Chapter 4

Lilly woke up in confusion. She didn't understand where she was at first, but then all came running back. She smiled a bit, remembering the last night chat with Dior and their mom about why they had made a decision like this and why they never saw each other.

As she got up, she went to the bathroom. The mirror flashed back the tired look in her eyes. It was better than she thought, no bags, no tears. She had thought she couldn't fall asleep without the new medicine she had forgotten home and Dax was now bringing in a few days. A couple of hours of quietly crying had finally put her to sleep and she's thankful that she got some sleep by herself.

After going to the bathroom, washing her hands and face, and throwing her hair into a messy bun, she went downstairs with an opened hoodie on her short pajamas, the chilly weather from outside somehow drowning the house in it too.

"Hey," she said tiredly to her mom and sister and sat down in the breakfast table, looking at the food in front of them.

"Hey, how did you sleep?" Chloe asked.

Lilly gulped and meet her mom's eyes, not wanting to lie. "I um... I haven't slept well for a while, I can't really fall asleep by myself."

"Why didn't you call me?" Dior asked worriedly.

"You couldn't have helped. I need medicine and I forgot it in California, so when my brother comes, he'll bring it to me."

"What type of medicine?" Chloe asked carefully. "Do you have anxiety, or...?"

"My dad died while sleeping and I found him dead in his bed," she murmured, reaching out to make herself a toast.

"Honey, I'm sorry," Chloe sighed. Lilly nodded a little, still not meeting her eyes as she put some butter on her toast and then some cheese on it. "What kind of medicine is it? Could we buy it without a prescription?"

Now Lilly did look up into her mom's deep blue eyes. "It's okay. I slept better than I thought I would." She looked at DD, not wanting to continue with this topic. "Didn't you have to go to that diner?"

"Nope," she said simply.

"If you didn't just go because of me..."

"I didn't go because I didn't want to go today, Lilly. Also, we can go next week. Together," she smiled. The blonde girl quietly sighed at that and takes a bite from her sandwich with tomatoes and cheese. "What? Not much of a people person?" Dior smirked. "Or are you afraid a boy will win your heart?" she teases.

Lilly hit her foot under the table, both of them grinning. "I'm not nervous about the boys. I know boys and I can handle boys, but I never know how to talk to girls."

"You didn't have friends in LA?" Dior frowned.

"Not LA,' Lilly sighed loudly. "Stop calling it LA. It's either California or Laguna Beach or your home or whatever, but not LA."

"Have you seen movie stars?" Dior kept teasing her, making Lilly roll her eyes and give her sister a look. "Alright alright. Friends?" she asked again.

"Boys. Only boys. The girls are bitches and they're jealous and they think that if you talk with a guy you're having sex with him."

"Aren't you both 15?" Chloe sighed, not liking the sex stuff just yet.

"16 soon," Dior smiled.

"Maybe if you and dad had had sex earlier, we'd be 16 already," Lilly smiled brightly, making Dior laugh, and Chloe smirk with a shake of her head. So Lilly got to keep eating again.

"Cami and Mia are not like it," Dior stated after finishing the laughing. "If you're their friend they support you. That's rules."

"Right, but who says they like me enough to be friends?" Lilly murmured.

She rolled her eyes. "Stop worrying. I can call them over right now if you want to," she smirked.

"No," the blonde said immediately and looked at their mom to change the topic once again. "We wanted to go shopping for my room today, is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm at work anyway," Chlo smiled. "I'll give you my credit card."

"And... we can buy whatever we want?" Dior smiled.

"Whatever she needs for her room," Chloe smirked.

"Oh come on, you promised me a new bed years ago," Dior whined.

Chloe sighed and looked at her 26 minutes older daughter. "Alright. A bed. Something more if you need, but nothing that cost too much."

"Thank youu," she smiled big.

"Actually... Can I paint my room? Like is that okay with you?" Lilly asked carefully.

"Yeah of course. Which color?"

"Ocean spray."

"What's that?"

Lilly smirked a bit. "It's light greenish-blue. I need an ocean somewhere and if that's not outdoors, then it's gonna be in my room."

The two Taylors smiled at that. "So new furniture, paint, and something do decorate with?" Dior asked.

Lilly shrugged. "I have a car full of boxes full of stuff from my old room and house. I need to fit that."

"What's going to happen to your house? Do you know?" Chloe asked.

"I think it's just gonna be..." Lilly said. "I mean all the personal stuff I'll have here, my brother will probably leave his there, 'cause he's going to college, and my dad's... I don't know a charity or I took some and some are going to stay there... The social workers told me I could go there when I was a grownup or whatever so the furniture is there."

"Okay," Chloe sighed quietly. "You can also stay there when you go to competitions."

Lilly looked at her, eyes shocked but excited. "What?"

"The woman, Mrs. Orange, told me you compete and you're one of the best. Just because you live here now doesn't mean we're going to keep you away from these things."

"Oh my god, you're letting me compete?" Lilly asked in relief, tears swelling up in her eyes. "What about school? The next big one is in October."

