Marci Wellington's POV

"Let's go, Grizzlies! Let's go!" The cheerleaders chanted as halftime commenced.

"Remind me again why we didn't just stay in my house and work on a book report or something?" Lucas grumbled from beside me.

I pulled the black beanie on my head tighter as I turned to the Naysayer with furrowed brows.

"Weren't you the one that called me on the phone to come up with an excuse for you to get you out of your family's dinner?"

That's right, Lucas Stuart called me before my cousins and I could leave for tonight's basketball game. And like a good friend I was, I stayed in the same room with my Dad's sworn enemy for a complete hour and missed the opening for Nate's game.

"I'd rather watch people kiss all night in dinners and restaurants than see these people kiss up to my Dad." He grumbled further.

Mr Stuart took this as an opportunity for the whole family to watch the game and raise the stakes for the scholarship reward. Long story short, Lucas' parents and younger sister sat behind us on the bleachers.

I agree that the plan went south, but at least he was not in the same breathing space as his genetic makeup donors.

I was feeling my blood boil, but I calmed down when I saw Giá being flipped into the air and landed at the top of the human pyramid with a big smile on her face.

Lucas and I cheered for her while the cheerleaders disbanded and headed to the baselines while the basketball jocks came back into the court to start the second half of the game.

Lucas threw negative jabs left, right and centre, but I sat through it all because I can relate to why he was pissed.

Although Mr Stuart is still looking for a new superstar, he was adamant that one of his kids must either be a musician or take over his business as a music producer.

Like I said earlier, he threw a fit when Lucas said he wanted to be a priest, and as for Lucas' younger sister, Skye, she's barely six going to seven and doesn't even know what she wants to be yet. I may not know all the ethics of parenting, but I know that forcing kids into a profession is a no.

I might have reached my limit of negative statements when Lucas went off course with where he was directing his negativity.

"Just look at how these idiots play," He gestured to the court. The ball passed around the away team, who were on their way to scoring until Nate must have broken the play by going in to steal the ball.

He was successful and passed it to one of his teammates. He tried to shoot, but the ball bounced out of the basket. Nate saw it and grabbed the ball while in midair. He flung himself to the basket and landed a dunk.

The crowd went wild, but Nate's teammates were short of happy as they began to circle him. The final buzzer rang, and thanks to the dunk shot that Nate landed at the last minute, we won by two points.

"As I said, absolute shit," Lucas concluded.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I suggest you cover your kids' ears because what I say next might have them wishing they stayed at home to watch Barbie dream house.

"Okay, you little wet blanket; I get you have a bone to pick with anything that crosses your mind." I begin and turn to face him with a murderous glare. I point my index finger at his chest to show him that I mean business, "Don't you dare say things that you might regret. I get that your family is as dysfunctional as mine, but you don't see me being picky and acting like a queen on the may."

I stand up before I can be a hypocrite and say something that I would regret, "When you've got your shit sorted and stop being a bitch about how life has dealt you a heavy hand. The gang and I will be at the penthouse."

Lucas tried to reach for me, but I was already storming away. I did hear him call out to me, but I ignored him.

Many people had already left the court, so I walked to the parking lot to find my cousins. I didn't expect to see Nate sporting two black eyes and Diego with bleeding knuckles.

I sighed and cradled his face in my hands, "I take it that the team wasn't happy with you saving the game?" My tone was dripping with sarcasm.

The basketball jocks passed by at that moment and hollered.

"Next time you want to play, go back to Scotland." One of them mocked.

I turned around and glared at the captain of the team. I never bothered to learn his name, but I might if I ask Shawn for a favour.

Before I could say something that definitely would get me expelled, Diego threw his hands around my shoulders. He glared at his classmate, and the testosterone level in the air rose a bit higher as people gathered around us.

"If you don't walk out of here right now, I promise that the Stuart scholarship will be the least of your problems," Diego said in a low tone.

"Say Lealtad," The basketball captain began, "When was the last time you saw Xena or Jade?"

This boy knew the right buttons to push, but so did I. I made a move to speak again, but I saw Giá shake her head from the side of the crowd from where she stood with the rest of the cheer squad.

