_{Collab with @Snagglepuss89 and @lovely complex}

The question had meant absolutely nothing to Elliot, but apparently Riley had a different opinion on the matter. As the twin began making phone calls Elliot felt his stomach sink. Riley was clearly pissed, and apparently his siblings were playing hookie. Not that he approved of hookie of course, but he didn't think it warranted this kind of reaction. If Riley blew up on Olivia...

I should have just stayed away, I'm making things worse for everyone.

He blinked away the mist forming in his eyes. Riley would end up bitching out Olivia and she would hate Elliot too. The thought of little Ollie mad at him pierced him almost as much as Sophi. Did he really expect to make anyone happy by waltzing into town after all this time? Or was he just selfish, and focused on his own fantasy of being needed?

He closed his eyes and rested his head against the window as he thought. The lease for the apartment had already been signed. He loathed the idea of breaking it, but it was looking increasingly necessary as the day went on. He needed to get himself out of these peoples' lives.

And quickly.

His ears picked up the buzz of Riley's phone receiving a text, and he opened his eyes in time to see the mall coming into view. Maybe he could split up here, before the twin managed to catch up with his younger sibling. Elliot preferred not having to see the look on her face when she realized it was him that had given her up.

After the two got out the car, Riley looked at his friend exiting and his anger calmed. He couldn't help but have sporadic emotions, with a family like his... a heart attack on a daily basis was normal and to be expected. Approaching Elliot, not realizing his phone got another text, the twin gave a sudden and abrupt hug to a man he still thought to be his "brother". Elliot may be one of the few people, or maybe even only person, that Riley could show any sort of sad...locked up feelings... to. More so than any of his siblings, his best friend, even his twin. His girlfriend had yet to find out any of his skeletons in the closet. He didn't want to worry people or show what he truly had in mind, but today was such an odd day. And the person he was with was someone he felt could help, even with his own problems. With a low voice, and a drained stare at the empty space in front of him, Riley muttered, "I'm really glad you're back..." He paused and let that sink in Elliot's mind. The embrace was long and warm, and fortunately for Riley... Elliot didn't move.

Pulling away, Riley's face had a weak smile, not something he usually revealed to many people, if anyone at all, "Sophi and I... we were so close to dad, you know?" His hands clenched at the thought of his parents dying and the chaos that followed after, "Don't get me wrong, I worry about all my siblings... but Sophi..." He stared at the ground, not being able to meet his blue eyes with Elliot's stare, "I feel like she's like me... at least when it comes to...'feeling'..." He breathed in and breathed out, he wasn't going to cry, that was one thing, he could never do, "And that's what worries me." He brought his gaze back to his old friend, his eyes had hope that Elliot wouldn't disappear again. That Elliot would join the chaos and make Sophi smile again. The twin knew he had a lot of hope and expectations but... it just felt like his family was drowning right now and he didn't know what to do about it.

He waited for a response and then shook the sadness off, "Alright, time for me to ask Tara for help. Want to come or stay here? You can have my keys if you want to sit in the car and listen to music."

Was it really not even noon yet? This family was giving him the full range of emotion in an extremely short timespan. The thought of leaving hadn't left his mind yet, but having Riley open up to him like he was... Elliot couldn't help but admit that it was less appealing. Sometime they would have to sit and chat about the elder Reeses, but at the moment there wasn't time for that. He had never been open about himself to anyone but Sophi, always keeping a more reserved appearance around the younger siblings. A blend between father brother and friend.

So he threw his emotions into the back of his mind and ruffled the twin's hair like he often did when Riley was younger.

"All right, we'll look. Don't cause a scene in public though, or I'll scold you with the others later."

His smirk challenged Riley to even dare say he was kidding before he straight his back and tapped his cane on the ground. Maybe if he pretended to be in control of the situation it would come naturally. Surely the chaos of this unbelievable morning couldn't continue for much longer. Elliot intended to see an end to the absurdity or die trying.

He expected to die trying.

"No promises." The twin countered, knowing very well that his emotions could bounce back up at any minute... because that's what his sister's did to him. They marched into the mall and as they walked, they passed a happy family, a young father, his wife, and his child (@Themerlinhawk). Seeing the family made Rye think about his sisters even more, perhaps he should call one of them again? He touched his pant's pocket and then took out his cellular device. Looking at his phone, he saw that he had one new message.



Rather than anger, Riley was relieved. His baby sister trusted him enough to ruin Kylie's plan.

"Well, I'll be damned Elliot. The search might be easier than I expected. They're here somewhere." At this point, he wasn't going to give Kylie the chance to run away. He debated: Text Tara and look for his sisters... or find Tara first?

He decided to find his Taramisu so that they all could think of a fast plan to find three young, Reese girls. Entering the food court, walking to the other side to get closer to the fountain, Riley couldn't help but notice the nice ladies that were out this lovely morning. From a distance, he saw three... revealing girls... he couldn't help but break into his inner pervert.

"DUDE, El! So many hot chicks on display. That one has a nice rack (@BilboTheGreat), that red head I'd probs have some cute ass babies with (@Viciousmarrow), and don't even get me started with the smaller one! She has yet to grow into some fine, piece of meat (@Emma)." They were way too far for him to notice the distinct features of the girls and Riley would never believe his sisters were dressed so scandalously.

Reaching the fountain, Riley waved at his best friend (@Knight of Doom).

“Hey babe, I'd love to stay and chat but I have three sisters running around in this mall, when two should be in school and the other... is just a bad influence. Wanna help?"

_{Collab between @Themerlinhawk and @lovely complex}

The blonde man showed his badge to the young mother and a slight relief fell over her. Though she did feel a little uncomfortable with his stare, she wasn’t going to let that ruin her interactions with a man, who so kindly allowed her and her son to sit with him. Nana observed the cop interact with her child and couldn’t help but have a soft smile on her face. At least there were some people who didn’t mind children.

The man introduced himself to her son (indirectly to her). Her boy couldn’t help but shake his hand excitingly. Turning his head to see his mom, Jude wondered if it was okay to give his name. She nodded and his grin widened, ”I’m Jude! That’s my mommy. Mommy meet Dehputee!” Nana couldn’t help but notice her son look at this man with admiration. Shows like Law & Order was some of Nana’s preferred TV content, when she was in the mood to watch something rather than read the newspaper or a good book. Of course, she didn’t allow her son to watch any of that but she did talk highly about the police force because she wanted her son to always know if there was trouble, he’d have the police to call for help.

Nana watched Jerry stand up and offer his hand. She grabbed it gingerly, her hands smooth and delicate. By appearance, Nana was always kind of dainty and most people’s first impressions of her were: “fragile, be careful”. It wasn’t her fault she was small… even if she tried stuffing herself with food, her metabolism would dissolve everything almost instantaneously.

Politely and not yet comfortable calling him by his nickname, her exotic green gaze met his, as she clarified who she was, ”Nice to meet you, Jeremiah. I’m Nana. Nana Darling.” He let go of her hand, which brought her back to feeling secure with herself since physical contact made her tense, and asked her about her day.

As she answered, she gave her son half of her pretzel and a napkin, ”My day off for once. I cherish these days the most…” Eagerly, Jude grabbed the pretzel and immediately nommed it, but slowed down knowing his mom wouldn’t like him eating too fast. He liked plain pretzels, no add ons. Digging in her simple, black purse, she took out her water bottle and held it just in case her child got thirsty.

Sitting in between Jerry and Jude, Nana broke a tiny piece of the pretzel’s other half and took an even smaller bite of the piece she ripped off. The woman preferred to eat… more self consciously… when she was around someone new. Her guard was obviously up.

Before she got to ask a question to the stranger, Nana’s ears perked up when Jude’s voice chimed in, ”Mr. Dehputee, have you caught bad guys today?” The mother stood silent and let her little man converse with the officer.

“Not today, Lucky for us Millington is quiet. Which is a good thing since I’m not on duty today.” Jerry leaned back against the bench and smiled gently as he watched Jude and Nana eat. Turning his gaze back to Nana he cocked his head “You work and take care of the young man?” It was clear that Jerry was rather impressed.

Nana looked quite young to be a mom, that being said he had no idea how old she actually was. Turning to Jude he eyed the kid again. Rather young still; she must of had him early. Keeping His face neatly schooled Jerry did his best not to give away his line of thoughts; no doubt she was probably a social pariah because of it. There wasn’t any reason for him to cause any more pain and besides what would have been the point, it wasn’t like there was something to be gained.

Knowing very well Jude wanted to talk to this man more than her, Nana let the boy answer the question for her, ”Mommy cleans people’s homes. I miss her EVERYDAY but she works so much! My Titi says mommy is gonna make sure nuthin’ bad happens to me. I love my mommy.” He leaned his head on her, showing that he too appreciated this day with his mother.

No longer touching her food, Nana rubbed her fingers on her napkin and gave her son the water bottle, ”Be careful and drink slow.” She was trying to get him away from using straws and sippy cups. Turning her attention back to the cop, she added, ”His Titi is my good friend. She use to work at a homeless shelter but now she works at a daycare, which is helpful. I have little time with him in the morning and little time with him before bedtime… so, we love days off. Am I right baby?” Finishing taking a nice swig of water, he nodded with only love on his face and handed his mom the bottle carefully. Peeking his head passed his mom, Jude listened to the new question, letting his big, innocent eyes reveal he was attentive and listening.

“So how old are you, Jude?” It was a dirty trick to get an idea of how long Nana had been a mom but Jerry was curious. That and it would have been rude to pry in public about an almost complete stranger. Hopefully she didn’t notice but it was better than asking her out right about a delicate subject, in public, knowing so little about him.

Jerry’s gaze wandered a little as he scanned the crowd at the food court. The usual habits kicked in as he watched for anyone doing something unusual. Best to simply keep an eye on things, people were strange. One minute they could be totally normal the next people were throwing punches. You could never tell how people were going to be and the best defense was to simply not be caught unaware.

Not alarmed at the question, she nodded again giving her son permission to give his age, the boy answered kindly, ”Mommy says age is nuthin’ but a numba. I’m a big five, Mr. Dehputee.” After he answered the question, Jude went back to his pretzel which begged for his attention.

Rather than letting the man ask another question, Nana decided to take initiative this time, ”What brings you to the mall?” She brought her attention to the food court where he was staring and sighed, “I prefer avoiding… big places like this, but my little man wanted a new book.”

“Clothing actually. I just moved to Millington and of course of all the stuff I brought with me my non work clothes weren’t included other than the backpack I packed. I should be moved in within a day or two so that will be good.” turning back to Nana he gave her face a more thorough look. She was quite attractive that was for sure and she certainly appeared delicate but looks were oh so deceiving and she was raising a five year old.

