"Knock, knock." Tommy said as he tapped on Lil's bedroom door.

"What do you want?" Lil answered, a little irritated, though it sounded like she was sobbing.

"Um...May I come in?" Tommy asked.

"I guess so."

Tommy opened Lil's door and walked in. Her walls were painted pink and she had a white carpet covering her whole floor. Lil's room was always clean and organized, so much not like Phil's.

Lil was sitting up on her bed. Her eyes were red and a little puffy from crying. Tommy figured there was more to the tears than the impression her outburst had left everyone with.

He cleared his throat.

"So...um...Are you okay? I mean, I wanted to check up on you because you seemed a little upset downstairs." Tommy wanted to kick himself. Of course she wasn't okay. Obviously something was bothering her.

Lil nodded.

"Yeah. I'm okay." She smiled at him.

Tommy's heart wanted to melt. He loved the way she smiled. He pretty much loved everything about her. He loved the way her long, brown hair framed her face. He loved the way her hazel eyes sparkled whenever she looked at you. He loved her sweet, high-pitched voice. And he loved the sweet, caring person that she had become.

Tommy could go on and on about what he loved about Lillian Deville. But no matter what he said he loved about her, he would deny time and time again that he had any feelings for her other than just friends. It wouldn't matter what way you put it, it just wouldn't seem right to have romantic feelings for someone you've known since you were in diapers. Plus, even if he did, he knew Phil would kill him.

"If that's all you wanted to know, Tommy, you can go back downstairs to the party. I'm just going to chill up here for a little while." Lil told him sweetly.

"Actually, Lil, you ran upstairs before I had time to give you your birthday present."

Tommy handed Lil a small gift.

"Tommy, you didn't have to get me anything." Lil said quietly.

"I know...I know. But, I wanted to. I got Phil something, too."

Tommy sat on Lil's bed.

"So, are you going to open it?" He asked her.

"Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry."

Lil opened up her gift and gasped when she saw what was in the box. It was an emerald and sapphire studded necklace on a silver chain.

"I remembered when we were all walking home from school one day..." Tommy started nervously. "And you said that you would give anything to have that necklace but you would never have enough money to buy it. I just thought that..." Tommy's voice trailed off.

Lil's eyes started to tear. In her whole life, no one had ever done anything like this for her.

"Tommy...I...I can't even begin to imagine how much this cost you. How did you get the money?"

Tommy was too embarrassed to tell her that he had actually been saving up for that necklace since the day she had mentioned that she wanted it. He had even sacrificed the money he was saving to buy a new camcorder.

"I have my ways." He grinned.

"Tommy...thank you. It's beautiful."

She gave him a hug, and they stayed like that for a full minute before Lil said:

"I should go try them on in the bathroom. I'll be back in five minutes."

Lil went off to the bathroom and left Tommy alone in her room.

Tommy stood up, and was about to go downstairs, when something caught his eye. Something was peeking out of Lil's pillow. He knew he shouldn't snoop, but it was really bothering him. He lifted her pillow to see what it was. Tommy realized it was her diary. Lil had left it open on a certain page. Tommy was never the person to violate another person's privacy and he was just about to put the pillow back down when one word in particular caught his eye. He decided to read the excerpt:

8-17-03

Dear Diary,

Today is the day after mine and Phil's birthday. We turned fourteen. But that's not the part I'm writing about. Something happened today that will change my life forever. Brett took me out for a birthday dinner and a movie last night. That jerk made it look like he was being sweet. As he was walking me home last night, he started fooling around by slipping his hands up my shirt and touching my breast. I told him to knock it off and he did. But then he starting again, getting more aggressive. I told him he had better stop and he asked me what would happen if he didn't. The next thing I knew, he picked me up and brought me into an empty ally way. That's where it happened. That's where Brett raped me. I can't write much more about it right now because every time I think about it, I start to cry. But I'd rather kill myself than have anybody find out. They'd all think I was sick. They'd think that I wanted this to happen and that I was some type of slut. Truth? I wanted to wait until I was married before I had sex. And I definitely didn't want it to be Brett. My parents can never know. None of my friends. Not even Phil. I wish this never happened. I hate Brett. But more than anyone, I hate myself. I cannot believe I let that happen. But, I have to go. Someone's coming. I'll write you later.

Tommy flipped through the pages of Lil's diary. He noticed that was the last time she had ever written in it.

It took everything Tommy had to keep himself from throwing things in Lil's room. How could she keep this a secret from him? From anybody, for that matter? Lil was raped and she didn't even do anything about it! He understood now why she was saying those things in the porch. It was the anniversary of when Brett had... Tommy couldn't bring himself to say the word. He was going to hurt Brett. No, better yet, he was going to kill him. The thought of one of his friends being abused like that just tore him apart. Especially Lil. HIS Lil.

The sound of footsteps coming toward the room interrupted his thoughts. He carefully placed the diary back underneath the pillow. He forced himself to act normal. As though nothing had changed since Lil had just left. But that was far from the truth. The fact was, everything had changed within those last three minutes.