"Come on, man. Talk to him." I'm on the phone with Newt, as I usually do at night, except we're not discussing technology this time as we usually do.

"Not gonna happen. If he wants to have the biggest stick up his butt, I'll let him have it."

"Please, dude. He's been insufferable for the longest time now."

Although, he exaggerates. It was yesterday that I ranted at Lyle and he went all offended and climbed down the ladder.

"I'll be forced to see him on Monday at school, anyway."

"That's like in two whole days!"

"Chill, Newt." The thing is, Lyle wants to hang out with me like we did since we met, except he's sure I want to kick his sorry ass for being a nosy brat. So, instead of messaging me directly, he's been bothering Newton, as if he magically would manage to solve his problems for him. "If he wants to come home, he should do just that. I won't be sending him a card inviting him to hang out."

"I'm kind of wondering who has the biggest stick in their butt right now." I can almost see him rolling his eyes. "Anyways, do me a favor and call him. I gotta go for now."

And then he hangs up. I look at the dead screen of my phone as if it held some sort of answer to anything at all. It addresses me with a low battery warning. As I'm plugging it, I get a message from Martha, which is really Abigail.

Busy?

I dial her right away.

"I guess that's a no?"

"I'm never busy for you, Scar."

"Charming."

"I know. Such a sweetheart."

"I bet Veronica was really into you with such heart-wrenching, smooth lines."

My laughter fills the room, making Grandma roar something unintelligible from her own bedroom.

"Actually she was." But that's as much as I want to talk about Vee. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I don't even know myself," she admits. "I was planning to do a night visit to the factory, but I didn't want to go alone."

"Wouldn't it be like packed with Fists at night? Let me just mention that they don't have anywhere else to hang."

"All right. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Mention one place where I could spend the night without feeling supremely lonely while also keeping my ass safe."

I glance at my window. "Did I mention I have a ladder leading straight to my room at home?"

"Okay, John Foster. Now that was slick as hell." And then she proceeds to mock me even more. "Do I need to bring pajamas?"

"Hell, would you need pajamas to spend the night in an abandoned, dark factory with a guy?"

"So you're under the impression that I invited you to get laid."

I really need to play dumb with her. "Wait, didn't you?"

"No, I don't think I did. Did I?"

"Okay, hold it right there. That's enough teasing for one day."

"Geez. You're no fun, Newbie."

"So. You think the Factory is safe to explore during the night?"

"I might have a few corners ready to hide."

I check the time. It's almost half past nine. I don't think Mom's letting me go out at night that easily, but we already had dinner so I might sneak up on her. On second thought, I can always use Dad as a façade.

"All right. See you there in how long?"

"Thirty? Forty minutes?"

"Deal."

So I proceed to execute plan "Night at the factory". I walk downstairs, jacket hanging from my arm. Mom's in the living room watching some TV show, on the verge of dying from exhaustion after dealing with Grandma Enedith's dung... I mean shit, all day long. I have to actually announce myself before she notices I'm in the room.

"Oh, Johnny." She notices my jacket right away, though. "I suppose you're not going anywhere at night, am I right?"

Is that her way to say I'm not allowed to go to the old factory to spend a nice night time with a suspicious and possibly dangerous girl?

"Actually, I was going to see if Dad needs any help with the business." Because yes, Dad finally opened Aloha Number Two, even though I'll always refuse to call it by that name. Mom gives me a suspicious glance, but to be fair, she's too tired to fight over it. Besides, I really plan on going there first. So it's not ten minutes later that I walk through the door of Dad's place, only to see it's mostly empty, which certainly works my way.

"What's up, young man?"

"Hi, Dad." I sit on the stool closest to his place behind the register. "I came to see if you needed any help here."

"You sure did." He rolls his eyes; he probably smells I'm up to something, and he's not wrong.

"No, not really, but that's what I told Mom anyway."

"So what's the official plan, then? Your mother would freak out if she knows you're out at night."

"Actually, Dad..." I lean forward, speaking to him in hushed voice. "There's this girl I met at school..."

