c h a p t e r • 39

There will be a lot of time skips in this chapter so I hope you guys don't get triggered😬

Lili's POV

I walked out of the elevator and saw the boys already gathered together in the middle of the lobby, grabbing everyone's attention.

As always, Ryder is frowning as he sits on one of the couches next to Kyle while some sat on the other ones or their suitcases. The rest were standing up.

Ryder spots me and his face immediately lights up making a smile form on my lips.

Kyle looks at Ryder skeptically and before he could spot me, I hide in the corner.

After a few seconds, I come out of the corner and act like I just came.

"Where were you this morning?" Kyle asks me as I sit on the arm rest.

"In dreamland." I lied smoothly.

"Of course." He rolls his eyes making me roll mine.

(Time skip/ me being to lazy to write 10000 paragraphs about how they got on the bus then boarded the plane and all when all Lili's gonna do is sleep)

-•-

A week later

"Hoco is this Friday and I'm only knowing this now? How in the hell?" I exclaim.

"Because you were too busy with lover boy." Sam smirks.

I blushed deep red.

"Lies." I narrow my eyes at her and look at Nat.

"Don't look at me. I didn't say anything." Nat raises her hands in surrender.

I sighed.

"Did you guys get your dresses yet?" I ask but they shake their heads.

"We'll go buy them together." Sam smiled making me smile back.

"Then, what are you waiting for?" I ask as I got out of bed.

"For you to change out of your sweats and pj's." Nat deadpans.

I chuckle nervously.

"Right. Let me change first, then." I say and scurried to my closet.

After a while, I came out dressed in a cute simple top and black jeans.

I tied my hair into a messy high ponytail and grab my stuff as we head out the door.

-•-

After atleast 3 hours of shopping, we were finally done and exhausted.

"I'm so tired." Nat yawned.

"Me too." Sam says.

"I didn't even know about hoco till a few hours ago." I shrug.

"Wanna go to the trampoline park?" Nat asks.

Sam grins mischievously but before hey could plan anymore further, I interfered.

"No way. Not after what happened the last time." I shook my head.

"Come on. It was one time! I didn't mean to." Sam pouts.

"We almost went to jail and that kid almost ended up in a coma." I narrow my eyes at her.

Nat was laughing her ass off, remembering what happened.

"You're exaggerating. It's not my fault he got in the way of my stick thingy." She defends herself.

"Yeah, you totally didn't do that because the 7 year old called you a childish pig." I smirk which made Nat laughed even more.

Sam rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.

"Whatever." She mutters as we make our way to the parking lot with Nat wiping her tears from laughing too much.

"Damn, that was a nice hit though." Nat says and Sam high-fives her, smirking.

"She's not wrong." I chuckle.

We found my car and hopped in before going home.

-•-

I hung up my dress which was still in the bag, in my closet and on my way out, I looked at myself in the mirror and froze.

How do I feel about myself now?

Do I think I look beautiful?

Do I think I look fat?

Do I even like what I see?

I don't know. I don't really feel much of a difference even though I now eat more.

That's a good thing, I guess.

I smiled in satisfaction and left my closet.

I threw myself in my comfy bed and sighed.

It's all getting better.

It will get better.

I close my eyes, hoping to get some sleep but I guess my luck ran out today.

How are things gonna get better when you have a lot going on? A voice nagged in my head.

A gang is out to kidnap you.

Your boyfriend whom you thought was dead is alive and with some girl that is not you.

You have to hide your relationship with Ryder from your brother.

You hate yourself so much to the point you'd starve yourself just to feel better.

How are things getting better?

The back of my eyes burned at these thoughts but I couldn't cry.

Not anymore.

After I've returned, all I've been doing is crying. It's so stupid.

I jumped out of my bed when I heard my balcony door slide open.

I sighed in relief when I just saw Ryder.

"Did I wake you up?" He asks, softly and I shook my head.

He walks over to me after closing the sliding door and locks the main door.

He plops down next to me with a huff.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

I shook my head.

He sits up and pulls me with him before taking my hand in his.

My heart melted at his action.

"Talk to me, Shortcake." He whispers.

I smiled sadly.

"I...I don't know what's going on anymore. I'm constantly being paranoid about the gang thing or Kyle finding out about us. Sometimes my mind wanders off to Caleb and I just...I don't know what to do." I look down.

He let's go of my hand making me look at him but he pulled me in for a comforting hug.

My hands were stiff on my sides but I reacted a few seconds after by wrapping my arms around his body.

"I'll protect you. No matter what." He mumbles as we pull away.

"How...how can you protect me? They are a gang for goodness sake! They are dangerous and they kill people! What if they hurt you too?" I whisper the last part. He took my hand in his again making me squeeze it.

"They won't." He grit his teeth.

"How do you know that?!" I exclaim worriedly.

He clenched his jaw but stays silent. The look in his eyes looks like he wanted to say something. Or he was hiding something from me.

"Are you hiding something from me?" I narrowed my eyes at him and loosen my hold on his hand.

"Lili." He sighs.

"No. Tell me. If this has something to do with me, then...I should have to the right to know." I say, confidently.

"Lili." He warns.

"Stop it. How did you know about Mr. Meyer's? How did you know about crushed skulls? How do you know its people? How...what...who are you?" I narrow my eyes into slits and stares at him curiously and the whole time, he avoided my eyes.

"Shortcake." He whispers.

"Giraffie." I sighed. It couldn't be, can it? "Are you in a...a gang, too?" I stuttered.

He finally looks up at me after what felt like forever.

He shook his head making me sigh in relief.

"I own a gang." He whispers as I barely caught it but I wish I didn't.

-•-

A/n: half filler chapt and half not? Anyways, the secrets out and someone is gonna die in this book so prepare your tissues. I'm kidding. No ones dying.

...

Unless...

Love you guys!❤️