Author's Note: I do not have words to use to explain why it's taken me almost an entire year to update this. However, I've gotten my muse to write and I've been working on this story. I've got some more written for it so as long as my writing muse stays I should be updating this again soon. I will *not* promise anything though. Anyway, here's the next chapter.


Chapter Eight

Nicky tilted her head with a slow nod. "Don't hold it in anymore, Lorna. You're not alone. You have me and you can cry right now, right here where I can comfort you. Please, please, let it out. I promise it will feel better to let it out."

"But, Nicky, I'm really okay—see," Lorna responded, putting on a smile. A very broken, meaningless, smile.

"No, Lorna, you're not okay. It's okay to not be okay," she warmly assured her, brushing her fingers up and down her cheeks. "Please stop torturing yourself. You're safe with me, you don't have to be scared to share your true emotions with me. I just want to help you. You're a sweetheart, Lorna, you're such a sweetheart and I can't just let you suffer in silence any longer."

Her lips faintly trembled as she finally found words to speak. She slowly lifted her head and glanced up at Nicky. "What if someone walks in the bathroom and hears? Nicky, I don't want to be made fun of even more."

Nicky arched her eyebrow inquisitively at the comment. She placed her hands softly on each of Lorna's shoulders and looked gently into her eyes. "Made fun of even more? What? Baby, are you being bullied?" Blood boiled with rage at the mere thought of any of their classmates threatening and scaring Lorna in such a way. She took hold of one of Lorna's hands, squeezing it softly in her own.

"I-I…it's nothing serious, Nicky. Just—just ya know how people are. Just like to pick fun is all. And I just I don't want to risk one of those girls coming in here while I'm in the midst of a mental breakdown, ya know? I can't risk being the joke of this school."

"Nothing serious? Lorna, being bullied is fucking serious." Nicky tried to control the building rage; it wasn't meant for Lorna. And she couldn't let her emotions to boil over and scare the petite girl, who she knew was already so frail and fragile. "I'm sorry, kid, I shouldn't be yelling. I'm just fucking pissed that people are hurting you like that."

Nicky swallowed roughly when she saw how much Lorna's body trembled. Immediately acting, she wrapped her arms protectively around her waist and pulled her in for a warm embrace. "I know any person who thinks it's okay to hurt you is a piece of shit in my eyes. You're a sweetheart and it just fucking baffles me that anyone would wanna fucking bully you. Who—who is it? Who's doing this to ya, Lorna?"

Lorna shook her head. She knew telling Nicky the name of the culprit wasn't in her best interest. She couldn't let Nicky find out and possibly do something she'd regret. Instead, with a sniffle, she wrapped her own arms around the taller girl and finally let herself relax into the embrace. "Don't worry about it, please Nicky. Please don't worry about it. I shouldn'ta said anything, I'm so sorry."

"Baby, don't you apologize for a thing. You have done nothing wrong. You don't have to be sorry for anything, okay?" Nicky tenderly commanded, wrapping her arms tighter around the smaller girl and pressing a comforting kiss atop her head. "I have to worry about this, it's not okay. This is not okay, sweet girl. I need you to tell me who's bullying you, yeah? I refuse to let this continue. You're my sweet Lorna, now, I can't let anyone torment you."

"I-I just—Nicky, I don't want you to do anything that could hurt you. Please don't make me say who it is. I don't want you to be upset."

Nicky sighed softly, taking Lorna's head and placing it onto her chest. She rested her chin comfortingly over the top of her head while running a hand delicately through her brown waves. "See this is why I'm fucking sick to my stomach to know that you're being bullied. You're the fucking sweetest person I've ever met. I'm not upset, baby, not with you. Not because of you. Nothing is because of you, okay? I'm upset and angry that I didn't fucking figure this out sooner. That I wasn't there for you sooner, to protect you and keep you safe from all these other assholes in this shitty goddamn high school."

"It's really fine, Nicky. Please, let's just—can we just pretend this didn't happen and go back to being happy? I thought ya said we would skip morning classes today so we could hang out?"

The redhead silently grumbled; she didn't like the idea of just pretending everything was okay when it surely wasn't. However, she didn't want to risk the friendship they had so she reluctantly found herself nodding her head. "It isn't fine at all, kid. And I'm not okay with pretending it is," she started, framing her hands gently around Lorna's face. "But I did promise you we'd skip class this morning, so, let's go down to the nurses' office and get an excuse real fast. I'm not gonna forget about this conversation, Lorna. I just don't want to fight over it, because I can see how badly you need a friend and an escape from whatever else must be going on."


"Come on, ma, please just write us a note to get outta class this morning. I promise I won't bother ya for the resta the week if ya do this," Nicky all but begged the middle-aged, Russian, nurse.

Nurse Reznikov sucked in a deep breath, turning to focus her attention on the two teenagers who now occupied her office. She lowered her glasses and searched around her desk for excuse slips. "What is it that's so important that you need to skip class today?"

Nicky shrugged her shoulders and just looked up at the woman with an innocent gleam in her eyes. "Please? I mean there's not much going on in class today, it's not like we'll miss anything. It's just one time. What's the harm?"

