Tori's POV

"What if this doesn't work out?"

"Have a little more faith in us," said Andre gently. "We can do this; I just know it."

"But…what if it doesn't?" I asked nervously. "I've never had luck with relationships. And…I would never wanna lose you as a friend. You mean so much to me. If something happened, I don't–"

Andre interrupted me with a passionate kiss. I was shocked at first, but I eventually kissed him back. I wished I knew what number of kiss this was, but I had lost count awhile back. We'd already been dating for two weeks.

He put his hands on either side of my face and I put my hands on his shoulders. "None of that is gonna happen," he whispered when we came out of the kiss. He lightly kissed me again. "We're gonna be okay."

"I sure hope you're right," I whispered and kissed him again.

After the kiss, he smiled at me and then pushed some of my hair over my ear. "So when are you gonna tell your parents about us dating?"

I smiled and looked at the ground. "Soon. I'll tell them…soon,"

"You know, you said soon a week ago," he reminded me. "I'm starting to think you don't wanna tell them about us."

"Oh, Andre, of course I wanna tell them," I said while rubbing my hand across his cheek. "It's just…you don't know how my parents are. Whenever I tell them I have a new boyfriend, they ask me a gazillion questions about who he is and if he's a good guy and then they want to meet him and then they drill him with a gazillion questions. My dad's a cop, so I think that's where it comes from."

"But your parents already know me," he told me. "They've known me for a year and a half now and they love me."

I giggled. "I know, but…I don't know. I'm still just a little nervous."

"So…you know, but you don't? How does that work?"

I groaned. "Will you just be patient with me, please?" I begged. "I'm just a little apprehensive about telling them. But I promise I will."

He laughed and kissed me. "I was kidding, babe. You don't have to tell them right away. I was just messing with you. You tell them whenever you want to. Don't make me rush you."

"But I wanna tell them," I told him. "I just…don't know how."

"Just come out and say it," he said. "It shouldn't be too hard."

I sighed heavily. "Once again…I hope you're right." I paused. "But right now…do exactly as I say, okay?"

"Even if it pains me, I'll do it," he said with a smile. "I would do anything for you."

"This won't be hard," I told him. "Now…just shut up and kiss me,"

"I can do that," he whispered, pushed hair back, and kissed me passionately. I kissed him back and we got deep into the kiss. It turned into a little make out session. This was our first make out session and let me tell you…it felt really nice. The butterflies in my stomach told me so. I couldn't wait until we could do that again.

Andre went home fifteen minutes after our make out session ended. After I shut the door, my mom walked in the living room. "Hey sweetie,"

"Oh, hey Mom," I said. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just get a little evening snack," she said as she walked in the kitchen. She walked up to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out an apple. She took a bite then said, "What did you and Andre do?"

I smiled to myself. "Nothing really, just…hung out,"

"You two have been really hanging out a lot lately," she observed.

"We're best friends, Mom," I told her and that was the truth. I was just leaving out a tiny little detail about him being my boyfriend. "We love to hang out. We have ever since we met."

"Well…okay," she said, barely convinced. "It just seems like you two went through a time where you hardly hung out at all, but then all of a sudden, you two are connected at the hip again."

I nodded with a sad expression on my face. What she said was true. We went through a few months where we hardly talked at school or anything. We both were just so busy with so many things, but ever since Andre asked me out, we suddenly got tighter than ever. "Yeah, I know. But it's all worked out now."

"That's good," she said.

A few minutes later, my dad joined my mom and I in the kitchen. "Hello ladies," he said.

"Hey Dad," I said.

"Where's Trina?" he asked.

"Oh, she's spending the night at a friend's house," said Mom. It was a Friday night. "It's just us three for tonight."

"Allrighty then," he said and clapped his hands together. "What would you two lovely ladies like to do tonight?"

My mom looked away, trying to think of something, but I spoke up before she could think of anything. "Actually…I wanted to talk to you guys about something."

"Okay," said my dad. "Is is bad?"

"No, it's good news," I said with a smile.

"What is it?" asked Dad.

"Sit down," I said. "This is big news,"

"Alright," he said. He sat in a chair next to my mom and put his arm around the back of it. "What's up?"

I stood up in front of them. "Okay, well, um…I…have a boyfriend." I figured I might as well come out and say it.

"A boyfriend?" asked my dad. "Since when?"

"Not long,"

"Well…are you ready for the famous question and answers game?" he asked with a somewhat serious and somewhat joking expression.

I sighed. I hated those question and answers. They were sometimes never ending. "I guess, but these question and answers won't take as long as they usually do, because you already know this guy and you both already like him."

"Who is he?" asked Mom.

I smiled. "It's Andre,"

I wasn't sure what my parents' reaction would be; whether they would smile and say, "That's great!" or if they would just smile and nod and then one of them would say, "He's a good guy for you." But they didn't do either. My dad simply stared at me while my mom raised her eyebrows. "Uh…Andre?" asked my mom. "You're dating Andre?"

"Yeah," I said nervously. "Uhm…is there a problem?"

My dad sighed and stood up. "As a matter of fact, Tori…there is. We would rather you not date him. We'd like for you guys just to be friends."

