On Thursday, Reid sat next to me in class.

I glanced at him in surprise, to which he responded with a scowl and propped his feet on the table. The silence stretched out in front of us as he leisurely flipped through one of the recipe books we were studying for the semester. I wasn't sure when exactly my phone started buzzing with texts from Tyler but when it began, it didn't stop. I counted thirteen messages before Reid threw the recipe book down on the table and shot me a dirty look.

"Someone's popular today."

"Oh," I said lamely and turned my phone off. "Wrong number."

Reid popped his gum in response and Mr Creed peered at him.

"Mr Castellan, you know the rules."

Reid paused and then heaved a dramatic sigh, getting out of his seat. And then, to my horror, he sauntered right past the trash can sitting by the teacher's desk and walked out of the classroom. I looked to Mr Creed but the old man didn't even bat an eyelash.

Don't do it, I advised myself. He is not your problem. Tyler would never even know.

Then, against my better judgement, I perfected a pained grimace and raised my hand. "Mr Creed? I'm not feeling well. Can I go to the nurses' office?"

He nodded absently, without looking up.

I quickly set off, looking left and right down the corridor and cursing Reid to the inner depths of hell. He had disappeared in the span of thirty seconds and I had no clue where he went. I headed for the parking lot first, just to check if his famous flashy Porsche was still here.

That's when the doors slammed open and four very familiar figures walked out. Leading the pack was Reid and he halted, eyes narrowing at the sight of me.

"...stay out of it!" Tyler was ranting, waving his arms like a madman. "Do you want your brother to hate you? You need to let him live his life - let Lee make his own mistakes."

When Reid ignored him, Tyler grabbed the front of his shirt and instinctively, Reid swung his fist into Tyler's jaw. It all happened quickly but it was just any other Thursday for Jarred as he stepped between the two of them. There were a few beats of silence as they glared at one another, the tension hanging in the air.

At this point, I was ready to sit this one out - but then Dennis tossed something to me which I caught a second before they hit the ground. I found myself holding the keys to Reid's black Porsche. I chuckled nervously, waiting for an angry outburst but Reid was already whipping out his phone to call a chauffeur.

"You can't fight every battle for him," Dennis said suddenly.

"Don't start." Reid's face grew cold, jaw locking stubbornly. His dark hair had fallen into his eyes, curling at the ends as he looked down at his phone. "You're a smart guy, Sinclair. But don't even start on the lectures right now. I've got Blair and James and Kade for that."

"You let your younger brother lecture you?" Jarred gaped.

"He needs breathing space," Dennis went on, unfazed. He was even brave enough to take a step closer to Reid. "He's only fifteen and he's been through some shit. You'll make things worse."

"This is between me and Chase Anderson."

I recognised the name immediately.

Captain of St Joseph's Preparatory's soccer team and Reid's arch nemesis since the beginning of time, I'd never had any personal run-ins with Chase but most people knew of him. Like most rivals, it started off with bruised egos but has since escalated.

"What's going on here?"

At the sound of Principal De Santos's nasally voice, my heart sunk and all five of us turned around to see the evil little man getting out of his Jeep.

"Fuck me in the ass," muttered Jarred.

The principal's bushy eyebrows drew together in annoyance. "You should all be in class."

Tyler and Jarred looked at each other accusingly but didn't say anything.

Mr De Santos went on. "Miss Patterson?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again. "Sir, I was... lost."

"Lost?" He didn't believe me and I wanted to kick myself for the sorry attempt at a lie. "Miss Patterson, you've had a perfect attendance to date. Yale has very high standards and I may be obligated to put this on your permanent record."

At the mention of Yale, I felt a little queasy. "It won't happen again, sir."

"No." Principal De Santos agreed with a nasty smile. "And I will ensure that it won't happen again, Miss Patterson, because you will be joining these boys in Saturday morning community service. Six months."

"Six months!" Tyler and Jarred yelled in unison.

I was sure that I'd heard incorrectly. "Did you say... six months?"

Principal De Santos looked to Reid, who remained calm while his friends gaped. "Our wonderful benefactor, Demetrius Castellan, had personally requested that these boys learn some discipline. It's very unfortunate that you've been dragged into it, Miss Patterson."

