Lacy by Olivia Rodrigo 

Lacy Oh Lacy, it's like you're out to get me, you poising every little thing that I do. Lacy oh Lacy, I just loathe you lately.

When Grayson and I got inside and back in my bedroom I asked him how things went with Skye. According to him, she's married and definitely has nothing to do with this. In other news, Jameson and Grayson both walked 18 miles home. Fuck knows how they both made it home in one piece.

"You okay?" I frown, still wearing the now dry bikini, my hair still damp. 

"I'm fine Paris." Grayson dismisses, sitting beside me on the end of my bed. 

He leans into me, pressing our lips together. When our lips separate I scan his face carefully. 

"Gray.." I hesitate. "No P. I'm fine." He insures, sounding a little angry. 

"Are you mad at me for asking if you're okay?" I ask him hesitantly. "No. It's just this whole 'you're broken and i need to fix you' thing is getting old." He complains.

"I'm sorry, would you prefer I just ignored everything you feel." I scoff. 

He takes a moment before answering. "No I'm sorry." He sighs after a moment. 

I frown, realising he's a little on edge right now. "It's okay." I rub a hand down his back carefully.

He presses our lips back together for a passionate kiss. His hand teasing my bikini top strap. 

He places a hand over my bra and starts caressing my breast. 

I push him off me – props to him, he retracted his hand immediately the second I showed any disapproval – he looks at me confused. "You okay?" He asks me.

I stand up from my bed and look down at him. "No Gray." I sigh. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" He apologises frantically. 

"It's fine." I say suddenly. "I don't want you to just resort to sex to ignore your feelings." I tell him.

"Seriously? This is why you flipped out? I don't have any unresolved feelings. And if I did I wouldn't be telling you about them." He fumes. 

"Grayson you're allowed to have emotions, it's normal." I yell. "I didn't say it's not. I'm just not going to cry into your shoulder and whine about them like some baby." He fires angrily.

"Like I do?" I scoff, "Yeah, Paris. Like you do. I don't mind you doing that! But that's not what I do." 

I look to him with despair. "I'm a whining baby?" I ask him disbelief. "You know that's not what I mean." He warns. 

"But it's what you said." I remind. 

"Can we just go back to kissing? I don't want to tell you how I feel- In fact I don't even feel anything." He tells me. 

"But you do Gray!" I insist. "You can't just tell me how I feel. I know you have some serious unresolved issues of your own so you like to try and make it seem like everyone else is as fucked up as you but I'm not. So just mind your own business and quit it." He jabs. 

I blink frantically to avoid any tears that could form. "Fuck you." I spit, pushing passed him to walk out. He grabs my wrist. 

"Paris.." He immediately sighs, realising he did something wrong. 

"We both need to put a pause on whatever this is. Just for a couple days. Maybe you can hook up with Eve in the mean time." I mutter, wiping the tear off my cheek and walking back out. 

"Yeah, and maybe you can go fuck my brother. I know you've been wanting to ever since you broke up with him." Grayson retaliates. "Maybe I will!" I yell back, walking out the bedroom and slamming the door behind me.

We both need some time to ourselves at the moment. 

I find Avery's room and head inside without remembering to knock. 

"What the fuck?!" I yell at the top of my lungs when I see Avery kissing someone in bed.

The problem is, it's not Jameson. 

"Avery!" I scream, jogging over. "Fuck!" She yells, pushing herself off the guy she's mounted on top of.

"Are you fucking kidding me? What about Jameson?" I roar. 

I start to speed walk out the door, Avery fumbling to push the guy (an older guy) away and out of her room.

"Paris!" She hollers as she chases me outside and up stairs. 

"I can explain, I swear." She pants.

I reach Jameson's bedroom and push the door open, yet again without knocking. 

"What the fuck!" He yells when I barge right inside. He's standing in the middle of the room ass naked, fresh out the shower.

"Paris, get out!" He bellows. 

"Put some fucking clothes on!" I boom, throwing a towel as him. 

He quickly wraps the towel around his lean body. "What is it?" He asks me in fear of the worst.

I glance to my sister, annoyed that she isn't owning up for her own mistakes and making me do this.

"Ok." Is all he says. I can tell there's a sadness behind his tone. I could swear I saw a slight glimmer in his emerald eyes.

"That true?" He looks to Avery in hopes of her saying it didn't happen. She tilts her head, tears spilling out her eyes in immediate regret. 

"Jamie wait.." She cries. I shouldn't have gotten in the middle of this.

"I think you should go." Jameson barely speaks above a hoarse whisper. He refuses to let his eyes drift to Avery, only looking down. 

"No Jamie, I'm not leaving." She insists firmly. Despite his face being down I can see him scrunch his eyes together trying not cry. 

"Ave you have to go." I speak up, I know what it feels like to be on the verge of tears with everyone staring, just wishing everyone else would disappear. 

"No, Paris." Avery growls. 

"Avery he asked you to go." I speak lowly, starting to walk out and guide my sister away too.

"I'm sorry." I tell Avery as we walk out, she wipes her tears and goes the opposite way back to her room.

