"He was nice to you in the morning and flipped back to his usual dumbass self in the evening?" Sophie yelled through the phone and Sasha nodded as I mumbled a yes.

Having lunch with Sophie on phone and hearing her bitch about Tyler was oddly satisfying.

"I have a theory." Sophie said and I knew her detective face was on.

"Me too." Sasha sat straight, smoothing her hair.

"What's yours?"

"I think he's bipolar."

That could be it. "What's yours, Soph?"

"He's a psychopath." She hummed and Sasha nodded.

"Or both."

Finally, when Sophie hung up and we walked out of cafeteria, Sasha turned to me with a smirk.

"I've something to ask."

"Okay. What?"

"What if Tyler wanna be nice to you?"

"A very nice hypothetical situation."

"Well, yeah but even though he was a jerk to Marissa yesterday, he wasn't to you, was he?"

"Not yesterday."

"When I moved in, Tyler was an asshole who used to throw drinks at you. Now, it's like he's almost civil to you. Well, as civil as he can get."

And suddenly, all the recent days flashed in my mind. He even stopped calling me names. It's mostly just princess and sweetheart now, which by the way I loathe.

"Eve?"

I pulled myself from those thoughts and looked at her. She was watching me curiously.

"Have you thought about being friends with Tyler?"

What? Why would I? That was never a possibility.

But before I could even think about it, Ms Reed, our literature teacher called us to her desk.

"I need both of you to do me a favour."

Ms Reed liked us. Whenever she needs any help from students, she always turned to us. And it gave us a perfect reason to ditch classes, mainly math.

I don't know if it's because of Sophie or Sasha, but I kept thinking about Tyler the whole day.

And when someone pulled me by my arm as I walked towards Sasha, I cursed silently.

Shouldn't have thought about him.

But it wasn't Tyler this time, it was one of his friends.

I took a deep breath, feeling relieved when I saw his empty hands. At least I'm free of drinks.

"Where are you running to?" He came close with a smirk plastered on his face and suddenly, Sasha appeared out of nowhere.

"Hello, Mr idiot? Stay back." She said, snapping her fingers at him.

"Aren't you a pretty doll?" He slurred.

How come Tyler and his friends are such pathetic perverts? 

"And why don't you come with me?" I heard Zack's voice and turned to see him behind us.

Unlike us, Tyler's friend wasn't happy to see Zack.

"Stay back."

"That's what she said to you, isn't it?" Zack shrugged. "I don't see you doing that."

"Don't mess with us." He released his grip on my arm and stalked forward, clenching his teeth.

Oh, boy.

"Sure, your wish is my command." Zack muttered.

After a few more minutes of glaring and gritting his teeth at Zack, he went back. But not before shooting me a glare.

If looks could kill, I'll be writhing under death's grip now.

What did I ever do to him?

"You should've punched him!" Sasha grumbled and I frowned.

Is this the same girl who complains that her brother fights all the time?

Zack looked at her with an open mouth and shook his head."I shouldn't have come here. You're such a-" He cut himself off with a sigh and gestured for us to walk.

"A punch isn't a crime." She argued as we got in the car and I saw Zack clench his teeth.

"Last time, I remember a punch turning into a massive fight and you-"  He pointed his index finger at her and continued. "-were the first one to scold me."

I stifled a laugh. Did she scold him? Her elder brother?

And then, my laugh died a quick death when I remembered Noel scolding me. That too, quite often.

"This is for another reason."

"Oh really? I should punch him for this but we shouldn't have when those assholes-"

"You never told me that, you idiot!" She cut him off, punching his shoulder.

This reminded me so much of my fights with Noel. I guess sibling fights are never mature. Ten or twenty, they behave the same.

"I'm not gonna talk to you." Sasha said crossing her arms and Zack raised his eyebrows.

"I'm blessed."

I smothered a laugh, earning a glare from Sasha.

"Drop me here." She mumbled a few minutes later and he frowned.

"Here?"

"Why? Do you have any problem?" She snapped and he sighed.

"Fine. Go."

When he pulled the car to a stop, she turned to me, her cold angry face quickly changing to a smile. "See you tomorrow, Eve."

Who's bipolar again?

"She's crazy." He mumbled as he started driving."Sometimes she's the sweetest little sister and the next, she's a witch and a bitch."

As we fell into a comfortable silence, my curiosity decided we need more.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked and he glanced at me with a smile.

