Peyton was jarred awake by the ringing of her phone. She started muttering curses until she saw that the call was from Sadie. She answered quickly, "hey. How was it?"

She heard nothing on the line.

"Sadie? Talk to me. I need to hear your voice. I need to know just how hurt you are."

After a couple silent seconds Peyton cringed when Sadie finally spoke, "fuck you Peyton!"

"I take it things did not go so well with your mother?"

There was silence again.

"Sadie?"

There was still no response and then the line was cut. Peyton facepalmed herself. The sound of Sadie's voice - vapid but yet cold - broke her heart. 'What the heck happened? I am such an idiot! I never should have told her to call her mother! Why the fuck must I fuck everything up?!'

It was not yet dark so she knew everyone in the house would still be up so, she changed quickly and left her room and headed to Mr and Mrs Dexter's room. After knocking on the door and being given the permission to enter, she pushed the door open and stuck her head in, "is it okay with you guys if I go by a friend now?"

"Peyton, it's Sunday evening. You have school in the morning. No." Mrs Dexter said firmly.

This rose Peyton's anger immediately. "Why the fuck not?! I will make sure I get to school!"

"Peyton!" Mr Dexter scolded, "do not talk to us like that! You were given an instruction. Follow it."

He was right and she knew it. She tried to calm herself and push her anger away but it was no use. Sadie needed her right now and they were keeping her from doing so. "I'm not going to some party or anything. I'm not that irresponsible!"

"Peyton, you already got your answer." Mrs Dexter said calmly.

"Fine!" She yelled as she turned and stomped away.

As she was descending the stairs Kimberly was coming up and stopped her, "what the hell is going on? I was watching tv and I heard you all pissed. What's up?"

"Nothing!"

She tried to continue down the stairs but Kimberly stopped her, "hey! Get a grip! What is going on?"

"Your parents won't let me leave!"

"Where are you even going?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Boo, what has you this upset?"

"I just fucking told you! Your parents won't let me leave! I don't even know why I asked them in the first place!"

"Because it's the right thing to do. And try to remember that I know you better than you like to think. I know there is something wrong and it's not the fact that my parents said no. So, you better tell me. Now."

Peyton glared at Kimberly, "it's nothing okay!"

"Peyton!"

"Fine! It's Sadie okay! I told her to do something and she did it and now she's hurting and it's all my fucking fault! I was just going to go over to her place to make sure she's alright because she refuses to talk to me on the phone." A tear fell down her cheek when she was done. She didn't even bother to wipe it away.

"Did you tell my parents that?"

"Why would I?"

"Because smartypants, they are not heartless. If you told them the truth they just may let you go. Stop letting your anger control you."

Kimberly grabbed her hand and tugged her up the stairs. She had to practically drag Peyton into her parents' bedroom.

"Mom, dad, on behalf of this very angry little girl, I apologise. And I am here to be her mouthpiece."

She went on to explain to them Peyton's reason for wanting to leave and, sure enough, they told her she could go she just had to be back by midnight.

Peyton thanked them with a rather embarrassed demeanour before asking Kimberly to borrow her car.

She was soon by Sadie's door knocking and hoping that she would open it for her. It took Peyton all of five minutes of persistent knocking to be finally granted the opportunity to enter. Sadie had just opened the door and walked away to the couch where she curled up and just stared at Peyton. It was obvious that she had been crying a hell of a lot. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were tear streaked.

Peyton closed and locked the door before making her way over to Sadie. She sat next to her and turned to face her but Sadie just stared ahead. When Sadie made no attempt to do or say anything, Peyton whispered, "I'm sorry..."

"Why are you here?"

"You're hurting. I wasn't going to leave you by yourself." Peyton said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Silent tears started rolling down Sadie's cheeks and although she thought it was not the best idea, all things considered, Peyton shifted close to her and wrapped her arms around Sadie's curled up form.

At first Sadie tensed but less than five seconds later she leaned into Peyton and continued to cry silently save for a sniffle here and there.

Peyton just held her. She said nothing. She did nothing.

After about twenty minutes of that Peyton nudged Sadie and pushed her away gently. Sadie was confused by Peyton's actions. She missed being held by her, although she refused to admit it even to herself. Peyton stood and she looked at her quizzically. Peyton offered her a sweet smile as she stuck her hand out, "come."

She wasn't exactly in her senses at the moment so she just complied with Peyton. For some reason she felt that she could trust the girl. Peyton led her to the bathroom and turned on the faucet handing her a bar of soap, "wash your face."

Sadie did as she was told then Peyton handed her her toothbrush with toothpaste already on it. She needed no explanation for that. She brushed her teeth. When she rose from the sink she found Peyton standing beside her with a towel in hand. Peyton turned Sadie so she was facing the suddenly extremely gentle girl and she dried her face for her with the utmost care. When she was through with that, she led Sadie to sit on a chair in the kitchen where she brushed her hair and put it up into a high ponytail - simply because that was really the only hairstyle she could manage.

Peyton then gave Sadie a once over before leaving for her cupboard. She returned with a simple short sleeved t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. She handed them to Sadie and instructed, "change into these. I won't look." She proceeded to turn her back on Sadie.

It took Sadie a couple seconds to get off the chair and do as she was told, looking over her shoulder every couple seconds to see if Peyton was peeking. For some reason part of her was slightly disappointed that Peyton didn't even attempt to steal a look at her.

