Zara cruised the aisle of Joe's grocery store, a food basket hanging off her arm. After dropping off their bags in Zara's rat-hole, the two had decided to go and buy some groceries.

"For the last time, will you tell me what's going on with you? And please, don't say 'nothing' again, or I'm going to kill someone!" She sighed exasperatingly at Aurora's irrational behaviour. Here she was, trying to be a good friend, and Aurora was being difficult.

Zara stopped in front of the "Asian cuisine" rack; after Orion had mentioned buying ramen noodles, Zara couldn't help but feel like that particular food was desperately needed in her life. She hadn't eaten since lunch time at school today, but it had been so nasty that she practically had to force it down her throat. She was in a perpetual state of hunger, and had probably lost a couple of pounds because of it, but had been so focused on other things that food was the last thing on her mind.

Aurora didn't answer her question, instead pointing to a red package with unreadable characters on it. There was even a strange cartoon of a chicken slurping noodles. "If spicy stuff doesn't bother you, then you should try that one. Otherwise that one over there is more mild."

Zara gave her a strange look—this girl had the privilege to eat a full course meal three times a day, and yet here she was talking about cheap Korean noodles. She grabbed a couple of each and dumped them in her basket.

"Thanks, but I know you're just trying to avoid my questions. Don't think I didn't notice," Zara's voice sounded patronising even to herself, but that didn't stop her from nagging.

"Can we not talk about it here..." Aurora's voice trailed off when an old lady wobbled by, her pencil-drawn eyebrows knitting together at the two girls. She probably thought they were stealing or something, and Zara didn't blame her; it was what she usually did when she was hungry and poor. Which was most of the time.

"Fine." Zara stood on her tip-toes to reach a can of beans. After several failed attempts, she managed to grab it. She continued towards the stacks of fruits and vegetables at the back of the store. They all looked mouldy and of bad quality so Zara made her way towards the cash register.

"Is that it?" Aurora asked hesitantly, her thin fingers wrapping themselves around her friend's wrist. Zara looked down at her sorry assortment of noodles and beans, and nodded.

"That probably adds up to like...ten dollars." The concept seemed alien to Aurora.

Yeah, I know that! You know I can't afford more than that, I'm sorry I'm such a crappy host! Zara wanted to shout, but both her and Aurora were in a fragile state of mind, and it was best that she remained calm. If Zara started to yell at her, then Aurora would probably clam up and it would take years to pry her open again.

"I know," Zara stated, her head hanging in shame.

"Give it to me," Aurora grabbed the basket from Zara and disappeared into a different aisle, her hair swinging behind her. Zara just stood awkwardly in her place, watching her friend dump massive amounts of food into the tiny basket with a horrified look on her face.

"Stop! I can't afford all this shit!" Once her legs decided that they wanted to move again, Zara ran over to Aurora, her arms flailing about.

"Don't worry about it, it's on me."

"But—"

"No. I'm super grateful that you're letting me stay over, so this is the least I can do. Let's hope that we have enough arms to carry it all home though." Aurora wholeheartedly smiled at Zara, who just blinked in response. After a lag, Zara wrapped her arms around her friend's neck, almost making her topple over, basket and everything.

"Thank you," Her eyes stung a little. It was either because for once she wasn't going to sleep on an empty stomach, or because of her friend's act of kindness. Maybe it was both.

When she pulled away, she noticed that Aurora's cheek was a shade darker than the rest of her face, something that she couldn't have seen before, back at the lair. Zara gently tilted Aurora's head to one side, examining it further.

"W-what are you doing?" Aurora stammered, attempting to stagger away. But Zara maintained her stance, her hand moving to Aurora' collar when she saw a cut in the nape of her neck. It wasn't too big, and it was already scabbing, but it was still there.

"What happened to your face? And your neck?" Zara bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from losing control and yelling at Aurora. Her friend was hurt; who could have done this to her? The darker her thoughts became, the angrier she got. She wanted to grab Aurora and shake the information out of her, but she clutched her sweater to prevent herself from doing so.

