Hello! It has been a little bit, but that's because school has started up again and I've been working a lot. However do not fear, I still think about writing constantly so enjoy this rollercoaster chapter ;) The song is Lonewolf by Convolk.

(Brians POV)

The slam of two car doors made everyone's heads turns. Hope yelling was the next thing everyone heard.

"YOU KNOW WHAT OVER MY FUCKING DEAD BODY ASSHOLE!" It was morning, 10:45 exactly. Hope and Evan ran to get everyone breakfast before we all discuss the plan. Everyone was told to meet at the old clubhouse, no if's, and's, or buts about it.

"DO YOU SEE HOW FUCKING CRAZY YOU'RE BEING RIGHT NOW?! IT'S A REQUEST, NO, NOT EVEN THAT!" the door of the clubhouse opened up, "IT'S A FUCKING ORDER HOPE! STOP BEING IGNORANT!" The two of them come in, Hope storming in front of Evan with the brown bags of fast food.

"OK THEN DO YOU WANT REASONS WHY?!" Evan's voice was already becoming hoarse, they had to of been yelling the entire time. I jog down the stairs before it gets any worse, someone else joins behind me.

"I'M THE ONE WHO GOT US INTO THE MESS, YOU SAID IT YOURSELF IN THE CAR. I'M GETTING US OUT OF IT!" Hope slams the bags onto the table next to the stairs and turns to Evan, taking a step forward. I grab onto her forearms and see as Jon pushes Evan back away from Hope. Although us grabbing ahold of them didn't phase them.

"WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?! I DARE YOU TO LAY A HAND ON ME!" Evan yells back. I feel Hope try and pull away from me. Two more pairs of feet come running down the stairs.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! DROP IT YOU TWO!" Tyler yelled, I turned my head and see John just a few feet behind Tyler. Hope quickly turns her body toward Tyler, making me lose grasp of her.

"WERE YOU AND BRIAN PART OF THIS TOO?! WERE YOU?!" She looks between me and Tyler.

"Actually it was MY idea for your information. You shouldn't be anywhere near that fight. Do we really want a repeat of the last two times you were anywhere near the psycho? YOU GOT KIDNAPPED... HOW MANY TIMES NOW HOPE?! NOT TO MENTION I SAVED YOUR ASS FROM THAT CAR CRASH! YOU GO INTO THIS FIGHT AND WHOS TO SAY YOU WON'T BE TAKEN, HOSTAGE?!" I don't think I've ever heard Tyler yell that loud, ever. Everyone was down here now, looking at the rising tension.

"My point exactly, thank-" Evan was cut off by Holly and Autumn.

"You know what, she needs to be a part of this, otherwise Jordan and Seth might try something. She should stay with everyone." Autumn said.

"Everyone just grab your breakfast and go into the meeting room before I lose my shit." Evan was let go by Del and brought his hand to his face. I watch as Hope just stares daggers into Tyler, he reluctantly does the same.

"Hope, drop it, everyone can vote on you coming, how about that?" Jon says, trying to get her away from Tyler. She takes a deep breath and walks towards the old meeting room, making sure to harshly brush past Evan.

"You couldn't have waited till you got here dumbass?" I snapped. I roll my eyes and grab two bags for me and Hope and head to the meeting room also.

I walked into the meeting room to Hope angrily crying as she paced the room. I set the bags down on two chairs and cross my arms.

"You're pacing, what are you thinking?" I ask her. She harshly wipes at her eyes as she turns and looks at me.

"What, that I want to murder Tyler and Evan, or how I'm not part of the killing of my stalker group, you pick for me Brian because that's what I'm thinking about." She wipes at her nose and looks down at the ground.

"Well you're not killing Tyler or Evan, so let's talk about you joining us. I think you should go, it could be an advantage for us. Catch Jordan off guard long enough for one of us to get a shot on him." I shrug my shoulders as she looks up at me, a small smile on her face.

"You know, when you're this mad, all I can think about was my first day in Mr. Kimberlyn's class when we started arguing with each other. Still my favorite memory of you to this day." I smile. Her smile grows bigger as her face turns light pink. Just as she goes to open her mouth people start to pile into the room with their food.

"Come on, I know if you don't eat you'll probably attack someone. I move the two brown bags off of the chairs and motion for Hope to come sit. She walks to the seat and sits down next to me, resting her arm on mine.

Evan and Jon stood upfront as per usual discussing and swapping ideas with all of us. Everyone agreed we at least needed two more days of rest until we can fight again. We discussed where they might be hiding out at, as well as possible strategies on how we would attack them. The discussion eventually led to whether or not Hope was going to be joining this fight.

"I not only think she should join us, but the girl has been through hell and back dealing with Jordan, she should have the honors of killing him," John says, everyone in Holly's gang nodded their heads in agreement.

"Hope should get the final shot in. After all Jordan's done to her, it's the least that she could do if you're worried about her." Brock shrugs, again Holly's gang nods their heads in agreement.

"And if Hope were to say, oh I don't know, get shot, taken when we have our backs turned, or even killed, then what? I told you so? Why risk another party member when we have so many people already?" Jon asks looking around the room. From the corner of my eye, I see her slowly sink into her seat.

"Then who do you suggest stays back with her? We need all hands on deck. We don't know how many people are helping at their costs. We need people and Hope is one more person we need." I say, everyone turns and looks at me now.

