I chewed vigorously on my thumbnail, terrified of what was happening to Hero right now. I had no way of knowing, considering he'd left his phone here. Thankfully, Dad had followed him, but still.

"It's okay, lovebug," Mom whispered, placing a mug of tea in front of me.

"What if it's not?" I asked, leaning my head against her chest.

She pressed a kiss to my head. "I'm sure nothing happened."

The door flew open, making me stand up and run to Hero.

"Oh, my God," I whispered, wrapping my arms around him, "I was so worried."

He wrapped an arm around me, pressing his cheek against my temple. "Hey."

I sniffled, pulling away from him. I looked down at his hand, my jaw dropping. "Hero."

"I-I think it's broken," he softly said, looking at Mom.

"Okay," she said, wrapping an arm around his neck. She pulled away from him quickly, examining his entire being for even a scratch.

Dad walked in, making my stomach turn. I knew he'd found out, there was no way he hadn't.

"I'm so sorry," I said, making him attack me with a hug.

"Fran," he whispered, hugging me as tight as he could, "do not ever apologize for that again. Ever."

He pulled away from me, cupping my face. He looked upset, and I'd only ever seen Dad upset a few times in my life.

Mom led Hero into the kitchen, gently placing his hand on the counter. I followed, biting my nails as I watched her attempt to move his fingers for him.

"Fuck," he whimpered, dropping his head.

I turned away from him, wrapping my arms around Dad. Hero was the strongest person I knew, and seeing him in pain because of a mess that I'd created, that was the hardest thing for me to witness.

"It's broken," Mom said, looking at Dad.

Dad nodded, patting Hero's back. "You good?"

Hero smiled a weak smile, looking over at us. "Probable cause."

Mom rubbed my back. "Do you want Dad to take Hero to the hospital, or me?"

"I can take myself-"

"You're not an adult," Dad said, "you've got to have someone with you, kid."

"Hey, did your foot miraculously heal?" Mom laughed, earning a pained chuckle from Hero.

"Adrenaline, I guess."

I smiled, keeping my head against Dad's chest. "You can take him."

"Alright," he said, pressing a kiss to my head.

Mom looked down at Dad's hand, making me do the same.

"He had a-"

"Dad, don't," Hero said, leaning his head back.

"Don't what?" Mom asked, knitting her brows together.

"Yeah, don't what?" I repeated.

"Just drop it," Hero said, limping past us.

"Hero, what happened?" I asked, pushing myself away from Dad.

"Fran, it's over," he said, slipping into his jacket, "everything's over."

"He had a what?" I asked, my eyebrows in a furrow. I was confused, and I just wanted answers.

"His dad had a gun to Hero's head," Dad said, making Hero spin around and face him.

"Are you kidding me?"

"He what?" Mom asked.

"Why did you say that, Dad?" Hero asked, his free hand in his hair.

"He had a gun to your head?" Mom exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Mom very rarely surpassed her soft, calm state, but when it came to her kids, it brought out an entirely new side to her.

Hero spun around, holding out his arm. "Look. I'm fine. Nothing happened."

"I'm going to the police-"

Dad wrapped his arm around Mom's neck, pulling her into him. "Chances are, Hero's getting charges pressed against him already."

"He held a gun-"

"Can we please go to the hospital?" Hero yelled, breaking up the conversation.

I leaned against the counter, leaning my head back as I realized I'd created an enormous mess.

~*~

I sat on the hospital bed, avoiding Dad at all costs.

I was pissed. There are just some things you don't tell the mother of your problematic child about.

I leaned my head back, waiting on the doctor to come in and tell us what we already knew.

"You've avoided me like the plague ever since we left the house."

"Can you guess why?" I asked, looking over at Dad.

"Okay, she would've killed us both if she would've found out later that we didn't tell her," he said, looking back down at the paperwork he was busy scanning over.

"Dad, she's never going to let me out of the fucking house again," I adamantly said, keeping my eyes locked on him.

He knitted his eyebrows together, his jaw slack. "Really?"

"Really," I said, my eyebrows in the same angry furrow.

"Okay," he chuckled, standing up, "imagine how I felt, Hero. I pulled up and a gun was pointed at your head. I had to see that."

"Dad, nothing happened," I said, "and nothing would've happened."

"It doesn't matter if anything happened or not, Hero," he said, "at least I spared my dad the feeling of seeing a gun pointed at his son's head."

"So it's my fault?" I asked, watching as he paced around the room, "it's my fault for standing up for Fran?"

"Yeah, you stood up for her, but you also embarrassed her," he said, "now his dad knows about it, and I know that's not the way she wanted me to find out."

"What the fuck, Dad?" I laughed out, "an hour ago, you were attempting to make me feel better about it. Now you're basically telling me it's my fault?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying, Hero," he argued.

"Then what are you saying?" I asked, shrugging.

"I'm saying you need to take Fran's feelings into consideration, too. I know it's easy for you to-"

"I have-"

"Let me talk!" He yelled, standing in front of me.

