"Nova?" I heard someone question quietly as I got into the car. 

  "What?" I asked, looking to see who it was because I knew it wasn't Michael. My eyes finally landed on Calum, or "Cal" as Michael had called him, in the driver's seat. 

  "Calum?" I questioned, this day is just getting weirder and weirder. 

  "Wait, you two know each other?" Michael asked, looking between us and waiting for one of us to answer. 

  "Yeah, we met last night," I answered after realizing that Calum still looked utterly confused and was most likely not going to be answering him any time soon. 

  "I thought that the orphanage had a really strict policies on staying in your room at night?" he questioned, looking at me out of the corner of his eye while glaring at Calum slightly.

  "They do, I'm just not very good at following rules I guess," I answered him, shrugging my shoulders. 

  "Oh, well, where did you guys meet then?" he asked, seeming a little wary of the answer. 

  "I was walking back to the orphanage and some creep came up to me, so I fought him off and ran into an alley, then Calum showed up and was completely useless," I answered, now sending my own glare towards Calum as I was reminded of what a buffoon he was being last night. 

  "Wait? You fought off a creep?" Michael asked, making air quotes when he said creep. 

  "Yeah, she did. You should have seen it! She just nailed him in the balls like it was nothing and then shrugged him off and just ran away," Calum exclaimed, snapping out of his little daze. 

  "You watched? Why didn't you do anything you idiot?" Michael asked, full on glaring at Calum now. I smirked at Calum as his gaze shifted to me, seeming to ask for help. 

  "Yeah, Calum, why didn't you help the little girl," I asked him in a sweet voice, smiling at them both. 

  "I-I don't know, I was just a little stunned, I guess," he stuttered out. 

  "Stunned or drunk," Michael snorted, shaking his head at his friend. Calum shrugged and started the car and began driving again. I rolled my eyes at the two idiots in the front seat and turned up the music flowing through my headphones. 

  "Where you walking back from last night anyway?" Michael asked after about a half hour of driving, turning in his seat to look at me. 

  "My tattoo artist's place," 

  "Tattoo artist?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at me and looking at me with a questioning expression. I just nodded in response. 

  "How old even are you?"  he asked, sounding surprised. I raised my eyebrows at him. 

  "You just adopted me and you don't know how old I am?" 

  "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not the one that adopted you? I'm just picking you up for him because he had to leave," he sighed. 

  "Whatever," I sassed, rolling my eyes at him. This time, he raised his eyebrows at me. 

  "I'm sixteen," I mumbled. 

  "How do you have a tattoo artist when you're sixteen?" 

  "I have the money and Vinni says I'm like his daughter," I shrugged.  

  "How do you have the money?" he asked, sounding a bit skeptical. I rolled my eyes. 

  "I have five jobs," 

  "Five? How do you have five jobs?" Calum exclaimed, I rolled my eyes at his outburst. 

  "I babysit for three of the orphanage's employees, so there's three and I work at Hot Topic at the mall on the weekends, and I also am a receptionist for Vinni at night," 

  "How do you manage to do all of that and still make good grades?" Michael asked. I raised my eyebrows at him in question and he smiled sheepishly. 

  "I may or may not had a peek at your file, first in your class is pretty damn impressive," he smiled at me. 

  "Well, no one really bugs me so it's not that hard," 

  "What do you mean no one bugs you?" Calum asked. 

  "No one at school or at the orphanage talks to me because they are scared of Harali and Ms. Jahle," I answered him, looking out the window and realizing how far away we were from anywhere I've honestly ever been. 

"Um, where are we going?" I questioned, beginning to panic slightly. 

  "To the airport, remember?" Michael answered, chuckling a bit at my outburst. I glared at the back of his head, failing to see the humor in this situation. 

  "I thought you were kidding," I said, picking at the strings in the holes of my jeans again. 

  "Why would I be kidding?" 

  "I don't know, I just thought you were," I choked out, clenching my eyes shut and throwing my hands to my hair. 

  "Hey, hey," Michael yelled, reaching back and grabbing one of my wrists and pulling it from my hair before repeating the action to the other as well. 

  "What's wrong?" he asked, seeming a little panicked himself. 

  "I can't leave until I get my tattoo," I managed to get out. Michael let go of my arms and laid them in my lap before turning to Calum and telling him to pull over. Calum did as he was told and Michael climbed into the backseat with me. 

  "Why can't you get your tattoo when we get home? We have loads of tattoo artists at home," Michael tried to reason with me. I shook my head. 

  "No, Vinni has to do it," I felt Michael nod against the top my head, as he had pulled me onto his lap and his head was on top of mine. 

  "Okay, okay, we can stay here," he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and calling someone. 

  "Hey, Luke. No, we haven't left yet. No, I don't think we will be leaving anytime soon. She's having a panic attack, Luke! I can't just make her leave! I don't know, she keeps talking about this tattoo that she needs to get before she leaves. I tried to tell her that she could get it done when she gets home. No, Luke, we have a house out here, just come back with Ashton. Yes, you do need to be here! You're the one that adopted her you idiot! Alright, we're gonna go the house and we'll see you tomorrow. Yeah, bye," he hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket. He turned to Calum and told him to go to "the house". Calum just shrugged and did as he was told again. I moved off of Michael's lap as I calmed down and pressed myself against the door on the other side of the car. I heard him sigh and lean back in his seat. I turned away and watched the scenery as we turned around and headed back the way that we came. In a way I felt bad that they didn't to go home, but it did sound like they had a home here as well, so I didn't feel as bad. I shrugged and pulled my jacket tighter around myself, allowing sleep to take me as I felt myself being pulled sideways into something warm.