“I understand that feeling, I use to work in Southern California so lots of big open places.” Jerry gave a shiver, “It’s uncomfortable too many people all packed together. In all honesty I was raised in a town like Millington, guess I feel more at home here than SoCal.” The nickname slipped out, he’d lived there quite a while and picked up the terminology but it dawned on him that it wasn’t always apparent what that meant to other people.

Leaning past Nana a bit to look at Jude, Jerry smiled, “You are absolutely right young man age is only a number. That being said make sure you don’t go getting into any trouble over it okay? Just because I agree with you doesn’t mean you don’t have to wait for somethings.” Jerry gave Nana another half smile “Bet you two can’t guess how old I am.” With a smug smirk Jeremiah folded his arms and leaned back against the railing. Nana’s reaction might give him an insight into how old she was. It was totally prying but the cute mother son pair had piqued his interest to say the least.

The mother narrowed her eyes, in a playful manner. A guessing game huh? Jude gave the cop a thumbs up, knowing very well that he still had a long way to go before he could be a big, strong man that protects his mother. At this point, his mouth was completely filled with pretzel and he didn’t want to be rude. Nana shifted her body, her legs reaching near his, but not touching them, as she analyzed his features. She had a feeling… he was going to be hard one to figure out.

”Let’s see, Deputy Richman. Based on your appearance and your occupation, I’d assume you're middle aged. However, you’re far more approachable than most older people I’ve met. Of course, this is purely based on my own experiences. You look young but you hold yourself in a mature light. Part of me wants to think you’re older, but the mere fact you immediately wanted to start on a nickname basis with me, makes me think you’re younger. It’s hard to say, because you’re sweet to my kid and the whole nickname thing could have just been you making my child’s life easier.” Her eyes stared at his face, long and hard, and her expression was in full concentration. When she came to a decision, she hesitated while answering, ”24...25?”

”Almost, in four months you’d be correct. I’m actually 23, I’ll be 24 in july. I was quite the hard worker in college so I got a lot of things done very quickly. Did a year and a half in LA and now I’m here. They took me as investigations which is unheard of but of course it's a smaller town.” Jerry grinned at her. “You’re pretty young yourself aren’t you?” He finally broached the topic. Might as well since they were already on the subject. Before she could answer he held up his hands ”Not gonna make assumptions about anything, you won’t find any ridiculous judgements from me so no worries.” Jerry smiled at her and looked at Jude before returning to her face.

Sorry, I know you’re never suppose to ask a woman’s age so I won’t offended if you slap me He gave her a playful grin”I’ll just be forced to arrest you for assaulting a police officer.”

Rolling her eyes to the officer jokingly, Nana shrugged, ”Asking someone’s age is normal. I’m not offended at all, though man, hitting police officers was my favorite past time” she stuck her tongue out, when Jude cut in, “Mommy, you’re a liar.” The boy had finished his pretzel and was wiping his face up with the napkin, ”Mommy likes cop shows. She says I’m too small to watch it but I would like it. I like you, Mr. Dehputee, so I like mommy’s shows too.” Jude took the book out of the bag and showed the officer, not realizing he was preventing his mother from answering the question, ”I also like this. The pictures are pretty. Mommy says these are scary, nuthin’ like Disney, but we made a deal. And no Darling breaks deals!” The kid opened the book and then began flipping the pages.

This was Nana’s chance to answer Jerry’s question before her son wanted to start walking somewhere, ”I’m 21, Jeremiah.” Her gut feelings were a little nervous dropping the bomb of her age, but she felt like this man wouldn’t judge her too harshly, right?

Jerry cocked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything immediately. It was quick mental math. “So you like cop shows?” It was a clearly tactical change of topic. Not because he wasn’t curious about the age of the son and mom but simply because it was clearly something sensitive and it wouldn’t have done any good to dig at it. Jerry smiled at her “Kind of an odd taste. Law and Order? or are you more of a White Collar kind of person?” Rolling his shoulders he sat back against the bench again eyeing the food court once again. The pretzel had sort of been lunch but it really hadn’t done it for him. Atleast not fully.

”I like to know about the world, but to answer your question, Law and Order.” Nana began cleaning up her son’s mess and putting the garbage in the paper bag that the food came out of.

Jerry looked over at Jude. “Is that pretzel gonna be enough for him? I haven’t exactly eaten today and there is delicious food like thirty feet away from me. Can I get you two lunch? I personally am going to go get something to eat and it seems like you two are winding down your day.” He gave Jude another peek around Nana. “And it looks like he’s enthralled.”

Surprised at his offer, she graciously declined, “No, that’s fine… we had a big breakfast and--”

Closing his book loudly, Jude gave the large thing to his mom and jumped off the bench, ”I WANT NUGS.” Nana sighed. This man had to bring up lunch… she was trying to make her child wait until they got home…

”I guess I’ll take you up on that offer, but I won’t allow you to pay.” She put the book back inside it’s shopping back and stood up. The garbage can was right next to the bench, and so she dealt with her trash near immediately. Jude ran to his mom’s side and grabbed her hand. Offering his other hand to the officer, Jude gave a cheesy grin.

Jerry smiled and stood up taking the kids hand he nodded. “My only request is that there be vegetables involved, I was on the road for two days and it was fast food for three meals a day. Absolutely gross. I mean don’t get me wrong I like a burger now and then but three meals a day is just not good.” We gestured. “I think you should let your mom choose, she knows better than I do what it's okay for you to eat.”

Jerry gave Nana a rye shrug over Jude’s head turning slightly he mouthed over the little guy “let me pay for half?” in a normal tone “I’m sorry I intruded on your day, the lunch thing came out of left field I’m sorry about that it just seemed rude not to offer.” Jerry gave her another half hearted smile.

Chocolate brown eyes stared down at a piece of paper, a number two pencil scrawling down imaginary creatures and animated objects. A delicate hand scribbled as he shaded in a tall, dark and lanky looking creature, something that Blake Warren liked to doodle quite often onto the side of his school notes. He should have been paying more attention to his Algebra class, but Algebra was awfully boring. Drawing was more fun, and it was a good distraction to pass the time by quicker. In the back of his mind, he could hear his father scolding him because of his poor grades in class.

"Blake..."

The top of his pencil broke as he pressed it too hard into the paper. The thought of his father's voice had caused him to believe that his teacher was now aware of his absentminded doodling. He looked up, only to find his Algebra teacher writing down a hoard of numbers on the whiteboard. Nothing, no one was paying attention to him. Luckily.

As if perfectly on cue, the obnoxiously loud ring of the school bell echoed through the halls. Immediately, Blake squashed the paper he had been drawing on in his hand and tossed it into the near by trash can. Standing up simultaneously with the rest of the class, he grabbed his black backpack and swung it over his shoulder.

"Remember class! I want your worksheets turned in by Thursday!"

His teacher tried to keep the attention of the children, but none of them were actually listening. She was new, and the kids took advantage of it. Wasn't that the way it always went? Sooner or later she would have to grow more of a backbone and become one of those teachers all the students hated, but respected at least.

In between classes was usually a short five minute period for students to talk to one another before scrambling to class, but Blake wasn't really one for pointless socialization. He had a few friends, but he certainly wasn't part of the "popular" group of kids, nor did he want to be part of them. He was usually disgusted by them, in fact. Luckily he had remained out of their radar, being the quiet undisruptive person he was.

It was time for his English class, one of the easiest classes for him. That teacher was a little more strict and could handle the roudy teenagers, but Blake at least understood what was being taught so the urge to draw was smaller. Nonetheless, he could not wait for this day to be over already. It was dragging.

Sitting down in his usual seat in the back of the class near the window, Blake tucked his backpack under his chair and pulled out his English text book which had a crumpled piece of paper behind the cover. As he set the heavy book down on his desk he pulled out the piece of paper, a scribbled mess of his homework that was due today. It wasn't in the crisp condition he had received it in, but at least he had done it.

Walking up to the front to turn in his homework on the teachers desk, Blake unfortunately tripped on an uneven area in the carpet. He stumbled and then caught himself on someone's desk. Looking up, he met eyes with the girl, so embarrassed he barely registered who it was. "Sorr-" The students who witnessed the trip began to giggle behind him. His face flushed as he stood upright and quickly made it to the front of the class. Tossing his homework on the stack that had already been turned in, the red faced boy hurried back to his desk. Now, on top of the day dragging by, it felt like everyone in the room was making fun of him. "Smooth move, Blake...Idiot." He thought, sinking into the uncomfortable desk chair.

@Emma@Viciousmarrow@lovely complex@The Muse

As class droned on, James felt his phone vibrate four different times. Well four of the five responded... When James was only expecting three texts... Was something seriously wrong? He got up and slipped out the classroom door at the back of the room so he could check without being rude. Closing the door softly behind him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. The first text he saw, the most recently received was Kylie's, and he just shook his head, as it was a normal Kylie text. ’i got fired cuz im 2 sexy 4 work. lol. smoke weed every day, ho.’ James quickly typed up a response, 'You know I'm fine with that, just not in the diner, and keep it in your room at the house. And unless you being fired came from Sophia it doesn't count. Riley doesn't have that kind of authority at the Diner. And I will be asking Sophia about this later.' James hit send.

The next text that he pulled up was Riley's, and he began walking in the hallway to get blood flowing through his veins. "Elliot is back in town, the diner ended up way understaffed. Closed shop early today." James stopped in his tracks. Elliot was back? The guy who broke Sophi's heart was back. The same Elliot that was just like another brother to him, a big brother to all the other younger siblings? If Riley was aware, Sophia was probably aware. He also noticed that Riley mentioned they were very understaffed and closed up early. James scowled as he typed up a response, mostly because of the Elliot information. 'Did Sophi get in a good hit? If not, I certainly will for what he did to her. And thanks for letting me know that the diner's closed for the day. We all could use a break, and we both need to catch up on the sleep. I'm going to head to the house and get some rest after class, let me know if you need me. Ok?' James scanned the text over, and hoping he would get an acceptable answer for his first question, he hit send, before flipping through to Sophia's message.

James almost laughed as he saw Sophi's text, given he had just gotten the answer to it just moments ago. “We’re taking the day off. Didn’t go well. You’ll never guess who’s back from the dead.” So he would at least attempt to play the part that was all too easily given to him. The psychic who knew things before they could possibly be known. In the end he decided against it. 'I'm going to guess that it is one Elliot Longstreet, whose ass we both want to kick. Riley told me. He also told me that we're closed for the day, can you elaborate? I'm not complaining, I just want to know why. I'm going to be at home after school since we're closed, and try to catch up on sleep if you need me.' Jame typed up for his older sister, tapping send as soon as he finished, which left him with Olivia's text.

