"Aren't u excited?" Dad asked again. My jaw hung open, and tears welled up in my eyes.

"Yeah, Dad. That's great." I stood up and went to my room. I paced in my room for a while, fiddling with my fingers. The tears filled up more, making it nearly impossible to see anything. This can't be happening. He was trying to start a new family. He was recreating what we had before we... There was a knock at the door.

"Irina?" It was Dad. I ran over to the door, and locked it just as he tried to open the door. "Irina, please let me in. I want to talk to you."

"Go away!" I cried. The whole thing felt so surreal, like when Dad told me he was dating Kara. But this was far worse. This would change everything. He called my name a few meer times, but I still refused to open the door.

"Irina! Let me in right now, young lady!" he shouted.

Everything went black.

When I woke up, Dad and Kara were leaning over me. Then I noticed how bad my head hurt, a lot.

"Irina? Are u ok?" Dad asked. I closed my eyes, putting my arm over them and groaned. What just happened? It took me a few minuten to realize what happened, but I still couldn't remember what had happened before hand. I sat there in silence for a while, trying to remember anything. When had Kara and Hera gotten here?

"Honey, u hit your head on the side of your desk," Dad told me. That explained the splitting headache. I clenched my teeth. "Honey, do remember anything at all?" I shook my head. He looked at Kara, and pursed his lips. Did he know? "Well, I think u should go to bed. u need to rest." He helped me up, and got me into bed. Hera looked scared. Did Dad never tell her? And what was he not telling me? I laid down, and rubbed my temples with my palms. "Good night," Dad said. He turned off the light and they all left, leaving me all alone in the dark.

I fell asleep a while after that. Oh well, it was all over now.

At school the volgende day, like normal, I talked to Blake in English. It was great until Mateo butted in.

"Dude! u broke up with Heidi?!" he asked. "She's pissed! I thought u liked her! What happened?!" he ranted. Blake rolled his eyes.

"Nothing, I'm just done with her bitchy attitude, ok? What does it matter?" he asked, agitated. Mateo groaned.

"We were supposed to go to the dance together! All four of us! Now that u and Heidi aren't going, Gwen doesn't want to go!" Mateo complained. Blake rolled his eyes again and waved him away.

"Sorry 'bout that," he zei sheepishly. I shrugged.

"I didn't know u and Heidi broke up. I'm sorry about that," I zei softly.

"Don't be. I'm am so glad. I don't even know why I put up with her before," he zei sounding completely relieved.

"Well that's good," I smiled. He nodded, then class started.

***

I began walking home pagina from school, when Blake stopped me.

"Hey, Irina!" he called. I stopped. "Are u busy this weekend?" he asked.

"I dunno." He smiled mischieviously.

"Well, if u are, there's something I want to do, ok?" he asked.

"And what's that?"

"You'll see," he smiled again. Just then, another voice appeared.

"What are u doing?" it asked. My hart-, hart nearly stopped. I felt my face turn cold. It was Drew. He came up behind me. Blake furrowed his eyebrows; he's never met Drew. I slowly turned to face him.

"Uh, nothing," I squeaked. He looked at me with distrustful eyes. He looked back at Drew and nodded at him. Fuck.

"Uh, this is... Brian," I zei quickly. I tried to subtly give Blake a look that told him to play along. He looked extremely confused. Drew frowned.

"Ok... Well, come on. I'll take u home," he said. Even though it sounded like a calm and generous offer, I knew it translated into let's go so I can kick your ass. I gulped.

"Uh, I'm fine. I think I'd rather walk." Drew grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.

"I zei I'll take u home," he zei solemnly. Then it seemed to click for Blake. He grabbed Drew's wrist, and spoke through his teeth.

"She zei she doesn't want to." Drew looked really surprised, but even meer pissed off than he had been.

"Get the fuck away from me," Drew growled. Blake took a step closer, and I pushed myself between them.

"Don't. Just... Let's go," I zei to Drew. I was taking a very big risk right now, but it was all I could do to keep them from beating the shit out of each other. We went to Drew's jeep, and I waved at Blake when he wouldn't see. Blake looked terrified.

When we got back to my house, the first thing Drew did was slap me across the face. I took it without any complaints.

"Don't u ever talk back to me like that again," he warned. I nodded. We went inside, and he took a zitplaats, stoel on the couch. "So... you're moving?" he asked. I nodded, handing him the bier he had demanded. He smiled to himself as he opened it. "Well, don't think that just because you're moving that'll I'll leave," he looked into my eyes. "I'm never going to leave," he zei darkly. I gulped but nodded. He squinted his eyes at me, then laughed. "You needed stitches?" he asked.

"Yeah," I zei quietly. He laughed.

"That's what u get for fucking up your face like that. Although, it was an improvement..." he took another sip. That hurt.

Drew left a while after, and I couldn't have been meer relieved. A half uur later, my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Irina? Are u ok?" Blake asked. I felt even meer relieved to hear his concerned voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Is he..."

"No, Drew's gone. He left a while ago." I heard him sigh into the phone.

"Ok." There was a long pause. "Why don't u just break up with him? I don't understand how u can love someone like that," he zei incredulously. He sounded as if it was an obvious answer. It kind of annoyed me.

"You don't think I want to?! If I could, I would've dumped him a long time ago! And... I used to. I used to love him. I hate him now. I hate him so much..."

"Ok, ok! Irina, calm down," he zei softly. But I was already worked up.

"I want to! I want to break up with him! But I can't! I'm scared! He's gonna... He's gonna kill me one of these days," I zei through my cries.

"Irina, it's ok. I'll help you."

"How," I sniffed, not convinced at all. There was another pause.

"I don't know. But I will. I promise." I heard the slam of a car door outside. I quickly wiped away my tears.

"I gotta go. I'll see u tomorrow."

"Bye. See ya," he zei just before I hung up. I sniffed again, trying not to look like I'd been crying. Dad and Kara walked in, along with Hera.

"Hey, kid," Dad said. I waved quickly.

"Hello Irina," Kara said. She looked worried; I wonder why. I hadn't seen her since last night. Then I remembered that I hadn't thought about last night at all really. I went to my room, and tried to do my homework while I retraced my thoughts. I'd been upset; that's all I could remember. I shook my head, trying to go vooruit, voorwaarts instead. Kara and Hera had both been there... All three of them were happy... I thought it'd mess everything up...

Then I remembered.

I groaned, the headache returning. I held my head in my hands, trying to clear my head again. Blissful ignorance is a lot better than remembering sometimes.

***

The volgende dag in school, when I saw Blake in English, the first thing he did was hug me. I was surprised at first, but then returned the hug. I felt like crying, but I was in class; I didn't want to start a scene of anything. Plus, people were giving us weird looks; especially Mateo. He did not look happy one bit. I pulled away from Blake.

"Thanks," I zei quietly. He smiled sympathetically. I wiped away a threatening tear.

"Don't worry," he whispered as class started. "I'll figure something out."