*dies* I was so blocked on this, so it's uber short. I'm not happy with it at all, but I'm not about to force myself to make it better, because then it will suck more. But, here it is...

-Chapter 21: No News-

Sunday, November 25, 1984--Thanksgiving Day

"Can I please switch seats with someone?" Lisa asked, trying to avoid glaring at her sister who was spending more time staring at her boyfriend, fiancé, whatever, than paying attention to her food and had just kicked her in the leg. She didn't care if it was an accident or not.

"Lisa, you know the seating arrangement," her mother answered. "Laura, dear, you're dripping gravy all over your shirt…" Laura blinked and looked down, turning bright red and rushing away from the table, nearly in tears from the embarrassment. Lisa just made a disgusted face and kept eating. This was definitely worse than last year. She sighed, pushing her plate away. "Something wrong, dear?" her mother asked, pasting a worried look on her face.

"I…I'm just not very hungry, I guess…" she answered, casting her eyes down and away.

"Can I…?" Todd started, looking over at Lisa's half-finished plate.

"No," Lisa answered quickly, turning a disgusted glare on her future brother-in-law. "I'll wrap it up and see if I can finish it later." Her mother simply nodded and smiled, silently telling her youngest that it was fine for her to leave the table. Lisa picked up her plate and took it back into the kitchen, covered it with plastic wrap and found a place in the fridge for it. "I'm going to my room," she commented as she passed back through the dining room, not even pausing to hear her mother's answer.

She passed her sister on her way down the hall. Laura didn't even meet her eyes as she went back to the table wearing a clean shirt. Lisa didn't care. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. She collapsed face-down on her bed and hugged her pillow. Her mother hadn't asked yet about what had happened at the school, but she would before the end of the day, she was sure. And then she'd have to reveal her crush on her tutor and the fact that her ex-boyfriend had blackmailed, tricked, and raped her. Lisa couldn't tell her mother those things. Not without bursting into tears at some point.

She had no choice. She'd lie. She'd say everything was okay, that nothing too out of the ordinary had happened. And hope her mother bought it. How likely was that, though?

Lisa sighed heavily and sat up, pulling her bag up onto the bed in front of her. She'd do her homework and try to keep her mind off of her problems. Pulling her textbook out, she opened it to the appropriate chapter, the one she and House would be covering when break ended. "This is impossible," she sighed, closing the book again. There was no way she'd be able to concentrate. Not once she started thinking about him.

How Lisa wished she had some way to contact him. But they'd never exchanged phone numbers. She sighed again and fell back on her bed again, deciding a nap before driving back to the school couldn't hurt.

Ugh...again, sorry it's short, but I will try my very hardest to get another chapter out soon...