"Of course, you can. I always ask you things."

"True. But you don't have to answer this question if you don't want to."

"I always ask you questions you don't want to answer." He smirked, making me smile.

That's true as well.

"Why were you arrested?"

I regretted asking that the moment his smirk vanished.

"She told you I was arrested?" He asked, gritting his teeth and cursed under his breath. "Of course, she would."

Okay. Maybe I shouldn't have asked.

"It's not like that. It was a stupid impulsive decision." He sighed. "I regret not having a plan, but I don't regret a single thing we did to him."

"Liam's sister had one of her friend's birthday party and when she was done, she called him to give her a ride. " He said as we got stuck in the traffic. "And of course we all were together at our apartment, talking shit, having nothing good to do. So, we tagged along with him. She should've stayed in the house till we got there but no, she had to step out and wait for us in the street.

"When we went to pick her up, we saw a man forcing himself on her. That motherfucker had one hand over a mouth to muffle her screams and the other hand shoved up her-" He stopped abruptly and I saw pain in those eyes more than anger.

"Morgan was only fourteen, Evelyn. And that man was double her age." His voice was barely more than a whisper.

Oh, no.

"Liam just charged at him, we all did. He was older and stronger than us, but at the time, none of us cared about a damn thing. Unfortunately, he had two of his companions nearby.

"They were men in their mid-thirties and we were a bunch of twenty-year-olds. So, from someone else's perspective, we were some stupid teenagers saving themselves from grown-ass men. They were drunk too, so... Yeah, our lawyer had a little advantage there."

"You guys did the right thing." I sighed. They deserved more than that.

"For the record, the cops didn't charge any case against us. The cops were well acquainted with those men and also Liam's parents pressed charges against the man. So, yeah..." He shrugged and finally a tiny smile reappeared.

"Thanks for telling me." I smiled and he shook his head.

"Well, I pry into your life a lot, so you might as well retaliate." He smirked. "Sorry for that, by the way, I wasn't this nosy before."

"You're not nosy." I muttered and when he raised an eyebrow, I smiled. "Maybe a little bit."

"Right." He chuckled.

In the few minutes it took to reach Claire's house, I thought about Liam's sister and the man.

Will she be terrified to step out of her house again? Will she be able to go somewhere alone without fear?

This will be etched into her memory forever and what did they gain?

"Is that your April?" Zack's question made me open my eyes and I followed his gaze.

Sure enough, Claire was stepping out with April in her arms.

Oh, crap. No more babysitting, I guess.

But when I stepped out of the car, Claire just acknowledged me with a nod. No fury, no warnings.

"I was thinking maybe you could take her to the park? There's one a couple blocks away. She's not satisfied with anything here." She said.

I had thought about it many times. But didn't do anything because Claire wasn't what I call friendly and I thought maybe keeping my opinions to myself was a good idea.

"Sure, I'll take her." And with that, she let me take April from her and got into her car.

"Get in, I'll take you to the park." Zack beckoned, reminding me that he was still here. "It's only a couple blocks away."

"Exactly. It's only a couple of blocks away, I'll walk."

"Hop in, I haven't turned off the engine anyway."

And when April grinned jumping towards Zack, I got in with a smile.

"I'm actually surprised Tyler doesn't give you shit for being late." He said, stealing occasional glances at April, who was busy staring at him.

"Only one hour. Claire comes back in an hour, that's why I jumped on this opportunity. This way, I can babysit and work at the cafe." I told him. "Jake and Marissa are covers for me."

"Where's she going for exactly one hour?' He furrowed his brows and I shrugged.

"Claire isn't a friendly person, she doesn't talk much." And I didn't have enough courage to ask her.

Once we were in the park, Zack stepped out of the car instead of going back. He said he didn't have anything better to do. So, we walked.

There were a bunch of kids playing, a few mothers watching their children, one of them busy setting up a picnic.

"Sasha said Tyler's playing nice now." He mumbled, wiggling his eyebrows at April.

"I won't say nice but compared to how he was...yeah." I nodded. "It sucks to be bullied. So I'm enjoying this newfound freedom."

"Yeah, it sucks." He nodded. "I was bullied too."

"Really?"

"Why are you so thrilled about that?" He asked me with a smile and I realised I was my curiosity was morphed into a smile. "You sound happy to know I was bullied."

"No." I shook my head. No one deserves to be bullied. "But you're not someone who gets bullied."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Because you don't take shit from others?" I asked and he raised his eyebrows.

