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AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: I bet y'all didn't think you'd get two updates this week! Well… I'm proving all y'all wrong! This chapter was a fun chapter, it's not as chaotic as it could be, but you know what, that's okay, Still I hope you enjoy it, don't forget to leave me a review if you did and I'll see you guys next week!

Chapter 432

Rowan had woken him up screaming again.

It was like now that she was ignoring the strings they had regressed to what she had been before. Dreaming those terrible visions of the future and waking everyone in the house up with her.

When it had first been like this it was just him and that hadn't been that bad, but they had Nahele now and he was definitely being affected by this… badly. He'd wake up and rush to their room to see if she was okay, and he was starting to think that the boy wasn't falling asleep again once he was sent back to bed, because his attitude had taken a terrible dip since this had started

But every night, when Steve and Rowan retired for bed, he would fall asleep with his arms around her. He was hoping to dispel whatever nightmares were reaching out to her, but every now and then it didn't work. Recently, however, the dreams were slipping through more frequently.

That meant whatever it was she was dreaming about was coming closer and that was bullshit because she was dreaming about him in a plane crash.

It was very specific too. She was dreaming about him being in a single engine hobby plane, he would hit some sort of orange pylon thing in the middle of the sky and crash. And that made absolutely no sense because he was not going to be flying any tiny planes any time soon. Not after what happened the last time.

He sat up the second Rowan bolted up in bed, moving to pull her to his chest. She'd be crying now, and it would be his job to soothe her.

Across the hall he heard his son call out for him.

Not Rowan, like he usually did. It was a frustrated groan of: "Daaaaad!"

"It's okay, I got this," he called and was answered by another groan. But he didn't hear his son's feet on the ground or coming towards them so he got to him in time.

Sure enough, Rowan was crying, her face pressed into his chest, clinging him tightly.

"It was so awful, I had to watch you drown…"

"Ro… Ro baby… I promise, I promise you I will not be getting into a plane, any plane at this point."

"It was terrible…"

It probably was. He couldn't imagine having to dream about watching her die, let alone having to do it repeatedly. Granted when he did have nightmares they were of a similar vein, but these weren't nightmares she was dreaming glimpses of the future which could happen if she didn't find a way to fix it.

That had to make them worse. Knowing that this was supposed to happen and it was her shoulders to fix it.

And while, logically he knew all of that, he was tired and honestly sick of being woken up with this same dream.

He said he wasn't going to get in the plane. It wasn't going to happen. Just stop already!

Steve lay down again, taking her with him. He let her fingernails dig into his ribs, he winced but didn't stop her.

"I know it was probably horrible to watch and I'm sorry you're still dreaming of this nonsense, but I meant it when I say I won't be flying a plane, please believe me. Like… I really need you to believe me because you need to stop dreaming about this."

"I do believe you, Steve," she whispered after a moment. "But… I'm not pulling this dream to me, it's coming to me. I wouldn't be dreaming about it if he wasn't going to happen, cause otherwise… why am I dreaming about it so much?"

God he wished he knew.

"I don't know," he said. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Go back to sleep. I'll keep the dreams away for you."

He felt Rowan smiled over against his chest and his grip around her tightened.

He had to protect her somehow. This time he wouldn't fail her.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

In the morning they were all tired and slightly grumpy. Not a good set up for the McGarrett family.

Junior had gone for a run literally immediately to get away from them all, that's how bad it was. He hadn't even seen the whole family.

He said good morning to Rowan and she shot him a glare and he decided he was going for a run, right at that moment.

With him gone, and Eddie fed, Rowan was going about making breakfast for her boys. For Nahele before he had to go to school, and for Steve before he got pulled onto another case. Junior was on his own.

Steve had come down shortly after, he had been too tired to go for a swim that day, he'd just swim twice as much tomorrow, or go for a run later in the day if he got a chance. He had tried to kiss her on the cheek but Rowan had glared at him too and he backed away.

