Alison was mad.

"You said it wouldn't be this bad," she whined to her father as she played with her oatmeal.

"I said you would have to take Math, English, and an elective," he said as he placed a cup of orange juice in front of her.

They were sitting in the guest house. Alison had grudgingly let him in at seven in the morning and her father was sitting across from her intently watching to make sure she ate something.

"You didn't say I had to take Trigonometry," she grumbled. "I already got an A in Calculus, why should I have to take a class easier than that?"

Mr. Hart sighed. "I asked if you could take something else, but you need another math class to stay on track to graduate. It's the only one they offer in the summer."

Alison frowned. "Is dropping out an option?"

Her father gave her a disapproving look. "If you would rather I send you to live with your mother then fine."

Alison rolled her eyes at him. "Like you could even reach her."

Mr. Hart was sympathetic. He too had tried reaching out to his ex-wife but she seemed to have little interest in answering her ex-husband's calls.

"Have you called her?" he asked. "The least you could do is try to reach out."

Alison stood up abruptly. "Don't," she said icily.

"Alison," he sighed.

She glared at him and stormed upstairs. She stayed up there until she heard her father sigh again and leave the guest house. Only then did she change into some jeans and a hoodie. It was not the most appropriate outfit for summer but Alison didn't care. She'd rather not deal with the staring today.

***

Brady did not want to go to school. He hated the idea and put it in writing that he would rather drop out than go today but his father simply ripped up the note and drove him anyway.

He was glaring at his father the entire time. Why should Brady go to school? Why should he have to put up with the looks, the stares, the pointing. It wasn't fair. None of it was.

They arrived at the school and Mr. Carson parked the car.

"Look," he said, turning to his son. "I know this isn't ideal, I know you'd rather be anywhere but here."

Brady looked at him as if to say, duh! Why would he want to be here?

His father picked up on that.

"I'm sorry," Mr. Carson apologized. "I wish I could let you stay home but your mom, Dr. Potter, and I all agree that this will be good for you."

Brady let out an annoyed breath and opened the car door.

"I'll pick you up at twelve," he called after his son.

Brady looked down at his schedule. First, he had English, then Home Ec, and then Math. He rolled his eyes. At least he could copy Alison's work in Math. He spotted her coming out of Kate's car a few feet away.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" she asked.

He shot a look at Kate's receding car as she pulled away.

Alison shrugged. "She offered to drive me, besides I'd rather not be with my dad right now."

Brady related to that.

"I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I'd rather be at school than at home," Alison mumbled as they walked inside.

He glanced over at her and she sighed.

"Things aren't any worse but they're not any better either," she explained.

Alison dropped the conversation though the second they walked through the doors as everyone turned to stare at them. Alison had never really been a nervous person but today Brady saw how uneasy she looked. He wanted to ask what was wrong but as soon as he looked to where she was staring, he understood: Julia was standing there and Max was a little ways back.

Brady had yet to ask Alison about them or if she had much interaction with either Julia or Max. Other than the mall, Brady had not seen either of them. Judging by her face though, something was wrong.

He watched as she shot him a look and quickly ducked out of the hall and into their English classroom. Brady stood there awkwardly for a moment before following her in.

She took a seat in the farthest seat in the back and Brady sat down next to her. She turned away from him and looked out the window.

Brady tapped on the table: you okay?

Without looking away from the window, Alison tapped back: no.

He touched her shoulder gently. Slowly, she turned back and let out a deep breath.

"You're not the only one who feels betrayed by Julia," Alison said quietly.

Brady raised an eyebrow.

"Hailey," Alison murmured. "They're apparently best friends now."

Brady knew that there was not much he could say to comfort her. He just tapped softly on the table, it was the stream of taps they would do for each other after particularly nasty torture in the basement.

She smiled half-heartedly and when class began, they both stared off into the space. It wasn't on purpose. Alison was upset and Brady was distracted. He kept thinking about Julia, as much as he didn't want to. He wanted to know if she had really moved on. Did she hate them that much now?

Meanwhile, Alison was staring outside the window again. She was thinking about Max. He looked heart broken when he dropped her off after the diner. Although he would never admit it. He just put on a tough act and pretended not to care. As usual, Alison saw through it, she was just too tired these days to call him out on it.

When English was over and they were handed copies of The Sun Also Rises to read, Alison and Brady made their way to Home Ec. Alison thought the class was stupid but what could she do?

She and Brady just sat together again and watched as their teacher taught them how to sew buttons onto a piece of cloth. Julia was sitting in the front, she stared straight ahead, refusing to look their way.

Alison and Brady practiced in silence, not that they minded. It was what they were used to.

