Aerolynn

"Are you nervous?" Jake asked.

The two were currently walking to Aerolynn's room after finishing their family tree presentations.

No, why should I be nervous? Aerolynn mumbled.

"Well you're having dinner with your girlfriend's family for the first time. If I was dating a girl as hot as Cleo, I would be totally freaked out." Jake shrugged.

I'm not nervous. Aerolynn lied.

The truth was she was freaking out. What if she said the wrong thing? What if she chewed her food wrong? Or what if the McScreams thought she wasn't cultured enough? Would Cleo break up with her if her parents didn't like her?

Speaking of relationships, how's Victoria? Aerolynn asked.

"What do you mean? There is no relationship, I can't stand that girl." Jake gagged.

Yet you hooked up with her. Aerolynn gagged.

"It's just casual." Jake shrugged. "What can I say I'm a beast."

Good Lord

If Aerolynn could make any noise at all, she'd be gagging. She put her hand to her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting.

"Besides we haven't talked since we did "stuff" at homecoming." Jake said.

Aerolynn froze. Did he just say homecoming?

You guys had sex again!? Ew! Oh God, I'm going to throw up. Was this before, during, or after the attack?

"A little bit of all three." Jake laughed. "For someone whose always looking down on people, she sure knows how to-"

Please stop Aerolynn scoffed. You're going to have to pay for any and all therapy I'm going to need after hearing that.

"Relax. Besides when you get some action, I'm going to be happy for you." Jake said.

I just need to worry about this dinner. Aerolynn said.

"Well good luck to you." Jake said.

The two stopped when they reached her door.

"Well this is your stop." He said.

Thanks for walking me, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Aerolynn smiled weakly.

As soon as Jake walked away Aerolynn opened her door to see a sobbing Faith lying on her bed. The blond girl was curled up in a ball, crying into her arm. Faith looked up to see Aerolynn watching her. She forced a smile and wiped the tears off her face.

"Hey Aerolynn. Sorry I'll just leave so you can get ready for your date." Faith mumbled.

Hey are you okay? Aerolynn asked.

Faith smiled even though tears kept running down her face. "I'm fine."

Faith you're crying. You're obviously not okay. Aerolynn said.

Faith sighed. "You have bigger things to worry about then how I'm doing."

You're my friend, of course how you're doing is my priority... Aerolynn said.

"It's just Lex…" Faith mumbled.

Boy troubles? What you seem to be crying about seems more serious than boy troubles.

"It's not boy troubles. It's just I lost Lex. I've done so many bad things and I can't look him in the face without remembering every single one of them." Faith said.

Is this about you and Matt? I've heard some rumors.

"I wish it was about me and Matt, something else happened during homecoming that I'm not proud of." Faith sobbed.

Aerolynn frowned. Faith, what did you do?


Cleo

"She'll be here." Cleo said nervously glancing between her parents and her phone.

Cleo's parents exchanged an awkward glance before looking back down at their menu.

"I'm sure she will be dear." Her father said.

Cleo sighed. She could tell her father didn't believe that. They thought Aerolynn was just like every other girl she dated. Cleo didn't have good luck with relationships. Majority of the girls she meant were either scared of commitment or in the closet. Cleo knew she could be possessive. When she found a girl she liked, she wanted them to be all hers. She could only date girls that were on the same pace as hers. Which she thought Aerolynn was on, however she and her family had been waiting for thirty minutes and Aerolynn hadn't even texted Cleo back.

"Cleo, it might be best for us to just order." Cleo's mom said after their waiter passed them for the fifth time already.

Cleo frowned. "Aerolynn will be here. Something important might have happened."

Her father sighed. "It's nice that you see the best in people."

"Don't patronize me. I know my girlfriend, she'll be here." Cleo said.

"Sometimes people let you down Cleo." Her father said.

"What, like your old business partner?" Cleo snapped.

As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted it. Talking about her father's past was like shooting a bullet into his soul.

"I think we should go ahead in order." He said quietly.

Cleo looked down at her menu in shame. Not only was Aerolynn not coming but she just lashed out on her father just because she was feeling insecure. She was an awful daughter.