Damn, it wasn't his fault she was dreaming… well… maybe it kind of was cause it was about him, but still… it wasn't his fault.

She went for simple pancakes, cinnamon sugar. She was plating them when Nahele came down the stairs, he was fully dressed but Steve could see the dark bags under his eyes.

He offered him a coffee and Nahele took it with a soft thank you. He did not say thank you, however, when Rowan handed him his plate of pancakes.

Hurt flashed over his wife's features so he was certain to really ham up his thank you when she offered him his plate.

Steve had been in charge of drinks, so once the breakfast was on the table he put Rowan's tea in front of her and the three went about eating silently.

That was, until Nahele's head popped up, his eyes focusing in on Rowan who hadn't really been eating.

"Hey I was wondering if I could talk to you about the premiere next weekend," Nahele said and then before Rowan could even say yes he added: "And considering you woke me up at an ungodly hour, you owe me that at least."

There was a lot of unwarranted attitude behind that comment and it had Rowan looking up to their son, hurt in her eyes.

"Hey," Steve said right away. "There's no need for that. What's gotten into you?"

Nahele scoffed at him but otherwise ignored him. "Can I ask a favour or not?"

"Oh so it's a favour now?" Rowan shot back. She had moved to the table with the intentions of sitting down, instead she put down her mug of tea and gave him her undivided attention with her arms crossed over her chest. "Sure, what's up?"

"I want to bring my girlfriend, can we get her an extra ticket?"

Both Steve and Rowan froze. Steve then leant in to her: "Did you know he had a girlfriend?"

Rowan leant back in towards him and whispered: "No."

Oh good, so it wasn't just him.

Rowan pinned their son with one of her ice queen smiles, a little less frosty then she normally use. She clearly meant to be nice about it, but she probably wasn't going to say yes.

"Sweetie, do you think it's a good idea to bring a girl you've only been dating for what… a week?" Nahele shook his head at her. "No? Month then…" "—I've been dating her since the beginning of summer," he said interrupting her guessing game.

"What the fuck?!" Rowan thundered, which may have been what Steve was thinking but he wasn't going to say it. Five months. Neither he nor Rowan had no idea he had a girlfriend… for five months? "All summer? And you didn't tell me?"

"I thought you knew everything. You know strings and shit?"

"You told me to stop doing that…" "—you literally listen to no one, not your brothers, not your husband… why the hell would I ever believe that you would listen to me?"

"Okay, okay," Steve said coming between their argument. "This is a little sudden for us, okay? Can you see how springing us on this when you've kept it a secret until now might be a little jarring?" Nahele huffed but didn't say anything. Steve glanced to his wife who was flat out scowling now and then to his son who was avoiding their eyes. "How about this, it's not a no, but it's a not until we meet the girl. Let's meet her, have a little family dinner, or something like that. And if we like her she can come."

Nahele sighed but went for his phone. "I'll text her."

He slowly made his way out of the kitchen and Steve turned to Rowan. "Check the strings on that, right now."

Rowan simply nodded and then her eyes glazed over and those fingers of hers came up like she was plucking away on a harp… if that harp were a keyboard. She stayed that way for a moment before a frown touched her lips.

Steve suddenly had a bad feeling, god have mercy if Rowan didn't like this girl, it wasn't going to be a fun dinner for anyone.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

That Saturday afternoon was the day, the day they'd meet his girlfriend.

They had spent the rest of the week peppering Nahele with questions, Steve more then Rowan. They now knew a little bit more about her. Nahele had shown them a series of selfies of him with this blonde girl, the same one from the Halloween pic. The girl in the matching Baywatch outfit. It had been a couple's costume.

Rowan recognized her as the cheerleader who hugged him a lot at games.

"And that didn't seem odd to you?" Steve had asked her.

