"So" Brynne said. "The Plan A did not go well"

"So what's plan B, Shah?" Aiden asked.

"Wish I knew" Aru shrugged. "After that information about Boo, you know. I need some fresh air"

She got up.

"Hell no" Brynne said, getting up as well. "You're not safe alone. I'm coming with"

"Fine" Aru said, then she turned to Mini and Aiden. "You two try and come up with suspects, alright?"

"My brain can't really work properly right now" Aiden said.

"I don't think you had one to begin with" The words slipped out of her mouth before Aru could stop herself.

"Oh yeah?" Aiden asked, laughing. Not warmly. Coldly.

"Yeah. Prove me wrong, I dare you"

"I trust you" Aiden shrugged his shoulders like it was the smartest thing to do.

"And that's how I know you're not smart, Acharya." Aru shrugged back.

"On last name basis now, are we?" He asked, eyes dark and unreadable expression.

"You've always called me by my last name. I don't know why you say 'now'"

"That's why there's the 'we' in that sentence, Shah"

"Snob"

"Troll" He shot back with the corner of his mouth tipped up, almost like a smirk. No way. He was smirking at her. Oh no he didn't-

"Flirting" Brynne said in a singsong voice.

"Brynne, for the love of god, we're clearly arguing. Get your ears checked" Aru said.

"Sure, but I have eyes to see that you both are clearly smiling while arguing" Brynne shot back.

"Okay, you know what? I need fresh air as well" Mini said. "Imma call Rudy"

"Me too" Aiden said. "Because my brain needs a break from arguing with Aru" He said pointedly looking at her.

"At least I have one"

"Okay, we get it!" Mini said loudly. "You both have brains. Get lost, all of you!"

So Aru and Brynne went to the park, Mini went to hang out with Rudy, and Aiden went to catch up properly with Drew and Navdeep.

Aru sighed.

"Do you think we'll find out who did this?" Brynne asked, sitting down on a park bench.

"Of course we will" Aru replied but her tone was unconvincing.

"Maybe..." Brynne said, keeping her gaze on the ground. "Maybe we should call it quits"

"What?" Aru laughed. "What do you mean?"

"Call it quits" Brynne repeated. "Like, drop the investigation"

"Why?" Aru asked.

"If even Boo protested, then maybe..."

"No" Aru said firmly. "No. Boo said something, but I'm still going to go ahead with it. Boo said to never date anyone as well, and look at you and Hira"

"Yeah, but look at you and Arwen!" Brynne said, standing up and raising her voice.

"Don't bring him into this!" Aru raised her voice, standing up as well.

"You know what else Boo said? It was to never get hung up on the past" Brynne sneered. "And look at you"

"Do you even hear yourself right now?" Aru laughed humorlessly. "I'm not hung up on the past. I'm scarred. And you know what else? I thought sisters stick up for each other. Are you really going to break that rule to follow Boo's rules?"

"Better than breaking all of them like you" Brynne shot back. "No wonder your dad couldn't stand you. I bet that's why he left you"

Silence. And then-

"Look who's talking!" Aru shouted, her face heating up with embarrassment. She felt like a knife stab her in the heart with the way it was throbbing. "Your mom left you as well! At least mine comes back!"

Brynne's face became red. It was a mix of anger and embarrassment.

"I can't fucking stand you!" Brynne hollered. Ouch. Aru felt the knife being twisted further into her heart.

"Then sit the fuck down, and shut up!" Aru screamed back. Tears were streaming down her face. She turned and just ran back. She didn't know where to, but just ran.

She ran until she couldn't and sat on a bench. That's not why her mom was leaving...was it? But Aru had done nothing wrong. She always stayed in her mom's good books, never snuck out, never disobeyed. Because Aru would kill herself if that's the problem.

Her phone rang. Brynnasaurus rawr 💙💙

Aru smiled a little. When Brynne and her were fighting once, Mini compared them to dinosaurs roaring at each other. Aru forgot about fighting and asked what their names would be:

Aru: Brynne, what would our dinosaur names be?

Brynne: Hmmmm I'm thinking...Brynneceratops? Like Triceratops?

Aru: Nah. Brynnasaurus suits you better.

Brynne: Yeah okay. What about yours?

Aru: Aruplodocus? Like Diplodocus?

Brynne: No, you'd be Aruciraptor.