Jarret

Eight Weeks Ago:

"What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Jarret asked.

It was the night of the Student Art Gallery and he was getting ready when he heard a knock at the door. Before he could he even walk over to the door, it opened by itself and before he knew it he was being carried by two hooded guards. Jarret groaned, they moved so fast he got whiplash. They were well built and tall. They were able to carry his lanky body with ease.

"Where are you taking me?" Jarret yelled.

Still no answer. The lights were out in the hallway so he couldn't make out what hall he was in. Was he in the sophomore common room? Was he near the science wing?

Jarret wake up! A voice in his head said.

Suddenly the world around him began to dissolve. He was no longer in the hallway with the guards but back in his room.

"Jarret! Come on we have to get ready for class." Kevin said.

Jarret groaned and sat up slowly. His roommate was already putting on his clothes, watching Jarret with a concerned look. Jarret sighed and fell back on his bed. Lately Kevin had been too involved in his life. Of course, he didn't mind, Kevin was his best (and possibly his only) friend. However ever since he recovered from his vegetative state Kevin was always checking in on him, almost as if he were afraid that if he took his eye off of him Jarret would go back to being a zombie. He hated feeling like he was a burden or someone who needed to be taken care of. He was just as capable as the rest of his classmates. Granted he was aware the fact he ran away when a villain attacked didn't help his case, but he changed. He was ready to put his past behind him and change his image.

He didn't want to be seen as the weakest link, he wanted to be seen as a hero.

"Are you okay?" Kevin asked.

"Never better." Jarret lied.

Kevin frowned. "You were screaming in your sleep."

"I was not." Jarret grumbled.

"Yeah you were." Kevin smirked.

"Was not." Jarret repeated.

Kevin rolled his eyes and crouched down on the floor and began to tie his shoes.

"I think I remembered something from that night." Jarret said.

Kevin froze and looked up slowly.

"You do? I thought you blocked out everything from that night from your memory." Kevin said.

"Well I remember being taken but that's it. Right now, my memory is like a dozen puzzle pieces that don't fit." Jarret sighed.

"Are you sure you want to remember? You were traumatized when you came back, maybe having no clue what happened to you is your safest option." Kevin said.

Jarret shook his head. "I saw something down there. I need to remember what it is."

"If you say so." Kevin sighed.


Cleo

"You're angry." Aurélie observed as she looked up from her fashion magazine.

Cleo ignored her and continued to shove her textbooks into her backpack.

"I'm not mad." Cleo said.

That was a lie, she was pissed. She and her parents waited at the restaurant for two hours, waiting for Aerolynn to show up. Throughout the dinner, her parents would give her disappointed glances. She knew what they thought. Aerolynn was just like Kayla. Just another girl that was going to throw her life into chaos.

"Maybe you should try talking to her." Aurélie said

Cleo shook her head. "I'm always the one that does the talking."

Cleo paused and realized what she just said. She blushed sheepishly.

"You know what I mean." She said.

Aurélie shrugged. "Well you should probably figure out what to say soon."

"Why is that?" Cleo asked.

"Because she's outside our door." Aurélie said.

Cleo raised an eyebrow. What did Aurélie mean? Her eyes went down to the phone in her hands.

"You texted her!" Cleo hissed. "What the hell?"

Aurélie smiled. "You'll thank me later."

She grabbed her bag and opened the door, revealing Aerolynn was on the other side the whole time. Aerolynn blushed sheepishly.

Hi. She said awkwardly.

Cleo looked between her roommate and her girlfriend. She sighed, she supposed there was no way she could get out of this conversation.

"Well I'm going to go to cafeteria, I'll see you two in class." Aurélie said.

She closed the door leaving Cleo and Aerolynn alone. Cleo refused to look Aerolynn in the eyes. She knew if she made contact with Aerolynn's sky blue eyes she would be putty in her hands. Then they would be back to square one.

"I should go I'm going to be late to class." Cleo said.

Cleo grabbed her bag and took a step forward, however Aerolynn took a step towards her, despite being shorter than she still managed to block Cleo's entrance.

Can we please talk? Aerolynn asked.