Rowan had shot back with a "Well yeah… I also happen to know who he actually has feelings for and it's not her…"

That had been surprising for Steve, because well… that meant there was some girl out there that Nahele really liked and Rowan wouldn't tell him who it was. She said it was because she wasn't supposed to know either, Nahele had never told her she only knew from the strings and few hints he had dropped.

Their son deserved privacy so if he wasn't ready to admit he liked that girl she wasn't going to make him. Though now, seeing how he ended up with this other girl, maybe she should have.

The new girlfriend, Madison, looked nice though, Steve had said but Rowan had been far from impressed. He must have had a reason not to want to introduce them and if that was the case… then why was that?

Steve mentioned he might have been embarrassed of his parents which had just made Rowan roll her eyes.

"Steve, you're on the TV all the time. You're a badass tactical team leader. And I work with celebrities. What do you mean he's embarrassed about us?"

Okay, yeah, that was a good point. But even though they seemed cool, kids were often embarrassed of their parents, Nahele could be no different. Just last year he had admitted that he didn't like how all the senior girls would swarm him when Steve showed up, so it was entirely possible that he was embarrassed of the both of them.

Still, Steve refused to make a decision until he met her though and he had made sure that Rowan knew that he felt like she should do the same.

Madison agreed to come over to meet the family on a Saturday morning for brunch. Rowan had asked what kind of food she liked and was told she was a no-carb diet, didn't want bacon as it was too fatty and didn't like eggs which meant she could really only eat fruit salad.

So Rowan spent that Saturday morning whipping up breakfast for the three of them, and then a fruit salad for Madison.

Steve was out setting the table, noting that Rowan was putting things in the oven to stay warm. She had pretty much gone into housewife mode right away. She was in one of her summer dresses, she had a pearl hairband holding her hair back and he had a feeling that if she wasn't in slippers she'd be in red bottom heels.

Steve had dressed up to match her. Grey dress pants and a matching black dress shirt that he had unbuttoned because it was Hawaii and he was hot.

Nahele had whined when he saw them. "Guys I said it was just brunch, it's supposed to be casual. Why are you dressed like that?"

"I want to make a good impression," Rowan had said.

"No, you want to Stepford Wives her," Nahele growled.

Steve had had to step between them before an argument broke out between them.

Honestly he was starting to worry about his son. He had been so aggressive and combative before. He knew that teenagers had rebellious phases but this one seemed to have just come out of nowhere.

Nahele had been sitting at the table while Steve set it, staring at his phone. He wasn't smiling though, his face was passive, and Steve was suddenly worried. When was the last time he saw his son actually properly smile?

Had something happened that he had missed? Was he okay? Cause normally… normally he got along with them well.

Steve almost asked him but Nahele bolted up. "Right, she's almost here, I'm going to go around front and meet her."

Rowan came rushing out of the kitchen. "She's here?"

"Almost I'm going to go get her," he said and then took two steps away. "Mom… can you please… just… be nice."

Rowan's eyes narrowed at him. "I'm always nice."

"Nice-nice, not bitchy-nice."

Rowan huffed dramatically "You're tying my hands here, but fine."

She raised her hands in surrender and Nahele nodded before jogging through the house to go to the front door. Rowan went to Steve, pressing into his side.

"I'm worried."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he said, pressing a soft kiss to her temple but he could tell that she didn't believe him.

She hadn't gotten a good impression from the strings, Steve could tell, but she wouldn't tell him what she saw that was so bad. You know, other than their son having feelings for someone else that wasn't this girl.

A couple of minutes later Nahele came back into the house with Madison in tow. They watched as he led her out to the lanai where they were waiting.

"Mom, Dad, this is Madison, Madison this is my mom and dad," Nahele said when he got out there.

Rowan put on her most glittering of smiles and pulled the girl in for a brief hug and a kiss on both cheeks. Steve offered a hand for her to shake, Madison had big bright eyes pointed right at him.

A little weird but he figured she was just nervous.

