I stare at him with a scowl on my face while he gives me a mischievous smile.

He laughs at my insult. "Can't you do better than that?"

I keep frowning and stare straight at him. "I don't believe in cursing. All that shows is you have a loose mouth and no respect for yourself or someone else. Now, get off my balcony."

He smirks. "I can't have fun with my favorite neighbor?"

I roll my eyes. "You don't even know my name, and I don't even know your name. Honestly, I don't think I really care."

He ignores my last comment and holds his hand out. "Nick Caldwell."

I smirk. "Maya, but I told you that yesterday."

Now, I am fully aware that he just said he is Nick Caldwell; Nick Caldwell the singer and actor, but I want to see what he's going to think when a teen girl doesn't fall down at his feet or pays attention to his name.

He slowly slips his sunglasses off. "I know. No last name?"

"Not one that I care to talk about," I say.

He just nods and runs his fingers through his brown hair as though he's uncomfortable. To add to his discomfort, I sit down in my chair and just stare at him without speaking. It definitely makes him more uncomfortable. It's hilarious.

He finally bursts out, "You don't care?"

"Care about what?"

"Who I am?"

"No? Why should I? Do you expect everyone to worship the ground you walk on? The way I see it, you're an annoying guy, just like all the other guys. You're not more important than anyone. You just happen to be part of Hollywood," I say, disgusted at him thinking he's God's one and only gift to the world.

He actually smiles at me and surprises me with his response. "I don't expect that of anyone, and I haven't met many teen girls who see me as a normal person, so I thank you, even if you do dislike me."

"I never said I disliked you," I reply quickly.

He laughs. "That's not what your actions tell me."

I roll my eyes. "Maybe me pushing you off of this balcony will tell you something."

He smirks at me. "What makes you think you can do that? I do happen to be a guy."

I furrow my eyebrows. "And what makes you think girls can't be strong, too? Are you being sexist?"

His eyes open wide. "I'm definitely not sexist! Please don't sell that to anyone!"

I laugh at his response and stand up. "What's with the begging?"

He does not smirk at me, in fact, he looks extremely serious. "I'm serious. I am begging you to not go and tell people you think I'm sexist."

I laugh and roll my eyes at him. "I'm not going to, so take a chill pill. Even if I did, nobody would believe me or even take a second to listen to me."

"That was cruel," he moans slightly.

"I didn't start it," I shoot back.

He is about to say something when the balcony door opens, revealing Emma. I stare at her and back at Nick. He has a horrified expression on his face. I would have laughed if I was not so afraid of what Emma's reaction will be.

"What's going on out here?" she asks.

I try to stammer a reply but Nick beats me. "I-I was just talking to Maya. I-I am the only one at fault."

Emma looks angry for a second and then bursts out laughing. "Nobody is at fault unless you were doing things you shouldn't. I was just coming up to tell Maya that dinner is ready. And why I'm up here, why don't you invite Nick. I'm sure your uncle will want to see him."

She turns and leaves, still clearly amused at the situation. I scowl at Nick, making him laugh and smirk at me. I want to ask how she knows Nick's name, but I am too busy scowling at him.

"You think this is funny?" I demand.

He keeps laughing and is barely able to say, "Why wouldn't it be? You've looked at me like you've wanted to murder me at least a couple of times. Your scowls are actually pretty terrifying."

"Idiot," I mutter as I walk into my room with Nick following behind me.

"I heard that."

"No dip, Sherlock," I fire back.

"Man, the sarcasm is real today," he teases.

"Just like it should be," I reply.

I lead him out of my room and down the stairs toward the dining room. He follows behind me without speaking. I'm greatly relived I don't have to hear his annoying voice. When I get to the dining room, I'm surprised to see Emma sitting with my uncle. I'm even more surprised when he greets Nick like he's an old friend.

"How are you doing, Nick? Long time no see," he says.

Nick smiles. "I'm doing well, sir. What about you?"

"Just fine. Miss Hunt told me Maya had a guest, but she didn't say it was you. I'm glad you are able to join us," my uncle says as he gestures for us to sit down.

I go to the farthest chair possible away from my uncle and begin to pull my chair out. I'm stopped by Nick who grins at me as he pulls my chair out for me and helps me. I roll my eyes at his effort to be a gentleman. He just grins as he sits down next to me on my left.

My uncle asks, "How do you know my niece, Nick?"

Before Nick answers, I say, "I'm wondering the same thing. How do you know my uncle, Nick?"

He clears his throat, clearly nervous. "Well, um, Mr. Erickson, I met Maya a couple of days ago. We ran into each other on our way home. Maya, I know your uncle because he is currently in the process of signing me to his new record label."

Before either of us can reply, Emma clears her throat and says, "Well, you two got your answers, so why don't we start eating? Lay off of the poor boy."

I roll my eyes at the last part while Nick blushes. Still, we all do what Emma says and start eating. I find myself not interested in the conversation at all, so I just eat my food and ignore the sounds of their voices.

"Maya? Maya?" my uncle asks.

I quickly turn my face towards him and ask, "Yes?"

"I was asking you how your day went after you left the office. You left in quite a rush," he explains.