After class, Julia didn't bother to stick around. She raced out of the building.

Brady and Alison went to Math. Even though Trigonometry was way below Alison's skill level, she sucked it up and she and Brady sat in the back together yet again.

Brady pulled out his phone under the desk and showed something to Alison. She leaned over and looked. It was a text from Hayden. He was going to pick them up and take them out.

"Do you want to go?" she asked quietly.

Brady shook his head. He was still annoyed with his brother's unwavering faith that everything would be okay again.

Alison shrugged. "It's your call," she said. "Although if you say no, then your parents are just going to worry."

Brady rolled his eyes and texted back a hasty thumbs up to his brother. They both looked up from the phone just in time to see none other than Max walking into the class.

Alison frowned. She was not expecting to see him here. Then again, without his ex-girlfriend whom he was almost entirely dependent on to help him study, she didn't expect him to do well this past year either.

He noticed them sitting together in the back. Alison noticed that Brady offered a tiny smile but Max didn't acknowledge it. He just went and sat down next to Liam Roberts, the boy Julia kissed at the mall.

"Don't be offended," Alison whispered. "It's my fault more than yours."

Brady looked over at her quizzically.

"I just don't think it's going to work between us," she said quietly just as class began.

Brady couldn't help but think about Max and Alison the whole period. Had Max, like Julia, moved on too? Did he decide that after a year they all meant nothing to each other?

Brady was confused. Max had once told Brady that Alison was the only person he would ever drop everything for. Brady couldn't even keep track of the endless things Max used to do for Alison. There was no way he could have just moved on.

But then he looked over at Alison. She was looking directly ahead at the board. Her eyes were glazed over a bit though, it was clear that whatever was on the board was not holding her attention. She too was thinking about something else.

Brady wondered if Max and Alison had spoken. Perhaps something had happened between them. He didn't like that he was envious of that, but all he wanted was to talk to Julia who seemed pretty adamant on ignoring him.

When they were given a quiz at the end of class, Brady grew nervous. He had not been paying attention at all but Alison, even though she also had not been paying attention, angled her paper slightly so he could copy her answers.

After school, Brady became frustrated. He wrote something down on his phone and handed it to Alison. She looked at it and it read:

First and foremost, we are making Hayden take us to get you a new phone. Second, I think we need to learn ASL.

Alison raised an eyebrow. "ASL? Why?"

Brady let out an exasperated breath. He snatched the phone from her and angrily typed something and pushed it back to her.

Because I need to ask you things and our tapping is not extensive enough to keep working and I hate texting and writing stuff.

Alison stared at him for a second, but then she nodded. "Fine, let's switch out of Home Ec, I don't want to be in a class with Julia anyway."

Brady frowned. He didn't realize he would have to leave that class. He nodded though and they went to the office to get their schedules changed.

Afterwards, once everything was settled, Hayden picked them up and took them to get Alison a new phone. Alison thought he too looked relieved that Alison was getting a phone. Perhaps he was sick of having to drive over every time something was wrong with Brady when he could be calling her instead.

They let Alison go into the store to get her new phone and Hayden and Brady remained in their father's car. The Porsche was still sitting damaged in the garage and as long as it sat there the tension remained between the two brothers.

"Dad said that we have to talk about the Porsche," Hayden said quietly.

Brady stared at his older brother.

"Look, I know Ali wasn't driving, she hadn't learned to drive before she left. You were the one who crashed it."

Brady turned slightly and leaned his head against the window.

"Why did you crash the Porsche?"

Brady didn't answer for a while. Eventually, he pulled out his phone and texted him, I'm sorry.

Hayden looked at his phone and then sighed.

Thankfully, Alison came back a few minutes later with a phone.

Hayden seemed to perk up a bit. "Did you get a new number?" he asked.

Alison nodded. "Yeah, both of you give me your phones. I'll put my number in."

Brady and Hayden handed their phones to her and she gave them back a minute later.

"There," she said. "Can you drop me off at home?"

"You've got plans?" Hayden asked as he began to drive.

"I think Kate's waiting for me," she explained.

Hayden frowned. "Why do you hang out with her anyway?"

Brady also looked over at Alison in the mirror curiously. He too wanted to know the answer to that.

She shrugged. "Why not?" she questioned.

Hayden just shook his head. "Kate is not the best company to keep," he grumbled.

If Alison heard that she chose to ignore him. When they got to her house, she mumbled a thank you and got out of the car.

Hayden and Brady watched as she let Kate into the guesthouse and the two closed the door behind him.

"That girl is nothing but trouble," Hayden muttered.

The question was, which girl was Hayden talking about.