Cleo frowned. "No."

Please. Aerolynn pleaded.

Cleo sighed and dropped her bag on the floor.

"Go ahead." Cleo said.

Aerolynn took in a deep breath. I'm sorry I stood you up.

"Not just me Aero, you also stood up my parents who were very excited to meet you," Cleo said.

I know and I'm very sorry. It's just Faith had a lot going on last night and she needed someone.

"I needed someone too Aerolynn! I needed you to be there for me while I dealt with my parents. You and Faith aren't the only ones with a lot of things going on." Cleo said.

I never said you don't have a lot going on, it's just I thought Faith needed me more in that moment.

"What you mean to say is that you thought Faith was more important than me?" Cleo said.

She should've known she was Kayla's last pick. She was always someone's last pick.

That's not true. When she calmed down, I tried calling you. Aerolynn said

"Yeah, by the time you called me the dinner with my parents was over and I was on my way to my dorm, crying my eyes out because my girlfriend stood me up!" Cleo said.

I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you.

"No one ever does. Yet you always pick someone else before me." Cleo snapped.

Aerolynn frowned. What do you mean?

"I'm always the third wheel when Jake's around, you make it very clear that I will always be your last option. Although I'm not surprised." Cleo hissed.

What do you mean? Aerolynn asked again.

Cleo gulped. She almost told her the truth about Kayla. Cleo took a deep breath and sighed.

"Look it's obvious you would rather be someone else. Why don't you go call them up so we can stop doing this charade?" Cleo sighed.

With that Cleo grabbed her stuff and walked out of her room.


Aurélie

If Aurélie didn't have quick reflexes the stapler would have hit her in the face. Luckily she was able to sidestep the stapler before it slammed into her forehead. The press room was in chaos. Students were running around, papers were being thrown about, and yelling filled the room.

"Come on I need that scoop!" One girl yelled.

"It was my story first, you bloodthirsty vulture!" Someone else yelled.

Aurélie raised an eyebrow. She was considering joining the Yearbook/Press Club in an effort to keep herself busy until she figured out a way to bring her sisters back. Seeing the practical Hunger Games that was going on right now she was starting to reconsider.

"Is this the Morning Star Press Club?" She asked.

Everyone stopped fighting to look up at the indigo haired teen.

All the eyes on her made a lump form in her throat from the anxiety. "Hi, I'm Aurélie Duax. I know we're almost done with the semester, but I wanted to see if you guys needed any extra hands." She said awkwardly.

The journalists looked up at her skeptically. They looked her up and down like she was a walking disease.

"Um….I can go." Aurélie said quietly. This was a bad idea from the start.

"Hold it right there!" A female voice said. "My office now!"

Aurélie turned to see the source of the voice was coming from door in the corner in the room. Aurélie slowly walked into the room. Sitting at a desk were two teens. One of them was a boy, who Aurélie had to admit was quite handsome. He was tanned, tall, and muscular and messy brown hair. The raven-haired girl next to him was equally as attractive.

"It's nice to meet you Aurélie Duax." The dark-haired girl said.

Aurélie raised an eyebrow. "You know who I am?"

'God what if they are friends with Diego?' Aurélie gulped. She couldn't take any more ridicule at this point.

"Of course, we do." The brown-haired boy said.

He got up from his desk and took a couple steps closer to her, closing the distance between them.

"You and your entire class have gained quite the reputation in only a few months. First, you guys took down the villains at the Black Church, then you fought an assassin, and just a couple of weeks ago you protected the student body from another attack." He said.

Aurélie shrugged. "I guess we've been busy."

"The real question is are you guys stopping these attacks…or are you the cause?" He smirked.

Aurélie gulped. He had a point. It seemed like wherever her class went, destruction seemed to follow. And if she were being perfectly honest, she felt she didn't even deserve any recognition considering she was "asleep" throughout all that.

"Knock it off, I'm sure she's been through a lot." The dark-haired girl chuckled. "Ignore Carter, he's harmless."

She stood up and offered her hand out to Aurélie. "I'm Natasha Clarence, but I prefer you call me Nat. I run the Yearbook Committee, Press Club, and the Art Club."

