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My heart is racing as I look around my surroundings. Becoming instantly alert. "Who?"

"Some kid." Bruce tells me. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"She didn't know your name but she described a young woman with a scar over an eye; I knew it was you. She's very upset and she's hurting. But she won't talk to us." He tells me as he leads me further into the campout.

I have a moment of unease that my scar is that noticeable for people to remember me by. But it's not like it's something I can hide. Wearing a damn eye patch will only make it that much more obvious.

Several of the homeless look at me warily as I approach. Bruce leads me to a secluded area, covered in a tarp. There are flattened out cardboards on the ground with old, torn up, dirty blankets laying on top.

I fight my natural instinct to scrunch my nose at the overpowering, pungent smell of body odor and urine that hits me instantly, inside the makeshift home. It's so strong, it burns my nose.

A woman is sitting next to the girl, who was trying to break into Zeeko's gym a few days ago.

"Here Bruce," I hand him the bags. "I brought you some food. It's lasagna, salad and breadsticks. I also made some dessert. There's enough if you want to share with your friend." I hand him the container and plastic forks, nodding towards the woman. He smiles warmly at me. "You are an angel."

"Oh and I brought your clothes back." He gives me a side hug. "Thanks, Stella."

I move slowly over towards the girl, who's hugging her knees tightly against her chest. The woman gets up and moves away towards Bruce.

"Hey." I say quietly as I stand next to the girl. She looks at me, tear stains show throw the grime and dirt on her face.

"You were looking for me?"

She sniffles and nods.

"Are you okay?" She shakes her head, covering her face as she bawls. I feel a little out of place not knowing how I can help her.

"Did something happen?" I crouch in front of her. She doesn't say anything, but I see she's holding her stomach. "Did someone hurt you?" She shakes her head, again.

"Look kid, I want to help you, but you gotta talk to me." I tell her. She looks up and wipes at her face. She leans back and lowers her legs and I see a dark stain in the front of her pants. "My stomach hurts." She mumbles.

"Come on, let's go." I tell her gently, knowing what's going on. 

I remove my hoodie, thankful I have an actual shirt underneath, instead of just a sports bra, like I usually do. I remove the knife from the hoodie pocket and tuck it inside my bra. "Here wrap this around your waist." She takes it, tying it around her waist.

I ask how she knew where to find me as we make our way out of the campout.

She keeps her head down, walking slowly. "I followed you that night but I didn't see which building you went into..."

"Where have you been staying if not at the Children's shelter? And don't you have any other family?" I ask.

She wipes her nose with the back of her hand. "I was living under a bridge for a few months, but there's a park, just around the block near the gym. But lately, it's been getting crowded at night. There's a lot going on there now. That's why I tried to find somewhere else to sleep and broke into your friend's gym.

I lived with my Uncle for a little bit. But he's never home and when he is home, he's usually passed out drunk. He doesn't care about me. That's why I ended up at the Children's shelter in the first place a couple of years ago. DCFS took me away after one of my teachers was concerned about me wearing the same clothes to school everyday."

"Do you not have any other family?"

She shakes her head. She explains that her Uncle's apartment is in the Southside part of town. According to her the bad part of town.

I laugh, quietly. "Can't be worse than this neighborhood."

"You're not from here, are you? What's your name?" She asks. I debate on whether I should tell her my real name, but I'm sure Bruce may have already told her. And I haven't made any attempt to hide it anyhow.

"Stella. Yours?"

"I go by Lucy, but my name is Lucia." I ask if her family is Italian, given how she pronounced it. She tells me her mom was and her dad was Puerto Rican. I ask if she speaks Italian and she tells me she understands it better than speaks it, but she does speak Spanish.

We make it to the corner where there is a value store. I'm thankful I brought my money clip with me. I ask if she wants to come in but she tells me she'll wait outside as she shifts her backpack on her shoulder, nervously.

