Talia:

When we arrive back home from the hospital, Jess and I just sit in the car for a few more minutes. I noticed our mom's car in our driveway first, prompting the both of us to avoid walking through the front door. I trace my fingers along my bandaged hand and close my eyes.

"Hey, come on, Lia, I'm sure she won't be mad," Jess tries to reassure me.

I open my eyes and turn my head to look at my sister. I raise my eyebrow and say, "Remember two years ago when you broke your ankle playing soccer, and mom complained about having to leave work early to pick you up from the hospital. I know this isn't as severe as that, but she always finds a way to place the blame for an accident."

Jess frowns and stares again at the front door. "You're going to have to go in there eventually."

"I know," I state plainly.

Opening the car door, I step out and begin making my way into the house. Jess is close behind me when I cross the threshold and proceed to walk into the kitchen.

Unsurprisingly, my mom is working at the table with what seems to be nine binders and endless sheets of paper. I'm now even more scared to talk to her, knowing that she will be in a deep train of thought and would rather remain uninterrupted. Once my foot hits the wrong floor beam, however, there is no turning back from this confrontation.

She glances up from her work to look and me, exhaling deeply in the process. "I got a call from the nurse today."

My fingers find each other and start to pick at the skin around my nails. It's a nervous habit. One I can never seem to stop doing near my parents. My mom, specifically.

"They said that Jess was taking you to the hospital to get stitches on your hand after an injury," my mom states, as if I hadn't just experienced this. "Why did you have this injury?"

"The flask at the lab station was too close to the edge of the table and whe—"

"And why was the flask on the edge? Shouldn't you have noticed something like that earlier?" she demands, interrupting my explanation. She always does this.

"As I was sayin—"

"Don't give me any attitude, just tell me why you were oblivious to the flask being on the edge of the table."

At her tone of voice and harsh words, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I don't even think I gave her any attitude, but she can believe or say whatever she wants. When I open my eyes I begin speaking again.

"I didn't notice the flask at first, and when I did, my lab partner's elbow knocked it back. I tried to reach down and grab it before it shattered, but I was too late. The glass broke too close to my hand, so I got cut."

My mom scoffs. Actually, scoffs at me. As if I were the most careless person in the world. It was an accident, I want to scream at her.

"Next time, you should be more aware of your surroundings so you don't make stupid mistakes like that," she says, looking right into my eyes before turning her attention back to her work. "You should also apologize to your science teacher for disrupting her class. This discussion is over."

My mouth hangs open and my eyebrows furrow together. I try to think of another thing to say to make her understand, but Jess grabs me by the wrist and leads me upstairs.

I think I am more shocked than angry right now. I feel a silent tear fall down my face as I stare at the hallway floor with Jess in front of me.

"It was an accident, okay? She's just trying to make you think otherwise," Jess says softly.

I just shake my head. "Whatever. I'm going to go do my homework," I whisper, turning around to enter my bedroom.

"You should take a break, Lia. It's been a long day," she tries to assure me, her footsteps close behind.

I whip my head around to stare at Jess. "Don't you get it, there are no breaks for me. There's only work. And when I'm done with that work, I study, and it's all endless." By now I'm crying, and there's nothing I can do to control it.

"Come on, Talia, ju—"

"No, stop it, Jess. I'm doing all of this for them. To make them happy, okay? Now please, I just want to be alone."

Jess frowns, then turns and walks away, realizing that I'm not in the mood to argue or have company.

I vigorously wipe aside the tears on my face and look in the mirror. My eyes are red and puffy. No surprise, considering I was just crying. I look exhausted. That was probably why Jess was trying to convince me to rest. There's no time to rest, though. There's never enough time.

So, I sit on my bed, open my government textbook, and begin taking notes.

***

"He did what?"

I think this is the third time Cassie has said that. She might need some hearing aids.

"I've told you this already. He carried me to the nurses office after I passed out," I repeat.

Quinn opens her mouth and starts giggling.

I roll my eyes and take a bite of my wrap. Wraps are the perfect lunch food.

"Girl, you have been making up some crazy shit this week," Cas says while shaking her head.

"Why do you think I'm lying?" I question. "I literally have proof of me being injured. There's a big-ass bandage on my hand!" I state, showing them the injury again.

"Okay, fine. It's true. I just find it weird that Grayson was acting like that."

"You're acting like he doesn't have a heart, or something."

"That's because he doesn't, Lia. He has gone through so many girls during the past four years. Think about all of the broken hearts. And for what? A little bit of pleasure?" Cas questions.

"Oh, come on. Maybe he just needed a distraction once in a while. You of all people shouldn't judge someone for how they want to live their life."

Cas let's out a sigh. "Fine, you're right. I shouldn't judge. You should just distance yourself from him, okay?"

To this I nod my head. I'm glad the conversation is over. I never told them about the conversation Grayson and I had before I passed out. I felt like that should have stayed private.

I smile a little thinking about how he smiled at me. He has a nice smile, but according to him, some people don't deserve to see it. I think everyone should see his smile because it's perfect.

I still need to thank him for "saving me," also. If he wasn't there, I probably would have fallen on my head or something. That just would have given my mom another reason to blame me. Thank God for Grayson.

The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. Back to the unfortunate thing called school.

"Take it easy," sings Quinn with a large smile.

"Dude, you have the weirdest sayings ever," says Cas, giving Quinn a light push.

