Hello!...This is an author's note. I just wanted to apologize for the slow progress of the story. I am a little bit busy, but I'll try to get the chapters out as soon as I can. However, the main reason I write is to improve my writing, so any advice you have would be greatly appreciated :) On to the story!

She had messed up. Kory berated herself over and over again. Now she couldn't get the smell of his cologne out of her head, the simple joy of being with him, the exhilaration of sitting behind him as they darted through traffic. She groaned and buried her head in her hands. She had been doing so well and now this. It had barely taken three seconds for her to pour her heart out to him and then get lost in him again. She. Had. Messed. Up.

After about an hour of knocking her head against the wall, Kory forced herself to dial her parents.

"Hello?"

"Hello, mother. How are you doing?"

"Fine, my bumgorf, and you?"

"I am fine as well. I wanted to speak to you about Koma."

"Oh no. What has she done now?"

"No! It is nothing like that. She..." Kory prayed she'd be forgiven if this lie was ever found out. "She has been better about her studies. She hired a tutor and has also purchased several books to aid her in her school work. She mentioned to me that you were afraid her expenses were for...other things."

"Well, yes. It would be very like her to spend money frivolously. Now that we see how comparatively little you spend, your father and I have been questioning her use of the money we have given her." Her mother's voice took on a skeptical tone. "I find it very suspicious that she has supposedly decided to focus on academics."

"I understand." Kory was clenching her fist so hard she was sure her nails would draw blood. She knows! "Perhaps college is changing her for the better."

"I hope so, my bumgorf. I truly hope so." Her mother sighed. "Your faith in her is enough to convince me. I look forward to better news about her."

"I...I am sure that we will hear it, one day."

Kory tried to keep the conversation going, but felt so much like crying for betraying her parents that she cut it short as gracefully as she could. She had to figure a way out of this disaster. She couldn't live like this.

But no matter how hard she thought on it, she felt stuck. Koma had put her between...was it a fire and a saucepan? Perhaps she could go to her sister's apartment and search for her room key. She would have to do it when Koma was away, which was completely unpredictable. Koma didn't even attend class all that often. And it could be anywhere. What else?

She was still lost in thought when Gar knocked at her door. "Hey Kory! Rachel texted me and told me to come over. Thought she might be planning some kind of surprise party for you, but I guess not. When's your birthday, anyway?"

Grateful for the distraction, Kory smiled and let him in. "Hello, Gar. My birthday is in July. It is quite strange that Rachel should tell you to come here while she is on a date with-"

At that moment, the door swung open again and Rachel entered, her head bowed. Kory could barely make out her friend's face through her curtain of hair, but when she brushed it aside for a split second, Kory could see tears streaking down her cheeks.

"Rachel!" Kory leapt up immediately and smothered her friend in a hug. "What is wrong? Are you unharmed? What happened?"

Gar, for once, was silent. His face was pale, like he'd seen a ghost. Kory could understand; it was extremely disconcerting to see Rachel show any sort of emotion. He only managed to place a hand on her shoulder, partly because of shock and partly because Kory was currently covering most of Rachel's available surface area.

Rachel pushed Kory back a little bit and haltingly narrated the events of the night. "He had all his friends there and...one of them started shooting up. Then everyone did, even him. I didn't know...he told me to do it, and of course I said no...so he tried to convince me and I told him he was full of shit. He got angry...they all got angry. They just kept telling me I was a freak, over and over again." Her voice shook. "They were pulling at my hair and my clothes. They said I looked like...with my..." She pulled at a lock of her hair. "And that I didn't deserve...that I should get used to it because I wouldn't fit in anywhere else...I didn't know if I would be able to make it out of there. But I did. And I just needed..." Rachel looked up at them, her eyes still red and watery, silently begging for help.

"Oh, Rachel..." Kory hugged her again, rocking from side to side like she was calming a baby. "I am so sorry. But we are here now. We will not let them harm you." Rachel buried her face in Kory's shoulder.

