I wake up and get changed into a navy blue tank top, a gray cardigan and black ripped jeans. I pair it with some high heel boots. I throw my hair into a cute messy bun and do my causal makeup.

I grab my backpack and duffle bag that I'm bringing to the Whites.

The drive to school was happier. I spent the drive listening to music and looking forward to tonight.

"Hello Ms. Leah" Ellie says as her and Mason walk up to me when I get out of the car.

"We are going to have so much fun" Mason says in a girly voice and throws his arm around me.

"Shut up Mas" Ellie says causing me to laugh.

"Thanks guys. It's nice to have friends as inviting as you" I smile at them and Mason blushes a little.

"Eh, don't thank us. We love you Le" Mason says and I hug her.

"Let's get to class" I say and we walk to class right in time.

I go to my car and follow the Whites to their house. Thankfully Mrs. White taught me how to wrap my side so I can do that on my own now and the bruise on my face has faded. Also most of my other bruises are faded and there are only a couple scars scattered around my body, nothing too flashy.

We get to the house and I run to Bella. She jumps onto my leg and starts licking my face. She then goes and greats Mason and Ellie quickly. "She's warming up to you guys" I say and they nod.

"Yeah, she sleep in my room with me" Mason says causing me to smile.

"You got a good home here Belle. Mason, Ellie and Mrs. White are great people" I whisper to her.

"Leah, honey. How are you? Please, call me Tara. I've told you that. Your practically my daughter" Tara says and I nod smiling.

She pulls me into a hug and whispers in my ear "Meet my in the kitchen soon, I need to talk to you" I nod and we all go upstairs.

"Elle, look" I say throwing her my phone to show her the text with Tyler.

"Leah, It's 4:30. You need to get ready and go" Ellie screams and I roll my eyes.

"It's just coffee and I'm working at 5:30 for an hour anyways. I'll just go in my uniform" I say and Mason scrunches his eyebrows.

"What's going on?" He asks pausing Friends that is playing on his computer.

The three of us are currently on Masons bed watching Friends and talking.

"Leah has a dateee" Ellie sings out and I slap her.

"With who?" Mason says sounding a little mad/hurt.

"It's not a date. Someone bumped into me at the park" I say shrugging and Mason nods.

"Well, you look great right now Leah" Mason says sounding kind of forced.

"Ugh fine" Ellie says huffing.

"Thank you Mason. I'm gonna go use the bathroom" I say getting up and making my way to the kitchen.

"Hey Tara, whats up?" I ask concerned.

"Is everything alright at home?" She asks and I stutter, surprised.

"U-um yeah. What makes you ask?" I ask shocked.

"Your mom was treating you a little poorly and came home drunk. It seems like you were experienced with it"

"It happens sometimes when she has a bad day. It's very rare" I say thinking of an excuse quickly.

Tara reads right through me, based on her expression. "Okay, well come over whenever you need. I'm also always here to talk. Ask Mason or Ellie for my number" Tara says hugging me and I actually feel safe and like I can trust her.

"Thanks Tara. It really means more than you know. I'll remember that" I say hugging back.

"All right. I gotta go to work" I say walking into Masons room.

Ellie and Mason immediately stop talking and look at me.

"Alright, I'll stop by" Ellie says hugging me and I nod grabbing my purse.

"Bye Mas, I'll see you after" I say hugging him and he does a one armed hug. That's weird he usually hugs me normally.

"Bye, I'll see you tomorrow" He says and I look at him confused.

"Tomorrow? I'm sleeping over" I say and look over to see Ellie's annoyed face.

"I might go over Lindsey's" Mason says and I have to stop myself from my mouth dropping to the floor.

"Oh um, alright then. I hope you have fun. Sorry if I said anything wrong" I say and walk out to hear Ellie and Mason start to fight.

What was that all about? I shake my head and head on to work and to meet up with Tyler.

I walk in, seeing Tyler sitting down at the table waiting for me.

"Hey, what do you want? I'm gonna go say hi to Cody and I'll use my employee discount" I say walking over to Tyler.

"I had no idea that you worked here. At least let me pay" Tyler says and I ignore him.

"Nonsense. What do you want?" I say insisting.

"Fine, but i'll pay next time. I'll have a black coffee" He says and I nod walking up to Cody.

"Cody, how are things?" I ask and he shrugs.

"Same old, what brings you in early?" He says and I point over at Tyler who is watching us intently.

"Ohh, does Ms. Leah have a date?" He squeals and I roll my eyes.

"No, just two friends going out for coffee. So i'll have Strawberry refresher and a black coffee" I say and he nods. He quickly makes both, I pay and I bring the drinks over to Tyler.

"Ahh, you're a Refresher type of girl" He says and quickly adds a 'thank you' to the end.

"You're welcome. I love coffee but not a huge fan of Starbucks coffee. So I usually just get a refresher" I say and he nods.

"Gotcha. That makes sense. So what are you doing today?" Tyler asks making conversation.

"I was just at my friends, Ellie and her twin brother Masons house. At 6:30 my shift starts and I work for two hours and then head back to Ellie's to sleep over. You?" At the sound of Masons name Tyler tenses up.

"Oh, so you and Ellie are really close huh? And the brother. You guys close too? Thats cool, I'm meeting up with some friends to see a movie at 6:30 and then maybe go back to my place or something" Tyler says and I nod.

"Yeah, you have no idea. Oh thats great" I say and Tyler gets a little mad.

"Oh, so you and Mason are like a thing?" Tyler says and I quickly shake my head.

