Jack frowned as he slowly roused from his sleep, feeling a light breeze wash over him and then the click of a mechanism locking in place. He turned over in his full bed just in time to see Karen kicking off her sneakers before she lifted the covers and slid in beside him. He peered over at her for a few moments, his eyes still blurred with sleep until she came into focus and he realized she had dried tear stains on her cheeks. She folded her hands under her chin and stared up at him with a sigh.

"I hate her."

Jack sighed and reached over, brushing a long strand of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "What happened?"

Karen rolled her eyes and sniffed, feeling her emotions starting to rise back to the surface. Jack was the only one of their friends that she let her guard down around, the others thinking she was emotionless and cold. "She and Bernie came home drunk again. I was doing my homework so I didn't have a chance to do the dishes yet. Bernie went off the wall about how I'm lazy and of course my mom took his side and she made me go to my room for the rest of the night and wouldn't let me finish my homework and I just... I hate her. I hate them."

Jack studied her silently for a minute, seeing the unshed tears in her eyes reflecting off the moonlight. "Did he hurt you again?" Her silent stare was enough of an answer for him and he felt anger rise up inside him.

"Its okay, Jackie-"

"No, it's not," he demanded. "He has no right to hurt you or touch you at all!"

"Hey," she whispered and reached her hand out, resting it on his cheek. "I'll be 18 in two months and then I'll be out of there, okay? No more Bernie and definitely no more Lois."

He furrowed his brows, upset that his best friend had to deal with a shitty home life, but he was also glad she knew she could come to him. "How did you get out?"

"Fire escape."

Jack slid his hand down to her hip, his fingers brushing the skin beneath the material of her large shirt and Karen held her breath as he tugged it up to just beneath her breasts. He guided her on to her back and reached over to turn on the bedside lamp as he sat astride her. His knees were positioned on either side of her hips and he searched her body for marks that may have formed at the hand of her mother's boyfriend. He found her alabaster skin clear except for one spot on her ribs that was a nasty purple in the shape of a line. His finger grazed the sensitive area and Karen flinched slightly. He looked down at her in question.

"He shoved me into my room and I hit the bookshelf," she told him quietly, her eyes filled with turmoil.

Jack shook his head and leaned down, letting his warm lips touch the bruise in a soft kiss. He sat back on his heels and pulled her shirt back down. "Better?"

Karen grinned as she stared up at him. "Much better."

He nodded and resumed his position beside her, turning off the lamp as he went. They stared silently at each other for a few moments longer before Karen scooted forward and tucked her head under his chin, her arm wrapping around his waist. Jack pressed a kiss to the top of her head and held her tight in his arms, both of them falling asleep fairly quickly.

Judith McFarland just finished setting the table for breakfast when she glanced at the clock and realized she needed wake her son or else he was going to be late for school. She turned on her heel and strode down the hallway towards the bedrooms with an extra kick in her step. Once she reached his bedroom door she raised her hand up and knocked politely three times before she entered. Her mouth was open and ready to greet him to the new day, but she stopped short when she saw her son in bed with a girl. He had his arm protectively around her, her back pressed to his front, their hands laced together and resting on her breast, and they were sleeping peacefully. Judith knew Karen had a hard home life, but that didn't mean they could have sleepovers. It was entirely inappropriate.

She leaned down and gently shook Jack's shoulder, waking him up. He slowly opened his eyes and first peered down lovingly at Karen who stayed asleep before he realized his mother was looking at him disapprovingly. He sat up, disentangling himself from Karen, careful not to wake her and he looked apologetically up at Judith. She didn't say anything to him, she only pointed behind her as sign for him to meet her in the kitchen. He sighed and climbed out of the bed, still mindful of Karen and thanking the fact that she was a heavy sleeper. He met his mom in the kitchen, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Look, mom-"

"I don't want any excuses, Jackie," she started in on him. "You know the rules of this house."

He sighed. "I do know the rules, but she needs somewhere safe she can go."

"I understand that, but next time she stays in the guest room. And you ask permission first."

He nodded, a smile playing at his lips. "Thank you for understanding."

