Author's Note: Back to the teenagers for this chapter. Hopefully enjoyable. As always, review and I'll love you forever.

"So, have you thought of an excuse yet?" Vera sat down heavily, heavier than should have been possible with her small frame, in the seat next to me, already eyeing her food like a wild dog.

"Yeah, actually," I replied. "The whole Adrian thing is paying off in more ways than one. I told them we're studying Friday."

"Your parents always did like him," Jayne put in.

"Perfect," Vera smiled in excitement.

"Not quite," I said. "they're still not gonna let me drive. His house is too close by. So you'll need to pick me up down the street."

"Eh, that's gonna be a problem," I raised an eyebrow, and Vera continued. "My sister crashed our car. Or maybe it was my dad. I forget."

We simultaneously looked to Jayne.

Her face immediately melted into irritation. "C'mon, you guys, I hate going out on Friday. Getting all made up after working my ass off all day. Also, you know I suck at parties."

"Oh, we know."

She rolled her eyes. "Great job winning me over."

I put on my best look of innocence. "Please, Jayne, just this once? I'm stuck at home indefinitely. I need reason to brush my hair. You want me to keep brushing my hair, right?"

"That sounds like a personal problem."

She attempted to avert her eyes, take a bite of food, glance through her purse, but Vera and I kept her under our unrelenting stare.

Finally, she sighed, pursing her lips together. "Fuck it. I hate you. I'll pick you up at eight."

"I love you, Jayne."

"Damn straight," she gathered her things, threw away the remainder of her food.

"I'll see you later. Unfortunately."

m m m

Friday came, and I it was as though I could breathe for the first time since discovering my calculus grade.

"So, you and Adrian...?" Mom raised a curious eyebrow as I did myself up in front of the mirror.

"He's tutoring me, you know, so I can stay in soccer."

"And...?"

"And what?"

"Well, your dad and I met—"

"Mom, please don't."

"Okay, okay," she held up her hands in defeat, still smiling. "Call me when you leave his house, I wanna know when you're walking home in the dark."

"'Kay."

"And wear a coat. It's cold, for LA, at least."

"Fine," Not even her nagging could break my good mood. The anticipation of the party had me practically glowing, or so I hoped. I touched up my make-up and put on a dress and boots.

I didn't see dad downstairs, so I figured he must have been at the FBI. Yes, I did think there was some bad-ass points in having my dad and uncle working with the FBI, and had occasionally utilized the fact to intimidate irritants. But most of the time it just meant that most of my family spent a helluva lot of time at work.

Outside, it was indeed cold, but only by a Los Angeleno's standards. I walked a block down the street, turned a corner, and found Jayne's car pulling up to the curve with Vera in the shotgun seat. Vera was grinning maniacally, Jayne was still looking pissed off.

"I like your outfit," Vera said, as I slid into the backseat. "Very feminine."

"I don't know if that's an insult, but I'm gonna say 'shut up' anyway."

"Can we just get this over with so I can go home and watch TV?" Jayne whined. "And we're only staying two hours, by the way. I told my parents I'd be home by ten."

"Since when do your parents care? Weren't they in a band or something?"

She was silent for a long time. I silently cursed Vera for saying anything.

"My real parents are dead because they were in a band. Because they didn't give a shit about themselves or education or curfew," her voice lowered. "And maybe they did something great for a while, but it wasn't worth a heroine OD and drunk driving."

Vera glanced back at me. No one said a word, the only sound coming from LA traffic.

"That's fucked up," I said after a while.

Jayne's hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel. "No shit."

Even after all the injustices committed against me that week at the hands of my parents, at least I didn't have to say they were dead in a cramped car full of people who couldn't possibly understand.

We arrived at the party, the quiet still heavy on our shoulders. I didn't actually know the guy who's house it was, so I assumed Vera knew, but one look at the mansion told me it didn't matter if I knew him or not. Pool, terrace and wall of windows, overlooking the city. Yes, I might be able to enjoy this.