Hubie's Diner. It was this popular hang out for college students who went to the nearby University. Sometimes us high school kids went there to hang out before having to make it home before the curfew required in our town. This is probably a good time to mention that said curfew was still required during the summertime. So... yep.

The owner of Hubie's, Mr. Montez, was a cheerful older man who felt for us younger teenagers who always had to leave at a particular time to make it back across town to our homes. But if he wanted to stay in business, Mr. Montez had to enforce the curfew rule.

I was pretty sure it was going to be the same this time around considering that---as I'm glancing at the time on Edmund's dashboard---it was exactly eight thirty. We had only about an hour and a half before we were busted for being out so late.

I honestly was surprised that the parties thrown during the summers still went on with everyone knowing about the time limit for those under the age of eighteen. Unfortunately, I wasn't eighteen until next year, so working at the taco shop during late shifts were annoying. I had to carry around the permit with my photo on it specifying I was working during the curfew hours in order for me not to get into trouble.

But back to Hubie's being the place of college hangouts, my brother, Mitch, lived at the University. When he would visit us at home, he would mention this place is one of the stops he and his buddies would hang around at. For all that is green and holy, I hope I don't run into him here. That's all I needed, for my brother to find out I was supposed to be watching the shop and instead I was running around town with my friends. And Kim.

Edmund pulled into the parking lot of the diner and found a spot in the very back where his jeep would be hidden better in case the police strolled by, which was very likely. After killing the engine, the driver turned around, his elbow resting on his seat's shoulder and reeled in his lips as he raised his brows.

It was at this moment that I felt him, along with everyone else, staring at me and I frowned, craning my neck back. "What?" I glanced at the boys beside me then at Kim then to my best friends.

Edmund shrugged that it was my idea to come to Hubie's, but now it was up to me to decide whether or not we should go inside.

"And why wouldn't we?" I asked dumbly, raising my brows as I leaned my head forward.

Edmund side glanced at Margarite then back to me. "Did you forget about the curfew?"

"Course I didn't! But what the hell does that have to do with sitting here or going inside? Do you really wanna wait out here for however long we have when we could grab a bite to eat before heading home?" I scrunched my nose, scoffing, "You're such a squirrel turd, Edmund."

Margarite snickered behind her hand, glancing at the blond driver beside her who threw a glare at me.

And because apparently she was not being paid any attention to for the past few minutes, Kim pointed out the obvious that we were sitting in the back of a parking lot behind the Diner we were supposed to go inside of. She added that she wasn't even hungry and she was cold.

I shot her a 'are you serious?' look with a lip curl to accompany it. It was so not cold. It was a bit breezy on the beach but I didn't see her complaining then. She happened to be flaunting herself around in her bikini if I recall. But just because we weren't paying attention to her, she had to say something. Even if it was stupid.

Sighing out a heavy breath, I looked at Ryan and raised my brows, "Hungry?"

Boy Hawaii grinned, shrugging a shoulder that he could actually 'go for a few burgers' and I yelped when Kim used her upper body to wedge over and shove me out of the way to smile widely, "I could eat a burger too! A burger sounds so good!" Then the Queen Bee had the audacity to sneer, "Not that you should, Gemma. Seems like another burger will add a few more pounds to you."

Narrowing my eyes after straightening from her shove, I bit back on throwing an insult at her. If I wanted Ryan to like me, I didn't want him to think I'd stoop down to Kim's level. I needed him to know I wasn't a bully like her.

Glancing over at him, Ryan was wide-eyed at Kim's sparkling smile thrown his way.

I rolled my eyes and groaned in frustration that we should all get out of the Jeep because I was really crammed in. Of course, in the process of getting out of the vehicle, Kim whined that she needed Ryan's and Orson's assistance to get out which the boys obliged to even if they took forever to climb out of the Jeep to do so.

I stood up on the back seat and then started climbing over the edge of the side until I could stretch my short leg to toe around for the asphalt. As I finally stood on my feet, someone---I'm sure it sounded like Margarite--- asked, "Um... Gemma? Where are your shoes?"

I frowned, blinking at the others staring downward until I followed their lead and looked down at my bare feet. My toes wiggled against the dark pavement then I leaned my head back to groan, "Awwwww, crap! I left them back at the party!" Pouting at my feet, I mumbled that those were my favorite sneakers, too.

