Trechial stepped onto the quiet bus, a tan man with dark curly hair and a giant mole on his nose seated behind the wheel. He gave her a courteous nod as she passed him. She made her way down the aisle to the last seat, slinging her Jansport on the seat then sliding in next to it.

She leaned against the window glass, enjoying the coolness it provided through her skin. The sun wasn't even out yet and it was hot, humid, and her hair was sticking to the back of her neck.

Her gaze drifted to the stop sign wondering if Devin would come flying by to catch the bus. After a couple of minutes, the sound of the double doors colliding together told her Devin was not going to make it. It was possible he would catch a ride to school.

Trechial let out a long yawn, sleep luring her eyelashes into a fluttery close. A quick nap beckoned her to catch up on lost sleep.

But her thoughts remained cuffed by Charlie's cynical grip.

Charlie had entered their lives like a bitter cold entering a warm cozy home. The man rivaled frostbite. He was mean, cold-hearted, hard, crass, and judgmental.

A man who Trechial once viewed as trying to take her dad's place turned into a man who vowed to make her life miserable and erase her dad from existence.

It started with snide remarks about her dad, from the way he dressed down to how he held his fishing pole in photos. The first noticeable thing to disappear was their family pictures on the walls upstairs. Her mother and Charlie argued about it for the first couple of weeks after he moved in. But after they eloped behind Trechial's back, her mom took down the pictures upstairs, citing, "It's not fair to Charlie to keep pictures up of Ashton now that we're married. "I will always love your father, Trechial, but at some point, we have to move on. It's what Ashton would have wanted."

Balarky! It was not fair that Charlie was living in her father's house and calling the shots, yet here he was commandeering their house and all the things in it. Last night she watched the final pictures go down in a sheet of shattered glass. Funny how Charlie had no problem with living in another man's home but did not want to be reminded that he was in another man's home.

Charlie criticized her father's parenting whenever the opportunity arose. Always throwing jabs at her father for the close relationships Trechial had with Devin and Trey.

"A bunch of unruly boys running around town trying to hump on every girl they encountered," Charlie complained in one of his many unwarranted rants.

He knew nothing about her friends outside of the fact that he simply did not like them. In her opinion, it was baseless judgments from a racist cop with nothing to do. A man who was childless had the nerve to criticize her dad for being a good parent who trusted his daughter. What did Trechial expect from that vile man anyway? Charlie had no clue about what it meant to be a decent human being, let alone a trusting parent. Her father was a God-fearing, kind-hearted, man of integrity. He believed in giving people a chance despite their race. Which was the reason why people gravitated toward her father in the first place, including Devin. Her dad was everything Charlie was not.

Trechial shifted against the window in an attempt to get more comfortable. She released a heavy sigh, her next set of thoughts heating up another blaze within her.

Everything she did made Charlie snap. Talk on the phone, snap. Come inside five minutes late, snap. Leave a drop of milk on the counter, snap. Hang out with Maylee, ultra-snap. Hang out across the street for five minutes with Devin or Yoon Mi Rae... triple-ultra-double whammy, snap.

The moment her mother gave him an inch of authority over her, he took a respective million miles with it. From her clothing to her friends, he held an unfavorable opinion about it all. He even managed to convince her mom to side with him on how much time she could spend at her friend's house, including Devin's.

"It's not a good look for you to spend so much time at any boy's house, Trechial. No matter who he is," her mother had attempted to reason with her one night over mashed potatoes and meatloaf. Charlie sliced into his meatloaf like a hungry ogre, his head nodding in agreement with her mother as if he were not the gossip queen behind her decision. Trechial conceded that night by force, but it wouldn't be their last talk about it.

There were many barriers between Trechial and her mother. Charlie being numero uno. Her mother bent to nearly every decision Charlie suggested. He was the reason behind her and Yoon Mi Rae's distant relationship. He was the reason behind all of her mother's distant relationships with people.

Charlie commented on Mr. Johnson's lack of interest in his son's life. And how it would ultimately lead to Trey leading a life of crime. As if! Mr. Johnson may work all the time, but he is at every basketball practice and game that Trey has. He held one conversation with Mr. Johnson in the past and was now all of a sudden an authority on the subject.

