THE RADIO MINDLESSLY DRONED ON, AIDED BY THE CASUAL TAPPING OF ASPEN'S ACRYLICS ON THE STEERING WHEEL. For the most part, the girls' journey was comfortably quiet and Naomi sat in marvel at how different Riverside seemed to be at night. The traffic, for one, was no longer spilling over the sidewalk. Now, there was so much room that cars could pick up wind and tear down streets, zipping past Naomi's window in flashes of lights and growling engines.

Riverside's nightlife appeared to peak its head out from between cracks in the city in the form of small huddles of friends laughing up sidewalks and lost people stammering out of bars and under yellow streetlights. Even Aspen seemed anew with Riverside's revival. She was bopping her head to the meaningless pop music, going as far as to mumble lyrics she clearly didn't know all the way. Her car smelt of vanilla and other simple flavours that Naomi knew all teenage girls should permeate, but she knew she didn't smell like any of that. She smelt of crusted blood across unhealed scars and dried salt from streams of tears. Perhaps nothing of her was as debilitatingly plain as it should have been and the more she thought about it, the more alien she felt. Naomi couldn't remember Aspen ever being like that either, but now, her vanilla scent was loud as the music dancing in the concise space of her Prius.

Naomi re-adjusted herself in her seat and kept her eyes locked on the world outside. She hadn't even realized when the car stopped. A part of her hoped it never would. "Symphony's Safehouse," Aspen read aloud, smiling up at the lit sign hanging off the border of the roof of the building, flickering in orange. Then she added, "Best cupcakes in Riverside, hands down." Naomi couldn't say she expected much considering the lonely parking lot and the starving lights, but when it came to Aspen Letterman she had to expect something. The poorly painted building with dirty glass windows did not look like a place Aspen Letterman spent her free time. One look through the stained glass revealed the scanty insides with idle staff leaning on counters and lonely people on their laptops hardly paying attention to their food.

Aspen led Naomi into the store's low frame, the insides thick with the scent of fried food and sugar concealing cheap disinfectant. Sweeping what it had to offer, the name was fitting. Bean bags were scattered across the floor and low tables were paired with even lower chairs. The ceiling felt infinite too, even though it couldn't have been more than 8 feet high.

The girls didn't bother to look at the laminated paper menu glued to the wall, instead, they went down into one of the booths in the back, far away from the huge television above the seating counter. They seemed like giants when moving past the furniture, awkward and lanky giants, but nonetheless giants compared to the low furniture. However, the moment they sat, they seemed to shrink in order to fit the room. They were so close to the floor Naomi wondered what was even the point of seats. Unlocking her phone, Aspen asked, "Have you ever been here before?"

Naomi shook her head and waited for her to look back up at her. "We always come here," Aspen continued, "Everyone in the Academy."

"No one ever invited me."

"It's an open invitation, Naomi. Everyone is invited."

"Clearly, not everyone."

Aspen tucked her hair behind her ear. "Fine, then. Don't wait for an invite. Just come."

"And continue to get nasty looks from you guys? Yeah, no thanks,' she grumbled.

"We didn't—"

"Let's not pretend as if a few weeks ago you didn't hate me, Aspen. I haven't forgotten." It was bound to come up eventually.

"I didn't hate you. I just—look, some of the girls said you used to talk to yourself and it was weird."

Naomi immediately knew what she was referring to. The memories resurfaced with vengeance, gushing into every space of her mind despite her struggle to keep it at bay until all she could see was the face of Jessica Kingsley.

Her head pounded in sync with her heart. "Just forget about it," she snapped.

Aspen's mouth fell, her pink lips parting slightly before they sealed themselves with finality. She ebbed into her seat.

"Hi, ladies." An average-looking woman came hovering above them. She clearly had a few years over the girls, yet somehow, Naomi couldn't help but notice that she looked decades younger than them. Youth, it seemed, was not related to age. Perhaps, pain? Aspen engaged her and a conversation quickly bounced back and forth between the two. Naomi assumed they were already acquainted. She supposed the Academy must've come her very often in order for her to be on a first name basis with the waitress. She leaned back into her seat and, as a precaution to any inside jokes she'd have to grimace through, she stared pointedly out the window.

Behind the glass, the streets felt miles away. As if Naomi was watching Riverside and all its people smile, laugh and cry under the moonlight from a separate space. Naomi couldn't help but wonder if Riverside was always this way, but she was just now realizing it. Somehow that made her feel worse. What else was she missing? Naomi snapped back to the table at the call of her name. Aspen repeated, "What are you ordering?"

She glanced down at the menu slip on the table the waitress had brought before pursing her lips. "I'll have whatever she's having," she decided on.

The lady muttered something spontaneous before going back to the front of the store.

Naomi went back to gazing out the window. Her thoughts lolling like the tipsy boy on the sidewalk. "Do you think I need a therapist?"

