The sun had finally appeared as the final bell rang. Craig walked quickly outside to wait for Chloe, only to find her sitting in the warm grass next to Ashley. When she saw him coming she picked up her black messenger bag and kissed Ashley's cheek, then moved out on the sidewalk to join Craig.
"Hey Chlo." He spoke, taking her bag and slinging it over his own shoulder.
"Hey Craig." She replied, kissing his cheek and grinning madly. The two started to walk down the street. Chloe waved to Ashley a final time before they turned the corner out of sight. They quickly came to a small plot of trees and settled together in the grass.
"So." Chloe spoke, picking several daisies and beginning to plait them together.
"So." Craig replied, watching her hands move quickly over the stems.
"I'm going to get right to the point. Why are you still living with your father?" She asked, pausing her work to lock eyes with him. He quickly shifted his gaze to his own daisy, which he was now making short work of. She waited a moment before reaching out and stilling his hands. "Craig."
"He's my father, Chlo. He's all I've got. I haven't got anywhere else to go. Joey doesn't want me, now that Mom's gone. Dad loves me. Sort of." Craig replied, eyebrow furrowing as he tossed the flower to the ground. Chloe was suddenly livid. She reached out her hand again to gently grasp his wrist. She used her other hand to push back his sweater sleeve to reveal a budding blue-black bruise which looked as if someone had grabbed him a bit too roughly. Craig quickly pulled away and covered it again. Chloe shook her head.
"Is that how he shows you he loves you, Craig? By hurting you?" she asked, trying again to capture his eye.
"It's the only choice I have, Chlo. You just don't understand. I don't want to talk about it anymore." He spoke, effectively putting an end to the topic.
"Fine. How's Angie?" She asked, finishing up her daisy wreath and placing it on top of Craig's almost-curls. A smile blossomed across his face and he reached into his bag to pull out a binder.
"She's great. She's getting so big; I go see her whenever I can. It's so much easier since we moved back." He explained, pulling out several pictures he had printed of her. She shared Craig's shiny hair and bright smile.
"She's adorable. You two look so much alike." Chloe replied, handing him back a picture of her on a swing. A sudden thought crossed Craig's mind.
"You want to go see her?" He asked, standing quickly. Chloe nodded and accepted his helping hand. They gathered up their stuff and set of toward the playground. When they arrived, Angie quickly noticed her older brother and raced to meet him. He quickly put down the bags and his camera to catch her as she flew into his arms. They hugged for a moment and then he put her back on the ground.
"Hey Ang, do you remember my friend Chloe?" He asked, and Angie smiled quietly. She quickly shook her head, struck with sudden shyness. "Well, she's one of my best friends in the whole world."
"She's pretty." Angie finally spoke. "Craig's pretty too. He looks like a princess."
"A princess?" He asked, and Chloe began to laugh. Suddenly he remembered the daisy wreath resting on his head. "Oh! You mean because of my royal crown! Well, how would you like to be Princess Angela?"
Angie nodded vigorously as Craig knelt on the ground in front of her. She giggled as he removed the crown from his own head and placed it on hers. Hers was quite a bit smaller, and so it slipped forward over her eyes. Craig laughed as he tipped it back. Suddenly, from across the playground, a voice called out.
"Angie! Time to go!" Craig looked up to see Angie's babysitter coming towards them. Craig kissed her cheek and stood up.
"Gotta go, Ang. I'll see you again soon." He told her, starting away quickly.
"Okay Craig. Bye Chloe!" Angie called after them, waving as they started back down the street. Once they were a safe distance away they stopped and Chloe tilted her head questioningly.
"Afraid of the babysitter, Craig?" She asked, watching as Craig caught his breath. He looked at her for a moment before continuing to walk. "Let me guess. Your father doesn't want you seeing your sister."
Craig shook his head and walked faster down the sidewalk. They walked in silence until they reached Chloe's house. Standing on her front porch, he looked over at the house he used to live in, back when his parents were still together. Things were a lot simpler then, his father wasn't so stressed all the time. He stood there for a long time, deep in thought, before Chloe kissed his cheek and took her bag from off his shoulder.
"You should get home, Craig. It's getting late. Unless you want to stay for dinner, that is."
Craig thought longingly for several moments about joining the Davidson family for dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson had always treated him like a son, and he enjoyed eating at their house. In the end, though, he forced himself to shake his head.
"No, Dad will worry." He replied, starting back down the stairs toward his own house, which happened to be four streets away. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Chloe nodded and waved a final goodbye before entering the house and leaving him alone on the street. He quickly made off toward home, cutting through several backyards and finally arriving at his back door.
He tried to be quiet as he pushed open the screen door and entered the kitchen. Unluckily for him, however, his father was sitting at the kitchen table. The room was dark, and Craig's heart was beating wildly. He tried to play it cool.
"Hi dad. Sorry I missed dinner . . . " he began, dropping his camera and bag by the door and reaching for the light switch. His father was quicker than that, though, and grabbed his sore wrist before he even came close.
"I work all day to put food on the table, Craig, and for what . . ."
"Dad, you're hurting me." Craig spoke quietly, attempting to calm the growing rage of his father. He tried to pull away, but his father's grip only strengthened.
"Where were you?" he growled, pulling his son closer. Craig attempted to force his voice into light tones.
"I was catching up with Chloe. You remember, Chloe Davidson? She's back from France . . . " Craig's father nodded. "She said she's been writing me. I haven't been getting any letters. Do you think Joey might not be forwarding them?"
"I thought I told you never to mention his name in this house. What are you accusing me of?" His father asked, and Craig could feel the danger in the question.
"Nothing! Nothing, dad, I wasn't accusing you of anything . . . " Craig attempted to change the path of the conversation but was failing miserably.
"If I did withhold any letters it was for your own good." His father spoke, shaking Craig by the wrist and causing pain to shoot up his arm. He felt the anger swell up in him.
"My own good? You mean you have Chloe's letters?" he finally ripped his arm away from his father's iron grip. "You had no right to do that!"
"I have every right. I'm your father. Do not speak to me in that tone, Craig."
He tried to move out of reach but his father grabbed him again. Gripping him by the back of the neck, Craig's father pulled him roughly upstairs and tossed him into his room. Craig landed on the ground in an untidy pile, making an awful crashing sound.
"Don't miss dinner again." He growled before slamming the door. Craig stood quickly and tried to open the door again. Even though the door locked from the inside, some moronic architect had designed all the doors in the death trap of a house to open out, so a chair lodged under the doorknob could prevent the door from opening. After a moment's struggle he gave up and collapsed back onto the bed, rubbing his wrist. He eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

"I can't believe you danced with him!" Manny cried, flopping down on Emma's bed, where Emma herself already lay. Emma pushed back a stuffed animal that had fallen on her head and sighed contentedly.
"I know, Manny. And he remembered me, too! I knew there had to be something good that would come out of having grade nines' at Degrassi!" Emma cooed, turning over to face her friend. "Not that it matters, I mean, I still like Sean."
"Yeah, of course. What about me, though? Couldn't you just picture us together?" Manny asked, eyes growing dreamy. Emma frowned quietly.
"You like him?" She asked, catching herself before she said more. Manny thought for a minute.
"Yeah, I guess I do."