Here's chapter 2 my sweets! yes it is lacking in both views and reviews blah blah blah but remember I love you guys for a reason and that is the same exact reason that I am posting this chapterr, yall deserve it. Be sure to inbox me what you think! Holla backk baby(;

I stood there as it started to rain softly. I looked at the parking spot of where her car was just parked and began to walk to my own car. I had no clue. Then again, how could I have known? I slipped into the drivers seat and Victoria was sitting in the passengers side. I didn't even look at her.

"What are you doing in my car?" I asked calmly buckling my seat belt. She looked at me.

"The real question is why were you acting weird all day today? And why were you talking to her by her car just a minute ago, everyone could see you." I could her the anger in her voice. And for a millisecond I was worried about my reputation but then I realized I didn't care, "Hello! Are you in there?" She waved a hand in front of my face, I hadn't realized I was zoning out. "Are you going to answer my questions?" I looked sideways at her, at times like this I always wondered why I still put up with her and her crap.

"I wasn't acting weird and I was talking to Alana about some homework." I lied smoothly. Everyone had noticed I hadn't been right for a while. The first person to notice was my coach. He told me I wasn't "playing my best" and I didn't start the last to games because of it. I've been trying to get my head in the game but its just not connecting like it used to. Then my parents tired to figure out what was wrong and then my teachers. My grades were slipping and I could feel myself slipping too.

"You totally have been acting weird!" She said looking at herself in the mirror. She messed with her hair. "You can tell me whatever's been bothering you, I won't tell anyone." But I knew she would. The whole school would know by tomorrow but that's not why I didn't tell her, I knew she could never understand, how I feel or what I'm going through because I don't completely understand it myself.

"Its nothing," I turned the key over and looked at her. "Anything else?" She scrunched up her eyebrows and then rolled her eyes.

"Whatever Cam," she got out and slammed the door just in enough time for me to race out of the parking lot. It was late and the parking lot wasn't a traffic jam anymore so I moved effortlessly to the main road. To be completely honest, I couldn't care less about what Victoria wanted to know, she didn't seem as important to me as I thought she was. More and more I realized how terrible of a person she is. Like what she did to Alana today in class, it was completely out of line and I hated her for doing it. Just the look on Alana's face when she said it was enough for me to stop talking to her completely but I couldn't do that, I had an image to keep up and what would the school do if the number one couple didn't talk.

Even though they all know we are on and off, they wouldn't know what to think if I completely shut her out. I'm not sure I would even know what to do because I know my friends would get on me about it, along with my brothers and family. The only people who don't like me being with Victoria are my two sisters, Marie and Lacy. They both hate her with the passion of a thousand suns and they've told that to me many times. Maybe I should've listened to them. I drove the rest of the way home in silence. Mind wheeling. When I got home all the cars were there which meant all of my siblings were visiting home from college, just what I needed, someone else on my case. I cut the engine and my two older brothers came running out of the house, smiling like idiots. I hopped out of the car and fake a smile for them as they tackled me to the ground laughing.

"How's our little baby brother doing?" Cade cooed at me and I swatted his hand. I laughed as Callum grabbed my hand and pulled me off the ground. Cade playfully tackled me again.

"Come on Cade, he just got home," Callum was always the wise one, well I guess wisdom comes with being the oldest. Whenever something was not right he would know and by the way he looked at me I knew he knew I wasn't right. But I also knew he wouldn't ask me in front of Cade. Cade wasn't really the sensitive type, he was the ultimate jerk. The one that constantly screwed girls over intentionally. He pulled Cade off me who could not stop laughing. We got up and walked towards the house.

