I've been wrong times over,
And I've been shamed with no words to find.
But if the sun will rise, bring us tomorrow,
Walk with me crimson day.
_______________________
It was a long stressful night full of things AJ wished she could forget. She and Matt made it back home at around 5am. Their brothers and cousin were still sleeping.

"I'm sorry for giving you such a scare. I know I shouldn't have snuck out to go with Corey. It was stupid." AJ admitted.

Of course Matt was still going to be pissed about almost getting herself killed but he just wanted to drop it. "Just go to bed. Ok. Let's keep this between us and forget it happened."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Depends."

"Are you scared of anything?" she asked. Matt squinted at her not understanding why she would ask such a thing. "When I was in that house I was terrified. Hell I was more than that. Have you ever been in a situation where you were forced to do something, and scared to deny it because you were afraid of what might happen if you did?" Matt was silent. "I can't forget about what happened. That's going to be with me for the rest of my life!"

"I understand what you're going through. I really do, but it's best to just forget about it, ok. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about." he told her in an almost aggressive tone. AJ had no idea what he went through before Amy adopted him. One more word from AJ's mouth was going to make him explode.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about! You don't know what it feels like to be humiliated and forced to do things that just make you want to kill yourself!" AJ screamed. "I wish I would have died because of that overdose! That way, I won't have to live with the stupid mistakes I've made!"

"You act like you're the only one that's been through something traumatic! Things could have been far worse considering being in the same house as Marshall! Be thankful that you're still alive!" he screamed back.

She scoffed, "Why do you have to bring that freak in particular into this?"

Matt turned away not wanting to talk about this anymore. "Just leave me alone." he told her, choking up on his words.

AJ rolled her eyes, "I swear, you can be such a little bitch sometimes." She insulted, turning around to go to her room.

Once those words rolled off her tongue, Matt had snapped. He turned his step sister around roughy, "Don't you ever fucking call me that again. You understand me!" he pointed.

"What the hells your problem?" She asked backing up into the wall. "All I said was-"

"You don't know what the fuck I've been through! You don't see me talking about killing myself because of being humiliated and forced to do things I didn't want to! And you have the nerve to call me a 'little bitch'! If anyone's acting like a little bitch it would be you!"

"Matt, what the fuck are you talking about?"

He backed away from AJ, clutching onto his aching head. Matt fell onto his hands and knees and started screaming. AJ freaked out knowing that he was having one of his panic attacks like how he used to get when they were kids. She wondered what was causing him to have one again after all these years.

"Matt?" she ran up to him, placing her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

He swatted her hand away making her fall down. "Get away from me! Don't touch me! Just leave me alone!" he yelled, having tears in his eyes. Matt backed up into one of the closets that had been left open. When he realized where he was, he started freaking out even more. "Get me out of here!" he screamed, "Get me out!"

Syn, Zacky, Jimmy, and Johnny ran into the room after the screaming had woken them up. "What the hells going on?" Syn yelled.

Johnny saw Matt in the closet crying and screaming to himself, "Is he okay?" he asked, about to cry as well.

AJ breathed heavily, obviously being spooked by Matt's actions, "I don't know! We were arguing then he just freaked out on me then started having a panic attack."

Zacky leaned over offering his hand to get Matt out of the small, dark closet. "Hey, it's okay. Just calm down."

Matt pulled on one of Stephanie's dresses she had stored away in the closet, then the entire hanging bar collapsed onto him. "I can't breath!" he gasped for air as he tried getting the dresses off of himself. "Marshall, please let me out!"

Jimmy yanked his brother out of the closet. He then pushed Jimmy out of the way as if Jimmy was going to strike him. "Matt! It's okay. We're not going to hurt you."

Syn gave his brother a weird look, "Marshall? Our old foster brother?" Matt nodded his head. "What about him?"

AJ leaned down and sat beside him, "What did he do to you?"

After a couple minutes Matt finally gained his composure and shook his nerves off. "Nothing. I don't want to talk about it." He stood up walking to his room and locking the door.

The boys looked at AJ, "Where were you guys? I thought you were in your room." Zacky told her.

"I was with Corey and some stuff happened." AJ felt herself wanting to cry, "Please, can I just go to sleep now?"

Jimmy nodded, "Yeah go ahead." he told her in his calm voice. "Johnny, you go back to bed too."

His little cousin nodded, "Are they going to be okay?"

"Don't worry about it, Johnny." Syn told him. Johnny nodded his head and went back to his room.

"Do you have any clue what's going on?" Zacky asked Syn.

"No. And I'm not sure if I want to find out."
___________________
-Union City High School-

Instead of going to her second period class, AJ went to the counselors office. She really needed to talk to somebody about how she was feeling. The councilor Mr.Woods, was really easy to talk to and this wouldn't be the first time she shared her problems with him.

The door to his office was slightly cracked open. AJ peeked to see who he was talking to. It was Matt. She found it completely bizarre that he would come for help for his problems. He never liked anybody knowing about his personal issues.

AJ couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but she saw Mr.Woods tear off a piece of paper and write something on it before handing it to Matt.

When she saw her brother standing up to leave she hid behind one of the walls. After he left she went into the office.

"Oh, nice to see you again Ms.AJ." Mr.Woods greeted her.

"Were you just talking to my brother?"

He cleared his throat, "Yes I was. But you know it's against policy for me to tell you what we were talking about."

"I know." She said, taking a seat across from him. "So like always, I've been having this issue that I can't move on from."

"That's why I'm here to help."

"This weekend I ran into some trouble and it keeps playing overs in my head and I can't get away from it. The situation I was in... nothing like that has ever happened to me before. Matt knows what happened and he just told me to get over it. I don't think he understands how hard that is."

