The next morning, Violet woke with a groan. Barely even managing to remember the date, the memories of last night were far from her mind. Stumbling towards her mirror, she blindly grabbed for her hair brush, trying to de-knot her mess of hair. A few minutes later she finally succeeded, opening her bleary eyes, only to be greeted by a terrible looking sight. The bruises had darkened, ranging from dark blues and purples, to a sick yellow lining each of the small splotches. As for her eye, it looked like she had smeared black eye shadow around it and her lip was more than half the size it normally was.

Swallowing thickly through her dry throat, she attempted to roll her eyes, failing miserably as the action only brought on an aching pain. She popped two or three pain pills and got dressed, having still been in her clothes from last night. Checking her phone, she smiled a bit. Leah had sent her over fifteen text messages, telling her to get her ass over to her house as soon as possible.

Following demands, Violet got herself ready and snuck past her still sleeping father, making her way to Leah's. It wasn't too long of a journey, though a lot of people stared at her with questioning looks or looks of sympathy. Either way, she wished they would stop. She was over it by now. Or at least, she was forcing herself to be. Bottling up her emotions like she did with everything.

Knocking on Leah's door, she waited patiently for it to be opened, greeted by a sleepless looking brunette. She was swept into a hug and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from crying.

"Violet… I… Jesus fuck." Leah was stammering, not really making a lot of sense as she pulled away, inspecting the damage, just like that boy had done last night. She had forgotten about him until now and tried to think back to when she left the house. Everything looked the same as it always had been on the lot beside them. No new car… no anything, really. She just assumed that they hadn't moved their stuff in and were living on mattresses or something.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Violet insisted, giving her friend a meaningful look. One that didn't leave room for arguments. Even so, Leah looked worried. But she did shut up about it, biting her lip for a moment before she led Violet upstairs into her room. It was a darkly decorated place, despite the fact that when they first met, Violet had pictured the girls room to be covered in pink and frilly shit, with pictures of her friends lining every surface. But it wasn't. In fact, it was almost like Violet's. Kind of edgy, kind of weird. To say she had been impressed the first time she had stepped foot inside would be an understatement.

Seating herself in her usual place – on the comfortable chair beside Leah's bed – Violet pulled her knees up to her chest, head leaning back as she sighed. The pain pills were barely helping, leaving her temples throbbing with lack of sleep and the discomfort of having been in a fight. But her virginity was still in tact and that was the only thing that truly mattered to her.

"You want anything? Some weed?" Leah was now in front of her mirror, fixing her hair. It was obvious that the brunette didn't get much sleep either. But she didn't look half as bad as Violet did. Mostly because all she had done was smack the guy with a lamp and run away. But Violet supposed that was a good thing. If anything, Leah wouldn't be able to get more work if she looked bruised up. Apparently it wasn't good for business.

"Nawh. Just a cigarette if you have any," she replied, forcing her head back up-right, eyes fixing on her friend. Pulling out a lighter, she lit up the cigarette as it was handed to her, a slight smile tugging at her lips. There were a few moments of silence, only filled with the soft sound of Violet's exhales and Leah moving to flop down onto her bed, her phone glued to her hand as she texted away.

"Oh, did you hear about that guy they're trying to catch? Notice all the police cars around today?" Leah's question was somewhat unexpected but it peaked Violet's interest. Crime was a common thing around here but it must have been a pretty big deal if they had called in a different police force.

"No? What'd he do?"

Leah set her phone down, eyes flickering upwards with a smile that suggested trouble. She was the kind of girl that loved to talk. Whether it was gossip, true, or just plain bullshit, she was the girl behind all the whispers. Slowly taking a drag, Violet waited for the story to begin, sure that she would make it more dramatic than needed.

"The people on the news are telling everyone else not to freak out. Saying it's no big deal... But other people are saying that the place that this guy came from? He only ran because he had no one else to kill. Goes after girls... Girls our age. But it's a real specific type, you know?" By now, Leah had slipped off the bed, slowly moving forward, as if she were telling a ghost story. "He would sneak up behind them in the middle of the night and then – bam!"

The noise made Violet jump a bit, the cigarette ashes hitting the floor as they drifted from her slightly burned down cigarette. Leah laughed a bit, sitting back on her bed as she lay back, hair fanning out around her. "He slices them to pieces."

