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Twelve

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"Ouch! Are you trying to kill me?" Paige whined in pain, squirming like a snake as Amanda weaved her hair into cornrows.

"They're gonna get loose if I don't tighten them," Amanda explained, turning Paige's neck to balance her head on her lap.

"I feel like an airhead. Is this what you go through all the time?"

Amanda shrugged. "I'm used to it. Now sit and stay."

Paige laughed. "I'm not a Puppy."

"You sure are acting like one," April supplied with a laugh from the other side of the room, where she hung nearly upside down from the bed with her legs propped on the wall, resting on a faded 'Step Up 3' poster. The other two were on Amanda's bed- well Amanda was sitting on it, while Paige was on the floor with head resting on Amanda's thighs. "You'd make a cute pup, don't worry."

"Arf, arf bitch." Paige laughed.

"Why'd you lie last night?" Amanda asked, bumping her head forward to enable her braid the tail of the row she'd just finished weaving.

"Lie?" Paige hissed in pain.

"You didn't say what your actual answer was...hating basketball," Amanda told her.

She sighed. April knew that sigh all too well.

"You were afraid Nathan was gonna judge your space dreams," she said, double tapping a photo of two people entwined, with the words 'the complex' written in purple on the picture.

"No! I mean- well look what he's doing to you, and yours is just dance."

She chuckled and saved the post to her profile. "I know right?"

"Speaking of lies yesterday," Amanda cut in, taking her eyes off Paige's head for a second. April looked up from her phone, knowing exactly where the conversation was leading. She had heard the words 'lies' and 'yesterday', which translated to one thing. Her.

"I didn't lie, I don't know why you're looking at me," she said nonchalantly.

"We all know you still have that Cartier ring, April. You didn't throw a ring off a mountain, and you haven't spent a night in jail either, meaning you told one truth and two lies."

"No, she threw the ring...I was there," Paige countered. April got the urge to hug her but held it in to avoid looking desperate. Instead, she lifted her brows at Amanda as if to say 'hah, see?'

Amanda merely nodded. "So you did trash the very same ring you once punched Nathan in the face for, which means prom was just as shitty for you as it was for me."

"I'm not saying that."

"Yeah, well you said some things."

April glared at her. "Am I supposed to ignore or latch on to your mixed messages?"

"I don't know, are you supposed to ignore or latch on to the fact that you're making me go insane?" Amanda asked her in turn, tugging on Paige's hair.

"Ouch! Careful!"

"What did I do?" April asked her. She hated Amanda's passive aggressiveness more than her actual anger, and she was in too much of a messed up state to hide it. "Tell me how I upset you this time."

"Some prom date you had," Amanda mocked without raising her voice. "Does that ring a bell?"

"Wait. Are we fighting?" Paige asked, looking from one girl to the other.

April rolled her eyes, dropping her phone to enable her face Amanda properly. If Amanda wanted to talk about prom, they could, after all there were many things that should've been said on and about that night. April had ended up alone and cold, Paige had passed out from drinking too much and Amanda had cried for reasons she still refused to tell anyone.

"I only said that because it was truly some date you had. Nathan left you that night and you've refused to admit it and blame him for reasons known to you alone."

"Exactly! my reasons, April, you had no right to bring it up at that moment, just because you didn't wanna admit you're not over Javier."

In April's opinion, Amanda was being completely irrational. It was just a game and Javier had nothing to do with this. She had no reason to bring him up. "Not that it's any of your business, but I am over him," she replied. "And you know what? I'm sorry."

"You've been saying that a lot lately." Amanda's voice was curt.

April shrugged. "I am sorry. Sorry I'm the only one who actually gives two shits about your feelings."

"You're not giving shits about my feelings when you're just using them to hide your own. That's just being selfish."

"I'm not being selfish!" April raised her voice. She could be selfish at times and if she wanted to, she had come to that conclusion a long time ago. She knew who she was, and she hadn't been selfish the previous night. Amanda was the one with issues here, not her.

Paige turned to April. "Can we stop talking about this?"

