That afternoon I left school and walked out to where Marie usually parks. The spot was empty.

"Are you serious?" I muttered. What is her problem?

I slumped down and sat on the curb. I guess this means that she didn't just forget me this morning.

Have I been so absorbed in my own issues that I've neglected my best friend?

I shook my head. If Marie was feeling left out, she should have just come to me and talked about it. Passive-aggressiveness doesn't help anything.

"Hey, Luna." Josh walked over and sat next to me. "How are you feeling after everything a couple days ago?"

It took me a second to even figure out what he was talking about. "Oh, you mean finding my dad. To be honest, I didn't put much thought into it. If he wanted to be home, then he would be there. It kind of sucks that he's sneaking around town and hasn't bothered to see me, but there's nothing I can do about that."

Josh moved closer to me and lowered his voice. "I meant that he is involved in a gang, and it looks like he is in some kind of position of power."

Wait, what?

I thought back to the night at the warehouse.

Oh.

I mentally face palmed. How did I not realize that before? I was so focused on not thinking about my father that I completely missed the bigger picture. My dad is involved in a gang. Not just any gang, but a rival of Tate, Josh, Jackson, and Connor's gang.

"I feel really stupid." I am an idiot.

"It's fine, Luna. Sometimes we ignore the things that we don't want to see." He rubbed my back awkwardly. "But we need to know where your loyalties lie. We all talked and it would probably be best if you didn't contact your father."

To be honest, I didn't plan on contacting him, but someone telling me that I can't makes me want to. "Why?"

He sighed. "You know I can't tell you much. Our superiors don't know about you. If you contacted your father, you could blow our cover. The whole point of sending teenagers to Jenson, Ohio is to remain inconspicuous. Not to mention if our superiors found out about you. That would be so bad, Luna."

Josh was making sense, but I still don't like being told what to do. "What am I supposed to do if he approaches me?"

Josh seemed to relax a bit knowing that I wasn't going to run to his rival gang. "You'll just have to stall and find a way to get away from him, so that you can call us. We'll cross that bridge if we get there. If I'm being honest, I don't think your father will contact you. He hasn't talked to you for years. I don't think he cares about anything but business."

I flinched. I know that my father doesn't care about me, but hearing it said aloud still sucks. "Okay, whatever. I'm going to start walking home now. I'll see you tomorrow, Josh." I stood up from the curb and started walking down the road.

I miss the days where I could just go to school and come home without any drama. I always thought it was boring, but now I could use a heavy dose of it. All of this crap about gangs and guys is just getting to be too much.

I started to get the feeling that someone was watching me. Lately, I have been ignoring that sinking feeling in my stomach because it was usually just Tate, Jackson, Josh, or Connor following me, but they've backed off since the warehouse.

I looked around me. There were some younger kids jumping rope in a driveway, but they paid no attention to me. Other than the occasional car that drove past, there was no one else around. Maybe, I'm just being paranoid.

I tried my best to ignore it, but that feeling wouldn't go way. A girl has got to trust her instincts.

So, I did what anyone would do.

I started running.

Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at my doorstep, sweaty and panicked. I used my key to unlock the door and breathed a sigh of relief once I closed it behind me.

I should really workout more.

Whether it was something or nothing, I'm just glad that I'm home.

I walked through the living room, where my mom was watching a movie with Norman, and into the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of water.

My cellphone started to ring. I dug through my school bag until I found it.

It was my landlord. "Hello?"

"Hi, dearie. It's Margret Thomson. I am calling about your rent that was due yesterday." My landlord was a nice enough person. She leaves us alone for the most part.

"The rent should have automatically come out of my bank account like it always does."

"Nothing was deposited into my account yesterday. I just figured that you wanted to pay cash or something this month." She answered back.

I groaned. I don't need this right now. "Let me call the bank and figure out what is going on. I'll call you back as soon as I have this sorted out." I hung up the phone and googled my bank's phone number.

"Hello, Jensen Bank of Ohio, this is Theresa speaking, how may I help you today?" An overly peppy voice sang into my ear.

"Um, hi. This is Luna Ludwig. I have an account with you. My rent is usually automatically taken out of my account, but my landlord said that she didn't receive anything." I explained, pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

"Usually, if something like that happens it means that the account ran out of money, and you don't allow credit." My heart sank.

"That's not possible. I still have thousands of dollars left." I felt myself starting to have a panic attack.

"Okay, I am going to need some information and then I can tell you what is going on." She tried to calm me down.

I gave her my information and she looked at my account.

"Okay, two days ago, $26, 857 was withdrew by Cindy Ludwig."

I froze. A couple years ago, I had to give my mother access to my banking accounts because she said that she had to prove to the state that she could financially provide for me. She was never supposed to touch that money. She doesn't even have an ATM card.

"Okay. I understand Theresa. I'm going to hang up now."

That was not her money. It was mine from my father to pay for college.

I stamped into the living room and pulled the TV cord out of the wall.

"How dare you!" I screeched at her.

She sat up from where she was lounging on Norman.

"Luna, that wasn't necessary." She used her mothering voice, which only made me angrier.

"You stole over twenty-five grand from me. That was so necessary." I yelled at her.

Norman stood up from the couch, awkwardly. "I'm sure that isn't true." He held his hands up.

My mother rolled her eyes. "You threatened to stop paying the bills, Luna Odessa. Of course I took some money out of the bank just in case."

My hands balled up into fists. "It wasn't your bank account! It's not your money to take, you stupid bitch!"

"Wait, Cindy," Norman looked at my mother as if he was seeing her for the first time. "You took your daughter's money?"

"I needed it for the rent!" She protested.

"You didn't even pay the rent! I just talked to the landlord and she said that the rent is late!" I was so angry, tears started rolling down my face.

"That is disgusting." Norman walked over to the door and grabbed his keys off of a hook that was hanging on the wall. "Don't contact me anymore."

He left the house, the door shutting quietly behind him.

"Now look what you did!" My mother raised her voice and stomped like a child.

"You have much bigger problems than being dumped." I scoffed and called the Jenson County Police Department.

*

Four hours and a lot of tears and explaining later, my mother was taken down to the police station for further questioning.

It had gotten a lot darker outside and I just wanted to go to bed. I wasn't tired, but if I can just fall asleep, this day will finally end.

I opened the door to my room and saw a dark figure standing near my window.

This was a familiar scene.

"Tate?" I said into the darkness, not nearly as freaked out as I should be.

"Yeah."

I flipped the light switch on and flopped down onto my bed.

"Today sucked."

"So, I heard." He sat on the edge of my bed. How long has he been up here? And did he hear everything?

"I just want to forget today ever happened."

Tate held up a bottle of whiskey, "I can help with that. I figured the best way to get over your best friend being a bitch is to drink it off, but since your mom stole every penny you own, you deserve to get wasted."

I reached over and grabbed the bottle.

And that, ladies and gentlemen is how I ended up having a drunken one night stand with Tate Marks.