"SO WE DANCED ALL NIGHT TO THE BEST SONG EVER-"

We're cut off by Seth pulling out the cable. "That is it. I have tolerated three hours of bad music from you two now, it is my turn."

"Knowing Seth it's going to be something like David Bowie." I whisper to Eliza. He glares at me and I laugh. Luke protested so heavily against riding in the back again that I had to sit with Seth while the rest of them pile in complaining. Excuse me, I'm the one who should be complaining here.

Nate plugs the cable back in and the song comes back on. Eliza bounces up in her seat. "WE KNEW EVERY LINE, NOW I CAN'T REMEMBER-"

"Someone stop this." Seth mutters under his breath.

"Don't worry." I say, grinning at him. "Just think of it as an enriching music session. You never know when it'll come in handy."

"This is utter crap." Luke says in response.

"Aw, come on, only ten minutes left." Eliza says in response. "Then you can retire to your room and listen to whatever bullshit you guys like."

"Compared to this-" Caleb starts but Nate shrugs and he stops.

"It doesn't matter, guys. We're not going to die for ten more minutes of this."

"Tell me about it." Eliza mumbles. Caleb sighs as we change song, moving onto Let It Go.

"You know what, I think I actually prefer One Direction over this." Luke mutters when the song is over. Eliza sniggers softly before Best Song Ever comes on again.

When we finally get there Caleb is pretending his ears are bleeding, Luke is in a permanently grumpy mood, and Seth has a headache. I snap out my Polaroid, taking a shot of the three of them, then hand it to Caleb.

"Here's a memory of the car journey." Eliza bursts out laughing as Caleb pulls a face but pockets the picture. I feel someone behind me and Seth tugs on my hand.

"Can I have one?" He asks with a smile.

"Nope." I grin, putting it back away. He leans over me, tickling my sides gently.

"Come on."

"No." I repeat, turning and kissing his cheek, then pulling away. He grabs my hand as I sling my bag over my shoulder and follow Nate, Eliza and Caleb into Nate's house. Once again, there's no one there, no parents, no siblings, no one at all except us six.

He turns on the lights as we walk in and Luke immediately flops on a sofa, groaning softly and pressing his hands over his ears.

"Grow up." Eliza says to him, jumping onto the counter on the kitchen and swinging her legs, grabbing a packet of M&M's and opening it. "Is anyone going to get any food?"

"We're ordering pizza as soon as the others get here." Nate answers her, ditching his bags in the doorway.

"Others?" I ask Seth softly.

"Ashley, Zara and Carter. They couldn't come to the beach but they're staying the night now."

"Oh."

"We'll be upstairs for a minute." Seth says to Nate, who shrugs with the same expression of do-you-really-have-to, and then grabs my wrist, dragging me up the stairs and into a room. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just feel like I've reached my daily dose of being with people who supposedly despise me."

"I get it." He says softly.

"It's tiring, you know."

"I understand." He says, sitting down on the edge of the bed. I sit next to him almost immediately.

"And I'm sorry if you think I've been spending more time with the others, Seth. You're still more important to me than them." I look up at him. "You're the one that got me out of this mess all along, anyway, and I owe you so much."

"I didn't do anything you didn't deserve."

"Well, I'd never imagined you'd do something like that for me."

"Well, I did." He says, grinning. "We can leave if you want?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant."

"Do you want to go back down, then?" He asks me. I nod, standing up. He grabs my hand, pulling me back. "And Zoe, don't feel like you have to do anything, or you'll be judged for anything, okay?"

"It's been years of that, Seth. I'm okay with a few more months." I answer softly.

¬

The whole experience can't really be considered as a sleepover, since almost no sleeping actually occurs. It totally reminds me of the sleepovers I used to have with my friends in England. We'd never actually sleep.

When Caleb wakes up at ten, the first one, I'm still to sleep at all. I simply had to finish Metamorphoses, and it's a hard book to read, especially when functioning on no hours of sleep whatsoever. .

"Did you sleep?" He asks me, rolling over and narrowly avoiding falling on top of Luke.

"Nope." I answer. "Shut up, I'm about to finish this and it's written in Latin. Actually, to improve you should read this."

"Zoe, no one in this country except you can read that in the actual ancient Latin."

"Plenty of people can." I shrug without tearing my eyes from the page. If I do, there's no way I can get back into it. "And you can too if you try."