Kim scrunched her nose, crossing her arms over her chest. She had that stance where she was leaning more weight on one leg so her hip jutted out to the side. "And just exactly how are we going inside when Gemma has no shoes? You know Mr. Montez is not going to let us in with Mowgli here!"

She looked to Ryan and Orson, like they were the ones in charge or something, and proclaimed with her hand raised in the air, "I vote Gemma stays in the Jeep."

"Hey!" came out a lot whinier than I intended.

Kim shrugged, furrowing her brows at me and mumbled, "What?"

I frowned, gesturing to herself that she had her bikini top on, which I thought was worse. Kim scoffed, flipping her hair off her shoulder and turned to the boys, asking if they had an extra sweater or shirt. Margarite was on the other side---away from Kim's view---and rolled her eyes before going into the Jeep and pulled out the black turtleneck she'd had earlier. 

Kim raised a brow, crossing her arms and eyed the turtleneck. "The hell's that for?"

"You, Ice Queen!" Margarite clarified. "Just put this on. It'll cover up your bee stings." She tossed it at Kim whose mouth dropped, holding the turtleneck to her chest. Kim argued that she didn't have bee stings and the boys could vouch for that. All three boys, however, simultaneously looked upward at the inky sky, suddenly interested in how dark it was.

Kim narrowed her eyes at them then scoffed, "Whatever!" and grunted as she pulled the turtleneck on. Edmond was the only one who helped her in her time of struggle. Kim was still muttering through the turtleneck that I should still stay in the Jeep because I didn't have any shoes.  

Orson told Kim that I was not going to stay in the Jeep by myself. Then he told her to shut up. I honestly felt a little grateful for that. But that didn't mean I liked him any more than I did yesterday.

Orson frowned at Kim when she opened her mouth to whine that he was always siding with me to which I rolled my eyes to. Margarite mentioned that we needed to go inside before the cops started patrolling around this particular area.

"She's right," Ryan nodded, sighing out that it was a problem with my bare feet though. Like I didn't know that!

I glanced at my ex-boyfriend who was already scoping around the area and I narrowed my eyes until he turned around and pulled on Ryan's sleeve. Orson nodded, "Come with me." before walking off without another word. Ryan blinked a few times, glancing at me and I shrugged silently back at him.

As the boys made their way to wherever Orson was leading them, Ryan motioned towards the diner for me and the others to find a booth inside. Somewhere in the back.

"Did he forget you're barefooted?" Edmund asked, raising his brows.

I shrugged, waving for them to follow me as we were winding around the corner of the building. We passed by the window, seeing only a few people inside. There was an elderly couple in the front eating quietly, and then a family of five sitting on the opposite side of the diner.

When we pulled open the front door, I held it for the other three to enter. Kim was the only to not thank me and instead stuck her nose in the air while pointing out that at least I was doing something useful for once. This girl...

With a few grumbles under my breath, I walked into the diner and nervously glanced at the waitress heading our way. She looked a bit older than us, so I was going to guess she wasn't a high-schooler. But she cheerfully smiled as she approached; her dark-haired ponytail bobbing as she did so.

The waitress was already grabbing a few menus and asking if it was just for three, but Edmund corrected her that there would be five, that two of our friends were on their way. Nodding, the waitress asked us to follow her.

As we followed her, Edmund requested a booth, possibly in the back of the diner to which the waitress nodded with a smile and a wink. I glanced at Margarite's sneer, already she was sizing up the waitress as we were walking towards a darker part of the diner. Thankfully, the waitress hadn't glanced at our feet once, so I was in the clear. For now.

"Alright... so here are your menus," the waitress announced, who was named Tiffany after glancing at her name tag on her pink dress uniform. She placed said menus on the table in front of each of us.

It was one of the larger booths in the diner, I noticed, from the few times I'd been here. I never sat on this side of the place though because it wasn't very well lit.

Tiffany let us know she'd be back to get our order but in the meantime would get our drinks. When it came to Edmund ordering his drink, he asked if there was Raspberry iced tea which he was responded with 'no', but that there was Raspberry lemonade instead.

Tiffany smiled, her dark eyes sparkling as Edmund asked how popular was it. She shrugged that it was her favorite beverage in the diner and also a customer favorite. The corners of Edmund's mouth turned downwards, nodding as he seemed to be contemplating on whether to give it a try or not.