Mr.Woods took a deep breath, "Have you considered that maybe he's been in a similar situation?"

"No. He never lets anybody push him around."

"How do you know that?"

"Well because... I've known him all my life. If somebody were to mess with him he would have beat them up. That's how he is."

"You've known him all your life." he emphasized. "He hasn't known you all of his. Those seven or eight years before being adopted may have been his worst years."

AJ nodded her head, understanding what Mr.Woods was talking about. "So you're saying he hasn't always been such a hard ass, or what?"

"Can't say. But we're not here to talk about your brother, AJ. We're here to talk about you."

AJ explained everything that happened between Corey and his friends. She cried a little bit throughout her story but managed to finish. "I walked to school today because I couldn't stand being in the same ride as my family. I feel like if they all knew they'd judge me and say that I was stupid. And when I walked down every street I was so paranoid and felt like I would be attacked or something. Mr.Woods I'm scared."

"You said that Dean found out who Corey's friends were, right?"

AJ nodded, "He called me this morning and said that he was positive that they wouldn't mess with me again. But he didn't do anything about Marshall though."

Mr.Woods leaned back in his chair after hearing that name. "I'll tell you what." He wrote a name and address on the same green sticky notes that he gave to Matt. "This is the address to a good friend of mine. He's a therapist and I truly believe he can help you more than i can with these issues you're having."

AJ took the note and raised her eyebrow. "Dr. Big E. Langston? That doesn't sound too professional, Mr.Woods."

"Trust me. He's one of the best."

She shrugged, "Well alright." she stuffed the note in her black backpack.

"Anything else you need help with? You usually come in here to talk about issues regarding you and Dean."

AJ tied her hair back, "I feel like I betrayed him in a way. I've lied to him. Cheated on him. Broke up with him and got with the guy I cheated on him with. And yet he still wants to be around me. I don't understand that. When he cheated on me I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, and yet he goes out of his way to make sure Corey and his friend won't bother me anymore."

Mr.Woods smiled, "A simple yet complexed word called 'Love' AJ. I rarely see kids your age who love each other and truly mean it. But the things you've told me about Dean Ambrose over the past couple of months, makes me believe that he actually does love you."

"I don't know if I love him back the way I should though. I care about him, I really do. But I don't know if I'd ever go major lengths to make him happy like how he's done for me."

"Maybe you're just not ready for a relationship."

"But I want to be..."
_____________________
Matt walked into his Calculus class and saw Becky with her head resting on her arms as usual. He took the seat beside her and woke her up. "Psst. You fell asleep in class again."

She rubbed her eyes, "When did you get here?"

"Couple seconds ago."

She crossed her arms and turned her head, "Well I'm mad at you."

"I know."

"Ditching me at baby stores is one thing but leaving me alone at the peer before you were going to propose is... ugh! Forget it."

"I'm sorry okay. I just had stuff to care of."

"Yeah. Your sister seems to be the most important thing ever."

"That's not fair." He whispered

"It's true." Becky grumbled.

"She was in trouble and I needed to help her."

"And if I go into labor one day and AJ gets into trouble are you going to leave then too?" Matt didn't say anything. Becky scoffed, "I should have known."

"She's my little sister, Becky. What do you want me to do, rip her out of my life?" Matt started getting loud which caused a couple students to stare at the bickering couple. They both flipped off their classmates. "You don't know what happened, so you don't get to say anything implying that I'm a bad person."

"Why don't you enlighten me then."

"I can't."

Becky leaned back in her desk, "Fine. Don't tell me."

"It's a long story, okay. Can you just please forgive me? I'll somehow make up for leaving you at the peer just don't be mad at me anymore."

Becky didn't want to give in but she saw how sorry her boyfriend was. "Oh alright. You have to go baby shopping with me again."

He groaned, "Fair enough."
___________________
After AJ finished her long discussion with Mr.Woods she headed to the library to clear her head. She sat behind the shelves where nobody could see her. Unfortunately, one person spotted her.

"What are doing over here?" Dean asked.

"Existing."

"True. How've you been after..."

"Not good. Paranoid actually. Mr.Woods said I should talk to a therapist." She rolled her eyes, thinking it was already a bad idea. "When I got back from the hospital, Matt had a- never mind. Things are just really stressful right now."

"I didn't get the other guy." Dean leaned back on one of the shelves. "After what I did to Corey and Marilyn I started freaking out and left." He let his head fall, "I didn't get the job done."

"What did you do to them?"

"I..." Dean paused. His hands then started to tremble. "You have to promise me that you won't say anything."

"Cross my heart."

"I killed Corey and shot Marilyn a few times. I passed by his house the next day and I saw an ambulance with a body on a stretcher. I think he bled out." AJ covered her mouth, not being able to believe what Dean just told her. "Please, AJ. I'm not a fucking psycho. I just couldn't let them get away with what they did to you."

AJ surprised him with a quick kiss on the cheek, "Thank you. I don't know how I'd ever be able to repay you."

"You still being my friend is good enough." he tried smiling.

"Right. A friend." she said sadly.

"I didn't know if you wanted to get back together. I still see you as more than a friend. I just wanted to give you some time to see what you wanted to do."

"Even though I cheated on you, why do you still want to be with me? I figured you'd hate me after what I've done."

"I could never hate you, AJ. Some people say I have issues with letting go. But, I see it as me knowing who should stay in my life. And I know that I want to be with you forever."

AJ started crying and Dean brought her in for a hug. "I don't know what I want. I'm so confused."

"Like I said, take your time. I'm not going anywhere." he whispered to her then kissed the top of her head. "Just know that no matter what I'll always love you."