Knock knock.

As Jeremy opened his window, Mia greeted him with a grin.

"Good morning," she chirped as she hopped over into Jeremy's room.

"One day, you're going to fall and land yourself in the hospital."

Rolling her eyes, Mia sat on Jeremy's chair and grabbed his controller. She unpaused the game Jeremy was playing and found herself being chased by zombies while Jeremy scoffed and went to shower.

Resolutely, Mia avoided looking at Jeremy's bed, recalling how she found Jeremy and her other best friend, Vicki, bumping uglies three weeks ago. At the time she had joked about bringing snacks next time for the show, but that didn't mean she didn't feel awkward about the whole thing. Especially since Vicki had a thing for Tyler and not Jeremy.

Things weren't going to end well.

Anyway, Jeremy had started locking his window ever since Mia saw him in all his naked glory along with Vicki. Mia thought that that was punishment enough, but apparently she was wrong even though she felt like the one traumatized.

"Go back to hell, you ugly geeks," Mia hissed at the screen, shooting the zombies off one by one with a glock.

She heard a noise downstairs and ignored it, rulling it out to be Jenna searching for something in the kitchen probably.

Sometimes, Mia still half expected Grayson Gilbert to open the door and join them for a game before they all went downstairs for breakfast where Mrs Gilbert would affectionately greet them and tease her about getting together with Jeremy, much to the private amusement of her, Grayson and Jeremy.

Them not being around anymore still felt odd.

It felt wrong.

Mia quickly wiped her eye as Jeremy entered his room again, thankfully already clothed.

Luckily, she had reached a savepoint as well and saved the game.

"Ready for the first day of school?" She asked, ignoring how her voice cracked at the beginning.

Thankfully, Jeremy didn't say anything and just went to grab her bag. She pursed her lips as he dug through her bag to check the beers and the pills.

A part of her knew it was wrong for her to enable her best friend this way, that this wasn't good nor healthy for Jeremy.

The other part of her wanted to see her best friend happy and lately she's only seen him happy when he was too hammered to remember his parents were six feet under or high as a kite.

'Just a while more,' she emptily promised herself.

"You going to take more than a buzz today?" Jeremy asked.

He was referring to how she only ever drunk a little or took just enough pills to not lose her ability to be in control. She's hadn't gotten drunk or high in almost two years. She wasn't planning to start again.

So she just shrugged, no one ever pressured her anyways and if they did she would ignore them and not use her fists to solve her problems.

Jeremy scoffed, "Typical."

Mia took her bag from Jeremy, playfully bumping her hip into his. "You already know me, I'm more of a food kind of girl."

Jeremy briefly gave her a half smile that she would have missed if she wasn't looking for it before walking out.

Her own smile faltered a bit. While the new Jeremy wasn't too different from the old one, he still wasn't as easy going and innocently fun as he used to be.

Jeremy always will be her best friend regardless, so Mia forced down her nostalgia and followed after Jeremy.

"The question is: are you ready?"

Mia grimaced at the question. "She hates me."

"She's a bitch."

Mia sent a half hearted glare at Jeremy but closed her mouth as they reached the kitchen.

The lack of homemade pancakes made her heart clench, but she saluted Jenna with a smile anyway and nodded to Elena as Jeremy stole a cup of coffee from the girl.

"Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared. Lunch money?"

Jeremy and Mia shared a look and both reached out to take a couple of bills from Jenna's hands.

Mia pointedly ignored the look Elena was sending them.

"Thanks aunt J," Mia winked as she pocketed the money and took the cup of coffee from Jeremy.

Jenna smiled a little, "Anything else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?"

"Don't you have a big presentation today?" Elena reminded.

Mia simply finished off the coffee in amusement as Jenna rushed away after being reassured by Elena of all people that they could take care of themselves.

Elena then turned to face her and Jeremy, a concerned look on her face that Mia regarded neutrally.

"You okay?"

The question wasn't directed at her, but Mia scoffed anyways. She thursted the empty cup in Elena's hand, "Don't start."

She then shot a discreet look at Jeremy who had already started walking away with a scowl and then ran after him.

She hoped Elena got her message.

Don't treat Jeremy like a kid, I'll look after him.

Of course, even after the accident Elena never quite got the hang of minding her own business.

::::

"How's avoiding You-Know-Who going?"

Mia startled in surprise, accidentally banging her head at her locker where she had been for the last twenty minutes after splitting from Jeremy.

Behind her, her big brother laughed.

"Ty!" She hissed as she slammed her locker shut.

She breathed in and out quickly, calming down her temper as she whirled around to face her brother. As much as she loved him, he somehow always seemed to make her temper shorter even without trying. It was almost like a part of her reacted negatively to his presence, which was weird since she loved the jerk.

