“For real? Is this Palm Beach or Colombia?” JJ uttered sarcastically, hiding how anxious he actually was by the situation.

Truth be told, his first instincts were screaming for him to run off his sister and drag her back home. Who the hell was this “Diablo”? How did he have the kind of connections where he had “massive amounts of drugs”? What did he and his sister walk into? He kept his eyes on his self-proclaimed guide and began to wonder what kind of person thought such a place could be considered fun in the slightest. For the time being he was going to have to stomach the party, though he hoped to god his sister was smart enough not to get acquainted with the drugs the supposed devil was serving. She may have been high strung but she wasn't that self-destructive and dumb to get caught up in things. He was just going to have to trust that she wouldn't.

“Shit. You Florida-types are wild.” He commented as he followed Trip through the party.

“What in the fuck is happening?!”

The sound of Archer’s shrill voice made Marisol instantly look up, eyes wide with surprise. With his scowl in place and arms crossed in front of his chest, her best friend was looking less than pleased at what was going on. The small pit of panic and despair that had been nestled in the young woman’s stomach grew significantly, threatening to swallow her small figure whole. Had Archer seen everything that had just happened between her and Jason? It certainly looked like it, with the way he was acting. But how was Mari supposed to explain everything that had happened? She was so fucking exhausted of explaining herself and dealing with these stupid feelings that were making her vulnerable and weak. All she wanted was to lock herself in a dark room and ignore the world for a few days.

She’d been in the middle of composing her departure message when her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a familiar female voice.

“Stop it!” the girl scolded Archer, slapping his arm and stepping towards she and Jason. It was only when the moonlight illuminated the woman’s features that Sol realized it was Julie Macmillan, whom she’d harbored a small crush since they’d been in elementary school. Oh, fucking great. That’s exactly what Marisol needed: more embarrassment in front of people she was crushing on. “Are you alright?” the redhead asked her as Archer silently scooped her away from Jason.

Mari nodded, not uttering a single word while she let herself be guided back to the party without a fight. Now that the adrenaline of her scene with Jason was gone, the brunette was starting to feel just how damn cold it was tonight. The more she tried to forget about it, the more she noticed, and the more her body began to shake. And although Archer’s arm around her provided a small amount of body heat, the black bikini clinging to her bare skin and the absence of a towel or blanket weren’t helping her case. Her lips were taking on a light shade of purple, and her teeth began to chatter.

Before she had caught up to the other two Julie had grabbed the pile of clothing lying on the pier and stuffed them in her bag. She saw how the small girl was shivering even in her friend’s arms, which made sense since she was only wearing a small bikini. “We should get her out of that… and into something dry.” she whispered as she trailed behind the pair.

Archer turned his head to look at her with an annoyed expression as if to say he already knew that. He knew he should be grateful that she was trying to help but right now there was so many thoughts swimming around in his head that everything the redhead said was like a nail on a chalkboard to him.

“Yes. Do you have any suggestions where we could do that?” he mumbled as they were getting closer to the party. He looked down at Marisol and squeezed her closer to him; he could feel her shivering more and more as they walked. She looked catatonic. “Dude…” he began, but changed his mind. It would maybe be for the best to let her talk when she was ready.

Julie racked her brain as she trotted behind them. At least she wasn’t wearing heels. “Oh! I know! They have a pool house where they keep all of their pool supplies. I bet they have towels and stuff in there!” she exclaimed in a sing songy voice, happy she had come up with something.

“Great… perfect.” Archer sighed as he led Mari towards the small shack that Julie had pointed out.

The place where the Fernandez family kept their pool supplies was the size of a small apartment, and weirdly enough just as furnished, albeit sparingly. The young man led Marisol over to a small cabana-style sofa that stood in the corner, sat her down and began to rummage through the large cabinets.

Seeing the state of the small girl, Julie strode over to the sofa and perched herself beside the petite brunette. She opened her bag, retrieved Marisol’s shorts and placed them between them. She noticed she had to many shirts as she held up the first: a men’s button down shirt. “I’m guessing this isn’t yours,” she smiled as Mari shook her head, and tossed Jason’s shirt aside before placing Marisol’s shirt on top of her shorts.

Mari had continued to stay quiet throughout it all, her still-chattering teeth being the only noise she was making. The privacy this poolside shack offered away from the rowdiness of the party along with the warmth radiating from Julie’s body provided Sol with some much-needed comfort. With the redhead so close, all the smaller girl wanted was to curl up in her lap, tell her all about her problems and cry it all out while having her dainty fingers running through her hair. There was something serene and peaceful about Julie; something that made Marisol feel as if she could trust her with her darkest secrets, and that she would get nothing but sweetness and understanding in return… Which is exactly what she craved right at that very moment.

“I feel so stupid…” Marisol finally whispered, speaking for the first time since being escorted away from Jason. She looked up at Julie with tearful green eyes, her bottom lip trembling now but not because of the cold.

Julie turned to face Marisol placing a comforting hand over hers. “We’re all stupid…” she uttered, biting her lip. “Uhm, what I mean to say is: no matter what went down out there, don’t let anyone tell you how you should live you life or what you should do!” She turned away and looked at her shoes. “Take it from someone who knows how it feels to be talked about… You just have to ignore it.” she shook her head as if to shake her feelings away.

“But you’re sweet, and so pretty, and popular, and the only reason people talk about you is because they’re jealous, not because they mean all those nasty things they could ever say about you!” Marisol told her, squeezing Julie’s hand.

Archer snorted from inside one of the cabinets. Julie frowned and threw a pillow that hit the young man’s back. “Ow! No it’s not that! These people have Hermes blankets in their pool closet! How bougie can you get?!” He emerged from within the cabinet with an amused look on his face, tossing one of the blankets and a towel towards the girls.

The redhead caught the items and stroked the soft blanket, “Hermes isn’t even that expensive for such a nice brand.” she mused as she threw it around Marisol. When the others stayed quiet she looked up from securing the blanket around the girl. Archer had an disgusted expression plastered on his face. “What?!” Julie exclaimed staring back at him.

“You’re really one of a kind, Macmillan!” Archer said as he closed all the cabinet doors he had opened. When he was done he sat down on the armrest next to his best friend looking down at her with worried eyes. “So Slim… What… happened?” he tried to sound as non judgemental as he possibly could.

Although she knew he was trying his hardest to sound understanding, Sol wasn’t convinced. Still, the unspoken words were starting to eat her alive, and all she wanted was to get rid of the suffocating weight building up on her shoulders. “What exactly do you know so far?” she asked him, in order to determine from what point exactly she should start narrating her story.

“Well I saw you on top of Weaver… So maybe start from there? I’m confused, because last time I checked I thought…” he trailed of shifting his gaze towards Julie. The redhead held up her hands and shook her head to indicate she wasn’t listening and began to inspect the rest of the pool house.

Blood rushed to Marisol’s face, reddening her cheeks with shame, humiliation and embarrassment as she was reminded of how he’d so brutally rejected her. “The stupid, pasty-ass fucker nearly drowned after getting into a fight with me in the water,” she began to explain, wrapping the towel more tightly around her slender figure. “He said some nasty things to me and I tried to punch him, but the asshole dodged them and then grabbed me and pulled me underwater to stop me from swinging at him again. I started to kick and elbow him to get him off me, and I connected one and swam away, but I noticed he wasn’t coming back up. So I swim back to look around and sure enough this walking piece of shit had gotten one of his big feel stuck in a reef and had passed out. So me, being the Good Samaritan that I am, got him out of the reef and back to shore. I tried to revive him but realized that I had no other choice but to give him mouth-to-mouth-” Sol said with her face now looking as if she was staring at a particularly nasty booger. “So that’s what I did. And I have no idea why, but before I realized it he’d pulled me on top of him and was kissing me hard, and me being as stupid as only I can be really fucking enjoyed it and kissed him back. That’s what you saw, I assume?”

“Oh.” Was the only thing that Archer could muster to say. Leave it to his newly deflowered friend to start making out with her rescue subject. “Well! If Weaver spreads this around we just deny it and we do damage control!” he mused, his mind going 100 miles a minute.

“God, you're dense.” Julie commented from the other side of the sofa, her head resting in her hand. She hadn't been able not to listen to Marisol's story.

“I beg your pardon?” Archer asked, offended.