"Well I guess we're all going to get a holiday then," Chloe smiled softly, seeing how happy she suddenly got.

Lilly looked at her mom in awe, sounding, and feeling thankful. "You're like the best parent ever."

Both Chloe and Dior chuckled at that. "Because she lets us go to LA while we have classes?"

"Stop. Calling it. LA."

#

When the girls got back from the stores (mostly IKEA) later that day, they had their mom's old truck full of stuff and they needed many times to get it all inside. They bought a bed and everything, now only needing to be put together, the parts divided into smaller boxes.

Dior found out Lilly's stile. She had wanted her room girly and light, very soothing for the eye, while also being crazy and choosing the most colorful bedspreads. Dior loved it, her own room being purple and full of black, white, and well... purple. Lilly was in love with her sister's room as well.

They both got themselves some fairy lights and were planning on trying to paint Lilly's room today. "We'll never get it done by tonight," Lilly sighed, staring at the four walls, windows on two of them, one with a window seat, being huge.

"It's a small room... I could get some help."

Lilly sighed, knowing she was right by it being smaller than hers and faced Dior. "Your friends?"

"They'd help us a lot. There are many of us. And the boys could get the bed and everything out as well. You'll sleep with me tonight."

Lilly gulped at the thought of sleeping but tried to forget it. "Fine," she sighed. "Just tell them what we need to do and that if they don't want they don't have to."

Dior rolled her eyes at her. "I'll tell them to bring old clothes, yes."

Lilly giggled and DD smirked, texting away. She read the texts being responded as everyone went crazy and frowned when Basil asked her what color the room was. She answered white and threw her phone onto Lilly's bet.

#

And less than half an hour later, there was the doorbell. Lilly tensed up a little, but Dior just chuckled, knowing they almost always came in by themselves. "Idiots," she muttered under her breath and ran downstairs. "Idiots," she repeated louder, opening the door for them. "You never ring the doorbell, you don't have to now either."

"Where is she?" Ayden asked excitedly, looking at Dior already in old sweats and a broken crop top.

"Upstairs in her room... But she's really nervous. So please, don't be too overwhelming."

"Got it, chief," Basil said and they all went downstairs, H rolling his eyes at the others, Mia and Dior staying behind to kiss.

When the others got upstairs, they found the blonde girl leaning onto a window seat in her new room, in her phone, typing away while biting her lip and frowning. Harry's stomach made a flip. It was something about this girl that was so similar yet so stranger and mysterious. The fact that she was beautiful and biting her lip didn't help.

"Hey," Molars said, all of them in the room now. They noticed her closing her eyes for a second and breathing out before looking at them and smiling a little, one corner of her mouth raising up a bit in a small smirk.

"Hey," she greeted, pushing herself to stand up normally. "Whoa, you're taller than I thought," she murmured to herself awkwardly, feeling the shortest.

"They drink protein shakes they shouldn't," Camila rolled her eyes and stepped closer to the girl "You are pretty, just as Dior said," she grinned. "I'm Camila."

"Lilly," she said quietly with a small smile. "Just so you know, none of you has to help me. It would just be a lot quicker."

"Shut up, they'll do it and cry," Dior said, getting there now too with Mia. Lilly relaxed a little, knowing her sister was around now too, making it easier for her.

And then it started. Everyone started questioning everything, wanting to know what Lilly was like, what she loved to do, what her home had been like, and then every little detail. She was really taken aback but one by one started answering the questions honestly. "okay so we got brushes and rollers and stuff, we already got the tape on the place, just try not to stain the ceiling," Lilly instructed.

"We know a lot about painting, princess, more than you probably," Ethan smirked, trying to flirt, but just sounding offensive for some.

"Yeah, I doubt that," Lilly chuckled to herself, grabbing a roller after pouring the paint into separate containers, H helping her hold them. She felt his eyes on her all the time but never said anything, liking the fact that this boy wasn't asking any questions and just simply listening.

"Can we play some music?" Basil asked.

"Dior, you have speakers?" Lilly asked her sister while climbing onto a ladder to start from the higher parts of the walls.

"Nope."

"Seriously?"

Dior looked at Lilly as the girl was painting away and looking disappointed. "What, you're a music freak now too?" DD chuckled.

Lilly looked at her with a smirk. "I enjoy good music and sounds, yes. Am I mad you don't own a stereo? Definitely."

"Finally somebody, thank you," Harry told Lilly who was taken aback from his deep and friendly voice. While he didn't look mean or dangerous, he definitely looked darker than the others who were goofing around every second.

"What music do you listen to anyway?" Mia asked Lilly, fascinated.

"Just Rock."

"Finally somebody, thank you," Harry repeated with a smile, looking at the only blonde in the room.

"Rock?" Lilly smiled at him and kept painting. "Which type?"

"I like the slower ones... Even though I can listen to like hard rock or Highway to hell if needed, I prefer the calm ones."

"Like what?" Lilly smiled at herself. "You ever listen to Radiohead?"