"It's—it's nothing! I swear!" The girl's lower lip trembled, and she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Oh Jesus, no, please.

"Please Aurora, tell me," Zara said more gently, her eyes softening. It killed her inside to see her friend like this, broken. The more she stared at that cheek, the more bruised it appeared—not even foundation or blending could conceal it once it was uncovered.

Something seemed to flash across Aurora's watery eyes, but she turned away, her hair whipping Zara across the face, and stalked towards the cashier. She started to chuck the food onto the belt, the poor man behind the cash register begging her to slow down.

"What are you hiding Aurora? You have to tell me!"

Aurora motioned to the cashier to get a move on, but the fool continued at his own pace, picking the objects up one at a time and placing them inside the plastic bags. Before he could finish Aurora had her wallet out, and she slammed a hundred dollar bill in front of him. She finished dumping the goods in the bags herself, and hastily made her way towards the glass door. She was about to push it open but Zara stepped in front of it, blocking her friend in her tracks.

"You're going to tell me what's going on right now. Or you're going to have to set up camp here, because I'm not letting you leave. And you—" She turned towards the cashier, "Don't you fucking dare to call the police or I'm shoving your head into that damn cash register! We already paid, what the hell do you want?!" Zara was fuming; she could barely see straight. She was sick of her friend trying to hide things from her, she wanted answers, now.

"Okay. I'll talk," Aurora murmured. With great difficulty, she lifted a bag up to chest-level. Zara froze but then snatched it from her, her eyes never leaving her friend's. "But let's go before Skeletor here has a fit." Zara nodded and glared at the worker, disintegrating him in his place. She then kicked the door open and the two sauntered out.

"I've been trying to tell you about this for a while, but something always seemed to come up," Aurora laughed, but it sounded strained and humourless. "It's about my parents."

Her parents. Yes, of course. It had been brought up twice now but they had never gotten the chance to talk about it with everything that's been happening and all. "Are you telling me that they are the ones that have done this to your face?" Zara gestured, entirely unconvinced.

"Wait, let me explain," Aurora coughed, shifting the bag from one hand to the other, "Dad came back from Thailand last week—have I told you this already?"

Zara shook her head.

"Well, he decided to call up the school to find out how I'm doing and everything," she snorted, "trying to be a good dad and shit. He asked about my grades and..."

"They're crappy, aren't they?"

"Yeah," her nose wrinkled, along with the sides of her eyes. "Really crappy. I'm passing most of my subjects, but I'm failing Math. You know how bad I am at it," And she really was. She was taking the easiest Math course offered, but she was still doing badly. Some people either have it or they don't. "So when he found out, he threw this massive fit. He even called Mom!"

The explanation was slowly building up—they were all just words to her ears, what she really wanted to know was how her face got jacked up like that.

"He put the phone on loudspeaker so she could yell at me as well. The two of them were just going at it for about an hour before I was like, you know what? I'm done! What gives them the right to be mad like that at me when they're never there! It's not that I can be like, 'hey Dad. I don't get this question. Can you please help me with it?' No it's all about management, and revenues, and profits, and all that other shit which doesn't have anything to do with his daughter! How can a man take better care of a hotel chain than his own daughter huh?"

Zara shrugged, unable to answer. At this point it was better to just let her friend vent—as anything said could be taken the wrong way.

"Anyway," Aurora flicked her hair over her shoulder and huffed, collecting her thoughts, "I gave him a piece of my mind. I was at that stage where I was like fuck it. It's now or never. Little did I know that he was going to slap the shit out of me—"

Things didn't seem to add up. Zara had met the man once, a couple of years back, at a sleepover at Aurora's place. He seemed like a good man, a good father that despite being overstretched at his work tried his best to be there for his daughter. The picture Aurora had painted of him was so different than what Zara had seen with her own eyes that she struggled to believe her friend's words. But then again, people behave differently in public than they do behind closed doors.

