I awoke with a start, instantly reaching out to silence my alarm. Only, the shrill sound was silenced by an unknown force. My eyes rapidly blinked as they adjusted to the light of a lamp, and then to the face of my best friend, Vivi.

Then, the heart-shattering events of yesterday morning and the heart-lifting ones of last night replayed in my mind. Even thought sadness filled me for a brief moment, I, for once in the last few months, decided to focus on the positives. Or, namely, Vivi and Joel.

"Morning, Con!" Vivi yawned, scratching at her bed head. "Did you sleep well?"

I nodded with a smile. "Yup! Thanks again for letting me stay with you. It means the world to me."

"It was no problem. It'll be like a sleep over every day."

We both laughed, pushing our groggy selves out of the comfortable bed. We then rushed down the hallway, eager to make it to the bathroom before Joel did, as there was only one upstairs.

"No fair!" Joel whined, peeking out of his door as Vivi locked herself inside the bathroom. "Girls take forever to get ready!"

I rolled my eyes, leaning my back against the wall. "Oh no, poor baby."

"Someone's in a great mood today," he laughed, walking out of his room to lean beside me. He was wearing a red t-shirt, which was stained and wrinkled, and the ugliest pair of shorts I'd ever seen.

"But it's not as great as your outfit."

He feigned hurt, placing a hand over his chest. "Oh Connie, why must you be so mean to me?"

We both cracked up laughing at this.

"So," Joel started, his mood turning serious, "how are you today? And don't you dare lie to me."

I sighed. I knew I couldn't lie to him or Vivi anymore. They were my best friends who honestly wanted to help me. Honestly, I didn't feel the need to lie anymore. Everything was out in the open, and I hoped that they could help me tackle the dilemmas I was facing.

"I'm in a pretty good mood today, actually. I'm not going to heal over night. I mean, it's not over yet, you know?"

Joel nodded. "I know. But you're going to get through it." He puffed out his chest. "I'm going to be your protector today! No one's going to mess with my best friend!"

I laughed, like genuinely laughed. It felt so good for him to say it, that we were close enough to be considered best friends. "Please. I'm sure you'll just run away screaming like a little girl."

He pouted. "I'm so glad you think very highly of me."

As I opened my mouth to reply, the door to the bathroom flew open. Vivi walked out, her gaze flicking between the two of us as a smirk formed on her lips.

"What?" Joel grunted. "Don't look at me like that when you just took ten years in the bathroom!"

She just rolled her eyes and walked back to her room. Before Joel could react, I sprinted into the bathroom and locked the door behind me, laughing at his childish insults.

Once I had gotten ready for the day, I allowed Joel to finally use the bathroom. Then, all three of us walked downstairs for breakfast.

They no longer had a mom, as she passed away from cancer a few years ago, but their nanny had prepared us breakfast. I was introduced to her the following night, and her name was Ivy. Ivy was a chubby woman in her mid forties with long inky hair pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck and her face bare of any makeup, save mascara.

As soon as I bit into my Nutella pancakes, my grin stretched wider than the Pacific Ocean. I could tell Ivy made them just for me, and that my friends had told her about my slight obsession with the gooey goodness. She also had a big grin on her face as she watched me take my first bite.

"This is amazing! Thank you so much, Ivy!" I gushed, instantly plopping more into my mouth. I only stopped to sip on the freshly-squeezed orange juice that Ivy had also prepared.

"No problem, dear!" She smiled, her British accent prominent in her words.

Ivy sat at the table with us and ate, almost taking the spot of a mother. From what I knew, she had been with them ever since their mom was too ill to do daily chores around the house or be there for kids. Since their dad was almost always at work, he hired Ivy.

Once we were done eating, we headed off to school. Joel drove, and Vivi constantly bickered with him over the radio station. She wanted to hear pop hits while he wanted to listen to older songs. In the end, I reached forward, turned the station, and slapped away any hands that dared to change it again.

Some random popular song blasted through the speakers of Joel's vehicle and he groaned while Vivi cheered and sang along. I only laughed from the back seat, cackling as Joel complained the whole way to school.

Once he parked, we headed towards the school. Immediately, dirty looks were thrown my way. Vivi and Joel attempted to distract me, conjuring up random conversations or simply blocking people from my view.

Surprisingly, Cleo walked over to me.

"Hey, Connie! You working today?" Either she was oblivious to the situation or she choose to ignore it.

"No," I nearly choked. "I don't work there anymore." Drake made that abundantly clear when I went to gather my belongings from his house.

She gasped. "Noooo! Connie, you have to! I loooove your notes!"

Joel furrowed his eyebrows as he turned to me. "Notes?"

"Yeah. Those little positive sticky notes she wrote to costumers," Cleo smiled brightly. "They changed my life and everyone deserves to experience that."

"That was you?" Vivi asked in surprise.

"Yup," I nodded. "Now you know."

"That's awesome!" She cheered, pulling me into a hug.

Leo walked up behind his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Hey, Connie, you alright?"

"Yeah," I lied. "Totally fine."

He shook his head. "You don't know the half of what Luca's saying about you, and it's not fair! People are too scared of him because his dad is the best lawyer in town!"

Vivi scowled. "I'm not scared of him! What's he saying? I'll beat his scrawny-"

"Vivi!" Joel interjected. "That's a great idea."

Okay, that's not what I expected him to say at all.

Cleo sighed, leaning into her boyfriend. "That's not how we need to approach this."

"Cleo, seriously. It's sweet how caring and nice you are, but this boy killed my brother and got away with it! Now he's harassing someone else, and I don't want her to end up dead!"

Gasps sounded all around me, but I stood silent, completely dumbfounded.

"He- killed someone?" Vivi whispered. The hallway was clear by the time, and the tardy bell had long since rang.

"Remember how Richard Clemens was said to have overdosed on drugs? And how he passed out in the football showers and died?"

Everyone around me nodded, but I hadn't been attending the school at the time of the incident, so I still stood there.

"That was a coverup. It was bull! Luca poisoned him, and I know this because I saw him putting the substance into his water bottle. I tried to warn my brother, but it was too late." Tears prick his eyes and he tried hard to blink them away.

"Why would he do that?" I found myself asking.

"Because my brother stole his girlfriend and made a fool of him. But he deserved it. He couldn't even treat the girl right."

I shiver ran down my spine at the memory of him abusing Cheyenne.

"Then it's time to make this all come to an end," I once again spoke up, this time filled with determination. "Who's with me?" I held my hand out, and instantly, four other hands were on top of mine.

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Thanks for getting this book to 1.1k reads. What the heck?!

QOTD: What do you think their plan will be?

I this time asked ragingzombie what book I should update and he choose this one so here you go! Lol.

-Sarah