"And you do?"

I do. Oh, I do. I'm ashamed to admit it, but that's the truth.

"We moved to Hudson when I was nine. So, yeah, they enrolled me in a new school." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and I bounced April on my hip as we walked. "I was a very unhappy child because all my friends were back in Hudson and I was alone there. Well, Sasha was there but she didn't really help."

I chuckled.

"And there was this thirteen-year-old guy in our neighbourhood, who liked to beat up other kids. I was an easy target. Younger than him, skinny, didn't have any friends...At the very first week, I got punched in the face."

April made a sound, making me take my eyes off Zack.

"Sasha still laughs at me for that. Even though she doesn't remember a thing apart from what dad said."

"And?"

"And I ran to my dad, pouring my complaints out. He lectured me a lot. Told me that if I don't stand up for myself, boys like him would crush me beneath his foot like a bug. Nine-year-old me was terrified by that analogy." He smiled. "And the same guy, yells at me for the same thing now."

Aw.

"And for boosting up the confidence, he made me train in martial arts. Krav Maga was so cool that I learned it out of pure passion." He smiled to himself. "Dad was right you know? It really made me confident because with the right moves, you can tackle a person no matter how big or strong they are."

Now I wish I had my dad with me when Tyler moved in.

"What if you're already halfway crushed?" I blurted out, still hung up on his dad's words and he looked at me with a tiny hint of a smile.

"Then, you collect those broken pieces and scoot away from that ruthless foot as soon as you can. Halfway crushed is still better than totally crushed, right?"

I guess it is.

"Maybe start by defending yourself and your choices, your decisions..." He shrugged, trailing off.

Right.

I don't know how long I stayed silent, mulling over the thoughts. Minutes maybe? Because the next thing I know Zack is playing peek-a-boo with April.

"Ice cream?" He pointed to the shop across the street when he saw me watching them with a smile. "Which flavour do you prefer?"

"Anything."  As long as it's ice cream.

But when I offered to split the money, he feigned heartache. "Don't do that to me. Let me think I'm a gentleman."

With that, he walked away.

Claire was right. Gone was the April who loved to sleep and sit still. This April tried to slip away when she saw another baby.

"Eve? What the hell are you-" I heard Tyler's voice and for a moment, I thought it was in my mind.

How did he get here?

"I see. So this is what made you skip a year." He said through clenched teeth, eyes on April.

Uh, what?!

"Well, look at you and this little thing."

"She's not a thing!" I couldn't help but frown. Such cute little baby and he calls her a thing?

"Well, how about that? You're protective of your kid?" 

Of my kid? Is he that stupid? Can't he do the math?

But when he looked past my shoulder and gritted his teeth, I swallowed the words.

"Right. So that's why he barks when I'm around you."

I didn't have to turn back to know it was Zack who was at the receiving end of the scowl.

"She's one year old Tyler, do the math." I said in the most polite yet frustrating way I could and took a few steps back towards Zack.

"Ice cream?" He offered, extending one to Tyler with an overly sweet smile.

"Fuck off." He scowled, walking away from us.

Zack laughed out loud when I told him where Tyler's thought went. The laughter died when I reminded him of his old theory about Theo.

After finishing his ice cream, Zack scooped April from me, continuously asking whether it was the right way or not, so that I could have my ice cream peacefully.

"See, she likes me. Don't you?" He grinned at her and she squealed, getting a hold of his hair.

"Let's see." I said, opening my arms and without any hesitation, she jumped on me.

It was when Zack pointed out that I realised that we were late by half an hour. And that got me panicking.

Claire. She'd fire me, for sure.

"No, she won't. She asked you to do this, remember?" He said, speeding up and I realised I said it out loud.

"Oh, poor Marissa." I sighed. Jake's shift starts at six in the evening. 

"We'll be there in a minute." He assured.

When Claire didn't give me any looks or warnings, half the burden was off my chest.

Nothing happened at the cafe either. A part of me was worried that Tyler would realise I was hanging out at a park when I really should be working at the cafe. But luckily, he didn't pay any visit.

But what happened was Theo getting angry at me for going to the park and having ice cream. The fact that Zack was with me, was a cherry on top of the cake.

A promise that I'd take them to a park soon, was what it took to calm him down.

"With Zack?

"Yes, I'll ask him." I sighed and he finally cracked a smile.

***********

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