**Sang**

Sang,

As much as it pains us to say this, we must leave you. We've been called away for reasons we cannot disclose, but hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us. We do not know how long we will be gone, but we wish you all the best. Stay out of trouble, and be safe.

Owen Blackbourne, Dr. Sean, Kota, Honey, Victor, Meanie, North Star, Luke, Silas

They left me. I can't believe after all this time, after all we've been through, after all the promises they made, they just up and left me. I let them in! I showed them everything, from the good of me, to the evils of my mother...or, step mother I suppose. I trusted them with every fiber of my being, gave them all of the love and affection I have, and still they left me.

Maybe I'm just not meant to be loved. Maybe I'm just too broken. Well, broken or not, I'm done being treated like some second-class citizen, being thrown to the side like trash. I am smart, I am talented, and I will get through this. If being with the boys has taught me anything, it's to be confident and believe in myself. It's something an old friend of mine used to try and teach me, but I never listened. Well, I'm listening now, and I'm ready.

I can do this. I will not break; I won't give them the satisfaction of knowing they broke me.

I get up from the couch where I collapsed after reading the letter addressed to me by my-no, not mine.

They were never mine.

I laugh bitterly as I crumple up the letter and throw it across the room.

I can do this. I will do this.

I begin making a mental checklist of all the things I need as I crawl into the attic space and pull all the clothes that Victor bought me out of the wardrobe. I pile everything on my bed before grabbing my book-bag and small suitcase and start packing. Not everything fits in the suitcase, but I make sure to keep the essentials.

As my gaze lands on the still open attic door, a tear falls out my eye before I dive back in and grab their photos. I stuff them in my backpack, along with the bracelet Victor gave me, the arm bands from Silas, and Nathan's shirt.

After everything is packed, I take a look around the bare room that holds the boys influences. The bed, the bookshelf, the stereo. I'd take it all with me, but that would defeat the purpose. I'm supposed to be fine without them, and I will be. I have to be.

Grabbing the cell phone they gave me, I call up a number I have memorized, but haven't needed to use until now. I wasn't completely alone before them, about a year and a half before we moved here, I managed to make friends with one of the girls in my math class. While I was trying to be invisible, she was all about being noticed, and she noticed me.

Jaelyn Hale managed to pull me out of my head and loneliness. She introduced me to her group of friends that I instantly connected with and did everything in my power to hide our friendship from my step mother. A few months ago, they moved to South Carolina and wanted me to go with them, but we all knew what would happen if my step mother caught me, so they gave me the address to where they'd be staying as well as their contact info in case I ever needed anything. I saw them at the mall when Victor, Nathan and Gabriel, took me shopping. It hurt not to be able to talk to them, but how exactly could I explain one group to the other?

But none of that matters now. I know that Jaelyn and the others will be there for me. They're family.

The phone rings twice before someone picks up, and a refreshingly familiar voice filled my ears.

"Hello. This is the Hale Residence; how may I help you?" Resounded a sweet alto voice.

"Jayli, it's Sang," I say, my hands shaking as I hope she isn't too mad at me.

"Oh my God, Sang! What the hell happened to you?! How in the world did you get to South Carolina? Zerric and Darren almost killed those boys you were in the mall with. Marissa got all depressed that you were here and didn't tell us. And don't even get me started on Ryan! He beat up half the people at The Club, he was so pissed you wouldn't talk to us." She continues to yell.

"I'm so sorry Jae. I just didn't know how to explain you guys to each other."

"Who were they anyway?"

"Just...these guys who dropped into my life, irrevocably changed it, then left me high and dry."

"They did what!?"

"I'll explain it all later, just...do you remember what you asked me when you guys left Illinois?"

She takes a moment to process my words, "Yeah I remember." She sounds confused.

"Well, I'm ready. If you'll still have me that is."

She squeals extremely loud before managing to calm herself down, "Oh my god Sang thank you! You won't regret this, I promise."

"Can you come get me?" I ask.

"Sure, just give me the address. And as soon as I get there, you can fill me in on these mystery boys."

I quickly agree and give her my address. As I'm waiting for her to get here, I debate leaving a note for my dad and Marie, but decide against it. They always acted as if I was invisible when that horrid woman would punish me, well, time for me to return the favor.

About half an hour later, I'm pacing my room when a dark blue truck pulls into the driveway. I run down the stairs and outside with my bags and quickly throw them in the trunk before getting in the passenger seat. Leaning over the center console, I grip Jaelyn in a bone crushing hug before resting back in the seat as she peels out of the driveway. Her bright blonde hair flies in every direction with the windows down.