"So you're suggesting having another person whos at risk to more than likely get shot at rather than keeping them safe?" Tyler raises an eyebrow and looks at me.

"I'm saying who in the hell will stay here with her? It has to be a couple of us in case Jordan tries to find her if he realizes she's not part of the fight." I shrug.

"If we're thinking along those lines then I'm sure you, Evan, and I don't mind staying behind," Tyler suggests.

"If we're picking my bodyguards then I trust staying behind with Brian, Brock, and John," Hope says looking up at me.

"No," Evan looks down and shakes his head, "she's going. We'll create a seal team just to make sure nothing happens, but this team will come in after the heavy work is done. A compromise." Evan looks up and looks around at everyone. Tyler looks over at him like he's crazy. Someone had a change of heart.

"We don't know what we're going to expect, why even risk taking her? This is a different fight than all the other times we fought with someone, we're dealing with smart and dangerous people." Jon says.

"Let's take a vote then. We all seem so divided, why not just vote on it?" Autumn says now standing up and looking at everyone.

"Fine... let's get to make a person not have a choice in the matter." Hope sighs as she stands up. "Alright everyone who says hold me back, raise your hand." Tyler, Jon, Marcel, Lui, Craig, David, and Autumn, all raise their hands.

"Everyone who thinks I should go?" She asks. Me, Evan, Brock, Holly, John, Luke, Ryan, and Bryce raise their hands. Hope quietly sighs of relief next to me. I don't blame her. She can't even make her own decisions in this gang anymore.

"Well... I guess I get to go now." She gives a small smile to me before looking down and walking out of the room.

"What do you think is out there?" Hope asks looking up at the sky. I look up with her and look at the different colored stars in the sky. The night before my graduation, how could I forget it. I guess a flashback during a meeting won't be too bad.

"Space is out there dummy," I say. She lightly punches me and giggles a little.

"I'm sorry space is so fascinating to me. So much that we don't know and can't comprehend, it's amazing." She smiles brightly at me and looks back up at the sky. I continue to stare at her, as she tries to make out constellations.

"Maybe you should go to university for astronomy. You're so fascinated by the subject and smart enough to study in it." I shrug. She turns and looks at me confused.

"Maybe you've been drinking too much today but Hope DeSanta does not go to college. She will never be smart enough for college." She shrugs it off and sighs. The back door swings open and a rush of cool air surrounds us. We both look back as Michael already has his nightly drink in hand.

"Out, let's go, boy. You, room. Curfew is curfew." The door closes as Hope and I stand up.

"Curfew is curfew." Hope mocks as best as she could. I chuckle before letting out a sigh.

"You keep talking about all of this gang stuff but what are you actually going to do for work?" I ask her. She smiles and shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm probably just going to marry some rich guy and live that way. I don't know I'm pretty set in the life of crime. Guess it's what I get for growing up alongside my dad my whole life." She wraps her arms around my torso and lays her head on my upper chest. I hug her back.

"Please don't go into the life of crime too. I don't want something bad happening to you. Promise me you won't." She says barely above a whisper. I felt her squeeze tighter onto me.

"I promise I won't. I'm not going anywhere." I let go of her and look down at her. "Now I gotta get going before your dad starts throwing whiskey glasses at me again." I chuckle. She lets go of me and laughs too.

"See you tomorrow graduate."

Hope eventually came back into the room after an hour or so and everyone sat in there until 8 at night. We had our plan, all that was left was to make sure everyone knew it thoroughly. I decided I had enough of the stuffy room and went outside for some fresh air while Tyler and David went to grab everyone food. I leaned on one of the cars looking up at the dusk sky. Wasn't out here long till I heard the clubhouse door quietly open behind me. I didn't bother turning my head.

Hope comes to my side and leans on the car with me, also looking up at the sky.

"I still like to look at the night sky, I don't know if you do anymore or what... but I still do." She crosses her arms and fixes how she was leaning.

"It seems like every night I try to get a glimpse of it someway or another." I look over at her for a second before looking back at the sky.

"I never thanked you for standing up for me earlier... I just want to make sure everyone stays safe is all." She turns and looks at me now. I give a small smile but don't budge.

"Maybe I should've made that promise to you instead of you to me," I say now looking down at her. She gives me a confused look.

"The night before my graduation. You made me promise not to join the life of crime... well... look at us now. If I at least made that promise with you I wouldn't have to sleep with one eye open since you joined our gang." I felt my voice starting to raise near the end. She gives me another confused look.

"You seemed pretty fine with me being kidnapped by Evan back then. Or are you only saying that because of the Jordan and Seth war?" She asks in an annoyed voice.

"The plan was to use you for that heist and then drop you. All of THIS wasn't part of the plan, none of it was." I leaned away from the car and cross my arms.

"If this wasn't the plan then what was the plan, Brian? What was the plan all along?!" Her voice was rising now and cracked a little like she was going to cry.

"The plan? You wanna know what the plan was Hope? The plan was for you to figure out that the gang life wasn't for you and we went to college at the same time. The plan was for us to figure out adulthood together and have a better life for us Hope. I'm staying in this gang because you're staying in this gang. After that heist, I was leaving. I was going to take you with me and we were going to live our life together. That, that was the plan." My phone buzzed a couple of times in my pant pocket. I pull it out and look at the text message preview.

"Evan wants us back inside." I pushed myself away from her and walked back toward the clubhouse.

Oh, how they grow up!