Finally, Chapter 13! I have got stop writing such long chapters. Seriously, though, make sure you set aside at least a good ten minutes for this chapter, and make sure you're sitting down. It's going to take you for a ride. Thanks again to those of you who reviewed/followed/favorited! It was actually those reviews which probed me to write faster so that I wouldn't be mobbed by angry followers.

All ten of them stood in a single line, hands folded either in front of or behind them. Headmistress Branwell was ruffling through the pages on her desk, examining the reports. Then she stood up and spoke to them. Tessa had never seen the domineering woman so angry before, and even though every single one of them was taller than her, they hung their heads and looked anywhere but at her.

"Never before has Institute ever experienced such disgrace. In my fifteen years here, I have never, ever had to make a late night trip to the police station for students. I want to know who is responsible for this, because I have half a mind to expel all of you this instant."

The Tuesday before

Victoria plopped into her seat at the dinner table. She leaned back in it, and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Guys, I'm bored. March weather sucks; it's so dreary outside and nothing interesting ever happens in March" she complained.

"As opposed to the wet weather we suffer through the rest of the year?" asked Jem.

Victoria glared at him. "Haha very funny. But I'm serious. I feel like a robot; all I've done is gone to class, travel with the debate team, shop and do homework since the holidays. There hasn't even been a good party in a while" she finished, crossing her arms over chest.

"Did someone say party?" Gabriel had come up from behind her and landed in the seat beside her. It had been three weeks since that disastrous truth or dare game. The relationship was a bit icy, but it was slowly starting to warm up. Gabriel kissed her on the cheek, and Victoria patted his hand in return.

Cecily was staring at them from across the table. Her heart twisted momentarily in her chest when he kissed Victoria. It really sucked, knowing that the boy you liked was dating your best friend. Hurting Victoria was the last thing she would ever do, but it still ached. All she had been able to think about was that kiss on the quad, and how Gabriel had tasted like chocolate. She stared down at her plate and picked at her dinner.

"I was saying" said Victoria " that I'm bored." Gabriel pondered this for a second before he said "You know, dad's out of town again this week and next week in Moscow on business. We could pull together something for this weekend at the house in Chiswick. What do you think, Gideon?"

He nodded at his brother's offer. "I think it should be okay. How does that sound guys?"

The rest of them nodded in agreement. Anything to kill the boredom.

"How many people do you think we should invite?" Victoria asked Gabriel.

"Why don't we invite all the people from our house? If we invite all hundred, then at least half are bound to show up, and I don't know how many more we could handle" he said.

She nodded. "It sounds good, Gabe. Looks like we've got a party to plan!"

Saturday Afternoon

Tessa was in the Lightwood mansion in Chiswick, blowing up balloons for the night's event. It had been the first time that Tessa had been here, and needless to say, she was impressed. The house was way too big for three people. It was separated into two wings, with living and personal quarters in one end and the communal rooms on the other. The center was two stories high, and there was a balcony on the the first floor, overlooking the magnificent yard which housed a pool, tennis courts and a grassy slope.

The group had decided to spend the previous night at the house, which had been fun. They'd played video games, watched movies, eaten a ton of food and took a night swim in the pool, even though it was freezing outside. Tessa tossed the last of the balloons onto the living room floor.

"Cecy, I think we're done. If I blow up another balloon, my lungs are going to burst." she said, sinking to the ground.

"I totally agree. Why do we need so many anyways? We'll have to pop them all eventually" Cecily complained.

"That's because the place would look empty without them" said Victoria, who had come into the living room followed by Gabriel, who had an arm wrapped around her waist. She had a tray in her hand, with what looked like shot glasses. Cecily forced her attention to Victoria, and deftly ignored Gabriel. He was also studiously avoiding her gaze.

'What's in the glasses Tori?" asked Tessa, oblivious to any awkwardness.

"Jello shots for tonight. It looks like they came out alright. Tessa, where again did you put up the notices for the party?"