It takes Jaelyn all of five minutes before she turns her piercing blue eyes on me and demands to know what happened, so I tell her. I spill all that's happened to me since they left, and since we moved here to Charleston. She's livid when I tell her about how much worse my step mother had gotten. She even demanded to know where they were holding my step mother so that she could put her where she belongs. We get to their new house before I'm finished explaining all that happened with the boys, and we sit in the car for an extra ten minutes while I finish my story.

Once I'm through, my eyes are burning with unshed tears, and Jae's face is turning red with the strength of her anger. I manage to talk her off the proverbial ledge where she tracks them down to give them a piece of her mind, as well as her foot, and together we exit the car. As soon as I step foot into the three-story house I am bombarded by three of my favorite people in the world. I stumble back a step as I giggle, feeling their love for me pour off them in waves. I'm so at peace here in their arms that I momentarily forget what landed me here.

I'm brought back to reality by Jaelyn yelling at them to let me breathe. I feel them release me as I take a step back to get my first good look at them in months.

I see the twins first with their short cropped, spiky blonde hair and light blue eyes. At seventeen years old, they're a tad muscular with a slim waist and adorably deep dimples. Zerric and Darren Fletcher, were looking at me with a familiar spark of mischief that painfully reminded me of Luke, causing a sharp pain right in my chest. Thinking about them now brought pain instead of butterflies, but I'd get through it. The pain would pass, and I'd move on.

The next person I see is Marissa Dawson, our resident badass. Only a select few get to see her kind fun loving side, and so help you if you manage to piss her off or hurt someone she holds dear. Her bright orange hair and green eyes make her stand out in a crowd in the best ways.

Marissa and Jaelyn are both eighteen with slim athletic builds, tapered waists and c-cup boobs. They're both a few inches taller than me, with Zerric and Darren about half a foot taller then them.

Standing behind Marissa and the twins, looking a bit put off, was the player of the bunch, Ryan Fairbanks. He's always been like an older brother to me...you know, if your older brother was a hot nineteen-year old. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes with just a touch of stubble on his jaw, giving him that bad boy, devil may care look.

Looking at all of them together is like coming home. My true home.

Darren snaps me out of my thoughts with a question choked out in pure excitement.

"Jaelyn texted us, did you really say yes!? Are you really going to join the band?" His excitement is so palpable, I struggle to understand him a bit.

"Yeah, I did." I say with a sad smile, thinking of why I suddenly said yes.

Before they left Illinois, Jaelyn and the others asked me to be their bands lead singer. I knew there was no way I would be able to get away with that, I was barely managing to keep them a secret from my step mother. Being in their band would've been pushing things way too far. I would've been daring her to catch me, begging to get caught. But now, without her or my father, Marie or the boys here to stop me, I'm finally going to get to do something I love.

"Hey, what's wrong Starshine?" Comes Marissa's normally hard voice, softened for me.

I'm so caught up in my head that I don't even realize my eyes have started to fill with tears.

"Nothing," I reply quickly, blinking the tears away. "Everything's ok. I'm fine."

Jaelyn busts me in my lie and calls me out. "She isn't fine, those boys we saw her with ditched her."

I look up to see four identical looks of pure rage flash through their eyes.

"They what?!" yells Ryan. "Don't they know anything about what she's been through?"

Zerric and Darren seem to be the only ones who see how much I so don't want to talk about this. They grab my bags from where they dropped in the foyer and lead me through the house, away from the angry threesome. I feel a sense of detachment as they lead me to a spare room and place my bags in the small walk in closet.

I walk in slowly behind them as I examine my new room with the stark white walls, light blue bedding, and polished wood furniture. I haven't even been here an hour and already this room feels more homey than the room I had at my parents' house. The twins give me a group hug before leaving to allow me some time to myself. As the door shuts lightly behind them, I take a seat on the queen sized bed and lay down with my legs hanging off the edge, staring at the ceiling.

My hair clip soon causes me discomfort. Sitting back up, I take the clip out and shake my hair before standing up to strip out of my clothes It's only been a few hours since I first woke up, but with my emotions being all over the place today, I feel like I've run a marathon. I'm so drained, both mentally and emotionally.

Grabbing a random pair of shorts and a shirt out of my bookbag, I throw them on before realizing that the shirt belongs to Luke. Laying back down on the bed, I take a deep breath, accidentally inhaling Luke's leftover Vanilla and Sugar smell. My heart pounds painfully as my throat tightens and my eyes sting with unshed tears. I manage to fall into a fitful sleep, crying my eyes out.