I heard at Arya and Erika fighting over the bathroom in their room. I smiled, and looked through the pictures on my camera. I had taken over 500 pictures in the last week. Some of my friends, and some of L.A. Maxine came out and told me the bathroom was free, so I walked to our room, and grabbed my outfit.

I took a quick shower, and dried my hair while I did my make up. Tonight the boys had invited us to a 'get together' at their apartment. I wrapped a towel around my body and walked out into the bedroom. I saw the dresser mirror and smiled.

Even though the boys had only known us for three days, they had become our four first friends here. They had taken it upon themselves to show us L.A., and one day we went to the mall, and there was a photo booth, and of course we couldn't just pass it up, so we all took pictures. The one I had stuck to my mirror was the one I loved the most. The top picture was the girls and me, the one under that was the boys, then it had Kendall and me for the third one making funny faces, and the last one had me smiling and Kendall kissing my cheek. We all had several dozen of them.

I then walked to my dress, and slipped it on. The red dress had a sweetheart top, and went to a little about my knees. I slipped on my black flats with a gray bow on top of it, and my peace sign necklace. I then dug through my drawers to find the one jewelry piece that meant the world to me. I finally found it and slipped the bracelet on.

I did my hair curly, and smiled at the reflection.

"Avalynn Ivy Venom! Hurry your butt up!" Arya yelled. I rolled my eyes, and walked out to the bedroom. Maxine whistled sharply and I laughed.

"Shut up Maxxie!" I cried, and looked over my friends. Arya was in black skinny jeans with a green top, Eiffel tower earrings, high heeled converse, and bracelets. Her hair was down, but wavy. All in all, a very Arya outfit. Maxine was in a puffy skirt that was black with red at the bottom, and a red tank top with a leather jacket over that. She donned her feet with black converse. Her hair was straight. Charloette was in skinnies that were gray, and a stripped shirt. She had boots on, and her hair was in a low side ponytail. Erika had dark blue shorts, and a baggy, loose top with converse on. Her hair was in her signature braids, and she had her charm on.

"Ready to party?" I asked. They smiled and nodded. We left the room and walked down to the pool. We walked out and everyone was dancing and having fun. James met us first and extended his hand to Arya. I smiled at her and shook my head, as they went off to dance.

They've been flirting too much, and you could tell we were getting sick of it.

Carlos found us next and took Charloette and Erika to the dance floor, so me and Maxine stood together and looked around.

"Dance?" she asked.

"Dance" I agreed, and we hit the dance floor and danced like there was no tomorrow.

Logan and Kendall soon joined us, and we smiled at them. I looked at Maxxie, and mouthed to her 'be nice!'. She sighed but nodded, smiling at Logan.

"So how do you like the party?" Kendall asked. I smiled, and shrugged.

"We had bigger ones back in Texas" I teased. He chuckled.

FF

We were still dancing when the boys went to the stage.

"Okay, so these five lovely ladies are new here, but they have amazing voices, so we thought we'd ask them to sing for us" James suggested to everyone. The five of us looked at them, and then at each other.

"What could it hurt?" Charloette asked. I shrugged.

"It'll be nice to perform in front of people other than the mirror back at the room" Arya added her two cents. I looked at the other two. Erika looked absolutely terrified, and Max, I couldn't read.

"I say yeah. I mean what better way to get publicity then performing in front of everyone" Max finally added. I nudged Erika, and she nodded slowly.

"Okay, let's do it" she voiced softly. I smiled, and we walked over to the boys, and took the mics they handed us.

Maxine and Erika grabbed guitars, and we grouped together.

"So what song?" Erika asked, slightly tuning the guitar. I bit my lip thinking.

"Fight like a girl?" Charloette suggested. I looked at the others, who nodded.

"Alright Fight like a girl it is" I said, then we turned back to the crowd.

"Alright, so here's a personal song and its called Fight Like A Girl" I said into the mic, then the girls started playing. Arya started us off.

Little girl alone on the playground
Tired of gettin' teased and gettin' pushed around
Wishin' she was invisible to them

She ran home cryin' why do they hate me?
And mama wiped the tears and said
"Baby, you're brave and you're beautiful"

I smiled and we all joined in, Maxine singing with me and Erika with Charloette.

So hold your head high
Don't ever let 'em define the light in your eyes
Love yourself, give 'em hell, you can take on this world
You just stand and be strong and then fight like a girl

I looked at Charloette and nodded. And she nodded back and started to sing.

