"She a rockstar, she a sex symbol," I sang, "the way she do that shit, she make it look simple."

Fran looked over at me, a concerned look on her face.

I lifted one side of my headphones, smiling. "What's up?"

"You're singing, loud," she softly said.

"Oh, sorry," I said, looking back down at my laptop.

I pulled my headphones off and placed them around my neck, focusing more on my essay than the music.

"What are you working on?" She asked.

"Scholarship essay," I said.

"Oh, well, that's a lot of pressure."

"Yeah, tell me about it," I muttered.

"You know, I don't think you give yourself enough credit," she said.

I chuckled, nodding. "Okay."

"Seriously," she said, "I mean, you have to keep your grades up. Between football, soccer, baseball, you have to be smart."

"Well, if Dylan can stay on the team, then the bar really isn't too high."

I noticed the obvious shift in her entire being. Her body tensed up, her eyes became glassy.

"Let's just not bring him up," she softly said, wrapping her blanket around herself.

"Finally realize what a douche-"

"Drop it, Hero," she said.

I bit down on my lip and nodded, holding up my hands. "No problem."

We sat in silence until she stood up, dropping her blanket. "I'm gonna go to bed, okay?"

"Okay," I said, "sleep well, love you, kiddo."

She smiled what looked like a broken smile, walking upstairs.

I closed my laptop, sighing as I leaned my head back. I folded my arms behind my head and got comfortable, but was rudely interrupted by the doorbell.

"It's eleven fucking o'clock," I muttered, throwing my blanket off of my lap.

I grabbed my crutches and walked to the door, opening it. I knitted my eyebrows together at the sight of Amelia.

"Oh, hey," I greeted, a little confused.

"Hey," she said, biting down on her lip.

I tilted my head over. "It's eleven o'clock."

"I know," she softly said, "I-I can leave-"

"No, that's okay," I said, leaning against the doorframe.

"Aren't you going to ask why I'm here?"

I shook my head. I knew why she was here, but Amelia was shy. She wouldn't have blatantly admitted it to me, and would want to work up to it.

I moved aside, watching as she walked in. She awkwardly stood in the foyer, waiting on me to close the door and catch up to her.

"I'm actually working on this scholarship essay," I said, "maybe you can give me some pointers."

"Y-yeah," she said, looking up at me.

I sat down on the couch and she sat next to me. I grabbed my laptop and opened it up, placing it in her lap.

She quickly scanned over it, a surprised look on her face the entire time.

"That's really good, Hero."

"Don't sound so shocked."

She laughed, shaking her head. "I didn't me-"

I grabbed her jaw and pressed a kiss to her lips, smiling.

"I wasn't gonna say it," she whispered, as soon as I pulled away.

I chuckled and pulled her into my lap, unzipping her jacket. I pushed it off of her shoulders and trailed my hands up her sides, to her cleavage, and stopped at her neck. I wrapped my hand around her neck and pulled her closer to me, brushing my lips against hers.

She reached down and unclasped her bra, and I watched as it fell open.

"Cool how that works," I said, grinning up at her.

She giggled and pressed her lips against mine, moving her hips against me. I reached under her skirt and rested my free hand on her hip, looking down at our bodies.

"You're so fucking hot," I muttered, pressing another kiss to her lips.

She smiled, making me pull away from her.

"Tell me what you want me to do to you," I said, my eyes locked on hers.

"I-I want you to fuck me," she said, pushing her hair away from her face.

"You want me to fuck you?" I asked, wrapping my hand around her neck.

She nodded, smiling.

"I can do that," I said, but was rudely interrupted.

I heard someone clear their throat, making me casually pull away from Amelia. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I could feel how nervous she was.

Dad narrowed his eyes and leaned against the staircase. "It's very late."

"It's eleven," I deadpanned, looking at him.

"That can't be comfortable," he said, nodding down at my leg, "with your leg being hurt, and all."

"I'm fine," I said, smiling at him, "but your concern, it's heartwarming."

"So, you two were studying?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Hero, I don't have on a bra," Amelia whispered, "please hurry this conversation-"

"Yes, I was studying the female body," I said, smiling.

