“Alex? Alex, where are you?” I shouted. We had driven into the woods for a date. We were going to camp here. We had set the tent up and Alex went looking for fire wood, be he'd been gone for an hour, so I went looking for him. It was getting dark now.
“Alex, this isn't funny, come back” I shouted. Okay, now I was really scared.
“Turn around Laura” I heard someone say. I'd recognise that voice anywhere.
“My name is Lauren” I said, without turning around.
“Lauren” I heard Alex say, he sounded scared. I turned around and there was Mum and Dad. Dad had Jay and Alex, pointing a gun at both their heads. And Mum had Max and Jack, pointing a gun at their heads too.
“Let them go” I said.
“Now now, calm down Lauren, all in good time, all in good time” Dad said.
“DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT DAD, LET THEM GO!” I shouted.
“CALM THE FUCK DOWN OR I'LL BLOW ALL THEIR BRAINS OUT” He shouted back. I stayed silent.
“That's better.” He began. “Now, you need to make a decision. You can only choose one of these people. You have 10 minutes to decide.” He said. I stood there in total shock. And then I started thinking. So, Jay took me in when no one else would. He helped me get over my fears and he made me into the person I am today. I loved Alex, and Alex loved me, he saved my life twice before. Max also took me in, he helped Jay helped me. He taught me how to ride a bike and he helped me with my driving lessons. He's done so much for me. And Jack, he saved my life, helped me through my first month away from Alex, kept me strong when Dad would beat me and call me names. So who do I pick? I can't. It wouldn't be fair.
“Time's almost up” He said. Shit. What do I do? I can't kill them all! I've got it!
“I've chosen” I said. Everyone looked at me in shock. Begging that it wouldn't be them.
“Who is it?” Dad asked with a smile on his face. I looked at each and everyone of them.
“I'm so sorry guys.” I said.
“Who is it?” Dad repeated. I looked up at him.
“Me.”
“NO!” Alex shouted.
“Shut up Alex” I said and he did.
“Well, if that's what you really want.” He said, taking the gun away from Jay and pointing it at me. I closed my eyes as I heard the gunshot. Then it was over. I was dead.

“Lauren! LAUREN!” I heard someone shouting. I opened my eyes and I was back at Jay's house
“Lauren, are you all right? What happened?” Jay asked.
“He- he killed me” I said.
“Who?”
“Dad! Him and Mum pointed guns at you, Max, Jack and Alex and made me choose who he kills, so I said me, and he killed me.” I started crying and Jay pulled me into a hug.
“Shh, it was just a dream.” He said.
“But it felt so real” I replied. I cried on Jay for what felt like forever. When the tears finally stopped, Jay took me downstairs and made me some cereal. Emma and Max could tell I'd been crying but they didn't dare question it.
“So I was thinking that today, we go to the new water park in town” Max said. My eyes lit up. I loved swimming, especially since Emma taught me.
“Yeah!” I shouted. They all laughed at my enthusiasm. I finished my breakfast and we all got our stuff ready and left. In the car, I told Max and Emma about my nightmare and they said its just my mind's way of dealing with all the drama that's happened recently. But whenever I had dreams like this as a kid, it meant something bad was going to happen. And I was terrified.

We arrived at the water park and went on every slide possible, ate loads of junk, went on all the slides again and then we went to the adults pool and sat on the sunbeds and chatted.
“Thank you” I said when it went quiet.
“For what?” Jay spoke up.
“For taking me in when you didn't know me, for helping me get over what happened in my past, for being there for me. Just thank you for everything you've done for me. I really don't know how I could ever make it up to you.” I said.
“Lauren, you don't have to make it up to us. We wanted to do this for you. We wanted to give you a better life, and that's what we did. We got you away from your parents once, and we'll get them away from you again. We're here for you and we love you” Jay replied. I jumped on Jay and gave him a massive hug. Emma and Max joined too. Then all of a sudden I was being picked up and carried by everyone. I was laughing as they carried me over to the pool and then they all looked down at me.
“You wouldn't dare” I said.
“Hold your breath!” Max said and they threw me in. I went under and then came back up as they all jumped in after me.
“You're fucking lucky I love you” I shouted at them. We splashed about and flicked water at each other for an hour, and then decided that it was time to go home. We went to the changing rooms and dried off and put clean clothes on. Then, we made our way back to Jay's.