Her eyes widen when she sees me, exit the store with my hands full of bags. "I don't need all of that, do I?" I shake my head and lie, telling her I needed to grab some things. We head back towards the apartment and walk in as Samantha is walking out.

"Oh, sugar. Don't tell me you found yourself a puppy." She says eyeing Lucy. I shake my head. "No, this is Lucy. Lucy this is Samantha."

They greet each other. "Be careful out there." I tell her as I turn for the stairs.

"Always am, baby girl!" She says over her shoulder as she walks out. Lucy keeps watching her as I start heading up the stairs.

I turn, when I don't hear her following me. "You coming?" She turns and follows me quickly.

"She's um...tall."

"Yeah, she is." I say, smiling.

I move the bags to one hand as I fish my keys out of my pocket. The door unlocks and Topo rushes out, nearly running into us. "Hey," I smile.

"What the fuck, Stella? I was just about to go out looking for you? We've been calling you and then realized you left your damn phone, charging. What the hell were you—" He stops his angry rant when he notices Lucy, standing behind me.

Annalisa doesn't say anything, at first but then greets Lucy.

"Lucy, this is my sister, Annalisa." She looks at Anna and nods at her.

I pushed past Topo and dump the bags on the couch. I turn back and grab Lucy by the arm, bringing her into the apartment, who's too afraid to come in or be near Topo, not sure which, maybe both.

Topo looks at me before looking at her again. His eyes are practically shouting at me. I sigh after taking a deep breath.

"Lucy, Topo. Topo, Lucy." I gesture between them. She doesn't look at him but mumbles a quiet hello, keeping her eyes down at her worn out shoes. They look way too small on her and her toes are poking through one of them.

"Oh, sometimes he goes by Paolo." Realizing Samantha only knows him as Paolo in case it comes up later. He glares at me which I pretend I don't see, as I grab the bags and lead her to my room, leaving Topo standing there, watching us. I ask Annalisa to grab me a couple of plastic bags we keep on hand and bring them to my room.

I dump the bags on my bed and sift through the bags, grabbing everything she'll need. I then lead her to the bathroom. I notice she keeps her bag with her.

Annalisa walks in behind her and hands me the bags. Her eyes travel to the front of Lucy's pants. She gives Lucy a small smile and walks out of the bathroom.

"Okay, I don't know if they still go over this in school or not, but you are going through your first menstrual cycle or period. Welcome to womanhood. Yay!" I try to sound enthusiastic even though I despise my own monthly visitor with a vengeance.

Her eyes glisten with tears in response.

"It comes at least once a month. Mine was all over the place when I first got it. Sometimes I got it twice in a month, sometimes every other month. All I know for sure is, it always hurt like a bit—, it was a pain.

I actually had to get on medicine to help with the cramping when I was fifteen. That's why your stomach is hurting, by the way. Sometimes the cramping can be felt on your lower back, too." She appears overwhelmed as she looks at me.

I take a breathe, "Okay, go ahead and take a shower. I got you some new underwear, pajamas, socks. I couldn't tell if you wear a bra or not..." Her face turns pink as she shakes her head. "That's okay, I didn't either at your age." She looks at my chest like she doesn't believe me.

I show her where we keep towels and show her I got her a razor, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a comb. And then last I show her the sanitary pads. 

I proceed to show her how to use them and explain how often she'll need to change them depending on her flow. I also go through the proper way of disposing them, recalling back in high school how gross it was to see some girls just leave them, out in the open in the bathrooms or would throw them in the toilets, clogging them up.

I hold one of the bags that Annalisa brought in, out to her. "You can put your pants and underwear in here. There's no saving those. And you can put your other clothes in this one and I'll wash them for you."

"How long does it last?" She asks me quietly.

"Everyone is different, but anywhere from three to seven days, give or take." I refrain from telling her in Jr High, I had one last for almost two weeks. I tell her I'll be in the living room and she can join us when when she's done. She nods, thanking me quietly.

