A/N: This chapter is an extremely important chapter, and I'm actually satisfied with the way it came out, even though the beginning was kind of rough. Just like chapter 12, this is a big step in Fabian and Nina's relationship. This chapter is like Marijuana; it's the gateway drug, and in this case, chapter 14 is the chapter that leads to the big plot twist. I hope you all enjoy what I typed for you, and I hope you have a sparkling day!

Fabian
Chapter 14: "The Denial"

"Nina?" I yelled above the noise, trying to find the mother of my child in the swarm of people. Of all the bad things to come with fame, swarms was the worst of them. In the sea of people, I couldn't even catch a glimpse of the person I came here with.

She was nowhere to be seen, so I hoped she hadn't been eaten by the crowd of people. In the insanity of this group, I couldn't even hear a pin drop because they were so loud. "Nina!" I called out, hoping that she had heard me, but she still wasn't standing next to me or anywhere near me.

"OKAY!" I yelled, hoping to grab everyone's attention. The noise of everyone talking continued; nobody's head turned my way, except for people that were already looking at me. The noise of everyone's conversations was beginning to drive me mad, so I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled.

That got everyone's attention. Their conversations were instantly silenced, everyone's attention turning to me. After Aaron's constant Confidence Lessons back when I was starting as an artist, I'd learned to deal with attention, but even know I was still a bit uncomfortable around it. "ALRIGHT!' I yelled to make sure everyone could hear me. "EVERYONE, LISTEN UP! If you want anything, come up and form a line. I'd love to see all of you, but I can't do that if you're all talking at one. Make a line, approach me, and I'll gladly give you whatever you want. You know . . . unless it's illegal or I can't physically give it . . ."

They, surprisingly, listened to me, and made a line. Nina suddenly found her way over to me, and I slid my hand in hers to make sure I didn't lose her in the crowd again. The girls from the tennis court came first; some asked for photos, autographs which I dated with October 27th, 2012, and one even asked for a hugs. Some of the parents asked questions about my life, which was a bit surprising at first; no one had really asked about my life since 2009, when Nina sat down across from me in the coffee shop.

It was actually kind of funny, because when I had first met her, I was rude to her. All I wanted to do was write my song, but she kept annoying me by continually asking questions, so I closed my laptop and talked to her; and then I had gotten her pregnant. That was something I'd never forgive myself for. She was the only one to really ask me what I wanted with my life and what I planned to do, until now, when parents were asking me.

I answered, of course. I saw a few guys from the basketball court come up; some asked for autographs for their siblings; and I was like ninety-nine percent sure one of them just wanted an autograph for himself, but I had no problem with that and gladly delivered.

That continued for a while. I was surprised no one asked about the girl I was holding hands with — that was, until most of the people had cleared, even though they were all still looking at me, and there was only the original girl that had tapped on my shoulder left. I assumed she was shy, so I smiled reassuringly at her. Her anxiety seemed to clear as she pointed at Nina and asked, "Who is she?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Nina's eyes widen. I wasn't sure what that was about; she always seemed to like talking to people. But I addressed the girl and said, "She's my friend. I known her for a long time, so I'm taking her and her niece to the park," I lied. I wasn't about to let this girl, who I didn't know, judge her, because I knew Nina hated being called names for being a teen mom. The shy girl seemed about the same age as Nina, so that was another reason why I wouldn't say her and her daughter.

The girl blinked, shyly bid me a goodbye, but I saw her look around the park as if I was lying. I ignored her and turned back to Nina's, who's eyes were still the size of tennis balls.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, and she started to smack my arm lightly. I could tell she was distressed about something, because her neck kept moving in all directions, as if she was looking for something . . . and then it hit me.

Where was my daughter?

"Emma?" I called out, and Nina repeated me. I took off from the spot I was in, and started to run around; Emma couldn't have gone far. Or at least I hoped; I had never been in this park before.

"EMMA?" Nina yelled, frantically looking behind big boulders and slides, hoping that she'd find her daughter. "EMMA! Where are you? EMMA!"

After looking behind a bench and realizing she wasn't there, I ran over to Nina and took her head in my hands. Tears were streaming down her face; I had only seen my daughter three times in the past but Nina had seen her three hundred and sixty-five days a year for the past three years. She was no doubt more distressed than I could ever be.

"Nina," I said, trying to calm her down; tears were still falling freely down her face. "It will be okay. Emma didn't run into the street and get hit by a car. She's here somewhere, I promise you. Besides, if she was hit by a car, we'd know," I joked lightly, but Nina didn't laugh. In fact, she seemed angry.

