"Why didn't you tell me you got a promotion?" I break the silence at the dinning room table.

The sounds of knives and forks hitting the plate are offensive to the ears and needs to be broken. I look up from the curry with rice to see dad tense up, taking a sip from the coke in his glass. He swallows and I can see the gears ticking over as he thinks of an answer.

"I didn't think it was important," He shrugs, hesitantly looking up. "Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?"

I furrow my eyebrows. "I don't have a boyfriend."

Dad rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "I don't mind if you do. It just would have been nice to know instead of finding out from Kyle that my daughter was getting cozy in a drain with a guy that in his words 'looked intimidating'."

"He's a friend." I exhale and mentally curse Kyle. So much for not telling my dad.

"How come I've never met or heard of him then?" Dad presses on the issue further and I try not to roll my eyes at him. "I just want to know whether I need to be concerned if he's influencing your behavior-"

"You know how I said Brian and I were still friends?" He nods and I shake my head. "We aren't. Some things happened, he was the one who punched me in the face accidentally. Because he got suspended he retaliated against me for that reason and it was Rhys who stopped him from going any further than vandalizing my locker."

Dad's jaw clenches. "Brian was the one who hit you?"

Oh shit.

"It was an-"

"I don't care if it was an accident. That boy should be ashamed of himself for even thinking it was your fault," He clanks his cutlery to the plate. "As for this Rhys boy I want to thank him myself for what he's done. "

I blink a few times. "Wait, what?"

"Invite him over tomorrow after school," He explains, standing up and collecting his plate. "He can stay for dinner if he wants or you two can just hang out. I've got a call to make to inform the Farnell's we won't be attending their gala because of their son's irrational behavior."

"Dad it's not worth-"

"End of discussion Kira," He asserts, stopping my protest. "I won't take lightly to anyone that hurts you. You're my daughter and his father should be thankful I don't tell him to go shove his job up his ass. . ."

Dad walks out and I gape, trying to find the words to speak. What the hell just happened. How did that happen so quickly?  I pick at the remaining curry and rice until I can't stomach to eat anymore.

It's not that his cooking is horrible, it's more that I feel sickly from what I've just done. Dad could potentially lose his job over this and it's my fault. I should have just kept my mouth shut and there would be no problem.

Once I've covered my leftovers with cling wrap and put it in the fridge, I head upstairs to my room. I fiddle with the ring thinking of how I'm going to ask Rhys about tomorrow, would he even say yes or just be extremely creeped out by me asking so?

I stare at my phone that's resting on the bed and contemplate the pros and cons. One good thing that could come out of it is my dad liking Rhys, who will eventually bring him up to the girls and be on my side. The con - and probably the biggest worry - is that he won't like him and assume he's trouble because of the "intimidating" thing he was informed of from Kyle.

Either way, one of them is going to happen. I could just lie and say that Rhys said he couldn't make it, but do I really want to lie to a lawyer who constantly deals with liars. He's like a human lie detector which leaves me no choice but to pick up my phone and call Nate.

I sit down on the edge of my bed, waiting for him to pick up. Thankfully it's only four rings before he does. "Hello my wonderful friend. What's up?"

"Um Hey. It's Kira."

"I know. I have caller ID," He jokes and I chuckle nervously. "What's up? Why do you sound so nervous?"

"I was actually after your brother," There's silence and the noise that was in the background stops. "I know that sounds rude but I kind of need to ask him something."

"Um sure. He's right beside me," I swallow and hear him continue. "It's Kira."

"Hey," Rhys answers quickly and I close my eyes as if that's going to help. "What is it?"

"Okay so this will sound really weird and I don't blame you if you say no which is fine because it's creepy and weird-"

"Your rambling," He chuckles and I mentally curse myself for doing so. "Just take a deep breathe and ask your question. I promise I won't be creeped out."

"My dad wants to thank you for stopping Brian from making my life hell," I exhale after speaking. "He said you can stay for dinner if you like or we can just hang out. It's up to you really. I know it sounds weird and all-"

"You were worried over this?" I can almost picture the grin on his face. "But I should be able to come over tomorrow afternoon, I probably won't be able to stay for dinner because of Nate-"

"He will!" Nate calls out loudly. "I can fend for my-OW!"

"Hey! Don't hurt him," I scold Rhys upon hearing a loud thud on the other side of the line. "It's fine really."

