Thank you for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a nice long one for you.

All day Friday, Abbie thought about the sleepover, half anticipatory and half worried. She hadn't had a good night's sleep since she got rid of the sedatives and she knew she wouldn't tonight. But she was trying not to care.

Then she had to wonder why she was so excited about a sleepover. Back in Texas, she'd gone to a sleepover every weekend. She'd been popular in Texas. Well, she'd been popular until she met him. Then she'd earned the reputation of the school slut. And rightfully so, she had to admit.

After school, she walked with Alex and Olivia back to the Cabot apartment, trying to slow her rapidly beating heart. She was so glad to be included, but she was also afraid. Afraid that her nightmares might return and she'd wake up screaming.

They went into Alex's room and Alex grabbed them some Ritz crackers. Abbie raised an eyebrow when she saw them. "I wouldn't think you'd have that kind of crap around here. Delicious crap, but still. Crap."

Alex grinned. "Well, instead of water bottles, we have Perrier bottles."

Olivia laughed. "Works for me, princess."

"I'll take tap water," said Abbie dryly. Her stomach was doing flips and she didn't think she'd be able to keep anything down if it wasn't plain and pure.

Alex quirked an eyebrow and obediently got Abbie a glass of tap water.

They lounged on Alex's bed, doing Olivia's nails. She hadn't wanted them to, but Alex promised they would be pretty, and now that Olivia had stopped biting her nails, they were long enough for a manicure. Abbie painted the nails on Olivia's left hand and Alex did her right hand – to save time. Olivia didn't have a lot of patience for sitting still.

"I look like Miss Scarlett," said Olivia, grinning her patented lopsided grin. "You know, from Clue."

Alex chuckled. "You're the one who wanted dark red nails."

Olivia shrugged. "I changed my mind."

"Okay," said Abbie. "We'll take it off and repaint them."

"No!" exclaimed Olivia, pulling her hands out of their reach. "No, they're fine."

"Let's watch a movie," suggested Alex.

"Yeah! Matilda," said Olivia.

Alex put her glasses on and looked down her nose at her friend. "No way."

The brunette pouted. "Why not?"

"Because that's all you ever want to watch." Alex turned to Abbie and explained, "She has the whole thing memorized."

Abbie shrugged. "I have The Lion King memorized."

Alex grinned. "I have the American Girl movies memorized."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Go figure."

"Other than Matilda, what would you like to watch?"

Olivia crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip.

Alex turned to Abbie. "Okay, what would you like to watch?"

"What do you have?" asked Abbie.

Alex handed her a thick binder which contained at least two hundred DVDs. Abbie started to flip through the binder, then looked up at Ales.

"Wow. You have a lot of movies."

Alex shrugged. "My dad has a friend who gets them for us in HD before they even hit theaters and they cost us absolutely nothing."

"Her father has friends in high places," explained Olivia, rolling the words around on her tongue and grinning. "That's why we come to Alex's instead of going to the theater."

"We even have better popcorn," agreed Alex.

"And cheaper," added Olivia, a twinkle in her eye.

Alex shrugged.

Olivia heaved a theatrical sigh. "What it must be like not to worry about money . . ."

Abbie could understand what Olivia meant. She continued to search through Alex's DVDs. "Can we watch Mean Girls?"

Alex grinned. "Sure. That's one of my favorites."

Olivia shrugged. "I've never seen it."

Abbie stared at her. "You've never seen Mean Girls?"

Olivia shook her head, then made her best puppy eyes at Abbie. "I feel deprived."

Abbie laughed. "Well, we'll put it on and you won't feel deprived anymore."

Olivia sat back on her heels as Alex popped the DVD in and pressed play. "I'll get us some popcorn," she offered.

"Put sugar on mine," Olivia called after her.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Yes, boss."

"You like sugar on your popcorn?" asked Abbie, scrunching up her face.

Olivia shrugged. "It's good. Try some."

"No, thanks."

"That's how they have it in England."

"Have you ever been to England?"

Olivia hesitated. "Well, no, but that's what Elliot says."

Abbie rolled her eyes.

