Well the next one is here, enjoy and please do review.

The next week went by without much drama, which for a change was kind of nice. Shane picked me up each morning, so I no longer had to worry about missing the bus. Instead I had a tendency to let Nate and Shane wait for me, which for some reason Shane found funny. Nate on the other hand, not so much. I learned that even though he always seemed cool and collected, Nate had a tendency to be impatient.

I have become close friends with Caitlyn and Anna, and they too have formed a bond. It seemed strange for them not to have been friends before I came along considering that they are a lot alike. They both said what was on their minds, and they have no problem coming up with new subjects whenever we fall into silence. The only thing that really separates them was their style and view on boys.

Caitlyn liked bright colors. She often mixed colors that (if you asked me) didn't match at all, but when Caitlyn wore them, it just doesn't seem wrong. It just fit her.

Anna, on the other hand, was much more classic. Her signature look, as she called it herself, was a black, high-waist skirt with a white cropped top and black pumps. She was the only one of us who wore heels, not that it is unusual. A lot of girls do it, especially the girls that Shane spends his time with.

When it came to boys, Anna was shy. She had no problem telling them off, but that was it. One day a guy named Cody came up and talked to her. Her face turned bright red and then bailed, leaving Cody back to deal with me and Caitlyn. We were both laughing our asses off. Now that I thought about it, it actually wasn't fair for Cody. He seemed kind of crushed.

Caitlyn had no problem what-so-ever with boys. Then again, she had a boyfriend, so she doesn't really have to worry about boys flirting with her. Nobody dared going after Nate Grey's girl.

That was another thing I learned during this last week. Both Grey boys were quite popular.

Nate apparently played basketball and was quite good at it. Shane was just an all girls' favorite, which most guys envied him for, and therefore they tried to take a little of the spotlight by being his friend. At least that was what Nate told me, and it was quiet visible that he wasn't lying.

Girls were always hanging on Shane's arms, especially the red head that I meet my first day. I have now learned that her name was Lena, and she was the head cheerleader. Cliché, I know. I wasn't sure whether or not Shane and her were a couple. She was the only one who had a tendency to kiss him sometimes. The only thing that made me wonder if it was just a fling was the fact that Shane was never the one to insinuate the kiss, and Lena never said anything when girls were throwing themselves at Shane. She just glared.

Shane and I hadn't talked much, but we at least hadn't ignored each other either. We said hello in the hallways and occasionally talk a little. The car rides to and from school, became less uncomfortable. Whenever they took a turn to the awkward, Nate broke it by saying something funny or start an argument. Mostly the rides were actually entertaining.

Nate and Shane had a special kind of bond. I know they were bothers, but they often act like they were the best of friends. They often talked about Jason and his obsession with birds. It was evident that they missed him. He apparently started college this year, and hadn't been home much. The last time they saw him was when I moved in. Nate seemed to be the one that misses him the most.

Nate was a great guy, and I became just as close with him as I was with the girls. He was easy to talk to, and he respected that sometimes I just need silence and time to think; a thing the girls have a hard time understanding.

All in all I actually liked my new life, which was a first for me.

I haven't had an incident with either of my parents since I was at the hospital, which was a first too.

With all of these good things going on in my life, I couldn't help but wonder when everything would come crashing down on me. When I woke up Monday morning to the yelling of my parents, I knew that my temporary paradise had come to an end.

I was always a light sleeper, so it didn't surprise me that their yelling woke me up. What surprised me was the fact that they were arguing. I hadn't heard them argue for a long time. My mom never had the guts to do so.

I quickly slipped out of bed and tip-toed my way to the stairs staying a little bit back not wanting them to know that I was there. They lowered their voices, but I could still hear them.

"Don't you dare use that tone with me," I heard my father hiss, his anger evident in his voice.

"I am sorry about raising my voice, but we can't just let her die at that hospital alone." My mom's tone wasn't as harsh as my fathers, but there was still a trace of severity, which surprised me.

"I heard what she said, Connie. She wanted you to leave me. I also know that Mitchie visited her last week, and I bet she said the same thing to her. Have the two of you been planning to leave me?" My father's voice was low but manic. He sounded angrier than ever, and I suddenly felt scared for my mom.

He knew I visited my grandmother. How in the world could he know that? Why hadn't he said something? Why hadn't he let the hammer fall on me? And had Grandma really told mom to leave when she had told me to endure it? I thought I had found clearness to all the madness last week, but now I was as confused as ever.