Dad sighed, looking over to the side. "I think you should leave. Hero's got practice in the morning, he's got to be up early."

Amelia nodded, grabbing a blanket to wrap around her bare shoulder. She stood up and I looked up at her, and over to Dad to glare at him.

"I'm trusting that you'll leave," he said, walking back upstairs.

Amelia dropped her blanket with a sigh, grabbing her bra. "It was stupid of me to come over this late."

"He's just a cockblock. Proud one, too."

She smiled and put her bra back on, making me hold her jacket out to her. She grabbed it and held it up before putting it on. "Thanks."

"Maybe you could meet me at practice tomorrow," I said, grabbing my crutches to walk her to the door.

"How exactly are you practicing with that?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Gotta sit in on it. You'll be there, yeah?"

She smiled, pressing a kiss to my cheek. "I'll be there."

~*~

I felt an inexplicable emptiness.

Nothing happened, I kept reminding myself.

But each time I said it, it was more of me convincing myself that nothing had happened.

I wanted to tell someone. I just wanted to get it off of my chest, but I'd gone over my options plenty of times, and all of them were blatant no's.

If Josie found out, she'd out him in front of the entire school. If Henry found out, he'd nothing short of kill him. And if Hero found out, I wasn't really even sure of what would happen.

I laid in bed, staring at my ceiling. Each passing day got worse, and I felt a form of guilt eating me alive. For lying to Henry, for lying to Mom and Dad, and for even going to the party in the first place.

If you would've just stayed home, it wouldn't have happened.

I sat upright, letting out a sigh. I rubbed my temples and looked over at my alarm clock, seeing that it was already ten A.M., and Mom and Dad would start speculating if I didn't get out of bed soon enough.

As soon as I swung a leg over the side of my bed, I saw my door open just a bit.

"I've been knocking," Mom said, smiling a sweet smile.

I bit down on my lip- had I really been that spaced out?

"S-sorry," I said, "I was getting up."

She nodded. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," I softly said.

She sat on the edge of my bed, looking around at my room. "I wish my room would've been this cute and stylish when I was your age."

I smiled an empty smile, chewing on my lip.

"Listen, I'm your mom, and we just kinda know these things," she said, "are you okay?"

I looked into her eyes that I'd never been able to lie to. I nodded, tears clouding my eyes.

"Sweetheart," she softly said, her eyebrows in a furrow.

"Mom," I sobbed, falling into her arms.

"Hey," she said, obviously taken aback by my explosive crying.

I pulled away from her, covering my face with my hands. "I feel so disgusting, Mom."

"Fran, what happened?" She asked, "wh-what happened?"

"You can't tell Dad, or Hero, or anyone," I sobbed, looking at her, "please don't tell."

"Okay, I promise," she said, grabbing my hands.

I couldn't even look at her. I lowered my eyes to our hands and let out a shaky breath.

"Th-the other night, when I was with Josie," I said, "I-I wasn't actually with Josie. I was so stupid."

She nodded, soothingly rubbing the back of my hand with the pad of her thumb.

"I went to this party," I sobbed, "w-with Dylan. He spilled a drink on my shirt, so I had to go to the bathroom, and he followed me to the bathroom, and one thing-"

She stopped me, cupping my cheek. "Slow down, baby."

I hung my head, squeezing my eyes shut. "He wouldn't stop touching me. I tried to push him off and say no so many times, and he would just never budge."

I felt ashamed. No emptiness, just ashamed. Ashamed of my body, ashamed of my entire being.

"D-did he-"

I lifted my eyes to look at her, and I could see the pained expression on her face.

"He didn't get far enough," I said, shaking my head, "I kneed him and ran downstairs. To Henry."

"Does Henry know?" She asked.

"No, and he can't," I said, shaking my head, "Mom, no one can know."

She pulled me into her for a comforting hug, rubbing my back.

"I was so stupid, Mom," I sobbed, squeezing my eyes shut, "I wore this short skirt, and this tight shirt-"

"Francesca, this is not your fault," she said, "it is not. Don't even think about blaming yourself."