I give him the cheesiest and the most fake smile possible. "It was absolutely wonderful. May I be excused?"

I stand up to go, but Emma stops me and says, "I don't think so, Maya. I'm not letting what happened last time happen again. Sit down."

I slowly sit back down and ignore the stare I'm getting from Nick while I ask her, "Oh, is that why you've joined us at this table?"

"Maya!" my uncle exclaims.

I ignore him, and Emma clears her throat. "Yes. I'm not afraid to say that. You two fight too much. You guys need to get to know each other and try to work out the differences you have."

I smirk at my uncle. "Wow. Nice job at getting her to do the dirty work for you. Do you even have a backbone?"

Something flashes in his eyes that is unreadable, but he doesn't say anything. Nick turns away from me, and Emma looks at me with no emotion showing on her face.

"Maya," she starts calmly, "I need you to explain why you're so against your uncle."

I look at Nick and back at Emma. "Seriously? With him here, you're going to ask me about this?"

"He shouldn't matter. I need to get to the bottom of this. Just try telling me," she says.

I roll my eyes. "Look, you may have caught me last night at a very odd time, but I assure you I will never allow myself to be like that in front of you ever again. What you saw is someone who you will never see again because she is not who I am. Now, I'm leaving whether you guys like it or not."

Emma sighs, along with my uncle. I ignore them and swiftly get up from my seat and walk out. I run up the stairs two at a time. When I get back to my room, I lock the door behind me, sighing.

Instead of going to my balcony like I usually do, I go to my bed and snuggle underneath the covers. Nobody cares about me and what I want. Nobody cares about my feelings.

I can't even think why I allowed myself to let Emma see me the way she saw me the first night she was here. Plus, why did she insist I answer in front of Nick? Does she even care about the amount of horrible things I've experienced in the seventeen years of my life?

I hear a knock on my door, which interrupts my raging thoughts.

"Go away," I yell, thinking it's my uncle or Emma.

"Maya, I just need to tell you something," Nick's voice says.

I sigh and roll my eyes as I stand up and walk over to the door and open it with a bored expression on my face. "What?"

"Look, I have no idea what was going on there, but I think you should try to sort things out," he tells me.

I bite my lip before saying, "You're right. You have no idea what's going on, which means you have no right to give me advice. I have been through more than anyone thinks, and I don't give a crap about what my uncle wants. He never cared about me, so why should I be forced to express my dislike for him and try fixing a relationship that was never there? Just leave me alone."

He opens his mouth to say something, but I slam the door in his face. Yes, I know I'm a horrible person for doing that, but I'm not in the mood. Plus, he has no right to tell me what I should do.

I lock the door and prepare for bed. When I get in bed, I pick up my laptop and open my blog. I start typing away and feel my anger being released as I write.

Instead of making the blog exactly about me, I type it as though it's a short story. At the end of it, I type a piece of advice for those people who are nosy, like Nick. I tell them to back off.

I post the blog post and quickly turn my computer off, along with my lights. As I lie underneath my warm covers, I find my thoughts drifting back to the flashback I had about my father.

He was a horrible man. He shouldn't even be allowed to be called a father. I hate him so much. He didn't deserve to have a family, and he didn't deserve to get off so easily when he overstepped his boundaries with my mom and me. He didn't deserve me.

I sigh and roll over, my thoughts now drifting to my uncle. Emma's question was actually a reasonable question, but it's not like I was going to admit that in front of anyone.

Why do I have so much against him? Maybe I'm against him because he dropped me off at Clearwater Bay before jet setting off to who knows where. It might be because all he's ever done is tell me what to do and what not to do. Maybe it's because he looks like my father, and I don't want to be reminded of my father. Then again, it could be because he let my father get off easy when he was reported to the police. Yeah, other than that, I have no reason to be against my uncle.

I sigh again and close my eyes. I find myself dozing off when I hear a loud knock on my door, making my eyes fly open. Another knock comes, and I sit up. Then, another knock comes. I sigh and get out of bed to open the door.

I open the door and see Emma and my uncle standing outside my door. I sigh and try closing my door. My uncle sticks his foot into the door, keeping me from closing it.

I think about slamming the door against his foot, but Emma softly begs, "Please, let me in at least. I promise I'm not going to force you to answer my question. I just want to talk to you."

I sigh and let her come in. She does so and closes the door behind me, leaving my uncle behind. She smiles at me.

"What is it? I seriously was about to fall asleep," I tell her, annoyed.

"Maya, I know it isn't easy for you. I know it hasn't been easy for. I just want to ask if you can lay off of your uncle for a bit. He cares about you, Maya," Emma says.

I sigh. "Did he tell you that he cares? Last time I checked, he came from a lying family. Look, I know you're the housekeeper and stuff, but I really don't think you know the whole truth which means you shouldn't talk about things you don't know."

She sighs. "I get you're hurt, but I think you should take a second to think about all of this."

"You don't get me at all. Now, will you please leave me alone so I can sleep?"

She just nods and walks over to the door and opens it. She leaves without a words and closes the door.

"Finally," I mutter as I snuggle back underneath my covers.