The sound of the overhead fan whirled above them. "I think anyone in your situation would need one."

Something about the way she said 'your situation' sounded humorous on Naomi's ears. "I'll never get one." She kept her eyes outside, her words seemed to come easier that way for there was no one for her to be mad at, except the vaguely translucent reflection of herself sitting expectantly in the glass. "If that's what Ben is trying to convince my parents to do then he should stop wasting his time. My parents won't get me one."

She heard Aspen shuffle across from her. Then she felt her take her hand in hers. "Naomi, you don't know that."

She looked at the other girl, only to say, "Parents think they're doing what's best for us, but really they're doing what's best for their version of us. I thought you out of everyone would understand that." There was a fleeting look of misery that washed Aspen's face as she digested the other girl's words. She said nothing thereafter as if she was choking on something she had bitten off that was proving it was more than she could chew.

Naomi turned back to the window where, beyond her reflection, it seemed like a small crowd was forming. People on the opposite side of the street paused and a few cars seemed to slow down. On the wall adjacent to the parking lot, bodies were beginning to cluster and Naomi could pick apart aghast expressions of people whispering and pointing at something she couldn't quite see. It was hard to believe that in only a few minutes Riverside had become this congested. One moment there was no one, but now, there seemed to be everyone. As the crowd grew thicker, Naomi Morgan tried harder to peer through to see into the epicentre. She turned to Aspen to ask her, but she too was staring in confusion, her pink lips as still as her shoulders. Her eyes widened.

A loud rumbling came to the table. Then, out the window, the chanting began and the mass of tightly knit people raised their hands. The previously bored staff of Symphony's Safehouse jolted out their doors to investigate and other customers followed. But before they got too close, the crowd began to loosen, making an Olympic entryway for Naomi and Aspen to witness first-hand. Out of the crowd ran a few persons whom, when they looked up, the moon spat blessings all over their masked faces, glints of hope rebounding onto the surrounding Riverside citizens.

Hands raised along with voices when the Tiger, the Fox and the Monkey hurriedly zipped up their backpacks and retook their discarded bicycles.

When her attention came back into the Symphony's Safehouse, Naomi realized she was standing. Aspen was already gathering all her things leave.

"What's going on?" was the only sentence out of millions that Naomi could verbalize. Aspen muttered something under her breath as she stuck her phone into her pocket, her only concern seeming to be how she was going to pay the bill with the cashier outside. Naomi repeated, "What is this?"

"I don't know. Come on."

Naomi looked out the window again. It seemed senseless as if as the Guise rode off that the people of Riverside were intent on latching to a higher calling so they raised their fists in praises. The stumbling citizens of Riverside seemed resolute with some new purpose. "Why are they cheering?"

"I'll explain on the way, come on."

Naomi blinked. She turned back to look out the window and noticed that most of the crowd looked about her age. She even saw faces from the Academy. "My parents hate them," she breathed.

Aspen grabbed her arm, muttering a strained, "Every adult in Riverside does."

Naomi couldn't describe it but those words went around a galaxy within her mind and exploded like a massive sun, resounding in heat and changing the gravitational pull of everything. When she looked back at Aspen she saw someone completely different. Perhaps that's why she was just now pulling her arm away from her grip.

"No. Tell me now," she demanded.

"Naomi, please don't do this right now. We need to leave. Anyone caught within a ten-mile radius of the Guise gets into serious trouble and if my dad finds out, he will kill me. He hates them. I can't afford to be mixed up again so please, let's just go. I know your parents won't be happy either-,"

In a way, Naomi took her advice. Without waiting to listen to what else she had to say, Naomi dashed out from the booth and past a few startled customers. There was the sound of footsteps behind her, but she was too quick. Naomi slammed against the door and pushed out onto the other side of the glass, where Riverside was alive with cheer. The Guise had just spun hastily around a corner, disappearing as quickly as they came and leaving Riverside up in arms to watch but Naomi blazed forward anyway. She brushed past shoulders to get the core. Manoeuvring through the crowd with agility she could only thank ballet for. Then she stopped. She saw it, and it was so hard to ignore. Camera flashes went off around her and fingers pointed.

Over 150,000 homeless youth in Cali. They suffer while we eat. Now, tell us, who are the true animals?

And suddenly, thoughts like of doing things like going home and the Riverside Dance Academy felt so mundane compared to the brutal facts painted on the wall staring deep into her. She felt Aspen's hand fall gently on her shoulders and heard her say, "I know. It's hard to face but it is true." Then, Naomi remembered flashes of all the food she wasted and all the money she spent on new pointe shoes every two months, the cars everyone at the Academy drove, Will's $60 weekly allowance, that time she forgot her tights at home and her mother just bought her a new pair and carried it to the Academy. Aspen's grip tightened.

