When Hope's father leaves to go to the bathroom, Percy makes her way inside the room. After all, nobody can tell her to do anything, especially not some man in a tight suit. Besides, Percy only had to wait for her chance for like, two hours. While sitting in the waiting area she finally read over Lee's messages.

No doubt whoever is targeting them are the people who killed Percy's dog. The thought makes her blood boil.

Right as she slips into Hope's room, she sends Lee a reply.

I'll be there.

While Percy stares down at her phone, Hope smiles up at her from on the bed.

"Why did you wait?" Hope asks.

Percy glances up and shoves the phone deep into her pocket. It's the farthest she can get the worries from her head. Normally, Percy wouldn't babe Hope. The last thing that girl needs is to be held like porcelain. All things considered, however, Percy begins to dance around the topic. "Cara told me to debrief you. Everyone else was sorry they couldn't be here, but in Cara's defence, she wouldn't leave the hospital until you woke up. Everyone else was just busy."

Even though she nods slowly and bites her lip in contemplation, Hope doesn't buy it. At least, she believes that everyone was busy and that Cara needed someone to debrief Hope. Call it optimism, call it naivete, but she gets the feeling that Percy wasn't forced to be here.

"We wanted to know what woke you up," Percy asks, leaning towards Hope.

Hope looks over to her heart monitor for an answer. How would she know? Being unconscious has a habit of stealing one's thoughts away. Nothing seemed to have changed, at least not to her. "I don't know."

"Cara suspects that you're awake because of June and Erik throwing themselves off of cliffs, or whatever it is that they were doing," Percy looks out the window rather than look at Hope. It's dark outside. Granted, it is early in the morning, but the sky has too much colour for a sombre September moment before dawn. The sky is usually grey. Today, it looks as though a galaxy has come down to kiss the Earth.

Hope nods, even though she doubts that June and Erik's shenanigans brought her out of her slumber. Although, nothing makes any sense to her anymore. It doesn't make sense that using up the fire within them would help give Hope any back. Although, such is life.

Eventually, Hope turns to the book on her nightstand. She holds it up to Percy, offering it to her. "Can you take this before my Dad gets back?"

Though Percy cocks an eyebrow. She takes the book. Her fingers graze Hope.

The other girl falls backwards. Her head tips back against the wall, and she slumps into the bed. The heart monitor begins to ring dramatically.

Percy drops the book. She moves closer to the bed, her hands grabbing Hope's shoulders. Something is stinging Percy. Delicately, she shakes Hope's shoulders. Then, she does so forcibly. Without a second to waste, Percy slams the call-button and runs out of the room.

~~~

The last time Lee was on stage, she smashed her head off the ground. Being back up there is making her stomach twist and turn. So much so that, while she is tuning her guitar, she has to sit down. Her feet dangle off the edge haphazardly. She takes the second to check her phone and sees the text message from Percy.

Finally.

June is watching Lee from where she sits at her parents' retail booth. It's the price she must pay for being the sponsors of the festival. While it provides the best spot to people watch, sitting down tempts June into slumber.

"I know that girl from high school," June turns to her brother, pointing up at Lee on the stage. "Can I go chat with her for a minute?"

Archie just shrugs, not bothering to look up from his book. June takes that as a blessing. She crosses the field to move towards the stage. On the way, she stares up at the Ferris wheel. The fair takes place on the edge of town, so from the top, you can see all the way down into the heart of Hamilton.

The view is nice, but the joy it brings is nothing compared to the strawberry ride, nor the Starship. Even the kiddie coasters are more fun. June tends to think that she has a good stomach, but Ferris wheels always make her nauseous.

Across from the Ferris wheel, June waves to the police officers. They make her more nervous now than they ever have before. Normally, they were a trusted face in town. However, with every passing day, they get closer and closer to discovering her involvement.

"Yo, Lee!" June calls, waving at Lee.

Lee looks up from the strings of her guitar. She offers June a nod but nothing more. Unfortunately for Lee, June continues to approach. Even though "No" is written across Lee's face, June isn't going to take it for an answer.

There isn't a good way for June to start the conversation. Mostly because she can't remember the last time, she and Lee talked to each other. It must've been so long ago. Long enough that it's like it never has happened. "Are the acoustics here any good?"

Lee snorts. It's like June is picking from a list of phrases that exist about music and regurgitating them. It's not impressive, but it is an effort.

"It doesn't matter," Lee tells June. "Even with bad acoustics I still sound good."

Now it's June's turn to laugh. It's hearty and leaves her in waves. Lee tries to take the second to relax. She knows how well June can read people, without even considering her ability to read minds. Lee hopes that the laughter distracts June from the truth. After all, Lee thinks her music is fine. When she is on stage, it feels amazing, but every recording of her is shit. The acoustics aren't doing her any favours.

"You're funny. You should be around more often," June tells Lee.

Desperately, Lee tries to hide her grin. She hopes that June is right.

