(Levi's POV)

I go outside with my mother yelling at me to "never come back into her household" and that I am "no longer worthy of the Massey name". All shit I've heard before, and hopefully never have to hear again. Lexi waits for me in her dark blue Suburban. I check my bag to make sure I have everything I need. Lighter, check. Spare keys, check. Pepper spray, check. My "self medication", check.

I run my fingers through my cropped black hair, and shake my head. I run to the car and open the door to the passenger seat.

As I enter the car, I immediately get greeted by my three best friends in the entire world, no, universe. Alexis Gonzalez, Vanessa Hughes, and Aundrea Torres. Otherwise known as Lexi, Nessa, and Drea. My real name is Crystal Levina Massey. But, I dislike my first name. I hate that I was named after my "mother". Levina fits me better, and Levina was my late grandmother's name. She was the only one who could talk the least bit of sense into my derranged mother. Long story short, I'm soooooo changing my name legally when I move out and go to college.

I buckle in and look up at the person in the driver's seat. Astonishingly bright green eyes meet my equally bright blue eyes, and we share a small smile before she turns to face the rooad and step on the gas.

"Alrighty, my friends, what's on the agenda tonight?" I ask, putting both hands behind my head and relaxing the further we get away from my "home". As if it could be called that, home is where your family is, and every member of my family is in this car with me right now.

A small voice answers me.

"L-Lex said th-that we were j-just g-g-going to w-watch a movie and ch-chill out-t." Nessa manages to stutter out. She the shy one of the group, if you couldn't tell. Her and Drea are pretty close though. Drea's actually the one who got her to start speaking to us. You see, they are practically joined at the hip now. You don't usually see one without the other. Nessa is afraid of conflict, be woe be-est the person who decides to try and harm her "twin". We call them that because they always seems to be telepathically linked with each other, always on the same page. But, Drea is the mouthpiece, Nessa usually just nods and agrees.

"Yup, but I want to go to the store before we start the movie, my apartment is out of popcorn." Lexi states, looking at Drea and Ness in the rearview. "Do one of you want to come?"

Drea raises her hand abruptly, offsetting her straw colored hair. She blows her bangs out of her light hazel eyes.

"Me!" She replies, the sleeve of her striped black and grey sweatshirt falling past her wrist.

"What are those?" I ask casually, referring to the fresh, angry lines on the inside of her wrist.

"What are what, Lee?" Drea replies while she tries to nonchalantly cover the cuts.

"You know you don't have to hide these things from us, Drea. We're not mad, never. We just get...concerned. Okay?" I reply, and then run a hand over my face. "Ah, we just don't like seeing you hurt, is all. Next time something happens at home, come and tell us, okay? We'll talk it out, and you won't have to hurt yourself over it. Problem solved, kind of." I finish, opening my arms wide for emphasis, almost hitting Lexi in the face, and making her swerve.

"Hey, watch it!" She snaps at me, "Do you want me to crash this car?" Lexi adds, whilst putting a cancer stick in her mouth and lighting it. She puffs on it, and exhales through the open window which is spilling cold air into the toasty warm interior. I shiver involuntarily.

"Anyways, just don't be afraid to tell what's happening at home. Any of you." I add, looking both backseat passengers in the eye. I pretend not to notice that Nessa stiffened when I said this, I'll talk to her later.

You see, her dad is a terrible excuse for a human being. A man who physically, verbally, and mentally abuses his only daughter all because her mother died in child birth. He only started to get violent when she turned about eight. In fact, her body is covered in so many scars that some areas look deformed. Like, her eye, for instance. Little Nessa hides the right side of her face because there's a long, ugly, red scar that runs from her forehead to her jaw. The line cuts through her eyelid, scarring that, and through her eyebrow, leaving a red line through it. Her actual eye didn't get harmed. The blade barely scratched the surface, and it wasn't anywhere near her pupil. All over the rest of her body is other, smaller, or larger, scars. Nessa usually wears long sleeved everything all the time so that no one sees any part of her body that's...deformed? No, wrong word, disfigured? No, that sounds worse. Either way she doesn't like people to see her blemishes. Yeah, blemished. That works. Anyway. She's always hiding herself, and trying to blend into the shadows. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work.

Drea lives with her mother, father, and two brothers and one sister. Her sister is a crackhead, her mother is a workaholic, and her father is an alcoholic. So, her mom isn't aware that her dad verbally abuses her and her siblings, and none of them ever tell. How can you try to tell somebody something if they don't even care that you exist? I have no idea at this point how long she's been a cutter. All I know is that it's been at least as long as I've known her. If you look at her wrists, there are so many scars that the tissue looks like a cohesive raised mass. We've only had to take her to the hospital once for cutting, and that's because she cut on her thighs, and nicked an artery. Fortunately, she's still here, which means she survived. She always seems to try and stay upbeat about everything, to hide the fact that she's hurting inside. But, we can see through it, because we ALL put up the same façade. She's acts so damn innocent, too. Even though we know she's a lot more mature than she acts. She knows about sex and stuff, but hates when someone brings it up in conversation. But, she doesn't get flirting. I think she knows what it is, but she's oblivious to other's attempts to flirt with her. It's weird.