"Why don't we sit down," Steve offered and the two teens went for the table while Rowan went for the plates of food.

She had gone with buffet style. Plain waffles and all the toppings you could think of on the side to dress it up the way you wanted.

Madison should have ended up sitting beside Nahele, but for some reason, she picked the seat right next to where Steve was going to sit.

Steve glanced to Nahele and then said: "Guess we're switching," he said and then purposely moved his mug over to the spot he'd now be sitting.

He didn't miss the frown on Madison's face as they switched.

Rowan came out with the first plate which was the waffles and then looked at the table. "We switched sides?" she asked.

"Yeah," Steve said.

"I don't like sitting in the sun," Madison said and Rowan's eyes narrowed.

"But we've got an umbrella…"

Steve put a hand out to her and Rowan paused to turn to him. "Do you need help with the sides?" he asked.

"No I can manage," she said before moving away from the table again.

Steve turned back to the two teens a warm smile on his face. "So… Madison, Nahele tells us you're in a few of his classes."

"Just the two most important ones," she said with a grin. "Math and Gym."

"Oh… that's an interesting combination."

"Well, I plan to go pro after high school," she said. "So I need math for my routines and well, gym to keep myself limber and fit. I'm pretty… flexible… you know? I gotta be, as a cheerleader."

Beside her Nahele practically choked on a mouthful of orange juice. Steve caught that hint she was dropping. His son was clearly sexually active.

Maybe he needed to have the chit chat with him again about sex. Just a general reminder to be careful.

Rowan came back with the rest of the sides and then a specialty bowl of fruit salad she had painstakingly made herself.

"Here you go, Madison," she said as she put the bowl in front of her. "Nahele told me about the diet restrictions, so I hope this is alright."

Madison looked down at the bowl like Rowan had offered her mud. "Uh… I only eat Acai bowls…"

Rowan, had just taken her seat, but at that her eyes turned up first to Madison and then that unimpressed glare slid onto Nahele who purposely avoided her eyes.

"Well… I was unaware of that… surely…"

"I just won't eat," she said pushing the bowl away from her and Rowan took a very long, very deep breath before exhaling.

"Well… I'm so sorry you won't have anything to eat, is the orange juice up to snuff or is it too orangie for you?"

"Mom," Nahele snapped and Rowan simply donned a sharp ice queen smile and dropped the conversation.

"Uh… well…" Steve said hoping to get them off of this topic. "So… Madison… uh… tell me about yourself."

"Oh uh… I'm a Sagittarius so that probably tells you all about me," she said with a laugh. "I hear you're an Aries, Mr. McGarrett, that makes us compatible, isn't that funny?"

"Both Steve and Nahele are Pisces," Rowan said dryly and Madison's smile faded a bit.

"You told me your dad was born after the 23rd," she hissed and Nahele just shrugged.

"It's normal for kids to not really know their parent's birthdays…" "—It's the day before yours though," Steve said unable to hide the hurt in his voice.

"Okay moving off zodiac sign compatibility, what uh… do you have any plans for after high school?" she asked.

Madison sort of huffed so Nahele answered for her. "Madison plans on being a cheerleader after high school."

Rowan nodded to him. "Is that so?"

"Yep, she's pretty good," Nahele said. "She drafts all the routines her team uses."

"How cute."

"Mom," Nahele hissed and Rowan just sighed again.

"What, I was being nice?"

"It's alright," Madison said. "Most adults get judgey when I say this is what I want to do forever. But it's my dream, why shouldn't I stick with it?" She then turned a big smile onto Steven. "Have you always wanted to be a cop, Mr. McGarrett?"

"Mr. McGarrett? You can just call me Steve," he said hoping that if at least one parent was nice to her this relationship wouldn't implode on his son. "And uh… no… a career in law enforcement wasn't always my dream. But I like my job…"

"Job like that is pretty demanding," she said. "You must have to keep in shape."

