DISCLAIMER: See Prologue.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Phew, finally got this chapter up. It's not my best, but it is not from Jacqueline or Finn's POV today – nope, it's from Kristal's. I reveal a lot in this chapter (or, chapter part, really) but I hope you might feel a little more sympathetic towards her? I need this chapter to further the plot, but if I get a bunch of negative reviews, I might edit it a little bit. It should confuse you slightly, but you'll know (minor spoiler alert here) part of the reason why Kristal broke up with Finn. Also, I'm really tired tonight, so I'm not replying to reviews today. However, if you have a specific question, PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Seven (Part Two)

"Tony, how many times do I have to tell you that Mom is not going to let me come back home?" Kristal said, trying to sound exasperated but really was just holding back a sigh. By the Angel did she hate lying to him. Not that she and her brother were all that close, of course — the only person Kristal had ever been close with was Finn, and she had screwed that up, obviously — but it seemed like all she did was lie lately.

"Yeah, well, I think we should at least try," Tony said reasonably. "You obviously don't want to be at the Institute, right?"

Kristal looked at the palms of her hands, avoiding his gaze. She did want to be at the Institute, of course, but not because of the reason she was supposed to be there for. It made her feel incredibly guilty and sick to her stomach to think of why she was at the Institute at all again, but she pushed away those thoughts. She didn't want to think about that right now. "Right," she said after a moment. She lowered her voice. "I definitely don't want to be at the Institute."

"Well, I wouldn't think you would be," he replied, putting his arms behind his head as he reclined back on the subway seat that was bringing them back home to their penthouse in Brooklyn. "You broke up with Finn. I doubt seeing him every day would be all that enjoyable. 'Course, it's probably worse for him, seeing as you were the one who cheated on him—"

"Just shut up, okay?" Kristal interrupted, her voice sounding tired, though it attracted the stares of a few other people in their subway car, who immediately looked away once she had glared at them. "I don't want to talk about what happened with Finn and me, all right?"

"By the Angel," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes and staring out the window, but, thankfully, he stopped talking.

"You just don't get it," she murmured, but she doubted he heard her as the subway jerked forward and then backward as they stopped moving. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, she pulled her cell phone from her pocketbook and untangled her headphones, putting each in an ear and then her phone on shuffle, not caring what song came on — she just hoped it would drown out her thoughts and the feelings of guilt and pain that had been surrounding her ever since she had shown up at the Institute again.

But, unfortunately, the one song of about five hundred or so she had stored on her device that began to play was not one she wanted to hear. Quickly and with a certain amount of force, she switched off the sadly familiar melody of "Back to December" by Taylor Swift.

That song hit a little too close to home for her today.

—•—

Kristal's mother slammed the door to the office closed. "What are you doing here, Kristal?" she said, her voice deathly cold, in a tone eerily familiar to Kristal's own.

"Tony's been bugging me to come back here for the past few days," Kristal said in an even tone, rolling her eyes. "He seems to think that you'll 'let me come back home', but I told him I didn't think you would."

Her mother pulled at her dyed-blond hair, sinking into the cushions of their expensive couch. "You know why I made you go back—"

"Yeah, I sure as hell do!" she interrupted bitterly. "Don't you understand how much I hate lying to Tony? To Finn? Don't you understand how much I hate lying to everyone, Mother?" She narrowed her blue eyes, and spat out cruelly, "Just because you're too enveloped with your own little life, despite the fact that you've basically screwed it up anyway—"

"You shut your mouth right now, Kristal Johanna," her mother said, not understanding the fact that Kristal's sharp and cruel words would just keep on coming.

"No, you know what, I won't," Kristal continued, getting into full stride now. "You're the one who made me cheat on Finn and date Raphael — who I never even liked, by the Angel — and then you made me come back to the Institute because you're in lo—"

Her mother came up to her and slapped her across the face.

Kristal tried to keep her expression even, but her voice broke as she spoke. "You're ruining my life, you know that?" She didn't drop her gaze, but couldn't ignore the stinging she felt on her cheek. "I loved Finn and he loved me, and you made me — you made me just g-go and rip that away from him, when he was the only thing I ever really cared about."

Kristal bit down on her lip, shaking her head as she said, "And now I have to watch him finally try and fix himself after what I did to him and fall in love with that Jacqueline girl, which hurts enough as it is, but I love him so much that I'd rather it be that then have him be with me again, because he…" She trailed off. Because he shouldn't ever want to be with the girl who was too afraid to stand up for herself, the girl who was too selfish that she couldn't be with him.

"Because you don't think he deserves you?" her mother said, in a sickeningly sweet voice. "The girl who broke with him because her mother told her to?"

Kristal looked at her mother, the one who she had hated with all of her heart. "I'm leaving now," she said calmly. "I'll tell Tony you still don't want me to stay at home. Sound good?" She raised her eyebrows.

"That sounds excellent," her mother said.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Did you like it? I hope you all did. I'm starting to feel like I rushed that bit at the end, but I'm really tired and wanted to update, but hopefully you all don't hate it. I'm sorry for the lack of Finline, but this should reveal some more to you about Kristal. I've been awaiting this chapter for a while now, actually. That, and, of course, the first kiss scene – which I have all planned out, by the way.

Next chapter should be back to Finline at the beach, where they will go on the Jones Beach boardwalk. (Yay, I'm very excited for that!)

MY FAVORITE QUOTE FROM THIS CHAPTER: "Don't you understand how much I hate lying to Tony? To Finn? Don't you understand how much I hate lying to everyone, Mother?"

Somehow, I'm getting the vibe that you guys won't like this. I don't know – I don't usually feel this way when I post – but hopefully I'm taking a risk and it will pay off. If not, well, I'll edit. I can always edit. :) Please review, though! I would really appreciate your feedback on this chapter!

Hope everything's going well!

Love you all,

-Mimi