Rolling her eyes, Violet took a final drag before she uncurled herself from the seat, moving to put out her cigarette in the ashtray. It seemed like a load of shit, in her opinion. Besides, Leah was always into watching those stupid crime shows anyways. It sounded like one the two had watched last week, if she recalled correctly.

"Well, as cheerful and happy as that story made me feel... I have to go deal with my dad. He's texted me about four times now." Violet glanced down at her phone, resisting the urge to throw it out the window as the screen flashed, signalling the fact that her dad had sent her yet another message.

"You sure, babe?"

"Yeah. Thanks. I'll see you later, okay?" Violet smiled a bit as Leah stood, wrapping her arms around her and gently kissing her cheek, being weary of the bruise.

"Bye."

Arriving back at her house, Violet stood out on the sidewalk instead of going inside. Her eyes were fixed on the house next to hers. There was still nothing there. No moving truck, no new car... Hell, there wasn't even a sign of life from what she could tell. Eyebrows pulling into a frown, she continued to stare for a few moments before she heard her dad's voice calling her inside. His head was sticking out of the front door, hand waving her forward.

"What do you want, dad? It's a Saturday." She had waited until she was inside to drop her messenger bag on the ground, ignoring the loud thud it made when it connected with the hardwood.

"Exactly. You were supposed to be home today. I'm trying to help you, Violet. I want you to get better. First step is getting a job."

The entire time her dad talked, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Wandering across the living room, she plopped down onto the couch, eyes fixed on the window, making it a point to ignore her father. He was still blathering on about how she needed to take initiative and become more responsible. But she was too focused on the sudden glimpse of blonde hair from beyond the fence. Eyebrows pinching down for a moment, her neck strained to see closer. It was the first sign of life from over there since yesterday.

"Yeah, whatever," Violet cut her dad off as she hopped up from the couch, snatching up her bag and walking out the backdoor. Ignoring his shouts, she listened to the leaves crunch under her feet and slipped across her backyard, into the alleyway behind her house. It wasn't quite cold yet, as it usually got around this time of year. They had been graced with a warm Fall. But it was still chilly. She wrapped her arms around herself, standing on her tiptoes, trying to see over into the new neighbours yard. Curiosity was making it impossible to ignore it. Nothing nearly exciting had happened for quite awhile.

"Looking for something?"

The sudden noise made her jump, almost losing her balance. Catching herself at the last second, her head whipped around, eyes widening a bit. It was the guy from yesterday. "No," she lied, arms folding over her chest in a somewhat defiant way. It was embarassing to be caught so quickly.

"Just admiring the view, then?" She didn't like his tone. It was far too sarcastic for her liking. And there was a strange kind of amusement in his voice that transferred into a small smirk on his lips.

"Yeah."

There was a moment of somewhat awkward silence where they just stared at each-other. Him, with his hands in his pockets and slightly hunched over posture. With the daylight on her side this time, she could see him more clearly. His features were somewhat boyish – slightly defined jawline and locks of unkempt golden hair that hung in his eyes. There was a little cut on his lip and even though she hadn't noticed it before, there was a small white line near his neck. A scar.

"You go to school?" The question pulled her from her inspection and she blinked a few times, inhaling slowly.

"Yeah. Go to St. Francis. It's just down a few blocks... You'll be going there too, right? Once you transfer..." She wasn't sure why she assumed he was her age, but there was no way he could be graduated. Too much boyish appeal in his gaze.

"No. I'm home-schooled. Besides, we move around a lot," he replied, gaze never leaving hers. It was kind of unnerving. Most people didn't keep such steady eye-contact.

"Oh... Cool, well, uh... Welcome to the neighbourhood." Violets lips pulled into a slightly awkward smile before she began to walk away, despite the urge to keep talking to him. It wasn't often that someone her age could hold a conversation with her for longer than five minutes without making her want to pull her hair out.

"Mind buming me another smoke?" He was suddenly walking in sync with her, though still a few meters away. He stopped when she did, eyebrows raised in a somewhat hopeful way. Letting out another sigh, she dug in her bag before grabbing her pack, handing one over.

"You owe me though," she warned, a kind of smile gracing her lips. As she started walking again, she realized that it was the first genuine smile that she had made in a long while.