Naomi had never seen the boys look more worn than they did that afternoon. She had to run out twice for ice cream. They went through it that fast.

Jordan was groaning on the sofa, with an arm over his eyes, he claimed he had a headache, but everyone knew his eyes were red-rimmed and swollen at this point. He kept cursing himself for falling too quickly, for lashing out at everyone when he was only furious at himself.

Naomi's heart was breaking for her friend.

Declan was pacing the landing on the second floor. He kept switching from being utterly calm to raging anger at his own decisions, thinking them over and over again, imaging all the different scenarios if he had done just one thing differently.

Naomi didn't know where to begin to comfort him.

Bennett sat at the dining table, his arms on the table, his hands bunched into fists, holding up his chin. He looked out the window deep in thought, completely withdrawn from his surroundings. He kept replaying her reaction as he uttered those words. He kept hearing the table connect with her hip.

Naomi watched as he simmered over his thoughts.

"It's my fault. If she only saw me as a friend before, maybe that would have been better than her thinking I was a psycho jerk," Jordan started.

"You have to stop blaming yourself," Naomi responded, moving to the couch. "Jordan, it is those rare moments when no one is to blame," She scooped up some vanilla ice cream and spoon-fed him.

"Naomi," He finished eating the ice cream. "I lashed out at her. She looked at me like she didn't recognise who I was." He looked at Naomi, his eyes tired from being rubbed.

"How was I cruel to the only person who had shown nothing but kindness?"

Naomi didn't have a response for that.

"You think that's bad, Tessa and I were exactly where we should have been, and I screwed it up," Declan said from the landing.

He leaned on the railing, running a hand through his hair in frustration, fighting the urge to pull it out.

"Declan, you were only doing what you thought was right. You were trying to put her first. It was a noble thing to do," Naomi turned back to look up to him.

"Come on, Naomi, I just left her. The minute something seemed to look bleak, I ran off," Declan countered.

"Look, you guys are making it very hard to defend you," Naomi said in exasperation. 

"Left her?" Bennett muttered to himself. "Join the club,"

"What was that, Bent?"

"Oh, nothing,"

"How about you, though? How are you holding up?"

Bennett shrugged his shoulders. "I've been better,"

He recalled that very morning.

Davina sauntered into their Economics class. She looked as if she would rather be dead than be there with him.

And when she looked at him, it was as if he was invisible. She looked right through him like he wasn't present. Like he wasn't there, she had wholly erased him from her life.

He wondered how this class would play out. He knew they would have to talk sooner or later. They had a project they had to work on together. In the previous class, they have split the work down the middle. They had their own section to work on, but they would eventually have to converse and discuss their topics.

Bennett hoped against hope that would be his way to redemption.

But Davina must have had other ideas. She cemented her hatred for Bennett once and for all. Storming up to his desk, she slammed down a packet of what looked like research.

"I've done my half of the project," She seethed. "Use it or not, I don't care. You probably would have done it yourself in the end anyway. Why would you trust me to do it?"

With that, she stalked off and out of the class. People watched as the door swung on its hinges. Even the teacher didn't know what to say.

Bennett looked down at the packet and blinked dumbfoundedly. It would have taken an average person the whole semester to complete the research, and here she had done it in a matter of nights. She really hated him.

"Damn, that's rough. She did school work to get out of being around you," Declan commented.

Bennett shrugged his shoulders, knowing that much was true.

"Wait?" Jordan started. "What did you mean by that?"

Bennett blinked, "Mean by what?"

"Not trusting her? You said it that night we were drunk," Jordan answered, turning fully to face Bennett.

Oh, that.

"We just met them a few weeks ago. We're not married just yet," Bennett answered calmly. "I have no intention to blindly trust someone because I share a future with them later."

"That's a bit harsh. She at least deserves the benefit of the doubt, no?" Declan defended.

Naomi watched Bennett. He was struggling with something internally, like a war inside his head.

"What is it, Bennett?"

"I don't know how to explain it," He started, not finding the words. "Knowing it's her but not seeing it."

The others looked at each other with widened eyes.

