Aimee leapt up from where she was crouched beside the back door as soon as I burst through it. "Finally! Jeez, did you fall or something? I thought you'd been caught!"

I didn't reply her immediately, seeing as I was too busy trying to catch my breath. As soon I was able to let out a full sentence without pause, I said, "No time to explain, the janitor will probably be here any second!"

Aimee's legs needed no further prompting after she heard that.

We took off, barging right through hedges and not bothering to keep to dark areas as we had earlier.

For all his flaws, one thing I have to admit is that Tony certainly is efficient. In fact, I'm pretty sure I would have ran right into the car door if Tony hadn't quickly opened it as soon as he saw me approaching.

Despite the fact he was already in the car and switching on the engine by the time Aimee and I had well-adjusted into our seats, I still yelled, "Step on it, man!"

(Come on, it just had to be said. It's not like I make daring escapes like that on a regular basis!)

Anyways, not too long after, we were zooming through the practically empty street. Moments after we'd already left the school far behind us, none of us had uttered a word.

Finally, Aimee breathed, "Wow."

In other words, she basically just summarized my whole mood in one word.

Shaking my head, I replied, "Wow indeed."

"We just broke into the school."

"In order to get a teddy bear. A freaking teddy bear? What were we thinking?"

"That my brother would murder me when he comes back and finds his bear missing?"

"That explains it."

Now, you may or may not have noticed then that there was a slight change in Aimee's background story about the bear. Well if you did, kudos to you. It took a few more moments for my mind to realize that.

When it did though, my brow immediately furrowed. "Wait, I though you said the bear is yours?"

I think her little slip up hadn't yet registered in her head, because her eyes widened slightly as she heard that.

"Y-yeah, I did. Thanks for helping me get it back."

I wasn't sure whether to be insulted that she actually believed I'd fall for that a second time, or impressed that she tried to stick with her lie even after she'd exposed herself.

My indecision didn't stop me from raising an eyebrow at her and silently staring at her.

To her credit, she held my gaze silently for quite a while without flinching. However, eventually she finally accepted the fact that there was no way she was fooling me with that story twice.

Turning away from me, she let herself collapse fully onto her seat and grumbled, "Fine, I lied! The bear isn't for me, it's for Tim, okay? I just didn't want to tell you because I don't want you making any stupid jokes about it."

I frowned. "Why would I?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because it's not exactly considered normal for a fifteen-year-old guy to love sleeping with a teddy bear?"

Who cares?

I smirked. "I guess I can see why you might be hesitant."

Aimee mumbled something to herself, then fell silent.

I turned and began looking out the window beside me, as I do during most car rides. Not too long after, I heard her sigh and say, "Look, I don't care if you wanna tease me about this, but please...don't tease Tim about it."

When I looked back, I found Aimee staring at her backpack, twiddling its zip between her fingers. She had undone her beanie, letting the messy strands of her bun fall onto the sides of her face, blocking her expression from view.

I sighed. "You don't even need to ask
You must really think I'm heartless, don't you?"

Aimee looked at me as a small smile spread across her lips. "Well..."

"That was obviously rhetorical."

"Oh, I know."

Facing the window once again, I scoffed. That time, there wasn't much of a silence before Aimee spoke again.

"Thanks."

Looking at her, I replied, "Don't mention it."

By then the only main source of light were the streetlights we sometimes passed under, so I had no way of verifying Aimee's mood at that moment. Not unless I switched on the torchlight on my phone and shone it on her face, but I have a feeling that would have led to a quick change in whatever expression she had on.

But judging from the fact she didn't immediately pick up her phone after she uttered her thanks, I believe she genuinely meant it.

After a spell of time, she cleared her throat and chuckled. "Wow, my heart is still racing, even now."

Shortly after placing a heart on my chest and feeling the slightly-faster-than-usual beat of my heart, I nodded. "Mine as well. Wanna feel?"

Even till this day, I don't know what prompted me to say that last part. Or to do what I did next.

Without waiting for her reply, I reached towards where I'd last seen her hand, grabbed it, then rose it up and placed it on the left side of my chest.

Goosebumps rose on my skin as I felt her hand press against my hoodie.

"Can you feel it?"

She didn't answer me. Instead, I began to feel her hand slowly move across my hoodie, her fingers tracing across the outlines of my chest she could feel through it.

I think it's only when we went under the next streetlight and she saw how wide my eyes were that it suddenly occurred to her what she was doing.