'School is stupid. I think maybe I should drop out and be more like Kylie. *poo emoji* ' James all but felt his heart break as he saw this. He knew their parents death had been hard on Olivia, but did it just exacerbate something that was already there. He knew what depression was like, and his siblings saw what it did to him, and he remembered thinking something along the lines of what Olivia just sent him. He felt a tear in the corner of his eye as he typed up, 'Remember about five, maybe six years back when I was going through that rough patch and I was doing poorly in school and stopped doing... Almost everything? It wasn't pretty and I know that, but I got through it, and I know you can too. I know things have been hard lately, but understand you have all of us here for you. We all love you very much, and I want you to understand that.' As he finished up the text and hit send, he wiped a tear from his eye and re-entered the classroom.

Nathan had made his way to his own class after walking James to his. He continued whistling the tune he was whistling on the bus and his steps felt a bit bouncier and lighter than usual. Despite what he assumed was Ami's lack of interest in him, he wouldn't mind just being friends with her. She was cute and having a cute girl around wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Maybe he could try setting her up with James. Then she could introduce Nathan to her other cute friends and they could double date. That would be nice. But James had made it pretty clear that he was not willing to play the field, which Nathan never really understood.

Nathan reached his class and was just barely on time. He took his seat in the back of the room and waited excitedly for his professor to collect their reports. He had already pulled out his paper, which was neatly arranged in his folder, and placed it on his desk. "Perfect."

Finally the moment he has been looking forward to all morning: "Everyone turn in your report on my desk," the old English professor said in a clear voice. The professor looked to be about in his seventies and was wearing the stereotypical professor blazer look. He has been teaching for a long, long time but enjoyed it. Though some students were definitely worse than the others. One in particular...

"Here ya go, Prof. B," Nathan said with a smile as he placed his report on the desk. He made sure he was the last one to turn it in, just so he could brag talk to the professor.

"I prefer to be called Professor Bannister," the professor sighed, though he knew it wasn't worth the effort. "And do my eyes deceive me? You have actually turned the assignment on time, Mr. Carr? Without a single request for an extension?"

"I think it's one of my best works too. Hoping it'll be enough to pull my grades up to a B."

"I suppose we'll see about that. Now hurry up and take your seat. If you want to talk, wait until after class or during my office hours."

Nathan nodded and saluted the professor. "Yessir." Then he went back to his seat. Soon after, the professor began to officially start the lecture.

While he was a good teacher, Nathan wasn't paying attention to his class. It was just like every other upper level English class. They read. They analyze. They discuss. They write. It was the same thing over and over again. That was probably why he put off finishing his English class for his GE's for this long. There were just a lot more interesting things to learn.

He was thinking of pulling out his phone to text his friends, when he realized that he never got Ami's number. "Damn it. Oh well, it's a small school, I'll probably see her again... hopefully."

Eliza sat, pencil tapping, eyes attentively trained on her teacher, in her class. On the page of her open notebook was mostly doodled images squished between the few scribbled descriptions of important bits of information. She could tell most of the other students around her were in the process of listening to music or passing notes. Eliza was one of the select few who at least paid the teacher some heed, albeit she was lost in her thoughts most of the time. Occasionally, Eliza fidgeted with her pocket, as if securing an item inside.

It wasn't long before the loud ring of the school bell echoed within the classroom. Eliza gave a soft Hmm in thought as she stood to head to her next class. She had quite a bit of time to spare as her next class was very close by, but it seemed her usual companion, Zoey, was absent from the halls in which Eliza would normally bother her, so Eliza headed straight to her next class. Of course, many of the passers by knew Eliza, so there were numerous exchanges of waves, nods, and hugs. Eliza had always seemed almost child-like to her classmates, and she never really acted like the mature high school student many others attempted to be like.

English was her next class, and it had always been easy for Eliza, albeit the teacher was a bit uptight and didn't really deal with any of her shenanigans. She found herself a seat next to the windows, but still up in the front by the teacher's desk where she dropped her bag next to the chair. With a smirk upon her face, Eliza withdrew the crisp paper that her English teacher had assigned yesterday. It was, of course, covered in little doodles she had created when she got distracted from the writing at hand. She happily placed the sheet on the teacher's desk, which was soon the target of a pile of other student's papers.

Eliza skidded back to her desk, sliding into the seat and gently tapping her notebook as she withdrew another shared sheet of drawings. With that now out, Eliza held up a few different colors of pens just above her desk, carefully deciding which color to pick. It was only seconds later that she felt an impact upon her desk, the sheet of paper she had just taken out gently floating to the floor. Eliza looked up to meet the eyes of a boy she had seen around, but never got around to meeting.

She offered him a smile, seemingly ignoring the slight laughter of the classmates around her. "Oh, Hi!" She was cheery in her speech, but for some reason, the boy seemed rather put off by the event. Eliza watched with a perplexed look as he turned in the slightly wrinkled sheet and sat himself in the back, without anyone around him. That's not fun. Eliza scooped up her bag and her notebook and merrily made her way to the back, seating herself next to him. She offered him a quick wave as she placed her bag and notebook back down.

@The Muse

Collab with @sakurasan

---

Anthony walked down the street, spring in his step. He was happy. A date with a girl he had wanted to talk to for a while. Sophia Reese. What a wonderful woman.

Sighing, Anthony reached his apartment complex, and made his way up the steps, silly look on his face. He hadn’t been this happy since…. freshman year of highschool. When he reached his apartment, he went to his room, and got undressed, getting ready for another shower. Picking out a black button-down and a fresh pair of slacks, he entered his shower, and with steam rolling out from behind the curtain, thought about what he was going to do.

Certainly, he was going to work, and although he didn’t have any classes today, he had to get ready for Sophia and his’ date later. So it would be around…. Five o’clock when he had to go back to the apartment, and prepare. However, he should probably get a reservation at Gio’s around…. Noon. Should be enough time in advance. Finishing his shower, and getting dressed, Anthony picked up his phone, and was chilled to the core.

There was no caller ID, but he didn’t need one to recognize that number. How… how had she gained his number? He had blocked her number multiple times, gotten new numbers, and even moved out of that damn town. Shaking his head, he aggressively tapped the screen, and without even reading the text, deleted it, and blocked the number. He had thought that she wouldn’t be able to get to his phone, now that he had changed the number…

Heading out the door, and into the hall, he went downstairs, keys jangling in his pocket. He would have to use the car today, which meant gas money, which, on top of the date, meant today would be expensive. However, he didn’t mind. It was totally worth it.

When he got down to the small, eight space parking lot in front of the building, he headed over to his car, a 1988 Crown Victoria. It was an old car, purchased secondhand, but it was a good car. The previous owner had replaced the radio, sound system, air conditioning, and roll-up windows, so it was equal to any modern sedan. He would have to thank Paul again, the next time he saw him.

Driving through the town, to the University, Anthony listened to the radio, not really listening to the song being played. Why had she texted him? How did she get his number? Anthony didn’t want to deal with this, much less think about it, this early in the day, and on the day he would be going on a date with Sophi, no less.

Pulling into the University parking lot, Anthony turned off the car, and got out, locking it behind him. Shoving his keys deep into his left pocket, he walked along the sidewalk, up to the University library.

Ami had been reading the book for about 30 minutes before she turned back to her story, reading it over in order to see what she missed and what she could add. Sighing, she set the notebook over to the side a second time and looked around the library.

The people around her seemed to be immersed in their books but there was a girl that was flirting with the man that she was with, they were seemingly studying for a class that they had. She took notes, studying the subtle actions, the girl touching his shoulder and twisting her hair lightly with the other as she giggled sweetly. She then looked at the man who seemed to be uninterested and continued to teach her how to do the problem. He looked up, smiling at Ami who smiled back kindly before turning and noticing the girl that was next to him and now glaring at her. A “Don’t you fucking dare, bitch.” look on her face. Ami giggled a bit before turning back to her notebook. Hmmm… Does love make you cruel? Rude?

When she got up from her seat, she searched around the room, leaving her notebook open to one scene that she had been writing over and over, trying to improvise the way she would kill the character off. Not many people did this but she always wrote out her most memorable scenes over and over, finding a way to perfect them.

“Shhh…” Gasping for air as she grabbed onto the collar of his shirt with a smile. Tears that tasted like salt, continuing to fall down her face as the dirt that had once covered her face was being washed away like a gentle stream. The knife in her stomach, the blood spurting out, and the man in front of her holding the knife. The man that she loved. He was sobbing as he continued to tighten his grip on the knife and twist it inside of her. “I-I’m so sorry... Please don’t die. Please survive this.” This much was certain. He couldn’t understand the logic of the situation, nor did he want to. She laughed a bit, her voice trembling, her grip loosening, and her mind wondering why she was still alive at all. “I-I love you. I w-was already dead. The d-day y-you came into my life was m-my funeral. A-accept reality my love.” her voice shaking and her body warmth fleeing as she gently let go of his collar. Her speech was cut short by the abruptness of death. Finally.

He held her in his arms, his heart throbbing as he lowered his head and continued to bawl on her stomach. She was gone. She was really gone. He had killed her and now he would have to live with that fact.

Once again, a scene that was obviously going to be edited but was just a simply draft. In fact, she may not even use it and scrap the entire thing. At the end of the page she had written some more, simple writing that she had just gotten from the top of her head. Not proud of it but boredom could often make you write about some random things..

Living with sins is worse than dying unblemished. However, everyone knows that that is simply not possible. We have all already become marionettes, dangling from side to side and doing what is socially acceptable, as if someone controled our actions. You should know that to be controlled, you must first have someone that wants to control you. Someone that feels for you so strongly that they feel the need, the urge to be able to dominate your entire existence. And you do not have such a thing. If you believe such a thing, it is merely but a simple delusion. Debris should not love. Should not feel that they are more than what they are. Trash. All you need to do is continue to be controlled. Controlled by your disgusting thoughts and your revolting actions as you throw around that smile of yours. You already know what you are anyways.

The words didn’t quite match her outward appearance but nonetheless, who cared?

She smiled as she looked around in the horror section, gently placing a finger on the books as she examined each one, trying to find a perfect match for her at the time. Usually, she was into these types of books but this time she felt off, knowing that she should be studying instead. So, she headed to the romance section and grabbed a book called “Atonement”.

Ami had headed back over to the table and began to read the book. Soon, she was already through 10 chapters and one component of the story had gotten to her.

I’ve never had a moment’s doubt. I love you. I believe in you completely. You are my dearestone. My reason to life.

Lies. All lies, were they not? A simple human being cannot be the sole reason for your existence… Why was this man lying? Ami’s eyelashes fluttered, batting her long eyelashes rapidly as she tried to stay awake along with the story.

