It was almost their 3rd anniversary, and Blythe Barrett couldn't wait to celebrate with her boyfriend, Trent York. She planned to surprise him at his apartment, to which he gave her the spare key to last year. They had been together since their junior year in high school, and she never had anyone love her as much as he did. Everyone else she knew preferred her older sister Lauren, including her parents.

After unlocking the door, she made her way to the kitchen, setting down the bag that she brought with her on the round wooden table, and started pulling out the pasta and candle, so that she could set everything up. Trent always told her that he loved her cooking, and that he couldn't wait for her to do it every day for him, even though he seems like he over some of her dishes lately. Blythe just had a feeling that he was going to propose soon; he had been secretive and hiding things, and she just knew it had to be a ring.

There was a knock against the wall and a groan, but Blythe dismissed it as the neighbors, who were known to make odd noises at all times of the day. After she finished filling up the pot full of water and pouring the bow tie noodles in, she started the boil when she heard the knocking and groaning again, only this time it sounded like it was coming from inside the apartment, but that wasn't possible because only Trent lived here and he was at work. So, she ignored it again.

As the pasta was boiling, she started on the sauce, as she pulled out the basil and kale from the bag so that she could chop it finely, the banging and voices began again, only this time much sooner.

"Lauren!" Trent's voice rang out in the less empty apartment.

Opening that door was one of the hardest things that she had ever done in her life, but what lay out in front of Blythe was the love of her life, Trent York, who had just finished sleeping with her older sister, Lauren. Because the one thing she thought that Lauren couldn't take from her, she did so with ease.

"Why?" Blythe asked as the tears started to form in the corner of her eyes.

"We are in love," Lauren smiled as she leaned all over Trent and ran her hand over his bare chest.

"You had to see this coming," Trent said as he pulled Lauren closer to him in front of Blythe, his actual girlfriend.

"No, and no." She was ready to throw something. "Why would you betray me, cheat on me, hurt me? You are supposed to be my sister, and you are supposed to be my boyfriend?" She pointed at each of them.

"It's not betrayal, it's love." Lauren looked at her and rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so dramatic, you were just a high school girlfriend that stayed too long in my life," Trent replied.

How could she have not seen this coming? Lauren always got what Blythe had, even if she didn't want it. She slammed every door in that apartment, grabbed what was left from her bag, her purse, and let the pasta boil over.

She called the only person she had, her best friend Ellie, and the only reason Lauren didn't steal her away was that Ellie used to be Lauren's friend until Lauren slept with Ellie's boyfriend. Which meant loyalty or love meant nothing to Lauren, and it made Blythe doubly blind for not seeing this coming, but she thought she was different because they were related. Blythe only lied to herself.

"How could you be so selfish? Do you ever think about this family?" her father, Ellis Barrett, yelled.

"This is just not okay, it's like you want to embarrass us," her mother, Leah Barrett, continued.

You would think that they would be screaming at Blythe's older sister Lauren, but no, they weren't. It was Blythe that their anger was directed at.

"You seriously need to grow up. Your sister is three months pregnant, and Trent is her boyfriend. You need to get over yourself, especially if you still want your mother and me to pay for college," Her father let out some things that she didn't even know.

She has been sleeping with my boyfriend for three months and got knocked up," she couldn't help herself.

"You need to watch your mouth," her mother said before she popped her in the mouth.

"Yes, mother," she replied, feeling resigned to his feeling of mistreatment and not being allowed to have anything.

"This is a wanted child, your sister and Trent are thrilled about this joy. This won't be like when your father and I were saddled with you," Leah spoke, but couldn't keep the disgust out of her voice when thinking about her.

"Exactly, your sister's pregnancy is wanted, and Trent will be marrying her," Ellis said as if it were a done deal.

"What about me?" she asked in a small voice.

"What about you? You act like you are being wronged here, and you aren't. Trent was over you, and you are not the victim, and your sister is not a mistress; if anything, you are." Ellis told her like he was commanding an army.

"Fall in line, and shut up," Leah shoved past her, "I'm over this." Leah looked pointedly before walking out of the living room.

"You really do try to ruin everything, don't you," her father said before following her mother, leaving Blythe alone, hurting more than ever.

Roarke Calligan was in his first year of college, majoring in art history and illustrating. This was also his second year in his father Theodore Koch Jr's home, with his stepmother Brittany and older half-siblings. He was forced to come here when his mother, Sorcha Calligan, died in a car crash when a drunk driver hit her during his senior year. That was when he was forced to be in this cold manor with the people who blamed him for his father's affair with his mother; they, of course, blamed her as well, ignoring the fact that he told her he was single and had no children. But if he followed their rules, his father paid for his college, so he was hoping to hold out for that.

He was going to the small room that they used to use for one of the housekeepers when he heard his name.

"When can we get rid of him?' Theodore Koch the Third, also known as Theo, whined.

Theo was your quintessential rich kid who did nothing but cry and whine about everything.

"I'm sick of smelling him, he smells like whore and poor, it's like so gross, it makes me want to vomit," Shanel Koch bemoaned like a child who was told they couldn't have a cookie.

Shanel was just as bad as Theo, and for someone who was highly educated, nothing but ignorant shit came out of her mouth.

"I hate having that brat in my house too, but it's better to keep him here under our control than to let him out; he could run his mouth and ruin our reputation," Brittany scolded his older half-siblings.

If there was something Brittany was good at, it was playing games, because she was right having a roof, and his college paid for it, which was much more important to him right now than talking about how much every Koch sucked. Roarke thanked the gods that he had his mother's last name every day.

Roarke doodled on his book, drawing little fireworks. He had some time to kill before his next class, and he wasn't willing to seek out any of his half-siblings for company. He'd eat dirt for breakfast, lunch and dinner before he ever resorted to such intrusive thoughts. They would just pretend he didn't exist anyway, turning their nose up at him and complaining of the sudden stench that had wafted in.

He got from the picnic table he sat at, heaving his bulky tote bag onto his shoulder and adjusting his glasses. He pushed them higher up on his nose bridge before leaving the grass area to head to class. On the way, he pulled a mini notepad out of his pocket, and with it, a pen attached to the binder. Roarke clicked open the pen and flipped open the pages, finding the place he left at:

Reasons to leave | Reasons not to leave

He began to scribble down a few more reasons to leave when he was rudely interrupted as someone knocked into his shoulder when they walked past. His pen was dragged across the page, leaving an ugly scar on the list he was writing. "Hey, excuse me-" Roarke looked up to scold the person who had bashed him, but stopped short when he saw she was tearfully apologising already.

"God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you, I didn't see you..." She shook her head, lightly pushing back her dark locks behind her ears. Her lashes held clusters of tear drops, and he wondered whether he was the cause of that. "Don't cry, it's alright. Um, are you okay?" The girl nodded, sniffing and rubbing her eyes to dispel the tears. "Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Sorry about that." she mumbled, and he had to lean closer to hear her words.

They awkwardly stood in front of each other before he remembered he had a class to go to. "I've, uh, I've gotta head out. See you around, I guess." She nodded again, and watched him manoeuvre around her and walk off. He thought of her as he strolled to his class, thinking over the strange incident. Maybe I'll see her again.