**Raven**

I catch up with Axel as he's about to leave the house Saturday morning.

"Aye, where you off to?" I ask him.

"Shopping trip with Kayli and Sang."

"Awesome, I'm in."

"Since when do you like to go shopping?"

"I don't, but I do like to see beautiful women modelling." I say with a cheeky grin.

"Perv."

I shrug and we get into Axel's car.

**Sang**

I wake up Saturday morning to aching cramps and pounding on my door.

"Ugh! What!?" I scream at the door, not bothering to get up or open my eyes.

"Sang? It's Gabriel."

I hear Kayli chuckle as she gets out of bed and opens the door.

"Forgive her, she's a bit cranky this morning."

I open my eyes to see Gabriel walk into the room holding two bowls of Tupperware.

"I come baring gifts." He says giving me a slight smile.

I throw my covers off and stand up to stretch.

"Thanks Meanie, you can put it over here." I tell him while moving to my desk to get a new pad. "I'll be right back."

I grab my towel and a change of clothes and head to the bathroom. When I get back, I feel refreshed but still in pain. I see Kayli at her desk finishing off her pancakes and eggs, and Gabriel's in my closet mumbling to himself. I walk over to my desk and sit down to open my own bowl. I see three chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and bacon. Wow, Lucian really outdone himself. I'll have to thank him later.

"Hey Gabriel? Can you tell Lucian I say thanks, but there's no way I can eat all this."

Gabriel comes out of my closet and says, "The pancakes are from Luke, the rest is from North. He has this thing about balanced breakfasts. He always gets on Luke about his chocolate addiction, but when Luke told him they were for you, he started pulling out bacon and eggs mumbling about how his Sang Baby doesn't need all that junk."

"Aww isn't he a sweet little grumpy bear." Kayli comments while getting her shower stuff.

"Don't let him hear you say that." Gabriel says while sitting on my bed.

"Hey Gabriel, can you pass me my phone?"

"Sure Trouble."

He tosses me my phone and I open up a text to North and Lucian.

Me: Thanks for the breakfast guys, it really helps.

Lucian: Any time Cupcake. You feeling better?

North Star: No problem Sang Baby. Is everything alright?

Me: Getting there, thanks. I'm ok North, just some female issues.

Lucian: ????

North Star: You aren't this stupid Luke.

Lucian: Oh...um, feel better Cupcake. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Me: Thanks Lucian, the pancakes are a good start. I'll talk to you guys later.

North Star: Later Baby.

Lucian: Later Cupcake, give Gabe hell.

I smile at my phone while finishing off my food. I can't believe I actually ate it all. I suppose the boys are a good distraction.

"Nice work Trouble. Now we just have to wait for Kayli and the guys and we're god to go." Gabriel says.

Just then Kayli walks in the room followed by Victor and Silas.

"Look who I found outside our door looking like lost puppies." Kayli says while putting her stuff away.

"We didn't know if you were ready or not and didn't want to rush you." Victor says while walking over to me. "Morning Princess."

Victor kisses my head and goes to sit on my bed. Silas walks over to me and picks me up from my chair for a hug.

"Morning Aggele Mou, how are you feeling?"

I wrap my arms around him and sink into his warmth.

I lay my head on his chest as I reply, "Better Silas, thanks for asking."

I pull out of the hug and sit back in my chair to take my bottle of Tylenol out of my desk drawer as Gabriel asks, "What was wrong anyway Trouble? When I came in I felt like you were about to chew my face off."

"Just a stomach ache Gabriel, nothing a few Tylenol won't help." I tell him as I pop a couple tablets in my mouth.

"Are we ready to go?" Kayli asks while twirling her keys around her finger. "Axel says they're waiting downstairs, Marc's already with him."

She already has her purse in her hand and she looks slightly impatient. Guess she really wants to see her boys *giggle*.

"I guess so. Gabriel, can you grab my purse from my closet?"

"Sure thing Trouble."

Gabriel walks back into my closet as I'm stacking our bowls.

"Don't worry about those Princess, you can just throw them out. We have a ton back at the house." Victor tells me.

"Yea Aggele," Silas agrees with him, "It helps when those that don't live in the house don't want to stay there to eat."

"Oh, ok." I say shrugging my shoulders and walking over to the garbage bin by Kayli's bed.

I walk over to Gabriel and he passes me my bag.

I give him a kiss on the cheek and open the door saying, "Thanks Meanie, let's go."

"Anytime Trouble."