Whatever is going on between these two captains is more than just a feud about each sport's popularity.

"I'll give you one last out," Diego let go of my shoulders and walked closer to Captain Idiot. They size each other up as the air becomes denser, and everyone starts taking out their phones, ready to catch the fight that would ensue. "Fuck out of here," Diego growled.

I expected Diego to throw a punch, and a fight would surely follow. I expected the football jocks and basketball jocks to start taking cheap shots at each other. I expected Mateo to walk between the two to try and break them apart.

I didn't expect Jade and Xena to walk into the space created by the crowd and step in between the boys.

I felt my jaw drop as I saw Jade facing Diego while Xena talked to the other guy.

I didn't hear what was said, but I could bet on my old black nail polish that I might snoop around.

I might as well do it because both captains looked up from the girls they were talking to, nodded at each other and walked away in opposite directions.

I may not be a boy, but I technically have four brothers. It doesn't take a novice to tell that these two came to an understanding tonight for now.

"Let's go," Diego said gruffly and opened the driver's seat.

Mateo got into shotgun while Giá, Nate and I piled into the back seat. Except Nate letting out a wince or groan anytime Diego took a sharp tone, the car was quiet.

Diego pulled up at the penthouse. Giá, Nate and I got out. I told them to wait on the sidewalk while I talked with Mateo.

"Are you sure you guys will be alright?" My eyes flick from him to his brother, who looked ready to murder someone.

"Don't worry about us, Prima. It's not our first rodeo with the basketball lackeys. Get in and have some fun with your friends."

Translation: Cousin

Mateo had a witty smile, but even I could still see the unsaid message in his eyes.

Call us soon.

I nodded at him and stepped away from the car, but as Diego drove away, Mateo grinned and said, "Happy Valentine's day Marci."

And off they went, chaos following in their wake.

I sighed and looked up to the sky, red and white decorated just about every corner, but if you looked past all the streamers around, you could see no star or moon in the sky.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see two bright purple rings encircling his bright green eyes. "We should get inside," Nate said.

My eyes hardened on the bruises on his face. The clicking of photographers brought me out of my death thoughts.

I gripped his hand and made my way to Giá, and we fought through the photographers to get into the penthouse.

I pushed back black strands of hair onto my head to form a messy bun since my beanie now has more net worth than the world's largest cake.

"Remind me to carry pepper spray next time." I breathe out.

"No kidding," Giá adds.

The elevator doors open to an empty house.

"That's weird. I remember your brother made it very clear that he would chaperone our date on the roof," Nate says while scratching his head.

His fingers come out of his head redder than his hair, and I think that was my breaking point.

"Giá, see if you can find anyone while I get Nate cleaned up," I tell her and gently pull my boyfriend towards my room.

I open the door and flip on the lights, I see a note on the black flower on my window still, but I'll get to that later.

I make Nate sit on the closed toilet seat while I dab a wet napkin on his hair. When I am satisfied with the amount of dry blood I have cleaned, I make him press the rag to his head while I leave to grab a first aid kit and some ice.

He holds the ice to his face while I prevent his wound from getting infected.

"So are we going to pretend that we are not cleaning up your injuries, or is this the part where you hand me some chocolate?" I try to keep my voice to a level tone, but with the way tonight has been going, that might be a very bleak idea.

Nate sighed and removed the ice from his face, "After the final buzzer, the guys got me surrounded in the locker room and demanded I tell them why I shot the dunk shot." He began with a sniff.

Damn it to hell because if he cries tonight, Captain Idiot will get a visit from the boogie man and spoiler alert because I'm the boogie man dressed in black.

"They already started the beat up, but when the captain walked in, he broke it up and got me outside the locker room. I couldn't hear most of the threats he was yelling at them, but when we had gotten far from the locker room, we ran into Diego, and you could imagine the turnout."

I may not know much about the sport, but from what I've seen for the last few years, the coach sets a game plan that everyone must follow and should things go south, there's always a backup plan. So it is either the people who claim to be good at the sport, forgot the backup plan, or were too busy pissing their pants about losing that they couldn't come up with something to prevent our team from losing. And those wimps couldn't even be grateful that their little pieces of pride were saved.

