I sat alone at lunch on Monday.

Max was somewhere in the school, Kacey was sitting with some band geek, giggling as he showed her something on his phone.

It actually felt a little strange to be alone. I had always had someone here with me. Be it some of the jocks or cheer-squad, or even just Kacey or Max, there was always someone here to hold a conversation with. B

"Aye, Quinn, right?" I lifted my head up from my plate, frowning.

"Do I know you?" I snapped, a little too rudely.

I hadn't seen the guy before. He had a strange build, one a quarterback might have with his obvious height and long arms. His brown hair was short, spiked with blonde tips at the top.

"I heard you were single." I dropped my fork, my eyes narrowing at the boy in front of me.

How could anyone have found out about my fight with Jayden a few days ago? Unless he told someone, of course, nobody should have a clue.

"I am." I said slowly, "But I'm not looking for a relationship right now." I tried to say it as sweetly as I could, just in case this was like that guy that had liked me back in middle school. The one that I had totally turned down and he ended up gay by the end of Junior High.

"I was asking for a relationship. . . not exactly. I need your help." I moved my hand in a gesture for him to go on.

"I saw you with Duncan and I know that you wouldn't be with him unless it was out of pity. I was wondering if maybe you could help me make my girlfriend jealous." I nearly choked on my water at what he said, my eyes widening.

"What? Oh, no. I'm not. . . I don't-"

"Really?" The boy said, rolling his eyes, "You expect me to believe you're hanging around with that loser out of your own will? Come on, Quinn. I'll pay you." I stood up, pushing my tray into the trash can beside me with my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

"Pay me?" I asked through my teeth, but he didn't seem to understand how pissed off I was starting to get.

"Yeah, you know what I mean, right? Like you act like my girl and I'll pay you for it." He said, only clarifying what I had thought he'd been insinuating. I grabbed my half full water bottle and threw my backpack over my shoulder before stomping around the table and pouring the water over his head.

"I am not a whore." I snarled, "And Max isn't a loser, you are."

I stalked out of the lunch room before I could get any sort of response or reaction out of him or the rest of the lunch room.

**

"Aussie, can I see it!" I lifted my head up in disgust at the words that echoed through the quiet house. I hadn't even known my brother had a girl over until I had heard her loud giggle from the kitchen an hour ago.

I took her suggestive sentence as my cue to get up and go outside, grabbing my jacket and soccer ball before jogging out the door and shutting it loudly behind me.

I slid into my jacket before starting to dribble the soccer ball between my feet, my eyes on the house in front of me.

"I heard you splashed water in Kellin's face." I jumped at the quiet voice, nearly tripping over the ball between my feet.

Kacey was standing in front of my brothers car in the driveway, most of her face covered by the hoodie on her jacket.

"I did." I smiled a little, trying to sooth the tension in the air. I kicked the ball into my hands before walking toward the car.

I stared in surprise as Kacey covered her face with her hair as I got closer, dropping a shaky hand to her side. I hadn't ever seen my best friend not want to show her face, she had always said it was her best feature.

"Kace, did someone hurt you?" I finally managed to ask. I knew the move, the covering your face and acting like it was no big deal, move.

"I. . ." She didn't finish her sentence, she decided to step forward and drop her hoodie instead, not even giving me her usual disapproving look when I gasped.

Both of her eyes were black and blue, swollen around the eyelids. Her lips were cut, and a bruise was starting to form on her cheek all the way down to her chin.

"Kace." I breathed out, dropping my soccer ball to the ground.

She took a step forward before collapsing in my arms, her sobs muffled by my jacket. I could feel my own eyes stinging as I held my best friend, the best friend that had always been strong, had always tried to smile even when she was in pain on the inside.

She wouldn't be hurt, some piece of crap wouldn't have beat her if I had been there with her, to let her know my opinion the guy and let her tell me how he had been acting. She had been there for me when Jayden did it to me, but I hadn't been there for her.

"What happened to your hand?" She whimpered, sniffling. I sent a quick glance down at my bandaged hand, smiling sadly.

"Jayden." I answered, knowing I had no need to say more. She buried her face against my shoulder again, hugging me tightly against her.

I knew, somehow, that neither of us needed to apologize aloud. We had done it already, we had forgave each other in some weird way without even saying sorry.

"I told you I didn't like him." She whispered.

"Yeah, I know." I replied, "I should have listened to you. After all, best friends always know best."

**

Austin and his girlfriend joined us in the living room sometime after I grabbed a tub of ice cream from the freezer and sat on the ground with Kacey and started binge watching chick flicks. I wasn't a huge fan, but I knew that Kacey was a sucker for a good romance, so I went with it anyway.

It was peaceful, with the exception of Austin's girlfriend and Kacey crying or screaming at the idiot guy that let the girl go throughout the movie, until our parents walked through the front door.

