[ 39 ] 2013 

It was the Saturday of Niall and Andrea's party. Harley was sat at the table with her parents and Phoenix, who still hadn't left Sydney. It seemed she had told her mother she was visiting Harley in Sydney after her supposed church retreat. Phoenix's mother was good friends with Harleen Quinn, she trusted her to take care of her daughter. 

The only person missing at the table was Billy Quinn.

"Where's your brother?" Aaron asked Harley.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Still in his room, I'm guessing."

It had been three days since Cindy and Billy were broken up. In those three days, Billy had gotten out of attending school by pretending to have a cold. His parents knew he wasn't sick, but they say how upset he was feeling and didn't let him know they were aware he was lying.

"Go tell him to come down for breakfast, please Harley." Harleen said.

Harley rolled her eyes, but left the table. She was concerned for her brother. He seemed to be taking the break up very hard. Harley had never seen Billy suffer so much over a girl. 

She walked up the stairs and went left, towards her brother's room. The door was slightly ajar and she could see her brother's figure still in bed, but she knocked anyway. When there was no answer, she assumed he was asleep and went to wake him up.

Pushing the door open, she called, "Billy..."

"Go away, Harley." He groaned, covering his face with his blanket.

"Mom wants you to come down for breakfast." She informed him. When her brother said nothing, she added with a sigh. "You need to get out of bed at one point, Billy. She was just a girl. Its not like you couldn't easily get a new girlfriend." Especially with the way people at St. Genevieve's were into new students. Harley was sure any other girl would gladly date her brother.

"None of those other girls are Cindy." He said in his laments over the break up. "None of them will laugh the way Cindy does when I tell a bad joke. They won't smell of roses like Cindy does because she has a huge rose garden at her house. They won't kiss me the way Cindy does because no one has lips like hers. Harley, maybe you don't understand because you've never been in love. But Cindy is the love of my life."

"How can you know that?" Harley challenged. "You're only seventeen."

"I'm going to be eighteen soon." He argued. 

"That makes no difference!" His sister pointed out. Remembering another message she had for him, she added, "Your basketball, football, and cross country coaches talked to me. They said you'd better not miss practice next week because they're already cutting you enough slack as it is, letting you participate in all three sports when the maximum at St. Genevieve's is two. And your teachers sent me all your homework for those three days you missed. They want it done by Monday." She gestured to the stack of homework on his nightstand.

Harley was amazed that her brother could do three sports, participate in the math and science club, and still have time to keep his grades perfect. She thought that it was probably because he was a regular human. While she had supernatural things to take care of, her brother had time to be a normal teenager.

"I'll get it done." He said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.

"You better," Harley warned, "I don't want you to plummet your grades or else mum and dad will need to support me with my academic stuff and I hate school."

-

But Harley couldn't just stand by and do nothing while Billy and Cindy were separated. She saw how much it was affecting her brother and she wanted it to stop. Since she wasn't allowed to drive on her own, she asked Calum for a ride. But he had to wait for her outside because Luke and Calum didn't like each other and Harley wanted to avoid an argument. It seemed that there was plenty ever since Phoenix arrived.

Cindy walked down the grand stair case from her bedroom, looking a mess. She was in her pajamas, her hair was everywhere, and her eyes were puffy from crying. Still, she was genuinely happy to see Harley and the smile on her face was genuine.

"Hey Harley!" Cindy smiled. "We haven't hung out in ages."

"This isn't a social visit, Cindy." Harley explained. Cindy walked past her and led her into the living room where they both sat on the couch. That was when Harley continued, "I don't like to get into my brother's love life because that's just weird and he's old enough to do things on his own. But I came to talk to you about Billy."

Cindy shook her head. "There's nothing to talk about. I'm just fine without him."

"That's a lie. Look at yourself Cindy."

From the stairs came Luke. He saw them in the livingroom and smiled at Harley. "Hey Harley," He said with a wave of his hand. "Did Phoebe come with you?" 

Cindy rolled her eyes at the mention of Phoenix. "Don't even mention her, Luke."

"Phoenix is at my house. And she already has a boyfriend." She told Luke, his expression dropping into a frown. Turning to Cindy, she added, "A boyfriend who isn't Billy, so you can relax, Cindy." Of course, Harley was lying about Phoenix already having a boyfriend. But she said it to get Luke off her back and to reassure Cindy that Billy and Phoenix weren't dating.

His disappointment only seemed to last a couple of seconds though. He cheerfully said to them, "I'm going to the store to buy some beer for Niall and Andrea's kick back." Then he left the house.

"Look Cindy," Harley tried once more to convince her. "Billy really loves you. He's been in bed sulking for three whole days. I'm not saying this because he's my brother, but...don't you think he's suffered enough?"

Cindy's expression softened at Harley's words.

Harley knew Cindy wasn't a bad person. She wasn't very smart, but she had a good heart. And it was evident that she loved Billy too, she was just hurt that he had supposedly cheated on her. 

"Billy was never with Phoebe." Harley added, crinkling up her nose. "Phoebe just has a big crush on him, always has. But my brother has never seen Phoebe as more than a friend."

Cindy bit down on her lip as though she were debating some thing in her mind. With a sigh, she finally told Harley, "Tell Billy to call me, and we'll talk." A small smile formed on the blonde's lips.

A smiled broke out onto Harley's face as well. "Thank you, Cindy!" She threw her arms around her.

-

Harley rushed home to give her brother the news. 

"Billy!" She pushed open the door to his room. 

He just looked at her without saying a word, his blue eyes reddened. 

"I went to talk to Cindy." She gushed with excitement. It was a strange feeling to her, acting like a normal teenager again. "And she told me you should call her."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Really? How did you convince her?"

"She's my friend, remember?" Harley smiled. She thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad being Cindy's friend. She definitely wasn't the smartest person at St. Genevieve's, but her heart was in the right place. And she had proved to be a much better friend than even Phoenix, who Harley considered her best friend. 

Billy jumped out of bed and raced around his room, gathering different things. "I need to get ready for Niall's party." Harley knew Niall and Billy were now friends. They knew each other from cross country practice. He had obviously been invited to the costume party. "Cindy will be there and I want to convince her to get back with me."

Harley left her brother and returned to her own room. 

She hadn't seen Ashton in a couple of days. She presumed that he knew Phoenix was staying at the Quinn's house and didn't want to spook her in case Harley were to accidentally talk to him. She also thought that he was probably spending time with Claire, pretending to help her out with her plan to kill Calum.

In the time being, Harley would go out to buy a costume for Andrea's party. She wasn't the type to attend parties, but she wanted to attend, if only to show Andrea they were on good terms.

And she knew just what she would dress up as.

-

we're getting closer to the drama chapters! i thought you all deserved another update because you've all been so supportive of me and my stories. and i also have a story map that i created for the rest of the chaps. it will begin to get suspenseful again.

thank you so much for reading!

question of the day: what are the colors on your country's flag? i'll tell you mine and you guess which countries these are. i have two. first one (where i was born): red white and blue. its a bunch of red and white bands, and a sky full of stars. second one (where my parents are from): three colors that look like the flag of another country. green, white, and red. and there is a beautiful eagle devouring a snake.

i'll guess yours too. or i'll try!

i love you, have a blessed day!

-clary xx