By the time October came around, the chilly mornings made it harder to wake up early in the morning for community service.

It was 6 AM on Saturday and I made my way downstairs into the kitchen. The cereal bowl I had discarded last night was still in the sink and the fridge was as empty as ever, so I decided to grab breakfast at the cafe. Just as I was about to leave, the landline shrilled loudly.

Frowning, I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"I – uh, Marina?"

It was a male voice and I tried to figure out why the caller sounded so familiar. It could've been one of Mom's coworkers – but they never called this number.

"Sorry," I said apologetically. "She's not here at the moment."

"Oh, okay." The man on the other side of the line sounded nervous. "Can you ask her to give me a call back when she has the time?"

"Sure, can I get a name?"

"Oh, Chris Stevens."

Chris.

All of a sudden, I remembered the man who came into café weeks ago. With everything going on, I must've forgotten about him. Craning my neck to look out the window, I was relieved to see the street empty but an uneasy feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.

"Absolutely," I continued brightly into the phone. "I'll let her know when she gets home."

"Thank you." Chris paused and before I could hang up, he spoke again. "This is Lex, right? I don't know if you remember me, but we met at that café you work at."

I hung up at that, grabbing my keys and heading out the door. Once I was inside my car, I quickly locked the doors. It was like any other bleak Saturday morning and nobody seemed to be hiding in the bushes. After taking a moment to calm my nerves, I started the engine.

When I arrived at The Coast café, I spotted Olivia at a table in the back. I did a double-take when I saw that she was eating pancakes with Kade Castellan and a boy around her age.

Olivia looked up when I approached, giving me a toothy smile as she doused her pancakes with syrup. "Lex! Are you working today?"

"Just here for breakfast," I looked over at her company. "Who's your friend?"

The young boy beside Olivia smiled, biting into a dinosaur cookie that he pulled out from a paper bag on his lap. Green food dye stained his fingers, dark hair flopping over his eyes.

"This is my boyfriend, Will." Olivia patted his hand. "And his brother, Kade."

My eyebrows rose in intrigue. "Boyfriend?"

Olivia blushed but Will grinned and immediately, I saw the familiar Castellan charm. It seemed to cultivate at as young as eight-years-old and as if sensing my amusement, Kade finally looked up from To Kill a Mockingbird, bookmarking his page.

"Hello, Lex." Kade offered me an easy smile. "I didn't know you work here. Olivia and Will have a play date and I'm babysitting."

Only a year and a half younger than Reid, Kade was remarkable different to his brother. He was a bit of a loner, awkward certainly but he was comfortable to be around. Observing him and Will now, babysitting was likely to be the bulk of Kade's responsibilities compared to Reid's balancing of Demetrius Castellan's expectations. It made me feel a tad more sympathetic but then again, Reid had his father's full attention - something Kade might never obtain.

"Speaking of which..." Kade smiled hopefully at me. "I won't object if you gave us a lift."

I knew that he was only joking, but figured that I could probably squeeze it in. "Uh, sure."

He grinned. "Legend!"

When I went to the counter, Ray must've heard me come in because my vanilla latte and blueberry muffin were already sitting on the bench. I slid a twenty-dollar bill into the donation box as Kade ushered Will and Olivia out. I followed, flipping the sign on the door.

We drove in silence mostly, say for Will and Olivia's bickering in the backseat. Kade seemed lost in thought and something about his expression made me believe that it wasn't just any teenager problem. But I didn't say anything and following his instructions, we arrived at the Castellan Estate.

The iron-wrought gates swung open as the two security guards let us through without question. It was the first time I'd ever set foot on the Castellan's private property and I drove up the winding driveway in silent awe, admiring at the sheer splendour of the place.

Looming on a piece of twenty-acre land, the mansion itself was French château-inspired and the closest comparison I had was with the Palace of Versailles. It was all limestone walls and gilded columns, all luxury and extravagance. As the driveway curved around a towering marble sculpture of the Castellan family, the gurgling fountain resonated in the silence. The silence was something I noticed last but once I did, it was hard to ignore.

I killed the engine as a young woman ducked out from under the Falcon wings of a white Tesla. She was gorgeous, likely in her mid-twenties with straightened, waist-length dark hair and a significant baby bump. She pushed her sunglasses to sit on the top of her head, sharp green eyes conveying just how unimpressed she was at the sight of my beat-up Volvo.

"Kade," she said with annoyance. "There you are. Have you spoken to James?"

Kade got out of the car, rolling his eyes. "Hello to you too, Blair."

Blair Castellan - this woman must be the eldest of the Castellan clan.

