Starr walked into Dorian's quietly, her energy all having been zapped right out of her by the terrible last two days. As she trudged upstairs, Starr felt a twist of guilt when she saw Jack's door, knowing it had been wrong of her to take her irritation out on her little brother.

All Starr wanted to do now was collapse into bed and talk to Schuyler until she fell asleep, but she knew this was the right thing to do, so she reluctantly walked to Jack's door, knocking softly, and it swung open a second later.

"Oh, it's you," he greeted shortly. "What do you want to yell at me about now?"

Langston must have heard him, because she poked her head out her door a moment later, and quickly walked over to stand by her friend supportively.

"No yelling, I'm just here to apologize," Starr sighed. Jack didn't look like he was buying it. "I really am sorry for the way I blew up, Jack. I still think you need to make a little more effort, and you really need accept the truth about dad," she spat bitterly as she thought of what she and Schuyler had just gone through. Jack bristled in response to that. "But the things I said were mean and out of line, and I'm sorry."

"Right," Jack snorted, flashing her a sarcastic smile. "Well, then, I guess I'm sorry too- especially for calling dad and telling him about that Schuyler dude, I hope that's not going to cause any problems for you."

"You what?!" Starr shrieked, her energy rushing back in a heartbeat. Langston gasped in horror. "When was this?!"

"I don't know, an hour ago?" he guessed irritably, though he seemed pleased by the panic he'd caused her.

"Oh my god," Starr moaned- so that hadn't even been what her dad was at Schuyler's for, Jack had left the message after Todd had already left to confront Schuy. Oh, no- that meant her dad was leaving Schuyler's in that furious state he'd been to go home, and was going to be greeted by whatever it was Jack had left on his machine. "Jack, what did you say?!"

"I guess you'll find out," Jack said with a smirk, stepping back to slam his door shut.

Starr caught it with her palm and threw it open; it hit the wall with a loud bang, and Jack looked startled, thrown off his guard.

"Jack; what-did-you-say?"

"I don't know," he mumbled uncomfortably, shrinking under her infuriated gaze. "I said you guys were messing around or whatever…that you told Langston you, um…did it."

"Oh my God!" Langston shrieked with wide eyes, instantly comprehending just how freaking bad this was.

With a horrified intake of breath, Starr just slowly shook her head, her ears ringing with anger and panic.

"You have no idea what you just did, Jack," Starr hissed, spinning on her heel and rushing down the stairs.

"Starr, wait!" Langston cried, quickly following. She reached the bottom just as Starr was grabbing her bag and heading for the door. "Starr, what are you going to do?"

"If my dad hears that, especially after what just happened, he will literally kill Schuyler, Langston, I have to try and stop him from finding out! I think I can beat my dad home- he'll probably stop somewhere to get a drink or something, at least that's what I'm hoping. If I can get there first, I can erase the message before he ever hears it, and everything will be okay, Schuyler won't get killed."

"Okay, I'm coming with you."

"No, I should do this alone," Starr sighed. Langston watched her nervously.

"Okay, just, be careful! And good luck!"

"Thanks!" Starr said quickly, running out the door.

Langston frantically raised her hand to her mouth, chewing her nails as she paced back and forth, unsure of what to do now; right now the only thing coming to mind was 'kill Jack' which didn't seem very smart, so she remained downstairs, hoping Starr would call any moment to say she'd been successful.

After what felt like an eternity but had really only been about ten minutes, Langston broke; she couldn't bear to just sit here and wait, not when it seemed like everything was falling apart right in front of her eyes, and she quickly fished out her phone, and the list of school numbers from her notebook, finding Mr. J's.

"Hello?" he answered, sounding tense.

"Hi, um, Mr. Jo-…Schuyler," she corrected, considering this was a personal call.

"Langston?" Schuyler asked, sounding surprised. "What's going on, is everything okay?"

"Uh…I don't really know," she squeaked. "Kind of why I'm calling, actually. See, Starr came home from your place about fifteen minutes ago, and she went to apologize to Jack for a fight they had earlier, and he ended up spilling that earlier, he called Starr's dad as revenge and said some, um…stuff about you too that will be very upsetting to him, let's just say that."

