Before you start wondering how I got this written so fast... I wrote this immediately I left your locker. I forgot to mention something supposedly... important? So here's this. I was thinking we'd arrange a math tutoring session. What do you think? And, before you ask, yes, you still distract me, but who can be smarter than a sophomore who knows calculus like her name?

Beau.

"Maggie-Lyn Lila Kenriek literally in the house! Woo, that was one plane ride. That guy sitting in front of me literally snored the whole time. Why are you sitting there when you're literally supposed to be here, hugging yours truly?" Maggie-Lyn's hand, which she had lifted victoriously when she came in, dropped to her side, and she gave Bella a scolding look.

Bella looked at her from her place on the couch. Her cousin looked like candy with the way she was dressed. "Isn't that skirt a little too much for a plane ride?" was the first thing she said.

Maggie-Lyn ran her hands over the fabric of her fluffy skirt. "Maybe, but I'm here now so it doesn't matter anymore."

"Mag, come take some of your stuff inside," Adele shouted from outside, and Maggie-Lyn slammed the door shut.

"Let's pretend I didn't hear that. I literally don't do hard work. Ooh, can you smell me from there, Bella? I bought this candy-themed cologne online, which literally cost me half of my monthly allowance, but it's literally, totally worth it. Can you smell me? Can you?"

"And she's back," Cody said, coming down the stairs.

Maggie-Lyn got an excited glint in her eyes, then she rushed to him, flinging her arms around him immediately and causing him to stumble.

"Gosh, girls take hugs so seriously," he said after he had caught himself, hugging her back.

"I literally missed you, booboo."

Cody chuckled. "I missed you too, but please don't call me that—it's embarrassing."

"No," she said, pulling back a bit, "it's cute. Just like you."

"Well, when you put it that way." He shrugged, trying to act nonchalant.

"Can you help me bring my things in?" she asked, using a sickeningly sweet voice and putting on her pleading eyes.

"The innocence trap," Cody muttered, then sighed. "How many suitcases are we talking about here?"

Maggie-Lyn smiled. "Fifteen."

Both Bella and Cody gave her the you-expect-us-to-believe-that? look, and she pouted.

"Okay, fine. Seventeen... and maybe a few survival kits?"

Cody threw his hands up. "I better get to work."

"I love you, booboo." He gave her a salute, then walked out of the house. She went to sit beside Bella, then let out a sigh. "The perks of being a girl."

"He's only doing it because he doesn't have a choice."

"You're wrong... and is everything literally okay between you two? Cody doesn't draw in two breaths without you complaining, but we just had a conversation and you didn't object to anything he said."

Her cousin was a proud talkative, and Bella wasn't sure she wanted to tell her Cody was mad at her. She would ask why and one topic would lead to another and another, and, when she felt the time was right, she would blurt out everything like a faucet turned on. Bella couldn't risk that. "Yeah, we're good. You can obviously see my current couch status. I'm exhausted is all, and Cody gives me a headache. Not in the mood for that."

Maggie-Lyn gave her a long look, and Bella waited for her to point out her lie, but, instead, she said, "Explains why I didn't get my hug, despite us not seeing each other for ten months." She gave an exaggerated pout, and Bella smiled before spreading out her arms.

* * *

Adele was doing Maggie-Lyn's hair later that day in Bella's room, and Bella lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, not contributing to their conversation.

Her mind had been somewhere else since she saw Travon that morning. Their eyes met in the hallway and he quickly looked away, but she studied him. After overhearing the conversation between Cody and Ashton the other day, she made sure to digest his every feature. There was a certain difference in the way he walked, and she spotted a bruise on his left cheek.

Beau had also confessed to giving him "just one little punch for showing attitude."

"He actually shoved me when I was harmless and just wanted to talk," he had explained.

"Bella?"

She jumped at the sound of her name, then turned to her sister and cousin by her dresser. They were staring at her like she had a backside for a face.

"What's up?" she asked, forcing up a smile.

