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My mind wandered, thinking about Maven and Hunter. I remembered how Faye had referred to Hunter as Carmen's 'brainless chew toy.' I should've taken note of the unhappy look she'd shown after she mentioned Carmen's boyfriend. Somehow, Maven's hate for his brother had spilled into Faye, causing her to dislike his brother as well. It was kind of odd how these two brothers had dated girls who basically despised each other to the ends off the Earth.

I was going to ask Beth a follow up question, but found myself thinking about something else. All day, I hadn't seen Dakota roaming the halls of this school. I hadn't seen him in P.E. and I didn't see him in Mr. Finley's class. And now, as I sat in the busy cafeteria, I didn't find him sitting in his usual seat. He only ever doodled in his sketch book, not eating or talking to anyone around him. Where was he today?

"Hey, Beth." I cleared my throat. "Have you seen Dakota at all? Or has he finally transfer like the rest of school wants him to?" I threw in the last question so she wouldn't think I was hung up on his whereabouts. It wasn't like I was anyway.

Pierson had overheard my question and answered for her. "No, he didn't transfer to Boulder Valley High. He got arrested the other night at the Smell. Along with some other kids that weren't fast enough to get out of the place."

Dakota got arrested? That was the last place I thought he'd be right now. Hunter had told me that Dakota got in trouble with the law quite often in the past. He'd gone to a juvenile delinquent hall four times ever since they were in junior high.

"I'm guessing his older brother Dion had to drive up here from Los Angeles to get him out of there." Ollie informed, folding a French fry in his mouth. "Hope that teaches him a lesson to not side with the Boulder Valley kids again."

"Wait." I shook my head in confusion. "Why couldn't his mom or dad take him out of the holding cell?"

That surely got everyone's attention at the table. It was only a few people who had first joined in my conversation, but now the entire table was looking at me like I was some wacko for even mentioning Dakota's parents. This wasn't the first time I'd gotten weird looks for talking about his parents.

"Silvia," Pierson said, softly. "Let's be logical here. Dakota's mom didn't even go to her own daughter's funeral. Why would she drive up to the police station to pick up her son?"

"She never has in the past," Doug pointed out. "Why would she start doing that now?"

"Dion--the only normal Ridgewood--has been stepping in to help out with his younger sibling longer than I can remember," Ollie told me. "Ever since what happened with their dad, Dion has been their parent in a way. At parent teacher conferences, Dion comes in. I think he's got full custody on Dakota and also on Diana when she was alive. He works down in Los Angeles for the most part from what I know."

I was baffled at what I heard. How could a mother just abandon her kids like that? I knew my mom wasn't perfect either, but at least she attempted to throw in some kind of parental guidance back when she wasn't so broken.

"Someone needs to talk to her about this," I announced. "This is unacceptable."

The table erupted in laughter. I sunk deeper in my seat, unsure on what it was they were laughing about. I hadn't said anything funny. Had I?

"Silvia, no one had seen her in eleven years." Doug said, wiping the corner of his eye from laughing so hard.

"Is she dead?" I asked, and the group's laughter fell into dead silence.

"Is she seriously always this stupid?" Faye asked the end of the table. "If she keeps talking, I swear I think I might drop an IQ level." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, keep rolling your eyes," I spat. "Who knows, maybe you'll find a brain back there."

She huffed loudly and went back to talking to Maven. Xander was dropped from being my third least favorite Crescent Height townsperson. It was now Dakota, Maven, Faye, Xander, and then Carmen. In that exact order.

"She's not dead," Pierson supplied, bringing us back to the discussion about Dakota's mom. Pierson was the only one who wasn't laughing at all. And now, he wasn't wearing his familiar warm smile. He was serious and emotionless. "No one has seen her for the past eleven years because she's never left her damn house. She's the town shut-in."

"Nothing--and I honestly do mean nothing--will get that woman out of her house. It's like she's trapped in there." Beth revealed. "When I was about ten, my brother and I would sneak up really close to the Ridgewood house to see if we could get a glimpse of Dona Ridgewood. Slowly, it kind of became a game with the kids on our street. Whoever could get a good look at her got a buck."

