It was never effortless to love Aaron Warner. He was a difficult teenage boy who seemed to forget a lot of the time that that was what he was-a teenage boy. He'd always felt that loving or even caring for him would be impossible for all the world to...
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ADAM'S PLACE LOOKS old, beaten down and nearly completely abandoned. However, I've been informed that it's just a result of the battle and the fact that Adam obviously doesn't have a job anymore and therefore can't afford a lot of things.
"Okay, stop that," Isaac says to me just as he's about to knock on the worn down door.
"Stop what?" I say.
"That whole look," Isaac waves a haphazard hand in front of my face. "on your face. It's like you're a princess judging the peasants."
I gape at him. "What?!"
"That look!"
"I do not have a look!"
Isaac rolls his eyes. "Sure you don't. . ."
"I—"
"Hey," says Kenji, upbeat, as he leans against the wall on my left side. "you're right, man. She does have a look."
I pinch his arm.
"Ow!" Kenji squeaks.
"I do not have a look," I say firmly. "Now open the goddamn door before it drives me crazy."
The door suddenly swings open, as if on command, and my lips part in surprise as soon as a scarred Winston comes into view. His lip is bloody and cut up whilst his face is covered in bruises.
"Winston!" someone shouts in a scolding voice from inside.
I beam immediately. "Hey!"
But the sandy-haired boy in front of me only pushes his glasses back up his nose and clears his throat. Looks between Isaac and Kenji. "Are you guys real? Is this real? 'Cause if I'm hallucinating this shit—"
Kenji snorts. "Yeah, man, it's real. We got her back."
"Got who back?" another voice shouts from inside the house.
And Winston grabs my arm and pulls me into the house, beaming and it looks like it might hurt. Regardless, he shows me to the rest of the group like I'm a new toy of his.
"They got Mara back!" he says.
I try my best to smile at everyone. "Hello."
And only then do I register exactly who's here—Lily, Alia, Castle and everyone else who the boys mentioned before stands in this tiny living room. Adam's staring at me from the kitchen in disbelief, a spoon hanging midair like he was about to eat something but I stopped him.
And then I see her—Juliette. She's over by the corridor entry, leaning against the wall, clearly for support. She's smiling at me so brightly she looks near tears. But she also appears incredibly exhausted, and her eyelids keep drooping. Increasingly so.
Isaac immediately pushes past me in order to get to her side. He gently takes both of her shoulders and says, "Hey, Ferrars, don't collapse on me."
She steadies herself and rubs her forehead. "Oh. . .sorry. . ."