Julie stood up with a huff and faced them both. “Look: Jason has a girlfriend, and a jealous one at that from what I've heard. He is not going to be telling anyone about this. So we have the upper hand right now. If you want this to just go away, Marisol, we can just never speak of it again… And that will be that!” she offered with a smile. “We’ll let you change now. Come along, Archie!” Julie grabbed Archer by the arm and began to lead him outside.

“What? It's not like I haven't seen her change before?” he protested as he didn't really want to go back outside.

“Don't be gross! Let the girl have her privacy. We'll be right outside, hun!” she chirped as she dragged the reluctant boy outside.

“Wait!” Marisol called out to them, standing up from her comfy spot in the couch to look at their retreating figures with tears in her eyes again, her bottom lip trembling and looking ridiculously small and cute with the huge blanket wrapped around her. “You guys don’t get it… I don’t care about what happened with Weaner. It was just a stupid, meaningless kiss. What really got me angry was that he said-” she took a deep breath. “He said that I was a bitch and that’s why Sonny will never love me.”

The pair froze when they heard Marisol call out with a tearful voice. They both turned around to face her again. Archer felt like he could throw up, the knot that had been growing in his stomach for the past week since Mari had told him about her feelings towards Sonny was on the verge of bursting. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

“I don’t know what to say Mari… I’m sorry that he called you a bitch. But… you also know how I feel about Sonny. To be brutally honest, I don’t think he is capable of loving anyone but himself.” He said quietly as he stepped closer towards his little heartbroken best friend. All he wanted to do was to hug her and say everything would be alright, but he didn’t believe it would so that would be disingenuous.

Julie let out a small sigh from her position by the door. “Change in to your dry clothes and if you want you and me can talk outside. Just us girls, ok?” she shot Archer a damning look after the emotional Mari nodded. The boy really was thick when it came to a girls feelings. She gestured for him to follow her outside with a flick of her wrist.

The minute that the door was closed behind her, Mari quickly tore the icy cold bikini off her body, and dried herself off with the Hermes blanket she’d been given. Next up was to take care of her dripping hair, which she did by wrapping the blanket around it and twisting it as hard as it would go before letting it back down again and quickly put her clothes back on. Her oversized jacket felt like heaven now, snuggling her petite body and showering it with warmth. That was, until she remembered who she’d stolen said jacket from… But before she could have another ridiculous meltdown like the girls she so desperately hated, the young woman took a few deep, calming breaths before exiting the pool house.

“Okay, I’m ready,” she told Julie and Archer, who were waiting right outside the door. Her jeweled-colored gaze lingered on the redhead for a few seconds longer than they did on her best friend, sending her a silent signal that she was taking her up on her ‘counseling’ offer.

Julie smiled at her as she stepped out, immediately understanding what she wanted to say. “Archer? Maybe you could go get the rest of your, uh, crew?” she asked him, and gazed in the direction of the drinks table. Archer scowled at her, torn between being livid at being told what to do by Julie Macmillan or helping his best friend. Sighing, the tall boy gave the redhead a curt nod and began snaking his way back through the dancing crowd.

Turning back towards the short girl with a smile, Julie put a friendly hand on the small of Marisol’s back, led her to the big truck that she recognized as being Sonny’s and leaned on the side of the truck. “So this night didn’t really turn out the way you hoped it would, huh?” she cooed, looking down at the brunette.

The short girl nodded, letting out a long sigh. “It’s probably been the worst night of my life, if I’m being honest,” Mari replied to Julie, climbing into the back of Sonny’s truck and lying down in the bed of the truck facing up. “You coming up?” she called out to the other girl, hoping she would accept her offer.

Lifting her long skirt up a little so she would have a bit more mobility, Julie climbed up after Marisol and sat down beside the girl. “How come Jason got under your skin like that? I’m guessing Sonny is very important to you?” she asked, brushing the dark hair out of the small girl’s face. This reminded her of the nights that she and her sister Iris used to spend in hotels on their father’s work trips.

Mari nodded and turned to Julie with sad eyes. “I think I love him,” she whispered to her, afraid that if she said it out loud the doubts would dissipate and the statement would be certain. “I’ve known him my whole life. My mom and his dad have been best friends since they were our age, and Son and I have been friends literally since we were born. I’m not shitting you: we were born on the exact same day with only like 6 hours of difference. We know each other better than anyone in the world. But after what happened between us this past summer, I can’t help but shake the feeling that what I feel for him goes beyond what I thought I had. ”

“Wow… That’s very intense.” Julie whispered as she leaned back and looked up to the sky. If you don’t count Iris, the longest friendship Julie has is with Chanel, and they had met in junior high. “I know this will sound stupid, but the easiest way to sort this out is to just speak with Sonny. I’m just going out on a limb and guessing he doesn’t know about your feelings?” she mused, and after quickly sensing a shift in the atmosphere she looked back down at Marisol. When she saw her horrified facial expression, she threw her hands up in defeat and giggled. “I know that’s not the advice you’d want to hear but… that’s what I always do. Just face it head on, you know?”

Marisol had been listening to Julie’s soothing voice absentmindedly, staring up at the glistening stars in the night sky. When the she suggested that she come clean about her feelings and just tell him, the brunette let out a shaky laugh. “That’s easier said than done. You don’t know Sonny. He’s not exactly the type to be understanding of my feelings or some corny shit like that. He’d probably call me a big fat pussy.”

“But wouldn’t you be better off knowing what he felt?” Julie wondered. “What are you worried will happen?” she continued.

“That he doesn’t feel the same way I do and embarrass myself and get hurt and ruin everything,” Mari confessed, looking back at Julie with those tears in her eyes again.

The redhead spent some time silently mulling the situation over. “The way I see it, you have two choices. On the one hand you can ignore it and go on with life as usual but be in this state of not knowing anything. On the other hand, you can talk with him and just set yourself free in a sense. Hopefully he values your friendship as much as you do!” she smiled. “Besides, I didn’t think you were one of these girls that lets a guy dictate how you live your life!” she shoved Marisol playfully.

The shorter girl laughed, shoving the redhead playfully in retaliation. “Yeah, I guess you’re right…” Sol admitted, shifting up to a seating position. “We’ll see how it goes. But for now, I’m heading back into Hell. Gonna see if any of the guys want to bust the hell out of here early.” she declared, standing up and climbing off from the truck bed.

She had just turned around to walk away when she stopped in her tracks and turned around. “And Julie?” Mari said suddenly, looking back at the other girl with a small smile on her face. “Thank you for listening. It means a lot to me.”

“Don’t worry about it hun.” Julie said as she slowly rose from the floor taking very great care not to dirty her vintage dress. She gently jumped down from the truck smiling at Marisol. “Do you want me to come with you?” she asked looking towards the crowd. “Oh, looks like we won’t need to…” she whispered as she spotted Archer charging towards them.

“Did you find them?” She asked softly when the boy reached them. He already looked to be in a real sour mood and Julie didn’t want to poke an already angry badger.

Archer looked up at them with wide eyes “Nope! Nowhere to be seen! I’ll call us an über!” He said as he tapped on the screen of his phone. “You riding with us Red?” he asked without even looking up. “Alright! Shaun will be here in 5 minutes!” Archer said as he finally pocketed his phone. “You guys have a nice talk?”

Julie smiled at them both “Yes we did, but I need to go check how Chanel is doing. I’ll see you back at school” with a small wave the redhead disappeared towards the party.

She's talking to Caligula. God damn it.

If things weren't problematic enough already, now Mara had to navigate the party so she could stop Diablo from doing “diablo things”. Which, if you asked anybody who knew him was borderline impossible. It was right up there with trying to stop Bea from being direct and eccentric. Mara knew she couldn't babysit her best friend forever, but she had to try while they lived in the same zipcode. She wondered where the hell Jun was during this whole endeavor, but he had always treated Bea like she could handle herself and convince her to do dumb things. It was times like this where she wished it was still the 2nd Grade back when Bea would listen to her. She couldn't count how many times she had warned her about Diablo Fernandez.

But maybe she was worrying all for nothing? Maybe, Bea was just having a conversation and Diablo wasn't going to play games. It was a long shot, but it was possible. After all, even demons have to take a day off. As she shelved the thought she found herself going from room-to-room, asking random partygoers if they had seen Diablo. Eventually, she found herself pointed in the right direction and saw exactly what she had been worried about: Diablo doing Diablo things.