"All three of them? Wow, you're an overachiever." Aurélie said.

Nat tightened her lips. "Hardly. Ms. Morningstar is cheap and funnels all the money into the hero program and the football team. She merged all our other clubs into one just to save money."

"Ooh." Aurélie said.

"You act as if you aren't in the hero program." Carter snorted.

Nat rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm a part of it, doesn't mean I'll ignore the injustice."

"Right, I hate injustice." Aurélie offered, desperate to add to conversation.

Aurélie turned to look over at Carter. "So, are you in one of those three clubs?"

"No, I'm just here for the interview." Carter shrugged.

"An interview? Are you famous or something?" Aurélie joked.

Carter chuckled. "Well I am currently ranked number one among the sophomore class."

"And he never lets us forget it." Nat groaned.

Carter shrugged. "I can't help it if I'm good."

"So modest." Nat said sarcastically.

Nat turned to look at Aurélie. "So, you're interested in joining?"

"Yeah, let's just say I need a new hobby since I have a lot of free time on my hands." Aurélie sighed.

She had to find a way to bring her sisters back. Aurélie had no choice but to take a temporary break from hero training until she got her quirk back. As she was now, she would only hold everyone else back. At the same time, she needed a way to kill all the new downtime she got.

"Well, we are looking for fresh voices. How about this, you know the big football game tonight? I want you to cover it." Nat said.

Aurélie was thrown off guard by that. "Really? That seems like a big job."

"Something I'm sure you can handle. Besides, it would be great if we could get an interview and maybe some behind the scenes pictures of Kaleb Rexavi and Victoria Crown. The kid's a newbie freshman and some of the big colleges are already talking about scouting him. And Victoria Crown is Victoria Crown, a picture of her on the cover and we'd sell hundreds of copies." Nat said.

Carter scoffed. "Don't let the Crown name full you, there's nothing noble about her family."

Aurélie ignored Carter's comment and focused on the fact that she would be covering one of the biggest games of the year. This was the chance she needed to turn her year around. A chance for her to make a name for herself without her sisters or her reputation weighing her down.


Maryanne

"Can you please stop checking your phone every five minutes?" Victoria asked.

Maryanne sighed and sat her phone down. She kept checking her phone, hoping that Alexander would answer one of the dozen texts she sent. It was pointless, he was ignoring her. She sighed, if only he knew why she lied.

"Are you and Alexander fighting or something?" Victoria asked.

Maryanne frowned. "What makes you think that?"

"You're upset and waiting for him to text. It's obvious." Victoria said.

The two girls were currently stretching with the rest of the team in preparation for the big game tonight. The whole school was talking about it. Maryanne sighed; she couldn't even be excited about some dumb game if Alexander wasn't even speaking to her.

"What the hell do you mean you quit?" Monica shrieked.

Her yelling was what pulled Maryanne's attention away from her thoughts and to Monica and Sarah. The former was screaming at the top of her lungs, Sarah didn't seem fazed by her yelling and simply yawned in response.

"Excuse me did you just yawn!" Monica yelled.

Sarah shrugged. "Sorry, you're boring me and your bad breath is like knockout gas, I can't help but get sleepy."

"You little bi-"

Sarah cut her off by placing a finger to her lips.

"I'm quitting the team Monica and there's nothing you can do about it." Sarah said.

Monica growled. "Tonight's the big game. We got competitions in a few weeks. How selfish can you be!"

"Look Monica I just can't do cheerleading anymore!" Sarah yelled.

Monica hissed. "Cleary when Matt beat you, he knocked whatever brain cells you had out. You would have to be stupid to leave my squad."

Her comment earned a gasp from the rest of the girls. Victoria turned to give Maryanne a look that said: Did she really just say what I think she said?

Sarah's once calm face became flushed with anger. She growled and balled up her fists.

"What the hell did you say?" Sarah growled.

"Did I stutter?" Monica snarled.

It was at that moment Maryanne decided to step up. She ran over to the two girls and stepped in between them. Admittedly, she was terrified. Standing between the two meanest girls at school was like being trapped between two loaded tanks.