You know, sometimes, I think rocks show more gratitude than humans.

I guess it explains everything, but if Captain Idiot was the one protecting him, why was he taking cheap shots at Diego?

"You know I sometimes wonder if this release of mine is worth it," Nate added as a lone tear slipped out of his eye.

The first of many because he started crying like a broken damn.

I'll need a ski mask after this.

I cradled his head to my chest as he gripped my waist and cried into my shirt. His sobs were muffled, but I felt each and every one. We stayed like this till I was sure that Nate had calmed down.

After his sobs turned to hiccups, I took his face in my hands and took a long look at it. Bruises and cuts littered around it, but what I saw was a fighter, and I would make it a mission to remind him.

"Nathan, I would be a good girlfriend if I told you to leave the team, but I would be an even better friend if I told you to find a new release outlet for your stress. Let me remind you why you play basketball," I pause and inhale to arrange my thoughts before I let something else slip.

"You play it because the three stripes on the ball give you happiness; you play it because that's one thing your parents can't take away from you. You play it because it makes you fucking different from the rest of your lousy teammates and what's more important is that you play it because it's a part of who you are. Seeing you without a basketball is like seeing me wearing colourful clothes, or Lucas goes a whole day without being a cynic." I laugh at the end because when he tried it once, it ended up with all of us in the hospital for weeks.

Don't ask.

I cleaned his tears with my thumbs and kissed his forehead, "You're free to drop old habits and start new ones but let the reason not be because some fools are too dumb to appreciate talent. Let it be because you want to, okay?" I say, ensuring my message was passed across.

He nodded while sniffing, "Okay, thank you, Marci. I'm lucky to have you in my life. Along with the rest of our friends." Even while looking like an extra from the suicide squad, he still looks adorable with a pained yet small smile on the corner of his lips.

"We're lucky to have each other." I hugged him one more time.

After our little chat, I leave Nate to have a shower and get dressed in one of his shirts and joggers that I stole from him.

I grab the envelope from my window still and see it's a small note from Shane, and he says we need to talk.

I let out a snort; what else is new?

I grab a cup of water, make my way to the terrace and stand beside my best friend.

"Any luck finding the remaining occupants of this house?" I ask as I sip my water.

"Nada, any luck in getting Nate all fixed up?" She nodded her head towards my room.

I nodded and sipped my water as we stared up at the silence. It was still a blank sky and was perfect to mull over my thoughts.

The city was beautiful tonight, along with the streamers; couples were walking hand in hand, talking and staring at each other as if the person next to them had been the best thing that happened to them since the invention of soap.

I look at the cup of water in my hand and see a little black girl eating cookies and milk and watching her parents have a big fight in the kitchen.

"You know," Gia's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, "A wise man once said that a problem shared is a problem half solved." She moved closer to me and held my hand that had the cup of water and made me put it down.

How did she know that I was going to throw it?

"What's eating you up?" She asked, and I sighed.

I don't even know the answer to that question myself. There were my parental issues, and my boyfriend is undergoing abuse from almost all angles of his life. My other best friend's dad wants to use me as a card against my dad, and at least I forget that the girl before me, who has a worried look on her face, has two of her brothers running around the city and causing havoc.

Happy Valentine's day, everybody.

"If I told you nothing, would you believe me?" I grimaced.

She wastes no time calling me out on my bullshit, "Not even if you were out of it." She said with an unimpressed look, hip cocked out and hands folded.

Well, then she means business.

"It's just that I feel like I'm carrying a weight on my shoulders, and I don't know where it's coming from, and I don't know how to remove it." I look back into the empty sky.

The same little girl has a book in hand. She is looking for someone to read her the story, but no one seems to be home as she runs around the halls.

Marci pulled me into a hug, and I returned it. "I don't know how many times, I have to tell you this, but just so you know, you can share the weight with the rest of us. You don't have to do this alone, and you can do it one after the other because we both know that you are not superman." She pulled back and looked me in the eye, "And for the record, I'm in on whatever you have planned for Ian." She smirked with an evil glint.

