Holden throws the door open and bolts towards him.

"HOLDEN!" I follow him, knowing what he's about to do. I barely grab his bag as his fist connects with our birth father's nearly identical face to ours. I pull Holden back and Scott Lahey, our birth father, touches his eye.

"Good to know that you have a good right hook," He looks past Holden at me. "You look like your mother." I give him the dirtiest look I can muster with the lump in my throat.

"I hope you know that I don't trust you the same way she did," My voice is shaking and I've never felt so weak. "Why are you here?" Our parents step around him and our mom puts her hand on Holden's shoulder, instantly calming him.

"He wants you to know him." We snort and I step forward, my fear replaced with anger.

"I don't think either of us want to be near you."

"It was a mistake. I made a-"

"A mistake is me accidentally stealing Holden's hoodie," I whisper, letting Holden take my hand. "Murdering our mother and leaving us to starve is a crime, not a mistake." Dad puts his hand on Scott's shoulder.

"It's time for you to go." Scott nods and offers us a piece of paper.

"I doubt it but here's the number of the motel I'm staying at in case either of you change your mind." Holden takes it and shoves it into his hoodie(I hope we lose it). Scott walks past us and the whiff of his cologne brings back a distinct memory of him hugging us before closing the front door and us finding our mother's corpse, head smashed in.

***

An hour later, I stare blankly at the drama people's friend requests and group chat invitation on my green laptop. I should reply. I will...Later. I keep replaying the moment Holden's fist connected in my head and change the ending to an ending where I don't stop him (It's bloodier and ends with someone calling the police). Someone knocks on the door and I sigh.

"Yeah?" Holden opens the door and sits in my flea market chair, holding the number between the long fingers we inherited from Scott. "What are you going to do?" Holden smooths the paper thoughtfully.

"I know he killed her and left us pretty much to die but..." He trails off and I pinch my nose. "I just want to know our backstory. I know he's not our dad but he's our birth father and...One day, one of us or one of our kids could need a kidney or liver and we might need him. I'm not saying we call him right now but...Soon, for nothing more than an organ donor if we need it," I take the paper and pin it to my noticeboard. "Thanks Dion...I should probably thank you for making sure I didn't do worse."

"Well, for the last hour, I've been imagining if I hadn't so I wouldn't thank me," He glances at my laptop with a quirked eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure this is the fastest I've ever made friends," He takes the laptop from me and starts accepting requests. "You know I don't need your help to make friends anymore." He nudges me, clearly about to reply with something like 'yeah you do' when his face pales.

"Oh. Shit," I look at the screen and feel a lump in my throat. Someone called Lavender (She might be a drama person) lives across the street and saw everything...Filmed everything. "Life just became a lot worse, didn't it?" I put my head on the wall.

"Once we explain, it shouldn't be too bad," He gives me a look that I recognise from when we used to play Monopoly until we were banned after the incident (Apparently throwing the dog and the car at your sister because she beat your ass gets both banned) and I take the laptop. "Well, it's not like we can do anything. It's been up for an hour and been shared by..." I check the number of shares, my stomach dropping. "Three hundred people. If we report it, it does nothing because too many people have seen it already. I mean, look at these comments," I point at the top comment, I played basketball with the guy this morning and he seemed a little intense but I didn't think he was a psycho! What did the old guy do to him? A new comment appears and I see the ghost of a smile on Holden's face as he reads Rain's comment, Can we not judge him until we know what happened? He probably had a very good reason. "At least Rain gets it. If the coach uses this as a reason for you to not get onto the team, I will get the drama people to help me make a petition or something." He leans back and rests his head on the back of the armchair.

"They can't afford to have a guy with anger issues on the team. If this affects my place on the team...I'll understand," I glance at the post and see a new comment, Bro, that guy killed his wife and left his three year old twins to starve, I think those are the twins. I just googled the twins. I whisper a curse and he looks at the screen. "I'm reporting this now. Screw it," He reports the video as I see Lawson and River react to the video. My head starts going a mile per minute as I start to hyperventilate, what if they saved the video? What if they say I can't sit with them? What if I just lost them and everyone knows I'm a mess? (Fuck, I'm having an anxiety attack). "Oh God. Dion, breathe. Remember to ground," He closes the laptop and takes my hand as I ground myself. I mentally name five things I can hear (dog barking, car whizzing by, parents talking about Scott, Holden telling me to breathe, phone pinging), four things I can see (Holden's familiar blue eyes, books that have made me cry, bed, sunlight coming from the window), three things I can smell (Holden's cologne which is disgustingly familiar, my shampoo, my hand cream), two things I can feel (Holden's hand, my skirt) and finally one thing I can taste (mint from the gum I may have just swallowed). "It's been awhile...Makes sense why it would happen today." I nod, rubbing my throat.

