"It's your 18th birthday, it's time you grow out of that hole that you dug yourself in," Fallon heard those words ring through her ears as she blew out her candles, her mother encouraged her to meet new people now. 

     Fallon knew her mother was protecting her for a while now, she had asked her to since she was young. She grew up with no father figure to console her about men, she somehow blocked a lot from her childhood but she knew she didn't like loud noises and she didn't like boys. 

Any boy. 

     "It's not a hole and it's not that big of a problem," Fallon shrugged. "I'm fine."

     "You can't go on like this okay? You're going to graduate this year and I cannot keep asking the principal to put you in classes with female teachers, you're going to move onto college with that same fear?" Her mother shook her head with a sigh, she took her daughter's hand and held them tight to comfort her. "My mistake was keeping this up for so long but you're legally an adult now, I cannot just ask for everyone you communicate with to be female." 

     "You should've just homeschooled me then," Fallon sat down replacing her smile with a frown because of the mood change, she easily gets upset at a lot of things for some reason she can't explain. 

     "You know I don't have the money for that," Her mother plated the slice of cake in front of her. "I know this is a lot to take in but I will no longer be calling in advance for you, you're more than halfway through the year which means you can start to speak for yourself."

     "I can't," Her daughter replied as her voice toughened up, for the first time in a long time. "Mom, you know I can't."

     "You can and you will," Fallon rested her head on the kitchen table after hearing those words coming from her mother's mouth, she was a good kid and she didn't like upsetting her mom. 

     She knew her mom did everything for her, she did so much that Fallon knew she couldn't possibly pay back how much she'd sacrificed. She never thought of this day actually coming, the day her mother would take her training wheels off and let her venture out into the world with no protection. She sat at the table in silence while her mother placed the rest of the cake in the fridge, she thought of all the new problems she would encounter that her mother could no longer save her from. 

She had to grow up.

     "I'll try," She admitted. "I'll try talking to boys."

     "It's not just that," Her mother looked back at her with a pitiful look. "You don't have any friends dear, you need to start talking to others."

     "It's not that easy," Fallon glared at her plate, she began to stab the slice of cake with her fork. "Every girl thinks I'm weird for not talking with boys, I mean they all practically have boyfriends everywhere they go! And when they look at me? I have nothing, I have no social skills and no relationships I can even talk about with them."

     "Then you show them you can, you don't need a relationship to be cool." Her mother advised with a small smile. 

     "I think you underestimate the way society is right now," Falloon snorted finally finishing her cake. "I'm heading to school."

     Her mother nodded and sighed softly as her only daughter got up and left the door, she always tried to drive Fallon to school but a lot of times she was caught up with work to make sure her daughter got a good education. It was hard for her to keep it up and she was barely making enough to support the both of them, ever since Fallon was a little girl she hadn't had a connection with any father figure and because of that, she had kept to herself. She tried to be strong for her mom but the mistake remained, she couldn't speak for herself. 

     "It'll be fine," Fallon told herself as she left the front of her house and began walking to the bus stop. "I will be fine."

     "What school do you go to?" A car pulled up next to Fallon, the car had two boys inside with friendly yet intimidating faces. 

     Fallon stood still in shock because she couldn't understand why these two boys were talking to her in the first place. She doesn't talk to men, she told herself she would try but something about this situation didn't seem right. Who pulls up in a car and asks a question to a young girl like her?

     "Are you okay? We asked you a question," The guy in the passenger seat leaned in to take a better look at the girl. 

     "I- I," She stuttered brushing her hair away from her face as the wind kissed her face. "You guys aren't going to kidnap me right?" 

     "What?" The driver chuckled. "Do you know who we are?"

     "Well no, but it's weird to ask a question like that when we don't know each other..." She struggled to keep eye contact with the driver. 

     "Smart. I like her," The guy in the passenger seat snickered. "We heard the buses changed route today because of construction, we're headed to Crestwood Heights and if you go there we could give you a ride."

     Fallon pursed her lips thinking it over, she felt burdened by the fact the bus wasn't going in her direction and she could go with these boys because of distance... She decided it wouldn't be safe because of the minimal time she had spent with the boys, she didn't know them.

     "No, I'm fine." She smiled softly and quickly looked around to make sure people were still walking by.

     "Are you sure?" The driver shot her a concerned look. "Are you just going to walk to the other bus stop?"

     "Probably, not sure." She looked back at the driver for a few seconds before looking away to avoid eye contact. 

     "You're not sure?" He chuckled. 

     "You're a stranger, I don't know you, and what if I don't end up in school?" Fallon tapped her fingers on the side of her phone in nervousness. 

     "Well, I'm Chris!" The guy smiled brightly and it was like time stopped for Fallon, she had never felt her heart speed up fast in a good way for a guy... A good way? It was a good thing she felt this way. Somehow, the way he smiled at her was so welcoming and she didn't feel so nervous. 

     "And I'm Lloyd," The passenger waved. "We promise we'll take you straight to school, education is pretty important."

     "That's good to know, it's still a no." Fallon began to walk away from the bus stop as the car followed her slowly, it was beginning to look weird at a distance. 

     "If you shake my hand, will you get on?" Chris pleaded. 

     "You guys aren't helping it, why do you need me in your car?" She crossed her arms with a frown. "Quit it."

     "I told you she'd think you were weird." Lloyd shoved Chris making Chris roll his eyes.

     "Listen, we're just trying to be nice. We moved around your neighborhood and we wanted to get to know you!" Chris turned to the girl with the same smile as before and extended his hand out to shake. "Let's get to school."

     Fallon reminded her of her conversation with her mom before, she had to learn to talk with strangers and these boys don't look threatening. She doesn't fully trust them but she didn't want to walk to the bus stop which was probably a 10-minute walk when she could get to school in that much time by car.

     "I'm Fallon," She shook Chris's hand gently but something hit her mind quickly like a resurfaced memory. 

* 

"I'm here solo, I can do what I want." The girl threw a punch at the boy in front of her but he dodged it and kicked her away.

"You work for Mark, I don't care about our past talks!" The guy glared at her before throwing a punch at her. 

"I don't work for that guy! Screw him and screw you, Luke!" The girl ducked and punched Luke in the stomach making him fall back on the ground. 

"I don't care what it takes because you're ruining my plan," Luke groaned as he turned around and knocked the girl off the ground. "You out of all people should know that Stella!"

"Leave me alone!" She lunged at him on the floor and stuck a knife just below his belly button, she was caught off guard by how he was dressed though. There was a man who was the leader of a gang dressed in a cropped shirt and black pants, this man was not ready for any combat it seemed. He's the supposed big and scary leader yet he was dressed so... Casually? 

She hadn't noticed that in her time of thinking of his outfit, he had plunged a knife near her bully button as well so now they were both on the ground gasping for air. It was crazy to think, that after all of their fighting that's gotten them to this point... His family still helped her. 

"Am I dying?" She breathed out as her vision got blurry. "No, I can't die! I need to finish my mission."

"What's the mission?" Luke chuckled as blood spat from his mouth. "Being an annoyance  to mine?"

"Shut up," Stella shuffled away slightly as she croaked. "I have to get up, this can't be the end."

She began to weep uncontrollably with the little energy she had left, she was devastated to know that Mark was right. She was just some useless girl who wouldn't be able to survive another gang without any backup. She was weak and no matter how hard she fought to be stronger, she would never surpass any strength from her ex. She would always walk alone. 

That was until she met him.

*