No matter how many times he'd tried waking Ada, reminding her of her words about sleeping too long, she brushed him off and fallen back asleep. The mountain of tissues on her side of the bed grew each time, and tears had turned into a crust on the bridge of her nose. Once it was time to lay next to her, he replenished her supply and threw away the old ones.

As soon as his body hit the bed and cradled hers, the silent tears she'd been shedding for hours turned into uncontrollable wails. Her small frame shook against his as she let it all out as Tom just continued to hold her. There were no words that could take the pain away, no action to make anything right, so he simply laid there against her body and entangled her slender fingers with his own.

He saw Jeff standing in the doorway, slumped against it, looking as helpless as Tom. Jeff was not a man who gave into his emotions, not this one at least. He'd give into anger freely, showing ultimate control of his surroundings.

But he couldn't control this. He couldn't take away his youngest daughter's pain. He couldn't relieve her of an ounce of anguish. And as tears filled Jeff's eyes, Tom knew it killed him to see her like this and to see that it was now Tom's job to hold her as she wept.

Ada eventually fell back to sleep, and he soon followed her there, welcoming a sliver of peacefulness.

The next day, after they all showered, they went their separate ways. Ada drove with her parents, wanting to stop at the hospital one more time before heading back home. He didn't mind driving by himself since he didn't want Ada to join him on his next destination.

Tom gripped his steering wheel like he was holding onto dear life. It was early yet, but he had something to do in Ridgewood before graduation and he wasn't sure how long that something would take.

He'd looked up the address in the phone book when he stopped for gas just outside of town and entered it into his GPS. Where it took him left him shellshocked. He imagined her living in a gorgeous two or three-story house, manicured lawn, maybe with a white picket fence surrounding the property.

The fence surrounding this property, however, was metal and sort of just dangling there rather than standing upright. The lawn only showed pale shades of green with brown patches scattered across the small property. The paint on the house showed wear from remaining untouched for years. The house itself was one story and appeared smaller than his apartment.

Tom thought he remembered her father being a big lawyer over in the town he'd just left, but this wasn't the house of a lawyer by any means. He couldn't help but turn on his alarm after leaving the vehicle, never realizing that the town he'd lived in for years had this rough of a neighborhood. Train tracks that went through town even separated it, forcing them to live in a cliche of being from the wrong side of the tracks.

When he tapped his knuckle against the screen door, it swayed at the impact, and Tom stepped back and waited.

It took a minute for a woman to answer the door, her face smeared with yesterday's makeup and her robe dangling from her gaunt body. Tom didn't dare look to see if she had a nipple hanging out, which he was fairly certain she did, but focused his attention on the woman's face.

He'd met her mom only once or twice during freshman year and could see small hints of that woman in the one that stood lopsided before him. But the woman he'd met over three and a half years ago was confident, strong and well put together. This one looked like a flat out train wreck.

"Help you with something?" She asked, pulling the dangling cigarette out of her mouth.

This time when he smelled it, it didn't make him crave one for himself like last time. She made it look like it had zero appeal.

"Rayna here?"

"You one of her boyfriends or what?" She sized him up and down, her focus falling somewhere around the middle, causing Tom to grow uncomfortable.

"A friend of a friend," Tom replied, knowing it was only mildly true. "Sort of."

The woman turned around and yelled for her daughter before looking back at Tom. "You wanna come in? I could make you some breakfast. I think I got some pancake mix somewhere."

There was no way in hell Tom was stepping foot in this house. He didn't want to sound ungrateful for the offer, but he'd just taken a shower and wouldn't be going into that place without a hazmat suit.

"No thanks. If you could just send her out."

She took another drag of her cigarette before giving him a slight nod. "Sure thing, hot stuff."

Tom waited until he turned away before cringing and walked toward the edge of the property. Music blasted from the house next door, and Tom hoped it was enough to drown out the conversation he was about to have. He couldn't hear the screen door open and close behind him. Couldn't hear the footsteps as she approached.

He turned once he saw her shadow in the grass. The accident left a bruise covering half her face, and the lower part of her arm was in a cast. Those were the only two things given to her by the accident, while Britt would end up in a wheel chair for the rest of her life.

Her bruised eyes opened at his presence. "What the hell are you doing here?"

All he needed were answers. No, all he needed was to bruise the good part of her face, but he couldn't do that, as much as that need built up in within him. "I want to know what Ada did to you to make you hate her so goddamn much," Tom spoke gruffly, barely recognizing the sound of his own voice.

Her eyes dropped to where one of the many brown patches was in her yard and she kicked at it once, causing the mud to stick to her shoe. "You're here for her. Big surprise."

"Answer the fucking question, Rayna." His tone was sharp, cold, so distant that it scared even him.

Her gaze shot upward, back to his, and Tom noticed a blood vessel in her right eye was popped, causing the white and blue to be taken over by red. "That's some mouth you have, Mr. Bennet," Rayna said.

