Tracy and I had woken up early and we just sat in bed, talking about all kinds of things. We were just discussing our outfits for today when I heard someone walking outside.

"Wait, wait, shh!" I whispered. We both quieted down and listened very hard. I could hear someone walking on the grass, and their footsteps got louder and louder.

I slid out of the bed and tiptoed to the window. It was Tracy's loser friend Noel; she was coming over and was holding a bunch of clothes in her hands.

"It's your friend," I said, turning around to face her with a knowing smirk. She instantly groaned and hid her head under her pillow.

"Tell her I'm asleep," she mumbled through the pillow.

"Gotcha," I replied as I got under the sheets, and took out my bottle of nail polish for something to do. I could at least be productive.

I heard a knock at the door while I was painting my middle finger, and that loser Noel sauntered in.

"Hey," I greeted, deciding to just be civil for now.

"You're here," was her only form of a reply. Just when I decided to be friendly, she has to go and be annoying.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" I answered, more rudely now, raising my eyebrows at her, which had the impact I wanted; she looked kind of nervous.

"No, I always get dressed with Tracy," Noel replied as I started to close my nail polish bottle. "She does my hair."

I put away my bottle of nail polish and sat up with a condescending look. "Well, Tracy decided I should get dressed with her this morning."

"Well, I found these outside," she replied, throwing a pair of ugly jeans on the bed. "They're the ones I gave to her for her birthday."

That's not much of a surprise.

"She's the one who threw them out," I said in a low tone.

Her smile dropped and she barged out of the room without a farewell. I took the nail polish from the counter and reopened it.

Tracy turned around with a large, amused grin. She looked like she had been holding back her laughter for a while.

"I had to pee that whole time," she said, and we both giggled.

We then jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom, which was unfortunately occupied. Brooke's boyfriend was standing there half-naked, brushing his teeth. I leaned against the door with a smirk.

"Nice ass," I complimented, causing him to look awkward and Tracy to look disgusted.

"Um, no!" she answered, and I laughed as we both walked to the kitchen.

"Mom!" Tracy yelled accusingly.

"What? I'm making your fave," I heard Mel reply in a slightly exasperated voice.

"Mom, I have to go to the bathroom now," Tracy complained.

"Can't you hold it a minute?" Mel replied as I walked in the kitchen. She was making french toast—yum.

"That's how you get a bladder infection, you child abuser!" Tracy shouted.

"That's dramatic," Mel replied, seeming unbothered as she continued to make the french toast.

"Let's just go pee outside, wussy," I said, grabbing Tracy's arm.

Annoyed, Tracy unlinked herself from me and went outside. I glanced down at the delicious breakfast Mel was preparing us.

"French toast is my favorite too, Mel," I told her with a beam. Mel smiled back at me and I strolled out of the house.

I peed in the bushes and then walked towards Tracy, who was cooing and petting her dog, Hampton. I saw Mason in the window so I approached the window with a flirtatious little dance.

"Hey Mason," I greeted, walking in front of his window and dancing. "Move your G-string down south."

"Dude, no! That is so gross, that's my brother," Tracy exclaimed, getting up with an embarrassed look.

I chuckled and then flashed Mason for a few seconds, wondering how Tracy would react. Mason looked breathless and when I turned around, I saw Tracy stare at me in absolute shock, causing me to giggle.

"Oh my God!" Tracy said with an astonished laugh. I continued to giggle.

"Maybe I'll marry into the family."

We continued to giggle and walk around their house, before Mel called us for breakfast.

We all sat down at their small kitchen table and Mel placed the large plate of french toast on the very middle.

Everyone, including me, grabbed one and we all began to eat. I took one bite and was instantly impressed. Mel was such a good cook!

"It's so good, Mel," I complimented, as I took another bite of my toast. Mel beamed.

"Well, I'm glad you like it," she replied, looking flattered. I was starting to like Mel more and more.

After breakfast, Tracy and I headed to her room to get dressed.

Tracy searched her entire closet for a cute combination, and opted for her usual flare jeans and a red tank top. She also threw on a black jacket and her blue converse.

She modeled her outfit in front of me, asking for my opinion. I approved; it was simple, but pretty cute.

"Wait, I think this'll look cute with it," I said, picking up my silver cross necklace and handing it to her.

"Um, okay," Tracy replied with a shy smile, as she tried on the necklace. It looked really nice against her pale skin.

