Saturday. One day after the game. And already the news of James' accident had spread like a wild fire. All over the internet were small clips of him. I didn't like social media as it was and I despised it even more now. Humiliating someone on the internet was a coward's way of life.

Shaking my head I let my parents know I would be outside at the park. I needed to clear my thoughts. I needed to just forget about everything. The air nipped at my skin and my breath was cold in the early morning air. Nothing like Prescott weather.

I looked up at the roof of that same old bathroom. With a sigh I walked over to the now old bench that seemed to have been through a lot of wear and tear. Stepping up onto it I easily pulled myself up onto the bathroom roof. The park was empty unlike it had been all those years ago.

Smiling lightly I observed the empty grounds and like before imagined figures of children occupying it. I could picture in my head James running over to the monkey bars his small arms struggling to move him along. Ashton would walk over and hold his legs supporting his brother's weight.

Meg would be carelessly climbing up the slide while Layla would be telling her not to and Max would smile to herself at the two of them bickering. And I...well I would be right there with them. Cheering on James until he finished and trying to follow Meg up the slide.

"I knew you'd be here." Meg's voice broke my train of thought and I glanced over at her. She'd soundlessly  climbed up and was perched just like a cat on the very edge of the roof.

"I'm surprised you weren't in my room." I joked but from Meg's expression apparently now wasn't the time to be joking.

"If you don't want me sneaking up there anymore just say so." Her tone was hard.

"No it's not that it's just..." I paused looking down.

"It's been five years and you have to get used to it again." Meg said speaking the words I hadn't. I nodded and she sighed glancing out at the empty swings.

"I can't help but ask though. Now that your dad is gone...why do you come over all the time?" I knew this was a touchy subject but I felt like it needed to be addressed. Meg had absolutely despised her father. For good reason too the man was a sad excuse of a parent. She had always come over to my place, every day , and when she didn't it was worrisome. My house was an escape for her and it had been for the others as well.

"What? I can't want to hang out with you?" She asked pulling a leaf off of the tree branch shading us from the quiet sun.

"Meghan." She rolled her eyes but chuckled lightly.

"I just want to get away. I thought mom would be happier now but she still likes that old pathetic excuse of a man. Like Layla probably told you, I'm the reason everything went to shit in the first place." She twirled it in her fingers carefully.

"That's not true even when I was at your place their relationship was strained." Meg just looked away avoiding eye contact with me.

"Anyways it's not like I can go anywhere else." She tossed the leaf over the side of the roof and watched it twirl precariously to the ground where it would wither and die.

"What about James?" I asked.

"James is nice and I'd love to hang out with him but-" She paused quickly stopping herself from completing the thought.

"But what?" I hoped to get an answer and prodded her gently to speak.

"But there's a lot of history-I guess you would say-that went down." Meg said quietly. Unable to contain my irritation at being blown off again I made my way back to the bench. "Where are you going?"

"Home. Since no one wants to tell me why I'm supposed to be avoiding everyone I know, and why my old friends aren't friends anymore!" Meg jumped lightly off the side and ran around the building to me before I had even climbed down.

"Like I said I don't have a problem with James. " Meg held up her hands like it would keep me from moving.

"Is it Ashton?" I asked carefully.

"Ashton, Layla, and Max." Meg said conceding a small amount of information.

"What did they do?" My tone of voice made my questions sound careless. That it was Meg's choice to answer, it always worked making her feel like she had the choice.

"They didn't do anything." She said with a shrug then her eyes narrowed and I knew she wasn't going to say anything else. "What about you though? What happened to you during those five years?"

"Nothing much." And the answer was the truth. "Just a boring routine day in and day out. School was lonely and I didn't have any friends; I mean no one was going to live up to you guys."

"How flattering." Meg smiled.

"So yeah, I don't know, I guess I lost my sense of adventure." As I spoke I realized that in some way I had, and it made me a little sad. "I've sort of lost a bit of who I am."