". . . and I thought it was okay. Guess I was wrong, wasn't I, Chris? Because obviously I wasn't ever good enough." My mom said, her voice calm, as usual. She never raised her voice, not even when Austin had stolen her wallet and car and disappeared to Vegas a couple years ago.

"You know that's not true, honey. I love you. It was a mista-"

"A mistake that lasted over a year and a half? Just get out of my way, Christopher. I don't want to see you right now." My mom tried to push my dad's arm away, but his grip tightened on her. I winced a little, my elbow aching at the faint memory that had started to resurface.

"Just listen to me for a second, Lis. It wasn't you, it was me and-"

"No!" Austin and I both jumped at my mom's scream, it was the first time we had ever heard her lose it, "I'm so fucking tired of your excused, Chris! The only reason you are still in this house is because my children needed their father. I stopped loving you the second you had sex with my sister!" Kacey patted my leg and whispered something about a text before sneaking out the open front door, Austin's girlfriend following closely behind her.

I only stared back and forth between my parents, my eyes stinging with tears. We had seen hundreds of fights within the last couple years, but they had never gotten this bad, my mom had never yelled, let alone cursed.

"But it was okay for you to fuck my best friend? We all make mistake, Melissa. We-"

"I apologized, Christopher! I was young, it was a mistake. You know I didn't-"

"But you have his fucking son? You forced me to raise my own best friends fucking son while he disappeared halfway across the world, right? Because that's okay, because I'm the one that has to take care of your mistake." I felt my brother tense before I saw the look that had crossed through his eyes.

"What? Mom?" He choked out, his blue eyes so dark they almost looked black.

"Austin, honey-" My mom started, but Austin was already standing up.

"Don't even try. Just leave me alone." I watched in horror as my brother stalked down the hall and slammed his door shut behind him. I stared at my stunned and red faced parents for a second before taking off down the hall after my brother, knocking on his door gently.

"Austin? It's Quinn." I rapped on his door again, letting out a shaky sigh. I saw the knob twist before the door creaked out slowly, revealing my brother as he moved quickly across his room, shoving his stuff into a duffel bag.

"Aussie?" I whispered. He tensed where he stood in front of his closet, his hand slowly clenching into a fist.

"What, Q?" He sent a quick look at me over his shoulder, his blue eyes cold.

"What are you doing?" I asked, even though I knew the answer.

"I'm leaving for a while." He didn't look at me as he answered, shoving another pile of his shirts into the bag.

"Why? Aus, it doesn't change anything. We're still brother and sister, who cares about some jerk that left and-"

"I knew." He cut me off, "He contacted me a year or two ago, asking if I wanted to meet him. I didn't want to, I didn't want to tell Mom and Dad either, so I kept quiet. But maybe, maybe I should go meet him." He still avoided eye contact, his voice sounding as if he had been shouting for hours on end without stopping.

"Austin, please don't go." I grabbed his arm, finally feeling tears starting to escape my eyes.

"I'm twenty-six, Quinn. You knew I was going to have to leave some day." He lifted his head a little, his hands shaking.

"Not now. You can't leave me with them, Austin. They'll try to pull me in either direction, they'll make me choose." I said.

My whole life Austin had acted as my guardian. He had been the one to beat up people that messed with me, he was the one to drive me to and from school, he was my best friend. He was the best friend I had years before Kacey, and I wasn't ready to lose him.

"Then come with me. You'll be eighteen soon enough." He turned to me, his blue eyes softening when he saw my expression. For a moment, I felt like nothing more than the scared seven year old that used to crawl into his bed during thunderstorms.

"I can't." I whimpered again. I didn't know exactly why I couldn't leave with him. My parents would be mad if I did, sure, but they would get over it. I would still visit them, that wouldn't stop. It was the fact that I knew Kacey needed me, that Max needed me here that stopped me from agreeing to leave with my brother.

"I'll call once I figure out what the hell I'm going to do, where I'm going to live. Just let me know if you ever change your mind, or you need your big brother to come and kick some little punks ass." I tried to fight the sad smile that tugged at my lips, but lost and let Austin pull me into one of his hugs.

"It's be okay, sis. Everything will work itself out." I nodded against his chest, finally allowing myself to break down for the second time in the last couple months.

I thought back to when our family used to be perfect. We used to eat together at the dinner table, used to talk about our days and have movie nights. They would ask me how I was, how Austin was.

But nothing perfect can stay in a world like this, a world that rips the beauty and perfection out of everything and stomps it into the ground. Perfect was something that won't ever last, and I guess that's something I'm going to have to accept.

***AN****

Sorry about the lack of Max in this chapter, the next will have a lot more!

Hope you enjoyed anyway!

Let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24