Author's Note: No updates until next Monday or Tuesday (or Wednesday); I'm going to London for a week and I won't be able to bring my computer and I can't use my dad's iPhone.

By the way, you guys are so sweet! Love you all!

Lulu and Dante stood there staring at each other for a few moments before Dante broke the silence.

"So, do you come here often?" he asked.

Ignoring his pick up line, Lulu said, "What the hell are you doing in my bathroom?"

"Oh, your bathroom, is it? Because it's connected to my bedroom, so I think it belongs to me."

"What do you mean, your bedroom?" she asked in confusion.

"I mean that's my bedroom. Where I sleep. And other things."

"You live here?"

"Yeah, for now, I guess. You live here too?" he asked, seemingly unfazed by their situation.

"Yeah, I got evicted from my apartment. So Carly kind of took me under her wing, I guess you could say," she explained.

"Wait, what's your relation to Carly?" he asked.

"She's my cousin. Why are you here?"

"Sonny is my dad."

"Oh," she said, not knowing what to say.

"Yeah, my mom decided to tell me who my father is right on time for her to move away for work," he said. "So now I'm stuck living here."

"My dad fell short on his rent payments for my apartment, and I got evicted. But living here is not that bad," she said with a small smile.

"Not too bad with me as a neighbor," he said with a wink.

"Hmm, we'll see about that," she said. She realized they had unknowingly drifted onto her bed, sitting next to each other but still keeping a good distance.

"So, you were hanging out with Ronnie?" she asked, recalling the time she had seen them together when she walked with him to class.

"Yeah. He seems like a pretty nice guy," said Dante.

Lulu nodded. "He's one of the few decent guys in the entire school. I'm assuming he told you all about me and Logan."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that," he said.

"No, it's my fault, really. I was only with him because I felt left out and self conscious. And it's my fault for not sleeping with him."

"Are you kidding me? No guy has the right to do that to anyone. Maybe he was upset that you wouldn't sleep with him, but he went so far as to actually hit you? That's disgusting," Dante said, feeling truly sorry for the girl sitting across from him.

"That's one way to put it."

"No, that's the way to put it. No one deserves that, especially not you."

Lulu met his eyes to see if he was being serious or just playing her like everybody else. "Thanks. You know, there are only a select few people who would say that."

"I find that hard to believe. I don't think anyone could be that mean to you."

"You wouldn't think so if you met the rest of our lovely classmates," she said. "Hold on, give me a sec," she said, walking over to her backpack. "I guess I never took it out after we got them a few weeks ago," she explained, holding up her yearbook.

"Ooh, a lesson. I have to admit it's kind of annoying only knowing a few people around here," he said.

Lulu flipped through a few pages before stopping and pointing to a head shot of a dark haired girl. "Enemy numero uno, Brook Lynn Ashton. Or as I like to call her, Hook Lynn." Dante chuckled slightly. "She... well, to put it shortly, she's a bitch."

"Would you mind convincing me of that?"

"Well, she publicly destroyed Georgie, she stole Maxie's boyfriend Johnny Zacharra from her, she locked Sam in a closet for a day, she drugged Robin and tried to seduce her boyfriend, Patrick, and she ransacked my apartment... just tell me when to stop."

"Alright, I definitely agree with you," Dante said.

"Anyway," she began, flipping to another page, "Enemy numero dos, Lisa Niles. She's basically Brook's accomplice. She's dating Cole Asher, the most idiotic and clueless person in the world. There's also Makenzi Cooke, Sara Morrow, Rachelle Morton and Katy Iamani. They follow her around like a pack of dogs, just waiting for her to praise them. It's... shameful to say the least."

"Wow. So I guess I'll just steer clear of them, huh?"

"That would probably be a good idea. I mean, I'm not saying they're all bad... no, that's what I'm saying. Go ahead and associate with them if you want, but you won't be getting any sympathy of friendship from me."

"Well, I can't risk that. Any other people I should know about?"

"Well, I'm sure you know about Logan Hayes."

"Yes. I heard he gave you a pretty tough time."

"Ha! A tough time is an understatement. Ronnie told you the whole story, didn't he?" she asked.

"Yeah, at least I think it was the whole story," Dante said.

"Well, here's my side of the story. I only got together with Logan because of my friends. They weren't pressuring me or anything, but I always felt like an extra wheel. Maxie had Ronnie, Sam had Jason, Robin had Patrick, and Georgie more or less had Michael. So I felt compelled to have a boyfriend. I didn't really have feelings for Logan, but he seemed like a nice guy. So, after about a week, everything was going okay, but then he started getting all... controlling. It got to the point he called me, like, once an hour, and he always wanted to know where I was. He said he was just making sure I was okay, but it was really stalkerish. So I nicely told him to back off, and he decided that wasn't going to happen and it got even worse. He followed me everywhere. One time he got inside my apartment and tried to get me to have sex with him, so of course I said no. And - and he hit me. So I told him it was over. And he hit me again, and again and again." Dante noticed Lulu was crying and wiped away her tears. Lulu blushed and smiled shakily before continuing. "So when he was finished beating he shit out of me, he left me there bleeding on the floor. Luckily Carly decided to check up on me that day, because my dad hadn't been home for almost six months. I went to the hospital with a few broken ribs and a concussion. I didn't rat out Logan because he - he told me he was sorry and he would never do it again. I told Carly, but I made her promise not to tell. Then he started stalking me even more, and I repeatedly told him we were over but he said that he called the shots in our 'relationship'. He-" she chuckled humorlessly. "He camped out outside of my apartment once, and never left. I had to climb out the fire escape to get to school. Since then he's tormented me about my demented family and beat me up again. So I joined a gym and I've won every fight we've had since then. So, you can blame him for me looking like this," she finished, motioning to her face.

"For you looking beautiful?" he asked.

Lulu blushed. "I'm not beautiful. Bruises and scars are not beautiful."

"Au, contraire. You are beautiful, even with the bruises. And I bet you would be without the makeup, too."

"Thanks," she said, embarrassed and touched.

"Any time."

"I - why am I even telling you this? I don't even know you. You didn't ask for my whole freakin' life story."

"It's fine. Really."

"Thanks."

She noticed Dante staring at her lips. She knew what was coming but she had no desire to put a stop to it. He covered his lips with hers, an electric shock coursing through the both of them. The kiss was soft and gentle yet full of built up passion and emotion.

When he finally pulled back, they stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, or maybe it was hours, before she interrupted their moment of bliss and silence.

"I should probably get back to Michael," she said, not knowing how to continue their romantic moment.

"Yeah, and I should get back to Morgan," he said, walking back towards their Jack and Jill bathroom.

"Yeah," she said softly. "I'll see you later."

"Try not to miss me too much," he said with a wink before closing the door.

Lulu fell back on the bed with an enormous smile on her face.