My eyes suddenly widened. "What?" I exclaimed. "I barely tell you I'm dating Andre and you already tell me I can't see him anymore?"

"That's right," said my dad. "We're your parents. We have that right."

"Well, could you give me an explanation at why I can't date him?" I asked while putting my hands on my hips. We were not getting out of this without an argument.

My parents looked at me like I was stupid before glancing at each other. "Tori…" said my mom with a serious expression. "You know why we don't you to date him, right?"

It was my turn to look at them like they were stupid. "If I did, I wouldn't have asked. Could you just tell me?"

They sighed. "Tori," said my dad. He cleared his throat. "You guys…aren't the same…if you know what I mean,"

I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms. "Actually, I don't know what you mean. Why not you just say the words?"

My dad sighed in major aggravation. "Fine. Tori, we don't want you to date Andre because he's black."

In a matter of two seconds, I was more furious than I had ever been in my entire life. I could feel my whole body shaking I was so angry. I could tell that my face was getting red in anger. "You've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed. "You're telling me I can't date Andre because of our different skin color?"

"Tori, as I just said, we're your parents," said my dad standing up. My mom stood up as well. "We have the right to tell you who you can and cannot date. And we're telling you that you can't date him. We don't want you going out with a black guy."

"I can't believe you guys are saying this!" I exclaimed. I was very close to yelling. "He's been my best friend for like a year and you never had a problem before! Why now?"

"Because until now, you guys have just been friends," said Mom. "And we were okay with that. But dating him? No. We can't let you do that. Whenever you go out in public with him, people are going to judge you."

"I don't care what people think of me!" I yelled. "I really like him and he really likes me! And besides, judging is wrong! If people judge me, they're the ones doing wrong, not me! I should be allowed to date whoever I want to date!"

"While you're under our roof, you live by our rules." said Dad sternly. "We have every right to tell you who you can and can't date. It's our job to look out for you."

"No, you don't," I told them. "I'm seventeen years old. I'm old enough to decide who I want to date."

"But you're still in this house," said my dad more sternly than before. He pointed his finger. "You will not defy us, young lady. We forbid you to see him. Are we clear?"

"We are not clear!" I yelled. "I can't believe this! Andre is a great guy! He treats me amazing, way better than any of my other boyfriends! Not that any of my other boyfriends abused me, but he still treats me better than they did! And you should like that!"

"There are plenty of other boys out in the world, Tori," said my mom. "I'm sure there is another guy that will you treat you right and who is your same skin color."

I screamed in my hands. "Oh, my God, you guys are such hypocrites! You tell me not to do something when you've already gone and done it yourself! Dad, you're Latino and Mom, you're not! You two aren't even the same race!"

"Tori, that's different," said Dad. "When you look at us, there's not a contrasting difference. But with you and Andre…one look and you see a huge difference. We don't want that for you."

"Whatever," I grumbled. "But you know what…I don't care what you guys say. I'm gonna date Andre whether you two like it or not."

"You will not!" said Dad.

"Yeah, I will," I argued back. "I have a phone and I can call or text him whenever I want! And in case you forgot, we go to school together and have like three classes together! You can't keep us apart!"

"We'll deal with the school thing later, but we can take care of the phone thing right now." said Dad and walked right up to me and held his hand out. "Give us your phone right now."

"No," I said immediately. "I will not give you my phone."

"If you don't give me your phone in a matter of three seconds, you are grounded for a week," said my dad. "When you live in this house, you do things the first time we tell you. Now…give me your phone." I could tell he was furious.

But so was I. "You can't treat me like a baby. I'm almost eighteen. I can make my own decisions."

"Tori, you have one second to give me your phone before I force it out of you!" he yelled.

"That's impossible!" I screamed. "You can't force it out of me!"

I turned around and ran to the stairs. I began to jog up them, but my dad grabbed a hold of my left arm. Because of how hard he grabbed it and how fast I was moving, and how hard he was currently holding onto it, I knew it would leave an unmistakable bruise. I let out an involuntary squeal. "If you do not give me your phone right now, so help me God, I will ground you until you go off to college!" he yelled. Then he held out his other hand. I squeezed my eyes shut; this was torture. I wanted him to let go of my arm.

I hesitated, which made him squeeze my arm even harder. I let out a louder squeal. "Now!" he screamed.

I bit my lip and slowly and shakily reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone. Without looking in my dad's eyes, I handed him my phone. He yanked it from me and finally let go of my arm. I let out a sigh of relief. "Go to your room," he said as he turned away from me. "And you're grounded for two weeks. That means no phone, no TV, no music, and no leaving the house except for school. And no seeing Andre ever again,"

I nodded shakily and then ran up the rest of the stairs and into my room. I closed the door behind me and slid down to the floor. I held my arm out and looked at the damage. There was no bruise yet, but you could tell one would form. There was a red handprint mark from where he'd grabbed me.

I closed my eyes, brought my hands to my face, and cried my eyes out. I knew my dad could be strict when he wanted to be, but I never thought he would actually hurt me. He had to know that grabbing me like that would leave a bruise. He probably only had a hold of me for maybe ten to fifteen seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

I knew I would never look at my dad the same way again.