Sky had always had a wonderful relationship with her dad.

She had never doubted his love for her, nor the fact that he would always be there for her, that he would always put her in the first place, making all the decisions of their life based on her wellbeing, not his.

It had always been like that - just Sky and her dad. She didn't even remember her mother who had died of an aggressive form of breast cancer when Sky had been just a toddler. She knew, of course, that it was a tragedy. Mom had been young and pretty and smart and she had died just six months after getting the diagnosis. But it didn't feel like a tragedy because Sky didn't remember it. To her, mom wasn't even a memory - she was like a shadow of a memory, no matter how many pictures of her were scattered around their home, no matter how much dad still talked about her.

Sky had always been perfectly happy growing up without a mom. She had a dad, and that was all that mattered, that was all she needed.

That, and of course Kat's huge and loud Brazilian family - her angry but fiercely protective grandma, her wonderful, generous and kind parents, her devilishly handsome big brother Paulo - who had been Sky's first crush - and last but not least, Kat's little sister Adriana, whom Sky had found so annoying at the time but now missed so much that it hurt.

That was all gone now, of course. No more family dinners at Kat's home, no more sleepovers with eating too much candy and getting sick, no more Capoeira lessons from Kat's dad.

Now it was just like it had been in the beginning - just Sky and her dad, no matter how much she wished she could travel back in time and sit down with Kat's mom over a cup of coffee and have a chat about boys—

Or one boy in particular.

Eli Moskowitz.

Sky gave a sigh and glanced at her side, at dad who was driving the car.

They might have a great father-daughter relationship, but there were still things she hadn't told him. Like the fact that she'd suddenly lost all her new friends, or that she was now bullied on Insta and Snapchat.

Dad wouldn't even know what Snapchat was, Sky suspected.

But she was painfully aware that she needed to tell him something, because they had called dad to pick her up from school after the fight, and even if he was chill, he wouldn't just let that pass.

He would want to know why Sky had been suspended for a week.

It had been for fighting, sure, but also for what the principal had called "lack of cooperation", because Sky had refused to talk. She knew there would have been no point to try and explain her sudden fit of violence to the school staff. It would have only made everything worse. Then she would have had to tell them about the messages on her Instagram, and then she'd have to tell them what had happened with Eli, and why—

And that just wasn't her story to tell. Eli wouldn't have wanted her speaking all that to the principal. Sky was sure of that.

"I get it that you didn't want to talk to the teachers." Dad said, when he stopped the car in front of their house. "But you're going to have to talk to me."

Sky gave a shaky nod.

"Yeah. I know."

Suddenly she felt miserable. Her shirt was still soaked with iced coffee, her shoulder was pulsating with pain and her knuckles were bloodied and sore, but that wasn't the worst.

The worst part was the shame, the humiliation.

She was sure that videos of the incident were already viral, videos calling her crazy slut and other charming nicknames.

"Well? Why did you start World War three in school?"

"I'm sorry." Sky said. "I know I messed up."

"I know that you know." Dad said silently, fidgeting the car keys in his long, restless fingers. "I also know you didn't start throwing punches without a reason. So please, tell me what's what?"

Sky hesitated for a moment, but Dad reached for her and took her hand, giving it a small, encouraging squeeze.

"Come on, be a brave girl." He said. "Just spit it out, and I'll take you for an ice cream later."

That almost made Sky smile, but just almost.

He's always been there for me, hasn't he?

And what happened the last time I tried keeping secrets from him?

Those secrets had almost destroyed her, and maybe Sky had learned her lesson.

"It's about a boy," She began, and dad gave a long sigh, leaned back on his seat.

"When is it ever not?" He asked, raising a brow. "Just promise me that he isn't like Matt."

"He's the opposite of Matt." Sky replied softly. "And that's why I like him."

Then she took a deep breath, and told her dad everything.

She told him about the bullying,

and about the cruel messages.

She told him about the kiss, the short and shy and beautiful kiss that she could not stop thinking about.

She told him everything there was to tell about the boy called Eli Moskowitz, and through it all dad didn't interrupt her once. He just listened to what she had to say, and was there for her as he had been there for her for every day since the day of her birth.

Only when Sky had finished, and the silence fell in the car between them like a soft cloud, did he speak up.

"Well, it sounds to me like you need to go and talk to this boy," He glanced at Sky's coffee stained clothes and her bloodied hands, and added: "But maybe take a shower first."

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Eli sat on the living room couch, watching Doctor Who, but had someone asked him what was happening in the episode, he couldn't have given an answer.

