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Another long chapter so get ready!!!

Opening the house door, I made sure my car was locked and placed my keys gently on the hard surface.

It was the early hours of the morning and I assumed everyone was asleep, hence why I was creeping around the house. As I turned the corner to the kitchen, I learnt that I was extremely mistaken.

Everyone was still wide awake and all sitting on the kitchen counters talking. Syd and Lucas were sitting together but what surprised me was Calla sitting opposite them, a glass of water in her hand.

Sydney immediately spun round, looking at me with a large smile on her face as she leaped off the counter. She then proceeded to run over and smother me in a hug.

That was a complete overreaction, even for Syd who is the most dramatic person I've ever known. She had never greeted me like that previously.

I smiled at Lucas over Sydney's shoulder. He returned the friendly gesture, but there was something else to it, kind of how Syd was overreacting now. Another thing I had noticed was how Calla was avoiding eye contact with me, she looked down as soon as she saw me looking at Lucas.

Suddenly, I was being dragged backwards and was shoved into the living room, hearing the sound of the doors shutting behind us. I knew what was going to happen the second we were out of ear shot of the other two.

"Please, take a seat," Sydney started and I looked at her with the most disinterested look on my face. I slowly took a seat on the couch and she enthusiastically plopped down next to me.

She had this hyper look on her face. I sighed. Considering how late at night it was, I took a moment to mentally prepare myself for the questions that I knew I was soon going to be bombarded with.

"Why are you still awake?" I asked, attempting to distract her and to get her to start talking about herself. All she gave me was a brief shrug of her small shoulders. She rested her head on her hand and looked me over.

Why was she like this?

A small grin stretched across her lips, "Nice coat by the way," she started and I mentally cursed that I forgot about Darius' coat, "However, I can't remember you leaving with one."

"Sydney, just cut to the chase."

"Who's is it? How did you meet? Do you like them? Are they good looking? Oh no, wait- did they help you get over he who we can't name?"

I gathered all my many confused thoughts after being drowned in questions. If I'm honest, I couldn't make out any of the middle questions due to the speed and highness of her voice, but I doubt they were that important.

"Syd, this isn't my jacket, it's Darius'. You know the guy that I went to the party with? And he's nothing more than a friend. Secondly, Jace," I said, adding emphasis on Jace's name. I had no idea where she got the whole 'who can't be named' thing but I wasn't feeling it, "has a name."

Syd sat there like she was waiting for me to carry on but there wasn't really too much to say.

That's a lie – there was a lot to say but nothing that she would have wanted to hear.

She opened her mouth and I quickly interrupted her before exited her mouth.

"I need a drink," I announced standing up and trying to get to the doors as quick as I could. I made sure to take Darius' coat off beforehand. Lucas probably would even think twice about it and Calla has been... distant recently so the only person who would properly notice is Syd. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

I shut the doors to the living room behind me. I knew Syd would be right there as I did it, but I had to do something to stop her from talking, even if it was for a brief moment.

I walked at a faster pace straight into the kitchen. I grabbed a glass and filled it with ice cold water. I felt Lucas' eyes on me as I downed the glass of water, feeling the last of the cool liquid run down my throat, I turned to him.

"Has she finished?" Lucas asked referring to Syd's constant need to know everything and in extreme detail. I opened my mouth to answer when another voice echoed through the room and interrupted me.

"Ivy! You were just at a party. Why would you need to drink now?" Syd's constant questions poured from her mouth and I tried to block it out with white noise.

I hadn't even processed everything myself yet, let alone spill everything to her and then be asked stuff on top of that.

I barely resisted the urge to run past Syd and into my room, locking her out and running a bath so I couldn't hear her.

That actually sounded like a good idea, until I heard someone calling my name.

"What do you want now?" I unintentionally snapped. Syd was clearly taken back by my outburst; you could tell that by the look that had appeared on her face. She quickly recovered and sat back on the counter next to Lucas. She didn't ask any further questions – she knew what was going to happen next.

When I get frustrated with people grilling me with questions continuously, I end up getting sick of it and ranting about everything that had happened all in one go. I say everything and Syd knows this and that was why she had more than likely pestered me since I got back.

So, in other words, she knew me too well and knew how to play me.

"It was good," I started with a sigh, "I met Darius' friends and they were cool guys. One was extremely drunk and the other was a sweet guy. They were all drinking but I obviously couldn't because I had to drive Dar home," I ranted.

I knew they didn't need to know any of this information. However, Syd wanted to know everything, so I was going to tell her everything.

"So, everyone gets their drinks and we got into the stuffy basement. It wasn't too good down there, this guy kept staring at me but nothing too unusual when you go to a party," I informed them all, Syd and Lucas listening to me, Calla staring at her phone.

She was listening, she had been looking at the same thing on her phone the whole time. But she had been acting weird recently, ignoring me type of weird so this wasn't exactly unexpected.

