Autumn's POV

I was at school, in my Art class. I had a lot of work to make up still, though Mr. Panley, the art teacher, excused me from most of the projects he assigned. I was working on the assignment he gave out today. We had to paint whatever was in our minds at the time...in other words, paint whatever we want with feeling. I mixed the paint to the colors I thought suited me...dark purple, dark blue, white, dark green, a few shades of brown, a few pastel colors like yellow, pink, and purple, and just plain white. I picked up my paint brush and dipped it in the brown paint. I gently placed it on the canvas and painted stroke after stroke until I got it how it looked in my mind. I continued to work, color after color, shape after shape. When I was just about done, my teacher came and stood over my shoulder and watched me finish. When I was done I looked up at him for him to critic my painting. He just stood there astonished.

"Autumn, your painting is amazing. It has so much emotion and meaning...I don't know where to begin."

My painting was of a cliff over looking a lake. Trees surrounded the lake and the stars and the moon reflecting off the water. The stars were white with a little bit of a yellow tint, the sky was dark blue and purple painted in swirls. And the moon...the moon was white and turned to yellow towards the middle. It was shaped in a heart...a melting heart. Bits of the moon dripped down from the sky to the water, creating ripples shaped like broken hearts. And if you looked carefully at the far left of thee painting, on the cliff, you'd see two people...a boy carrying a girl, kissing romantically under the moonlight.

"Have you been to this place before?" Mr. Panley asked.

"Yeah. Once not too long ago."

He looked down at me and smiled. "Well Autumn, whoever broke your heart made the biggest mistake of his life. Hang in there." He patted my shoulder and went to the kid next to me and looked at their painting. "Joe, really?!" Mr. Panley said angrily at the kid, Joe, who sat next to me.

"What?" He asked innocently. "You said to paint what ever was in our minds and this is what was in my mind."

Mr. Panley sighed and rubbed his eyes in disappointment. "I also said to paint with feeling. How does this show feeling?"

"It shows how I feel when Autumn bends over and I see what's down her shirt." Joe replied, winking at me. I gasped. Mr. Panley playfully hit Joe on the back of the head. "Mr. Panley...you cant deny that Autumn is the sexiest girl in the school, especially in her school uniform."

"Joe. Principal's office now." Mr. Panley commanded.

"See, you can't deny it." Joe said looking me up and down and licking his lips, which grossed me out. Joe was the captain of the soccer team that every girl was in love with, except me of course. He was just an immature boy to me. Joe was always asking me out, ever since that day in 7th grade when I stopped wearing glasses, lost wait, and wore my hair down for the first time. I used to be a nerd and no one ever noticed me. But I transformed into a butterfly and I started getting all kinds of attention. Ha! Shows how shallow these people really are.

"Joe. NOW!" Mr. Panley commanded once again, raising his voice.

"Alright, alright I'm going." Joe said, while gathering his books. "But first, Autumn, how do you like the way you make me feel?" He asked seductively picking up his painting and turning towards me.

My eyes widened once again from what Joe had painted. It was a dick. An excited one at that. My eyes went to Mr. Panley for help, but another person stepped in front of Joe, took the painting and handed it to Mr. Panley. The person was a man in a Shady Creeks Police uniform.

"I suggest you go to the principal's office and leave Autumn alone." Brody warned.

"Or what? You're gonna arrest me?" Joe fought back.

"No. I'm gonna tell everyone your little...or should I say BIG...secret."

"What secret? I don't have a secret."

Brody bent down to Joe's level and whispered something in his ear. Joe's eyes widened and he ran out of the classroom faster than lightning, taking the painting with him. Brody turned to Mr. Panley. "Mr. Panley, I have permission to take Autumn out of school for the rest of the day."

"Of course. And thank you for handling this immature situation with Joe, officer." Mr. Panley thanked.

"No problem at all. If he ever gives you trouble again, just tell Autumn to call me."

"Will do." Mr. Panley said.

Brody turned to me, but his eyes landed on my painting. He slowly walked behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders. I looked at him, but he was still looking at my painting. I thought I even saw a tear threaten to fall down his face. Brody cleared his throat and began to speak. "Let's go Autumn."

"Where are we going?" I asked before moving.

"I'm taking you someplace where we can talk with no interruptions." He said softly in my ear.

"There's nothing to talk about, Brody." I said while adding some finishing touches on my painting.

"Please Autumn, just let me explain why I did what I did." Brody said choosing his words carefully, since the entire class was looking at us, wondering what was going on.

"Brody, just leave."

"Not without you."

"Then stay. But i'm not leaving."

"Autumn, please. I'm begging you."

"I missed enough school already. We can talk afterschool." I said with no emotion whatsoever.

"Autumn, I can't get you out of my mind. I can't concentrate on work...I even let a bank robber escape today I was so distracted. I can't focus on anything else. Please. Just please. Come with me so we can talk."

I sighed and put down my paintbrush. I spun around to face him. "Fine." I stated and got up, collected my books and walked past Brody out the door. Brody followed a few steps behind. I exited the school and walked towards Brody's car. But before I could reach it, Brody grabbed me arm.

"I thought we could walk instead."

I let Brody lead me to wherever he was taking me. We walked for about 15 minutes, not saying a word to eachother. Brody took me through the park and stopped at one of the benches to sit down. He patted the spot next to him, but I ignored him and sat on the opposite side of the bench, crossing my arms and waiting for him to speak. He just looked at me, studying me.

"Well?" I said growing impatient.

"I love you Autumn." He finally said.

"Do you really? Or are you just gonna change your mind again?"

He sighed and slid next to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. I maintained my annoyed look. He looked into my eye lovingly. "I shouldn't have ended things with you. After I did, while I was in my room, I thought about things. I realized I was over-thinking things. I let was Lucy said, get to me. I should've went with my heart and not have listened to my mind. I'm sorry. I really do love you Autumn and I want to be with you. Can you ever forgive me?"

I stared back into his eyes. He was being truthful. "How can I believe you won't break my heart again?" I said softening my expression.

"I won't. That's something I'm sure I won't do. I promise you Autumn, I love you and always will."

"Then prove it." I stated and got up and walked away, leaving him on the park bench watching walk away from him.

Since Brody got me out of school for the rest of the day, I didn't really have anywhere to go. I decided to go to the cemetery, where my family is buried. I walked up the cobblestone road until I go to the top of the hill where three stones marked their graves. I sat in front of the 3 headstones, just looking at them. I thought about how my life has changed since their deaths. I would've never met Brody, I would've never been raped, I would've went on with my happy, perfect life. Tears started falling down my face. "I miss you guys so much. Why did you have to die?" I cried, burying my head into my hands, sobbing and questioning why everything bad has happened.

But I shot up and looked back, when I heard shuffling. There was a young man there,about 21 or 22, with blonde hair, brown eyes, tall,and had a broken arm holding flowers. He was looking at me, his eyes telling me how sorry he was. "May I help you?" I asked.

Tears formed in his eyes. "I-I just came to put these flowers on those graves." He replied pointing to my family's graves.

"Did you know them?"

"No. I was in the car that killed them."

I slowly stood up and glared at him. "Why is my family here and not with me? Why didn't you stop the driver from killing the only people I ever loved?!?!" I cried.

He started crying as well. "I'm so sorry. I thought he was sober enough to drive. There's not a day gone by that I hadn't wished I took the keys from him. My own brother... I let him drive and he ends up dead along innocent people. I'm so sorry. I come here everyday to your family's graves and place flowers, asking for forgiveness. It's all my fault their dead. I'm so so so sorry." He explained falling to his knees.

I felt sorry for him. I walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Zac. Zac Newman."

"Well Zac, it's not your fault. You didn't know how drunk he was."

"Yes it is. I could've prevented this."

"It isn't your fault. Believe me, it isn't. I don't blame you for their deaths. Maybe it was God's plan...I don't know, but don't blame yourself. I'm sure if they could, they would tell you they forgive you. "

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No, i'm saying it because...because I forgive you."

"You do?"

";Mhm" I thought for a second. ";Do you want to go get some coffee or something? I'd feel better if I knew a little about your brother. If he was a good guy and made a mistake, I can't hold it against him or you."

"Sure. I'd like that." He replied. He stood up and went over to put the flowers on their graves and stood there for a second. He finally walked back towards me."I know a place where they have really good coffee. It's just down the block." He said wiping away his tears.

"Ok. Oh and my name's Autumn...Autumn Reynolds."

"Autumn Reynolds? Then you know my cousin Brody Taylor?"

"Yeah. I live with him." I said with a confused look. Brody never told me that it was his cousin in the car.

"Then, you must also be the girl he's madly in love with. He talks about you all the time. Last night he called me at 2 am telling me what happened. Autumn, he's truly sorry. Maybe you can find it in your heart to forgive him like you forgave me and my brother."Your brother, was Brody's cousin?" I asked ignoring everything else he said.

"Yeah. I thought he would've told you that."

I shook my head. "He didn't."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he would've told you sooner or later. But Brody's really sorry Autumn. Maybe you could find it in your heart to forgive him, like you forgave me."

"I don't know. Maybe I can...but I think I need to talk to him and figure out a few things." I replied. Why the hell didn't Brody tell me it was his cousin?! That's important information that I should know!