After that day, I went and stayed with Emily and Jen. They hated that my mom abused me once again, but were happy that I was going with Marcus this coming weekend. Never did I ever think I'd have friends—or a boyfriend. Now that I had them, I wasn't sure how I'd live without them.

Emily and Mike were a thing now too! It'd been two days since Marcus found out about my mom. They started dating yesterday. Scott, however, hadn't had the courage to make things official with Jen yet. The three of us were currently sitting on Emily's bed with a bunch of junk food.

"So I need details of how you and Mike became an item," I insisted.

"Okay," Emily laughed, blushing. "We were in teen leadership and did that snowball challenge where we had to write three secrets and guess whose they were. Well, one of Mike's was 'I have a crush on a girl in the room.' I immediately thought it wasn't me, because all the single girls in that class hit on him. So when I got mad and walked out, it was the big thing. He caught up to me, I told him I didn't want to hear it, and once he got me to shut up, he clarified it was me."

"That's so sweet!" Jen said, happy for her sister.

"Very," I agreed.

"How did you and Marcus become official?" Jen asked me.

As I untwisted the wrapper to the tootsie roll, I shrugged. "It just kind of happened. I mean, there was the date y'all set us up on, but..." I thought back on the time we've had so far. "There was no 'grand thing' like what Mike did for you," I looked at Emily. I then turned back to Jen. "I just think we both knew and we decided that this was a real thing."

"Does he know about your mom?" Emily asked.

I sighed. "Unfortunately."

"How'd he take it?" Jen asked, popping a skittle in her mouth.

"Better than I thought. We're still together."

"Wait. You thought he'd break up with you?" Emily asked.

"Well... yeah, I mean—"

"Erin, I swear, you need a therapist," she said seriously.

She'd been on me about this for months now. "Why?"

"You don't have any self worth!" She said.

"Emily, calm down," Jen looked to her.

"She needs to know she's worth something, Jen!" Emily looked to her, but gesturing to me.

"But that's not something she'll gain overnight. We got lucky with a mom and dad that love us. She didn't. We can tell her every day, but she has to believe it for herself. When you're in that situation... Self worth isn't something you have," she said.

As she spoke, I noticed something in Jen's eyes. She was relating to me on a different level. She understood my pain, but she didn't get abused by her parents. Something happened to her besides the eating disorder and bullying.

Emily voiced my thoughts. "What happened to you, Jen?"

"Nothing, I'm just saying it's probably hard for her. Her mom's told her for so long how 'terrible' she is," she said.

She was keeping something from us. And all of us knew it.

Emily sighed, frustrated and went to get more sodas for us.

I looked at Jen and she ate another skittle. "I'm seriously fine, Erin."

"Jen, you can tell me," I assured.

She looked to see if Emily was back and back to me. "I can't. I don't want her to know and you'll want to tell her."

"I won't. I'll let you tell her when you're ready."

She bit her lip. "Can I just give the short version?"

I nodded.

Afraid to speak, she text it to me.

During the time I got bullied for my weight, I had a secret boyfriend. He hurt me in every way. I didn't tell anyone because he told me I couldn't. Then he moved away, so I didn't have to see him anymore.

Emily came in the room and handed us Dr. Peppers.

"So new topic," Emily chirped, unaware her sister had been through more than what she knew.

"Marcus and I won't be in school Friday, because the flight is long," I relieved Jen of her nerves.

"Well, we hope you have fun! We want all details when you get back!" Emily encouraged.

"Okay," I laughed.

*

Thursday night, I packed my things and went to Marcus's. This wasn't part of the plan, but I figured it was smarter. We were leaving at 10AM tomorrow morning, so that meant we had to be at the airport at 8AM, which meant we had to wake up at 6AM to get everything ready, and start waiting in line.

I knocked on his front door and he opened it, surprised. "Hey, what's up?"

"Just figures since we're leaving so early in the morning, I might as well crash on your couch for the night," I have a simple, one shoulder shrug. "Is that okay?"

"Absolutely," he said. "But you're not sleeping on the couch. You'll sleep in the bed."

