"oh, walk." leah got to him first. he was sitting on the floor of his trailer, head buried in his hands. he didn't even try to mask the fact that he was crying, looking up at them with red-rimmed eyes and tearstained cheeks.

"now i might cry." dior laughed, putting an arm around him. 

"tell us your side of the story." charlie leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. "because from where i'm standing, you're the dickhead who fucked my little sister over and basically cheated on her. and don't start with the whole 'we were broken up' because that's bullshit and we all know it wasn't permanent."

"charlie!" leah said. "that's so insensitive!" she glared at him. "and i thought i was your little sister."

he held his hands up. "you both are. walker, start talking. now."

"i didn't want her to kiss me! of course i didn't! i mean, it sounds awful, but i just needed a distraction! i was working up the nerve to go over to kaitlyn's when she texted back. i didn't think she was going to. and when she was about to kiss me, i had my eyes closed, but it was because i knew kaitlyn was at the house somehow. and then she kissed me, and i pulled away and told her that i was sorry but i thought she should leave, and then i heard a crash and a car alarm and i saw kaitlyn running away."

"why did you text her in the first place, man?" aryan said, one of his arms still draped around walker's shoulders for support.

"i don't know." his voice broke again.

charlie sighed and walked over, finally giving walker a hug. "it's gonna be okay. it's not over."

"yeah, i know you guys were just fighting, but the way she was looking at you? she's still head over heels. i can tell." leah offered.

"should i go talk to her now? i mean, it's been an hour."

"talk to her tomorrow." dior said reasonably.

"i miss her." he said softly.

"i know you do. you'll be back together soon. just.. don't post anything dumb on social media, please? i feel like you'd do that, and i don't want-" leah started before seeing a guilty expression on walker's face.

"walker. what did you do." her tone became fearful.

"nothing! nothing at all." walker reached for his phone behind his back. dior reached over and snatched it. "walker why do you have over 100k twitter notifications? walker- OH MY GOD."

"WALKER WILLIAM SCOBELL." leah exclaimed. "you are the dumbest person alive.

"i love back to december." aryan said quietly, trying to hold in his laugh.

"oh, well. the damage is done. let's see the replies." charlie said, pulling out his own phone and trying not to look at aryan. the girls were in a genuine state of distress and walker was on the verge of bawling again, but he and aryan were struggling to find anything other than humor in this situation.

dates and times on tweets r messed up btw ignore
it is currently the very beginning of december in this book in case you were wondering!

"this is bad. this is bad." walker raked a hand through his hair. "and it's too late to delete it. what do i do? i need to be more nonchalant."

aryan shook his head, trying not to laugh. "this is the most chalant activity anyone has ever done. no way you just tweeted the lyrics of back to december to your millions of followers-" he couldn't finish the sentence, breaking down into laughter.

in a panic, he grabbed his phone and smashed his finger over the 'block' button. "she can't see that. there's no sense in deleting it, i just need to block her."

"WALKER!"

"hold on, she just went live." aryan raised his hand to quiet everyone, clicking on the live. "she's with- maddie?"

"maddie benson? from utah?" walker said. "let me see that." he snatched the phone.

"hey guys, i thought i would go live, i'm finally with maddles again!" kaitlyn exclaimed. her dramatic set makeup had been scrubbed off and painted over with a little mascara, lip gloss, concealer, and blush. she was wearing a hoodie and sweatpants and standing with her arms around tall blonde maddie benson, who was similarly in a comfortable outfit. there was a kind of quiet commotion in the background, parents hurrying around toting big bags and- suitcases?

"yaaaay!" maddie said. "guys, we just made our own slime." she held up a giant purple glob and swung it around like a lasso as kaitlyn giggled and tried to reach up and grab it.

"you better not get any of that in my car." maddie's mom peered into the frame. her wild hair and square glasses coupling with her frantic state made her seem disheveled and crazy, the exact opposite of clean-girl maddie in her black hoodie and slick back.

"no worries, elise." kaitlyn held up a plastic tub and waved it around. "the slime stays in here."

"you girls ready to go?" maddie's dad called, off-camera. maddie started talking to him. kaitlyn hummed the bridge of 'back to december' absentmindedly before looking back down at the screen. 

user4 OMG MADDIE AND KAITLYN FAV DUO
user1 where yall goin
connorlitchfield heyyy
user2 KAITLYN SUMMER BRIGHT CHECK TWITTER RN.
aryansimhadri has joined!

"hi aryan!" kaitlyn smiled. her smile made walker's heart falter. he felt like he was going to cry again.

aryansimhadri hi kait!

"how's it going?" she said awkwardly.

aryansimhadri it's going!
aryansimhadri blud is lowk heartbrokehasdkbhewerh
aryansimhadri sorry my phone was taken

"sounds like things are going great." she said. "hey, maddles, grab my suitcase?"

"grab it yourself. i'll take the phone." maddie grabbed the phone from her. "hiiiii guys. so we're on our way to the airport! taking a little trip to utah! fun surprise! they randomly just gave kaitlyn a leave from filming for a month because she was 'distraught on set' because of, um- family issues- why are you shaking your head at me?" the live ended abruptly.