"Wait..." she blinked as her anger got replaced with vague amusement. "Did you just call her Voldemort?"

The reason why Tyler even knew enough about Harry Potter to make such a reference wasn't because Mia was a diehard fan or anything. It was because as part of her summer anger management classes, she was supposed to pick up a hobby that was calming and had zero risk of her losing her cool and beating someone up. It was because apparently grief could possibly make her go back to her violent ways.

So she had to pick between knitting or reading. She chose the latter and Tyler rented the Harry Potter movies to help her cheat. Too bad her councillor easily saw through her because the movies left a lot out as she would later find out after actually reading the books.

Tyler smirked. "It matches."

Mia snorted and playfully punched Tyler's shoulder. "You're awful!" She laughed.

Her laughter quickly died when she noticed something.

"Is that Vicki's?"

"Huh?" Tyler asked glancing at where Mia was pointing to a pink lip stain on his shirt. "How do you even know that?"

Mia felt annoyance and overprotectiveness flare up inside her as she clenched her fists.

'One.'

"Mia, she came onto me. I promise."

'Two.'

"You didn't exactly stop her, now did you? She's your best friend's sister and your sister's best friend. She isn't like those sluts you mess with."

'Three.'

Tyler scoffed at the last part.

"Look little sis, we both know Vicki's a slut and your other best friend's a crackhead. You have terrible taste in friends."

This was the part where Mia was supposed to start counting backwards.

Instead, she felt a burning rage inside her and the only thing she wanted to do was hurt Tyler.

Just as she was preparing to punch her big brother's pretty face, Matt came in between them with a smile and oblivious to the tension growing between the Lockwood siblings.

"Mia! I haven't seen you all morning, I thought you were with Jer."

Mia managed a smile, feeling the anger slowly leaving her as she focused on Matt.

"Nah, though now that I think about it hanging with Jer's probably the best way to avoid You-Know-Who."

That made Tyler snort, relaxing as well as he slung an arm over Matt's shoulder and whispered into Matt's ear.

Matt frowned in confusion. "Why are you avoiding her?"

"I, uh..."

"She read that poem for her at the party."

Mia cringed, deciding that the poem was just overkill at a loud party.

Luckily, Matt didn't roast her for reading a poem to her former crush at a damned party filled with drunk teens and loud music. He gave her a sympathetic look.

"Was she nice about it?"

If possible, Mia cringed harder.

Tyler scowled. "She was a bitch about it."

Matt looked vaguely upset as well.

"Damn it Caroline..."

"Anyway!" Mia shrugged in a what can you do manner that didn't seem to work on the two in front of her. "I gotta find Jer. Y'know, new batches to try, money to make and all that. See ya around Ty, M."

She ran before she could hear any protests from them.

::::

Mia briefly wondered what it said about her when no boy batted an eyelash at her as she entered the boy's bathroom.

She figured she didn't care either way as she walked up to her best friend, offering him a fist bump.

Jeremy was smiling, a clear sign that he had indulged in some of their supplies, as he returned her fist bump.

Forcing down her disapproval, because Ty's right her best friends are alcoholic junkies and she only wasn't because she refused to cross the line and lose her self control ever again, she grinned at him.

"How much we making so far?"

"One hundred fifty and counting," he pulled out the amount and handed her half.

It was her idea to make a small business out of selling. She figured she'd use the money for art supplies or for emergencies and Jeremy mostly used the money for art stuff or videogames.

If they got caught, Mia was fully willing to take the heat. Her parents would probably kill her, but they'd make sure she didn't get more than a slap on the wrist and some community work. The latter wasn't so bad since she was forced to participate in stuff like that since she was a kid to keep up a certain image her parents wanted her to have. Even now that she was more rebellious, she still hadn't stopped doing them.

"Jer," Mia frowned, noticing the money wasn't adding up to the current amount of supply.

"Vicki."

Oh.

Mia shrugged, not saying anything else since she and Jeremy had already agreed ages ago that Vicki got a free pass from them. Vicki always got a free pass from them. The girl was after all Mia's other best friend and Jeremy's apparent summer hook up turned crush.

"Lil Lockwood, Lil Gilbert, how's my favorite midgets?"

Mia crossed her arms and sent a playful glare to the tall boy that had just entered the bathroom. Brown hair, brown eyes and part of the football team with Matt and Tyler. His name was Josh.

"Tanner will beat your ass if you show up to practice stoned again," Mia teased.

Jeremy laughed in amusement, already grabbing the packet for him. The sound of Jeremy's laughter eased something inside Mia, causing the Lockwood girl to feel relaxed.

Josh shrugged. "Not my fault the man needs to get laid."

