*NOT EDITED*

Chapter 26

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"We're late!"

"I know we're late!" I called back to Damon.

"Then, hurry the fu** up!"

"Damon, don't say that! Hurry the fu** up, you lazy bum!" Sarah yelled.

"Why are you guys all yelling? We're all in the same floor." I rolled my eyes, finally strapping my sandals. I distantly heard Damon walk down the stairs.

   I hung the cross-bag over my shoulder and ran down the stairs. Damon was tapping his foot impatiently by the door.

   "Finally! Come on, you can't be any later than this." He opened the front door and left to the car with me on his trail.

Since everyone was traveling during the holiday, we decided that we'd all meet up at the ice cream parlor to have a hangout. As usual, Damon and I were the last ones to get there, but it's not my fault that my sandals decided to magically disappear in that jungle I call a closet.

   Once we got there, I saw that everyone was waiting for us at a table in a small corner. They already bought their ice cream.

   "Gee, thanks for waiting for us, guys." I rolled my eyes.

   "Come on, you guys were 45 minutes late!" Ryder said with a face full of ice cream.

   Drake threw a napkin at his face. "Hey, try to get the ice cream in your mouth this time. Don't worry, we just bought them," he told us assuringly.

   "Damon, are you-" I looked to my left to see that he already left and was paying for his ice cream. I sighed and just got in line as well.

   "Hello, I'm Daisy! What would you like to have?" the girl behind the cashier asked, her eyes wide with enthusiasm. She was talking like she just met Shane Dawson and I found her perkiness really annoying.

"Hi, can I have two balls of chocolate chip cookie dough. No toppings and in a cup please."

"Sure!" she said loudly making me jump, "That would be 4 dollars and 99 cents."

I handed her a five dollar bill before taking the cup and going back to our table. Ryder was laughing at my expression when I sat back down.

"Yeah, she actually goes to our school. Her name is Polly, I think," Emma said.

"Perky Polly there gave me a headache," I replied.

"She's as bright as this parlor," Drake said with a laugh. It was true. The place was very colorful with colors of bright yellow, hot pink, and popping blue. I guess they wanted to imitate the ice cream flavors, but I think they went overboard.

"So, am I the only one that's staying in Fairbanks these weeks?" Bex asked.

"No, it's you and I, Bexley." Ryder leaned back in his chair after finishing his cone.

Damon and I were going to Cali, and Drake was going to his family beach house. It was a tradition that Emily was invited every year so that left Bex and Ryder.

"So, you never really told us what you were going to do with Celeste in school," Emma said. My eyes widened, and I gave her a 'cut-it' expression.

The realization that she shouldn't have said that dawned on her and she muttered sorry, but it was too late. Confused and curious expressions were seen on everyone's faces, making me groan.

"Celeste? What happened between you and Celeste?" Damon asked confusedly. I forgot that I didn't tell him anything about the incident.

"Yeah, I thought you guys were okay now," Ryder said.

"Well, you see . . . remember the incident that night. He was Celeste's brother."

The confused expressions didn't leave their faces when I tried to summarize what happened. Realizing that I had to come clean, I explained everything from the beginning clearly. Damon, who just found out about this had a blank expression on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I didn't know how to tell you. Also, I was scared you'd end up committing murder with Ryder." I fidgeted with the zipper of my bag. God, please don't let him get mad. But, who was I kidding? This was not a small white lie, this was big.

He clenched his jaw, and everyone fell quiet. "We never hide anything from each other. Yes, I might've killed him, actually I'm still going to do so. But now you're also going to try very hard to get me to talk to you."

He left his cup of ice cream on the table, and stormed out of the parlor. I stared sadly at the ice cream, no one saying a word at the table.

"He'll come around, Ash. Don't worry," Drake said softly.

I felt Ryder take my hand. "Now's not the time to plan his murder, so I'm just going to comfort you."

"You're not supposed to. I lied to him. I told everyone but him. This is the first time I lied to him." I shook my head and took my hand out of his, leaving the shop.

I groaned when I realized that Damon took the car with him which meant that I'll have to walk home. From what I remembered, we weren't that far away, but the problem was I didn't know where this parlor was exactly.

This was the first time that I'd been here. We had plenty of ice cream tubs in our house thanks to Sarah so we never really went to ice cream parlors and whatnot.

I could go back inside and ask for help, but that would just ruin the dramatic exit that I did. What, sue me for being a woman who loved dramatic exits!

Feeling a cold breeze slide by my body, I huffed and went back inside. Drake, Emma, Bex, and Ryder were looking at me with amused expressions.

"We've been watching you for 10 minutes now," Bex said, hiding a smile.

"I need help getting back home," I muttered.

"Come, I'll help you." Ryder got up with a silent laugh and led me to his car.

"Did you know that women make up fifty five percent of the human population?" He asked as he started driving off.

I sighed relieved that I would have to talk about what happened. "Of course, I knew that."

"Right, I forgot."

"Did you know that the oldest condoms ever found date back to the 1640s, and were made from animal and fish intestines," I blurted after a short silence.

He burst out laughing. "Where'd you even learn this?"

"Google."

"You are one weird girl," he said with a shake of his head.

I shrugged and looked out the window to see that we had arrived.

"Thanks for the ride," I said, turning back to him.

"It's fine. Good luck up there."

I nodded and left the car. I could feel the nerves jumping up and down as I turned the key to open the door.

I never got why people would say out loud 'I'm home!' It won't make a difference, I doubt anyone would care.

"I'm home!" I called out.

But I guess people got used to saying that every time they'd enter their house.

I slipped off my shoes and ran up the stairs. I hesitantly walked to Damon's room and knocked on the door. As expected, there was no answer.

"I'm sorry," I said, the door a barrier between us, "you know, there's going to be a point where you have to talk to me."

I waited for a minute or two, but sighed when I didn't receive a reaction. I walked back to my room and shut the door before slipping out of my clothes.

I really messed up this time. Why didn't I just tell him from the beginning? None of this would've happened if I told him, but to be fair, I really didn't know how to tell him.

I was about to turn on the TV when dad walked in.

"What happened between you guys? We heard you from downstairs."

"It was just a silly argument," I said as I tried to wave it off.

It was obvious that he didn't buy it, but thankfully, he left the room. I flopped on my bed and signed in to my Netflix.

At least my TV shows won't abandon me or make me feel worse.

Halfway in to watching an old episode of Grey's Anatomy, the doorbell rang. I didn't bother, someone else can just go get it.

But I guess everyone thought the same thing so I just went downstairs to open it.

I expected it to maybe be a delivery man or one of our friends. But I definitely didn't expect it to be the feisty blonde that I considered my sister.

"Reece!" I exclaimed with wide unbelieving eyes.

"Surprise, bitch!" she yelled as she knocked into me with a hug, making us both stumble and fall on the ground in heaps of laughter.

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Author's Note:

Hey, guys! Yes, I know I haven't updated in two days, but I was really really sick. I still am, but I managed to update bec I just couldn't go any longer without writing.

So, what about that cliffhanger, eh? Reece is back! I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time now. So, I'm imagining Reece as Margot Robbie, bec who doesn't like her? Also, I think she'd really suit her–personality-wise and looks.

Don't forget to VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE, and FOLLOW!