Olivia lay back on Alex's soft duvet, wincing and biting her lip when her back came into contact with the mattress.

Abbie sighed and perched on her stomach beside Olivia. She bit back the words she wanted to say to her friend.

Alex came in with the popcorn and three cans of Diet Coke. She sat down beside Olivia and started the movie.

Olivia shoveled handfuls of popcorn into her mouth with one hand and started to braid Alex's hair with the other. "That takes talent," commented Abbie.

"Be quiet," ordered Olivia. "I'm watching the movie."

Abbie had seen Mean Girls at least eight times, but she never got tired of it. She propped her chin up with her hands and tried to watch the movie instead of watching Olivia, who in all honesty was just as interesting. She'd finished her popcorn and was pulling Alex's soft hair into two smooth plaits.

"Could you not touch my clean hair with your dirty hands?" griped Alex. "Wash your hands first."

"Shh," repeated Olivia. "I'm watching the movie."

Alex sighed resignedly and didn't say anything else.

When the movie was over, Olivia grabbed Alex's hand-sized mirror off her dresser. "See? Your hair is pretty."

Alex laughed. "My hair was pretty to begin with, otherwise you wouldn't like to play with it."

Olivia shrugged. "I made it prettier."

Alex turned off the movie and put away the DVD.

"Let's play pig," suggested Olivia, grinning at Abbie.

"Okay," she agreed. "Where are the cards?"

Alex grabbed playing cards and dealt them out.

They played cards for an hour, then Mrs. Cabot came in and asked what they wanted for dinner.

Alex made a face. "We'll just order pizza."

Her mother shrugged. "Okay."

Alex started to dial the phone number for the local pizza parlor and leaned toward Abbie. "Believe me, you don't want anything my mother will give you. Escargot and salads containing things even I can't pronounce." She ordered them a large pizza, half cheese and half pepperoni, dipping sauce, garlic bread, and drinks.

The pizza arrived in twenty minutes and Abbie handed Alex eight dollars to pay. Olivia suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Um, Alex –"

"It's okay, Liv," said Alex quickly. "You're covered."

"I'll pay you back."

"When you can," agreed Alex. "No rush."

Olivia smiled uneasily. "Thanks."

Alex went downstairs to get the pizza and returned a moment later. Olivia took a piece from the box and started to eat but Alex shook her head. "No. Take a napkin. You're not making a mess in my bedroom."

Olivia shrugged, probably figuring she shouldn't argue since Alex had just paid for her portion of the pizza. She obediently took a napkin before wolfing down three slices of pizza in the space of five minutes.

"Whoa, take it easy," said Alex, putting a hand on Olivia's shoulder. "It's not going anywhere."

Olivia flinched at the touch and swallowed the pizza in her mouth. "Sorry. I'm just – hungry."

"So we see," said Abbie dryly.

"There's lots more," Alex told her gently.

Olivia devoured another slice of pizza, then had a piece of garlic bread. "Thanks, Alex," she said quietly.

Alex sighed and gave her friend a hug. "Don't mention it."

Olivia looked at the ground, and there was something like vulnerability in her chocolate eyes. But it disappeared just as abruptly as it had appeared and Olivia was back to her mischievous self. "Let's bake a cake," she suggested.

Alex rolled her eyes. "No way."

Olivia pouted. "Why?"

"Do you remember what happened last time we attempted to bake a cake?"

Olivia thought about it, then grinned. "I blew it up!"

Alex raised her eyebrows and nodded. "And my parents freaked out. So, no."

"And you always do what they tell you," said Olivia dryly.

"Not always. Just usually."

"She says the same thing in regards to you," Abbie told Olivia.

Olivia grinned. "I'm honored."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Are you guys done with the pizza?"

Abbie nodded. "Me, too," said Olivia.

Alex picked up the pizza box and took it downstairs. She returned a moment later. "My mom says to get into our pajamas," she told us, making a face.

Olivia grabbed her pajamas and headed for Alex's ensuite washroom. Alex looked after her with a sad sort of expression on her face, then found a nightgown of her own and started to change. But Abbie didn't feel comfortable getting undressed in front of someone, even her friend, and she waited for Olivia to be done in the washroom. Alex gave her a long look, but didn't comment.