"Okay. Say no more." His usual smile widens. "My son going on a date with a girl is worth the risks."

He also hands me a fifty with the usual parenting 101 warnings, just in case any business is still open after ten p.m. (my guess is a big fat no, but still), and I also manage to fit some pizza and a big drink in a plastic bag.

And with everything ready, I bolt across town to the old factory, which, if I have to be honest, looks even more abandoned and haunted and scary than it does in broad daylight. Luckily, there's a full moon enlightening the streets so I actually find my way once my eyes adjust. Abby is standing against a tree outside, which is pretty brave of her considering about anyone could just spot her there fiddling with her phone. When I'm close by, she starts walking without a word, and I wonder for a second if she saw me coming or not before she waves me to follow. We walk around the factory in silence, and then all of a sudden she turns around and puts a finger to her mouth, willing me to be perfectly quiet, as we walk through the woods, bordering the backyard of several houses before reaching yet another stretch of woods.

After another couple of minutes of walking, she finally deigns me worthy of an explanation.

"I'll let you into my very special and secret place," she says, answering the exact thing I was asking myself. "But you need to promise me you'll never tell anyone about it."

"Of course. Not like I'd be able to find my way back either way so..."

"I'm not kidding, John."

And I can tell that much from her voice. Wherever it is we're going, it's an obviously special place for her. I drop my own voice to match hers. "I promise."

"When things got real bad with Rude and Amanda, this is where I hid from them. My father made it look like I left town until things cooled down. I was never found here. This is my safe haven." She then proceeded to let out a soft whistle, and not long after, some animal makes its way to us from the darkness. "John, meet Wonder."

Now under the moonlight and next to Abby, I can make out the shape of a pretty big dog that gives me a warning growl that makes me flinch.

"You sure that's safe for me?"

"If you wandered around here on your own, you'd probably be dog food by now, but it's okay since you're with me. He's just smelling your fear," she says, actually petting Wonder, who's now torn between growling at me and licking Abby's face. "It's okay, buddy. John's a friend. Stretch your hand for him to smell, Newbie."

I reluctantly do as she commands, and sure enough, Wonder plays his part flawlessly, smelling my hand a little before licking it, which instantly sets me at ease.

"Nice to meet you, bud," I say, and he offers me a paw for a handshake. "Gee, you're one smart pup, aren't you?"

"Okay, Wonder. That's enough; you can leave now."

And there he goes, getting lost in the darkness. As Abby and I walk following him, I spot a small wooden cabin in the darkness. And as I start to wonder about it, Abby pulls out a small key from her pocket and opens the door.

"Safe haven?"

"Yep, this is it."

I stand on the doorway, unable to see a thing in the darkness, following the sound of her footsteps. Then she lights a match, using it to light a very old fashioned oil lamp.

"Well, just look at this place!" As the light from the lamp grows stronger, I start making out my surroundings. The cabin is super small, but well-built with logs and adobe to fill the gaps and seal it. With a thatched roof and its handmade window frames, it doesn't look much different from those cabins you can rent when going camping. Also the furnishing looks like it belongs. There's a small rustic table in the center of the room with two matching chairs, what looks like an unmade bed on the other side of the room, and a small kitchenette right next to me. Even the floor plays along with the general feel, made of stones.

"There's not much to see, but this is the place where I feel most at home."

"This place looks amazing. How did you get here in the first place?"

"My grandfather owned the land. He used to be both a lumberjack and a carpenter. He built and made pretty much everything you see here."

I walk inside, leaving the things I brought from Dad's restaurant, still taking my surroundings in. Abby goes to the bed and wraps herself in one of the covers.

"What did you bring there?"

"Oh, just some food and drinks."

She inspects the plastic bags as she lays everything on the table. "Aloha Number Two? Isn't that the new place in the town square?"

"Yeah. My father owns the place."

"I didn't know that." She takes a slice of pizza with chopped olives and takes a bite. "You know I can't go out a lot. And what on earth? This tastes damn good!"