When we got back, we pulled up outside and I saw the 2 people who I've hated since birth.
“What are you doing here?” Jay and Max said, standing in front of Me and Emma.
“We want a moment alone with our daughter.” Mum said.
“Fine, but you can do it on the other side of the street where we see you. Mum nodded and I walked over to the other side of the street with her and Dad.
“Honey, please come home. We were horrible to you, but you're our daughter and we love you” Mum said.
“So you let Dad try to kill me, you don't even say goodbye when I moved out here and you expect me to forgive you for everything? Dream on!” I said.
“Well yeah” Dad said.
“You know what? Fuck you. You inhumane monsters who think it's okay to treat their only daughter like shit because she's not male. What makes you think you have the right to come here and apologise to me anyway?” I said, I was angry, and I wanted to fucking punch something.
“Listen here you little shit. You don't talk to us that way, we fucking brought you up” Dad said.
“Yeah, and tried to kill me a few times along the way” I laughed in his face.
“That's it.” He said and lunged forward and punched me right in the face. I was sure to have a black eye. Max and Jay came and pulled him off while Emma helped me up again.
“As far as I'm concerned, you're not my fucking father!” I said, running at him and hitting him a few times before Emma pulled me off him. I turned and began walking back to the house, but apparently, Dad wasn't done, and he ran at me and knocked me to the ground. Jay and Max tried pulling him off but he turned round and started punching them instead.
“Get off them!” I shouted at him. He turned and looked at me.
“Oh yeah, what are you gonna do?” He asked. I smirked.
“I don't know Dad, what can I do? Let you beat the living shit out of me? Let you knock my confidence and make me try to kill myself? Or fight back? Hmm, I'm liking the sound of the last one. Because you're a fat, incompetent, pathetic excuse for a Man. And a terrible excuse for a Father” I said. I saw Mum laugh behind him, so I pushed past Dad and walked over to her so I was right up in her face.
“What are you laughing at? You let him hit me. Your own daughter. You'd laugh at me, you made me do everything for you like a slave. You're a pathetic excuse for a Mother and I fucking hope you're happy with yourself. Its your fault I suffered with depression. You could've stopped it all, but no, you obviously thought it was funny watching your daughter get beaten up. I. Hate. You” I said. She slapped me across the face, hard. I took a few deep breaths and looked at her.
“I hate you” I repeated and she slapped me again. I just smiled at her, punched her in the face, turned around and as I was walking inside, Dad shouted
“We'll come back again, and you'll come back to Baltimore with us, whether you like it or not”
“In your fucking dreams” I shouted over my shoulder and walked inside, with Emma, Jay and Max following me.
“Wow Lauren, that was uh, well I've never seen you like that before.” Jay said.
“Neither have I. I either just had a mental breakdown, or I'm crazy enough to do that without thinking” I said.
“Well, whichever one it was, that was fucking awesome!” Max said as he high fived me. Emma walked over to us with an icepack in her hand.
“Here, this-HOLY FUCK YOU'RE BLEEDING!” She shouted. I looked at my arm. It was quite a deep cut.
“Shit, I think I might need stitches” I said.
“Let's get you to the hospital” Jay said.
“No way, I'll do it myself” I said. They all looked at me confused.
“What? I used to give myself stitched like 8 times a week, it's no big deal” I said and went to the first said kit. I found the thread and needle. They all watched me do it in shock.
“There, good as new” I said as I finished.
“Well, I guess there are a few things we don't know about you” Emma said.
“Its just stitches, calm down” I laughed, taking the icepack back out of Emma's hand and holding it to my face.
“Well, um, so when are you next seeing Alex?” Jay asked, changing the subject.
“Tomorrow. I'm meeting the rest of the band” I said. He just nodded and we all went about doing our own thing.

“Hey guys, I'm gonna go home for the night” I said. As much as I loved it here, I needed my own bed back.
“Okay, see ya later” They all said and I walked home. I went straight up to my room and put my pyjamas on, then walked over to the box on my shelf that I hid behind all the books. Now, I was ashamed of myself for keeping the blades, but they helped. Oh yeah, about a year after I moved, I started self harming. Jay's the only one who knows about that. He helped me stop, but he doesn't know I kept the blades. The last time I did it was about 4 months ago. Some guy at work came in the shop and called me a slutty whore because I couldn't help him. And here I was, about to do it again. I sat on my bed and pulled my pyjama bottoms down to reveal an array of scars on my right thigh. I sighed and dragged the blade across a few old scars. I did it again, and again, and again. By the time I'd finished, most of my thigh was covered in blood and cuts. Just the way it used to look. I found my roll of bandages and wrapped it around my leg so I wouldn't bleed everywhere. I then dropped the blade on the floor and led down and cried myself to sleep at how much of a failure I am.