"Last night I was being serious you know." Meg said kicking a rock. "You're so hung up on things that used to be."

"Well it's all I have. It's the only stability in my life currently. Everything I think I know has been completely up rooted." We began to walk on the same bit of sidewalk I had when Meg's friend had crashed into me on his skateboard. "I just want to know what happened is all. Why everything changed but none of you will tell me. I get it if it's hard to talk about but it's not fair to me."

"You're really going to play the fairness card?" Meg raised an eyebrow. "You left Reyna."

"Because my Dad had a new job." I said defensively.

"That doesn't mean it didn't happen." Meg retorted.

"Well what was I supposed to do?" Meg avoided my question. She had no answer because we both knew that I had no choice.

"Still, even if I told you you wouldn't be able to fix it Rey. No one can." Meg glanced about in her usual nervous manner. "Anyways...I have to go."

"Sure. Fine." Meg rolled her eyes and did that little snort of a laugh that she did whenever she was irritated.

"See you around." She called over her shoulder walking away with her hands tucked in her jacket pockets.

Shaking my head I set down the street. If anything maybe I could at least talk to James. Make sure he was okay. His house wasn't too far from mine. Half to about three quarters of a mile away from mine.

Standing on the front step I rang the doorbell once and waited. There was no response and I nearly pressed it again when the door opened up revealing a new but familiar face.

"Max?" I asked in surprise. Her blue eyes widened in surprise before narrowing.

"What do you want?" Her tone was sharp border line accusing like I had committed a crime I didn't know much about.

"I was wondering if James was there. H-how are you?" I asked not sure what to say exactly. Already I was getting bad vibes from her.

"Maxine who's at the door?" Ashton appeared behind her and unlike Max he smiled.

"Reyna Mcallister." He opened the screen door and stepped out pulling me into a hug. I froze for a moment before hugging him back lightly. All I could think of was how he had treated James the previous night. "How have you been?"

"Alright getting settled back in." I smiled lightly. Max stepped outside as well closing the door behind her.

"Nice, well you look good." Ashton said Max just studied me almost like she would when we were younger.

"You too. I saw the game last night. Well, part of it. You're good at being quarterback." Ashton looked surprised.

"Well damn. I didn't expect you to be there. I mean,I knew you had come back and everything-Layla briefly mentioned it to me." Ashton said.

"You were talking to Layla? Since when?" Max asked her eyes narrowing.

"Just briefly in the hallway." Ashton explained. "Which reminds me. She said you were hanging out with Meghan."

"Yeah, I have actually. It's been pretty nice." I said, looking at their faces, both of which were now frowning at me.

"Be careful around her." Ashton warned.

"I've been warned by Layla already and quite frankly I don't understand what the problem is." Irritation crept into my words and the two of them shared a look.

"She didn't tell you anything did she?" Max asked almost sneering. "Figures."

"Actually no one has told me anything. And I came to talk to James." I made a move for the door when Max's cold hand clamped down on my arm.

"James isn't even here currently." She said. "And second of all, warnings happen for a reason. And if you want to know why everything is shit now, I'll gladly show you."

"Max, come on. I mean, if anything, Meg should explain." Ashton said his eyebrows furrowing together.

"Ash honey." Max said softly for once. "At this point it doesn't matter."

"Wait what?" Since when did Max call him that.

"Oh uh yeah guess you wouldn't know." Ashton said laughing awkwardly. "Max and I are dating now."

Blinking I tried to process what he had just said. I mean our group had always been close but we had sort of an unspoken rule. We weren't supposed to date each other. That was a no go, it made things awkward, complicated.

"Okay. Uh congratulations I had no idea." My words came out without enthusiasm but how could I be excited? Like everything now a days it didn't seem right.

"I didn't figure James or Meg would tell you. Not even Layla to be honest." Max said the slight undertone of a sneer in her voice.

"I bet there were sore feelings I mean we kind of had a rule. The whole no dating thing." I said shifting from foot to foot wanting to leave but not wanting to waste the chance for answers.

"Oh please since when did you follow that?" Max laughed.

"What are you talking about? Of course I followed it. I didn't even like James or Ash." Max and Ash shared a look.

"Whatever. Anyways I actually have to go to work." Ash said glancing at his watch and wincing. "I'm gonna be late. Sorry Rey but we can talk another time alright? The three of us. Maybe at the party."

"What party?" I asked. Ash ran inside leaving me alone with Max.

"The one we throw every year." Max smiled sickly sweet.

"Oh." I nodded pretending to understand.

"You should come it'll be at my house." Max said starting to walk away. "I moved by the way. I'm out on Livingston street."

"That's where those mansion sized houses are." I said confused, following slightly behind her.

"What can I say? While your Dad got demoted. Mine got promoted." Max walked quickly down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of me. Clenching my fists I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Dad only got demoted because the stupid company he worked for didn't like his ideas." I grumbled my feet landing heavily and angrily on the ground. "He's a genius and that's what they were scared of."

But even as I grumbled to myself in my head I doubted my words. What kind of a genius owned a hardware store? Then again Dad had a lot of secret projects he liked to work on in the garage. Some of which he sold for good money, silly contraptions, ones that did simple tasks other humans couldn't.

Shaking my head I kicked a rock hard. It bounced off the concrete and into a bush sending a rabbit darting out down the sidewalk. Not only had my conversation with Meg gone horrible but I hadn't even talked to James, and to make things worse I was given zero answers. Just more information I didn't know what to do with.

Walking home I stepped inside the house to find my parents both on the couch watching tv together. I guess Dad only had to work half time today at the store. He'd hired someone new not that long ago so he could spend more time with my mom and I. Though he was still the only other person who really worked there besides me helping out.  The new guy was nice. I'd met him a few times but we hadn't talked much. He was young maybe two years older than me.

From what I recalled he was tall and muscular but rather quiet keeping to himself. Dad said he was a good worker he was just shy. It didn't matter so much to me it was just nice to see my parents together more often.

"Hey kiddo how was the park?" Dad asked turning away from the screen to smile at me.

"Don't ask." I sighed heading for the stairs.

"Come on honey." Mom started to talk softly. "What's bugging you?"

"Meg and I bumped into each other again." I paused and turned  to face them. They'd known I had somewhat rekindled my friendship with Meg and James but they also knew it was rocky. "She still won't tell me why they all hate each other. And James is no where to be found so I can't make him feel better about what happened last night and then I ran into Ashton and Maxine."

"I'm sorry Rey." My Dad shook his head. "I'm sorry things aren't the same like you hoped."

"You're telling me. Ashton flipped his brother off and acts like he hardly exists!" I laughed bitterly. My parents shared a look I couldn't read. "And Max is this bitch now."

"Reyna we don't talk like that." My Dad said his tone warning.

"It's true!" I argued. "She's so prim and proper looking now, and yet she sneers and scowls all the time. And now Ash and Max are dating!"

"Calm down honey don't be so worked up." My mom said standing up and making her way over pulling me into a hug.

"I just want to at least understand why everyone hates each other. Maybe I could fix it." I mumbled pressing my face into her shoulder.

"You can't fix everything Reyna. You used to tear yourself apart when there was the slightest argument amongst your group. Sometimes people split apart and there's nothing you can do about it." She said quietly and kissed my temple. "Don't stress. There's always tomorrow to talk to them."

"Okay." I sighed tucking my hair behind my ear. "I'll be upstairs and I swear Meg better not be there."

My mother laughed lightly. "You can tell her to leave you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm not that mean." I responded starting up the stairs. Thankfully Meg was not there and I sighed in relief. I needed a nap. And badly. The more I stressed the more tired I got. If anything I'd wake up in time for dinner.