Once I got back up to my room I tore open the envelope. I nearly bursted out in tears. It was a picture of me laughing and I looked so happy. As I was looking at the paper I realized there was ink bleeding through the paper, I flipped it over and read:

Red Head,                               

          I have a pretty complicated life, ever since I lost my mom I felt like I was missing a part of myself. I felt lost and that's when I turned into a real asshole. When I crashed into you that day in the hallway I was just given a detention for talking back to a teacher and thank the lord I did or else I wouldn't have bumped into the prettiest and kindest girl on the planet. You for the first time in god knows how long showed me what it felt to be happy again. I am so sorry I hurt you. I never in a million years would have meant that. With that being said , I want to be apart  of your life and I totally understand if you don't anymore , I know I'm being selfish only talking about what I want, which is you. 

      I dropped the letter on my bed and ran down the stairs and out the door hoping his black truck is still parked on the run down pavement on my driveway. To my dismay it isn't. "Claire!" I called from the door. "Can you please drive me somewhere?" I practically begged as tears flooded my eyes. 

"Of course, is everything ok?" She questioned. I just nodded and started thinking about what i was going to say as we drove to his house. Once we pulled into the driveway I ran up to his door still crying and rang his doorbell. The door creaked open and right as I saw him look down at me I wrapped my arms around his torso. He tensed at my sudden action before wrapping his arms around me pulling me flush against him. 

"Will you, red head, be my girlfriend?" He mumbled into my hair so quiet i could barely hear it. I pulled away and looked up into his almost grey eyes before nodding my head yes. He pulled me into his chest again and we just stood their hugging each other for awhile before I was interrupted by Claire. 

"I'm going to head home, call me if you need me or if you need me to pick you up." She said glaring at Cole before smiling at me. I couldn't help but laugh. Cole dragged me into the house and lead me towards the couch. 

"I am such a dick." He mumbled.

"You didn't mean it." I tried to remind him. "I didn't know you could draw." I smiled. 

"My mom was an artist she would paint these masterpieces, I guess I just picked up a few things." He shrugged. 

" How often do you draw?" I asked.

"Not often." He said looking anywhere but me. I heard a car pull into his driveway and before I knew it he had me in his arms and was running up the stairs. 

"Cole? what's going on?" I questioned getting slightly freaked out. 

"My dad." He whispered as he gently placed me on the bed.

"He has been bringing home more and more women to our house. It kills me Skye." He mumbled wrapping his arms around my waist. 

" You are so strong you know that right." I said to him. I can't believe that there are women out there who actually are willing to give themselves to people like they are objects. It's disgusting.

"Can you stay the night?" He asked me. 

" I don't know if Claire would be okay with that as much as I want to." I mumbled playing with his fingers. 

" I'm going to your house then." He smiled grabbing a shirt and jeans for school tomorrow and a toothbrush. 

We walked hand in hand down his stairs and to his car. "Can you drive?" he asked me out of the blue. 

" I failed my drivers test and then just never had the guts to try again." I mumbled embarrassed. 

"How did you fail." He said while laughing. 

" I may have hit the gas instead of the brake and crashed into a stop sign." I mumbled quietly. He didn't even try hiding his amusement since he was now crying from laughter. 

"You never cease to amaze me." He laughed grabbing my hand from my lap and squeezing it. 

"You are so annoying. Plus, in my defense the stop sign seemed too close to the road and I thought my foot was farther over than it actually was." I laughed along with him. Once we got to my house we walked up my brick steps and into the house. We walked into the house to see Claire watching Stranger Things on the TV with a glass of wine in her hand.  

" Hey kids. No funny business up there, I don't feel like having to pause this to give you a speech." She chuckled. I just ignored her and pulled him towards the stairs. We walked up to my room and I turned my small TV on. My purple walls with my white curtains. I sat down on my bed as he began looking at pictures of my dad and I. 

Cole's POV

Her room was very purple. Her quilt was purple, her walls were purple. A lot of purple things. "Let me guess purple is your favorite color." I smiled at her. 

"Yep, it has always been since I was little." She smiled. I started looking at the picture frames she had scattered across her dresser. They were all of her with her dad.

 "Your dad seemed like a nice guy." I Said to her. 

"He was he was the best dad I could ever wish for, I miss him so much." She smiled warmly at me.

"Come here." I said to her and pulled her into a hug. "It's late maybe we should go to sleep." I said into her hair. 

"Yeah." She yawned. She left in the bathroom to get changed and brush her teeth and stuff while I sat on her bed and waited for her to come out. I know we haven't known each other for the longest time but I feel like I've known her for a lifetime. She is beautiful, Kind and fearless. 

She walked out of the bathroom and collapsed next to me on the bed. "Goodnight." She whispered and shut the light off. It was almost 2 am and I haven't been able to sleep. I have nightmares all the time about my dad and what he has done and I just really don't want her to know. I decided to just go downstairs to get water or something in hopes that it will help me get some rest. 

I walked down the wood steps and grabbed a glass from the shelf when I heard shouting from outside. I walked over to the curtain and pulled it open slightly to see morons from our school doing shit they should be doing. I walked back upstairs to see Skye sitting up. " You okay?" I asked her. 

"Yeah the noise outside woke me up." She yawned. "You look exhausted are you okay?" She mumbled as I laid down next to her on the bed. 

"Yeah I'm fine those morons woke me up to." I lied. 

Skye's POV

Claire made us breakfast in the morning, Eggo Waffles with strawberries. I seriously think this whole stranger things show is really getting to her head. "Don't be late after school I need to talk to you later." She said as she walked us to the door.

