"Are we just going to pretend that nothing happened?"

"That's the idea," I reply.

Walking down the school hallways the school day after being sent to jail is still the same as it's always been. People are gossiping in sections of the hallways, or people are talking by their lockers. None of the talk is regarding to whst happened before, except for the conversation that I am trying to quickly get rid of.

"But what about Y/N? She knows about us."

"She'll be fine. We'll all make sure of it."

I walk a little faster away from him, but he clutches his school supplies closer to his chest and runs after me.

"What did Charlie say? You guys were in there an awful long time. Besides, Ryder ran out angry."

I stop and stare at Vylad. I'm annoyed, and he's realizing this quickly. He doesn't do anything but wait for my answer.

"Damn kid, you ask too many questions."

"Curiosity is what killed the cat," he says.

"Then be a cat."

Vylad soons goes quiet, and I look behind me to see that he disappeared. It's about time, I think, but maybe I was too harsh on the kid. He was only curious.

I continue to walk forward shrugging his disappearance off my shoulders. Homeroom is my first place to go to today, and somebody stops me before I can enter the room.

They grab onto my arm and suddenly my back is pressed against the lockers behind me.

"Chloe," I breathe out. "Hey."

She smiles at me flirtatiously blinking her eyes repeatedly. This is a time where I ask if something is in her eye, but I know for a fact that she's just trying too hard. I mean, sure, the girl is hot, but she's trying too hard.

"Hey Laur," she says.

The fact that she can give me a nickname as if we've known each other for our entire life amuses me. I've only met her a litte while ago, and this is our second time conversing with each other.

She stops blinking and pushes her chest out slightly. I'm given a closed eyed smile, and I move a single hair out of her face.

"Oh, you're so sweet!" Chloe says. Her hazel eyes look up at me from underneath her long eyelashes, and she begins to mess with her side braided pink hair. "You would make an amazing boyfriend to any girl, you know."

I feel trapped, and she won't move. I look at a nearby digital clock, and I notice that I have about four minutes until I have to be in homeroom. I can't have another tardy, so I'm praying that I can sneak away.

"So I've heard," I comment. I begin to look around, and I see Y/N walking by. I lock eyes with her, and I can't help but find the way she whisks her hair away from her hair with her hand sexy. I plead to her with my eyes to come save me, and she nods.

"Hey Laurance," she greets. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

I smile at her, and Chloe backs up away from me. I sigh in relief and say a quick goodbye and my leave. Y/N walks with me, and it's silent.

"So," she says cutting off the awkward silence around us. "Are you going to tell me what the hell you guys are? Why the fuck didn't anybody know? And why did my brother stomp off with me? My family is messed up enough Laurance, and I refuse to have friendships the same way!"

I swallow the spit in my mouth. How am I supposed to tell her? Oh, we carry about missions for who we think is the good guy, and we're acting living two different lives from this. No, that's stupid. It's bad enough I've sent Alex to learn more about Y/N and report the information to me, but Y/N prpbably deserves better than this.

"I'll tell you later. Meet me at the park, alright?" I run a hand through my hair and let out a heavy exhale. Y/N flares her nose out and agrees. "Thank you for saving me back there. I'll a. . . see you later then. Bye."

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

I've pulled Y/N underneath a slide, and now that I look at the space between us, it's quite crowded. It reminds me of when I was little, and Garroth and I would have our "top secret" conversations under here. The conversations were always spread around to other people, and I never understood how that was a child. But now that I look back at the memories, we were in public with big mouths.

Garroth was a little flirt then, but so was I. He wasn't as bad as he was before though. I was the one who had a bunch if girlfriends, but I was, like, seven years old.

I apologize for this, and she pushes it off as if it isn't a big deal. At least it brings up closer. . . just not the closer I wanted at first.

"We all have our own stories of how we became apart of. . . this. It wouldn't be right for me to tell you the other's stories. I don't know Ryder's, but when it comes to Katelyn, Vylad and Alex, I know," I start off. "We do these missions to protect things or people I suppose you could say. We do what we need to for the good guy. We're the good guys, and Charlie is the leader. Charlie is the guy who made the jail scene disappear from existence. Charlie is powerful, and you don't want to mess with him. He wanted you to work with us, but Ryder and I both wanted you not to. It's better you don't anyway. This career fucks with you big time."

