It had been 3 days since the day of reckoning at the cave. The night I had arrived, my brother had been there, but hadn't been attentive enough to notice that I had been late, or that I had even come home.
I had had to tell Payton not to come inside in the mornings, being that my brother would have rather had him drive me to school rather than my friend, despite my wishes.

It was stricter than having my parents. Or what I assumed it was like to have parents. There were days, and those days terrified me, when I couldn't remember my mom and dad's faces. Or their voices, or some other aspect to them.

I sighed as I stared at myself in the mirror. I had woken up early for some reason, and I had about half an hour before I had to meet Payton in front of my house. I had an angry red scratch across my cheek, and I couldn't remember exactly where I had gotten it.

My stomach rumbled in hunger, but I usually didn't eat anything and didn't think I should start now. My brother was still passed out in the living room. Or his bedroom. I honestly couldn't tell where he was actually spending his nights, but I knew mine were sleepless.

I had spent so long living in a house all by myself, that I had gotten used to the weird noises that the fridge would make, or the heater. It was completely different with Andrew here. Not only did he throw off my life, he made it so much harder to feel safe around the house. I guess I was still scared after the incidents.

My phone dinged and I looked at it. It was a text from my mother. I looked at it, a noticeably curious look on my face as I picked it up from the counter. It only read 'remember, we're coming home for a few days next week.'

They would be missing both my birthday, and graduation. Another reason to hate my parents. I sighed loudly through my nose and set the phone back down, turning it off as I did so.

I never felt a downright hatred towards my parents, but there was always tension and strong dislike. It would be so much better if they never came back at all.

I walked back out into the hallway, trying to be extra quiet in case Andrew was in his room, back to my room.

I could have moved into the master bedroom, where my parents stayed when they came, but I had decided to stay in my small, but cozy, little bedroom at the very back of the house. If you walked up the stairs, mine was the door that faced directly onto it.

I sat on my bed and started thinking. My parents could've given me, and even my brother up for adoption, being that we were mistakes, but they didn't. Instead they left me with my brother, and then sent him away to shortly after. They could be arrested for the fact that they had made me live alone since I was 6, but it was water under the bridge now.

If I had been adopted, I never would've met Olivia and Payton. Or had those 'incidents' with Andrew. I never would've fallen for Christopher.

Oh god, Christopher. With Andrew being back, he had been pushed out of top priority in my thoughts. Sitting there on my bed then, I started thinking about him again. I had never felt the way I feel towards him, than I've ever felt towards anyone.

I was one of those girls who believed in love at first site. Who hated the thought of having multiple boyfriends, or, remembering Olivia, girlfriends. I had always believed in someone having a soul mate. And I'll be damned if I didn't think there was a possibility Christopher was my soulmate.

Looking at my clock, I realized that I had been lost in thought for about 20 minutes. I needed to go meet Payton out in the driveway so we could go to school together.

"Hey, you okay?" Pay asked me as I walked towards my car.

"As fine as I can be, I guess." I responded, shrugging. This was an indicator to Payton that I was thinking about a lot, and that she shouldn't question me too hard. Thankfully, after years of knowing me, she got the indicator, and we drove to school in near silence.

Once we reached school, she met up with Rose and Allie, and I walked into the building myself.
Joining Liv by her locker, I leaned my head against the locker next to hers and shut my eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I keep thinking too much. I need to be stopped." I said, keeping my eyes shut as I said this.

Olivia rolled her eyes in agreement and smiled. "Yes, you are thinking way too much. Now, get to class. I'll see you later." and with that, she shoved me over to my own locker.

I saw Katherine coming around the corner, but I flattened myself against the locker, and thankfully she just kept walking.

I was confused. Kathrine always took every chance she could to tease me... What changed?

I didn't give it much thought after that. I had to get to class, and even though I had been early for everything else, I didn't want to be late for math.

I walked quickly to class and decided to sit in my old seat. Walking over to it I sat down and sighed. I just wanted to get this class over with. Despite it only being 2 weeks till graduation, the teacher had decided to give us one last outline -a list of every worksheet and lesson- we had to do in the next week. It was getting a bit stressful, but summer was coming soon and I only had a few days left before I was able to leave this place once and for all.
I was going to miss Olivia and Payton though. Taylor, and all of my other friends, Rose and Allie.

Working on getting the outline done, I was alerted by having a paper hit me in the head.

"Sorry!" Someone called from the other side of the classroom. I could tell it was a guy's voice, and I just prayed it wasn't Jacob, or Christopher.

I looked up to see Christopher smiling slyly at me.

