"Abby!" Kristy shouted, horrified. "What are you doing?"

Abby and Bart quickly pulled away from each other. Abby sat up, while Bart removed himself from the bed entirely, standing up and trying to smooth out his clothes.

"What the hell is your problem, Thomas?" Bart asked angrily.

"How did you get in here "Abby demanded, "I locked the door!"

Kristy rolled her eyes. "Well then maybe you should have hidden the spare key, which I use all the time more cleverly."

"You can't just come in here whenever you want, you know," Abby spat out.

"That is besides the point, and you know it," Kristy retorted. She turned to Bart. "Where's your girlfriend? Does she know about your extra curricular activities with her sister?"

Bart turned a dark shade of red. "She's over at the Kilbourne's watching a movie with Shannon. Please don't tell her," he begged.

"Get out of here, Bart," Kristy said disgustedly.

Bart turned to look at Abby, "I'll see you later," he mumbled.

Bart left the room, and Kristy could hear his footsteps pounding down the stairs, and then finally the front door slammed shut. She and Abby were now alone. Maybe it was the day that she had had, but Kristy couldn't find any compassion in her for her best friend. Weather she liked it or not, she was in attack mode.

"How could you?" Kristy shrieked.

"Are you mad because you used to have a thing with Bart?" Abby asked, confused.

"He's your sister's boyfriend! He just cheated on her with you! Don't you realize what you've done?"

"Okay, you need to chill out. It's not a big deal, we were just making out. As long as it never happens again, Anna doesn't have to know."

"Not a big deal?" Kristy asked, becoming frenzied. "Of course it's a big deal! You have to tell Anna right away! She has to know!"

Abby crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not going to tell Anna anything, and neither are you. You're my best friend, Kristy."

"Don't call me that! You don't deserve the right to consider me your friend at all. We are through, Abigail Stevenson!"

With that Kristy ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the house. She kept running until she was across the street and standing on the Kilbourne's porch. Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell. She knew what she had to do.

A few moments later, Tiffany Kilbourne answered the door. "Hi Kristy," she said, somewhat confused. Though Kristy was friendly with the Kilbourne girls, and even occasionally babysat for Maria, she didn't come over that often.

"Bart said that Anna was here watching a movie with Shannon. I need to talk to her," Kristy said, pushing past Tiffany into the entryway. "Where are they?"

Tiffany looked at Kristy strangely. "They're upstairs, in Shannon's room. You can go right up, I guess."

"Thanks Tiffany," Kristy yelled over her shoulder, rushing up the stairs. She was about to burst right into Shannon's room, but thinking better of it, she knocked instead. And knocked again.

"Coming," Shannon said from inside her bedroom. She opened the door, "Kristy?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"I need to talk to Anna," Kristy explained, stepping into Shannon's bedroom.

"Okay…" Shannon said quizzically.

"Hey Kristy, what's up?" Anna asked, confused. "Is this about Abby? Is she okay?"

Shannon sat down on the bed next to Anna, while Kristy remained standing, not quite sure what to do with herself. "It's about Abby. She's okay, but I need to tell you something. And you're not going to want to hear it."

"What is it?" Anna asked cautiously.

"I went to your house tonight to talk to Abby," Kristy stammered. Suddenly she wasn't so sure that she wanted to be the one to tell Anna this. But she had to finish what she had started. "I went over to talk to Abby," Kristy said again. "And I let myself in. Like I always do."

"Go on." Anna said, taking a deep breath.

"I found Abby with Bart. They were making out in her room."

Anna made a strangled noise, and collapsed into Shannon's arms.

"I'm sorry," Kristy said weakly

"Don't worry about it. It was the right thing to do- she needed to know," Shannon offered. "I'll take care of her."

"Thanks," Kristy said. "Bye Anna."

With that, Kristy left Shannon's room, and walked down the stairs and out the door, waving good-bye to Tiffany and Maria. She descended the porch, but stopped when she found herself on the sidewalk. She had left her own house less than an hour ago, and wasn't too sure if she wanted to go back just yet. The problem was that she didn't really have anywhere else that she could go.

Resigned, Kristy crossed the street and walked up her driveway. She couldn't really stay out too late anyway, she had school the next day. And she hadn't exactly told anyone where she was going when she left. Kristy went in the back way, in the hopes that she could escape up to her room unnoticed. Walking in, she noticed that the first floor was dark: a good sign. She second floor was quiet as well, the kids were either sleeping already or just settling down for bed. She quietly let herself into her bedroom, and once she was inside, breathed a sigh of relief.

She quickly changed into her pajamas and took her hair out its ponytail. Catching a sight of herself in the mirror she could tell that she looked horrible. She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth and washed her face, suddenly finding herself exhausted. Walking from the bathroom back to her bedroom, Kristy heard voices and stopped.

"Well what was I supposed to tell her?" She heard her mother ask, exasperated. "You know how stubborn Kristy is- she wasn't going to let up on me until she knew everything!"

"She's a child, Elizabeth!" Watson bellowed back. "Make something up to pacify her- it's not that difficult!"

"I don't want to lie to her anymore! I can't! I don't want my own daughter to hate me!" Elizabeth cried.

"Well what are we going to do when she starts talking to Sam about this? David Michael and Karen are going to find out for sure- then what are we going to do?"

Elizabeth's voice was slightly softer now. "Maybe it's time that all of the kids knew that truth."

"I can't believe you, Edie," Watson said disgustedly. "Do you really think that's an option?"

"I told you not to call me that!" Elizabeth shouted, "And yes, I do think that is an option. And so does my mother. She threatened to move out if I didn't tell Kristy the truth- and we need her around here!"

"For the love of God, Elizabeth, it's not like we can't get a maid. No more is going to come of this- you can tell your mother that. And I will personally have a talk with Kristy to make sure that she won't be spreading this around to her brothers and sisters, if she hasn't already. Do you understand me?"

Kristy felt her whole body stiffen when she heard the last part of Watson's response. She didn't want to talk to him about any of this, especially in the state that he was in now. She took a deep breathe and continued to listen.

"I just don't see why it has to be like this," Elizabeth said. Kristy could tell that she was now speaking through tears.

"Because I make the rules around here!" Watson sneered. "I'm going out for a drink- don't wait up."

Hearing this, Kristy darted into her bedroom and jumped into her bed, and pretended to be asleep. This was made difficult be the rapid rate at which her heart was beating- she feared that if anyone entered the room they would surely be able to hear it. She had left the door open a crack, but she could no longer hear what her mom and Watson were saying, although she could tell that they were still arguing. A few minutes later, a sliver of light entered her room, and she heard Watson open the door of the master bedroom and make his way downstairs. Leaping out of bed, she watched him back out of the driveway and make his way down the street. She followed the lights of his car until he turned of McLelland Rd and was no longer in sight. She sat down on her bed, momentarily relieved.

Creeping out into the hallway, she saw that the light was turned off in her mom and Watson's bedroom. Kristy got as close to the door as she dared, but couldn't hear anything. She went back into her bedroom, emotionally drained, and collapsed into her bed. Burrowing herself under the covers, she eventually fell to sleep.