My shoulders raised slightly, wincing at the look on my other best friend's face as she was watching the interaction between Edmund and our waitress. Margarite's brown eyes shifted from one to the other, neither realizing they were being frowned at. My friend's cheeks flushed; a sign of her irritation.

Edmund smiled that the lemonade sounded great, receiving a smile back from Tiffany.

The waitress raised her brows in surprise when Margarite sneered, "How about that lemonade, then, hm? Our drinks aren't gonna bring themselves, ya know?"

I mentally face palmed at the startled look Tiffany had before glancing at Edmund who was shaking his head, scowling at Margarite. When the waitress disappeared, I opened my mouth to say something to Margarite but Edmund beat me to it.

"Are you fucking serious right now? That was so rude, Margarite!"

"I'm rude? You have no table manners with your damn flirting!"

"What...? What flirting? I was asking a question! Now I can't do that?"

"No! No, you can't! Not unless it's with me... or Gemma!" I noticed she added my name to that rather quickly.

Edmund rolled his eyes, rolling his head after towards me. "Please talk to your friend. She's being impossible."

Margarite slammed her hands on the table, making our silverware clang loudly that the elderly couple at the front of the diner glanced our way. She scrunched her nose, leaning forward and growled through her teeth, "Don't you patronize me, Edmund! I won't stand for it, you flirtatious, pompous, stupid weasel! Maybe I should bring that waitress back so you can fuck her brains out in front of us since that's all you seem to want to do! Or better yet... maybe---maybe I'll take Kevin up on his offer and fuck him a few times when he visits next week!"

My mouth dropped and eyes widened as I stared at Margarite. No she didn't.

Kevin and Edmund were cousins but they weren't ever on good terms.

Something having to do with how Kevin made Edmund promise to not tell anyone that the former had stolen a hundred and fifty thousand dollars from Kevin's father's safe. Kevin ended up asking Edmund for help. After Edmund had suggested for his cousin to return the money, Kevin had spent it all on some illegal substances that he was buying to sell at school for some side cash.

My friend was trying to play the good guy in helping his family by offering up his own savings so that Kevin could put the money back before Edmund's uncle could find out about the amount that was missing.

When Kevin suggested he'd be the lookout while Edmund put the money back because Edmund was quicker and Kevin knew the layout of his own home better, Edmund agreed. But then Kevin threw open the doors to his father's study while Edmund was in the process of putting the money back into the safe.

Kevin announced with not only his father behind him but Edmund's as well, "I told you, Dad! It wasn't me who stole the money! I tried to convince Eddie here that I'd help him with his sticky fingers but he just wouldn't listen!"

I couldn't remember the exact details of what happened after that other than Edmund having to get grounded for six months and having his Jeep taken away during that time. Ever since, Edmund hated his cousin who gave him a bad reputation within their entire family. Even if Edmund's parents were back to normal with him now.

But it looked like Margarite's threat just about did it for Ed.

I looked over at Edmund's face, his blue eyes narrowed until he stood up and growled, "That's it! Outside. Right now."

Margarite, Kim and I leaned back, raising our brows.

"What...?" Margarite squeaked. Her brown eyes wide as she shrunk back a little more. She didn't look like she wanted to be alone with Edmund. 

But my standing friend pointed towards the front of the diner. "Get up, Margarite! You and I are having a talk outside. Let's go!" and then had to reach over and grab hold of her arm before hauling Margarite out of the diner and disappeared from our view.

I blinked a few times, hoping my friends would settle this strange back and forth between them. I didn't want to lose either of my best friends.

"Well... That was interesting."

I forgot Kim was sitting next to me. She was stretching herself over the table as if trying to look for Edmund and Margarite through the side paneled windows. She sat back, grinning at me, "Bet you they fuck it out in the Jeep!"

"Ugh!" I scowled, turning away and shook my head. "Don't be gross, Kim."

She shrugged, muttering something about it being a possibility because of the sexual tension she could feel between my friends. I continued to stare at her with a frown then sighed, looking upward.

This night wasn't going as well as I hoped it would. My dad was in the hospital, my shoes were left on the beach so I'm pretty sure I'll catch them on some homeless person a few weeks from now, the police raided the party, I'm stuck in a Diner with my mortal enemy sitting beside me, and my best friends were outside having a heated argument.