"It looks so cute on you!" I gushed, admiring Tracy's fit. Tracy blushed. "Okay, from now on, this necklace belongs to both of us."

Tracy grinned.

I decided to dress simple today; I wore my usual hoop earrings and bracelets, paired with a burgundy v-neck, jeans, and a small black belt.

"Okay, let's go!" I squealed, grabbing my bag and looping my arm around hers before dragging her out of our room.

Mel was already waiting for us, leaning against the car. When she saw us approach, she unlocked the car and got inside, gesturing for us to do the same.

"Come on girls," she called, "you don't wanna be late for school."

Tracy and I exchanged glances and laughed, knowing damn well we would probably skip half of the classes with Astrid before actually entering our lessons.

"Of course, Mel," I replied charmingly, as Tracy and I both got inside the car.

Mel smiled and started driving.

Mel dropped us off about five minutes before the bell rung. We said our goodbyes and exited the car.

"I wonder where Astrid is," Tracy said, looking around.

"Yeah," I agreed, also looking around. I couldn't find her anywhere.

"I'm right here, idiots," we heard a familiar voice behind us. Tracy and I turned around to see Astrid smirking at us.

"Astrid!" I exclaimed. Tracy and I both took turns hugging her before starting to talk.

"So, we were thinking we should skip," I said, exchanging mischievous glances with Tracy.

"Hell yeah," Astrid replied, grinning. "But we can only skip like, half of the class 'cause Mrs. Lakewood—the old lady that teaches our first class—literally hates us."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," I said with a groan. "You should feel lucky you're not in our first period, Trace. Our teacher is such a grumpy pants."

"Well, thank gosh I'm not in your class then," Tracy said with a little laugh.

"Yeah, that bitch said she'll complain to our parents if we miss another one of her classes," Astrid complained.

"Damn, she sounds strict," Tracy responded.

Just then, the bell rung. We exchanged excited looks and ran to the bathroom to avoid getting caught.

"Let's get out when there's barely any people out," I suggested. "Most of the teachers will be in class by then."

Tracy and Astrid agreed, and we waited for a couple of minutes after the bell rung and the buzz of the students from the hall quieted down.

"Okay, let's go!" Tracy whispered excitedly.

We walked out of the bathroom and looped arms, strutting the halls of the school like we owned the place. We tried to keep our conversations quiet so nobody from the classes heard us.

We saw two girls in the halls decorating a banner. Nerds, probably. And their outfits were horrible.

We shot them sarcastic smiles and continued to walk.

"Okay guys, that's my class," Tracy told us, gesturing to an open door a few feet in front of us. "See you!"

We embraced each other and then Tracy strutted away to her class.

"She's really changed for the better," Astrid commented as soon as Tracy was out of earshot. "I mean, remember what a total dork she was on the first week of school? Her outfits were like a two-year-old's, and don't get me started on her socks."

I really liked Tracy, so I decided to forgive and forget how she dressed on the first week of school. I felt kinda guilty about making fun of her fits, so I decided to stand up for her.

"Well, maybe she just wanted to surprise us," I offered half-heartedly. "First she wanted to act all childish, and then out of nowhere get a huge glow up. That's totally a power move."

"Yeah right," Astrid snorted. "But I really like her now. She's improved so much over such a short amount of time and it's honestly impressive."

I didn't know what else to say, so I just replied with a simple "yeah."

We walked into our class and our stupid teacher, Mrs. Lakewood, scolded us for our lateness.

"Sorry miss, we were just using the bathroom," I said with what I hoped was a friendly smile.

"The two of you were using the bathroom at the same time?" Mrs. Lakewood questioned with a skeptical raise of her eyebrows.

"Yeah, Evie needed some help," Astrid said. "Lady things, y'know."

I tried my very best not to shoot her a dirty look. But Astrid's lie did the trick; Mrs. Lakewood lay off.

"Seriously, A?" I hissed as we took our seats in the back of the classroom. Astrid only shrugged her shoulders at me with a little smirk.

During lunch, Astrid snuck off to make out with some boy so Tracy and I made plans for the evening. We had wanted to get Tracy's tongue pierced for a while, so we decided to do it today.

"But how should we do it?" Tracy asked anxiously. I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Relax, Trace," I said. "We'll just call Mel and say we're going to a library to study and go to Melrose instead. I know this one guy who can pierce your tongue for you; he did it for me."

