Finally the vacation was over. I never thought at the beginning of the week that I'd be glad to be going home.

Steph has been sad, Lisa has been begging for forgiveness, and Leo has been, well, Leo. He isn't acting any different. He's not sad, he's not begging for forgiveness, he's just Leo. And that pisses me off. 

He ruined everything between my two best friends, and I'm the awkward middle guy. I don't want to take sides but at the same time Steph did nothing wrong and Lisa messed up big time.

So I've mostly been avoiding them and hiding out at the coffee shop with Liam and sometimes Garrett. At least that gave me more than enough time to try every flavour of tea.

And now we're heading to the airport. Liam driving, me in the passenger seat, and Lisa and Leo in the back while Garrett and Steph followed behind us.

Now I'm glad we got two rental cars instead of a van.

So far it's been very tense and heavy in here, no ones said a thing, and we didn't even have the radio on. I was scared moving the wrong way might set someone off.

Lisa's been avoiding Leo like the plague prior to today, probably scared that even being seen around him would make things worse, so I'm just waiting for something to happen now that they're right beside each other.

"Do you think I should send her another text? She hasn't replied to any of my other ones but maybe this time-" Lisa began before being cut off my Leo.

"She doesn't want to talk to you, get over it."

My jaw dropped at his words, that was really harsh.

"Excuse me? This is all your fault, you might not care about her but I do! She's my best friend!" Lisa shot back.

Leo laughed bitterly, "Was. She was your friend, not anymore."

"Because of you!" She yelled.

I stared wide eyed at Liam, hoping he could stop this fight but it didn't even look like he was listening. He was just focused on the road ahead. Smart man, this isn't really our business.

"Look, Stephanie wouldn't even know about what we did if Emma didn't tell." Leo argued, dragging me into this mess.

"She had every right to tell Steph, I don't blame her at all. It was our fault, it never should've happened, so don't drag Emma into this." Lisa defended me. She gets it, even if she did a bad thing, she's not a bad person.

"Oh come on! Don't pretend to be all good now that Emma's around! You weren't being so nice about her before we-"

"Enough!" Liam cut off Leo's sentence. "Don't you dare bring Emma into this. She didn't do anything wrong, that's on you two. I don't want to hear one more word about this." He basically ordered as he took my hand in his and gave it a comforting squeeze.

I squeezed back to let him know I was okay, and to say thank you, and a sly wink my way let me know that he got my silent message.

I'm so lucky to have him.

The rest of the drive was completely silent, and I sighed in relief when we arrived at the section of the airport where we give back the rental cars.

"I'm glad that's over." Liam whispered to me when we were both out of the car.

I giggled at the overly dramatic relieved look he made as he spoke, and grabbed his hand when he offered it.

We met up with Garrett and Steph a minute later, and that's when things got even more awkward, if that's even possible.

No one spoke except for when Liam and Garrett gave the car keys back to the people working at the rental place, and the tension in the air was so thick I could cut it with a knife.

I can't believe this is what our friend group has come to. It broke my heart to feel so uncomfortable around some of my favourite people.

At least I'll be home soon enough.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •

"I'm going to miss seeing you so much." I muttered sadly when Liam walked me to my front door.

His eyes looked as sad as I felt as he replied "I know, but I'll see you at school every day and I'll take you out on the weekends."

I sighed, "I wish we could be a couple at school."

Since we've started dating, we've kept it a secret from everyone except for our close friends. With all the gang stuff that's been going on, it just seemed safer. Being Liam's girlfriend could put me in real danger if the rival gang found out.

He reached up and tucked some hair behind my ear, "I know, I just need to figure some gang stuff out first."

I nodded, knowing he was right but wishing he wasn't. It's hard to pretend to be just friends when all you want to do is hold his hand, or kiss him goodbye when you go to separate classes.

After a long, heavy silence, Liam spoke again, "As much as I want to stay right here forever, I need to get home and check up on Jenny. My grandparents left earlier today."

I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion, why is he so worried about Jenny all the time? Doesn't he have parents that can take care of her?

After a moment of hesitation, I asked "Why doesn't your parents watch her?"

At first Liam looked almost angry at the question, but then he quickly covered it up with a blank expression as he answered "Dad's dead and mom-" He stopped mid sentence and shook his head.

