Author's Note: Changed our main character's name to Clara, but other than that, everything's the way they were.

"I'm home," I huffed, practically slamming the door behind me, creating a loud crash somewhere around the house.

"Clara!" I heard my mother scold me loudly, approaching me from the living room. I lifted a brow, crossing my arms over my chest and giving her a smirk.

"What?"

She sighed, finding me completely hopeless.

Well, you don't have much of a right to be like that to me. You were a contributing factor to my current personality.

Who was the one who left dad again because she had an affair with another man? Oh right, you.

And she thought I didn't know a thing.

"Your father has guests," stepfather, I corrected inside my head, "So I would appreciate it if you wouldn't act like that right now."

My smirk widened, "Guests?"

Oh goody, a new way to embarrass the good for nothing man.

"An old friend from college," she explained, "She's in the living room with her two children."

"If they play nice, I will as well," I told her, already creating a scheme inside my head.

She examined my facial expression and released another heavy sigh, "I know you were never happy that it turned out this way."

I tucked my keys into my bag and nodded, "At least you're aware of that fact."

I was testing her patience, and I knew for a fact that she was only bearing with me right now because she saw it.

And by it, I mean the slow changes that happened right after their divorce.

I walked around her and entered the living room, seeing Will – my stepfather – talking to three people whose backs were turned to me.

"There she is," he beamed. Oh who are we kidding? We both know that smile is obviously fake, "This is my daughter, Clara."

"I'm not his daughter," I corrected bluntly, walking to see the faces of these three, "Nice to meet you."

The woman, who I presumed was the one who went to college with Will, gave me a homely smile, "It's a pleasure. Will has told me so much about you."

Like what? How insufferable I am?

My gaze went over to her two kids – one boy and one girl, both who were about my age.

To everybody's surprise, the boy stood up and pointed towards me, "Hey!

Don't you know it's rude to point fingers at people?

"Hey to you too," I said, reaching out and slowly lowering his hand with the tip of my finger, "What's with the sudden shouting?"

"You were the girl earlier at school," he said.

Oh, so he crossed me some time during the day. Now let me see, which was it?

Was it during the lunch line? Or was it in English class? Oh, maybe the one during the morning before classes.

"So you two met already?" his mother questioned, her voice dripping with delight at the fact her son was socializing, "I'm so glad, I was worried because all he did was mope around since we moved and..."

Before she could get too excited, I cut her off quickly by asking the guy, "Who are you again?"

He gaped at this, as if it was ridiculous that I couldn't remember him. You've got to be a little more specific, boy, I get hated by about fifty percent of the school.

And only ten percent has the guts to say it to my face.

"My sister ran into you and you exploded," he reminded. Kind of impossible since I'm still intact, but whatever.

So it was the one during the morning.

"Now I remember," I grinned, before flipping my hair over my shoulder, "You were the boy who acted like a child getting picked on during playtime."

The fact I practically insulted him in front of his mother did not settle in well with Will, "Clara, that's not how you should treat your guests."

Turning to him, I cocked my head to the side, "But technically, they're not my guests, they're yours."

His patience was starting to run thin as his hair. I could see it from the way he was trying to hold back his anger and annoyance, praying to maintain that composed attitude he always showed other people.

Come on, break that stupid façade.

There was definitely tension in the room. Some coming from Will and some from that boy – both of which are directed at me. Will gave me a hard look, and I matched it with my own. He should remember that since the day my mother introduced me to him, I've resented him.

I may have been young back then, but I quickly realized where that meeting was going.

I didn't trust him, from that sneaky smirk and those stone cold eyes.

Of course, this was the perfect time for mom to slip in to calm the situation, "Dinner's ready!"

Like a flip that has been switched, everybody relaxed at the interruption – except for me, of course.

People started to file into the dining room and as they did, I heard Will speak, "I'm so sorry for her attitude, she really needs some straightening up."

I observed the way the woman touched him and how she laughed in a flirtatious manner. My theory is that they were fucking during college and now they're reunited, they're hoping to rekindle the little fire they had.

Judging from the absence of a father figure, I could only assume that that was it.

Since you had to go through the dining room first before the kitchen, I breezed through them and went straight to the fridge. I knew Will always had a stock of beer in here, so I grabbed a can before making my way out again.

"Clara, where are you going?" I heard mom ask, "Dinner's about to start."

"Vivian's," I lied through my teeth, opening the beer and taking a sip.

Trust me when I say that I'm doing them a favor by refusing to eat with them. You could see what happened in the living room, I think they don't really need any more of that trouble.

When they thought I was out of earshot, I heard her say, "Sometimes, I just want to give up on her."

Then do it, you can just find another daughter to replace me with anyways, like what you did to dad.

I closed the door behind me, and walked to my car. Instead of getting in and driving to Vivian's house like I said I would, I pushed myself up and sat on the hood, continuing on with my drink.

