COMING BACK HOME was an easier transition than I thought it'd be. I realized how deeply I did miss my family, how the anger I'd held towards them had seemed to disappear almost all at once. As Oba sneaks me a glass of wine while we eat the pizza we ordered for dinner, I can't even begin to wonder why I left. These were the best people I'd ever known and they were mine.

         One of the other best people I knew, I hadn't heard from. I know it's only been a few hours but shouldn't he have texted me by now? I did lay out my heart to him. What was I supposed to do with that, now?

         Hiro nudges my shoulder. "So...this Roman guy? Is he, you know, good to you?"

        I chuckle once. "Are you trying to protect me?"

        He smiles bashfully. "Well, yeah," he admits. His eyes glance at Aunt Amanda and the twins who are engrossed in an argument about a party the twins wanted to go to. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again."

         I smile softly, leaning back against the couch. "Thanks, Hiro. Really. But last year was a different kind of hurt. One no one could protect me from. This is different."

"Okay. Sure. I'm just happy you're happy," he remarks with a grin, going back to his slice of pizza. "So, Oba, what's the wedding gonna be like?"

        She smiles softly and the pure joy on her face is recognizable, even from across the table. "Small. Gerard and I both agree that we don't want to make too big a spectacle of this. Him because he's shy and me because the last time I walked down an aisle..."

I smile reassuringly, knowing that she's thinking of her previous divorce. "It'll be great, Oba. Really."

She smiles softly back at me. "Braylen, will you help me grab some dessert?"

"Okay," I agreed hesitantly. I stand slowly and follow her into the kitchen. I knew the dessert thing was only a pretense. It was really time for a talk, most likely her yelling at me for disappearing so suddenly. "I'm really sorry, Aunt Amanda. I know I shouldn't have just left like that."

She reaches into the freezer, grabs a container of gelato, and nods towards me. "Five bowls, please."

I gnaw on my bottom lip. "Yeah," I murmur, standing on my toes and reaching into the cabinet. I place the bowls in front of her and sigh. "Is that all?"

She looks up at me. "You know, sometimes I forget how much you've grown, Braylen," she admits, smiling sadly. "To think back to how we met all those years ago--you, a broken child with a sad past. Me, a recently divorced mother with no clue what she was doing. Sometimes I look at you and don't see that. And sometimes I look at you and I do."

I purse my lips, looking down at the bowls. "I wish I knew how to help it," Oba murmurs tearfully. "I wish I could be a better support to you. If I could take every ounce of pain you've ever had, Braylen, I would. In a heartbeat. Because you have had to hurt so much."

"It's not your fault," I whisper to her.

"No," she agrees. "It's not yours, either. And I guess I just wonder sometimes where all that pain goes. How does it get let out? Does it get let out? Will you survive if it doesn't? Am I doing too much? Am I not doing enough? It drives me mad and then I freak out when I don't see you for a day. When all you were doing was having fun."

I shake my head. "No, I should've checked in. That was my fault, Aunt Amanda, not you."

She brings a hand to my cheek, a single tear running down her face. "Where does the pain go?"

       I smile sadly. "I'm okay," I whisper. It's only partially a lie. Because sometimes, I can forget. Sometimes I can compartmentalize all the hurt and take it away from my mind. And sometimes, more often than not, that's virtually impossible to do. She's right, I suppose. The pain does need somewhere else to go rather than me living with it every day. But where else could I put it? "At least, I'm trying to be. Can that be enough?"

        Oba lets out a breath before wrapping me in a hug. "I don't care if we fight. Families do that sometimes. But, I want you to always come home after. Okay?"

        "Okay," I whisper. "I love you."

        She pulls away with a teary smile. "I love you," she responds. "Let's eat some dessert now, shall we?"

I grin up at her when the doorbell suddenly rings. I glance at Oba. "Were we expecting anyone?" I ask, turning around and heading for the door.

She only shrugs. "We weren't even expecting you, kiddo."

"Hardy har," I deadpan, pulling the door open. Devin is standing outside, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. I'd texted my friends that I was back home for good, but I didn't exactly expect them to immediately show up at my door. "Devin?"

"Hey," he mutters, letting himself in. "Hello, family! Twinettes, mini Braylen, Miss Amanda—you're looking so beautiful this evening. B, can we go to your room?"

I scratch the back of my head. "Yeah, okay. Come on."

I ignore Hiro's curious eyes as we bound up the steps until we reach my bedroom. "Where's Roman?" Devin muses, plopping onto my bed with a loud thud. I glare at him but he only grins, making himself more comfortable. "Don't tell me you guys broke up. I was just starting to like him."

I sit crisscrossed at the edge of the bed. "We were never together to begin with. He's dealing with some things right now."

Devin blows out a breath. "Join the fricking club. So, check this out."

I scoot over next to him on the bed and look down at his phone as he types away. Devin pulls up a screenshot of a BLAST! post and my shoulders instantly tense up. "Relax," he mumbles. "It's not ANON."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Okay, then what is it?"

"I decided to check out some older BLAST!'s. Took me, like, an hour to scroll all the way back to three years ago but I did. And look."

I grab the phone and look over the screenshot with wide eyes.

        mimi1246: Say cheese! Nox and Ash at Shandra's birthday bash <3!

        There was an attached picture with Sebastian and Lennox smiling for a photo, Sebastian with sunglasses, and Lennox with a party hat. Their arms were wrapped around the other in a friendly way, but it was particularly evident that Lennox adored him.

        "This was the only post I really found about Sebastian from that summer," Devin concludes. "He was in a bunch of pictures, though. In the background, in mentions. This was the only time Lennox was ever mentioned with him. I don't know, it could be nothing."

