Victoria Chase and Nathan Prescott

The stench of smoke dispersed through the room while both Victoria and Nathan heard the neighbor's hipster music start to play softly again. Nathan scoffed at the wall where the music could be heard through.

"Today blows man," Nathan commented "first our party getting rained out now this? We gotta listen to your neighbors shitty indie music?"

Victoria finished fastening the tape over the smoke detector and then stepped off the chair as she spoke.

"Yeah, that's Max's room. You know, that knew girl. She's honestly so cliche it hurts."

"Well, so are you, Vic"

"Oh you're one to talk Mr. rebellious rich kid" Victoria laughed while Nathan playfully pushed her. She joined Nathan on her couch, taking a cigarette from him and letting him light it.

The two of them had banter like this often. Many people assume that they're dating, but they were really more like brother and sister. Part smoking buddies, part philosophical contemplation buddies. Although those two things often went hand in hand, depending on what they were smoking.

The two seniors were undoubtedly stereotypical on the outside, but to them what they appeared to be didn't matter. Victoria and Nathan both knew that they were more than what they looked, and that was all they needed.

Nathan noticed the muffled music become a little louder and rolled his eyes.

"Do you have to deal with this all the time?" He asked pointing at the wall.

"Ugh, yes," Victoria groaned "This strange folk music or something that she plays all the time. I don't even think there's a genre to classify the shit. Even worse is when she's playing guitar on her own. Same with Kate a room down, except she plays the violin at 6 goddamn AM and wakes me up!"

Nathan hummed in response. In the following silence Victoria trailed off in thought, both of them taking another drag of their cigarettes.

"Except, now that I think about it that slut hasn't woken me up with that shitty scratching for about a week now, about damn time…"

"Probably too busy making out with random guys." Nathan sneered, but he didn't think he really meant it. Honestly felt bad for Kate, but Vic had already taken this whole "Kate's a slut!" thing too far for him to stop it. He regretted even bringing that rumor up, but he had to play along. At least for now.

"Oh! Don't even get me started!..." Victoria trailed off.

He truly regretted talking about Kate like this, the guilt weighed him down more and more with every insult she received but it was the only way he could protect himself. To hide the secret…

"-Right? Nathan, right?" Victoria prompted as thunder rumbled in the distance.

Nathan snapped his head back up. His eyes meeting with a worried friend. He hadn't heard a single word of what she said.

"Dude, you look like you just killed someone. Whats with the face Nate?"

Nathan quickly composed himself again.

"Nothin' just timed out for a bit."

Victoria cocked a eyebrow at him as if to say "I know you Nathan, what's really wrong" but Nathan just looked the other way, picking a random poster on her wall to stare at.

Victoria was really the only person who got to see him like this. Even his own family stayed distant from Nathan, and that was partially why Victoria took pity on him. But since this new year started Victoria stopped getting that full picture, and she couldn't quite tell what was up. Maybe the new girl?... She thought.

Without realizing, the two of them both started bouncing their legs as they sat side by side on Victoria's plush pink couch. Nathan worrying for Kate, and Victoria worrying about Nathan.

These moments were becoming all too common this new year at Blackwell High.