After I set out the rest of the clothes and other items I got on the bed, I walk out to the living room. Annalisa tells me she's heating up some lasagna for Lucy. I smile thanking her and turn to find Topo, sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

I plop down on the couch next to him, sighing loudly. He looks at me and I know we are about to have a fight.

A big one.

He speaks to me in Italian, probably thinking Lucy won't understand. "What the hell are you doing, Stella?"

"You don't need to freak out. I'm just helping her for one night. She's scared and alone. You can't understand or know how it would feel to go through what's she's experiencing and not have anyone explain to you what the hell is going on with your body, adding to the fact that she's freaking homeless with no means to get what she needs."

"She's fucking playing you. You don't think the children's shelter is stocked with shit for things like this? She has somewhere to go, she's just choosing to do things the hard way. Typical fucking, stubborn, teenager. And stupid." He stands running a hand through his short hair.

I stand, raising my voice. "Have you stopped to think about the fact that it can't be that great of a place if she'd rather take her chances out in the streets?"

"You can't fucking save everyone, Stella. First, you had to go back for Annalisa." Anna looks up and I see the hurt flash on her face as he mentions her so angrily.

"Then I let you make nice with Zeeko, Samantha and even Bruce because I thought that's what you needed to cope with whatever shit is going on in your head. And don't get me started on the fucking underground fighting shit you got yourself involved in. But now...now you're just being ridiculous!" He yells, his veins bulging out of his neck.

"Don't you get we have to keep a low profile? You don't know how many people Sofia could have working for her and you're just walking around like you don't have people looking for you."

"First of all, 'let me'?" I ask, slowly. "You should know by now, I will not be told how to live my life. My life, Topo. Been there, done that. And despite who I am, where I come from, and what happened, I'm not going to stop living my life the way I choose.

Second of all, I already told you. If Sofia comes, she comes. At least then I won't have to keep looking over my shoulder any more."

"You don't fucking get it, Stella!" He yells even louder. "The more people you involve, you're not only risking more exposure but you're putting their lives at risk, too. Have you fucking thought of that? No, you haven't because you're trying to fill some damn void you feel, trying to replace the people you chose to walk away from!"

"What did you say?" I walk towards him. "They alienated me long before I left."

"From what I hear JP didn't."

Annalisa comes over in between us quickly. "Let's just take a deep breath guys, okay?"

But Topo knows he hit a nerve. And like a shark in the water, he smells blood and goes in for the kill. "What? You don't want to hear the truth?" He mocks. "Fine, what about Annalisa?"

I glance at Annalisa and she looks away. "She knows why I left. She understands. I thought you did too, I guess I was wrong." I glare at him.

"You left her, when she needed you the most. Some fucking friend."

I react out of instinct. Silence rings loudly in my ears. My hand burns and throbs with the sting of making contact with his face. He turns, grabbing his jacket and slams the door behind him.

I fall back on the couch and groan. I turn towards the arm of the couch where we keep a blanket and put my face down on it and scream as loud as I can into it. I punch the arm of couch until I feel some of my frustration ebb.

"He was just lashing out, Stella... he didn't mean it." Annalisa says as she sits down on the couch next to me and rubs my back gently.

"Um, Stella?" I hear a quiet voice. I look up and see Lucy standing in the hallway, watching us, fidgeting with her hands anxiously. I straighten myself up, tucking the loose strands of my hair back. I put on a smile. 

"Do you want to watch some TV?" I ask her. She nods and sits on the far side of the couch, tucking her feet under her. Annalisa brings her a plate with leftover lasagna and a glass of water. She thanks Annalisa not meeting her eyes.

"I'm sorry if I caused a fight between you and your boyfriend. I can leave so he can come back."

Annalisa and I share a look and laugh. "He's not my boyfriend. And you don't have to leave, but I won't keep you here. If you want to leave, you can. You didn't cause a fight, either." I sigh heavily. I know a part of what he said is true, but not all of it.

"So, is he like your brother?" She asks, while she chews her food quickly.