"I escaped an excruciatingly boring talk about career choices between our moms downstairs so I could come spend time with my beautiful cousins, and here you are, suddenly interested in your literally plain ceiling. No offense," Maggie-Lyn said, looking genuinely annoyed, probably for the first time.

"None taken," Bella muttered, turning away from them.

"She's right, Bella," Adele added. "I've been watching you for the past thirty minutes and you've been acting off. Is it because you don't have a phone?"

Maggie-Lyn gasped dramatically, every trace of annoyance suddenly gone from her face, then she rushed to Bella. She placed Bella's head in her lap, almost disconnecting her head from her neck. "Oh my God, you poor thing." She fanned her face. "Ooh, I think I'm literally having a panic attack for you. Why don't you have a phone? Phones are literally essential for public figures."

Bella sat up, then smoothened her hair. "My phone died, but no, it's not because of that."

"No one can understand a girl better than a girl, so," Adele walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, "talk to us. Since it's not about your phone, it should be a boy."

Bella sighed, knowing there was no way to escape this one. "It's two boys... and a girl, actually."

Maggie-Lyn gasped again, louder than the first time. "Let me guess, you're literally in a love square?"

Adele and Bella gave her bored looks, and she pretended to zip her lips shut, looking away sheepishly.

Adele turned to Bella. "Okay, Bella. We're listening."

Bella hesitated, then shifted so she could see the both of them at the same time. "So there's this guy I used to have a crush on—Travon. We never really talked, but things changed this semester." She told them everything they needed to know, from Beau to Travon to Viola and, finally, to Cody's actions.

"Where's this going?" Maggie-Lyn asked when she was done.

"I told you, Maggie, Travon was using me for something. This contract thing fell out of his backpack when I went to talk to him about the video, and I saw it clearly written there. It said he had to pretend to like me just so he could get something from me. You should've seen him today. Cody hurt him pretty bad."

"Well, have you talked to him?" Adele asked, and Bella shook her head. "Why?"

Bella sighed again, then lay back down. "I don't know, maybe I'm scared of what I'll hear," she admitted.

"But why should you be scared to talk to him?" Maggie-Lyn asked. "That literally doesn't make sense."

Adele patted Bella's head. "I think Cody's a big baby for treating you the way he did, but I also think you should talk to Travon."

"I can't," Bella groaned. "I literally can't."

Her cousin smiled. "Hey, you used my catchphrase."

"I understand how you feel, Bella, but you need to talk to him. If you want to sort things out between each other, you need to talk. Tell him how he disappointed you and how hurt you are about it. Cry a little—it'll break him, trust me. Just 'cause you're small doesn't mean you don't have girl power."

"I'm not small," Bella protested.

"Of course you are. You're, like, five foot max. No more," Maggie-Lyn explained, and Bella pouted, then stared at her sister for a long time.

When she looked back at Maggie-Lyn, her cousin nodded, showing her support.

* * *

"When you're done, just come back here, okay? I'll drive Maggie around," Adele said to Bella as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Bella nodded. "Thanks."

"What are sisters for?"

Maggie-Lyn put her head between them. "And cousins. Sisters and cousins."

"Yes. And cousins. Now go, Bella."

Bella looked to her right at Travon's cozy-looking house. There were potted plants on the porch, and she could tell his mom loved gardening. Anyone who walked past that house would think there was a very happy family living inside, not knowing that the family was falling apart. "Here I go."

"Don't forget to cry. Hit him right in the chest."

Bella got out of the car. She heard Adele drive off behind her and wondered why she let them convince her to do this.

She didn't stop walking until she was at the front door. There was a porch swing placed a little to the left, and she focused on that as she cleaned her sweaty palms on her dress. Taking in a deep breath, she rang the doorbell before she could chicken out.

She twisted her fingers as she waited for someone to answer, making them hurt. Finally the door swung open, and her breath caught in her throat.

Travon stared at her like he couldn't believe his—one good and the other black but healing—eyes. His face was pale and his lips were unbelievably pink.

