When I noticed Lacey scowling at me once I got home from school, I couldn't help but feel confused and even a little creeped out by the fact she just kept staring at me.

"Can I help you?" I asked, though the last thing I wanted to do was help her with anything.

"That shirt is so ugly," she informed me, as if her opinion was something I cared about.

I stared at her flatly. "Thanks."

My lack of response seemed to anger her, which is always did when I didn't let her negative attitude and mean words get to me, which was about ninety-nine percent of the time. The only time I could remember actually getting upset over something she said to me was when it was about my father.

"Actually, your entire outfit is atrocious," she continued, and I just rolled my eyes. But she wasn't done. "And what makes you think that hairstyle is a good idea? Or the way you did your makeup? You're just pretty ugly all around, Ebony."

"I'm just surprised you know what the word atrocious means," was my response to her, opening up the cabinet and reaching up for a bowl.

She let out a small scream in frustration, and I flinched a little bit because it hurt my ears. If Lacey was anything, it was definitely shrill.

When Leo came into the kitchen from his office, I let out a sigh. Everything was about to get so much worse.

"Can you keep it down?" he snapped, his eyes narrowing at me. "I'm trying to work."

I wanted to tell him that it was his own daughter that was being loud, but I knew there was no point because I was sure he was already aware of that fact. She could have been screaming at the top of her lungs while I was quiet as a mouse and he still would have blamed me. Because he thought Lacey could do no wrong while I was the devil himself.

"Of course, Daddy," Lacey smiled at her fat her, and I rolled my eyes. She was such a completely different person around others it wasn't even funny.

Leo went back into his office and Lacey's happy face immediately contorted back into her usual scowl whenever she was around me. I still didn't understand why she hated me as much as she did, but honestly I didn't care. It was the same for Leo. They weren't important enough to care about.

When the doorbell rang, I felt a little relieved. At least it was a reason to get away from her, even if it was just for a little bit.

But when I opened the door, all my relief vanished, because there stood Quinn, grin and all.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, my eyes narrowing at him. I then realized the other Lost Boys were behind him, including Luke. I practically squawked.

"We can't just come to visit, my love?" Quinn asked me with a grin.

I scowled at him. "Don't call me that!"

"But it's so cute," he snickered. "Just like you!"

There was no point in continuing to argue with him. No matter what I said, he'd find absolutely anything to say to annoy me.

"Is it okay that we're here?" Luke asked me.

"Of course!" I gasped without a second thought. Quinn rolled his eyes at me. "Come in!"

I felt a little hypocritical for being happy that Luke was at my house while I was upset that Quinn was there with him. I was completely indifferent about the other two.

"Don't act too desperate, Ebony," Keegan whispered with a smile as he walked past me. "Luke might figure out how you feel."

I rolled my eyes. "What a tragedy that would be."

At this point, I wouldn't have cared if Luke found out how I felt about him. He'd been so dense for as long as I knew him, and I was starting to get impatient. I just wanted him to know so I could either get rejected or my feelings could be returned.

I led the boys into the living room, but immediately regretted this when I saw Lacey was sitting there watching some kind of TV show I wasn't interested in.

"Oh, the Lost Boys!" she exclaimed when she saw them, and I rolled my eyes. It kind of annoyed me when anyone only referred to as that title, because that wasn't just who they were. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I wanted to see Ebony," Quinn shrugged, and I elbowed him in the side.

This answer seemed to annoy Lacey very much, but she continued to smile at them like nothing was wrong, though I could see right through it. She was screaming inside at the fact that they had come to see me and not her.

I plopped myself down on the couch, knowing it was going to be a long afternoon. Luke sat down next to me, and I felt butterflies erupt in my stomach. But as soon as Quinn sat down on the other side of me, they immediately went away. It was just like him to ruin everything for me.

Lacey sat down next to Keegan, and Christian took a moment before finally taking a seat by himself in a chair instead of one of the couches. I didn't really blame him, honestly.

"I love this shirt, Keegan," Lacey smiled flirtatiously, fingering the collar of his shirt and letting her fingers brush against his neck. "Where'd you get it?"

He answered her, but I didn't care enough to listen to the answer because the place was probably too expensive for us to afford anything anyway. We had money and were pretty well off, but we probably had nothing in comparison to the Lost Boys.

