1-1: Troublemaker

"I know you're no good but you're stuck in my brain"

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"No, really. What the hell is wrong with you. Do you ever shut up?"

Eden sighed, tossing the cigarette she was smoking off the edge of the roof and highly considering lighting another one. Sarah's fawning over her younger brother was getting on her last nerve.

"He's too young for you and it's disgusting."

Sarah's eyes dimmed a little and she shrugged her shoulders.

"A year and a half isn't that much younger..."


Eden groaned.

"He's 16. You're gonna be 18 in like two months. Calm your hormones."

She stood, climbing back in through her window, Sarah following quietly behind her.
"Aren't you afraid your dad is going to catch you? He would kill you, you know."

Evein pulled her knees to her chest, scooting to the edge of Eden's bed as they climbed onto it.

"That's funny. What exactly is he going to do? And when would he catch me? Doesn't that require... I don't know... Him being home?"

Eden smirked, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"So when are we leaving? Are you two even ready yet?"

The party at Max's house was going to start any time. His parents were away on business, and in this town, that only meant one thing. House party.

"And speaking of ready.. Where the fuck is Kiara?"

On cue, the bedroom door slammed open and Kiara's red hair flew through it. Her eyes were alive and she looked.. Goddammit.

Eden narrowed her eyes.

"Were you where I think you were?"

Kiara inhaled, reaching up and straightening her hair, brushing a finger under her eyes. Attempting to fix the makeup Eden was ninety seven percent sure her twin brother had just been messing up.

"Maybe."

She breathed, shutting the door behind her.

Eden scowled. Maybe she should have had that second cigarette. She no where near had the desire to deal with her friends tonight. She just wanted.. Well. Max.

Even though she knew he would only want one thing from her.

"Okay. Can we leave now?"

Sarah whined, slipping her tennis shoes on. Evein's soft sigh was barely audible, but Eden heard it. She knew she didnt want to go. She never did. She was the only one of the four of them that hated going to these parties. She would much rather be at home. Reading, writing, painting.

She was the good girl, but they always dragged her along anyway.
Eden stood, following Sarah's suit and quickly pulling a jacket over her shirt. She was about to follow Sarah through her window when a sharp knock sounded from her door.

Fuck.

Before she could answer it though, it opened and her two brothers came spilling in.

"Hey. Didn't think you were going without me, did you?"

Atticus' smirk crawled across his face and Eden nodded, her eyes falling on Cassius.

"You're not going. No one wants you there and I am sure as hell not dealing with your drunk ass."

Cassius walked over to her, shoving her to the side and climbing out. He turned around, leaning his head in the window, his face smothered with his cocky smile.

"You're not in charge of me. 

And I think you've got who people don't want there confused with yourself. The only reason you even want to go is so you can fuck Max in a closet somewhere."

Eden's face went colorless and she reached out, shoving him to the side.

"Shut the fuck up, Cassius."

She crawled through the window, taking Evein's hand and helping her through.

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Not that you ever do."

Atticus and Kiara were next, hand and hand, and the smile Atticus aimed at Cassius was enough to make Eden's mouth curl up in one too.

They dropped to the ground, one at a time. She lived on the second story, but it wasn't as far as it could be. They did this basically every weekend. Her mom probably wasn't stupid... But the discussion wasn't one any of them would want to have with her.

Aria.. The girl who used to be just as bad if not worse as the three of her eldest kids.

They'd heard all the rumors. They knew who their mother had been. The things she had done.

And they'd paid the price for it as kids too.

Lyric was the only one who could stand to actually be around her. Maybe that was because she was the nice one. The normal one. The sweet one.

As for Eden, she hated her mother with every fiber of her being. 

"So.. Who is driving?"

Evein asked, her voice quiet in the summer heat.

Eden glanced at Cassius. He was the only one with a car big enough.

"Yeah, yeah. We can take it."

They piled into his giant Suburban, Kiara and Atticus practically melting into each others faces.

"Seriously, you two. Can you not til we get to the fucking party? I'd rather not throw up before I'm drunk."

Atticus didn't stop kissing her, instead he raised one hand, middle finger to Eden's face.

She rolled her eyes, turning to face the windshield.

"You wanted to go so bad, drive, fucker."

Cassius smirked, turning the key in the ignition.

Finally.

--------------------------

Eden pulled her shirt back on, readjusting the ponytail at the top of her skull. Max exhaled, the smoke mixing with the heated haze that still hung over the room.

"So.."

She began, dragging her fingers through the hair that remained in her face.

"So?"

He responded, raising an eyebrow. His gray eyes were all over her. Well, everywhere but her own. She shook her head, finding her feet. She grabbed her cell phone and lighter off of the nightstand and shoved them into her jeans.

"Nothing. See you later, Stage."

She slammed his bedroom door behind her, eliciting several curious looks from the drunk people on the other side. 

Whatever. Fuck off.

"Can I help you?"

She snapped at a dark-headed boy, whose sapphire blue eyes were studying her intently. Something like worry behind them. He shook his head a fraction of an inch and dropped those eyes to the floor.

"That's what I fucking thought."

She made her way to the end of the hallway, forcefully removing a couple of Sarah's drunk cheerleading friends out of the way. It seemed like when any of those girls got in the vicinity of alcohol they turned into giggling idiots. Ridiculous. They needed to learn how to hold their booze or just stop.

She leaned against the wall, the room mostly clear of people. They were all in other rooms doing God knows what. She extracted her cell phone, hitting the speed dial she seemed to know the best lately.

His voice clicked onto the other end almost as soon as her iPhone connected the line.

"Nico. Where are you? You were supposed to be at this party."

His response was muffled. Was he really sleeping? She glanced at the giant clock hanging on the wall. Oh. It was 4 am.