"No, we can't just—" April's words came to a stop when a knock sounded on the door, followed by Hannah's head popping in.

"Hey, girls!" If she'd heard them arguing, she made no indication.

"Hey Hannah," April answered, letting her legs drop onto the wooden floor. She could see Amanda paying too much attention to the hair she was braiding, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "What's up?"

"You have visitors. Shawn and a girl."

Shawn and who? April thought, then quickly shoved the question out of her mind. Neither of them were her cup of tea right now.

"What girl?" Paige asked her question for her.

"Find out by answering the door, they don't know I saw them," Hannah replied.

"Wait, they're still knocking?!" The blonde yanked her half braided hair out of Amanda's hands, wincing afterward at the discomfort that followed. Amanda got up and went after her, leaving April alone on her bed.

She heaved a sigh and fell backwards, landing on the mattress with a thud.

"Are you okay?"

She bolted back up when she realised Hannah was still there. "Hm? Yeah. I'm fine."

Hannah's smile wavered. "Are you sure?"

No. Amanda won't stop pushing the idea that there's something going on between Javier and me when there isn't—I mean, there was but it's over now. Dad's probably still mad at me for what I said about college, Nate keeps making jabs at me at every turn and Javier keeps confusing the hell out of me. I feel like he both warms my heart and fires my temper so no, I'm not okay.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Your Dad is sorry for what he said earlier."

She held back a scoff. "Yeah, I'm sorry too."

"I understand you both were angry. Camping didn't go exactly as we planned, but I had a great time. You were an excellent planner, April."

"Thanks." The word was barely audible due to her throat clogging up.

"I heard you girls fighting. I won't pry, but if you ever want to talk, I'm here. I'll always be here for you. I don't want you to feel like you have nobody on your team because I am."

April's mind drifted back to the argument back at the campsite. If Hannah had truly been on her team, she would've said something, rather than just separate them. "Doesn't seem like it sometimes, you just agree with everything dad says."

"Because for some people, it's just easier to be silent. I've tried pleading your case, trust me. But just because your Dad can talk me out of challenging his plans doesn't mean he can do the same to you."

April nodded. "Yeah. Sure."

Hannah gave a small smile that was meant to be reassuring, then closed the door behind her.

April was still sitting there, waiting for Shawn to talk to Paige and Amanda and hopefully go away. Thanks to Javier, she owed him a date, and thanks to said reason, she couldn't bring herself to follow through with it. Not when her mind wouldn't stop crawling back to the events at the lake...and of course, after pleasure came the pain.

She still hadn't apologized to Javier, rather he hadn't apologized to her for—What had he to apologize for? He'd later confessed to not scraping the tattoo, but she still felt like there was something to be mad about.

Welp, sitting like a duck while he was probably out teasing other girls was not her style. She boosted herself off the bed and threw her phone back onto the mattress. She could face her problems head on. She'd meant what she said by 'It's either I make clear my intentions or something gets in the way'. It was exactly what she was going to do with Shawn—make clear her intentions. A simple hookup, she was fine with, but a relationship, she'd rather fall in a ditch than begin.

She checked herself in the mirror, examining the slight tan she had gotten so far. Her slightly curled, chocolate brown hair fell in waves around her, obstructing the design of a bowl of noodles on her shirt with caption, 'let's get nood'.

She pushed her hair back to put the shirt on display. She liked shirts with inscriptions, and this was definitely a personal favorite.

As soon as she got downstairs, she stopped abruptly at the sight of her two friends, peeping through the blinds like nosey neighbours.

"Are you guys okay?" She asked.

"We were waiting for you," Paige replied, beckoning her down with the wave of her hand.

"She was," Amanda corrected.

"She's right, I was."

"Open the door!" April practically ordered, hastening her steps down and speedwalking to the front door. She swung it open to reveal Shawn standing there in all his chocolate brown haired, sharp jawed glory.

"Hey Shawn," Paige was the first to speak, as she forced herself between April and the door railing.

"Hey," he greeted with the same smile April had seen on her first day at the beach. He, however, directed his next words—and smile—towards her. "Hi, O'Neil."