"Carry on," Syd demanded as she stared at me like a kid waiting for her bedtime story. I jumped on the counter behind me, sitting opposite Sydney and Lucas and next to Calla. The way Calla shifted slightly in the opposite direction from me when I sat next to her didn't go unnoticed.

"Umm," I continued. I stopped thinking about confronting Calla about how she was acting and went back to talking about the night.

"Oh yeah," I laughed nervously, "I needed to pee so I told Dar and he came with me. We split at the bar and he got another drink."

I paused there.

I almost didn't want to tell them what had happened. Syd was going to be dramatic but then get over it and be on my side, it always happened that way. But my nervousness lied with Lucas.

Him being disappointed in me was the worst thing and I just hoped he would understand my reasons for doing it. He was like a big brother to me and his opinion meant a lot to me. Whether I denied it or not, him saying about Jace being a good guy meant a lot to me. Even from the very beginning.

"Well, you all know what it's like at a party," I joked, trying counteract the possible vibe change with humour prematurely, "all the girls were going into the one bathroom in groups and there was a long ass queue. I really needed to pee and the men's was empty..."

Lucas' face displayed a knowing smile. Syd lifted her head off Lucas' shoulder and her jaw dropped in surprise. "You didn't?" She asked in disbelief.

I nodded my head whilst looking down at the counter underneath me.

"Ivy!" Syd exclaimed, making both Lucas and I chuckle.

"What?!" I said through laughs, "I needed to use the bathroom and that was empty. It was really a no-brainer." Syd looked at me as if she was disgusted, which was ironic coming from her as she was usually the one to do stuff like that.

"Don't give me that look. Everyone here knows you would have done the same."

She thought about it for a second, her face showing defeat when she realised I was right, "Whatever. On with the story."

"Okay master," I joked. "Um, so yeah. I used the bathroom and was washing my hands when someone tried opening the door. I panicked but thankfully I locked the door. Bet you'll never guess who was on the other side of the door."

I was trying let them find out softly. If I just threw them into it, their reactions were more likely to be negative.

Lucas and Sydney's faces both held bewildered expressions.

Syd somehow always managed to know what I was thinking about when I never wanted her to. But yet, in times like this when I wanted her to work it out, she never did.

"I opened the door and there stood the one and only guy I had gone there not to see."

Syd's eyes widened in understanding and a snicker came from Calla's direction. Cals was obviously trying to prove some type of point but I just ignored her. I forgot she was in here until I heard her make a noise.

"Jace?" Lucas asked, his face features serious.

I nodded my head, avoiding eye contact with him, "I was shocked. Like, I had gone all that way and for some reason he was just there. I pushed past him and went to Darius."

When I eventually glanced up, I noticed how everyone was giving me very calculating looks – like they were trying to figure out what was going on in my head. It was like they were being cautious, not knowing what my reaction was going to be.

"I had one drink once I located Dar and the drink made me feel more confident," I trailed off.

"So, you drank and then drove?" Lucas questioned, one of his eyebrows lifted. His big brother mode was activated.

"I didn't drink enough to be over the limit," I explained but got an I-don't-believe-you look shot at me. It was nice knowing he cared about me but sometimes Lucas acting like this was overwhelming.

"You really think I would have driven home drunk whilst it was raining?" I shot back, making him answer his own question. He knew me well enough to know I wouldn't do that. Everyone in the room did.

"I went to where everyone was dancing. I didn't want to be alone so I tried dragging Darius with me but he wouldn't budge," I rolled my eye humorously and heard another noise come from Calla.

She wasn't saying anything, no. What she was doing was making little, meaningful noises and was going to keep doing them until I confronted her about it. I wasn't going to confront her about it.

I continued what I was saying as if I had never heard her, "I was dancing to the song, blah, blah, blah and I bumped into someone. I turned around to apologise and that's when I saw Jace on the other side of the room. Only this time he had a girl glued to him," I let out a dry laugh at the thought.

The events of tonight were obviously still quite emotionally raw.

Silence. No one said anything, not even Calla.

"Yeah. He kissed the girl in front of him whilst looking at me. He was doing it to get back at me but I have no idea what for," I shrugged as if it didn't bother me, but it did. All of it did.

Sydney's eyebrows shot up and her mouth fell open in shock. Lucas frowned at me, now looking up from the screen of his phone. Calla didn't say anything this time. I saw her watching me tentatively out of the corner of my eye.

"That sucked. But I didn't run, I waited till his vision turned back to me when I strutted over to Darius and kissed him," I shrugged my shoulders, "He did it so why couldn't I?"

The excitement on Syndey's face was nothing I could have expected. Lucas' eyebrows rose as he shook his head and smiled whilst looking at his phone. "You actually did that?" Calla finally spoke up.

I turned to face her and she glanced down, avoiding my eyes, "Yeah, I did."

She nodded her head and waited till she was no longer in my view before muttering something under her breath.

"I never thought you'd have the balls to do that."