Aru: I'm changing your contact name to Brynnasaurus rawr and two blue hearts.

Brynne: Then I'm changing yours to Aruciraptor rawr and two yellow hearts.

Mini: And just like that, you stop fighting *insert sigh here*

She put her phone on silent and kept it in her pocket. She widened her legs slightly, propped her elbows on either side and her head into her hands.

Her and Arwen...no.

She didn't know when but her knees were tucked into her chest and she cried into her knees.

"SHAH!"

She looked up. The voice was velvety. Which means it could only be one person...

"Shah! Aru!" Aiden called, catching up to where she sat. He had black jeans, a green hoodie, and his hair was sticking out in all directions as if he was pulling on it. He had his purse-sorry, satchel, where he kept Shadowfax and other miscellaneous things.

"Are you okay? Where were you? I was worried- were you crying?" He asked, kneeling in front of her like she was a child.

Aru hurriedly wiped her tears away as she shook her head and forced a smile.

"Shah. You do know nothing gets past me, don't you?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

Aru sighed. "How could you tell?"

"Your tear-stricken face, your position, your wiping of tears when I got here and your forced smile?" Aiden said gently.

"And of course, how could I forget? Your wrist" He pulled her right hand away from her left wrist and squeezed it, placing their held hands on her knee.

"You notice all that?"

"I notice everything"

She smiled.

"I heard about what Brynne said to you. She came back crying" Aiden told her. "She cried while cooking. And you know she never cries."

"Yeah" Aru weakly laughed.

"Listen, what she said about your mom? I know it's not true" He squeezed her hand again. "And about you and a guy named Arwen-"

"Call him Fugly please."

"Right uh, Fugly" Aiden cracked a smile at this. "She was about to tell me about it, but I stopped her. I wanted you to trust me enough to tell me yourself"

"Thank you. I think" Aru smiled a real smile. Aiden smiled back, since he knew it was real this time. "I think I trust you enough"

She patted the seat next to her. "It's kind of a long story"

Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey"

Aru looked up. It was her first day as a senior in high school and it was getting hard to navigate.

"Hi"

"Are you Aru Shah?" The guy asked. He had black hair and sharp blue eyes.

"Yeah?"

"I want your number"

Her eyes widened. "Oh uh okay"

She handed it to him

---------------------------------------------------------------

It was 2 months after meeting Arwen and he was pretty nice. They hung out until-

"Aru I really like you. I hope we can be more than friends"

Aru was feeling lonely. And he looked pretty good, so what could go wrong? Plus it'd look pathetic if she hadn't at least dated once in high school.

"Okay"

------------------------------------------------------------

Aru had her first kiss on her first date.

She was not expecting that.

"Girl, I don't think he's good for you" Brynne told her.

"Yeah. It's moving way too fast" Mini said.

"I don't know" Aru murmured.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

And then the hitting started. It wasn't anything too bad, just some slaps if she questioned something silly.

And harder if she asked to break up.

She was not comfortable. At all.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

She called the police on him.

And that was it.

Flashback end~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



It really was going too fast huh?

She turned to look at Aiden. He had his jaw clenched, hands in fists and eyes steely.

"You know, I tend to punch anyone who does that to other people. I used to get into a lot of fights in my college first year. I still want to sometimes."

"When you want to punch someone" Aru started. She took one of his fisted hands. "Take your thumb from the front" She pried his thumb away from the front. "And fold it over the top" She folded it over the top.

"It'll remind you not to lose your composure"

Aiden smiled. "Thanks. I think it might actually help"

He got up, dusted his jeans. He leaned down, his satchel swinging and held out a hand to her.

"Let's get you home. Okay?"

"Okay"



I KNOW, I KNOW! NOT A LOT OF THE OTHER SHIPS!

LOOK.

I have a plot and an idea of how things are gonna roll, but I don't have each chapter planned out to the point it all makes sense.

I just have little ideas, and know how it's gonna end.

So if I get and idea like-

OoOoOoH lets make Brynne and Aru fight to show they're not perfect.

Okay.

Or

OOOOOOOH! Let's make Rudy kiss Mini because why not.

Why not?

So that's how this book is currently going. Yes. That Trailer did spoil a lot of things. Sorry. Not sorry.

Anyway I had a second language exam yesterday *cries* And I barely know the language.

I'm gonna fail. Fail.

*echoes fail, fail, fail*



-Loife