"You know she doesn't like you, but it doesn't mean anything to me. I would never leave you, never. And neither would Mitchie. We haven't been planning anything," my mom said in a fragile tone. She lost her nerve. She wasn't expecting the accusation.

"Don't you dare lie to me!" my dad shouted, and then a loud smack followed accompanied with a loud cry from my mother. I winced at the loudness of it all, and took a step forward wanting to go help my mother, but I knew that it would do no good. My dad would know I had been eavesdropping on the whole conversation, and think that I was in fact in cahoots with my mother.

"I'm not," my mother kept repeating between sops, and it nearly broke my heart.

"Then prove it. As I said before you are no longer to see your mother. Do you understand?" He had lowered his voice, but this tone of voice was still hard. I knew my mom had to be terrified of what he would do if she didn't agree, but still she didn't say anything.

"I said do you understand?" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Hadn't I been a light sleeper, this definitely would have woken me up no matter what. He added something in a much lower voice, that gave me chills down my whole body. "Or do I have to go get our daughter and involve her in this discussion?" The threat in his voice was clear; I would be the next one to get hit if she didn't agree.

"No," I heard my mother say, even though it was almost a whisper.

I decided I couldn't take anymore, so I went into my room and shut the door. I put my iPod in my ears and turned the volume up as loud as it could go. I decided that today I would skip breakfast. I was sure my parents wouldn't notice.

Putting on clothes and make-up seemed like the hardest thing to do all of a sudden. All I wanted to do was stay in bed and listen to my music, but I knew my dad would get suspicious if I didn't go to school. I forced myself out of bed, threw on a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and my brown jacket. Then I put on some mascara and pulled my hair into a pony tail. My bruises had disappeared, so I no longer had to worry about covering them which was kind of nice.

All in all I got ready in good time for a change, and when Shane drove into the driveway I was waiting for him.

"That's a first," Shane said, chuckling lightly as I sat down in the backseat.

"Yeah, well," I mumbled, and I didn't miss the look both boys sent me as we drove out of my drive way, making our way towards school.

I didn't say anything else for the rest of the ride. I just stared out the window listening to the boys' small talk.

We made it to school at the same time as the bus, so when we stepped out of the car, Caitlyn and Anna noticed us and made their way towards us.

"Good morning," they said in union, making me smile for the first time that morning.

"Good morning," Nate and I said brightly, while Shane just muttered it before he made his way towards his friends.

"Well isn't he just chipper today?" Caitlyn said, linking her hand with Nate's as we made our way towards the school.

"He was fine before we drove to school," Nate said, throwing a glance in my direction. I didn't miss it, but the others apparently did.

What was he insinuating? That it was my fault? I hadn't done anything.

"Well, I'm sure he is fine," I said, taking big strides into the school, wanting to escape Nate.

"Well good morning to you too, honey," Anna said suddenly appearing at my side. "You would think that a person would notice another person when she walks by that said person." In the beginning such rambling from Anna would have thrown me off, but I was slowly getting better at following her weird talk.

"Good morning," I said back a little hostile. Then I noticed Shane not far away from me being kissed by Lena, and unfortunately Anna noticed my starring.

"Does a certain person have anything to do with your hostility this morning?" she said, waving her hand towards Shane and Lena.

I looked at her shocked, shouting out "No" a little too loudly, but for some reason that just made her smile even more.

"Well, well, Mitchie, it seems you have neglected to tell some important news." She was smiling brightly, giggling slightly, and that made me nervous.

"What hasn't she told us?" Caitlyn asked showing up out of nowhere, a talent she used frequently. Luckily Nate wasn't with her this time. I had a feeling I wouldn't like for him to hear the next thing that Anna had to say.

"It seems Mitchie is in love with Shane," Anna said giggling hysterically, dragging out the word love.

Even though the statement was ridiculous I could feel my cheeks getting red. I looked around making sure no one heard. Nobody was looking so I guess that was a good sign.

" Well, well, who would have thought?" Caitlyn just said, smiling and winking at me without Anna noticing. She didn't believe her. At least that was a relief.

"You are being absurd, Anna. We just started being friends about a week ago. I mean I hated the boy mere days ago," I said, making my way towards homeroom with my two friends.

"Well, you know what they say. There is a fine line between hate and love. Besides, it's not like you don't know the boy. You were best friends before you left."

I had filled Anna in on the whole Shane deal a couple of days ago, explaining that we had been best friends, but I hadn't explained what went wrong, not even Caitlyn knew that, which meant that Nate didn't know either. Apparently I was not the only one who hadn't told anyone, and I was actually pretty grateful that Shane hadn't told anyone. It seemed to private for some reason.