The Russian woman slightly turned her head to glance at the younger teen. She narrowed her glasses. "What reason do you have to skip class? Has Nicky put ya up to this?" She wondered, looking her over meticulously. The brunette wasn't a student who she imagined would even consider skipping classes. However, being a high school nurse, nothing surprised her anymore.

"Uh, I, um, ya know—just a boring class," Lorna sputtered out, her cheeks flushing a faint pink. She never was good at lying, she knew. Her mother had always been able to tell when she wasn't being truthful with her words. It wasn't only the stuttering that would get her caught but also the way the skin of her cheeks would blush a pale pink color.

Nodding, Nurse Reznikov slowly reached into the drawer of her desk for a notepad and placed it on the top surface. She knew the younger girl wasn't being completely honest, however, she didn't feel like fighting the pair on this. She wrote out two excuses and handed them to each of them. Narrowing her glasses once more, she looked the pair over with a stern glance. "I have excused you both for your two morning classes since you have a doctor's appointment. This is it, don't ask me for another excuse for the rest of the month," she informed them.


The teens sat in Nicky's car as she drove them out of the school parking lot in lieu of their local coffee shop. Lorna held onto the handle that sat right above the passenger door while staring over at the redhead with piquing curiosity. "I didn't know ya had a car or driver's license," she pointed out, her eyes moving towards the dashboard and out the window, watching as they passed the entrance to the school and entered onto the freeway.

Nicky couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. She used one hand to steer the wheel and the other she placed on the arm rest that was situated in between the two seats. "Guess it pays to have a mother who puts her career first all the time—Marka pretty much threw money in my hands to get my license, so she didn't have to drive me to school anymore," the words came out with a slightly bitter after-tone to it. Mother was a title she didn't believe Marka Nichols deserved.

"Ya don't get along with your mom?" It stung a bit to say the word mom so soon after her own's passing. She had to really bite down on her tongue to keep her emotions in check.

The redhead shook her head with another small chuckle. Didn't get along would be an understatement, she told herself. "Not even close, kid. But that's just fine with me, I'm happily independent."

Lorna felt a pang in her heart for her friend. She couldn't imagine not having a close and loving relationship with her mother. She cherished every last second of the time she spent with her dearly loved mom. She swallowed roughly and the two remained rather silent for the rest of the drive. Her eyes focused on the scenery in front of them; she felt a slight rush of adrenaline—skipping classes wasn't something she ever did before, it gave her quite the rush.


The scent of coffee seeped out from beneath the entrance of the shop. Lorna smiled at the smell as she followed behind the taller woman inside the door. Coffee brought her a strong sense of comfort, especially now after the loss of her mother. Just its scent alone made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside as if it was Stansie Morello's way of telling her she's okay now. She stood next to Nicky, waiting in the line with her. There weren't too many people ahead, but it gave her enough time to figure out the coffee she was going to order.

Once they got up the counter, Lorna realized the barista on the other side just happened to be her older sister. She gulped and shifted her legs uncomfortably. The last thing she needed was for Franny to catch her skipping school. The palms of her hand became clammy with sweat; she hoped her sister wouldn't notice her.

"Yeah, hi, what can I get—Lorna? What are you doing here?"

Lorna swallowed anxiously, focusing her attention inside of her purse as she dug around for her wallet. She should have known there was no chance she could blend into the crowd of people so that the older woman wouldn't recognize her. "Just here to get a coffee for school," was her quick response that she hoped her sister would believe.

Franny folded her arms over her chest and stared across at her with a firm stare. Though her physical form may have shown some anger, on the inside it hadn't really bothered her to see her teenage sister there instead of in school. She knew it was an awful idea for Lorna to go back to school only a day after their mother's funeral. It flustered her to no end what their father was doing to her sister—that she had no control over it anymore. She sighed and nodded.

"What can I get you?"

The younger brunette grabbed a five-dollar bill from her purse and gestured her hand between both herself and Nicky. "I'll just get a vanilla latte with skim milk and my friend, Nicky, would like a black coffee, please," the words rushed out of her without any hesitation as she handed the money over to her sister. A bout of relief washed over her; she was thankful Franny didn't say anything more on the matter of her skipping class.

Once the two girls received their respective coffees, they went back to sit in Nicky's car. Lorna sipped her coffee savoringly and gazed over towards the other, a small smile on her face. She hadn't realized what a thrill it was to get a break from classes and just get away from it all for a while.

Nicky felt the other's eyes on hers and turned to stare back. "Thanks for the coffee, kid," she said, gratefully taking a sip of the much-needed caffeine latent drink. "So, that girl at the coffee shop—how do ya know her? Is she your sister or somethin'?"

"That's Franny, my older sister. I didn't even know she worked there," Lorna responded, taking another sip of her coffee.

The redhead nodded, intrigued by her answer. The more she got to know Lorna, the more she realized just how fascinated she was by her. "Are the two a you not close? Ya think she's gonna tell your parents about this?"

"We're close, she just has her own apartment now with her son, so I don't see her often. I doubt she will—she and my dad don't get along." Which was a strong understatement Lorna knew—Mr. Morello and Franny couldn't even handle being in the same room let alone get along. She silently sighed, longing for the days before her mother's cancer diagnoses. The days where her family was family. But, deep down, she realized those days were long gone and would never be back.