"Hey, Mendes," She teased right back. It made her feel a little sour, knowing the speech she was going to give him after this.

"Hey, I know you!" Paige pointed towards the silent brunette beside him.

Speaking of! April looked her over.

"This is Avery, my cousin," Shawn introduced.

Paige burst into laughter at the name, and April also fought a snicker by rolling her lips in, totally understanding the reason for the outburst. The girl looked to Amanda, whose cheeks tingled, but with more embarrassment than amusement.

"What's so funny?"

Paige shook her head, muttering the words 'inside joke' between bouts of laughter.

"Pardon them, you can come in," Amanda assumed the role of hostess, ushering both Shawn and his cousin inside.

"Did you guys just laugh on my name?" Avery asked, her face showing her confusion.

"Come inside with us and we'll explain, promise." Paige replied.

April turned back to Shawn, ready to get their talk over with, but he was quicker to ask the question. "Can we talk?"

She gulped. "Yeah, sure."

He placed one hand in his pocket, while the other ran through his hair. "So the other day, your friend kinda—"

"Hooked us up?" She offered, earning a laugh out of him.

"Yeah, you could say that." He leaned to the side, resting his shoulder to the doorpost. "I was wondering if you'd like for me to maybe show you around? We could just take a stroll or something."

The thought of an evening stroll was cute, and the prospect of what could happen after was just as appealing. However, she knew she couldn't go about this knowing that she was only interested in the fun and not the emotional connection that usually came with dates like this.

"Or not," Shawn chipped in, reading her silence the wrong way.

"What?"

He shrugged, a slight pop of color touching his cheeks. "You don't want to, do you?"

She quickly shook her head. "No, it's not that at all."

"So it's a yes? I promise I won't bore you or take you to creepy places or anything."

She frowned. There was no way a guy like this would accept a 'no strings attached' relationship. Why had she even thought this would work? He probably saw her as an angel or something, and tainting that by warning him about her lack of emotional availability would certainly do her more harm than good. He would see her as a slut, maybe.

"Maybe another time?" She offered. "Next week maybe?"

He swatted something off his arm. "Next week sounds like you're blowing me off," he narrowed his eyes at her, keeping his smile.

"I am, yeah." She couldn't help but burst out a laugh as he clutched his chest dramatically. "It's not because of you, though. I promise."

He rolled his eyes and nodded. "Okay then, I get it. Next week?"

She smiled, knowing that he knew there wasn't going to be a next week. It hurt to do, but it was her only option besides going with it, despite not being into him. "I really am just very busy, I promise it's not you."

He nodded firmly. "Yeah, I get it."

"Okay, bye."

He nodded once again. Shutting the door was easier than she'd expected it to be. Maybe she'd suddenly grown better at shutting doors on people's faces over the years, or maybe she felt good about finally being honest—well, sort of.

"April! Axel's a dancer too!"

April cocked her head, looking round the room for anyone except Amanda, Paige and Shawn's cousin. When she came up blank, she faced Paige. "Axel?"

"An alias, since Avery is...controversial."

She chuckled. "True that."

"So, Axel asked if there was any single guy with us and we figured we'd ask you."

"Why do you need me to answer?" She shrugged.

"Is Javier single?" Amanda asked.

She looked at the new girl, who smiled shyly. She was cute, with short, wavy brown hair that framed her face. She had on a tight multicolored shirt and blue cutout shorts that nearly exposed the sides of her ass. She looked fine, but she was in no way Javier's type. Flashing her 'cool girl' smile, she nodded. "Sure, of course he is."

Paige grinned and clapped. "Okay then, we'll fix my hair, then head on out to meet the guys. April are you coming with us?"

And watch them try to match Javier with Avery? April didn't think so. She may have given the go ahead, but the back of her neck prickled at the thought of the match making being successful. What if Javier actually hit it off with her, or worse, what if they started a 'no strings' fling? He'd already put on a show once with Avery, and now that she'd pushed him away, there was nothing stopping him.

"No, I have a date," she said, then waved at them three before turning around to open the door.