When I finally get back to school, I am so nervous. I have a chemistry test today, and no one else is writing it.

I spent last night having Peter tutor me, but with little success. He didn't have the answers stored away in his brain, even though I spent like fifteen minutes searching. While the tutoring went well, I'm so nervous. It's been years since I haven't cheated off anyone.

I was hoping Anthony would've gone back to school with me, but since he is doing most of the rest of the semester online, he didn't miss the test. So, I'm writing it alone. And during a test, I don't have the time to dig around Mr. Cobbwell's brain for answers. That would take like, fifteen minutes per question, and that is only if he had the answers to each question memorized.

For the first time in a long time, I'm on my own.

He sits me down in the classroom, and sits across from me.

"You know, Darcy, you can always reach out to me if you need help," he tells me.

I want to scream that I do need help. It feels like I'm barely hanging on by a thread.

"Did I ever tell you where I grew up?" he asks me.

I shake my head back and forth.

"Well, I grew up in foster care," he sits down across from me, looking me in the eye.

Even though I know he isn't lying, I'm not sure that I completely believe it. It seems incredibly impossible. Did he go to a school like Midtown and that's how he got out? Why couldn't Manu have been as fortunate?

He sighs, looking up at me. "You know, you can level with me."

I would laugh at his attempt at slang if I had any laughter in me. For the first time in a long time, I am going to tell him the truth instead of manipulating him. With teachers, I search through their minds to find their weak spot. I like to know what makes them tick. Maybe this will do the trick, maybe it won't, I don't care.

"Anthony's been living with us since his Dad hit him," I tell Mr. Cobbwell. "Don't tell anyone I said that though. And we haven't been talking, since he called my brother a would-be gangbanger. And my brother's friend just got shot. Also, I almost got a concussion from getting hit by a bus. And my brother might be an alcoholic. He's a high school dropout, and he's going to work in my Dad's bodega for the rest of his life. Really, I don't know what I'm going to do."

Mr. Cobbwell smiles. He goes to take the paper off my desk, but I grab on to it.

"I need to act like things are going back to normal," I insist, taking the page back. Maybe now he will have mercy on me when I fail the test.

He looks at me and offers half a smile. It's mostly a frown, but the gesture sticks, nonetheless. "Alright, Darcy. You're the boss."

He gives me the test, and I begin to work away.

It doesn't take as long as I was expecting. It's mostly just balancing equations, which I've never found particularly troublesome. I'm not saying that it's easy. It takes me the full hour, and I'm not sure what I did wrong.

When I'm done, I walk up to him and hand him the test. I turn around and begin leaving.

"Darcy wait," when I look back, he is holding up a hand, already marking the test.

I listen, and sit down at a desk. He goes through the whole thing, flipping page after page. Then, he walks over and hands me back the test.

"You got one wrong," he tells me, and points it out.

I take the test back and fix my last mistake. The whole time, I am beaming, because I only made one. I did it on my own. Without cheating. I've never been happier in my whole life.

Once lunch is done, I move on to the rest of the day, waiting to tell Peter the news. I carry the test with me, my hands practically shaking with excitement. I'm so happy that I want to tell Anthony, even. Maybe this is the thing that will get us out of our best friend slump. Maybe we can even catch up on the Saturday morning brunches that we missed.

Anthony isn't in any of my other classes. I figure he's taking another one of his ever many days off. And even though I have English with Peter, the teacher rearranged the seating since I've been gone and now we don't sit together. This isn't the kind of news you just text somebody, so I keep waiting.

Once we are out of the class, I quickly grab my stuff from my locker and race over to Peter's.

"I got 100%!" I beam, practically leaping on top of him.

Peter pulls me into a tight embrace. His hands run around my waist and meet at the back. I continue to hold my test tightly, practically squishing it behind his back as I wrap my arms around him to pull him into a full hug. Really, I just needed this win. I needed it more than anything.

"That's awesome!" he smiles, leaning back to look at me. His hands move slowly, letting go of me. When he scratches the back of his neck, his eyes dart away.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaim, taking the test back from behind him and smoothing out the wrinkles. It has to be perfect for when I show Anthony later today. My legs begin to jolt beneath me as I resist the urge to bounce.

"You did it, not me," Peter says.

I wish I had asked Anthony to help tutor me too. After all, he is the best at chemistry in the whole grade. Although, I'm not complaining about the extra time I spent with Peter. Not at all.

"Hey, Darce?" Peter begins, biting his lip. He finally looks back at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Do you want to hang out tomorrow after school?" I ask him, before he can even get his question out. Mostly because I want things to be on my terms. Who cares how crap this week has been? Things are finally turning around for me.

"Umm, umm yeah that, that uh sounds super cool," his cheeks tinge pink as he nods. "My... my Aunt May won't be home. Just so you know, you can ask your Mom if it's okay, and if you wanted to, that is, come to my place."

I nod my head up and down quickly. "I don't need to ask my Mama's permission for everything."

Peter gulps. "She seemed pretty serious last time."

"Yeah, well I was super injured then," I shrug him off. I still get headaches, especially when I read minds, but Mama said that will fade within a few months. "For now though, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nods, and I give his hand one squeeze before I dart down the hallway and out of the school.

When I finally arrive home, I race up into the apartment. The only thing I give myself time to do is take off my jacket, my bag and my shoes, else Mama kills me for creating a mess. I have no idea if Anthony is even home, but I figure I might as well try my brother's room. No one is in the kitchen when I get there. Mama is working at the hospital and Papa has been doing sixteen-hour days to try and make ends meet. Damien doesn't get home until later, and Dantae said he'd be at the hospital all day.

So, I should have some proper time alone with Anthony to apologize for everything.

Upstairs, the door to the bedroom he shares with my brother is open.

And they are making out on the bed.

I drop the test, which I was still clinging on to desperately. The paper slowly floats to the ground. I feel my stomach dropping and I run back down the stairs.

"Darcy!" I hear Dantae call from behind me, but I don't care.

I practically trip over myself as I make my way into the entrance.

"Dare wait," Dantae is racing behind me.

Still, I don't bother turning around as I pull my shoes on. I slip on my shoes, not bothering with the laces. Dantae puts his hand on my shoulder, and I instantly feel a small sense of relief wash over me.

He's still my brother after all, and I still love him. I can't expect him to tell me everything.

No. I swipe his hand away and stand up. I turn to glare at him. "You're not going to do that to me. Not now."

His eyes widen, and he shoves his hands in his pockets. I glare at him, furrowing my brow. Whatever sense of calm I felt is now gone.

"I don't even want to know why," I tell them, looking up at Anthony. He has tears in his eyes, and his shoulders are shaking. "I just want to know how long. Just today? Since he moved in? Longer?"

Dantae knows I'm talking to him, even though I'm looking at Anthony. "Dar-"

"During Liz Allen?" I ask, waiting for an answer. It flashes in front of my mind.

Feelings before Liz, but neither of them would make a move. Not during, even though Dantae wanted to, he loved Liz too much for that. After, as a rebound. Then it turned into something more.

He never wanted to tell me. He never wanted me to know. Anthony didn't either.

Dantae doesn't want them to be together for long, because he feels like a burden to Anthony. He wants Anthony to graduate and become some fancy scientist at a college somewhere, and not have to love a high school dropout.

When I look up at Anthony, to try and figure him out, to see what he feels, Dantae steps in front of me. "Knock it off."

"You don't get to be mad at me," I snap back.

He raises a hand at me. Not to hit me, but as if to put it on my shoulder. "This is a two-way street."

Fine. He can be like that. I turn to leave the apartment.

And I do.