Judith stepped over and kissed his cheek. "I gotta go to work, honey. Breakfast is all ready. Have a good day at school, okay?"

He waved goodbye to her and when he heard the door close he walked back to his bedroom to find Karen still sleeping in his bed. He tried waking her several times, but they were all feeble attempts. Eventually he resorted to just picking her up as he would a small child. She automatically wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs tight around his waist. He carried her to the kitchen and sat her down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Nooooo," she whined, laying her head on the table in protest, her hair falling in sheets around her face and shoulders.

"Come on, Karebear. We need to eat fast or else we're going to be late for school."

She sat up slowly, her shoulders slumped with a pout on her tired face. "I need to change. And I don't have my backpack."

Around a mouthful of eggs, Jack agreed. "We'll run by your apartment on our way."

"Jackieeee," she sighed and stood from the table, plopping herself down on his lap. "Can't we skip together? Go to the park? Go see a movie?"

He shook his head, his arm secure around her waist so she didn't fall. "We can't, Kare. We both have a biology test today."

"Please?" She pressed a kiss to his neck, trailing her lips up his jaw. "I'll let you French kiss me," she whispered in his ear, causing him to shiver.

Jack considered it, but only for a moment before he shook his head and stood his ground. "No. We are going to school. Besides, I'm gay. I can't be swayed by your feminine wiles."

She snorted in laughter and shook her head. "Yeah right. This coming from the boy who spent the better part of the summer dry humping me in the backseat of his car-"

"I was confused!" he defended himself. "I needed to make sure that I wasn't enjoying it."

"You weren't?" she feigned hurt, but she really was teasing him.

"Well, yeah, I enjoyed it, but... Look will you just eat so we can leave?"

She laughed and pecked his mouth quickly before moving back to her seat so they could finished breakfast.

Grace stood by Will's locker, books held in her arms as she waited for him to finish gathering his notes for the test they were about to take. Her hair was a frizzy mess of red curls, her jean skirt short with lime green tights covering her legs. The tshirt on her torso was practically see-through, showing her red bralette, but never one with a keen eye for fashion, Grace thought she looked cool. Will wore dark jeans and a button down shirt, his brown hair long and swept to the side out of his eyes, perfectly styled. His clothes were more on the snug side for most boys his age, or any man for that matter, but Will loved the feeling of the soft, expensive fabric against his skin.

"Where are they?" Grace asked, glancing at her wrist watch. "Class starts in five minutes."

Will shrugged, going over his notes one more time. "Who knows. Maybe Karen found someone rich and skipped town."

"Will," Grace warned. "Don't make jokes like that. You know she has it rough."

He ignored her with a smirk. "And Jack could have met a guy on the way here and pretended to be in college and almost get himself kidnapped by a closeted politician."

"Come on, that only happened once..." She jumped when she the heard the warning bell ringing and held a hand to her chest. "Well, I guess they're gonna be la-"

"Hello lovers!" Jack exclaimed as he bounced out of nowhere. He donned a pair of khaki pants and a light blue collared shirt, his backpack slung over his shoulder. Karen strode up behind him, her long hair falling to her waist, an oversized Alice In Chains shirt on her shoulders, and ripped jeans covering her legs with a pair of converse completing the ensemble.

"Oh Grace," Karen scrunched up her nose, giving the taller girl a once over. "What are you wearing, honey?"

Grace gawked. "I could say the same to you!" she exclaimed as she gestured to Karen's outfit.

Karen shook her head with a sympathetic sigh. "At least I have a style. It looks like three different outfits threw up on you."

Grace pouted and looked to Will for reassurance. "You like what I'm wearing, don't you, sweetie?"

Will frowned and opened his mouth to answer when the final bell rang. "Oh! Gotta go!" He ran off down the hall towards the classroom without answering her while Jack and Karen giggled.

During lunch, the foursome sat together at a table in the busy cafeteria.

"So where were you guys this morning?" Grace asked casually before biting into her egg salad sandwich.

"Oh, Karen had to-" Jack began to speak, but a swift kick to his shin from Karen under the table shut him up quickly. He grimaced and tried to discreetly rub his throbbing leg. "Uhh, traffic."