 "Okay?" I said confused. Cole drove me to school today since his car was at my house anyways. He hasn't really talked most of the morning. "Everything ok?" I questioned. No answer.

"Cole?" I questioned tapping his arm causing him to flinch. "What's wrong?" I asked him feeling kind of hurt, but I immediately pushed that feeling to the side. When he pulled into the parking lot I hopped out first only to see him already walking towards the school. What is his problem. I know I'm new to this whole dating thing but I know for a fact this isn't what's supposed to happen. 

"Cole!" I called. He just ignored me slamming the school doors open in front of him. Did I do something wrong. I just walked into the building and headed towards my locker. I grabbed my needed books when I herd Seth from behind me. 

"Hey shorty." He smiled behind me. 

"Hey Seth." I glared at him. 

"What's the deal with you and Cole?" He asked me. 

"We're together. He's in a grumpy mood today though." I frowned. 

"Skylar Simmons did I just hear you correctly!" Yelled a shocked Clint a few lockers down. I just shrugged when he walked over pulling me into a hug. "I didn't realize the idiot had a heart." He laughed. " Where is he?" He asked.

"I have no idea, I think he might be mad at me." I frowned. 

"Trust me he's not mad at you, that's just how the dick is." Said Seth behind me. Okay I really need to know what the problem between them is. They really seem to hate each other. 

"I'm going to head to class." I smiled at the both of them. My classroom was in view when I felt myself trip over something. When I landed on the school floor people around me were immediately laughing. I looked up to see one of the guys who had chased me yelling about Rebecca had his foot out. 

"What's your problem." I yelled at him.

 "Oops I guess I didn't see you there." He laughed. Before I could hold myself back I launched myself at him. I released punch after punch until he threw me off of him and into one of the lockers. I caught myself and kneed him where the sun doesn't shine. I wasn't finished when I felt arms wrap around my waste pulling me away.

 "No!No!No!" I yelled trying to get out of this persons grip.

 "Skye it's me." Said Clint I also felt Seth walking next to him as he practically dragged me towards the back entrance. When we got outside Clint made me sit on the bench so he and Seth could look at my bloodied hands and bruised cheek. 

"You surprise me shorty. You practically kicked his ass back there." Seth chuckled trying to lighten the mood. 

" I can't believe you did that. You could get in serious trouble you know. However, that doesn't mean I didn't like seeing you beat him up back there." Clint smiled. "You should be fine." Clint added. " We decided to just continue our day like normal and pretend I didn't just bruise one of the biggest jerks in our schools egos. Forget bruised, more like shattered. When Math came around I pretended I didn't recognize Cole. If he wants to ignore me that's fine but he shouldn't expect any attention coming from me. 

When the bell rang I ignored Cole's gaze on me and headed to the cafeteria. When I found Myra already at our table Clint and Seth later joining us. "What the hell happened to your face?" She questioned examining my bruised cheek. 

"She kicked Jacksons ass." Clint laughed. 

"You what? And I missed it!" She shouted. I couldn't help but laugh at my bestfriends reactions. 

"Skye? Can I talk to you?" Asked Cole behind me. Just in case something did happen I walked out of the cafeteria with him. 

"What happened?" He asked looking at my bruised cheek. 

"Oh so now you want to talk to me." I laughed. 

"I didn't get much sleep and I didn't want to lash out at you that's why I wasn't talking sorry. But that doesn't mean I don't want to know who hurt you." He spoke noticing my knuckles.

"Jackson tripped me in the hallway and I was angry at life at the moment and you, because you made me feel like I was doing something wrong or you were embarrassed of me, all morning and then he went and did that and I lost it." I said to him digging my nails into my palms. 

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." He frowned. 

"Don't worry he looks worse than me." I half heartedly smile. 

"We have to finish the packet tonight." I told him reminding him of our Calculus homework. 

"The only reason I even show up to that class anymore is because of you." He smiled. The rest of the school day flew by and when dismissal came along Cole was already by my locker waiting for me. 

" Do you know what Claire wanted to talk to you about?" He questioned once we got into his car. 

" No idea, maybe about the whole foster care problem since I'm only 17." I frowned. 

"It's okay we'll figure something out." He reached over and squeezed my hand reassuringly. 

I opened the door with my key and pushed it open to see Claire sitting at the kitchen table. I interlocked my fingers with Coles and pulled him with me to the kitchen. "Hey." Claire smiled. 

" I've contacted some friends I trust back at the base and asked them about this imposter guy who has been pretending to be Captain John. His real name is Theodore Quincey. He's almost invisible. The only thing we were able to find was his name everything else seems as if it never existed at all." She frowned sliding papers she had scattered on the table. "He might have had something against your father, we don't know. After I brought this up ideas were being tossed around and they want me to move you to a new place and get new identities for the two of us." She frowned. 

"What no way! I can't, I won't. I am going to be starting college soon and I have my bestfriends here I can't just leave because some guy might just be after me!" I felt tears prick at my eyes. "Please Claire, that's the last thing I want, I can handle myself fine and if this guy really wanted to hurt me wouldn't he had done so already." I said feeling my hands start shaking. I needed to get out of this room I was going to have a panic attack I could feel it. I darted up the stairs and sat down on my bed with Cole on my heels. 

"Breathe just Breath Skye." He said softly while running his hand up and down my back. I couldn't keep my guard up anymore as I felt myself star sobbing into his shoulder.