Lexi's mom was always beating her down to size with criticism. Always saying things like, 'why can't you be more like Myra?' Who is her older sister, and is a COMPLETE slutty whore. Her mom was always so PROUD of the fact that her oldest daughter was lusted after by every male that surrounded her. Myra was decent to Lexi, though. I ACTUALLY believe that she genuinely cared about her, or maybe she pitied her. I couldn't tell you. One day, Myra was driving Lexi home from a science fair in eighth grade. Lexi has ALWAYS loved science and math, and Myra always went to support her, since their mom didn't like that Lexi was into that stuff. Anyways, the car crashed, and Myra died. After that, her mom became verbally abusive. Blaming her and her 'stupid science fair' for the death of her pride and joy. Eventually, her mom went out of her mind with grief and tried to kill Lexi and then, stabbed herself in the heart. Luckily, the house had security cameras, otherwise Lexi would have been committed for murdering her mother. Her mom actually ended up giving her a huge scar down the side of her stomach that's still there today. Now, she lives with her brother, Mario, in his house.

Lexi's also a smoker. Even before her sister died, she smoked. One day she got a pack from the dealers at school, and got hooked. Almost exactly how I got hooked on Marijuana. The only things that keep either of us sane is our addictions and the undying loyalty and love from the two girls in the backseat.

As for my story, well, my mom has always looked down on me because I don't want to live up to 'the Massey name'. So what if I don't want to wear preppy clothes, or go to a preppy school like the rest of my family, if i can even call them that. They've tried sending me to boarding school before, I was expelled in two weeks. So what if I like listening to my 'delinquent' music instead of that boring classical crap Mom always tries to get me into? So what if I'm a stoner and am more often than not, high as a kite? The thing that my family, especially my mother, doesn't get is that I just. Don't. Care. I don't really care if I don't live up to 'the Massey name', I don't care if Mom thinks I'm the worst daughter ever. I honestly and truly don't give one flying fuck, pardon my french, what any member of my family thinks of what I do. The only people whose opinions matter to me are in this car. These people are my family, regardless of the lack of genetics between us all.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

(Lexi's POV)

As I finish my second cigarette, we are already parked in my driveway. I exhale the last puff, and throw the butt onto the ground out of the window. I shut off the car and help everyone bring in their stuff. The extra pillows, blankets, over-the-weekend duffles. All of it. Once that's settled, I grab Drea and we head over to the car to go and grab some popcorn and soda. Starting the car, I get out another fag* and place it between my lips. Then, I cup my hand around the end while I flick the lighter. Once lit, I put the lighter away and take a long draw, exhaling it out the window. Drea watches curiously from the passenger seat, already buckled in and everything. I smile tiredly at her and put the car into reverse. Steering with my left hand and holding my cigarette with the other, I pull out of the driveway and start down the road for Walmart two blocks away.

"Which store are we headin' to, Lex?" Dre asks like a curious little child. It's really amazing that, despite all that she's been through, she can still maintain that kind of innocence. I know that she's been through stuff that would have made anyone cynical and serious about life, but she always manages to surprise me. Always so curious, so nosy, and so, just...un-corrupt. Like, she's absolutely gorgeous, even without any makeup on. The guys in our school know it, too. They always try to flirt with her, but it all goes over her head. I can't count on one hand how many times one of us has had to pull her away from some guys trying to hook up with her. BEFORE she agrees to something she doesn't understand. Like they could invite her to a party so they could have some "fun" afterwards.

"Walmart, hon. We just need some popcorn and soda." I reply before taking a drag and puffing it out the window.

"Okie dokie." Drea replies easily, switching her curious gaze to the window to watch the darkness flash by. It was a new moon tonight and an overcast, too. So, all we could see was what was illuminated by the headlights.

We pull into the parking lot a little while later and I shut off the car, and climb out. Shutting the door, I drop my fag onto the asphalt and grind it out with the heel of my Nike. "Alright, Dre, let's go."

(Meanwhile at Lexi's house, in the basement)

(Nessa's POV)

I start reading my book as soon as I get to "Lexi's Apartment". Her "Apartment" is basically the entire furnished basement. Complete with bathroom, bedroom, living room, and kitchen. I sit down on the worn sofa in front of her t.v. with my book, all snuggled up in my favorite red hoodie, while Levi blazes up in the bathroom. After about ten or so minutes, Levi comes out of the bathroom with her blue hoodie, jeans, and military boots. All while toweling off her short hair.

"Hey, Ness, whatcha readin'?" She asks a bit dopily. Well, she is high-ish, she's been so much worse before.

"Alice in Wonderland. As you well know is my favorite." I reply without looking up from my book. "How come you always take a shower after baking?" I say quietly, as I usually do. I've learned that the quieter I am, the less trouble I get into. Even though I know that that rule doesn't apply here, because they'd never hurt me, some habits die hard. Being mousy and quiet has become as much apart of me as my name. I can be loud, but I don't like to, because I don't like fighting, and I don't want to cause a fight because someone thinks that I'm yelling at them. Same thing with flinching every time someone near me moves too fast or tries to get too close. I try not to flinch or cringe or cower, but again, it's a habit, I can't help it anymore than I can help the rate at which my heart beats.

