So, with that out of the way, I head home, choosing to remain unseen rather than take the chance of getting spotted. Of course, that means Mom is glaring at me the moment our back door opens and she knows that it's me. As if there could be any other invisible force opening our back door.

"Micah, what are you doing?" She sighs with a shake of her head then purses her lips when I reappear in the kitchen.

"Coming home," I answer with a shrug. She looks ready to lecture me but suddenly stops causing me to give her a confused stare. One that grows when she starts to smile.

"You must have had fun at the movies," she says and gestures for me to come over. I take the bowl she hands me, which has remnants of chocolate cake mix so I immediately start eating it.

"What makes you say that?"

"You've seemed pretty down all week but now you're smiling." She pats my cheek with a loving smile of her own. "Are you feeling better?"

I press the back of my hand to my cheeks as if that is meant to inform me about this so called smile she speaks of. I guess, I can kinda feel it and my cheeks are a little warm but I don't really know how to respond to that. Am I feeling better? I mean, I'm still super fucking worried about tomorrow but...

"Yeah, I guess I am," I answer with another shrug. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe because I know that, no matter what those assholes try to do, I'm always going to try and do the right thing? Sounds cheesy but that's the only way I can explain it.

"I'm surprised you're not at Leo's."

I roll my eyes. "He has a practice match tonight. Won't be home till late."

"Mhm, so, when did this happen?"

"What?"

"Your thing with Leo. Is it official yet?"

"No but we're going to the zoo on Saturday."

Mom squeals with delight. I'm not surprised either. She adores Leo so the idea of us "being official" is something she'll adore more.

"Oh, is he ok with you telling me that?" Mom asks with slight worry. "I don't want to let it slip or something with his parents if they don't know."

"He already came out to his parents. It's why we started hanging out, actually," I answer then move over to the sink. Since Mom decided to bake some new concoction, I do the dishes for her. "He was planning to move into the dorms at college in hopes to be out but not to his parents or anyone here. He asked me what I thought and I told him it was a dumb idea."

"Micah!"

"Well it is."

"Leo isn't like you though."

"What's the supposed to mean?" I huff while Mom starts to dry off the dishes and put them away.

"He's gentle."

"I'm gentle."

It's Mom's turn to snort. "Leo cares what other people think and that's not necessarily a bad thing but it makes it much scarier. Although I am glad he spoke with his parents and everything is going well, you should still have some more tact. Being honest is ok but you must be considerate of others feelings."

"Wow, you sound like my mom."

Mom giggles. "Gee, I wonder why."

Once I'm finished doing the dishes and Mom has put them all away, she comes up behind me to wrap her arms around my waist. I hum when she rests her head on my back and says, "If something's wrong, sweetie, you know you can talk to me."

"I know." Right now, the issue is I can't risk it. Maybe one day I'll tell her, far into the future when it is no longer an issue so she can smack me a few times over the head but, ultimately, laugh about it. Or maybe this will be a secret I take with me to the grave.

"Ok, as long as you're feeling better now I won't ask about it. I'll call you back down when whatever the hell I just made is done." Mom laughs and pulls away, slapping me on the back as she does. I roll my eyes but head on up the steps feeling even lighter.

Checking my phone, I find that Leo's game should either be done or almost getting there. I text him asking how the game went, who won, all that jazz. Minutes later I get a happy response about their win and that they are actually at a restaurant eating right now. He'll be home soon and my night continues as such, texting Leo like a perfectly teenage boy with his perfectly normal crush. Feels good. Feels the way that it should and it motivates me all the more to fix things come Saturday morning.

The new found determination in my gut is what drives me the following day. Beckett and Misty notice the new hop in my step as well, both expressing similar thoughts to me as Mom did.

"Surely you have not jumped Leo's bones already. Be gentle with the kid, he's too kind."

I roll my eyes at Beckett. "You say kid as if we aren't the same age."

"I'm just saying, don't taint him already."

"Taint?"

"With you around, he's either going to become evil or be complicit to your evil."

Well, I suppose to Beckett I'm pretty evil but I don't plan to do that to Leo. Beckett annoys me while Leo is cute. There's a big difference and Beckett probably can sense I'm thinking something along those lines because he suddenly scowls.

"Fuck you."

"I didn't say anything," I chuckle.

"You're thinking it."

"What?"

"Something evil."

"That's not exactly new," Misty chimes in, which has all of us nodding. Since the two of them are here and I'm in a far better mood, I feel now is the best time to see what they are doing tomorrow. I promised Kane that I'd have the two of them out of the house, just in case.

Luckily for me, the two are still in their puppy love stage and already have plans to go the movies, hit up a restaurant, hang out at the mall or some shit. I stopped listening after they said they had plans, that's all that matters. However, I'm put in a difficult spot when Beckett asks if I'd like to join.

"No thanks. Don't want to be the third wheel."

"You've never had an issue with being the third wheel," he argues.

"No. I simply have no one else to hang out with so I tolerate it."

"When you say it like that you seem very pitiful."

"I am."

Beckett laughs while Misty says, "You can come along, Micah. You haven't been hanging out with us all week."

"I've had after school detention."

"A good excuse. He's been hanging out with Leo," Beckett whispers the last part to Misty, which has the both of them giggling over the "gossip." Whatever, I rather they think and believe that, which isn't entirely true. I spend time with him when I can so, sure, let's go with that.

Now that everything is ready, or as ready as it can be, I feel more confident with this so called plan. Going to school and texting with Leo, it only helps further drive my need to do this right. Freedom is right around the corner. It's so close I can taste it, so, come Friday night, I actually feel prepared.

I don't feel scared or nervous heading to the warehouse. I don't even feel all that agitated while going over the plans again. Clover keeps asking me to repeat the instructions over and over like he thinks I'm going to mess up. Too bad for him that the outcome is going to be much worse than messing up. They aren't getting their way. I won't let it happen.

"You better all be here at 6am tomorrow mornin'. If one of you are even a second late I'm gonna beat your ass, got it?" Clover asks and, surprisingly, doesn't look directly at me. Mop Head seems to be his target, who smiles sheepishly before Clover looks to me next. "Don't fuck this up, freak."

"You should be telling yourself that," I hiss, earning myself a giggle from Blondie and a very annoyed glare from Clover. "I can't get caught, remember?"

"Don't act smug. Come tomorrow, you'll be beggin' us to keep ya around."

"I doubt it."

Because, come tomorrow, their plan is going to blow up in their fucking face.