The volleyball game between the schools will be in the next chapter, get ready for that my dudes.

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Hoagie leaned his head against his bedroom door, the cell phone weakly having at his ear.

"No, I'm not upset dad, but you should be talking to Tommy."

He opened his bedroom door and walked to the top of the stairs, looking down at his brother who was playing a video game in the living room, but without his normal gusto.

"He's upset dad! He always gets upset when you can't come down here to see us."

Tommy took a swig of his soda, then his character immediately died, causing the 15 year old to slam his controller down with a swear.

"He's 15, of course he isn't doing good! Who the hell does good when they're 14? Besides, I don't know what exactly it was but something happened with Tina."

Hoagie rolled his brown eyes "Tina Moriarty? That rat faced girl Tommy's had a crush on since he was like 6?"

He nodded "Yeah, her, the one obsessed with Paddy."

He walked back to his room, shut the door, then almost screamed when he turned around and saw Abby sitting on his bed.

"Uh...so dad, gonna have to call you back. Give Tommy a call please." He hung up "What are you doing here?"

Abby pulled her knees to her chest "Um...I wanted to apologize for that fight we had the other day."

Hoagie chuckled "I'm over that, don't worry."

"I know, that statement you made in the treehouse told me that. I still wanted to apologize."

Hoagie laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Was it Lucas or Rita?"

Abby scoffed "You act like you saw me go into Rita's office or something!"

Hoagie raised an eyebrow "Cuz I did? I figured it was possible Lucas was in there though."

Abby sighed "Okay, I'm too stressed to be sneaky right now so..."

Hoagie smiled at her "Getting old?"

Abby laughed and stood up "Tell me about it. Do you still have those stars on your ceiling?" She turned off the light, causing the ceiling to light up with glowing stars. "Never grow up Hoags."

He smiled at her as she laid down next to him "Of course not, wasn't that the agreement? Always be a kid at heart?"

Abby looked at him "Yeah...an agreement I haven't exactly been keeping..."

"You are kinda stressing us all out Abs."

Abby sighed "Yeah and I'm sorry for that. So to apologize for being a bitch to you, I'll go to the concert with you."

Hoagie's brown eyes when wide "What?!"

"Erik shouldn't control me. I'm going to have fun with my friends, and that includes you Hoagie."

"He's gonna beat the shit out of me Abs."

Abby sighed "He won't, he is changed Hoagie, he won't hurt you."

"Whatever you say Abs but, it's hard to believe a guy who has bullied you for so long all of a sudden doesn't wanna bully you."

"I know...I am sorry he did that." Abby laughed "I was kinda upset I was missing a Mita and The Monsters concert."

"More upset than you are at your boyfriend hating me?!" Hoagie asked, shocked.

"Yeah dude, I'll bring Kuki! I just wanna go to the concert!"

Hoagie laughed and looked back at the ceiling. "It's nice to have you back Abs."

Abby smiled at him "It's nice to be back."

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Bartie pulled into the scariest hotel parking lot he'd ever seen. It was actually on the side of the road outside New York, about 45 minutes from the city. He knew Patton was still here, seeing as his brown truck was parked by the main office.

"Yeah, he's here." "No Fanny, I don't want to get out!" "This shit is scary! Why is he at the scariest hotel in the US?!" "Fine! Just stop screaming at me!" Bartie hung up on the angry redhead and turned his phone off as she called him back to continue yelling. "Isn't she supposed to be at a party?"

He took a deep breath and opened the door. The smell of the place hit him second, right after the initial sight. It was something like a wet dog that lived in a dumpster of decomposing bodies. He choked and walked towards the office, his back to the door in fear someone would steal his car.

Opening the door, he turned his back on his car and was face to face with a 20 something woman with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

"Hey cutie, need a room?"

Bartie's eyes whet wide "Uh...no? I'm looking for my friend. 18, black hair, tall, muscular..."

The lady giggled "Yeah...I know him. He's in room 4." She handed him a key.

Bartie nodded and thanked her, exiting the office and walking to room 4. He knocked. No response. He knocked harder. No response. "Okay, fine."

He opened the door. "Patton, the security at this hotel is awful, that lady just gave me-" He looked at the lump in the bed "please tell me you're not dead or dying."

A few non-English mutters came from the lump. Bartie sighed, closed the door, and reached for the blinds. "It is so damn dark in here." He opened the blinds a bit and Patton launched out from under the blankets, groaning, and closed the blinds. "Nice of you to rejoin the living."

Patton glared and fell on the bed "Why the hell are you here? You of all people?!"

Bartie leaned against the wall "Well, generally when people disappear, the police are called so you better be glad it's me."

Patton laid down on the bed "I can't talk to you. Go away."

"Yeah well, that's not happening so..."

Patton glared again "I don't deserve to be in your presence! Go away and let me wallow!"

