I walked down the stairs Tuesday afternoon. The house was silent, which was odd for the last couple of days, due to all the extra people occasionally being in the house. Mom was gone to the mall. Dad was somewhere with Caroline, which I'd rather remained unknown. Breanne was out with her apparent boyfriend.

I grabbed my cell phone and locked the door behind me, as I started walking towards Lucas' house. I got there shortly and walked in, immediately hearing the sounds from the TV in the living room. Julie was sitting on the couch, her eyes glued to the TV in front of her. Her eyes diverted away from the TV towards me and a big smile swept across her face.

"Sandra!" She smiled.

"Hey bud." I laughed, sitting on the couch next to her. "What are you doing?"

"Just watching TV." She smiled, looking back at the TV.

"I see. Where's your brother?" I asked.

"Hayden's upstairs." She replied, not taking her eyes off of the screen.

"Other brother." I grinned, nudging her in the arm.

"Oh you mean the one that you're going to marry?" She grinned coily, looking up at me with innocent eyes.

I burst out laughing and rolled my eyes, "Yeah, that one."

"He's not home." She frowned. "But he will be soon. You can stay with me!"

"Well I guess I can't refuse that, can I?" I smiled. She shook her head no, and returned back to the TV.

Shortly after that, I remembered something. "Is Leah home Julie?"

"Yeah she's upstairs."

I got up, and told Julie that I'd be back in a minute. I walked upstairs towards Leah's room, passing Hayden's on my way. He looked up and nodded at me before going back to his video game.

I knocked on Leah's door and she looked up at me, then smiled and said to come in.

"Wanna talk?" I asked, sitting down on her bed. "I figure I might be able to listen a little better than your brothers."

"I'm surprised he hasn't told you yet." She sighed. "Lucas tells you everything."

"I don't think Lucas knows everything. At least not what happened in the cafeteria." I said.

She sighed and then shrugged her shoulders. "Well, a little while ago, Scott tried something on me." She started.

"Tried something, as in..."

"Yes." She muttered. God, no wonder Lucas had been so angry.

"Anyway, I didn't want to. And he wasn't very happy. We fought, and he broke up with me. Then, I guess word somehow got around about it. And there were rumors that Lucas was going to kick Scott's ass, which was probably true. Anyway, he was mad at me for telling Lucas, so in the cafeteria, he grabbed onto my wrist. I don't know what he was planning on doing, but before anything could even happen, Lucas and Hayden were there. And that was that." She frowned and looked down towards the floor.

"You know that was right of you to not do anything if you weren't ready though right? And if it helps, I'm not ready either, and I've told Lucas that."

"Didn't want to know that." She muttered. I grinned in response, then frowned again. "Something else is bothering you." I pointed out.

"I miss him." She said lamely.

I narrowed my eyes and cocked my head to the side. "Leah.." I said in a disapproving tone. "You shouldn't miss him. Look what he did-- tried to do to you."

"I know." She sighed. "It's just hard right now, you know? I mean, he was nice to me before." She frowned then looked out towards her window. "But I guess you're right."

There was a knock on the door, and I looked up to see Lucas standing in the door.

"Thought I heard you in here." He said.

"Girl talk, get out." I raised my eyebrows at him.

He grinned and raised his hands defensively, backing out of the room. "Sorry."

I smiled at him then turned back towards Leah. "Just be careful okay? Your brothers would be a mess if anything happened."

"I know." She nodded.

I got up and walked towards the door. "I'm always three houses down if you want to talk." I smiled.

She nodded and then stopped me once more before leaving. "Hey, Lucas really loves you a lot. Don't screw it up." She grinned.

I rolled my eyes, grinning back at her. "I'll do what I can."

I smiled and left her room, walking down the hall towards Lucas' room. When I saw him, I just felt... happy.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" He grinned. Even his little half-grin-half-smile made me feel better. Nobody looked at me the way he did. God, just one conversation with his sister about boyfriends made me extremely grateful to have a good one.

I shrugged and grabbed on to his shirt lightly, leaning up and kissing him. When I pulled away, he was smiling back at me. Giving me that look.

"So, Julie tells me you're okay with marrying me now?" He smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Did she?" I grinned.

"Yeah, I believe I'm Lucas, the brother you're going to marry."

"Meh," I shrugged. "We'll see what happens in the years, and years to come." I smiled.

He smiled back at me and pressed his lips to mine. "I'll wait. But for now..." He looked around and closed the door, sitting on the bed and patting the spot next to him. "Julie is gonna have to watch TV by herself, because it's my turn with you." He grinned.

I laughed and fell back onto the bed with him. "I'm all yours."