I also recalled Reid telling me that he had a brother called James and belatedly, I realised that it wasn't so hard to keep track of his seven siblings after all. However, I was most curious to meet Savannah – only because she was always in the media for controversy. There were all sorts of rumours on her parentage, being the only strawberry blonde in her dark-haired family. But I hadn't heard anything about her in a long time.

Blair waved her phone at him impatiently, the biggest diamond I'd ever seen glittering on her left hand. "So have you talked to him? Because I'm seeing headlines about his secret rendezvous with Instagram model Livia Arlington in Peru. I thought he was in Tanzania?"

"Nobody's been in contact with James," Kade assured her as he helped Will and Olivia out of my car. "Come on, let's get you kids inside."

Blair huffed, flicking her hair over her shoulder and tapping vigorously on her phone. Kade let Will and Olivia inside and the children disappeared before I even got a chance to say goodbye. I could hear Olivia giggling and judging by her lack of reaction to the Castellan's family home, I gathered that she must've been here before.

As I got out of the car, Blair looked up.

"Hey," I started awkwardly. "I'm Lex."

"Blair," she returned curtly.

"Reid's friend," Kade explained to his sister as he joined us again. He gestured to Blair who narrowed her eyes. "Don't mind her, Lex. She's haughty because she's the Castellan firstborn."

Haughty was an understatement.

-

Community service was at St Vincent's Hospital this time.

I trailed after Reid, Tyler and Jarred marched on silently as if they actually knew their way around this place. When I stopped to help a nurse and an elderly lady into the elevator, Dennis was the only one who bothered to wait for me to catch up. We came to the Section B Emergency waiting room and Reid and Tyler passive-aggressively began their cleaning. I noticed a young girl curled against her mom in the corner, both sleeping soundly. It was suddenly inevitable that I recall a memory of my own - one where it had been me and my mother, waiting for a decisive flatline of the heart monitor.

"Hey," said Dennis quietly. "You good?"

I blinked. "Yeah – sorry, spaced out for a second."

He didn't comment on it further and got to work clearing the notice board as I sorted through the fliers, carefully pinning the new ones under their respective time slots. Jarred wordlessly gathered the discarded pages.

"Fuck you, Reid!" Tyler hissed, furiously scraping gum off the bottom of a chair. "How about we make a deal? I'll give you my liver, if you tell me what you're hiding."

"Is he still going on about the flash drive?" Dennis sighed.

The flash drive, I remembered, was a topic the boys had discussed when they stormed into the café on the first day of senior year. Even then, Tyler had been demanding answers and it seemed that this problem was still unresolved.

"Oh my God, did you make a sex tape?" Tyler gasped and then grinned. "Can I see it?"

"No - what?" Reid raised the bottle of cleaning spray as if to knock Tyler out with it before changing his mind. "Why would you even ask that?"

Tyler threw his hands up in exasperation. "Okay, then what's so special about her? What does she have that... say, Lex doesn't?"

I froze a little, sensing Reid's attention turning to me. There was a pause where the boys all stopped what they were doing and stared at each other. I awkwardly looked away, avoiding Reid's gaze like my life depended on it.

"I'm not doing this right now," he said finally.

"Stop torturing him, dude." Jarred added.

Tyler pretended not to hear him. "We are doing this right now, Reid. I've been seeing a new therapist lately and she said closure is the first step of finding peace and reclaiming control. Remember when I was telling you about that? You can't shut down like this all the time."

"Finding peace and reclaiming control," Reid echoed in amazement. I couldn't see his expression with his back half-turned but Tyler winced, meaning it couldn't be good. "What makes you think I need any of that?"

"This isn't about your mysterious summer fling or your many personal issues, alright? This is about that flash drive and you holding onto something that had obviously affected you negatively. And you not wanting to talk about it means you're still in your head."

"He's good," said Dennis approvingly, nodding over his shoulder at Jarred. "Right? I think this new therapist is really helping."

"They're not his words." Jarred rolled his eyes. "He pretended to be Reid and memorised what the therapist told him last session because that's how desperate he is."

Reid set down the spray bottle with a bang. "You did what?"

"For fuck's sakes, JD." Tyler exclaimed, turning and giving him a scathing glare. "Don't air out my business like that!"

"Isn't that ironic?"

Before Tyler or Reid could throw another fit, the emergency doors slammed open and paramedics were wheeling a patient down the corridor. Everything became a blur of noise as they headed towards us, for the ER.

"... suspected pneumothorax. We need identification for the patient as soon as possible."

"B-17 is available, on the left."

I was rooted in my spot as they passed, catching sight of the familiar curly blonde hair. And then, as if the ground had been yanked out from under my feet, I realised just how familiar.

It was Kayley.