BOOM!

Cinder looked up, and saw Iko burst from her room. Iko looked at what was in front of her and sighed.

Kai opened his mouth and said to Cinder, "Please, Cinder. Don't do this. Peo—your sister wouldn't want this to happen to you. Please. You deserve more than this."

Iko shook her head, and looked at Kai. "Kai, could you leave us for a second? I need to talk to Cinder. It's an emergency homework question, and its math. Math. You understand, right? You can go in my room." Then, Iko walked to Cinder and pulled her up. Kai nodded, and walked out towards her room.

"Cinder, please do not tell me that you just had a mental breakdown in front of Kai. Look, I know everything about Peony, too. But, like Kai said, she wouldn't want this happening to you. No matter how much she likes Kai. Please, just give him a chance?" Iko begged.

Cinder shook her head. "No, you know I can't do that. Peony… it was more than a celebrity crush. And you know that."

Iko started to laugh. Laugh! "Oh my stars, Cinder. You though Peony like Kai, like, like him, like him? No! She was just having a little bit of fun. Fun before… you know. She dies."

Cinder shook her head again. "No… Don't talk about Peony that way! You don't know her like me! Peony—she was my sister. You're just an android! You wouldn't understand anything!" Iko's eyes widened, and Cinder slapped her hand onto her mouth.

"I—Iko. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking right. You—you know I didn— "Cinder started.

"Oh, sure. Just because I'm an android, I don't go through feelings like anger, or sadness, or happiness. I'm just a piece of junk. Why did you even go through fixing me again? Forget it. I'm leaving." Iko walked to her room, and Cinder started to follow her.

"No, Iko! I didn't mean that! I was really angry, and—you know I didn't mean that! I'm basically the same thing as an android!" Iko opened her door, and stopped in a halt.

Cinder bumped into her, and gasped. There was Kai, sitting on Iko's chair, his mouth wide open.

Iko stuttered, "I—Kai… Listen— "

Kai stood up abruptly. "I—I should go now. Thanks for inviting me though. I'll—I'll see you in class tomorrow."

He hurriedly left the room, and Iko sighed. Cinder clenched her fists next to her side and kicked the bedroom door. Things were not good.

Ding dong.

Wolf jumped up from the couch and made way to the front door. When he opened the door, he wished he could shut it right back.

There stood Scarlet, her crazy red hair waving from the wind. She was holding 2 boxes of pizza, where the box said Benoit's Pizza.

It took a moment for Wolf to find his voice, and when he did, he said, "Uh—Can I help you?"

"Someone order some pizza from Benoit's Pizza?" she asked.

Wolf frowned. "Uh… I don't know. I'll ask Thorne."

Scarlet raised her eyebrows. "Thorne's here? How does he look? No bruises on his arms or anywhere? He always had some form of bruises somewhere."

"I didn't see any on his face. Come in and you'll see yourself," Wolf said.

Scarlet nodded in thanks and followed behind Wolf. Wolf cursed himself for not cleaning up the house more when he realized how disorganized it was. There were gym clothes hanging from chairs, soda bottles on the floor (Thorne!), half-eaten potato chip bags (Thorne again), and school work papers. Wolf turned into a deep shade of red, and started to pick up the papers. Thorne was lounging on sofa, watching Mission Impossible, munching on another bag of chips. Sometimes, Wolf wondered how Thorne was able to maintain a healthy body.

"Sorry for the mess. It isn't usually this messy…" Wolf muttered to Scarlet.

Scarlet waved off the apology. "It's fine. I'm pretty sure over half of this is Thorne." Thorne looked up when he heard Scarlet's voice, and grinned openly.

"Hey Scarlet! You got my pizza?" he asked, looking at the pizza boxes.

Scarlet rolled her eyes and put the boxes on top of the coffee table. "That's 20 univs. Got 'em?"

Thorne shook his head. "It's on Wolf." He laughed when he saw Wolf's perplexed face, and opened the pizza box, pulling out a cheesy piece of pepperoni pizza. "Mmmm," Thorne said, taking a big bite.

