I don't get back home until eight o'clock at night. As I open the front door and wave bye to Seth, I realise I hadn't even told my parents how long I would be out for.

I'm met by my mother.

"Thanks for calling, Zoe." She says tiredly. "You've been spending way too much time out recently."

I roll my eyes at her.

"Sorry for not calling, but it's not like I'm back late. Where's dad?"

She frowns and doesn't answer, bustling through to the kitchen. Right. I guess I'll just have to find him, then. I head up to my room, drop my phone and jumper and head back down to find him.

He's in his office, his eyes fixed on some papers. "Zoe, it's about time. Don't you have work to do?"

"I also have the whole of tomorrow to do it."

"Just remember how important this year is for you, Zoe."

"I know, Dad. My studies are literally the least of your worries." I gulp while saying that. "What happened with Mum?"

"Nothing major." He says, but I can see in his eyes he's lying through his teeth. I raise an eyebrow. "We just had another argument, Zoe, you know how it is."

"You've got to stop. It has a bigger effect on me than you imagine. Also, it's half eight on a Saturday. You shouldn't be working right now and you know it."

"Do you think money grows on trees, Zoe? Where do you think all the money you're spending on clothes and dresses to go out with your boyfriend is coming from?"

"If I were you, I would be glad that I'm finally fitting in." I spit in anger. My mother appears behind me. "You too. You say I should be studying, even though you know full well I spent the whole afternoon yesterday studying. You both keep trying to make me feel bad because I have friends and I go out or something."

"Zoe, we're not trying to make you-"

"Yes, you are. Do you even realise how unhappy I've been in this godforsaken country?" I pause for breath, watching their faces. My mother looks crushed: my fathers is impassive. "You should be glad I'm finally fitting in at school. You should be glad I'm finally having the life I wanted."

"All we're saying, Zoe, is that perhaps this isn't the best year to be focusing on friends and partying. You know how important your grades are-"

"Do you think I'm not going to do well? Do you really think I'm going to fail or something-"

"It's not whether you fail or not, it's how good they are." My mum intervenes.

"WHAT IF I'M SICK OF BEING LITTLE MISS PERFECT ALL THE TIME?" I shout before storming up to my room. I hesitate before calling Seth. After all, he only dropped me off like twenty minutes ago, and he might have plans. But I call him anyway.

"Zoe?" He answers on the second ring. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes. Something is very wrong?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay physically, so don't freak."

"What happened?" His voice is getting more panicky with each question he asks me.

"I got into an enormous row with my parents." I say. "And I don't know if I can face them after this."

"Do you want to come over?"

"I don't want to bother you, but if that's okay."

"Of course it's okay. My parents aren't in. My mothers away for business and my father is out with friends. I'll be there in twenty max, okay? You can stay the night if you want."

"Thank you." I say in a tiny voice before he hangs up. Smartly, I shower rapidly before going so I won't have to shower there. I don't think Seth and I are quite at that point yet.

After all, it will be the first time I actually sleep in the same bed as him for a night (sleepovers and parties excluded) and I'm pretty nervous. If he even wants me to stay. But he's been round here when he's had problems at home, so I don't see the problem.

After showing, I change into new clothes, pull my hair up and pack a small rucksack with a couple of things which I'll need. Then I run downstairs. There's shouting coming from my dad's office which I'm not too happy about at all.

Seth knocks on the door a couple of minutes later. He hugs me and I hug him back, appreciating the comfort. For four years, if my parents argued or I argued with them, I had no one to turn to. Now, I have Seth.

"Listen." I say, and his face contorts as he too hears the faint shouting.

"Sorry." He says quietly. "You can tell me what happened at mine, okay?" I nod and we drive to his uneventfully. My phone rings - my parents must have heard the front door slam, but I ignore it. By the time we're at Seth's I have three missed calls.

We go straight up to his bedroom, and I sit on the edge of his bed, deliberating whether to text, call, or ignore my mother. I finally decide on the latter and mute my phone.

Seth sits down next to me. There's no one else in the house.

"What exactly happened, Zoe?"

"They just started going on about how I need to spend more time studying, and how recently I've been spending a lot of time out."

"If you need to dedicate more time to studying that should be your priority, Zoe, not me or anyone else."

"I'm doing enough to get by at the moment." I say. "I know it'll change because now I'm almost at University and all, but I feel like I don't want to be so perfect anymore. I kept getting perfect grades, and it was like that was what was causing everything that happened to me."

He frowns.

"Maybe I was just too good." I mutter. "And now I'm tired of that."

"Zoe, nothing was ever about you being too good. It was about us being too bad." He sighs and looks down at his hands. "I can't pinpoint a reason why we bullied you, and to be honest, I'm embarrassed to talk to you about it."

