☕︎☕︎☕︎

"Look you guys are famous!" Roman says as he walks down to join us for dinner. He puts his phone out in front of us and I watch a video of Landon and our friends at the diner from earlier today.

The angle shows that it was taken from someone standing outside through the glass, but all our faces are visible.

"I'm also trending number two from our little incident in the cafeteria," I remind him. "I still think it deserves number one, but what can you do. People have lost their sense of humour and are more into dark stuff."

"Why are you trending number and two and where?" Grayson questions.

"I'll send you a link," Roman says as he takes his seat beside me. "Our school has a website, Instagram page and a newsletter that are all run by students. People email them gossip and videos they think would get a lot of views and well someone sent them the video of Reese and I confronting each other in the cafeteria."

"Yeah and then they also sent them a video of the diner that Reese and I were at. We ran into a bit of trouble and it kind of made a scene, but nothing to worry about. We handled it," Landon explains.

"I need details, Landon," Grayson insists.

"Right, Reese why don't you take this one. You have a way with words, don't you? Also, Gray is less likely to kill you than me," Landon smiles.

"Yeah, go ahead throw me under the bus," I roll my eyes. Grayson was running a little late, so he didn't get time to change after he got home from the office. He ended up taking off his coat and unbuttoned a few buttons from his shirt and rolled up his sleeves to be a little more comfortable. The issue with that is that he just seems more intimidating to me. "The thing is the diner is notorious for being neutral grounds for Weston Secondary and Weston High. Both schools are enemies, but things got heated when Everleigh's ex tried to hit on me.

They got into a banter and Ev ended up slapping him for one of his comments. He got mad and he got extremely close to her just to tell her not to ever hit him again. She begged him to stop because he was being kinda scary and he finally took a step back. She started crying, but that's when Landon and his friends, also Reis, Everleigh's older brother walked in and were ready to beat the shit out of the men. But they didn't."

"Everything is actually handled?" Jaxson questions Landon.

"Yeah, mostly. There might be trouble if we ever see each other, but that's unlikely," Landon assures.

"Reese, you agree with that. It's not going to get worse?" Grayson asks with importance.

"Yeah, for sure," I promise.

"That's good. If anything does happen, both of you let us know. We go in together," Gray replies.

I was a little scared. I thought Gray was going to be mad, but I guess he's taking it a lot better than I thought.

"Yeah, I'm all hands," Jaxson replies.

"I'm pissed he didn't do anything. I swear if he did that to Reese, his body would be in pieces," Roman claims.

"Trust me, if it was her, it would've ended a lot differently. I just wanted to give Everleigh and Reis the right to make the decisions. I didn't wanna make things more difficult for them. I know we can handle them, but their story might be different," Landon explains.

"True, you did the right thing. If Reis wanted to do anything, I know you would've been by his side. It was the right thing to do," Grayson praises.

"I agree," Jaxson says. The heavy conversation ends and we carry on with something lighter. Like the prank and how good Jaxson made this Salmon.

☕︎☕︎☕︎

I knock on the door and hear Roman's voice allowing me in. I twist the doorknob and walk in. The lights are still on and I find him sitting at his computer with his headphone around his neck probably because he was playing his video games.

"What's up?" he asks. I walk over to his bed and take a seat on the edge looking at him. His room is as big as mine, but a lot cleaner and darker.

Beside his gaming area, he has a dresser and a TV on his wall. The walls are painted a darker blue and the furniture is dark oak wood.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" I ask.

"Yeah, I was actually gonna come see how you were doing," he says as he takes off his headphones and turns off his monitor. "You seemed well so I decided not to ask you earlier."

"I'm fine, really. I guess I just didn't get a lot of time to stop and think about how aggressive everything was at the diner. She was crying and she just seemed lost. I knew she was uncomfortable, but I just froze. I didn't know what I could do for her in the moment. And then she lied to Reis, she tried to protect him, Ro," I breathe replaying the moment in my head. My eyes brim with tears.

"It's okay," Roman gets up and hugs me. My head pressed against his chest, I let the tears out.

"It reminded me of Silas," I cry.

"Silas is in jail, Reese. He can't ever hurt you."

"I know, but I can't get the moments out of my head now. I lost so much because of him. I lost so much time with mom and dad. Just as things were starting to get normal, they left us too," I sob.

"They wouldn't have you any other way, Reese. They loved you before, during and after and they wouldn't trade it for anything else. They loved you and we love you. Still and always," Roman reminds me.

"I miss them. I wish they were here."

