I hear the toilet flush and she quickly starts taking off her clothes without warning me. Looks like she's going to take a shower, so I just step outside quietly. But it's not over yet, I got to deal with her parents who are yelling at Heather. Well, she's taking it well as she's just laughing at the them. This is too good. Those two fools are finally getting what they deserve.

"You nasty girl!" Mrs. Uro says. "How dare you mock my little Nola like that! Have you no shame?"

"No, none at all." Heather replies.

"Listen here!" Mr. Uro says. "You are a bad influence on my daughter. How dare you stare LASCIVIOUSLY at her? Shame on you!"

"But you'll allow your neighbor to stare at her, right?"

"He's going to marry my Nola after graduation and move in with us, so it's no problem."

"I am not," I say as I enter. "I'm going to make sure Nola leaves this place and never be influenced by you two again."

Now the parents turn their attention to me. Mrs. Uro speaks up, "Evil Elon! Don't you dare talk to adults like that! You will marry my daughter and will be repaying for your crimes by becoming my servant."

"What about your crimes? Your antics have cause your daughter mental trauma. This is pretty much all your fault."

"You're accusing me, her mother, the reason for her condition? How dare you accuse me of such a thing."

"Fine, if you don't want to believe me, then do whatever you want, but the moment Nola can go by herself, she's already on her way out of here. In fact, I'm going to suggest she no longer live here from now on."

"I KNEW IT!" her father utters, "This was your plan all along. Have little Nola dependent on you and turn against us. Then when you have her all to yourself, you will VIOLATE her endlessly for your SICK SADISTIC PLEASURE. You keep your hands off my daughters OOCHIEMACHI!" What the hell did he just say? I don't know but Heather can't control herself as she's laughing on the sofa now.

I continue, "No. No more of your influence. In fact, I'm going to talk to her and tell her she needs to leave this place now."

Now Mrs. Uro, "You will never get away with this, Villain! I'm going to call the police on you!"

"And tell them what? That you messed up your daughter? Well that's what I'm going to tell them."

"You wouldn't dare. We're good parents. They will never take her away!"

"Then call them. Call them right now."

And, as expected, they just froze. Yeah, that's right, you know what you did.

"Elon," Mrs. Uro continues, "why are you like this? You were such a nice boy, but now you are taking advantage of our kind and sweet nature."

"No, Mrs. Uro, it's time to stop this now. Come on, Heather, let's go home." However, Heather was not on the sofa. She was not in the room either. I go outside and there she is. "Heather."

"Your 'sister' ran into your apartment. I think she heard everything."

She heard me? And why did she run into my apartment? Me and Heather go inside and my mom is waiting for us.

"Elon, what happened? Poor Nola ran into your room."

She did? Was it due to her accident? But why my room?

"Elon!" Mrs. Uro is behind me, "I'm not done with you."

"You two go comfort her," my mom says. "I'll take care of her mom."

"Mrs. Peeper, you get that boy over-" I hear the door slam as I enter my room.

Nola was laying on my bed, facing away us. I can hear her cry.

"Nola," I tell her. No response. I sit next to her and rub her shoulder.

"I thought no touching," she utters.

"If I do it, it's fine. It's not like I'm slapping your butt or anything."

"Well... you can if you want. It's right there."

"I'd rather not. Especially after what happened earlier."

"I took a shower, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, but I want to be respectful."

"How respectful? You bring a stranger to the bathroom and have her watch. That's cruel."

I sigh a bit, "Nola, you heard what I said, right?"

"I agree with you. My parents messed me up. But where am I suppose to go, exactly?"

"I don't know. I just said that. I figured that would make your parents back off until you can get this settled. Then when graduation comes and you can finally go by yourself, you won't be forced to stay here, or with me."

She turns her head towards me, "But I want to live here, with you. Can't I move in here with you?"

"The more we spend together, the more attach you become to me. You have to learn to live without me."

"I don't like this, Elon. I miss the old times when I could count on you to be there for me."

"We're growing up, Nola. This is childish behavior that you have to shed now. You can't keep acting like this and I can't keep escorting you to the bathroom. It's time that things change for the better." She wasn't feeling any better. She still sulking. I get up from my bed. "I'm going to take Heather home. Is there something you want?"

"Mmmmm...." she doesn't say anything except for that murmur of hers... but she is wiggling her butt.

*SLAP*

She gasps, "Elon!" She turns around, only to see Heather laugh. "NO! NOT YOU!" Heather runs off and I chase afterwards.

I step outside the apartment and we head towards the elevator.

"She's going to sleep in my bed, I'm certain. Looks like I'm sleeping on the sofa tonight." Heather is still laughing at this. I swear she hasn't stopped giggling all day. "You find this funny?"

"I'm sorry, Elon, but this was so much. I wasn't expecting your parents to be this crazy. I wasn't prepared for her parents either. Dude, you're so messed up."

"Yeah, thanks..." What can I say? She's right. It's only now I realize how awful our lives are.

So we step into the elevator, head to the ground floor, and proceed to walk towards her home.

"If I could, I would take her home with me." she says.

"You would?"

"Yeah. I feel so bad for her. I think I'll definitely be her friend."

"I wouldn't be so confident. She's a handful."

"If she really needs to make friends, maybe I can help. I'm starting to like her. She's quite nice, even if she is a weirdo."

"I hope she can make friends by herself. She's been hanging on to me for so long, she can't communicate with anyone else. She's practically isolated from society. I hope she settles this by next semester. By the way, what are you planning on doing when you get back to school?"

"I guess I'll work to become captain of the soccer team."

"Nice. I'm just going to work for a scholarship. The school counselor said I'm a shoe in for one."

"What university are you going to?"

"I don't know yet. I'll have to ask."

And we continue to talk until we reach her block.

"Well," she says, "today was quite eventful. Thanks for a good time."

"Yeah. So... we're now friends, right?"

"Sure. Bring Nola along next time when we're hanging out."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Just don't introduce her to your friends. Trust me, you want to experience how she acts before you introduce her to anyone."

"Sure."

"Well, I gotta go. See ya." And I start walking away.

"Hey, Elon."

"Yeah."

"Work your way up."

"What?"

"We're friends again, right? So you're back at the bottom. Work your way up again."

"My way up? What do you mean?"

She just smiles at me and enters her building.

Work my way up? To what?