"My childhood home was beautiful," Bambi says as I plait her hair for her in our cell, "That guy was going to take everything from us, we almost went into foreclosure."

"Your parents couldn't have handled it?" I ask in return

Bambi shakes her head with certainty. "They tried," she comments, "He wasn't going to settle, he framed my father for something he didn't even do, so I had to take the matters into my own hands." I hum encouragingly to allow her to continue. "I knew he wanted me for a while, dirty old man." She shivers, "He was always staring when I was at the pool and he was talking to my father."

"Do you think he would have done something if you hadn't?" I ask

"Definitely, he was just waiting for the right moment." She nods, "So I had my phone on voice notes recording as I tempted him into having sex with me. I was a virgin and he was not gentle at all."

I smoothed over her hair with my hands to comfort her, "I'm so sorry you had to go through with that."

I see her wipe the line read that had dropped away, "It's okay," she utters, "He dropped those charges for a second before putting up new ones of extortion against me."

"He should have gone to jail for molesting you, you're a child." I tell her and she shrugs her shoulders

"He's a white male with friends in high places, they never get what they deserve." She stares looking down at her fingers, "At least we kept the house."

*

"Best behaviour everyone." Mom says as Dad drives into the Mensa house.

It's honestly breathtaking, what I would do to live in a house like this when I'm older.

We stepped out the car and mom straightened Ethan's shirt before pressing the bell.

It opened not a second later to reveal Caleb standing in the middle of a giant hallway where I could see all the way back to the back yard.

"Hi Cathy and Martin!" Caleb greets as Dad envelops him in a big hug

"Son." Dad replies. Son? They're that close?

"Cathy you shouldn't have." Caleb says mentioning the dish in mother's hands as he takes it off her

"Oh it's no issue, Tiff loves my Mac and Cheese." She replies as we all enter their massive house. "Are they in the sun room?"

Caleb nods and my mother and father take each other's hand before making their way around the house like they own it. They must be here often if they don't even need directions anymore.

"Game room?" Ethan questions

"Yeah you can head up there," Caleb confirms, "My Mom would kill us if we don't at least introduce Regina to them."

Taking my hand Caleb leads me down the hallway.

"You look beautiful as always." He comments giving me the once over which brings heat to my cheeks.

"You think so?" I reply looking down at the sundress my mother forced me to wear

"Regina you could wear a plastic bag and still be beautiful." He confirms, "Now, my mother is a little energetic and my father is a little strict, please don't let them overwhelm you. I've already let them know about your touching thing."

I smile at him gratefully as he opens the door to the sunroom, entering before me. "Mom, this is Regina."

I poke my head into the room and am welcomed by a lady around my height who looks weirdly familiar and a man who looks just like Caleb.

"Hi," I say with a little wave.

The lady squeals and pats to the empty seat next to her, "Come come."

Reluctantly I move to go sit next to her, "Hi Mrs Mensa, my mom has told me such nice things about you." I lie, my mom doesn't really speak about her friends much to us but she doesn't need to know that.

"Only nice things I hope." She giggles, "Oh and call me Tiffany, Mrs Mensa is Caleb's grandmother." I nod at the dry joke.

"So Regina, how are you liking the high school?" Mr Mensa asks

You mean the hell hole with an elite system that I'm not sure you know about but your son is the head of? "It's great. Much better than what I'm use to."

Tiffany hums lowly, "Rainview must have been really hard at such a young age. How do you think you coped?"

Well we've started the hard questions portion of this evening early. I look at my parents tentatively and they just nod their heads as if it's okay.

"Well my bunk mate and I really just stuck together the whole time, it made things a lot easier for me."

"Bunk mate?" Mr Mensa, Richard, questions

"Oh it's the person I shared my cell with." I reply honestly, "Bambi and I became really good friends."

"Well that's good to hear." Tiffany asks before turning behind her to reveal a cheese platter, "Gouda?"