Mia wholeheartedly agreed as she took his money and mumbled out a sarcastic, "Pleasure doing business."

"Good batch, Jeremy, man. You too Mia."

The bathroom door slammed open and Mia opened her mouth to yell at whoever couldn't open a door normally only to snap her mouth close as she saw Elena.

Of course.

Still, the Lockwood girl couldn't help but feel a little guilty for letting Jeremy get high before the bell even rang. But what else could she do? She didn't want Jeremy to push her away like he's pushing everyone else away.

Despite how strained things were between them, she and Elena were friends. Elena just wasn't as important to her as Jeremy was, which was why Mia stood behind Jeremy even though Jeremy was being self destructive.

"Great," Jeremy sarcastically muttered as Elena neared them.

Elena grabbed Jeremy's face and looked into his eyes.

"Great. It's the first day of school and you're stoned."

Jeremy, always the stubborn idiot best friend of hers, denied it. "No, I'm not."

"Where is it? Is it on you?"

Mia decided to jump in, because while she did approve Elena's sudden intervention she didn't approve of her doing it in a damn bathroom and in such an obnoxious manner.

"Stop it, Elena," she lightly pushed Elena away from Jeremy.

Elena shot her a quick glare, which Mia didn't hesitate on returning. Sighing, Elena turned back to Jeremy.

"Jeremy! I gave you a summer pass, but I am done watching you destroy yourself. No, no, no, you know what? Go ahead. Keep it up. But just know that I am going to be there to ruin your buzz every time, you got it?"

Mia snorted, doubting Elena would make good on that promise.

"What, are you going to follow him around 24/7? That's stalking, Elena."

Elena ignored Mia, continuing on with her speech as if she hadn't been interrupted.

"Jeremy, I know who you are. And it's not this person. So don't be this person."

Jeremy scoffed, "I don't need this."

Then the younger Gilbert walked away.

Mia grabbed their bags and made to follow, only for Elena to stand in her way as well.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Jeremy's going to ruin his future and you're letting him."

Mia pursed her lips and raised her eyebrow higher in a sarcastic way.

Elena frowned. "I don't get it Mia. You don't use those stuff or drink. But why do-"

Mia sighed, cutting Elena off. "Look, Elena, you're right. I don't do those stuff. But I want to. So fuckin' bad Elena, I just want to drink every bottle I see and try every batch I find. Please, don't tell me I should tell Jeremy to quit because it's bad. He can see through my bullshit."

Elena sighed, looking dejected.

Mia pursed her lips, feeling bad for the brunette. "He's being too excessive though, so I'll cut him off a bit. I can't promise more than that."

Elena gave the Lockwood a grateful smile. "Anything helps. Thanks Mia."

A part of Mia wanted to ask Elena how she was doing. The thing was, Mia really didn't want an answer.

Especially since Elena would probably smile and say I'm fine. Mia wasn't going to ask for a bullshit answer like that and she wasn't going to make Elena lie to her.

So, the Lockwood girl simply nodded at the oldest Gilbert and took off after the youngest.

She found him waiting for her at the stoner's pit.

Mia swallowed down whatever urge she had to join him in getting high so early in the morning and flicked his forehead.

"What?"

"Elena's just worried, you know."

Jeremy huffed. "Let's not."

"Thank fuck," Mia grinned. "Ditch?"

"Best idea I've heard all morning."

Taking his bag from Mia, Jeremy walked away from the school building with the girl walking right besides him.

Mia thought that maybe, just maybe things would look up for her and her best friends.

The next night, her optimism was proven wrong when she was woken up by a phone call from Jeremy telling her Vicki was in the hospital.

In hindsight, parties and her best friends' never seemed to mix well.

::::

Mia handed Matt a cup of coffee as she sat down next to the blond.

"Thanks," Matt quietly said.

Instead of answering, the Lockwood girl just stared at her best friend and noted that this is the most peaceful she's ever seen Vicki. Which was discomforting, considering the girl was on a hospital bed.

"You didn't have to come."

"She's my best friend and it seems like you need the company."

Matt gave a weak smile, "Still, did you have to rush over in your pajama?"

Mia looked down at her polka dot themed shorts and matching top then looked back at Matt. "Yes."

Before Matt could retort, Vicki started stirring.

The two immediately dropped their banter to sit up at attention at the older girl.

"Hey, sleepy..." Mia gently said, grasping at the other girl's hand.

She didn't wince when Vicki's grip tightened.

"Vicki...Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're gonna be okay," Matt softly added, looking relieved.

"Guys..." Vicki rasped.

"Hey, don't try to talk, okay? You're fine."

Mia however gently squeezed Vicki's hand to get the girl's attention.

"What's wrong Vivi?"

Vicki looked at her, eyes shining with fear.

"Vampire."