"Guys why don't we all just calm down?" Maryanne said.

"I'm quitting Monica, and I hope one of these girls drops you on your head." Sarah hissed.

Monica laughed sarcastically. "That's a lot of big talk coming from a gold-digging slut."

"Excuse me?" Sarah growled.

"Well if I remember correctly at the beginning of the year you were a desperate whore who was practically begging Matt to sleep with you. After he bought you a bunch of fancy gifts you suddenly dump him for some loser, but the minute he dies you have this sob story about how he used to abuse you. As if anyone would believe your lies." Monica smirked.

Maryanne gasped. "Monica!"

She always knew Monica was mean, but she never expected her to say something so cruel.

Sarah growled. "You think I'm lying? You know what Monica fuck you!"

The minute the words left her mouth Monica's body went stiff. Then her body began to thrash around rapidly. Her hands went to her throat as she started to wheeze, desperately gasping for air. Then she fell to the ground, her body still spasming.

Maryanne immediately crouched down next to the girl.

"Monica! Someone call the nurse!" Maryanne yelled.

Sarah gasped. "What the hell is going on with her?"

Then it stopped. Monica's body went still. Monica gasped and sat up with a start. She erupted into a fit of coughing, almost as if her body were trying to spit out her lungs.

"You! What the hell did you just do!?" Monica yelled.

All the girls looked back and forward between each other, curious as to who she was talking about. Monica growled and pointed an accusing finger towards Sarah.

"You tried to kill me!" She yelled.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Not only are you a bitch, you're also a dramatic liar."

"Don't play dumb, you tried to kill me!" Monica yelled.

Sarah rolled her eyes and turned away. "I can't believe that I once wanted to be your friend."

With that she walked off, leaving the Maryanne and the rest of the girls alone. Silence fell upon the girls, no one wanted to be the first one to speak up in fear of facing Monica's wrath.

"So….um I'm guessing practice is over?" Victoria said awkwardly.


Jarret

"So, are we going to the football game tonight?" Kevin asked.

Jarret raised an eyebrow. "Who would we go with?"

"Each other? The crew?" Kevin said.

Jarret bit the inside of his lip. They had a crew? More like Kevin's new friends that seemed to tolerate Jarret. Outside of Kevin he didn't have any real friends. Sure, Cleo and Aurélie were nice to him but he was sure that if it wasn't for Kevin they wouldn't even give him the time of day.

"You know Cleo, Aurélie, Aerolynn, and Jake." Kevin said.

Jarret groaned at the last name. Jake. Kevin's new best friend. Whatever happened during homecoming seemed to have made them grow closer.

"Why are you making that face?" Kevin asked.

"I'm not making a face." Jarret said.

Kevin shook his head. "Yeah you are. You're making your 'I'm not happy with this but I'm too scared to say something' face."

"I'm not making a face." Jarret repeated.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "You don't like Jake."

"There's nothing wrong with Jake." Jarret said.

"Then what's the problem?" Kevin asked.

Jarret frowned. What was the problem? He should be happy that he had more people to hang out with. Before he could say something, a strong force bumped into, causing him to stumble. Jarret yelped and put his arms out to stop him from going face first. He growled and jumped to his feet, what kind of bully would knock someone to the ground and not even say sorry. Jarret looked up at the perpetuator and gulped, the biggest bully of all…Sarah Smith. The girl kept walking like she didn't even notice that she practically ran Jarret over.

"Hey Sarah!" He called.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kevin whispered in fear.

Sarah stopped and turned back to face the two boys. "What?"

"Next time can you say excuse me?" Jarret asked.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Bite me Jarret."

She was about to walk away but Jarret stopped her.

"You can't just treat people like trash, it's rude and not very hero like." Jarret snapped.

"You sorry hypocrite." Sarah scoffed and walked up to him. Despite the fact he was taller than her, she still made it feel like she was towering him. "Who are you to lecture anyone about being a hero? I've fought villains on two occasions, and I actually fought. All you did was run away or play dead while Kevin had to carry your pathetic ass. You're a fraud. Trust me Jarret Han, you don't want to get in a dick measuring contest with me because my imaginary penis and ten times bigger than the inchworm in your pants. Now get out of my way before I have to get mean!" She yelled.