She continued to flirt with him, and she didn't stop at just Keegan. Every word out of her mouth was some kind of pass at each other them, and the boys were either none the wiser or completely ignoring her advances.

"Lacey, can I talk to you in the kitchen for a second?" I requested, and she shot me a look that said no, but got up anyway because she didn't want to seem snotty or rude in front of our guests. She only ever wanted to seem snotty or rude in front of me. I told the boys I would get them drinks and hurried into the kitchen.

Lacey followed me into the kitchen and I wasted no time after she closed the door behind us to speak.

"Please have some self respect and enough decency to not throw yourselves all over them, will you?" I snapped, spinning on her.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Oh, please," she scoffed. "What about you with Luke? You're the exact same way."

My jaw dropped. "I am not!"

"You flirt with him every chance you get," she continued, crossing her arms over her chest. "Everyone sees it. He's just too dense to notice it. Or maybe he's just too nice to call you out on it."

I bit down on the inside of my lip, and I had no idea what I was supposed to say to her. Did Luke really not notice how much I liked him, or was he just too nice to tell me to stop? I did make it pretty obvious, since everyone else figured it out...

But it wasn't like I was hiding how I felt about him. I wanted him to know, but if he was just going to reject me... I guess I would have rather him just be dense, then.

"And I can flirt with anyone I want, thank you," Lacey snapped, fixing her hair in the reflection of a spoon. I made a face at her. "Just because they're your besties doesn't mean they're completely off limits to everyone else."

I glared at her. "They're not my besties."

"Please," she scoffed, fixing her shirt now. "They're always around you. It's gross. You're basically the fifth member of the Lost Boys."

"I'm not a boy," I reminded her flatly.

She looked me up and down and laughed. "Could have fooled me."

"You know, you can just admit that you're jealous that I'm close to them," I informed her, and this caused her to slam the spoon down on the counter. I jumped at the sound.

"I am not jealous," she growled, but everything about her said that that was a lie. She wanted to be close to the Lost Boys more than anything, but it seemed like they couldn't care less about her. They were polite and civil to her, but they weren't close to her like they were to me.

It was strange. I never really thought that I was as close to them as I actually was. I never thought I could be able to call them my best friends. There was still so much about them I felt like I didn't know about.

People thought it was such a privilege to be close to these boys, but I didn't see what the big deal was. They had the most money out of everyone in the school, and therefore for some reason that meant they could do whatever they wanted without any repercussions. They basically ruled the school. But to me, they were just Quinn, Luke, Christian, and Keegan. Their Lost Boys status meant nothing to me. They were just boys.

"Lacey, they're just regular people." She reached for the spoon again and I grabbed it before she could. "They're not celebrities. They just have money, and it's not like we're doing too bad when it comes to that department."

"But we don't have as much money as they do," she reminded me.

I just stared at her, unable to understand why she felt the way she did. Money wasn't even that important. You needed it, yeah, but having too much of it was just unnecessary to me. It was a nice perk, but it just wasn't needed.

"Do you seriously only like them because they're rich?" I questioned, and I knew how I really felt about her was going to depend on her answer. She wasn't exactly wicked stepsister material, but she pushed it sometimes.

She rolled her eyes at me, as if I was stupid. "It's not just their money, genius," she said. "They're also ridiculously hot."

And with that, she spun away, her blonde hair whipping me in the face before she made her way out of the kitchen and back into the living room to join the boys that were waiting for us.

I let out a sigh. She wasn't exactly a wicked stepsister, but she was a brat.

I let out a sigh before following after her back into the living room, a tray of waters in my hands. I really didn't want to go back out there, but I knew I couldn't leave Lacey out there with them alone.

"Finally," Quinn groaned once I returned. "I thought you'd never return, Ebby."

"Stop calling me that," I snapped, but I knew he wasn't going to.

I placed the tray on the coffee table and Quinn immediately grabbed one, chugging it down in a matter of seconds. Once he was finished, he let out a sigh and held the glass out for me.

"More," he demanded.

"Excuse me?" I shrieked. Keegan snorted.

"More," Quinn repeated.