I demonstrated this by taking out my tongue jokingly. Tracy smiled, still seeming nervous, so I rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Relax, I'll be there. You can hold my hand if you get too scared," I teased, causing Tracy to roll her eyes and lightly punch me in the shoulder.

Just then, a food fight started, so Tracy and I couldn't finish our conversation. Thankfully though, we had our last couple of classes together, so we were able to discuss the rest of our plan.

I told her we would ask the guy we were going to for the phone to let Mel know we were in the "library".

Thankfully, there's a library really close to Melrose, so we'll go there when Mel comes to pick us up.

Tracy and I had finished coming up with our plan, and were very excited to go.

"How about ten dollars, guapo?" I flirted, tucking a strand of the tattoo guy's hair behind his ear while Tracy persuaded Mel to let us stay over the phone.

"Hey, does her mom know?" he suddenly asked me, pointing at Tracy talking on the phone. Oh shit.

I decided to play it cool.

"She's 18, dude, come on," I said, smiling in my most convincing way. "I know you're a nice guy."

A little bit of flattery always does the trick. He shook his head disapprovingly at my reply, but I knew he would do it anyway.

I gazed up at Tracy. She had finished talking with Mel and hung up, before turning around to face me with an excited scream.

"Get on the chair," the guy commanded. I grinned at her, thrilled, as I got off the guy.

Tracy went to sit down and I went to get a cup of liquid that Tracy needed to rinse her mouth with before getting pierced. I lit a cigarette and approached Tracy, who sat there nervously.

Tracy took the cup of liquid in her mouth and I got another cup for her. She spat out the liquid and I put the cup away.

"Um...is this gonna hurt?" Tracy asked, before noticing that the tattoo guy didn't have a piercing. "Oh, you haven't had your tongue pierced."

I wrapped my hands around Tracy's shoulders excitedly, hoping to calm her down since she seemed really anxious.

"I only put it in when I need to," the guy replied, before making weird gestures with his tongue. Tracy and I exchanged a look. Tracy had a rather unsure expression on her face, so I beamed at her to encourage her.

She turned to face the tattoo guy, who began the piercing process. I watched ecstatically.

Tracy seemed on the verge of tears as the needle finally sunk into the flesh of her tongue, and she blinked multiple times to avoid crying. She turned to look at me again, and I grinned at her.

"You look so cute!" I enthused, grinning at her. She made a feeble attempt to smile.

After we finished, we ran to the library and sat on a bench as we waited for Mel. Tracy was examining her piercing in a small mirror.

"Just don't open your mouth very wide when you talk, she won't notice," I advised, speaking from experience.

Tracy lowered her mirror and said, "I have to ask you something."

"What?" I asked. Maybe she wanted to ask some questions about tongue piercings or something.

"Okay, um..." she began, starting to put away her little mirror in her leopard bag. "You...never did anything with that—crusty tattoo guy, right?"

I decided to tease her a bit.

"Yeah, he ate my pussy," I answered, completely seriously, waiting for her reaction.

She stared at me completely dumbfounded for a couple of seconds, before covering her face with her hands and releasing an astounded gasp.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, looking up at me and covering her mouth with her hands. I was trying my best to resist laughing. "Are you s—"

"I'm kidding, idiot," I said with a laugh, kicking her playfully.

Just then, Mel's car pulled up. Tracy covered her mouth instinctively and I did my best to act normal.

"Hey ladies," Mel called out, coming out of her car to greet us. "Got a lot of studying done?"

"We were researching, Mom," Tracy corrected as we got up. "I'm in charge of the gray water module for the Biosphere II project."

"Cool," Mel replied as Tracy speed walked to her car. I guess she was too scared Mel would see her piercing. "What module are you in charge of, Evie?"

"I'm not in that class," I replied with a sly smile. "I'm taking advanced physics, Mel."

That wasn't true, but at least Mel would be impressed.

After we came home, Tracy and I decided to steal a couple of Mason's shirts and make them look hot.

I turned one of his shirts into a really cute tank top and cut out an 'O' and made rips on the side. Tracy took a long sleeve and cut half of the sleeves off, before making rips on the front. Overall, our shirts were really cool.

Mel had a customer/friend over, so we went to the kitchen to show off our shirts to them.

