So last chapter Mich found out a few ugly truths about Frollo and started thinking of a way to help. This chapter, she puts her plan into action, finds some mysterious letters for Quasi and the girls get her thinking out her relationship with him.

Read on, and then go and listen to Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' and Meghan Trainor's 'All About That Bass' if you haven't already, cuz they are awesome songs :)

Just a small town boy and girl
livin' in a crazy world.
Tryin' to figure out what is and isn't true.
And I don't try to hide my tears.
The secrets or my deepest fears.
Through it all nobody gets me like you do.
And you know everything about me.
You say that you can't live without me.

That I'm only up when you're not down.
Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground.
It's like no matter what I do.
Well you drive me crazy half the time;
the other half I'm only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.
And I'm only me
Who I wanna be
Well, I'm only me when I'm with you.

'I'm Only Me When I'm With You'- Taylor Swift.

My parents were fine with me sleeping over Dez's house to help her with homework. Creative writing, I told them. She has an assignment due Monday and needs my help, I told them. No matter how many times I did it, I always felt so guilty after lying to my parents. But I justified it by saying it was for the greater good. I would tell them everything when it was all over. Maybe.

As for Dez, I had to have an excuse to come over, so for a while we actually did do homework together. I helped her with her stuff, since I had already done it the year before, and I pretended to have trouble with mine and got her to help me. The whole time, I was dying of impatience, waiting for night to come so I could sneak out.

After homework, dinner, a movie or two and about an hour of truth or dare, Dez fell asleep. I grabbed my jacket and my cheap, ebay knock-off of a tablet, shoved my feet into some slippers and climbed out the window as quietly as I could.

The night air wasn't as cold as it had been last time I had done this, and I appreciated the lack of icy air as I pulled my jacket around me. I stuck to the shadows, avoiding the streetlamps and trying to stay out of sight. Now that the nights were warming up, the neighborhood was going to become a little busier at night, and I didn't want any trouble. Not that I was scared. Oh no.

More like terrified.

I gritted my teeth as I passed the shops, all lit up like a stadium, and fought the urge to freeze in fear as a bunch of young Samoans clustered around a lamp in the carpark, their loud, obnoxious voices carrying across the road. I scuttled across the street as quickly as I could, but I couldn't completely escape their notice.

"Hey, pahlungi!" one of them hollered at my rapidly retreating back, and everyone else laughed, calling me halfheartedly as I disappeared from their view. They weren't that interested in me, I realized later. They were just being their usual loud, fun selves. They were probably a little bit drunk, too.

By the time I reached Quasi's street, I was worn out and agitated and spoiling for a fight. Just let any of those ax-wielding homicidal maniacs I knew were lurking out there try to do anything to me.

It should be said that the stress and tiredness were beginning to take their toll on my mind at this point.

However, I was determined to push through. After all, it was for the greater good. So I found the now extremely familiar house and fought my way through the battlefield of a yard to the one window with a light on and tapped on the glass, wondering if I could actually go through with what I had planned tonight.

"W-what are you doing here?!" The words were halfway out of his mouth before he even got to the window. Fear and annoyance fought across his misshapen face as he pushed it up and looked outside for a car he knew would be arriving soon."T-tonight? You kn-know this isn't a good night!"

"I know." I wasn't sure what I could tell him that he would let me get away with- with all the planning and such, I hadn't actually rehearsed what I was going to say to him.

"Y-you know you can't be here!"

I took a deep breath. "Do you trust me, Kaz?"

He blinked. "Yes, of course."

I tucked my tablet under my arm and laid my hands across his as they rested on the windowframe. His skin was rough and warm under my touch as I looked into his eyes. "Do you believe me when I say that I would do anything, anything at all, to make everything alright?"

"Yes." His voice was a whisper now, an echo through the dark.

"Well, then, believe me now when I say that I need to be here tonight, no matter what happens." He started to protest, but I pressed a finger to his lips to silence him. "It will be OK."

