Andy sat there and listened to her story. He was amazed at what sort of stuff she had been through. She had been through so much more in a few years than he had in his entire life.

"So you still don't know who killed your mom?" He moved himself closer to her, hoping that his presence was comforting for her.

Carolyn shook her head. "No... But I'm going to find him one of these days. I'm not going to let him get away with what he did to me and my family."

Andy didn't really know what to say next. He had never been in such a position before and he certainly couldn't relate. He had lost his grandfather but that was because of natural causes, not murder. So Andy did the only thing he could think of. He put his arms around her and let her snuggle into his side.

When she pulled away from him to look at his face, she smiled. "Thank you, Andy. I really appreciate you being there for me."

Andy smiled in return. "It's the least I could do." He said.

"Do you..." Carolyn began but trailed off. She wasn't sure if she should ask her question or not. She wasn't sure what he would say and she didn't want to be embarrassed if his answer wasn't what she was expecting.

"No, go ahead." He encouraged. "You can ask me anything."

"Um..." She looked down at her hands. "Do you... Do you..." She was having a hard time finding the words to say what she wanted to say. "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" She finally said.

When she saw Andy's reaction, she mentally slapped herself for the way she worded it. "I mean--That's not what I meant. I meant--"

"I know what you meant." Andy chuckled. "But yes. I'd like that."

Carolyn led Andy back inside the house and up to her room. He let her get under the blankets first and then followed behind. He wrapped his arms around her protectively and let her fall asleep safely in his arms. ****
Carolyn hated to leave Andy at the house by himself but she had already missed two weeks of school because of him and the Principal was starting to get on her back about it.

"Hey, look who's back!" One of the asshole jocks shouted out as Carolyn walked by them. "Try and kill yourself, you little bitch?"

Carolyn just kept walking by and ignored them. When she arrived at her locker, a group of girls stood by at the locker next to hers. They payed no attention to her for the most part but their conversation sparked Carolyn's interest.

"Aren't you girls soooo excited for prom?" The blonde girl, Katey, said to her friends Morgan and Kristen.

"Oh my god, yes!" Morgan exclaimed. "I really hope Brad asks me..."

"We should all take a limo! That would be so fun!" Kristen suggested.

"Yes, oh my god, can we?" Katey agreed. "And we need to go dress shopping this weekend. Prom is just a few weeks away!"

Morgan slammed her locker shut and the three girls walked away, still fantasizing about how great prom was going to be.

Carolyn returned her attention back to the inside of her cluttered locker. She grabbed her English book out of her bag and exchanged it for her math book. Just as she was about to slam her locker shut and walk in the opposite direction, Amber stopped at her locker on the other side of Carolyn's.

Carolyn snuck a glance over at Amber and saw she was just rummaging through her own locker, looking for her books, too. They had math together next.

Amber glanced over at Carolyn and Carolyn looked away. There was a lot of awkward tension between the two. Amber pretended to be nice to Carolyn sometimes but Carolyn knew that their friendship would never be the same as it used to be.

"Hey Carolyn." Amber said, to Carolyn's surprise.

"Oh, hey." Carolyn said, acting like she hadn't even seen Amber standing there.

"We have math now." Amber said. "Do you want to walk there together?"

Carolyn was shocked. She never thought Amber would ask her to walk to math with her in a million years. She had convinced herself that Amber hated her.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure." Carolyn slammed her locker shut and started walking down the hallway beside Amber.

"So are you going to prom?" Amber asked, attempting to make small talk on their awkward walk to class.

"Oh... I don't know... Probably not..." Carolyn said, looking down at the white floor tiles.

"Why not?" Amber asked, looking over at Carolyn.

"Well... It's just that I don't have anyone to go with. No one is going to ask me and I have no friends to go with either... No one here likes me..." Carolyn admitted. She was actually a little surprised with herself for opening up to Amber so much already.

It was silent for a moment. The only sound was Carolyn's sneakers scuffing the floor. Amber searched for something to say.

"Well... Why don't you go with me?" She suggested.

"Are you... Are you serious? You would let me tag along?" Carolyn looked up at Amber. Hope, surprise, shock, and joy filled her body.

"Sure, I don't see why not. And maybe we can get you a date." Amber said, giving Carolyn a wink and a slight nudge.

Carolyn giggled. "Thanks Amber. That's really nice of you."

The two girls entered the classroom and went to their respective seats. Carolyn couldn't remember a better day at school before.

--

Later on that day, Carolyn stopped by the bathroom just to check her makeup and make sure thick eyeliner wasn't smudging too much. Amber's other friends, a few of the girls Carolyn knew from dance, walked in and stood behind her at the mirror. It was the infamous Kali and her sidekick Jennifer.

"We heard about how Amber asked you to go with us to prom." Kali said.

"Yeah, we heard about that." Jennifer repeated.

Carolyn rolled her eyes at Jennifer's stupidity. "Yeah, she was being nice. Unlike you two pricks."

Kali gasped at Carolyn's choice of words. "Well, you're not going!" Kali shouted in her high pitched, nasally voice.

"Then I'm not going to prom..." Carolyn mumbled.

"What was that?" Jennifer asked.

"I'm not going to prom..." Carolyn said, a bit louder.

"Why not?" Kali asked with a hint of evil in her voice.

Carolyn didn't respond. She didn't need Kali to ridicule her for admitting she wasn't going to get a date.

"No one is going to ask you? Is that it?" Kali took a wild stab in the dark and guessed it right.

Carolyn nodded slightly. "Yeah, Kali. Okay? I'm not going to get a date and I have no friends to go with. So go ahead. Make fun of me some more."

Kali examined her freshly manicured nails. "Hmm, I don't think so. You've been through enough for today. We wouldn't want you to cut so much that you kill yourself... yet. We still need someone to... entertain us for the rest of the year." She flipped her bottle blonde hair over her shoulder and strutted out of the bathroom with Jennifer trailing behind.

Carolyn had to hold herself back from punching a hole in the mirror and shattering the glass. She gripped the edge of the sink until her knuckles turned white. This supposedly great day just went straight to hell.