No fucking way.

Reid didn't look bothered, glancing up as a black Mercedes pulled into the parking lot. "Perhaps, after a bit of friendly persuasion, Mr De Santos, you'll be inclined to change your mind."

The principal flushed a bright red and adjusted his grey suit. "You will not threaten me, Mr Castellan! I'll have a word with your parents but in the meantime, Mr Creed will be expecting you kids at 8 AM sharp on Saturday."

I was going to kill Tyler.

-

"Lee Castellan is a freshman at St Joseph's Preparatory." Kayley had been scrolling earnestly through her Facebook for the past ten minutes and swatted at me with triumph, finally finding something useful. "That's Chase's domain... is he asking for trouble?"

I frowned. "Why does he go to the Prep?"

"Maybe he's a difficult one," said Kayley as she clicked on a picture. "God, he looks just like Reid. So cute! Also, can you believe that Valentina Castellan still looks like that after eight kids?"

"Money buys a lot of things, Kayley."

It was around four o'clock and Kayley and I lounged in my bedroom, in search of context after the unfortunate events of today. I had managed to fill her in on everything - including the community service, which she deemed an opportunity for me to find out more about Reid's mystery girl. While I told her it was a bad idea, even I was a little bit curious.

"Oh shit," said Kayley in realization. She scooted over so I could see her screen. "Lee plays JV basketball and Chase Anderson knocked him out in a flagrant two play a day ago. He was taken to hospital, the poor kid."

"He did - what?" That explained why Reid was ready to commit a murder this afternoon. "That's awful. Is Lee alright?"

"He's fine. He tweeted an hour ago."

As Kayley did some more digging, I decided to stalk Reid's social media. His Instagram was mainly catalogue shots for brands like Nike, advertising their latest range of sports gear. With a bunch of photos with friends, one or two with his siblings and several candid soccer ones, I wasn't surprised that there wasn't anything of the girl Dennis spoke of at the café.

I was so swept up into the allure of Reid Castellan's world that I didn't even hear a car pulling into the driveway. By the time my bedroom door swung open, it was too late.

Marina Patterson walked in with flashing blue eyes, a strand of blonde hair escaping her perfect bun. "What is the matter with you?"

My jaw dropped. "Mom?"

She ignored this and advanced me, hands on her hips. "I got a call from the school saying that you skipped last period with some delinquent boys."

"I wasn't -"

She held up a hand to stop me. "If you wanted Yale so much, then you need to be better. You need to put in the effort which, firstly, means being in class."

"I can explain -"

"There are no excuses here!"

After the initial shock wore off, I was suddenly angrier than I've been in a long time.

She only cared now when I did something wrong when for the past two years, everything that I did right was barely given a second glance. After my dad and my brother died, Kayley was the one who helped me pick up the broken pieces of my heart – not her. During the three months after the funeral, Kayley had quietly moved into the guest bedroom, cooking and cleaning and coaxing food into me when all I wanted to do was cry myself to sleep.

"You have no right." My voice was steady, the exact opposite of what I felt.

"I beg your pardon?"

I said nothing, trying to compose myself. Beside me, Kayley shifted a little, eyes downcast as if she wanted to intervene but decided better of it. I'd almost forgotten that she was there.

"Pull yourself together." Mom's tone was patronising, brushing invisible dust off her pencil skirt as she stared me down. "A lot of things have changed in the past two years but if you want to get into Yale as much as you say you do, then you need to work a lot harder."

We'd barely spoken to each other for two whole years - and certainly not about Yale. But the fact that she was using my dream school against me only made my blood boil.

"You have no right," I said again. Pausing, I let the silence settle for a few seconds before shrugging off the tiny ounce of regret already creeping into my chest. "You were absent during the hardest time of my life, Mom. You weren't there when I needed you. So, yes. I'm telling you now that you have no right to play the parent role. Not anymore."

She flinched, expression a mixture of surprise and hurt but it was quickly blanketed by disapproval. "What happened to you, Alexa?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that.