"EJ, you're terrible at this!" Soul exclaimed, letting out a loud chuckle as she smacked his arm.

"What? I thought it was a great idea." EJ said, as a small smile grew.

"You mean the one where you're on roller skates dressed as a teddy bear while singing Bruno Mars?" Soul asked, sarcastically with a smirk.

"Yes! I think it could work!" EJ exclaimed, with a giant smile.

"EJ, no." Soul said, laughing, shaking her head. "Do you even know how to roller skate?"

"I mean I can always learn." EJ said, making her give him a look. "You know what, terrible idea."

"I could have told you that." Soul said, sarcastically, causing them both to laugh at the dumb idea as Soul fell backwards onto the bed as she looked over at him. "Sarah doesn't like big and flashy anyways, she likes small but romantic. You know, bring her flowers and ask her on a date."

"Do you think she'll go for that?" EJ asked.

"I've known her my entire life, I'm sure she'll love it." Soul explained. "Also her favorite flowers are pink and yellow roses because she thinks red is too plain."

"When do you think I should ask her." EJ asks, as he lays backwards beside her.

"I would definitely do it during opening night." Soul suggested. "You know, send a giant bouquet to the dressing room along with a cute little card."

"Yeah that sounds perfect." EJ said, with a giant smile.

"I mean I hope it is, Sarah has basically been limiting our conversations ever since we started hanging out." Soul said, looking up at the ceiling. "But I think it will all be worth it in the end."

"I really appreciate your help and I'm sorry I'm the reason Sarah's not talking to you." EJ said, looking over the girl.

"It's fine, like you said 'what are friends for'." Soul said, looking over at him, causing them both to smile before turning to stare at the ceiling.

"So, what's going on with you and Ricky?" EJ asked.

"I don't know." Soul honestly said, letting out a sigh. "One day it seems like he likes me the next day he doesn't... I thought he liked me but he's been hanging out with Gina a lot lately."

"Do you like him?" EJ questioned, looking over at her, causing her to turn her head towards him.

"Yeah, I do...." Soul admitted, turning to look back at the ceiling letting out another sigh. "But I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me back. I mean it's been what, 2 years and still nothing. It always seems like the things I care about the most are slowly slipping away... It feels like I have no one."

"You have me now." EJ says, causing her to look up at him. "I mean, I may not be Gina or Nini or Carlos or even Ricky, but I think we can be pretty good friends. Besides, who else is going to help me with my crazy plans in the future?"

"I mean I don't think anyone else could handle you and those horrible plans." Soul said, causing them both to chuckle as they sat there in silence for a while before he looked back down at her.

"So I have a question... about your step dad." EJ said.

"Let me guess, does he hit me?" Soul asked, feeling him tense up. " I heard Carlos and Gina tell you guys the other night at Big Red's."

"So does he?" EJ asked, after a few seconds of silence.

"No and Yes. No, he hasn't like swung at me and hit me but he has caused me physical pain... my mom was the one who hit me but Jeff's the reason for the cuts." Soul explained.

"What about your arm?" EJ asked, causing her to quickly look up at him. "I noticed that you always make sure it's covered but not the other one."

"Jeff got angry because I raised my voice at him." Soul explained, pulling her sleeve of her sweatshirt up, revealing her wrist causing him to grab her arm as he looked at it. "All my mom did was defend him."

"You should talk to someone." EJ said, "Someone like Miss Jenn."

"And tell her what, my life at home sucks ever since my dad died and my mom remarried and the only time I feel like I'm with family is when I'm at musical rehearsals." Soul asked, sarcastically. "Yeah, no thanks."

"I mean it doesn't need to be now, but you deserve some happiness, Soul." EJ explained, looking back at the girl as she looked back at him.

"Yeah, I wish that was true." Soul said, letting out a sigh, sitting up EJ's bed as she looked at the time before looking back over at him. "I should head home, it's getting late."

"I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow, pal?" EJ askes, causing the girl to stop at the door.

"See ya tomorrow." Soul chucked, making her way down the stairs and out of the Caswell house as she skated all the way back to her own home.

As soon as she made it inside she quickly made her way up the stairs and into my room, only to find Sully sitting on her bed.

"Holy crap, you scared me." Soul said, letting out a slight chuckle, placing her hand over her chest, closing the door behind her setting her stuff down in the chair at her desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I was going to ask for your help on my Algebra homework but Sam helped me." Sully explained, as she took a seat on the bed beside him. "If you don't mind me asking, where'd you go after the board meeting?"

"I went over to EJ's and hung out." Soul is explained.

"So are you guys like dating?" Sully asked, confused. "I thought you liked Ricky?"

"I promise we're not dating, he needed help with something so I agreed to help him." So explained. "Also I'm pretty sure there is something going on with Ricky and Gina?"

"Really?" Sully asked, with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I'm sorry Soul."