"Never mind. Don't bother. Go back to sleep."

She made to hit the end button, but his voice became clearer in seconds.

"No, no E. You at Max's? I'll be there in ten."

She sighed, hitting end anyway.

"You okay?"

She glanced up, the voice pulling her out of her thoughts. It was Blue Eyes again.

She scowled.

"Do I look like I'm dying or something? Go away, dude."

He laughed quietly, leaning against the wall for a second. 

"Not dying, no."

He stayed there for a moment. Just staring at her. Then he pushed off of the wall and walked back the way he came.

Fucking weirdo. Okay.

She sighed, leaning her head against the wall with a soft thunk.

She was almost sick of this every weekend. Drinking. Hooking up with Max or Nico. Having to be bailed out of some stupid situation by one of her friends. It had been all of their lives for years. The parties. The boys. The mistakes. But Eden was the one who was the most caught up in everything. The others mostly had their heads on straight now.

She heard Nico's car pull up outside and immediately exited, ducking through the few people outside and into his passenger seat.

He leaned over, but she pushed his head away
.
"Would you drive? This is not a date. I'm not kissing you. Come on now..."

Nico smirked, casting his eyes back to the road.

"Whatever, E. I'll just be your ride then. Saving you from your fuck buddy, like always."

Eden glared at him, wishing he wasn't driving so she could punch him in the face.

When they pulled into her driveway, she slammed his car door, not thinking about it. But she thought about it two minutes later when the porch light flipped on and her dad opened the door, his face creased with fury.

"Shit."

She mumbled under her breath, looking back over her shoulder as Nico sped away.

"I suggest you get in the house in the next fifteen seconds, Eden Royale."

She groaned, ascending the steps, brushing right past him, straight for the stairs.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Carter snapped, his voice echoing out the way it always did when this happened.
She turned, fixing him with an icy stare.

"To my room. Goodnight."

She made to turn back and do exactly as she said, but she felt a vice grip tugging her back to the landing. She ripped her arm out of his grip, anger bubbling out of her mouth before she could quite think twice of it.

"Don't fucking touch me. Shouldn't you be with my mother making sure she isn't killing herself with massive amounts of vodka and self pity?"

Carter's face quickly turned from fury into nothing, his eyes glazing over.

"Really, Eden? You don't understand..."

Eden backed up, her heels hitting the bottom step.

"No. I understand perfectly, dad. She's the most important thing in the world. No matter what she does. So go take care of her. Go do what you always do and leave me the fuck alone."

He opened his mouth, but she put up a hand.

"Save it. Good night, Dad. We'll talk whenever you're actually home again."

He muttered something, but she was up the stairs so quickly she didn't hear it. She slammed her door, falling on her bed and stuffing her pillow over her face.

She was sick of her parents. Sick of her siblings. Sick of this entire legacy she had inherited. Sick of her entire life.

How did she even get stuck carrying the name of two people who should have never been together in the first place. Two people who should have called it quits before it ever got to the point it was at now.

If true love was this... If love is what put her parents together and created everything she now subsisted in.. Then she never wanted to experience it. It was all a bunch of bullshit. She knew the story. She knew how much they went through to be together.

And look at them now. They couldn't stand to look at each other. Their fighting and their disagreements were all she'd ever known.

She could hear them. Downstairs. Probably fighting over her right now.

Soulmates. 

Meant to be. 

Right.

"What a crock of shit."

---------------

"Eden! Hey! Wait up!"

Eden turned around, Zach's voice reaching her ears as she neared her locker.

"Hey Z!"

She smiled, pulling him into a hug when he neared her.

He was her brother's best friend and in the end, one of hers. They had quite a bit of history too.. But not something she tried to think about often. Because he was clearly madly and entirely in love with one of her best friends.

"You seen Evein?"

Eden raised an eyebrow and glanced at her locker a few feet away. Kiara and Sarah were there, but her brunette friend was no where in sight.

"Actually... No. Why?"

Zach shrugged, looking both ways down the hallway, but not quite at her.

"She didn't answer her phone last night. Or this morning. I don't know what's up. She never ignores me..."

Eden pulled her cell out, scrolling through her texts. Come to think of it, Evein hadn't replied to hers in a couple of days either. Since the party. She looked back up at Zach and then over at the girls again.

"Hey... I'm sure she's okay. I'll call her mom tonight if she doesn't show up at school, alright?"

Her response didn't seem to appease him much, but he nodded, waving at someone over Eden's shoulder. She followed his gaze and saw her brother and Nico down the hallway. Along with...

Really? Was he stalking her?

The boy moved his eyes away as soon as she met them.

She didn't even know he went to school here... Let alone knew her brother. She half grinned, waiting for him to look at her again. When he did, she raised one hand, middle finger in his direction. Then she waved, smirking. The boy shook his head, turning his attention back to the boys.

Yeah well, don't stare at me. Dumbass.

"Hey guys." 

She let out as she approached Kiara and Sarah.

They both enveloped her in hugs before asking, almost at the exact same time, 

"Have you seen Evein?"

Eden's brow furrowed and she shook her head slowly.

"No.. Zach was just asking the same thing-"

"I'm right here. Why is everyone freaking out about me all of a sudden?"

They all three turned around, watching their tiny friend as she pulled her books out of her locker, spinning the lock shut.

She looked terrible. Her uniform looked way too big for her, and the bags under her pretty green eyes were horrendous. She was carrying herself in a way that suggested she was far from it, but Eden asked anyway.

"Are you okay, Ev?"

She pulled her eyes into Eden's with what seemed like so much effort, it was pathetic.

"I'm fine. Stop asking, okay."

She left the three of them standing there, unasked questions on their lips as the bell for homeroom echoed through the air.