I've been busy for the holidays but...Happy birthday Ashley Benson, Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrated, and Happy New Year! :D

I'm standing there by the tray of nachos in disbelief. The girl I've been dreaming of for the past two nights has just made some serious moves on me. I don't know what gives Sean the right to comment so negatively on her being flirtatious with me. He'd basically called her a whore right to her face, which is probably why she took off.

"We should just leave her alone," Spencer says.

I storm over to that jerk and give him a good kick in the head before he can touch Aria. "Remember one thing, you bastard, don't ever say that kind of shit about Hanna or anyone else again!"

I wish Lucas had warned me about this asshole, because Sean climbs out of the water and pummels me to the ground, just as I turn my back to him. I land face-first on one of the chairs, and I'm sure I'm bleeding somewhere. I wasn't planning on starting a fight, but if it's in Hanna's honor, it's worth it.

Sean!" Aria screams. "Stop it!" She tries to get him off me, but he pushes her away. I think of that one time I almost got mugged and I suddenly gain some superhuman strength. I flip over and land a punch into his throat. I'm so blind with fury that I start knocking my fists into his face and his chest.

"Hey!" I hear Ella yelling. "Boys, that's enough!"

"Stop that!" Zack shouts loudly while yanking us away from each other.

"Sean, would you like me to call your mother and have her take you home, or will you see yourself out if you plan on bullying another one of Aria's friends?" Ella asks him.

Sean rolls away from me, and Toby helps me get up. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Montgomery. Caleb just stormed up to me and attacked me while I was about to give Aria a hug in the water."

"He called Hanna a slut and said she'd be sexually assaulted because of the way she was dressed," I explain. "He deserved it."

"Sean! Why would you insult her like that?" Ella demanded to know.

"That was not the reason! Hanna was making pass after pass at Caleb, and they're not even together! Caleb got into it too, and it was overkill."

"What, she's not allowed to make the first move?"

"That's not what I said!"

Ella folds her arms across her chest. "Well, since you two are not little children, you need to find a way to talk it out rather than using your fists. Where's Hanna?"

"She's inside the house, and the last time we saw her, she was crying," Emily says.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Ella tells Sean in a sharp voice. She spins around and starts walking back up the small steps, but I stop her. I want an excuse to be with Hanna again and I have this need to protect her at all costs.

"I'll talk to her, you just stay put."

She grins at me. "Go ahead."

I put on my shirt and hang my towel over my shoulders. I walk in the house and find Hanna on the stairs by the foyer. She has her elbows on her knees and she's burying her face in her hands so her fingers cover her eyes.

I put my hands in the pockets of my swim trunks and sigh loudly. "Hanna…I won't ask you what's wrong, because that'd be a stupid question…I just wanted to let you know that Sean was incredibly rude in saying those hurtful things to you. You didn't deserve that."

"I did. He was right…I'm desperate." She scoots over so I take it as an invitation to sit next to her.

"Mind telling me the story behind all this?"

"I tried to hook up with him at the Back to School Bash last Friday, and he rejected me. I wasn't his special someone. Only gross things are attracted to me…like bugs. I'm sorry that I used you to get back at my ex…I wouldn't blame you if you tell me that you didn't appreciate it."

"I get where you're coming from…but would it make you any happier if I told you that I yelled at him and I kicked him?"

"You what?" She finally glances up at me all teary-eyed. She gasps. "My God, you took a beating."

"You're welcome," I say sarcastically. "He hit me almost immediately."

"Oh…that explains the black eye...Sean gets angry when people rile him up. I'll get you ice for that…and you've got this…scrape. It's gotta hurt!" She stands up and leads me to the kitchen. She takes ice from the freezer and puts it into a bag. She holds it up to my injured eye and I swear it's like an angel is touching me. "Sorry, I shoulda thanked ya…I just ain't really used to the male species defending me the way you did."

"Yeah, well, it's in my nature to stand up against bullies. I don't accept it when people I care about are being ridiculed." We both take a seat on the couch. "Thanks for being my nurse."

"Anytime."

"Hey...how did you hurt your wrists? I don't mean to be intrusive, but it seems like somebody grabbed you-"

"Yeah, but I fought them off...it was some drunk loser in the street. He kinda just grumbled something at me and walked away." Hanna shrugs.

"Good thing you're okay now."

"Mm-hm."

She sniffles and that's when I realize something's off about her appearance. "Here, let me fix your bikini strap. It's come undone."

"No big deal, I have a shirt on. You won't see nothin'." She puts all of her hair over one shoulder and bends her head down.

