"Kevin, where are you going?" she asked seeing him putting on his shoes. "Some emergency at work?"

"Nope. I'm going to Compton." he grabbed his keys.

"What? Why? Did something happen to-"

"No, no. Don't worry, okay?" he kissed the top of her head. "I just wanna... you know, check on her. Be sure she's safe and okay. Think I'm not sure of, knowing she's out there in such an horrible place."

"Are you sure it's a good idea? If Betsy finds out..."

"She won't know I'm spying her, I promise." Kevin smiled. "See you later!"

"Bye, I love you!" she called after him.

x

Kevin drove slowly in direction of Compton, searching the place Addison had told him, the one where Betsey was that first night.

When he saw her, he blinked several times in surprise. The girl seemed at the minimum three years older. She wore a tight leather dress that sharpened her curves in a way Kevin found very inappropriate for her age, and her shoes looked like the ones Addison always had. She was laughing, her eyes and smile shone in the night. When she turned around Kevin thought he could see her make-up from where he stood.

Betsy was with two older boys and he was pretty sure they were holding some sort of drug in their hands.

The back guy pulled Betsy closer to him as they walked, and Kevin stiffened. He silently got off the car and started walking after them, leaving some distance between the teenagers and himself.

They entered in an old building, and Kevin could hear music and laughters from inside. As he followed the three teens, he angrily noticed the hand of one of them on Betsy's ass. He could get him arrested, he thought. He surely was over eighteen and Betsy was only fifteen. He saw a lot of young girls dancing with their arms over older boys' necks, and an incredible amount of alcohol everywhere. There were bottles and clothes and syringes on the floor.

Someone had probably noticed him because suddenly a female voice yelled everybody to get out. Right before she could escape, he grabbed Betsy's wrist and pulled her towards him, waiting in silence as the teenagers quickly left in fear.

"What the fucking hell are you doing here?"

"Shut up Betsy and come with me."

"Get off of me!" she yelled again, trying to remove his hand from her arm.

"No way. Get in my car." he opened the door, and when the girl didn't move he pushed her in, not roughly enough to hurt but enough to express his rage.

"Addison said you have a fake ID. Hand it here."

"No." she crossed her arms on her chest.

"There is no way on earth I'll take you where you live and won't say a word to the people who take – or should take – care of you. So if you don't give it to me, I'm sure they'll take it anyway."

"They don't give a damn, and neither do you."

"I do." he replied, looking at the road. "And I want what's the best for you. Going to Compton and doing those things isn't."

"And still, I won't give you anything."

Kevin stopped the car and and turned towards her sadly. "With this I don't wanna make you angrier than you are, I just want to find a way to help you: if I find out you've been going there again I won't hesitate and send your friends to jail for a very long time. This is not a joke, Betsy. I'm more serious than I've ever been in my life, and I want you to understand. What you're doing is wrong, and I can't tell you what to do but I'm begging you to listen. It's dangerous, unhealthy and illegal. Illegal isn't even the worst part of it, but you could seriously get hurt. Those people could hurt you, there could be an accident. I'm not letting this happen. So now, please, get out of the car and stay with me while I talk to your social workers. I'll tell them what you were doing and you'll hate me for this, but remember that I care. And Addison does too. If I see you there or near those guys or using drugs, you'll have to deal with the consequences. All clear?"

She didn't answer, throwing him furious looks, and he waited patiently until she opened the door. She slammed it, and he took her arm gently, thinking she'd thought about running away.

"You won't ever have the guts to actually bring my friends to jail." she teased one last time as he knocked.

A/N: Again, I don't like it. It's getting a little better though, I promise.