"I still haven't faced him," my mother admitted after she had ditched the junk food and made herself a cup of tea.

You would think that just because you have a stable job, married twice, gave birth and raised a child, and is a proper adult already, you would stop all these weeping moments of female weakness where you just have to resort to crappy processed food and horribly made chick flicks to make yourself better.

Spoiler alert, you'll still continue that never-ending routine of self-pity.

"I would love to nag you just like the many times you've done to me of stop being a coward, but I guess you already know that," I muttered as I scraped more of the facial mask from the container before applying it on my skin, "This would have been prevented if you just listened to me."

She didn't find my lighthearted remarks funny at all as she only shot me a dirty look in response. Holding back the huge urge to say 'I told you so,' I opted to offer her a face mask and she slumped.

We've managed to clear out the whole coffee table of her trash and I set up a mirror here and the rest of my skincare routine. Just because my mom's having a crisis doesn't mean my gorgeous skin should suffer, I've been holding back with the treatments because I've been staying over at Gray's so it deserves a bit of pampering.

Do you know how risky it is to continuously wear make-up without proper moisturization?

Let me tell you, you might break out everywhere. Not only was it difficult to cover up, but you have to consider that I detest any kind of flaw on my skin.

Wait, what were we talking about again?

"You know, I should stop moping around," she declared, shooting up from her spot as she started pacing back and forth, "If he thinks that he can get away with doing that to me then he's wrong!"

Glancing up, I muttered, "Yeah," absentmindedly as I shook the bottle of nail polish. If I just picture her to be about twenty years or so younger, I would have seen a mirror image of myself.

"You should have seen me when I was your age," she muttered, placing her hands on her hips, "Nothing could cross me."

I paused from uncapping the bottle when I suddenly remembered the piece of information my dad shared to me during my existential crisis, "Hold on, why didn't you tell me that you were a cheerleader?"

She paused from her steps as she turned to me, "How did you know?"

"Dad," I replied simply, screwing the cap again before placing it on the coffee table, "He told me the whole thing – starting when you and him coming from different social groups to comforting you when you were down."

Letting out a deep sigh, she settled back down on the couch, "I knew he would bring it up someday."

"Is that why you preferred Evan instead of Gray?"

She nodded in response, reaching out for her mug once again, "Your father was my knight in shining armor back then."

"A knight in shining armor that you threw to the side," I spat unintentionally. I was trying to be civil, I really was, but it proved to be a difficult task when you're still bitter about one single fact.

A fact that my mother cheated on my father.

She drew her bottom lip in-between her teeth as she stared down on her beverage. The more I observe, the more I come to realize that I share a lot of my habits with mom and one of the biggest examples is the lip biting.

Well, I spent nine months in her and she was the one who raised me so...

"What you may or may not know is that even though I loved him so much, there was someone I love more," she stated after she found the words to explain her thoughts, "I handled things the wrong way, but I think it was better that we separated instead of the both of us living with the knowledge that our relationship was half-hearted."

"And Will?" I questioned.

Her expression softened as she spoke, "I love him and that's why I don't know what to do."

I wasn't able to say anything else. I, out of everyone, should know that there was always another side to this story. I don't know what happened between Will and her nor am I sure that I will ever find out, but I guess my only job right now is to be an understanding daughter.

As if.

"Okay," I shrugged, gathering up my things plus the standing mirror, "You do you."

Before she could respond, we heard the front open before it clicked close once again. We glanced towards each other before we both came to the conclusion that it was Will, coming home from work. A fleeting expression of worry crossed her face and I sighed.

I don't trust myself with the idea that I could come up with something sensible in order to comfort her.

"I'm out then," I declared, shuffling on my feet as I balanced my belongings in my arms. Walking out of the room, I came face to face with Will just as he was about to stroll inside. The two of us slowed on our steps to cast a dirty look directed at each other before he proceeded to greet his wife.

