I have less than two days to pack and figure out how to lie to my parents. But what if I don't make it back home? It's gang stuff so it's obviously dangerous.

I walk downstairs to the kitchen and sit next to my dad at the table. "Good morning," I smile. They greet me back before I stand back up and grab a granola bar. "So you guys going anywhere this weekend?"

"Well," my father looks over to my mom, "actually we are. Another business thing out of town."

"You can even stay with Nikki if you want. We leave tonight and get back next Saturday." My mom adds sadly. This is perfect!

"It's fine, mom."
~*~
Nikki pulls me away from my locker to a more secluded hallway before staring at me for a moment. "Talk," is all she says.

I stand in silence, confused.

"You know he's bad news," she states, "so why him? Out of everyone in the world!"

I cant tell her. At least not right now, right here. "I leave Friday morning." I say instead.

"When do you come back?"

"The following Friday..."

She looks just as shocked as I did when I first heard when we would leave and return. "So you'll miss a whole week of school, just to go on vacation with your new boyfriend?" I nod quickly. "What's going on? That doesn't sound like you." She eyes me suspiciously and instead of looking at her I look down at the ground. She's right–that's not like me. At all. But I trust that Justin is only doubt this to protect me. I don't know from what but he wouldn't just take me out of the country for no reason, right?

"I wish I could tell you. I really wish I could, but I can't right now." I mumble.

"I deserve to know what's happening to my best friend," she says softly while looking at me. She places a hand on my shoulder and I look up with a small smile on my face.

"You do, but I can't. I promise I'll tell you as soon as I can."

She smiles wearily, "okay. But if he's forcing you to do this–"

"He's not." I cut in quickly, not wanting her to get the wrong idea.

The warning bell interrupts our conversation, along with others', and the remaining scatter off to class. Lunch rolls around and everything, and everyone, is normal until Justin sits down next to me. Nikki looks at me expectingly, Jess and Eric continue talking, and Noah stares at his food but not eating it.

"So you're leaving tomorrow?"

I turn to look at Nikki and I realize Justin has his arm wrapped around my waist. I try to pull his arm away, only causing him to pull me closer to him.

"Y-yeah," I stutter and feel my cheeks turn crimson red as Justin just chuckles.

He leans to the side so his mouth is right by my ear and he whispers so huskily and quiet I can't help but shiver. "Nervous?" A chill crawls down my spine, goosebumps rises on my arms.

"No," I blush harder, if that's even possible.

He smirks before returning to his original position. "We'll be back on Saturday."

"I thought you said Friday," I huff.

"Depends."

"That's cool," Eric comments,

"So you're making her miss a whole fucking week of school?"

Our heads snap over to Noah as he stares at Justin, his eyes full of anger and hatred. "Yep." Justin flashes his sexy–I mean his okay smile, popping the 'P'.

"And you're okay with this?" He questions looking at Eric, Nikki and Jess.

"They're dating, let the two lovebirds have some fun while they're still young," Jess says which earns a chuckle from Eric.

"It seems like Justin has this all under control, Noah." Nikki shoots me and Justin a weary smile that doesn't go unnoticed by Noah.

"Am I the only sane person here? They barely know each other and they're already going off to some tropical island to fuck!" Noah says and slams his hands down on the table. The slap echoed across the room and people look over but look away uninterested in seconds.

I jump and Justin tightens his grip on me protectively. I sit there in pure shock as Justin begins to chew Noah out.

"Don't talk about shit you don't know about," he says, lowering his voice an octave, and that scared me. The glare he was sending Noah would've made me want to crawl in a hole and die.

"So then tell me what I don't know about," Noah challenges.

It can't come out. Not like this. Why is he acting like this? What the hell does he have against Justin? I don't know this man, because that isn't the Noah I knew.

Justin's become heavy and uneven. Everyone is shocked and I can only hope that Justin doesn't explode. A turn away from Noah and place my hand on his chest. He looks down at me hesitantly. His gaze softens and he unclenches his jaw.