It's 7pm now as I sit patiently in the large Hawthorne House library, writing down some answers to my fall break homework.

The fireplace beside me crackles loudly, the sound of silence never sounding so sweet. But it doesn't last long before everyone piles inside and gathers around he table, having decided to meet up to discuss what happens next with this whole Toby thing.

"What you doin Pear Bear?" Max bounds towards me excitedly. Xander follows behind her just as excitedly.

"Just homework. Gotta write a 6000 word essay." I sigh, rubbing my eyes already. 

The other occupants of the room saunter over now too and sit at the table with me, clearly not wanting me to get my work done but rather to talk to them instead.

"So how's MAD Paris?" Avery asks kindly as she flicks through a book she clearly isn't interested in.

"It's alright." I answer briefly. "Just alright?" She furrows her brows and places the book down.

"Mhm." I hum in response, very uninterested in continuing this conversation as I scrawl out my essay.

"Paris do you even like being there?" She fumes. "Of course I do." I look up from my paper. She's mad that I told Jameson. Everyone seems awkward and tense, nobody talking anymore.

"Really? Cause it doesn't sound like it." Avery raises her voice. Everyone at the table looks up and glances around at one another, clearly just as confused as me.

"Chill out Ave." I scoff a laugh. Even Eve is looking, glancing between us.

"Paris I didn't pay for you to go to this place just so you can think it's 'alright'." She seethes.

"You aren't paying anymore Ave. I got my job and paid you back what you had already paid and then started paying myself. I owe you nothing." I remind her calmly.

"God you're so stupid!" She snaps. I flinch a little at her tone, everyone now seems very interested in the conversation at hand.

"I checked the math 4 times to make sure I paid you enough. I even had Grayson check it, I don't understand." I reply sheepishly.

Avery grits her teeth. "It's not that." She mutters, getting her stuff together and walking out.

"Then what is it?" I challenge, standing up and following her to the middle of the room where she stands.

I watch her pause on the spot and hesitate to turn and face me again. "Just leave it." She hisses.

"If you're gonna bitch about money then at least tell me what you want me to pay you back for." I reply with my arms crossed.

"It's nothing." She reinstates. I furrow my brows, "I will pay you back right now if you just tell me what I owe you." I reach into my pocket to get some loose cash.

"Don't!" She barks. "Why?" I yell.

"I paid someone on the admissions board $40,000 to make sure you got in." Avery suddenly snaps.

My eyes blink rapidly to process that. "What?" My voice comes out barely above a whisper.

"You really think you could do it on your own? I had to help you out." She justifies.

My thoughts race as I try to process the information just revealed to me. Every single person is silent. The only thing I can hear is the raising heartbeat in my chest.

I bite my cheek to make sure this is actually real and not some awful nightmare. If what she's saying is true then the one thing I had going for myself was all a lie. I didn't earn it. I didn't earn anything.

I'm so stupid for believing I could do this on my own without my big sister to help me out like everything in my life. I've gave my blood, sweat and tears for her to turn around and say it was all for nothing because she made sure I got in. She bribed someone because I couldn't do it on my own.

"Are you kidding?" I plead in a sad puppy voice, my lip quivering and my eyesight clouding with the ocean of tears pricking my sky blue eyes.

Avery's face softens for just a moment. "It was just to get you in." She almost sounds apologetics, like begging me to forgive her.

"You let me think I got in on my own this whole time just so you could tell me when I'm finally happy. I finally have something of my own and you take that. I've never had something on my own. You always have to be the one to help me get there. I thought this was my thing." I sob a yell.

Nobody dares to step between our sisterly feuds, they just watch with sympathetic eyes.

"I didn't take it from you. I was the one who gave you this in the first place." She roars. Tears drop delicately out of my eyes and roll down my cheeks until they reach the crooks of my lips and send a small salty taste down my dry throat.

"Fuck you Avery." I yell through tears. The sadness and betrayal has now faded to resentment and fury.

"You know what Paris, no. Fuck you. You're so incredibly ungrateful right now. I've gave you the thing you've wanted since you were a child. You can't just allow me to help you out, it's always a competition to you." She yells.

"Of course I wanted it! I wanted to do it one my own! I needed to do it on my own. I've been dying to prove to myself for 14 years that I could do this. You know how great it felt when I found out the thing I'd been working towards my entire life was worth it? It felt great. Now it feels like shit because I didn't even do it. You did. My perfect older sister who gets everything! You got Mom on your side in fights, you got the money, you got the guy, fuck Avery you even got the brains! What am I left with? Nothing. Perfect little Avery gets everything whilst I have to eat her fucking crumbs."

She grits her teeth. "Yeah, I did get everything. And there's a reason for that. It's because you're a stuck up bitch who even Mom didn't love. I mean you were literally the reason she died!"

I hear Xander and Max both gasp.

"Yeah. Maybe I was. Let's keep the family tradition running and I'll fucking kill you!" I scream.

Before I even have time to start on her I feel a sharp slap across the cheek. She slapped me. She fucking slapped me.

I immediately pounce and without giving anyone time to step in I punch her in the lip and we quickly begin fully fist fighting. We've argued before but things have never got physical, never this bad.