"I hear she doesn't have a left eye." Someone said. "Her husband caused it apparently."

"No, that's not true. I hear she doesn't have a left leg--that's what Ethan Ridgewood caused." Another person stated.

Doug shook his head. "You guys are both wrong. I heard that she gained a crazy amount of weight. That's why she won't leave; she can't get out of her bed. It has nothing to do with Dakota's psycho of a dad."

That reminded me of Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. He was the character that never set foot out of his house. Kids would race up to the house to see how close they could get to touch the house. From the sounds of it, Dakota's mom was just like Boo. Everyone was so fascinated but scared at this wonder of a person. And at this table, I could see the same fascination and amazement spark in everyone's eyes as they tried to make up theories on why Dona hadn't left her home in all those years.

I didn't partake in any of their ridiculous theories, feeling uncomfortable with how they picked apart a woman they didn't know. I could be harsh at times, but I wasn't heartless.

...

Spanish 3 started with me being relieved that it was my last class for the day and surprised to see not only Doug, Beth and Pierson in my class, but also Carmen and the girls she always had standing at her side. Doug said next to Beth. Pierson waved me over to take the seat beside him. Beth was seated behind him, and I could tell she was displeased by the fact that he moved his backpack in order for me to take the vacant seat. It was the only seat available. I had no other choice.

"Have you taken up Carmen's hobby of stalking me?" Pierson flashed a dimple. "If so, I highly approve of it. I'm flattered, if anything."

I couldn't suppress my smile. "You're so full of yourself. You know that?"

"I'm not full of myself. I'd like to believe that I'm aware of my God given gifts and proud to embrace it." He said.

"You are in fact full of yourself, Pierson."

"No, I'm not. I'm stating facts. Plain and simple."

I snickered. "Great. You're cocky, too."

"So you're admitting that I've got God given gifts?" He wiggled his brows.

Before I could say anything, Doug cut in. "C'mon, Pierson. Admit it. You are full of yourself. You've even got a mirror in your locker, in your jacket pocket and backpack at all times."

"That's there for research purposes." He informed. "I want to see it's scientifically possible to look as good as I do throughout the day. From the early morning to the late afternoon when school ends. So far it's proven that I can without a problem" He leered forward, coming alarmingly close to me. "You didn't answer my previous question."

"You're not her type," Beth practically yelled. "She's into guys more like Dakota. She was all over him at my party last week. I think you'll have to get a damaged past in order for her to be into you."

I narrowed my eyes at her. What was up with her? I was kind enough to reassure her jealous tendencies that I wasn't into her Irish crush. If she wanted to play dirty like that, I'd gladly join in and make her day hell for doing that. Throwing information like that wasn't needed and I couldn't help but frown at her for doing that.

"If Dakota is the kind of guys you go for, then I hate to break it to you, but I'm not getting tattoos or an anger issue any time soon like he does." Pierson joked.

I leaned into Pierson, winning me a glaring look from Beth. "That's not necessarily needed. I like how you are now a lot more this way." His hungry gaze darted down to my lips, and then back at my gray eyes. I felt the world melt out of focus as he inched in a little closer.

Someone in the front of the class cleared their throat loudly. It was the teacher, Ms. Garnett. She kindly asked us to not interrupt her class again and told Pierson to read the instructions for our class project.

He grumbled while he opened his textbook. I tucked my hands under the table, hoping that no one noticed them tremble. My mind was still high on the thought of our closeness. The crazy thing was that I wouldn't have minded if he erased the space between us.

You're being stupid, my thoughts snapped. You don't want what happened in Maine to happen here. This is only the second week of school and you've got more enemies than you can count.

As much as I hated to admit it, my reoccurring thoughts were right. Four people, including my very own step-brother, hated my guts. I didn't want to add Beth into that list.

----

Please vote and comment. It literally gives me life *inhales deeply*

- - - -

Song: My Type by Saint Motel

Lyrics:

❝Love comes wearing disguises.

. . .

When there's loving in the air,

Don't fight it just keep breathing.❞

. . . . .

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