In what felt like seconds, Diablo kissed her best friend before uttering some words and walking off. She felt her blood boil and she started walking faster to catch up with Bea. What kind of impression did that leave Bea with? Doing what he did? And why the hell didn't Bea tread carefully when interacting with such an abhorrent piece of human garbage? If she wasn't careful she was going to have some harsh words for both parties involved. It was one of the reason's she hated these kind of parties and why she didn't trust the sort of people attracted to them barring very few exceptions.

Taking a light breath she tried to compose herself before she sent out another text message.

I'm here.

Mara had no idea what would happen only a few minutes after she found Bea and sent out her text message... but when it happened she couldn't say she was surprised. Not at fucking all.

“I'd love to, but y'know.” Mara commented as she pulled out her keys for a second, jingling them in front of Bea playfully before returning them to her pockets. “But yeah, I'm fine I guess. Outside of being at this party. It's definitely not my scene.”

The blonde-haired teenager looked in the direction Diablo had walked off for a second as she felt tempted to make a stern comment about Diablo and how Bea should have listened to her when she told her to stay away from the chauvanistic asshole. In the end she decided against it, but it did cross her mind enough to warrant a momentary tilted glance. Mara wasn't happy, though she had gotten quite good at hiding how she really felt unless a person had the ability to see through her expressions and mannerisms. Archer had once called her “a two-faced bitch” and while it really hurt at the time, there was some truth to it. One moment she was hot and another she was cold. It was more than bipolar, it was second nature; an impulse that was natural to her. It was almost sociopathic how she had no problem not only lying to herself but lying to others, not just in the form of shielding the truth but deliberately pretending.

But Bea wasn't Archer. Mara would never want Bea to realize that her best friend was dishonest, especially on a manipulative level.

“I hope it's been everything you hoped it would be.” She said with a seemingly earnest and honest smile.

Jun had spent the majority of the party doing a whole lot of nothing. His friends who insisted on coming to the party had split off and he hadn't seen hide or hair of Archer or Sonny since they arrived. He still hadn't gotten a chance to meet up with Bea or his friendly nemesis, Mara, but he was pretty sure the two girls could handle themselves. After thinking about it for a few minutes he knew he had told Bea's parents that he would keep an “eye” on her, but really he didn't think he needed to. But as such was Jun's way of dealing with Bea. It was one of the many reasons Mara considered him the enemy.

As much as the generic dance music, copious amounts of alcohol (which he did enjoy a lot), and selection of uppers and downers really struck Jun's fancy, he wanted to bounce and find a nice change of scenery. So with that in mind he grabbed the drink he had poured only a few seconds before and started making his way through the crowds and craziness. It wasn't that difficult to navigate when you could gauge which way 'random drunk teenager' was falling or 'burnt out stoner' was looking; and Jun was basically a pro-navigator by this point. This wasn't his first party nor was it his first time at Diablo's place.

He chuckled as a random girl rushed past him, swiping the nearest dude's hat and letting out the turkey sub she had eaten only a few hours prior. “That is, ladies and gentlemen, why you should have a vomit bag at all times!”

In no time at all, Jun found himself outside where he immediately noticed Archer and Mari talking amongst themselves? Was Mari upset at Archer? Did something happen? Whichever the case it was the perfect time and place for a joke to lessen whatever tension there was.

“Yo! You guys weren't thinking of abandoning me with Diablo & friends were you? That's really rude, guys!”

Jun’s arrival at the scene surprised Marisol. In all the shitty events that had taken place at this goddamned party, the girl had honestly forgotten all about her favorite Asian friend. Not that she was all to blame, of course: almost drowning, making out with your worst fucking enemy and then nearly dying of hypothermia would do that to you. But Jun didn’t need to know about the perils of her trip to the Devil’s Den. So instead of having yet another Marisol Meltdown, she’d put up her best face and pretend that everything was fine.

“Abandon you in this hellhole? Never,” Sol told him, playfully punching his arm. She turned to Archer with a questioning expression. “Didn’t you see Jun when you went in to look for him and Son?”

Still staring at the über screen on his phone and following the small car religiously, Archer looked up at his friends. “I mean it’s a huge house! I just figured they were doing something together and I am really done with this shitshow!” He shifted his gaze towards Jun, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry J-bird, but you’re here now and just in time for the über! So let’s not keep Shaun waiting!” He kept making small movements for them to get going.

“Dude. You've been in that huge house like half-a-dozen times. It isn’t a maze.”

“What’s your hurry, anyway, Archie? The car isn’t even here…” Mari asked the curly-haired boy, eyebrows knotting together in suspicion now. She’d recognized that tell-tale tick Archer had when he was nervous about something: he had done it just a second ago. It meant that there was probably something the young man wasn’t telling her. And when that happened, it usually meant bad news… That or she was just being ultra paranoid tonight.

“So we’re taking an über? Did Sonny finally crash his truck into a tree or something? Are we going to its funeral? Will there be a nice ceremony?”

Taking a deep breath Archer steadied himself, he locked eyes with Jun trying to send some kind of telepathic message to SHUT THE FUCK UP. He let out a sound that was a mixture of a grunt and a sigh. “No, we are going to mine, if we do not get the hell out of here. Or are we having such a great time here, Marisol?!” This earned him a deathly glare from the green-eyed girl. It was obvious that he was getting stressed and a little frustrated.

“You're having a truck funeral? Wow. Nice.” Jun looked over to Archer with a worrying look. “Jokes aside, are you alright dude? I think if you sweat any more you’ll melt.”

“Yeah, Archer: are you okay?” Marisol repeated with mocking sarcasm, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Archer gave her a fake smile. “I’m just fine, dear!” he replied, his tone indicating how done he was with this night. “I’m just saying, a minute ago you were jonesing to get out of here and now you want to wait for Torvald?” he lamented, running his hand through his hair once again.

At the mention of Sonny, Mari’s expression hardened. “I’m not saying I want to wait for anyone, Archer Frederick Diedrikson. I’m just asking what’s your hurry. That’s all.”

Ouch! Hitting him with the full name? She really was annoyed. Archer scowled at his small friend. “We’re going around in circles here. I want to leave: the sooner the better. Therefore, I am in a hurry. Besides the uber is here!” He waved his phone in the air showing the little notification telling them to meet the driver.

Greeting Shaun as opened the passenger side door of the silver Lexus that had just rolled up to the group, Archer let out a sigh of relief.

“Archer? Ready to leave?” Shaun asked them cheerfully from his seat behind the wheel, looking at his passengers from the rearview mirror with a welcoming smile.

“Oh, Shaun, you have no idea!” He mumbled as he slid into the front passenger seat next to him. Still frowning, Marisol took a seat on the back passenger seat.

Jun took the seat next to Marisol as he closed the door behind him, “To infinity! And beyond!”

As the car drove away from the booming music Archer closed his eyes trying to process what had just gone down. Was he the only one who had seen? How long would he be able to keep this from Mari? He opened his eyes with a decision figured out, he will tell her in the morning. Silently he was hatching a plan as to how he would do it, he was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice when the car pulled up in front of his house.

“First stop!” Shaun exclaimed, jolting Archer back to life.

He turned around to face his friends “Well this has been an unbelievable joy! I love you both, and Mari, I will call you tomorrow! Peace!” he jumped out of the car and trudged towards his house.

Jun's eyes remained on Archer's house for a few moments, his arms stretched backward in a casual, resting manner. He wasn't sure why his friend had been acting skittish since they left Diablo's party. The only thing he knew was that it wasn't normal and both he and Marisol had picked up on it since the moment the car pulled up. The Asian-American teenager wasn't exactly Sherlock Holmes, but he felt like there was something up and it just wasn't the nerves like it normally was. Without skipping a beat he looked over to Marisol and wondered if she had any ideas.

“So. What do you think he doesn't want to tell us? He was pretty anxious and I don’t mean in the normal Archer Diedrikson way.”

Mari shook her head and shrugged. “I have absolutely no idea. But what I do know is that it must be some serious shit. He seemed way too excited to bust out of this car in my opinion.”

“You think him and Sonny got into it?” Jun wondered out loud. The idea that Sonny and Archer got into a fight or pseudo-fight wasn’t exactly a big leap of faith and Archer had mentioned Sonny several times while waiting anxiously for the über to arrive. Jun thought it was weird and when he attempted to lighten the mood and see if what the deal with he had given him a look. Usually that was when Jun started to get worried about his friend. Looks were bad.

“I dunno. Maybe.” Another shrug from the short girl. “I doubt it, though. Pretty sure Archie would be very vocal about getting into a fight with Son, so I’m pretty sure something else is bothering him. I’m just not sure why.”