Immediately, she jerked her hand away from my chest. "Y-yeah, I definitely see what you mean."

"I- yeah."

At that moment, that was all I could utter. I mean, she'd practically been feeling me up! What could I possibly say after that which wouldn't immediately sound awkward?

So of course, I did one of the things I know how to do best.

I smirked. "Would you like me to check your heart now?"

"I-"

Coincedentaly, we happened to cross under another streetlight then, allowing me to see how much Aimee's skin had flushed as she screamed, "YOU PERVERT!"
. . .

"Tony would drop you off home, so you don't have to."

"Nah," Just like I had, Aimee stepped out from the car and slammed the door shut, "I'm cool with getting an Uber. Besides, I already placed my ride on our way home. He's actually waiting for me not too far from here."

I shrugged. "Well, if you insist."

"Mmm." Turning away, Aimee began to walk out of the garage. "See you tomorrow, Romeo. Thanks for your help tonight."

"No problem. I'd let you know my fee later on."

"Ha! Funniest thing I've heard all day."

Cupping my hands to my mouth, I yelled, "I hope you keep this same energy when you realise I'm not joking!"

Looking over her shoulder and grinning, Aimee flipped me off.

I watched on until she'd been let out of the compound, then walked out of the garage and headed into the main house. I'm not sure 'walked' is the appropriate terms to describe my movements, because I practically bounced towards the house.
.

.

.
Actually, no I didn't. But there was a certain buzz running through me at that moment, which made me feel like I could walk on air.

Pierre was getting ready to leave by the time I got into the kitchen, but he'd left me a pot of rice and some of his special sweet-and-sour prawn sauce.

Before he left, he said to me, "I should warn you that Annie is in a mood tonight."

Grinning, I shook my head. "So she's pissed?"

"Seems so. She practically bit my head off when I asked her if she wanted to help with dinner!"

"Noted. Thanks for the warning."

"No problem. Good night, Angelo."

I nodded, then began wolfing down the plate of food before me. It's funny how I hadn't noticed how hungry I actually was until the sweet aroma of the food had found its way into my nose.

When I was done with dinner I cleared up, instead of just leaving everything for Pierre to handle the next morning.

Yeah, that night was definitely a weird one for me.

After finishing and drying my hands, I picked up my backpack and began to head to my room, moving as quietly as I could in order to avoid alerting Annie to my presence (if you don't understand why by now, then you've clearly been skipping some chapters.)

Spoiler alert: I didn't manage to make it to my room uninterrupted. At least I can say that that was partially of my own volition, albeit the fact I was influenced by the soft tune coming from the smaller living room.

It was a sound that transported me back to a time when the smell of the lemony scent my mother loved so much was only overpowered by that of whatever delicious meal my father and Pierre had worked together to create. A time when the sound of two teenagers, Annie and Max, squabbling with each other over some inconsequential thing was a regular occurrence in the Smith household.

A time when I could say I was fully whole.

I don't know when I started moving towards it, nor did I really care. All I knew was that my feet were under the direction of my ears, leading me to the room where the beautiful piano notes where being played.

As I walked on, it was like the lemony scent grew stronger. That was how I knew even before I looked into the room that it would be her I would see sitting at the grand piano's stool, moving her fingers skillfully across the keys and delivering the beautiful rendition of the tune of 'Somewhere over the Rainbow'.

She was dressed in the gold robe she'd always loved do much, the one I had spent many nights curled up into. Her curly bushy hair swayed side to side as she nodded across the tune she was playing.

"M-mum?"

That was said in almost nothing more than a whisper, as if I was afraid that anything more would send her away, again.

The playing paused, then she turned slowly, revealing a face that was all too familiar, yet all too distant to me. For it wasn't the thin, sickly face she'd had in the last few months of her life, but the gleaming, healthy, golden one she'd had earlier in life.

My breath caught as her lips began to move.

"Angelo?"

Just like that, the illusion shattered. The scents vanished, the voices faded away, and the woman seated at the piano dissipated, her stare being replaced by Annie's concerned one.

It felt like my rising heart suddenly plummeted back into darkness.

Standing up, Annie rushed towards me. "Hey, are you okay?"

Slowly, I nodded at her. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said a bit huskily. I cracked a smile. "Why wouldn't I-"

"Angelo, it's okay. That tune brought back memories for me too."

"Yeah, well..." Taking a deep breath, I widened my smile. "No use dwelling on those, is there?"