And those four words seemed to dry up all his protests. He believed me. He trusted me. And now I had to prove that yes, it would indeed be alright.

Now determined to follow through with my plan, I placed my hands on the windowsill and hoisted myself up and through the window as Quasi quickly moved backwards to accommodate me. I bounced onto the bed and sat up and crossed my legs, peering at him through the darkness. "Do you always stay up and wait for him?"

"No p-point in going to s-sleep if I'm going to be woken up again."

"Oh." I looked around, making sure there was somewhere I could go when Frollo arrived. The closet looked big enough. Hopefully I would fit... "Why do you stay here, Quasi? Why don't you just, I dunno, run away?"

"Where would I go?"

"Johanna's place?"

He shook his head emphatically. "Th-that would be the f-first place he would look. He would only f-find me again and then it would b-be worse."

"But you can't stay here forever. What happens when you finish school?"

"I don't know."

I thumped the bed angrily. "I wish I could help you run away. Hide you at my place or something. You don't deserve to live like this!"

"According t-to him, I do," he replied quietly. "I'm a burden to him. H-his life has been hard enough w-without having to look after a 'misshapen monster of a child.' He sounded like he was repeating something he had heard many times before.

I could hardly believe it. "Did he call you that?"

"A few times."

My mouth dropped. "That's it. I'm gonna kill him. I am going to kill him!"

"Mich..."

I held up a hand, refusing to listen to any defense he might have for his cruel father. "No-no-no-no-no, you are not defending him. He locks you away in your room, beats you, and calls you monster, which you seem to believe, and you expect me to be fine with that? Well you listen here, Quasimodo: you are not a monster. I don't care how many times you have been called that, it is just not true. You are kind, and gentle, and generous, and an amazing person. Your father is wrong, I hope you see that, because I do."

He was silent, his face averted from me in the darkness, and so I sat there quietly, waiting for something to happen. I had a sneaking suspicion that he might've been crying, but I didn't want to confirm it, so I just moved a little closer so that our knees were touching, and breathed in the cool night air.

It was a little while later, when I had started to fall asleep, gotten up to stretch and accidentally stood on something that Quasi had been working on- I think it was a piece of wood being carves into something- that lights suddenly lit up the dark street and danced across the bedroom wall. All at once Quasi was on the floor, trying to shove bits and pieces of what looked like his artworks under the bed, and so of course I helped. It wasn't until we heard the front door slam that he realized I was still here.

"You have to go." It wasn't a request at all this time. It was an order. An order I had to disobey.

Not that there was time for me to clamber out the window anyway.

I barely made it into the closet before the door swung open and a very drunk, very grumpy, very hypocritical policeman stumbled in and immediately fell upon my friend. I scrambled for my tablet, opened the camera and started recording, fighting back tears and nausea as I listened to the sound of Quasi being beaten and yelled obscenities at by someone who should've been his protector. I knew who the monster was in that house, and it certainly wasn't my Kaz. Hopefully what I did tonight would help everyone else see it too.

I only just managed to stifle my gasp of horror as Frollo shoved Quasi into the wall and aimed one last clumsy clout at the top of his head before he turned away and lurched out of the room. When the door had banged shut and the heavy footsteps were far enough away, only then did I trust myself to stand.

Except I blindly grabbed a shelf to help myself up and ended up pulling a box down on top of me instead.

"Damn it," I muttered, feeling around on the floor for whatever had fallen out and trying to put it back. The box with full of random things, memories and old toys by the feel of it, and I think I managed to put most of them back. Then, coughing from the dust that the box of stuff had been gathering before I disturbed it, I grabbed my tablet from the mess and crawled out of the closet.

