HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!

Chp 22

"If I was dying on my knees
You would be the one to rescue me
And if you were drowned at sea
I'd give you my lungs so you could breathe."

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"Why because he's your long forgotten boyfriend?" Matt snaps

"Well isn't he just absolutely right babe." Jayden says placing his arm on my shoulder

"WHAT?!!" everybody screams at once

"How do you know them babe?" Jayden asks smirking, ignoring the others

"Oh baby, they are the friends I made here." I say, smirking too

"This is Johanna, Grace, Natalia and Layla." I say pointing towards the girls

"Well you already know my friends so..."he says dragging the 'so'

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" everybody screamed at once and I've no clue on how they were so synchronized

I look over to Jayden and tell him to explain.

"I'm not doing the explaining." he says visibly gulping at the glares that were currently being thrown at us

"You started it, you end it." I state

"Well..." Jay starts

"WELL WHAT?" they scream

"Did you guys practice these reactions or something?" I ask but shut up immediately as the glares all shift towards me

"JAYDEN FREAKIN MILLER, EXPLAIN!" Aiden, Ryder, Zeke and Matt demand at once

Are they sure they didn't practice?

"She'smycousin." Jayden says too fast for them to be able to catch what he said

"TALK IN ENGLISH!" and that couldn't be anybody but, Aiden

"She's my maternal cousin." Jayden says hesitantly, trying to prepare himself for the after effect

"SHE'S YOUR WHAT?!" they all scream at once

Yep. They definitely practiced

"Cousin." I say trying to control my laughter but it's difficult after seeing their reaction

"YOU'RE HIS WHAT?!" they scream again

Are they that dumb? Or are they all deaf?

"Jayden is my mom's sister's son. Therefore my maternal cousin." I explain calmly

They all finally digest the information and have the look that says 'you're both so dead'.

"Time to run!" I exclaim at Jayden and we both sprint to our respective classes

Apparently we had History together. I initially didn't share this class with anyone else from our group but guess that's not the case anymore.

"That was so much fun!" Jay says in between laughs, taking a seat

"You're so lucky we had a class. You would've been dead by now if we didn't." I tell him

"Probably. But I'm not." he says grinning

"Just not yet." I say with a smirk

"So squirt, you here huh?" he asks

"I didn't have much of a choice." I say with a sigh

"Why? You didn't want to be here?" he asks in all seriousness

"I didn't want to come here. Mum and dad wanted me to 'discover' myself so they decided to ship me across the world. But now that I've those doofusses as friends, I don't want to leave." I say quoting 'discover' with my fingers and smiling at the end

"I missed you squirt." he says with soft eyes

"I missed you too." I say with a soft smile

Jayden was one of the very few people who I was close to. Jay and I literally share everything and are completely honest with each other. We always got each other's backs no matter what.

"Why didn't you tell me all this earlier?" he asks

"You were initially busy with the camp thing and I was going to tell you this week since your camp ended yesterday but guess destiny has it's play." I say with a smile

"It sure does." he smiles back

"So finally made some friends, huh?" he said with a grin

Yes, Jayden knows about my loneliness too.

"I did." I say with a grin

"The girls are good friends to make. They're good for you." he says

Jayden has always been an overprotective elder brother to me even though he was just 3 months elder to me.
It's feels nice when someone cares about you so I don't tell him to stop being protective. It's nice to know that you can be important to someone. Plus Jay is not overprotective, he wouldn't stop me from doing what I want to do. He's just protective and wants the best for me.

"They are. The guys are good too." I say and chuckle

"They sure are. Complete clowns to be honest." he chuckles

"Aiden and Ryder are clowns, Zeke and Matt are weird." I admit

"Zeke just takes a little while to get used to someone new. On the other hand, Matt is a closed book. I've known that guy since the day I stepped my foot on this campus and he hardly smiles around anyone but us guys. I've only seen him chuckle thrice and I don't think that guy ever laughs when he's with anyone but Ryder, Aiden, Zeke and I." Jay says softly

Its obvious Jay cares about Matt and that they both are really good friends. But what amuses me is Jayden has hardly seen Matt laugh around others but I've seen him laugh and smile countless times with me.

"Has he always been like that?" I ask

"He has had stuff to deal with too, squirt. But that's his story to tell." he tells me while I shrug

"Tringgggg..." the bell rings, signaling the class is over and we're free for the day

"Ready to face the monsters?" Jay jokes, placing an arm on my shoulder while we walk towards our lockers

"Do we have any other option?" I say with a chuckle

"Hey?" I didn't mean it to sound like a question but what else do you say when you see 8 people standing shoulder to shoulder with their arms crossed? It was an intimidating scene to be honest.

"Hey squirt, what are you doing this weekend? I was thinking we all could go somewhere together, right guys?" Jayden says trying to divert the situation

"Um.. Yeah. We should all go somewhere." I say, reluctantly 

"Relax peps, we were just messing with you two." Nat says while the two of us sigh

"Babe, you ruined it!" Aiden whines

"Actually, I'm not here this weekend.." I say hesitantly

"Why? Where are you going?" Jay asks

I look over to Matt and he nods his head as if to say that I finally have to tell it to these people.

"Florida." I say looking back at Jayden

"Why?" the guys, except Matt, ask all at once

"Just visiting." I say reluctantly

"AND WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING TO TELL US?" the girls scream all at once

I look over to Matt but he has an expression that says 'I told you so' and I roll my eyes at him.

"ANSWER THE FUCKIN QUESTION!" the girls scream again

Oh boy!

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What are the girls gonna do now?

How is Kelly going to explain it to them that it's important for her to go?

Will she tell them about her father's health or not?

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