*

"How is everything at school, Caleb?" Mom asks as we dig into the food on the table

"They're going well, I've been applying to many different colleges." He replies respectively

"He's looking specifically at University of Miami, like his old man." Mr Mensa adds smiling proudly

Caleb looks downcast a little but doesn't say anything which makes me narrow my eyes slightly, what's up with that?

"Really? Regina is gonna apply there early decision." Dad adds, "They're real lenient with her background if you give them a little bit more extra, money wise."

"Yes, I would assume the record would have hindered a few options." Mr Mensa comments, "But you know I have that lawyer ready for when T gets out, if you need it."

T? Is that the daughter? Who the hell when to Rainview with the last name Mensa and the first name beginning with T.

"We may actually have to take you up on that offer." Mom says, "A girl has been harassing Gigi in the school, put up her mugshot everywhere."

Tiffany gasped dramatically and put her hands on her mouth, "You've filed the cease and desist right?"

Dad nods his head, "Yes but I can only imagine how it's panning out at school for her."

Everyone turns to look at me and I swallow the pasta in my mouth, "Actually, I'm fine. I've dealt with worse people." I say and before anyone could argue with me I start again, "Plus, Caleb has been really helpful making sure nothing happens to me." I add looking at Caleb and putting my hand on his lap, "Right?"

"I sure do." He replied before looking down at me with a little smile, "Though she doesn't need my help much."

I saw the coy smile my mom gave his mom and I'm glad my dark skin hides the blush that would come on my face.

"Who's the girl?" Mr Mensa asks

"Kayla Knight." Dad answered, "I know her father from golf but I never knew his daughter was so nasty."

Mr Mensa hummed slightly looking at his wife, "Well I know his finances aren't looking very good right now, maybe they're trying to deflect away from them and towards something else."

Oh so he knows he's bankrupt. I knew their family made their money by accounting which would make sense on how he knows.

"Well they're going to have to stop deflecting onto my daughter." Mom huffs.

"Mom," I interject, "It's all good, honestly. I'm sorting it."

Ethan looks up from his food and looks at Caleb before opening his mouth to speak, "She was talking about getting Finn's old friends to deal with her."

Ethan is such a snitch but I guess I can't blame him, he thinks I'm going to violate my probation.

"Finn.." Mr Mensa trails, "Is that the-"

"Yep." I reply

Tiffany scratches her head awkwardly, "Wouldn't that violate your parole?"

"I wouldn't be doing anything." I answer almost robotically, "Can we change the subject please?"

"Conspiracy is enough to violate your parole." Caleb interjects, I look at him with a raised eyebrow and he blushes, "I've been doing research."

"I'm sure you didn't mean it." Mom defends, "You've always had a quick mouth with threats."

Well mom knows me too well, I shrug in response, "I don't want to go back to jail. I need to be out so when Bambi comes out we'll be together again."

"Tell me more about this Bambi." Mr Mensa says thankfully changing the subject, "Is that her real name?"

I laugh a little, "No, she was just so young when she came in that she reminded me of the movie Bambi. Now her real name feels so foreign in my mouth."

Tiffany smiles, "She was the same age as you?"

"No she was 15, I was 16 by that time." I reply honestly, "But like me she got tried as an adult."

"So did our baby girl." Tiffany tells me, "The judge said something about it being premeditated."

I hum knowing that phrase, "That's what they said with me aswell. Anyway, Bambi will be out in a couple years and since her family have kind of disowned her I want to be able to take her in when she gets out."

Tiffany's eyebrows shot up, "What kind of family would disown their own child?"

I shrug a little, "I guess they didn't mean to but it was all with the complications of her case." Not wanting to tell her all business I try to end that conversation, I look up at Caleb to direct the conversation elsewhere and he picks up on the cue quickly.

"I'm gonna show Regina around the house." He said getting up and putting his hand out for me to take which I did.

"Doors open, Josiah." His father calls after us.

I frown slightly as he pulls me towards the stairs.

"Josiah?" I question as we walk up the stairs

He looks back at me, "Oh yeah, it's my middle name."