"Yes, I was. I'm not anymore. And he has Lena by the way, plus a thousand other girls," I said stubbornly, occasionally looking around making sure that he wouldn't hear anything we were saying. He too had a way of showing up out of nowhere.

"That statement didn't help your case, Mitch," I could hear Caitlyn whisper before Anna was sent into another rambling about Shane. Instead of arguing back, which I knew would be pointless, I just picked up my pace, wanting to get to class as fast as possible.

"You are clearly in love with him." That was the last thing I heard her say as we entered the classroom, and everybody looked up at us. Anna had picked up her volume when it had become apparent that I wasn't listening, and therefore everybody heard her last statement.

Anna became silent smirking slightly and Caitlyn just started laughing. I, on the other hand, turned tomato red and quickly took my seat in the back, looking down into my desk. Anna and Caitlyn quickly joined, sitting down at each side of me, laughing slightly.

"I'm going to kill you," I whispered, not looking up from the desk.

"You should just be happy about the fact that Shane wasn't here. He would probably have been devastated if he thought you were in love with someone else. " Anna said bursting into laughter once again. As I looked up to glare at her Shane decided to step into the classroom and the outburst that was on the way out, stayed in my mouth. Anna noticed, but before she had time to say anything the bell went off and our teacher arrived.

The class went by silently, which gave me time to think about everything that happened this morning, and Anna's new theory suddenly didn't matter to me anymore. I had more important things going on in my life, and I had no idea how to handle it.

I had planned on following my grandmother's advice, but it didn't seem like that was what she really wanted if she had said the opposite to my mother. If my mom couldn't even see her own mother anymore, then I probably wasn't allowed either. If that wasn't bad enough, my dad hit her. It had been a long time since that happened. My mom had made a living on avoiding arguments to prevent getting hit, but today he still did. Not only that, but he also threatened to hit me too.

How could this have come so far? Before we came here he hadn't hit me once, and now he was actually using it as a threat towards my mother? If there had ever been any self-control in him it had disappeared with our arrival in this town.

It wasn't only me who was suffering from being back in this town in that house. He was too, but that didn't justify his behavior. Nothing could ever justify being such a bad husband and father. Absolutely nothing!

When the class ended, I started making my way towards my next class when all of a sudden someone took a hold of my wrist and threw me into the bathroom. I was caught off guard and was almost about to fall when someone took a hold on my shoulder helping me with my balance. As I looked up I noticed Lena looking at me with a glare of pure hatred.

"Well if it isn't the new girl," Lena snarled at me, making me take a step backwards.

I was too shocked to speak. What was going on? It felt like I had just been dragged into some stupid girl movie.

"Listen Michaela, I heard that you are in love with Shane, and even though it is sweet and all, you should just stay away from him. He is mine, and I would hate to have to go to drastic measures to prove that to you," Lena said all too sweetly.

I had nothing to say, I couldn't believe this was happening. How old was she? Five? Besides she shouldn't be worrying about me but all the other girls who were throwing themselves at Shane. I hadn't done anything, but one thing was for sure. I was going to kill Anna. Plain out kill her.

"Are you listening to me?" Lena suddenly snapped pulling me out of my daze.

"Sure," I said unsure, not knowing what to do. It was not like I was scared of her. I just didn't want any more problems. I felt like I had enough.

"Good to know. Goodbye," she said waving before leaving the toilet. I raised my hand waving back even though the door had closed.

I was flabbergasted. What was wrong with my life? When one thing goes wrong everything suddenly comes crashing down.

I made it to my next class just in time, and as the period started I decided that I had to stop thinking about everything that had happened today. Instead I listened to my teachers and made all the assignments we were ordered to do. I used the same tactic in my other classes, and it actually worked.

As the bell insinuating lunch rang I decided that I would go outside to eat. My head felt heavy from all the information I had gathered during my classes, the confrontation with Lena and the fight between my parents this morning.

As I came outside, I quickly located a big tree and sat down under it, taking out an apple from my backpack and a book. I wasn't feeling hungry, but I also knew that if I didn't eat something I would get a headache in about an hour. I opened my book sat down and locked out the world. It didn't take long before I was pulled out of my cocoon by a familiar laugh.

I looked up at noticed Caitlyn and Nate sitting at a table not far off, Caitlyn was laughing at something, making Nate smile brightly. They apparently hadn't noticed me or else I am pretty sure Caitlyn would have yelled for me to go over. I just kept looking at them with wonder, trying to pick up on their good mood.

"You aren't jealous, are you?" someone suddenly said beside me. I didn't have to turn around to know that the speaker was smirking.