"Hey honey," he smiled, bending down to kiss mom on the cheek. I rolled my eyes as I made my way to the staircase, climbing up to go to my bedroom.

Walking up to my desk, I looked closely at the screen of my laptop as the bottom right corner of the window showed the chatbox my team had. Someone said that we should do a group video chat and I quickly logged onto skype to do so.

I got added to the on-going chat and when my face appeared on the window, they all paused when they saw me, "Oh my gosh, it's a monster. Unfriended is happening to us!"

Almost forgot that I was wearing this green face mask.

"It's Clara, you idiot," one of them chastised.

One of them fumbled around and another window got added to the chat. When the person appeared in front of us, I now understood their violent reaction towards me – Vivian sat there with her charcoal mask, sporting this bored expression as she lazily blinked her eyes on the screen.

The same girl gasped, "Now is it Unfriended?"

Girl, I'm about to unfriend you if you don't shut your trap.

"I'm having a crisis here!" a sophomore member screeched as she held up two outfits and they all turned to her expectantly; this led me to guess that this was what they were talking about before I got invited into the chat, "Which one screams sexy but not trying too hard?"

"Someone explain," I said as I leaned back against my chair, taking the nail polish that I was about to apply earlier.

"She and her boyfriend agreed to have their first time together tomorrow night," one explained as she chewed the gum in her mouth, "Finally graduating from the V-squad."

"The term is hymenally challenged," she defended herself, grabbing a Clueless reference, "Clara, what's your opinion?"

Glancing up from my nails, I looked at the two outfits before saying, "Left one."

"The one on the right is better!" Vivian suddenly countered.

My head snapped from my view of my nails and I swear, everyone quieted down. All I can hear was the background noise coming from each of their sides of the conversation whether it was a cat purring or an electric fan running.

"The black one is fit enough to make her look attractive but because it's such a classic color, she would still look elegant," I explained, giving her a challenging look through the camera.

"But the red one has all those cuts, the boy wouldn't be able to get her hands off of her," she retorted.

"First times with your boyfriends are supposed to be with love, not just lust."

She raised her brows before crossing her arms over her chest, "As if you and your boyfriend did your first time together out of love."

The obvious wince from our teammates was a good indication that she just crossed a line and my expression visibly became darker at her words.

Sweetheart, you just released the beast.

"At least when I slept with him, he still stayed with me," I pointed out with a low growl, "Unlike a certain someone, who has to jump off from one guy to another because she can't satisfy any of them."

Shots fired and multiple gasped sounded.

"I-it's alright," the girl who asked the question dared to interrupt, "I'll just wear something else."

"Are you disregarding what we just said?!" both Vivian and I yelled as she visibly flinched away from her computer.

She held back a sob and without even much of a goodbye, she disconnected from our chat room. Glaring at Vivian's image from my screen, as if it was my co-captain herself, I pointed a finger, "Now you made her cry."

"Oh right, as if that sharp tongue of yours has never offended anybody," she huffed.

"Well then," one of the senior girls coughed out awkwardly, "I'm sure everybody's tired and we still have a competition tomorrow so..."

"Don't fall off of a pyramid," Vivian snorted before she could finish her sentence.

I'm hair length away from chucking this nail polish bottle onto my wall out of complete frustration, "At least I'm not too heavy to be on top of a pyramid."

With a finally murderous look, I disconnected myself from the chat before slumping down on my chair, exhaling loudly.

That was a disaster.

My phone started ringing and assuming that it was either Vivian or any of the girls trying to call me, I accepted the call without looking at the screen before pressing it against my phone as I screamed, "I don't want to fucking talk!"

"Put down the caliber, baby cousin," I heard Hallie's cheery voice from the other line.

Slamming my head onto my desk, I groaned, "Please be a good reason."

"So you're turning eighteen in two weeks, right?" I could practically see the grin on her face as she said that. I already knew what was following and I just sent out a silent thank you for cutting to the chase instead of all that 'how's my favorite cousin' bullshit, "And I'm pretty sure you have your own things to do on that day so how about you come over here and celebrate with our side of the family."