Quasi was curled up and leaning on the wall where he had been chucked, arms raised protectively around his head. I felt my throat close up and my stomach tie itself into an anxious knot as I touched his arm and saw what that evil man had done to my precious friend. He immediately relaxed at my touch and I lightly pulled him towards me, and he let me put my arms around him, even though he must have been hurting all over. I just sat on the floor and held him for a while, listening to the echo of footsteps somewhere in the house, the creaking of the roof, the humming of cicadas outside and his ragged breathing, worn out from the latest damage he had received. I held him until his breathing became slower and calmer, and I breathed with him, slowly and calmly, in and out, in and out, even if I didn't feel like being calm.

Some time later, when I had helped Quasi to bed and was sure he would be alright for the night, I left. Night was beginning to turn to morning, and I was so tired I could barely think. I almost got lost on the way back, but eventually I found the right street and pretty soon I was tumbling, exhausted, into bed, still holding my tablet and wearing my shoes.

It felt like I had only just closed my eyes when Dez's cat woke me later that morning. I rubbed my eyes and looked blearily around the room, seeing only an empty bed next to mine. Dez was up, then. What time was it? I remembered my tablet then, and I turned it on to check the time. 9:30. Yikes. Almost everyone in Dez's family got up at 6. I pushed the cat off me and sat up and stretched, letting out involuntary little groans as my muscles warmed up a bit.

"Oh good, you're up." Dez stood in the doorway, holding a book and her laptop. I vaguely remembered her saying something about extra credit homework the night before.

"You slept in quite a bit. Mum's at work and Richie took Karen to grandma's, so its just us for a bit. What do you want for brekkie?"

"Um, raisin toast is good, thanks. I'll make it myself."

"OK."

When she was gone, I went over and closed the door and started getting dressed. It was then that I realized I might've brought home more than I had left with last night. There on the bed, where I had been lying, was a very thin envelope.

I must've picked it up with my tablet after the box fell, I thought, reaching for the object. Or objects, as I immediately saw that it was in fact 3 very thin envelopes stuck together. They were stiff and unopened, and, as I carefully separated them, I saw they were numbered. I was about to open the first one before I realized that they weren't my property and I should probably return them to their rightful owners. They might have personal information or something like that, and I had no right to read them... No matter how strong that urge was. So I slipped them into my bag and continued dressing, trying not to think about them anymore.

That weekend I decided to forget. It wasn't that I didn't care or didn't want to care, it was just that I needed a break. Everything had become so dramatic and crazy, and I just wanted a few days of peace. So I pushes the events of the previous night to the back of my mind and promised to not think of it at all.

And it worked, more or less. Instead of brooding on the continuing problems of Quasi's life like I usually did, I let myself have fun. Fun basically meant a Doctor Who marathon and decorating Dez's brother's bedroom with barbie dolls and flowers and raiding the kitchen for chocolate. By the time I was dropped back home that night, I felt refreshed.

The next day was Sunday, which we spent cleaning the house. You would think a household of girls would be able to keep the place clean, but no. Not us. We were probably the messiest people in the world. So after pointing what needed to be done, dad went to bed (work was being more stressful than usual lately) and mum ducked out to get some ingredients for dinner,which left me in charge of the girls and without any time to think about 'things', which suited me very well.

So it wasn't until Monday that I allowed myself to remember everything, including the letters I had accidentally swiped. I managed to remember to take them to school with me, but unfortunately my tablet stayed on my bedside table, forgotten until the last minute with no time to do anything about the video I had taken.

Oh well. At least I had the letters.

We met at the lockers that morning and walked into music together, side by side. Apart from my one question of 'you alright?' and his one answer of 'yes,' we were silent, and we stayed silent through class. I doodled in my notebook as Miss Basso outlined the requirements of our last assignment for the year and reminded everyone that the end-of-year concert was in a few weeks and that auditions were still open. I hadn't realized how close we were to the end of the school year. Thinking that it was funny that the program wasn't full yet this close to the event, I wondered idly if I should audition to be in it. I probably wasn't good enough. Mind you, I was getting very good at guitar thanks to Quasi, and on a good day my voice wasn't half bad... Maybe. I would think about it.