Suddenly, before them stood a man clad in all blue. His arms were folded boldly right under his polished police badge. His features set like stone. "You girls having trouble heading home?"

*

When Mr Morgan opened the door, he saw Naomi first, then the police officer. "Goodnight, officer," something Naomi thought had ceased to exist in her father suddenly coursed through his body before he regained his composure again: fear, What happened?"

"Nothing, yet. Is this your daughter?" Mr Morgan nodded sternly. The officer ushered Naomi in with his hand at her back. "There was a minor vandalism-incident-turned-riot in a parking lot on Mission Inn Avenue. Your daughter wasn't involved but we're just trying to get all the young people in the area off the streets tonight. It's caused a lot of traffic and quite a few teenagers have been arrested when they refused to comply. Luckily your daughter wasn't one of them."

Naomi almost said that The Guise didn't cause any of that, the police did when they showed up with their sirens and batons. But she imagined her father would take her words with a grain of salt tonight as she was standing with her head bowed in front of a police officer. That and, she still didn't want to speak to her father.

Surprise rocked Mr Morgan but he submerged it. "We're so sorry for that, officer. Thank you, for carrying her home." He went to pull Naomi in but she sidestepped his hand and went inside herself, shrugging off her bomber jacket and hanging it up on the rack. He took a patient breath but said nothing. "Speaking of, what's the police force doing about those kids?"

The officer looked over Mr Morgan's shoulder and his eyes caught Naomi still standing there. He lowered his voice, "We're doing everything we can right now. They've been evading us thus far but not for much longer. They're just teenagers."

"Yeah, well those teenagers are making Riverside the most uncomfortable place to live in California right now." Mr Morgan thanked the officer again for his help when their conversation subsided, then he closed the door. He turned around to look at Naomi. "What is going on with you?"

She stared at him incredulously.

He exhaled. "You have a right to be angry Naomi, but this isn't the way to handle it."

She folded her arms. "You don't get to say that. I'll handle it however I want."

Mr Morgan stepped forward and the carefulness dropped from his tone. "Well, what are you going to do when handling it like that gets you arrested? Or killed?! Your mother and I—"

"Then I'll just die! The end." His expression didn't change but she wanted it to. She wanted it to so badly that she said, "At least I won't have to listen to this bullshit anymore."

"Naomi!" She got what she wanted.

Mrs Morgan came out from a corner. "What's going on?"

He didn't take his eyes off her but she was already looking away. "The police just had to bring Naomi home."

"What? The police?" She could feel her mother's gaze on her now. "Naomi—"

"I know," she cut her off. She rolled her eyes, "We aren't lucky like everyone else."

"It has nothing to do with luck."

She continued anyway, casting a glare at her white father. "But he is."

No one said anything.

Mr Morgan's face morphed into something unrecognisably horrible. When he moved toward her, Naomi flinched; but he was only stepping past her. "That's it," he said and left.

Mrs Morgan said something hopeful at him, but he ignored it. Then, Naomi finally looked at her mother. In her eyes, it was clear. She did not know which side she should pick. But Naomi decided that her side was strong enough as it was already and she did not need nor want her mother's support nor approval. Naomi ran up the stairs and went into her room without sparing her mother another look, locking the door behind her when her four walls came in to whisper comfort in her ears.

When she didn't hear any footsteps coming up after her Naomi felt something inside her chest dip, like a car over a cliff. She supposed, her mother did pick a side after all. Then, her mind thought back to the graffiti on that parking lot wall. It was something she was sure she would never forget. The brutal things are always the most unforgettable. Then an idea emerged. Naomi Morgan grabbed her backpack and glanced out her windowsill. Tonight, she would pick her side too.

Author's Note

I'm back! Readers, I promise those chapters I had written before were absolute trash. Y'all would have hated me if I didn't take that quick break. I'm glad I took the time to perfect the story for the rest of Act Two. You all are in for a wild ride.

This week's dedication, (god, I missed doing these) goes to @SheWritesTheStars because not only is she extremely talented but her comments make me wanna write and never stop! Yoooo ilysm! Remember, readers, I'm prioritizing people who comment so remember if you vote and comment, the next dedication could seriously be you!

I feel like I have so much to say, but not everything can be said in this short author's note. So I encourage you guys to subscribe to my website and follow me on my social media (links in bio). But, primarily I am so grateful for you guys. Thank you for being patient. Thank you for allowing me Wattpad Next. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Alright so as usual, are you guys excited for where WWW is about to go? This chapter marks a lot of change for Naomi so what do you think will go down moving forward? Oh, also new cover and new chapter footers, yay or nay? Lmk in the comments!

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER...

As her back slipped down the cold wall, she hoped she was far enough from her house and the Academy that no one would ever find her. She hoped her new life would be happier. She hoped she could do whatever she wanted. She hoped and hoped until her eyes lulled closed...