I felt my blood boil. He was so used to having people do whatever he wanted for him that he thought he could just boss me around in my own house. All he ever did was get on my nerves. Why did he have to be so annoying?

"You can't even say please?" I spat, grabbing the glass from his hand. "Get it yourself!"

I threw the glass back at him, but he seemed to have realized that was what I was going to do, because he easily dodged it, and the glass shattered against the wall behind him and went everywhere.

Everyone in the room went silent. I went silent. Did I really just do that?

"What the hell was that?" Leo shouted from the other room, and I let out a groan.

When he barged into the room, I knew I was in trouble. If Lacey wasn't there with us, I probably could have gotten away with saying it was just an accident or something. But since Lacey was there...

"Ebony threw a glass and it smashed against the wall!" she cried from her spot next to Keegan.

I turned to glare at her. "Why are you such a snitch?"

"What is wrong with you?" Leo spat, grabbing my shoulder and forcing me to turn back toward him. I ripped myself away from him and out of his grasp, not wanting him to touch me. "Do you think you can just go around breaking things like that?"

"I'm sorry, Leo, I just lost my temper," I apologized, and even though I hated apologizing to him about anything, I did feel bad because I did screw up by throwing the glass. "You would know what that's like, wouldn't you?"

Even if I hadn't said that last bit, he wouldn't have accepted my apology, so there was no point in not saying it. Leo did have the worst temper I'd ever seen anyway, maybe being tied with Keegan.

"What did you say to me?" he shouted, and I knew I was about to get an earful. "You think you can talk to me like that, you little brat?"

"Can you not yell at me in front of my friends?" I snapped, not embarrassed by being yelled at, but instead afraid they felt awkward or uncomfortable. I knew I would have felt that way if I was in their positions. "Jeez, it's like you and your daughter really have no decency at all."

When Leo lifted his fist at me, I didn't even flinch. It wasn't uncommon for Leo to get physical, though he'd never actually hit me before. He'd grab me and push me around, which I knew wasn't okay, but it never actually caused me any pain so I didn't care. There were people that had it a lot worse than I did anyway.

He'd use this as a tactic to scare me, and it used to work, but now that I was so used to it and knew it was just an empty threat, it meant nothing to me. He wasn't going to hurt me. Especially in front of guests.

"Hey," Quinn snapped, jumping up and smacking Leo's hand away from me. "Don't touch her!"

"Who do you think you are, punk?" Leo growled, and I grabbed onto Quinn's arm to try to pull him away. "You think you can come into my house and act like you own the place?"

Quinn glared at him. "I could own this place just by saying one word."

"You're just a useless, rich little—"

"Don't talk to him like that," I snapped, cutting my stepfather off before he could finish his insult. "You don't know anything about him."

Quinn was a lot of things. He was annoying, he was rude, and he definitely was rich. But Leo had no right to call him useless or any other type of insult. He didn't know anything about him and he couldn't act like he did.

"Daddy, please stop!" Lacey begged, and at the sound of his daughter's plea, Leo backed off. I rolled my eyes. He was wrapped around her finger and it was disgusting. And of course she wouldn't have stopped him from yelling at me, but as soon as a Lost Boy was involved, she needed to stop him. Even though I was pretty sure any of them could have taken him if it came to a physical fight.

"I'm going to go pick up your brother," Leo informed me, his eyes narrowing. "That better be cleaned up when I get back."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

He left, and the room went quiet. All I really wanted to do now was go upstairs and study so I wouldn't have to deal with anyone else bothering me.

"So, who do you guys think is the hottest girl in school?" Lacey suddenly questioned the boys, as if that whole entire conflict with her father hadn't even happened.

"Ebony, duh," Quinn shrugged, sitting back down. "I'm not blind."

Lacey seemed perturbed with this question, but I didn't care. I was more annoyed with the fact that Quinn was lying.

A few minutes later, the front door opened and I knew Leo was unfortunately home. My young brother made his way into the room, shocked when he saw that the living room was filled with boys that his stepsister was still swooning over.

"Quinn!" Charlie gasped, a large smile adorning his face before he bolted right for the older boy. "You're here! Yay!"

I groaned, annoyed as my brother hugged him tightly. "Why does he have to like you so much?"

