That evening, when Ashton reached her Aunt's house, she dashed up the stairs to her room and cried. She kept scolding herself for bringing all of this upon herself. Her aunt knocked on her room a couple of times asking what was wrong but she just assured her that everything was fine and kept crying her eyes out. She knew that her aunt didn't buy anything she said but she was grateful that she gave Ashton her space.

Her cousin, Jenny came to her room too but she didn't open it for her either. She couldn't find it in herself to move from her bed. She was hurting too much. It hurt her to even think about him. She didn't want to face him again. She didn't want to see any of those popular's faces again but she knew that she'd have to see them. She has never been a coward and she wasn't going to turn into one now.

She laid in her bed staring blankly at the ceiling till after mid night with dry tear stains on her cheeks. When she was sure that she won't get any sleep that night, she got up from her bed and went to the washroom and washed her face.

She didn't dare look at the mirror because she knew she would have another breakdown if she did.

She needed her little therapist today. So she walked out of the washroom, changed into her night clothes and sneaked in Jenny's bedroom. When she first moved in with her Aunt's family, she would have these breakdowns really often and she'd spend endless sleepless nights. So when Jenny came to her room one night crying because of a nightmare, she hugged her cousin and helped her sleep. Since then it became their thing to act as each other's therapist. So whenever one of them would feel down, she would sneak into the other's room.

When she walked into Jenny's room, in the dim light, she saw her tiny figure sleeping on the single bed. She tried her best to make the least noise possible and snuck in Jenny's bed. Jenny being the light sleeper, woke up and turned around in her bed and faced Ashton with sleepy eyes.

"Are your scars hurting you again, A?" She asked Ashton in a sleepy little voice. When Ashton nodded, Jenny took her face in her little hands and caressed her left cheek. She then kissed her left cheek and passed her a small smile as she said. "There. It won't hurt anymore."

Ashton eyes started welling up again. Her little cousin was so innocent and she loved Ashton despite her burn marks.

"You know what mommy says about scars?" Jenny asked her. Ashton shook her head so she continued. "She says that scars are the marks of a person's bravery. That means you're a very brave girl, A! I want to be brave like you too."

At that, Ashton lost control of her emotions and started crying again. Jenny wrapped her small arms around her neck and Ashton cried in her arms. Both of them fell asleep like that.

As for Kevin, sleep was the last thing on his mind that night. He kept thinking about Ashton and how he would apologize to her. He didn't mind if she slapped him or beat him, if that meant that she'd talk to him, he'd happily oblige. His guilt was eating himself from the inside.

Ashton's words making his heart squeeze painfully. She was right, he was equally bad as his friends because he let them bully people, bully Ashton. He could've stopped them but he didn't thinking it wasn't his problem to deal with. He has been an awful person and now it was coming back to bite him in the ass.

Dylan kept calling on his cell phone but he ignored his calls deciding that he'd tell him everything tomorrow. He decided that he would prove to Ashton that he was a better person and he was worthy of her forgiveness.

His thoughts kept him up whole night. When the sun started rising, Kevin actually fell asleep.

***

The next morning, Ashton asked her aunt to drop her to the café since she left her car keys and wallet there. The Café always opened early because people lined up to get coffee before leaving for work. She got her car keys and wallet from the 'staff only' room and went to the parking. She started the engine and took off for school.

She knew that her bullying would be way more than usual in school that day but she didn't expect it to break her down completely. The assholes painted her locker with mean words. People tried to trip her in the hallways. They shoved her aside and slammed her into lockers. She never got such disgusted looks from people. And that wasn't even the worst.

The worst were the comments people passed. "How can she even think about getting a guy like Kevin?"

"I know, right? He's the star of our football team and her? She is just some girl with an ugly face."

"God, I can't even look her way without cringing."

"She's such a slut. God knows, she must have used that trick on many guys."

"I never thought someone would stoop this low to get a guy! But I guess that was her only alternative. After all, who'd want to be with her?"

She tried maintaining her tough exterior and ignoring the comments. She really did but one person can only take so much. She too reached her breaking point and she asked the nurse to write her a sick application to get home for the rest of the day. The nurse didn't ask much when she took in her state and did as asked.

What hurt more than their comments, was the absence of Kevin. She knew that she shouldn't expect anything from him since he was the one who caused all this but there was a part of her that denied everything she thought, a part that still held some hope in Kevin.

When all the people were bullying her today, she was hoping that Kevin would pop out of somewhere and take her side. She didn't know why but she wanted to have that one person in the crowd that would take her side. But none of that happened because Kevin didn't even show up at school today. He just left her in the hands of her bullies. With that thought in mind, she drove away from the school building.

Kevin ignored the constant buzzing of the phone and covered his head with a pillow, trying to return to his sleep. A few minutes later, the buzzing stopped and Kevin sighed in relief as he finally fell asleep again. He wouldn't have been asleep for more than fifteen minutes when somebody kicked his ass. Literally.

His even shot wide open as he went rolling down his bed and landed with a thud on the ground. He sat up and directed his glare to his best friend who was glaring back at him.

"You asshole! You're sleeping here peacefully when the poor girl is being bullied in the school! All thanks to you!" his glace hardened as he said that.

Kevin stopped stretching his arms and snapped his head in Dylan's direction. "WHAT?"

He scrambled up from the ground and retrieved his phone from the night stand. He cursed when he saw the time. He ran a hand through his hair and went to his wardrobe looking for an outfit as he said. "I overslept. I've got to get to school as soon as possible and apologize to Ashton. She'd be so –"

"Hold down your horses, dude! She isn't at school." Dylan interrupted him.

Kevin stopped his actions and turned around to face Dylan, his eyebrows furrowed. "She isn't?"

Dylan shook his head and said. "Nope. I saw her driving away when I arrived at school during lunch."

"Then why the hell didn't you stop her?" Kevin said and threw his hands in the air.

Dylan just glared at the child in a man's body throwing a tantrum and said. "Because someone didn't pick up any of my calls yesterday that means I didn't know that 'A' was actually Ashton Rose!"

Kevin sat on the edge of his bed and buried his face in his hands. He dialed Ashton's number but it went to her voicemail.

"How do I talk to her now? I don't even know where she lives!" he said, exasperated.

"But you know where she works."

***