"It's fine, nothing I'm not used to." Soul explained, shrugging. "Why do you ask? Does someone have a crush on a certain dancer?"

"Maybe... I don't know." Sully said, looking down.

"Hey." Soul said, lifting his chin up making him look at her. "If she doesn't like you back that's her loss not yours, I can promise you that."

"Thanks Soul." Sully said, smiling before pulling her into a big hug.

"Anytime Sully." Soul said, chuckling as she pulled him into a tight bear hug.

"A little too tight." Sully mumbled, causing her to squeeze tighter as she laughed. "Soul!"

"Sorry, I didn't realize." Soul said, letting go of the boy, causing them both to laugh as she looked over at him. "But honestly, I'm always here if you need me."

"Thanks Soul." Sully said, as he stood and made his way out of the room as he closed the door behind him.

Soul let out a loud sigh before laying backwards onto her bed, only to see an upside down smiling Ricky, waving outside of the window, causing her to jump up from the bed.

"Ricky!" Soul exclaimed, opening the window as he jumped in. "You scared me! What are you doing outside of my window?"

"I didn't see you much after the board meeting and just seen you get home so I decided to come see you." Ricky said, chuckling , causing the girl to jokingly glare at him.

"Yeah, I left with EJ right after." Soul explained , making their way towards the bed.

"Ah, EJ." Ricky said, as he halted into a stop causing her to turn and face him. "When did you two become so close?"

"I don't know, he's always been friends with my brother and he used to come over so we were sort of mutuals. I guess when the musical came around we got closer." Soul said, shrugging. "Why does it matter?"

"Is he your boyfriend now?" Ricky questioned, causing her to scoff. "How could you do that to Nini? How could you do that to me?"

"To you? How does my friendship with EJ have anything to do with you?!" Soul asked, raising her voice a little as he stepped closer to the girl.

"You know that I have hated him ever since he took Nini from me!" Ricky yelled, causing her to take a step back.

"Why does everything have to be about Nini?" Soul asked, shaking her head, causing the boy to scoff as he looked away. "What about me Ricky, huh? What if talking to EJ makes me happy? He has been the only person who has actually listened to me in the past year other than my siblings!"

"I already told you I was about that!" Ricky exclaimed, causing the girl to shake her head in disbelief. "Soul-"

"No, how dare you come and question me about my friendship when you have been a really crappy friend but I let you back in!" Soul said, stepping closer to him. "What about you and Gina, huh? Did you know she was out to get Nini's part in the play? So what are you and Gina dating now, Ricky?"

"Gina has nothing to do with this!" Ricky exclaimed, as she looked away from him. "This is about you dating EJ!"

"You're dating EJ?" Sarah said standing at the door, causing Soul to turn to see all 3 of her siblings standing at her door, looking at me and Ricky.

"Sarah no, I can explain." Soul said, taking a step closer to her but she stuck her hand up causing Soul to stop in her tracks.

"No need to explain, I heard enough." Sarah said, tears forming in her eyes. "Don't ever speak to me again."

"Sarah-" Soul called, Sarah quickly walked out of the room and made her way to her room and slammed the door behind her. Soul quickly looked over at her brothers as they were are looking at her with a look in their eyes. "Guys, what do I do?"

"I don't know Soul." Sam said, letting out a scoff looking directly at her. "You know how much she likes EJ and you go and date him."

"It's not even like that. Tell him Sul, I explained it to him." Soul explained, looking up at Sam but turned to Sully when he stayed silent. "Sully, tell him?"

"Tell him what?!" Sully asked, snapping at her, shocking her. "You promised that you weren't talking ot him but you lied to me. I wonder what else you lied to me about."

"Sully." Soul said as tears started to form in her own eyes. "I promise, I didn't lie to you, you got it all wrong."

"Come on Sully, let's go check on our sister." Sam said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Sam." Soul called as they both walked away, as she let some tears finally fall. "Sully."

When they both didn't respond or even turn around, Soul broke down, taking a seat on her bed as she hugged the bear her dad got her for her 8th Birthday.

"Soul, I'm so sorry." Ricky said, barely above a whisper causing her to snap her head in his direction. "I didn't know they were listening and I guess I just got mad.."

"Leave." Soul whispered, looking directly at the boy. "Leave and never come back. I never want to see you again Richard Bowen."

"Soul. y-you don't mean that." Ricky said as you heard his voice cracked as he placed his hand on her cheek causing a few tears to fall. "I can fix this, I-I can fix it all."

"You can't fix something you already broke." She said, looking directly into his eyes. "Goodbye Ricky."

She swiftly took his hand off of her check as she took a few steps back as he stood there for a second before making his way out of the window before turning to look once more.

"I'm going to fix this. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."Ricky said, sending a small smile before making his way down the tree.

Soul quickly collapsed onto her bed and let the tears flow out of her eyes.