"Hey Venus," Ian calls out and sits on the gurney next to mine as others also walk inside the classroom filled with students giving blood.

"Hey guys," I reply back as play with the soft ball and the nurse stands next to me with a syringe.

"Sorry we're late but it's all because of this dumbass, she eats like a pig," Tyler points to violet and she scoffs.

"Shut up Tyler, we all know who took forever to park the car," she smacks his head.

"Anyways, we will sign in and donate blood. Meet ya outside?" Kate says and I nod as they all go to sign in.

"What are these?" The nurse asks when she looks at red marks on my skin.

I sigh. "They are bruises which aren't going away as fast as they should. Instead they are just clotting and it's red. They'll go away soon."

"Since when have you been getting these?" She asks as she points the syringe towards my hand.

"Uh- I think a couple of months?" I reply back and she nods.

The nurse puts the needle in me and I see my blood being held inside the syringe. She smiles and puts a cotton ball on it and tapes it up.

"You're ready to go," she smiles and I get up and leave the classroom.

___

I sit outside in the garden while waiting for others. I squint my eyes and I see Cayson and that quacking duck in distance.

Why the hell is she here?

Cayson sees me looking at him and he waves. I smile and wave back awkwardly and they make their way to the bench where I'm sitting.

"Hey Stavish," he sits down next to me and I smile.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" I ask and he chuckles.

"I just gave my blood," he smiles. "Oh and guess what?"

"What?" I ask and he frowns.

"You're suppose to guess it," he whispers and I smile.

"Uh... I don't know," I mutter.

"Well, Vanessa moved back into her old house so she'll be attending our school now," he says and Vanessa gives me a huge smile to which I don't react any way.

"Oh really? Well, good for her," I try to fake a smile and Cayson nods.

"Anyways, I should probably show her around the school," Cayson gets up and pecks my lips before leaving.

I pull my fingers to my lips and smile. Take that quacking duck, he kissed me in front of you.

I pull my arm to myself and notice all the bruises which I don't know how I got. Guess being clumsy does that to you. I touch them with my other hand and it hurts like shit.

"Ow," I wince and pull the sleeves down to cover them.

Everyone seemed to go back home after giving blood but Kate and others never showed up, even Cayson didn't.

I sigh and leave to my car.

Maybe they are stuck inside with a bad nurse. I sit down in my car and drive away.

___

I reach home and lock the door behind me.

"Venus," I hear someone calling my name and I turn around to face them.

There's where mom is standing in distance, her face dull and without makeup for the first time. I sigh and walk towards her. If I can forgive my biological parents then I can definitely forgive her.

"Venus, I'm sorry," she says and sits down next to me on the couch. "I never meant to hurt you, I just didn't want you to be without a loving parent. I know that I haven't been much of a loving mother around here since couple of years but I swear I love you. I love you and Macy equally, I never compared you both."

I sigh. "It's fine, and I'm sorry for saying things to you. I wasn't in the right state of mind at that time, I just needed more time to figure things out."

She just waits for me to say something more. "So, did you figure out what you want to do?" She asks and I nod.

"I uh- I don't think I can exactly blame my biological mother for any of this because my biological father is the reason for all of this. But, it seems like he's changed in these eighteen years," I smile as I remember how they both were fighting for me.

"Are they nice?" She asks and I nod.

"They have both been fighting for me ever since I was brought into this world. Nobody has ever done that for me, make me feel loved," her face falls at the last sentence and I regret saying it to her.

"I'm sorry if I never made you feel loved, it's just that after Max left, I was broken. For all the bad things in my life, I blamed you and only you because you weren't mine," a sob escapes her lips when she talks about dad.

"It's fine mom," I whisper and she shakes her head.

"No it's not. Every time i would get mad at you, you would never complain, you would just listen and I thought you didn't take it to your heart. I never knew that you did, you took it seriously. I swear Venus, I would change everything I did if I could. I wish I could have made you feel loved. Now that you found your biological parents, I'm afraid that you'll leave me, just like Max did."

In front of me is a strong woman who has never cried in front of others. She has been a tough single mother of two daughters. She has been through hell after launching her company and handling it alone.

Now, here she is, with tears in her eyes and her hand clutching onto mine. I never though I would see this part of her. It's heartbreaking for me to look at her like this.

"Mom," I start and cup her face. "I would never leave you. So what, I found my biological parents? They haven't been with me for the past eight years, you have."

"I don't deserve your love Venus, I could never," she sobs and I wipe away the tears rolling down her face.

"Mother, you deserve everything. Anything I do for you isn't enough for everything you have done for me. You gave me a shelter to live in when I had nowhere to go, fed me food when I was hungry, gave me an amazing older sister, and opened your heart and soul for me. What more could I have asked for?" A tear rolls down my eyes, seeing her like this, broken.

"But I didn't treat you right," she whispers and I clutch into her hand tightly.

"Of every terrible things you have done to me, I remember the good ones. Such as when I was twelve, you got mad when I called my friends over and left trash downstairs but, the next day you went out and bought me that silly little dress for my birthday. You are a mother and all they know what to do is love their children unconditionally."

"How do you still believe that?" She asks and I shrug.

"Macy. Every time you would act tough towards me, I would call Macy. She will calm me down and tell me stories of how we were a happy family when I firstly moved in with you guys. When dad lived with us and we were the perfect family. That would ease down everything," I say and she smiles.

"I'm so sorry again," she apologizes again and I roll my eyes.

"You're my mother, you don't need to apologize, everything you do is for my own benefit and I'm thankful to you," I say and she pulls me into a hug.

Firstly, I am taken aback by her sudden gesture as she hasn't hugged me ever since six years. We haven't even had a good talk ever since dad left. This is a new feeling to me now.

I hesitate but quickly put my arms around her and we stay there for a moment. "Quite a moment, you're having here," a familiar voice says and both our heads turn towards the direction of the door and someone just walked in with bags. As she walks into the light, my eyes widen because it's Macy.

"Macy!" I scream in excitement and run towards her and pull her into a hug. "Oh my god."

"Oh Venus, I missed you so much," she pulls me up and we chuckle.

"Mom," she jumps and hugs mom.

We take couple of minutes to process everything happening around us. Mother asking for my forgiveness, we talk about our emotions, we hug it out, and now Macy is here.

Today is the best day of my life.

Suddenly my phone rings and I excuse myself and pick it up.

"Hello?" I talk into the phone and hear static sound on the other end before a young lady.

"Hey, am I speaking to Venus Stavish?" She asks.

"Yes," I answer back as politely as I could come up at that point.

"So, I have called in to ask if you donated blood at your school today?" She asks and my brows narrow.

"Uh- yes, yes I did," I answer back.

"Well, I have some information about you which I think you want to know immediately. I can't discuss it over the phone, you mind visiting Memorial Harden anytime soon?" She asks and my heart slips a beat.

What did they find in my blood? I haven't started on drugs ever since I last quit. All I had was liquor before that night but it wouldn't show in tox screen.

My heart is literally beating so fast at this moment, anything more she says and it will be beating out of my chest.

"Um... yes. I will come by tonight," I reply back after a moment.

"Sure ma'am, thank you so much. Have a wonderful day and take care," she cuts the call and I stand in the corner trying to figure out what's happening.

Shit.

___