Kayley popped open her soda and took a sip. "Oh, look. Tyler's coming this way."

I shushed her, leaning over my lunch to hide my face from view. My nose almost touched my sandwich and I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that Tyler wouldn't notice me. At this point, the sight of his face would push me over the edge. I was afraid that I might murder him.

"I've apologized at least fifty times," Tyler began matter-of-factly as he sat himself down on our table. "What else do you want from me?"

I glared at him for a good minute before speaking. "There is nothing you can do to make up for six months of community service."

"Six months is a ridiculous punishment for skipping class." Kayley piped up as she drizzled the dressing over her salad. "I can't believe it."

"Thank you." Tyler looked at her gratefully. "I'm Tyler, by the way."

"I don't care," she replied.

Tyler shot her a glare, turning around in his seat to wave his friends over. Kayley and I shared a look but while she was unimpressed by Tyler, I tried to bite back my annoyance as Jarred and Dennis arrived. Jarred didn't notice but Dennis hesitated, glancing to me.

"Hey, bro." Jarred made himself comfortable beside Kayley, fist-bumping Tyler. "So Leah Song was all over me today. It was hot - but in a scary way."

"Hell yeah." Tyler waggled his eyebrows, momentarily forgetting about Kayley and I. "You should hit her up. I think I still have her number, if you want it."

Jarred shook his head, shovelling pasta into his mouth like his life depended on it. "Delete it, bro. You're a taken man."

"Just keeping my options open."

"Not cool, Ty."

While the two of them continued discussing Leah Song, Dennis smiled apologetically.

"Sorry," he said. "We didn't mean to intrude."

"Intrude?" I smiled sweetly. "Not at all."

Kayley stifled her laughter and I was immediately guilty when Dennis frowned.

"Hey, where's Reid?" Tyler asked suddenly, looking around the table. I half expected for him to do a head-count, just to be sure. "Don't tell me he's meeting with Coach again."

"He's getting drafted," Jarred said like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "So, yeah. He's not just meeting with Coach nowadays."

Tyler shrugged, giving the rest of us a moment of much-needed silence. As he munched on his pizza and slurped his protein shake thoughtfully, it took him a moment to remember what he was doing here in the first place.

"Oh yeah." He helped himself to the other half of my sandwich. "I think we can safely say that it was Reid's fault for the community service. If it weren't for his dad, we would've gotten away with a couple of weeks instead of six months. So... can we all just blame him instead?"

"It won't be that bad," Jarred added cheerfully. He had finished his food in a matter of minutes and grinned at me. "Mr Creed is super chill."

Before I could express my doubts, Bree Richardson sashayed over, tossing her Louis Vuitton purse onto the table. She sat down on Tyler's lap, looping her arms around his neck and planting a loud kiss on his lips. Jarred gagged as Dennis took it as a cue to put in his headphones and block out the rest of the world. When the make-out session lasted a little too long, Kayley cleared her throat and they finally pulled away from each other.

"Oops." Bree smiled, wiping the lipstick off Tyler's mouth. "Hey, guys."

"Babe, what are you doing here?" Tyler shifted a little, eyes darting to Jarred and Dennis as if sending them a warning look. "Don't you have... cheer practice?"

Bree ignored him and pulled two pink cards out of her purse. She held them out for Kayley and I to take and with a polite smile, we did.

It smelt like Victoria Secret perfume and French vanilla candles.

"My party." Bree tossed her glossy brown hair and tapped her acrylics on the table. "A personal invite because I just couldn't forget my two besties."

I cringed a little, noticing how much Bree had changed the past few years. She never used to be so preppy and insincere but thankfully, Kayley's cheerleader days provided plenty of practice for social situations. While I kept smiling stupidly, she took the reins.

"The big eighteen," Kayley cooed. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, honey." Bree swooped down and kissed Tyler's cheek before standing and adjusting her dress. "I'll see all of you there. Bye, babe. Love you."

And then she swept away.

"What was that?" Jarred asked as soon as she was gone. He was looking at Tyler with concern, blue eyes questioning. "Dude, you're making it so obvious."

"You're just paranoid."

"Oh my God." I cut in, looking between them. My jaw dropped with incredulity. "You're cheating on her, aren't you?"

Jarred sighed. "He wants to break up with her."