"It kinda gets old after a while, but I gotta agree. It's quite good." Not as good as the original Aloha, though I don't say this bit out loud. I still take a slice, obviously, although I already had dinner. "To tell you the truth, I'm really surprised you allowed me to come here."

"Yeah, about that..." She stands up and walks to the kitchenette, coming back with a glass and a mug. "Sorry. I only have one of each."

"No problem." I uncap the bottle and serve us both. She's quick to take the mug. Whatever she's about to say, she's thinking it pretty well. She drinks twice from the cup, with a slice of pizza between them before making up her mind.

"I won't mince words, John," she says, setting up an ominous mood between us. Once again, she means business.

"I'd be surprised otherwise."

"Ever since Amanda and her crowd made me into an Outcast, I've had no friends." She pauses a little bit, fiddling with her cup and frowning a little under the dim light of the lamp. "It's been nineteen months of socializing exclusively with my father. Until you showed up."

She looks depressed, so I choose to light up her mood. "Well. I ruined a quite impressive record, didn't I?"

She gives me a sad smile. "You are the first person who actually tried to befriend me, and I appreciate that."

"Hey. It's my pleasure, girl."

"I'm not done, dummy."

"Oh. Go on, then."

"Look, I'll stop sugar-coating this." Even if she says this, she's stirring this batter quite a bit. "I forgot what it was like to feel someone else's warmth after so long."

Okay now. Even a clueless brat with almost zero experience like me could figure out where she's trying to get with this. "Are you saying that..."

"No, I'm not saying that," she says with a bored expression, annihilating my weird imagination, and bringing me back to being John, instead of some grotesque copy of Martin. "It's not like I fell in love with you or anything. Even if I eventually do, you're still head over heels for your Veronica so I'm not holding my breath for you."

"But?" I ask, and her wide eyes find mine. This is when I notice she didn't cover her scar tonight. "There's a but coming up, I think."

She nods. "I like spending my time with you. You're nice, and funny, and kinda clueless, which makes you super cute. Shit, John. You even think my scar is hot. And I don't have a lot of things to occupy my time with, or people to spend it with. I have school, and home, and the times I escape here, or to the factory. That's all there's for me. I can't really go anywhere else, or have friends, much less a boyfriend or anything like that. I'm not a normal girl, so I can't have a normal life."

I reach forward, placing my hand on top of hers. "But you're not alone. Not now at least."

She looks down at our hands, then back at my eyes. She gives me a wry smile. "I wish I could make you feel the same way, John?"

"What do you mean, crazy girl?" I try a smile, and I can almost see it rubbing on her face. "You think I'd follow a dangerous girl like you into the woods, to some place I have no way to come back from on my own if I didn't feel comfortable around you?"

"Well, the possibility certainly crossed my mind once."

Just as the mood is starting to lift, both our phones buzz at the same time. I have a message from Dad.

Your mother called. Told her you met some classmates here and went to the cinema in the other town with them.

Thanks, Dad. You're the best.

"Keep quiet for a little bit. I'm calling my father." Abby drops her blanket in her bed and walks out, calling Wonder. My phone buzzes again.

Your mother isn't happy with me for letting you go, so better make it worth, Champ.

What kind of crazy curfew do I have, considering I'm two hours away from home in the movies?

Do you think you can make it back by 4 am?

"Four in the morning? No way I'm walking you back to town that late." Abby's peeking on my phone over my shoulder, casually hanging her arms around me. Although I do have some mixed feelings about this, I don't feel exactly bad, so I let my cheek rest against hers.

"What do I tell him, then? I'm supposedly on the way to the movies in the next town with some school people."

"Such an elaborate liar, aren't you?"

"It was his idea. Mom would never allow me to go out at night otherwise."

"Hmmm..." She leaves me to pick her blanket back. "Tell him we had a change of plans. We ditched the cinema in favor of movie night at someone's house."

"Hey, that's pretty good."

"That way your mother would know you're spending the night at someone's place instead of roaming the streets."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I take a few seconds to message Dad about this and not a minute later I get an okay message from him, meaning I'm officially spending the night with Abigail. "All right. That's done." I take my glass and empty it, noticing I was actually thirsty.