Anthony pushed the double doors open, and looked around the library for his bosses, but he could only see Ms. O’Niel, at the front desk. Walking down the short hallway, which was decorated with various photos, newspaper clippings, and quotes from books along the walls, he headed to the desk, and Ms. O’Niel. She was a young woman, around 25 years old, but she was second-in-command of the library, under the leadership of Mrs. Grady, a 79-year-old spinster who was one of the most awesome old ladies Anthony had met.

As he approached the desk, Ms. O’Niel looked up at him and smiled, and said, “Ah, Anthony, Mrs. Grady was beginning to wonder where you were! We need you downstairs, in the fiction section. The cart has gotten full again, so if you could put the books back on the shelves, that’d be great!” Anthony nodded, and walked over to the extensive area in which fiction was contained. While other libraries might have a greater ratio of nonfiction to fiction, Millington University Library sported a large fiction collection, ranging from the classics to more modern novels. It was one of their badges of pride, and they maintained it well.

Walking up to the cart, he had placed two books back on the shelf, before he noticed a particular strawberry-haired figure, sitting at a table, reading… Atonement, surrounded by several thrillers. An odd contrast. Anthony hadn’t really liked that particular story, actually, he didn’t like romance novels in general, for the simple fact that they oversimplified things. Reality was always more complicated than those stories, and they never showed what happened after their so-called “happily ever after”. However, he did enjoy escapism, every once in awhile, and had found one or two which left an impact on him. Too bad that most romance novels didn’t do that.

Leaving the cart behind, and walking up to the girl, he knocked on the table with his knuckles, somewhat irritated with her running off. He was actually quite worried about her, before he had gotten distracted by Sophi, so he didn’t appreciate that. ”So, miss Ami, where were you? I was about to run around town looking for you. Why’d you run off?”

Ami nearly fell asleep before she heard a distinct noise towards her. Someone was knocking on the table she was sitting at. A bit nervously, she raised her head, looking at the man that she had recognized from the diner. She noticed that he looked rather irritated at her and slightly frowned. Why was he mad… It’s not like he actually did so what’s the problem…? She couldn’t comprehend why someone would be mad over a what-if situation but chuckled nervously as she responded. “S-sorry… I-I didn’t mean to do that. I just… I got a little nervous and broke under pressure… I’m sorry.”

Anthony sighed, and squeezed the bridge of his nose between his index and thumb. ”Look. I’m sorry if you got nervous. But it’s fine. You are welcome in my apartment. We have an extra room that needs filling, so please, feel free to move in at any time.”

Upon hearing this, Ami fwipped her head up, automatically smiling brightly. “Really?? Thank you! Aha, sleeping outside isn’t fun, is it?” She said jokingly but knowingly. “I’ll get my stuff over there right when I get out of here.” She looked over at her suitcase real quick before standing up and gathering her horror books in stack to put back in her suitcase, forgetting about the notebook. Ami would need to borrow the romance novel… Though examining real situations would most likely prove more useful. She remembered sleeping outside and the weather wasn’t very good to do so. It would obviously be getting colder later.

Anthony, relieved, said, ”Listen, you can put your stuff in my car. It’s a 1988 Crown Vic, here’s the keys,” Anthony pulled out his keys so she would be able to open the back, ”I trust you to not steal my car. So I have work until about three, if you want to hang out here until then, or if you want to go to somewhere else on the university, then you can find me here, or if I’m not in the stacks, I’m probably at the front desk.”

She was a bit stunned. Was he stupid? I hate to call people stupid but I suppose… naive then? Ami couldn’t help but feel a worried about him while she was extremely grateful. “Thank you so much! I’ll put it in there and then come back and return the keys.” She had finally gathered nearly all of her stuff, brushing the notebook onto the floor on accident. Ami didn’t realize this though, taking the suitcase handle in her hand and grabbing the keys gently. “I look forward to living with you.”

Anthony nodded, and spotted her notebook fall. Picking it up, he said, ”Ah, I think you dropped this!” The notebook seemed to be pretty hefty, and had a bunch of notes and papers sticking out of it, although, he didn’t pry. If Ami had wanted him to see it, she would’ve opened it for him.

She gasped, a fearful look on her face. “That would have been horrible if I forgot this! sighing as she took the notebook from his hands quickly. Practically caressing the notebook in her arms. The thought of losing this notebook was a thought that she didn’t want to think about. “Thank you again.” chuckling a bit as she put the notebook inside of the satchel that she had with her.

Anthony smiled, and waved back at her as he walked back to the book cart. ”No problem at all, Miss Ami. I’m glad to help out my roommate.” When he reached the push cart full of books, he took another book off, and placed the novel, Accusations and Absolution, where it belonged on the shelf. He kept at it this way for several minutes, eventually working his way back two bookshelves.

---

Ami had walked off before waving back to Anthony. Before leaving the building, she took her time, exploring the classes to see what classes were going on and to memorize all of the locations.

After a while, she came upon a class that had a familiar face inside. It was Nathan. The lecture seemed to be nearly over as she waved at him quickly, out of the teachers sight. Hmm… I am quite hungry.. With that thought, she mouthed some words to him after seemingly grabbing his attention. Putting a hand in front of one side of her mouth and carefully spacing out each word in order to make sure that he would understand, leaning forward a bit. “Are. You. Nearly. Done. With. Class?”

It would be nice to grab a bite with someone that she knew rather than being alone after all. Before that, I really do need to put my stuff away… Am I even allowed to be carrying this around? She smiled at Nathan sweetly, awaiting his response.
@karamonnom

Tara went around to a couple shops. She enjoyed window shopping, but knew she couldn’t afford most of the high end, designer clothes. Some of the clothes were silly, it seemed as though many of the designers were scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with different designs. Though, the tomboy wore fairly ratty thrift store clothes most the time, she made them work for her as best as she could. Not that she was obsessed with looking nice. She sometimes just liked looking in the mirror. But alas, there were some really nice clothes she could one day have if she ended up getting a lot of money. That rich boyfriend idea sounded really appealing at the moment. Suddenly, her phone buzzed. Tara instantly whipped it out of her back pocket to find a message from Riley and a ninja text from Kylie.

Be there in ten minutes.

’riley has a stick in his ass 2day, so idk if u rlly wanna fuck wid dat ho. lol. also have u met his gf? i h8 her alrdy.’

She didn’t bother sending a text back to Rye Bread, it would be kinda pointless and just fill blank space. But she did send a text to Kylie.

I’ll make sure not to cross that line, but you should watch yourself. It usually you who gets the short end of the stick up his ass. I haven’t met his gf yet, tho. I’m surprised he managed to get himself a willing subject. I’ll keep a careful watch on her.

Deciding she couldn’t do much in 10 minutes, Tara headed over to the water fountain near the center of the shopping centre. It’s where she usually met up with people. Besides, it was a good place to people watch. After a bit of staring into the crowd, though, she got bored. There were a few couples walking around hand in hand and elderly people, but it was a work day so everyone was busy with a job or school. How boring. So instead, the slightly impatient female pulled out her phone to play around on some mobile app or another. Her eyes stayed glued to the device until she heard an all too familiar voice call out.

“Hey babe, I'd love to stay and chat but I have three sisters running around in this mall, when two should be in school and the other... is just a bad influence. Wanna help?"

Tara was a bit surprised at this sudden onslaught of information, but was she really? After all that the Reese’s had been through, it shouldn’t come off as too much of a surprise that things were getting really hectic. The energetic female felt bad that she couldn’t do much for them. But, she brushed it off. She could at least give this bit of help to Riley. While he seemed aloof on the outside, he was probably about ready to either A) rip his siblings a new one or B) Cry rivers of tears. Okay that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still. She knew him well enough to know that he was quite frankly a damsel in distress at the moment.

”I basically have no choice in the matter, but for a moment let’s pretend like I do. The answer to that question would be “sure”, and a shoulder shrug would probably accompany it.” Tara teased. ”But in all seriousness, you’ll definitely need someone with actual muscle strength to back you up if things get hairy. Plus having a girl on your rescue team might help,”

‘I always seem to make’

---

Kylie was munching on an triple cheeseburger with extra pickles and mustard, albeit very slowly. If there was one thing that her siblings could count on, it was that Kylie would be the last one to leave the dinner table (if she ate with them at all). She hadn't even gotten through a quarter of the burger, and they had been sitting here for at least 5 minutes. Worse yet, the redhead would still have to finish her fries and slurp down her hefty orange soda. Her sisters definitely couldn't be expecting to leave for at least another 30 minutes.

"Kylie...um I want to change back into my clothes, can you hand me the bag please?"

The eldest Reese at the table cocked her head and gave the teenager a look of sincere disappointment. She obviously didn't notice her sister's discomfort, especially since Zoey appeared to be quite happy with her new clothes. "What the fuck, Ollie? No, I'm not gonna hand you the-" Suddenly, she stopped mid and her gaze went to behind Olivia's head, where she saw the quite familiar form of Riley by the fountain with the handicapped guy she'd seen earlier. He was a bit of a ways away, but Kylie could tell he was staring straight at them. No... there was more to it. Wait... Was he laughing at them? What was his problem? Assuming her prick of a brother was talking shit about her to that other guy, she flew from her chair, burger and soda in hand. She forgot all about her conversation with Olivia, locking onto her target.

It was one thing to follow her to the mall like some kind of creepy stalker, but it was another to talk shit about her. Kylie felt like she was being swamped by blind rage as she drew closer and closer, now in earshot.

"...and the other... is just a bad influence. Wanna help?"

'Bad influence?'

. . .

'BAD INFLUENCE?!'

Riley had officially pissed off his twin sister. A sudden sense betrayal and hurt welled up inside her, spiraling down and fueling her anger. Prancing up to him in her booty shorts and tight fitting top, Kylie threw the cup of orange soda in his face, dosing him from head to waist. She wasn't done though. Her burger flew from her hand and slapped him across the face with three charbroiled, Angus beef patties. Lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, ketchup, and those extra pickles went everywhere. "Fuck you, you piece of shit. You think I'm a 'bad influence'?! First you fucking fire your own sister, and then you have the fucking nerve to hunt me down like some kind of animal?! I'm so done with your punk ass." she seethed.

How many times had she gotten angry at Riley today? It seemed like all he wanted to do today was make her suffer. Glancing around, she noticed the unfamiliar guy and Tara but paid them no mind. The whole area between the food court and the fountain was starting to gaze upon the scene unfurling around them. Practically growling, Kylie went back into it, verbally swinging wild. "And who the hell is this crip, Riley? Your new boyfriend? I'm sure Claire would love to hear about this. Actually... Let me give her a call and tell her all about Peg Leg Stu over here." Irrationally, Kylie pulled out her phone, backed away a bit, and quickly dialed Claire's number, not thinking once about how Riley didn't know she had his girlfriend's digits. The twin had seen the number on her brother's phone the other week and copied it just in case she needed to harass someone for breaking his heart.