"He's a friend, but yeah, he's like a brother, too." I watch as she scrapes the sauce off with her fork, and licks it.

"Would you like another piece? She nods and I grab the plate and serve her another helping.

"Do you mind if I ask about your parents? How did they die?" I ask when I bring the plate back to her.

She chews her food and swallows before looking at me and then Annalisa. "My mom died when she had me. My dad was a good guy but I think he couldn't get over losing my mom. I think I reminded him too much of her, too. I remember he was always sad." She says thoughtfully as she pokes her food with the fork.

"He lost his job when I was around six and he tried to get work for a while. One day he had a friend over and things were never the same after that. He overdosed when I was eight. I came home from school one day and he was on the couch with a needle in his arm and I couldn't get him to wake up like I usually could.

The things I normally did, when I would find him passed out, didn't work. I ran to a neighbors house to get help. The cops came and then I was sent to live with my Uncle but he wasn't any better."

I don't know what I was expecting but that wasn't it and to be said so bluntly. Annalisa looks at me with tears in her yes.

"I'm so sorry." I manage to say. She shrugs in response.

"You don't get to choose the family you're born into, right?" She says as she takes a sip of water.

I nod, again surprised by her response.

"Are you guys close to your family, I mean besides each other?" She asks me then looks at Annalisa.

"Not really." I glance down at Annalisa and notice she wipes at her face, her family is probably going through her mind.

Lucy takes a large bite but talks around the food in her mouth. "Not even your parents?"

I can see Annalisa is on the verge of losing it so I talk about my parents.

"Well, I have two sets of parents. Had, is probably a better term. My first parents are gone. Died separately, one from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the other from a robbery gone wrong." It's sort of the truth. "And my second set of parents. I never really knew them so I don't keep in contact with them."

"That's too bad." She says as she takes a sip of water. "But I guess that makes sense. You don't have any pictures of anyone in here." She looks around the bare apartment. I don't say anything as we watch America's got Talent.

Annalisa doesn't stay long and excuses herself going to bed. I squeeze her hand as she walks by, and she smiles back at me.

After the show, I take Lucy back to my room. I show her I got a new set of clothes and a pair of new shoes. I watch as she runs her hands through the items. "Why?" She asks softly.

"Why, what?" I ask. She looks at me nervously. "I mean why, why did you buy me all this stuff...do I...do I have to do something for it?"

I look at her confused. But then I realize what she's asking, my eyes widen. I shake my head quickly, holding my hands up.

"No. No, of course not. I just wanted to do something nice. Not because I expect anything in return, Lucy." She looks back at me like she doesn't believe me, which makes me feel sick.

"Look you can head home—, wherever you go to at night, if you want, but I'd rather you didn't. I mean at least for the night, it's already really late, anyway. You can leave in the morning and if you decide you don't want any of this, that's okay, too." I tell her.

"I'd like to stay." She says as she looks back at me. "Just for tonight."

"Of course." I respond. I sigh internally and then tell her she can stay in my room and I'll sleep in Annalisa's room.

I head out of the room when, she calls my name and I turn back around.

"Um, can you sleep in here? I'll sleep on the floor. I'm used to it and won't mind." She tells me.

"No, I'll take the floor. You can sleep on my bed, please." I tell her. She nods.

I make sure the front door is locked and head to the bathroom to do my nightly routine and change into my pajamas. When I get back to my room, Lucy is already asleep.

I send a text to Topo, apologizing for slapping him and tell him to be safe but I fall asleep before he responds back to me.

I wake up to a loud banging sound, sitting up quickly. I look up and Lucy is up, too. I can see she's trembling.

I try to ease some of her fear, speaking to her calmly. I tell her that I'm just going to make sure the door is locked, because I'm second guessing myself now and I don't know if Topo is home.

"Please don't go." She pleads. 

I shush her. "I'm just going to make sure Topo is home. I'll be back, I promise."

We hear a scream and more loud banging but it's coming from next door.

It's Samantha. She's in trouble.

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