Tessa, who had been in charge of writing up the announcements, had stuck the notices under people's doors, so that there was a minimal chance of teachers catching them. Tessa told her this.

Victoria grinned. "Good. It should be fun. Come on Gabriel, let's go check on Mark on the balcony. Hopefully, he hasn't dropped any equipment off of it yet."

He laughed lightly and followed her out. Tessa grinned after them .

"They are probably the most dynamic couple I have ever come across."

Cecily rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it. You would've thought that they were going to kill each other after that game, and now they're acting like nothing's happened."

Tessa scrunched her eyebrows at her. "Cecy, are you alright? You've seemed a little off for the past few weeks."

Cecily gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, our work is done here. Let's go find my brother dearest and see how he and Jem are faring in the yard." Cecily stood up and held her hands out to Tessa to help her up. Tessa let herself be pulled up and dragged into the freezing yard.

Saturday Night

Tessa had thought that Chiswick would be able to hold the people that they had invited, but even Tori's amazing math skills had failed to calculate the power of the spoken word. Apparently, students from other forms had decided to bring along their friends from other houses, and Tessa had an odd feeling that there were more than a fifth of Institute's thousand students were present at the Lightwood residence.

At first, it had been okay, with people slowly trickling in from seven. But now, nearly three hours later, the group was racing around, trying to keep up with the demand for drinks and food. Tessa felt like her ears were bleeding from the deafening noise. She was finally glad when she saw Will, leaning laconically against the wall beside the shot table.

"Will, thank God I found you. This party is slowly turning into a nightmare. There are way too many people here."

"I agree, Tessa" he said. She was about to add on but they were interrupted by a loud clattering noise nearby. Apparently, some members of the boys rugby team had found some sort of metallic sphere, and they were tossing it around. Gideon had showed Tessa the piece the night before, and if that thing broke, then the rugby team would wind up owing the Lightwoods hundreds of pounds.

Will stalked over to them "Oy! Put that down if you don't want to have to sell yourselves to pay the Lightwoods back for it!"

They at least had the grace to look sheepish. They set the object down and went out into the yard, where the scene at the pool was no better. Will saw a couple head up the stairs, and he cursed in a stream of mangled words and followed them. At that moment, Tori ran up to Tessa, covered in something that looked stringy. Tessa picked at it gingerly.

"Tori, why are you wearing Silly String?"

She let out an angry sigh. "Because some idiots from Westminster decided to sneak into the party. I presume it's the volume of the noise that brought them in. I swear to God we're going to wake up the Queen in Buckingham Palace on the other side of the city with the amount of noise we're making. And we're slowly starting to run out of everything, and it's only ten o'clock. Gabe and Gideon are trying to rummage through the cellar and pull out what they can."

Tessa nodded. "Let's try to keep things going until midnight. Then we can kick everyone out."

"Alright Tessa" she said, looking on the verge of a breakdown. At that moment, Will reappeared again.

"William, where on earth have you been?" asked Tori.

He smirked. "Upstairs, stopping teenagers from having unprotected sex in your boyfriend's bedroom."

Tori threw her hands up in the air and stalked away, clearly looking to find Gabriel. In spite of herself, Tessa laughed. "Good grief Will, way to be subtle."

He grinned at her and put an arm around her shoulder. "What can I say, subtlety is not my forte. Come on, let's go try to do some damage control around here."

Tessa grinned and let him lead her around the house.

Jem was sparing cursory glance at the drinks table, trying to find something that looked a little appealing. He had always had a penchant for green jello, but he really wished Sophie hadn't taken them all. He sighed and picked up a blue shot, turning it precariously in his hand. "Those are my favorites. Most people don't like them, but I can't imagine why."

Jem whirled around to find Aidan Lucas behind him. Aidan, who lived in Elizabeth House, was in the Arts program with him, although he was focusing on 3D art. He was pretty cool, and also one of the few openly gay members on campus. Jem smiled at him.

