Slowly I slipped into the apartment. Nobody seemed to even be home. I walked to my bedroom and sat on my bed.

"And where were you?" I heard.

This scared the crap out of me! I turned around quickly.

"M-mother." I stuttered.

"Well answer my question." She demanded.

"I was out for a walk." I lied.

"Oh were you now?" She said sarcastically.

"I was."

"Alone?"

"Yes, I was alone."

I was trying to convince her but her eyebrows narrowed and her lips became a straight line.

"Don't try that with me Maria!"

"Mother I'm telling you the truth."

"Then who were you with outside? I saw you with someone."

She'd seen me with Jack! I knew if I messed up on the next things I'd say that I would never ever be able to step out of my apartment again... That meant I'd never see Jack.

"The apartment is at a far distance from the street and there are many people on the street." I said.

"And someone you don't know would wrap their arms around you?"

"I-I just... I was-"

"You knew that boy I saw you with didn't you? Answer me Maria!"

"I don't know!" I screamed.

"Was it one of those poor children? Those disgusting street rats?"

I felt anger build up inside of me. I knew that if I opened my mouth my anger would all come pouring out. So I stayed silent.

"Answer me question!" She shouted.

"Fine yes!"

"I do not want you talking to any children like that ever again. Do you understand me?"

"But mother I-"

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes mother... I understand."

She quickly recollected herself.

"That's better now." She smiled.

I felt tears in my eyes. Jack is going to hate me. I thought. He's never going to want to speak to me again! I looked over to the window hoping that mother wouldn't see my tears. She wasn't really paying attention.

"I'll let you relax for a little while... But trust me Maria I'm watching you and everything you do." She said as she walked out.

I buried my face into my pillow and jut cried. How could it have gone so wrong? I cried so hard I could barley breathe. Whenever I cried like that I coughed, this time was no different. I stayed curled up on my bed for a long time maybe an hour or so. Eventually I looked up in the mirror my face had turned bright red. I took a few deep breaths and watched my face return to normal.

Not long after that I heard a knock at my window. I looked up at the clock. It was twenty minutes after four o'clock. I already knew it was Jack at my window. I hurried over and opened the window. He looked pretty annoyed.

"Where were you? I've been waiting outside for twenty minutes! You couldn't have just told me you weren't going to..." He took a good look at me. "You okay?"

I started to cry right there. Jack pulled me to his chest.

"Okay, okay. Maria come on tell me what happened."

He dried my eyes. I knew my face was probably scarlet red. I took a few deep breaths and let myself calm down.

"My mother says we can't see each other anymore." I said.

He looked at me for a moment.

"Why?" He asked.

"Don't be offended by this Jack. She said that you were a street rat and she didn't want me talking to anyone like you. It's just her prejudice. I'm sorry Jack..."

I could tell he was hurt.

"No it's okay. But Maria why should you listen to her?"

"What do you mean?"

"She's just ignoring the fact that you father is trying to hurt you and now she is trying to tell you what to do! She knows every second you're with him your in danger. If she doesn't give a damn about you, why shout you give a damn about her?"

I looked up at him for a minute and realized he was right. Why should I care? If she cared about me she would have protected me the moment she found out what was going on! Jack held out his hand.

"Well are you coming with me?" Jack asked with a smile.

I was about to take his hands when I remembered what my mother said.

"No my mother is watching from our front window... The back of my building is where my father comes home and he can be home any minute!" I explained.

Jack just smiled. "Then we'd better hurry."

I took his hand and together we went down the fire escape. The second our feet touched the ground we ran like hell to get as far away from my building as possible.

"Okay I think this is far enough." Jack said eventually."I need a break."

We were both tired and out of breath. Jacks face was completely flushed. We stood there panting like dogs in the heat.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I figured we'd take a walk in Central Park."

I smiled at him.

"I think I'd like that."

He smiled. "Alright lets go. I think we should walk this time though." He joked.

I smiled and laughed. By the time we reached Central Park only a few minutes had passed. I saw woman and children walking through the park. Small kids all by them selves playing. The children were all poor. But they seemed happy. Very happy. I felt Jack take my hand. I blushed. Jack looked into my eyes. My face was probably red as a cherry at that point. He squeezed my hand.

"You okay? I know what you've been through." He said as we walked.

"I'm alright."

"You sure about that?" Jack asked.

"Yeah."

"Maria, if there is anything you need of anything of anything I can do for you let me know."

I looked at him and smiled. Jack was so kind to me. Nobody else had been. It was almost like he made it his sole duty to protect me. That felt great.

"Thank you Jack." I said.

"You know Maria in some ways you remind me of myself. You know what I mean?"

I didn't know... I didn't know at all.

"Well not exactly..." I mumbled.

"I don't know it's just we've both been through a lot and we're... I don't know. It's hard to explain." He laughed a little bit.

"That's okay."

He stopped and looked down at his shoes for a second.

"Maria there's something important that I've been wanting to ask you ." He said.

His face became serious.

"Alright, what is it?"

Jack took a deep breath.

"How do you feel about me?" He asked.

"You're my best friend Jack." I said with a smile. I knew that wasn't how I really felt but I didn't know what to say. He looked a little disappointed.

"Is that all I am to you?" He asked. His eyes were pleading with me to say what he wanted me to say. But I wasn't exactly sure what that was. I did have a pretty good idea.

"What do you mean exactly Jack?"

He took another deep breath. This one was longer and deeper. Obviously he was stressed.

"W-what I mean is... The thing is that I... I..." He sighed and looked at me for a second. "Just give me a minute to get this out. Maria what I'm trying to say is that-" He gave up on his words and kissed me right then.

"That's what I mean." He whispered as he pulled away.

I stood there in shock for a moment. What should I say? What should I do? I guess I didn't need words either. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back. Jack smiled, for once he was blushing too.