"I think I swallowed my gum," Holden lets go of my hand and shakes his head as his phone pings with mine. "We better face the music." I open my phone and sigh at the drama people's messages.

Charlie Simmons: Hey, I saw that video. Are you two OK?
River Richards: Is it true that guy your brother punched was your birth dad?
Lavender Shirley: Hi, I just realised we're both auditioning for the play and I didn't think about the consequences. I'm really sorry, I hope you can forgive me and we can be friends.
Lawson James: I looked the guy up and honestly I would've punched him too.
I smile at Lawson's message and close my phone.

"I did pretty good, you?" Holden doesn't answer, blinking at his phone. "Holden? What's up?" He looks up with a wide grin.

"Two things. One; the team captain messaged me and said the punch won't stop me getting on the team if he has anything to say about it," I grin back at him before he continues. "And two...Rain asked me out and I said yes." I wince, touching the small bruise on his face from the door.

"Okay but you need a good cover story for the door thing that makes sure you don't come across as a pyschopath," I move my hand back and tap my chin thoughtfully. "How long do you have until the date?" He checks his phone, his grin becoming completely and utterly lovesick.

"Two hours. We're getting ice cream," His grin fades, touching the bruise. "What if she thinks it's from earlier somehow? Maybe I should cancel." I snatch his phone away and throw it onto my bed.

"Maybe you should try some grounding. You sound like you're about to have a panic attack," I open my phone and put on Spotify. "Are we feeling musicals or that other music? We need a good soundtrack for when I figure out how to hide the bruise or a good cover story and help you with the date." He gives me a smile.

"I hate to say it but it's been that other music kind of day," I press shuffle on my 'That other music' playlist and Chocolate starts playing. "So, you got a plan?" I nod thoughtfully.

"We say I wasn't paying attention and I whacked you with my hairbrush," He gives me a look and I give him a look back. "It's better than you were too busy drooling over her to see the door. Now, are you going to be wearing that?" Holden looks down at his bleach stained t-shirt with a frown. "C'mon, I'll help you."

***

After sorting out clothes for an hour, I forced him to shower since he had tryouts and decided not to shower afterwards. I'm sitting, trying not to dance to the music I usually dance to until Riptide plays. I start dancing, years of training kicking in and I spin just as Holden walks in. I, in true Dion fashion, fall on my ass and turn off the music.

"Well, you look better so you should do," He tugs nervously on his blue buttoned shirt. "She will like you...If you brush that floppy mess you call hair," I toss him my hairbrush and he brushes his hair as the tune of Lolita by Lana Del Rey echoes through the house. "I'll get it, you keep brushing," I slide down the banister and open the door. "Hey Rain, he'll be a couple more seconds. I like your dress." Rain smiles at me, awkwardly smoothing her blue dress as she walks into the house.

"Thanks. Did you slide down the banister?" I'm saved from answering by my parents walking out of the kitchen.

"Hello. Who are you?" Mom asks, tucking a loose black wave behind her ear. Rain steps forward, offering her hand.

"I'm Rain Richards. I'm a friend of Holden, we're going to get ice cream," She shakes hands with Mom and then Dad. "I'm just waiting for him." Mom looks between the two of us.

"Why are you not friends?" I smile widely, trying to think of an excuse that doesn't start with 'Her cousin called her friends a cult' when Holden slides down the bannister with a smile. "What have I told you about sliding down the bannister?" Holden ducks his head, clearly trying to hide how red his face is getting.

"You have previously stated that I should not slide down the bannister," He raises a finger. "However, I have a counterpoint, you did not yell at Dion for doing the same thing," He hurries to Rain and opens the door before I flick him. "Rain and I will be going, I'll obviously be back before curfew." Rain waves over her shoulder as Holden closes the door. I hurry forward and look through the peephole.

"Your family seem nice," Rain holds out her hand to Holden and he takes with a shy smile. "You look really nice, I guess Dion helped you out." He shrugs and starts heading down the path towards Rain's car.

"She just pointed out that a bleach stained t-shirt wasn't the way to go," They reach the car and Holden hesitates. "Would it be okay if I kiss you?" Rain goes on her tiptoes and kisses Holden in a way that makes me step back and smile at my parents.

"I'm sorry I slid down the bannister but do you want me to tell you what just happened?" Mom tries to stare me down. "Holden and Rain are going on a date right now and I have a lot more to add." She shares a look with Dad before pointing at the kitchen.

"Alex, get dinner, we will be talking for awhile before I dish out her punishment," I look at my shoes and smile to myself as I follow her into the living room. "So, how did they meet?" I grin at her as we settle onto the sofas.

"Well, I called Holden a narcissist..."