"I don't mind them, but I prefer the green ones. But I think my friend Sophie took most of them."

Aidan laughed loudly. A little too loudly, Jem noticed. Still, he was decent company, and Jem spoke to him casually, asking him about classes and swimming and the likes. Aidan was polite, and they wound up in the gazebo near the Lightwood's pool, which was one of the few quiet places at the party. If Jem had been a little more attentive, he might've noticed Thomas glaring at him from across the yard.

"Jem, I've heard you play the violin before. You are honestly one of the best musicians I've heard" slurred Aidan, who seemed to be enjoying the jello shots a bit too much.

Jem gave him a skeptical grin. "Well, I'm not that good. I do hope to play professionally someday though. Maybe at the Met, or in Moscow."

Aidan leaned forward, so that his face was not too far from Jem's, and so that he could smell the alcohol on his breath. "Well, you should know that I would be in the front seat, watching you play your heart away." He leaned in and kissed Jem full on the lips.

Jem, who wasn't expecting this, flung his arms out wildly before they finally landed on the wooden posts behind him. Aidan drew back after a moment, when he noticed that Jem wasn't giving into the kiss.

Jem was a notorious shade of red and he wasn't really capable of getting out a full sentence. "Uhhh, Aidan…. You should know… I mean I'm not…." Aidan shook his head and smiled slightly. "Not gay?" he finished for Jem. Jem nodded slightly.

Aidan shrugged casually. "Ehhh, I should've known it was too good to be true. I did you see you with Sophia at the ball. I just had to try and see…"

Jem shook his head to clear it, his black locks falling into his eyes. He was beginning to turn into Will, who went months on end without getting his hair cut. Jem brushed it impatiently out of his eyes. "It's cool. Anyways, I should probably go look for Will. Nice seeing you around, Aidan." Aidan nodded tersely, and Jem dashed into the house before things could get anymore awkward.

Sophie's head was way too light. She had promised herself that she would stay away from anything intoxicating, but her resolve was immediately broken the minute she had one of the green jello shots. She had downed four over the course of two minutes, and she was soundly regretting the decision now. She could barely see in front of her. She stumbled out of the kitchen door, and would've landed flat on her face had a pair of arms not caught her.

The arms set her upright. She turned to face the stranger. He was pretty to look at, almost like Mark with his sandy blonde hair and pale blue eyes. The boy grinned at her. "Are you alright there?" he asked. Sophie nodded. His voice was way too familiar, but Sophie couldn't quite place it. "I'm fine" she slurred. He shook his head and held out his hand.

"I'm Robert. And you are….?"

"I'm Sophie, Sophie Collins. Do you go to Institute?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nope, I attend a nearby government school."

Government school? Why did that ring a bell? She shook her head and plopped down onto a nearby couch, amidst several kissing couples. Robert sat next to her, almost as a barrier between the others and her. He spoke almost absentmindedly, but Sophie didn't mind, because she couldn't really grasp what he was saying anyways At some point, he put his hand on her leg, just above her knee, stroking the skin on it almost subconsciously.

I'm so tired she thought. She leaned against his shoulder, not really registering the hand on the knee. "Robert, I think I'm going to go to sleep. It was nice getting to know you though" she said, rising to her feet and stretching. Robert took her hand, and grinned wickedly at her. "Come on, I'll put you to bed." he said, leading her up the winding staircase.

Something's wrong. But what? Robert's so nice. He seems smart and tough. I'm just being paranoid.

They entered a bedroom and Sophie dashed over to the bed, landing face down on it. Robert closed the door behind them. Robert sat next to her, tracing small circles on her back.

"Sophie?"

"Hmmm?"

"Please sit up."

She did as she was told. She could barely keep her eyes open, which is why she felt Robert's lips being placed onto hers before she saw them. He wasn't gentle at all, biting down onto her lip. She shook her head out of his hands which her cupping her face, and tried to lean back.

"No, Robert, I don't want to. Stop it. Let me sleep."

