On Friday night, the rain beats against the ground, freezing Cara to the bone. She shivers underneath her black jacket, thankful that she always checks the forecast and did not bring her peacoat. The lights overhead shine through the rain, illuminating the crowd in front of her. The sky practically sparkles.

All of the people around her stand up, cheering and jumping in the stands. Though she is significantly less excited, she forces herself to stand so that she can get a better view of Eden, who is tearing down the field.

Cara wishes that she hadn't felt compelled to see him. With shoulders as broad as his, she almost guaranteed he was a football player, and she was right. She had tried to convince herself that it was to make sure he was concussion free, but it wasn't. Now, watching him across the field, she hopes that seeing him engage in acts of violence will get his shining eyes out of her mind.

God, she feels hopeless.

She watches Eden tear down the field. His head is in the game, and his heart is pounding in his ears. The only thing good about football (aside from the fact that it isn't gay, apparently) is the adrenaline rush that fills Eden's body every time he sprints. Right now, he feels like he is on top of the world, even more than usual.

The feeling makes him feel guilty. How can he feel excitement when Thea is dead?

Eden feels his face collide with the ground.

From her point above, Cara watches another boy trip him. Without a seconds thought, she scooches her way past the fans who have all paused in a collective gasp. Through the rain, she runs on to the field, ignoring the football players who dart by.

"Get off the field!" The referee screeches at her.

Cara stops on her feet, swinging her head around. Only now does she realize that she has interrupted the entire football game. Her cheeks turn red.

Eden pulls himself off the ground, limping over towards her. At first, he can't make out who she is. The girl looks like the ghost of someone he once knew. The feeling doesn't go away when he sees Cara under the bright stadium lights. Thea slips from his mind and he imagines all the times on campus that Cara and Eden must have bumped arms before to give him this feeling of familiarity.

He puts his hand on the referee's shoulder. With his back turned to Cara, he whispers to the man. "She's my physiotherapist. Don't worry."

Eden leaves the man, walking over to Cara. While they make their way off the field, back towards Eden's coach, Eden tries not to put too much weight on her delicate frame. He wonders if she notices.

She does.

"You okay, Connor?" His coach asks, approaching the pair. He looks from Eden and then back to Cara, and then winks.

Cara's blush intensifies. Internally, she curses the coach for his uncomfortable demeanour and herself for her own stupidity.

"I'll be fine," Eden says, but winces at the end of the sentence.

The coach shakes his head back and forth.

"Ed can't run with a twisted ankle," Eden hears Liam call from behind him. He bites his bottom lip, his eyes scanning Cara. Suddenly, a smile erupts on his face. Eden wishes he had the courage to tuck the girl behind him and to say something back. Instead, he falls silent. "How about you two hit the showers, huh?"

Eden says nothing, he only nods. Cara can feel herself physically dying of embarrassment. She looks up at Eden, who turns away from the group, heading back to the locker rooms. This feeling of embarrassment only adds to the horror of the last few minutes, so she chases after Eden. Once she catches up to him, she fits herself beneath his arm and tries to support his weight.

"It's not that bad," he attempts to justify this to Cara, who just shakes her head. She's not used in arguing with Eden, or just arguing generally. Looking down at his swelling ankle, Cara just hopes that he hasn't broken anything. The damage will only become apparent over time.

"I'm not helping you," she says, her voice quiet. She doesn't tell him that she is trying to sink beneath his shadow and that she is clinging to him for warmth. Her dark hair is flattened against her head, making it harder and harder to see.

Eden swallows his pride. "Percy and I were looking for you."

"Who?" Cara asks, looking up at him.

"Girl with the dog," Eden clarifies, trying to keep himself from grunting. "She found Thea's body." He tries not to continue, but he can't help himself. "She was impaled in a tree. Flew up from the blast."

Cara bites her lip. So she is dead, then. Eden seems to be holding up well enough. If he isn't, it is buried somewhere deep inside him that Cara can't access even if she wanted. "I'm sorry."

