.

"So were you scolded?"

"I am to stay away from you... or else. It didn't help that you skipped school to come over here." Jax sighs into the phone as I rearrange my bookshelf.

I pause. "Jax what could he do to you?"

"Lots of things Books. He could ask my parents about Court's party and find out that I was the supervision. I'd go back to jail. He told me to stay away from you and found me with you on his property, trespassing. He could just make my life miserable by saying he didn't believe I was sleeping here... shit like that."

My dad won't even look at me for lying to him again, I know he loves me and I know he's trying to look out for me. But he doesn't love Jax, he hates him. So if he was willing to make my normal little life miserable, I couldn't imagine what he would do to Jax.

As much as I like him, and as much fun as we have together... this is his life. I think he has started to realize it too. I'm basically just waiting for him to say it.

I don't want him to say it.

"Gabby..." he sighs heavily.

My stomach twists.

"I know Jax."

"Two is our limit. It was fun. Your dad is not going to let up on either of us. It was going to end anyways..."

This is when the tears started rolling down by face. I knew it was going to end. But I like him, I didn't want it to end. For some reason I thought if he would be honest with me, it would make this go longer.

"You should be enjoying the end of senior year."

"Yep." Is all I manage to get out.

I continue pressing the phone to my ear but there is nothing more to say to him.

"Gabby if you get scared again-"

"I'm not scared." I cut him off and stare out the window at his house.

"If you get scared again you tell someone Gabby. Tell Felix, tell your dad. Don't hold it in."

"I'm not scared. He creeped me out that night. I'm fine. Thank you again for walking me home. I'll see you around Jackson." I hang up on him before he says another word.

I really have never been a cryer. But suddenly I find myself crying over a guy that wasn't mine. I feel as though he just broke up with me, which is ridiculous because we weren't dating.

I crawl into my bed and lean myself into the wall, wrapping my arms around my knees, and setting my head down as I as droplets of tears fall upon my legs.

"Gabby you're coming to Syd's game tonight" my dad swings my bedroom door open. The anger in his voice is still there after a week.

He stops and stares at me as I wipe the tears from my face. This is probably the first time in years he has seen me cry. I don't hold back the sniffles as he watches.

"Gabs..." he sighs and walks further into the room.

"Just don't." I hold out my hand to tell him I don't want him near me right now.

I feel as though this is his fault. I lay down on my bed and stare towards the wall so he doesn't see my tears.

"You got what you wanted dad. He's staying away from me. I won't leave the house for the next two months, you won't have to worry about your middle child until graduation."

He comes further into the room, ignoring my plea for him not to. "Gabby you don't understand how dangerous he is..."

"He should have killed Jimmy for what he did to Courtney" I mutter.

He falls silent. I know he hasn't left the room, I can almost hear him thinking, racking his brain in an attempt to figure out how I could have possibly figured it out.

"Did Courtney tell you?" He breaks his own silence.

"No. The guy who walked me home did. He told me everything. About Jimmy, about Jimmy's mom... all of it."

He doesn't like this answer. He hovers over my bed, grabbing my arm back, gently, so that I have to look at him as he speaks. I still don't. I stare at the Goo Goo Dolls poster above my bed.

"Gabby, he has major anger issues. I don't want you near someone who snaps like that! The law should have taken care of that guy... not Jackson."

I turn angrily to meet his eyes. Mine are still flooded with tears.

"Dad what did the law do to Jimmy? Nothing. He raped a girl and the law did nothing. His punishment was doled out by her older brother, and it was lax for what he did. The law happily took care of the brother who snapped when he found his friend raping his sister."

"And that's just it Gabby... he snapped..." he sighs. "Twice, and in a split second his anger went from zero to a hundred. Even on the porch the other night, he was getting angry. How do you know he wouldn't have snapped right then?"

"I wish he would have." I turn back in my bed and throw my covers back over me.

His breathing escalated as my ears catch the flaring of his nostrils. I may be stubborn but I get it from him.

"Get up Gabrielle. You're going to the game with us." His voice turns to pure anger. Before I can even object he barks his signature statement towards me. "It's not a request."