He grinned nastily and held her face even tighter, not relinquishing his hold. "I'm not finished yet, my love."

And then it dawned on her. He was one of the boys who attacked her during Year 9. He was the one who had knifed her face. That was the last thing he had said before she went unconscious. She was more alert now, her eyes wide in panic. He chuckled at her sudden realization.

"It took you long enough. Now where were we?" he said, leaning into her again. He closed his eyes, and Sophie took this moment to use her free hand to hit him across the face.

It wasn't pain that caused him to let go; rather it was pure shock. She leaped to her feet and ran for the door, only to discover that it was locked. Before she could undo the lock, she felt his arms grab her roughly from behind and drag her from behind. It was all she could do before she started to scream.

Gideon was aimlessly wandering through the first floor of the west wing of his house. He wasn't really one for crazy parties. He stepped into his father's study, and flipped through a photo album in the top drawer of his dad's desk.

The album was filled with photos taken of him, Gabriel, Benedict and Barbara, when she'd been alive. Gideon smiled and ran his fingers over a photo of him and Gabriel at the zoo when they were young. He remembered that day clearly; Gabriel had been so afraid of the lions that he had run crying into their mother's arms, while Gideon had observe the majestic creatures in awe. Another photo showed him with his arm slung around Gabriel's shoulder on his first day of primary school. The stupid idiot had been three then, and even as a child, he had managed to plaster a perfect dumbfounded look on his face. Another one a few pages later showed him and his mum on holiday in Disneyland in Paris. It was the last trip the four of them had taken as a family before she'd been diagnosed with the brain tumor. He sighed before he slipped to the last page, which showed Gabriel tackling him from behind, grinning like crazy on his brother's slipped the album back into the drawer, and that was when he heard the scream.

Sophie. He ran out of his father's study, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. He heard the scream again, and discerned it was coming from the east wing. He ran around the balcony overlooking the foyer, pausing only to listen for another sound. Nothing. He cursed and began to pound on each door. He was granted with empty room after empty room. He finally succeeded when he knocked on his bedroom door.

"Sophie? Sophie, are you in there?"

A muffled sound was all that he could pick out. He tried the doorknob and found it locked. Figures. He reached around the top of the door frame for the paperclip that he always kept around. He found it, and straightened the edge so that he could poke it through the small opening on the knob. After several jabs, he was rewarded with a clicking sound. He swung his door inward, and took in the scene in front of him.

Sophie was there alright, but she wasn't alone. There was some boy on top of her, who seemed to be holding her legs down with his own and her arms with his hands. He could see Sophie's face from around the boy's shoulder, and there were tears streaming down it. It was the tears that completely undid Gideon.

He stalked over to the bed and pulled the boy off of it, shoving him to the floor.

"What the hell?" he shouted, buttoning up his jeans again.

"I should be asking you that" said Gideon coldly. "I find you molesting a girl in my bedroom, might I add, and you have the nerve to ask me questions. Get out" he snarled "before I call the police on you and thrash you blue myself."

The boy scoffed and walked out of the room. Gideon closed his eyes as he heard the door shut, and turned to look at Sophie.

She was now sitting upright, her face still extremely wet. There were already small bruises forming on her arms. "Sophie-" he said, stretching out a hand to her. She shrunk back from it, eyes wide in fear. Gideon sighed in defeat and closed his eyes again. He turned around to give Sophie a moment. He heard Sophie behind him as she struggled to get out of the bed, his bed, for that matter. After a long silent moment, she spoke up.

"Gideon, you can turn around now." she said. He turned, and he wished he hadn't. Sophie was silent, and no longer crying. But this was worse, in a way, because the last time this happened, she didn't speak for nearly a month. Gideon took a step forward, and edged towards her slowly until her was standing in front of her. She opened his arms to her, and she fell into them, burying her face in his shirt. She was shaking so hard that Gideon felt his heart cracking for her. He stroked her hair with one hand.

"Shhhh, you're okay. He's gone."