"Fabian!" she yelled, another tear falling. She started to walk again, out of my grip."This is our daughter we're talking about! If . . . if I lose her . . ."

"Nina, it's fine, I understand—"

"NO!" she screamed, facing me again, no doubt attracting the attention of plenty of people, but I didn't care the slightest bit. Nina was right; Emma was my daughter. She had half of my blood and she was just as much as mine as she was Nina's. I was acting as if she was a distant relative. Nina continued with, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! You weren't there when I gave birth to her! You weren't there when she took her first steps! You weren't there on her first and second birthdays! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, Fabian!"

I took a deep breath. I wasn't mad at Nina; I understood why she was so distressed. But she was right; I didn't understand. I wasn't there at any landmarks in Emma's childhood, and I'd probably never be, considering how busy I am. Nina was right. I would never understand.

I decided to keep looking, following Nina. I didn't talk to her; I thought it would be better if I left her alone to cool off. We checked behind benches, trees, and swings, and eventually we found her stuck in a slide, perfectly fine.

I was the one to go in and get her, so I slid down the tunnel and came out into the light of the chilly October afternoon. "And here we are!" I announced, bouncing Emma up a little bit so she wouldn't fall down. "Emma Martin, safe and sound."

Tears were still coming down her face, so I quickly touched my hand to her cheek to reassure that everything was okay. Nina smiled weakly, but it looked forced. I handed Nina her daughter, and we walked side-by-side back to the car. I figured that after the swarm and Emma going missing, it was enough for Nina for a while. I started the car and we sped away from the park.

"Well," I said, keeping my eyes on the road. "That was a fright."

Nina wasn't speaking. She was looking out the window, Emma in the child carseat I had bought a few weeks ago in the back of the car. It was like she couldn't hear me. When we stopped at a red light, I sighed and sat back. "Nina, would you talk to me?"

"What is there to talk about?" she growled, the tears on her face finally drying. "Us fighting? I don't really want to talk about that, Fabian."

"I know, I know," I said, smashing my foot against the pedal. "But we need to work things out. Remember? Back in August, we promised that we'd work our problems out."

Nina didn't respond. I rolled my eyes, figuring she was going back to the stubborn and mean façade she put up to block people out of her life. I knew what was under that, but I wished she would remember that we were a family and we'd have to work our problems out. We didn't talk for a few minutes, until I stopped at another red light and I asked, "Where are we going? I can take you back to my house and we talk about this —"

"Just take me home, Fabian," she said, not even bothering to look me in the eyes. I sighed, nodded, and sped back to her house. As I turned the block to her house, I was thinking about everything that happened; how we were swarmed, I couldn't find Nina, and then Emma went missing. I was distressed, of course, but Nina was right. I should've have been thinking I was as distressed as Nina was. She started crying because she was distressed.

In comparison, it was quite funny. When I was a toddler, my mum accidentally left me at a gas station; Mum apologized when she came to get me, but she didn't seem like she had been that distressed or worried. Nina was exactly the opposite; she was on the edge of hysterics and if we found Emma any later than we did, I was sure that Nina would have a mental breakdown.

I arrived at her house, but before I could open the door for her, Nina started to walk up the pathway to her house without even saying a goodbye. I didn't know what her problem was as I leaned against the door of my car, but Emma, peeking her head above Nina's shoulder, said, "Daddy?" and that was when Nina turned around.

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized as she walked back to me. Nina handed me my daughter, and I held her in my arms for a second. I smiled to myself, but Nina quickly took Emma back and explained, "I'm sure she's tired. I'll talk to you later." she promised, and shut the door to her house.

I sighed. I didn't know what had made Nina so mad at me, but I entered the car and started to drive back home. By the time I pulled into the driveway, Rosie, my second-oldest sister, was outside waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" she asked.

I knew that Rosie, as well as the rest of my family knew my secret with Nina, so instead of shrugging it off, I answered it with, "I was at the park with Nina and Emma, when I was swarmed with fans."

"Ooh," Rosie unnecessarily commented.

"Yeah. So after the swarm lessened, Emma went missing and we started to look for her."

"Did you find her?"

"Of course we found her! She's with Nina at her house. I dropped her off before I came here."

"Why isn't she with you? You said you two would probably be coming back here together."

"That's what I thought, but Nina got mad."

"How did you get her mad?"