         I frown. "Devin, who is mimi1246?"

         "No idea," he says. "It's an alias, of course. And there's like 50 million girls named Mimi in the world."

          I bite my lip. "And how convenient that she's not in the picture."

         Devin raises an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

         "Can you create more than one account on BLAST!?" I ask, brows furrowing.

         "Yeah. Why?"

        I stand to my feet, head spinning. "What if mimi1246 isn't just mimi1246? What if she's also ANON?"

"Brayls, that's sort of a reach, isn't it? I mean, just because she has a photo of Ash and Nox doesn't mean that she was the one who posted all that shit. She could've sent the pictures in, or someone else could've taken them, or—"

"Wait!" I exclaim, bringing a hand to my temple. "Nox. You called Lennox Nox."

Devin rolls his eyes. "Yeah, and I was in the middle of talking!"

"No," I hiss, shaking my head. "When we met, he told me that only his friends call him that." I spin around as the pieces finally click in my brain. "ANON called him Nox. In the original post, they called him Nox."

"So, they were friends, then?" Devin concludes.

"And how many friends from the Academy could Lennox have had?" I press. "It's her. It's the second girl, she's ANON. And she's Mimi."

Devin flushes. "Okay, so how do we find her?"

"First, we have to find Lennox. Again."

¥

        Lennox Stiles was much harder to find the second time around than the first. Especially considering this time, he didn't seem to want to be found. I'd been up all night trying to text him through Instagram or Twitter or Snapchat until finally, he responded with an apartment address.

        Robyn and Devin accompanied me—Hayley and Hunter were going through another rough patch and needed time apart, apparently. Robyn filled me in on all the drama as we drove across town to Lennox's place.

        "So, Hunter's worried about the guys Hayley might date in college when he's not there and she's trying to encourage him to go to a school nearby, which, let's face it, is not Hunter's style. But I think he might actually do it. He sure does love her enough," Robyn concludes.

        I purse my lips. "Love is enough incentive to do anything, I suppose."

        Robyn nudges my shoulder from the passenger seat. "Like solving a social media mystery?"

        "Or cutting off all your long, luscious hair?" Devin mutters from the backseat.

         I whip my head around. "How could you have possibly known I did that for him?"

        Devin snorts. "Please. You two are like planets. Just orbiting each other. Around and around and around."

        Robyn smirks. "That was kind of romantic, Dev."

         "Don't sound so surprised," he shoots back. Even I can hear the laugh in his voice.

         Robyn's hand clutches my shoulder. "So, what exactly is going on with you and Roman? I want full details. He filled me in a little when we were at Devin's the other day."

         "Really? What'd he say?" I press.

         Robyn grins. "That he's crazy about you. Am I correct to assume that that's mutual?"

         "I'm crazy either way," I retort before a smile finds its place on my lips.

         "But especially about him," Robyn offers.

         "But especially about him," I agree. "He's been there for me. A lot. In so many different ways. As a distraction but also just as a person to talk to. Someone who gets it as well as someone who doesn't, but tries to. And it started with me being afraid to admit that I had feelings for him but now...well, now I'm pretty sure he knows."

         Devin leans forward. "You told him you love him?"

         "Yeah?" I agree, hesitantly. "Well, sort of. The words never actually came out of my mouth. We were interrupted."

         "And now you're back," Robyn murmurs. "So, when will you two finish talking?"

         I park the car outside of Lennox's building. "Whenever he's ready." Robyn opens her mouth to ask more but I beat her to it. "Let's go."

I climb out of the car before either of them can ask me another question I didn't feel like answering. I didn't want to think about Roman or me spilling my guts to him. I knew he liked me--so why did it feel so scary to think of what he'd say in response to me telling him the feeling was mutual? Had I just been too late in realizing?

I follow Lennox's directions to the first door on the third floor and with Devin and Robs behind me, knock on the door. It's quick to open and Lennox scowls at us. "Come in," he mutters. "But keep it down. My boyfriend is asleep."

Devin snorts as we make our way inside the small, well-furnished apartment. "Asleep? At 1:30 in the afternoon?"

Lennox's scowl deepens. "He's a training nurse that works night shifts. This is the only time that he can sleep. What do you do?"

Robyn and I both stifle a laugh with our hands as Devin clears his throat. "Well, then."

"Thanks for meeting with us, Lennox," I say quietly. We sit in his living room, he and I on the couch and Robyn and Devin in respective chairs across from us. "I know you didn't particularly want to, but it's important."

Lennox's brows raise. "Yeah? Will you finally tell me what's going on? Why so many interrogations, Braylen?"

"Do you know what BLAST! is?" I ask. Lennox shakes his head once. "It's an app. All the kids from the Academy swear by it, and some kids from other prep schools too. Someone has been posting awful things about...about him."

Lennox frowns. "Like what?"

Devin bristles uncomfortably. "Like a mugshot photo, with a caption explaining his DUI. A detailed history of his drug use. And a video of you and him. Making out."

"What the hell?" Lennox spits, glancing at me. "That's how you knew. That he and I were together at some point. Because of these posts?"

"Yes," Robyn answers for me. "This person that's been posting these BLAST!'s goes by Anon."

"So, they're anonymous, then?" Lennox concludes. He cocks his head to the side. "We need to figure out who this is."

I nod. "We agree." Pulling out my phone, I scroll through my photos until landing on the screenshot. "Only your friends call you Nox, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because ANON called you Nox. And so did she," I respond, pulling out the screenshotted photo of Sebastian and Lennox at Shandra's birthday. "Do you have any idea who mimi1246 could be?"

Robyn leans forward. "And where we could find her?"

Lennox's eyes go dark. "Yeah. I might."