Steve wasn't sure what that had to do with anything.

"Uh… yeah…"

"What does your fitness regime look like?"

"Uh… I go for either a run or a swim daily…"

"Do you lift weights?"

"Sometimes?"

"How much are you bench pressing?"

"I uh… round 150…"

"So you could lift me no problem then," she said. She was leaning now, as if trying to get closer to him.

Yeah, Steve didn't like this anymore. Not at all. Not even a bit. Steve turned a panicked look onto Nahele.

"Madison, stop it," he said and she leant back.

"What? It's just a question," she said. She then turned back to Steve. "I've been trying to get Nahele to work out more, he could do with some bulking up, he's too lean…"

"He's still growing," Steve growled. "Putting that kind of strain on him that young is stupid. And if someone told you it isn't they don't have your best interests at heart."

Fuck being nice to her. This girl needed to shut up. Rowan was right to be wary as to why Nahele hadn't wanted to introduce them before this.

He was dating a mean girl.

That one got her to deflate. She tore her eyes away from him like he had cussed her out. Dear god if this girl started crying, he didn't know what he was going to do.

Rowan however just lifted her mug up like she was toasting them. "Well, I for one think this is going great," she said clearly being sarcastic and both Steve and Nahele winced, while Madison shot a glare at Rowan from under her eyelashes.

Yeah… this was going to be a disaster.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

Brunch did not get much better.

Once they were finished eating they all took turns putting things away, except for Madison. That would have been alright, of course, her being a guest and all, if it weren't for the fact that she took all that time to hang onto Steven.

As in quite literally.

She was right beside him… the whole time. Literally at his side, yapping away and asking him questions that were getting more and more personal. And with those questions came the soft, fleeting touches. She literally found every excuse to touch him.

Tapping his chest when she spoke to him, trying to put her hand to his, at one point she had grappled onto his arm to see how big his bicep was and then just didn't let go. He had to shake her off of him, feigning the need of two hands to do the dishes.

Steve did not like it at all.

By the time Brunch was done, Steve was about ready to kick this girl out. Rowan looked like she was one more not so subtle flirt away from punching the girl, and Nahele seemed oblivious to it all.

His son was now standing at the door with the eye-candy girlfriend he had brought into the house, wondering why he liked her. She had nothing going for her except looks and it seemed like she didn't seem to be thinking about anything else other than that either.

"I'll see you later tonight once I'm done shopping," she said and he nodded, letting her press a kiss to his cheek. She then turned back to Rowan and Steve. Steve had been sure to drape an arm around his wife to kind of highlight that he was very much taken. "Thank you so much for this brunch, I had a good time."

That was a lie. None of them had had a good time. At all.

"You're welcome," Rowan said softly not even bothering to elaborate.

"You should text me the next time you go for a run… Steve…" she said. "I'm looking for a running buddy, but one that will go easy on me. You'd go easy on me, wouldn't you?"

"Nope," Steve said right away. "We're not… we're not doing that."

Madison's smile cracked a bit but she was interrupted by the honk of a horn. "Oh, that's my ride, I'll text you," she said to Nahele kissing him properly that time.

She then waved good bye before rushing out the door.

Rowan and Steve let Nahele wave her off and then waited for him to shut the door. Once he had turned around Steve figured they could talk about what the fuck just happened.

He really didn't want to be that person, but he was pretty sure that girl was dating his son for the perks his mom got him and to get to Steve.

"I don't like her," Rowan said right away. She didn't even wait for Nahele to ask. He shut the door and bam, Rowan was speaking her truth, right then and there.

"Mom!" Nahele groaned.

"No, I don't like her. She's fake and plastic and rude!"

"She was super nice the whole time…" "—She had an attitude the whole time." "… No that's her normal attitude. It's just a little… abrasive sometimes."

Rowan cocked an eyebrow. "Are you telling me she has a resting bitch attitude?"

