Homeroom had officially started, but Lottie still chatted on about her apparently "non existent' love life. As cliche as it was, that was kind of all the news Lottie had. Other than the fact that Mr Lawson, the Math teacher, accused Avery of skipping school. Avery laughed at that...if only he knew. Sophia had to go to some extra-curricular debate club so it was just Avery and Lottie.

Avery wanted things to just calm down for a bit, but with her Mom's work that was kind of impossible. Her Mom would get so stressed about work, she didn't want to burden her with the fact that her nightmares were getting worse. Avery would usually end up sleeping next to her Mom, because that was the only way she could feel safe at night time.

Lottie and Sophia knew about what Avery's childhood was like, and they were close with Erin too - so they'd probably find out about what happened recently eventually. Lottie would always be there to calm Avery down from a panic attack, or call Erin when things were so bad that Lottie didn't know what to do. Sophia would always be there after, when Lottie was in another class and help stop attacks before they happened.

Avery was kind of the mediator of the group. She'd sort out arguments between the Lottie and Sophia, that usually stemmed from parties Avery wasn't allowed to go to. Avery remembered meeting Lottie when she was 15 and Lottie was 17. Avery was scared shitless of her at first, but Lottie pretty much just started making conversation with her and their friendship took off from there.

"So Aves, how's your Mom? I haven't seen her in ages." Lottie said. Lottie was Erin's secret favourite friend of Avery's. Lottie's home life wasn't great so she'd always be round at Avery's, to get away from the tension.

"She's fine." Avery said - not wanting to go in to detail about what happened. "She misses you. How's things at home?"

Lottie arched an eyebrow. "Eh. The step-monster seems to hate me. He only likes his actual child. Let's just say..if it's alright with you, I'll be round very soon." Lottie's step dad kind of had a thing against her. It was a mutual hate relationship.

"Always L, you can always come round." Avery said. "Come round tonight, there still some of your stuff at home." Lottie smiled.

"Thanks A." Lottie said, hugging Avery.

The day dragged on and Avery had a ton of work to catch up on, but her teachers weren't too concerned about it. Avery was pretty smart, she didn't need much input for her to learn. At the end of the day, Avery left the school with Lottie and walked out to the carpark, where Erin was waiting.

"Hey Mom." Avery said, getting in to the car.

"Hey girls. Nice to see you Lottie." Erin smiled. "How long you staying with us?"

"As long as it take for Step-monster to respect my existence." Lottie said, rolling her eyes and laughing.

"So...forever?" Avery joked and Lottie hit her on the arm.

"Ha ha very funny A." Lottie said. "No you can kick me out whenever you like."

"Lottie, you're welcome to stay as long as you need." Erin said, as they pulled out the school, making a mental note to check in with Lottie when she was alone. "Voight didn't need me for anything else so we can go straight home. Jay's going to be round and I think Hailes and Kim might drop round later too - is that gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, sounds great." Avery said.

Erin drove them all home and then they walked up to the apartment. Jay was already home when they got there, and Hailey and Kim would be over in an hour. Avery and Lottie went straight to Avery's room.

Jay looked up at Erin. "Is Lottie okay?" Jay asked. He'd been round when Lottie had been as well in the past.

"Yeah I think she just needs a break from her home." Erin said collapsing on the couch with Jay. "Hailey and Kim are coming over for dinner."

"Did they voluntarily sign up for your cooking or did you force them..." Jay laughed and Erin slapped him on the arm.

"I'm not THAT bad." Erin said.

"YES YOU ARE." Avery yelled from her bedroom. Erin gasped with faux outrage.

"AVERY LEONIE LINDSAY!" Erin yelled back.

"See, even our daughter agrees." Jay said, Erin smiled when he said 'our' daughter.

"Our daughter?"

"Yeah Er, our daughter." Jay said, before kissing Erin.