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Its 11:30.

I'm half asleep.

I'm eating cereal out of the box.

I need real food.

<><><><>

"So how's your Nonna?" I ask, as I glue another piece of plastic onto the cardboard.

"She's alright." Bianca answers, shrugging. "The chemo makes her tired." Bianca's Nonna is the only one in her family who doesn't think I'm a lesbian. She's also one of Bianca's best friends, and I know her being sick is hurting her.

"Hopefully this round makes a difference." I smile.

"Yeah." She sighs. "Hopefully."

"This better earn us an A." I change the subject, sitting back to look at our project.

"Building a sustainable town from scratch is definitely a good start." She grins.

"Nerd alert." Alex announces, as he walks into the  living room.

"Whatever." I snort. "At least we try."

"I've already finished my project." He protests. "Jake and I paired up."

"Oh really." I laugh. "What did you do?" 

"Well." He smirks. "When I say we paired up-"

"You meant Jake is going to do at the last minute and put your name on it." Bianca finishes.

"Asher's helping out to." He points out.

"Loser." I giggle.

"Says the one with glue on her nose." He smirks. My hand shoots up, and wipe it off, blushing.

"Speaking of glue." Bianca says. "We're out."

"I can go get more." I jump up.

"I'll stay, try and finish the rest." Bianca says. "Otherwise we'll be here all night."

"I'll go with you." Alex says. "We need stuff from the store anyway."

"Cool." I say. "Didn't want to walk anyway." I put my shoes on, and head for the door. "Bianca, try and keep your hands off Jake."

"Unlikely!" She calls out, before Alex slams it shut.

"Leaving them alone is irresponsible." He thinks.

"Honestly, knowing Bianca the most she will do is finish his assignment for him." I jump in the car. "Then the making out will begin."

"So we have time." He agrees, as we drive down the long driveway.

<><><><>

"Thank you for shopping at Walmart." The cashier says monotone. "Come again."

"We will." Alex says in the same tone, earning a dirty look from the guy. We leave, glue in hand, and jump in the car.

"He must love his job." Alex laughs. A distant sound of of ringing floats through the air, coming from Alex's pocket. He answers the call, putting it on speaker phone.

"Hey Cole." He says, giving the phone to me so he can drive.

"Hey guys." He says, sounding stressed. "I know it's totally inappropriate to ask, but Will's medication is running low, and Trent said that the next batch has to be picked up now." He swears, and we hear something smash. "The little f*ck won't stop playing games."

"I have Harper with me." Alex says. "I'm not taking her. No way."

"Alex." I say frowning. "Don't be stupid."

"Only if you're ok with it Harper." Cole says.

"Cole, it's Will." I say. "Of course."

"NO!" Alex protests.

"We will be back soon." I tell Cole, hanging up.

"Alex." I say warningly. "Think for a minute. Be logical. This is Will, I'll be fine." He hits the steering wheel, obviously not liking the idea.

"You're staying in the car." He says, swerving directions. I nod, and hold on to the door.

"And slow down." I add quietly. He looks at me, slightly amused.

"Since when did I start taking orders from you?" He sighs exasperated.

"I don't know." I smirk. "I guess I'm just irresistible." He laughs, and nods.

"Yeah." He says grinning. "That's it."

We keep driving, until we start getting into the really expensive part of town. I never got to go to Evan's house. He was always blunt with the explanation. He hadn't told my parents about me, I wouldn't fit in. To be fair, he was right. These houses are huge. Their lawns are bigger than our house. These houses have numbers on their door.

We pull into a mansions driveway, and I look in awe. Holy sh*t. He stops at the gate, and leans out to the intercom.

"I'm here for Trent." Alex grunts. A few seconds pass, until the gates automatically swing open, giving us room to drive in. Alex parks the car under some trees, slightly guarding the houses view.
"I don't like this." He says sternly.

"I'll be fine." I insist. "If anyone comes, I'll hide in the back."

"Don't leave." He says. "I'll probably be awhile, Trent likes to f*ck around." He quickly gives me a kiss on the cheek, not giving me time to think about. He gets out, locking it behind him. I'm left in darkness, moonlight shining through the leaves of the trees.

I always loved the moonlight. It always looked so special. When I was younger, I would always make up stories. I would make up stories about going to the moon, living there. It seems silly now, but when I was little, it was a major part of distracting myself from my situation. I still have those stories, written down in a shoebox, under my bed. Those were the first few I wrote, that made me realize I wanted to be a writer. 

Outside my window, there is a big oak tree, and I could climb through my window into it, and sit on a huge branch. I could easily see the moon, and I would constantly write stories in the tree. It was also a good place to escape to. My Dad would always send me to my room after an episode, he wouldn't want to look at me. So I would climb up the tree, and calm my breathing down.

Quentin would always want to punish me in my room, and I would always keep my eyes trained on the tree, knowing that as soon as he was done, I could climb the tree. It became a routine. I would come home from school, and one of them would always be there. And I would try to keep out of their way, but I would always do something wrong.

Whether it was a broken glass. Or a bad grade on a test. Or  if I came home dirty, or if I was just in the way. I would be punished. Sometimes, it wasn't always physical. Quentin would think of some mentally f**cked up punishments. Once I forgot to take out the trash, so he made me sleep next to the dumpsters outside that night, so I could 'remember where the trash belongs'. My Mum would always stop them, and take the punishment herself if she was there, but she would always take night shifts at the hospital, because they didn't have jobs.

She knew about the tree, and she always told me to hide in it, until she got home if it got really bad. But sometimes I didn't have time. It's not like they would knock. And I knew that as I was hiding, they were just getting more mad, and the punishment was going to be worse.

I stare at the moon, and smile at it's almost perfectly round shape. It's going to be a full moon in a couple days.

"I forgot about your obsession with the moon." I freeze, hearing a voice that I never wanted to hear again. "Hey Harper. What a surprise."





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