She punches me in the nose and I feel it bleed. I go for her hair and tug it until she wails.

I see Grayson and Jameson share a small glance before jumping into action. They run over and both try to pry us off each other.

I feel two arms around my waist that pull me harshly back, my hand still holds a chunk of Avery's hair in my grip. "Let go." Grayson warns in my ear. So i do. She tries to punch me again but Jameson holds her back.

I try to push Grayson off but he's too strong. I try to run in his arms but he's too strong. He decides to just lift me off the ground so I'm uselessly jolting in his hold.

"Let go of me Grayson." I hiss with rage. He doesn't even budge.

Everyone else is now crowding around us. Libby begins yelling at Avery when Jameson releases her from his hold.

"Can I put you down?" Grayson asks hesitantly. "Sure, the second you tell me where you keep your knives." I yell in the direction of Avery, making sure she hears it.

"Yeah that's a no." Grayson answers for me.

He throws me over his shoulder and marches me out into the hallway. As he drags me out I yell at Avery the entire way out, a lot of explicits.

"Grayson put me down." I clench my jaw assertively.

Grayson drops me the second we're outside of the room and I try to walk straight back in but by quickly leaning his arm on the wall he causes me to walk into his arm and stop.

"Just stay here with me for a minute." He suggests. I groan and lean my back against the wall.

"See now you're all bloody." He points out. His thumb reaches up to my face and he wipes some blood from my nose.

I look up at him through my eyelashes seductively. "Oh no. Don't look at me like that the second after you try to literally kill your sister." He warns with a scoff.

I bite my lip a little. "But Grayson.. unlike my sister, i can kill you with just one touch." I speak alluringly. My voice soft and an innocent look in my eyes.

"Okay that's great but-" Grayson tries but I immediately cut him off by placing my hand over his pants where his dick is and squeezing a little. He cuts himself off by freezing on the spot.

"Come on Gray.. don't pretend you don't find it hot when I'm bleeding." I speak lowly, kissing slowly up his neck and biting his ear menacingly.

"Ok i know what you're doing." He looks beyond me, not daring to look my way.

I grab his hand and slide it up my shirt until it's resting over my breast. He looks straight up to the sky, completely avoiding my provocative stare. He slips his hand away and takes a step back.

"Paris I'm not gonna kiss you because you're self mediating your anger and sadness on me." He lectures.

I whine sadly, "but it usually works." And I slouch down the wall until I'm on the floor.

He sits beside me and wraps an arm around me, letting me relax into him.

"It was all i had." I cry into his shirt, his hands stroke my hair and comfort my back.

"I know baby. But she didn't pay for you to get the lead in the show, or the annual showcase, or to be the best in all your classes. You did all that on your own with your own talent that I've seen. You are the most talented girl I've ever met and money can't buy what you're worth to me." He comforts.

I cry until a patch of his white shirt is clear with stains of black from my mascara along with some bright red blood from my still bleeding nose, yet he doesn't seem to mind. He just coos in my ear telling me it's all okay.

Xander and Max walk out and kneel in front of us. I don't want to look up knowing my whole mascara will be cried off and liquified like a melted Barbie doll.

Max takes my hand in hers and squeezes it. "I know how important it was for you to have this but it's not everything. You've achieved a lot in your life and just because Avery paid for this one thing doesn't mean you've never earned that other stuff." Max whispers comfortingly.

"And just because she paid someone off doesn't mean you didn't earn it or deserve it." Xander adds.

I look up from Grayson's chest, his hand on my waist gives a comforting squeeze. The frustration of earlier completely disappearing when I'm surrounded by the boy I love and my two best friends.

"If you're done crying now, your sister has something to show you." Eve speaks up bluntly, passing me my sister's phone which I take hesitantly. It's a photo of Toby beaten and bruised. My eyes gape at first. 

"We need to do something. Quick." I announce.

Clearly, Xander misinterpreted my use of the word 'quick' as 'fondue'. Because an hour later all of us are stood around the dining table surrounded by a thousand options for dipping. Avery isn't talking to me, I'm not talking to Avery, Jameson's not talking to Avery. It is carnage. 

(a/n. This weeks chapter is up. I've been planning it for a while now and it makes me kind of sad that Avery and Paris don't have a good relationship. I'm very aware this Avery is very different to book Avery, probably because I really wanted to add drama when I first wrote this fic but I guess it's pretty realistic looking at it. They truly love each other deep down but jealousy and anger is stronger than love at times. As suggested by my Wattpad bestie months ago, Lacy is literally their song so much. I also wanted to talk about the Grayson/Paris argument this chapter, I feel like every relationship goes through the rocks but if it's any good relationship they just figure it out before it can consume them. For all my Grayson fans out there, you won't like a later chapter so good luck with that. Anyway, I've made a form for who Paris ends up with. I know it seems like I publish these a lot but it's mostly because every single time I do it's always exactly 50/50 for both boys, so if you're rooting for one then get voting. There's also a few other questions about Riches itself.

https://forms.office.com/r/cxeBtEW48q?origin=lprLink

Thanks <33)