"Gi-Gi-Gideon, you… you don't get it. He remembered me from two years ago. When he slashed me across the face."

Gideon held her out at arm's length and then he dashed out of his room, racing down the stairs and out the door. He could hear Sophie following, but they were both too late. Robert had sped away in a taxi by the time Gideon had gotten there.

"God damn it!" he screamed, panting from running so fast. Once he'd regained his breath, he turned to face Sophie, who was staring at the street. He walked up to her again.

"Sophie, what exactly happened? He didn't actually…."

She shook her head. "He almost did. But you came in time."

Gideon sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Let's go inside" he said. "I'm going to find Victoria and ask her to call off this party. It's almost midnight, and it's been a complete disaster."

She nodded and walked with him back into the house, both of them being careful to maintain some distance between them.

Cecily was walking around the edge of the pool, a glass of fruit punch in her hand. Someone had fallen into the pool and was being helped out by a friend, but she hardly noticed as she stood on the deck, taking in the night sky.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Without even turning, she knew that Gabriel had come up from behind her. She closed her eyes for a moment before she forced a smile onto her face.

"Yeah, I've always loved the stars. They're much more visible in Wales though" she said.

Gabriel nodded in understanding. "London does seem to cover up everything pretty."

Awkward pause.
"Cecily?"

"Yes?"

"We never really did talk about that night."

Her stomach dropped momentarily. She shrugged as if she didn't care. "What's there to talk about? Nothing happened."

Gabriel looked at her in shock. "What do you mean, nothing happened? You can't tell me it didn't mean anything to you. Don't tell me that you didn't feel it too."

That was the problem. She had felt it, stirring like a hidden monster in her chest. But she had to lie, for the sake of her friendship. "I don't know what you were talking about. It's just lips."

His mouth tightened into a thin line. "You know, even though you're Victoria's friend, I've always thought that you were the more reasonable of the pair. Clearly, I was wrong, because apparently, kisses don't mean anything to either of you. After all, they're just mechanical motions, right?"

Cecily glared at him before she turned to leave. Before she could make her way back into the house, Gabriel caught at her wrist, spinning her to face him. She gasped in surprise.

"Don't walk away from me, Cecy. I know you're lying to me. You can't tell me it didn't mean anything."

Cecily opened her mouth to answer, but she was caught off guard by a loud buzzing noise. Impatiently, Gabriel let go of her wrist, shoving his hand into his pocket. Cecily felt her own phone vibrate against her leg, and she pulled it out too. The message had come from a blocked number. There was no text, just an attached image. When Cecily zoomed in on the photo, she nearly dropped her phone.

It was her, with Gabriel. Kissing him as if the world would end if he stopped. It was actually a beautiful photo, both of them framed against the midnight blue sky. But no one was supposed to know about it. And this photo proved that someone did.

Gabriel had apparently received the same message, because his own jaw was hanging open. He finally managed to meet Cecily's eyes. "Cecy, this is…. this is so bad. I didn't even…. I have to go find Victoria" he said, turning in a frantic circle.

Victoria was still covered in the silly string. She hadn't had a chance to take it off of her, but she was grateful that it was almost midnight. She had had enough, and couldn't wait to go to bed. She was so tired that she walked right into Sophie and Gideon. She grinned at them before she saw their sullen faces. She raised an eyebrow at them.

"Guys, is everything okay? What's going on?"

Sophie looked away from her while Gideon recounted the entire incident, trying to keep it simple. By the time he was done, Victoria was staring at her friend, mouth hung slightly open. She took Sophie into her arms, who in turn buried her face into her friend's shoulder.

"Oh my goodness Soph. I'm so sorry. You're safe now" Victoria murmured to her. She was so busy with Sophie that she didn't even realize when Gideon was tugged into the crowd by a random arm.

"Ouch!" he cried, rubbing his arm once he'd been let go. Tessa and Mark had dragged him towards the wall, worry lining her face. "Gideon, go get Tori's phone from her. Now."