When she was done changing she turned and cleared her throat. Peyton turned and she couldn't help but check Sadie out. 'You freak! The girl is distraught! Stop taking advantage of the situation!'

"Where's your keys?"

Sadie went over to the couch and slipped her hand under the cushion pulling out a set of keys and pushing it into her pocket.

"Is your school bag packed?"

Sadie nodded and pointed to her backpack on the ground by the table. Peyton walked over and grabbed it, "let's go."

She opened the door and Sadie walked out willingly which did surprise her. She locked the door behind her and took Sadie's hand in hers as they walked off.

Peyton was not exactly sure where she was going at first then a thought occurred to her. She pulled up to the cinema and was grateful that Sadie asked no questions. She just go out of the car when it was parked.

Peyton ordered them two tickets for, in her words, "whatever movie is starting next". She proceeded to buy them hotdogs, popcorn, chocolate and coca-cola. They ate their snacks - well Sadie ate hers and Peyton picked at hers - as they stared at the screen, neither of them really watching what was going on. They were both too caught up in their thoughts to concentrate on anything. They had yet to say a word to each other since leaving Sadie's apartment.

When the movie was done and they returned to the car Peyton finally spoke, "how about some ice cream and a drive around town?"

Sadie turned to her, resting her head on the headrest as she looked intently at Peyton. She smiled a small smile, "pistachio is my favourite."

Peyton beamed at her, "I'm a sucker for rocky road."

After their ice cream and an hour long slow drive, they were now seated on swings in the park and Sadie finally spoke, "thanks for everything Peyton."

"It's the least I could have done. It is my fault you're in this state anyhow..."

"No. You were right. I needed to call mom. I'm not mad at you or blaming you for anything."

"Okay. Well, if you ever want to talk about it you know you can talk to me right?"

Sadie smiled, "yeah. I know. And thanks for not asking or expecting me to talk about it."

Peyton shrugged, "I didn't think it was a good idea to push you. And I trust that when you're ready you'll tell me about it. If you want to."

They were silent for a couple minutes before Sadie spoke, "you were right you know."

"About?"

"Mom."

"How so?"

"She doesn't hate me. She loves me just as she always did. And she wanted to apologise for hurting me."

Peyton offered a small smile as she responded, "well I really am glad to hear that."

"I'm sorry for the resistance I gave you and for being difficult earlier. It's just there was a lot for me to wrap my mind around and also I feel like a real idiot for hating on my mother. Plus... I umm... I kind of came to a realisation after my conversation with her and that just has me stumped."

"I totally understand. It's hard when you're in such an emotional state and dilemma. I hope I wasn't too forward tonight though..."

Sadie smiled as she shook her head, "trust me, you weren't. Somehow you knew exactly what I needed when I didn't even know it myself."

This statement caused Peyton to blush and she was thankful that it was dark so that Sadie could not see it. She did not want something stupid like her blushing to ruin the moment. "I'm just glad I could help and that you're in a little better place now."

"I am too." Sadie smiled before looking ahead and continuing, "I asked her, she didn't cheat on dad. She explained everything to me. Apparently she was always a lesbian but when she came out to her parents at seventeen they forced her to marry my dad. Apparently he had proposed to her several times. He was head over heels for her and when she realised it she tried to love him back. Then she got pregnant with me and she tried harder to make it work. But one day she met Fiona, that's her girlfriend, and they fell in love. So she decided then to stop making herself miserable and do what was right for her. She honestly thought I would have gone with her. She said that she thought I was okay with the whole lesbian thing because, in her words, 'I really thought you were into girls'. She invited me to their house for lunch next Saturday."

"Wow. Aren't you glad you gave her the chance to explain everything to you?"

Sadie nodded, "yeah... I honestly feel horrible for how I treated her."

"Did you tell her that?"

"Yeah. And I told her that I miss her terribly. She says that she misses me too and she thinks about me everyday."

"Did you tell her the truth about your dad and such?"

"Yeah... She not happy about it to say the least but I told her that I'm managing just fine on the money she sends and that I have great friends."

"Am I to assume I am one of those friends?" Peyton asked playfully.

Sadie pushed her so that her swing rocked a bit, "of course you are dummy."

"Just checking." Peyton smiled. "I have two questions..."

Sadie looked at her. She could guess what at least one of those questions are. It's Peyton after all. "Shoot."

"What did you say about lunch?"

"I said yes and she told me it would be okay if I would be more comfortable bringing a friend. She said she would love to meet my friends."

"That's great. It might me easier for you that way." In her head Peyton assumed that Casey would be her friend of choice for that trip. It makes sense - they are best friends and Casey is a lesbian so she would be cool with the whole situation.

"What's your other question?"

"Did you ask her why she thought you were into girls?"

"I knew you were going to ask that." Sadie smiled and she wasn't sure why. "No. I didn't."

"Why not?"

"I guess I'm not as curious about it as you are. You can ask her yourself next Saturday."

"Wait what?"

"You're going with me."

"Is that an order?"

"Yes mam. You're the one who caused all of this to happen after all. Plus, there isn't anyone else I want to go with."

Peyton blushed once again. 'You have no idea what you are doing to me Sadie...' "Okay... Where does she live?"

"Three towns away from here. It's about four hours' drive."

"Okay. I'll borrow Kimmy's car."