"All the time. That dude's a geek," Ethan chuckled, nudging Harry with a smirk, making Lilly giggle and the boy look towards her again, loving the cute sound, looking at how she was coming back down the latter now.

"Best Radiohead song is and always will be Creep," Lilly continued herself.

"Yes," Harry smiled. "Have you heard November Rain by Guns and Roses? That's one of my favorites at the moment."

"I love that song," Lilly said quietly, taking more paint.

The two kept talking about artists and songs until Lilly somehow got attacked with questions again and she started answering them with a sigh, still feeling Harry's eyes on her. When she looked over at him though, he was painting, not looking, so she thought she had been imagining.

#

Four hours later, the job was done. Lilly's walls had two coats of paint on it, drying now, and the teenagers were in the living room, eating their ordered pizza. The cheese one tasted amazing and was probably one of Lilly's favorite pizzas now.

"So... How old are you all, really? Who's going to be a junior like us?" Lilly asked with a small frown, enjoying eating her slice 'the wrong way' that pissed both Mia and Dior off.

"Everyone's a junior except for Cher and Basil," Camila explained. "They're a year older, seniors."

"Alright, and are there any northsiders I should stay away from?"

"My brother," Mia rolled her eyes. "He's an asshole."

"Also Chuck Clayton, the son of the coach," Ayden said. "And Reggie."

"Reggie's not that bad," Ethan sighed. "He just needs time."

"He's had his entire life and he still calls me a ghetto," Ayden said.

Lilly frowned. "He sounds rude... What's he's like?"

"Just a jock," H explained. "Nothing to really keep away from than his winks and stuff, he's not dangerous. But Ayden's right, keep away from Chuck. He'll try to get to your pants and I mean it literally."

"Like harass me, or..." Lilly asked him, eager to hear more of his voice for some strange reason.

"He thinks everything is allowed to him. You can walk past him and he slides his hand into your pants, it's happened to most of the girls at our school, just no one has evidence."

"It's fucking disgusting," Dior grumbled. "You better tell us right away when he does that."

"It's fine, DD, I probably won't talk to anyone anyway... Plus we have still 2 more months of summer, right?" The others eagerly nodded, so Lilly got the opportunity to change the topic. "Do you have any siblings?" she asked all of them.

"I have a little sister, Pepper, who's 10," Molars said.

"Ten? Woah, that's actually a better name," Lilly smiled, making them laugh.

"Nope. Her name is Pepper Mint, so I don't know about that," H smirked. Lilly held her mouth shut on the remark of his full name. "I have a little sister, Allison. She just got 3."

"Anyone else?"

"Nope."

"And your families? Tell me about yourselves, I've answered your questions the whole day," Lilly said, reaching out for another slice of the amazingly tasty cheese pizza.

So they told her. Camila's parents were crime bosses, Mia's were abusive maple syrup company owners, Basil lived with only his dad and had been for a while now, Molars' parents were the only ones still actually in love, Ethan lived with his dad and sometimes visited his mom in Chicago. Harry's story was different and the most confusing one. His mom had left them right after giving birth to Allison, so he had a childhood with a mom and a dad while his sister didn't. He tried to look after her when she wasn't at a daycare and when his dad couldn't.

"Hey, girls," Chloe's voice sounded and she walked right into the living room. "Oh hey, you all. What are you doing here?" She placed a black cat on the ground. Lilly remembered form what Dior had told her that her name was Bella.

"We painted my room," Lilly explains while sliding off the couch to squat down and reach her hand forward fro the cat to get to know her.

"Oh, already? Did you do it okay?"

"Two coats, we used tape and newspapers, don't worry," Lilly said, sitting herself down as the cat was done sniffing her and allowed the girl to pet her now. She rubbed herself into Lilly's side, purring when the girl petted her again.

"That cat is usually crazy. She was at mine last night and she hurt me during sleep," Basil frowned, making the others laugh.

"Did you get everything today already?" Chloe chuckled, looking at the twins.

"Yeah, IKEA has good stuff," Lilly smirked as the cat hopped onto her lap and curled up there.

"Are you an animal whisperer or something?" Ayden frowned, remembering all the times that the cat had hurt him by biting or clawing. Now she was purring on the person's lap she just met a minute ago.

"Animals like me," Lilly said quietly, concentrated on giving Bella a great petting session, liking the feeling of purring. "Also, mom, we spent quite a lot of money, so..." she said slowly, waiting for her reaction.

"How much?" Chloe just sighed.

"Less than we thought," Dior just said. "We got everything needed and we'll put the furniture together tomorrow once the paint is dry."

"Right," Chloe sighed and got the credit card Lilly handed her, not standing up or anything, focusing on the cat sleeping and purring or her lap. "When's your brother here, Lilly?"

"He texted me today and said he thinks tomorrow. But like at night cause I yelled at him to go and sleep a little."

"You yelled at him?" Dior giggled. "Why?"

"Because that jerk thinks he can drive 32 hours without resting," Lilly rolled her eyes. "I mean how dumb is he...?"

The others laughed at her and Lilly kept focusing on the cat.