Lunchtime came around and we met up in the usual place. As we took out our lunches and guitars, I stopped to watch him as he eased himself into his seat and absentmindedly rubbed his arm, at what was obviously a sore spot.

"We can skip the music lesson today if you're not feeling up to it," I offered gently, breaking the silence that we had been keeping all morning.

"No, I-I'm fine," he stated, trying to sit up a little straighter.

Liar.

I bit my lip to prevent myself from insisting that we give it a rest today and instead got out my guitar. It blew my mind sometimes how unselfish he was. He hated showing any vulnerability and so he hid it so as not to bother anyone. He was in pain and probably would've liked to just rest, but he also knew how much I wanted to learn to play and so he forced himself to do it. I suppose it was true what people say: the saddest people always try their hardest to make others happy. Because they know what its like to feel absolutely worthless and they don't want anyone else to feel like that. And truthfully, I had gone through a period after my breakup with Phoebus where I felt like the most worthless person in the world, so I knew what it was like. It made me like him even more, just knowing what he was doing for me.

"Well, if you're sure you're up to it..." I trailed off, then continued when he nodded vigorously, "I have a song I'd like to learn next." I opened my laptop and after a quick search through my documents, brought up a page of lyrics and chords. "You know it- I told you about it ages ago. My new favorite song."

"E-Everything Has Changed?"

"Everything Has Changed," I repeated with a smile. "You think you could play this one?"

"It's a duet," he pointed out, glancing down the screen.

"Yeah, I figured you can teach me the first part and then play the second part yourself."

"I think I can d-do that..." He peered at the first line, then showed me the chord on his guitar. I copied him. Then he showed me the next, and the next, and we continued like this for the next 10 minutes, trying out chords and singing bits of the song when I wasn't sure how it was supposed to sound. By the time 10 minutes was up, I was playing the intro and comparing it to the song I had on file.

"You're getting better," Quasi commented when I had finished. "You're learning quickly."

"Thanks. I guess just have a great teacher, huh?" I stood up and threw my lunch rubbish in the bin, smiling when I got it in. My music wasn't the only thing I was improving. As I went to sit down again, I felt something stiff in my back pocket and remembered the letters I had promised myself to give back to him without reading. "Oh, by the way, I might've accidentally taken something of yours home with me on Friday," I said, pulling them out. The word 'Friday' seemed put a cloud over Quasi's face, but it quickly evaporated when he saw the letters. He reached for them slowly, and I handed them over. "I pulled a box on top of me in the closet and I must've grabbed them when I grabbed my tablet. What are they?"

"I...I-I th-think..." He turned them over, looking at the numbers, and opened the first one. Recognition flooded his face as he pulled out a folded letter, and upon opening it and looking at the name on the bottom, he looked positively overwhelmed.

"Are you OK?" I asked finally, desperate for some kind of acknowledgement. "What is it?"

"I th-think..." he stammered dazedly, trying to form the words, "Th-this is, ah..."

"Would you like some time alone?" I offered.

He nodded.

So I stood up, leaned my guitar against the desk and left without another word, hoping that once he had sorted everything out, he would tell me what was going on.

"Oh, look who decided to rejoin the land of the living!" Em grinned at me as I approached our old lunch spot and patted the spot next to her. "Sit down, stranger. What are you doing here?"

I nodded at everyone and sat down on a tree root. "My music partner is in dire need of some alone time to straighten out personal matters, so I've decided to come out and see what's up. What are you guys up to?"

"Nothing much." Dez exchanged a look with Bex and Em before continuing a little hesitantly. "What about you? Anything interesting happen lately?"

"Um..." Family secrets, Late-night rendezvous, mysterious letters... "Nah, nothing of interest."