"Would you mind bringing the lamp here and my mug?"

I do as she asks, carrying the lamp and her mug to her place in the bed. She leaves both on a bedside table I didn't notice before, and turns the lamp off. I take off my shoes and sit right next to her near the window, where the moonlight shines strong above us, lighting up almost the whole bed. Abby adjusts to look out at the sky, idly letting her left arm cover me with her blanket, and I join her stargazing.

"I wonder how many stars you get to see here when there's no moon."

"Hundreds. No, thousands. No, millions, even!" She allows a very sweet smile to cover her face. Her eyes never leave the sky. "There's just so many of them it's almost overwhelming."

What I really find overwhelming is the moon reflected in her big green eyes. Most of all because under this strong moonlight, they don't look green, but that same shade of bluish grey, almost white even, that I used to know so well.

"I used to watch so many stars at night, back in Celadon Bay, especially during the summer. Martin and I would go for walks on the beach when we couldn't sleep, and we would then do day review time with our backs on the sand."

"Day review time?"

"Yeah, we would talk about what happened during the day."

"Sounds like lots of fun to do that while laying down on the sand."

I let a sad smile crawl to my face as I recall those nights.

"It was."

"You sound like you don't plan on going back there anytime soon."

"Because I'm not. Even though Martin is trying to get me to spend Easter week with them."

"And you're not going?"

"No."

"Why?" She leaves the sky for the first time and looks me in the eyes. "If he's trying, and you miss that city so much, you should."

"I can't face Vee after leaving without a word, like I did."

"Veronica needs an explanation, though."

I shake my head no. "Veronica needs me to stay the hell away from her so she can move on."

"What makes you think she didn't already?"

"Nothing in particular." I admit, looking away. "I just assume she didn't because I know I didn't."

"Your life here would be much easier if you resolved that problem, and you're now given the chance to do so." She places a hand on my cheek, forcing me to face her once again. "I know you're smart enough to understand that you need to do this, and why."

"Don't you, like, need me here or something?"

"Gee, you think so highly of yourself sometimes." She flicks my nose playfully. "I don't want to sound rude, but, unless the universe aligns for some miracle, you'll be spending an awful lot of time with me here anyway, so..."

"About that..." I look away for a little while, thinking my next words carefully. "Is it wrong that I don't really mind spending my time with you?"

"Oh? Is that a confession, John Foster?" she teases, and I jump on that train without delay. I go straight for Martin's favorite, leaning forward, as close as I can get without our noses touching, looking straight into her eyes.

"And what if it is?"

"I'd probably kiss the hell out of you," she says, no trace of hesitation in her voice, and holding my gaze. "Luckily, you aren't confessing tonight."

"Oh, aren't I?"

"No, you aren't."

"How do you know?"

"Because you just said you're not over your Vee yet, so you don't really feel much at all for me." She turns around, leaning against the window frame. "You're just lonely, perhaps as much as I am, and as much as we obviously crave human contact, we can't allow ourselves to mistake that for any kind of feeling."

"You really don't mince words, do you?"

"I like to call things by their name."

I offer her a smile. "I'm glad that at least one of us does."

"That said, it's not like I'm not attracted to you. Don't feel disappointed or anything."

I don't really know how to reply to this, so I just smile, looking away. She's really spot-on with her words, something I greatly appreciate. I don't want to confuse things with Abigail and potentially harm whatever it is that is going on between us. I sit with my back against the window, mimicking Abigail, and she leans against me.

"You okay? You went full mute now."

"Yeah, I'm... fine." I give her a coy smile, although I can't seem to look at her. Instead, I just look outside. "You read me like a book. It's hard to believe that we just recently met."

"You're easy to read, Newbie."

"You're extremely hard to read," I reply, and she smiles proudly. "I can't tell what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking that this is nice," she replies, resting her head on my shoulder and rearranging the blanket.

"With that, I can agree," I tell her, resting my head on her own.

Her hand reaches for mine under the blanket, and gives me a reassuring squeeze. "It's going to be fine, John."

And, weird as it may sound, I believe her.