3

STELLA waking up to the loud sound of the door slamming shut made her jump. "John B! Where are you, dude?" A voice yelled from the other room.

Stella sat up, rubbing her eyes sleepily as she grabbed her phone. Her heart raced as she saw the notifications: 5 missed calls from Topper, 2 from Kelce, and 1 from Rafe.

Why the fuck were they calling?

Her eyes widened in panic as she came to realization. They never went back home. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Stella yelled, throwing the blanket off and bolting out of bed, desperate to find Sarah.

"Sarah!" Stella shouted, running across the hallway and into the other room. She shook her arm frantically to wake her. Sarah, only in a bra and shorts, was asleep next to John B.

"What? It's like nine in the morning!" Sarah grumbled, still half-asleep.

"Look at where we are!" Stella huffed, grabbing Sarah's arm and dragging her out of bed.

Sarah stumbled, gasping as she realized their mistake. "Why didn't you tell me!" She yelled back, pulling on her shirt while hurrying out of the room.

As the girls scrambled out of the bedroom, kicking the empty beer cans that laid on the floor. Stella collided with someone in the hallway. "Woah..." The curly headed girl muttered, stepping back in surprise. "What the fuck? Why are you two here?"

Sarah closed her eyes, muttering something under her breath. Of course they had to run into Kiara; the one Pogue who didn't know about Sarah and John B's hookup.

"Hey Kie," Stella said, a nervous giggle escaping her lips as she shot a worried glance at Sarah. But Kiara's expression was nothing near amused, making the girls' anxiety worse. "Funny story actually—"

"We came to smoke, and I guess we ended up crashing," Sarah finished, her tone attempting to sound casual, making Stella choke a bit on her own saliva.

Kiara gave a weird look, "You guys don't even smoke" She crossed her arms,

Stella bit her lip at this, not knowing how to answer. It was true, everybody knew she didn't smoke. Sarah on the other hand, it was more believable

"And how would you know that?" Sarah shot back, now clearly upset.

But before Kiara could response, she was interrupted. "Settle down ladies, they were just here to borrow a few things but it was to dark for them to drive all the way back to Figure Eight" JJ said, wrapping his arm around Kiara and winking at the girls infront of them.

"Whatever" Kiara rolled her eyes, shoving past Stella and walking into John B's room.

Stella and Sarah both shot a look at each other, laughing at the clear jealousy in Kiara's voice. "You're a life saver, JJ" Stella gratefully whispered, as they made their way towards the door.

"Same time next week?" He flirted, making Stella turn back before closing the door. She giggled, shaking her head at his boldness.

The walk towards the car was silent after this. Sarah looking down with only a smile on her face. "What?" Stella defended, giving a small smack on Sarah's arm, "He's cute!"

•••

The adrenaline rushed through Stella's body as she drove into the driveway. She wasn't prepared for another one of Toppers outbursts, especially not after the night she had.

She took a deep breath, turning the car officially off and turned over to Sarah who had a mixture of exhaustion and anxiousness washed over her face. "You ready?" Stella pursed her lips,

Sarah sighed, "Let's just get it over with" She shrugged, making Stella feel even worse for her.

It sucked watching her friend be degraded by her boyfriend like that, especially when it was becoming more often. Though Stella supports Sarah, she never understands why she stays.

As much as they dreaded going inside the house, they knew they had to. So, with a shared, heavy sigh, they mustered their courage and did. Stella hesitantly opened the door, peering around, trying to spot where the boys might be.

Rafe, Topper, and Kelce were all sitting in the living room, looking more and more impatient as they waited for the girls to come back home. The tension in the air was heavy as they sat in silence.

"Fuck, Sarah, look," Stella grimaced, biting her lip anxiously and pointing towards the guys, making Sarah groan in response. It seemed as though Stella was more worried for her best friend, than Sarah was for herself.

"Whatever, let's see what they want," Sarah mumbled, slightly pushing past Stella and making her way towards the large sofa. "Maybe it's nothing bad" She whispered, before she made it in front of the three boys.

In an instant, Topper got up from his seat at Sarah's arrival almost as if he was attempting to look intimidating. "Where's Stella?" He asked, his tone filled with angst.

Sarah furrowed her eyebrows at this question, tilting her head in confusion. Why would he want Stella? She turned over towards the hallway where the blonde was now frozen in place.

"What?" Stella asked while shooting both the whole group a weird look.

Topper, his focus mainly on Stella, crossed his arms tightly and slowly crept over to the short blonde. "When you came into Rafe's room last night, where did you say you two were going again?"

"To my house, I got my period and needed tampons," she shrugged.

Topper scoffed, turning back to Rafe and Kelce with a petty smile plastered across his face. "And where did you go after that?" he continued, slowly becoming closer to her, invading her personal space.

Stella's heart began to race at his question; she hated being under pressure. She glanced back at Sarah, who was anxiously biting her nails. That definitely didn't calm her down.

But what was the harm in telling the truth? Or maybe twisting it a little?

She gave a loud sigh, rubbing the back of her neck. "Look, if you really want to know the truth, I made Sarah cover for me so I could meet up with the guy I'm hooking up with."

Topper, along with the other boy's smiles, suddenly faded. "Stella Valentine hooking up with a guy?" Kelce blurted, making it sound as though it was impossible.

"Yeah, yeah," she huffed, rolling her eyes. But something felt off about this, and she couldn't quite place a finger on it.

As Topper apologized for the interrogation, Rafe sat in his spot with his jaw clenched and knee bouncing. Of course, this was very usual of him, but this time it wasn't just that. The color had washed away from his skin, almost as if he'd been thinking about something deeply. Like something had been bothering him, eating away at him.

But it was just Rafe, right? It's typical Rafe. That's what Stella wanted to believe, it's what she forced herself to believe. Though, it wasn't very convincing.