"Did you just throw a piece of paper at me?"

"Yes. And it got you to talk to me. I have succeeded."

"At what Chris?"

"Everything."

"Why do you think I would talk to you? Just because you got my attention, doesn't mean I want to speak to you."

He rolled his eyes, looking even more annoyed, but also saddened by that. "Please, Ken."

"Technically you are talking to me," He retorted, smiling bigger.

"Not now." I said. Then gave in, "If you really want to talk to me, then you'll just wait for me to get over this."

"But I gave you time! It's been weeks! And I need you to know the truth."

"I saw you making out with her!" I shouted loudly, and the class turned to look at me. I lowered my voice significantly, and angrily whispered, "If you actually cared you wouldn't even try to talk to me."

"But, because I care about you I want to talk to you! I miss talking to you, and hearing you call me Eleven. Please let me explain," He pleaded.

"Just let me think about it. And go do your math work already!" I gave a hint of a smile at the end of that sentence, but I tried to hide it.

I stared out the window. Now I just kept thinking that maybe I was too hard on him. I refused to forgive him, and all he had done was make out with a blonde. Whoever she was. And we hadn't even been together. But then my mind would yell at me about how he knew I cared about him.

Trying to keep my mind from thinking about Christopher, I emerged myself deeply into all of my math work. Soon enough, class was over and I found myself hurrying through crowded hallways to get to my next class.

I walked into history pretty excited since we were going to be talking about the Greek gods (I love to correct Mr. Lawson whenever he gets something wrong with the myths).

"So, my dear Kendra, what has you so excited since you are so smiley?" Taylor asked jokingly.

"Nothing!" I laughed running over to my seat.

"Oooh, my dear Kendra?" Liv smirked as both of us walked over to her.

The two of us sat down at desks that were facing her. "So?"

She just smiled, tapping her pencil on the desk.

"I'm so confused!" I exclaimed, dropping my head onto the desk.

"Still Christopher?" Taylor asked.

"It's weird how Taylor is so close to us that he knows about Chris." Olivia said.

"He's the older brother I never had," I replied laying my head on Taylor's shoulder.

"Right back at ya Ken."

"You guys got close after under a year, and it took me 3 years to get to the status I'm at now." Liv shook her head.

"I'm just amazing," Taylor bragged leaning back. We watched as he tipped the chair to far back and tried to conceal our laughter as he fell to the ground with a loud bang.

"Okay, well let's start the lesson." Mr Lawson said, clapping his hands together as he laughed at Taylor.

"So, the Titans. How were they overthrown?" He asked walking around the room.

Liv raised her hand the same time I did. "Olivia!" Mr Lawson said, pointing to her.

"Darn it," I muttered underneath my breath.

"After Zeus came back from his far away island, he rescued his brothers and sisters out of Kronos. The six first Olympians, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter and of course then Zeus, snuck into the Underworld, Erebos, to where the Cyclopses were. The Cyclopses made them weapons, or the guys weapons. A thunderbolt for Zeus, a Trident for Poseidon, and a helmet of invisibility for Hades."

"Boo Cap." Taylor muttered under his breath, making Liv and I laugh.

"They then fought for 10 years, before finally the gods won," she concluded.

"Good! Now, we will be role playing tomorrow in class. And since this is my favorite period, you guys are the only ones that get to do so. As well as, you're small enough that there are enough roles for all of you." Mr Lawson announced.

"Yes!" Taylor, Liv and I cheered.

"So, you must complete a worksheet in order to role play tomorrow. Collaboration, as usual. I will be compiling a list of roles for tomorrow, so you should know soon. I need volunteers to pass these out," Mr Lawson explained. A girl named Vicky close to the front raised her hand and Mr Lawson passed her the stack of papers.

As Taylor, Liv and I received our worksheets and started on them, I posed the question. It was one that Liv and I had discussed, very recently, but for some reason we hadn't talked much to Taylor about. "So, what are your college plans?"

"I don't know to be honest. Kind of planning my life as I go," he said. he cracked a grin and looked up at me and Liv. "What about you two?"

"I'm going to England. It's actually less expensive to go abroad." Olivia answered. She was already almost halfway done the sheet.
"I didn't get accepted into Princeton so I'm just going to go to community college." I replied, a bit sadly. Add Taylor to the list of people I'd miss.

"Hey don't worry Ken. I'm not leaving you just yet. I didn't apply to any colleges, meaning I can stay and bug you as much as I want."

"Wait, Taylor... you didn't even apply anywhere?" both of us looked at him with wide eyes.