Bella sighed. "We need to talk," she said, stabbing hello in the rear.

He still stared at her, his lips moving like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure. She almost laughed at how funny it was that the boy who was confident enough to kiss her in front of a camera when he didn't feel anything for her was now speechless.

"You want to come in?" he finally asked, his voice croaky.

"No. Let's just sit out here." She gestured to the porch swing, and he nodded, then stepped out.

"Um, I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you," he said.

"It's okay." She sat first, then he did, too. Her feet barely touched the floor, but his did, and it helped steady the swing a bit. "Is your mom home?" she asked, in an attempt to begin with small talk.

"Yeah. Um... she's—she's asleep. She just got back from work and my dad left a few days ago, so it's kinda hard for her..." He trailed off, probably realizing he had said too much.

She thought about what to say next, feeling the awkwardness seep into every pore of her skin. Realizing there was no better way to put it, she asked, "Why did you do it, Travon?"

He was quiet for a while, and she looked at him. He had placed his lean arms on the swing, and his body looked stiff—from the tension, maybe.

His eyes were trained on an aloe plant, and he slightly winced. She could tell he was in a lot of pain and couldn't help but ask, "Are you okay?"

He gave her a small smile. "After everything, you still ask me that. You shouldn't give a damn about me right now."

"But what if I do?"

He looked at her, his eyes roaming over her face for a few seconds. "That's the thing about you, Quincy. You're so innocent."

She decided to lay it down hard. "If you knew that, why did you do it?" She remembered the piece of paper in the pocket of her denim jacket and took it out. Smoothening it out, she continued, "I saw this—it fell out of your backpack."

"I figured it was with you."

"You know, you've not really answered my question. Travon, you used me, you walked out on me when I tried to talk, and now you're stalling. Do you have any idea how disappointed I am in you right now? There are a lot of things I'd like to say to you, but I'm asking for your side of the story to make things fair."

Travon sighed, then winced. "I'm sorry, Quincy."

"Answer my question. Why did you do it?"

"I did it because of my parents. Some people found out about their divorce, somehow, and they threatened to let everyone at school know about it."

At that, she paused. Travon was being blackmailed? YWN probably knew it was a touchy subject for him. "Why?"

"I don't know. They want something from you, I guess."

"W-what do they want?"

"Bella, we never got the chance to discuss that. We were still in the early stages of the plan when this whole thing blew up."

"But I don't understand. You didn't know what they wanted, but you were still willing to go along with it. What if they were planning to hurt me?"

"Bella—"

"No," she interrupted. "This is where this conversation ends, okay?" He wanted to say something, but she didn't let him. "I was so stupid, falling for everything you said to me and all those little gestures. You haven't talked to me before and I really should've seen this coming. People are saying this happened to me because I'm naïve, but the real truth is that you're a jerk. A big one."

She took a pause to catch her breath, then she said, "I'm leaving." All she wanted right now was to get away from there.

She abruptly stood, and Travon's eyes widened. He held her hand, standing quickly like he didn't even think about it. Bella drew her hand from his grip, then folded her arms over her chest. "Look, I wrote to you before the kiss. I wanted to stop and let them do what they wanted—it wasn't that big of a deal. But I—I don't know what stopped me from giving you the note."

The tears came hot, and she couldn't control it. "That's what I deserve, isn't it? A note. I know you're expecting me to understand, but I don't. I let you take me out for ice cream and write Travella on a couple wall. You want to know what stopped you? It was your selfishness. You didn't care about how I'd feel—you know what, I'm out of here." She gave the contract to him, but he didn't take it.

"Quincy, please don't leave like this. Please." He had a pleading look in his eyes that could've melted her, but she was so angry she didn't care. All she knew was that she shouldn't have come here. She shoved the paper into his hand and walked away.

"Bella," Travon called behind her, but she didn't respond.

She just walked to where Adele asked her to wait, and, in no time, the car approached.

* * *

If you were Bella, would you have made up with Travon or let your anger lead you?