Not listening to Brendon, terror and instinct took over, an inaudible scream releasing from my mouth. I attempted to push him off of me and yell "Get away!" but it was all muffled and too useless. My attempts were still shot at him as he casually drug me through the crowd, onto the porch outside.

"Ambris, stop. I'm not going to hurt you." He reassured me, but I was sick of his games. I needed backfire. So, I quickly reared my fist back, and landed it tightly into his stomach. All air escaped his lungs as he doubled over, gasping for air. I felt bad immediately. But then again, this is what I'm supposed to do, right? Brendon soon caught his breath while I stared and accomplished myself for having the guts to carry out the action.

"What the hell!" Brendon yelled, drawing the attention of drunk teens nearby, but, no one who's had 12 shots of Jim Beam would care that he was punched in the gut or take notice of his infamous face.

"I just need to talk to you, bitch..." He groaned, spitting onto the grass. "First off-"

"No Brendon," I started, a little too ballsy. "Get this tracker off my phone, make it go back to normal, and leave me alone."

My firm statement hung in the air, his face mixed with surprise and doubt that I would be so bold.

"No." He shrugged.

"No?!" I shot back. "What do you mean no, do it right now!"

The door opened back up once again, flooding the music outside until Nathan stepped out, a pink birthday queen sash draped around him. It was funny to see Nathan feminine, considering how masculine he was.

"Ambris!" He screamed, alcohol twisting his words. "Am-ber-risssss oh my god it sounds a little likeeee-*hiccup*-like YOUR NAME." He laughed, wrapping his hands around me in a hug. Nathan was a bit younger than me but I hadn't ever really known him. To me was always just 'Naomi's little brother Nathan.'

I glanced at Brendon, holding Nathan up and sighed. "You should leave. No one here wants you."

Obviously a little hurt, Brendon pursed his lips and stuck his hands in his pockets, his eyes wondering around his shoes. He then slowly stepped off the porch, down the walkway and climbed into a black '65 Riviera. Honestly, I felt a small pang of regret. I didn't have to be so mean about it. While holding Natan up, I thought to myself. It's not that I have feelings for Brendon but I still cared about him.

•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•

The following weeks went smooth. I went to Darren's house and we played x-box. A lot of x-box. Me and Mindi took a beach vacation with her family for a weekend and me and Naomi had planned on going to the mall together so we could get dresses for the upcoming Christmas Masquerade Ball. No sign of Brendon. Maybe he really did get the point and was leaving me alone....

Naomi called an hour earlier to tell me to be ready when she got there. Laying on my bed, I flipped through my social media until I heard the horn of her BMW outside. I sprung out of bed, walked past my mirror, but then walked back, examining myself. My grey eyes looked vibrant under my makeup and blond curly hair framed itself around my face nicely, a black beanie in place. A leather jacket hugged my arms, underneath a grey fitted tank top, and jeans hugged my hips and calves tightly tucked under brown combat boots. Cute.

I met up with Naomi and we talked about the new crazes and boys and the Masquerade until we got there, the huge mall looming in our presence, waiting in promise for us. We instantly bolted inside, glancing at items until we reached the real section we were looking for.

The Winter Queen Blowout.

As you can tell, this Masquerade is a huge deal in my town. Girls were already all over the aisles of the huge section, holding dresses up to each other and checking their wallets. Me and Naomi rushed to either side, deciding that we could hit it up quicker if we looked separately. Expensive brand names covered tags with even more expensive prices. I fingered through the dresses, eager to find the one. Suddenly, a black dress caught hold of my sight. So perfect, yet underlying a secret mysterious flow about it that was different from the rest.

"That ones cute." A voice emitted from the side of me. I snapped my head around to see him standing there, a playful smirk taped onto his plump lips. Just when I thought I got rid of him.

"What are you doing?" I sighed, my hands motionless, mowing him down with my stare.

"Miss me!" He asked a little too loud, hands wide out in a pretend hug. "Anyways, you like earrings? Because I found some," He offered, pulling out a pair of dangling Kendra Scott earrings from his pocket which were easily $200. I gazed at Brendon in surprise.

"You're planning on shoplifting those?"

He quickly threw the earrings back in his pocket and crinkled his forehead. "Not if you announce it to the whole store like that!" He harshly whispered. "And I'm not shoplifting them, you are." He smirked. My jaw hung in question.

"You think I'm gonna shop lift those?!" I loudly whispered to Brendon.

"They're on the spinny thing at the counter to our right, get them, now. I'll distract." He instructed me. I honestly was scared. He could kill me in an instant. Hide my body without a trace. So it was either severe punishment, or earrings. And God did I want those earrings. But I had never shoplifted.

I swiftly waltzed over to the counter where jewelry of all kind was lined together in illuminated glass cases. The lady clicked and sorted the register whilst I pretended to be interested in a necklace. "I'll distract." His voice ran through my mind. What was he gonna do? Three minutes passed without a sign from Brendon all until a shower of water all at once started to mist out of the overhead sprinklers. The register lady screamed and ran from the stand, from where I snatched up a pair of Kendra Scotts identical to Brendon's pair. The feeling ran in rays through my body of anxiety, but also playfulness. And the alarms and sprinklers going off made it all the more dramatic. The feeling was oddly irresistible. I suspected that pulling the tag was a good idea and quickly ripped it off, shoving the item into my jacket pocket. Then, like everyone else, rushed to get outside, out of the cold temporary rain inside the store.

"Hey." Brendon greeted me, meeting my side as we speed walked between aisles.

"Good idea with the alarms." I suggested. We neared the exit, guards standing by either side of the theft monitors but my lack of paying attention kicked in.

"You got 'em?" He spoke, only loud enough for me to hear. Then, without thinking, I pulled them out of the jacket to show off, right in front of the guards. Brendon's eyes widened as he grunted but quickly grasped my hand as we walked out. His hand was much bigger than mine, but warm and safe. I hadn't held another persons hand in a while. Brendon kept his head down, shades over his eyes so that he wouldn't be all too noticeable. I could feel the earrings in between our warm hands, pushing hard and deep into my skin as Brendon held my hand tightly. We walked out, lucky that the alarms didn't sound and we dropped each other's hand, leaving the earrings with me.

"Congrats. You're an A+ badass." He clapped and smiled. I caught sight of Naomi with her flattened down hair and she ran to hug me.

"You're okay!" She exclaimed, not even glimpsing at Brendon. But, when I tried to look for him, he was gone. Dissipated into the crowd. "Come on, let's go!" Naomi shouted at me, grabbing my hand and leading me through the people. We reached the parking lot where we climbed into her car and began the ride back to her house. But I couldn't get that feeling to rid my body.

It was so... exhilarating, yet nerve racking at the same time. Scary but, weirdly enough, the most enjoyable thing I had done in a while.