"UTAH?" walker exclaimed. "no, no, no. charlie i need you to drive me- charlie-" his breathing grew shallow as he panicked. kaitlyn gone for a month? 

dior put a hand on his back. "breathe. breathe. charlie, get the keys."

"got 'em."

"and where are you going?" marie rounded the corner just as they were about to pile into charlie's minivan.

"lunch." leah said.

"shopping." dior said.

"appointment." charlie said.

"my sister's pregnant!" walker exclaimed.

"no, no, no, and no. first of all, leena is right over there." marie waved vaguely in the direction behind her.

"second of all, half of you are needed to film in ten minutes. that includes you, walker. let's go."

"marie, it's an emergency." walker pleaded. "why isn't kaitlyn here?"

"she requested a leave of absence." marie glared at him.

"no, that's not true. you just gave her one. i heard it." dior accused.

"i'm not talking to you about what's going on with this. victoria and i and kaitlyn's parents all worked it out. she'll probably be back in a month." marie said, attempting to shut them up.

"PROBABLY?" walker yelled.

"probably, granted they don't decide to relocate. their contract for the season is almost up, because she filmed her last scene yesterday, and rick is doing everything he can, but if they want to move back and have silena recast-"

"no! what? they can't do that!" walker said, the tears beginning to fall again. "that's not fair!" a chorus of agreement came from the cast as their vision collectively became blurry too. kaitlyn? RELOCATE? 

kaitlyn couldn't be gone. she wasn't only the backbone of the entire show, she was the heart of their group. she kept them together. without her, they'd fall apart, then crumble under the weight of dealing with everything on their own.

"charlie, we have to go." dior said forcefully. charlie nodded, hopping into the car and pulling leah into shotgun next to him as dior and aryan piled in the back. aryan grabbed walker's arm and yanked him in.

"i'm sorry, marie." charlie said as cheerfully as he could. "we'll be back. or not. maybe we'll all relocate!"

with that, they sped off. 

the car ride over to kaitlyn's was the noisiest charlie's car had ever been. expressions of outrage flew out of everyone's mouths. 

"i bet marie set this up!" aryan exclaimed. "she's been plotting against you guys since the beginning! remember the board meeting we had to have in the middle of the summer?"

"oh my god, yes! she probably practically forced the brights out of LA. poor mads is being forced to bring them back to utah." dior added.

"that bitch." charlie muttered. "marie, not maddie. i like maddie."

"we allll know you like maddie." dior teased.

"oh, come on. i say ONE THING when i'm SIXTEEN-"

"and she's only fourteen-"

"it was on her fifteenth birthday! that's hardly a case!"

"can we get back to kaitlyn?" walker said as they sped down her street. "this is about her!"

"sorry! you know, walker, all you probably have to do is call her and tell her you want her back-"

"i'm not doing that! the tweet should have been enough to convince her to stay. i know she saw it and she probably thought-"

"the car is gone." leah said in a small voice.

"huh?" charlie asked.

"maddie's car is gone. so is kaitlyn's."

"so we go to the airport." walker said.

"you'll have to buy a ticket online to get in."

"so i'll buy a ticket. how much is the flight to utah? $500. okay, that works. let me just-"

"walker, the flight leaves in half an hour. we have to go." charlie stepped on the gas once again and sped off towards the airport. 

"don't get the ticket yet. we might not make it." charlie instructed, focusing intently on the road as they drove a few miles over the speed limit.

"we need to make it, charlie." walker said forcefully. leah used her camp half blood t-shirt to wipe some of the tears off of his face. 

"oh, shit." charlie said, laying on the horn as he drove straight into a long line of cars. he peered out the window. this jam would take at least twenty minutes to get through. he tried to make a u-turn, but the highway had already piled up behind him. he looked in the rearview mirror sadly.

"walker, i'm sorry, but-"

"don't say it. i know." walker said. "we're going to miss it. it's fine."

"it's fine?" aryan asked incredulously.

"it's fine." he repeated, a look of calm spreading on his face.

"why's that?" charlie asked, worried he was about to snap and go insane and start breaking all the windows.

"they wouldn't let me get a ticket for the flight she's on, so i just bought a plane ticket to utah in three hours." he leaned back against the seat, locking his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. "nothing's going to stop me from getting my girl back. we've got nothin' but time."

⮑ author speaks !

i feel like i need to share this.... walker pole vaults and as someone who does track and field he is BAD. like I'M SORRY BOOKIE I LOVE YOU UR A SUPER TALENTED ACTOR BUT 8 FEET IS NOTHING AT ALL??? DON'T QUIT UR DAY JOB FR

FRESH OUT THE SLAMMER AND FLORIDA>>> also the beginning of but daddy i love him sounds like seven does anyone else hear that

i love befriending random strange guys in my grade bc why r they so funny

ummm also sorry for this chapter! very emotional ik! also sorry for what i'm about to do! but don't u worry it can't really get a lot worse than this can it?