"So do I," Roman's chest rumbles as he speaks. His hands brush my hair trying to soothe me.

"I'm sorry, I'm getting your shirt wet," I apologize.

"Don't worry about it," he assures. "You know if you want, we can totally go beat up King on his own territory. I can't believe his parents named him King he sounds more like a peasant."

"No," I laugh.

"Are you sure? I looked up the laws here and there are a lot of loopholes, you know? I mean if OJ Simpson got away with it so could I," he claims.

"Roman, you're as smart as the shit you take every morning. Shut up," I retort. I pull my head away from his chest and wipe my nose using the back of my hand.

"Ew, did you get snot on my shirt?" Roman looks down and frowns.

"Shit, sorry," I let a small laugh.

"So should we go to sleep or watch a movie?"

"A movie," I say.

"What movie?"

"Anything funny, I've cried enough for this lifetime," I sigh.

"I don't think you've ever said anything more factual than that. I'm proud of you," Roman pats my back. "I'm gonna change, grab my laptop and pick out a movie."

"Ok-kay," I reply.

☕︎☕︎☕︎

"So for this play, we have taken an updated version of Romeo and Juliet. It has been written by one of ours truly, Cherish," the instructor, Joaquin introduces. Everyone claps for Cherish before he continues. "The script will be available for anyone who wants to audition for any of the parts. It also says the date and time that you can audition for the particular parts at the front of the script. We'll also hold a few acting classes to help you practise and answer any of your questions if you have any."

He looks around to see if anyone has a question right now, but no one raises their hand.

"Okay, hopefully, I'll see most of you guys at our first class," Joaquin. "Thank you."

All the students start to get up and leave.

"So Romeo and Juliet, huh?" Ev starts off.

"I know, he couldn't have chosen something more cliche," I roll my eyes. We each grab a copy of the script on our way out.

"Candy!" We hear Sebastian behind us and we stop on our track. He's wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt. To accessorize, he's wearing a cross necklace and studs.

"The studs are new," I speak almost on instinct.

"You noticed," he smirks.

"They're flashing from a mile away, of course, I noticed," I playoff.

"Gee, Sebastian those earrings really suit you. Oh, thanks, Candy I appreciate the compliment," he reenacts a fake conversation between him and me.

I remain silent looking at him like he has grown a third eye.

"Hi, Seb," Ev says breaking our silence. "The earrings are a good look on you."

"Well, thank you, Ev. At least you know how to keep a guy happy," Seb smiles throwing shade at me.

"How about you two continue to chat and I'll just head home," I say and turn around to leave.

"Reese, wait. As much as I would love to stay here and talk to Ev, your brother asked me to take you home," he explains.

I stop in my track and turn around slowly facing the pair.

"Let me guess, it was Roman who asked you, right?"

"Uh, yeah," he says.

I know he asked Sebastian to take me home just to piss me off, so instead of reacting the way he would want me to, I put on a big smile.

"Well, let's go. I don't have all day," I say.

"Wow, you must be in a good mood," Seb replies, with surprise in his tone. "Bye, Ev."

"Bye, Ev," I wave.

"Don't kill each other," Ev says.

"We'll try," I smile back not so convincingly.

"If Seb's face isn't at the front of the page in relation to a homicide or missing person tomorrow, then I'll believe you," Ev jokes.

"Come on, missing? He could still be alive you know? No body, no proof," I shrug.

"Now I'm actually kind of scared," Sebastian gulps.

"Good, you should be," I smile suggestively. "So are we walking or bussing?"

"Walking. It'll give us the chance to get to know each other."

"Honestly, I've been dying to do that," I sarcastically reply.

"I'm really feeling the love Candy."

"As you should be," I smile. Seb opens the front door for me and I thank him as I walk through.

"Your older brothers' have a slight British accent, but you and Roman don't. What's up with that?"

"We were all born in England, but to expand the business, our parents moved to Singapore when Roman and I were twelve. We lost our accents quite q-quickly because our friends."

"Oh, have you been back?"

"No, we haven't."

"Why not?" he questions. I look at him a little confused at what he means. "I mean, don't you have family in England then?"

"Oh, uh- we never actually talked to any of our other family members. Kind of just always been us," I shrug, truly not knowing how to answer his question. The thing is even I don't know why we never had any relatives.

"Well, maybe you can have some of my relatives. My family has more than enough," he laughs. I laugh in response and we continue walking with some more small talk.

Almost fifteen minutes into the walk, Sebastian brings up a topic that I wasn't too keen on talking about.

