Finally classes were over and Charlie had one hour before the elementary school would let out, so she headed straight for the gym to meet Seviathan. Well not exactly straight for the gym, first she went into the restrooms to check her hair and face, making sure that she looked nice for him. She smoothed out her hair, sucked in her stomach, checked her teeth and her breath, and added a little lip gloss to her mouth. She didn't expect anything to actually happen besides just talking of course, but she wanted to impress him.

What if he asked her on a date? What if they went somewhere really nice, had dinner, and after talking for awhile, he would realize that she's not a freak like his sister always said and decided that he really liked her? What if they became a couple? What if they started doing really romantic things like holding hands, dancing, and kissing?

She blushed and then reminded herself that she was putting the cart before the horse.

"One step at a time Charlie." She said checking her reflection in the mirror. "One step at a time."

Once she was convinced that she looked alright, she continued on to the gym. There he was looking at her with those electric green eyes and smiling at her.

"Hey." He greeted her.

"Hey." She smiled at him shyly.

"I've been looking forward to this."

"You have?"

"Yeah. I've always wanted to get to know you but my crazy sister always gets in the way. But now that we're alone, I can learn everything there is to know about you."

"Okay." She said. "Well I've always wanted to be an actress. But not for the fame and the fortune, acting is something that is very special to me because-"

"Uh-huh, yeah." He cut her off uninterested. "Actually I'd like to know more about your old man."

"My old man?" She replied.

"Yeah, I'd like to meet him sometime."

"You can't meet him, he's dead."

"What are you talking about? Mr. Goetia is still alive."

"Stolas? Stolas is not my father. He is my legal guardian though."

"Oh..." He sounded disappointed. "Tell me about him then. What's he like? How does he treat you?"

"He's alright, and he treats me very well. I mean he does ask me to babysit his daughter Octavia a lot but he does care about me. And he does nice things for me. Last weekend he took me out to dinner and to see a show at the Allen Elizabethan Theater."

"That's a lot of money he spent on you. Does he do that often?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. How does he feel about you dating?"

"He thinks it would be good for me."

"How would he feel about you going on a date with me sometime?"

Charlie suddenly dropped her notebook, she quickly stopped down to retrieve it.

"Um." She didn't know how to answer at first. She was down on her hands and knees, picking up old worksheets that had slid out of her notebook. Then Seviathan's face was right next to hers.

"Here." He said, handing Charlie her pencil.

"Thank you." She stood up, trying so hard not to turn into a flustered mess. "I...I don't think he'd mind."

"In that case, why don't we get together Saturday night? My parents are going away for the weekend and Helsa is going to throw another one of her wild parties, but there never any fun for me because everyone is paying attention to her. Even Velvette. But if you came, I might actually enjoy myself for once."

"You..." She was almost afraid to hope. "You want me to be your date?"

"Sure. We'll have a great time, there's a Jacuzzi and I have the keys to my dad's liquor cabinet. What do you say?"

At first Charlie was so shocked that she couldn't say anything at all for a minute. She thought that she was going to hyperventilate. Seviathan Von Eldritch, the most popular and gorgeous boy in school had asked her out. He wanted to be her date. He wanted to be seen in public with her. He actually liked her.

One problem though, she wasn't sure if she was ready to go to a wild party with a lot of drinking. She had heard about parties like that from Stolas. In his college days, he and her parents had gone to many similar functions and according to him, they mostly ended in a disaster. There was one time where Stolas had drank so much that they had to call an ambulance and get his stomach pumped. Then another time, someone had spiked her mother's drink and tried to rape her, both Lucifer and Stolas beat the son of bitch to where he almost went comatose. Both men were arrested for assault but the case got thrown out and their actions were ruled as defense when the rapists's other victims came forward.

Not that Charlie thought this party would be anything like that but she didn't know how to act at a party like that. She had heard about these kinds of parties. There would be rooms reserved for people to go into to make out. Major French kissing and even above-the-waist touching or below-the-waist touching. She didn't feel ready for all that, closest thing she got to it was when she was fourteen and had her first kiss at a game of spin the bottle with her classmate Peter on behalf of her friend at the time Mary, who was saving her first kiss for her crush, Joseph. Then there was all that drinking. She didn't drink. She didn't want to. Not now.

"I'd love to go out with you Seviathan but maybe we should start by going to dinner or to a movie? I'm not comfortable going to a wild house party yet."

"Well I'd like to do that but unfortunately I crashed my dad's Mercedes last year so he's decided to cut me off until I graduate. But maybe Mr. Goetia could spare a few bucks, so I could show you a good time?"