"It puts a lot of pressure to be perfect, right? But all of us can't help but screw up. It's like our sense of choice is gone."

The others just listened to his words with stunned silence, it was bold, but it was ringing true to them.

"We're not trying to be with them because we chose it. We're trying to be with them because that's what we believe ought to happen. And so far, I don't see why,"

The words rang around the room, letting down this veil the Musketeers had put up.

"I don't know about you guys, but I never wanted my future laid out before me, to know exactly who I end up with even if I did choose it and I know it's not the girls' fault, they don't even know what's going on," Bennett laughed humourlessly. "They probably do think we're crazy."

"It would have hurt a lot less knowing who they are," He finished mirroring what Jordan said.

"Bennett," Naomi started after Bennett's mini-rant. "You're overwhelmed,"

"What?"

"You're overwhelmed," She repeated, getting up from her seat and making her way over to him. "The mere fact of knowing who you'll end up with is causing you to go into overdrive. You're overthinking every little moment. Wondering exactly what it is that will make you love her, you're not living in the moment, Bennett," Naomi finished.

Bennett looked at Naomi for a long time before he looked away. He looked down, contemplating whether to tell them. He was never good at revealing secrets.

"What is it, Bent?" Declan asked, eyeing him.

"It's nothing,"

"We're friends, Bent. We shouldn't be keeping secrets," Jordan chimed in. 

Bennett closed his eyes, telling them had been playing on his mind since he first figured it out. He didn't understand why it was so difficult to let them in sometimes. He knew sooner or later it would be his own downfall, but that's a story for another time.

He sighed, letting the tiredness out. "She was there,"

They all looked at him with confusion.

"Davina was at that very first gang raid we went to," Bennett explained. "She was the one I chased up the stairs,"

They all looked at him dumbfounded. He could possibly take his phone out and take a photo of this moment.

"Are you sure? How do you know it was her?" Jordan questioned, trying to process the new information.

"She spoke at the raid, well... she cursed me off, and it was the same voice we heard the next day when we met her," Bennett explained.

Declan came down the stairs. "And why did you not think to tell us before?"

Bennett opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again. He looked down, avoiding Declan's eyes. "I guess I have this tendency to try to bear the burden alone,"

"What about the others?" Naomi asked.

The boys looked up at her and wondered the same thing.

"It makes sense," Declan said slowly. They all looked back at him questioningly.

"How?"

"A couple of weeks after that first raid, we had a report come in from the Ursa Grizzlies, where they had an altercation with new rogues, one of them reported having swung a bat at a rogues left leg, hearing a crack," Declan explained. "Tess came in the next morning limping. She brushed it off, saying it was from ice hockey,"

"It could have been from ice hockey," Naomi interjected.

Declan shrugged. "That's what I believed too, but with what Bennett said, we have to look at these interactions with the girls in a new light,"

"He's right," Bennett agreed.

"Plus, that's not the only thing," They all looked at Jordan.

"What do you mean by that?"

"During class, I once took Arya by surprise. She was looking at the Wikipedia page for this city's gang history. When she heard me, she shut the page down immediately and pretended like it was nothing, not even acknowledging it,"

Bennett turned to Jordan, raising his eyebrows at the blond. "And, why did you not think to tell us this?"

"In my eyes, she could do no wrong. I had not fully comprehended what it meant for her to be searching that. I brushed it off," Jordan explained, making his way over to the other too. "Plus, I didn't know these girls could have been associated with gangs at any point."

The four Musketeers sat and processed the new information. They hated to admit it, but they were forced to see the girls differently.

"What if they're in trouble?" Declan said quietly, bringing everyone out of their thoughts. "It makes sense, right. They can't possibly be a part of the enemy if we end up together,"

"That may be true, Declan, but we can't afford to take that risk," Bennett told him.

"That gang raid you all went to," Naomi cut in. "That was the one where the Lost Boys were supposed to be?"

"Yeah,"

Naomi looked at each of them, shock still evident on her face. "Why are they meeting with Nicotine?"

Bennett looked at each of his friends before calmly replying. "That is what we intend to find out."