With a smug expression on her face, she put the phone next to her ear, waiting for Claire to answer the phone. At this point, Kylie didn't care. Riley had crossed so many lines today and she was at her breaking point, completely blinded by spite. Impulse was the only friend she had in the world right now.

---

'...And I can't seem to shake'

_{@lovely complex@Snagglepuss89@Knight of Doom@Emma@BilboTheGreat@Themerlinhawk@BlueAjah}

The boy felt the orange soda drip down his body and onto the floor. To add to the mess, a burger was rubbed onto his face. Cleaning this off would be delightful. His stare was empty and emotionless as his twin yelled in frustration. He kind of felt sick to his stomach for not realizing his sisters were dressed like tramps. Taking a deep breath in and out, he let his sister finish. His mind went back to memories of Kylie's tantrums, from when she was a little girl up until their parents died, how was his dad able to handle this?
Sitting at the dining room table, Riley, now a ten year old boy, wearing a white tee, black boxers, and a blue flannel bathrobe, ate papa's signature soup while listening to his twin scream.

"DADDY! It's not fair! I want to play games, why can't you get Riley to clean up my mess? We do everything together anyways."

This tantrum had been going on for almost thirty minutes now. The boy had missed school for the day because he had an extremely sore throat. He would rather have gone to school to hang out with Tara and his boy crew, but his mother didn't want his throat to get worse. The older man, Roderick Reese, decided to take the day off from the diner to spend it with his twins. For once their mother, Ophelia Reese, was at the diner making her face known and serving excellent customer service. It was nice to change things up from time to time. They had a larger staff back then. After their parents died, the staff members started dwindling because people didn't think a bunch of kids could take care of a business. He explained to his red haired daughter that Riley was sick and shouldn't have to clean a mess he didn't make. But Kylie being the most emotionally unstable of his sisters continued to yell.

"YOU HATE ME DON'T YOU?! Everyone gets to have fun but me!" Riley wanted to cut in to help his dad but instead, he watched the scene unfold from his seat.

His father didn't strike the little girl, who was throwing her goldfishes at him. Instead, he stood there... silent and continued what he was doing. It seemed that his sister didn't like the silent treatment. She began tugging onto her father's pants, with tears welling up in her blue eyes,

"DADDY! DADDY! Daddy..." She sprawled onto the floor and let the waterfall of tears pour out.

Shortly after, she began to pick up her goldfishes, pouty face and all, and toss it in the trash. Finishing his soup, Riley grabbed his bowl and gave it to his father. His dad smiled at him and it seemed like his father already knew what his son was going to do.

Offering his hand to Kylie, Rye smiled at his sister, "I'll help you clean your mess, if you help me get better."

Riley watched his twin dial his girlfriend's number. He didn't let his emotions build up, though he had no idea how she even got Claire's number in the first place. He prayed that his girlfriend didn't trust anything Kylie said and had faith in him... however, they had only been dating for two weeks. Riley didn't know what to expect but he did know if Claire got upset over this, perhaps, they weren't a good match.

The twin sighed at the thought, his stomach still turning at the sad fact he stared at all his sisters (minus Sophi) sexually. Turning to his Taramisu and Elliot, he dismissed himself, acting like Kylie wasn't even there and that she didn't just pour/throw her lunch at him, "I'll be back. I'm going to check on my sisters."

Turning back to face Kylie, who was now stuck in a phone call, his stare went right through her. Riley walked slowly around her and went to his baby sisters. The sickness grew in his stomach as he got closer to them... Ollie and Zoey... their attire was nothing he'd ever expect to see them in.

Why, why, why, why, why, why....

The family of three (Jerry, Nana, Jude) had come into the food court and sat at a table near his two baby sisters. This did make him nervous since the older man had been observing his surroundings... but he hoped the guy wouldn't interfere. Riley's day was already pretty shitty. But if the man did interfere, the twin wouldn't hold it against him. A bunch of kids making a scene in the mall in front of his child? Hell, if Riley were a father, he'd set these damn teenagers straight. Riley gave the family an apologetic stare, the mother's exotic, green eyes met with his as she gave him a warm smile. Something that translated to him as: Don't worry about it.

He felt his phone vibrate which could be either James or Sophi...or maybe Claire? At the moment, his mind was set on getting his sisters out of this damn place, so he'd check his phone when he got home.

Keeping his composure, Riley met eyes with both his baby sisters, "Lets go home, okay?" After he asked the question, his stomach had met his maker. He couldn't stand seeing his sisters like this, Riley ran to the nearest garbage and let his breakfast fly out.

This morning was terrible...

After he was done puking, he got a napkin from the nearest fast food place and cleaned his mouth. A person behind the register gave him a cup filled with ginger ale for free, pitying him.

Accepting it gracious, he returned back to his sisters and asked, "Do you have sweaters or anything? I'd give you mine... but..." He was obviously covered in Orange Soda and burger.

_{@Viciousmarrow@Snagglepuss89@Knight of Doom@Emma@BilboTheGreat@Themerlinhawk}

Jerry’s gaze followed Riley as he walked over and threw up. The whole show had been something he’d normally have stayed out of on a day off; after all he was trying to enjoy an afternoon. Nana and Jude had turned into a rather nice diversion but now the group of teenagers was really starting to draw looks and if the fight between the two escalated he would really have to get involved. If they were family members it would be worse. The law dictated that if one of them hit the other he’d have to take one of them to jail. It was a little known part of the domestic violence penal code but it applied to all family members. Best to stop the fight now before someone had to come back to the jail with him.

Standing up Jerry gave Nana and Jude an apologetic smile. ”Okay you two, if you need to head home hopefully I’ll see you around. If not then I’ll hopefully be back in just a minute. I don’t feel like arresting anyone for assault or disturbing the peace today so I’m just going to make sure everything is okay.”

A sad expression fell on Jude’s face as the make-believe family was coming to a close, he stood silent and stared at the ground. The pain in Nana seeing her son frown at seeing this man go made her do something irrational and not something she would normally do. Taking out of her purse her planner, she ripped out a piece of paper and scribbled her number on it. Handing it to the officer, she said lowly, ”Give me a call sometime… we would love to see you again.” She didn’t look at him in the eyes, a little embarrassed at giving her number to someone she had just met. Within seconds, Jude’s mood changed. He now had a big grin and began entertaining future adventures with Jerry.

Before Jerry left to take care of the public disturbance, Jude giggled, ”I’ll see you later Dehputee Richmun!”

Jerry smiled at Nana and Jude surprise showing up in his face at Nana giving him her number. “Thank you, I will. As soon as I get moved in I think I’m going to do a Barbeque or something for the neighbors and anyone I’ve gotten to be friends with so I’ll be sure and let you know that way you and Jude can come join us.”

With that taken care of a hard look dropped into place over Jerry’s normally mellow face as he made a beeline straight for Riley who was standing sipping on a ginger ale he’d been handed. As he approached he noticed that the two girls still seated looked awful young. Passing Olivia and Zoey; Jerry wrinkled his nose slightly. That was a smell he wasn’t going to misplace. His eyes narrowed as he kept walking towards Riley, this was not what he wanted to be doing on his day off. Stupid kids.

”Excuse me.” Jeremiah held out his badge so Riley could see.”I’m Deputy Richman with Coos County’s Sheriff Department. Are you related to these two young ladies?” Jerry gestured over his shoulder at Olivia and Zoey.

@BilboTheGreat @lovely complex @Emma

Elliot stayed silent as the two made their way into the mall, taking in the familiar sites, and noting what shops had closed since he was last in town. For the most part, he let Riley talk. The twin had really just started maturing when he let town, and it seemed his growth in the "drooling over hot babes" department had stunted over the years. Caught between amusement disappointment at that thought, Elliot simply smiled to himself in response. It was only a moment later when the two caught up with his friend, and Elliot took a moment to observe her while they talked.

Albino? Nah, doesn't look like one otherwise. Then again, women have ways...

Of course he studied her eyes first, as he imagined everyone did, but after a couple moments just brushed it off as being contacts. She seemed fit, and overall relaxed. It didn't look like her eyes were full of insanity, but Elliot imagined to be a friend of the twins you had to have a few screws loose. That, or they held your family hostage.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eyes, just as she was starting to speak, but couldn't react fast enough to Kylie approaching like a hurricane. He had tried many times in the future to recall what exactly happened in those next few moments, but the most his brain could ever come up with was:

"Badinfluencegirlonyourteamfuckyoubadinfluence?!CrippleboyfriendgonncallClairecheckonmysisters"

What the fuck is wrong with this family?

Just watching Kylie explode was exhausting and Elliot made his way over to the fountain and sat down at the edge of it. These siblings were beginning to give him a serious headache. As he passed Kylie the slight smell of weed hit his nose, and made him even more annoyed. If she was this much of a fucking spazz when high he hated the idea of her sober.

She hasn't changed a bit.

In fact, it seemed most of the Reeses hadn't changed much in the time he was gone. Sure, it seemed the youngest girls had developed a sudden allergy to clothing, which he made special note of to discuss later, but so far every acted more or less the same. It would almost be nostalgic if it didn't worry him. That, and it was starting to be a serious pain in his ass. And face.

"It's Elliot, by the way Kylie. We used to know each other."

If there was any Reese whose anger Elliot didn't care about it was Kylie. She had always been about as stable as nitroglycerin, and her words had little impact. He had long since come to terms with his missing leg and the notion of being crippled. Before she had a chance to blow up on him for daring to speak, he looked up to the woman who was now standing next to him and offered a hand.

"- Like I just said, the name's Elliot. I don't think we've met."

Zoey had been the happiest girl alive when Kylie bought her the dress she was wearing. Either because she had a burning desire to impress and stand out amognst the other girls at her school, or because she was high for the first time, or a nice mixture of both. Either way, Zoey was happy with her sister. At first is seemed a little too revealing, but after looking in the mirror of the changing room for a little longer she decided it was just what she needed. Along with her new short, tight dress that revealed way too much, she also bought some shorts and some other clothes and perfumes with the money that Kylie had gave her. There was no trace of that money now apart from the last $10 in the bottom of her bag. Walking out of the store she held these in a bag that she carried on her right arm. As they left the shop they all went too the food court, Zoey was hungry and on top of that she had a small case of the muchies, something that she wasnt expecting to get when she was high. She followed her sisters down there, walking along with Olivia just behind their older sister Kylie. Today had been an amazing day so far, and it could only get better from here.
How very wrong she was.