"I'm kidding!" he laughed, and I shoved his shoulder. "I got accepted into Stanford, and I'm going to major in technology."

"That's awesome! I swear, everyone's going everywhere. But not me. Poor little Kendra is staying in Sylvia." I joked. The end was bitter but I meant the first part. I was happy for him.
"Aww, Ken. You know you can't get rid of me. We'll always talk, even if we don't see each other all that often." Then he turned to Olivia, "And Britain, eh?"

"Yeah, she wants to have an accent."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." she said, in her normal deadpan and Taylor and I both started laughing.

"It's not, but your sarcasm is going to sound even meaner with an accent," Taylor stated.

"I plan on it." she smiled and turned back to her worksheet. Taylor and I both looked at each other with raised eyebrows. We both looked at her again at the same time, and she smirked, even though her head was down.

"Sooooo... How's things with Anna?" I asked.

She looked directly up at me then, her eyes widening.

"Okay, sorry I asked." I gave a short laugh and turned back to my own paper. "But I do want to know what's going on with my ship." I eyed her.

"OOOH, a new ship," Taylor said, turning to Olivia.

"OMG! They need a ship name... We need Payton!"

She rolled her eyes, but was still smiling. "Nothing's happening, if that's what you're asking. You're her friend, not me."

"Oh come on! We're all friends." I told her.

"Well, while I think of ship names, Taylor you should think of how to get them together!" I whispered. I tried to make sure Liv didn't hear, but I'm pretty sure I failed.

"Okay," Mr Lawson got everyone's attention. "Characters are as follows. Cedric is Zeus, Taylor is Apollo, Kendra is Artemis, Olivia as Hades, Quintin as Hephaestus, Ryan as Hermes, Jonathan as Ares, Brandon is Dionysus, Alyssa gets to be Demeter, Annika as Hera, An as Athena, Gabe as Poseidon, Aphrodite will be Hailey, Hestia Kayla, and Vicky is Persephone."

"Yes, we're twins!" I said, high-fiving Taylor.

"And I get to be Hades. So, I'm the real winner." Olivia said, and rolled her eyes at the two of us.

"How did I get to be Zeus?" Cedric asked, confused. He was very un-Zeus-like, but I guessed he'd be okay in the role.

I was excited. Artemis was a very badass goddess, one who didn't let a man push her around.

"Beware my Helm of Darkness." Liv was saying, her eyes squinted at Taylor.

"It's a Boo Cap Uncle Hades," he said.

"Stop taking that from Percy Jackson's Greek Gods." she said. "And I'm not your uncle, don't make this weird."

"You are Hades, I am Apollo. Making you my Uncle. Boom! Logic."

"You are literally the only girl who's playing a guy's role." I pointed out.

"That's cause I'm the only person who can pull off Hades."

"True," we all mustered in agreement.

"So... Anyone planning on going to the Senior Class party?" Taylor asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"I am," Olivia said.

"Me too," I said. "I usually hate parties, but I think this one will be fun. We are never going to see each other again."

"That is a good point, but no matter what I'm not able to go," Taylor replied.

"Aw, why not?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"My parents. More importantly, my parents beach house. They decided to take me on one last trip while I'm still what they diagnose as a child. So, we are heading down to Ocean City right after graduation."

"Is it just your family?" I asked.

"And Cedric."

"That's cool! Buy me a pair of sunglasses while you are down there, I need a new pair," I exclaimed. I knew the class period was slowly coming to a close, and I didn't want to have to go to English next. Despite us having it easy now that it was the end of the year, it was still a very boring class. I wish I had had someone like Miss. Todd from my freshman year. She was much more engaging than Mrs. Swanson.

I looked over my answers on the assignment and smiled when I heard Olivia crack a joke towards Taylor.

"Okay, that is the end of class." I heard Mr Lawson say, and looked up. "Hand me your papers on the way out, and I will see you all tomorrow."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Liv came to the table looking mad, and just really sad. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She sat down in the seat next to me, and just stared at the table. If I knew Olivia, she was very upset.

"Liv what's wrong? I want to know. Please tell me."

"Fine." she gave in, still not looking at me. "I started DMing this girl on Instagram, and I thought we both liked each other. I had thought she went to Grainger, but nooo," she explaining, doing her annoyed face on the 'no', "she goes here. Well, I asked her out, and she didn't reply for a day or so.

"Finally, she just simply said that she was straight and that I should never message her again." Liv looked defeated. "I'm such an idiot."

"She's a jerk. Liv, you are not an idiot. She is."

"Yeah well, it gets worse," she said bitterly.