Calla didn't say it out loud, but she knew I would have heard her.

I could take it anymore. I had a hard enough day as it was and I didn't need or want her drama added to it.

"What was that?"

She looked up at me, "I just said that I didn't think you would have said or done anything," she shrugged it off like it was nothing.

I was keeping my cool, not reacting like she wanted me to. She of all people should know that that's not the way I am. I don't just sit down and take stuff. So, the fact that she was saying this bewildered me.

"And why would you think that?" I asked, using my hands for emphasis.

"Well, since everything is about you, I just thought that not saying anything would get you more sympathy votes." She still proceeded completely avoid looking at me whilst speaking. That alone told me that she didn't mean what she was saying and that instead it was a retaliation. She was saying it to get back at me but what for, I couldn't tell.

"What's your problem?" I directly questioned her, making her finally look at me.

She had no expression on her face, it was blank as she stared at me. Syd must have sensed the tension between us because it didn't take her long to cut in, "Guys seriously? Right now?"

I glanced at Syd and frowned.

I wasn't the one who started this. I didn't have a problem with Calla, as far as I knew we were all good. But she was insistent on adding comments or sly sounds to everything I said.

"You're right," Calla sighed and jumped off the counter, making me wonder what she was going to do, "I'm going to bed now." With that, she silently grabbed her phone and stormed off upstairs.

I looked at Syd for an explanation but her face held a confusion similar to mine.

"What's up with her?" I asked. I hoped they would know as they were here with her whilst I wasn't. Maybe she had told them something I didn't know.

But by the frown on Syd's face, she was as in the dark as me.

We were all silent for a moment. Almost as if we were listening for any noise coming from upstairs, but there was none.

"Anyway... carry on," Syd prompted.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to carry on though. I knew that all three of them – even with how Calla was acting now – would support me with everything I choose to do. However, sometimes Syd could be very... forceful with her opinions.

At the end of the day, all they want is the best for me, much like I do for them and that's what I had to remember.

I sighed deeply, "He walked out the front door and I followed him," I thought for a second, "more like stormed out but that doesn't matter." I stared at them both, waiting to see if they had anything to say. Honestly, I was stalling.

Syd squinted her eyes as she rested her head on Lucas' shoulder again, "Okay... anything else or?"

I sighed, of course Sydney was going to push for information. Lucas wasn't really interested – he was just on his phone and Calla... well that was pretty self-explanatory.

I decided the best thing to do was to briefly tell them. For my sake more than anyone else's. Reliving it all when I hadn't even processed it properly myself was mentally draining. I was relaying events for others to form an opinion about when I hadn't even myself.

"When I went outside it was raining and we spoke. No. More like I spoke at him and he told me I needed to leave him alone," I saw Lucas glance up at me from the screen of his phone. His eyes scanned over the relaxed position my facial features held.

"Uh, but I obviously didn't. I told him every last thing that had been on my mind. It felt refreshing, getting it all off my chest. I was growing more frustrated with him though. He just was standing there watching me as I expressed how I felt." A small frown had formed on my eyebrows, my voice grew quieter.

Lucas' phone was now face down on the counter giving all his attention to what I was saying, Syd too. I fell straight back into my default habit of smiling, covering up what I had just shown them.

I tried to sound more cheerful with what I said next.

"It didn't take him long to kind of tell me how he felt. He said he is going to tell me everything..."

I was interrupted, "He's said that before though, Ivy." Lucas expressed. He didn't say anything that I hadn't already thought myself.

"I know. But this is his last chance and I mean it this time. Whether he wants to help me make this work or he doesn't. It is as simple as that."

Lies. I knew it wasn't that simple and I'm not entirely sure why I said it was.

I could already feel the headache forming in the back of my head that usually accompanies late-night overthinking. I had to go and preoccupy my mind with something else.

When something happens and I then have to relay everything not long after, I hate it. It's too much in such a short amount of time. I needed a break.

And I knew what was going to somewhat provide that.

"He told me he will tell me. Something happened to him and he finds it hard to speak about so I'll be there from him. I just won't be there forever."

"You say that but it shouldn't take a lot for someone to tell you something if they trust you," Syd explained. She made a lot of sense, so much so I was almost afraid to admit she might be right.

I had to shut down the conversation before I went insane with running away with ideas, "I don't know. We will see I guess."

I jumped off the counter when a shudder crept up my spine. The feeling of my clothes clinging onto my skin - it felt revolting. I had previously forgotten about how I was soaked through. I was surprised that I hadn't got hyperthermia yet considering we were in the later months of the year.

"I'm going to talk to Calla and get changed. These clothes feel disgusting," I informed the two of them.

I received polite nods form the both Sydney and Lucas before running upstairs.

(A/N) An early update for you all :)
I've been writing a lot recently so I thought it would only be fair to update early.

Ivy seems to be quite unlucky with the amount of drama in her life at the moment. She certainly doesn't need anything else bad happening.

Thank you for reading :)