<><><>

The bleachers are hot against my legs, causing me to continuously readjust my position to prevent them from scalding me. The season is just on the brink of changing to summer.

The school's baseball fields are exactly where I don't want to be today. Half the town comes out to these games and here I sit, looking like a disheveled mess because I've spent the afternoon crying over a guy.

I sit besides my dad, who I haven't spoken a word to since the conversation in my bedroom. Even my mom isn't talking to me. It would be useless if she did, every time she tried to object to my punishment my dad just gets angrier with both of us. My mother would see things as a mom and as a teenage girl. Sometimes it was as if my dad only thought like a police officer.

The crowd stands and cheers; suddenly I realize I'm not even watching the game. I can't tell you the score or even if Syd has been up to bat. My eyes keep focused on my feet and the bleachers covered in popcorn bits and dirt.

I don't even want popcorn, what the hell is wrong with me?

More people join us on the bleachers, it's a double header today. I don't bother looking up; I don't want to know who will be staring at the angsty and sulking teenager beside them. It is Luxberg, I'm sure I'll hear about it eventually, the game, my moping, all of it. I hold my wrist out, selecting an orange rubber band to begin snapping.

"Hey" I feel a nudge into my side.

I look up and see Kane sitting besides me with a smile, which is wiped away when he sees my face.

Lucky him. He gets to put up with my brooding.

"Hey" I force a smile. "No work tonight?"

"No, I hired a part time bartender for the weekends." He looks out to the field with genuine interest in the game.

A few months ago I would have been excited to have Kane sitting next to me at this game. He may have been three years older but he was my crush. He had been my crush since the age of ten. Eight years of liking one boy and Jax changed it in a few months.

He looks to my dad and smiles "Hows it going tonight Mr. Brooks?"

"Good Kane. How's your mom? I heard she started another round of chemo..." my dad begins a conversion with him. My dad always loved Kane. He was practically like one of his kids.

I tune them both out and go back to setting my head in my hands. That is until I hear them mention Felix.

"Yeah he did mention he was coming home for prom" Kane laughs. "He didn't even go to his own..."

My head looks up to Kane and I lift a brow. "Felix is going to prom this weekend?"

"Yeah... didn't your friend tell you that? We totally called that right Gabs... he has a thing for her" he laughs.

I force a laugh so loud that my dad hears me. "That's just awesome. Felix doesn't even go here anymore and he gets to hang out with my friends and go to my senior prom!"

"Gabby..." my dad shakes his head with frustration.

"You aren't going to prom?" Kane nudges me again. "I thought you'd go with Tyler... he doesn't shut about you."

I cringe at the sound of his name. If that schmuck wouldn't have been on my porch...

"No. I wouldn't go with him, he asked. I'm grounded until graduation anyways and I'm not allowed to leave my house."

He frowns and looks over to my dad, he knows how overprotective he can be. But part of this was Kane's fault. I played a harmless game of pool with Jax, he didn't need to tattle.

My head falls back into my hands. I want to go home.

"Dan can I take your daughter to her senior prom?"

Again my head flies back up so I can look at Kane. His eyes are fixed on me as he dishes out a smirk.

Did he seriously just ask that?

"Have her home by ten."

I turn to my dad with my eyes bulging. He says nothing to me, just keeps his eyes on the field.

Did he seriously just say yes to that?!

I look back to Kane, who now has a huge grin across his face as he looks at me. "I will pick her up at six and have her home at nine forty-five Mr. Brooks."

"That's what I like to hear Porter" my dad chuckles beside me.

My eyes don't leave Kane's as I begin to breathe heavy. "You're taking me to prom?"

"Maybe it's time we figured out what this is Gabs" he shrugs. "It'll be fun. You, me, Felix and new girl."

I smile and nod to him, then turn my head to the field to watch Sydney's game.

I'm going to prom with Kane? What the hell is happening?

His hand grabs mine and he intertwines our fingers. I stare down at them and back up to Kane as he watches the game. He doesn't look back to me, just gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. My dad obviously sees this and is saying nothing.

So here I sat, next to my dad, holding Kane's hand as we watched my little sister play softball. My dad liked Kane, Kane liked me...

I liked the criminal across the street.