1-2: Sometimes

"I will go this alone I don't need nobody's help
I've got to do this myself
Alone, alone, alone, alone"

Eden flipped the cigarette into the air in front of her, the rain putting it out almost instantly. Smoking on school grounds. During the day. Not the smartest choice, but then again, her dad paid how much money for her to go to this school? She wasn't exactly concerned that they would throw her out.

"You know that you can get kicked out for that no matter who your father is.

Trust me, I know."

Eden sighed, putting her head in her hands, rubbing her forehead. 

"I don't care who you are, but you're reading my mind and you can go away now."

She looked up and over her shoulder, her gaze falling on Blue Eyes. Shit. Maybe he was stalking her. She still didn't even know his name. But he seemed to be everywhere she turned lately.

She groaned loudly.

"Seriously. Even more so now. Go away."

How did he even know anything about who her father-

Oh, he was friends with Atticus now. She had forgotten about that detail. Probably just for another reason to stalk her. More connections. 

She smiled a little at her own joke, reaching into her pocket and taking another cigarette out, lighting it and blowing the toxic fumes in his direction.

He rolled his eyes, sitting next to her on the wet concrete.

"I'm pretty sure I just told you to go away. Twice, actually. I'm not giving you a cigarette and I sure as hell don't need your company. Bye, now."

He shook his head, averting his attention to the rain that fell in front of them.

"I don't smoke. That stuff will kill you."

Eden sighed. 

"Life will kill you, don't you know?"

He nodded, watching her take another drag.

"True. I guess you're just okay with giving it a helping hand then?"

She blew more smoke in his direction.

"Looks like it, yeah?"

He didn't even wave the smoke away, just stared at her a minute before turning his gaze away again. He remained silent while she finished smoking and it kind of ate a hole in Eden's patience. 

Just say something. What the fuck. Who just sits there silently? 

"Really though. Can I help you?"

He didn't bother looking at her again. Something told Eden that this kid was too quiet for his own good. Probably why he hung out with her brother and not the popular jocks that made up most of the rest of the class she was in.

"My name's Xavier."

She raised an eyebrow.

"And I care... why?"

He shrugged a shoulder, getting to his feet.

"I didn't really think that you would. I told you anyway though.

Bye, Eden."

She waved, her response dripping with resentment.

"Yeah, I said that already. About fifteen minutes ago when you first annoyed me.

You're making quite the habit of that, to be honest."

Are boys really that stupid? Bye does not mean 'hey hang out with me'. Especially coming from her. It meant 'go the fuck away before I punch you'.

She cast her eyes away, watching a couple of cars pull out of the lot before getting to her own feet, brushing her rain-dampened hair out of her face. She pulled her cell phone out, shielding it from the assailing rain. There was only thirty minutes left until the final bell.

Can you get out? I'm thinking about ditching the rest of the day and drinking. Wanna join?

Kiara texted back in seconds.

You bet your ass I can. I'll meet you at your car in ten.

Perfect.

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

Lyric put her fingers back to the keys, the soft melody she was playing falling around her. She tried to concentrate, tried really hard, as the notes came to her as easily as they always had. But she had texted Eden twenty minutes ago and nothing. She didn't need her big sister often. At least not often enough to ask for her.

She kept her need of an ear to listen to herself ninety nine percent of the time, but this was just.. She needed to tell someone. Keeping this to herself was killing her. Draining away all of the self preservation she was so desperately clinging to.

She hit a wrong note, the blunder ringing in her ears. She sighed, pulling her phone out one more time.

Eden please. I need you. Just answer me.

Nothing.

It figured that when she actually did need someone, no one was there for her. No one was ever really there for her. She was alone in a house full of people because she wasn't like her brothers or her sister. 

She would rather play piano than party. She would rather read a book and watch it rain than hook up with boys. She was the only one who ever really stayed in this house her dad had worked so hard for. The only one who paid any mind to their mother at all.

Little baby Lyric. The sweet one. The one no one ever had to worry about because she was different. She would do good things. She would never mess up or make mistakes cause she's the one who had her head on straight.

If they only knew. 

She was the biggest mess up of all them. The blight. She was the one who was just born wrong. 