"You can have the bed," Alex offered Olivia.

Olivia shook her head. "You can. It's yours."

"That's the point."

"I'll be fine," said Olivia in a voice that left no room for negotiation.

Alex sighed again. "I'll get you a sleeping bag. Do you want one of the green ones, the pink one, the blue one, or the red one?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "You have too many sleeping bags, Cabot!"

"No, the green ones were my parents' old ones when they used to go camping – they're the warmest, the pink one's mine, the blue one used to be my mom's, and the red one used to be my dad's," explained Alex. "But they're all mine now."

"Why do you need so many?" asked Abbie, raising her eyebrows.

Alex shrugged. "Abbie, there are countless things in this apartment that no one needs or has any use for. They're just here because we haven't figured out how to get rid of them yet."

Abbie laughed.

Olivia thought about it. "I'll take one of the green ones," she decided.

Alex rummaged around in her closet to retrieve the sleeping bag. She handed it to Olivia and tossed her a pillow from her bed. "Here you go, boss."

Olivia smiled sweetly. "Thank you, Alex."

Alex took one of her American Girl dolls off its shelf, the one with long brown hair. She cradled the doll in her arms and climbed into bed. "Pretend you're going to bed," said Alex. "My mom will be here in a minute and she'll make sure we're ready to go to sleep, but it's early. We can talk."

"And eat Doritos," added Olivia.

"Where am I supposed to get Doritos?" asked Alex.

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know. I just felt like Doritos."

"I can't believe you're still hungry," commented Abbie, grabbing her pajamas and starting for the washroom.

She changed quickly, not wanting to see the bruises on her body that still hadn't healed. They'd gone from dark purple to yellow to a lighter purple to blue, and they'd started to fade, which was a good sign according to Dr. Picard.

She brushed her teeth and went back into Alex's room. Putting her clothes back into her duffel bag, she started to unroll her sleeping bag and lay down on it.

Olivia pulled a tattered teddy bear out of her backpack and hugged it to her chest. Abbie raised her eyebrows in amusement and pointed at the stuffed animal. "What's that?"

Olivia glared at her. "What does it look like?" she asked in an icy voice.

Abbie shrugged. "I'm just surprised, considering how much you've been teasing Alex about her dolls."

"There's a difference between a doll and Teddy," said Olivia coldly, but Abbie couldn't help but laugh at the childish way she'd put it.

But Alex gave her a look that clearly said to stop, so Abbie did.

In a slightly more civil tone, Olivia explained, "I got Teddy when I was born. From my grandmother. I never knew her." Then in a quieter voice, she said, "He's the only stuffie I ever had."

That made Abbie sad. She didn't play with stuffed animals anymore, but when she was younger, a hodgepodge of them had sat on her bed. Teddy bears and Disney characters had adorned her bedroom, even a few Barbie dolls which relatives had given her. Abbie Carmichael had never played with dolls, even when she was little.

Alex took a stick of spearmint gum out of her dresser drawer and put it in her mouth. "Want some?" she offered Abbie and Olivia.

"Sure," said Abbie, and Alex handed her a piece. Olivia shook her head.

Mrs. Cabot came in a moment later to say goodnight. "Please get to sleep at a decent hour," she told the girls. She gave Alex a kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight."

Abbie glanced at Olivia and felt sad when she saw the expression of longing that flashed across Olivia's features. Olivia's mother probably had never come in and given her a kiss goodnight. Abbie's parents usually did, but she was sure that Olivia never had that, and that made her sad.

Alex's mother turned off the lights and closed the door. Abbie resisted the overwhelming urge to ask Alex to turn on a night light or the hall light. But she wouldn't. She was stronger than that.

"Your turn, Alex," said Olivia, and Abbie jumped.

"Alex's turn for what?"

"After the lights go off, we tell secrets," explained Alex. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but it's what we do. And everything we say stays in this room."

"Like a shrink's office," said Abbie dryly.

Alex laughed. "Yeah."