Quinn smirked at me. "I'm just so likable."

"I'll have to disagree with you on that," I snapped.

I hated that Charlie loved him so much, and I just didn't get why he did. Maybe it was because their maturity was pretty much on par with one another.

"Alright, buddy, go upstairs and do your homework," Leo called out, not giving the rest of us any of his attention as he went into his office.

Charlie did as he was told, giving one last hug to Quinn before bounding up the stairs to his room.

"Leo has a point," I couldn't help but admit. "I need to work on my homework so you guys should probably get going."

Surprisingly, they didn't argue, and I let out a sigh of relief that I was getting rid of them so easily. It was bad enough that I had to deal with them and their antics at school; I didn't think I could deal with them at my house, too.

I led them out into the foyer, leaving Lacey to her TV show, even though she tried her hardest to come with us. I knew she wasn't going to do her homework even though she really shout have. But her low grades aren't what's in discussion here, nor are they important.

One by one, the boys said goodbye and made their way out the front door. But unsurprisingly, Quinn stopped right in the doorway. I rolled my eyes.

"Your mom makes you live with that psycho?" he asked, catching me off guard. I wasn't expecting such a serious tone from him.

"He's harmless," I shrugged, knowing exactly who he was talking about. "Well, he's pretty verbally abusive, but it's nothing I can't handle."

Quinn shook his head. "That kind of stuff can lead to things, Ebony."

"What are you talking about?"

"Verbal abuse can lead to other kind of abuse."

"Leo'll never do that," I assured, not worried about something like that in the slightest. "He likes my mom's money too much."

"Why don't you just live with your dad?" he questioned now.

"He lives out of state," I explained, a mixed feeling at the thought of my father bubbling in my chest. "Moved far away once he finally divorced my mom."

"Well, you can't move there," Quinn sighed, as if it was up to him. "I'd never see you again, and I definitely don't want that."

I doubted my father would have wanted me to live with him anyway. He'd moved in with his fiancée and was planning on getting married soon. I was sure he didn't want his teenage daughter to butt in with his relationship. It was bad enough that I was going to have to go to the wedding in the first place.

"But I still don't think you should be living here with that guy anymore," Quinn informed me, as if he was in charge of me or something.

I rolled my eyes at him. "And where would up suppose I live, then?"

Quinn wagged his eyebrows at me. "You could always live at my place."

I should've known that there was no way Quinn actually cared about me or my wellbeing. He just wanted to crack a joke and make fun of me. I shouldn't have been surprised.

"Leo isn't that bad," I defended, even though I shouldn't have been defending him at all. "I think he's just threatened by me because I'm more of a man than he is."

Quinn barked out a laugh, and I merely shrugged. Clearly it wasn't true, but why else would Leo hate me so much? Because he already had another daughter? He liked Simon and Charlie enough.

I told myself it didn't bother me, but it definitely did annoy me. There were parents that had multiple daughters and they loved them all the same. I understood that stepchildren were different from biological children, but that didn't mean treated your stepchild awfully was okay.

"You guys finished flirting over there?" Keegan called out from his spot next to their limo.

"I'm never done flirting with Ebony," Quinn winked, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

I rolled my eyes and practically shoved Quinn out the door. He laughed, winking at me again before making his way over to his friends. I waved goodbye to the boys and shut the door.

Turning around to make my way up the stairs, I jumped in surprise when I saw that Lacey was right there behind me, scowling like she always did. A hand over my heart, I asked her what the heck she wanted.

"Why are you so close to them?" she demanded, her arms crossed over her chest.

"They're just my friends, Lacey." I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time. "Calm down. They're just boys."

"Just boys?" she squawked, and I had to cover my ears to stop them from ringing from her shrill voice. "They are so more than just boys! They're the Lost Boys!"

"They have money," I drawled, not caring in the slightest. "So what?"

"So what?" she cried. "So what?"

"Ebony!" Leo shouted from the other room. "Keep it down!"

I let out a long breath, trying to calm myself down before I was the one that actually did scream.

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Lol these characters are such knock-offs of the originals it's great

But then they have their own personalities and are their own characters which I also love

These characters have been around for years and I'm just starting to love them oops lol

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN!