I shoot him a quick glare and say with my eyes. What the hell are you doing?

"With you?" the Sheriff narrows his eyes, questioning his statement.

"Yes, she was with me, at my house," he says firmly in a believable tone.

The sheriff looks back at me, "Is this true?"

I hesitate but then nod, "Yes,"

"Hm, well uh, okay then, I guess that's that," he looks at me and then to Ryder, "You two kids stay out of trouble,"

Once he walks away, I turn back to Ryder, "What is the matter with you? Why would you say that?"

He furrows his brow, "I think you mean to say thank you! I just saved your ass,"

"I didn't ask you to do that,"

A smile peaks at the corner of his mouth, "Well, I didn't do it out of the kindness of my heart; I need a favor,"

I laugh and say, "I should have known. Everything always comes at a price with you," I then ask him what it is he needs from me.

"I need you to tutor me again,"

My eyes widen, causing my eyebrows to lift in the air, "Really? So after you fake fire me to get me away from you, now you want me back,"

"I did it because I didn't want Ashley and Matt to find out about the dealership. Ashely said that if I didn't stay away from you, she would..." He stops talking and then just looks at me.

"She would what?" I press.

"She would figure out whatever it was I was hiding from her about you, which was the dealership,"

I almost laugh as I say, "So what, you did it to protect me?"

"I got shot multiple times for you. Is this so hard to believe?" he asks, scathing.

"I guess not,"

"So is it a yes or a no? If you want to be my friend, you should say yes,"

I look into his dark forest green eyes that hold so many things; things that I cannot understand yet; everything in me is telling me to say no.

"I need you,"

He adds, furthering allowing my heart to let "Yes," fall from my lips.

...

The next day I am awakened by a tap on my window. I slide my sheer curtains back to find Jessica standing on the low roof, "I thought you were coming a three," I groan while opening up the window,

"Uhm, it is three,"

"What?!" I flip my phone over to find 3:30 on the clock. I sleep all day, and yet I am still tired. Last night really wore me out; people didn't start leaving until like 1 am, which means I couldn't go up to my room until 1 am.

The night got drastically boring once Ryder left.

Caleb spent the rest of the evening entertaining everyone. I'm sure he talked to everyone there. He looked so happy, he definitely fits into my lifestyle more than I, and for that to have been his first social event, he did great, better than I have ever done.

I thought I was going to have to spend the rest of the night in the corner alone, but I didn't.

Ryder stayed with me. Surprisingly I enjoyed his company.

Up until his parents were ready to leave, we talked about everything and everyone. We made fun of the women's dresses and their botoxed pale cheeks. Then we went over to the windows and guessed the prices of all the extravagant cars parked on the street. I'm positive I was the closest; my dad does own a dealership; my knowledge of luxury cars is practically second nature.

At the very end, we went to the back of the house and sat in the bay window eating ice. Well, just me, this is where a heated debate started; he said he would never understand why someone would just eat ice; he said, "Why not just drink water?"

I replied with the obvious answer, "You can't chew water,"

After spending about thirty minutes explaining to him why chewing ice is better than drinking water, we just sat there in the bay window, in complete silence. Not an awkward silence but a comforting one.

Then the night had ended; I undressed, laid in bed, and up until I had fallen asleep, I thought about me and Ryder's budding friendship.

Just thinking about it makes me smile; I hated him. I literally freaking hated him. And now here I am, friends with him. He better not make me regret it.

I cannot believe it; then again, I can. He's not the person he used to be. He slowly started to change. I think everything changed for him after he saved Kate; it's like since then, he's been this different person, a better person.

That's why I don't dwell on how he used to be.

It's not so much about who we used to be; it's about who we choose to become.

I so hope that when the time comes for him to return to school, he doesn't go back to his old ways; I hope he continues being the kind person he is now. The real person he always was deep down.

"So, where the recorder?" Jessica asks.

I grab my pillow and reach into the case pulling out the recorder; I slept with it all night. I was so afraid that it would miraculously be missing the next day if I put it on someone else. I pull out the old recorder that my dad has had for ages.

"Moment of truth," she says, eager. I push play.

"There daughter knows," Mr. Mcclain says

"Jayda?! There's no way," Josiah replies.

"Your son knows. Did he tell her?"

"No, there not even friends,"

Now we are.

"You said she saw the boy's picture in the yearbook?" Josiah asks.

William answers, "Yes,"

"There kids playing detective, they don't have any proof, there's no way they can tie this to us,"

"If they do, you know how much trouble we'll be in?" Josiah doesn't respond; the tape goes silent, "The mother. Will the mother talk?"

Josiah sighs, "No, the other parents and I paid her enough money to keep her mouth shut!"

William then says, "Call her, make sure she keeps quiet and, tell you, son, to keep quiet also,"

In response, Josiah says, "He will,"

The tape clicks, signaling that's the end; Jessica and I stay silent, taking in all that we just heard, trying to wrap our teenage brains around what's going on.

"He said parents, plural, right?" she asks.

"Mhm,"

She takes a deep, slow breath, "This is worse than we thought," she places her hand on her head.

"We have to go to the police," I stand up, grabbing the tape.

She darts in front of me, "We can't, not yet. We have no proof,"

"Uhh, hello," I wave the tape in her face. Did she not just hear what I heard? "This. This is all we need,"

"That's not enough; we need real evidence; nothing they said ties them to AJ. They could have been talking about anyone, or anything,"

She's right. "Well, what do we do now?"

"We need to go see the mother?"

"You just heard what they said; she's not going to talk," How could a mother do that? Her own son committed suicide because of people at school, I'm guessing, and she just stayed quiet, all for a check.

"She may; we have to try. She's the only proof we have to tie them to AJ," she takes a seat on my bed. "Unless you think Ryder will talk, obviously he knows what the hell is going on,"

I knew she was going to say that. "Ryder can't get involved; he has nothing to do with this,"

"Of course not, he was like eight when everything happened, but during that ten-year time span, he found out, which means you could talk to him and find out?"

"What will I even ask?"

She says, like it's obvious, "Do you know how AJ Crawford is tied to your father?"

"Even if he does know the truth, you think he's going to just give his father up?" He wouldn't do that; that's his family, his flesh and blood. If Josiah does have something to do with all of this, it will ruin him, meaning it would ruin his family, destroy everything he built for them.

"For you, I think he would," she answers with a small smile.

I keep my face relaxed, not showing any expression by her statement.

She adds, "It wouldn't hurt to try,"

...

My grandfather continues driving up the hill. My mom sent us out to pick up the pizza; she's been lying in bed all day because she has to, you know, with the person growing inside of her. Who knew that's all it took for her to stay down? She still works, just from home, in the bed, in her pajamas. Instead of her papers being spread out on the kitchen table, it's now spread out on her bed all through the day and night; because of that, my dad has been sleeping in the guest room for the past few days.

"Jay, I don't know how you do it honestly, every single one of your parent's friends are asses," he expresses and then laughs, "You should have seen the look on there faces when I told them I used to be janitor, the men almost had a heart attack, and the women almost burst the balloons in the cheeks,"

I throw my head back in laughter.

"Their pricks really, all of them, why is that the rich have no... no,"

"Substance," I answered for him. "They have no depth; they have never been through anything, so there oblivious to the what's right in front of them,"

"Exactly," he says, knowing where I am coming from. "So you and your father, you too, are fighting?"

"Uhh,"

"I've seen the way you tense up every time he walks into the room," he states, explaining how he knows something is going on between my father and me. "What did he do now?"

"Something unforgivable," I reply and look back out the window, watching the rain hit the pavement.

"My son does alot of stupid things, and in no way am I defending his actions or whatever it is he did to you. I've always questioned his love for me, his mom, his sibling, even his love for your mom."

I look away from the window and back at him.

"But I have never questioned his love for you; he loves you with all he has, he may not know how to show it, and he may do things thinking it's what's best for you, without consulting you but Jay, it's out of love. He loves you more than anything," he says with conviction.

I lean back in my seat and say, "I know,"

He clears his throat, "So that boy? What was his name? Ryker,"

"Ryder," I correct him with a smile.

"Mhm, I thought Caleb was your boyfriend?"

"He is," I squeal.

He hums and then laughs.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

He shrugs his shoulders, "Nothing; where is he anyway? Caleb."

"Uh, he should be in California; USC flew him out there; he left last night after the party," I thought he would come find me before he left, but he didn't.

"When is he coming back?"

"Uhm, after new years," we didn't exchange face to face goodbye, but he did text me telling me he left for California and when he would be back.

"Well, I'm leaving tomorrow; hopefully, I get to see him next time I visit,"

"Hopefully,"

~~~

(Okay the Christmas party, while writing it I couldn't fit everything I wanted in there and some things the placement wasn't right, but it was some good scenes y'all learned something new, but the New Years Eve party everything is going to happen I promise,)