"No, Mason and I are just great friends. He's helped me through a lot" I say and Tyler eases a little at my words.

"Why? Would that have bothered you?" I asked concerned.

"Oh, well I kind of think you are really pretty and I think that you are really sweet, according to how much we've talked" Tyler scratches his neck, nervously.

"Aw Tyler, listen. You seem like a really great guy. But I'm not looking for a relationship right now. I have a lot of stuff going on at home and loads of homework and studying. I need to get good grades in order to get a scholarship so I can afford college. I also have this job that I spend all my time at for my car payments. Right now really isn't the time and it has nothing to do with you or someone else. Its honestly all on me. And I'm really sorry" I say and he nods.

"Yeah, I understand. I truly do. And I also hope that we can at least be friends" Tyler says and I nod getting up to hug him.

He hugs me back and his hand presses down on my ribs causing me to jump back.

"Are you okay?" He asks worried.

"Yeah, sorry. I bruised my side really badly and possibly broke some ribs and you pressed down on it, thats all" I say resting my hand on my side trying to help the pain subsides.

"Oh my god, Leah I am so sorry. I hand no idea. Is there anything I can do for you?" Tyler says frantically and I shake my head.

"No no, it feels a little better now. It's honestly not a big deal, don't even worry about it. I'm perfect" I say sighing a breath of relief when I feel the pain at a minimum.

"Okay good, well It's almost 6:30 so I will let you get to work. I'll text you later Leah" Tyler says and he walks out the door.

I throw on my apron and get to work.

Work drags on terribly long and I make my way back to the Whites.

"Honey I'm home" I call out jokingly.

"Hi honey, make some money? How was work?" Ellie says following along with it.

"It was good. Boring but I'm glad to be home" I say laughing.

"What are you two idiots doing?" Mason says seeing us laughing.

"Role play. duh" Ellie says and I giggle.

"I thought you were going to leave" I say and he shakes his head.

"It's boring and I don't feel like drinking today" Masons says shrugging and walks up the stairs.

"You two losers coming or what?" Mason says and we follow behind him.

"So Leah, how was it?" Ellie says and Mason walks out of the room.

"Fine, we established that we are just friends" I say shrugging.

"Alright" Ellie says cautiously. Mason then walks back into the room with food and snacks.

"So, Leah. When do we get to reunite with your mother?" Mason says catching me off guard.

I cough and start to talk. "All this family talk today. She doesn't really get out much anymore. But hopefully sometime soon" I say and Ellie and Mason look at each other than stare into my eyes.

I shift uncomfortably under their gaze. I can tell that they know I'm not telling them something.

"Okay, well I hope it is soon" Ellie says popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"Let's change and then we can watch a movie" Ellie says and we run into her room.

I carefully strip in the bathroom and put my clothes on. I mentally cringe, realizing that I forgot the wrap and stuff for the wrap in Masons room and it always turns out better when I have help.

"I'm all done. I just need to wrap my side" I say walking into Masons room to see Ellie in a cute baby blue tank top and some black sheer shorts. Meanwhile, I am wearing a t-shirt and some Adidas joggers.

"Leah, it gets so hot in my house. Here, put on some shorts or a tank top" Ellie says and I grab the tank top knowing that I have more evident bruises on my legs.

"Do you need help wrapping your side?" Mason says and I nod.

"Yeah, I do but um. I can ask your mom or something" I stutter uncomfortable with Mason seeing my bruises.

"Leah, don't be silly. Get changed and then we can wrap that bad boy up" Mason says and I nod changing into the tank top.

"Alright, let's see this thing" Mason says holding the bandage in his hand and I stop him.

"Mason, please don't apply a lot of pressure directly to the area. It also looks a lot worse than it actually is. Just a little warning" I say nervously.

"It's alright Leah, we won't judge" Ellie says and I slowly lift up my shirt revealing what looks to be my worsening black and blue. Probably a result of earlier.

"Holy shįt Leah" Mason all but screams.

"That's hospital worthy. Leah what happened?" Ellie says getting up.

"I promise it's not that bad. I-I can wrap it myself" I say sniffling.

"No, no, no. I can help, its not a problem. Can I just take a picture and send it to my Aunt? Maybe ice or something will help it" Mason says and I nod.

He quickly snaps a photo and Ellie lightly runs her finger over it, causing me to wince. "Elle, cut the shįt" Mason says and Ellie rolls her eyes, apologizing.

"It's okay Elle" I say and she nods.

"My Aunt said that it's gotten worse. She wants to come over tomorrow to take a look at it. But for right now she said to rest. Also to put ice on it and refrain from wrapping it for the night" I nod and quickly thank him.

Ellie gets me some ice and Mason tells me to lay down on his bed. We are in his room because his bed is bigger than Ellie's and the three of us want to have a movie marathon.

"Here" Mason says laying down next to me and patting his chest. I put my head on his chest and Ellie hands him the bag of ice. He holds it on my side and I wince at the contact. His one hand draws circles on my hand, resting on his chest while his other is holding the ice pack. Ellie lays down next to us and we start out movie marathon.

"Thank you guys" I say sincerely.

"What for?" Ellie asks turning to me.

"For being such great friends. For making sure I'm okay, for letting me sleep over, for taking Bella, for giving me and chance" I say tearing up a little bit.

"We are lucky to have you in our lives again Leah. We missed you" Mason says and Ellie nods, agreeing with him.

"I love you guys"

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this really long chapter. I didn't originally mean for it to be this long but if I split it up it would be too short so I decided to make one extra long chapter!

Word count: 2360

~Leah