“That’s Archer for you. Won’t come around until it’s the last minute. Like he’s revealing the last line of a cliffhanger episode. It’s annoying.”

“Tell me about it!” Mari admitted, the corners of her mouth curling up a little. “I love him, and he’s like a third brother to me. But I hate it when he does that.”

“You and the entire population of Palm Springs.”

The brunette’s mouth curled up even more, a closed-lipped smile now visible as she turned her green eyes to Jun. “Oh well… You can’t please everyone!” she said simply, choosing to change the subject. “Anyway, did you enjoy the party, though?”

“I mean. It’s about the same as the last few times. Other people had drama, I laughed, and eventually got bored. Way less interesting than the last time we went to a party at Diablo’s place, though. I still remember the one in junior year when that Nate guy challenged Kavi to a fight in front of everyone. Got his ass beat so bad he switched schools.” Jun laughed, recalling the ‘battle of the beach’ as he had named it. Probably in his top 5 of Kings Academy drama.

“Fuck, that was a good one!” Mari admitted, letting out a loud, cackling laugh. “Shiiiiiiit, I remember that! We were chilling in the hot tub and they just started going at it in front of us and we were scared the dudes were gonna end up inside the tub with us!”

“I'm pretty sure I missed the good shit this time, though. Maybe Diablo should invest in a smaller house. That or get Baxter to just video tape the whole house. Live stream it. I can see it now.” Jun smirked as he made a big hand gesture. “The Real Housewives of Kings Academy.”

Another round of laughter was in order for Jun. “You are such an idiot!” Mari cried out with a smile, softly slapping his arm. “Real talk, though? It would be a motherfucking hit.”

“I really should go into marketing.”

“Looks like you’ve found your true calling,” she teased, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Maybe. I still prefer guitar.” He uttered, noticing Marisol’s behavior shifting a little. He wondered if it was just exhaustion or something else. Either way, it wasn’t his place to pry. If she wanted him to be a clown while winding down from a shitty party, well, that was what he was going to do.

“And we’re here! Last stop of the night!” Shaun announced, his car now parked on the entrance to the Castillo driveway.

That was when it dawned on Jun. Archer hadn't put in Jun's address on the über app. Of course he didn't. His immediate response was expected. “What the fuck, Archer? I am so going to kick his ass now.”

Instead of being annoyed, Sol was amused at the whole thing. “Stop being such a pussy, J. You can just come on up to my room and we can chill or whatever. I could really use the fucking company after that goddamn party from hell,” she admitted, opening her passenger door and stepping out of the car. “Oh! And thanks, Shaun! I’ll be sure to give you five big stars, k?”

“Whatever. I need to charge my phone before I can call my über, anyway. I can chill for a bit.” He said as he exited the car.

The friend duo silently made their way to the Castillo home, making sure to make as little noise as possible upon Mari’s request. Although her parents weren’t the type to be on her ass about getting home late now that she was eighteen, she was sure they wouldn’t be too approving of Jun’s presence in her bedroom at this time of night. Her mother wouldn’t mind much, but her father would certainly have a heart attack if he found out.

What the fuck did you just say to me?!

Mara barely held her composure as she stood at the table as Bea decided to slam the alcoholic drink and stomp off to 'dance'.

Bea was her best friend and she cared a lot about her well-being, but nobody talked sternly to her like she had to listen to them. Her eyes looked longingly at the alcohol next to her for a brief second. Her impulse wasn't to immediately drink but rather grab the bottle and go find Diablo a piece of her mind and maybe smash the empty vodka bottle over the degenerate's skull. Because obviously Bea would never talk to her like that on her own initiative, away from Diablo's alcohol, and away from his deplorable attempts to seduce and take advantage of an autistic girl. She swore to herself that if she saw the “devil” in the flesh, she was going to have some choice words for him.

I'm going to go find the stoners. I need to fucking detox from all of this stupid shit. I'd rather not cause a scene with fuckin' Caligula or whoever just started dancing with Bea. Because right now I really want to punch them in the throat.

She sighed as she made her way through the crowd. She'd be back in a few minutes. And when Bea was finally ready to leave she would leave. And thank god for that.

High school was already starting to become a blur. The first day was enough to sum up how the rest of the year would go. Except… King’s Academy wasn’t, by any means, a normal school. What do you get when you throw a bunch of horny, unadulterated kids with money that burned a whole in their pockets? That’s right: you get the epitome of high school angst in the form of a senior party. It’s what made high school careers, everything riding or dying on one night. This, of course, wasn’t an issue for the likes of Santiago Fernandez. This, this party right here was made for Kings and Queens. Project X: eat your heart out.

Unfortunately for Andrés, the allure of a rager of that magnitude was wasted on him. Now, don’t get it twisted: Andrés was always a social monarch in any situation. It’s just that, at this particular moment in time, something else had captivated his interest. Yes, he had dated a myriad of women in his past - some even models and upcoming talent. Yet there was nothing that could compare to the weird connection he had accumulated for the queen of the damned, AKA Martha Radley. And that was why, instead of pacing around for his next victim, the leopard stayed inside with all his spots, resigning himself to watching la partida and mindlessly refreshing his social media news feed.

As the minutes turned into hours, the loss of his presence at the party could be felt. His friends and even friends of friends had been DMing him with the cliché: “Where you at bro?” or “I see you, dog. Just wear a rubber. You don’t want to coach little league before hitting the big leagues.” Of course, he hadn’t gone missing, nor was he ‘getting it in’: he had just been waiting for this game of cat and mouse through text to escalate.

Growing restless, Andrés turned the game off. And instead of texting Martha as a heads up, he jumped into his car and tore through the streets before arriving to her house. He was presentable as always, but he traded in his Adidas uniform for a cream-colored hoodie, some dark washed jeans, and all white Yeezys. His fingers fired away as a text bubble appeared on his phone in blue:

“hey you up?”

Unbeknownst to her visitor outside, Martha was sitting down in her bed, staring at her phone screen and chuckling at the text exchange she was having with her best friend Oliver. Her dark-hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, a few loose strands adorning her face, and she wore a paint-stained apron over a black silk nightgown and bathrobe. Apparently, darling Oli’s hunger for drama had been stronger than his repulsion for big, rowdy parties like the ones hosted by Santiago. So instead of following Mar’s example and staying home for the night, he was live-texting her the happenings of the party, as if he was reporting an important sporting event. The young woman was right in the middle of reading all about how tiny Marisol Castillo of all people had broken a soccer player’s nose when she got a text asking if she was still awake.

The brightest of smiles stretched across her lips when she saw that the message came from Andrés. After their date on the first day of school, they’d hung out quite a bit, and had been texting each other all week. She knew he was a very important piece of the King’s social ladder, and figured he would be much too busy making his round around the party with his buddies to even give someone like her any thoughts tonight. It was good to know she had been mistaken. Without wasting any time, Mar typed up and sent a quick response his way.

“Yup. Watching a movie at home. U?”

Andrés eyes were glued to his screen as his message said deliver. He locked his phone and then unlocked it, at least 20 times, each time checking to see if she had read his message. Honestly, know one would have read the message that fast unless there was prior rapport. Andrés paced back and forth like a man possessed. The poor all-star contemplated his decisions and was about to leave when his phone chimed minutes later.

“Mierda! Mierda!! Porqué pensé que esta era una buena idea?!”

A wave of relief rushed across his face like that of water when he was subbed out on the field. Andrés smiled in haste of reading the message. His fingers acted on their own and typed out his intentions, but Andrés quickly held the backspace so he could think of the perfect retort. The idea of watching a movie together hadn’t been considered antiquated just yet and would be the perfect excuse to get closer.

‘Uhhh would it be weird if I said I was outside your house?’ Andrés texted back as he backed up off the porch and out toward the sidewalk. He saw what assumed to be her window from the reflection of the TV, waiting for her to peer out in shock and horror, mostly horror though.

At his response, Martha’s eyes widened, the shock in her face instant. She had to read the message more than once to truly take in the implications of what he was saying. That he was outside her house?! Nah, it couldn’t be. There was no way that Andrés De La Fuente - her freaking crush since the darn 7th grade - was actually parked outside her home right this minute. It couldn’t be true. For all she knew, he was texting her on a dare by some guys at the party, or one of his buddies had taken his cel and started playing some sick prank on her. Because there was no way in Hell that the likes of him would be pulling stunts like that for the likes of her.

