"V, you've gotta try to slow down that vocal run at the end, it sounds like you're just falling out of the note, like you don't care. You never make mistakes like these, is everything alright?"

That was...debatable.

"I'm fine, just didn't get much sleep last night."

Mainly because of the countless hair raising and chill inducing nightmares that had haunted my dreams all night, leaving me both cranky and sleepy, not a good combination for me.

I was still upset that I'd hardly had no alone time with Eli since the night he'd stayed over at my dorm, mainly due to the fact that Maddie had decided to tell me las minute that she was taking my ten to midnight shifts, leaving me with only six hours every shift, when I had been raking in eight hour shifts from four to midnight. While Maddie cited her falling hours as the reason, it hadn't allowed me to sing for Eli like we'd planned, and then suddenly it was Thursday and we'd only texted and called while briefly seeing each other at the gym.

I wondered if it was because our vastly different schedules, or if there was something else going on.

There was no doubt that spending alone time was going to be difficult due to our living situations both being in dorm rooms with roommates, but considering my nightmares ratcheting up in intensity, maybe it was a good thing that he didn't stay over but the one time...

"Let's take it from the top. Hazel, Leo, Bea-- you good?"

They responded to our brand new drama TA by rewinding our sound system back to the integral part of the musical where the characters all came together and sang layers above the others, although for some reason my part was severely lacking.

On the second high note that I bailed out of, Danny, said new drama TA, decided to cut the music altogether and huffed a breath of air out of his nose, seemingly upset with our performance already.

"Hazel, Leo and Bea are good, but V, you're seriously bringing the piece down, and I'm not saying that to be mean because I've heard you at your best, and this isn't it. Maybe we should just quit while we're ahead and pick back up tomorrow after classes?"

His words didn't sting as much as they should have, seeing as my mind was somewhere else entirely.

"Thanks for your critiques, Danny. I'll rest my vocals tonight and I'll be better tomorrow."

"You better be. The Fall showcase is in a few weeks, and this musical is going to be hard enough to put on with bringing in outsiders because we don't have enough theater majors to fill major parts. I need my four best performers at the top of their game."

The Fall showcase was yet another distraction that I didn't need if I wanted to focus on winning that money, but it would look bad on my transfer transcript to a performance school if I hadn't been involved in the only performance of the school year.

"Of course."

Danny dismissed us with a flick of his wrist, poring over notes given by our actual drama teacher and then my friends and I filtered out of the room but before I could even turn them down for hanging out, I remembered that I had the entire night at the gym to myself, considering that Maddie was hosting some sort of barbecue that I wasn't invited to, considering that I was the one covering the gym for her.

"We need to practice for your birthday party, V. That is, if we're still doing it?" Bea asked, one dark eyebrow raised wryly, almost like she was skeptical about the whole thing anyway.

"Shit, I totally forgot about that. I'll ask Maddie if she still wants to throw it for me."

"Maddie is throwing it?"

I didn't miss the connotation her words held when speaking the other girl's name.

"What is it Bea? I thought you liked her?"

"I hardly know the girl, but she'd been nothing but rude to me before she found out we were your friends. The girl is pretty two faced, I'm not sure its the kind of gig we need to be playing in the first place."

Bea's attitude leaked from her pores on a normal day, but in that moment, it was seeping from her words and slapping me directly in my face.

Hazel and Leo, arms around each other and off to the side, flinched at the ferocity of Bea's words.

"Bea, come on. She wasn't that bad..." Hazel tried to defend, but Bea wasn't having it, and butted in before I could say a single word.

"She acted like we weren't even people just because we were in the art department. At a freaking liberal arts college! She's the one obsessed with dumb basketball players who will screw anything with tits and a hole."

My eyebrows flew into my hairline at her accusation, the stereotype more than punishing considering my father fell into that category, as I'm sure many of the players on Eli's team did. Was Eli in that category at one point, too? Was he still?

"I'm sorry you feel that way about all basketball players, Bea, but remember how they stereotype us, too, and for the majority of us, it's false. I can bring it up to her, and maybe see if she'll apologize and you can all start over? I really had no idea she was like that Bea, she was nothing but nice to me when we first met, and I didn't even tell her who my dad was, so she had no reason to be."

"You should watch your back with her if you really like Eli. She's saying some things around campus. Just...be careful."

Hazel stiffened straight as a board once the words left Bea, and her behavior was more than abnormal.

"What? What's she saying? Hazel?"

"I didn't say anything. I swear, I just heard her with her friend Mia while we were walking back from the choir room to the dorms yesterday. They were going to set up for some barbecue and they were talking about Eli and Patrick, I think he's Maddie's boyfriend. They both like him, but..."