"No," I replied honestly. "I'm just trying to figure out how she can keep that good mood of hers twenty-four seven. It really amazes me. Oh and the way the two of them interact it's unlike anything I have ever seen. They don't even have to say anything to know what the other is thinking."

Shane chuckled at my bluntness and sat down next to me on the ground.

"They are quite something, I know. Nate turns in to a whole other person around her. A happier person," Shane said also looking at the couple.

"How about you? Are you jealous?" I asked turning around slightly looking at him. Shane studied me for a second before answering, and as always he threw me off with his honesty.

"It would be nice to have that someday," he said looking at me intensely, making me feel slightly uncomfortable. I just nodded looking away down at my book.

He followed my eyes and lightly took the book out of my hands, flipping it over to read the backside.

"The Hunger Games?" he asked looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"I like fantasy, and one of my friends recommended it. It's quite good actually," I said, taking the book back, putting it into my back. He just nodded and smiled slightly at me.

"You must tell me the overall review when you are done. I need a new book." He laid down with his hands underneath his head, closing his eyes because of the bright sunlight.

"You like to read?" I asked skeptically, copying his posture and for the first time today I felt relaxed.

"Sure. It's soothing to escape the world once in a while. It makes me feel less trapped." He said it with such ease that for a second the heavy meaning of the sentence was lost on me. He too felt trapped sometimes?

I opened one of my eyes and looked at him with new found interest. It was like for the first time since I came back I had something in common with Shane once again. Even though it was such a horrible thing, it still made me relieved to know that I wasn't the only one with problems.

"What?" he asked as he noticed me starring at him.

"Nothing," I stated with a smile. He smiled back at me.

I looked down at the phone in my lap and noticed the time. "I should probably get inside and get my books for the next class." I said standing up. He too looked down at his phone, nodding as he noticed the time. He then too stood up, and started following me inside.

"You seem in a better mood now," he suddenly stated, looking at me with some sort of concern.

"I guess I am," I answered smiling, knowing that he was a big part of that. Shane had always had a thing with making me forget about my problems. I don't know exactly how. It was like his mere presence made my head shut off and made me concentrate on him alone. It was quiet liberating.

"I'm glad," he said smiled at me brightly. Even though I hated to admit it I could feel my heart flutter the slightest bit. Anna would just love this. It would only make her even more sure of her new-found theory of Shane and my supposed love.

"Well you didn't seem all too happy this morning either," I threw back keeping on my smile.

"Yeah wellm your mood is kind of contagious. It's hard staying happy when a person in your car obviously had some sort of a problem," he said, raising his eyebrows slightly, challenging me to disagree with him.

I knew there was no point in trying to make him think that something wasn't wrong, because he wouldn't buy it anyway.

"I guess you are right," I muttered looking down.

"I'm assuming you don't want to tell me what is wrong," he said softly looking at me intensely. I meet his eyes, and for a split second I wanted to tell him everything, but I knew I couldn't. Instead I decided to tell him some of the truth, I was sick of all the lies.

"Problems at home." I said looking straight at him. He just nodded seeming to understand that I didn't feel like telling anymore. Had he only known that, that statement was the closest I had ever come to tell anybody about my problems at home.

"So are you enjoying being back here?" he said after a long pause.

I was about to respond, when suddenly out of nowhere Lena appeared at Shane's side. I hadn't noticed her, but apparently Shane had because when she reached up to kiss him on the mouth, he turned his head slightly making her plant her kiss on his cheek. She quickly disguised her failure with making it seem like that was what she had intended all along. The look she threw at me made it clear that it wasn't, and that she blamed my presence for Shane's weird behavior.

"Hello, Lena," Shane said smiling at Lena, making her stop starring at me so that she could return Shane's smile.

"Hey, Shane," She replied battering her eyelashes making me feel sick.

I turned to go away, but before I could take a step I could feel someone grabbing my hand. I looked up noticing Shane looking at me with pleading eyes, making it obvious that he would like for me to stay. Instead I just took a step towards him, standing on my toes and planting a kiss on his cheek.

"If you want what they have, I wouldn't recommend her," I whispered before walking away. I didn't miss the glare that Lena threw me, but for some reason I didn't care.

The only thing I cared about was the fact that the second I turned around, I noticed both Anna and Caitlyn starring at me with big eyes, and that was when I realized what I had just done.

I just flirted with Shane Grey.

I know I have already said it, but please review and tell me what you think, i highly appreciate it.
And thank you all for the reviews I have gotten, it means a lot.

CamillaxbG