Jarret gulped and put his head down. He didn't have anything to say back to the blond. She was right. He wasn't hero material. He was a coward.

"Ignore her, her hormones are probably out of whack. She might be on her period." Kevin shrugged.

Jarret sighed. "It's not just her, it's everyone. Everyone at this school sees me as some kind of joke and I'm sick of it."

"Well I don't think you're a joke, and neither do our friends." Kevin assured.

Jarret sighed. Your friends, he thought bitterly.

"Jarret! I need your help!" A voice called.

Jarret frowned and turned to see Maryanne running up towards him.

"Jarret on a scale to one to ten, how flexible are you?" Maryanne asked.

Jarret raised an eyebrow. "What kind of question is that?"

"A serious one." Maryanne said.

"About a seven." Jarret shrugged.

Kevin smirked. "Really?"

"I do ballet remember, anyway what do you need?" Jarret asked.

Maryanne blushed. "How would you feel about having the once in a lifetime opportunity to…become a cheerleader?"

After a moment of silence, the two boys busted into a fit of laughter. Him, Jarret Han, as a cheerleader! That would be a sight to see. As if he would destroy his reputation that much. It wasn't until Jarret saw Maryanne's disappointed face did, he realize she was serious.

"Oh God, you're serious." Jarret said.

Maryanne blushed. "Pretty please! Sarah just quit and since she was a flier than means there's an opportunity for me to become a flier, but I can only be the flier if we have someone to take my place at the bottom of the pyramid, and you said you do ballet so you can dance and you're probably flexible right so I just thought you could take my place and I could take Sarah's place then people wouldn't think I'm such a loser and…." Maryanne rambled.

Jarret was lost after the world please, but he managed to get to gist of it.

"Maryanne slow down." Jarret said.

"Sorry I tend to talk fast when I get nervous, so will you do it?" Maryanne said.

"No." Jarret said simply.

Maryanne frowned. "Please! Pretty please! I'll do anything." Maryanne begged.

"I'm sorry Maryanne I can't, do you know what people would say about me if they saw me in a cheerleader uniform?" Jarret said.

"We don't actually have a cheerleader uniform for boys so you can either wear a skirt or a tracksuit." Maryanne mumbled.

"That's even worse! I would become an even bigger laughingstock than I already am." Jarret said. "That's social suicide."

"And that's pretty big." Kevin said.

Jarret shot Kevin daggers for his comment, causing the boy to turn away and cough.

"I mean technically speaking of course." Kevin chuckled.

Maryanne sighed. "I'll guess I'll just have to find someone else to lift us in the air. It's a real shame since some of the girls were really looking forward to meeting you."

"Really?" Jarret said hopefully.

The other cheerleaders wanted him to join? Hot girls actually wanted to spend time with him?

"That's bullshit." Kevin snorted. "Dude, she's playing you."

Jarret ignored his friend's comment and leaned in closely to Maryanne.

"And how many of these cheerleaders are single?" He asked.

"Almost all of them! Plenty of hot girls who would be forever grateful if you helped us out at the football game tonight." Maryanne said.

Jarret smirked. Having a hot cheerleader girlfriend could save his reputation. People would stop looking at him like the school coward.

"I'll do it." He said.


Victoria

Maurice isn't your father. Those four little words kept running through Victoria's mind.

The man that raised her wasn't her father. The man that gave her the Crown name wasn't her biological father. All her life she had been taught that she should be proud to be a Crown. It made her special. It made her strong. Now her name meant nothing. Her parents had to have known that Maurice wasn't her father. In fact, her whole family should have.

How could Victoria have been so naïve? There were things about their story that didn't line up. Her parents said the first time they met was when Janelle was doing an internship with the Crown family in the Spring. That didn't line up with the day she was born, however. Since she was born in September she would have to have been conceived in December of the previous year. It would have been months before her parents met. How was she never able to put the two together?

She just kept walking through the common room, she didn't have a particular location in her mind she just didn't want to go back to her room. Before she knew it, she was in the boy's hallway. Her aimless walking lead her to the one door she would expect the least. Hunter's.