We all walk out into the hall and Kayli locks the door behind us. When we get downstairs I see Marc, Axel, and Raven leaning against a truck.

"Hey guys." I say cheerfully.

"Hey Sang." Axel and Marc say in unison.

"Malen'kaya ptitsa." Raven says while giving me a hug.

"Privet Raven."

It's weird, Raven's like the doting older brother I've never had. If that older brother were a scary looking Russian with a lot of piercings. I feel that way about all of Kayli's guys...not the Russian part, the brother part. I guess that's why they're her guys and not mine. Not that Victor and the guys are mine...we're not dating or anything. It's not like I can claim them or anything...but then why does my heart hurt at the thought of them with someone else? Ugh, too much thinking, my brain hurts. I can't possibly feel this way towards multiple guys right? Ugh, I need to stop thinking, we were going shopping right?

"Let's get going, I need to stop thinking. How are we getting there?" I ask the group.

"What are you thinking about Princess?"

"Nothing Victor, I'm fine. Now, transportation?"

Victor's fire eyes blaze a little stronger at my lie, but I can see that he chooses to let it go for now.

"We can take Kayli in my truck." Axel says.

"Then I guess we're taking my car Princess. You can ride up front with me."

"Silas should take the front; his legs are longer."

"I'll be fine Aggele." Silas tells me.

"And so will I," I tell him walking over to Victor's car, "in the backseat."

"It's best not to argue with her." Kayli comments while climbing into Axel's truck, "Especially not now."

"I'm with Kayli." Gabriel says while opening the backdoor for me. "After you Trouble." He says with a little bow.

"Thank you Gabriel." I say while giggling and getting in.

With the car issues settled, we all strap in and drive off to the mall. When we pull into the parking lot, I'm in complete awe by the sheer size of it. This is way bigger than anything we ever had back in Illinois.

"Trouble, you're catching flies." Gabriel laughs while getting out of the car.

"Sorry." I say while getting out of the car and looking around.

I see Kayli and the guys a few cars down and notice how packed the place is for a Saturday morning. Although I wouldn't really know what normal shopping behavior is to begin with.

"You have nothing to apologize for Princess. Come on, let's go meet the others."

Victor interlaces our fingers and pulls me along to the front of the building with the guys right behind us. When we all step inside, I can't help but take another look around. If I thought this place was big on the outside I was sadly mistaken. This place is huge! There's a giant water fountain in the center that goes up to the second floor. I continue to look up and see that this place has four levels.

"Come on Trouble." Gabriel says taking me from Victor, "You can look around another time, we're on a mission."

"Stop pulling her Gabe, she's never been to a mall before. Relax!" Kayli tells him forcefully.

"It's fine Kay." I tell her, "We are on a time crunch. Where to Gabriel?"

Gabriel looks puzzled for a minute, probably wondering why I've never been to a mall before. Victor and Kayli are the only ones I've told my past to, and from the look of confusion everyone has, I can tell that they haven't told. For that I am extremely grateful. Gabriel gets a look from Victor, which I interpret as him telling Gabriel not to push it. He seems to accept this as he shakes out of his stupor and turns to me with a huge grin, eyes full of mischief.

"First stop, Victoria's Secret!"

"Whoa, just wait one minute sparky." Kayli says to Gabriel, "I thought we were here to look for costumes for this party."

"We are." Gabriel responds, "But have you taken a good look in your closet? There's nothing there! And I refuse to have my Trouble walking around with anything less than the fucking best! So put your big girl panties on and let's get going."

"Why you little-" Kayli gets cut off by Marc covering her mouth.

"What Gabriel means, is that yes we're here for costumes, but you girls need more clothes. Just let him do what he does best. Trust me, this is an argument you won't win Bambi."

Kayli crosses her arms and huffs out a "fine" before Marc pulls his hand away, only to wrap it around her waist and whispers something in her ear. Kayli instantly perks up and gives him a sideways glance.

"Make it 2 weeks and you've got a deal."

Marc murmurs in her ear again and she gets this glazed look in her eye. I wonder what he's telling her. She takes another look at him, probably to make sure he's serious, before nodding her head and agreeing to whatever terms he's placed.

"We'll now that that's taken care of, let's go Trouble."

Gabriel leads us into Victoria's Secret and grabs two bags, immediately heading over to the underwear table.

"I'll try and makes this as painless as possible ok."