The smell of alcohol was distinct. It reached Lyric well before her sister actually did.

"You rang?"

Her words were slurred and Lyric wondered how much she had already drank. It was only six o'clock. 

What was so wrong in her sister's life that she had to act the way she did? She hadn't always been like this. But the moment she had turned fifteen, it was like she became someone else.

Lyric had felt like she had watched her relationship with her big sister crumble through her own thirteen-year-old eyes.

Maybe if she had paid attention... Maybe if she had noticed that Lyric was different... Maybe if boys and alcohol and being free hadn't taken her over... Lyric wouldn't have fallen as far down as she had.

You can't blame her, and you know that. Stop it.

"Yeah, I did. Can we talk?"

Lyric softly shut the top of the piano, covering the keys with care. It was her most prized possession. She loved it more than the car her dad had gotten her. She would give up everything as long as she could keep her only tie to her sanity.

"Of course we can, baby sister. You can always talk to me."

She smiled at her, her eyes glazed over and her hair a wreck.

Right. Maybe this was a bad idea.

Eden grabbed her hand, tugging her over to the bed and sitting down roughly, Lyric falling next to her.

"What is it?"

Lyric bit her lip, trying to find some sort of care in her sister's intoxicated eyes. 

"I... There's something I need to tell you, Eden. I haven't told anyone... But... I just."

Eden nodded, her eyes brightening a little in her curiosity.

"Well, I'm all ears, Lyric. Go ahead."

Lyric took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to say.

"Eden... I think I'm-"

Eden cut her off, her cell phone going erratic with some obnoxious rap song she had set as her ringtone.

"Hold that thought.

Hello?"

Her voice rose an octave and Lyric sighed, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Eden... This was really important..."

She whispered, listening to her sisters drunken responses to whoever was on the other end.

"Yeah! Of course. I'll be right there. Don't start without me, bitch."

She laughed, hitting the end button and grinning widely at her sister.

"I'm sorry, Lyr. Can we do this later? Sarah's having this party and-"

Lyric nodded.

"Don't worry about it, Eden. Have fun."

Eden pulled her into a hug, pressing an alcohol stained kiss to her forehead.

"Thanks, baby sister. You're the best."

And then she was gone without another word.

Lyric laid back on her comforter, her eyes on the ceiling.

Maybe it was just best that she didn't tell anyone. Maybe this secret was meant to stay hidden. Who knew what would happen when they all found out anyway.

Maybe... She should just... Push it away.

She'd been doing just fine so far, right?

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

Eden turned the ignition off, the music from Sarah's house permeating her ears as she flipped the visor down, fixing her makeup in the mirror. There were so many fucking cars here already. She was late. She didn't mean to be. But Nico... pit stop. Whatever.

Sarah and Kiara were outside with someone who looked exactly like Kenzie Stage.

Eden slammed the door of her Corvette and yelled Kiara's name.

"Thought you weren't starting without me?"

Kiara grinned and gestured to the cup in Sarah's hand.

"I called you two hours ago, dumbass. You're crazy if you think the entire party is gonna wait on you."

She surveyed her best friends outfit and mussed hair.

"Which one this time?"

She asked, rolling her eyes as Eden reached her side.

"The dumb one who has more feelings than I do."

Kiara groaned. 

"You should kick your addiction to Firecrotch before he gets addicted to you. Except I think it might be too late for that..."

She nodded over Eden's shoulder, and Eden followed her gaze.

"Why the fuck is he here? I just left his place."

Nico approached them, taking the cup Mackenzie handed him, drinking it quickly. He bypassed Eden without a word, high-fiving Cassius when he got in the door.

"Well at least he's not here for you, right?"

Kiara chided, poking her side.

"Seems to be the case."

Eden responded, taking the cup out of Sarah's hand and making her way inside. Kiara came up beside her, threading her arm through Eden's. 

"So you want to know something I heard when the boys were playing video games?"

Eden took a sip of whatever it was Sarah had been drinking and scowled, dumping the rest of it in a potted plant next to her. She had no idea what the fuck it was. It was like sugar and battery acid. Did Sarah even know how to drink?

She raised an eyebrow at Kiara.