"A-and nothing even happened," I said, "so I feel like I'm overreacting and going through literal hell for nothing."

"Sweetheart, something did happen," she said, cupping my face, "he touched you. Without your consent. You're a fifteen year old girl, that's enough to scar you forever."

My bottom lip quivered as I nodded. "Yeah."

She pressed a kiss to my forehead, pulling me back into her. "I'm so sorry, baby."

I wrapped my arms around her and sniffled. "You're not going to tell Hero or Dad, are you?"

I pulled away from her when she didn't answer immediately, wiping my cheek.

She rubbed her hand over my hair and sighed, tilting her head over. "Nothing's going to get done if you just keep it to yourself."

"Okay, then so be it," I said, sniffling.

"No," she said, "Dylan needs to understand that there are consequences."

"Mom, just don't tell, okay?" I asked, standing up.

She sighed, looking up at me.

"I'll bring it up when I'm ready," I said, clearing my throat as I shifted from foot to foot.

She nodded, standing up. She pressed a soft, comforting kiss to my forehead, rubbing my back. "Come downstairs soon, okay?"

~*~

"Shush," Eros chuckled, pulling me through his driveway.

"What is such a surprise, E?" I asked, nearly tripping in order to keep up with him, considering my eyes were covered with my free hand. "What do you have that I haven't seen before?"

He stopped, making me jolt forward and crash into his solid body. He grabbed my hand and pulled it away from my eyes, making me tilt my head over with furrowed brows.

"Oh?" I looked over at him, lifting an eyebrow.

He chuckled, patting the hood of the old black car sitting in the garage. "Dad grabbed it the other day."

"He grabbed it?" I questioned, walking around the car.

"Yeah," he said.

"Purposefully?"

He shot me an annoyed look, making me giggle. "I'm kidding. It's really pretty, but it does need work."

"You know, usually, people say the bad thing first and then the good thing. To make it feel better."

I shrugged, wrapping my arms around myself. "So, are you, like, gonna drive it?"

"He told me I could, as long as I keep it in one piece."

He walked around the car, smiling down at me. "And I am taking you on a date."

"Are you, now?" I asked, grinning up at him.

"Yep, and we're not even going to kiss," he said, "gonna treat this shit like a first date."

"Well, technically, it is our first date," I said, sitting on the hood of the car.

He looked over at me, watching as I slowly pushed my sweater off of my shoulder. I giggled and bit down on my lip, leaning my head back.

"Am I making it hard not to kiss me yet?" I asked, smiling over at him.

He made a face that made me giggle and stand up. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him from behind, looking up at him.

"Hey, no one does this on a first date," he said.

"You don't think so?" I asked, trailing my hands down his abdomen.

"Jo," he warningly said, looking back at me.

"I was pulling your shirt out of your pants," I muttered, pressing a kiss to his shoulder, "you look like an old man."

"Alright, let's get this baby going," he said, holding up the keys.

I smiled and opened my door, sliding inside. I grimaced at the loud stench, smiling a pained smile at Eros as he closed his door.

"Alright," he said, obviously excited.

Honestly, Eros and I had been best friends since I could remember, but I'd never seen this side of him. I'd never seen him get so excited about a car.

He winked at me before sliding the key in the ignition. I bit down on my cheek as I listened to it attempt to start, but it never actually succeeded.

"You're fucking kidding me," he groaned, leaning his head back against the seat.

I bit back a laugh, looking out of my window.

"No," he said, shaking his head, "I'm taking you on our first date in this car."

"Is that so?" I laughed out, looking over at him.

"It is in fact so," he said, nodding, "might take us a few days, but we're going on a date in this."

"And who is going to make this thing run?" I asked, grinning.

"Me," he said, shrugging.

I leaned over the console, cupping his face. "Eros, sweetheart, you are a talented guy. But are you really a mechanic?"

He cupped my face, his eyes like lasers digging into my own. "You have no idea how high I can fly."

I giggled and let my head fall against his chest, smiling. "I believe in you."

~*~

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