For someone who doesn't like getting in trouble, she has a knack for looking for it with me.

"Who's Ian?"

"The basketball team captain," She replied and rolled her eyes.

I cocked my head to the side, "Care to tell me something?"

"If I tell you the beef with Ian and my brothers, you explain this whole weight on my shoulders nonsense you've got going on." She grinned, and I glared at her.

Well, at least I have a deal to look forward to tonight.

She shakes her head firmly, "That's off-topic, I'll drop this for now, but I will get it out of you. Just count on that."

I pulled her into me by looping our hands together and walked us back into the penthouse, "I was counting on that, Prima."

The house was still empty, and I decided that now would be a good time to call my older brother and ask where he was.

I pulled out my phone just as Nate stepped out of my room, looking better since he's all cleaned up and the bruises look better.

"I'm gonna take a shower and borrow some clothes," Giá told me and detangled herself from me. She made her way towards my room while I started dialling Caleb.

Nate came towards me and wrapped his hands around my waist from behind, and kissed my hair while hugging me. I placed one of my hands where his were connected and tried Caleb once again.

"Who are you calling?" Nate mumbled into my hair.

"My idiot brother, that's who," I muttered under my breath and sighed in relief when the line finally picked.

"About damn time. Where the hell are you?" I asked.

The voice I've been dreading to hear for a while responds, "Marci?"

I freeze, and the moving picture of the little girl appears right before me. I see her walking into her dad's study to see her mom sitting on his lap. When they see her come in, they motion for her to come closer. Together they read her a story from the book in her hand.

I drop the phone from my hand and walk away while Nate picks it up, and I begin pacing around the room.

"Yes?" He answers unsurely.

He winces when the person on the other side of the phone speaks, "Sorry good evening, sir." He scratched the back of his neck as he blushed from embarrassment; it would be cute if I was in the right state of mind.

"Yes, she's fine. And we are in your penthouse waiting for Caleb." He said and paused, "Yes, Caleb we're all here. Last-minute concert? Oh okay. Thanks then."

He cut the call and passed the phone to me. "He said he's at a last-minute concert-"

"I grabbed that genius. What did my father say?" I asked harshly.

Nate stepped back at my tone. I sighed and moved closer to him.

"Sorry about that."

Nate draped his hands around my shoulders, "It's fine. Your dad acted like any normal father should when he noticed it's not his little girl at the other end of the line."

I guess even under the whole I'm not a nice person, he must still have a heart.

I smiled slightly and relaxed until I heard my phone ring again; I picked up the call without looking at the contact.

"Any chance that you could help me get up there?" Says a familiar voice.

I felt my smile turn into a wide smirk as I replied, "Depends," I examined my nails coated in black nail polish, "Have you gotten your shit sorted out."

It might have been a positive word, but he said it in a negative tone. "Yes."

I turned to Nate, "I'll be right back."

After struggling with the presses one more time, Lucas and I were on the elevator on our way up towards the penthouse.

"Marci, I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Lucas' eyes were anywhere but me.

Why do I feel that Abuela's drill sergeant nature is rubbing off on me?

"It's alright, Stuart, we're okay," I assured him.

"Good, you might wanna take it down on a notch with the amount of eye line you are wearing. They might make you look pretty, but the eye bags that are supposed to be hiding don't know their role." He pointed out.

I sighed, "Just been stressed lately."

"You don't say."

"Shut it, Stuart." I glare at him.

"Not a chance in hell, Wellington." He shot back.

And just like that, we were back to the friendly banter we've got going on.

When we returned to the penthouse, I left the gang in the living room and took a quick shower before I joined them to watch romcoms. Sure Lucas was throwing negative jabs at the characters while Giá kept drooling on the actors. Nate and I were snuggled on the other end of the couch and quietly talked among ourselves.

This was not how I planned the night to go, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Thoughts? Theories so far?

What do you think is going on?

Also, Lucas' last name is Stuart, not Stuarts. Please correct me if you spot the extra s.