"Whatever," I muttered, not really finding it within myself to deny her suggestion.

"I'll take that as yes," she laughed before her voice toned down a bit, now more curious than anything else, "So are you finally bringing a boyfriend for us to meet? I heard from dad that you spontaneously visited a few weeks ago."

Remembering the meltdown I had back then, I couldn't help but smile at the memory. With the help of my father – the same guy who found it amusing to dance around in the middle of a chicken coop – gave me just the exact words I needed. Deep down inside, I was already aware of everything he said, he just needed to tell me that I was right. He was that closure to end all of my doubts and right after that, I found myself in the spectacular position of being Gray Martyn's girlfriend.

Maybe I can take Gray to meet dad, I'm sure he would love him. If not, at least he would be welcoming, unlike the other parent. I highly doubt it though, Gray has this special talent of making people like him with ease.

"I'm bringing along someone," I bit my lip to hold back a squeal. The cliché father meeting the daughter thing was finally happening to me. Last time this occurred, it was during my middle school years and let's just say that it was as awkward as it could be.

But I'm determined to stay with Gray and if my dad sees this, I have a feeling he would approve.

Remember about that enthusiasm I tried to keep at bay? Well, Hallie did the excited celebration for me as she started screaming in joy onto the phone and I instinctively dropped it away from my ear in a desperation to protect my sense of hearing.

You'd think she was the one who got a new boyfriend.

Picking the phone again and placing it on speaker to be safe, I listened to her say, "I knew he would get through your stubborn head."

More like I got through his stubborn head, but okay.

"So when did it happen?" she inquired with an enthusiastic tone.

"Two weeks ago, I think," I told her, "I thought that we weren't going to go through with it because I saw him talking to another girl."

"Doesn't seem to be a guy to do that."

Girl, you have no idea.

"Worked out in the end anyways," I said, "I'll see you next week then."

She hummed in confirmation before saying her farewells, "Bye, I can't wait to meet him again."

As she hung up, I allowed her words to sink in before I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion at the last word.

Again?

Well, she have seen Gray in pictures so maybe that's what she meant.

That's just me pretending to be dense when in reality, she was talking about Evan.

Oh well, it's going to be a surprise to all of us.

My phone started ringing again and I felt relieved, deciding to just break it to her right now. Answering the call, I told her, "Evan and I are still just friends."

"Better be," the familiar gruff voice said from the other line.

Slowly looking at my screen, I slapped my hand onto my forehead when I saw Gray's name flashed on there. Damn, I should really started looking at the caller ID before picking up.

Before I could apologize for the mistake, he spent no time beating around the bush, "Fancy returning the favor of letting you stay in my house?" he questioned, although his tone was teasing, I could sense an underlying problem in it.

"Where are you?" I asked, pushing myself off of my chair.

"Look out of your window," he said as a reply. Now that sentence was just a different genre of cliché in its own.

Pushing away my curtains, I squinted to look through the dark night and I saw Gray waving his arms by the ground, his phone helping the dim garden lights to illuminate his figure.

"Go to my front door, I'll be right down," I instructed before hanging up.

Quickly getting out of my room and quietly down the steps, I peeked into the living room and saw Will and mom seated on the couch, both of them acting as if their marriage wasn't completely deteriorating. They were talking calmly about the happenings of the day but anyone could see the tension between them.

Don't look at me, I'm done playing the amazing puzzle solver.

Quietly opening the front door, I pulled Gray inside before slowly but slowly closing it again. Craning my neck to look at the two adults, I kept my eyes glued on them as I guided Gray upstairs. Once we got to the second floor landing, I skipped my bedroom door and opened the guest room.

There were only two rooms in this house that had a balcony – the master's and this. It was considerably tinier than mine but it satisfied the guests that came for a visit. The only reason why I chose this place instead of my own was because that balcony was the quickest way to the roof.