Gabriel looks each of us over with a critical eye and proceeds to grab two of everything in our sizes. He then thrusts the bags at us while pointing to the dressing rooms saying, "Try everything on, but make sure to put the panties on over the ones you're already wearing. We'll wash everything when we get back to campus just to be safe. Keep the styles you like and we'll grab more after you're done. Because you're girls, and Sang's in a mood, I won't ask to see how they look, and trust that you'll keep what you like." He says this last part giving me a pointed look.

With that, Kayli and I head over to the dressing rooms while the guys wait right outside and Gabriel walks around with two more bags. We go into one of the larger dressing rooms so that we can give each other an outside opinion. By the time we finish trying on everything, I've decided to keep the v-string over the thong, while Kayli ops for the thong over the v-string. We both like the boyshorts and hiphuggers, as well as the no-show seamless options. We get rid of the bikinis and cheekinis, but keep the brazilians as a compromise because they look nice. For the bras, I keep the demi, strapless, very sexy, t-shirt, push-up and two sports bras; one with a racer-back and one regular. Kayli keeps the full coverage, very sexy, ice angels, strapless, wireless and the racer-back sports bra.

When we walk back out with our rejects, Gabriel looks into our bags and gives us a nod of approval. He then chucks the other two bags he acquired into our hands and goes back over to the underwear table to pick up more of our selections. Kayli and I walk back into the dressing room and try on sweatpants, tank tops, hoodies, sweatshirts and bikinis. Gabriel grabbed what looks like one of everything for both of us and we decide not to put anything back, we like the comfortable clothes. Once we walk back out, Gabriel gives us another nod of approval and we all go over to sleepwear. Thankfully, he doesn't make us try anything on and we get to pick out what we want for ourselves with the promise that we'll actually choose things that we like.

When we finally get to the register, 2 hours after we walked into the store, we've managed to collect 3 bags each, filled with everything aforementioned, along with lotions, body wash, perfume, lip gloss, and one makeup bag each. Gabriel says we'll go to Sephora to get the actual makeup and brushes, not that either of us use it, or need it in Gabriel's opinion.

When the lady finishes ringing up my purchases, my jaw hits the floor and my eyes bug out. Kayli who's at the register next to me, has the same look on her face. I look over to Victor and try to tell him that it's too much, but he just swipes his black Amex and looks to me saying, "Just say thank you Princess." I do him one better and wrap my arms around his waist in a tight hug while placing a kiss on his collarbone. I then go en pointe and whisper in his ear, "Thank you Prince Victor."

I look over to Kayli and see that she's done something similar to Axel, who's standing there slightly stunned.

"Alright people," Gabriel announces, "Regular clothes next, then lunch; after, shoes and costumes."

With that proclamation, we head out of Victoria's Secret and make a circuit around the mall, going into most stores while ignoring others. By the time we make it to lunch, the guys have had to make two trips out to the cars to put our purchases away. We've managed to grab an assortment of everything, from jeans to shorts, skirts to dresses, tank tops to blouses, and an assortment of socks, sweaters and jackets. I can't ever see myself actually using all of these clothes, but it does feel good to finally have a variety of options. We decide on pizza for lunch and right now, Kayli and I are waiting at the table with Gabriel and Marc, while Victor, Silas, Axel, and Raven get the food. We're only halfway done and I'm already exhausted.

"So, for this party," Kayli starts, "are we going full costumes? Or just clothes that look enough like a costume?"

"Depends on who we are." Marc answers, "If we're someone real then it's easier just to buy clothes that they would wear, if not, then a costume is usually the way to go."

"So do you guys have costumes already?" I ask.

"Yea, we're all characters from X-men." Gabriel tells me.

"Good guys or bad?" I ask.

"Both." Marc answers.

I'm about to ask what he means by that, but the food has just arrived and I'm starving. As I'm finishing off my second slice I get an incoming text.

Kota: Hey Sang.

Me: Hey, what's up?

Kota: Are you busy tomorrow?

Me: I don't think so, why?

Kota: I wanted to know if you wanted to go out me with me tomorrow afternoon.

Me: Like a date?

Kota: Yeah, I'd like to get to know you better.

Me: Ok :) I'd love to.

Kota: Great :) see you later.

Me: Bye :)

"What are you so smiley about?" Kayli asks me with a smirk, finishing off her third slice.

"Nothing." I tell her.

"So who ya texting?" She says with a knowing look.

"Just Kota." I say, "Are we about done?"

Silas looks at me curiously before he decides to drop it.

"Looks like it," He says while standing up, "we'll go throw the trash away."

Axel and Raven get up to help him while I shoot death glares at Kayli.