~~~

Eden knocks on the front door. He prays to God above that Cara's Baba doesn't answer. The only thing worse than her Baba would be her Dad. The worst part about dating girls, Eden has discovered, are their fathers. Having two, now that's a recipe for disaster.

When Baba opens the door, Eden's heart drops.

"Oh, you must be Eden!" He beams. He turns over his shoulder to call into the house. "Honey, come look. It's Eden!"

The man steps aside to let Eden into the house. Over Cara's Baba's shoulder, Eden notices a small boy peeking out from in the kitchen spying on them, as well as another man further down the hallway. Eden swallows.

"Cara's just up in her room," Baba beams, pointing up the stairs.

It was that easy? Eden wrings his hands, waiting for Baba's face to twitch, or for him to laugh and threaten Eden with a gun. Maybe they think Eden is gay. Eden doesn't care if they do, he tries to convince himself.

Though his feet are trepidations, he heads to Cara's room.

Upstairs, Eden knocks on the open door. Cara's bedroom is not like he imagined. Eden has been in two girls' rooms before even though he hasn't had sex with either of them. Normally, girls have a lot of pillows. Cara only has two. Practical. They also have a lot of polaroids and fairy lights. Cara has a few pictures of her and her family on the wall, and some of her in lab coats and winning awards, but the room is otherwise sparse.

"What are you doing here?" Cara hisses. She moves around Eden to shut the door behind him.

Eden stands frigid for a second. He looks at Cara, at her bed and then at her desk chair. When she sits back down at her desk, Eden sits on the floor. After all, he can't just sit on her bed with her fathers home. Eden likes having a working body. Cara furrows her brow, but she says nothing.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay after Hope," Eden tells her. He can feel his hands clamming up. He reminds himself to be cool and calm, just like he and Jamie had practiced over the phone. Cool and calm. "I figured we could find something fun to do."

Cara nods, glancing at her open textbook on the desk. She shuts it and turns to Eden. "What did you have in mind?"

He stays silent, blinking. He hadn't expected it would be that easy. Or that it would even work. "I figured we could go to the Autumn festival. June said she'd be there, and I heard Lee was going to do a set. I have a truck that I keep at my parent's place, since parking it at school is too expensive. I could pick you up? How does 8:00 sound?"

"Sounds great," Cara smiles. She tilts her head forward, a strand of hair falling in her eyes. All the better actually. She is so caught up in the moment that she forgets to tell Eden that Lee is meeting up with somebody then, so her set will be over.

Though Cara knows this is a bad call, since she knows he isn't asking as a friend, she doesn't care. The weekend has been too long. Quickly, she throws together a lie. "Will anybody else be there?"

