Thank you all for the review. You don't know how happy it makes me to read them and know that you are actually enjoying my story.

*noodles307 & momo0424 -Yes Ashley's mom is a bitch and her dad is an ass. As for Casey..we will see ;) Spencer may have a reason as to why she is acting the way she is acting. I may or may not have a Spencer P.O.V. This chapter is all about Miranda and Ashley. Hope you enjoy.

*no1spacecadet - Glad you finally remembered your password. LOL.

*FFReviews- Happy to hear I have reeled you in and hooked you. LOL. I will be getting in to some back stories. Thanks for the comment and hope I don't disappoint.

*tbplrbear1- Thanx. Miranda is definetly a breath of fresh air for Ashley. And I hate how Madi is always the bitch so I thought I would change that up.

*dazedlvr07- Raife coming home and Christine getting put in her place are definite possibilities.

*Chimera452Bast- Thank you so much for showing your appreciation. It means a lot. Truly. I do indeed have a strong passion for music and literature. I am actually a big fan of Poe and poetry itself. Music is very important to me. It puts me at peace. Hope you enjoy that playlist :) I know there are a lot of similar stories. I wanted to try out a more realistic storyline. As for the Beta, I'll get back to you on that :) Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

As always..I own nothing but my imagination.

We were sprawled out on my bed. Neither of us could move. An empty tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream lying on the floor.

"Ugh. Why did you let me eat all of that?" I whined and then belched. "Oops. Excuse me." We both laughed and it hurt.

I don't recall you telling me to stop. I think I ate more than you did."

We laid there for about ten minutes and then finally sat up. Both not quite ready to bring up what we initially left the party for.

Of course my curiosity finally broke the silence.

"So uh. How come you stay with Spencer? What about your parents?" I hoped that I didn't come across nosey or pushy.

"WOW. Right to the serious stuff huh?" Miranda said and then laughed.

"Yeah. Sorry. I always say and ask what's on my mind. You'll learn that about me. Always so blunt."

"I do believe I already knew that. Actually yeah I found that out in our first conversation."

"Guess I've always been that way. Sorry." I hung my head slightly.

"Don't be sorry. It's part of who you are. And I happen to like who you are. Very much so." She placed her hand over mine which caused me to look up and smile.

"How about we start off with some lighter questions. Then get to the harder ones later. But hey. Every question you ask I get to ask one in return. Deal?" Miranda suggested.

"Deal. You go first." I had to think of some "lighter" questions to ask.

"Okay. You have a crush on Spencer don't you? That's who Madi was talking about right?" Geez. I thought we were saving the hard ones for later.

I laughed. "What makes you think that?"

"Uhh. It's kind of obvious Ashley. You have hit on her at least 3 times in my presence alone that I can recall." Oops.

"Miranda. I hit on every hot girl I encounter. That's just me."

"You haven't technically answered the question Ashley." Miranda said straight faced.

"Okay. Fine. You got me. I have a crush on Spencer. But it's harmless. We both know that nothing will come of it." The truth hurts.

"Okay. Thank you for being honest."

"My turn." I said excitingly.

"Um. Let's see. Ooh. Do YOU have a crush on anyone?"

"Really? That's your question?" Miranda looked surprised I couldn't come up with something better..juicier.

"Hey. You said no hard questions. That's all I got…Well?"

"No, no crush. Don't really know very many boys. I mean we go to an All-Girls school and I'm not very social outside of school either. " Miranda voice was quiet and had a hint of disappointment in it.

"Well we'll have to change that." I know I would have no problem finding the perfect guy for Miranda. The girl was pretty, funny and smart.

"Okay. The first day you talked to me, was that because of Spencer?" I pursed my lips. I knew this question might come up. She suggested the "light" questions but wasn't asking any.

"Honestly at first I didn't know you knew Spencer. I just saw a girl who was struggling to get her books into her locker. I just wanted to help. I will admit once I knew, I wanted to get more info from you. That day I invited you to my show we had a great conversation and I liked talking to you. You made me laugh. And when you guys showed up at the club I was so happy. Happy that you BOTH were there. It meant a lot to me. Really." This time I put my hand over Miranda's.

"Good. You made me laugh too. To be honest before I knew you I was a bit scared of you." She laughed.

"I know. I saw it in your eyes. Why were you afraid of me?"

"I don't know. I judged you based on rumors. I don't know why I listened to them. Probably because I would never have been brave enough to find out for myself." She looked ashamed.

"What rumors did you hear?" I already knew what rumors Miranda was talking about.

"Oh you know. Bad ass, lesbian chick that sleeps around and parties hard. Don't stare at her or she'll beat your ass." She laughed and shook her head.

"Well some of those are true. Some of them used to be true. Some of them were never true. I am a bad ass though. Whoever spread that rumor had that one right on." I gave her my cocky grin. She laughed again and then playfully slapped my arm.

"I don't know if you were going to ask this but I wanted to tell you anyway. I don't want to keep anything from you. The fight with Carmen, it wasn't just about defending you. I mean seeing you cry and knowing that she did that. Well. It fueled an already out of control fire. She knew how to push my buttons and I lost it."

"It's okay Ashley. I already knew that. The bad blood between you and Carmen Vasquez is no secret. But I saw the look of concern in your eyes when you saw me. And because of you Carmen hasn't bothered me since. So thank you. Again. And thank you for telling me the truth."

I shifted myself on the bed so I was completely facing her. She smiled at me and then took a deep breath. She knew what I wanted to ask.

She put her head down briefly. When she raised it I saw tears. I grabbed both of her hands and squeezed them. I wanted her to know I was here for her. She quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve and then took another deep breath.

"When I was twelve my parents were killed in a car accident. I was at school and Aiden was in the office waiting for me. As soon as I saw him I knew something bad had happened. He literally had to pick me off of the floor and carry me to his car." She paused. I was in complete shock and I couldn't stop the tears from slowly trickling down my cheeks. She looked at me. The pain so obvious in her eyes.

"It was just Aiden and I. We didn't have any other family. So I moved in with him and Spencer. As you already know he died last year. So now Spencer is the only family I have left."

She completely broke down. Sobbing into my shoulder. I could do nothing but hold her and stroke her hair. I whispered over and over again. "It's okay."

But is it? She lost her entire family. Her mother. Her father. Her brother. How could that be okay? If she didn't have Spencer where would she be? Foster care? On the streets?

It broke my heart to think of everything she had been through.

I remember losing my grandma when I was 14 and thinking it would never be okay again. I remember thinking life wasn't fair and locking myself in my room for days refusing to eat. My mother couldn't deal with me so she called my dad. It was one of the only times I can remember my dad physically being there for me.

Miranda only had Spencer now.

It's no wonder she kept to herself. Fear of letting in. Fear of loving. Fear of losing.

I could certainly relate to that.

Even though my parents were still very much alive, they really didn't exist in my life. My mother, only to tell me I was a mistake and how much she loathes me and my father who can't be bothered to take two seconds out of his awesome Rock star life to call and just say "Hello".

Miranda cried herself to sleep on my lap. I laid there holding her wishing I could take away her pain I couldn't. All I could do was cry. And I cried. I cried for the loss of her mother. I cried for the loss of her father. I cried for the loss of her brother. I cried for her. I cried for Spencer. And I cried for myself.

I hoped that in the morning Miranda would be okay. Whether she was or not I would be there for her. Because I felt that she needed me to be. And that feeling felt new. And that feeling, even though overwhelming..felt good.

I know it was short and sad. Sorry.