I watch, as he pours himself a glass of water, draining it empty. He faces me, and frowns.

"Why are you still here?" He asks. "I already told you, you're not welcome." I open my mouth to speak, but Cole beats me to it.

"Shut up Alex." He says sternly. 

"No." I butt in. "I should go. Can I just borrow your phone?" Jake pulls out a cell, and hands it to me.

"Here you go." I smile my thanks, and dial Bianca's number. It rings out, and I sigh. I had a fear this would happen. It's a Sunday morning, and Bianca's family are heavily religious. I give the phone back to Jake, and sigh.

"I'll just walk." I say, heading for the door. "Thanks for everything. I'll give the clothes back as soon as I can." 

"Don't be stupid." Jake says. "Someone can drive you." 

"I can!" Hayden says, way to enthusiastically.

"No." Everybody choruses.

"She actually wants to get there without dying." Elliot snorts.

"How am I going to get better if no one lets me drive?" He groans. They boys start bickering, until they're interrupted by Alex's laughter. We all turn to him, and he smiles.

"This is brilliant." He say, and shows me his phone screen. "Evan totally screwed you over." I look closely at the screen, and my blood runs cold. It's Evan's face book page. And I'm on it. Evan took the picture last night. You can see my underwear! In the caption, he's written: 

'Midnight skinny dipping gone wrong. Stick to your own kind.'

Oh my god. My life is over. Alex is still laughing, and I can feel my face darkening with embarrassment. 

"Well that isn't good." Jake says, all the boys crowding around the screen.

"I'm going to die." I stutter. "I can't show my face at school again."

"It's not that bad." Seth says, trying to console me. "Really. You look hot." Zane punches him in the shoulder, and he groans. "What?" He questions. "It's true."

"Come on." Cole says. "I'll drive you home." 

"We need to come with you." Zane murmurs, looking at his phone. "We have somewhere to be." Cole looks over his shoulder, and swears.

"Dammit." He growls. "Ok. Zane, Alex, Jake, you're with us. We drop Harper off and go."

"Can I come?" Hayden asks quickly.

"No." The oldest four chorus. 

"Oh man." He whines.

"Hey." Cole says, looking at him. "You're in charge. Keep everyone safe, ok?" 

"Cool man." He grins. Cole laughs, and picks up his keys. 

"Lets go."

<><><><>

So this is very awkward. I'm sitting in the back of a truck, in the middle of Alex and Jake. 

"Take a left." I tell Cole, as we come up to a corner. 

"You live in a shady neighbourhood." Alex frowns.

"No offense." I growl. "But you live in the middle of the woods." Everybody snickers, and he snorts.

"At least I won't get stabbed in my own home." He spits.

"Don't count on it." Zane says, not even looking up from his phone. Everybody laughs again, and I look out the window. 

"So how come so many of you go to my school, but I never saw you?" I ask.

"We don't like to attract attention." Jake shrugs. "If you weren't to scared to walk behind the gym, you would see more of us."

"I'm not scared." I argue.

"Yes you are." Alex grunts. "But you're so focused on fitting in, you don't see that we're not the danger. You fu**ed the danger."

"Hey." I protest. "I never... did that." He looks up, curiously.

"Really?" He asks. I nod, uncomfortable. 

"You've never done it with him?" He asks again, incredulously.

"No!" I say, exasperated. "Can you drop it?"

"Fine." He says, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm impressed." I huff, and point out the window.

"That's my street." Cole pulls in, and I look for my house.

"It's the one with the blue door." I say. "Number eleven, but the number was stolen off the mailbox." Alex snorts, but I ignore him. We get to my house, and I'm about to get out, when something catches my eye. 

"Shit." I hiss. 

"What?" Cole asks. 

"Nothing." I say quickly. I look closer, and sigh. It's definitely his. The old, white, dirty pick up truck. What is he doing here? Probably money. It's about time for him to run out. 

"Do you want us to come in with you?" Jake asks, concerned. 

"No." I snap quickly. "I mean, thanks. I'm good." I quickly get out, and hurry to the door. I hold back the tears, and try to gain the courage to open the door. I pull myself together, and open the door, when I see that Cole has pulled away. I cautiously look around, and let out a breath,  when I see he's not in the living room.

"Harper!" I hear, from the kitchen. "Get in here!" I slowly walk into the kitchen, and see him sifting through the fridge. He looks up, and frowns when he sees me. "Where's the beer?" He asks. "What, you guys too poor now to supply me?"

"We don't drink." I say quietly. "We only buy it when we know you're coming home."

"Well I'm home!" He yells. "So where's the beer?" 

"I'll get some for you." I say quickly, as he pushes me against the wall. "Just let me get the money."

"And that's the other thing." He growls, spitting in my face. "I ran out, I need money." I take a breath, trying to gear myself up for what I have to tell him.

"Mom said we're not giving you anymore." I say confidently, when really, I just want to run away. "No more." He looks at me, and chuckles.

"Oh really?" He murmurs, playing with my hair. "That's what mama said?" 

"Yes." I say. "Please let go of me."

"Let go of me what?" He growls.

"Sir." He laughs again, stroking my cheek. 

"That's right." He says, smiling. "I think when mama comes home we're going to have a little chat."

"No." I say quickly. "Please don't." I knew it was coming, but I still gasped, as his hand makes contact with my face, with a large smack. He chucks me in to the living room, and throws me to the floor. He picks me up, and slams me into the front door. 

"You better listen to me." He growls in my face. "I'm going to be around for awhile, and you're going to start showing me some respect. You understand me?" I nod quickly, and he lets me go. "Make me a sandwich." He grunts, making his way up the stairs. I watch him disappear, and sigh bitterly.

"Yes, Dad."