"I can't even try." He answers, standing up and stepping on Luke's thigh. He wakes with a scream. I giggle, still not looking up. I hear some sounds that sound like wrestling and fighting, and a few swear words. Seth moves next to me.

Basically, we dragged all the mattresses down and from thereon it was crazy. Ashley, Zara, Carter and Caleb got sugar highs are ran around the house for three hours until they collapsed.

At some point someone pulled out some alcohol even though none of us are legal. I finally look up from the book, seeing Nate curled up next to Eliza, and Ashley and Zara, who are sleeping on opposite sides of a mattress, not vertically but horizontally.

Carter is lying on his stomach half on a mattress and half off it, and Luke was on the floor until Caleb, who was on the sofa, stepped on him. Now they're both on the floor. Seth is breathing softly next to me.

I stand, trying not to step on the mess of bodies and go to the kitchen, pouring myself a drink. I sit on a stool and reopen the book, falling into it reasonably easily and quickly.

"Morning." The moment I start to concentrate I'm rudely torn out of it again. Zara is smiling at me. She looks a bit rough.

"Hi." I say, putting the book down on the counter, together with my hopes of finishing it right now.

"Did you sleep well?"

"No." I say. "Or more to the point, I didn't sleep."

"Oh." She says. She's obviously still suffering the effects of consuming way too much candy in a small space of time. She sits next to me, grabbing a glass and pouring herself some Coke. I move the book. It's a nice edition and I do not like my books ending up covered in Coke. Not that I was implying anything.

"Did you sleep well?" I echo her.

"Yeah." She sighs contentedly. The door opens again and Seth and Caleb come through. Caleb jumps on the counter, grabbing the bottle of Coke and not even bothering with a glass. This leads to an argument with Zara, but I ignore them.

"Morning." Seth says, taking Zara's seat as she stands up to argue with Caleb.

"Hey." I say, running a hand through my hair, self-conscious of how bad I must look.

"It's fine, don't worry. I dread to know how bad I look." He says, patting his hair. I laugh.

"Terrible." I answer, standing up. "I should go and change and fix my hair."

"You really should." He says exaggeratedly. I punch him in the stomach, kissing his cheek before grabbing my book and making a run for it. I grab my bag on the way upstairs, bagging the guest bathroom before anyone else can, and changing into jean shorts and a tight shoulderless crop top before putting in contacts and putting a headband around my head. I don't bother with make up.

As I sling my bag over my shoulder and head back down, I realise how much I've change in these past few days. It's been drastic. For example, I never would have worn anything like what I'm wearing now before. I wouldn't have dared.

Before, I would have been called a whore and a slut and all kinds of things: now, I set trends. Seth is waiting in a now-fuller kitchen. Ashley and Carter are up. On the subject, I think they should date. But whatever. I'm not prepared to act matchmaker to anyone.

In a room full of people who look like shit from a sleepless night, I actually feel pretty good about myself. Seth grins, kissing my cheek, then he disappears upstairs too.

"Hi." Ashley says, feeling the inside of a packet of crisps in case there's any inside. She pulls away, disappointed, and Nate snatches the packet up, shoving it in the bin together with all the rubbish that was hanging around.

"Morning." I say, smiling at her. Even if it's easier now, being around everyone without Seth is still somewhat intimidating. Not as far as scary, but definitely intimidating. Thankfully, Seth is quick and he's back. As soon as he's in the room I regain some of my confidence.

He winks at Nate, looking around the messy room. "You've got a lot to do."

"I have my ways." He says, looking expressly at Eliza and Caleb. Seth and I both laugh, but I deduct he wants to leave.

"You are a jerk." Eliza groans, throwing an empty bottle of Coke at him. He hits it back at her in midair, and it hits Luke on the back of the head. He turns immediately, looking enraged.

Seth grabs my forearm and I look at him, giggling softly. "Let's get out of here before this gets rough." He says to me and I follow him through the rooms, shouting a goodbye before leaving the house. I shoulder my bag properly and climb onto his motorcycle behind him.

"Where are we going?" I ask as he revs it before pulling off unexpectedly. I cling to him, feeling his heart pounding in his chest.

"You'll see soon enough." 

A/N - Thanks for reading and also thanks to the person that commented something really sweet on the last chapter :) ily !

In other news, I am doing a full re-write of One of the Bullied (first book) and splitting in half (it's actually like 120,000 words) and will hopefully be publishing it on Amazon for Kindle/paperback :) Let me know with an inline comment if you'd actually buy it if I did that!