Right?

Deciding to see it for herself, Martha completely ditched the idea of merely peeking through her window. That wouldn’t be enough for her skeptical mind. Instead, Mar took a deep breath and dashed down the stairs, walking straight to the front door and swinging it wide open. Her heart nearly burst out of her chest when she saw both the white McLaren on the sidewalk and her crush leaning against it looking like a blessing to this Earth sent by God almighty himself.

Andrés eyes went from the window right to the door as his heart nearly stopped right there. What if it was her parents? He would be dead before 21. But once he saw that it was Martha, his heart stopped for very different reasons. It kind of felt like getting a sliding kick to the ankle except without the theatrics. His eyes measured every ounce of woman that stood in that doorway, starting from the bottom up. The goth queen hadn’t disappointed. She was wearing a simple black night robe and gown; an apron stained with paint censoring what was underneath. Her lowly whisper brought his attention back to life and also hinted to their deviance.

“Andrés?” Martha asked in a low voice after a few stunned seconds of silence, wide brown eyes staring up at him in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

‘Quick, Andrés: think! Think!’ he thought as an imaginary light bulb flashed above his head. “I was going to go to the party, but I figured this was a better stop. Besides, I didn’t hear anything about you being there, so I wanted to know why,” he asked, impressed by his own quick thinking. He locked his car behind him, making way for the porch once more. There were only a few feet that separated the two now, and Andrés could smell the intoxicating aroma of her perfume mixed with the scent of paint. “Can I come in?” he requested politely, patiently waiting to see Martha’s next reaction.

The girl hesitated for a second, as if pretending to think about it. But, of course, her face broke out in a bright smile. “Um, sure!” she replied, moving out of the way so Andrés could walk in. After closing the door behind them and making sure it was as locked as it could be (because she’d be damned if she was caught in any sort of way), the young woman led him up the stairs. “My mom’s actually out on some date for the night, and she told me there was a chance she wouldn’t be coming back. So it’s just me in here.” As soon as she said it, Mar immediately regretted how it sounded. She mentally facepalmed herself: not even five minutes in and she was already making a fool of herself. This did nothing to ease the growing nervousness of finding herself home alone with her crush.

Perfect goal. Andrés had managed to set the pace for the rest of the night.

The Colombian youth didn’t think much of it as he was too enamored to notice. The sound of the door locking raised an eyebrow from him, only to linger while she spoke. “Oh, your parents are divorced? Sorry to hear that. Must have been tough on you. Do you have siblings? I’m sure you’ve heard of my blood,” he said, eferencing his flagrant cousin Ximena. The boy eyed the interior of the house as they walked, hoping to learn more about the Radley’s.

Martha was taken aback by the rapid-fire amount of questions Andrés was shooting her way, but she maintained an unbothered exterior. It was awesome that he wanted to get to know her like that. “That’s just the way things go sometimes. They divorced when I was seven, so I've had plenty of time to get over the ugly stunt he pulled on my mother, my sister and I,” she told him, a clear hint of bitterness in her voice. “As for siblings, I have an older sister who’s away in college, and two younger brothers from my father's side who live with him and his new wife.”

“Shame he left such a beautiful daughter behind and the rest of your family.” the young man mused, causing Martha’s smile to widen and her cheeks to redden for a few seconds. Andrés did pick up on her mention she had other siblings. It was important to grow up with family. He just wondered if they were in the house with them.

They had reached the top of the stairs now, and after a quick trip down yet another hall and turning left, the two arrived at the gypsy wonderland that was Martha’s room. The young woman motioned for him to come in and closed the door behind them again. “Please, take a seat,” Mar said softly, waving at the available places to sit around the room. “Excuse the mess, by the way. I spend most of my time holed up in here here, so it's bound to look a little bit lived-in,” she said with a laugh, taking a seat in the corner of her bed.

Andrés walked inside; transported to a completely new land. While he was used to his minimalistic, monochromatic room, with everything reminiscent of boy and his love for soccer, this… This was something completely new. They tapestry and flowers made it feel as though he was about to get his fortune told rather than feel girly even in the slightest. It wasn’t bad of course, just new. Much to his delight, the girl had a way of surprising him.

The young man closed the door as she wished and sat down near the foot of her bed. “How do you find anything in here? It’s almost like...alive.”

This earned him a bright laugh from Martha, a sound like wind chimes on a cozy afternoon. “That’s exactly what my mother asks me everyday,” she admitted with a smile.

“Where’s this masterpiece you’re working on?” Andrés asked her, almost forgetting he was talking about her canvas project and not what was sitting right in front of him. He couldn’t get over the apron she had on and all the fresh paint that still coated it.

Martha frowned at his question. How did he know she was working on a painting before he got there? The dark-haired girl followed his eyes down to her body, and it was only then that she realized in horror just exactly what she was wearing. Her cheeks flushed immediately not at the sight of her paint-stained apron, but to the short and clearly visible robe underneath it and the suggestive way it was falling down one of her shoulders. “Oh my God!” she muttered, quickly fixing up her robe and pulling down her gown. “I am so sorry! I was in such a hurry to see if you were really out there that I didn’t even think to change into something more appropriate.”

It would be a lie to say that her sultry body and the way her nightgown slipped down her soft shoulders didn’t stir something up deep inside. It took most of his willpower to focus on her and not her shapely body. “I...uh..I didn’t mean to make you flustered! I was just curious on what you were working on. It’s really okay, I think it looks good on you. Hold on-” Andrés said as he noticed there was some paint on the bottom of her chin. He made his way across the foreign gypsy lands before arriving next to her on her enormous bed. With his dominant hand he raised his hand to her face, light gliding his thumb across the smudge that embellished her otherwise perfect skin. “That’s better, you had some paint on your chin. Passionate about your work, huh?”

Just like before, Andres’ finger on her skin felt like fire, and the closeness of his gentle touch to her lips sent a shiver down her spine. The realization that it was just the two of them. But before her thoughts could go down a rabbit hole of possibilities, Martha decided to put a stop to them and answer the young man’s questions about her art.

“You could say that,” Mar answered with a smile, standing up from the bed and gently taking hold of his hand. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

With her hand on his, she helped him up from the bed and guided him up to a smaller room adjacent to her bedroom, where her cozy art studio was located. Paint bottles, brushes, finished and unfinished canvases and many more art-related paraphernalia was scattered around the room. However, the main focus was found on the large canvas propped up on the wooden stand, where her in-progress vampire and human lover painting rested.

His heart was heavy in his fingers at the moment, the way his blood pumped into his thumb. If there were any a moment to seize the opportunity this was it. Unfortunately it was too late, she had gotten up and guided him to another alcove of her room. This was more how he envisioned it: paint supplies littered everywhere. Everything she had been working on had been encapsulated in one painting in front of him.

Had he been anyone else, they probably would have ran for the door, but the vampire in the painting seemed to peak his interest. The human in the painting had some glaring similarities to Martha. Maybe she saw herself in her work? But if that was her, then who was the male?

Before he could stop himself, Andrés heard himself asking: “Is this you? If so: who’s the vampire supposed to be?”

‘OhGodohGodohGodohGod…’

Once again, Martha silently cursed herself. Why had she even considered showing him the painting was a good idea?! She should have known that obviously he was going to ask questions that she would have to answer. Of course, telling him that his eyes were currently seeing himself as a vampire prince interpretation of her creative mind was out of the question. So she knew she needed to come up with something convincing, and fast.

“That’s- uh- Prince Lestat, from- uh- Queen of the Damned,” Martha lied on the spot, hoping that she was convincing enough to stop her visitor from asking any more questions. “And the girl is his human lover, from the movie,” she added for good measure.

There was something strange going on with the painting and Martha’s unnatural reaction to his question. She stumbled over her words like a child pandering for a good lie, but he decided to cut her some slack. “Oh...well maybe we can watch that sometime.”

“Sure! But, uh, the canvas is still wet and reeeeeally vulnerable, though, so how about we- uh- go back to the other room? I wouldn’t want an accident to happen or something.”

“Yeah. I’m sure we can find something to do.” Andrés once again followed the queen of darkness back into her lair, but before they could sit the young man had other plans. “Here. Since you’re not painting anymore, why don’t we take this off you?” he asked her. Of course, his intentions did indeed focused on the smock.