Just like Levi and Drea(mostly Drea) can't help but cringe every time someone raises their voice. Levi doesn't do that very often, if at all, she's always been brave. Always been not afraid to stick up for herself. I'd hate to see what would happen to Drea or I if we tried to stand up to our parents or bullies alike. As much as my father has threatened it, he hasn't tried to kill me yet, only cut me or given me bruises. If I tried to stand up to him, I think he's make good on that death threat. I don't think Drea's parents would kill her, but they wouldn't allow her out of th house for, like, ever.

But, Levi...

She stands up to her mom all the time, and all that happens is a yelling match, which usually ends with one of them slamming a door shut in the other's face. She is so much braver than any one of us, because she doesn't care. Levi could care less if her mom locks her out of the house for a week, because she can just crash here at Lexi's. I wish I could be half as reckless as her, but...I doubt that would please my father. Levi has no siblings, which is why her mom is so hard on her to be the "perfect daughter." The thing is, even if Levi's mom turned into a violent abusive parent like my dad, Levi would fight back. Not afraid to fight, and not afraid to raise her voice.

I am.

Afraid of conflict, afraid of other's opinions, afraid of voicing my opinions. I don't even think Drea knows how careful I am around everyone. I try so hard not to say anything that would make someone mad, I try so hard to be a good friend, too. Most of the time, the two don't coincide. The thing is, while I'm trying to not draw attention to myself, or say something that might piss off someone else, my friends might actuallyy benefit from me saying something. I try to find a balance, but I always screw up.

A few minutes later, Lexi and Drea enter with the groceries, and I get up to greet them. As usual, Drea tries to hug me, and, as usual, I awkwardly sidestep her physical contact. I always feel bad afterwards, but I really don't like to be touched. Lexi plops down on the couch, still in her black jeans and long silvery sweater(which probably contains at least four packs of cigarettes and her lighter), over her purple shirt. Drea is in her comfy jeggings, her light orange-grey, and black striped hoodie, and her favorite black ballet flats. Levi is still wearing her blue hoodie, jeans, and her military boots. I'm wearing dark grey, long yoga pants, a regular pinkish-red t-shirt, and my red, zip-up hoodie.

"So, what movie do you guys want?" Lexi asks lazily, drawling out her words.

"I don't really care, I mean, we've seen all the movies that you own, Lex." Levi replies, going over to the DVD shelf. "Yup...all of them."

Drea jumps over the back of the couch and lands next to Lexi. "Well, didn't we get a new one when we were at the store?" She says, looking expectantly at Lex.

Lexi nods. "Mhmmmm."

"Th-then why di ya ask?" I say in my usual quiet voice. Levi laughs.

"Cuz she wanted to be all 'surprize-y prize-y' and stuff." She exclaims, falling into an armchair to the right of the couch.

Drea gets up and comes over to me. "Is she high?" She whispers in my ear. I nod.

"A little. But, not too bad." I reply at the same volume she used

"Whatever, Levi." Lexi states, then grabs the RedBox case out of one of the shopping bags and puts it in the player. Turning both on, she goes back to the bags to bring them to the kitchen. "Don't start without me." She calls, as we all curiously gather onto the furniture, and gaze at the screen.

It's a Paramount movie, and Nickelodeon gets credit, too.

It's the newest Ninja Turtle movie. Now, I love the turtles. But, this...it looks freakin' weird. I don't know. I guess we'll see what it's about.

(Drea's POV)

Ohmygod, ohmygod, OHMYGOD! I loveloveloveloveLOVE the Turtles! I saw this in the Redbox thing, and I told Lexi that we had to get it. Levi loves the turtles, I loves the turtles, Lexi loves the turtles, and Nessa-Ness loves the turtles! So it's a win-win situation. None of us have seen the newest movie. I mean, we've heard of it and stuff, and we've seen previews. The turtles look way different. They are like huge. Taller than seven feet! And the CGI looks really cool. Like, the skin looks so realistic, and they look like mutant turtles. I mean, they've always looked like that, but now they really look REAL.

I want popcorn. Like, really, really bad. You can not have a movie without popcorn. Well, unless you're allergic, then you shouldn't have it at all.

Anyway, popcorn. I get up and skip to the kitchen where Lexi is standing opening a steaming bag of popcorn. She then, promptly dumps the bag into a giant bowl for us all to share. Then, she puts in another bag, and presses the popcorn button. I just sit silently watching her, and sneak over to the bowl whn I think she's not looking.

I reach out to grab a handful, but Lexi smacks my hand away without looking away from the microwave. I huff and cross my arms like a child. Well, I basically am a child. I know I act like one sometimes, anyway. I, not so patiently, wait for this bag to finish, and Lexi grabs it and dumps it into the bowl.

"Can I have some now?" I ask, making a puppy dog face. Lexi wags her finger at me.

"Uh-uh. You're waiting for the rest of us to start watching the movie, then, you can share it with us." She replies.

"Yays!" I cry.

That's when we heard the others screaming.