"So I saw you met King," Seb starts off.

"Yes, he was a delight. Such a gentleman."

"You're sarcasm never fails you, does it?"

"No, it's truly the only that keeps me sane," I reply.

"If you call that sane, sure," he lets out a small laugh. "But on a serious note, don't go looking for trouble with him."

"Why not?"

"He's known on the streets for being pretty brutal. Hasn't Ev briefed you on all this?"

"Not really, I didn't think bringing it up would help her move on from what happened," I explain. "Did Roman put you up to this? To warn me off from getting into more trouble?"

"No, he didn't. I just thought you could use some advice from someone who has experienced crossing paths with him."

I look at him. His hands are tucked in his pockets as he walks. As if he senses my stare, he turns his head and our eyes lock. The sun hits his eyes at the perfect angle making them sparkle and glisten a transparent amber under the light.

"How did that go?" I ask breaking eye contact. Sebastian clears his throat.

"Both of us almost ended up in jail, until we made a pact not to get in each others' ways."

"And here I thought I was the dramatic one," I joke.

"I'm serious, Reese. Please stay away from him."

I stop in my tracks and cross my arms looking at him. I try to see if there's an underlying implication to his statement because it sounds like he's trying to say more in less.

"Did Roman tell you?"

"Did Roman tell me what?" he questions.

"Don't act stupid, did he tell you anything about me?" I ask.

"Uh... no? Just that you're prone to getting in trouble," he speaks slowly.

"Are you sure he didn't get into more details about it and that you're not just lying to me because he threatened to wipe your whole family line out of existence?"

"No...? Wait, you're family has the power to do that?"

I tilt my head concluding that Roman indeed had not spilled the beans about my past to Sebastian. So I turn and start walking again.

"Yeah, of course. Only when it's necessary though because it takes up a lot of our resources."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that. It wouldn't be a secret anymore then."

"Well you're dripping sarcasm is a dead give away that the only power you have is making everything sound a hundred times more dramatic than it actually is."

"Aw, dammit. That obvious, huh?"

"You are somewhat predictable, Candy."

"Well, I'll just have to come up with new tact- ooo! Ice cream!"

"Shit, that was the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. Fuck, Candy," Sebastian groans as he tries to unplug his ears.

"Sorry, but ice cream is my favourite," I sheepishly admit. "Can we get some?"

"You know your house is still twenty minutes away?"

"No I didn't know that, but still. I'll text Roman and tell him we'll be a little late."

"Fine," Sebastian caves and I rush into the small shop. The shop is aesthetically pleasing with white walls and grey and gold accents. It's pretty small with only a few tables with two seats across from each other at each table. "What flavour are you having?"

"Um..." I look at the different flavours they have and continue, "Not sure. What about you?"

"Umm...-"

"Actually, I think I know."

"Me too."

"Butter pecan with Reese added," both Sebastian and I say in unison. We look at each other. "What? Stop that. Me? No. You!"

"Guys," the girl behind the counter cuts in saving us.

"Thanks," we both say looking at her and then glaring at each other.

"Okay! I got it. Two scoops or one?" she starts before we can continue again.

"Two," I say and I look at Sebastian to answer as well.

"I waited because I knew you were gonna say two too," Sebastian explains. "Two please."

"Okay, that'll be ten fifty."

"Okay, I got it," Sebastian says as I pull out my phone to use apple pay.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he says as he pulls out his wallet and hands her a twenty-dollar bill. I put my phone back in my pocket. "Keep the change."

"Thanks," the girl says. If she wasn't already drooling over him, she definitely is now.

"Our ice cream's melting," I remind her, a bit rudely may I add. She finally closes her mouth and gives me a bitchy glare before brushing it off with an awkward laugh.

"Here you go, enjoy," she says mostly looking at Sebastian.

"We will," I say cutting in and taking both of our ice creams. I turn around and pick a table closer to the window so we can see the street as we eat.

"Is Reese a little jealous?" Sebastian asks as he slips into his seat after pulling off his backpack. I put our ice cream down and take off my backpack setting it next to the chair before I take my seat.

"Jealous, pft. The only thing I'm jealous about is the fact that you got the same taste in ice cream as me because honestly, I thought I was unique, different at least."

"Yeah, the girl named Reese, likes Reese candy and ice cream... so unique," Sebastian teases.

"Does it ever hurt you to, I don't know, be nice once in a while?"

He gasps loudly falling back in his chair and his hand on his heart. I look around at people staring at us, but it doesn't seem to bother him whatsoever.

