Roland hated going to the Hadden's house. And not for the reason that he knew everyone else hated going to the Hadden's house—the feeling of inferiority that inevitably came with walking into the home of a family with an incredible amount of power in this town. Roland's family had that power too, and so it didn't faze him. He wasn't worried about that.

Roland hated going to the Hadden's house because whenever he did, something bad happened. Mixing nerd and popularity seemed to have some sort of effect on the universe that caused everything to go wrong.

So when the butler let him into the mansion and Roland walked his way up to Michael's room, he had a terrible feeling that everyone coming together again would cause far more harm than good.

He walked into Michael Hadden's bedroom and looked around cautiously. Michael was lying on his bed, eyes glued to the ceiling and surprisingly not to his phone. He looked up as Roland walked in and offered a small smile.

"Hey, man. Long time no see."

"I guess you could say that." Roland replied, nodding towards the injured football star. "How are you holding up?"

Michael shrugged.

"Alright, I guess. I can't go on my phone or do anything except lay in bed and wish I was somewhere else." He looked over at Roland as the latter perched himself on the desk by the door. "What about you? Did my sister do anything to you to force you here?"

Roland shook his head.

"No. But I mean, I figured if she needed to meet after telling everyone she didn't want to do this anymore, it must be important." He looked around the room, "Do you think everyone else is going to show?"

Michael nodded.

"I think they will. Jordan might be a bit on the angry side because of everything that happened yesterday, but I still think she'll show up if Mary asks. Like you said, if she changed her mind about this then there must be a good reason."

Roland nodded and the two fell silent until footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. A few seconds later, Lindsey walked in, followed by Jordan just half a minute later.

"The queen bee isn't even here, is she?" Jordan asked as she walked in and sat down on the foot of Michael's bed. "What a surprise."

Everyone else exchanged uncomfortable glances; there was nothing to say to someone who had just found out that her best friend had been screwing around with her older brother for years without telling her.

"Mary should be here soon." Michael spoke when no one else moved to, "It shouldn't be too much longer."

"I should think not." Jordan replied coolly, "After all, I'm not about to stay in this cursed house for longer than I have to."

No one responded to that, and Jordan folded her arms across her chest. Roland couldn't help but stare at her as she did so; even when she was fuming with anger, Roland couldn't shake his crush on her. His crush he had had since middle school. It just wasn't going anywhere, and he had hoped that when the five of them stopped hanging out it would become easier.

But here he was, back at it again, with no reason why.

The door opened from behind him and everyone turned to look at Mary, who walked in and shut the door behind her. She stalked over to the other side of the room, passing Jordan and ignoring the death stare coming from her former best friend, before sitting down on the armchair near Michael's bedroom window. She was holding a piece of paper in her hand and staring at it intently, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else in the room.

"So you knew, didn't you?" Jordan ignored Mary and turned instead to Lindsey, who hadn't said a word since she had entered the Hadden home, "You knew about this because our stupid little stalker told you, and you just sat on it. Like you were going to what? Use it as blackmail? Use it against me or Mary? You knew, you little turd—"

"Jordan, not now." Mary shook her head, her words firm and unnegotiable. "I didn't call you guys here."

Everyone turned to look at her in confusion.

"You actually did..." Roland trailed off, unsure of where exactly this was going. "That's why we're all here. You texted us."

Mary shook her head.

"The stalker wanted you guys here. I don't know why." She flipped the piece of paper around so that the group could see what was written on the front side: Get them together or Michael's IV might get a little switch, pasted onto the page with each letter cut out of a magazine, like a serial killer or kidnapper would send.

"Mary..." Michael shook his head, "You didn't have to do anything you didn't want to."

"This was slipped under the door to your room as I left. Right after you had woken up and seemed to be doing alright. I didn't want to compromise that, so I didn't. I texted everyone and got you all here." She shook her head and flipped the paper back, her eyes scanning the message over and over again. "I just don't know why I had to do it."

"Well, if we're all going to be blown to bits by this person tonight, then let's have it out right now." Jordan said, turning back to Lindsey. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"The stalker told me not to. They told me that I would regret it, that my secrets would be next—"

"What kind of secret could poor innocent Lindsey Marcum have that would be worth covering this up?" Jordan asked, her voice growing louder, "I don't remember us keeping things from each other, Marcum. So what gave you the right—"

"Jordan, lay off of her." Mary ordered.

"Oh, so you want me to lay into you?" Jordan spun around to face Mary, standing up off of the bed and stalking towards her. "Are you just some sort of pathological liar? Someone who could call me her best friend for years while screwing my brother being my back? Or maybe you're just a crazed slut who can't keep it in her pants for anyone. It's not like I wasn't there, Mary. I know you've cheated on Parker before. I know he's cheated on you. Hell Mar, he's cheated on you with Kate and tried with me. But I kept him at arm's length because I thought you were in love with him, and I was your best friend."

Mary's eyes were wide.

"Kate?"

"You have no room to be angry!" Jordan shouted, "I don't even care that you were seeing my brother behind Parker's back! Parker's a pig and deserves to be cheated on! He doesn't deserve a loyal, loving relationship. But Neil did. Neil deserved the best because he was the best, even though we fought and even though he vandalized the school a few times. He was a good guy, Mar, and I was at those parties with you. I know what you were doing with other guys. Guys who weren't Parker, guys who weren't Neil. So not only did you see my brother behind my back, but you cheated on him the whole time!" She was close enough to Mary now that Roland could see the latter visibly trembling. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Mary was silent for a moment, her hands shaking and her lips trembling as she tried to formulate words.

A soft ding could be heard as Roland's phone went off in his pocket, and he pulled it out quickly to silence it before looking at exactly who had texted.

"Guys..."

"Come outside." Roland read the text out loud. "I think we're about to find out why we're all here."

Jordan backed away from Mary slowly, her eyes narrowed and her hands balled into fists.

"Saved by the bell." She growled as Mary stood up to head for the door, "We're not finished here."

A/N: Ooooh what's outside? give me your best guesses in the comments below! Also, shameless plug because I just posted a new pic: you guys should definitely follow both ym author Instagram, @officialkatherinepowell and my personal, @kath.mcc ! 

Let me know your thoughts about the chapter, and check out my blog, www.katherinepowellbooks.wordpress.com, (external link for this chapter as well) to be kept up-to-date on all of my writing, and soon for a few big and exciting announcements of things I have in the making!

-Katherine