She frowned. She shouldn't be missing Hunter. He betrayed them. He lied to them. He lied to her. Yet Victoria couldn't stop thinking about him. Was he safe? How was he able to avoid Ms. Morningstar's quirk? There had to be a reason she hadn't been able to locate him yet.

Victoria looked at Hunter's door one last time and sighed. Before she knew was doing, she was creating a shadow dagger and slashing the doorknob off. She slowly pushed the door open, revealing the boy's room to her. She could still smell his cologne. It smelled awful, but it still smelled like him.

She walked over to the Hunter's dresser. His side of the room was unkept and messy, a sharp contrast to the tidy side of the room that belonged to Alexander. Victoria pulled open the drawers at random searching through his stuff. Other than a couple pairs of school uniforms, most of his stuff was here. He had about ten different black leather jackets, each with a different stain on them. Victoria picked one up and looked at it carefully. This was the same the jacket he wore when the two of them played beer bong.

Just as she was about to put it back, she heard something crinkle in the jacket pocket. She raised an eyebrow. She reached into the jacket and pulled out a small Ziploc bag. Inside the bag was a blunt. It was at that moment Victoria lost all control. For some reason finding the blunt made her burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. It was the first time she had laughed or even smiled in days. Suddenly she forgot about everything that had been weighing her down. The death of Matt, covering up his murder, the drama with her family, it all seemed to fade away.

Even when he wasn't here Hunter still managed to put a smile on her face.


Jake

"Alright gentleman, we got a big game tonight! If you want to go soft on me now, I suggest you join the cheerleading team instead of staying on the football team!" Coach Kirby yelled.

Chris, the quarterback, snickered. "As if, Monica is more of a hardass than coach."

The football team had been doing bleacher runs for the past hour. Jake could argue that tiring them out before the big game wasn't the wisest decision, but he knew that would only earn him ten more bleacher runs. Luckily, he had a big lunch and ate some rocks on the way so he was able to keep up with his team.

"Speaking on Monica, is she single?" Robert smirked.

Robert was one Chris's best friends. A better term might be sidekick.

Chris cackled like a hyena. "Are you serious? She's obsessed with Diego, she's never going to give you the time of day."

"I don't know what she sees in that skinny douchebag," Robert chuckled.

"Remember when she dated Carter?" Chris chuckled.

"That was a fun year." Robert smirked.

Jake groaned. The two boys were in front of him, and them talking was slowing down his run.

"Hey assholes, can you save the gossip for when you guys braid each other's hair? Some of us plan to actually play in the game tonight." Jake snorted.

Kaleb sighed. "Here we go again."

"What the hell are you talking about freshman?" Chris snarled.

Jake shrugged. "Well it's just that you guys suck, so it's only a matter of time before coach realizes I'm the perfect choice for quarterback."

"In your dreams." Chris growled.

"This loser really thinks he can be quarterback?" Robert said.

Jake growled. Did he just call him a loser? He balled up his fist and prepared to lunge at the boy, when he felt a hand grab him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kaleb hissed.

Jake grunted and ripped his arm away from Kaleb's. "I'm about to teach these two a lesson."

"You're choosing now to start something?" Kaleb said. "Great idea to get all three of you kicked off the team."

Jake frowned. "What, am I supposed to be like you and just let people say whatever they want to me like some little bitch?"

"It's called being the bigger man." Kaleb said. "Really wouldn't hurt you to try."

Jake snorted. "I've seen them in the locker room, trust me I am the bigger man."

Kaleb raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry what?"

Jake shook his head. "The point is I'm not just going to lie down and take what people say to me."

"If you react to every negative word thrown at you, it just lets someone know that they have power over you." Kaleb said.

Kaleb sighed and placed a hand on his classmate's shoulder.

"Just try and clear you head. Take your aggression on the other team if you have to. We're going to need you on your A-game for tonight," Kaleb said.

Jake looked over at Chris and Robert one more time.

"Believe me, I will be," Jake growled.


New Characters

Natasha-Lightning2T

Robert- Lightning2T

Carter- TheLightningShinobi