"Oh, God," Schuyler groaned in dread. "Langston, where's Starr?"

"Uh…sheleftsoshecandeletethemessagebeforehehearsit!" Langston said in a rush.

"She what?"

"She left so she can delete the message before he hears it!"

"No, I heard you," he said impatiently. "Did she go by herself?"

"Yeah."

"Damn it," Schuyler swore frantically.

He was instantly sent into far more of a panic than he'd been in when Todd had confronted him alone in his room. Starr was risking being alone with Todd when he heard that message- Todd, whom Schuyler had once believed without a moment of doubt had been the one to hit Starr when she'd shown up at his classroom injured. Todd, who was known for having trouble with his anger. Todd, who had shoved her down a flight of stairs when she'd been defending a teenage boy from him. Shit.

"I'm going over there- think I can catch her?"

"Yeah, totally," Langston reassured him.

"If Todd does anything…" Schuyler muttered to himself as he grabbed his keys, forgetting he was even on the phone.

"Oh, Mr. Jop- Schuyler; he has issues, I know, but I don't think he'd ever hurt Starr."

"Well, I don't trust that enough to chance it. Thanks for calling me, Langston."

"Of course."

He hung up, and Langston sighed, her heart heavy as she hung up, hoping everything was going to turn out okay for her best friend.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Dad!" Starr shouted as she ran into his house, praying she'd gotten there in time. "Dad, are you here?"

There was no response, and Starr felt a flicker of hope, rushing into the living room.

"Twinkle twinkle, little Starr."

Starr spun around in surprise, frowning deeply as she saw the unfamiliar man who had spoken. He smiled at her, but the friendly gesture made her feel a strange hint of discomfort.

"What did you just call me?"

"Starr- that's your name, right?" he asked, that weird smile still on his face.

"Um, yeah. Who are you, what are you doing here? How do you know my name?"

"Oh, I'm a friend of your dad's."

"And where is he?" Starr asked urgently, her eyes wide.

"He said he had something to take care of earlier, he told me I should just wait for him here." Starr sighed; that something must have been Schuyler.

"He said you could wait here alone?" she asked in surprise.

"Oh, yeah, he trusts me. We go way back; I'm practically like his brother."

"You do look a little familiar," she noted, tilting her head curiously. "What's your name?"

"It's Carl, Carl Swift; it's very nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Carl," Starr replied tightly, feeling another twist of discomfort when he shook her hand.

"You know, I've heard a lot about you," he informed her, removing his hat. "I know how much you mean to your dad. Speaking of- you gonna hang out and wait for him?"

"Oh, no, I actually didn't come to see him," Starr said, her focus back on her mission as she hurried to the phone. She paused, something occurring to her as she reached the machine. "Did you, um, hear the message my brother left?"

"I don't remember hearing a message."

"Oh, good," she sighed, hitting the play button and then hitting erase the moment she heard Jack's voice. The answering machine confirmed it was deleted, and Starr felt a rush of relief until she turned around and saw Carl watching her curiously.

"Afraid that was gonna get you in trouble?"

"It's not me I'm worried about," she replied quickly. "But it doesn't matter now, thankfully." Starr froze, her brow furrowing as she thought of something. "Oh- you're going to tell him I did that, aren't you?"

"Hey, that is none of my business, okay? As far as I'm concerned, I didn't see it," he offered kindly, flashing her a quick wink.

"Oh, thank you," Starr said, shaking her head; she shouldn't even have to be doing this, why was her dad so irrational? "This is only happening anyway because he sees me as this little girl still, and I'm not."

"Well, anyone can see that, Starr. Anyone," he stressed, his eyes flickering over her.

What had been a small twist of discomfort was now a full blown, screaming warning signal; this was weird, he shouldn't be saying that, or looking at her like that.

"Let me guess; your dad's giving you a hard time about some boy."

"Um, not a boy, actually, older guy," Starr told him, hoping hearing she had a boyfriend would send some kind of warning, back off signal.

"A man," Carl said, looking too interested in this.