"That highly offends me, because I believe that in this relationship I am the nicer one. All I do is try to be nice and cater to your every need."

"You say that like I order you around as my personal servant twenty-four seven."

"Don't say that you don't wish that that was the case."

"I mean... I can't lie. I do wish that, but it's not reality... yet."

He squints as he glares at me.

"Let's eat this ice cream before your hot ass remarks melt it."

"Wow, you think they're hot?"

"Also spicy enough to give someone diarrhea and just like your remarks, no one likes diarrhea," he smiles as he shoves a spoon full of ice cream in his mouth.

I groan in response but decide to give the ice cream the attention it deserves. At least it won't talk back to me.

Five minutes into eating I'm done and I awe-ingly stare at Sebastian still eating his ice cream.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Sebastian questions. "Do you want some?"

The edges of my lips stretch at a giant smile.

"I thought you'd never ask," I say as I reach over for his bowl. and take it. I use my own spoon and start scooping up what's in his bowl.

"Hey!" he tries to reach over, but I shift my body away out of his reach. "That's not what I meant! Reese stop being a fat ass and give me my ice cream back."

"Oh, you think I have a fat ass? Why thank you. I don't know if my brothers would like knowing that that's what you think about me, but I still appreciate the compliment."

"Oh my God, I didn't say that! Reese! Stop doing that," he groans.

"Stop doing what, putting words in your mouth?"

"Yeah!"

"Bow why- mm... would I do that?" I ask as I finish up his ice cream.

"Fine, let's do this. Since you ate up my ice cream too. You really think you can out-wit me so let's have a competition. Whoever loses, buys round two of ice cream. Deal?"

"Deal, but I don't think your weak ass can handle all this heat."

"The only heat coming from you is the stench of sweat after the fifteen-minute walk we had. Someone needs to keep up with their cardio," he throws. My jaw drops open.

"At least I can keep up the number of people I've dated, you probably couldn't even list the last three."

"Actually, I can. None of your business, she was fucking gorgeous and the girl behind the counter is still gawking at me," he lists off.

"Well, tell her to stop gawking and to just jump on you because we all know that's what you like."

"I don't know what fantasies go through your head about me, but that is not me," Sebastian laughs. I look at him and a minute later, I start laughing as well.

"What... the fuck... was that?" I breathe.

"Pure gold," Sebastian laughs. "I won."

"What, no! I did," I sober up.

"No, no, no. After you turned this whole thing sexual, you lost."

"Man, fine. I guess I lost. Here I have a twenty. I don't wanna go talk to her when all she's gonna be doing is staring at you," I say after I take it out of my pants pocket. "Tip her the rest."

"Aye-aye captain," he winks.

☕︎☕︎☕︎

"Where have you been?" Grayson roars as I enter the house. Sebastian is right beside me and looks a little terrified.

"Sorry, Gray. Roman asked Sebastian to walk me home and we decided to stop at an ice cream shop on the way here. We just lost track of time."

"Lost track of time?" he retorts. I watch Roman, Jaxon and Landon all staring at us helpless. "It's seven, Reese! Be a little more responsible. Text one of us or call us!"

"Gray, I'm sorry. I even told Sebastian I was going to text Roman and tell him, but I forgot and then our phones died and I-"

"Really? After everything that has happened in the past, how could you become so careless again? We were thinking the worst! You don't even know him!" Grayson yells referring to Sebastian.

"Ro-Roman a-sked h-him," I stutter as tears build up in my eyes - "to wa-walk me home."

"I don't care! Go to your room right now. You're grounded until further notice. Leave your phone on the table."

"Gray, I-"

"I said, what I said, Reese."

"Okay, maybe you just need to rethink this and give yourself some time," Jaxson jumps in. "It's in the heat of the-"

"Tell me you weren't thinking what I was when we couldn't reach her for the last two hours," Grayson turns around staring at Jaxon. Jaxon lowers his head and clenches his jaw helplessly.

"God, I-I'm not that far lost. At least have some hope," I scoff as I take off my backpack. On the way to the stairs, I take out my phone and leave it on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry," I hear Sebastian apologize to my brothers.

"It wasn't your fault, thanks for bringing her home," Roman says. "Don't mind Grayson, he's just overprotective when it comes to her especially after our parents died."

"Mm-hm."

That's the last thing I hear before I'm in my room and slam the door shut.

Everyone can go fuck themselves.

I am not my past.

A/N:

Hola! This chapter had a lot of ups and downs in it, what did you guys think?

What happened in her past??