"Do I even want to know.."

Kiara shrugged. 

"I don't know. I think if I were you, I would want to know the richest boy in school was talking about me."

She stopped at the bar, snorting loudly. She pulled a bottle out from underneath and began mixing her own drink, shooting a glance at Kiara.

"You let me know when there isn't a rumor floating around about me and I will probably care a lot more."

"Most of those rumors are always true, Eden."

Kiara replied, taking the drink from her before she could even taste it.

"God, you might as well take the bottle. This doesn't even taste like you put a chaser in it."

Eden glared at her.

"That's because I didn't. But good idea. I'll just do that."

She twisted the cap off of the bottle and tossed it on the counter, taking the mostly full bottle of vodka with her. She pulled Kiara onto a couch not filled with drunk teenagers and took a long drink from the bottle.

"No, but really. Xavier won't shut up about you. What'd you do to that boy? I find it hard to believe you fucked him, he doesn't seem the type to just lay down for anyone."

Eden choked on her second drink, her eyes blurry, trying really hard to regain her breath.

"Okay, first of all, thanks."

She raised an eyebrow, still sputtering a little.

"Second of all, I haven't."

She took another drink, thinking somewhere in her head, that that would calm the choking.

"And lastly, why do you keep telling me like I care?"

Kiara shrugged. 

"He seems like a nice guy."

Eden sighed, laying back against the couch.

"I don't do nice guys, Ki. Not to mention, he's creepy and he's stalking me. 

Even if he was neither of those things, I have plenty to deal with with Max and fucking Nico. Why are you trying to add more to that?"

Kiara laughed.

"I wasn't. I was just telling you. You're already juggling two guys. Which I don't know how you do that when I can barely handle one."

Eden nodded.

"It's simple. I'm just sleeping with them. There is nothing to handle because there are no feelings. Just sex. And there will never be anything more than that. Love is a joke. 

How many times do we need to have this conversation?

You keep living your fairy tale and I'll keep being a whore. If it works, then you work with it. 

For fuck's sake."

She took another drink from the bottle. Longer than any of the others.

She didn't need to hear any of this. She didn't care. She could have guessed he was talking about her.. or at least something.. from how much he stared.

But the little rich boy could take his words and his staring problem and shove them up his ass.

"At least I know who to avoid now."

Kiara started to reply, but she was cut off by the sound of retching.

"Okay, ew, really?"

Eden sat the bottle on the ground and leaned around Kiara to see who it was.

Her stomach plummeted.

"Seriously?"

-----------

Cassius leaned back against the bathtub in Eden's bathroom, his face covered in sweat, breathing heavily.

"This is why I don't take you anywhere, you dumb shit. How much did you fucking drink?"

Atticus' voice reached Kiara and Eden who were sitting cross-legged outside of the bathroom, spinning tops like seven year olds. The sound of hiccuping and more liquid hitting the porcelain basin made Eden's stomach turn.

"Too much."

Cassius' voice was shaky, but the venom in his words was apparent. He was always so stupid. He drank too much and too often as young as he was. If her parents knew she and Atticus allowed their sixteen year old brother to go to these parties, they'd be dead.

But then again, there was no 'letting' him. Cassius did as Cassius wished. Despite what his older twin siblings had to say.

Atticus came out of the bathroom, leaning against the door after shutting it behind him.

"He's been throwing up since we left Sarah's. I think something might be seriously wrong with his stupid ass as much as it sucks to say. And they're going to blame us."

Eden groaned. Wouldn't that be her luck? 

A crash resounded from inside the bathroom and they all three got to their feet, reaching for the knob. Atticus threw the door open, and Eden groaned again. 

"Cassius, you idiot."

Atticus pulled his phone out and tossed it to Kiara, supporting his brothers unconscious head.

Kiara quickly dialed the number, reaching out to feel Cassius' pulse.

"It's slow as fuck. And his skin is clammy and cold."

She reached out, smacking him. Nothing. She turned him on his side, sighing. 

She bit her lip, pressing the phone to her ear.

"This isn't good. Eden, I know you don't want to hear this. But I think you need to get your dad. 

I'm pretty sure it's alcohol poisoning."