A/N: This is some months later.

"No way."

"Please."

"I said no."

"But I said please!" the girl threw her arms up in the air in frustration.

"You can plead as much as you want, but I won't allow you to sleep with your twenty-six-year-old boyfriend at his place!" Addison poured herself a glass of water, wishing the fight could end.

"Think about it as a birthday present!"

"Sweetheart, I'd give you every birthday present you want, just not this."

Betsy glared at her. "You want to ruin my perfect day." she accused her.

"Betsy." Addison talked firmly, letting her know she was serious. "Tomorrow is your sixteenth birthday, and I'm letting you go to the party that your friends – that by the way I don't like – organized for you. You can stay until midnight and all I want is for you to have fun. But you asked me if you can sleep there, and I said no. Meaning no. I have to go to work now, and please let it go. I'm not changing my mind and you know I don't like to fight with you."

The woman picked up her bag and stared at the teenager for a few seconds, before walking to her and kissing her on her forehead. "Don't throw a fit. I love you, have a nice day."

After Addison closed the door and left, Betsy looked around the room. She mentally considered all the rooms of the big house, and decided that they were perfect. A shy idea was forming in her mind, and the girl smiled in satisfaction. She liked it. It was all going to be perfect.

She grabbed the phone and decided to call Dee first. Addison and Kevinhated all her friends because they were older than her, they drank, they were addicted to drugs. She, on the other hand, was starting to like her new life. Sure, she and Addison still fought almost everyday, but lately it was just over stupid things. She didn't exactly quit smoking (although she had made her adoptive parents think she did), but little by little she was understanding that there were a lot of other better things in the world. For example, she had some new friends at her school who were completely different from the people she normally hung out with. Dee and Sacha were the closest ones, and in the last months they had done a lot of things together – including ditching school, but just once. Melinda was still her best friend, and she decided she could invite her to the party she was throwing. Melinda was the only one allowed to come to her new house, the only one she went out with in presence of both her new and old friends. She didn't want to mix up the two worlds she created, but Melinda was like the bridge who kept her in the middle.

The girl thought that by inviting the people from Compton and other bad places she would have automatically made Addison cancel her birthday party, so she only called a few guys from her school and added Melinda to the list.

"Hey Mel!" she opened the door to her best friend, excited. "We only have half an hour before everyone arrives; Addison and Kevin are working until late afternoon so we have time, but not a lot of time."

"Got it. What do we have to do?" Melinda dropped her purse on the floor.

"Beers and other stuff. There's some alcohol in the fridge, but they would notice, so one of us has to go buy some. They took my fake ID, do you mind going alone?"

Melinda shook her head. "Move the couch closer to the wall, so that there's more space in the room. Place glasses on the table in the kitchen and choose some music. When I come back we can start getting ready!"

"Buy some food as well!" she yelled after her.

It took Betsey only a few minutes to fix everything for the party, so she went to Addison's room. She opened the door slowly, feeling as if she was violating her privacy.

Addison's closet was big. Huge, actually. The girl had to catch her breath when she saw all those amazing clothes and shoes, and she hoped harder one of them would fit her. She touched one of Addison's blue dresses; it wasn't too long not too short, its color wasn't too strong nor too light. It was a little provocative, but not in an excessive way. She slowly took it out and put it on the bed as she undressed, wondering if the redhead would get mad. She kicked away the thought as soon as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, telling herself it was perfect.

When Melinda arrived she offered her Addison's black dress, knowing it was her friend's favorite color. Melinda, though, shrugged indifferently and told her she had her clothes in her bag.

"They're here!" Betsy jumped on her feet and ran to the door, fixing her hair before opening. "Hello everybody!"

Melinda turned on the stereo, and some music started to play.

"Hi Betsy." a boy said. "Nice house."

"Thanks." she handed him some fresh beer, smiling.

"Let's partyyyyy people!" someone yelled jumping on the couch and turning the volume of the music up.

Betsy smiled again and drank her beer in one sip, approaching some random boy and starting to dance.

Her hips moved on the rhythm of music, and the lyrics echoed in her ears. She laughed, feeling powerful. Let's have fun!

Two hours and some certainly-laced-with-whiskey beers later, Betsy's head began to feel bleary and she had to lean against the wall not to fall to the ground.

"Hi." someone approached her, and although she was sure the boy was in her chemistry class, she couldn't really tell who he was.

"This party's awesome!" he shouted to be heard above the music. "I'm having a lot of fun! Are you sure your parents won't get mad?"

Something like 'they won't' came out of her mouth, and she tried to walk without really being able to. The boy grabbed her arm and held her on her feet; their bodies were closed and hot.

"This dress looks amazing on you!" he told her again, but she didn't really understand.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, staring at him dreamily.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, glancing at her weirdly.

"Yeah!..." Betsy leaned over and kissed him, pushing him towards the laundry room's door.

x

When Addison parked the car in front of her house, she had the feeling that something was wrong. In a first moment, she thought that maybe Betsy cold have gone somewhere without leaving a note, but then she heard the music and rolled her eyes, understanding that there was a party going on.

She opened the front door with a frown, and looked at the scene with her eyes wide open. Empty bags of chips and chocolates were scattered all over the floor along with beakers and napkins.

A few teens, seeing her, froze and hurried towards the still open door; Betsy cursed at herself, looking at the clock. Addison had finished work earlier than usual.

"Hey Betsy! I thought you said your mom and dad wouldn't get mad!" someone exclaimed, and the girl's eyes set on Addison in horror. The woman was clearly shocked, but Betsy couldn't tell if she was angry.

"You should all go." she said out loud, and for the next minutes the music was covered by the teens' buzz.

Betsy kept her eyes fixed on Addison, waiting for a sign, a word, a reaction. When the silence became unbearable and she felt tears coming, she ran up the stairs to her room.

Addison slowly moved; she walked to the stereo and turned it off. She then glanced to the ceiling, and breathed heavily before leading to Betsy's room.

"Can I come in sweetie?" she knocked on the open door, and her heart clenched when she saw her on the bed, crying. She put an hand on her back and rubbed it softly, waiting for her to calm down.

"I'm sorry baby." she said. "I should have said something. Betsy..."

The girl slowly turned around and looked at her. "I don't know why I'm crying."

"It's perfectly okay to cry." she gave her a little smile.

"It was too complicated to tell them that you adopted me and why... so I never told anything and they thought you were my parents. But now I feel guilty, because I don't really consider you my parents... and I miss my mom and dad."

"Oh, sweetheart." Addison hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "I know. I know."

"I, I like you. Maybe I didn't in the beginning, but I'm starting to... It's hard."

"I know it's hard. I didn't expect it to be easy."

"Are you mad at me?"

Addison pondered her answer. "No. But I want you to clean that mess downstairs. Later, when you have calmed down."

Betsy nodded. "Can I still go to my party tomorrow?" she bit her lip, preparing herself to hear a negative answer.

"Yes, you can. If you hide all the proofs of you drinking before Kevin comes home."