“I can take it from here.” She says as they reach the bathroom door. Arthur simply nods his head and lets her close the door. When he turns around, his eyes fall upon the door at the other end of the hallway; the one door in the house that had been closed for the past months.

He shakes his head and looks away, trying to keep strong for his family’s and his own sake.

***

Home schooling never sounded as appealing as the youngest Carlin tried to sit through her classes. It sounded like heaven as she sat waiting for her last class and spotted the one person she wanted to avoid all day long walking in her room. It was too good to be true. She hated to admit it, but Ashley Davies still had a crushing effect on the blonde. Spencer counted the seconds until the brunette finally took her eyes away from her cell and looked up. Noticing it, the blonde immediately looked down and tried to avoid locking her eyes on those brown globes. She felt a presence take a seat next to her and bit her lip, trying not to look nervous.

“Spencer.” She looks up to find brown eyes, but not the ones she was expecting.

“Chelsea.” Spencer attempts a smile, knowing that girl is the only one that had any idea of what she was going through. Since she felt just as broken. They had spent most summer together and learned how to read each other.

“So, you’re back for sure?” She shifts on her seat.

“Yeah, I decided not to go back to Ohio. At least here I have mom, dad, Glen, you.” Chelsea looks at the other girl and lets her gaze fall on the other side of the classroom. Following it, Spencer finds Ashley sitting down, with her headphones on and looking down at her desk. Looking back at Chelsea, the blonde takes a deep breath and looks down, shaking her head lightly.

“Spence, why are you doing this to yourself?” The blonde opens her mouth to reply, but their teacher walks in and announces the beginning of their literature class. Spencer smiles shyly at Chelsea, shifts on her seat to face the teacher. Not that she would pay any attention, since her eyes would randomly fall on a set of brown locks a couple of chairs away.