It provided us some privacy without the danger of Will or mom barging into my room. They'll just think that I'm in my closet or bathroom if they ever decided to peek inside and that was enough to give me a sense of security.

There was now a slim risk of them seeing Gray.

Closing the door behind us, I slid open the balcony, letting the cold air enter the house. The translucent curtains started flapping around, bending to the way the wind commanded it to and I stepped outside. I sat by the railings, reaching up to reach the edge of the roof before pulling myself up.

Best spot to act as a brooding emotional girl during those teen movie moments.

Gray followed my actions and we found ourselves sitting on the roof with the view of my back garden that was now a mess with its stray leaves that has now been shed by the multiple trees.

Oh so romantic.

"Talk didn't go too well?" I asked the obvious, resting my head against his shoulder.

"If you consider every member of the family yelling at each other as a bad thing," he coughed out, wrapping an arm around my body and I mentally sent my gratitude through the soft touch on his hand, "Then yes, it didn't go well."

"To be fair, mom and Will are chatting downstairs while both of them are hiding something from one another," I shrugged.

But hey, family problems just makes life a little more interesting.

"We'll live," he mumbled before he grabbed my chin and slowly turned my face to him, "So what were you doing before I got here?"

I was about to talk to him about my argument with Vivian and Hallie's horrible misunderstanding but that all died down in my throat when he allowed a smirk to twitch the side of his lips, "Judging from the thing on your face, you had a pretty rough night."

Lifting a hand to my face, a fleeting moment of panic crossed my system when I realized that I still had that green mask on. It was then I was well aware of the fact that I ditched the fancy dress for a comfy shirt and shorts, a thin robe acting as some kind of insulation from the cold.

"Holy shit," I muttered, sliding down and jumping off to the balcony, sprinting out of the room and into mine. I could hear him following right behind me as I rushed straight into my bathroom and he tried to come in, but I rapidly shut the door after pushing him out with a strong shove.

Well, that erases the always-on-point look that I got working for me.

While I was rinsing off the mask, I could hear him lightly knock on the door, saying something that was drowned out by the running water. Turning the tap off, I patted my face dry before I opened the door once again, stopping when I saw him sitting by my desk, his phone placed on speaker as he was leaned back, his eyes closed as he slowly massaged his own temples.

"I'm pretty sure Clara's good in bed and all but come on," the person on the other side said, "Take my advice Gray, you're better off with someone else."

I don't know who it was but I could recognize that voice as one of the boys who was always present with us on our usual lunch table. Boy, he already has the best so shut the fuck up. Plus, do you want me to do suffocate you with a pompom like what I did to the last guy who made a comment about my sex life?

"I don't really care if you settle down or not," he continued, "Still, with her you wouldn't know that maybe she's already fooling around with some other guy. I'm just looking out for you, man."

While I appreciate your concern for your friend, I would like to say to you that I've been loyal to Gray, together or not.

"Why are you with her anyways?" he finally asked.

I rolled my eyes and I was ready to stomp towards him and make him end the call, but when gave his reply, I couldn't help but stand there in awe.

"Because I love her," he answered in the simplest terms, making my heart start beating a thousand miles per second, "Isn't that good enough of a reason? And I've repeated time and time again that I don't like it when you guys talk about Clara like that."

"Wait, what?" was the only reply his friend can utter.

Opening his eyes, I quickly ducked back into the bathroom so he wouldn't see me eavesdropping on their conversation. Slapping a hand over my mouth to keep myself quiet, I kept on listening, "She didn't give up on me when everyone did and I can't imagine myself with anyone else but her. I'm getting fucking sappier by the second."

"What a bunch of cheesy shit," the voice said and although his words were less than pleasant, his tone was teasing. It was a big contrast to what Bryan said earlier, the statement wasn't far apart – I got Gray to settle down – but this was as if a fond reminder, "Our boy has finally found himself the one."

Making a mental note to ask Gray who he was and