"Well…" he started and then paused. "Mom come on, you were egging her on the whole time."

"Egging her on? I didn't have to egg her on, girl got egg all over her all by herself, without my help."

"Mom!" he cried but Rowan was just shaking her head.

"For what it's worth, I also don't like her," Steve said.

"Yeah but you always side with mom," he snapped and Steve frowned at him.

"No, Nahele, I don't like her… we don't like her. And honestly, I'm stressed as it is and I don't want to add to it by having her there, okay?" She softened a little bit at their son's frown. "Why don't you go with Grace, hmm?"

"No thanks," he said.

"But… why not?" Rowan whined. "She's already going. You know?"

"Okay, firstly, no. Grace will be going with Will, her boyfriend. And secondly, I don't want to be on babysitting duty because dad's best friend doesn't trust his own daughter. And lastly, as you keep telling me, no is a complete sentence."

Oh. He had her there.

On all accounts.

"Mom, I like this girl. A lot. And she's going to be really upset with me if I go without her. She's like super excited to go. Please? I'd feel better if she could go with me. Then you and dad could do all the press stuff and I'll have someone to stand with."

Rowan sighed heavily. "Fine, I'll see if I can find an extra ticket for her," she said. "But she's not walking the red carpet."

"And that is fine," he said and then moved to hug her. "Thanks so much mom."

Nahele skipped off towards his room with Eddie following him. Rowan waited for him to be gone before she turned back to Steve.

"If she flirts with you again, Steven I swear, I don't care if she's a minor, I'mma hit her," Rowan said and Steve's eyes narrowed at her.

"What? When was she flirting with me?" he asked hoping that if he acted like he had no idea she'd be less angry.

Actually the fact that that little girl was so interested in him was off putting. It made him feel slimy and gross. It also made him want to tell Nahele to never bring that girl around the house ever again.

Rowan rolled her eyes. "You're useless."

"Wait… what? Rowan…" he asked trailing after her to the kitchen. She went for the dishes and he stopped her. "My turn, you cooked I wash."

She smiled at him and then dropped her head to his shoulder.

"I really hated her," Rowan said softly and Steve nodded. He really didn't like her much either, but honestly what could they do?

They were basically stuck with her until Nahele decided he didn't want to date her anymore.

He had hoped when his son had gotten his first girlfriend, it'd be something they could all be happy about. Turned out his son had questionable taste.

He wondered if he could fix it or if it was too late.

H5O-H5O-H5O-H5O

The night of the premiere, was an amazing affair.

Grace and her dad had shown up earlier, then joined the rest of the Five-0 family as they waited for the actual event to start.

That meant she got a front row seat to watching the red carpet roll out. She got to see the B and C list stars come up, they had even gotten the two stars to come out to Hawaii. How cool was it that her Auntie Ro could call Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron and ask them to come… and have them say yes for her? But it also meant that she got to see exactly when the McGarrett's showed up.

She didn't know why it was so exciting for her, but getting to watch her Auntie Ro and Uncle Steve walk up to the flash of a million cameras had her heart palpitating. It wasn't them that had her that excited. It was Nahele.

The family had gone for a matching vibe. Both Nahele and Steve were in navy blue tuxes, while Rowan was in a beautiful floor length gown that had a navy blue skirt and an off the shoulder white top.

Her hair was done up in an elaborate hair do pinned with pearls and diamonds. She had a sparkling diamond necklace around her neck, and was seemingly clutching her little matching navy blue clutch. Steve had an arm around her waste, determined to keep her close, and on her other side was Nahele.

Both Nahele and Steve had slicked their hair back, looking like matching versions of themselves. Except Nahele had a tie and Steve had opted not to wear one.

They looked amazing together.

They posed for a while before the press seemed more interested in interviewing Rowan. Steve waved Nahele away, which meant he got to leave while Steve dutifully stood by Rowan as she answered the questions being thrown at her.

