Two weeks.

Fourteen days.

336 hours.

20,160 minutes.

I have been stuck in this house. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere not even school. Instead all of my assignments are on my computer which I'm almost done with.

There was also a police officer parked outside by the sidewalk every night. I'm about to lose my mind.

The girls and Brent still come see me everyday, but it's not the same especially when they act like everything is okay.

I know everybody is trying to protect me, but they need protection too. If Malcom knows about the boys, he probably knows about the girls and Brent too.

"Hey, Campbell, do you want anything from the store?" Lisa asked me, knocking on my door.

I shook my head,"No, I'm fine."

She walked into my bedroom, and she sat on the edge of my bed. Her face held concern.

"Are you okay? You seem upset," Lisa asked, gently.

"How can I not be upset right now? There is a freaking psychopath after me putting everybody I love in danger," I replied, pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"That was a dumb question. I'm sorry, sweetie," Lisa apologized.

"How long are we suppose to keep this up, Lisa? Malcom is in town for me. He's not just going to disappear," I asked, rubbing my temple.

"Campbell, we will keep this up for years if that's what it takes to keep you safe. The cops will catch him, and he'll be put in jail for the rest of his life," Lisa said.

"You guys shouldn't have to put your lives on hold because of my problems. That's not fair to you guys," I said, sitting beside her.

"Campbell, we will do whatever in order to have you. We wouldn't trade you for the world," Lisa said, putting an arm around my shoulders.

I nodded, and I cleared my throat. "Lisa, I have a question."

"Ask me anything," Lisa said, making butterflies appear in my stomach.

"Can I call you Mom?" I asked, quietly.

Lisa eyes lit up, and I could tell she was extremely happy. She nodded, eagerly.

"Yes," Lisa said, smiling brightly.

"Okay, Mom," I said, smiling myself.

She hugged me, and I hugged her back. When we broke apart, I asked her another question.

"Where's Ross at?" I asked her.

"Um, downstairs watching a movie," Lisa replied.

"Okay. I have to ask him something," I said, and she nodded.

I walked out of my room, and I quickly walked downstairs to see Ross on the couch with Winter beside him.

I cleared my throat before sitting on couch. Ross looked over, and he paused his movie.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked him.

He nodded,"Sure, anything."

I took a deep breath before sayin,"Can I call you Dad?"

Ross froze, like literally, froze. I was starting to worried until he blinked a couple of times.

"Yo-wa-to-call-me-Dad?" Ross stumbled over his words.

I nodded,"If that's okay with you."

He grinned before nodding. "I would love that."

He gestured me over to hug him. I hugged him, and he hugged me back.

"Thank you so much, Dad," I said, making Ross chuckle.

"I love you, Campbell," Ross said.

"I love you too," I replied as we broke apart.

"You wanna watch this movie with me?" He asked.

I nodded,"Sure."

He unpaused the movie, and Lisa walked down the stairs. Lisa took in the scene before her before smiling. She sat down beside Ross, and we all watched the movie.

I found myself drifting off to sleep, and I didn't stop it.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Campbell!" Somebody yelled, shaking me awake.

I opened my eyes to see the girls in front of me. I rubbed my eyes, and I sat up. There was a blanket on me which I don't remember being on me.

"When did you guys get here?" I asked them, trying to wake up more.

"Just a few minutes ago. The boys are at practice, and we decided to come hang out with you. Lisa and Ross has to go run some errands," Nichole explained, sitting on the couch.

"Oh, well, what should we do?" I asked them.

Anna shrugged,"We don't know. But I have to make a dessert for Home Ed, so we can do that."

"Sure, I'm pretty sure we have enough ingredients to make cupcakes," I said, standing up.

"Alright, and I'll turn on some music!" Hailey exclaimed.

We all walked into the kitchen. Anna was finding a recipe on the internet, Hailey and Nichole got all of the dishes out that we needed, and Madison and I were grabbing the ingredients as Anna listed them off.

Once everything was out, we started on the cupcakes. It was pretty fun especially since Hailey had One Direction songs playing—which had us all dancing and singing.

I started to pour the batter in the cupcake tin with the help of Anna. The oven was already preheated to 350 degrees. I put the pan of cupcakes into the oven, and we all high fives each other.

"Now what do we do?" Madison asked.

"We could get washed up," Hailey suggested as we all looked at each other. We had flour all over us.

"Or we can do this," Nichole said before grabbing the bag of flour, and she grabbed a handful of flour out of the bag. Then she threw it at Madison.

"Aah! This means war!" Madison yelled before grabbing an egg. She threw it, and it hit Hailey in the stomach.

"Food fight!" Anna exclaimed before grabbing flour off of the counter.

I grabbed a couple of eggs, and I threw one at Nichole, hitting her in the back. She turned around, and she grabbed flour. I ducked down, and the flour hit the cabinets.

I slowly looked up before throwing an egg at Anna. I quickly ducked down again so Anna wouldn't see me.

We continued to throwing food around until we were covered head to toe with flour, eggs, sugar, milk, and so much more. We all started laughing at each other.

"What on earth happened here?" Somebody said, making us look at the door. It was Nick and Brent standing at the door.

"Um, we're making cupcakes," I said, making them look at us again.

"Did they attack you or something?" Nick asked, making us laugh.

"You can say that," Nichole said before taking a step forward.

Nick stepped back along with Brent making Nichole scoff.

"I'm hurt," Nichole said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Sorry, babe, but I don't want to be covered in flour," Nick said.

"Fine then, no cupcakes for you then," Nichole replied, making Nick gasped.

"How dare you?! You know, cupcakes are my favorite thing on this earth!" Nick said, dramatically.

"Then come over here, and give me a hug," Nichole said, smirking. Nick looked so confused on what to do.

I coughed trying to cover up my small laugh.

"Fine, you win," Nick said, walking over to Nichole.

He hugged her, getting flour all over his clothes. We all laughed after the two broke apart.

"Come on, let's clean up in here," I said as the timer went off for the cupcakes.

Anna pulled them out of the oven, and she placed them on top of the oven which was covered in flour and egg yolk.

We started to get cleaned up by washing the dishes and sweeping the floor. When we were done with that, we cleaned up the cabinets, the oven, and we mopped the floor.

"You guys can borrow some of my clothes," I told the girls, and they nodded.

Since there five of us, we took turns getting a shower in my bathroom. I was the last one to get in the shower, but I didn't care.

I was talking to Brent the whole time, and he told me about his day. Undoubtedly, Mrs. Gomez missed me because she asked about me today.

By the time I got out of the shower, the cupcakes were decorated and ready to eat. Anna put two away for her class tomorrow.

When the rest of the boys came home, we ate the cupcakes which were delicious.

"I would marry cupcakes if I could," Nick said, throwing his wrapper in the trash.

"You would marry food if you could," Gavin replied, making us nod.

Nick rolled his eyes, but he didn't reply. I finished my cupcake, and I threw my wrapper away.

"Okay, why don't we watch a movie?" Elliot suggested.

Micheal nodded,"Yeah, we can watch Murder Mystery."

We all headed to the living room, and Gaberial turned the movie on. I laid my head on Brent's chest as his hand was around my shoulders.

My phone was in my lap and it vibrated. I looked at my phone to see a text message from the unknown number.

The clock is ticking, Campbell. You can't hide forever. I will get you even if I have to hurt the people you love. I will get you Campbell West. -M

Fear crept up my spine, and I gulped. I can't let Malcom hurt the people I love. He has already taken so much from me.

As I sat there watching the movie, I thought to myself. I will protect those I loved. I won't let Malcom get to them. Not today. Not ever.

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⭐️⭐️

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