The sight of her in just a shirt and a bikini is making me grow bigger down south, but I have to keep myself in control. I'm supposed to be helping her, not getting horny. Her legs are extremely long and toned. I'm sitting next to the most beautiful girl in the world and retying her bikini strap. That's all I'm doing. When I'm finished, I put the ice back to my face and we just relax there in silence. She shivers, so I put my towel over her lap.

"Thanks, Caleb."

"You were getting goosebumps. I figured if you were cold…"

"Yeah, I know."

"What are you kids doing?" Zack asks us gruffly, and I nearly jump out of my skin.

"We were just helping each other," I explain quickly. "I know it looks bad, but I promise…it was nothing. I have to pay you back, don't I?" I chuckle nervously and get the money I owe him. I press it into his hand and follow Ella back inside the house. I start sweating because I'm afraid he knows I have the hots for Hanna.

"You can't be in the house with barely anything on and have this guy in just his swim shorts be sitting on our couch. You guys were too close to each other!" I can hear Zack lecturing Hanna.

"We didn't do nothin' wrong!"

"I don't know him. I don't trust him. Therefore, you are not to be alone in this house with him. He could've taken advantage of you! He might be dangerous!"

Hanna groans and rolls her eyes up to the ceiling. "You are one hundred percent wrong. He ain't like an ax murderer or something."

"Zack, Caleb won't do anything horrible. He's one of my students, and he's a nice young man," Ella assures her husband. She rubs his back in soothing circles.

"Can I hang out with my friends now? I'm feeling a lot better," Hanna says.

"Of course," Ella replies.

I'm about to follow Hanna out of the house, but Zack shakes his head and comes over to where I am. "You listen to me boy, and you listen good and hard. You can't be around her without parental supervision."

"I'm sorry, sir…but you let me go in-"

"Don't get smart with me. Ella allowed you to comfort Hanna; I guess she's fine with you or something. That doesn't make it okay with me, but whatever, I'll let you off with a warning."

"Thank you, sir, it won't happen again," I mutter and then leave the house. Ella goes with me.

When we come back to the pool, I notice that Hanna's still got my towel wrapped around her hips. She beckons me forward, and I come to her. "I'm really sorry about Zack. He gets overprotective. Even though he ain't my biological father, he's the man of the house. I…we…should respect him."

"Ella didn't seem to mind…in fact, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have thought there were rules around here. I don't want any more awkwardness with him, so I think I should leave."

"Oh, no, you don't gotta! Besides, Ella's out here with all of us, so he ain't gonna mind."

"Well, that's a relief, but he makes me nervous."

"I know…try to relax…and just enjoy spending time with all our friends!" She whips off her shirt and runs into the water while giggling like crazy. She makes a big splash and I peel off my shirt while going in after her.

Ella takes pictures of us all having fun and it looks like Sean had left the party, which is great!

When I get back to Lucas' place, I shower. Then, we go to the Brew and who do we see, but my old friends from Ravenswood. They greet me with hugs and I'm so shocked that it takes me a minute to speak.

"Hey…guys…what are you doing here?"

"We wanted to surprise you, man!" Luke says and claps me on the back. "You're hurt!"

"Uhhh…long story."

"I need you to tell me what happened," Lucas says desperately.

"Okay…this dude and I got into a physical confrontation. How was I supposed to know he was violent? He used to date this girl I like."

"Yeah…how are you, besides being in pain?" Remy asks. I don't wince until she mentions it.

Lucas stands behind me and awkwardly shoves his hands in his pockets.

"Uh…I'm alright. I haven't seen you guys in forever!"

"What have you been doing all year?" Olivia asks.

Lucas and I sit down with the group. "Walking around homeless…then Lucas over here took me in on Friday. I just came back from a pool party at my friend's house. What have I missed, what stories do you all have to tell me?"

"You know how Rochelle and Raymond didn't really like each other?" Luke starts out. "Well, now they're married. They've adopted Olivia and me. We're brother and sister, and Remy is my girlfriend now. She got adopted as well."

"Oh, wow! Congratulations!"

"What about you, Caleb?" Remy wants to know.

"I've made plenty of friends here in Rosewood."

"Tell them about Hanna!" Lucas cuts in.

"Dude!"

"Who is she, your new girlfriend?" Olivia asks.

"He wishes!"

"Lucas, will you let me answer?"

The others laugh, and I lightly hit Lucas in the chest. "She's just a friend of mine. I like her more than that, though…I'm hoping we'll get closer as time passes. I saw her at the pool party today…I think we should all get together and hang out. You guys should meet my Rosewood pals. You'd love them!"

"We could go to the movies," Remy suggests. "We're all staying at a hotel and maybe we could visit your school."

"Sure, that would be awesome," I say.