As soon as I walked in, I was overwhelmed with the scents of food. Mom always cooks big meals when my siblings came home from college. But I didn't mind, I needed more protein so I could bulk up. I gave hugs to Marie and Lacy who can't believe I'm so "grown up". All I did was put on a fake smile and headed up to my room. I dropped my back pack and it hit the floor with a thud. I glanced around only to see that my room had be tampered with, it was tidier than it normally was, probably was my mom. I walked into the bathroom and handled my business. While I was washing my hands, I realized how scared I was of looking myself in the mirror. For fear of what I now look like. I shut the water and slowly looked at myself. The first thing I noticed were the dark bags under my eyes, tough they were big I thought it'd be worst, I haven't slept for weeks. The glow that my hair normally had is gone and now it looks dull and flat. I tried to smile but I just looked forced, like it wasn't meant to be there. I had to look away before looking myself in the eyes. My baby blues seemed to have lost there glow and now they just looked...lifeless.

I looked away from myself, disgusted and left the bathroom. Callum was looking at the new picture mom hung up in my room last week. It was an old family picture, all five of us were sitting on the park bench with ice cream in our hands. Lacy and Marie had some ice cream dripping down their fingers, while Cade had his all over his face. Callum managed to eat his ice cream with just the cone left, smiling hard at the camera. Then there I was, on the end of the bench, hands and faced covered in ice cream. I remember how mad Mom was because I ruined my shirt. But through all of that chaos, I still looked happy and carefree. Without even looking back, Callum said,

"I read the paper," his voice was calm. Sometimes I wondered how he could keep his cool in any situation, but that's always been his personality. I didn't say anything, there wasn't much to say. He turned around to look at me in my silence but my eyes were on the ground. I knew that if I looked him in the eyes, I wouldn't be able to hide it anymore. I could hear him take footsteps closer. "I know you care about her Cam but hiding from your feelings isn't going to make her get better." I looked up at him. I noticed the lines around his eyes, he was stressed. Then I instantly felt guilty because I was going to drag him into my mess. I did something that I'd never done before.

I told him everything.

"That's why you care so much," Callum said. We'd made our way out to the deck and he was sitting directly across from me. All I could do is nod. I felt raw and numb and over exposed.

"Dinner's ready!" my mother called and we stood up in unison.

"Look Callum, you can't tell anyone," I said shutting the door behind me. I knew he wouldn't tell but what I told him is really serious.

"I won't Cam but you need to tell someone," We walked through the living room.

"Who?" I asked.

"Her, she deserves to know," I stopped walking. Not because I was shocked, but because I knew he was right.

Dinner was fun, we got to hear how all of my siblings have been doing in college., their current boyfriends or girlfriends. Marie, the second oldest has been dating this guy for four years and she think they're going to break up because he's been acting "distant" lately. Lucy, the freshman in college, is really focusing on her grades, she's not into boys, more into books. Callum has been dating this girl for seven years and he's talking about purposing when they graduate, he says he already has her fathers permission. And Cade says he's never going to settle down. Same old conversation but then they all looked at me. This is where I come in and say some stuff about Victoria.

"Cam are you still dating the wicked witch of the west?" Marie said with a dirty look on her face while Lucy mimicked throwing up.

I shook my head, "No, Victoria and I have been broken up for two weeks," I said simply.

"Well we all know how long that's going to last," Lucy said rolling her eyes. I told them what she did in class today.

"She's got a hard life at home honey-" My mom started but only to be cut off my Marie.

"Mom you've been using that excuse for years, and that's not enough this time." Her mouth was full of venom, from the built up hatred.

"Well she does!" My mom has always felt bad for Victoria because her dad left her and her mom when she was young. But not even a year later her mother married another man, but its been twelve years. Cade was on Mom's side but that was only because he thought Victoria was hot. They continued to bicker about that matter. When they all got silent they looked at my dad for his opinion and my dad looked at Callum. They had a really close connection, that no one really understood, they were practically the same person and when we feuded like this, they were the mediators. Callum glanced at me for a millisecond.

"I'm sorry Mom but the way she acts towards others is absolutely horrendous and her parent's divorce cannot be an excuse anymore." His voice was calm and collect, as always, like the conflict didn't even phase him. I seriously had no idea how he did it because I could feel my anxiety picking up. "One of her disrespectful comments probably drove Alana into a depression." I could here Cade getting worked up, he as an aggressive arguer, the type that never backs down.