"It's a starry night again," I mumbled to myself, leaning back to look straight up to the sky, my eyes scanning over the thousand stars decorating the darkness. I twisted the can in my hand, feeling the moisture that was forming around it.

The amount of times I just go out of the house and sit on my car is too damn much. I like it though.

When your life is filled with fake people, you need to put your guard up. You can play with them and act like you know nothing like I do with Vivian and the team, or you could just straight up act like you resent them, like what I do to my parents.

Sometimes, you need to be harsh to protect yourself.

The damage would have lessen if they had been honest with me from the very start.

I heard the front door open and I didn't even bother to look at it. Obviously, the person's going to be shocked that the drama queen didn't go through with her plan.

"You stayed?" the voice asked.

Turning my head to look at the figure, I saw the boy who practically exploded at me when we met. I nodded, lifting my can, I offered him a smirk, "What are you doing out here when your mother and precious sister is still in there."

"I thought about what's more annoying, my mom and your dad making goo goo eyes at each other or being outside," he said.

See, even he's aware of those two adults' relationship.

"Thought you were going to your other minion's house?" he questioned.

In everybody's eyes, Vivian is the minion, but what you all don't know is that she's trying to dethrone me.

The problem for her is that I'm completely aware of her intentions.

"I don't drink and drive," I told him as an excuse.

"As much as I don't want to spend the night out here with you, I just can't leave my family here," he sighed, stuffing his hands into his pocket.

Don't worry, we share the same sentiments.

Drinking again my beer, I remained silent as he awkwardly stood there. Glancing towards him, he was looking around the lot, observing the grass right before the house and the line of cars next to the one I'm sitting on.

It's not really a secret that we're fortunate. Perhaps that's the only good thing that came from my mom's remarriage to the guy – he was already well off. Then again, it might be the reason why she also had an affair with Will.

Money rules the world, along with beauty. Once you have both, you can have anybody crawling under your feet.

Finally feeling how compromising this was, I pushed myself up and asked, "Want a beer?"

His gaze fell upon the can I was holding and he shrugged, "Why not?"

I placed the beer on the spot I was previously occupying before walking to the back of the house and going into the door by the kitchen so I didn't have to deal with the people in the dining room.

Quietly opening the fridge door, I grabbed a can, before sneaking back out.

"Here," I said, throwing him the can which he caught with no problem.

"So what's with the attitude?" he questioned when I settled back into my spot. I gave him a quizzical look and made him continue, "I don't want to believe that you're a bitch for no reason, and judging from the few minutes shared here, you're not that bad."

Then you're one of the minority who thinks that.

"That's my little secret," I winked, gulping down the rest of the contents of this can before setting it back down on the hood, "So what's your name?"

"You'll just forget it so what's the point?" he chuckled, though there was a bit of malice in his tone.

"To be fair, I don't remember some of the girls in my team," I told him, "I believe that those people whose names are worth remembering will stay in my head."

And you might never know, this guy could be one of them.

"Evan Matthews," he spoke.

"Clara Harper," I said out of courtesy, "Though from the way people had been yelling my name throughout the night, I would assume that you know that already."

He nodded and opened his beer, "You got that right."

Evan, eh?

"Well, I believe we got on the wrong foot," I told him, "So how about we erase the whole shenanigan this morning."

I expected him to agree, but instead, he shook his head, "Nah, I want to remember that."

This guy is one of the rare people that I want to make up with and he says that. Is he on drugs or something?

"It reminds me to never get on your bad side," he laughed lightheartedly.

So maybe he really isn't a bad guy.

The front door opened once again, and this time, both of us looked to see who went out. We saw everybody walk out, with Evan's mother and sister saying goodbye to my parents.

When they spotted us, I could practically see the horror in my mother's eyes, afraid that I might have done something horrible to him.

"Looks like we're heading home," he pointed out.

"See you," I said.

He turned away and joined his family as they walked to their car. I felt mom and Will's gaze on me and I blatantly ignored them as I heard my phone ringing from my pocket.

Taking it out, I saw Gray's name flashed across the screen, and I picked it up, "Hey."

"What are you doing?" he asked, and from his tone, I could already tell where this is going.

"Just missing you," I said, turning on the sugary sweet voice.

"Visit me maybe?" he suggested.

I saw Evan's retreating figure, before settling on his sister. As I remember, Gray was already preparing to target her. That guy just loves the innocent types.

"I'm on my way," I told him, hopping off the hood and entering the vehicle.

Just a reminder, no one's getting my trophy.

-------------------------

Alright, time to officially start with this story. I kind of just wanted to get it out there that's why I had the last chapter up, and I know it's been months since then, but hey, better late than never right?

...Right?

I'm sorry, please forgive me.

Anyways, I'm going to try my best with this one, and I hope you guys are with me on this.

Question: We need a cast so suggest some amazing people to play Clara, Gray, Evan, and his sister Erin.

You guys ready? This is going to be another adventure for us. Don't forget to give me your thoughts in the comments, and hit the vote button if you liked it.