Please vote and comment <3

After we all  ate--

Wait let me re-word that.

After we all ate the leftovers of Zayne's savage attack on the food, a dark skinned man with a medium afro walked in, his back straight as he radiated confidence and victory.

"Guess who won their last ra-ace!" He sang as he waltzed in, seemingly uncaring for the imposters that were sitting aaround the table.

"When have you ever lost a race, Quint?" Shawn said from across the table.

"True say." He said, Then, taking a long look around the table, his face suddenly fell.

"Z, you could have saved me something." 

"Excuse me, it wasn't just me who had eaten at this table aswell."

"Given the state of how clean everyone's plates are but your absolute jungle of one, are you sure they even ate anything?" Quint said, the pain still not leaving his eyes.

Nance leaned over to me, leaning towards the ear closest to her.

"They're always like this, fighting over the food. I feel sorry for poor Lorna who has to go out and buy the food for these two tardises. I mean, how do they even fit that much food in their bodies, they're both lean as heck."

I took a good look at Quint and decided that me and Nance must have had two different ideas of lean. Quint was rocking some biceps through his hoodie, his torso clearly lacking of any fats whatsoever and the skinny jeans on his legs emphasizing the hours at the gym he must have spent. I mean, when you have a boyfriend as big as Shawn though, I guess I can't blame the girl for thinking these boys were 'lean'.

As the two carried on bickering, Connor whisteled a light tune while slowly bringing up what looked like a palte of untouched food. Zayne and Quinton suddenly shut up and their eyes followed the plate like a hungry dog eyeing its bone.

"Hey, Connor, were you thinking of telling me that you had spare food?" Zayne said, raising his head towards Connor.

I gave him a look of disbelief, not being able to believe how he actually could be thinking of eating anymore than he already had.

"Are you KIDDING? I haven't even eaten yet and your fat ass is asking if you can have my food aswell?"

"Not my fault that my fat ass needs constant feeding to keep it so plump." Zayne said back, standing up and sticking his bum in Quinton's face, smacking it for emphasis.

I couldn't help but let out a strangled laugh, sounding more like a suffocating hyena than a 17 year old girl.

Zayne and Quinton looked at each other for two seconds. Then, like two wild animals, they both charged towards Connor, more specifically, the plate of chicken wings, fries, corn on the cob, jacket potato and cheese that sat in his hands. 

Horror filled Connors eyes as he realised that he might have just signed his own death wish. Quickly, he got up band dashed behind Zara's chair, getting ready to watch whatever was going to happen in a front row seat.

Quinton reached the plate first, grabbing it and screaming in victory, but not before Zayne had managed to grab the corn on the cob and lick it from end to end.

"Try eating it now, Quinton."

"If girls have survived sucking that putrid dick of yours, I'm sure I won't die from whatever STD you've just transferred onto that. Oh look, nevermind, I can already  see it turning black." Quint screamed. 

By this point, everyone in the room was in hysterics, even Mendez had a smile plastered on his face as he watched.

That smile soon faded when said 'blackening' sweetcorn cob came flying to his head. In a single swift movement, he grabbed the cob before it hit him in the face. 

The room went silent, the ghosts of everyone's laughter still sitting in the air as Mendez stared down at the two 'men'.

He raised the cob, then hurled it forwards, hitting Zayne in the middle of his forehead and leaving a wet splash mark on his forehead.

"Why the fuck did I make you my second in command, I will never know." he said, clearly trying to hide the smile that was threatening to burst to the surface.

Zayne just accepted his defeat, not even rubbing off  the sweetcorn juice which was now dripping down his forehead, and sat back down in his seat. Quinton's face held victory again as he looked over at the whole table, as if he was waiting for a round of applause or something.

"You're not any better, but I'll let you off seeming as you won today's race." Mendez said with a nod and a subtle smirk.

Quinton didn't even take five minutes to finish his plate. Rubbing his belly, he sat sunk down in his seat.

"Lorna, that was so nice."

"When is it ever not nice, sir?"

"Don't sir me, madam, the names Quinton, learn it well."

Lorna just smiled before taking all the plates of the table. I looked up at the clock and it read 8.30. 

No way had we just spent 2 1/2 hours eating and watching the free comedy.

I nearly forgot about the fact that I had been basically abducted by a gang leader who had killed more people than I'd like to think and threatened Connor's sister just to spy on me.

"Why the long face, May?" Nance asked, actual concern showing through her one raised brow and slight frown on her lips.

"The name's Maya." I said coldly, remembering that the majority of people in this room were not my friends."

"I'm sure she's just feeling tired." Derek said, interrupting what I was about to say.

"Actually I'd slept for like an hou--"

He just sent me a look, telling me to shut the fuck up.

"Now that I think about it, I am tired as heck. Could someone show me where my room is?"

"Alright, Derek, take her to the basement then. You'll have everything you need in there."

I looked around the room, trying to see if Mendez was joking or not. A few seconds later, the whole room burst into laughter, excluding me, Derek and Jacob.

"It's a joke, babygirl." Zayne said, trying to steady his breathe again. "It wasn't even the joke that was funny, it was how red and angry you looked when he said it. You looked like an overripe tomato.

"She doesn't look wrinkly and sad." Quint said, sending a small smirk my way.

I just humphed, walking out of the dining room. Behind me, I heard Mendez telling Lorna to show Tanner and Greene where the guest rooms were for them.

Derek quickly followed me out, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Oh, don't tell me, you're here to mock me too." I said, but instead of feeling annoyed, I felt playful.

"Oh of course not, you wrinkly overripe tomato." 

"Go again." I said, standing still and facing him.