I woke up the next morning and I was in so much pain from the fight with Mum and Dad and the new scars on my leg. I groaned and got up. I looked out the window and saw that it was a sunny day. Too bad I can't wear shorts. I looked in my wardrobe and pulled out a pair of yellow skinny jeans and a grey T-shirt. I pulled them on then went to the bathroom to clean my teeth and wash my face. I then put on some make up to cover my black eye. I didn't exactly want questions about that today. Then my phone started ringing. I looked to see who it was and it was Alex.
“Hey” I said.
“Hey, so you ready?” He asked.
“Yep. Pick me up from my house, not Jay's though” I said and gave him my adress.
“Right, see you soon”
“Bye!” I hung up and grabbed a banana. I ate that and then slipped my shoes on. I was wearing grey and yellow converse. I heard Alex knock on the door, I grabbed my purse and opened the door to reveal a very handsome looking Alex staring at me. He pulled me into a hug.
“Oh, hello” I said. He just laughed. I locked the door and we got in his car.
“So, where are we meeting them?” I asked.
“At Zack's house.” He said.
“I can't wait” I smiled. We got there and I was suddenly nervous. What if they didn't like me?
“Relax, they'll love you” Alex said, reading my mind. I slipped my hand in his and he smiled at me. We walked in and went down to the basement where 4 guys were sitting.
“Lauren!” Jack shouted, engulfing me in a big hug.
“Jacky!” I shouted back.
“Lauren, this is Zack, the bassist, Rian, the drummer and Flyzik out tour manager” He said. I smiled and waved at them all.
“So you're the famous Lauren. Yep, I can see what Alex said about you being hot” Zack said.
“He also said you were good for a virgin” Rian added.
“And he just wanted to spend the rest of his life with you” Jack said.
“And you're the only girl he'll ever be able to love” Flyzik said.
“Now I know how you felt when your family embarrassed you” Alex said. I just laughed.
“So, I heard you're a fan” Zack said as I sat on bean bag between him and Rian, opposite Alex, Jack and Flyzik on the sofa.
“It's a recent thing but yeah, your music is actually amazing” I said.
“Well Alex, she's everything you said she'd be.” Rian said.
“Don't worry, if he ever hurts you again, I'll kill him” Zack whispered. I was starting to like Zack. He was really easy to talk to.

As the day went on, I got to know everyone and they were all really cool. I could get used to being around them.
“Right, well it was amazing meeting you all, but I best get home now” I said and stood up.
“I'll drive you” Alex said. I smiled at him and we made our way out.

“So, what do you think of them?” Alex asked when we got in his car.
“They're amazing!” I said.
“It looks like you got on well with Zack” He replied.
“Who couldn't? He's just amazing!” I said. Alex laughed.
“I'm telling him you said that” He said.
“Go ahead, I'll just tell them that you put my bra and panties on once and ran around singing Disney songs until one of your balls fell out the side of the panties and they ripped” I smirked.
“Okay, I won't tell him then” He laughed.
“We used to have such a laugh” I sighed.
“Yeah.” He replied.
“You know, I used to think about spending the rest of my life with you, Alex and when I left I just, I didn't think I had a future any more. You meant the world to me and I loved you. And the worst thing about it all, it I still love you and you still mean the world to me when you shouldn't and I should hate you” I said.
“I'm really fucking glad you don't hate me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you did. Because I still love you and I have done ever since that day in the park when I fell on you. Thank you for giving me a second chance. You're my everything, you always have been and you always will be” He said. I smiled at him. I don't think he's ever been so deep around me before. This is a whole new Alex, and I liked it.

We got back to mine and I got out of the car and then turned back to Alex.
“Hey, do you wanna stay the night?” I asked.
“Sure” He smiled and got out. We went in and I fell down on the sofa, Alex did the same as me.
“Alex, be a dear and get the wine and wine glasses out of the glass cabinet in the kitchen.” I said. He got up and came back in with the already opened bottle of wine and the glasses. He held the glasses as I poured the wine.
“Here's to giving it another try” Alex said, hitting his glass to mine. We both took a sip and reminisced about the old days.

2 hours and 5 glasses of wine later, we were laughing and joking. All of a sudden, everything went quiet and we were staring into each other's eyes. Now I don't know who leaned in first, but all of a sudden, his lips were on mine. I pulled away first.
“Alex. I can't do this any more. I can't just be friends. I'm too in love with you to be able to to that.” I said.
“Me too Lauren. I love you. Will you be my girlfriend again?” He asked.

“Yes Alex, yes I will!” And I kissed him again. This night couldn't get any more perfect.

Notes

So sad but happy chapter. Tell me what you think! Thank you to everyone who's supporting this story, it means so much.
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Lave you all c: