I feel something poke my cheek and scrunch my face as I brush it away. I cuddle back into the pillow letting out a subtle sigh. I feel it again and open my eyes to see Clara looking at me with a wide grin.

"Morning sleepy head," she says letting out a small laugh. She sits up from the bed walking to the closet. I sit up stretching my arms above my head.

"Morning," I say looking at the clock on her nightstand. 10:30.

"Sleep well?" She asks picking clothes out of her closet and setting them on the bed.

"Yeah," I say getting up and grabbing clothes from my bag.

"I gotta go to the bathroom, I'll be right back," Clara says as she exits the room. I take that time to put my clothes and deodorant on. I brush my hair pulling it up into a messy bun.

I hear the door open moments later and Clara walks into the room.

"Alright, I'll be downstairs making breakfast. Are waffles okay?" She asks.

"Yeah, sounds great," I say. She nods before heading out the door and down the stairs. I head towards the bathroom and enter, shutting the door softly behind me. I use the restroom and wash my hands then brush my teeth. I exit the bathroom and head down the stair to the kitchen.

I see Clara mixing the batter and starts to get a cutting board out.

"Do you want some help?" I ask walking over to her side.

"Uh...if you want. Do you know how to use a knife?" She questions pulling out a knife from the drawer.

"Yeah," I answer. She nods her head, handing me the knife. She takes out strawberries and blueberries setting them next to me.

"You like strawberries and blueberries?" She questions as she puts the batter into the waffle maker.

"Yeah. Strawberries are my favorite," I say as I begin to slice them.

"Mine too," she says going to the fridge grabbing with whipped cream.

She takes out the first waffle setting it on a plate then puts more batter in. She pushes the plate over to me.

"You eat first, you're the guest, mine will be done in a sec," she says getting the syrup from a cabinet.

"Okay, thank you, Clara," I say grabbing the whipped cream putting some on. I sprinkle on some strawberries and blueberries topping it off with syrup. Just as I finish making mine she takes her's out placing it on the plate making hers like mine. We take a seat at the island digging into our food. This is good. I have never had waffles like this before.

"These are really good," I say digging in for more. She chuckles before nodding.

"Yes, I know, I'm the best," She says continuing to eat hers. We start to laugh together before eating again.

After we finished we cleaned up our mess before heading back up the stairs to her room. We enter flopping on her bed.

"So, how's it been with Xander? How did you guys get together?" she quickly asks with excitement. I stay silent for a moment and burst into laughter at her sudden burst of energy.

"What? I just want all the details!" She says.

"We went on a date and-"

"Where did he take you?" She interjects causing me to giggle at her.

"Sorry," she says. I wave her off.

"It's okay. He took me to this dinner and then took me to the arcade. It was really fun. I enjoyed the arcade a lot too,"

"Oooh, that sounded fun!" She says happily. I look at her with while laughing.

"I'm living vicariously through you till I get a boyfriend, but I will be forever alone," She says with a small laugh.

"I don't think so there has to be someone out there for you," I say looking back at her.

"Well, maybe...?" she trails off looking away. I raise an eyebrow before pushing her to continue.

"Who?"

"Well, uh, you know...Tony, right?" She says. I mouth opens and I look at her curiously.

"Wow, really? I would have never thought you would like Tony," I say honestly.

"Yeah, we hung out but he hasn't asked again or asked me on a date, so I don't know," she says glancing down at her fidgeting hands.

"Well if he doesn't like you, then there's always someone else out there for you," I say trying to make her feel better.

"Yeah, but they're not Tony," she mumbles.

"I know Clara," I say.

"Anyway, continue on about your date," she urges on.

"Yeah, he got really nervous and when we got home he just kinda was distant so I thought it was my fault. So I got all paranoid like an idiot and then we kinda argued then we made up and he asked me to be his girlfriend," I finish.

"Awww, that adorable. Not the arguing part of course but you know," she states. I let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I get it," I say letting out a small laugh.

"So when are you wanting to leave?" She asks me. I gasp as I put my hand to my chest.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" I question stifling a laugh.

"Nooo, I was just wondering," She says with a playful eye roll.

"It really doesn't matter to me when I go home," I answer.

"How about 5 or 6 or something," she says. I nod my head.

"Alright," I reply.

"Okay, let's watch TV," she says turning it on and flipping through the channel. We land on a random TV show.

----

"Bye Clara," I wave as I exit her car.

"Bye Emilia. I'm glad you came over," she replies before pulling out of the driveway and heading down the road. I walk up the sidewalk and open the door to see grandma sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Oh hello dear. Did you enjoy your time at your friend's house?" She asks.

"Yeah, it was really fun," I say.

"I'm glad you had fun Emilia," she says resting her hand on mine.

"Thank you, grandma," I say. A huge smile forms on her lips.

"Oh, I actually have something for you. Your mother bought it," she says before pulling something from behind her.

"Oh, wow, she didn't have to do that," I say taking the box from her hand. I look at the box with a little bow on it.

"Open it," she urges with a laugh.

"Okay, okay," I laugh and start tearing into it.

"Oh, my god!" I say in complete shock at looking at the box. I open it looking at the brand new phone and practically have my mouth wide open. It's the Samsung S9. That's the newest one, how can they afford this?

"Well open it up and look at it," She says excitedly. I open the box and look at how sleek it is. I've never had my own phone. I was never really allowed.

"This is amazing," I whisper in disbelief.

"I'm glad you like it, now go play with your phone," she says ushering me away. I laugh and head to my room dropping my bag and flop onto my bed powering it on.

----

I've been on my phone for hours losing track of time figuring everything out. I look at the time on my phone and see it's 10:30. Holy crap, time flies when you're having fun. I put my phone on my nightstand plugging it in before I head to the bathroom getting ready for bed.

I go back to my room and notice the light on across from me. I haven't seen Xander all day. I look at him and notice he has cuts on his face. What happened? He looks over at me and sees me. He looks down before visible sighing. He walks over to me and I open the window.

"What happened to you?" I question with concern.

"Nothing really, no big deal," he says shrugging his shoulders.

"Xander you have blood on your face and bruises. What happened?" I demand.

"I just got into a fight with some guy," he replies nonchalantly. I roll my eyes.

"Let me clean it at least. Stay here," I say pointing to the bed. He sits and I head towards the bathroom. I grab the med-kit and take it back to the room with the trash can.

I set everything on the bed as he watches me intently. I grab a gauze and put some rubbing alcohol on it before gently dabbing it to the cut on his cheek. He winces slightly and I pull away.

"Sorry, It will sting a little," I say continuing to gently clean the wound.

"God Xander, what did you do," I whisper more to myself than him.

"If you think this is bad you should see the other guy," he laughs but I give him a glare. He raises his hands in defense before mumbling a 'sorry'.

I finish cleaning the cuts on his face and clean everything up throwing it in the bin.

"There aren't any cuts on your body are there?" I ask.

"No just bruising," he replies. I roll my eyes before taking the med kit back to the bathroom. I wash my hands and head to the kitchen. I grab ice packs and head back to the room.

"Take your shirt off," I say.

"Well, okay then. You're very...forward," He replies. I blush red at how blunt I was about it and almost facepalm. He laughs before pulling his shirt off. I gasp at seeing the huge bruise on his chest.

"Oh my gosh?! Who was this guy?" I ask and gently applying the ice packs to his bruise.

"Nobody, just some punk," He replies holding the ice pack.

"It's fine don't worry about it, Emilia. I'm fine, it's really nothing," He says trying to ease my mind but really doesn't.

"Anyway enough about me. How was your sleepover?" He asked.

"Nice change of subject," I say while crossing my arms.

"Can't I just be the amazing boyfriend that wants to know how his girlfriend is doing?" He questions. I roll my eyes as I feel a blush creep up my neck at the word 'girlfriend'.

"Hmmhmm," I murmur.

"Anyway, yeah it was fun. It's been a long time since I've been to a sleepover," I answer honestly.