And I wasn't any closer to Ryan than I was before. Could this night get any worse?

Luckily, while Kim was whining the whole time that there wasn't anything vegan to eat---didn't she say earlier she wanted a burger?---on the menu, I was able to tune her out and rest my head on my propped up arm. I kept flicking my straw's crumpled paper against the cup of my drink.

My eyelids drooped as I stared at my glass. Tiffany had brought our drinks five minutes ago and the others in our group had yet to return.

A bit ago, there was a loud ruckus coming through the doorway, but since we were way in the back we didn't bother with paying attention as to why. It just sounded like a bunch of loud guys walking in and making "whooping" sounds as they were boasting on their win of some game they just came from.

Reaching for my drink, I almost dropped it mid-air because Kim squealed, "Hi, Ryan!" and shoved me to move over so there was room for him. The boys looked a bit frazzled as they were rushing over to us with a plastic bag that was from Payless. They swooped down into the booth, Ryan next to me on my other side from Kim, and then Orson next to Kim.

Orson held the bag over the table to Ryan who grinned at me as he handed it to me. "Here." was all he said before I peeked into the bag to see the pair of red converse. They were simple, but I loved them. There was even a pair of white short socks inside with them.

Beaming at Ryan, I thanked him. He opened his mouth to say, "Actually, I didn't---" but then frowned across the table when Orson cleared his throat and raised his brows and interrupted Ryan.

"So! Where's that waitress?" Orson asked a little loudly, then looked around a bit too dramatically for my taste.

I squinted my eyes in his direction until his gray eyes glanced my way. Orson quickly looked down at his menu. His brows furrowed, concentrating a lot harder than necessary.

Frowning at his odd behavior, I turned back to Ryan to smile that I loved the shoes before shifting so that I could put them on.

Ryan sat there with his mouth open before he shook his head and muttered, "Um... You're---you're welcome?"

After putting on the shoes, I beamed at my feet. I turned to lean over and kiss Ryan's cheek. His face turned a deep shade of pink, raising his shoulders. I glanced Kim who looked irritated. I had to fight the urge to give her a smug grin.

One point for Gemma, zip for the Queen Bee.

Tiffany suddenly appeared, looking from Orson to Ryan then frowned, "Weren't there a few more of you?"

The boys frowned too, wondering out loud where Edmund and Margarite were. I shrugged that Edmund got a little upset with her earlier and made her go outside to talk.

Kim raised a brow, asking if the boys hadn't bumped into them along the way back from the store. When they shook their heads that no one was around outside, I began to panic.

What if the cops got them? 

"Maybe I should go look for them..." I suggested, starting to shift over to get out of the booth.

Orson shook his head that he'd do it since he was on the edge of the booth anyway. He stood up, giving his beverage and food order to the waitress before disappearing outside. I nervously gave my order of a chicken salad sandwich to Tiffany but then kept glancing outside the next few minutes for any sign of my friends.

The police were cruising around this hour, getting ready to pick up teenagers past curfew. Technically, we only had so much time before we had to leave and get home.

Glancing at my phone after I pulled it out of my front pocket, I nodded to myself. Yeah, it was nine exactly. We all had a curfew at ten---minus Orson.

Swallowing as I placed the phone back into my pocket, I heard the chime of the bell above the diner door to see a pale Orson rushing back over to us. He weakly smiled at the elderly couple warily watching him then was practically running to our table once he passed them.

"You alright, Orson?" Ryan asked, raising his brows.

Orson gulped, shaking his head as he looked right at me. "Gem... We need to get you out of here!"

"Why? And did you find Edmund and Margarite?"

"Gem, you're not listening to me! We have to get out of here now! I just saw someone who may or may not have spotted me and is probably coming this way right now!"

"But why?" I asked, frowning up at him as he looked over his shoulder then back to us.

Orson looked at Tiffany when she came out with his and Ryan's drinks, shaking his head that he wasn't going to be needing that after all.

"Orson," I growled. "What's your problem?"

"Gemma Marisela-Vanessa Magaña! What the hell are you doing here?!"

I squeaked, my shoulders raising to the sides of my ears. My eyes went wide. I saw Orson stiffen, along with Kim and Ryan until I peered slowly around Orson's figure and met the fiery brown eyes belonging none other than to my older brother.

Remember earlier when I wondered if this night could get any worse? It just did.