"I don't know," I announced, taking a seat in the common room. Rosie sat next to me. I liked talking with her; she was smart, like me, so we usually talked about school. Rosie was supposed to be in college right now, as she was 21, but she was going back in December so she was home for the next two months. I continued our conversation with: "I was distressed over Emma's disappearance, but Nina took it personally. I understood why she was so distressed, of course; it was her daughter! But I think she thought I was acting too distressed, which was kind of true. That was only the third time I'd seen my daughter in my life. I don't know Emma as well as Nina knows her. I tried talking with her in the car, but she held a grudge against me so I took her home."

After the concert one week ago, my family and I had worked out everything. My mum, surprisingly, took the news that I was a dad and she was a grandmother rather well; she even wanted to meet her granddaughter and Nina again. Isabelle and Chloe already knew, of course, but now that they could ask questions out in the open, I was asked questions about Nina and Emma much more often.

My dad, however, didn't take the news well. He tried to tell me to ignore Nina and Emma, to think of them as a mistake; with that news, I had yelled at him and said I'd never think of Nina and Emma as a mistake, because they weren't. I loved Emma with all my heart, and I was so glad I had Nina back in my life.

Rosie had accepted the truth openly. We were good friends, so I usually came to her for advice on what I should do, which was why I was so relieved to see her and not Chloe on the front porch.

"Well, Fabes, I think you should apologize." After I nodded in agreement, Rosie continued. "I'm so upset. I was planning a romantic supper for you to go on together, but . . . oh well," she shrugged, a slight smile on her face. "We'll have to do it another day. Why don't you try calling her?"

I blinked.

"Oh, right, you don't have her number," Rosie laughed, picking herself off the couch. She wasn't the skinniest person on the planet; she had a bit of meat on her, but it didn't make her any less beautiful. Rosie's boyfriend treated her like a princess; maybe I should follow in her boyfriend's footsteps. I was still confused about my relationship with Nina; we weren't dating, but we were definitely more than friends. Pre-boyfriend and girlfriend? What was the term for people trying to work in a family, more than friends, but weren't dating? Acquaintances?

I ignored Rosie's laugh as I opened the computer to try to email her. I hoped she was online, but the small green dot wasn't lit up. Nina was offline.

I sent her an email anyway, so she could see it when she logged on. Nina, I'm sorry for today. I don't know what happened, but I hope we can work things out. Promise you'll talk to me later?

But she couldn't promise because she wasn't on. Before I could log off of the email, however, I received an IM from Aaron. I groaned as I read his message: Fabian, what the hell is this?! [download picture]

I clicked the link to download the picture, and my heart was pounding as it loaded. Whenever Aaron was mad, I saw the beginning to World War III. I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what I was about to see, when it finally loaded and I clicked the picture.

It was a photo of me and Nina at the park. I was holding Emma in one of my arms, and I was touching Nina's cheek with the other.

My eyes widened. "Shit," I muttered, my hands fumbling across the keyboard as I typed my response to Aaron's message. Oh. Some woman's niece had gotten stuck in the slide, so I went up there and got the toddler for her. She was crying, so I was touching her face to reassure her that her niece was fine.

My heart rate was accelerating. I saw the three dots at the bottom, saying Aaron was typing his message, when my hands, shaking uncontrollably, fumbled for my phone. I checked my Twitter account, only to find hundreds of people asking me what this picture was.

"How did this happen?" I muttered to myself, scrolling through the hundreds of accounts Tweeting me the picture of me and Nina. "Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit."

Nina was going to murder me. She couldn't have known that someone had taken the picture in the car, could she? Was that why she was ignoring me? She most definitely knew about the picture by now. Nina told me a while before that many people in her school loved me, so when she went back to school on Monday, which was tomorrow . . . it wasn't going to pretty.

I was about to type a Tweet, when Aaron's IM had finally arrived in my inbox. It read: I don't believe you, Fabian. Tell me the truth, and the whole truth.

I sighed. I had kept Nina a secret from Aaron for over two months, but if I could tell my parents about Nina and my daughter, then I could tell Aaron. I typed my response. Fine. The woman crying is Nina Martin, and the toddler in my arms is my daughter, Emma. Nina is the mother of my child.

Aaron's response came rather quickly. Tell me you're kidding.

I typed: I'm not, unfortunately. I'm sorry. I was scared of what you would do. I'm not kidding here, I assure you. I'm that child's father and the woman is the mother of said child.

Aaron's reply was: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll scold you about your relationships later. Right now, we're talking about the picture. Fabian, this is NOT GOOD. The picture is everywhere on Twitter and on fan websites. Hundreds of people have seen it.