While Kylie went large in the food department, Zoey was much more satisfied with something less. She had a salad with a couple of small chicken strips. Zoey wasnt a big girl at all, she was far from it. She was quite thin and allways wanted to stay that way. When she was younger she had allways had a fast metabolism and she definately made the most of it. She used to gorge on food from the cupboards, potato chips, any kind of chocolate she could find. Despite hardly ever putting on weight from doing this she started watching what she was eating by the time she was as old as Olivia and in the two years following ate much less than other girls did at her age, all thanks to her destroyed self confidence. Zoey looked up and opened her mouth to speak but stopped, as she saw Kylie looking off to the fountain with a less than happy expression. She followed the girls gaze and she saw Riley. Zoey gulped, looking at Kylie and Olivia as she tried to think of what to do. Before she could, Kylie got up and stormed off. "Kylie! What are you doing?!"

The shit-show that commenced was far better, or worse, than Zoey had ever imagined. It depends on which way you look at it. On one hand, Kylie had just gone up to Riley and thrown all of her food over him, and that was funny as hell. Riley's face when the drink spalshed all over him was priceless and made Zoey giggle quietly. Looking at it from a glass half empty veiw though, Kylie had just let him know where they all were, that they werent in school (if he didnt know already) and got herself in even more trouble. She watched the spat that commenced as an argument erupted just as most other people who were in the food hall and around the fountain area. God, what an awful family they must come across as. Zoey sat and watched from afar with Olivia before they were approached by Riley. She shook her head after her spoke; 'Do you have sweaters or anything? I'd give you mine... but...' Zoey quickly shook her head. She didnt have a sweater, and even if she did she wouldnt change into it. She didnt want too. "No". She replied simply, just before the man walked over. God, another adult thinking he can control them? Why werent more people as laid back as Kylie? Just as she was about to timidly say something, he showed his badge. Her face immediately turned blue.

She turned to Olivia, looked her dead in the eyes and whispered. "We have to go now. I dont want to get arrested! I'm going with Kylie". She said, about to walk away. She took a couple of steps and stopped, turning around to her sister again. She felt bad. "Please come. I really dont want you to get in trouble. I really, really dont!". She whispered again, looking at Olivia and pulling her in Kylies direction for a second before she quickly left herself as the policeman spoke too Riley. She ran up to Kiley, tapping her on the side, hoping she was a bit calmer now. "Kylie, can we go?" She asked quietly, looking up at her and ignoring the others.

Olivia didn’t know what to do as she watched the very angry Kylie walk off towards Riley. She leaned over the table and grabbed the bag with her clothes in it, ready for her brother to take her home. When Kylie tossed her food onto Riley, Olivia stared wide eyed at them, and then looked back at Zoey who seemed to be enjoying this whole fiasco. Olivia dropped the bag onto the table, and grabbed the pile of napkins. She stood up as Riley came over to the table, and began dabbing the napkin on his shirt. Then she peeled a pickle off his sleeve, but her attempts at cleaning him up where basically pointless as he was drenched in orange pop, and burger mess. She didn’t say anything, as the stress, embarrassment, guilt, and turmoil flared inside of her. When Riley mentioned a sweater, she just nodded silently, took her old sweater out of the bag, and pulled it on over the skanky outfit Kylie had chosen for her.

She was holding her tears in rather well until the man showed up with a police badge and Zoey abandoned her to run off with Kylie. Olivia was not going to just leave Riley here, when she was the one that called him for help in the first place. All of this was her fault, and that just made her feel worse. A tear escaped her eye and then she just let it flow. “I’m sorry…everythinggg i-is all mm-my fault.” She stuttered as she cried with tears pouring down her face. She hugged Riley and cried into his chest, trying to limit her public melt down. “I a-am sooo s-sorry…” She mumbled into Riley’s wet shirt. She leaned up and looked at his face; everything was blurry through her tears. “I just want mom, and dad.” Olivia said to him. She was trying to calm down, but thinking of her parents just made matters worse.

The smell of weed... "I'm going to kill you Kylie..."

Officer... "...Are you related to these two young ladies?”

Runaway Zoey... "Why the fuck are you running away while a cop is around!?"

Crying Olivia... “I just want mom, and dad.”

Somehow, this morning kept getting worse. Within seconds, not hours, SECONDS. How was his family even capable of doing that? He didn't push his crying sister away from him even though she was just making a mess out of herself. The young girl added tears to his orange soda and burger wardrobe but having her beside him gave Riley comfort. In the midst of chaos, Olivia made things better for him. She was very much like their mother, filled with too much heart for her own good but that was what he needed to face this challenge. Riley was going to talk to this man of authority as himself: completely real. Though, the mentioning of their late parents did sting a little.

Looking down at his sister, before answering the officer, he mouthed, "I love you." And then looked up at the other man. If they were let off the hook, he'd probably clean himself up in the family restroom and buy new clothes for him and his sisters... well, assuming the other two didn't leave. Maybe after all this and they were cleaned up, he could take Olivia wherever she wanted to go. A big brother, little sister date. That sounded nice. Plus, he didn't want her to brood on negative thoughts. Anything to keep her happy would make him feel better.

His deep, blue eyes looked into the other man's gaze and the twin's expression was calm and collected. It was as if a switch went off in Riley the moment Olivia's tears came into the picture.

"Yes, Deputy Richman. My name is Riley Reese and I'm the older brother of..." he gestured to the terrified tiny girl hugging him, "Olivia Reese." Followed by him staring at the girl escaping to his twin, "Zoey Reese."

"And the girl who looks like me is Kylie Reese." He added. Taking a deep breath in and out, he brought his sister closer to him. It was obvious he was protective over them and didn't want this to ruin their family. Since Olivia had already dropped the bomb of their dead parents, Rye continued, "Our parents died not too long ago... we're still figuring out how to cope, I guess. I'm really sorry for the disturbance. I'll make sure it won't happen again."

@Themerlinhawk@Emma

---

Things were getting hectic, busy, and overall unpleasant for the mother. She hated crowds and the group of teens weren't making the food court worth staying at. Watching the red haired boy puke just made Nana think of Jude being older and with a ton of lady drama. Hopefully the mother could raise her son to be a respectable gentleman. She didn't know what was going on in the red haired boy's life but the mere fact that he looked like a mess and now was talking to Deputy Richman...

This was definitely the time for Nana and Jude to make their leave. Plus, Jude's nap time was approaching and she wanted to get him home a little bit earlier so he could have some playtime. Ah, how a nap sounded wonderful right now. Jude ate two nuggets before he got filled (she knew he wasn't extremely hungry). Taking out some baby wipes, the mother cleaned up her son and packed the rest of the things away.

Standing up, she noticed Jude stare at Jerry one last time before they were on their way. Approaching the other group of people that were involved in the mess to get to the side door passed the fountain, Nana heard a ripping sound of her bag... oh god. Her strap ripped off and some of her belongings fell to the floor.

"Mommy, you need a new bag." The boy chased the rolling chapstick that hit the shoe of a... caned man. The caned man was standing next to a woman with vibrant, red eyes.

"Are you okay Mister? Did you fall down?" The little boy examined the man's cane and then the man himself. Nana's eyes widened and brought her attention to her son, near immediately, "JUDE."

The child sighed, "I know mommy. Talking to new people by myself is bad. But look, a vampire!" He pointed to the woman with red eyes, obviously enjoying the new strangers' attributes.

Quickly stuffing the things on the floor in her shopping bag, Nana stood up and grabbed her son's hand. Bringing him closer to her and meeting her exotic, green eyes with the strangers, the mother apologized, "S-sorry for my kid." She didn't realize that her drivers license was laying on the ground beside the male.

Not wanting to deal with the mall anymore or the group of people that surrounded her...Nana's nervousness grew expeditiously, especially with the emotional red haired twin behind her.

"Um, if you'll excuse us..." The drained woman dismissed herself.

"I hope you get better Mister! and don't drink my blood Miss Vampire." With a grin, the boy waved at the strangers as they walked away... Nana picked up her pace...

@Knight of Doom@Snagglepuss89@BilboTheGreat@Viciousmarrow

_{collab with @karamonnom and @sakurasan}

Nathan’s eyes were drifting away from the professor and towards the door which he always did when he is waiting or maybe even yearning for class to end. He was surprised to see Ami outside his class. “What is she doing here?” he wondered. She apparently was mouthing something to him. “Are. You. Nearly. Done. With. Class?”

“Five. More. Minutes.” he mouthed back in a similar manner that she had. He glanced back at the clock just to make sure. Yup, class was indeed almost over. He slowly turned back to face Ami. ”What’s. Up?”
~
Ami was glad that she had succeeded in grabbing his attention, putting up an “OK” sign with her right hand. She could easily read people’s lips and quickly replied, “Hungry. Wanna. Go. Eat?”
She was starved, surprised that her stomach wasn’t growling in anger. Having not eaten breakfast yet. She then saw someone staring at her from the side, also not inside of a class and gave them a quick wave accompanied by a smile before she turned back to Nathan.
~
She was hungry? He thought about it for a moment. He did have statistic class later today, but he still had two hours before then. He could probably grab something to eat with some time to spare. Plus it gave him the chance to get to know Ami better.

“Sound’s. Good.” he mouthed back. He tried to refocus his attention back to the lecture. This was usually the time when his professor will be telling them what they had to do for homework.

“...read pages 105-120 tonight and complete questions 1-8. Class dismissed.”

Nathan quickly packed up his stuff and met up with Ami outside. “Hey Ami. How did you find me?” he asked cheerfully. “Anything you wanted to eat in particular for lunch?”
~
Ami waited around for a while, speaking to familiar faces. Particularly a guy that she had seen at least 10 times since she moved there. She waved at him and said her goodbyes once Nathan’s class was dismissed, turning to him.Whoo, how many people have I spoken to?

”Hello~ Haha, just exploring. I still haven’t been to a lot of places in this building yet. Even if it isn’t that large. she said, loosening her grip on her suitcase. “Hmmm…. I have no idea.. What’s good around here? I’ll just leave it up to you!” She smiled brightly, glad that he was in a good mood.
~
“I hope you’re enjoying yourself here. You’ll get used to this place soon enough,” Nathan assured her. “And worse comes to worse, you can just ask for my help. Or Jame’s help, if he’s not too busy.”

“Hm… we can go to Oasis Pizza. It’s nearby. Of course, only if you are okay with that.”
~
”Yep! I am, very much. Asking people for help… Sounds like a shameful thing to do but… I suppose it is common. “Thank you~ I’ll do that. I hope that James is doing better… He doesn’t seem very well at the moment. His facial expression last time wasn’t very suggestive but Ami could tell that he was having a rough time. Not that she would pry. She knew with experience that getting asked to help from a stranger isn’t a very enjoyable situation.