"I think Jamie and Wes are as well," he tells her, even if he doesn't want it to be the group of them. It isn't often that Eden is a man with a plan, but he is now. He's got everything sorted. It'll all go perfectly.

~~~

Erik knocks on the door. When there is no answer, he bangs on it with the heel of his palm. This is not good. Absolutely awful, not pleasant, very bad. He feels himself zip and unzip his coat over and over again. He feels himself wring his hands. It's more than the unconsciousness that he feels pulling at his stomach which causes him to trip and tumble into the door. It's more than that.

Finally, the door swings open. Jamie is groggy, not that Erik notices. Erik is panicking. Everything is crashing down.

Erik pushes past Jamie into the apartment. The shorter of the two boys blinks for a few seconds before he shuts the door behind him.

"I need a place to stay," Erik finally begins, the words tumbling out of his mouth too quickly. "It's too complicated to explain, but I can't live with my Dad anymore. I don't trust him."

Without a second's hesitation, Jamie nods. "You can have Kyle's room. He won't be coming around anymore."

Erik nods. As he heads towards the bedroom to drop off his stuff, he trips on a pair of shoes. Quickly, Erik pulls himself off the ground, clinging to his backpack. Not a pair of shoes. Two pairs. One is a pair of brown boots, knock-off Doc Martin's, undoubtedly Jamie's. The others are too obvious. Skater shoes.

Without a second, Erik springs to the bedroom door. Jamie doesn't have enough time to protest. When he opens the door, he finds Wes sitting on the bed. Shirtless. With pajama pants on. Quickly, Erik shuts the door.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Erik demands.

In the room, Wesley quickly grabs a sweater off the floor and pulls it over his head. When he steps outside, Erik can feel something clogged in his throat. The sweater's Jamie's, since the sleeves are too small and the colour is too bright for Wesley (it is worth noting, however, that the sweater is only a deep red).

"Umm... crap... uh..." Jamie tries to think up and explanation that isn't related to the bed in his room, but falls short, because there really isn't any other explanation.

"I needed a place to stay," Wesley manages.

Erik balls his hands into fists. He imagines Wesley's lips on Jamie's, and he begins to get upset. He imagines that they are cold and dull and lifeless. Not unlike June's, who feels like a more like a mannequin than a girl. Like someone pretending to be alive. Erik feels the same way, and he hates how he is just like them. Maybe he died that night in the park. Maybe he was never alive.

"It's okay," Jamie takes a step towards Erik, who swipes his hand away. "We can all calm down, right? There's no need to get into a fuss."

"He fucking threatened to curb-stomp me on Friday night!" Erik shouts.

Jamie turns to stare at Wesley. His eyes wide, his head shaking back and forth. Everything from only an hour before feels like a lie. It feels like the ground is being ripped out from beneath him. Jamie shakes his head back and forth.

For once, Wesley holds his tongue. "Would you like to share why I said that?"

"You said that?" Jamie stares at Wesley in shock.

Wesley sighs, "I specifically said that I would only curb-stomp him because I knew he would live. He is taking me out of context."

"The context is any better?" Jamie can't believe what he is hearing. "So... so what? everything you said early was a lie?"

Finally, Wesley feels his fists ball. Yeah, he's taken shit. A lot of it. If Jamie wants the truth, then he will get it. "For fuck's sake, the kid called you a freak for being fucking gay! He was literally asking for a fight."

Erik feels himself snapping. Maybe physically, it feels like there is a switch inside him. "Sorry that my father beat it into me that being gay was wrong."

"Listen, I'm not saying what I did was right, and I have apologized, but you aren't owning up to your own shit either." Wesley rolls his eyes but keeps his voice calm. "And it's not cool that your father beat you, but it's not an excuse for being a little shit either."

Jamie can feel his world collapsing. Both of them are liars. Dirty cheats, trying to do anything to win him over. Including manipulating. Especially manipulating. Jamie feels like he needs to take a shower, as if he is covered in his own blood. That's what they've done to him. They've hurt him in the only ways left.

"Both of you should leave," Jamie whispers.

"I can't believe you are trying to justify your threats." Erik continues on, shouting over Wesley.

The older boy looks at Jamie, who can't bear the sight of him. Without a word, Wesley heads into the bedroom and grabs his bag. He can still hear Erik shouting over his shoulder.

"You are way older than me. It's fucking disgusting. You're a fucking pig. It was my Dad who put you in juvie, wasn't it? Only good thing that he's ever done."

Without another word, Wesley brushes past Jamie. He leaves the apartment.

Erik's head swivels to the door.

"Please, Erik, just go."

Though his fists are clenched, Erik leaves too.

~~~~~

This chapter is just cruel and unusual punishment. It's up and then down and then up and then down. Like, literally, is anyone having a good time right now? Eden and Cara are the closest.

I will see you soon!