Andrés moved in with grace as he made his way behind Martha. His fingers sprang to meet the knot tying the straps of the apron to her back. The knot came undone in seconds, appearing as though he had experience disarming straps. With the knot out of the way he focused on the collar next. “I hope you don’t mind,” he said, moving her lush locks of hair to the side, exposing her neck. It almost felt as though he was the vampire in the painting, with the way her neck was calling out to him. Instead, he gripped the collar and brought it up and over her head as it hit the floor. “Much better, don’t you think?”

Martha’s reply was nonexistent. While he’d removed the apron from her body, her body had tingled with anticipation of the unknown. And when he’d moved away her hair to expose her neck, she was certain that her heavy breathing had stopped for a few seconds. The lack of space between them was making her heart beat wildly in her chest, but for all the right reasons.

_{Please have this song playing in the background from this point onward for the ultimate reading experience! Thank you!}

She turned around to face him and realized then just how close they really were to each other. Under the dim yellow light of her bedroom, Andres was looking more handsome than ever: the stunning Latino features she’d always liked so much becoming more appealing and apparent. Her dark eyes were now locked on his, any words she had thought of saying catching up in her throat. Like the first time they had met, there was an undeniable electricity in the air: an unknown magnetic force pulling them closer as if the fates themselves had decided they were meant to be together. Before she knew it, Martha’s face began to slowly inch itself forward, getting closer and closer to that of her guest.

All of his advances were welcomed without retaliation. The tension that had been building over weeks had finally culminated into these few pristine moments. If this was a teen movie there would be a low resonant sound of a love song. His heart in his throat and his fingers going numb with every touch made it hard for Andrés to focus on anything else. That was, until she turned around to lock eyes with him. Empty space was practically nil as there body’s touched. All her strong features came into view, there was nothing but perfection in her delicate face.

Andrés couldn’t take it anymore, this was the real moment. His hands rose to her face, a finger brushing her hair behind her ear as their eyes did the samba. While she leaned forward, he brought his mouth towards hers. Time froze as their lips touched, their warm embrace locking them in a moment that would mark the beginning of their budding relationship. Andrés held her face into his and then slowly departed. His eyes would open as wells as hers, a smudge of lipstick stuck on his lips.

“I...think I love you...” he said, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs.

At that exact moment, he world stopped spinning. After years of silent admiration from afar, cherishing those smiles across the hall and longing to just be seen, Martha Radley’s wildest wishes were coming true right before her very eyes.

“I always have…” Mar found herself admitting to him, her soft voice barely more than a whisper as her slender arms held him close and tight.

Those words were more powerful than any incantation Martha could have studied, and it invoked something within him. A slick smile crossed his face before he pulled her into his lips once more. Their kiss turned into a passionate exchange of lip over lip, and heavy breathing ensued. In one swift swoop, Andrés lifted Martha into the air as their bodies touched and began a night to be remembered.

It was only after they were safe inside the young woman’s bedroom with the door locked behind them that Mari finally let out a loud groan. “Ugh, I’m so glad to be back!” she exclaimed, dramatically throwing herself in the middle of her king-sized bed and pretending to hug it. “I should have never left you in the first place.”

Jun dramatically flipped his nonexistent girl-hair as he changed his voice into an effeminate exaggeration, “Totes! That party was such a drag! I'm just, like, so glad to be home, you know? I am so going to tweet like a biiiitch tonight!”

“Oh, shut the fuck up!” the girl said with a laugh, taking hold of the nearest decorative pillow in her line of sight and throwing it at Jun.

“Oh no! My one weakness! Frilly throw pillows!” He continued before he dropped the bullshit and slunk down on the floor, his back against the wall as he plugged in his cellphone to the nearest outlet.

“There’s more where that came from, you little bitch!” Mari cried out, grabbing one of her pillows, shooting up from the bed and running straight at Jun. Laughing loudly like the most amused child, she swung the pillow at his body, trying to hit him with the plush object as many times as she could.

“And already you are having more fun than at the party. Shocker.” Jun smirked as he smacked the pillow out of his face, sending it flying across the room.

Sol groaned, dashing off to her bed to grab two more pillows, one of which she threw at Jun while keeping the other for herself. “That all you got?!” she asked him, stepping to the middle of the room with her pillow held as if it was a club. “Fight me!”

“Do I have to? I’m not very well versed in pillow warfare. I feel outmatched.”

The short girl frowned, cupping her ear in Jun’s direction. “Oh? What’s that? Are those lame excuses I hear?” she teased.

“They are some really good excuses when I’m against a pillow warlord. Is there a way I can surrender? A treaty of pillow-ailles?”

“Nope! This is a battle to the death, James Martin Wang Jr.! Only way out of it is death!” Sol said in a dramatic voice, imitating one of those lame old gladiator movies.

“The die is cast.” Jun retorted in an overserious tone, pillow in hand.

“Alright. This battle starts in three… two… one… GO!”

The next several minutes seemed more out of elementary school to Jun, but it was a nice break from the drama and over-seriousness that he often felt consumed the people at King's Academy whether it was on school grounds or at parties like the one him and Marisol had left only a hour or so earlier. Everyone had so much stress on their shoulders, so this was like a therapy of sorts. Besides if all it took to make any friend more comfortable was a futile and stupid gesture then he would gladly do more of them as long as he was alive.

Eventually, he let out his hands as he found himself “disarmed”; a man without a pillow.

“I would really like this to be left out of my obituary when they find my pillow strangled body.”

Mari laughed, taking the few steps that separated her and Jun to deliver the last “fatal” blow. “I already have your gravestone picked out. ‘Here lies James Wang Jr.: beloved son, friend and classmate defeated by the Queen Pillow Warrior’.”

“I will be avenged.”

“That may be the case in the future, young man. But for now, peasant: you shall die at my hands.”

With that being said, Mari slowly raised her pillow and charged at Jun. She was mere seconds away from her victory when she slipped on the first decorative pillow she'd thrown at him. Letting out a shriek, Mari fell forward crashing into Jun and taking him down with her, her small figure landing right on his chest.

Jun hadn't exactly expected all of this going how it did. He wondered if it was a good idea to be stomping and making this much noise was exactly a good idea. Marisol's father in a way intimidated him in a way that no member of his own family did and his mother was probably the literal devil when she got angry. He swallowed his nerves for a minute as he looked at his friend with a look that could only be described as “this is all really your fault”.

“You didn't have to tackle me to win.” He looked back to the bedroom door. “Looks like you haven’t disturbed the goblin king quite yet, which is really good for me. I like having teeth.”

The girl snorted, making no motions to get up from her comfortable position anytime soon. “Are you kidding me? My dad sleeps like a log, and my mom wears earplugs to block out his snoring. If there's anyone that can hear us it's Marshall, and you know damn well my baby brother doesn't give a shit about my business.”

“Right. That’s good for my teeth.”

“That all you care about, Chip Skylar? Your shiny teeth and you?” she teased, poking Jun's side.

“Hey! I don't have many redeeming features, so I have to protect the ones I do have.”

Again, Marisol let out another snort. “That's a lie and you know it.”

“Is it? I’m going to have to ask you to prove such an accusation.”

The brunette rolled her green eyes. “Okay, let's see-” she began, opening up the palms of her hand to count down her list of reasons. “You're hot, you're smart, you're funny, you've got arms to die for, a smile that can cheer anyone right up, you come from a good family, and even when you get all sarcastic and exasperate me sometimes, you're still one of the sweetest, most amazing dudes I've known: and that's saying something given the company I keep.”

“Arms that failed the pillow war of 1812.” He quipped, thinking about what Marisol was saying. That earned him a laugh from his friend.

If he was being honest with himself, he was acting a little too comfortable and he wasn't sure where this was all going or that he wanted it to go anywhere. He had noticed a few changes in Marisol recently and he was pretty sure something was going on between her and another one of his friends. But he had never asked as it wasn’t his business in the first place. One of his actually redeeming traits was leaving well enough alone and not badgering people about how they lived their life. Still, he didn’t deny there was certain curiosity in his mind given a little tidbit he hadn’t shared with anyone ever for a very good reason.

“So, as much as I’d hate to complain.” Jun coughed, his anxiety taking him for a second. “But you’ve never nearly pinned me to the floor before, so, are you okay?”

“OH!” Mari exclaimed, having just realized the rather compromising position they were in. She quickly scrambled to get up, then extended a hand to Jun to help him back on his feet. “Shit, sorry about that!”

Jun laughed as he got to his feet, “It's cool, Mar. Are you feeling okay? You seem kind of all over the place tonight.”