[color=pink] “Oh, pizza? I haven’t had any in awhile. Sure!” The only time she ate pizza was when her father gave her some and that happened… rarely. However, she knew that her father loved it, a delicacy of his. He could always be seen eating pizza in the house.
~
“Great, I’ll lead the way then,” Nathan said. He guided her out of the building and off of the campus. It wasn’t too far away, and they arrived there in a few minutes. The place was already busy, filled with students who are trying to grab a quick bite before their next classes.

As they waited to get situated, Nathan turned to Ami and asked, “So what kind of pizza do you like? I personally like Hawaiian.”
~
Walking into the building, she saw a lot of familiar faces. Ami still couldn’t comprehend how and when she had met all of these people. A guy came up to her and greeted her “Hey Ami, how are ya?” She spoke to him for a while until she caught him staring at her boobs for practically the entire short conversation. “Well, I’m starved so I have to go eat.” excusing herself from the conversation kindly.

She hid her slight disgust as she turned back to Nathan. “Sorry about that~ I am personally a fan of just plain cheese pizza. Haha, quite boring.” She said jokingly, distracting herself from the thought of perverts. It’s not his fault anyways. My body, his mind. The greater one at fault was obviously herself.
~
Nathan had noticed that creepy guy staring at Ami’s boobs and was annoyed. Most guys at least had the decency to not make it that obvious that they were staring. He coughed awkwardly. The guy had already left, so it wasn’t a problem anymore. But it was still pretty awful. Ami didn’t seem to want to talk about it though.

They were seated at a booth and both had ordered what they wanted. Nathan ordered a slice of Hawaiian with Coke.
~
After Ami had ordered the pizza, she looked around the pizza shop. She couldn't understand why guys weren't more discrete about their staring. Was it that rare to see a short girl with F-cups that were nearly a G?

One guy literally had his girlfriend in front of him as he stared. Ami simple smiled at him and turned her attention back to Nathan. “I'll have to remember this location. Do you come here often?
~
Nathan wasn’t too surprised to see all the attention Ami was getting. Though it was still disturbing. Didn’t she mind?

“Uh, yeah.. All the time. It’s just really convenient,” he said, though a bit distracted by his thoughts. He wasn’t sure if he should confront Ami about it though. He barely knew the girl, though if they tried anything stupid with her, he would definitely intervene.

They continued with their small talk until their food had finally arrived.

“Oh! Finally!” he exclaimed. “I’m starving!” He took a big bite of the hot pizza slice. “A-ah!... Thoo Hot!” he complained with his tongue out. Well, that wasn’t very smart of him. He quickly got a piece of ice from his drink to cool off his burnt tongue. “Ah… hthat’s bhetter.”
~
Ami lively smiled once the food came, clasping her hands together. ”It look great~ She was just about to take a bite before she saw Nathan struggling to eat the pizza without burning his tongue and laughed out loud, at least attempting to hide it a bit. After he calmed down, she smiled and did… Pretty much the exact same this as he had just demonstrated to be a bad choice.

Her eyes went wide,”U-uwaa! automatically putting the pizza down and drowning herself with water. ...Well, that was smart. she said, laughing at herself. Ami did always have a way of finding stupid ways to be clumsy. She bit her tongue a bit, trying to get rid of the numbness. Ami blushed a bit, hiding her face as she looked down and blew on her pizza.
~
“Haha, we should be more careful,” Nathan chuckled as Ami made the same mistake as him.

He blew on his pizza this time around, and let it cool sufficiently before taking a bite. “Mmm… I love the pizza here,” he said. “Are you enjoying your pizza, Ami?”
~
Ami nodded at this comment, something that she would most definitely need to do from now on. Taking a bit, she sank in her seat a bit. It tasted delicious, simply mouthwatering. She smiled and bounced in her seat a bit. A habit she picked up when she was younger but automatically stopped once she saw eyes staring at her you-know-what’s. ”Mm-hmm! It tastes wonderful.” I guess I shouldn’t do that either from now on. Ami mentally sighed. It was quite frustrating to have to refrain from so many things.
~
“So tell me about yourself, Ami. What do you enjoy? What are your interests? If you were stuck on a deserted island, what three things would you bring with you?” Nathan asked, trying to start a casual conversation. Perhaps he was bombarding her with questions, but he was definitely curious about her. She was very different than most girls he has met and definitely a lot nicer than them.
~
As she was eating, she heard the questions. They were simple enough. ”Hmm… I love to read and write. As well as coding, hacking, and writing computer programs. Hehe, the hacking this is a bit of a secret I suppose. She added teasingly, putting a finger up to her lips real quick to accompany a sweet smile before resuming.

“My interests… That would be mostly writing and learning about new things. Desert. Ok, a journal, a pencil, and a really good book. She knew most people might put things to survive but honestly, stranded on a desert? She’d rather spend it enjoying herself with a good book and writing a few stories on her own.
~
“Coding, hacking, and writing computer programs make sense since you’re a computer science major,” Nathan replied. “But you also write? That’s really cool. Would you show me some things? I would love to read them.”

Then he began to answer the questions himself. “My interests include sports especially basketball. I like to follow the players’ stats as well and do fantasy leagues. I don’t think you would care too much about it though.”

“Hm… I guess if I was stuck on a deserted island, I would have to bring James so he suffers along side me. Maybe it’ll even be like a vacation for him, haha. I guess I would bring a cute girl. It would be very lame if I was only on an island with James. And… hm… maybe a fishing pole. At least we can eat something out there.”

“Your turn to ask questions,” he grinned.
~
She gulped at the mention of reading her stories. Ami already knew what people thought of her stories. “Simply brilliant. This writer truly has a dreadful and savage past. However, with that, she was able to write some of the best murder and psychological stories that I have ever read and for that, I applause her greatly. I do hope that she will continue to write on, using that as her drive to push forward.” That was just a comment on what she had considered to be one of her least gruesome stories.

“Haha, maybe another time.” she said, glad that he changed to topic to himself. “I’ve never heard of fantasy leagues but if you’re willing I would love to learn about it. I am honestly a bit of a fan of sports. Though that is only baseball and some football.” By fan, she meant that her father was obsessed with it and she had studied up on it, hoping that one day she would be able to speak about it along with him.

My turn…? She thought about it for a while. Honestly, she was a kind soul but if she was given the choice, learning about others is simply something that came natural for her. She never actually knew what to ask people about themselves. “Ah, then… Hmmm… Do you live nearby the school? And umm… What’s your favorite kind of sweets?”
~
“I live in one of the apartments at Millcreek Hollow. So it’s not too bad,” he answered simply. It wasn’t a very luxurious place and no way a home that he could brag about, but it was a home that he could afford. He didn’t like to ask his parents for help with rent so that was that.

”I like fruit tarts. I guess that’s kind of a girly answer but my mom used to make the best fruit tarts for my family. Maybe I should bring some to you the next time she makes some. Only if you want, of course.”
~
Ami smiled, realizing that he lived extremely close by. “Really?? I live in one of those apartments as well! My roommates are Axel and Anthony. They seem really sweet. Maybe you know them?

The mention of fruit tarts brought a small smile to her lips. They were a delicacy and her mother always enjoyed eating them. ”That would be delightful.” smiling kindly with her eyes half closed.
~
“Vaguely,” Nathan admitted, trying to conceal his dismay. How could this sweet, innocent girl be staying with two older guys? He also didn’t know his neighbors well enough to trust them. Maybe it was time to properly introduce himself. Just in case.

“Well it’s nice to know that you live so nearby. If you ever need anything, you can find me in apartment 2A. My door is always open for you.”

He had finished up his pizza and asked for the check. “Today can be my treat,” he said as he pulled out his wallet.
~
Ami noticed his look of concern. Or maybe it was disgust? However, she looked passed it since he seemed to be fine after all. “Thank you.”

Once the check came, she noticed that he wanted to pay and automatically brought her hand up. “N-no! It’s ok! You don’t need to do such a thing. Bringing me here was enough. Letting people pay for her was something that she most definitely did not like to do. They might want it back later, and if that happened, they always came with more to take. She remembered her mother being “punished” for taking a man’s money. Not that she thought Nathan was the same… it’s just something that would result in her losing her sanity.

Ami clumsily got out her wallet quickly, pulling a baby pink wallet out that was decorated with a few polka dots. Once she opened it, around 5 hundred bills came pouring out and her eyes opened wide, automatically shoving it back inside and pulling out a 20 dollar bill. They were her recent pay check for a book that she had just finished. Not the full amount but some of it. She nervously chuckled, hoping he wouldn’t wonder where she had gotten it. “R-really… It’s fine but I thank you for the thought.” she smiled at him as she put her wallet to the side.
~
Nathan’s eyes widened at the sight of hundred bills in Ami’s wallet. He couldn’t help but wonder why she has so much money on her. ”Uh… okay. We’ll split the check then,” he said, still a bit dazed.

He gave her two fives that should cover for about his half of the bill and placed her twenty onto the tray.

After the server collected their money and gave back their change, Nathan left a couple ones as tip. “Do you still have any classes that you need to attend today?” he asked after checking his phone for the time. He had about thirty minutes left to get on campus.
~
She was glad that he had decided to just split the bill. She thought about her schedule and recalled that she had “No, I just wanted to get more of a feel of the school along with checking out the library." Then, she looked over to the side of the table and realized that she still had her suitcase with her… after all this time. “I need to put this stuff in Anthony’s car!" God, she nearly forgot and that would have meant walking around with a suitcase all day.

Ami stood up, grabbing her suitcase and waiting for him to get up as well. They might as well head over there together.
~
Nathan got up as well and the duo made their way back to the university. When they arrived, Nathan realized that he might be late if he didn’t start rushing. “Sorry I have to go but it was fun having lunch with you. Catch you later!” With that, he rushed over to his stats class.

---

Ami waved goodbye as she headed over to the parking lot. Looking for his car and struggling greatly. She continued to click to alarm, mentally apologizing to anyone that was around and had to listen to the annoying noise.

Finally, she found it and made her way over to it. Taking out practically everything from the suitcase and simply putting most of her clothes inside of the backseat. She would have to hang it up later. Everything else was shoved into a large duffle bag as she locked the car back, double checking afterwards.

Heading back inside of the building, she went straight to the library, spotting Anthony and walking up to him. ”Thank you. I’ll be around… Maybe just go to the… I’ll just wait until you’re done to get the keys to the place I suppose. ” Handing him the keys as she smiled and waved goodbye.

Soon, she came upon the cherry blossom park as she was walking around the neighborhood. A beautiful place that was filled with young people chatting and some having picnics. Ami laid out a blanket under a tree, finding a location that surprisingly had no one around. It was a vacant area, like a hidden gem. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep once again. She really did need to go to sleep earlier from now on.