"I don't think he'd be very open to that idea."

"Why not? He does want you to date and let's face it, you can't really have a good time on a date without money. He's loaded and he's obviously more than willing to spend a lot of dough for your happiness. Why wouldn't he help me out?"

Now Charlie like most girls her age was very naive, but she was by no means stupid and in that moment she figured out exactly what Seviathan's game was.

"So that's it. You want money, you know that the guy taking care of me is rich, so you're cozying up to me in hopes that you can leech off of him."

"That's not true." He denied. "I really do like you. "

"You can't like me. You don't even know me."

"Yes I do. I've always liked you."

"Then how come you never said anything or did anything when your sister bullied me? How come you're still technically Velvette's boyfriend? How come you want to know more about Stolas than me? God! I'm such an idiot!"

"You don't understand Charlie, I've got a lot on my mind. I'm under a lot of pressure with school and home, it's hard to play hero."

"But it's not hard to take advantage of a girl's feelings apparently."

Charlie turned her back to him and started for the door.

"Charlie wait! It's not about your old man's money! I like you! I want you! Here, I'll show you!"

Then before she could stop him, had put his arm around her, dragged her to him, and smashed his mouth against hers. He thought it was a kiss that would make her putty in his hands, but to her was an assault on her mouth that disgusted her, and when he tried slip his tongue in there, she punched him so hard that he fell to the floor.

"Next time it'll be my foot in your crotch!" She wiped her mouth with her hand and spat on him.

She ran out of there as fast as she could, and went to pick up Octavia. She didn't say anything to anyone, she just speed walked home, holding in everything she had felt since Seviathan put his disgusting mouth on her.

"Charlie what's wrong?" Octavia kept asking her during the walk, but as I said, she didn't say anything to anyone.

When she came home she wanted to go straight to her bedroom and nowhere else. She needed a moment. She felt like she would explode if she didn't. But fate seemed to be completely against her having what she wanted today.

"Charlie." Stolas said when she came through the door. "Charlie can I talk to you about something?"

Charlie rolled her eyes, she could recognize the tone in his voice. He had bad news to give her.

"What is it?" She said, holding back her emotions the best she could.

Stolas had a reluctant expression on his face, all day he had been dreading this moment. Knowing full well how this would most likely turn out. God he hated to do this to her but he felt that he had no choice.

"My lawyer called me this morning and the money I owe Stella for alimony has been misplaced or stolen. I'm under investigation for hoarding cash and evading alimony."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that I may have to go back to court. God forbid, go on trial, and if that happens I won't be home very much, again. So...I'm very sorry Charlie but I can't let you try out for the school play. I might need you here to watch Octavia."

Charlie suddenly felt like screaming. She felt throwing a huge temper tantrum like she was a small child. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't take this away from her. Not this. Not after he assured her that she could have it.

Then she thought, that must've been why he gave her that trunk and took her out the other night in the first place. To butter her up before he slammed her with a huge disappointment.

"That's not fair!" She cried out. "You told me it was over! You told me I could try out! You know how important it is to me!"

"I know. I know. I thought it was all over."

"No you didn't." She accused. "Deep down you probably knew that it was really over so you did all those things for me so I would just throw away my dreams with a smile!"

"No! I would never do that!"

"Are sure? Your father did it all the time for you!"

"Now that's quite enough!" He almost snapped at her. "How dare you speak to me that way! I know you're angry and upset about this, but you have no right to be so disrespectful!"

"Stop pretending that I'm your daughter and that you actually give a crap about me! You're not my father and you never will be! And you don't care about me! You only feel like you have to because I was left with you!"

"That is not true!"

"Why don't you just send me off to foster care and be done with me already?!"

She ran upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her and locking it. Stolas would have followed after her but he spotted Octavia cowering in the corner with tears of confusion and fright in her eyes. She had never seen her father or Charlie so angry before.

"Daddy?"

Stolas quickly calmed himself and crouched down, allowing Octavia to run into his arms so he could hold her, and tell her that everything would be alright.

Meanwhile, upstairs in her room, Charlie finally expressed how today's events made her feel. She buried her face deep into her pillow and broke down crying. Crying because she felt like people would only pretend to care about her. Crying because she felt like she was completely alone in the world. Crying because she was crying right now and no one was there to comfort her.

Little did she know that two people were watching her suffer at that moment. One witness who only thought of how they could twist her sorrow and loneliness to their advantage, while the other wanted nothing more than to be in her room right now to comfort her.