I was force-fed one gooey cookie before I was dismissed. After swallowing it whole, I hurried upstairs to get ready for work. I was running late, but luckily, I showered already and just needed to throw my uniform on.

When I got to work, I went into my manager's office and asked for next weekend off. He gave me some crap about being last minute but agreed by saying I would have to make up for it the following weekend. My shift was too long and seemed to drag out. Late night at the pizza place was always busy. We were usually the last place open in town.

I spent the whole night placing toppings and cheese on pizza. Some woman came in complaining about her pizza being overdone and threw the pizza at my manager's head. People took their food way too seriously. We would have just remade the pizza if she asked. It was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. Throwing things at him had crossed my mind before, but I figured I needed the money more than the little bit of happiness I would have gotten from doing it. I'm glad someone else got their turn. The cops were called after it happened and we had to give them a statement, just a normal night in the world of food service.

As the shift ended and we closed out, I went to my locker and grabbed my phone. Anna had sent me a text a few hours ago.

Anna: "Are you free next Friday for a girl's day? I need to spend some money."

I texted her back. "Free all day, got the whole weekend off."

I wasn't surprised when she texted back immediately. "EEEHHHHH!!!! Can't wait," followed by twelve excited face emojis. The girl loved her emojis.

I pushed the phone back into my bag and clocked out, dreading Friday. Going back to that house terrified me. It wasn't just the memories of what happened the other night plaguing me. It was how unhinged I always felt around Ezra in the short time I had known him. No one has ever had this effect on me before and I'm not sure why I let him get under my skin.

My manager flipped off the lights, hurrying me along. I walked out the front door and took in the cool night air. There was a cool breeze that felt nice on my warm skin. My phone buzzed in my hand and when I looked down, it was a number I didn't recognize.

"Hello?" I said, answering on the first ring.

It sounded like a party was going on in the background, but no one answered me.

"Hello?" I said again more forcefully. There were voices in the background. I turned up the volume to see if I could make anything out. It sounded like a bunch of random noise until I heard Aiden's voice ring out in the background.

"Dude, who are you calling?"

The line went dead.

I was so confused. I definitely heard Aiden's voice. I would know his voice anywhere. My phone had everyone's number from the house programmed in. Even Mark had a spot on my contacts list. Every person except one, I didn't have Ezra's number. I sent a text back to the number.

Me: Who is this?

I watched as the little bubbles popped up and waited for the response. After a few seconds, they went away and I didn't get a reply. Maybe it wasn't Ezra after all. Perhaps I was imagining things. It was time for me to go home and put an end to this horrible day.

The next few days passed without much going on. Brynn sent me the most random text that her Mom was back and wanted to take her on a road trip. She was going to quit her job because she wanted to go with her Mom. I told her I was excited for her and she should enjoy herself. When I went to work the next day, my boss tried to take back his promise to let me off for the following weekend. He said since Brynn quit, there were not enough people to let me have the days off. I stomped my feet like a child and told him I would quit too. He finally gave in when I agreed to work the front counter the rest of the week. It was better than smelling like onions all night.

With Brynn out of town, I pretty much stayed to myself and didn't come out of my room very often. The only other friends I had were my brother's friends and hanging out with them didn't seem like much of an option right now. I picked up a few books to read but didn't seem to find anything that caught my attention.

I received a few texts from Aiden checking up on me. I told him I was dealing with everything that had happened. I secretly wanted to hear from Ezra, but I knew he didn't have my number. Over the next few days, I spent hours reminding myself I didn't need to be around him. It was not good for me to be thinking about one of JD's friends, morning, noon, and night.

 By the time Friday rolled around, I was stir-crazy. I rearranged my closet, dresser, and even the hall closet. I started in on the utensil drawer in the kitchen when my Mom sent me to my room for being annoying. She banned me from the kitchen.

I was so bored that I was even a little excited to be going out with Anna to shop, which shocked me. I had saved a lot of money from work and since I didn't have many bills, I was ready to spend it.

Anna pulled up to my house and honked the horn. I dashed out of the house and jumped in her car.

She was grinning from ear to ear. "I'm so excited. I can't wait until you see what I have planned for us."

I smiled back at her. "Bring it on."

She turned up the radio. I was not surprised to hear Camo blaring from the speakers. We sang along as loud as we could all the way to the mall. At some point, we pulled next to a car full of guys and they looked over, laughing at us. They motioned for us to pull over to talk to them. Anna played it up like we were interested and then sped off, leaving them behind. Anna was helping me forget about my strangely complicated life and I welcomed the distraction. I was smiling for the first time in a couple of days and it wasn't fake.

We pulled into the parking garage and walked into the mall entrance.

"I told JD we would drop in his work before going to the Spa." Anna smiled.

"You didn't tell me we are going to the spa," I said, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Pre-Concert slash birthday makeovers!" She squealed. "You can't back out now! I already made the appointments!" She danced, taunting me and poking at my sides with her fingers.

"Anna," I whined as she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the mall entrance.