Reputation: Book One

Tripp

Showoff- Triple One

My House- Flo Rida

Don't Stop Believin'- Journey

Let me be completely honest with you right here:

I think that Qrow hasn't been trying this entire relationship and taking advantage of my gullibility. I only gave in to him because I love him... and it was hard to say 'no' to a total stud like him. You can't sit here and lie to my face by telling me Qrow is not attractive because he definitely is.

I feel stupid for giving him so many chances, but I could see that he meant his apology this time."Tripp," Qrow calls, jogging towards me. I slowly turned around. He releases a breath, massaging his arms.

"Look," He says quietly, nervously looking away, his eyes glassy as his voice cut. "I know you think we should call it quits, but... I don't want to give up on this, even if we don't really know what this is."

I hesitate, biting the inside of my cheek.

"I didn't exactly know what we were from the beginning," I confess. "If we were just fooling around or if there really was something between us. But," I open my mouth to say more, but my words didn't flow as easy as usual.

"I'm willing to give this one last chance if you're willing to put forth the effort." I finally manage to spit out. His facial expression hardened but his body remained still. There. I said it.Qrow presses his lips together tightly, making a 'tsk' sound. "Okay." He agrees softly.

I thought he'd walk inside after that and let me leave, but we just awkwardly sat there, staring at each other with nothing to say. I've also really never been in this kind of situation, so I had no idea what to do or what to say. I honestly felt like this bond between Qrow and I was similar to the ones we had in junior high. Useless.

I then reached forward and grabbed his sleeve on his shirt, pulling him into me and enveloping him in a tight embrace. His hands soon found my waist and he hugged me back, taking in a deep breath. I nestle my face in his neck, closing my eyes and touching my lips there against his skin.The silence grew heavy and uncomfortable so I finally let him go, the both of us taking in another patient breath as we turned our backs to each other in embarrassment. I avoided his dull eyes that desperately searched for mine as I moved past him, going back inside without even glancing back. I could nearly feel the weight pressed back onto his shoulders as he realized that that simple of an apology wasn't acceptable. And it honestly wasn't enough for me. I wanted him to prove to me he was willing to prioritize us, prioritize me. Make me feel as happy as I want to be with him- and only him. And the only way to do that is to eliminate the problems:

Snitch on Liz and settle things with Jerzei.

"Did anybody see anything on Liz that they recognized?" I ask as I run back into the kitchen, Qrow close behind me. The team had all taken their seats again and when I appeared in the doorway, nobody even bothered to look up.

"How do you mean?" Adrien asks, drawing a long line down the center of his lined notebook paper with a blue-inked pen.

"Like, did you see anything that was on her body which you thought was a little... familiar?"Autumn and Jerzei finally look up at me. "You're really not making any sense," Jerzei tells me flatly. Autumn nods in agreement, pushing her black, wide-framed glasses back up the bridge of her nose. I outstretched my left arm, turned my wrist over and pulled my sleeve up my forearm to show them my branding.

"This!" I almost scream. "Did anyone else see this?"

Qrow gave me a wild look, bending his eyebrow. Now I had everybody's attention."So Liz is... New Guard?" Autumn asks, catching on to my point. I toss my hands in the air. "I mean, doesn't that give you enough evidence?"

Everybody tenses and exchanges grim glances.

"So she knows where we are," Autumn whispers, dropping her pen. She snapped back to me.

"So does that mean we're in danger?" Talitha asks quietly, turning to Autumn. We all share a slow nod. "So the New Guard knows where we are now?"

We all nod again.

"Well, what could go wrong?" Jerzei asks, giving us a half smile and a small shrug.

"What could go wrong?" Qrow echoes, stepping forward. "The enemy knows where we live! Where we live protects us, and when that becomes jeopardized, our whole life does. You think we can leave Cori and Jho alone anymore? No," He tells her stupidly. "We can now safely say it's time for a panic room because they can now ambush us at any given time."

I stayed quiet as Jerzei's remark made the whole room breakout into a heated argument. Jerzei was trying to tell everyone with our experience, we were in no need of a saferoom. Personally, I disagreed because of the girls. Yes, Autumn, Adrien, Qrow, Jerzei, Talitha and I can all defend ourselves pretty well, but Cortaney and Jhordyn cannot. They're eight and five. What could they do?

"Shut up!" I finally yell. "Everybody shut up and listen to Autumn."

She gives me a weird look. "Why me?"

"Do you own this house or not?" I ask sternly. 

"Why is it up to the owner?" Qrow asks. "How about the people who live here, like Adrien, Talitha and I?"

"Well, she's paying for the house, and I think if anyone plans a surprise attack, it won't necessarily be discreet visit," I point out. "I mean, let's take a vote: Who all thinks the New Guard would just break a window?"

Talitha's hand shoots up into the air. We all give her a wary glance and she slowly puts her hand back into her lap. 

"Now, who thinks they'd burn the house down or toss tear gas grenades?"

The whole team gathered around the table raises a hand except Qrow. I give him a look. 

"What do you think?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. 

"I think we're wasting time," He says, shifting his weight to his other foot. I narrow my eyes at him.

"Are you naturally this big of a pain, or do you actually try?" I ask.