"I was in the other car."

My eyes widened as the world shifted around me. My throat closed up and it felt hard to breathe.

"My buddy and I…we were drinking. I knew we shouldn't have drove. We were in that car. I'm so sorry, Chelsea."

My ears were ringing. "Were you…the one…"

"I was in the passenger seat. I told him we shouldn't drive…I told him" The last part sounded like he was talking to himself. He sounded so broken, I almost wanted to comfort him. "When you told me how your parents died, I knew I couldn't see you again. The guilt is too much. I can't handle it. I'm so sorry."

I couldn't respond. I couldn't even think straight.

He slammed his fist against the door again. "And now you're suffering with their debt along with the grief of losing them. It's my fault."

"You…weren't driving." My tongue felt like sand paper.

"But I was stupid enough to let him drive!" He yelled.

The silence around us was thick; so thick it felt as if I were breathing underwater. I couldn't seem to focus. My mind was racing through a thousand things at once.

Vaughn was in the car that caused my parents death.

A part of me felt unbelievable anger towards him. Another part of me realized he wasn't the one behind the wheel and didn't deserve all my anger.

Most of all, I felt betrayed.

He realized the truth and kept it from me, leaving me to think I was at fault. He knew what he did, and he couldn't even admit it to me.

I finally broke the silence. "You…you let me think for weeks that I had done something to make you avoid me, but all this time you just didn't want to face reality? You didn't want to admit to me, or even yourself, what happened. That itself is almost as bad! You let me freak out over nothing just because you're a coward!"

He looked at me finally, his eyes wide. He look shocked, and somewhat scared. "But…"

"You jerk!" I cried, turning away from him. "You suddenly spring this on me after avoiding me for weeks! Then you have the nerve to coach me about my mistake about Spark before you drop this bomb? What the hell?"

"I'm…" He started in a whisper.

"No, Vaughn!" I spun around and marched up to him. "Don't you dare say it again."

He closed his mouth slowly, looking away from me.

I looked at my feet and took a shaky breath. "Look, I know you feel bad. But I don't actually blame you for their death. I…I was bitter for a long time. But after all the mistakes I've made lately, I've learned people make mistakes. And sometimes, those mistakes are life changing. So…I'm not angry at you for that. I just wish…I just wish you could have told me earlier."

He remained silent. The shadow of his hat hid his expression from me.

I tentatively reached out and touched his hand, causing him to turn his attention to me. I took another breath. "It's going to take me a while to accept this about you, but I don't want you to disappear again. I actually…I actually think you're a decent person and I want to be friends…or as close to friends as we can be, considering. I feel like you're a part of my life now, you know?" I looked up at him, wanting to see his expression. His face seemed blank at first, but his jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were screwed together. He couldn't look me in the eye.

After a long moment, he gave a slight nod.

We stood there for a while before I realized my hand was still on his and I drew it away. Vaughn took a step back and turned away from me.

"It's late." He said quietly.

I didn't say anything as I watched him leave and shut the door behind him. I don't know how long I stood there, but the chill in the air finally got through to me. I checked on Spark once more, and left to go home.

…

The next morning, after I finished all my chores and made sure Spark was okay, I decided it was time to pay Julia a visit. The previous night with Vaughn made me feel less pathetic and made me realize maybe not everyone would be pushed away so easily. I felt so stupid. Julia would never push me away over some baggage, and it took me until now to realize it.

Before I left to find her I gathered all my debt papers into my bag. I checked the animal shop first, but she wasn't there. Mirabella told me to check her usual places, so that's what I ended up doing. After almost a half an hour of searching, I spotted her on the furthest end of the beach sitting on a rock. As I got closer I noticed she was with a pink haired boy. I stopped dead in my tracks, surprised. Why was Elliot with her? Before I could turn around and back track, they noticed me. Julia stood up, facing me.

"Oh, Chelsea…" She glanced at Elliot, whose face flushed.

"Um…" I looked between them. "I just wanted to talk to you, Julia, but I can come back later."

"No, no no." Julia waved her hands. "It's fine. We were done talking anyway."

Elliot saw his cue to leave and quickly made an exit, nodding at me as he passed.

Julia and I stared at each other for a long second, before we both exclaimed "I'm sorry!"

"You don't have to be sorry." I told her before she could say anything else. "It's me who was wrong. I shouldn't have snapped at you. You were just trying to be a friend."

I walked over to her and sat on the rock, pulling out a few papers. Julia sat next to me, looking at me curiously. I handed her the papers and began to explain everything. I even told her about Vaughn, but I left out the part about him being involved in my parent's death. I didn't think Vaughn would like other people knowing. I just called the situation between us a 'misunderstanding'.

After I was finished, Julia suddenly hugged me. "Why didn't you tell us you were under such stress? We can help you!"

I shook my head. "I don't want anyone's help. Really."

She pouted. "But you can't do it on your own."

"Gee, thanks for the encouragement." I grunted.

Her face flushed. "Wait! I mean…"

I chuckled. "No, it's okay. I'm gonna try my best. That's what matters."

She sighed. "I'm so glad we patched things up. I was going crazy."

"Speaking of crazy, why were you with Elliot?" I nudged her.

She blushed. "I-I've been talking to him lately."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the day we…argued, I was running back home and he ran into me. Literally. He ran right into me and fell to the ground. It was terrible."

"That sounds embarrassing." I said, thinking of how Vaughn and I first met.

"Yeah, it was. But after it was settled, he noticed I was upset and we just started talking. And we've been talking since."

"Ohhh," I nudged her again. "Someone has a crush."

She laughed, and smacked me away. "Shut up."

We continued to talk for a while until the sun began to set. When we finally parted ways, she re-invited me to come for dinner anytime.

"Oh my gosh! I feel so bad. I never gave your mom those carrots…" I groaned.

"It's fine. She understands." Julia waved me off.

"Hmmm." I mumbled, thinking how I could make it up to her. I figured I could give her new carrots; more than before and better quality.

On my way home, I couldn't help but notice how much lighter I felt. It was like half my stress was lifted off my shoulders. Even though I learned something terrible about Vaughn, I now knew why he had been acting so weird. The thought of him sent a pang through my chest. I didn't know how to feel towards him.

A part of me wanted nothing to do with him after what he did. But a bigger part of me wanted the complete opposite. Something about him made me want to be closer to him. Who knows. I'm probably insane.

But I guess I'll just see what happens from here. Hopefully things will continue to turn around.

A/N: Hey everyone, I am posting this chapter early for two reasons.

One, To make up for my lack of updates.

And two, I'm going on vacation soon and I'm not sure when I will be able to update again. So I didn't want to leave you guys hanging.

I'll try to update one more time before I leave, but no promises!

Pleaseeee Review!