I walked out onto the field for my game to start after school. I heard the usual cheers but then heard one over powering one. I looked over towards the bleachers and saw my Mom cheering louder than anyone. Yes, it was embarrassing but I couldn't help but laugh. Dad was sitting next to her with Caroline on his other side. Wait what? Caroline was here? I rolled my eyes just looking at them. Was it really necessary that she was here? I was pretty sure she didn't even like me. Not that I could blame her.

Then my eyes landed on Lucas, who was sitting a few rows down from them, like he usually was. His eyes met mine and he smiled and winked to me. That alone made me forget about Caroline and smile back at him.

I turned and saw Kayla walking out onto the field, and all of my distressed emotions came flooding back. Without a doubt, she was going to start something with me, like she always did. And like always, I'd get mad and want to jump her, except this time, I couldn't. Mom was here and the last thing I wanted to do was get benched. It meant a lot to me for her to approve of my soccer.

As she approached, I saw the scowl on her face. But instead of smiling back fakely at her or offering a snide remark, I merely kept a blank face as if I've never even seen her in my life. The muscles in my face were fighting back with me, wanting to let a scowl appear on my face.

The refs went through the whole clean game routine, then finally blew the whistle. Just as I had expected, her dirty playing started right away. The pushes, the shoves, etc. But I could put up with that, it was just rough playing. But I knew that once she started running her mouth, it would become harder. I didn't push back, or retaliate in anyway. I think that not doing so just pushed me to play better.

By the end of the first half, we were tied, and I hadn't fought back with Kayla. I sat on the bench and gulped down a mouth full of water. Mom looked happy, so that was good.

"Sandra, what's up with the not fighting?" I looked up and saw my coach looking back at me expectantly. Well that's nice. Everyone is surprised that I haven't gotten kicked out of the game yet.

"Do you want me to?" I raised my eyebrows at him. He rolled his eyes and turned back towards the field.

"No, I don't. So don't start."

I shrugged and sat on the bench for a few more minutes until the ref blew the whistle for us to go back on the field. I got up and went back to the center of the field where Kayla stood, smirking at me. I had a feeling this half wasn't going to be so easy to ignore her.

And I was right. As the two of us were running down the field, she passed the ball off to one of her mid-fielders and cut me off, nearly causing the two of us to trip.

"What's wrong with you?" She said. "You turning soft?"

I rolled my eyes and pushed past her, running back down the field. I didn't have time to sit there and have a conversation with her.

About ten minutes later, the two of us were racing down the sideline. I had the ball and she was trying to force me off of it. Not surprisingly, she was pushing and shoving me, but nothing I couldn't tolerate. I suppose she was beginning to get fed up, because after not being able to get the ball, she checked me hard in the side. And I had to give her credit, she could check hard. I fell right over the sideline with such force, that I rolled upon hitting the ground. It was right in front of the bleachers that Lucas and my parents were sitting on.

As soon as I fell, I felt some kind of pain run through my bad ankle. Nothing serious but it hurt pretty badly. I heard Kayla laugh contently from behind me, shortly followed by a whistle and a penalty called by the ref. Although, none of that really mattered to me right now, because all I was focused on was trying to keep down the anger that was boiling up in my body.

I stood up and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, and probably looking ridiculous to the bleachers that I was facing. When I opened my eyes, I saw Lucas watching me, concerned. I gave him a forced smile which was obviously fake, and then turned around back to the field where the smile quickly turned into a scowl.

Marcy took the penalty kick, and scored easily. Retreating back up to half, Kayla came to my side.

"So you left the EASA huh? Think you're too good for there or did they kick you out?" She grinned. My whole soccer team knew about me going to the EASA now. I figured I should just tell them and get it out in the open. So I wasn't surprised at all that Kayla would know.

I wanted so badly to hit her, but knew I couldn't. I opened my mouth to retort but quickly clamped it shut and charged past her without saying a word.

"If I end up jumping her, please pull me off of her quickly." I said to Marcy as I got to half. She grinned and nodded before the whistle blew again.

I didn't think I'd be able to put up with it much longer. She was laying it on thick now and I only had so much will power. At a throw in, she snaked up to my side again and I braced myself for it.

"So you must be screwing Luke really good for him to be staying with you even after you left him like the stuck up bitch you are." The amusement in her voice flooded through.

I stiffened at her words. And how the hell did she even know about me leaving at the beginning of the summer? Screw impressing my Mom, I could not take this anymore. Oh man, but I worked so hard. I turned to face here, and as if it were a miracle. The ref blew the whistle for the game to be over. I couldn't get kicked out if the game was over.

For the first time today, I actually spoke to her. I smiled a big smile at her and my voice was cheeful. "You're a bitch." I was about to slap her hard in the face, but was quickly pulled away by Marcy.