He made fraudulent observations about Leandro's mother being a single parent and living off welfare. While Leandro's father was incarcerated, his mother managed a restaurant in downtown Palmtop Beach. A private upscale rich area that only the rich elite frequented. What woman on welfare drove around in a Lincoln Navigator, wore Chanel, and walked around in the latest Jimmy Choos?

Charlie's second favorite target was Maylee. He detested Maylee. She was the bane of his existence due to her smart mouth and in your face attitude. Maylee didn't mince words especially for those she didn't like. He told Trechial's mom one night over a nightcap that Maylee was ghetto, disrespectful, and would end up pregnant by the age of sixteen.

How could her mom not get offended by such a statement? How could she not see his obvious distaste for people who were not like him? He blurted out racist crap all the time about people, and Diana brushed it off as if it were nothing more than a disagreeable joke. It infuriated her. Charlie even stooped as low as calling Leandro a Mexican burrito when in fact he was neither Mexican nor a burrito... he was Puerto Rican, and she made sure to correct Charlie about it.

He attacked her friends solely because they were her friends. Spontaneous gun cleanings took place on occasions when Devin would drop by for a visit. Although Devin could care less about Charlie's idle threats, which made Devin braver in Trechial's eyes. He asked Charlie indebt questions about each piece of his weapon, knowing it annoyed him to the max. Devin asked as if Mr. Liao did not have a respectable gun collection of his own in his office.

A finger pushed into Trechial's temple, bringing her out her dreams. Her eyes opened, and she blinked at clearing her cloudy vision. She was laying on someone's shoulder. She lifted her head, meeting Devin's quizzical gaze.

"You look like roadkill." She loved how Devin greeted her with dry humor.

"Thanks a lot, Camelot," she mumbled with an eye roll.

"Anytime." There was a long pause, then his eyebrows drew together as he assessed her. "Tell me what's wrong. Charlie?" he asked in a gentle tone.

"Another day," she said, brushing him off and looking out the window at their new high school. "Are you ready?"

He stared out the window with her. "Ready to get all this over with."

Trechial glimpsed at him and smiled. "I hope you have a good year, Tae."

The corner of his lips lifted with a sweet smile. "It will only be good if it includes you."

Trechial blushed. "Don't flirt with me on the first day of school, dweeb."

He chuckled and stood up, moving into the aisle and letting her out of the seat as students lined up to exit the bus. "Old habits die hard?"

"We haven't even started school yet, and you're already starting your Casanova B.S." She made her way past him into the aisle, ignoring his boyish grin that created a butterfly frenzy in her stomach.

He pinched her side, making her jump, and said something in his native tongue.

"You're such a flirt to say you have a girlfriend," she said as they exited the bus and followed the crowd toward a small gate entrance leading into the huge school.

"I only flirt with you." He grinned and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Trechial inclined her head to look at him. "It's a problem."

"That does not need solving."

She narrowed her gaze. A part of her agreed with the reckless creature scanning the crowd of kids, walking together as if they were an item. She liked the thought more than she cared to admit.

His basketball jersey was doubly too big for him along with his denim jeans. His new haircut, some sort of permed undercut from her judgment, created a bad boy vibe...not that he wasn't already. She smirked at the image of Yoon Mi Rae pinning him down to the chair and perming his hair.

"Yoon Mi Rae?" Trechial flicked strands of his hair.

"She doesn't know the meaning of personal space," he grumbled, running a hand through his new do and frowning.

She lifted a brow, twirling the silk curls in her fingers. "I think only you could pull something like this off."

"Who's flirting with whom now, Mini?"

"Devin!" Candice's voice cut through their moment. She rushed towards them with a wide wave, pulling down her mini-red skirt.

Trechial swallowed her laugh and removed Devin's arm from around her, stepping away from him. He frowned and poked out his lip, which made Trechial smirk.

"I think it's time to re-draw that line," she said.

He squinted his eyes, holding her gaze, his lips hard-pressed into a line. "Is there really a point?"

And just like that, they were back in that weird space she had managed to avoid the whole summer.

Trechial poked her tongue in her cheek, looking over at Candice as she approached Devin.

"Yeah, there is," Trechial said, "and she comes complete with accessories and Malibu dream house. Later."