"You don't have to talk about it. Now go check on Jenny." I told him. I'm not going to force him to open up to me about his home life. When he wants to, I'll be here ready to listen, but until then it's none of my business.

"I'll pick you up for school tomorrow." Was his way of saying goodbye after he gave me a quick peck on the lips.

"See you tomorrow." I replied to his retreating back, a pang of sadness hitting me in the chest. Why do I already miss him?

I waited at the front door, watching Liam drive away until I couldn't see his car anymore. I have it bad for that boy.

Once I was inside my house I didn't know what to do. I didn't have homework, dad wasn't home, I wasn't hungry. There's nothing for me to do and no one to entertain me.

I decided to go up to my room, hoping I'd find something to do up there, and that's when there was a loud bang on the front door. I jumped and almost fell down the stairs at the sudden noise, and then I stood still.

My heart beat erratically in my chest and I felt sweat bead up on my forehead as fear built up in me. What could have possibly made that sound? It was too loud to be the wind. Maybe it's Liam's rival gang.

Please, please, please don't be the rival gang!

What am I suppose to do if it's them, or anyone trying to break in for that matter. Do I hide? Call the police?

I tried to get myself to move but I was frozen in place, paralyzed with fear. I'm going to die.

Another loud bang from downstairs gave me the adrenaline I needed to kick the fear aside and go into survival mode.

Where do I go, the bathroom, or a bedroom? My bedroom is too predictable, if these people and here for me they'd go there first. But they might also go to Dad's room to check if he's home.

A third bang rang through the house and I could tell that they were still outside at the front door.

I quickly raced down the stairs and into the kitchen when I thought of the perfect hiding place.

I opened the little pantry closet and shoved some things aside so I could fit in, and then I closed the door behind me. Who would look for someone in a kitchen pantry? Unless these people are breaking in just to steal some food, I should be fine.

Now that I'm hidden, I need to call the police.

I felt my pant pockets for my phone but they were all empty. Crap! I must have dropped my phone on the way to the kitchen. Why do I have the worst luck?

One final bang at the front door told me that the intruders got in. And the fact that I could now hear their voices only confirmed my suspicion.

I strained to hear what they were saying, but I only caught pieces.

"-find her-"

"-he'll freak out-"

"-soon we'll have the whole city-"

And then their voices faded away as they went further into the house.

They said 'find her' does that mean they're after me? This has to be the rival gang, right? Why else would someone break into my house and say those words? And was the 'he'll freak out' referring to Liam? But how could they know Liam would freak out if they took me? No one knows we're together except for our friends. And what do they mean by 'soon we'll have the whole city'? What does taking me have to do with the city?

About ten minutes later I heard their voices again, this time closer than before. Just outside of the pantry.

"Where the hell is this bitch? Boss is gonna be pissed if we don't find her." One guy said, his voice deep and gravelly.

"This is wrong, maybe it's a good thing we didn't find her." Another guy spoke.

"There's nothing to eat in this fridge, we'd be doing the girl a favour by taking her." A third guy piped up, his voice higher than the other two. He sounded younger, maybe sixteen, while the other two sounded like adults.

Next I heard footsteps get closer and closer, and I could tell someone was right on the other side of the door to the pantry.

Please don't open the door! I silently begged.

My eyes widened in fear when the doorknob started turning. I'm going to die. I'm really going to die.

"Hey cut it out, we're not here for snacks. Let's just go." The first guy spoke up, and the doorknob stopped turning.

"Whatever." The third guy mumbled, and then their footsteps faded away. I think they left.

I waited in the pantry for a long time after that, scared that they guys didn't really leave. I only came out when I heard my dad's voice calling my name.

As soon as I was out of the pantry I ran right into his outstretched arms, tears of relief and terror silently falling down my cheeks.

"What happened? Why is the door off it's hinges?" He asked, soothingly stroking my hair.

"Three guys broke in, they were here to get me. I heard them talking, they came here to take me." I cried, burying my face into his chest.

"You're okay now. Everything's okay." He comforted me.

The rest of the night was a blur of police officers and questions. It was three in the morning when I was finally done with all the legal stuff, and that's when I called Liam who, by some miracle, actually answered.

I told him everything.