Jordan drove me around the city till I gathered my shit together. He hadn't said anything to me. After leading me into his car, I found that he were driving in circles. For me.

What if he hadn't found me there? I cringe to think about how horrible my face looked right now.

"I'm not mad, you know." I spoke.

Jordan's dull gray eyes flickered to me. "I know." He said.

Pressing my lips together, I glanced at the back seat. A couple of books were neatly piled to a corner and a phone charger and white headphones also laid there. Thankfully, there were no condoms. Good.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"Anywhere you want."

Staring out through the window, I realized we were driving closer to Summer's house but then he drove past.

"Don't you have anything to do?"

He shook his head. "Not anymore."

Jordan weaved the car through three other trees and parked in front of a small green house with small flower pots bearing flowers in front.

"I'll get you something to take the pain away. Wait here." He went of the car and into the house, emerging minutes later with a baseball bat.

I wanted to ask if this was his place but I swallowed down my question.

"What are we going to do with that?"

He grinned, starting the engine again and driving back into the street. "Something fun."

I snorted."How do you know my definition of fun is the same with yours?"

"Be patient." That was all he said.

And moments later, I was enjoying myself.

"This feels so fucking good!" I yelled,  swinging the bat at an empty wooden crate in the deserted building Jordan brought me to.

He just stood, leaning against the greying wall opposite me and watching.

It was greatly relieving to take out my annoyance on the crates, the more I swung the bat and hit my targets, the faster my anger went down.

Minutes later, I was breathless, panting, bent over with hands on my knees. Sweat dripped from every inch of my body.

"That was good. I would like to do this again."

Jordan chuckled, handing a paper towel to me. "You shouldn't come here alone though. Some druggies choose this place to do their business."

"I might come here and not tell you. I'm stubborn like that." My sweat soaked into the paper towel.

"You're a risk-taker, I see. But some risks are not worth taking, Aura. Come on."

And I followed him.

Some risks are not worth taken?

"Life itself is a risk, Jordan." I blurted out after ten minutes of driving.

He sighed dramatically. "I'm not arguing with you, Aura. My energy levels do not match with yours."

Chuckling, I reached for my backpack at the backseat and sat it on my thighs, taking out my phone.

Boss Lady: Bitch, where are you. I'm at your house and the front door is locked, why?

Summer.

Me:That's because I'm not home. Wait outside.

Boss Lady: 😬Bitch if you don't get your ass home this instant.

I laughed out loud, earning a look from Jordan.

"Your boyfriend?" He asked.

I snorted. "My girlfriend."

Jordan arched a brow. "You're into girls?"

"Are you judging me?"

His eyes widened as he probably regretted his question. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it in that way. Even if you're into girls, I don't-"

"-don't beat yourself up, Jordy. It's fine."

Jordan smiled. "Thank you."

"Do you mind dropping me home?"

⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜

Summer was tapping away in her phone, seated on the steps that led up to the main door at my house. When Jordan revved the engine, she glanced up, eyes squinting to get a better look at us. Then she grinned, racing to the car. I climbed out and she bear-hugged me.

"Hey! Thanks for bringing my friend home. Where did you find her? In the garbage? I'm not surprised-"

Slapping a hand over Summer's mouth, I turned to Jordan while she lowered her hands to my waist. "Meet Summer, Summer, this is Jordan. He helped me out with something."

"Mhmm, mhmm."

We both laughed at Summer's muffled voice. "It's a pleasure meeting you, Summer. I have to leave now, Aurora, my friend needs me. See you some other time?"

I grinned. "Of course."

Jordan drove off and my hand fell off Summer's mouth.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young woman. Come inside."

Laughing, I let her pull me to the front door where I typed in the password and let us in.

We went up to my room which was in a terrible mess. Summer cleared a small space on the sofa.

"Don't tell me you were getting some dick while your mom's in the hospital."

I choked on air. "How could you think that?"

She shrugged, sitting and swinging her legs over the sofa's arm.

"You're unpredictable as fuck, Aurora. Tell me, now."

I tossed my bag to a corner and kicked off my shoes. "We kind of met at the hospital. I had a meltdown and he helped me."

