It's Like Monopoly, But Physical.

Chapter Seventeen.

Maybe I should ditch and just go home. Well, what's the point now? School's almost over, it'd be completely pointless. Ugh! I don't feel like being here.

I flinch as somebody drops their lunch tray next to me. I look up and see Kyle. "Dude, did you see Michael's face?" Kyle asks me.

"Forget about Michael's, did you see Kendall's?" Dex says, jumping into the conversation.

"Yeah, whoever hit her, did a pretty good number on her," Mitch adds, on the other side of Dex.

"Hey, Abby, where's Vance?" Nathan asks.

I don't answer. If I do, I won't be able to stop.

"Abby!" Dex shouts, trying to get my attention.

"How the hell should I know? We aren't friends, Van's a fucking asshole," I reply coldly. I shouldn't have said anything, now I won't be able to stop. "Oh and I hit Kendall, gotta say; I'd love to hit the bitch again. And Michael, well, Van hit him, and I'm pretty sure Van would love to beat the shit out of him," I explain. "Then there's Van, damn, you guys have no idea of all the violent, and probably illegal, things that I'd love to do to that boy right now," I finally finish and scrape the icing off of an Oreo. Damn, now who's going to eat the cookie?

The table is really quiet for a long time before Kyle interrupts it. "What the hell happened this past weekend?"

I look at the left over Oreo, and want to burst out in tears, but I fight it back. "Some serious shit," I reply quietly.

"Well are you going to tell us?" Mitch asks.

I shake my head slowly.

"Dude, I'm sick of this!" Dex says. "You and Vance have this whole little separate, hooking-up group thing or whatever the hell it is that you two do and it's affecting the whole group."

"Seriously," Mitch says and Nathan nods. "So, what the hell is going on? I mean we have a—"

"Mitch, lay off, just leave her alone, alright?" Kyle says stepping in.

"No, Kyle, it's fine, he's right," I tell Kyle, then turn to the rest of the guys. "Kendall cheated on Van with Michael, then me and Van got in this huge fight, because...well...just because, is that enough?" I ask, looking away.

"No, it's not—"

"Hold the fucking phone!" Nathan says. "Michael and Kendall? When the hell did that happen? Dude, where the fuck have we been?"

"Look, I really don't want to—"

"You like Vance, don't you?" Kyle says.

I shoot him a look. "What? No, that's retarded!" I lie.

"Yes you do," Mitch says. "You both like each other, it's pretty obvious, man—girl."

"Really? Is that what your Magic Eight Ball told you, Mitchy?" I ask.

"Hey, you know that I threw that away last year!" Mitch says defensively.

I give him a look that says, I don't believe you. "No you didn't."

"Okay!" he says holding his hands up. "I still have it, but I haven't used in ages."

I give him the same look.

"Fine! I used it four days ago, are you happy? Just shut up and eat your damn Oreos," Mitch says, crossing his arms over his chest.

I laugh and shake my head, crazy kid. "I can't eat these, you do want them?" I ask him, holding out the small bag.

"Don't change the subject," Dex says.

"Guys, I don't like Van! I may have, like a week ago, but I don't anymore. None of you have any idea what he did. Besides, even if I did, I'm not talking about this with any of you," I tell them.

"Dude, you should use us to your full advantage, we're guys, we know how Vance thinks," Nathan says, smiling.

"Yeah, tell us what Vance did and we'll help," Kyle agrees.

I can't. "It's complicated."

"Then un-complicate it," Dex cuts in.

Should I? I mean, it's just the guys, I can tell them stuff, right? Yeah, of course I can. I take a deep breath before telling them the whole story, not leaving anything out. Pretty much everything that's happened in the past three weeks, starting from the beginning. The kiss, when I told him I like him, my mom, Van's dad, the concert, and the whole 'Kendall-Michael situation'.

When I finish, Dex hands Mitch a twenty dollar bill. I scrunch my head in confusion. "What's that for?"

"I told Dex that you and Vance had something going on, but he was all like 'Nahh, Vance's with Kendall and he would cheat on her...' blah, blah, blah. Anyways, I was right," Mitch smiles.

"Hey, half of that is mine," Nathan cuts in, before I can say anything.

"Wait a minute, you guys had a bet going?" I say confused.

"Abby, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole school had a bet going on you and Vance," Kyle answers, laughing.

I shake my head. That is so embarrassing. "That's great, just great..." I mumble sarcastically. How bad is it that the whole school thinks your with a guy?

"So about this whole...affair thing. You said Vance didn't tell you because he didn't want to hurt you," Kyle says, changing the subject. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't he just sparing your feelings?"

"Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me," Mitch agrees.

"Yeah," Nathan says, nodding his head.

"I'm gonna have to agree with Abby, I mean he did lie to her, so.." Dex trails off in his thoughts.

"See?!" I say loudly. "At least Dex knows what I'm talking about."

"Whoa, there girl, I still think you're being stupid, sure he lied to you, but who hasn't? Vance's intentions were in the right place. I'm sure he didn't mean to—"

"Dex, shut up, let's just leave it at 'you agree with me'," I say, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Look, Abby, you're just looking for an excuse to not talk to him. Ignoring him isn't going to make the situation go away. He's the only one that you can understand what you're going through, because I'm sure none of us can relate to this situation," Kyle explains.

"But—"

"No buts. We won't talk to either of you until you and Vance start talking, do we have a deal?" Mitch cuts in.

"What? No—"

"Come on guys," Kyle says standing up from the table, the others follow, but Dex.

"Come on, guys, this is a little dramatic, don't you—" Dex gets cut off by Mitch.

"Here's your twenty back, the group is worth more than that," Mitch tells Dex.

"Cool with me," Dex follows them.

Oh my god, did that seriously just happen? First it was just Van who was gone and now it's all of them? What a bunch of nub-cakes. This is so not fair. I'm the victim in this situation! Hello? Do they not get that? Van's the lying-nub! For fucking real? How is it that I always get gypped? My life is so screwed up. And I know just who to blame. That bitch of a mother. Thanks 'Mommy Dearest'! Tonight at dinner that slore(slut and whore combined) is going to hear a piece of my mind