"Turns out, she told everyone that I was a lesbian and that I was trying to get with her. I got a lot of weird looks today, and then a few guys harassed me before gym. I have the marks to prove it," she held up her arms. Each one had bruised finger prints running up and down her pale skin. "I don't even care if people know, honestly, but this is a lot worse than I thought it was going to be."

I was seething. No one messed with my friends. "What are the guys names?" I asked gritting my teeth.

She looked reluctant to tell me, and I started getting more worried, and angry. After a few seconds she said, "Dylan O'Brian and his buddies." I just clenched my fists more, "But, Chris was there."

That stung. "Was he doing anything?"

"No, he was standing a few feet away. He looked really upset to be there, but he didn't try to stop them."

Liv's statement just made my anger grow. Christopher watched my best friend get beat up and did nothing. I stood up from the table looking for Christopher.

"Ken, don't do anything stupid."

I barely heard her, as I stalked over to where I could see Christopher and his friends, the blood boiling in my ears.

"Seriously Christopher? Is this really how you want to be friends with me again?" I was holding back on yelling at him.

He looked taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"You know how important Liv is to me and you did nothing to help her. Nothing!" I was poking his chest now. My anger was growing with every second.

He still looked confused. "I don't know what your-"

I cut him off, "Oh, having you friend Dylan beat her up, and then doing nothing about it!" I was yelling now. "What were you even doing there? You're not in that gym class?"

He went white. "Kendra, I- I didn't want to let it happen, but I didn't know what to do about it-"

I cut him off again, "Save it. I don't want to hear it. If it were anyone close to you I would have stopped it, and do you want to know why? Because I care for you." With that I started to walk away.

"Kendra, please-" he pleaded, but I hold up a hand to silence him as I walked back to Olivia and the others.

Nothing was going to heal the pain Christopher was causing me. I liked him a lot, but he kept messing up in ways that hurt me.

"Kendra, I'm sorry," Liv said. She looked at me, her eyes filled with sympathy but I brushed her off.

"Don't bother, I'm just sorry you had to go through that."

"I'm going to go though. Probably call Andy, see what he's up to," I spoke quietly. I picked up my lunch and walked towards the hallway.

"Wait," Annalise said to me, just as I stood up.

I brushed my hair out of my eyes and looked over to her. "Yeah Anna?"

"Liv," she turned to the girl, speaking loudly so most of the cafeteria could hear her, "would you go on a date with me?" She looked around at the people staring at her, challenging them with her eyes.

Olivia hesitated for a second, mostly out of surprise, but then said, "Yes, of course."

A smile started to creep across my face, "Oh my gods, Livalise!" I squealed.

I then remembered Jacob. The look on his face said he was happy for Annalise and not even hurt that she asked Liv out.

I guess they had never really been a thing anyway.

Anna just looked at me, an almost drunken happy smile on her face, as she sat down in the seat I had left.

Almost all of my anger had faded, but I still left the cafeteria at the point.

Picking my phone out of my pocket I called Andrew.

"Big brother, it's time for you to make things up to me," I stated a smirk crawling across my face.

"Oh, is that so?" he asked, but not in a harsh way, almost joking. Maybe he really was changing. I really hoped so.

"Yes, I want to go to an amusement park. Take me?"

"Sure, who do you want to bring with you?"

"Just me and you. Quality brother sister bonding time."

"Really?" He asked. "Okay."

Just as I was about to hang up he added, "And I promise I won't hurt you. Ever again. I love you, and I was a drunk asshole."

I smiled, "Come pick me up. I don't want to be at school any longer."

"Oh, now? I don't know is I should..." he said, holding it out, even though I know he was smiling on the other end. "Oh fine. I'll be there in Ten."

"YAY! Ok, I'll wait for you outside," I was happy. Maybe I had my carefree, loving, older brother back.

I walked to the front of the school building, not bothering the stop at my locker. I pushed out through the front doors to find kids everywhere. Mostly studying, some eating at the tables in the grass just off to the side, and a couple others who were smoking just a bit farther down.

My nose crinkled up at the thought of people smoking. I walked to the curb and sat down and tried to finish my lunch while waiting for Andrew.

After waiting a bit, he pulled up in his car, an old Ford that really needed to be replaced, and I got up off the sidewalk.

"Hey," I said as I opened the passenger door and got in.

"Hello kiddo. Are you sure you want to skip school?" He was looking at me waiting for my reaction.

"I only have Gym left. So, Hell yes. We're winning a stuffed bear, whether you like it or not." I stated, matter of factly.