"Oh. OK." She looked disappointed, like she knew I was hiding something from her and was sad that I wouldn't confide in her... which was probably the case, actually. I felt suddenly guilty about how little I was letting my friends into my life. They deserved to know the truth, didn't they? But how could I tell them what was going on when it wasn't really my business to tell? So I kept my mouth shut and decided to let everything play out in its own good time.

Unfortunately, the girls had other ideas.

"You look tired," commented Bex, watching me closely. It was a perfectly innocent observation, but it felt probing, like there was hidden meaning behind it.

"Do I?" I blinked a few times, wondering how bad it looked. I hadn't spent very much time in front of the mirror that morning, so I wasn't sure how much my late nights were taking a toll on my appearance. "I am a bit tired, I guess. You know how it is."

My friends were notorious for spending hours online at night, but in this case I don't think they had that in mind. Em sighed as if she was sick of beating around the bush and sat up a little straighter as she looked at me, watching for a reaction. "I guess I would, if I was the one sneaking out at night to do who-knows-what with who-knows-who."

I stared at her, unable to even pretend innocence. "What?"

She huffed in annoyance and gestured to the others. "C'mon Mich, cut it out. We know, OK? We know you sneak out at Dez's sleepovers to be with your boyfriend or whatever. Do you think we're stupid or something?"

"You left the screen open on Friday night," Dez pointed out quietly, "And you had shoes on in the morning. In bed. And grass on your pajamas. It was obvious that you went somewhere when I was asleep."

"And I remember waking up one time to find you gone," Bex piped up, twirling her hair as she tried to remember. "I thought you went to the loo or something, but you were gone for ages. I think I went back to sleep waiting for you."

"And plus, you really do look tired. Like, you have bags under your eyes. It's not a good look." That was Em, obviously. Trust her to point out the attractiveness of something, or lack thereof.

"So what's going on?" Dez leaned forward expectantly. "Where do you go? How long has this been going on? And why haven't you told us yet?"

I groaned and looked up at the canopy of branches above me to avoid facing their expectant stares. "Well if you must know, I've been visiting a friend."

"Quasimodo," Em said flatly. She snorted at the look on my face when I turned to her in surprise. "What? You must think we're idiots if you think we can't work it out. Of course it has to be him. He seems to be the only thing you care about anymore."

"You would care a damn awful lot too if one of us was having problems at home," I snapped. "I'm trying to help him. Do you know what it's like to have no friends and a difficult home life and no one to talk to?"

"Difficult as in... abusive?"

I stared at Em, wondering if she had suddenly developed telepathy. "What makes you say that?"

"He's scared of everything. I watch him sometimes and he's always jumpy and creeping around like he's walking on eggshells. Also, bruises. It would make sense if he came from an abusive home."

"And why have you been watching him?"

"Oh, that..." She glanced at Bex, who smiled sheepishly. "Bex kinda sees you two together, so I was trying to figure out what you see in him. I still don't know. I mean, he's nice, but not someone you're usually into."

I laughed incredulously. "Are you really saying that to me with a straight face? Have you even seen my favorite movies and TV shows? Edward Scissorhands, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Sherlock-"

"We all love Sherlock and Doctor Who!" Em interrupted. "What do they have to do with this?"

"But do you know why I love Sherlock? Because he's an outcast. And what about Doctor Who and Star Trek Next Gen? The Doctor is an alien, and Data is an android. Both love humanity but they're always on the outside. All my favorite characters are different or outcasts of some kind. Is it really such a stretch to believe I'd like someone different from everybody else in real life?" I paused, then added quickly, "That is, if I liked him that way. Which I don't."

"If you say so," said Bex, sounding unconvinced. "But you must care about him an awful lot. We hardly ever see you anymore, and you even go out at night to see him. As if you don't see each other enough already."

"He needs me, and I want to help him." I shrugged. "If you can't understand that, then I don't know what else to say to you."