Grace had purposely stepped away from both her Dad and Will for this moment, because she wanted to talk to Nahele. He had been distant all summer, and now, he wouldn't even look at her at school.

There was a rumour going around that he was dating the most popular girl in his grade, which made sense. He was the quarterback for their Fighting Acorns, she was the head cheerleader, he was often holding her hand and ate with her at lunch, but Grace didn't want to believe that they were together.

And even if it was true, that didn't explain why he wasn't talking to her or why he didn't want to be friends anymore.

The problem was, the second he came off of the red carpet he was approached by the very girl Grace had hoped wasn't really dating him.

Madison looked absolutely stunning in the sparkling pink gown she was in, clearly she thought she was going to be on that red carpet with him.

Grace got to watch them argue about how he was supposed to wear a black tux so he looked good next to her, but he hadn't. He had dressed to match his parents.

She had stepped away, not wanting to watch them together, returning to her boyfriend and their parents and their friends.

All through the movie, Grace shot glances to where Nahele was sitting, his mom on one side, Madison pressed into his other side. Something in her stomach was turning over, something had her eyes brimming with tears. She didn't want to be jealous, because Nahele had never been hers, but honestly she was.

She couldn't admit it though, so she was just going to pretend it was because she missed her friend.

At the end of the movie there was a bit of a party. The plan was to mill around the venue, chatting and eating finger foods.

This is where Grace would joke with Nahele that she wanted real food and he'd say same and then trade their real food desires. She tried joking with Will about that, but it had gone over his head. He said to just eat more of the finger foods if she was hungry, but that wasn't the point.

Instead she waited, waited until she could figure out a way to get Nahele alone, then she was going to confront him.

The time came when he went to go to the washroom. Grace followed pretending that she needed to go as well, though she didn't.

The washrooms were in a quiet hallway away from the party, so she hurried to catch up to him.

"Hey, wait!" she called and Nahele stopped right away and turned to her.

He had really leaned out over the summer. Muscle had started to appear in all the right places and he certainly hadn't stopped growing yet. He was almost as tall as Steve, and definitely much taller than Ro.

He looked so handsome in his Navy blue tux, she sort of regretting choosing to re-wear the winter formal dress she already had. She should have bought a new one.

She rushed towards him and then gave him a hug before he could deflect her. "Congrats! I bet you're super proud!" she said.

Nahele's grip on her was limp but he did hug her back, even if it was with one arm.

"Yeah, the music was amazing. I know mom writes songs but sometimes it surprises me, how good they are, you know?"

She did know, she felt that way whenever she listed to Cheap Thrills.

She let him go and he immediately stepped away from her.

"I see you're here with Madison," she said with a hopeful smile. "I guess all the school rumours are true."

"Yep."

"So you've been dating her… I guess… all summer?"

"I have been," he said and she frowned. Why was he being so curt with her?

"Are you okay?" she asked him and Nahele sighed. "I just… I mean, you barely talk to me anymore…"

"Grace…" he said softly. "Grace, I've been busy, okay?"

"Busy, or avoiding me?"

Nahele just stared at her, a sort of passive look on his face that she had only ever seen on Rowan's before. "What do you want me to say, Grace?"

"It's Madison, isn't it? That's why you won't talk to me anymore… right?"

"Well… she thought it was weird. You know, spending that much time with a junior. Specially a girl…"

"That's stupid, we're friends. We were friends before you started dating her…"

"And I'd like to continue dating her… so…"

Grace frowned at him. "You know, I thought you were better than that, but you're just as shallow as everyone else. You deserve her."

She whirled around and stormed away before he could say anything. She sort of hoped that he'd call out for her, but he never did. When she glanced over her shoulder to see what he was doing, he had turned away and gone into the washroom.

She tried so hard not to be hurt, but she couldn't help it, because she had liked him… a lot… as more than a friend. And now, now they were nothing but strangers.