He took one step toward her, shoving his hands in his pockets to avoid smacking her across her face. "How about this? I want to know why you are so fucking hell bent on destroying her life and why you wouldn't stop pushing, even after she saved your ass on Friday. I want to know why you think you can fuck with other peoples livelihoods whenever you fucking please and I want my answers right fucking now."

There was no amusement on her face, only shock and perhaps a trace of fear. "Jealousy," Rayna muttered under her breath. "I've had a crush on you since the first day of freshman year. Yet no matter what I did to get you to look my way, the only one you ever paid attention to was fat, pimply, meek Ada fucking Sinclair. I know you just felt sorry for her, but it still pissed me off. There was nothing special about her, but she still had the perfect best friend, your attention, intelligence and two parents head over heels for each other while mine could barely stand to be in the same room.

"Then my dad ditched us sophomore year, and I went to your room like everyone else did when they were dealing with something and there she was, getting comfort from you yet again when I was the one who needed you. It wasn't until then I realized just how bad I wished I was her and I've resented her for that ever since."

Tom shook his head. The most ironic part was that Rayna was the reason why Ada was always in his classroom crying or hiding out. If Tom didn't have the time to help Rayna, she could only blame herself. "We have a school councilor, you know."

"I didn't want to talk to him. I wanted to talk to you. He got his degree from an online college and couldn't give less of a shit about anyone. You were the one who cared... or maybe just cared about her."

Tom couldn't think of a reply to that. He knew that he'd always given Ada more attention than he should have, cared about her more than the others. "Are you accusing me of something?"

Rayna ignored the question. "Then junior year started and suddenly the guys that used to look at me started looking at her. Perfect Ada with the perfect family and the perfect grades and now the perfect body she wrapped around the perfect fucking boyfriend."

There was nothing Tom could do to stop himself from wincing at that last part. Something she noticed.

"All I wanted to do with that rumor was knock her ass down a peg or two, maybe get back at the crush I always had who didn't give a shit about me, but big surprise... It just backfired and became true."

"Now I know you're accusing me of something." He wanted his voice to come out stronger than it did. Instead, it showed the tables had turned in this conversation.

Rayna let out a lazy, half-assed laugh. "Do you know how many times I've gone to the coffee shop this year and caught you staring at her? How many times I've seen you look at her in class? How many times I went to my locker after cheerleading practice and saw you hovered over her working on the paper, looking like a love sick puppy? On Friday, I just wanted her to admit to it. Admit that she took you away from me too."

Tom shook his head, flabbergasted by how this whole thing turned out. "I was never yours for anyone to take away, Rayna."

She wiped a tear away with her good hand. "I know that. But you were this fantasy I had after my family went to hell and I ended up living in this shit hole. I'd imagine you'd notice me, leaving your wife and whisking me away from my fucking nightmare of a house. You'd give me a better life and make me feel loved and important again. I knew it wasn't real, but it was all I had until this year when you fell in love with her and tore my fantasy to shreds."

Why he felt compelled to apologize for that, Tom had no clue. He wouldn't deny or admit what he felt for Ada, but sure as hell wouldn't apologize for it.

"When Britt and I saw each other at the party on Saturday, she went to leave and I jumped in the car before she could drive away." She let out a tired sigh, but pushed herself to continue. "I wanted to tell her I was sorry and that I didn't mean to fuck everything up so much. I just felt so damn alone and wanted my best friend, even if that meant having to apologize to Ada. I'd sabotaged my own life without even realizing it and lost everything and just wanted something back.

"She ripped into me when I admitted I was jealous of Ada. She told me about her mom and not going to college and how she tried to kill herself in eighth grade because she hated herself so much. Kind of pathetic that I was still jealous, even after finding all that out. That was the last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital."

And the only thing he remembered from what she'd just said was that Ada had tried to kill herself in eighth grade. He repeated it over and over in his mind, his stomach sinking lower every time.

Tom wiped his hands across his face, trying to push aside the churning, nauseous feeling he had within him, then looked at Rayna. He wasn't certain if she was bat shit crazy or depressed and lashing out at a world she couldn't control. What he was certain of was that as much as he loathed her, he couldn't help but pity her. Still, that pity wouldn't save her from his wrath.

"I want you to leave Ada alone from now on. Don't talk to her. Don't draw her in to any of your drama. When you go to college, forget she existed, forget all this shit existed, and start over. Stop surrounding your life with all this bullshit you can't do anything about and live your fucking life rather than pitying yourself for what others have that you don't. If you want to go see Brittney, that's fine, but leave Ada out of it. You see her, you fucking walk away."

Rayna nodded, showing the shame he'd hoped to see. Shame meant that she was human, one who regretted her actions. "How is she? Britt?"

"She'll never walk again." With that, Tom walked away, leaving Rayna to drown in the consequences of what she'd done.