"We want to understand." Dez sounded frustrated, and I didn't blame her. I would too, I guess. "But things have changed so much in the past semester that its hard to know what to think. You hardly tell us anything anymore! We hardly know this boy, but suddenly he seems to be the most important person in your life. You were always so afraid of people noticing you, but now you're one of the most talked-about person in the school and you don't care. You've squashed the biggest bully in the school, become some kind of personal carer and you've stopped talking to us, your best friends. What are we supposed to think? What are we supposed to do?"

The others nodded in agreement with her, and suddenly I realized how right they were. Things had changed so fast around them, and I was never around. Of course they were bound to be upset and confused! I would be too if one of my friends went and changed the world around me without any explanation! It was time that changed. I had to make it up to them, and that meant explaining a few things.

So for the first time in ages, I decided to trust someone else.

I told them almost everything, from our first conversation and shaky beginnings of friendship, to unwittingly becoming involved in everything and trying to fix things on my own. I didn't tell them the specifics of Quasi's 'family troubles' or difficult history, but made sure they knew that things were difficult and complicated. And they listened, as I knew they would. They paid attention and didn't interrupt and reacted in all the right places, and when I was finished I felt better for getting it off my chest. I never realized how heavy secrets could be until then, until I let some of them go.

"What are we going to do about it?" Em asked as soon as I had finished. That was why I liked her- she was always straight to the point and willing to help.

"Nothing," I answered her. "I don't want you guys to do anything unless I ask for it. He doesn't want anyone to know about this stuff, so don't tell him I told you and don't treat him any differently than you already do. Ok?"

"Ok." Dez sighed. "Thank you for telling us. We only want to help, and it's a bit of a pain when you keep secrets."

"I know." I scratched my head awkwardly. "And you're right. I have been spending too much time hidden away. I can kinda understand where the dating rumours come from."

"Are they just rumours though?" Bex sounded a tad bit too hopeful for my liking. "Are you sure you don't like him in that way?"

At my look, Em laughed. "I know, I know, it's getting a bit annoying, but it's a valid question." She sobered quickly and tapped my arm, speaking slowly. "Can you tell us with absolute certainty that you don't have feelings for him? Can you say that it is completely impossible? Think it through."

And just when I was about to tell them that of course I don't have feelings for him and I never will because I learned my lesson with Phoebus and don't want to get into anything like that for a long time, I stopped. Up until that moment, I had known exactly what my answer was to the question. The words were on my tongue, ready to be spoken, to firmly quiet their obviously ridiculous questions, but my mouth refused to move. Instead, my mind started to wonder if I was being entirely truthful with myself. And then I wasn't sure at all.

I had thought that I was safe from difficult feelings. I thought I had determined not to get into that again, because it only brought pain in the long-run. I had been so certain of myself and my heart until now. What had happened? Why couldn't I say with firm decision that was most certainly not, and never would be, in love with Quasimodo?

Curse my stupid heart.

The girls were starting to wonder about my silence, and I could almost see the cogs turning in their minds as they wondered if they had struck a chord. I wanted to laugh and tell them that they were way off the mark, and then change the subject to something less invasive and confusing, but when I finally opened my mouth, it was with a helpless shrug and a defensive tone. "I don't know."

"What do you mean-"

"I mean I don't know. I don't think I like him like that, but I can't say never. It might happen, but it might not. I don't know! Are you happy now?"

"I guess so." I could tell Bex was excited by the answer I had given her, and I wished that I could've said something a lot more concrete. But I couldn't. My heart was a mystery to me, and I didn't know if I would ever understand it.

The others looked like they were finished with the questions for now, so I stood up and brushed myself off, eager to leave. It wasn't often that my friends could make me uncomfortable, but this time in particular was really getting to me. "Good. I'm gonna go check on him. See you later."

I left before they could respond, wondering why life had to be so damn complicated.

Next chapter will reveal the contents of the mysterious letters. An idea of what they might be?

Don't forget to review!

And maybe check out the prologue for my Edward Scissorhands fic.