He laughed and started the car. "So, why don't you want to be at school?"

"High school problems. You don't want to know, trust me," I replied. I ran my hand through my hair and looked out the window.

"Well, good luck with those." he chuckled, and I smiled.

"Here's a question I've been dying to ask: Why'd you come back to good old Sylvia?"

"I figured you'd ask that eventually." Andrew sighed through his smile. "I got a girlfriend," he nodded. "Yeah."

I smiled, "Really? What's her name? Do you love her? How long have you been dating?" I was gushing, and so excited that he finally found someone to love and cherish.

"Her name is Genevieve, we've been dating for 5 years, and yes, I love her. Enough that I want to propose."

My eyes widened, and I squealed for the second time that day. "She told me I should make up with you, and I really wanted to. You had no idea how badly I wanted to, for years, but I was afraid you would hate me with all your heart and soul," he paused for a second, "Gen finally made up my mind for me."

"Andy, I could never hate you. I didn't like you for a while because you left me, but I never hated you. It hurt you leaving though. Gen sounds amazing for you though. I'm glad you found her."

He nodded, looking out the windshield. "I guess now was a good time to tell you, as she wants to come visit me here for a bit." He explained, then said, "And I'm glad you don't hate me."

"Well let her come, I want to meet her. She makes you happy!" I was smiling so much. Genevieve sounded perfect for him. I could already see the wedding.

"Tell me more about her!" I demanded.

"Well, she's a blonde, but she has light blue streaks running through her hair, she's really sweet, and we're a good match, and she wants to be a teacher. Just like you," he said."She's gorgeous, both with looks and personality."

"Well, I love her already." I said a huge smile overtaking my face.

"So do I Kenny, so do I."

"We still have about half an hour till we're there, so tell me about your love life? I feel like you should be able to confide in someone, and I'm bored," he changed the topic after a moment of silence.

"Oh... it's complicated. There's this guy, he's new, and I like him a lot. But, every time I get close to him something always seems to go wrong."

"I hope the guy realizes that you're amazing, and you work out all your differences," Andrew told me.

"I do too. Guys are idiots," I stated looking out the window.

"We really are," he said nodding his head again.

"Can I turn on the radio?" I asked my older brother.

"Go ahead Kid," He replied looking over at me.

I turned it on, and up came a station that was nothing but  Ad after Ad. "Do you have an AUX plug in?" I asked, pulling out my phone.

"Yeah, a cord too," Andrew gestured to his center console. I opened the lid, and grabbed out the said cord. I plugged it into the car, and one end into my phone, and then turned on Pandora. The station I had been listening to came on, and The Kids Aren't Alright came on by The Offspring.

"I love The Offspring," Andrew said to me, bobbing his head to the music.

"Liv got me listening to them. Also My Chemical Romance, and a lot of other bands."

"Well, Liv seems to have been raising you right. Sorry I wasn't there for you."

"It's ok  Andy. I forgive you."

"Oh! That reminds me," I said, getting really giddy again, "My best friend Annalise, got together with Liv. I'm super happy for them. I've shipped them for a long time." Andy knew who Olivia was, being that we'd been best friends in the time before he left, but he had never met Anna.

"Annalise? Who's that? I feel like I've missed out on a lot of your life."

"Oh, we met in 7th grade. She and I were in most of our classes together, and we really started talking a lot. She got me out of my shell, and a bit less socially awkward, and we've been friends since."

"Damn. Your friends have made more of an impact on you than I have."

"Yes," I said. "But it's okay. I want us to be closer now." I had no reason to hate Andy any more. I mean, I did, but I really didn't feel like being mad at him anymore.

"I do too. I've missed you Kenny." He turned to smile at me and I smiled back.

The song switched to Welcome To The Black Parade, and both Andy and I started singing along.

"So, you like MCR too?"

"Of course, I'm not an idiot," he joked.

"Obviously."

As soon as the song ended, Andy announced, "We're here." as we pulled into a parking spot.

"LET'S DO THIS!" I yelled running ahead. Andy laughed at my antics and jogged behind me.

This took a while, Sorry. This chapter is 4812 words long. How crazy is that? I remember when I couldn't even write 2 pages *cough* chapter 1-8 *cough*.

Anyway, what do you think of Andrew? I am slowly starting to love him. I hope you guys are too.

I'm going to get Emma to do one of these soon for this book. Really soon, so look forward to it. Also, thanks to Emma I have a lot better of a music taste, I'm now listening to MCR, P!ATD, FOB, The Offspring.

Love you guys! Stay awesome!
xoxo Rebecca Bavis