My chest heaving, I was about ready to cry. This was never supposed to happen. Nina already had a child and an old grandmother to look after; she didn't need people hating on her because I was touching her cheek. If the truth got out that it was our child . . .I responded to Aaron's reply, my hands shaking; I didn't bother to correct the typos. What am I goignt o do? aaron I don;t know wjhuat to do i just wwercked eevyrthing hellp me

Aaron's reply didn't come; instead, he called the house phone. I answered on the first ring. "Aaron I think I just wrecked everything with Nina oh god Aaron please help me I didn't mean to do this what am I going to do?!"

"Fabian," Aaron's voice was commanding, and listening to it made me think straight. "Calm down. We can sort everything out if you calm down. Now take a deep breath and count to ten. Ten . . ."

Inhale.

"Nine . . ."

Exhale.

By the time he reached one, my breathing was steady again. I was so scared and worried that I didn't even know if I was crying or not, but I pretty sure I was. I cared about Nina more than anyone else right now, and if I had just ruined her life further than I already had, I didn't know if I'd be able to take it. I'd probably hate myself for the rest of eternity.

Aaron's commanding voice finally calmed me down. "Fabian, everything will turn out okay. Do people in the park know that Emma is your daughter and Nina is the mother?"

"No," I breathed, closing my eyes, pacing back and forth.

"That's good," Aaron continued. "I'm pretty sure people have already guessed their relation to you, based on what I've seen on Twitter. Fabian, I want you to send out a Tweet saying that the girl was a friend of yours and the little girl is her niece, just like you said she was to me before. Okay? I'm hoping that most of the people Tweeting the picture to you don't know her personally."

"No, if she saw someone from her school we would have left," I said, my voice shaking.

"That's good," Aaron said. "Fabian, I know you're scared. But calm down. Have you sent out the Tweet yet?"

"No," I answered, but I ran back to the couch to pick up my phone and I typed in the Tweet. After rereading it a billion times, I finally sent it. "Okay, Aaron. The Tweet says To everyone who's wondering about the photo, it's just a friend of mine who was worried because she lost her niece. Leave her alone. Is that okay?"

"I hope so, kid. I hope so. Oh, and I scheduled an interview on a talk show tomorrow so I hope that's okay with you okay bye!"

"What? Aaron, what do you mean?" I yelled into the phone, but he had already hung up. I crashed on the couch and buried my head in my hands.

What had I done? I should have known that one of the girls on the tennis court would take a picture. Nina had caused a commotion with the screaming, so it wasn't a big surprise why they had taken the picture. Now it was all over the internet . . .

A photograph made my life better in August because I reunited with Nina and met my daughter, but now a different photograph had just ruined all that. Nina would never forgive me. After almost three months of us talking by email and trying to make things work as a family, could a photograph ruin it all after a different one started it?

Now, apparently, I was scheduled to be on a talk show tomorrow. It was probably about the photograph that was swarming. What was I going to do? I could lie to to the whole world about who she was.

I said she was a friend, which she was, but if I was being honest with myself, I could feel myself falling in love with her. I didn't know what it was . . . maybe it was the way she smiled at me when I made her laugh . . . or the way she was always so focused and knew what to do . . . maybe it was that she was finally warming up to me . . .

"Oh, you are so in love with her," Isabelle said. I was shocked at first; how had she heard me?

"I said that out loud, didn't I?"

Isabelle nodded, a smile on her face. She walked into the common room and sat down next to me. "Do you really think I'm—"

I didn't even need to finish my sentence. She said, "So in love. Head over heels in love. Fabian Thomas Rutter, you are in love with Nina Martin. It's so obvious."

v v v

After hours of talking to Aaron, him trying to persaude me that everything was going to be fine, I had decided to go to sleep. My head was pounding with a headache, and I was sure a nice long sleep would fix that. I fell asleep trying to think of any way to convince Nina that I didn't mean to fight and for the photograph to be taken. Soon enough, I fell asleep.

Then, I was right in front of Nina's door. The moon was out; everything around me was still. Even though the neighboorhood looked exactly the same as it did when I drove here last night, it seemed . . . different somehow. I couldn't place it.

I could hear sounds inside her house, so I slowly and quietly crept up to her front door and opened it with a reeeeeeeaaaaaaak. "Nina?" I asked quietly, the sounds becoming louder and clearer. "Nina, where are you?"

The sounds were closer now. As I continued walking, I could place it: crying. Someone was crying. "Nina!" I yelled, wondering why she was up and crying at this hour. "Nina, come on, it's just me. Everything will be fine. . . . there's no need to cry . . .