"You told me to." She replied before I could even say anything.

"I meant during the game." I emphasized. She rolled her eyes and continued to pull me towards the bench.

"Good game Sandra, tell Luke I said hi." She hollered to me. I pulled back on Marcy but she just tugged me even more towards the bench.

Coach put down his clipboard and then turned to face us all. "Alright good game girls. But mostly," His voice turned sarcastic. "I think we should all congratulate Sandra on not getting kicked out of a game against Lockview." Everyone laughed and began to applaud.

I rolled my eyes and scowled at them all. "Ha Ha, yeah it's really funny." They all grinned back at me and began to disperse form the field.

I gathered up all of my stuff and made my way across the field towards my family. Mom was looking excited, Dad was looking proud, and I chose not to look at Caroline. Mom engulfed me in a hug as soon as I got to them.

"Oh Sandra you were so good." She smiled. "Did you hear me cheering?" I narrowed my eyes at her. How could I not have heard her cheering?

"Yes Mom I heard." After some congratulating from Dad, and some forced conversation with Caroline, Mom nudged me and looked at something behind me. "I think someones waiting for you." She said quietly, giving me a wink. I turned around and saw Lucas leaning up against another set of bleachers, waving to people he knew as they left. I turned back around and smiled at her.

"I'll see you later okay?" She nodded and waved goodbye.

I walked over to where Lucas was standing and he smiled as he saw me coming. As I came into contact, he kissed me swiftly. "Good game Andy. Not even a fight."

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. "I do what I can."

"Is your ankle okay?" He asked, looking down at my foot, then back up at me. "You fell pretty hard."

"Yeah, it's fine." I shrugged. Actually, it kind of hurt, but I was walking. So that was all that mattered.

"Sandra you should really stay out of it." Lucas said from behind me.

"Sorry, I can't do that." I said, still looking out the window.

"Sand.."

I turned towards him and raised my eyebrows. "Lucas I didn't bring my Mom all the way from California for nothing. I don't like Caroline. And soon, Dad won't either. He'll like Mom."

I heard him sigh, and most likely roll his eyes. "You know we had plans tonight."

"And I'm sorry. But we'll reschedule." I said quickly, still looking out the window.

"Whatever," He sighed again. "When you're ready to get over all of this, then come talk to me." He got up off the couch and started towards the front door.

I turned towards him and looked at him with a confused expression. "Where are you going?"

"Home." He muttered.

I stared at him as he left. What was his problem? So I'd been focused on splitting my Dad and Caroline lately. He would too if he were in my position, right?

I shook my head and cleared the thoughts. I'd deal with that later.

Dad came down the stairs and I jumped away from the window, and laid across the couch, starting my act.

"What's the matter Sand?" He asked, walking into the living room.

"I don't feel so good." I muttered, rolling over to look at him. All those years of faking sick for school had made me professional at this. "Oh, speaking of sick. Caroline called while you were out. She wanted me to tell you that she can't come over since she's not feeling well either, and that she's just going to lay down for the rest of the day, and she'll talk to you tomorrow. Must be something going around."

Dad, being the gullible Dad he is, believed every word I said. "Maybe I should call her."

"Don't bother. She said she'd be asleep. She said she'd talk to you tomorrow. Don't wanna seem clingy Dad." I grinned a bit.

He shrugged then turned back towards the stairs. "Guess I'm staying home tonight." He went back upstairs.

As soon as he was out of earshot, I shot up from the couch, and grabbed my phone to call Caroline. It rang twice before she picked up.

"Hello?" Her voice flooded through the phone.

"Caroline, it's Sandra. Just wanted to call to let you know that Dad's really sick. He's sleeping now but asked me to let you know that he can't go out tonight. And he's really sorry and he'll call you tomorrow." I recited this whole speech in my usual bored tone that I spoke with to her, so that she wouldn't think anything suspicious was going on.

"Oh, alright. Well tell him I hope he feels better." She said throught the phone.

"Yeah sure, don't call back, he's sleeping. Bye." I said quickly, hanging up.

Once that call was ended, I dialed Mom's number.

"Hello." She answered.

"Hey Mom, did you get the movie?" I asked her.

"Yeah I'll be there in a minute." She said.

"Alright, listen I'm not feeling too well, but you can still come anyway."

"Okay honey, do you want me to pick anything up on the way?" She asked.

"No, I'm fine." I smiled. Before hanging up, and laying back down on the couch as I heard Dad coming back downstairs.

"Hey Dad, Mom and I were gonna watch a movie tonight. She's still gonna come anyway, wanna watch it with us since you're not going out anymore?" I lifted my head to ask him.