He crossed his arms, still annoyed by being taken away from Sophie. "No. Not until you tell me why. I don't want to get into her war path."

Tessa silently held up her own phone, and showed him the picture of Gabriel and Cecily.

"Tessa, how on earth did you-"

Mark waved him off. "It was texted to us by a random number. We don't recognize it. But apparently it's been sent out to a lot of people, mostly kids from Institute. I don't think she's seen it yet, judging by the look on her face. Go grab her phone, Gideon. Now, please" he asked.

Wordlessly, he handed his own phone to Tessa, which had a single unread message on it. He figured it was the photo. Gideon sighed and walked back to Tori, who was still holding onto Sophie.

"Tori, I seem to have lost my phone. Can I use your's to call mine?"

"Sure Gideon." She pulled her phone out of the pocket, and reached out to hand it to him. Her finger accidentally hit the Home button, which lit up the screen and revealed one unread message from… Jonathan. I number that she had used once upon a time, but had never gotten around to deleting. But why Jonathan? She stared at the notification curiously, and drew her phone back, sliding her finger over the message. It expanded to reveal an image, which was a bit difficult to see because of the darkness in the photo.

Tori zoomed in on the photo, and she could feel her heart drop down to her feet. This couldn't be possible. Her best friend and her boyfriend couldn't do this to her. They couldn't have. But yet, there they were, clinging to each other. She sucked in a deep breath.

"Gideon, was this why you wanted my phone?" she asked, holding up the phone to him, her voice shaking.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, and then he closed it. He hung his head and nodded. "I didn't want you to see it yet, Tori. I figured you should at least talk to Gabriel in private. I didn't know about this, I swear."

She closed her eyes, trying to stop the dizziness that was overcoming her. This couldn't be happening. She felt the sudden urge to kick something and scream at the same time. When she finally felt steady, she opened her eyes, and looked out the open patio doors.

She saw Gabriel and Cecily together, who were staring at their phones. Gabriel was turning in a circle, looking for God knows what. His eyes eventually found Tori's. He started to make his way towards her, but he never did reach her.

Gabriel hit the ground before he even realized what happened. Will had appeared out of nowhere and punched him straight across the face. Gabriel jumped back to his feet, suddenly very angry. Blood dripped from his nose onto the deck's stone.

"What the hell Will?"

"You cheated on my best friend with my sister?! What is wrong with you? That's disgusting, Gabriel. Really, and you wondered why I called you Lightworm for most of Year 9.

Gabriel hit him back, this time landing a blow across Will's jaw. He stumbled, momentarily surprised, before he launched himself at Gabriel, anger etched into his face. They really only got to fit in a few more punches before they were pulled apart by Jem and Gideon.

Jem, who holding Will back with Mark's help, turned to Tessa. "Tessa, get everyone out, now. We're done."

Tessa nodded, and before she could as so much lift a finger, she heard the sirens wailing in the distance. "As if this night couldn't get any worse" Victoria said, letting out an empty, cold laugh.

As expected, chaos ensued, with all of the remaining guests scrambling to get out before they got caught by the police. The police burst through the door fairly fast, putting an end to the night of no delicacy.

The rest of the night had been a blur. The ten of them, along with a dozen other Institute students, were taken to the station, where they waited an hour before Headmistress Branwell came to pick them. That hour had been the longest of Tessa's life. She had spent most of it cleaning up Will, wiping off blood and bandaging cuts. Gabriel was treating himself, while Jem tried to prod Tori into talking. She didn't say a word for the rest of the night; she just glared stonily ahead. Gideon sat on the bench with Sophie, whispering to her in hushed tones. Thomas glared at Jem the whole time for God knows what reason. And Cecily was matched with Victoria, not speaking to Mark when he tried to talk to her.

Headmistress, needless to say, was furious. She was tired too, but she still had enough energy to yell at the two dozen Institute students she had to pick up. In the end, she ordered everyone to bed and told them she would speak to them in the morning.