Summer kissed her teeth. "Girl, I need all the details, not a summary. Wait, so did you guys fu-"

"-no, we did not. Now shut up and let me be." I fell back on my bed crowded with a sea of clothes. This morning was really exhausting.

I cocked my head to the side and seeing Summer watching me calculatively, I groaned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like I've done something and don't want to tell you."

She rubbed her chin, grinning like a psychopath. "Have you?"

How am I ever going to escape this session?

She left me with no choice, so, I told her everything, from my ourtburst in mum's hospital room to my melt-down in the car park and hitting the crates with a baseball bat.

"That's hot, you know?"

I frowned. "What is? Me having a meltdown in the car park?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "No, silly. It's Jordan teaching you how to take out your anger properly instead of starting fights with just anyone you see."

"How is that hot? Look, I'm starving. Can we go to the kitchen."

She agreed. Minutes later, I made us breakfast. Toasted bread with eggs and and glasses of milk.

"I slept over at Cole's house."

Startled, I sprayed milk all over Summer seated across from me at the kitchen island.

She sighed. "You're getting me a new shirt, Aurora White."

I threw her a napkin. "It's just milk. So, what happened?" I made my brows dance suggestively.

A blush appeared on Summer's cheeks as she fiddled with the napkin. "Nothing much. After we left from the hospital, I was so wet-" Her eyes widened when I chuckled at the sexual innuendo. "-not like that, pervert. You know with the rain falling, he asked me to stay over at his place. His dad and his mother were out on a date night, so it was just the two of us."

"What happened next?" I demanded.

Summer bent her head to look down at her glass of milk. "He gave some of his clothes to wear and while I was changing, he accidentally entered his room."

Now, I don't think that was accidental.

"Hmm..."

"What? Don't look at me like that. Nothing happened." She said.

I snorted in disbelief before claiming a little of my milk. Then she dropped the bomb.

"He kissed me."

I swear, I could hear the rattle of the kitchen utensils with the bomb she set off.

"What. The. Actual. Fuck?" I leaned over to make Summer look up at me. She was smiling.

I grinned. "Was he good? Did he use his tongue? Did he kiss you passionately, sensually or ferociously?"

Summer got off her stool with her empty glass. "I'm sorry, that instruction is solely reserved for my-"

I had tackled her to the floor in a quick movement, locking my hand around her waist.

"You're not leaving this house if you don't give me the entire details."

She laughed, resting her head against my chest. "I felt high, Aura. Like meth high. His kisses were peppered with tiny bursts of flames that set my skin burning and my nerves tingling. Damn, Aura-" Her voice fell into whisper as she undoubtedly replayed the kiss in her head.

I forgot about my own problems and helped my friend sort out her feelings.

Hours later, Winter and Cole came over to hang out. I noticed Cole and Summer maintained a decent distance. The reason for their actions was fully known to me, but not to Winter, so he kept staring at them in my room till I gestured for him to meet me downstairs. And he did.

In the sitting room, he sat on the rug and made me sit in between his legs, head casually placed on his chest and our hands in a tangle.

I shouldn't-

"How's your mother's condition?" He asked, drawing invisible lines in the inside of my right hand.

"It's stable."

"You don't sound excited." Winter noticed. Of course, he's the most observant of all my friends.

"I sort of yelled at her this morning."

Is he going to judge me or not? Summer didn't condemn my actions but it's probably because she detested my mother and therefore didn't find anything wrong in putting her in her place.

Winter always gave a non-biased opinion to everything. And that was why I... I liked him.

After a minute of silence, Winter breathed deeply. My head lifting at intervals with the movement of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled. "Why?"

"Because. Why are you asking why?"

He should be giving me a support speech and not question my actions.

"Aura." Winter called. I felt the rumble of his voice deep within his chest. When dad was alive, I loved sitting like this with him just to hear the vibrations in his chest.

"Yeah."

Winter's hands slipped into my hair. "You know I'm a man of honesty."

I snorted. "Of course."

He chuckles. "TBH, you shouldn't have yelled at your mother. It doesn't matter what your dissatisfaction was but you know how her condition is. The best thing you should give her is a little space for her to recover, Aura. Do you want her dead and gone?"

I froze. "No."

"Then allow her to have a chance at recovery before resolving your issues." He massages my scalp and I bite down on my lips to restrain a moan from coming out. What is he doing?