But as I approached the source of the noise, I could see that it wasn't Nina who was crying. In fact, there was two people on the ground. I couldn't see their faces, but as I got closer to them, they didn't seem to know I was here.

I circled them, trying to see their faces, but both of their heads were buried in their hands. There was a girl and a boy, and neither of them were Nina; I could tell that much. The girl and the boy were holding on to each other for dear life. The boy was crying so hard that even I was surprised.

When the girl picked her head up, her tear-streaked face being exposed, I recognized who it was. Mara. Nina's friend. If Mara was the girl crying, then Eddie had to have been the boy.

Mara looked straight at me, but she still didn't seem to realize I was here. She wiped her cheeks free of tears, but they kept pouring. She tapped Eddie's shoulder, and after a few seconds of reluctance, he exposed his face, which was much worse than Mara's. I didn't know why Nina's two best friends were crying in her house, but I knew that Eddie wouldn't stop crying for a while.

"I can't believe it," Mara choked out. "I . . . she . . . Eddie?"

He let out another sob and grabbed Mara's shirt and sobbed into it. He was crying so hard that I wanted to go over there and comfort him, but I knew that I couldn't. I walked around the crying ball to the other side of it, only to see that Eddie was holding something in his hand — a piece of paper with writing on it.

As he cried, he let go of the paper. I reached down to pick it up, only to see sloppy handwriting covering the entire page. My heart pounded as I read the words.

Dear whoever is reading this,
I'm sorry. But after finding out that I was pregnant, and after months and months after trying to find the father of the baby, I couldn't do it anymore. I'm only 15; if I had to give birth at this age, it would be a nightmare. Kids would bully me to no lengths. Trust me, it'll be better this way. Eddie: I love you so much, and thank you for protecting me and taking me to the doctor when I needed it. Mara: thank you for defending me that time when Patricia and Joy called me a slut. Gran: I know you're old, but I'm glad you're my guardian. You always have the best advice. I needed you guys and you were always there. But now, there's no need for me to fear giving birth or having an abortion, because I'll be dead, and the baby will die with me. I'm sorry for putting you guys through this—you're not friends with the pregnant girl anymore.
With love,
Nina

That's when I realized this was Nina's suicide note. I ran down the hall to her room, smashed the door open, only to find Nina's limp body, her neck tied in a noose. She had hung herself.

"Nina!" I yelled, feeling the tears starting to pour out. I shook her body, trying to wake up her up, but her eyes wouldn't open and her chest wasn't moving. "Nina! Come on! Stop it! Wake up! Please! Please . . . I love you . . . you can't do this to me . . ."

I crashed on the floor, burying my head in my hands, sobbing.

Before anything else could happen, my eyes jolted open and I recognized the scenery around me. I was in my bedroom.

It was a dream.

It was only a dream.

But I couldn't be sure. Panting, I felt around for my phone in the blankets; eventually, I found it and started to dial Nina's number; but then I realized I didn't have it.

I had to make sure she was alive and that the dream I had was just a dream and nothing more. I didn't give a thought to the fact that it was 3 AM and everyone in my house was sleeping. I didn't give a thought to the fact that I was in my pajama pants with no shirt on. I opened the front door hastily, unlocked my car doors, and sped off to Picton, where Nina lived.

Eventually, after miles of pondering about the dream I had and what happened at the park, I arrived in front of Nina's house. I didn't stop to knock; instead, I reached for the key under the mat, unlocked the door, and ran into Nina's room, only to find it the same way as I last saw it. What was better was that there was no body hanging from the ceiling; instead, the body was sleeping soundly in her bed.

I sighed contently. I wasn't trying to wake her, but when I saw her body move the slightest bit — when I saw her sit up, rub her eyes and ask, "Fabian? What are doing here?" I ran up to her and tackled her in a hug. "Oh, Nina," I breathed, holding her body against my own. I could tell by her body movement that she was confused, but I held her close and didn't let her go. "I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't mean to make you mad. Oh . . . I'm so sorry . . . I'm just glad you're alive . . ."

"What are you talking about?" she murmured, squirming around so she could get out of my grasp. She faced me, her eyes still having a bit of sleep in them. "Fabian, what's going on? Why are you here at three in the morning?"

"No reason," I said, forcing a smile at her. "I just wanted to hear your voice."