"But..." I continue for him,.

"If anything, Zoe, it was because we were jealous. I know girls were jealous of you for your hair and for your eyes, and for your height. I know studious people were jealous of you because you were smart beyond what anyone can ever achieve by just studying."

He stops and sighs again. I feel my face shaping into a frown.

"I know people in general were jealous of you because of where you came from and who you are." He stares at the floor. "Zoe, most of us haven't been out of the States in our lives. We were born here and we're never going to do anything much with our lives except perhaps working at Walmart.

You know that, and so do we. You were different. It was obvious you were going to do something. What does the high school hierarchy matter, in the end? You care when you're young, but when you're seventeen you realise how it really doesn't matter at all.

I guess, for Luke and Caleb and myself, the realisation just sunk earlier. And it also happened to come when you arrived. That's the only valid excuse I can give you, Zoe."

I truly don't know what to answer to that. He's made many valid points in a sole sentence, things that make me think. Is what he's saying really true, or is he just using that to shut me up?

"I guess it's better than anything I've heard before." I shrug and turn to him. "But Seth, we were talking about this earlier. Not everything is about being someone in life. It doesn't matter.

You're not going to end up working at Walmart, Seth, because you're smart, and you've applied to the right Universities, and you'll get in somewhere and you'll do something you like with your life."

He blinks, wrapping an arm around me. "I didn't actually mean the Walmart thing, Zoe. It was a generalisation."

"It was a massive and gruesome generalisation." I answer, kissing his cheek. "Thanks for letting me come over, though."

"It's my pleasure." He says, standing and bowing slightly. I laugh. "At least you have somewhere to come, now." He winks and goes through to the bathroom to shower and change. I use the window to change too, and I sit back on his bed, resting my head against the headboard and checking my phone.

My mother hasn't called any more, which is good. My father hasn't even bothered. How nice of him. Seth comes out of the bathroom. Shirtless. Gawd.

He grins at me. "I trust you don't mind." He drawls, sitting next to me. I resist the urge to reach out and slide my hand down his chest, dropping my phone and tucking my hands under my thighs. Just in case. "Do you want to call your parents or something?"

"Not really." I say, dropping my gaze to the phone on the bedside table. The light is flashing, so I've got another call or message. I lean down and switch the phone off. "I'm kind of tired."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, it's fine." I sigh and slide down the bed a bit, resting my head on his shoulder. He chuckles and slides down too, pulling me with him. He pulls the covers up to our heads and kisses my cheek.

"You don't look like you feel fine." He comments with a small smile. I hold back another sigh. "What happened?"

"They don't see how things are actually working out all of a sudden. They start saying I need to work more, I need to get good grades, I need to get into the Universities I've applied to.

My mother.. Well, she's frets too much because I didn't call her. It wasn't like I was out late, or anything. And my father is so stressed... He only cares about my grades."

"That can't be true, Zoe. It's normal that they worry about your grades." He leans in and kisses my nose gently. "I'll say it again, if you need more time to study or revise, I don't mind, and I never will, okay?"

"It's not about you minding, Seth. It's just that... I don't want to spend the whole year studying and revising. Now that I kind of have a shot at a normal life, I want to take it."

"That you have a normal life doesn't mean you have to change who you are, Zoe."

"I'm not changing who I am- I'm just... modifying my lifestyle a little. It's nothing major."

"Are you sure about that?" He asks me, frowning a little. I smile and inch closer until our bodies are almost touching. Oh, I can just feel radiation from those abs. God, Zoe.

"Completely." I say, leaning in. He laughs, cupping my face in his hands and presses his lips against mine. I smile and edge closer still, pressing my hands into his shoulder blades and gasping softly as he forces my lips apart and slips his tongue into my mouth.

Okay, I've kissed plenty before, and Seth and I have kissed plenty before, but it's never really been like this. I've never really felt like this, about anyone. Or anything.

He lets go of my face and runs his hands down my side, touching my ribs gently. When I finally pull away, he's gone slightly red and I know I'll be the same colour.

"Well, goodnight, I guess." He says, leaning over to turn off the lights. I snuggle closer to him, resting my head on his chest. I finally pick up the courage to run a hand down his torso and he groans softly, squeezing my shoulder gently. My mouth starts to form an O but I shut it quickly, leaning over to peck his lips.

"Thank you, Seth." I say. And I mean for more than just tonight. 

A/N - My book One of the Bullied has just 101k and I'm so excited! I still can't quite believe it. I now have one book at 12k, one at over 100k and two at around 3/4k... so blessed :) 

In other words, if you're a Logan Paul (or Jake Paul tbh) fan PLEASE LEAVE :))

Thanks for reading and I hope you have an awesome day!