When the door opens we're met with a blonde guy with a scruffy beard smoking a cigarette. He looks to be 19, only two years older than me. His gaze rakes over me and then at Cal. I can hear music blasting from inside the house and some people talking.

He takes the cigarette out of his mouth. "You here for Preston?"

I nod too uncomfortable to speak.

"Follow me." He turns around and disappears into the house.

Cal and I follow him. I look around and for the most part, the house looks neat. We pass the living room which is filled with teenage boys lying around drinking and smoking. I feel their eyes on me and I tighten my grip on the bag while moving closer to Cal. As much as I hate him he didn't make me feel the way these men were making me feel right now. Like prey. Like a shiny toy. I'm suddenly grateful Cal didn't make me come in here alone.

I'm less uncomfortable when they're finally all out of sight. What is this place? Was Preston even safe here?

The man leads us upstairs and outside a door. He knocks but opens it by himself right away. The door swings open and he gives us one last look before walking away. From the corner of my eye, I see Cal moving off to the side instead of coming inside but my focus is on my brother.

He stands there looking the same as before except his eye bags look heavier and I can see the pain they've inflicted upon him.

I walk in and pull him into a hug. "I hate you so much."

He laughs, pulling apart. "Missed you too."

"Who's house even is this?" I ask, looking around the room.

He shrugs and sits back on his bed. "A friend of my mine, Danny."

"The scary-looking man who brought me up here?"

"Yeah. He's nice once you get to know him."

"Righttttt." I don't believe that for a second. "Are you sure it's safe living here? The guys downstairs....they don't seem like good people."

His demeanor suddenly shifts. "Did they say something to you?"

"No, I didn't even talk to them. I just...I have a bad feeling about them."

He sighs. "Well, you're right about them." When he sees the alarming look on my face he continues, "but they won't do anything to me. Trust me."

He runs a hand through his hair. "I should've come downstairs to you. Sorry, you had to come up here alone."

"Actually, I had Cal with me."

His eyebrows shoot up. "Cal? Like the guy you hate, Cal?" I roll my eyes and nod. The surprised expression still rests on his face. "Where is he?"

"He's waiting outside I think." I wonder if he could hear us.

I sigh. "You can't stay here forever."

"I know."

I want to ask him when he's coming home but I know better. Silence overtakes us until I tell him I should go. I wish I could take him with me.

He gets up and pulls me into a hug.

"None of what they said about you is true. You know that right?" I tell him quietly.

He pulls away from the hug and nods though I'm sure he doesn't believe me. I know what my parents said cuts deep.

We walk out of the room and see Cal leaning against the wall waiting for me. When he and Preston see each other they pull each other into a weird bro hug thing. Men are so weird.

Preston thanks Cal for driving me here and Cal tells him 'No problem.' Funny because I had to beg him to bring me here.

We say goodbye to Preston and find our way back downstairs. We pass the living room filled with guys again. My eyes merely glance at them for a second but I find myself taking a double take.

It was Eli. He was there with them. I'm not sure how I didn't notice before. Our eyes meet but only for a mere second as I'm already out of their view by then.

God, I hated seeing him. Every time I did my stomach would drop and just for a second, I'd be back to the girl I once was. The girl I was with him. I could never forgive him for cheating on me but I found it useless to keep on being a bitch to him. If I showed I cared about what he did it would be like he has power over me and that I would never let happen again.

If Cal notices the sour expression on my face he doesn't say anything. Instead, the drive home is quick and for the most part quiet. I went to turn on the radio but Cal shot me a glare and I receded.

Working on math with Cal was boring for the most part except when I would purposely try to distract him by talking about other things. It worked until he noticed what I was doing and made me get back to work. Can you blame me? Math was so boring.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Preston actually comes to school on Thursday. Mia and Olive practically killed him for ghosting them and having them worried too. They offered for him to stay with one of them but he declined. I doubt their parents would approve of it anyway.

Mia and Zane had gotten closer recently. I was surprised but they looked good together. Though maybe they were just being friendly. Mia rarely finds a man interesting and when she doesn't it usually doesn't last long. I can't blame her all the men in this school suck.

So I wasn't too surprised to see Zane sitting at our lunch table today but I was surprised to see Heath and another guy sitting along with them.
They all seemed to be conversing fine with each other. Even Olive, who takes a while to warm up to people. Preston was also just as engaged in the conversation.

I cautiously approach the table. All their eyes latch onto me.

"Fawn!" Olive says as I sit down. "You already know Zane. This is Heath and Finn."

I already knew Heath of course from the party when he aided Cal in humiliating me.

I eye him and he notices my distasteful look.

"I know you probably don't have the best impression of me," Heath says and I nod with a grin. "I'm so so sorry for the party. If you want I'll help you throw pie back at him."

In this lighting, I notice the tiny freckles on his fair skin and just how red his hair is. He was just as handsome as Zane and Finn.

I laugh. "I'll consider it."

I wasn't about to hold a grudge against him. Besides him being friends with Cal he seemed like an okay guy.

I move my eyes from the redhead and toward the one named Finn. He had rich dark skin and dreads that went down to the top of his shoulders.

"So you're the one who has Cal's panties in a bunch?" He says catching me by surprise.

"The one and only," I confirm and he smiles showing off a perfect set of teeth.

"Nice to finally meet you."

I go to respond but a voice interrupts me.

"Please tell me this is a fucking joke." Cal stands near where Zane was seated.

I roll my eyes.

"This is as real as it gets man," Heath says to him as Cal comes and sits down next to him who is right across from me.

"We were just introducing ourselves to Fawn." Finn fills him in.

"Great." He responds, his tone sarcastic as ever.

"This is Olive and Mia," Zane introduces them.

"Sorry for helping Fawn prank you. No hard feelings?" Mia asks.

"It's alright. Her pranks weren't anything I couldn't handle." He shrugs.

I let out a small laugh. "Yeah, that's why you were practicing begging me to stop."

Some of them laugh and Cal stares me down.

"Seriously?" Heath snorts.

I nod. "He pulled me into a closet and everything."

"She scared you that bad?" Finn teases.

"She's exaggerating," Cal claims slightly shaking his head.

"She does exaggerate a lot." Preston chimes in and I smack his arm. "What? I'm just being honest."

"You're supposed to be on my side."

"I am not taking any sides in this petty feud."

"Aww, so the pranks are really over?" Olive frowns. "They were so fun."

Heath eagerly agrees with her.

Cal and I give them both pointed looks.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you two were the ones getting pranked." I pop a blueberry into my mouth.

"Exactly. The fun is in watching you two get pranked," Heath says.

I roll my eyes and laugh.

The conversation from there on flows easily and I'm surprised. Cal's friends weren't annoying or rude like him. They were actually funny and got along with my friends and brother. I liked them so I figured I could tolerate Cal sitting with us.

Though I did mind Cal trying to sneakily steal some of my blueberries. I smacked his hand away every time I noticed and the times I didn't I'd see him with a smug smile on his face.

I look around at the eight of us. It was a weird group and I didn't know how this even managed to happen.