"But what?"

She tucked a lock of copper hair behind her ears as Leo's grip on her tightened, his black rimmed glasses slipping slightly down to his nose.

"They were all like, 'may the best girl win' or something like that. When Mia brought you up after that, Maddie made a joke about how you weren't going to be a problem, because you had just gotten here and he barely knew you and he wouldn't choose you over them. I'm sorry, I just don't think those people are good for you."

Wow. I knew Mia had once been involved with Eli, but Maddie? She had Patrick wrapped around her finger.

"I'll talk to Eli about this. Thank you for telling me. If this is true, I doubt I'll be Maddie's friend again."

"We just don't want you getting hurt by these people. Well anyway, hope you have a good shift. You still getting off at ten?"

"I'm there til midnight tonight. That barbecue you were talking about is tonight."

"Of course. And Maddie probably couldn't wait to keep you away, especially since the whole team is going to be there."

Even Eli? He hadn't mentioned anything...probably because he knew my work schedule after Maddie had supplied the hours earlier in the week and I told him I would let him know if I was free any day, which, of course I wasn't.

After telling my friends goodbye, I hopped in my car to grab something quick to eat before work since practice ended early and, wouldn't you know it, got pulled over almost immediately after leaving the restaurant drive thru.

The slow walk up to the side of my car that the officer pulled was made worse by another officer doing a surprise pop up on the other side, both of them cornering me as I rolled down my window.

"Is there a problem officers?"

I hadn't even been able to speed as I wasn't on the road yet, and there was no way I'd broken any rules by simply driving to the stop sign.

"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to step out of the vehicle, please."

Alarm bells rang through my system as I contemplated his words. I'd done nothing wrong...why was I being asked to get out of my car?

"May I ask why? I don't even know why I was pulled over."

"Ma'am, this vehicle was reported as stolen. Can you produce documentation proving this car does belong to you?"

Stolen. The cutting betrayal slicing cleanly through my body was enough to make me want to pitch myself over and out of the rolled down window and run all the way to my father's house and give him another reason to be in a wheelchair, but somehow I held my composure.

"I'm just going to reach in the glove box and pull out my registration and insurance. Then I'll grab my ID from my wallet on the passenger seat."

Cold steel eyes never wavering, the officer watched my every move until all the proper documents were resting in his hands and then he walked back to his cruiser, his partner coming to rest beside the window the first one had left.

"So, stealing Mike Bruins' car? Bold move."

"I'm Mike Bruin's daughter, Virginia. He gave me this car, this is all either a misunderstanding, or him trying to punish me by taking my car away."

His eyes widened slightly at my proclamation, but he quickly schooled his expression as his older and more experienced partner came sauntering up beside him, leaning down into the window.

"Seems like we still have a problem. This registration is for Mike Bruins, and you're not him."

"Right. I'm his daughter, and the insurance is in my name."

"No, the insurance is in his name, and while it covers familial drivers, you're still not on the paperwork, anywhere. And he did in fact report this vehicle stolen last week. I'm sorry ma'am, I'm going to need you to step out of the car."

"Please, just call him. Here, take my phone, call him and speak with him on the phone. I am his daughter, I didn't steal this car."

The officer sighed, rubbing a hand across his face before complying and taking my phone which had already been dialing my father's number.

"Yes hi, this is Officer Pruitt down here by the UCM campus, and I have your daughter Virginia here. She's driving a vehicle you reported stolen last week and we- yes sir, I see. Well, that sure clears that up. Thank you sir, and can I just say- I really am a big fan of yours. Uh-huh. Alright, well you have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much. Thank you sir, alright. I'll let her know. Goodbye."

I gave him an expectant look, but he only eyed his partner warily.

"He says he doesn't want you booked, but he doesn't want you driving the car anymore. He said he'd speak with you about it later. Now, policy usually doesn't let us do this, but since you're Mike's daughter and he told us to go easy on you, we'll give you a ride back to wherever it was you were going, and we'll impound your car."

Had the entire world gone crazy? Was Kara giving my father crack inside his pills? What the actual hell was going on?! I defied my father once, and this was how I was punished?

"Thank you officers," I replied sweetly, defiance and malice seeping into my tone, though I wasn't sure they noticed.

"That would be lovely. I apologize if you've been caught up in family drama. My father has a...rather unique way of trying to get his point across. Don't worry, we'll see eye to eye soon enough."

That couldn't have been more true. Because once I was done with him, I was never coming back.