We get coffee and some treats and then the girls go back to their hotel while Luke comes with Lucas and me to Lucas' house.

On Monday morning, my visitors stay in the library while Lucas and I go to school. At lunchtime, I see Hanna walking around alone. She looks a little tired, but she's still smiling. I'm sitting with Lucas and my Ravenswood buddies. "Hanna!" I call out to her. "Why don't you join us?"

She nods and comes over. "Of course!"

"Guys, this is Hanna, by the way. You already know Lucas, but these are my friends from Ravenswood…Luke, his sister Olivia, and his girlfriend Remy."

Hanna waves at them shyly and they grin at her. "Hi, y'all."

"Hey," they respond in unison.

"My ex boyfriend was a liar and a complete asshole," Olivia says, referring to Dillon from the orphanage.

"What? I thought he was a nice guy," I say to her in a hushed voice.

"It turns out he killed mine and Luke's dad," Olivia whispers to me.

"Hope he's jailbait," I mutter.

"He is."

"Hey...how did y'all meet? I saw Caleb for the first time at Ella's wedding. She's Aria's mom," Hanna interrupts us.

"You know, we all used to be homeless," Remy says.

"Yeah, me too!" Hanna chimes in.

"Actually, we weren't exactly homeless, we were orphans. We lived with our caretakers," Luke informs her, and as the three of them talk about their experiences, my mind goes back to more adventures there.

"Wow," Raymond sighs. "Sexy."

"What?" Luke asks. "Did he just call the woman he hates sexy?"

"No, no, she's a bitch-a sexy bitch. She looks good but she's bad deep down inside," he explains, patting his heart.

"You swore!" Robbie and Jack scream.

"Sorry! Didn't mean for you to hear that, I thought I had a soft voice." He pats their heads lovingly. "Now, she's talking to a blonde girl and patting her stomach. Is that girl sick?"

I grab the binoculars and peer into them. "She doesn't look sick, but-oh my God! She's pregnant, I just saw her lift up her sweatshirt and show Rochelle!"

"Aw, that just kills it," Luke teases me.

"Rochelle's still hot," Raymond moans, hitting the back of Luke's head. "That girl is linking arms with Rochelle, and the girls have now left the kitchen."

I look out the window and saw them all walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street and yelled for the guys to put the binoculars down.

"They've left, there's nothing more to see there."

"So…I was thinking of taking you boys out like Rochelle's taking the girls out! Why don't we go to a basketball game?" Raymond offers. He holds up a bunch of tickets and we cheer and grab them.

The game is awesome, and when we come home, we do some exercises just in case the girls are watching us. After dinner, we watch a hilarious Adam Sandler movie, and the little guys watch Aladdin. I heard that those guys all lost their parents on the same night, Back to School Night at their elementary school, there was a bomb that killed all their parents. They never even got to say goodbye, poor guys. We're lucky because we hate our parents, and Benjamin lost his parents when he barely knew them, at the ripe age of three. Dillon taught them school and he graduated already, so he was a great helper to Raymond. Dillon's parents were killed because their car ran into a tree and they died from it. It happened last month, and he is upset about it, but Raymond is a great friend to him and that eased the pain. Dillon and Raymond sleep in a room with the little boys in case anyone gets nightmares. There are only two little ones now, because the family who came wanted seven little boys because the mother had lost her sons, one being a baby, and the others being about eight or nine, and another was a teenager who texted while driving with a bunch of his friends in his car. The parents of that poor family want to start over with kids because they want to make sure they didn't do things their teen did. So we just take care of Jack, who's eleven and Robbie, who's nine. They sometimes get nightmares, but it is rare.

Hanna looks interested. "That's really sweet," she comments. "Wait, there was a rivalry?"

"Yeah, it's funny, because now, they're married!" Remy says.

"How the hell did that happen?" Hanna asks.

"That hasn't come yet. Let me tell you the rest," I say. "Raymond's school was awesome! He taught us four boys high school, like English, Spanish, Photoshop, cooking, and money-managing skills, stuff we'd need to know later on in life. We didn't have to do math because we knew basic math and that's all you needed for life, and we didn't have to know science or history, so we were set. Every day for two hours, ten until twelve, he taught us useful information, and the Photoshop and cooking classes were fun. Watching the girls sleep through the binoculars was fun, but it was sort of hard to see because it was dark. We fantasized about those girls and dreamed of marrying them, but decided it was an outrageous thought because they probably hated us."

"I still cannot believe you guys were peeping toms!" Hanna exclaims. "Ew."

"Did you see them naked?" Lucas hisses at me, and I shake my head no.

"Don't worry, we stared at them through binoculars, too. We were all fully clothed," Olivia says, and the group laughs.