Eden's heart grows heavy. He can still hear Thea's laugh in his ears, still see her hands outstretched, waiting for a hug from him. He can feel her soft hands, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. Her lips pressed against his from a game of spin the bottle in high school, a game she swore meant nothing.

"I... I barely knew her," he admits, more to himself than to her. There was so much of Thea to know, more than he could ever learn in a lifetime.

The change rooms are steps ahead, but Cara can't stop herself from clinging to Eden even though he has stopped limping.

~~~

Percy waits impatiently at the door, tapping her foot off the ground. Normally, Hades would be panting at her feet, rubbing up against her legs and waiting for her to return to the coach. However, he is preoccupied with Lily.

The harsh laughter of whatever sitcom her sister has decided to listen to is drowned out by the sound of rain pounding against the window. At this point, she's given up looking for Cara and has resigned herself to her small apartment building. Thankfully, the chaotic sounds of frat boys partying are gone tonight.

"Come sit down Perce," Lily drapes herself over the couch, her short brown curls falling in her eyes. Though her younger sister attempts to blow them out of her face, her wild hair takes her over. "We've got ten minutes still."

"I'm hungry," Percy responds, trying not to be snappy at her sister. The week has been rough enough, and all she wants now is her Chinese takeout to arrive warm, and not soggy.

Lily shrugs her shoulders, looking back at the television. Percy would feel worse if her sister hadn't spent an hour debating which Jones twin was more worth her time. She had never known her younger sister to be so boy-crazy, but so much has changed since she moved out.

Her little sister is growing up without her.

~~~

At least June has one thing going for her. She can hold her liquor like nobody's business.

For a Friday night, the bar is dead. The rain is hard enough to drive away drunk college students who can only get around by walking. That, and the football game. June would've gone, but she wanted to be here.

It's only been an hour, and she is four drinks in. She wants to pound back one more, but the bartender has made her order food in order to stay. Now, the only thing standing between June and three more shots is an order of extreme fries. Melted cheese, chilli, green onions, salsa, and buffalo sauce cover the greasiest looking fries she has ever seen. God, the sight makes her want to vomit primitively. Or worse. Go vegan.

June hears the door open behind her. She looks over her shoulder, watching three suits walk in the door, closing their umbrellas. Quickly, her eyes pour over them. Three men, one skinnier than the other two, and a bit younger. The smallest man, a ginger, fiddles with his thumbs as he stands behind the two. The older of the three looks over at June.

She averts her eyes. If her sister were here, she'd put money on them being special intelligence.

Over her shoulder, she can hear them approaching. She would mutter under her breath, but she doesn't.

"Can I see your ID?" The man asks.

June nearly curses them, slowly turning around.

"She's with me," June hears Lee call out behind her shoulder.

She turns her head, finally noticing the other girl, setting up her guitar. The older girl looks at June with a sour expression. Lee can't stand people who drink, especially the stupid college kids who are always up in her business. However, underage clients are a recipe for a suspended liquor licence, and by extent, an absence of income.

"Can I see your ID?"

The man turns to Lee, who simply rolls her eyes. Instead of responding she holds up the guitar for them to see. When the men look between each other, she finally speaks. "Musicians?"

The man shrugs, his shoulders, finally stepping away. The three make their way to the opposite end of the bar, beginning to order drinks.

"Thanks," June offers, trying to make eye contact with Lee.

The musician just shrugs. "Don't mention it. Just, don't come back."