“I- uh-” she stammered, trying to come up with a convincing enough lie but burning herself out in the process. In the end, she let out a dramatic sigh. “N- no, not really. It’s been so- um- eventful, you could say…” Marisol admitted, walking over to her bed and taking a seat in the corner of her bed.

Jun took a seat next to her, “Do you want to talk about it?”

For a moment, Marisol hesitated, debating whether she should tell yet another soul about the demons haunting her or if she should keep her mouth shut for once. But would she really be Marisol Castillo if she did the latter and censored herself? Not in the slightest. And so, after taking in a deep breath, she began to talk. Once she said the first few words, the rest of the stories came out like a flowing river. She told Jun absolutely everything: from the stupid dare she and Sonny had done at the lake that summer, to how that had ended with her losing it to him, the reason why she’d been acting so weird around him ever since, the fight and kiss with Jason, and all the way down to the conversation she’d had with Julie about the subject and the advice she’d been given.

When she was finished, she looked up at him with a hesitant expression. “You must think I’m a dumb slut now, don’t you?” she asked him in a small voice, turning her eyes to the floor now

Jun shook his head, “No, I don't.”

Jun thought about how he was going to approach answering Marisol. It seemed like everything had gone wrong in Marisol's senior year that could possibly go wrong and the school year was still in its infancy. He couldn't imagine what it'd be like to go through what she was, but the best he could do was support her and help her clear out her anxiety and obvious regrets.

“What I think is that Jason is an asshole and was obviously provoking you because that's what Jason does. As for Sonny? I know you guys have been close since pretty much ever, but I don't think he really cares about anything or anyone. I wouldn’t ever call you stupid or anything like that. We’ve been friends since elementary school and a little fling or whatever won’t change what I think.” He paused for a second. “And since when does Marisol Castillo care what other people think?”

The girl let out a shaky laugh, resting her head on Jun’s shoulder again. “I don’t give a fuck about what people think. I care about what you think.”

“You don't have to worry what I think.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t worry, though. I can’t look at Sonny in the eyes now and Archer is pissed at me for even giving him the chance to smash in the first place. I don’t want to fuck things up with another friend. I- I can’t lose another friend now.”

“You won't. There’s nothing you can do that would make me call it quits.” He reassured, though he wasn’t sure how well it would get through to Marisol. “You could transform into Godzilla and eat half of Florida and I’d still be on Team Mari.”

The young woman laughed again, sitting up and wrapping her arms around Jun in a tight hug. “Thanks, J. You have no idea how fucking much that means to me right now. You’re fucking amazing,” she said earnestly. She was sure that he truly wouldn’t ever know just how valuable having him on her corner was to her. “It does make me wonder what I did to deserve such an honor, though. Why me?”

“A lot of reasons.” Jun remarked, in an attempt to dodge an answer. He could hear his sister screaming in his ears from across the country, telling him to man up.

Mari rolled her eyes. “Okay… Like?” she tried again, poking him in the ribs as if trying to coax an answer from him. “You gotta give me more than that, J. I listed some reasons for you earlier, so here’s how you return the favor. Consider it the price to pay for being the defeated party on our mighty pillow fight.”

“What am I being interrogated for, exactly?”

“Jun, why are you making this so damn hard?” the girl asked, feeling her impatient self starting to get frustrated already. “What’s so hard about listing reasons on why you’re so willing to be loyal for someone like me?”

“Oh, it’s not.” He took a heavy breath. “Just don’t want to make things complicated.”

At that, the brunette laughed. “Complicated? Trust me, J: there’s nothing you can do or say to make this bullshit any more complicated than it already is.”

“Okay, but remember this is your fault.”

“Yeah, yeah. Spill it, Chopsticks.”

Jun paused for a second as he realized this was his do or die moment.

I’ve pretty much been in your corner since we were in Mr. Hernandez's class. Was that social studies? I think it was social studies. Anyway, I’ve always thought you were pretty cool, even when everyone was freaked out when you punched Rebecca Morris in the face.” Jun recalled, thinking about the best way to explain why he was ‘loyal’. “You’re fun to be around, your confidence is pretty energizing, and just normally I feel like I don’t have to be anyone but me. Which as you know, is super nice, to be able to do. Shit, it’s probably why I had a crush on you in elementary school. Hard not to.”

Mari had listened to Jun's explanation with a smile on her face, laughing at his reminder of her fifth grade incident. His kind words to describe her lifted her spirits significantly. It felt good to know that although most people only saw her negative traits, the ones who mattered saw beyond that.

“Awwwwww! That is adorable!” she exclaimed, putting a hand on her heart. "See, that wasn't so hard to do, now was it?”

“I guess not.”

“Good!” she told him, standing up from her position on the bed to stand right in front of him. “Why would you even think a kiddie crush could complicate anything?”

He shook his head as he cleared his voice as he rested his hands on his legs, “Because I’m a little drunk!”

Sol rolled her eyes and giggled, cupping his face with her hands and forcing him to look her in the eyes. “Don't be stupid! Unless it's like a recent thing there's nothing to complicate.”

“Like I said, I'm not thinking clearly. I think I went beyond what I'm used to.” He chuckled, as he looked over to the power outlet his phone was charging from. He felt the need to leave before he made an idiot out of himself even more than he already had.

From her position, Marisol could sense his growing anxiousness, and followed his eyes back to the outlet powering up his phone. It was much too obvious that he wanted to bust the hell out of her house as soon as he could. “Okay, okay. I get it: you wanna leave. Let me give you some space,” she told him in a soft tone, letting go of his face and stepping out from in front of him in an attempt to give him some space. The last thing she wanted was to piss off another friend.

Jun sighed. “It’s not that I want to leave. It’s just that… I probably shouldn’t be opening my dumb mouth any further. See, this is why I stick to jokes. Everything else just sucks. No surprise there what with me being the clown prince of King’s Academy. It’s probably why Katy dumped me last year.”

At the mention of Jun’s witch of an ex, Mari bristled with annoyance. “Yeah, but Katy was a stupid cunt, and I told you from the start you were much too good for a dumbass like her,” she burst out without thinking, ever the defensive one when it came to her friends. Realizing just how aggressive that had sounded, the girl backpedaled. “What I mean is that you don’t give yourself enough credit, James Wang. You’re so much more than the class clown. I wish you could see it.”

“It’s just... Maybe my dad has a point. About how I need to focus and ‘reassess’ my ‘priorities’. Because I’m pretty sure I almost made this whole night a bigger shitshow for you.”

The green-eyed girl rolled her eyes, cupping his face again and once more forcing their eyes to meet. “J, you did nothing but help me out tonight, okay? You haven’t complicated anything or made anything worse than it is. In fact, all you’ve done is make this night worth it, and for that I thank you,” she told him softly, going off on an impulse and planting a kiss on his forehead. “Stop with the self-deprecation and the pity party and love yourself a little more, for a change.”

He chuckled, “Thanks, Mar. Sometimes I think you’re the only sane one in this group of ours.”

Marisol scoffed, and chuckled herself. “If my clinically-bipolar ass is the only sane one of The Misfits, then we really are fucked.”

“Basically.”

The girl snorted, letting go of Jun's face again. She could see the dark circles starting to form under his eyes, and the way his eyelids were struggling to stay awake. Yup, it was definitely time for darling James to make his exit. “J, why don't you head home? You look like you could use a shower and sleep in till Monday.”

“Yeah. My phone should be charged by now. I'll catch you Monday.”

Marisol was right. Between the copious amounts of alcohol, extremely awkward conversations, and genuine exhaustion, Jun had probably had his fill. He admittedly had dodged a few questions, said some things he didn't want to, but all-in-all he was pretty happy he didn't do something he'd regret in the long or short term. At the very least, he couldn't go home yet – it was still much too late and getting on his grandparents’ last nerves at whatever time it was would no doubt make him deal with a lot more stress than he wanted to deal with.

He thought to a few of his friends who had graduated from King's last year and wondered if they had a couch he could sling himself on. Perhaps calling his sister in the afternoon to get her opinion on some things would be ideal.

He looked to Marisol and gave her a wave as he made his exit.

After leaving Beatrice to think about the mindblowing kiss she’d just received courtesy of the devil himself, the signature arrogant smirk was back on Diablo's handsome face as he took a moment to look around his surroundings to see what was happening. When he looked up at the balcony that lead to his bedroom, he was expecting to find it either empty or full of his friends from the island acting like the animals they were. What he wasn’t expecting was to find his grey eyes on none other than April herself, who gave him her most burning death glare before storming away .