"During that first week, we had a blast, because it was just like camp…or home. Raymond always talked to us about life and he played baseball with us sometimes. Mostly, he was the umpire, and rarely, he was on the phone taking calls for people who wanted to adopt. Luke and me were like brothers already because we laughed so much together and developed a strong bond, and we decided to make a pact, that if one of us gets adopted, we'd all get adopted by the same person. But we didn't want to leave Raymond because he was such a dad to us, a nice, calm, patient, understanding dad. He had the talk with Robbie and Jack and although they complained, they were glad we didn't give them the talk. The other little ones got adopted before they were old enough to get the talk. We boys listened in, because our dads never gave us the talk. All my dad told me was 'all girls are like your mother, crazy and stupid.'"

"My dad told me that all girls were sluts like my mother. It was the worst sex talk in the history of the world," Luke adds on to my comment.

We really got along with each other and with Raymond. Dillon borrows our binoculars and spies on a girl with short blonde hair and bangs who was in Rochelle's room helping her with the little girls, and Benjamin takes a turn, and he takes a claim to the one with brown hair and glasses. One night, I decide to watch the angel sleep. I decide to call her Sleeping Beauty because I love the way her brown hair fell over her face and the way her eyes were closed and her lips…man, how I want to touch them. Just then, she jerks violently in her bed and starts to cry and scream. I can hear it a little bit. Maybe she's having a nightmare, poor girl. I want to be the one comforting her like Rochelle was doing.

"Go to sleep!" Luke whispers to me.

"I'm watching over an angel," I whisper back, and he laughed silently.

The next day, Raymond tells us a surprise, that he's taking us to an island on the bus, and we pray to God that the girls aren't using the bus. We would go the second week, and we were so excited.

I love this place. Everyone hates alcohol and drugs, and I am away from alcohol and drugs for the first time, and I don't see one ho in that girls' home. The girl I watched was small, and pixie-like in the extremes and she's very adorable. I want to hug her and kiss her, but I knew she probably doesn't like me in that way. She is supposed to hate me because it is girls versus. boys. I like her spiky black hair and the way she dressed. It looked like she had a lot of money, because she dresses in the hottest outfits with earrings, diamond earrings, and gold and silver necklaces, and she even has a laptop and an iPod. I wonder how a rich girl ended up being in an orphanage. Couldn't she have bought her own house? Well, she is underage, so maybe not. She looks like she could be a freshman in high school, or even a sophomore. Luke said the reading girl looked young in the face, about my pixie's age. God, I was already calling her mine. I didn't even know her name! But I knew I was falling head over heels for her. She seems so happy in that place, always dancing. The others seemed moody at first, but they appeared to laugh like the pixie later on. She's probably their sun, and since I used to be depressed, I wish I knew her because then she could brighten up my day, but maybe not. She'd probably think I'm just as weird as the other girls did. I noticed that she only owned one bright sexy top, and the rest of her clothes are all black. I wonder why, and laugh at the thought that my clothes are also all black and some gray and brown. Why would such a sunny girl have dark clothes and only own one bright piece of clothing? I watch her coming back into her room with shopping bags, and bright clothes spilled out on her bed, and the two girls in the room laughed.

"I wanna meet her." I sigh.

"Tell me about it. I'm dying to meet that sexy brunette."

"Do these kids you all were staring at have names?" Hanna asks.

"Dillon the creep, who I didn't know was a creep," Olivia says.

"Been there, done that," Hanna responds.

Luke and Remy point at each other and laugh.

"Wait...you two connected just by peering through binoculars?" Hanna wants to know.

"Yes," they say in unison.

"What about you, Caleb?" Hanna asks. "Did you ever meet that girl you liked?"

"I did," I tell her in a tight voice. "She was my girlfriend."

"Oh...I'm sorry it didn't work out." She scrunches her cute little nose.

"It's alright." She must notice the somber expressions on mine, Luke's, Remy's, and Olivia's faces, because she gets a worried look on her face.

"What happened? You don't have to tell me...or us...if you don't want to."

"Thank you," I reply.

Hanna interrupts the awkward silence by suggesting we all go see a movie on Friday, and of course everyone is excitedly agreeing. I wish I could spend time alone with Hanna so I could talk to her about Miranda. It may actually help me with my grief, and something about her makes me feel like everything's gonna be okay.

Thank you for reading and reviewing, nico229, XxScarredAngelxX, xxdare2dreamxx1! I'm loving your support! It motivates me a lot! xoxo

btw...I'm looking for a beta, if anyone's interested! Content, realistic-ness, not making any damsels in distress characters, and wording is what I need help on!