Jeremiah frowned as Zoey got up and started walking away clearly avoiding the badge flashing cop. Turning back to Riley and the crying younger sister. That’s not really the issue.’ Jerry frowned down at the younger girl. “They both smell like weed, and the fact that they are both truant right now means that I could search them, if I found them to be in possession we could have a major problem. On top of that if you and your sister get into it and I have to take one of you in and find that either of you are in possession of a controlled substance you could possibly lose custody of the younger kids if someone decides to open a neglect case.” Looking over at Kylie and Zoey before turning back Jerry continued. ”Look, this is my day off and I don’t particularly feel like booking minors for smoking weed, older siblings for possessing it or taking kids away. Look, get your family. Let’s just take all of you home and we can talk okay? I’m new here and I’m guessing you’re the Reese family. I’m really sorry to hear about your parents but this just can’t happen. If I let this go then no one learns anything and next time people get taken away or sent to jail. I can promise that if you all agree to sit down with me and we can talk about this no one is going to get in any trouble this time. It sounds like everyone has already had a tough day.”

With that Jerry sighed and gave Olivia a half hearted smile. ”Sorry to ruin your day, honey. Let’s get your brother home. I need to have a conversation with your sister I’m thinking.” With that Jerry turned and started walking after Zoey towards the other Reese twin. ”Miss Reese, may a have a word with you?”

@Snagglepuss89@Knight of Doom@lovely complex@Viciousmarrow@BilboTheGreat@Emma

If Elliot hadn’t been there to ruin her entire morning, Sophia would have been walking on sunshine at the moment. Despite her ex-best friend showing up in town again, she had managed to hold herself together (with the help of trusty Jack Daniels) and get a date for herself. She had to admit she had thought about getting a date with Anthony before, but she had never managed to get around to it. Her last relationship had ended nearly a year ago, badly, so she had refrained from putting herself out there again, but it was about time she flirted again. Hopefully Anthony wouldn’t disappoint.

Feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket as she walked down the sidewalk back to the diner, Sophia took it out and read the message from James. “I'm going to guess that it is one Elliot Longstreet, whose ass we both want to kick. Riley told me. He also told me that we're closed for the day, can you elaborate? I'm not complaining, I just want to know why. I'm going to be at home after school since we're closed, and try to catch up on sleep if you need me.” So Riley was with Elliot then. Where the hell did they go? She glared at her phone and typed back a reply, “Yep. I kinda slapped him… Well, Kylie tried to serve biscuits with glass in them. Let’s put it that way…”

Just as she was about to put her phone away another text message came through from her brother Riley. “Your brother dragged me off, try to let me talk sometime. ~ The man carrying your handprint on his face.” Sophia’s heart skipped a few beats as she read the text from her brothers phone, though it was clearly Elliot behind the screen. She stared at it for a few moments, unsure of what to say as her fingers hovered above the touchscreen keyboard. She began to type something rude and passive aggressive, but deleted it ten times over before deciding against the whole thing. It was her brother’s phone and she didn’t need to bring him into her drama. Riley had been there, sort of, during her time of panic when Elliot had gone missing, but she didn’t want to make him any more involved than he had to be…

Finally, as she reached the diner, she decided on a simple word. “Sorry.” She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to apologize to him, but it felt right as she hit send. She was a little sorry, but not completely. He had earned that slap.

Deciding that she too needed sleep before her date, Sophia walked around the diner and into the employee parking lot where her grey 2011 Toyota Corolla sat. Taking her keys from her pocket, she unlocked the door and slid into the driver's seat. Hopefully Kylie hadn’t gone home, that way she could actually take a decent nap. There was no doubt in her mind that Kylie would be making a fuss when she got home which meant Sophia wouldn’t be sleeping at night. Again…

_{@Saint Girralo @Snagglepuss89 (Or @lovely complex if Riley see's the text instead.)}

---

Mortified at his minimal trip, Blake put his head down on his desk and hid himself with his arms. His face was red and he could feel it, which only made him more embarrassed. Most of the students had probably forgotten about the incident already, but all Blake could think was that they were all whispering and making fun of him. So much for staying out of the radar of the popular group of kids. They were bound to hear about this klutz now… right? Probably. He could only guess what they would say about him behind his back. He was already known as the quiet kid who liked to draw, now he had to be known as a klutz too.

For just a moment, Blake had the thought that perhaps the students didn’t care about it at all, but it quickly faded. As he heard the teacher enter the classroom, Blake pulled his head up and sat upright. No use in having the teacher look down on him too. Adjusting himself, Blake suddenly noticed the pink haired girl who he had tripped into was now sitting herself directly beside him. He stared at her with his brown eyes for a moment, blinking. She waved at him as she sat herself, as if she was a friend of his. He raised his hand and slowly gave her a wave back in return, though he did not return the friendly grin that she was giving him.

What was she doing? What was her ulterior motive here? Was she going to try to cheat off of him? If she was, she was in for a rude awakening. Whatever she had apparently seen on his homework sheet was most likely wrong. “She must bad at English…” He thought, turning his attention to the front of the class as the teacher began to drone on about the chapter they should have read last night. What was this girl’s name again? He had noticed her in the class before and seen her around school quite frequently simply due to her hair color standing out, but had never actually made conversation with her. Wait. What did this girl expect of him? Was she waiting for him to do something?

Suddenly embarrassment was replaced with nervousness. Apparently this cotton candy head wanted something with him, but he had no idea what it was. Did she want him to talk to her? The voice of his few male friends lingered in the back of his head. They had always urged him to flirt with more girls, like they did. According to them he didn’t take hints when girls were trying to flirt with him. Perhaps… cotton candy was trying to flirt with him?

Feeling the pressure, Blake took out his notebook and began to scribble down some words in his messy handwriting. “Hi. I’m sorry about that…” He paused for a second, thinking of what his friends would tell him to say. “I like your hair!” He wrote it down quickly, thought about erasing it, but decided against his gut and folded the paper up. Heart pounding from the nerves, he half smiled at her and passed the paper onto her desk. Why he was so nervous about a girl he didn’t even know, he couldn’t tell you. Girls were just… weird.

_@OppositionJ

Tara knew shit was about to go down when she heard Kylie across the food court. The flame haired girl was absolutely infuriated. The only thing she really knew was that someone was in deep shit. It wasn't unusual for Kylie to be throwing a fit, how Riley manages to constantly handle her is beyond the raven haired girl. The two females usually got along well considering most girls would want to rip the one in half, however when the twins split on an opinion it was usually Rye bread’s side she took.

Tara tried her best not to laugh at Riley when he got pelted with food and drink. After all it was a relatively serious situation. The bff spotted the two younger Reeses watching what was going down. Oh. She could kind of guess the situation, but she'd definitely need clarification.

"I'll be back. I'm going to check on my sisters." Riley said smoothly.

Tara desperately wanted to help or something, but she wasn't quite sure what to do. While trying to make up her mind, the mysterious boy who had been with Rye bread spoke to her.

"- Like I just said, the name's Elliot. I don't think we've met." To be honest, she had almost forgotten about him. She took his extended hand.

”I'm Tara, and I don’t believe we have.” She said a bit distracted at the adult who seemed to be approaching the scene. ”Would happen to know what exactly is going on here, or am I going to have to find out amidst the insanity?”

Tara finally turned her full attention to the male with a cane. Of course her attention went to the cane. A thousand possibilities ran through her head, but it'd probably get real awkward real quick if she asked about it straight off the bat. But the question in her head still did not leave. The muscular girl focused on his face instead to change the topic in her mind. He wasn’t too bad on the eyes. A bit taller than her, dark silky hair that made her want to run her hand through it (in a non-weird way if at all possible, probably not), and dark eyes that held pain beyond her. He was definitely older than her, but hey, a little fun never hurt nobody.

Tara's smile turned a bit devilish before a young lady’s bag broke. Her adorable child noticed the two when he went to help her. The raven haired female was a bit shocked at the kid's bluntness, but then again, he was a kid. She didn't mind being called a vampire by a young child, they usually make up ignorance with cuteness.

"S-sorry for my kid." She seemed nervous, but Tara made sure to reassure her.

“It's fine, I honestly don't mind since he's such a cute kid.” She giggled.

"I hope you get better Mister! and don't drink my blood Miss Vampire." The young boy called out as his mother dragged him along with her. Tara couldn't help but smile and wave back.

@lovely complex@Snagglepuss89

Riley didn't say anything to her. Not a single word, not a single glance, just an empty void in his eyes as he looked past her. It reminded Kylie so much of their father...

The ghost of her dad appeared in her thoughts, no longer hearing the ringtone in her ear. He was smiling and petting her long, red hair. "You should stop pouting all the time, pumpkin. You look like the world's unhappiest girl." the words poured from his mouth. "How do you know how I feel, dad? You always hated me for the things I never did. So you left me. You left us." his daughter argued back, venom coating her words.

The world seemed to stand still when Riley abandoned his twin, paying no heed to her. No reassuring glances back to show he cared. Just complete apathy. He walked away from his sister just like her dad vanished into thin air. "You hate me too, don't you...?" she whispered, barely audible against the background noise of the mall. People were saying things around her, but she couldn't hear them. Anyone gazing at the redhead saw her expression go blank and unresponsive as catatonia washed over her. Lowering the phone, she hung up, whether or not someone was speaking on the other line, and began to walk away from this hell without so much as word to those addressing her. How she would get home, she didn't know. There was nothing on her mind right now, just an overwhelming sense of sorrow entrenched with hatred and rage.

"Your mother and I love you so much, Kylie." "Don't say that to me..." Her body began to quiver slightly, hit by an overwhelming amount of emotions that she had tried to so hard to repress. Kylie had only cried once after their parents died, and she had tried so hard to remain strong. Riley's response had struck a cord though, and now she was doing everything possible not to breakdown in the mall. Reality seemed so distant at the moment.

"Miss Reese, may I have a word with you?"

Barring her zombie-like trudge out of the mall, a man wearing cargo pants and t-shirt approached her. What was worse though was the gun at his hip and clearly seen badge. A cop. Was this it? Was she being sent off to jail for assaulting her brother? Under so much pressure, Kylie's knees gave up under her and she collapsed onto the floor, tears pouring out from her eyes.

"I miss my daddyyy!" the torn up mess of a woman suddenly wailed. Her hands covered her eyes as she lay prone on the ground, bawling her heart out. Her hair and her face were drenched in her sadness in a matter of moments. Sobbing and blubbering, Kylie didn't care if she was going to be arrested right now. She was too lost in her moment of darkness.

Once again, the redhead was attracting more attention than necessary, her loud cries echoing through the mall.

_{@Themerlinhawk@lovely complex@Emma@BilboTheGreat@Snagglepuss89@Knight of Doom@BlueAjah}