them.

With that determined thought in mind, I jumped out of bed and got ready for school. I took the bus to school and decided to avoid the usual hangouts that my friends would be at and headed straight towards Dustin and Shawn, who stood in a corner in a heated conversation. My blood boiled at the sight of them, and I clenched my fist. I knew this was the right thing to do. I deserved answers, and I wanted them now.

They saw me approach, and their eyes widened slightly. I grabbed onto Dustin and Shawn's ear and pulled them towards an empty classroom.

Dustin squirmed, slapping my hand. "Ow, pumpkin, you're gonna pull my ear off," he yelled at me, whilst Shawn hissed and swore under his breath.

"Dammit woman, let me go!" I squeezed his ear tighter, and he cursed.

I was having fun with this, the way it looked could make people laugh; a girl dragging two boys, twice her size, by their ears and all they could do was squirm while following obediently. I was stronger than I looked, and they knew it. I shoved them inside the classroom, causing Dustin to land on the teacher's desk, and Shawn stumbled against a students desk. I locked the door behind me and turned to face them. I was speechless. This morning I was dead set on confronting them; I was angry and hurt. But I stood there looking at them and felt nothing. I couldnt help the smile that slipped on my face. They appeared so different from the last time that I saw them; so grown up. I looked at their confused faces and chuckled slightly they were still as childish as ever. My goodness, how much I had missed them.

"Okay, thats enough," Shawn said, standing straight, fixing his shirt. "You can't just push us into an empty classroom and stand there laughing like a psychotic person without an explanation." Dustin looked between the two of us, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, Ive always been a bit on the crazy side," I smirked and moved to sit on the countertop that stood on the left side of the door. I moved some of the books out of the way and jumped up, cursing my shortness along the way.

"Cut the crap!"

"You're right, Shawny!" I called him by his nickname, and his eyes widened. "I don't get it! How could you guys walk passed me for a year and a half and pretend that you didnt know me?"

"Excuse me?" Dustin jumped off the table and stormed towards me. Shawn grabbed his arm and held him back. I sat emotionlessly; I had a right to question them, and I wasn't backing down. "Seriously, Kira! How could we do to you exactly what you did to us?" Dustin chuckled humorously, struggling against Shawn. I winced when he used my first name; no one here called me that. "Freaking hypocrite," Dustin mumbled, pushing Shawn off him and turned around to calm himself down.

I was honestly proud of him; he never liked conflict. He never started the arguments; he was too carefree for that. I jumped off the countertop and walked right up to him, our shoes touching.

"You grew a backbone." Shawn chuckled, and Dustin clenched his jaw glaring at me. "Here's the thing Dusty, I didn't ignore you on purpose." The look on his face said it all he didnt believe me. Shawn sat on the table and swung his legs. I was slightly confused; it was like these two changed personalities.

"Humour me," Shawn said. Dustin opened his mouth to protest, but Shawn silenced him with his hand.

"It's as simple as that. I didn't remember you!"

Dustin scoffed. "You honestly want us to believe the crap that's coming out of your mouth?"

"Why would I lie?" I asked. "You don't know how much of a risk I'm taking by talking to you guys. If you have been here all this time, that means Ryan has been here also. Which means he is planning something big?" They looked at me as if I grew a second head. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"To be honest, I couldn't give a shit!" Dustin stated rudely. Shawn just looked at me, analyzing me. I glared at Dustin, fed up with his attitude.

"First of all, watch your language with me," I warned. "Do you honestly believe I would have left you guys, James and Max, willingly?" I looked between the two, and they couldnt meet my eyes. I could see they felt ashamed.

"Ryan said-" Shawn spoke up but didnt finish his sentence. I had a feeling I knew what he told them.

I took a deep breath and explained everything. "The night I went away, I was having dinner with Ryan beforehand, and I saw something that he didnt want anyone to know about. He threatened me that if I told anyone I would never see Max again." I sniffed, tears rolling down my cheek. "That night when I got home social services were waiting for me. I didnt want to leave so they dragged me out, kicking and screaming. Max kept crying and calling out to me. I knew that it wasnt the caretakers that called them because they liked the fact that I looked after the kids and they cashed in. When they pushed me into the car, I saw Ryan across the street laughing at me. When I saw him, I snapped and screamed that he was a murderer, that they should take him, not me."

By the end of it, I sat on the floor holding my knees, crying my eyes out. I broke down, the entire scene playing clearly in my mind. It finally hit me how long I've been gone from them, my family. How long Ive been suffering here, without a way out. Dustin and Shawn sat down next to, Dusty wrapped his arm around me, and Shawn held my hand.

"That's why he was so adamant on finding you," Dustin mumbled.

Shawn ignored him and looked at me, wiping my tears away. "I get the fact that you didn't leave willingly, but why didn't you try coming back, why didn't you remember us?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"At first, when I got here, I tried every night to escape, but after a week I couldnt do it anymore. Im not exactly sure how I forgot you guys, I promise I would never do it on purpose." I looked at them, trying to get my point across; they had to believe me. "I think with everything I went through, I just shut my past out and didnt look back. I started remembering everything last night."

"What did you go through?" Dustin asked knowingly.

I stood up and dusted my jeans off, ignoring the tone in his voice. I was sure he suspected something, but I wasnt going to admit to anything. "It doesn't matter; I remember you guys now." They stood up and pulled me into a group hug. I felt at home in their arms, and I never wanted to let go.