The young man let out a groan. He had definitely fucked up now.

Cursing under his breath, Diablo made his way around the group of party-goers and up to his bedroom. He had just enough time to close the door behind him before April went off on him, basically calling him ungrateful and asking him if she was just not good enough for him anymore. All throughout her tirade, Santiago kept his head down and listened to her, hoping to appear sorry for his behavior. However, her love confession hit him like an unexpected punch to the gut. His previously hanging head snapped up, and he suddenly looked up at her like a deer caught up in the headlights. If there was anything about him that she knew well, it was that the particular word she’d yelled out at him made his blood turn to ice. Being in love meant commitment, and commitment meant kissing his casanova life goodbye. And he knew in his heart that, no matter how much of a jewel April was, he was much too young to do something like that.

“Fuck, Lils…” Diablo muttered, running a frustrated hand through his shortly-cropped hair. He had absolutely no idea about how the hell he was supposed to handle the situation. This was the reason he didn't get into anything serious in the first place, puñeta! It always came back to bite him in the ass. "Look, I didn’t know you were here already, alright? As far as I knew you were back at your place getting ready, and I didn’t get a text from you saying you were here. And you knew fully well getting into this that getting attached was out of the question. You fucking promised me you wouldn’t get attached after the last time! You knew I was despicable or whatever the hell you want to call me long before you decided to give this shit a try again, so don't come throwing that in my face now, April!"

It was true. April had known that this...whatever this was between them, it wasn’t a commitment. And yet, even knowing that, April couldn’t seem to sway her feelings that had been present for as long as she’d known Santi. Intimate contact had a way of drawing two people together. The two of them had been through everything together since the first day of high school when their eyes met in the hallway. Everything from the drama that was the pair of them in their early days, to the tough times at school that brought them together. They had been inseparable at one point. It was evident that she knew what he was saying was right, simply by the fact she’d gone silent since he’d stopped talking. April wasn’t one who typically backed down from an argument.

“Yes! Yes I promised I wouldn’t get attached to you. I promised that three years ago and I bit my tongue every time that the thought came into my mind. But things change! People change! We’ve been doing this for so long, Santi. You text, we get together, we sleep together, and then nothing! Just nothing more than a meaningless fuck fest. You wouldn’t let me in, not even to support you when your grandmother died. It’s like there’s nothing between the two of us, not even as proper friends.”

The brunette slumped onto the bed and held her face in her hands, breathing shakily as she tried to calm herself down. The blood she’d drawn from her palms gently stained her cheeks, watered down by the trails of a few tears. “I-I...I’m trying so hard…to have something more between us. Something more than just the meaningless sex.” April's hands shook as she pulled them away from her face, placing them on her thighs to steady herself. “What is this to you Santi? What we have here? H-how do you see it?” Her tone now wasn't harsh or angry anymore, but genuine. She wanted to know. No, she needed to know.

Now it was his turn to shut up and listen to what she had to say, because she was right in some things. It was absolutely true that he hadn’t given her the chance to really get to know him, but not because she was doing anything wrong. He knew that the second he let anyone in, he would be vulnerable, and that was a risk he wasn’t willing to take just yet. On the other hand, it was not true that she was just meaningless sex to him. Had she been any other girl, things between them would have ended back in freshman year after their initial break-up. Yet here she was, three years later and still on the grind. If that didn’t tell her that he certainly felt some type of way about her, then he truly didn’t know what to do. Changing who he was was not an option.

Bottom line? This whole situation over a stupid kiss was giving him a migraine.

“Why the fuck are you doing this to me, Lils?” Diablo asked her in a low voice, pleading to not have to answer her questions. “Why do you do this to yourself? To us? You do mean something to me, but maybe it's just not in the way you want me to right now! Lils, you may not believe me, but you really are my best friend. We have a good thing going on. Why can't we just keep things how they are?”

April took in a shaky breath, looking down at the floor as he spoke. “The way they are right now...” The brunette stood from her seat and faced him from across the bed, one hand placed on the footboard of the bed to steady herself. “H-how are we best friends if all we do together is…best friends do more than just fuck, Santi! Best friends talk to each other, support each other through thick and thin, hang out at more than just every other party!” April was almost shouting now, her voice slowly breaking over the course of their argument.

“I want to be there for you when you need me! I want to help you through everything you need me for, be the shoulder you can lean on for support.”She carefully wiped a tear from her eye, taking care to not mess up the carefully applied eyeliner that only made her look more saddened in this moment. “Right now it feels like it’s all I can do to just talk to you! I don’t even know what you want to do after high school, what you want to do with the rest of your life! How are we friends if I don’t even know that?!”

If there was one thing in the world that could always make Santiago truly weak, it was seeing the woman that he cared about in tears for whatever sad reason. He'd died on the inside when her grandmother saw him on her deathbed and burst out into tears at possibly not living long enough to see him become the successful young man she knew he would be. His heart had broken when he saw his mother sob uncontrollably after her mother's passing. And now here was his best friend, tears streaming down her beautiful face in the same place he had made her feel so good before.

God, he hated seeing April cry… And knowing that he was the reason behind it made him feel like more of a piece of shit than he already was. But his stupid pride was above anything and everything else.

“So what do you want me to do, huh?” he asked her, feeling truly lost about what to do. Even though he wanted nothing more than to fix the situation, Diablo was growing frustrated and incredibly resentful at having been put into this position in the first place. “Tell you all about me and my secrets and all that shit? Because I can do that, sure. But don't ask me to get tied down, because that's not the kind of man I am, and you know it!”

“I want you to try Santi, there’s no effort from you between us! You don’t try to be a friend, you just sit there and use me, thinking I won’t be hurt if I see you with someone else.” April was feeling defeated. It seemed like he didn’t understand that there was a difference in being her friend and being her boyfriend.

“I...Santi I need a break from all this…” April could hardly believe those words had come from her own mouth, but it was true. She was tired of constantly trying to make it work with Santiago only to have absolutely nothing given back in return. “I need some time away...s-some time to figure out what I really want.” April had no idea what to say otherwise, the conversation would just keep looping back to her trying to get through to Santi. And it wasn’t working, not one bit. Her efforts had been in vain thus far it didn’t seem like that was going to change.

It wasn’t something she’d wanted to say. In an ideal world, Santi would come around and they’d run off into the sunset. But this wasn’t a fairy tale.

The second Diablo heard April say the words ‘break’ and ‘time away’, he knew it was time to pull out the big guns if he had any chance left to not further mess things up with her. Even if he wouldn’t commit to her it didn’t mean he didn’t care about her, much less wanted to set her free and risk the chance of seeing her with somebody else. Call him the biggest hypocrite in the world, but if his Lils ended up in the arms of some other fucker out there, he didn’t know what he would be capable of.

“Babe, wait,” he said, closing the distance between them and cupping her face with both of his hands. He was hoping his gray eyes would, as usual, be able to give his words the extra boost of convincing needed for April to disregard what she’d just said and give him another chance. “Lils, I’m sorry, okay? I’m an asshole, and I’m sorry. Gimme a chance to make things better for us. I promise I’ll try my best to do whatever it is you think is we’ll need to be okay. I can’t fucking lose you too.”

“What is it exactly that you mean when you say you can’t lose me? You never had me. Have you been listening to anything I’ve said?” April clenched her jaw as tears began to roll down her face once again, taking in a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm herself before she spoke once again. “I need a break Santi. I need t-time to think...I’m not sure how long I can keep doing this...without any reciprocation.”

And with that, April turned to grab her leather jacket--she’d apparently forgotten to grab it when she left to get ready for the party--before she paced towards the door. Her lips quivered as she breathed shakily, standing at the door a moment to see if he’d say anything. One last chance. One more moment to say the right words.

“Babe, please,” Santiago begged, but made no motion to approach her again.

April just silently shook her head, twisted the door handle with a trembling hand and left the room without another word. She took care to take the less traveled hallways in the house in an effort to save herself from embarrassment, before finally making it to where she’d parked her car. After closing the door, the brunette put her face into her hands and wept softly. April was never one to handle emotion well and tonight had been especially taxing.

If the ride to the party was awkward, the ride home to Chanel’s and Julie’s places would be tenfold. April quickly texted the pair before trying to pull herself together.

“Hey party animals, ready to head home? I’m in my car”