Gar's voice cut the air like steel, with more bitterness than Kory had ever heard it hold. "I'm going to kill this guy." The girls broke apart and turned to him. He was seething, his eyes nearly bursting with flames. "I swear, I'll step on his face and-"

Rachel shook her head. "Leave him...He's ruining his life with heroin. I just...wanted to be with friends."

That calmed him slightly. "You are with friends. You fit in with us." He took her hands. "Don't let anyone tell you that you don't."

He honestly wasn't trying to seek her out. But her red hair really stood out in a crowd, and she stood a full head taller than most other girls. Not that she was standing right now. She was sitting outside of a classroom, simultaneously trying to write in a notebook and eat her lunch.

"Kory?" Richard's heart leapt at the momentary brightening of her whole demeanor when she heard his voice. "Do you mind if I join you?"

From the immediate quashing of any brightness she might have let herself reveal, yes, she did mind, but she only paused before saying, "No, not at all."

He sat down next to her and dropped his backpack to the ground. He'd only stay for a minute, or so he told himself. "How are you doing today?"

"Much better, thank you for asking." It wasn't genuine. "How...how are you?"

"I'm okay. Just thought you might want to know...that helmet you were wearing yesterday? A bird left you a little present on it while we were riding. I saw it as soon as you left."

Kory's eyes widened in shock before she giggled. "Really?"

"Yeah. It was a ton of fun to clean off." Her giggled erupted into full-fledged laughter. "But frankly, I'm glad it was you and not me. I didn't have a helmet to keep that stuff from getting in my hair." Richard loved her laugh, so sincere and pure and lovely. He desperately searched for something else to say to keep it going, but came up short.

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "That is unbelievable." At least her smile remained in place.

"I know." He had to go. Otherwise things would get awkward, and she would shut him out again. It was just so difficult to leave her. "Just thought you looked like you needed cheering up. Anyway, I'm going to go get something to eat. I'll see you around."

"Oh." Again, she struggled to hide how crestfallen she was. "Yes, I will see you. Thank you for doing the 'cheering up'," said Kory warmly. Richard was overcome with the urge to kiss her and hold her and tell her everything would be okay, that he would figure out a way to stop Koma from hurting her again...but it wasn't his place. Not yet.

Rachel was definitely having trouble coping. She was reluctant to discuss Malcolm at all, and though Kory tried very hard to talk to her about it, Rachel bristled at any attempts by her roommate to bring him up. So they sat in strained silence, both pretending to study and neither actually doing so. Kory continued to punctuate it with assurances.

"Rachel, you must not think this a reflection of yourself-"

"Kory, please. Stop."

Silence.

"I know it must feel horrible when someone you care for-"

"I swear, Kory-"

There was a knock at the door, and Kory opened it to see Gar on the other side. "Is Rachel here?" he asked her. Kory nodded but stared, bewildered, at the large Santa hat he was wearing. It sat misshapenly on his head, nearly covering his eyes. Gar did not answer her unspoken question and instead pushed past her. "Rachel?"

Rachel turned and looked at Gar with the same confusion. "What are you wearing?"

Gar plucked it off without another word, and both girls gasped. His messy blond hair was now a dark forest green.

He had not dyed it well. Green splotches on his forehead and the back of his neck spoke to how recently he had done it, and some blonde strands peeked out of hard-to-reach places. Still. It was green.

"I just...didn't want you to feel like you didn't fit in with us," he mumbled awkwardly. "I think you're a pretty cool person."

Not even a breath could be heard after his revelation. Kory stood behind him, both hands covering her mouth. Rachel's eyes were wide with shock. Gar just stood there, nervously awaiting a response.

In a sudden movement, Rachel had gotten out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Gar's neck. Shocked, he embraced her back reflexively.

"This is...the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me," she murmured into his neck. "Thank you."

After her recovery, Kory could hardly contain her joy. "Gar! This is wonderful! You look like the Oompa Loompas from the movie concerning chocolate!" She wanted to say more, but could only squeal in delight. So she joined the hug, making it significantly harder to breathe for the other two parties.

They wrestled their way out of it as their lungs started burning. "You do look like an Oompa Loompa," Rachel observed, a small smile playing on her lips. "They were always my favorite characters."