"We haven't done this in awhile, though," commented Olivia. Then, with an unmistakable succulence in her tone, she said, "Alex, how far did you get with Trevor?"

Alex threw a pillow at her. "Kissing, that's it. Why do you always go for that stuff first? Isn't your sex life with Elliot exciting enough?"

"Obviously not," replied Olivia, but even in the dark, Abbie knew she was smiling. "Abbie's turn to ask me."

Abbie wasn't sure what the boundaries were for this particular game. She knew she could probably ask what she really wanted to know, and Olivia would probably answer, but she knew she shouldn't nevertheless. Instead, she said, "Why do you do your homework but still tell the teachers it isn't done?"

Olivia laughed. "What a question. The answer is simple: to be contumacious."

Alex laughed. "Good for you, Liv."

"What does that mean?" asked Abbie, even though she didn't like being the only one in the room not to know something.

"It means resistant to authority," explained Alex. "As I'm sure you figured out, I taught her the word. Abbie, did you have a boyfriend back in Texas?"

Abbie hesitated. She didn't want to talk about him. She wanted to forget him. But these were her friends and this was just a game.

"You can say pass if you don't want to answer," said Alex quickly.

But Abbie Carmichael wasn't one to back down from a challenge, so she didn't. "Yes," she said simply, in a voice that made it clear that she wasn't going to elaborate.

"Your turn to ask Alex," said Olivia.

Abbie let out a sigh of relief that her friends hadn't asked her anything further about him and considered what she could ask Alex that wouldn't be too invasive. "What do your parents do?"

Alex laughed and Abbie blushed, thinking she might have asked something she wasn't supposed to. But Alex sounded more amused than upset. "If you mean where they got their money, it's old family money. My great-grandparents." She shifted on her bed, then asked gently, "Liv, why did you have to leave early when you were over a few days ago?"

Olivia hugged her teddy bear tightly and Abbie was sure she wasn't going to answer, but then she did. "Because my mom told me to."

"I thought you were – what is it – contumacious?" said Abbie, amused.

She could tell even in the dark that Olivia was glaring at her. "My mom's different, Abbie. You wouldn't understand."

"Yes, I do," said Abbie quietly, but too quietly for Olivia to hear. The words weren't meant for her.

"Abbie, why did you really move here?" asked Olivia.

Abbie wasn't going to say pass, but she also didn't want to answer. She considered lying for a moment, then discarded the thought. Better to go for honesty. These were her friends, after all. "Because we needed to get away."

"Get away from what?"

Abbie looked at her hands, then tried to make her voice strong, trying to pretend she was nonchalant about the entire thing. "My boyfriend." There was silence for a moment, and Abbie rolled onto her side. "I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

"Me, too," agreed Olivia quietly. "'Night, Alex. 'Night, Abbie."

"Goodnight," they echoed.

But Abbie didn't sleep. She stared at the ceiling and tried not to think of the boy she'd tried unsuccessfully to leave behind.

"Abbie!" She felt gentle hands shaking her awake. Shit. She'd known a sleepover wouldn't be a good idea, yet she'd come anyway. Why? "Abbie, what's wrong?"

It was Alex. Abbie groaned, and then she felt how wet her cheeks were. Double shit. She must have been crying in her sleep. Yeah, throwing away the sedatives was such a good idea. Great job, Abbie, she congratulated herself.

"Abbie," repeated Alex, softly so she wouldn't wake Olivia. "Are you okay?"

Abbie nodded. "Fine," she managed, swiping at her cheeks, trying to remove all remnants of tears. She wouldn't cry in front of Alex Cabot. She would not cry in front of Alex Cabot.

Alex sighed, and Abbie could hear footsteps moving across the room. She wondered vaguely for a moment where Alex was going, and then she felt something soft being pressed into her arms, one of Alex's American Girl dolls.

"Here," whispered Alex, and her next words sounded childish and maybe even a bit naïve, but they comforted Abbie nevertheless. "You sleep with Samantha tonight."

Abbie buried her face in the doll's soft hair and, when she was sure Alex had fallen back asleep, she allowed herself to cry, silently, for the pain that had been inflicted upon her. The pain that she had let be inflicted upon her.

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