Chad stormed his way through the bodies of people gathered in James' backyard, finally deciding on a tactic to turn James against April, and perhaps gain his friendship back. It's not that he was lacking in the friends department, but he needed to show the girl who really had the upper hand in this situation.

He grimaced once he saw the girl happily sitting on James' lap, smoking a joint while James took a shot of Cranberry Vodka. The anger in his blood began to boil, watching her smile almost brought up the bile to his throat, never having been this upset at someone's mere existence. Nevertheless, Chad walked over to the two, gaining a tired sigh from James as he stood up, while April looked on in confusion.

"Chad, don't make this night worse for the three of us, just go before y-"He started, before his gaze landed upon the manila color folder being gripped in Chad's hand, his facial expression becoming puzzled.

"Can you not just fuck off, or do you need drama to fuel your pathetic life?" April stood up and spoke, furrowing her brows with curiosity as to what he was going to do this time. She knew how he worked, and he wasn't going to let whatever tonight was about rest.

"I don't know what story she told you, but I suggest you open your fucking eyes and actually give into the truth." Chad handed James the file, his hands shaking violently due to the mass amounts of cocaine he'd snorted before impulsively coming to James' house.

April's heart sank, knowing exactly what Chad was referring to. If she took the file away, she'd be the one who looked suspicious, so she let James find out the truth anyway, feeling stuck in the situation.

The file contained Patti Fenning's multiple arrest records, along with a police report proving April's claims against half the high school  football team to be proven false. Beneath these records included the teen's birth certificate, listing her place of birth, along with her mother's name.

It took a while for James to register what he was reading, not willing to believe that she'd been lying this whole time. The once rich, Hollywood-living socialite he knew, turned out to be a fraud this whole time. His mouth hung in disbelief, along with the anger of being betrayed by someone he trusted.

From the beginning, he wanted nothing but to give his kindness to April, but after it was thrown back in his face – he was reconsidering everything he'd done for her. James shook his head, disappointed as he stormed back inside, being thankful nobody was paying attention to the dramatic scene unfolding nearby the pool. April followed after him, not giving Chad's twisted grin a glance.

"James, wait!" She called out, walking into the heavily decorated house and running up the double sided staircase, chasing after him. "I can explain!" April added, finally catching up to him while he stood outside his bathroom.

"Tell me this isn't true, April." The soft side of him still wanted to give her a second chance, but contemplated doing so after uttering those words.

"Y-Yes. It's true." She was hesitant at first, but realized she was in too deep to be piling lies on top of one another. April looked down on the carpet covered floor, feeling highly humiliated about lying to him.

"God, April. They were right." His face crumpled in regret, feeling stupid for not believing the majority of people and settling to play Devil's advocate for just one person.

"James, don't say that." Her voice broke, realizing he too was siding with everyone else. April shook her head, attempting to contain her tears.

"I mean, you proved them all right. You liked it rough and you are a liar, that's what I've experienced. And besides all of that, you lied to me about such a simple thing, can I even trust you after this?" James narrowed his eyes, already knowing the answer to that question. "Was it true, April?"

"W-Was what true?"

"Did he even assault you? Or did you feel like the lack of attention was draining you emotionally?"

She stared at him blankly, not having it in her heart to fight him and tell him the truth of the situation. She'd highly regret confiding in him about what happened to her at the night of Eric's party, but she felt as if the relationship would be long-lasting. Now she stood there, having her personal trauma thrown back at her face, her tears burning as her cheeks become hot was embarrassment.

James shoved her the manila colored folder which unknowingly was still clutched between his hand, turning around and going into his room to cool off. Meanwhile, April stood there, thinking it was just best to go home at this point. She curiously opened the file, seeing her mother's recent mugshot staring back at her.

Her grip tightened, slowly creasing the edges of both the photo and cardstock folder. She felt betrayed by everyone at this point, and now even Mark lied to her? Her mind was at war on whether she should even bother confronting Mark about his lies, or just brush them under the rug and save herself the emotional exhaustion.

***

Mark was occupied with signing documents, sighing at the thought of how much workload he had received with the recent case, and on top of that, he had his own issues at home, building a relationship with his estranged son as well as taking care of a teen girl whom he couldn't help but fall for. A knock at the door brought him slight satisfaction, hoping it was a distraction from work.

"Just a sec-" Before he could finish, his words were cut off by an enraged April marching into his study, black mascara staining her face.

"April, what's wrong?" The man questioned, growing genuinely concerned as he saw the state of her.

"Where the fuck is mom?" She screamed at him, charging at the man with full force. April walked over to him, watching him cower away as her hands threatened to push him, not that it would do much damage.

"April, you need to calm down, okay?" Mark softly instructed, attempting to hold her hands together and pull her into an embracing position, never having seen the hysterical side of the girl. "She's at a rehab retre-"

"Is she?" She stopped, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head, throwing the manila colored folder at him. "Because your shithead son just got a hold of a confidential copy of my mom's current arrest record – signed by you to be taken from your office!"

Mark pursed his lips, eyeing at the folder. He knew it was a mistake allowing Chad into his office, but in his defense, he thought his son was genuinely interested in his work.

"I'm going to ask you one last time," She retrieved a letter opener, threatening him with it. "Where is my mom?" Her eyes resembled that of someone who was high on Methamphetamine, dangerously trembling with the weapon in her hand.

Mark gulped, the guilt of being honest for once in his career finally coming back to bite him in the ass. He eyed the weapon she'd been holding in her hand. '...Well, if this is how I go, I hope they bury me in Ferragamo.'

"I-I'm sorry, April." He started, averting his gaze from hers. "I couldn't get her off on probation, she's s-serving twenty years behind bars..." Mark relaxed a little, being too occupied with how much it hurt him that he wasn't able to save his own client, despite being the only person she relied on.

April clenched her jaw, slowly lowering the weapon in her hand. It took her entire emotional state to not break down and cry, but God knows how much one nineteen year old can take. She immediately dropped the letter opener, the clink of the metal ringing throughout the silent room, before being interrupted with the girl's waves of tears. She broke down – literally – falling onto her knees as her tears raged on like the First World War. Her mind felt numb, her body lacking any strength to push through this amount of emotional turmoil.

She couldn't handle four people turning their backs on her in the span of four days. It was like once a day somebody had to nitpick a reason to distance themselves away from the girl, causing her to become more empty and lonely as time went on. April felt the embrace of two arms holding her tightly against their chest, his head resting upon her messy hair as he stroked her back, hoping she would be able to calm down.