Isaac's father just stares at the girl on his front porch. To him, she's nothing but an apparent bad influence on his son. Exhaling heavily, the man turns all of his attention to his son, "Isaac, get in this house. Now."

Moving from behind Tari, Isaac makes his way to the door, but furrowing her eyebrows at his father, she grabs his hand, lightly pushing him back behind her strong figure. Drawing up to her full height, Tari takes a step closer to the angry man, "It isn't his fault that he's home late. I just told you, I had him go out, and it's only ten. It's not like it's some ungodly hour."

Coach Lahey reluctantly turns his attention to the nuisance again, but he decides to not indulge her with a response, and instead, calls to Isaac again, his eyes on Tari. "Son, this is between the two of us. Get in this house, so your little friend can head on home now. Her parents would probably be worried sick." Tari catches on to his reference and glares fiercely at the man.

Finally, for Isaac's sake, Tari puts all of her attention from the older Lahey to the younger, "I had fun with you tonight. If you need me, I'm just a phone call away," Reaching up, Tari wraps her arms around Isaac's neck in a hug, "And I'm not scared of your father." She whispers into his ear before releasing him and taking a few steps backwards. "Good night Mr. Lahey, sorry for keeping your son. I'll know better next time. See you at school Isaac." With that, Tari sends a tight lipped smile to the men and turns her back to slam into her car.

Before driving off, she turns the music up loudly and rolls down the passenger window, waving with a smirk before speeding away.

Coach Lahey glares at his son as he watches him stare after Tari's dingy pick-up. "So those are the types of friends you have now?" Isaac starts to shake his head, but his father isn't asking for an answer. He is asking to ensue a punishment.

"So, WHAT, son?" Now he has a tight grip on Isaac's curls, the front door closed behind them, "I have to start checking your room for drugs?" He growls, dragging Isaac through the house. "Dad, no, no, please. She doesn't -" He tries to plead Tari's case and save himself, but his father is having none of it.

"Do I look stupid to you? Or like I hold no concerns for my son?" The elder Lahey seethes while throwing open the basement door. Isaac starts thrashing in his father's grasp, pleading and crying, hoping that this once, at least just this once, his father will listen. Alas, he does, but what he hears doesn't cause him to go easy, or cease his actions. Instead, he tosses his son down the stairs.

The boy looks around, trying to find somewhere to scramble, to hide. Even as his father has a firm grasp on his person, the boy is squirming, but the older man is much stronger than he looks, snatching his son off of the ground and shoving his towering form into the deep freezer reserved for his own personal torture of his son.

"AND SHUT UP!" His father yells once the freezer is locked and he's ascending the stairs.

* * * * *

At school the next day, Tari jogs up to Isaac as soon as she sees him, "Hey Isaac, you - is he serious?" She says, her nostrils flared as she stands in his way, preventing the boy from moving.

Isaac shakes his head at Tari, meeting her glare and causing her eyes to soften, "I had an early practice. Nothing else." He tries to weave around the girl in front of him, but she places a rough hand on his chest firmly, "Isaac, don't. I'm not dumb, don't expect me to pretend to be because you're in pain. You have a split lip and raccoon circles beneath your eyes, and that's all that's wrong, not including the bruise trying to fade on your cheek."

Licking his busted lip Isaac sighs in exasperation, "I told you, we had early morning practice. And I'm just tired, I stayed up studying." He licks his lip again, putting his hands in his pockets defensively, "And since you're so fond of questions, wanna tell me what my dad meant when he said your parents would probably be worried? That sounded pretty past tense to me."

Tari narrows her eyes at Isaac, "This isn't about me, Isaac, and I just want to help you." Stepping back from her hand, Isaac fixes the strap on his shoulder, "That sounds a lot like you trying nicely to tell me that it's none of my business, just like my injuries are none of yours, okay? Now if you don't mind, I have class." He says, lowering his soft eyes and walking around Tari.

Pulling out her phone, Tari dials the number to the school, plastering a fake smile onto her face quickly. "Hello?.. Hi, this is Netari James's aunt, I just wanted to call and let you know that she isn't feeling well and won't be in today... Excused absence? Thank you so much, buh bye now." The smile immediately drops, replaced with a cigarette.

Emmet sees Tari walking back to her truck and meets her at the door, "What are you doing? Last I checked, Tar-Pad, the school is that way." Smiling slightly, Tari exhales a puff of smoke, "I called in, I'm going home, I gotta think about something. Can you watch Isaac for me? Please? Make sure no jerks push him around?"

The request makes Emmet quirk an eyebrow, "Tari, it looks like Lahey was just the jerk here, not anyone else." Tari shakes her head, taking a long drag, "No, he was just being a teenage boy with a bad foundation and trust issues. Just watch him. Please." Emmet pluck the cigarette from Tari's hand, pulling her into a hug before taking a drag himself, "Fine, but just because you asked. If it was up to me, I'd get to leave his body behind a dumpster."

Tari laughs, smacking her lips as she gets into her truck, "Yeah right. Go get to class Emmet." She says before driving off and leaving the school in her rearview.