Additionally, if he had come a week ago, why hadn't he investigated earlier? It all didn't make sense, but Zara thought better of it. The thing about her parents may have been true, but not the reason behind the bruise on her face.

The two reached the apartment building and Zara placed her bags on the ground to search for her house keys.

"He told me that I was an ingrate and didn't deserve everything I had and that there are people out there who would kill for what I have blah blah blah. I decided that I couldn't take it anymore, so I packed my shit and left. That's abuse what my parents do to me, you know? I read about it in a magazine; isolation, neglect, emotional abandonment...the whole lot."

Oh Aurora. You wouldn't know what abuse was if it slapped you in the face.

Zara slipped the key into the lock and pulled the door open, letting Aurora walk in first. She followed suit, allowing the familiar stench of mould and feet to envelop her. They climbed the stairs in silence, each of them lost their own thoughts.

"When is Simon going to come back?" Aurora inquired as Zara unlocked the door to her apartment.

"No idea," She shouldered it open and walked in, flicking the light switch on with her elbow, "Make yourself at home. If you want to take a shower, beware of the hot water tap, it will strike when you least expect it."

Aurora tentatively made her way into the shoe-box of the apartment—when they had dropped their bags she had only been able to see the bitesized hallway. She managed to find her way to the kitchen and swung the bags onto the rickety table, pulling out the food items and putting them away.

Meanwhile, Zara shut the door, locked and bolted it, then also made her way to the kitchen, surprised at seeing Aurora helping out. It was like something inside of her had changed; the fact that she had even agreed to stay over at Zara's place in the first place was bewildering. But now? Not only had she paid for supplies, but was also putting them away, despite the dwelling being beneath her own standards. Maybe she felt guilty about something and was trying to make amends.

"Hey, there's a squat party tomorrow night, and I don't want to go alone," Aurora balled up the empty plastic bags and put them inside of one another.

"Okay...invite someone. Orion would be keen."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "I wanted you to come with me, dummy."

Zara looked up from her rummaging, her brows furrowing together. Up to a moment ago this girl was complaining and now she wanted to go to a party? Sheesh.

"I'd love to go, but I'm working tomorrow," She said sadly, jutting her lower lip for added effect.

"Since when do you have a job?" Aurora pronounced 'job' like it was something disgusting.

"Since two weeks ago," Zara had taken up a position as a waitress at a diner downtown. She didn't get paid much, but it was better than just stealing stuff all the time. Zara knew that she couldn't continue thieving for a living in the long run, so what better way to build work experience than actually working?

"Well, at what time do you finish?"

Zara sighed. She wasn't going to let go that easily, was she? In the back of her mind, she debated whether to lie to her not. "Ten."

"Great! The party starts at midnight and goes on all night. You never want to be the first one there, otherwise the line to get in will be huge."

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"Do I really have to go with you?" It's not that Zara hated going out and getting drunk. But after that encounter with Max she hadn't touched a drop of alcohol since. What if someone was out to get her again? "I don't have any party clothes or anything. I'd stand out like a sore thumb."

"Oh don't worry about that, I have plenty. We're the same size right? Of course we are," Aurora was prancing around now, as giddy as a little girl with a new doll. Zara was to be her doll, if she were to accept Aurora's invitation. "So will you come? Please?"

Zara made the mistake to look at her friend, who was making puppy eyes at her and pouting. After work she'd be dead tired, and would probably pass out the moment she got home, but after giving Aurora a second look, and ignoring her pleads, she knew that it would be wrong for her to let her friend go to a place like that on her own. Who knows what kind of drugs floated around there? The place was absolutely wild.

"Okay okay. I'll go with you, but only if you stop making that stupid face at me."

Aurora squealed with joy and jumped onto Zara, crushing her in a bearhug. 

-:-