"Where the hell have you been?" Mason yelled when I arrived at the lunch table. I chuckled at him and sat down next to Ashton.

"Well, halo to you too, handsome." I winked at him, and he smiled. Ashton glared at Mason and asked.

"Seriously man, one compliment and she's off the hook?"

Michael looked at me and winked, turning to Ashton, he said, "She makes you forget things mate."

I blushed at that and looked away from him. Goodness, I loved these guys to pieces. They made you feel better when everything was blue. They made me forget about Rayn and the fact that he was here, that he knew where I was. Great, now I was worried again. I sighed and laid my head on my arms on top of the table.

"Hey!" Mason snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Not nice. Where were you? We heard you were talking to those to potheads."

I clenched my fist and looked up at him. Now that I remembered them, I was not going to allow anyone to talk smack about them. "They aren't potheads."

Mason recoiled with shock. "Did you just stand up for them?"

I rolled my eyes at him and looked over at Emily; who sat next to him. She hadn't spoken a word since I arrived at the table, it worried me slightly, but I knew she would talk when she was ready. Mason continued asking me question after question, and I stood up abruptly, leaving the table. I walked over to the lunch line and got my self some pizza and juice. A few minutes away from our table calmed me down; I was so close to strangling Mason. I knew they didnt like them and Dustin selling stuff to me made things even worse for them. I walked back and sat down on the same spot, looking up I found Mason glaring at me.

"Did you seriously just walk away while I was talking to you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, would you like to see me do it again?" I snapped. The guys laughed at us, and I wanted to throw Mason with my pizza, but I was hungry, so I kicked him under the table instead.

"Ouch," he said, rubbing the sore spot and glared at me. "Why were you talking to them?" he pressed.

I huffed irritated. "For goodness sake Mase, you shouldn't believe everything you hear." I shoved my pizza away, my appetite lost. This kid was going to be the death of me.

"But wh-" Mason started, but he got smacked upside the head, and he glared behind him. "Ouch! Why?"

Jason sat down with Kate. "It's not international interrogation day so leave her the hell alone," Jason replied.

"Thanks, Jase." He winked at me with a smile in tow.

I smiled, feeling a bit better and looked over at Emily. She tried not meeting my eyes, but I caught her and gave her a questioning look. Her eyes asked her troublesome question, and I smiled. She wanted to know if I was with Dustin for more meds. I shook my head at her, and she sighed, relieved. I loved the fact that our bond was so strong that we could have a telepathic chat with each other. She smiled happily and turned to talk to Mason. I looked over at Michael, who sat quietly, analyzing me as usual. He stared at me without looking away, making me shiver. His beautiful green-jaded eyes had me transfixed, and I wanted nothing more than to look at them for eternity. But with his beauty came depth, the ability to look into your soul, finding your innermost secrets and unravelling them. I broke our gaze and bit my lip, blushing.

Michael: 2

Autumn: 1

I couldn't help myself, even though his look made my knees weak and read me like a book; I had to look at him. His face turned from focused to smiling, his dimples on full display. I loved those dimples. He winked at me and focused on our friends conversation. I placed my cold hands on my warm cheeks to get rid of some of the blush and listened to my friends. It seemed that Mason and Ashton got detention for lighting the chem-lab on fire. The funny part of it all was that neither of them had chemistry.

Mason chuckled. "And then when the teacher asked us what we were even doing in his class." Mason stopped trying to catch his breath from laughing too much. "Ashton told him that he came to see if he and Rachel had chemistry." Mason and Ashton burst into a guffaw of laughter almost falling over, and we all chuckled at them. We were interrupted by Michaels phone ringing, all attention turning towards him. He looked at the caller ID and cursed.

"What?" he growled into the phone.

He stood up and walked a few feet away; his voice drowned out by the noise around us. Since I couldn't hear what he was saying, I focused on his body language. He clenched his jaw while talking vigorously, his pink lips in a straight line. There danced fire in his eyes and it ignited more with every word that the person on the other end said. I could see the pain in his eyes, and all I wanted to do was pull him into my embrace. Michael ended the call roughly and stormed out of the cafeteria. Whatever the caller told him must have made him incredibly angry for him to storm off like that. I sighed and shook my head. I wish he would open up to me and talk about it instead of storming away.

Ashton jabbed me in the ribs, and I glared at him.

"Go after him shorty," Jason said. I shook my head. I was scared he would lash out at me.

"He needs you now. We can't tell you who that was because its not our story to tell," Jason explained. "Go!"

I stood up and walked out looking for Michael. Ashton advised that I look outside because he wouldn't stay here after that. I found his car still in the parking and walked closer. He sat behind the wheel, staring at his hands, shaking uncontrollably.

"Not now Jason," he said without looking up, his voice breaking.

I pouted slightly. "I'm a girl. I even have the goods to prove it." I crossed my arms over my chest.

Michaels head snapped up so fast I'm surprised he didnt get whiplashed. "I-I thought you were Jason."

"I heard." I gave him a small smile.

He looked at me with so much emotion in his eyes that it broke me. His eyes glossed over. "I have to get out of here," he pleaded.

"Let me drive?" I opened his door, and he climbed over. I got in his seat and buckled him up; he was staring out of the window, caught up in his own thoughts. I started the car and drove out of the school parking lot. The only place I could think of at the moment to get his mind off from his problems was Neds. Maybe not the ideal place for him, but I wasn't the most ideal girl either.

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