When Lee turns away, June feels like she can practically feel waves of anger surging off the girl. She doubts that it is her normal ability to read people like a book. This is physical.

~~~

Hope's body shoots itself upright. She can feel her body huffing, her chest moving up and down. Her hands shake as she begins to pull her sheets off, stumbling over the slippers next to the bed. Not bothering to change out of her gown, she throws on her jacket and shoes.

After climbing out the window, her feet pounding into the shingled roof. She prays that her father didn't hear her. Quickly, she shuffles across the roof. It's too wet, and she is too panicked to care. When she hits the tree, she realizes that her gloves and scarf are left behind.

Without bothering to turn back, she moves down the tree. Hope runs to the only place that she has ever known to clam her nerves and to ease the tears streaming down her face. Her legs trip on the long gown repeatedly, and her heart nearly bursts in her chest. By the end of the run, she is at the park and she desperately needs water.

For a second, Hope stops and looks up at the rain pouring down above her. She opens her mouth, trying to catch something to drink. This is better than nothing.

When she looks forward, her heart stops.

Sitting on a bench, her bench is one of the boys from that night. They called him Wesley because that was his name. Seeing him calms the pulse in her chest because though the last time she ran into him here something terrible happened, they both lived through that thing together. The world is a magical and wonderful place, and it has brought her to the same boy more than once.

Wesley looks up at her, tucking his notebook into his jacket pocket as casually as possible. Not that she would be able to read it anyway, the rain has all but destroyed it. He hadn't expected anyone else to show up here, especially not with the smell of whatever chemicals the police used to get Thea's blood off the ground.

At the diner, word got around. Apparently, it had yet to reach Hope.

The girl takes a step towards him. He notices her hands are shaking, no doubt because she lacks the clothing to make her warm. There are tears in her eyes, and Wesley struggles to tell if they are from biting back the chill in the air or something else.

"Something bad is happening," Hope finally manages. She looks down, walking over to the bench without looking Wesley in the eye.

The older boy rolls his eyes. Their situation is not ideal, but Wesley has been trapped in more dire situations before, and he always managed to get out alive.

Wesley only barely stops himself from making a snarky combat. "Thea's dead."

Hope would nod if her body wasn't so frigid. The knowledge is all too familiar to her, and even though being here makes her skin turn to stone and her heart become ice, she needs her mother's bench. Especially after the nightmare she just had.

Only one thing has changed for Wesley. New to him is the hum in the air and the butterflies in his chest he has just realized occur when any of them are around, and not just Jamie. It feels like the embrace of a lover during a violent rainstorm.

Never before has Hope worried that her father would hit her, until tonight.

"I know she's dead," Hope says, finally looking up at Wesley. She lets herself blink slowly, trying to take in the boy's angry expression. Though her chest feels heavy, she finds herself trying to open him up. After all, she knows a bad boy like she knows every page in Romeo and Juliet. "You feel that pull, don't you? It feels like the embrace of a lover during a violent rainstorm."

Wesley finds himself frozen. Finally, he forces his gruff voice out of his throat. "We need to go to Jamie."

~~~

The blue light hurts his eyes, but Jamie can't find himself looking away. He finally managed to find the youngest boy's profile after an hour's search. It is the first one he has gone looking for, besides those of the friends who slept over last night (it seems Hope does not exist online). So far, no one has answered his we should talk message.

Finally, after discovering that Eric is actually an Erik, Jamie stumbled on the other boy. From a few clicks that Jamie tries to tell himself isn't creepy, he discovers that Erik is on the soccer team. There are no photos of him smiling nor bruise-free nor in colour. The boy is your prototypical bad boy.

Jamie reaches deep into his chest and finds the courage to message him.

Something crazy is going on. Like, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Is there any way I can meet you in person?

A response comes back immediately.

No.

Jamie's jaw drops. He begins to type back a message, going back and retyping it over and over.

I know I sound ridiculous, but can you trust me? Like, there is something really wrong happening, and it isn't even about Thea's death, although there is that. Whatever happened to us has layers.

Instantly, Erik replies.

No.

The younger of the two boys shuts his laptop, deciding it would be better not to answer. Whatever Jamie has to tell him apparently has nothing to do with Thea, which means Erik is out. He isn't letting himself get any deeper than this. His life is already a wreck.

Instead of sleeping, he holds a bag of frozen peas to his bruising jaw and tries to ignore the fact that after his Dad hit him, he heard Thea's voice in his head, a broken record talking him through how to minimize the bruise as if he wasn't already aware.

~~~~~~~~~~

Wow, that was exciting. I got tagged by astrovibess in something interesting, and since I don't have a spam book I figured I'd post a minor spoiler here. The first two people to kiss in this story have names that start with A and J. Who do you think it is?

I'm so excited about where the babies are going. I'll see you soon!