Bartie scoffed and took a step forward, a glass bottle bumping against his foot, he looked down and saw about 6 Smirnoff bottles on the floor. "Uh...did you drink all of this?"

Patton laughed weakly "Yeah...weak shit."

"Right...so you're drunk. How did a drunk 18 year old with no money get a hotel room?"

Patton smiled "The lady at the front counter said if I touched her tit she'd give me a free room."

"Did you?" Bartie asked

"YES BECAUSE I'M A SHIT BOYFRIEND AND A SHIT FRIEND!" Patton howled, burying his face in the pillow.

Bartie sighed and worked his way to the end of the bed "Would you calm down and get up? We gotta go home."

"No." Patton said, glaring directly at Bartie "I'm not going any-fucking-where."

"Until?"

"I don't know! I fucking keel over!?"

Bartie groaned loudly "Dude! Why are you having an emotional breakdown all ofa sudden?!"

Patton screamed into the pillow "Fuck off my ass Bartie!"

Before Bartie could respond, the door opened and the front desk lady leaned in. "Can I join in whatever you two are doing?"

Bartie's eyes opened wide "YOU SEE! This hotel has awful security!"

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Fanny ran (as fast as she could in this damned heels) into the party hall just as her father was getting off the stage from his speech and stood between hher mother and Paddy. Shaunie leaned around Paddy with a grin, his green eyes were slightly bloodshot and the green iris was taking on a brownish hue.

"Worried about your run away boyfriend?"

Fanny flipped the 13 year old off just as her father walked up, Paddy helpfully stepped forward enough to hide her hand. "Can you two not?!" He whispered before turning to greet the man his father had at his side. "Hello Mr. Parkers."

The brunette smiled at him "Hello Patrick is it? I unfortunately haven't had the chance to meet you! Though I've heard plenty through my daughter!" He winked at Paddy as Leighton came running up behind him. Her blue eyes going wide as she saw her father talking to her boyfriend.

"Daddy!" The blonde grabbed his arm "You should have told me you were going to talk to the Fulbrights!"

Mr. Parkers laughed and moved Leighton over next to Paddy. He smiled then called to a blonde woman. "Hey dear! Come see how cute these two are!"

The woman came over with a smile "You are very adorable sweets!" The woman spoke with a strong German accent.

Leighton blushed "Thank you mama. Thanks daddy." Paddy smiled at her, his face red as well, but she avoided his eyes.

Miranda smiled at the couple as well, putting an arm around Fanny. "Where is Patton?"

Fanny shot away from her mom, waving her hands in front of her "Uh...not missing! That's for sure!"

Shaunie facepalmed then leaned in to whisper in Fanny's ear "I'm high as shit and I would have lied better then that."

She shot him a glare then turned back to her mom "He couldn't come...he went on a trip with Bartie to New York."

Miranda nodded "Good the boys are spending time together before graduation. Will he be back for your game on Wednesday?"

Fanny shrugged without thinking, then tried to cover it up. "Uh...yeah! They'll totally be back for that!"

Miranda laughed and then started talking to a lady who walked up behind her. Fanny turned to yell at Shaunie, but saw him wandering over towards Maria who was serving the food. Her mother was the caterer for the party so both twins worked all the Fulbright parties.

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Maria set down the empty tray then screamed as Shaunie poked the back of her neck. He covered her mouth with an angry expression. "The hell you screaming for?!"

"Why you scaring me like that!?"

Shaunie chuckled "Just thought you looked kinda cute over here like a little waitress."

Maria blushed but rolled her brown eyes "Little waitress who can't be paid officially cuz it would be child labor."

"Just wait a few months." He pulled Maria over to the corner of the room and frowned "I wanted to apologize for that night I showed up kinda freaked out."

Maria tried as hard as she could to follow his eye movements but it wasn't happening, she shook her head and smiled at him. "Oh...no, I was more worried about you. How are you doing?"

Shaunie smiled an unnatural smile. "I'm great! Nia and I figured shit out and now Nick is helping me with my problems and everything is fine!"

Maria's smile fell "You're still around Nick and Nia? Why?"

Shaunie sighed "They understand my issues Mari. I get that you want to help me but it's not gonna happen right now. I'm too fucked up. I don't want that rubbing off on you."

Maria blinked then slowly reached out towards his red hair and tangled her finger in a curl. "I just want you to be okay."

Shaunie closed his eyes and smiled "I'm getting there, believe me."

Maria's eyes opened wide and she smiled, Shaunie opened his eyes and made a confused expression.

"This looks like the prince snuck off to fraternize with the staff you know." Mya said after coming out of nowhere and scaring the hell out of Shaunie.

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So there's that one! The Patton/Bartie this is definitely not over and the Shaunie/Maria thing is DEFINITELY not over! Thanks for reading!