"Yeah, it's just…you know what? You shouldn't have to hear any of this, you don't even know me."

"You're right, I don't. But maybe I can give you an impartial perspective. I mean, when I look at you, I don't see a child."

"Oh," she replied uncomfortably, trying to sound interested. She was too nervous around him to want to risk upsetting him. "How old do you think I look, anyway?

"Like a woman, like a beautiful young woman," he said warmly. Starr took a deep breath; she was overreacting, right? He was just being polite, right? That wasn't as weird as she thought it was, right? "Which is why your father is so upset."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, you're daddy's little girl, he doesn't want to share you!"

"You think that's it?"

"Oh, I know it, especially with his history."

"What are you saying?"

"Well, you know, his issues with women are different than most guys."

"So, how do you know my dad again?" Starr asked, hesitantly taking a step back; what did he know about her dad's history?

"Oh, from when we were young."

"How young?"

"Not much older than you are now," Carl said, standing from the seat he'd taken and walking towards her. "Man, if you had been around then…"

"Why are you saying all of these things?" Starr blurted out, fear griping her.

"What? I thought you wanted to know what I thought of you," he said with a leer that made her shiver and want to cover up even though she already had a jacket on. "You're beautiful- a beautiful woman."

"You know what, I'm gonna go now," Starr said quickly, turning to get the hell out of there as her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Oh, God, why hadn't she left the second she erased the message?

"Hey," Carl said, his voice suddenly lower, more intimidating, as he moved to cut her off. "Don't you want to show your dad you're not a little girl?"

"Who the hell are you?" a furious voice suddenly demanded from near the front door.

Starr and Carl both quickly whipped around to see who had spoken, and Starr nearly crumpled with relief when she saw Schuyler, not caring how he'd known she was here, only that he'd shown up. And, if the absolutely infuriated look he was throwing Carl was any indication, that he'd heard what the man had said.

Schuyler quickly crossed the room, reaching them in no time, and hovered by Starr protectively, winding his arm around her waist and pulling her tightly to him. Starr gripped him just as tightly, feeling a rush of gratitude.

Schuyler stared the man down with a look that could kill, currently feeling like his hold on Starr was the only thing keeping him from actually doing it. Who the hell was this guy, and what the fuck did he think he was doing talking to Starr like that, looking at her like that?

"I'm Carl Swift," he introduced himself pleasantly, like he hadn't just hit on Starr and like Schuyler didn't look like he wanted to strangle him.

"Great- Carl, wanna tell me why the hell you were talking to my girlfriend like that?" he asked, voice hot with anger.

"Girlfriend?" Carl repeated, suddenly chuckling like he knew a secret. "Oh. Oh. So, you must be the teacher, huh?"

"I thought you didn't hear the message," Starr choked out. He shrugged.

"I lied. Hey, how do you think I knew that you are definitely not a little girl anymore?" he questioned, slowly smirking as he looked her up and down again.

Much to her shock, Schuyler suddenly seemed to snap and he started to step forward, fists clenched, but Starr quickly yanked him back, just as yet another voice seemed to appear from nowhere.

"Get away from him! That's Zach Rosen, he raped my mom!"

Starr and Schuyler both startled, looking over to see Cole pulling himself up from behind the couch, rubbing his head.

"Cole?" Starr asked faintly. "What's-"

"Cole, get over here, now," Schuyler, who seemed to figure out the situation faster than her, ordered shortly, grasping Starr even more firmly. Cole quickly did as he was told, and Schuyler pulled Starr towards the door, yanking Cole's arm to make sure he followed. "We're leaving," he snapped over his shoulder.

"What's going on?!" Starr cried. "Cole, what did he do to you?!"

"Starr, just keep walking."

"Oh my God," Starr whimpered to herself, beginning to understand.

"Hey, Starr, it's fine, I've got you," Schuyler murmured comfortingly. "It's okay, he can't hurt you."

"Let's just go," Cole hissed anxiously. "Quickly, before-"

"Not so fast!" Zach suddenly roared.

All feeling a sense of dread, the trio turned to discover Zach staring after them with an expression of pure rage, pointing a gun directly at them.