The Trouble-Makers

Nothing can ever be solved by violence; that's something I remember rethinking all the time ever since I joined the Trouble-Makers. It was something that I held close and knew that it was true, but sometimes advice like that could be ignored. Sometimes. And right now was one of those times.

I launched myself away from my crew and slammed Nicki to the ground. I could hear commotion going on behind me but all I cared about right now was making her pay for what she just said.

She quickly stood back up, holding a hand to her face as she glared at me. "You little-" but I cut her off as I pushed her back again and she fell against the wall.

"If I ever hear you say that about my friends again," I grabbed onto her hair and brought her close, "I swear to God I will actually fight you and make you wish you hadn't started anything with me."

For the first time, Nicki didn't say anything to me; she just watched me with wide eyes. I dropped her hair and turned back to the boys, whom had their backs to me. It wasn't until I got closer did I realize what they were looking at: Zack had Kellin pressed against one of the corners.

"I freaking trusted you! And now I find out you were lying all this time?" His words were angry but you could clearly hear the hurt seeping through them. "I thought we were friends, and here you were sneaking behind my back and doing all of this..." he let go of Kellin before running out the back door.

"Wow," I said, and the boys turned to look at me, not noticing I had rejoined them.

"Let's go get him," Jaime muttered, running hand through his spiky hair and followed his trail.

***

"I just don't understand anything anymore," Zack muttered, dropping his face into his hands. He was sitting down at my kitchen table and Rian put a comforting hand on his shoulder. After we got away at the party, we decided to go to my place since my dad was most likely not going to be home and question what we were doing like the rest of the guys' parents would've done.

"Don't blame yourself, man," Rian said, shaking his shoulder.

"I just can't believe I was so damn stupid to believe all of his lies," he muttered into his hands.

"Don't even worry about it man," Jack said, walking into the kitchen with a water bottle in hand. "You freaking scared the crap out of him, I don't think Tomato will come anywhere near you again."

Zack didn't respond and I hopped up onto one of the counters and wrapped my legs around Alex's back. I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. I knew Zack couldn't have been a part of Kellin's little schemes, but there was always a small part of me that knew there was a possibility, but now all of that could be set aside.

"It's not just Kellin, it's all of them. All of my friends. They're...God," he shook his head.

"You have us now," I spoke up and I could feel Alex tense underneath me. I gently rubbed his arm, calming him down.

"How can you guys accept me? I'm a part of clique..."

"So was Stella," Jaime said, leaning against the kitchen wall. "Look, man, you seem chill. We don't just hate everyone part of the clique for no reason, if someone did something to piss us off...then we hate them."

"So why did you guys hate me then?" he asked. That was a good question, I often wondered the same.

"Because you were dating Stella," Alex said lowly. I couldn't help but have a small smile perk on my lips; he was even protective of me before we were dating.

Zack sighed, looking up finally. "This changes everything."

"It'll be weird for a while," I admitted to him. "I mean, you'll still get all the attention but it won't exactly be good attention if you're hanging out with us."

He shook his head. "I don't care about that. You guys are good guys, a little violent, but good guys. I totally misjudged you all wrong. I'm sorry."

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Don't sweat it, man. A lot of people do."

"So...what do we do now?"

"We go beat the living crap out of Kellin," Jaime said, cracking his knuckles.

"I'm in," Alex said, and I lightly punched his arm.

"No, he already got taken care of by Zack," I protested.

"Hardly, although I was kind of shocked when you punched him," Jack said and Jaime snickered at that.

"Didn't think you had it in you," Jaime admitted.

Zack ran a hand through his hair. "I just never felt like that before..."

"What do you think we should do next, Stella?" Mike asked, walking over to sit down beside Rian.

The boys turned their attention to me, and I bit on my lip. "Well, there's nothing else we really need to do. Just make it through this school year."

"Cheers to that," Jaime said, holding up his soda can. The rest of the boys repeated that, including Zack.

"Man, it's going to be really lonely next year when you guys all graduate," Mike pouted.

"Well, you need to find more Trouble-Makers," I told him.

"Don't let this legend die!" Jack shouted in some weird accent.

"We shall be the story you tell your grandchildren at night!" Alex went on.

"All heil the might Trouble-Makers!" Jaime added.

I rolled my eyes at them and chuckled. Zack seemed a little shocked by their sudden goofiness, but I couldn't blame him. When the boys all first started opening up to me, I would've never guessed that these immature boys would be hidden underneath.

I wrapped my arms around Alex's back, sighing into the crook of his neck. "We're only half way done with this school year," I said quietly to him.

"We'll make it through," he told me, holding onto one of my hands. "We always do."

"We go together or we don't go down at all..." I whispered quietly to myself. I sighed, scooting closer into his back. I always felt so protected by Alex, even when he was in his 'scary mode'. I would always trust him, even if one day he did snap on me. Nothing would break my bond with these guys...at least, I hoped.

Notes

Well, there's the final chapter! I have to admit, I created this story on a whim and I didn't even know if I was going to finish it or not. I'm so glad you guys liked it enough to vote and subscribe, seriously, it meant the world to me <3 This story was extremely fun to write, and I will update this with a link to the sequal as soon as it's posted!

In the mean time, if you're looking for other writes by me I also wrote a Jack Barakat fan fic called I Don't Want To Fall In Love, which that story also continues in Before I Fall Asleep.

Thank you all so much for the support you gave me in this story! I hope I can write the sequal good enough for you guys, again <3 :)