His mind was busy thinking about Sky, and about the kiss - had it really been only yesterday? It felt longer, like it must've happened weeks ago.

And then his mind wandered to the fight in the school this morning. He still felt shocked by Sky's courage - she had actually stood up to Yasmine and Kyler, which Eli had never done. It was something he had dreamt about many times, though. He had these violent dreams, where he took his revenge and made all his bullies hurt and bleed—

Very detailed violent dreams.

Dreams, he had never told anyone about, dreams that scared even himself sometimes, and part of him was happy that he didn't have the courage to act on them.

But Sky? She had been fucking fearless. A badass fighter, like a cool heroine from some of his favourite fantasy novels, and it made Eli feel both in awe and embarrassed.

I should go to Cobra Kai with Miguel. I could learn to kick ass like that too.

Then I wouldn't need to have a girl fighting my battles for me.

The Doctor Who episode came to an end, and the next one began but Eli barely noticed. He checked his phone for what felt like the thousandth time, but the only messages there were from Demetri, and Eli really didn't feel like answering any of those at the moment. Besides, Demetri was perfectly happy talking by himself on Whatsapp, just as he was in real life.

What Eli had been hoping for, was a message from Sky.

He had sent her a text after school, asking if she was okay, but she hadn't replied, which could have meant anything but Eli feared it meant she didn't like him at all and that she blamed him for the whole thing.

Sure, it had been Sky who had kissed him - she had fucking kissed him - but still, he should've protected her somehow, he should have found a way, should have stopped that scene in the school today. Instead he had just stood there silently and stared at her like a fucking moron.

She had said his name as they had dragged her away, and her eyes had been huge, he had seen tears in them.

It made him feel like there was a black hole in his stomach, all empty and hollow, sucking the life out of him.

"Eli, There's someone to see you." Mom's voice interrupted Eli's thoughts, and he looked up from the TV screen.

"Tell Demetri I wanna be alone—"

"It's not Demetri." Mom said with a weird look on her face. "It's a girl."

Eli cleared his throat. "A... girl?"

"Should I tell her you're busy?" Mom asked, with a small smile.

"No!" Eli was on his feet in a heartbeat, the remote control that had been on his lap, flew to the floor. "I'm coming—"

It had to be Sky. It fucking had to be.

His heart in his throat, Eli rushed to the front door, and sure enough, there she was - her red hair an undisciplined cloud around her pale face, her cheeks blushed, maybe just for walking in the fresh air, maybe for something else.

"Hi," Eli said, leaning to the doorframe, desperately trying to hide his nervousness.

"Hey, can I come in?" Sky asked. "If it's okay with your Mom?"

"Umm, sure," Eli replied, glancing at his Mom, who was standing nearby, looking all too happy about the fact that there was an actual human being talking to her son.

"It's perfectly fine," Mom said. "It was Sky, right? That's a nice name. Please come in, you can go to Eli's room, if you want to talk in peace."

Sky smiled and entered passing Eli in the doorway - and once again he inhaled her scent - vanilla, he was pretty sure it was vanilla - and something swelled inside his ribcage making it hard to draw in a breath.

"Thanks, Mrs Moskowitz," Sky said with a small ghost of a smile. "I won't stay long, it's just about this chemistry project we have..."

At that Sky glanced at Eli, silently asking if he had told his Mom about what had happened in school. He hadn't, and he wasn't about to - whenever Eli could get away with not telling Mom about the bullying, he did so.

But Sky was looking at him expectantly, and her eyes were deep and dark green and full of something that made Eli's heart slam against his ribcage. He remembered how she had looked at him in the school, when they had dragged her away after the fight, like seeing him there had broken something in her.

"Chemistry," Eli said, rather throatily. "Right. Umm.. my room is upstairs—"

"Cool," Sky replied. "Lead on."

"Yeah. Just, umm, follow me."

The words felt weird in his throat, and he was painfully aware of the fact that he was blushing.

But this was the first time ever that a girl came to see him, a first time ever that he would have a girl in his room—

Get a grip, loser. It's not like that. She probably just wants to ask you what she missed in chemistry.

They started climbing the stairs, and just before they reached upstairs, Eli heard Mom's voice calling: "Let me know if you're hungry. I'll make you some sandwiches."

Sky glanced at him with a half smile, and Eli could barely drag his eyes off the perfect bow-shape of her upper lip.

He remember too well how it felt to kiss her, to feel those lips on his—

His stomach went tight, his throat felt dry. He was hungry, allright, but not for food. No fucking sandwich was gonna satisfy the kind of hunger he had, when he was close to Sky.

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