I felt my blood boiling. I flared my nostrils and gave him a look that hopefully conveyed the message that I was beyond pissed at him.

"I know it's easy for you to just let your temper take over," he said, "I get that."

"Wonder where I get it from?" I asked, shrugging.

"But Fran would've wanted it to blow over differently, and you know that," he said.

"I have taken Fran's feelings into consideration," I snapped, "hell, she's all I've been thinking about for the past few weeks! Guess who's the first one to pick up on a different mood? Me. Guess who's the first one to see that she's not eating? Me. Look me in the eyes and tell me that if someone would've done that to Rose or Ari that you wouldn't beat their fucking ass."

"Hero," he said, rubbing his eyes, "you've got to mellow out. Bottom line."

"I'll mellow out when it comes to anything other than something happening to Fran," I said, "and it's really shitty of you to not understand where I came from."

"I completely understand, Hero," he said, "okay, I'm pissed, too. I am. I want to wring the kid's neck, honestly."

I looked at him, narrowing my eyes. "But you would've gone about it differently."

"Probably would've tried," he adamantly stated, his hands resting on his hips.

"Says the man who knocked out his fucking dad."

"Hero-"

"No, you're just mad that eventually, this will get out. Somehow. It'll be Josiah King's son beating some kid's ass in his yard that gets out. It won't mention the fact that that kid is a piece of shit who touches girls without their consent, and that Josiah King's son had a damn good reason behind doing it."

~*~

"Hey, babe," Josie greeted, smiling as she approached me.

I lifted my eyebrows, trying to look the least bit of alive. "Hey."

She ruffled her fingers through my hair. "You look so gorgeous today. Not that you don't always look absolutely stunning."

I smiled up at her, tucking a chunk of hair behind my ear. "Thanks."

She took a step away from me, biting down on her lip. "How cute is my outfit? Yeah?"

She spun around with a giggle, making me smile down at her matching sweatsuit.

"This is what exam day calls for," she said, leaning against my locker.

"You still manage to make it look amazing," I softly said, tilting my head over with a smile.

Hero approached us, smiling. "My favorite girls."

Hero hadn't really let me get out of his sight. While I understood, I also felt so guilty. His hand would've been castless, if I wouldn't have told him about it. He wouldn't have to feel constantly concerned and worried about me, if I wouldn't have told him about it.

He wrapped an arm around Josie's neck, smiling down at me. "You good?"

I smiled, nodding. "Mm hmm."

Eros approached us, smiling. "Hey."

Josie folded her arms over her chest and looked up at him.

"God damn, you just got off of crutches, man," he said, looking down at Hero's hand.

He chuckled, shrugging. "Prone to injury, but always by a good time."

I bit down on my lip, closing my eyes. When I opened them, my blood ran cold at the sight of Dylan walking through the hallway.

My jaw fell slack at the sight of him. He looked like he was in a world of pain.

Conversation seemed to stop, making me let out a shaky breath as Hero turned around.

"Hero?" I questionably said, looking up at him with furrowed brows.

He looked down at me, tilting his head over. "Fran."

I'd expected bad, but I didn't expect that.

I backed away from him, shaking my head.

"Fran, wait!" He yelled, following me.

"You did that?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Y-yeah," he said, shaking his head, "but Fran-"

"I have to speak to him," I said, pushing past him.

"Francesca!" He yelled, making me run to Dylan. He was walking into an empty classroom, and I followed.

He turned around to face me, leaning forward on his crutches.

"Do you feel good about yourself?" He asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

"I just came to see-"

"No, do you feel good about yourself?" He asked, shrugging, "did that pity party of yours turn out the way you wanted?"

I stayed silent, tears clouding my eyes.

"Three fractured ribs, Fran. A face that's bruised to hell and back, I'm surprised I'm fucking alive."

"I'm sorry," I whispered, shaking my head.

"God, you should've just kept your stupid fucking mouth shut," he chuckled, "nothing happened. You're a fucking prude."

I knitted my eyebrows together. "Dylan, something did happen."

"Please enlighten me, Fran! Because nothing happened for me!" He yelled.

"Y-you touched me," I said, "in places I've never been touched before, a-and you did it without any regard to how I felt."

"Oh, my God, Fran," he said, "and let me finish the story. You kneed me in the fucking balls. Newsflash, not many guys want to have sex with girls that knee them in the fucking balls."

"I didn't want you to want to have sex with me," I argued, feeling a fire inside of me that I hadn't ever felt.

"Well, what response were you expecting when you took your clothes off in front of me?" He asked, "you're a whore, Fran."

"Well, a minute ago, I was a prude. Which one is it?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "I just hope you're happy with yourself. You created this mess."

He walked past me, making me turn around.

"Dylan?" I said, making him stop.

"What, Francesca?"

"How's your dad's face?" I asked, tilting my head over, "does it look about as pretty as yours?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Bye, Fran. Don't ever speak to me again."

"Wasn't planning on it."

~*~

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