"What exactly happen during misisons?"

I explain it all. I explan who carried out the action, and who watches it all unfold. I fell her how Ryder and myself are leaders, but we're sucky leaders who almost kill the people we're leading. It's pathetic to think that Vylad is a better leader than us, and he saves our butts. All of the questions she has, I answer.

But then I think back to what she said about her family, and how they're supposedly messed up.

"What about your family?" I ask her, and she seems shocked by my words.

I'm given a timid smile, and I suddenly feel bad for asking her. It appears to be a touchy subject, and I shouldn't have overstepped my boundaries. I'm about to tell her to ingore my words, but she decides to answer me.

"We're just your average messed up family. My father cheated on my mother, but she was also sleeping around. They were never home, and Ryder was basically taking care of me. This was at a young age too. I remember at a young age, six years old I think, crying in my closest covering my ears with my tiny ears. Ryder wasn't with me, and this was their worst fight I had ever witnessed. Father was a heavy drinker at time, and mother was simply messed up. I heard all the yelling. And being the somewhat innocent child I was, I went to go try to stop the fight."

"What happened next?" I ask her.

She looks almost pained, and I pull her into my chest to try and comfort her. I comb my fingers through her hair, and she clings onto me tightly.

"I watch my father slap her, and then Ryder came out of his room and brought my back into the closest. My father seemed unfazed by me watching him, but I don't even think they saw me to begin with. And if my father did, he was too drunk to process it. Ryder, he held me.like you ade right now, and I cried into his chest. The next day, I came home from school to see a highly beaten mother, a father nowhere in sight, and divorce letters signed by bother parents sitting on the coffee table. Since then, I've lived with my mother, and I haven't seen my father since. She still sleeps around, and she's barely home. It's basically like old times. Just once, once, I wish for something normal in my life. I thought Ryder was normal, and you, and the other two, but now I learned that that's impossible when it comes to me."

Now I understand everything. I understand what Ryder was talking about, and why he's the way he is. I understand Y/N better now, and I now know the fact that their house is a broken home. I thought my past was sort of depressing, but I've been proved wrong.

Nobody deserves a past like that, and to continue living it must be hell.

I suppose that I've been judging Ryder like somebody would to a book's cover. I never opened up to him, and he never opened up to me. I was that person who never opened the book itself and just assumed things. If anything, I should say thank you to Ryder.

"I haven't told many people this story, so this means that I actually trust you Laurance. I don't trust many people, so I would feel honored if I were you," she looks up at me from lying her hand against my chest. "Can I tell you something?"

"Anythung," I say. "I can be your living, talking, and breathing diary."

"Weirdo," she laughs. "But no, I need to get this. I fell for a boy, and I don't know if I should have. I didn't mean to, but it just happened? What do I do?"

Her big E/C eyes look into mine, and it's at that time that I realize that I somehow managed to fall for her. In the short time that we've known each other, I fell for her. I suppose it was this meeting that made me realize it.

I've never really felt this way about a girl, so this is new to me too.

"Well, don't pretend the feelings aren't there, I guess. I guess you just need to go with the flow maybe? Time will tell what will happen, but you need to do something about it before you're too late. . . or else you'll regret. Either it be in the long run, or at that time, I don't know yet. Oh, it's getting late. I should probably get you home before Ryder worries about you."

She begins to stand up bending slightly to fit under the tiny slide.

"You now a lot about this. A girl is going to be very lucky in the future."

We slip our way past the playground, and I end up giving her a ride back home. Ryder runs out if the house to Y/N. She's halfway up to the doorway, and he glances at my direction.

He glares, but then nods. It seems more like a forced nod, but I'll take it. Y/N turns around and waves goodbye. And when they're both inside the house, I sigh deeply resting my.head against the back of my seat before leaving to go home.

What an adventure that today has been.