Tyler gasped in outrage and betrayal, his carefully-gelled hair was sticking up in all directions after the make out session but nobody had the heart to tell him.

"So why not just do it?" Kayley asked.

Tyler turned his glare onto her. "It would destroy her! And she's obsessed with me!"

"She's not," said Kayley and Jarred at the same time. They looked at each other, Kayley with surprise and Jarred with adoration.

"Tyler, we know you have good intentions." Dennis finished for them, adjusting his headphones with a wry smile. "At least, we hope you do. But your execution is a little off."

Tyler chewed loudly on my sandwich. "You get it, don't you, Sinclair? If I break up with her, she would cry. And when she cries, I panic. And when I panic, we get back together."

I wasn't about to try and understand his logic.

-

On Friday night, Ray and I were closing up at The Coast café. It had been a quiet shift and when he asked about school, I told him all about my recent encounters with the Fab Four.

I rested my chin on my hand and watched as Ray took down the beach painting that hung just above table three. It was something he liked to do often, a literal "change of scenery" to keep things interesting. This one was a cityscape of Miami in black and white.

"Bit gloomy?" Ray mused. "Olivia said black and white was boring."

I couldn't help but admire the way Ray's eyes always lit up at the mention of his little girl. I loved how simple their father-daughter relationship was. It was the kind of thing that hadn't existed in my life for a long time.

"It's great," I told him. "You could sell these."

Ray just smiled. "So, keep going. Six months of community service. And then?"

"Nothing." I finished my tragic tale, capping off a great first week of senior year. "I won't be able to work Saturday mornings anymore because of an absolute moron named Tyler fucking Kypriano. Honestly, I'd ask my mom to call the school but she would never agree."

If Ray could sense the resentment in my tone, he knew not to press further. Instead, he sat down on one of the tables, crossing his arms over his overalls. "Well, these are some high-profile friends you're making."

I sighed, pausing to consider it. "Freshman year, I saw all of their money, fame and the social standing that came with it and I revered them. I went to a public school before all this so everything was like a slap in the face. It's like... I just want to get through this year but six months of community service means that these guys have dragged me right into their mess."

Ray nodded with understanding. "Because their world is so different from ours and since it's senior year, you can almost see the finish line. So, no slip-ups, right?"

"Right," I agreed, realising that was exactly how I felt. "Yes. Exactly."

"Trust me, Lex." He sighed deeply, shaking his head. "I never liked being out of my comfort zone so I married my high school sweetheart. Look how that turned out."

This was the unspoken agreement between Ray and I; he didn't want to discuss his ex-wife and I didn't want to talk about my mom. It worked for both of us.

The phone rang and Ray got up to answer it, leaving me alone with my thoughts. But just as he left, someone walked in.

It was a man in his thirties, with tanned skin, dark blonde hair and electric blue eyes that sent shivers down my spine. Something about him was eerily familiar and I had a gut feeling that I'd seen him somewhere before.

He stood frozen in the doorway, eyes meeting mine.

"Sorry, sir," I said, turning off the lights that illuminated the empty display shelf in front of me. "We will be closing in a few minutes. If you'd like a coffee or –"

"Lex." His eyes drifted to my name tag. "Lex, it's me. Chris."

The way he said it suggested that it should mean something to me, but when I stared back at him blankly, his face fell. I almost felt bad.

"I'm sorry," I said hesitantly. "Do I know you?"

He blinked and then recovered, fumbling for a notepad in his suit pocket. He was well-off, judging by the shiny Patek Philippe watch on his wrist and tailored formal attire.

"Do you think you could tell Marina to give me a call?" Chris wrote something down and held out the strip of paper to me, seeming apologetic. "It's important."

My surprise must've shown because he went on to elaborate.

"We go way back," he said with a small, private smile. "We grew up together."

Not quite sure if I believed him, I just nodded and plucked the slip paper from his grip. It was seven digits scrawled using black Sharpie. "Will do. Have a good night, sir."

He looked relieved. "It was nice to meet you, Lex."

I said nothing, unable to shake how familiar this man seemed to me. Perhaps I'd seen him in a photograph or maybe he was famous but it was a little suspicious that someone like him didn't present a business card that might've revealed a bit more.

After Chris left, I scrunched up the slip of paper and dropped it into the trash.