Will and Grace shared a look, but said nothing more on the subject.

"So, what does everyone have planned for the weekend?" Will opened another topic.

"Nothing on my plate," Karen shrugged, picking at her cafeteria food. She grimaced at the coloring of her meatloaf and decided to just eat her bread roll. "Like usual."

Around a mouthful of food, Grace spoke up. "I'm babysitting Joyce." She scrunched up her face and rolled her eyes at the mere thought, swallowing the lump of food in her mouth. "My mom has a play she's starring in," she used her fingers as quotation marks, "and she's forcing my dad to go so I'm stuck with the little brat."

Jack frowned, noticing Karen's lack of interest in her food, but also relayed his plans to the rest of the table. "Mother and I are going shopping on Saturday, but she's working the late shift at the hospital that night so I've got nothing else." He directed his attention to Karen. "You wanna come over and hang out?"

Karen smiled and pecked his mouth appreciatively. "I'd love to, Poodle."

"I'm free too," Will interjected. "I'd love to come over."

"Oh, me too!" Grace mumbled through another mouthful of her lunch.

Will frowned. "You just said you have to babysit."

"On Friday night."

"We weren't talking about Friday night. We were talking about Saturday."

"You said weekend plans. That includes Friday!"

"It does not!"

Karen sighed and stood up from the table in annoyance. "You guys aren't invited anyway," she said with a huff.

The pair looked up at her with a matching frowns. Will pointed to Jack as he spoke. "It's his house, he can invite who he wants."

"You're not invited," Jack deadpanned and then looked back at Karen who was fishing a pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go smoke under the bleachers." She smacked the pack against her palm repeatedly and then nodded her head in the direction she was intending on going. "Ya comin'?"

Jack stood from the table and threw his trash on the tray, picking Karen's tray up as well. "See you guys later," he said to the couple. He walked the short distance to the trashcan and threw their lunches away, setting the trays on top before coming back to Karen.

"Wha-" Grace pouted. "We're seriously not invited?" Will looked equally offended.

"Aren't you two a couple?" Karen raised her eyebrow pointedly at Will who blushed severely under her gaze. "Shouldn't you two be making out on a basement couch in each other's houses or having pregnancy scares?"

Grace seemed to perk up a bit at the thought of making out with her boyfriend and looked expectantly at Will beside her, nudging his arm with her elbow. "She's right, we could go to the drive-in."

"Ew, what is this, the fifties?" Jack spoke up, putting his hands on Karen's hips as she began to lead him away. "Heteros are so gross."

Jack watched Karen light up a cigarette and take a long drag as they sat under the bleachers next to the football field. He studied her quietly, noticing the dark circles under her eyes and slight gauntness of her cheeks. Her normally bright green eyes were now a shade darker, a dullness covering the happiness that rarely lurked beneath. He wished he could take all of her troubles away. He harbored a mutual hatred for her mother, disgusted with the way she was treated by her and her boyfriend. How could they not see the angel that hid beneath all the sarcasm and harsh façade? How could they hurt the most amazing girl he had ever met?

"I'm not going to talk about last night," she said dryly as she tapped her cigarette, watching the ashes fall to the concrete beneath her feet.

Of course she knew what he was thinking, she always did. Jack bit his lip and raised his arms above his head, holding tight to the support beam above him that held the bleachers up. "But you know you can talk to me," he said. "About anything. You know you can come to me whenever you need me, right?" He watched her roll her eyes and nod.

"Did I not crawl through your window at eleven pm last night?" she replied sarcastically before she took another drag. "I know I can come to you, honey." Her voice dropped a pitch lower, barely above a whisper. "You're the only one I can go to."

Jack let one of his hands drop from the beam and he reached his arm out, his fingers wiggling in her direction until Karen grabbed his hand with a smile. "I love you, Bear."

The faint sound of the school bell ringing in the distance signaled that lunch was over and they were to head to their last few classes of the day. Karen put out her cigarette and blew the last of the smoke out of her mouth, squeezing Jack's hand. "Walk me to class?"

"Of course," he grinned, tugging on her arm before they crawled out of the bleachers.