"Mom, mom!" Tracy sang as we waltzed into the kitchen.

"Can you guys say 'hot'?" I said, showing off the remodeled shirt.

"That was Mason's favorite shirt," Mel commented, but offered an indulgent smile.

Tracy and I sang and danced as we showed off our cute shirts.

"You two aren't the only J-Los in the house," Mel teased. "Check out these sexy colors!"

Mel showed off her newly painted toenails with a grin.

"That's great, Mom," Tracy said unenthusiastically.

They continued their conversation and Mel said something about food while I poured a cup of water for myself.

"Did you guys know that if you drink ten glasses of ice water a day you'll burn 300 calories?" I said, drinking my cup of water and walking out of the kitchen to sit on an armchair outside. Cynthia, Mel's friend/customer, left her bag there, so I wanted to steal some stuff.

I didn't notice anything was wrong until Tracy barged out of the kitchen. Cynthia and Mel followed her out, and Tracy spun around to face Mel with an expression of tearful fury on her face.

Cynthia was looking for her purse, which I had hidden under the armchair.

"Mom, his clothes shouldn't be here, you promised Mason and you promised me," she hissed angrily.

Mel tried to get Tracy to find Cynthia's purse but Tracy was too enraged to do anything. Mel and Cynthia started searching the house for her purse.

Trace sat down and said, "This is so fucked up."

She looked really upset, so I tried to cheer her up by grinning cunningly and taking out Cynthia's bag for underneath the armchair.

Tracy merely watched me as I dug in Cynthia's bag to see if there was anything of any value in there. I found a bunch of money, so I took it and pocketed it. I vowed to share it with Tracy, because she seemed to be having a bad day. I think it's because of Mel's boyfriend—I don't think Tracy likes him very much.

I put the purse somewhere where, if Cynthia noticed someone stole from her, she couldn't suspect me. Then I went to Tracy and grabbed her arm.

"Let's go, Trace," I said as I dragged her to our room.

Tracy lay down on the bed and I stroked her hair soothingly. She seemed to be trying her hardest not to cry.

Her dad called her and she was talking to him over the phone while I flipped through Tracy's magazines.

Mel knocked on the door after Cynthia left, yelling at Tracy about her pulling a scene in front of a customer. Tracy and her had a short argument before Tracy shut the door.

Mel seemed pretty upset, so while Tracy was talking with her dad, I sneaked out to visit Mel.

I walked in Mel's room and saw her put away her cigarette as soon as she saw me.

"Don't ever start smoking," she warned. I already did, but thanks for the advice.

"Is everything okay, Mel?" I asked, staring at her with a concerned expression on my face. I smiled slightly to seem friendly. I was hoping to get closer to Mel so I could stay longer at their home.

"Yeah," Mel answered unconvincingly, leaning against the window sill. She promptly changed her answer. "No. Evie, I'm sorry, but, um, I think it's time for you to go home."

Oh no.

"I can't go home," I told her, feeling dread and despair cloud my mind. "Brooke had a convention in Bakersfield. She said she sent you an e-mail."

"I guess I didn't check my e-mail," Mel replied with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry, Mel," I said with a soft laugh. "I hope it's okay that I'm here."

"Well, I guess it's gonna have to be, isn't it?" Mel replied. That wasn't exactly a yes. I wanted Mel to be okay with me staying. Maybe I could get her sympathy somehow?

"Her boyfriend hits me, Mel," I said. Brooke's boyfriend did hit me sometimes, but when Brooke found out, she left him, so I was safe now. But Mel didn't have to know that.

After a long period of silence, I sat down and gathered my hair, showing Mel one of the old bruises I still had left.

"He grabbed my throat and, he threw me against his van."

"Oh Jesus," Mel breathed, sitting down next to me and examining my bruise. "Where's your mother, baby?"

"She—she passed away," I confessed. Mel stroked my hair.

"I didn't have a mother when I was your age either," Mel replied, stroking my cheeks. "I know how hard it is. I do."

Mel enveloped me in a tight hug. I inhaled in her motherly scent and felt triumphant. I had Mel's sympathy.

Just then, Tracy came in.

"Mom," she said, standing there kind of awkwardly. Mel pulled away from me to look up at her.

"What is it, baby?" she asked. Tracy stood there awkwardly for a little before approaching us and handing Mel the phone.