"Don't." Is all I say before he takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Okay," he whispers and opens his eyes again. I'm suddenly engulfed in his blue eyes as he stares at me and pulls me closer. I was so caught up in the moment I didn't realize Noah was being pulled away from us by Eric. I snap back into reality and clear my throat awkwardly, turning out of his arms. Jess stares at me and Justin awkwardly and Nikki stares at us in concern.

Oh God, what's happening to me?

"Ill go talk to him," I say quietly and turn to leave, expecting Justin to stop me. But he doesn't. I walk out of the cafeteria ignoring the stares from people.

I walk into the hallways in search of Noah when I hear yelling.

I turn the corner and see Eric comforting a crying Noah.

"I fucking love her man," he sobs and buries his face in his hands. "And that prick stole her from me. She probably doesn't even know what he is or who he is!"

"That's no excuse to act like that," Eric says like a scolding mother.

"I need to show her the real him... She's the love of my life and I won't let that bastard take her from me. He suddenly looks up from his hands and his eyes meet mine. I wasn't supposed to hear this, obviously, but I did. How did he know about Justin? Was he even talking about me? Oh god. "Wait! No, Aves, you weren't supposed to hear that."

"Were you talking about me?"

"No–I mean yeah but you weren't supposed to find out like this," he says, struggling to find the words. My palms feel clammy and I feel my face reddening.

"How do you know about Justin?" I choke out.

"How do you?"

"He told me."

"And you still like him?"

His question takes me back a bit honestly. Of course I still would. I may not completely understand or agree with what he does but that isn't a good enough reason for me to stop liking him. "I don't like him," I say simply.

"You're smart Avery, I think we all know that's not true," Eric speaks up.

"So you're saying I don't know my own feelings? I don't like him Eric and I never will," I say quickly and look at Noah who's glaring at something behind me.

I turn to look as a voice speaks up.

"Good to know."

He scoffs and turns to walk away. He looks so sad and heartbroken and it's my fault! I should've worded it differently, nicer. If I don't like him then why do I care so much?

Because you like him idiot.

I stand there for what feels like hours and I try to calm and organize my crazy thoughts. Everyone else leaves the hallway and more people come and flood through the hallway as the bell rings, signaling lunch is over. I look around flustered, trying to find one of my friends. Instead I find the next best thing.

Jacob.

"Hey," I smile as I greet him by his locker.

"What's up?" He chuckles, grabbing his stuff from his locker.

"Nothing, I just wanted to say bye."

"Bye? You just said 'hey'." I laugh with him at his poor attempt at a joke.

"Oh I'm going out of town." What I said made me realize who I'm going with. This should be so fun!

Note the sarcasm.
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hi everyone:) i have entered in quite a few contests!

TheEliteAwards – The Elite Awards
aimhighawards – Aim High Awards
GermanGirlGraphics – The Wave Awards
Hope-Mist – The Mist Awards

you should go enter them as well! some of them have books written and i highly suggest you check them out :)

soooo how do you think the story is coming along? i think i'm getting better than the first few chapters of my book and it's only been a few months!:) most chapter are gonna be about 10 pages i think

shoutout to serpentinous  for that! ^^ i love it and you guys should go check them out. they make covers, banners, signatures etc. <3 (and for commenting a bunch on some chapters😂💕) shoutout to all my readers who comment a lot too ❤ thank you all so much for almost 200 reads! if this book gets to about 400 or 500 reads i think i'll literally cry :,) i love you all so much thank you all so much (idk i'm just emotional today sorryy)

aaaand now, a few hours later, there are tornado sirens going off and tornado watches/warning are popping up on my phone left and right:) SO FUN WOWZA!

ANOTHER UPDATE (lmao 20 minutes later) : tornado watch is gone. my family and i went into the basement. i'm glad i woke up my parents and warned them about the warning because they wouldn't have woken up when it became a watch (when a tornado touched down) i dont think :)) i feel heroic. it's all good now; just a severe storm warning but that's all. alright carry on sorry!