"You can't blame her suicide attempt on Victoria! Alana probably is just another attention seeking who-" He stopped because I got up from the table and walked away. I couldn't sit there and here them take sides on a matter that I only knew the truth about.

"Cameron! You need to come finish your dinner." My mother said.

"Let him go," My fathers voice was calm mirroring Callum's. I marched out the front door and slid into my car. I drove away from the house of conflict, and I didn't look back. I drove around for a while until I saw Alana sitting in the Waffle House all alone. I quickly pulled off the road hearing some horns blare for cutting them off. I parked my car and got out. I looked at my phone 11 missed calls, I deleted the voicemails without listening to them. I turned my phone off and walked in. It smelled like week old coffee and bacon. The walls had a yellow tent to them and the drink station had a huge OUT OF ORDER sign on it. I looked around at all the people. Like there were that many. There were some thugs in the corner with some trashy looking girls all over them in the corner. There was a group of girls dressed like they were going out they all giggled and looked at me flirtatiously. My eyes finally fell on Alana. She was dressed in the same clothes she had on earlier except her shoes were off and she had her legs crisscrossed. Her hair was curly, not like little curls but big full curls, which were probably caused my the slight drizzle outside. Her make up was gone, she had none on and without it, her face looked young, and delicate. Her head was in a textbook, physics or math I guessed, but you could tell she wasn't really aware of the world around her, she was lost in her book.

I walked over to the table, "You mind if I sit here. " She jumped a little but looked up at me.

"I would say no but then you'd just sit here anyway," I slid into the booth because I knew she was right. I grabbed the dingy yellow menu as the waitress came, on roller blades. Her eye shadow had obviously been applied blindly because she looked like a drag queen and by the shade of her teeth, she was a pack-a-day smoker. But she smiled brightly.

"Is there anything I can get you?" She looked at me.

"Can I get a large coffee," I said simply and she wrote it down. I thought maybe she was smiling just so I'll pay attention to her but her face brightened when she looked at Alana who stopped reading to smile at the girl.

"How have you been?" Alana asked the lady and she put her hands on her hips.

"I've been good! You want a Chai tea? Or Rosehip and hibiscus?" I looked back at Alana who only pondered for a second before deciding,

"Rosehip," they smiled at each other like they had some type of secret before the waitress rolled away back behind the counter.

"You know her?" I asked looking at the menu and there weren't any types of tea on there. I shrugged my shoulders and put the menu down so I could look at her.

"Yeah," she was still smiling. "I used to come here late at night and service would be slow and she would always be working so we became really good friends." I glanced back in her direction. "Don't judge her," Alana said looking at me. "I did," She glanced back at the waitress and them back to me, "But she's got it tough." She pushed her hair out of her face.

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"Its not my business to tell but take my word for it," I did. She flipped a page in the book and looked back at me. But there was something different about this look. It was like she was really looking at me. "The real question is what happened to you?" she sat back against the seat and I continued to play with a pack of sugar.

"Nothing," I said shortly. I didn't want to tell her about my silly problems, when I knew hers were worse then mine.

"Oh, trouble in paradise?" She actually sounded like she cared for a moment and I looked into her eyes, trying to imagine her pain. I shook my head.

"I don't want to talk about it." Our eye contact didn't break. She quietly went through her bag and pulled out her phone. She set it beside her book.

"I said the same thing a couple of months ago," she chuckled. "Now look at me, I'm in the paper." She uncapped her Chapstick and put some on. Her phone vibrated and it spoke,

"Take meds," It was a soft female voice which I barely recognized was her own and it kept vibrating and repeating itself.

"Okay, okay," she shut if off and set it back on the table. She dug through her colorful shoulder bag until she found a little pill container. She opened it and poured out three pills which she swallowed down with a water bottle from her bag. Now I could see her. There was pain in her eyes which showed on her face, which mirrored my own with dark circles.

"Do you sleep?" My voice was quiet, barely above a whisper.

"Just as much as you do," she didn't even look up from her book but she'd notice my dark circles.