"Sure, why not?" He shrugged. I grinned to myself when he couldn't see. It was too easy.

Five minutes later, Mom arrived at the house, movie in hand.

"What movie are we watching?" Dad asked, plopping down on the couch. I read off the name on the front of the case. It was some old movie that I've never seen, but knew for a fact that it was their favorite movie.

"That was our favorite movie." He smiled at Mom. Oh I knew that. And don't think I didn't plan it.

"Hm, strange." I commented, hiding my grin.

About twenty minutes in, I decided to excuse myself, saying that I thought I was going to get sick. Not so pleasant, I know. But it worked.

"I might lay down in my bed for a few minutes. I'll be back in a few minutes." I said, walking up the stairs.

And that was it. I sat at the top of the stairs for the first few minutes, listening to them talk like they used to. I smiled to myself, walking into my bedroom and laying on my bed. Now I just had to hang out up here for an hour or two.

I texted Lucas to tell him that my plan was in fact working. But he didn't text back. Maybe he actually was angry with me?

I heard someone walking up the stairs, so I quickly laid back into my bed and pretended to be asleep. I heard someone walk in, then walk out and go back down the stairs. Once they were surely back downstairs, I quietly got out of bed and stood at the top of the stairs.

"She's asleep." I heard Mom laugh.

So the two of them watched the movie together, which was exactly what I had intended.

I had coincidentally gotten over my little illness for school the next morning. All I had to worry about now would be if Dad and Caroline happened to bring up the fact that they were both "sick" . But I'd worry about that later.

I got to school shortly before the bell, and went straight to my locker. I rummages around my locker until I found my books, then shut my locker with a thud.

As I closed my lock, I saw Lucas down the hallway at his own locker. I threw my bag over my shoulder and approached his locker. I leaned against the one next to his as he continued to go through his own.

"Hey." I smiled. He looked around his locker door at the sound of my voice, and put a small smile on. One that looked sort of forced.

"Morning." He greeted, grabbing one last thing out of his locker then closing it and facing me.

"What's up?" I asked hesitantly at his strange mood. Usually he was smiling and happy in the morning and pummeling me with kisses. It was basically him that actually woke me out of my sleepy state every morning.

"Nothing." He shrugged, not quite looking at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him and sighed. "Are you mad at me for last night?" When he didn't answer right away, I knew the answer was yes. "Come on Lucas. Don't be mad at me please. I'm sorry. Really." I pouted up at him, slipping my hands into his.

He looked around for a second, as if trying to avoid my eye contact, then looked at me and heaved a smile, letting a smile slowly form across her face.

"Don't worry about it. It was stupid anyway. I was just being an idiot." He grinned, leaning down and lightly pressing his lips to mine. I smiled against his lips, thankful that he was easily forgiving.

"You wanna come over tonight?" He asked. "Watch a movie or something. We'll have the house to ourselves." He grinned, leaning down and kissing me again. "No interruptions."

"I'd like that." I smiled, wrapping my arms tighter around his neck and pulling him down for one last kiss before we had to go to first class. We separated and he smiled at me, and leaned in again but got tugged away from me.

Troy let go of his arm and rolled his eyes at the two of us. "Get off each other, and go to class."

Lucas rolled his eyes at him, and then winked at me before leaving down the hallway with Troy.

I smiled, happy that the whole thing was easily blown over. And then I'd go to his house tonight, and everything would be even better. Except, didn't I already have something planned for tomorrow night?

Damn.

A/N: Hi guys! I've been working on this chapter all day and just started getting fed up and figured this would be the best it would get ;p So anyway, I hope nobody hated it! Thanks so much for all of the awesome reviews, alerts, followers on Twitter: Jennxox1, etc. I actually really enjoyed reading all of the reviews last chapter, because I wasn't too fond of that chapter but you guys were all giving such good compliments! So thank you! So I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please keep leaving those awesome reviews! :D

Here's your real life Lucas story. (This was the Monday after Halloween week end.)

Him: You know, you never thanked me that night I drove you home on Halloween.
Me: Because you were being annoying and I wanted to get out as quickly as possible.
Him: Why, because I said you looked hot?
Me: Partly.
Him: Well, I was just saying. I was thinking about kissing you before you got out.
Me: Well good thing you didn't or I would have probably slapped you.
Him: You're crazy, you know. Lots of girls would die to kiss me.
Me: Not me.
Him: Soon enough, you'll come to your senses and you will. And then it'll be too late because I won't want to get with you anymore.
Me: I'll be so heartbroken.
Him: Well I am a heart breaker.
Me: And annoying.
Him: And good looking.

That's all for now! Thanks everyone! :))

lulu. lemon