Part 9

Third Person POV

Justen had just walked into his house when he saw the familiar car pull into the driveway. He then locked the door and walked to his dad's room.

"Dad," Justen said.

His dad rolled over in his messy bed. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Please don't go through with this trade," Justen begged. "You know that we don't have much money and it doesn't help that you keep spending it on your stuff."

"Oh, so Brody is here," Justen's dad said, ignoring everything Justen had just said.

"Dad, please," Justen continued to beg.

Justen's dad didn't say a word as he got out of his bed, walked passed Justen, and into the living room. He looked around for a split second before grabbing a couch cushion and flipping it over. Justen's dad then grabbed the gold chain that laid under the cushion before putting the couch cushion back in place.

"Dad," Justen said, standing in front of the locked door. "We could use that for food, maybe even a car, are you sure you want to use it on this?"

Justen's dad shoved Justen aside, unlocked the door, and walked outside. Justen, on the other hand, walked to his room. He locked his bedroom door and laid on his bed, silently wishing someone could help. Tired of everything going on in his mind, Justen then grabbed his phone and unlocked it. Not finding anything that got his mind off his dad's trade, he decided to mindlessly scroll through Instagram. Suddenly, in his recommended, Justen saw a familiar smiling face that belonged to Josh. He smiled at the fact that Josh was his one distraction from his miserable life, before clicking the follow button.

Meanwhile, Josh had arrived at his house to see that all of his friends there.

"Hey, Joshie," Ryan said, putting his arm on Josh's shoulder. "How are you?"

"I'm doing fine," Josh said. "Why are you guys here?"

"You're mom said we could," Landon said.

"She did?" Josh asked surprised.

"Yeah," Carter said.

"So she let you guys come over on a school night?" Josh asked.

"It's Friday," Nathan said.

"No, it's not. It's only Wednesday," Josh said.

"Your mom still said we could spend the night," Ryan said.

"That's weird, she never lets people stay the night on a school night," Josh thought.

"Alright then, are we staying in the living room or my room?" Josh asked.

"Living room," all the boys said in unison.

Josh nodded and went to go get blankets and pillows. But while he was doing so, his mind wasn't on the task he was doing, it wandered to Justen. Josh was worried about how the situation at Justen's house would play out. As his mind was wondering, Josh heard his phone vibrate in his pocket. He unlocked it and saw that someone had followed him on Instagram. And that someone was Justen.