{}{}{}{}

I remember no place for me to hide

Before you came home at night

I remember you turning out the lights

All I ever saw was the red in your eyes

No big surprise

Happened nearly every night

Your own flesh and blood

I did wonder why

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Garfield hesitantly glanced at his phone.

No new messages.

Sighing, the blond teenager rolled onto his back. It had been approximately 26 hours since he last saw Rachael and he was beginning to think he'd ruined his chances of swooning the pale skinned girl. He wasn't too sure what he did wrong but it must have been something significant if Rachael was back to ignoring him. Garfield ran his fingers through his hair before looking out his window and into Rachael's. When he was younger he'd used his close proximity to Rachael's window to play pranks on her but now he was using it make sure she was still alive. Unfortunately, the lights in Rachael's room were on, suggesting that the dark haired girl was not dead, but rather just ignoring him. Groaning loudly, the blond teen picked up his phone and began crafting a text message.

"uve been kinda AWOL since yesterday did i piss you off?" Garfield clicked send, surprised that he was genuinely concerned about whether he had offended Rachael or not. Shaking his head, he anxiously waited for Rachael's reply.

"Not exactly. I was just reminded of something, nothing to be concerned about." she'd replied. Garfield let out a sigh of relief.

"gr8! can u come over tomorrow and help me with my history hw? plsplsplsplspls" he responded immediately.

"Fine."

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Rachael couldn't believe the amount of time she'd spent with Garfield lately. She'd ended up spending virtually every day after school tutoring him and surprisingly, he was being a decent human being. She wasn't even aware that was physically possible for Garfield to do. Yet here he was, respecting her boundaries and not being a total douchelord. He was being so nice, Rachael had begun to doubt that he even had ulterior motives. Perhaps he really did change. She of all people knew that everyone is capable of change. Maybe Garfield had realized that he'd been a shitty person and genuinely wanted to change himself. Whatever the reason, Rachael was really appreciating the switch in personalities, especially right now.

"This is awesome, I didn't know history could be so badass!" he exclaimed as the two reviewed their European History notes. Rachael only smirked.

"Isn't reading just amazing?" she said dryly. Garfield stuck out his tongue.

"I wouldn't go that far, Rae." he replied. Rachael only shrugged and Garfield smiled.

"You didn't protest that!"

"Protest what?"

"Me calling you Rae! You've totally accepted it now!" Garfield exclaimed gleefully. Rachael rolled her eyes and scowled.

"I didn't accept it, I merely didn't hear you call me that." she responded. Garfield narrowed his eyes and smirked.

"Suuuuuure, Rae. You love it." he teased, closing his notebook.

"What are you doing? We've only studied for an hour." Rachael said quizzically.

"Dude, exactly. We've been studying everyday for like, weeks and I'm getting a hang of this whole history thing. I think I might even pass that test thanks to the world's best tutor." Garfield replied, a genuine smile on his face.

"Oh. I guess I'll just go home then." Rachael said, packing her bag. Garfield looked on in panic and shook his head.

"Nah! Let's do something fun instead." Garfield quickly said, stopping Rachael from packing up.

"Define fun." Rachael replied flatly.

"Uh, something you enjoy doing?"

"The things I enjoy doing are not exactly things everyone else enjoys doing." Rachael said. Garfield shook his head.

"Dude I can have fun doing anything, try me." Garfield boasted with a large smile.

{}{}{}{}

"I completely regret this." Garfield muttered under his breath as the two arrived at Rachael's favorite yoga studio.

"I heard that and too late now; we're already here." Rachael replied, a smug smirk on her face. Garfield only sighed and opened the door for Rachael before following her inside. The inside of the building was not what Garfield was expecting. The room was large and spacious with spanning windows and ambient lighting. If anything, the room was very calming. Handing Garfield an extra yoga mat, the two sat toward the back of the room and began to unroll their mats.

"So this is what you do for fun, huh?" Garfield asked, breaking their long silence.

"It's calming and a good way to get exercise. So, yes, this is what I do for fun." Rachael replied as they waited for the instructor to come in.

"What are you so stressed out about anyway?" Garfield asked as Rachael pulled her short hair into a small ponytail. She glanced at him for a second before closing her eyes and sighing.

"You really don't know a lot about me, do you?" Rachael replied. He shook his head.

"But I'd like to know you." he responded eagerly. Once again, Rachael narrowed her eyes at him before sighing.

"Fine. But if you tell anyone about my life, I will hunt you down, got it?" she responded.

"I swear on my life dude." Garfield replied solemnly.

"My mother was in a satanic cult in Gotham when she was younger. She had the misfortune of being chosen as the cult leader's bride and as a result I was born. What she didn't know was that this cult required sacrifices, usually the firstborn child of the leader and his bride. When she found that out she escaped to Jump City. She met our landlady, Caroline and just like that we were kind of like one little family. Anyway, my dad ended up finding us and he…well he murdered my mother. Luckily, I wasn't there at the time and my father ended up getting caught but still…my mom was gone. Caroline became my legal guardian and dad's still locked up in a federal prison." Rachael said darkly. Garfield looked blankly at Rachael and suddenly felt regret for everything he'd ever done to her. All this time he had spent pulling cruel and often painful pranks and here Rachael was, suffering far more than Garfield ever had. All for what? A stupid grade school crush that went too far? A painful stab of remorse hit Garfield and he lowered his eyes.

"Rachael I'm sorry…for everything. I didn't realize you had all of that stuff going on…if I had known…"

"Don't worry about it. No one knew. It happened, we can't change that." Rachael replied coolly.

"But it's not okay! I treated you like trash for no reason!" Garfield fired back.

"As satisfying as that is to hear from you, it's alright." Rachael responded, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Garfield looked up at her, a serious expression on his face.

"Rachael, it's not okay that I treated you like that. It's not okay that anyone treated you like that. But I'm going to try my hardest to make it up to you." Garfield responded solemnly. The raven haired teenager stared up at him, genuinely surprised at his concern. Slowly, the scowl on her face turned into a small smile and her eyes welled up.

"Thank you Garfield. Genuinely, thank you." she said in a small voice before wiping her away her tears. For the first time in a long time Rachael felt at peace.