-1Authors Note: Sorry, this chapter may be a bit over-angst-y even though that isn't a word. Oh well, I'll try and tone it down a bit in the future.

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It was a rude awakening, pain ran threw my entire body as I hit the floor. I looked up to see my mother standing over me, a look of disbelief on her face and a vodka bottle in her hand. My heart pounded as I looked from her to Sean who just was waking up from the commotion. "Mom," I started, rubbing my sore arm.

"Eleanor, what in the hell is going on?" She yelled, grabbing me from the floor that she'd just thrown me on. Sean looked at me, clearly shocked and unsure of what to do. He stood up and I slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand at the fact that he was standing there in nothing more than his boxers and the t-shirt that I'd given him. "Were you guys sleeping together?"

"What? No, of course not! Well, I mean we were sleeping but we didn't- Sean needed a place to stay and-No!" I stuttered, backing away from her. When my mother got into one of her drunken rages, it was always best to stay away from her and let her cool down on her own. "Mom, I swear that we would never-"

"Get the hell out of my house." She slurred, ignoring me and turning her attention towards Sean. He grabbed his pants off of the floor and put them on as quickly as he could before looking to me to see if he should really leave. I shrugged unknowingly. "Are you deaf? I think I just told you to get out." She started towards Sean and I knew I needed to stop her before she did anything stupid.

"Mom, calm down!" I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. I looked her up and down quickly, unable to remain unembarrassed that Sean was seeing my mother for the first time like this. Her clothes were wrinkled from passing out in them earlier, her hair was unwashed and wild and she smelled of vodka and vomit. She turned back towards me, obviously shocked that I had attempted to intervene.

"Calm down?" She repeated me, turning her back on Sean and focusing fully on me. I swallowed hard, wishing I had told Sean he had to find somewhere else to stay. He was going to know everything now, absolutely everything that I had been hiding. "Don't you dare tell me to calm down." That's when it happened, she actually slapped me. I put a hand up to my burning cheek and stared at her in disbelief and anger. "You're only sixteen and you're already sleeping with some boy?"

"Hey! She told you that were weren't doing anything." Sean yelled, speaking for the first time as he stepped in between my mother and I. His fists were clenched in anger and I could tell he was beginning to lose his temper.

"Sean, just go!" I said, beginning to panic. I knew that he had anger issues and he wasn't going to make the situation any better by yelling at her. The last thing that I needed was for them to fight. He looked at me surprised that I was telling him to leave. "Just go." I repeated softly, grabbing for a rubber band on my wrist but unfortunately there wasn't one there. He just stood there for a few seconds, as if he wasn't going to leave but finally grabbed his wet t-shirt from the floor and left, slamming the door behind him in anger.

"You're pathetic." She said, shaking her head at me. "I told you that men aren't worth the trouble, they'll leave you in the end." I watched her hurry out of the room towards the bathroom but she didn't make it, and the contents of her stomach ended up on the floor. "Eleanor, I need your help." She called, as if nothing had just happened. I sighed and helped her up off of the floor and to the couch and headed back towards the bathroom to clean up the mess.

After finishing, I headed back to my room and collapsed on my bed with a rubber band in my hand. I snapped it furiously, admiring the red welts that it was making on my pale skin. Why couldn't I just have one normal day? Why did everything always get so fucked up? Sean knew now, he knew that my family was just as messed up as I was. I jumped a little as the rubber band around my wrist broke, I had pulled it too far. I groaned and sat up, running my fingers over the welts and contemplated whether I wanted to cut or not. I stood and opened the drawer of my desk, seeing scissors and rubber bands. I clenched my jaw and grabbed a handful of rubber bands before slamming the drawer shut. I wasn't going to let myself cut…I broke every single rubber band that night.