"You wrinkly, overripe tomato." 

"Oh you're asking for it." I said, sending a kick at his chest which he blocked with ease.

"You forget that it was me who taught you to teach for the past few weeks."

"You forget that I've been training to fight for most of my life." I said, sending a successful jab to his cheek. 

He tried to send one back but I grabbed his big fist in my hand instead.

I looked down at where our hands met, trying to figure out what that feeling I was feeling in my chest was, like butterflies were combusting up in my chest.

I quickly withdrew my hands, taking the lead again before realising that I had no clue where I was going.

"Derek, where's my room?"

"Same floor as mine and the others."

At the mention of the siblings, I inwardly cringed, knowing I still had to talk to them about what had happened, this time factoring in the fact that Mendez had forced them to work with him.

I let Derek take lead, leading me up two flights of stairs till we came to a corridor which was painted in a sky blue, dark blue lines running horizontally across the walls. The stretch seemed to go on forever. 

"First door is Connor's room." He said, pointing to my left at a pastel green painted wooden door.

"Across the hallway is Zara's room. further down on your left next to Connors room is the storeroom, it has all kinds of things you'd need like toothpaste and toilet paper, etc. Next to that is Jacob's room. Opposite his room is yours and next to yours in mine. All the rooms have an en-suite toilet and by the look of it, the room has a door on the other side of the room which leads out onto a balcony which goes around the whole building. I won't come in if it makes you uncomfortable but if you need anything, just ring me." He said, the incident from last night clearly playing on his head.

"Derek, you can talk to me like I'm not a complete lost cause. It was rough last night, yes, but you've got to remember that last night, we were both ready to die at the hands of Jack. You've got to remember that you trusted me enough to let me go. I need you to trust me now, trust me when I say that I'm going to be fine but if you carry on acting like this, I doubt I'll be ok in time."

He looked at me, eyes conflicting as he thought over my words. I knew the look: pity.

Instead of watching him trying to think of a reply, I turned away from him and walked towards my room. The baby blue door caught me by surprise, a look of familiarity haunting the grooves along the wooden barrier.

In the back of my head, I could only see one image. 

The image of my mother, Eleanor, standing next to Mendez, eyes full of so much emotion that for a minute, I nearly believed the illusion. I nearly believed that my mother actually knew Mendez.

But that couldn't have been true, not even slightly. My mother was dead before Mendez would have even known about her, nevermind actually having a relationship with him.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I reached for the doorknob, faltering once again when my hand came in contact with the cool brass.

Twisting the knob and flinging open the door, the ever looming sense of deja vu didn't seem to leave my side. If anything, it only became stronger.

The four poster queen sized bed lay in the middle of the massive room, draped in cream sheets with little roses in the corner. To its left sat a little white nightstand holding on top of it a reading lamp and a book.

Walking across the soft cream floor, I picked up the book which on closer inspection, was actually a diary.

Diary of 2004.

It isn't mine. Should I open it? Should I just give it to Connor? He'd know what to do with it, right? 

Maybe... maybe it won't do that much harm in having a small look inside it, right?

I sat on the corner of the bed, the fabric of the diary suddenly feeling heavy in my hands. The edges of the diary were creased on and the cover was doodled on, like a two year old had got their crayons and found this diary cover as its closest canvas.

My fingers ran across the cover, grabbing the cover when I reached the corner of the book. Flipping open the cover, I did a double take after having looked at the line which said 'This diary belongs to                           '.

Because in the blank space, there sat a name.

The name of someone I sure wasn't expecting.

In the blank space lay the name Maya.

---------

What the hell was my name doing there? Why did Mendez even have this diary? Since when did I even write diaries?

Given the year, though, this diary was from when I was 2.

I must have been some special two year old if I could already spell my name.

Flicking past the name page, I rested my eyes on the multiple doodles on the first page in blue, red and green pen. Even though extremely indistinct, I immediately recognised the markings as a sad copy of the flower picture that lay on the bedroom wall. I immediately recognised the markings as a b-tech version, doodle-like version of the flowers that adorned all of my more recent sketchbooks.

The weird realisations didn't stop at that page though because on the next page, there was a coloured drawing. One of a man with dark hair and hazel eyes, of a woman with black hair and blue eyes standing next to him and a little girl with black hair and hazel eyes standing in the middle. 

The little girl in the middle was undisputablely a mini Maya, the woman being my dead mother, Eleanor and the man closely resembled the young Mendez from the picture that hung in Jack's room.

Even from a two year olds doodles, there was no argument around it.

This was mini me's sketchbook.

The next ten pages or so were the same flowers from the first page, every new petal gaining in quality until on a page near to the end of the book, there was the drawing of the flower again, but this time, it was near perfect. It was painted too, the rich purple of the outer edge of the petal contrasting the blue that stemmed from the centre.

It was scarily close to the painting on the wall and the drawings in my current sketchbook.

There was no way we were still looking at a two year olds drawings, maybe a four or five year olds, but not a two year olds.

I kept flicking through, various drawings of various different house objects littering the pages like a collage. My attention was only re-caught when my eyes landed on the last page.

This time, there were four people. The same three from the second page's drawing were there but the fourth person had dark brown, curly hair and the deepest of brown eyes.

Standing next to me in this drawing was no other than Derek.

----

a/n: 

im so so so so so so so so SO sorry for such shite upload times ;( but it's the holidays now again so maybe i'll get back into updating again.

there are only a few more chapters to go till the end of this book, but there is definitely going to be a second book.

i wonder what Derek is doing in mini Maya's sketchbook, anyone got any idea?

have a good night my lovelies <3

Lolaalvilivi