"Oh really? What did you guys do?" he says turning to face me.

"We watched the movie Love Simon, and ate junk food and talked about hot guys, the usual girly stuff," I reply with a sly smile looking at Xander.

"Oh?" he says with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," I laugh.

"I mean have you seen Nick Bateman?" I ask noticing Xander look a little flustered.

"Excuse me?" He exasperates before a pout form on his face.

"Xander! I'm kidding, I'm kidding," I say. I hear him grumble before pushing the ice packs off him grabbing me pulling me over top of him. I try pushing off but he pulls tighter and a giggle escapes me.

"Xander, doesn't that hurt your bruises?" I question.

"No, you're as light as a feather," he says holding me closer.

"I missed you yesterday," he mumbles.

"It was one day," I laugh.

"I know but still," he whispers. I roll my eyes then push myself up to get off the top of him. He lets out a chuckle before he rolls over with him over the top me now. His arms rest on either side of mine and I look up into his eyes.

Before I can say anything he leaning in and attaching his lips to mine. I kiss him back wrapping my arms around his neck and tug at the ends of his super soft hair. I hear a small groan come from him causing a shiver to run down my spine. He starts to push his hands up my side trailing up under my shirt slightly and feel him inching close to my scars on the top of my stomach.

My eyes fly open frantically and I push hard on his chest causing him to instantly gets off me looking at me worriedly.

"I'm sorry Emilia I-"

"It's not your fault," I whisper interrupting him as I start sitting up with my knees pulled in to my chest.

"I didn't mean to push you into anything you don't want to do Emilia," He says putting his head on his hand. I look into his eyes that hold genuine honesty.

"I'm sorry, It's just.." I trail off as my self-conscious thoughts starting to flooding my mind.

"You can talk to me about it, Emilia," He says scooting over beside me. I sigh before crossing my legs.

"It's just...my scars, I can't help but think about how...ugly they make me feel, and I just-"

Xander quickly sits in front of me his eyes boring into mine causing me to instantly freeze.

"Emilia, can you do something for me?" He asks seriously his eyes staying trained on mine. I tilt my head in question before he speaks again.

"Stand up?" He asks as he stands up putting his hand out to mine. I hesitantly grab it before he pulls me up instantly. I stand in front of him in confusion.

"Now don't take this weirdly but can you take your shirt and pants off?" He asks bluntly and I give him a wide-eyed look.

"I'm not gonna look okay if you don't want me to that is," He says before turning around facing the door. I hesitate before peeling off my clothes dropping them to the floor.

"You done?" He asks.

"Yeah," I say nervously.

"Can I turn around or I don't have to," He asks.

"O-Okay, yeah," I say sort of unsure of myself. He turns around but keeps his eyes looking into mine.

"Okay. Now look into the mirror and tell me what you see," he says.

I slowly walk over to the mirror looking at the girl looking back at me. I look down at all the scars and feel tears form in my eyes.

"Scars, that's all I see," I say before looking down.

"No Emilia," He says stepping behind me.

"Emilia, you wanna know what I see?" he questions.

"What?" I ask shakily.

"I see, the strongest person I have come to know. A smart, kind, talented, and, most of all, the most beautiful girl in front of me," He says slowly emphasizing each word as I feel the tears fall down my face.

I turn around facing him as I see the tears well in his eyes too.

"Don't let the scars of your past haunt you for the rest of your life Emilia, it will ultimately destroy you," he adds.

"If I have to say that every minute of my life I will. It doesn't matter what random assholes say. You are apart of this family more than you know Emilia," He finishes looking into my eyes. I smile at him before pulling him into a hug. He instantly wraps his arms around mine bringing me closer to him.

"Thank you, Xander," I whisper.

"You're welcome Emilia," He mumbles placing a soft kiss on the top of my head.

"I love you, Emilia," He blurts out and his eyes widen in fear and panic. He opens his mouth to speak but I interrupt him.

"I love you too, Xander," I say as a huge smile spread across his face and then his lips instantly attach to mine.