At 31 she was wheelin' and dealin'
Kept on hittin' that same glass ceilin'
She was never gonna one of the boys, no

She could've gave up on her ambition
And spent the rest of her life just wishin'
Instead she listened to her mama's voice sayin'

We all joined in again.

Hold your head high
Don't ever let 'em define the light in your eyes
Love yourself, give 'em hell, you can take on this world
You just stand and be strong and then fight like a girl

I let Erika take the bridge and smiled as she sang her heart out.

With style and grace
Have faith and take names

I then started to sing with my heart.

Ten years of climbin' that ladder
But money and power don't matter
When the doctor said the disease spread

She holds on tight to her husband and babies
And says "this is just another test God gave me
And I know just how to handle this"

The girls let me take the last chorus by myself but added harmonies to it.

I'll hold my head high
I'll never let this define the light in my eyes
Love myself, give it hell, I'll take on this world
Yes, I'll stand and be strong, no I'll never give up
I will conquer with love, and I'll fight like a girl

We finished and everyone was clapping. We bowed and we walked offstage. I smiled at my friends, and everyone.

"That was so cool!" Carlos came over to us. I laughed.

"Thanks Carlos" I voiced all of our thoughts.

We continued to party until late in the evening then we all went upstairs and changed and fell asleep.

FF

I woke up and looked at the date. My eyes immediately started tearing up.

I covered my head, but after a couple of minutes of trying to fall back asleep, gave up and got up. I took a shower and got dressed in sweats and a hoodie.

I walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. I leaned against the arm, and shut my eyes, willing myself not to cry. I looked at the bracelet I had yet to take off for anything, and that's when it happened. The flood gates opened and out came endless tears. I heard thunder and lightening and saw that it was storming, and couldn't help but smile a little.

"I hate thunderstorms!" Maxine shrieked as she came out of our bedroom. She was about to continue when she saw where and how I was. She then rushed over to me, and sat beside me.

"Ivy, whats wrong?" she asked, wrapping me in a hug. My silent sobs shook both of our bodies.

"Ari! Eri! Char!" Max yelled, and soon enough the three were with us. They saw me, and were at my sides in a heartbeat.

"Ava Ivy, whats up?" Ari

"Who the hell made her cry?" Char

"Aves, whats going on?" Erika.

I shook my head, and held out my wrist. I finally calmed down enough to speak.

"Today's the day" my voice broke.

Maxine gasped. "You mean…" I nodded at her.

I pulled away from them, and wrapped my arms around myself. "Oh Ava" Ari said.

"Why don't you tell us about him? You never really told us anything." Erika said softly. I looked at them, and couldn't help but thank god for my amazing friends.

"It happened seven years ago. I knew he had it, but we didn't think he'd get full blown AIDS so fast. I mean Uncle Tom doesn't even have it yet, and he's lived with HIV longer then Ryan. I thank God everyday for blessing me clean. I don't want my parents to go through burying another child any time soon." I started.

Charloette rubbed my back, trying to calm my hiccups.

"When he found a lesion on his leg, I wish I could say that he was strong, and brave. But he wasn't. he was scared, and afraid. We told mom and dad, and they freaked out and took us to the hospital" I continued.

Flashback

"Mom! Dad!" i cried. They came running and Ryan showed them his leg, and my mom's breathe caught.

"Adam, get the car" my mom demanded, and my dad followed her instructions. We ran out to the car, and got in.

My dad practically sped to the hospital, while I was hugging my brother for dear life. We went to the ER and my brother was seen right away. All the time my brother was coughing, and soon he held his hand to his mouth and coughed up blood.

"Ryan!" I screamed as I was ripped away from my brother. My dad picked me up, and held me to him.

"Ssshh baby girl. He'll be fine" he tried to comfort me. I was openly crying on my dad's shoulder.

Four hours later we were finally able to see him, and I was running to his room.

I stopped at the door because I saw him in the bed, and he looked so pale, and weak.

"Ry-Ry" I whispered.

"Come here dove" he said. I went to the bedside, and he lifted me up next to him. He cleared my tears, and kissed my forehead.

"Don't cry dove. I'll be fine. Just watch, soon I'll be back and beating you in horse races again" he told me. I sniffled and nodded, and laid on his chest.

The rest of the time was spent him talking with me, and making me feel better.

End flashback

"He was wrong. He never recovered. A week later, he passed away. And I was there with him. He was talking to me, and then he started coughing. He wanted me to sing to him, so naturally I did. I sang 'No Day But Today' to him, and he died in the middle of the song." I ended, still sobbing.

"Ava…." Erika whispered.

I let myself be pulled into a hug, and cry until I couldn't cry anymore.