"You know that you can't see what he's doing and I'm pretty sure you would have hit him yourself," I furrow my eyebrows and open my eyes. "He's delusionally thinking that by hang out you mean hook up."

"I ship it!" Nate yells followed by a scream. "Kira he's being mean."

"Rhys leave him alone," I smile at their interaction. "You could easily sink his ship by saying I have a boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend?" The change in tone is instant and my eyes widen, shaking my head. "I didn't know that you had a boyfriend."

His tone shifts from somewhat amused to flat, almost as if he's disappointed. I swallow and rub my hands on my jeans. "I don't. I was just saying that for you to use against Nate. . ."

"Well that's a good thing."

I raise an eyebrow. "How is that good?"

"Look I've got to go," Rhys sighs and I bite my lip. "I'll see you tomorrow. Good night Kira."

The line goes dead before I can say goodbye and I drop the phone onto the bed beside me at the same time I fall back. "Please oh god, don't end badly."

"Why do you look so nervous?" Rhys asks, snapping me out of my stare. "It's not a big deal, is it?"

I slowly close my locker door while holding my textbooks to my chest. "No. My dad's just really unpredictable. He'll either interrogate you or act like you're best friends. That's what's kind of freaking me out."

"You're afraid your dad is actually going to like me?" He grins and I swipe my tongue over my lips, shaking my head. "I have a feeling there's more to this story. . ."

"Because there is but it's kind of embarrassing." I go around him, however Rhys is quick to catch up nudging my shoulder.

"You can't just leave me with that," I try not to glare at his amused facial expression. "I want to know what's so embarrassing."

I look around to make sure there's nobody else that could overhear who I'm talking about and informing that person of what I'm about to say. I don't want to risk him finding out that I was talking about him, he's delusional but he has friends everywhere.

"Okay so the last date I went on ended badly even though it started good," I readjust the textbooks with a shrug. "My dad liked him, instantly which gave me some relief thinking oh yeah, I'm not going to make a massive mistake over this."

"I don't see how that's so embarrassing."

"It ended badly because he tried to shove his hand up my skirt in the movie theatre and I retaliated by shoving the bucket on his head," I exhale when I blurt that out. "It got stuck and he fell down the stairs trying to get it off and sprained his ankle."

I glance to Rhys who sucks in his lips to try not to laugh. Clearing his throat the smile stays planted on his lips. "I don't blame you for that. I'm guessing that was when you were on the dance team?"

"Yeah it was actually-" I stop speaking and furrow my eyebrows. "How did you know I was on the dance team?"

"I asked Lachlan about you after the first day. He told me a few things and one of them was about you being a dancer," He pushes open the back door for me, allowing me to slide out before him. "Why did you quit by the way?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me why you beat up Derek," His face falls slightly and I shrug. "I don't want to lie to you so I'm not going to say because I lost interest when that isn't actually the case."

He seems to be thinking it over and he nods. "I'm guessing that's the climax of our friendship then. Both of them are rather personal - at least to me it is - but I'll think about it."

"Good. Um, are you just following me?" I ask, stopping at the hood of my car.

Rhys glances to it, his lips tugging on one side. "Or I could drive and just take you to school in the morning."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"The schools in a safe district," He chuckles and his smile fades when his eyes fall off into the distance. "But if something does happen to your car, I'll take care of it myself."

I blink a few times, looking over my shoulder out of habit. There's too many people to narrow in on who he is staring at but near the entrance of the carpark I notice a guy leaning against the hood of a black porsche.

From the distance I can't make out any distinctive features about him from the rather solid frame and the scruff lining his jaw. Even with his glasses on his face you can tell he's looking in our direction which sends chills down my spine.

I turn back to Rhys who's jaw clenches. "Do you know the guy with the black porsche?"

"I wish I could say I didn't," His eyes fall back on me with a fire ablaze in them. "Let's get out of here."

"Who is he?"

Rhys stops walking and briefly looks to me. "Come on, I won't ask again."

"I'm not a dog Rhys," I snap, crossing my arms with a frown. He turns and closes the space between us. "Who is he? He's clearly someone you don't like."

"Which is why I want to get out of here," He whispers as if he could hear him from the other side of the parking lot. "I've told you before that I'm not a very liked person and it's a mutual dislike."

I look back to see the guy wave his hand with what looks to be a smile. Turning my attention back to Rhys I nod, following him to his car with this gut wrenching feeling. I don't know why but I have a feeling that the mutual dislike is more than a fight between them.