**Kayli**

Ok, ok so maybe I was having a little too much fun teasing Sang, but come on; she knows I don't mean any harm. It's just so adorable when she gets all flustered. Although I should probably thank her for not asking about what Marc whispered in my ear to get me to agree to this insane shopping spree. Maybe I should stop trying to piss her off before I'm the one in the spotlight.

When we finally get to the reason we even came to the mall, it's going on 5 o clock and I'm dragging. I have never felt this lazy in all of my life.

"Come on Kayli, sloths move faster than you!"

I'm not sure where it comes from, maybe it's walking around this damn mall all day while keeping my opinions to myself, but I finally snap.

"I'll show you fast!" I try and leap towards Gabriel but a large muscular arm wraps around my waist, pulling me into a firm sculpted chest.

"Let me go!" I writhe in his arms trying to get away. "Just one hit! That's all I want!"

"Kayli calm down!" I hear Sang say to my right.

"No! We've had to listen to him dictate what we try on all goddamn day! I'm sick of it!"

Somewhere, deep in my subconscious I know that my wrath towards Gabriel is unjustified, but to hell with that part, I want out.

"Kay, we just have to get costumes and then we can go." She tries to tell me.

"No! I want out now!"

"And here I thought I was the one with pms." I hear her mumble. "Raven can you take her to the car? We'll finish up here."

"Alright little bird. Come nemnogo dikaya koshka." Raven says while putting me over his shoulder.

"What did you just call me!"

"Nothing that isn't true." Marc calls after us.

When we get to the car, Raven plops me down in the back before climbing in with me.

"What was that all about Kayli?" He asks me.

"I don't know." I huff, "I just snapped."

"You certainly did, any idea why?"

"No." I pout while crossing my arms.

Truth is I know exactly why. Sang's been having such an easy time getting along with her guys. They all dote on her like she's the princess Victor calls her. I don't want them to stop or anything, I think it's great that Sang finally has someone, or in this case multiple someone's who see her for the person she really is; instead of the lying whore her step mother tried to make her believe she was.

I guess I'm a little envious of her innocence with them. All she knows about relationships and intimacy is what I've told her and what she's gleaned from books and movies. Which doesn't really amount to much in the real word. She can get close to these guys without having to worry about anything because she's never done anything. I know I told North not to make her choose or anything, but that's only because I could tell how happy they were making her. But I can see that some of these guys are starting to get attached to her. I really hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.

And to think, this all came about because I was too busy lusting after Brandon to make sure Sang got back to our room without any complications. Seriously though! Who would've thought that sweet little innocent Sang could have big bad North in a tizzy. This is absolutely ridiculous.

"Nickle for your thoughts?" Raven asks me.

I look up at him and raise my eyebrow in question. "It's penny Raven, penny for your thoughts."

"Same." He shrugs. "What's on your mind?"

"That I should probably apologize to Gabriel, then have a really long talk with Sang."

"Talk about what?" He asks.

"Girl stuff." I try and blow it off.

"Well now's your chance nemnogo dikaya koshka, here they come."

And sure enough I see Sang on Silas's back laughing, while Victor, Gabriel, Marc and Axel hold all the bags. When they get closer to the cars Raven gets out and pulls me out after him.

I walk up to Gabriel and say, "I'm sorry for being such a bitch."

"No, it's alright." he waves it off, "I'm actually surprised you lasted as long as you did. Sometimes I forget that not everybody is use to my day long shopping expeditions. Trouble picked out a nice costume for you though."

"Thanks Sangirella." I say to her as she get's off of Silas's back.

She walks over to me and gives me a hug, "You're welcome Kaylibell." Letting me know all is forgiven.

"What the actual fuck?" Marc asks.

Sang and I just start giggling before I tell him, "That my dear, is a story for another day."

With all the shopping done, we divvy up the bags and get back into our cars. This day has completely tired me out, I think I'll take a nap before putting all of this stuff away.

When we get back to campus the guys bring all of our stuff upstairs to our room. Seeing everything piled up on my bed and desk makes me rethink my earlier thought.

Silas and Raven are the last two in our room and while Sang goes to let them out Silas asks, "Aggele, care to go for a late night swim with me tonight?"

"Sure Superman." Sang giggles. Now where did that nickname come from?

"Great, I'll pick you up at 10. Give you some time to rest."

"I should be free by then," Raven says, "count us in."

"Us?" Silas asks surprised.

"Da, Kayli and I will join you."

Well shit, tonight just got a lot more promising.