Sunday Morning

Headmistress Branwell stood up and walked around from behind her desk so she was now in front of it. She crossed her arms. "Well, I want an answer, because unless someone steps forward, I will expel you all in a heartbeat."

There was a moment of silence, and then Victoria raised her head.

"Headmistress, it was my fault. I had complained that I was bored last week and I pushed these guys into helping me with the party. It's my own fault."

"Hold up" said Gabriel. "I'm the one who suggested we use the Chiswick house for the party, remember? You wouldn't have even thought of it if it wasn't for my own stupidity." He turned to the Headmistress. "In a way, it's really my fault."

Then Tessa spoke up. "Well, the rest of us weren't helpful either, because we didn't even try to stop you guys."

Everyone started talking at once, each one taking the blame for the previous night. Finally, Headmistress had to bang her desk with her hand to get everyone to stop yelling.

"That is enough! I am appalled by the lot of you! I have deduced that no one person is responsible for last night, so rather than expelling one of you, I'm going to punish all ten of you. Until the end of the semester, your weekend privileges have been revoked as of next weekend. Instead of leaving Institute, you will be required to serve four hours of detention per weekend. You will also be banned from participating in any athletic pursuits for this semester. I hope this will give you plenty of time to think about the disgrace you have brought onto yourselves and Institute. If I hear one more instance of shenanigans from the lot of you again, I promise you that you will never set foot on this campus again. Leave!" They filed out, not wishing to anger her anymore.

Victoria stalked right out of Headmistress Branwell's office, her face still a blank slate. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her winter coat. She ignored Tessa's and Will's calls, and jogged down the main stairs to the entrance of Institute, her braid thumping against her back. She as might as well use the last free weekend she had. Once she reached the sidewalk, she hailed a cab, which took her to a flower shop. She bought a bouquet of white lilies. Those had always been their favorites. She sniffed them once, sighing to herself before she paid for them.

Even though they were French, Victoria's parents had been buried in London, where they were living when they died. The cemetery was nearby, so Victoria decided to walk the two blocks over. It was huge, but Victoria could navigate her way around the gravestones. She knew where her parents would be, nestled under a cherry blossom tree that grandmere had requested to be planted near their tombstones. It would have been easy to find without the tree; Victoria was drawn to the spot like a pin was drawn to a magnet. When she reached her parents graves, she sank down onto the small bit of earth that remained exposed between their tombstones. She split the bouquet of lilies in half, and rested the flowers on the marble coverings.

"I brought the flowers you both love" she said, resting her head on her mother's grave, approximately where her lap would be if she was alive. "I know I usually visit when I have good news. But I need to tell you anyways. If you were here, you would've probably let me have an earful for it. God, I would do anything for that now." She paused. "Maman, Papa, you aren't going to be happy to hear this, but I was arrested by the police last night. I helped put on a party that ended really badly. But I'm okay." She absentmindedly stroked one petal of a lily between her fingers.

"Maman, remember when Papa used to come home and give these to you? Your face would light up when you saw the flowers you were named after. You were both in love; very madly in love. I used to be jealous, wondering when I would be able to have something that good."

"Then, one day" she continued, "I remember papa had set me in his lap, explaining that he had been very lucky to find you, maman. I would find love someday, but I would have my heart broken first. You promised me that when that would happen, you would be right by my side. I thought love was easy and I didn't believe you then, papa. I was so blind."

A lump had formed in Victoria's throat, and unable to fight it, she went with it. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. "You were right, papa. My heart has been shattered into a thousand pieces, and you aren't here to put me back together. Where are you?" she said, her voice rising in desperation. She turned her face and pressed her forehead into the marble tombstone, her arms folded around her head. "Maman, it really hurts. It really, really hurts" she sobbed. No longer able to talk, she cried for hours, sobbing into the cool marble, encased in cherry blossom petals and the fragrance of lilies.

Hope you liked it! I make no promises about the date for the next update though.