I could see her smile a little bit. She wasn't bringing the photograph of us in the park up, so I was glad we didn't have to talk about that this early in the day. "Did you have a dream?" she asked, and I nodded. She paused for only a second, but then said, "Fabian, you're crying. Are you all right?"

I shook my head and embraced her in another hug. This time, Nina hugged back. I was so happy that she was alive and well and yet still so shocked from the dream that it was no surprise why I was crying. Nina didn't pull back from the hug, and neither did I.

"There'll be no sunlight, if I lose you, baby..." I began to sing, mostly to myself, but I didn't doubt that Nina could hear it too. "There'll be no clear skies, if I lose you, baby...just like the clouds, my eyes will do the same. If you walk away, everyday it will rain..."

v v v

I couldn't stop thinking about the dream all day.

Nina wouldn't, either. We drove to the talk show in the car together, as if the day in the park didn't happen. I didn't know why she wasn't talking about the photograph, but I was grateful for that as we conversed about the dream I had in the car. Nina wouldn't let it go; she was interested in the reason why I drove all the way to her house in the middle of the night to make sure she was alive.

I realized that Isabelle was right; I was in love with Nina. I thought about that after I left Nina's house last night; I knew that it was just a dream afterwards, but I couldn't bear the thought that Nina had committed suicide when she was pregnant. If she had done that, I never would have met Nina; much less Emma, as Nina had killed the baby when she killed herself. I'd never be able to live with myself.

I was just glad that Nina was in the passenger seat next to me and not in a coffin in the ground. When I smiled at her across the seat, and Nina smiled back, my eyes widened and I fully believed it myself that I was in love with Nina. I was in love with Nina. I was in love with Nina. I, Fabian Rutter, was in love with Nina Martin.

I smiled at her again, taking her hand when I parked the car; we were still holding hands as we walked to the studio. I opened the door for her, and she beamed at me, walking inside and taking a seat backstage. I bid her a goodbye as I met Aaron near where I enter the talk show studio.

"All right, Fabian. The person talking to you confirmed that they're going to ask you about the photograph, so just practice what I told you to say: that the woman is your friend and the toddler is her niece. People will judge her if you say daughter, and I'm sure you don't want that. Some people might not believe it, but we're not going to announce to the world that you're a father just yet." I nodded. "They're going to ask you some other things, too, like how fame is for you, how your family is, and some other things, so they proabably won't focus on the photograph too much, but just say what I told you to say and you're golden."

I nodded again, and he slapped his hand on my shoulder. "Good luck, kid." His brown eyes shone with fear as I took a deep breath and walked out on to the stage.

Aaron was right; they did ask about the photograph. We talked about the house I lived in for a little while, my friends, but eventually we came to the subject of the photograph.

"Well, Fabian," the talk show host, Taylor, began. "Last night, a photograph was taken with you in it." The photograph was shown on a big screen. Since Nina hadn't mentioned the photograph last night and all through today, I was sure this was the first time she was seeing it. By the time this interview was done, Nina was going to murder me. "Can you explain who these people are?"

"Yes," I said confidently, remembering what Aaron had told me to say. "I came to the park with one of my old friends, Nina, that I reunited with back in August. She wanted to take her dau—" I caught myself before I could say the whole word, thankfully, "She wanted to take her niece to the park, so of course I agreed to take her. While we were there, we were talking and then suddenly Nina's niece went missing and we couldn't find her. I found her stuck in the slide," I laughed to make it more lighthearted, and the audience laughed with me.

I couldn't have it looking that serious, anyway. People might analyze my slip up and find out that the little girl was my daughter, and everything we'd be working for would come crumbling down. I knew that people who knew Nina personally would know the truth, but hopefully people wouldn't be cruel as to make Nina that miserable.

"Anyway, by the time I brought her niece down, Nina was crying. I was trying to make her feel better, so that was why I was holding her face like that. Her niece is safe and sound, by the way," I addressed the audience, and they cheered. It was strange, what a group of teenagers could find heroic.

"Well, Fabian," Taylor said, with a smile on her face. "I'm sure your friend appreciated it."

As the talk show ended, I could feel myself being bitten in the butt.

Nina was going to murder me, her classmates would know I was lying, I just lied to millions of people, and I was in love with Nina. My life wasn't going to be a happy one after today . . . I knew that much.

A/N: Intense chapter, right? I do hope you enjoyed it. I'm leaving you all to think about what Nina's reaction will be to him denying everything – chapter 15 is in Nina's POV, and I'm excited to write it because I'm 100% it will torture you all hahaha

Aaaaaah we're so close to 100 reviews ^u^