"Just know that if you hadn't have gone to school, you wouldn't have regretted it," My brother cut in, the second I opened the car door. I scowled and climbed in, slamming the door behind me.

"Well someone's had a bad day, which could've been avoided," I rolled my eyes at him, still not replying. It had been an awful day, with too much work that I didn't seem to quite be able to understand, not to mention the sheer amount of homework for art. How the hell was I supposed to get three essays done in a week? Even the most determined person was going to struggle, and I felt like crying when I thought about the research I also had to do in psychology.

The class where Greyson was supposed to be.

I had sent him a snap of the work, deciding that he probably wouldn't laugh at me, and although I had seen that he had opened it, he hadn't replied yet, so I presumed he'd say something about it later, or that he really didn't care too much. He hadn't taken a screenshot or anything, so what else was there to believe?

"Hey, for real, are you okay, Love?" I looked over at Alex, who now looked genuinely concerned. Pouting slightly, I pushed back the tears.

"Yeah, just stressed I guess," I said, glad that the boys weren't here with him. As much as they seemed sweet, it was nice to be able to see my brother on my own, especially remembering how close we used to be.

"Hey, don't get upset, you'll be okay. You know how to manage your time, and you're a thoughtful person. I'm sure that whatever you're stressed about is easily solvable if you just put your mind to it," I felt a little better at his advice, but still felt the stress weighing heavily in my chest, making it difficult to breath.

"Yeah, I'll just have to spend a lot more time working, more than usual, I guess," I mumbled. I could try and get up earlier, and if I could somehow do an essay each day, I could give it to Alex or Kaiden to check through whilst I do the psychology research, which would take me two days if I really put my mind to it. From there, it was just a matter of checking over my work and tweaking it slightly, however realistically, there wasn't much I'd be able to do in the short amount of time I was given to do everything.

"Where are we going..." I asked, once I noticed that we weren't following the usual road home. A smile spread across my face when we started pulling into the ice cream place we had visited two days ago, and I jumped out of the car, practically bouncing with excitement. Alex only laughed and nudged me slightly.

"Come on, I'll even pay, Love." Even better! You know what they say, free food is good food!

He opened the door for me and I felt a wave of joy at the cute little tinkle of the bell as we walking in. Was that there last time? I couldn't remember, but last time, I had been here with Greyson, and I had been a little bit distracted.

"Hi, what can I get you?" A girl with blue hair asked as we made our way up to the counter. I grinned, asking for the same thing as last time, giggling at Alex's look of disgust. He swiped his card quickly, passed me the cup once she had scooped all of the ice cream inside, and pushed me over to the same seats as last time. I bounced in, tucking my legs up between the table and myself, holding the ice cream close to me as I ate.

"So, what's stressing you out?" I explained what was running through my mind, and he was surprised at the amount of art homework we were getting.

"I knew that psychology was hard, but fuck, art is just painting some shit! What else is there to it?" I laughed at his confusion, but internally cringed as flashbacks of the amounts of art homework I got, the hours spent in the art room until late after school whilst everyone else was at a party or watching movies.

"I think you've got a good plan though, but maybe taking you out to eat wasn't the best idea, you really need the time right now..." I shrugged. I wasn't planning on starting it until tomorrow anyway, and if I got up at four, then I could cram in three hours of work, if I had everything set out and ready for the rest of the day.

"Wait here a second, I'm gonna grab a coffee and we can get going. Want anything else?" I nodded.

"Could you get me a pack of gummy bears and something chocolatey?"

"Gummy bears, sure. We have chocolate at home though," He shuffled out of the booth and walked back up to the counter, where he started chatting to the girl, who seemed a little too eager to start a conversation with him. Focusing on my ice cream, I listened to her laughing, and I knew that somehow, he would get her Snap before we left. At the thought of Snapchat, I pulled out my phone and grinned, sending a quick video of me zooming into Alex to the group chat at home. Instantly, I got a few replies, mainly of people laughing, telling me that they weren't surprised that he worked so quick. Apparently, he was the embodiment of a party boy - he was loud, pretty, and worked fast.

"Love, let's go," He called over. I stood up quickly, shoving the last bits of ice cream into my mouth. The cup was chucked into the bin before I reached them, and I just caught him tucking his phone away into his pocket.

He really was quick.

Alex smirked at the girl as we were leaving, who blushed madly and turned to fiddle with something behind her. I laughed and elbowed him, running ahead and climbing into the car. He climbed in after me, still smirking with the obvious ego-booster.

Still laughing, I shook my head slightly as he started up the car.