Wolf sighed, and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. He handed Scarlet the 20 univs, and she counted them to make sure she had the right amount.

When she was sure she had all 20, she smiled, and said, "Thanks. Well, I guess I'll be going now." Before Wolf could ask her out to a movie, she turned around and started walking towards the door. Then she turned around, and said to Thorne, "Oh yeah. I heard Cress was heading over to your house to give you your missing work. Shouldn't you go and wait for her?"

Thorne suddenly dropped the pizza slice, and stood up, picking up his jacket as he did so. "Shoot! Oh my stars, Cress."

"What? What's wrong? Thorne?" Scarlet asked him. But he didn't answer back. Instead, he ran out the door, putting on his jacket. Wolf looked at Scarlet. Scarlet looked at Wolf. They both nodded followed Thorne out the door.

BANG!

The gunshot echoed inside Cress' ears, and she squeezed her eyes shut. But nothing hit her.

Thud!

Cress opened her eyes. The lady holding the gun was on the floor, gun a few feet away from Cress. She tripped over herself as she tried to stand up, and landed on Thorne's bed. She saw a dark and masked figure at the doorway, holding a stick. He dropped it, and he came towards him.

Cress screamed.

It was a scream anyone could've imagined, a high-pitch "girly scream". The man at the doorway stopped, and Cress saw hurt in his eyes.

The man put down his mask.

Cress gasped.

"Ju—Julian?"

He smiled sadly. "Hey Crescent. How's it going? Or is it Cress now?"

"Bu—But how? I thought you were— "

"Dead?" he answered for her.

She nodded, afraid that her voice would falter.

He sighed. "Look, I'll explain everything I can afterwards, but for now, let's get out of here. You're not hurt or anything?" He walked towards her, but stopped when Cress flinched.

Cress nodded again, and stood up. She looked at the lady on the floor. "She's not dead, is she?" Cress whispered.

Julian shook his head. "Of course not. Just temporarily out for now. May even have a concussion, I'm not sure. But let's get out of here."

He took her wrist, and bent down to pick up the gun. "I'll keep this for now. I think she has a delusional jealousy disorder, but instead with her spouse, it's with his son."

Cress shivered. It must have been horrible for Thorne to live with this kind of stepmother.

"I called 911 just in case something happened, but luckily nothing did. Let's go." Julian led the way out to the front door.

Just when they stepped out of the front door, two trucks, a red one and a black one, pulled up to the driveway. Cress froze.

The person who came out of the red truck was not any random person. He was Thorne. Cress had never seen Thorne this disorientated in any picture she's seen him in. For once, his hair was not used with a product, he wasn't wearing his leather jacket but a sports jacket, and his shoes were mismatched. One was his, and the other one was a bigger size than his regular shoe size.

Cress managed to choke down a giggle when she saw his shoes, but she felt Julian tense up beside her.

The two people who came out of the black truck was Scarlet and Wolf. Cress was surprised to see the both of them together, since Wolf was a nervous wreck beside her, but she dismissed the thought. It's not like she was in their business.

"Cress?"

She saw Thorne come up to her, watching Julian warily. "What are you doing here? At my house? Have you seen— "

Julian put up a hand to stop Thorne. "Yes, she's fine, even after seeing her." Julian spat out the last word like he was spitting. "I think you've already done enough harm to her. I'll take her home, and you can go see your stepmother."

Thorne's hands balled into two shaking fists. "Legal guardian," he growled.

When did Julian become this protective of her? The question disappeared from her mind when he pulled her to a blue convertible on the side of the street. Her eyes grew big, and this time, she wasn't acting her awe. It was the first time she's seen an expensive car in real life. Julian opened the passenger seat for her, and she slid into the leather seats. He walked over to the driver's seat, and started the engine. The car roared to life, and Cress put on her seatbelt, gripping the seat's armrest tightly.

Julian sped out of the road, and Cress saw Thorne kick his front door from the side mirror. She sighed. What trouble did she end up in this time?