"You too," I insisted, as I came inside and sat my stuff by the couch. I was already in pajamas.

"If you want," he said, closing the door.

I looked at him and noticed he was in a blue tee shirt and boxers. He was probably just lounging around, not asleep yet, because he didn't seem like he'd just been woke up. He took my hand and smiled at me.

"I'm excited about this," he told me.

"Me too," I agreed.

"C'mon. Let's rest up," he led me to his room.

We laid in the bed and I snuggled next to him, his warmth being the only blanket I needed. He kissed my forehead, as I closed my eyes. He ran his hand through my hair, putting me to sleep quicker, because of how comforting it was.

The next morning, we were up on time, got to the airport on time, etc. The flight was nothing special. We were just ready to get to California to see his mother and grandmother. When we landed, we went to the rent-a-car and drove to where his mom was, because her surgery was about to start.

When we got to the hospital, we found his mom's room, and went there. His mom was laying in the bed, talking with her mother. There were a few other people in the room, but they were either sleeping, on their phones, or disinterested in the conversation.

"Who's this?" Marcus's grandma smiled at me.

He wrapped his arm around me, a grin from ear to ear. "Grandma, Mom, guys and girls, this is my girlfriend, Erin."

I would never get over the feeling I got when he called me by my first name. I knew I was blushing, but I waved to his family and looked to his mom. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll be better once this surgery is over. If it ever starts. I was supposed to already be in the O.R.," she sighed. "But I got to meet you. I'm so happy y'all came. I didn't expect you to at all."

"And miss your surgery? Mom, you know me better than that," Marcus reprimanded his mom.

"I know, but it's not like I don't have a support system," she gestured around.

"I'm your son, you're my mom, that's how it is," he settled it.

She chuckled. "Alright, son. So, Erin, tell us about you while we wait."

"Uh..." I shrugged. "Well, I've been dating Marcus for almost a month, but officially for about a week and a half. Only child, Dad took off at a young age... I'm not too keen on talking about my mom."

"That's okay," she assured.

"Wait, you're dating Marcus?" A teenage boy looked up from his phone. "Did you lose a bet?"

"Shut up," Marcus laughed at him. "Erin, that's Dan. He's my cousin."

"Wait," Marcus's mom suddenly remembered something. "Erin. As in... Erin Danes?" She looked to Marcus. "The one—"

"Mom, I beg you, stop," he laughed embarrassed.

"But this is—?"

"Yes. Same one."

"What's happening?" I asked confused.

Marcus sighed, knowing I'd find out eventually.

"He's talked about you for months!" His mom smiled.

"What, really?" I moreso asked Marcus.

His face was a deep red and it was so cute.

Just then a doctor came in to wheel his mom away to surgery. We then went to the waiting room and I looked to Marcus.

"Months?" I asked.

"Well, at first I just thought you were cool. Then I started liking you and I can't hide things from my mom. So yeah. Months," he said.

"I think that's adorable," I pecked his cheek.

He looked deep into my eyes and kissed me lightly. "Thank you for coming with me."

"Thanks for inviting me," I whispered.

"Get a room," Dan said.

We laughed and ignored Dan, but laid back in our chairs and waited for his mom to come out of surgery.

*

When she did, we were excited about it. I was so glad she was doing well, but you could tell she'd been battling this for a while. Though she was relieved, she looked exhausted. The doctor kicked majority of us out, so we went back to the waiting room, leaving just Marcus and his grandma there with his mom.

His mom would have to stay for observation, but other than that, the surgery was successful. They hadn't got all of the tumor out, but as much as they could, which was better than calling it inoperable and sending her home to die.

She had a real chance now.

Marcus and I decided to go to his grandma's house to rest. It began raining outside and I could feel my anxiety go through the roof internally. At that time, Marcus took my hand comfortingly. Though I never admitted to being afraid of the rain, he knew I was.

"Can I ask why you're afraid of the rain?" He asked.

"Just always have been," I said.

"Well, I'm here. The 'Rain Monster' won't scare you tonight," he tried to make me laugh.

It worked.

We soon fell asleep and I was happy with and for him and his family.