I laugh at their behavior and head off to my next class.

***

For the rest of the week, life goes by pretty quick. I continued to study and work every night, despite Jess's occasional suggestions for me to take a break. I feel bad for making her worry about me, but shit needs to get done.

I never saw Grayson again this week. Maybe he was avoiding me, or something. Usually he's in my personal finance class, but he wasn't there at all. Is it weird for me to be worried? Yeah, maybe a little. Is it also weird for me to be searching for him at school? Yeah, maybe a little.

It's Friday night again, though, which means...

"Oh my fucking God, this happens every week!" screams Cassie in frustration. "Why does my house always explode?"

I laugh and look up at the TV. Cassie's dirt house has a massive hole through the side, and the damaged blocks tragically float on the ground.

When I look over at Quinn's side of the screen, I notice a few blocks of TNT in her inventory. Quinn turns around to face me with an all-knowing, mischievous grin. That little devil, I think to myself.

I turn my attention back to my homework, which I have almost completed. I begin to feel relief for the first time this week. My parents are in a different city for the night for a case they're working on. When they leave for work, both Jess and I feel more calm knowing that we won't have to be degraded by them. I know this family is a little toxic, but we're just trying to get through our senior year, then we can go to college and be free.

Leaning back into the couch after I write my final thoughts for a lab report, I finally relax. Well, as best as can before my sister barges through the front door.

"What's up, bitches? Who wants to go party?" yells Jess, pumping her fists in the air.

"Are you trying to burst our ear drums?" I ask, rubbing one of my ears for dramatic effect.

Jess rolls her eyes. "Not my fault you have sensitive hearing. Anyway, y'all want to go to a party?"

"What party?" Cassie asks.

"Only the greatest party of your high school career," Jess presents while making extravagant hand gestures. "The boys basketball team is going to the state championship on Monday, sooo, they're throwing a party tonight to celebrate."

"Shouldn't the celebration come after they win?" questions Cassie.

"Maybe, but who cares. I'm just ready to have a good time. Are y'all in, or what?" Jess asks again.

The three of us partake in a silent conversation,  consisting of small nods and smiles.

"The jury has come to a decision," I state. "We will be in attendance of this party you speak of."

Jess smiles and makes finger guns at us. "Fabulous, darlings. We leave in an hour." She's weird sometimes.

Before leaving to head to her room, Jess winks at Quinn, who then just starts giggling. Cas and I exchange a look somewhere between "what the fuck?" and "did Quinn actually like that?"

"Let's go to my room so we can get ready," I say.

"Can I wear your black mini-skirt? It makes my ass look good," Cassie insists.

"We don't say ass in this group, we say caboose," Quinn remarks.

I laugh and Cas rolls her eyes.

"Fine, may I borrow your luxurious mini-skirt, as it makes my caboose look absolutely scrumptious," imitates Cassie in a British accent.

Quinn, now satisfied with Cassie's choice of words smiles and I finally answer yes to her skirt question.

When we enter my room, Cas immediately starts searching through my closet for my skirt and a shirt to pair it with.

"Oh, my God, what is this?" Cassie asks, holding up a small, light green dress.

"It's so tiny," Quinn joins in, walking over to more closely inspect the dress.

I laugh and stand up to look. "Wow, I think this is from kindergarten."

"Why do you still have it?" questions Cas.

"I think there's some kind of memory linked to it, but now I can't really remember," I say, tracing the specks of gold woven into the fabric. A picture of a flower comes to mind as I feel the fabric, but it's blurry. I shake my head to go back to reality.

"I'll hang it up for you," Quinn says giggling.

My friends keep rummaging through my clothes until they both find something they like. I decide to go with a tight, dark blue dress that is held up by thin straps. It shows more boobs than I prefer, but Cas always says, "if you got it, flaunt it."

I sit at my vanity and Cassie takes the time to put some light makeup on me. She says I'm too naturally pretty to be smothered with makeup. I think she has it the wrong way around.

"You look spectacular!" exclaims Cas.

I look in the mirror where she holds her hands on my shoulders. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

I look around my room looking for my bag and notice something missing. "Wait, where's Miss Sunshine?"

"Hmm. I don't know. I was so entranced at how beautiful you look."

I roll my eyes at her. "Let's go find our missing piece."

We leave my room and I first check the bathroom. Empty.

I softly knock on Jess's room and enter. "Hey Jess, have you seen—Oh. My. God!"

"Oh, my God," Cas repeats behind me.

We both stare at Jess's bed, where my sister is currently straddling Quinn. They finally release their lips from each other and look at us. Jess rolls her eyes and Quinn just smiles.

"Dude, what did I tell you?" Cas says, slapping my arm. "I told you that Quinn is a bottom."

I turn and give Cassie a look. "That's what you're thinking about right now?"

She just shrugs and smiles at the secret couple.

"How long has this been going on?" I ask with a smirk. Jess begins crawling off Quinn, but doesn't let go of her hand. Awe.

"Since our birthday," states Jess. "You're not mad right?"

It makes me laugh that she even had to ask that kind of question. "Of course not. Maybe upset that you didn't tell us, but you two are cute together."

Jess rolls her eyes. "We know."

Quinn begins to giggle and starts walking towards the door. "Let's go party, shall we?"

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A surprise relationship, yes. Quinn is such a precious baby, how could Jess resist her. Vote and comment <3

Qotd: what is your favorite historical period?