Before Annie could reply, I quickly asked, "So, why were you even playing the piano? You haven't done that in ages."

Her eyes fell to the ground. "Oh well...you know. I just...felt like it."

Furrowing my brow, I tried to make out her expression but she quickly turned away from me, going back over to the stool and dropping onto it. I followed her of course, gently shutting the keyboard and sitting on it as she attempted to reach for it again.

"So, care to tell me what brought about this mood?"

"No, not really."

But she didn't have to, because my eyes wandered over to her hands and I suddenly got a sneaking suspicion as to what the cause of her mood was.

Casually, I asked, "Did you accidentally drop your engagement ring or something?"

Still not looking at me, Aimee replied, "Well, yeah. Right into Aiden's lap after I'd punched him right in the face."

"What?"

"Yeah, you heard right." Annie finally looked at me, revealing her red-tinged eyes as she gave a humorless laugh. "Turns out that bastard was cheating on me all along."

"What? Are you totally sure about that?"

"I saw video evidence of him having a great time with some girl at a club, so yeah."

"Wow."

That 'wow' was genuine, by the way. For all the things I had taken him for, I'd never expected Aiden to be a cheater. Even though I'd never thought him suitable for Annie, I'd always thought at least he'd loved her

That shock was soon followed by a white-hot burst of anger, and I found myself suddenly wishing Aiden would somehow pop up in front of our door.

My thoughts were interrupted by Annie's scoff. "Well, what are you waiting for? I know you must be dying to tell me 'I told you so'."

Looking at Annie at that moment, I finally understood how much she was struggling to hold herself together. Even as she spoke tears were rolling out of her eyes, and although her hands had balled into fists, I could still see them shaking. It was like the more she tried to hold herself together for my sake, the more she was tearing herself up on the inside.

Somehow, I managed to wish Aiden popped up at the front of our house even more right then.

As brutal as my fantasies of meeting Aiden face-to-face at that moment were, I had to push them to the back of my mind. After all, vindictive thoughts were certainly not going to do much to help Annie.

Forcing a smirk on my face, I slid off the piano and opened up the keyboard.

"Play."

Aimee quickly wiped at her eyes, then asked, "Wh-what?"

"You're about to be blessed with a live vocal performance from yours truly. I suggesting you start playing those keys."

"Look Angelo, I appreciate the effort, but-"

"Less talking, more playing!"

Annie's eyes and mine were locked in battle for a few moments before she finally sighed and obeyed my wishes.

So I sang, struggling to recall the lyrics of 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' and just making up some at certain parts of the song. My voice flowed in harmony with the keyboard however, mixing with the tune perfectly and creating a heavenly sound-

"Lord please, what have we done to deserve this headache Angelo wants to inflict on us this night?"

Annie and I both stopped what we were doing and looked at Max, who was grinning as he strolled into the room.

I shot him a mock glare. "I hope you're not trying to insinuate that my voice is terrible, 'cause if you are then you must really lack an ear for music. Right, Annie?"

"Well... honestly, it's the thought behind this performance that counts..."

Turning back, I narrowed my eyes playfully at her.

Loosening the tie around his neck, he tossed into the sofa, then took off the blazer he had on. "If you want to hear a real performance, then let me bless your ears."

Annie rolled her eyes at Max. "Please, no one wants to hear you warbling through the song."

"You're just jealous that I'm the only one with a good singing voice in this house!"

"Good singing voice? Ha! Even Angelo can outsing you any day!"

"Yea- wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

That was basically the beginning of an argument which led into a vocal competition between all three of us that night. That went on until my voice began to quiver too much, and I decided to stop screaming my lungs off so I would still have my voice the next morning.

Although I'd arrived home shortly after eight pm, I stumbled into bed around eleven that night, smiling as the events of that night replayed over and over in my head. From breaking into school with Aimee to a belting competition with Annie and Max... that night is definitely one of the most memorable of my life so far.

Of course, over the course of my reflection, Aiden came up in my mind time and time again. The thought of him didn't take the smile off my face though.

The only change that really occured was that my smile turned more savage and more savage as I ran over possible ways of getting revenge on him over and over again.
. . .

I'm so freaking excited 'cause we're almost at the halfway mark of the story! I can't wait to share everything I had planned out in my head with y'all, and I guarantee that you want to stay tuned for this ;)

Anyways, what y'all think of this chapter? Don't forget to drop vote if you liked this chapter as well!

Till next time!