C7 Seven

"She told her parents, they seem okay with it, I mean, her mom is totally fine with it but her dad..." Courtney tells us three days later, on Christmas Eve.

"Her dad is a fucking asshole, it's bad enough that she's had to go through this but the fact that he's making this whole thing about himself? Fuck that," Olivia bursts out, clearly enraged by Quinn's father.

Quinn hasn't really done much in the past three days, Courtney is the one that gets the most information out of her but that's understandable since they're closer. The whole school has been reposting the image to the point of it being all we see whenever we open our social media. It's not that they're bad comments per say, just that they're destroying her private life, publicly.

Lilly is doing much better than Quinn, since she's never told anyone that she's gay but she never hid it if people asked. She's been over at Quinn's as much as she can during winter break.

"So, we're doing this?" Olivia asks as we stare at my phone with the text message App open.

I don't even think about it before I hit send, "Yes, we're doing it, it's only fair." They nod along slowly understanding my thought process.

"Have you spoken to Nathan yet?" Olivia asks, lying back on my bed with her head hanging off the edge.

"He's texted a couple times but I just don't know what to say to him," I shrug helplessly.

"I have to be honest with you, but I'm not impressed with Nathan's attitude towards this whole Summer drama," Courtney speaks up with an uneasy smile on her face, afraid of how I will react.

"It's just because they're childhood friends-," She cuts me off.

"That doesn't matter, she's done terrible thing after terrible thing and what has he done about it? Nothing. He hasn't spoken to her because if he had, it would have stopped already. We all know how obsessed she is with him," we all shudder slightly, "So, surely if he had spoken to her, she would have backed off since she wouldnt want to upset him?"

Olivia and I sit quietly not really having an answer for her.

"And all he ever does is tell you he's going to fix it and acts like what she did wasn't so bad, it was fucking horrible and she didn't even get a slap on the wrist for it. I get that they're family friends but he chose to be more than friends with you, which means that he should at least defend you in these kinds of situations," she takes a breath, heavily affected by this.

I stare at her and I can feel my thoughts battling in my head. She's making it sound worse than it actually is... isn't she? I'm sure he told her to stop, he told me he would, so, why wouldn't he?

"Court, I think you're taking this a bit far, Nathan is obsessed with Charlotte, why would he let his friend jeopardize that?" Olivia asks calmly, sitting up.

"All I'm saying is that if he really wanted this to stop he could have stopped it after she was a bitch to you at the twins' birthday party," Courtney answers matter-of-factly. "She put Quinn in hell, the bitch deserves to burn with the consequences."

"I know that! That's why I sent the rap sheet, Court," I tell her, pushing my hands through my hair from the stress.

"And I think it was the right thing to do," she states, folding her arms across her chest.

"Was it, though? Because I don't feel any better than I did before," I tell them quietly, trying to calm my breathing. I stand up stiffly and pick up my pillows off the floor.

"Now you've done it," Olivia murmurs, flipping herself off the bed. I walk over to my desk chair and start sorting through the clothes lying on it. "Char, you do realize you didn't actually send the sheet to the whole school, right?"

I sigh deeply, "I know, I know. If anyone deserves to send it out, it's Quinn, it's her option and I sent it to her so that if she wants to send it out she can, but I still feel guilty about it. What she did to me was bad but Quinn, Quinn should have never been dragged into this, she never does anything wrong!"

"We agree and you feel guilty because you're actually a good person," Olivia laughs lightly, "I wouldn't have bat an eyelash, but that's because it's just who I am," she grins widely and I sigh again.

Courtney lies across my bed, "I get that you feel guilty about doing this, but you were the one who decided that Quinn should be the one who gets the option."

"What if she does send it out?" I ask aloud since the question had been playing through my mind.

"Then we'll deal with it, together," Olivia replies grabbing my hands tightly.

I set the clothes back down on my chair and sit back on my bed. Courtney and Olivia share a look but I dont think anything of it. A thought comes to my head and I fall back dramatically, "What about Nathan?"

"That boy needs to step up and be a man or we're going to have a talk with him," Courtney sits up on the bed and lays her legs over mine.

"He does care Court," I snap at her. She isn't around us 24/7, she doesn't know anything.

"Well, letting his 'best friend' torment you is a funny way of showing it," she remarks, picking at her nails.

"Leave her alone Courts, this is Char's battle, not ours," Olivia shoves Courtney who looks back at her with a smirk, "Unless he makes you cry, then the asshole is mine." I roll my eyes at Olivia's protectiveness with a small smile on my face.

We all get off my bed in search of food and head downstairs to the kitchen. My mother and Aunt Jenna are standing at the oven trying to look inside.

"It looks like its burning," my mother says.

"It does not! It's just crisping, perfection takes a while," Aunt Jenna shoves my mothers head away, trying to get a better look.

"Yeah, so does burning something," my mother rolls her eyes and heads back to the kitchen island, where a bunch of cookie ingredients litter the counter. My mother lifts her head up when she sees us and smiles softly. "Honey, do you still have the fire department on speed dial?" she asks casually.

"Ever since Sebastian and Tessa almost burnt down the house trying to make pasta," I confirm with a grin.

"It is not burning!" Aunt Jenna yells at us.

"So, how is Quinn doing? Her mom isn't answering my calls," my mom tells us with pursed lips.

"She's fine, she's not really talking to anyone at the moment," I shrug stealing a piece of cookie dough out of the bowl.

"That Autumn girl is a nasty bitch," Aunt Jenna tells us, staring at the oven.

"Her name is Summer," I tell her with a laugh.

"Did I stutter?" Aunt Jenna asks with a smirk and I laugh again.

"I called her Winter," Olivia fills in with a grin. Aunt Jenna leans over and high fives Olivia. Aunt Jenna takes her tray out of the oven and her cookies have a burnt tinge to it. I grimace slightly, knowing they're going to taste horrible but Olivia picks one up almost immediately and takes a bite, looking like an idiot when she realizes how hot they are. She starts panting out that they're 'hot, hot, hot' until she can swallow the piece with tears in her eyes.

"Why didn't you just spit it out?" I ask as we all stare at her with confused expressions.

"Because I'm not a quitter," she replies taking a smaller bite out of the cookie after she blows on it. I roll my eyes with a laugh.

We talk for a little more about the drama and how Quinn is doing when Sebastian walks into the kitchen with his workout clothes on, just getting home from the gym.

"Cookies," is the first words out of his mouth and he picks one up, putting the whole thing in his mouth. His eyes widen and he starts sucking in cool air. God, they're perfect for each other.