"W-Winter-"

"Do you promise to do that?" His gentle massage deprived me of the ability to think straight. And his voice, so husky it sent my brain on an overdrive.

Dear oreos.

"Yes." My voice came out as a mere squeak.

Winter withdrew his fingers and my eyes widened as I realized what he made me promise.

"I hate you." I poked him with my elbow. He didn't act affected.

"I love you."

Pulling away from Winter, I repositioned my body so my eyes were on him. His eyes were absurdly dangerously half-closed

"What the fuck-"

"What are you guys doing sitting like that?" Summer said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs.

Holy f#cking sh#t.

I rose abruptly, went over and dragged her all the way to the back of our house where a lot of beautiful flowers and trees dotted the grass.

"Aura, you're hyperventilating, what happened?"

Light-headed, I sat in the hammock, processing everything that happened about five minutes ago. Am I dreaming?

I grabbed Summer's clothes, startling her. "Aura, you're scaring me. What the hell?"

"I need something distracting, please, just do anything to distract me."

She raised her hand in the air about to land a slap on me but I glared at her.

"Not that kind of distraction, rat."

Summer snickered and started typing on her phone. "I've hit up one of my homegirls who's having a party this evening. We're going. Just the two of us."

I frowned. "Homegirl?"

"Hush, sweetheart." Smiling brilliantly, she pulled me back into the house, past the boys who had turned on the Xbox and were playing FIFA 2017.

Winter shot us a confused stare but Summer didn't stop dragging me along until we got into my room. She picked out clothes for me and said we'll stop at her's so she can also get dressed. I'm so glad most of my clothes don't fit her because of our height differences.

After kicking the boys out and ignoring their inquiries about where we were off to, I borrowed Mom's silver BMW M5 and we parked on the curb in front of Summer's house ten minutes later.

⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜️

Elizabeth's party was much smaller than Sarah's and so disorganized.

I swear, I saw a guy pee into an empty bottle. People were making out everywhere, like, I mean on every inch of the crappy building, making me wonder if we were at a frat party.

"Summer, this party sucks more than my life right now. Can we leave?"  I begged. But Summer focused on hugging a female stranger who had appeared from the sea of people around.

It should be illegal allowing this amount of people in a tiny house like this. I pity the neighbours. Around the corner somewhere, I saw some girls and boys doing belly shots.

What the-

"Lizzy, what's going on?" Summer asked, gesturing at the ruckus around. Someone dived from the bannister near us, crashing into a wooden table.

Ouch!

Elizabeth groaned. "I have no single idea who invited all these people, Mer. At exactly seven I heard the doorbell, and after opening the door, these crazy ass people invaded my territory."

I couldn't help but laugh genuinely at the sight of a girl puking into a gigantic flower vase and some else was singing into a shower head. Where did that come from?

"Hey!!!" Elizabeth yelled but her voice got drowned by the others'.

Summer nudged me. I always came up with  the craziest prank ideas. Judging from the look of things, these crazy people weren't leaving until midnight.

Elizabeth's expression was priceless. Her face was reddened with anger when someone threw up on the gray couch. Summer made a face at the action while I sought out a perfect prank for these idiots. I loved this distraction from the problems of my life which I intended running away from as much as I could.

"Do you know where I can find spiders? And lots of them."

Elizabeth stared up at me,  a wide grin replacing her frown. She nodded vigorously and then disappeared with Summer. In my mind, I figured out how to get the spiders out of the house.

Better pray my plan works. Insert evil villian grin here.

⚜️⚜️⚜️⚜

Don't you just hate uninvited guests showing up at a party? Poor Elizabeth.

About Winora, let's just hope their ship will sail soon. Remember, there's still Crystal. And we'll be seeing her in the next chapter.

I sort of changed the plot of the story. Winter and Aurora weren't supposed to have that 'little' moment yet but I decided to incorporate that part as we'll soon be wrapping things up with Part 1 of this book.

Sven's still in jail though. There'll be more information about his case in subsequent chapters.

We've had Summer and Aurora bonding moments, Winter and Aurora bonding moments, but we haven't really had any of Cole and Aurora. I'll fix that soon.

Phew! I've never written a lengthy author's note like this one😁

Thanks for reading!

Don't forget to vote and comment!