Velvet woke up, wondering where she was. And more importantly.
Where's Carlos??? She thought frantically. But she gradually began gaining her memories of the last day.

She heard Avery arousing from sleep, and her groggy voice call her name. "Vel? You up?" Avery asked, sleepily turning around to face her. "What time is it?" She asked herself, looking at the watch around her wrist.

"FRICK IT'S 8:30! WE GOTTA GO AT 9:00!" Velvet looked at her with a confused look. "What?"

"Church!" She said, running to the bathroom in a rush.

Church? Oh yeah. Jaiden was saying something about that yesterday. People usually wear fancy things there so maybe I should to? I'll ask Avery.

Velvet went to the bathroom door and knocked. She heard the shower starting up. "Hey Ave, should and can I wear one of your dresses?"

"Yeah of course! Also you don't HAVE to, but you probably should. You can pick any one you want, I don't really care." Velvet nodded, and went to the closet. She ended up picking a velvet fabric dress with pearls lined on the waistline. The sleeves were long.

Velvet changed in the closet, as there was a changing room beside the entrance to the observatory. When she decided she looked half decent, she went out and saw that Avery was out and most likely downstairs.

Velvet did all that was needed in the bathroom, before going downstairs for breakfast.

She saw that Aunt Skyla was there along with Avery, Jack, and Carlos.

"Good morning Lady Velvet! I don't understand how you got up Carlos when you lived in the hotel, he sleeps like a rock! It took me ten minutes for me to get him up!"

"Sounds about right," Velvet responded, laughing at Carlos's face which was red from embarrassment so much that he looked like a tomato.

Aunt Skyla patted the seat next to her and in front of Avery and Jack. "Have you ever been to church before?" She asked when she sat down and started for her oatmeal.

"Um... I have once or twice... Until they kicked us out. It's actually a funny story."

"Ooh, do tell!" Aunt Skyla said, laughing.

"Ok, so me and Carlos walked in, and I dropped him off at the nursery as he was still a bout 5 or 6. Then the girl in there said "He can't be in here." So I was like "Why?" Then she said "We don't take in children over the age of 4." So then I got VERY mad and argued with her until security had to drag me and Carlos out. "

"Wow. That's the dumbest reason ever." Avery commented.

"Yeah, I know right. I found another church eventually, but everyone there was super rude to us, so we didn't go that many times."

"Wow... I'm really sorry Vel... I can assure you that this church isn't like those. Everyone is super nice! And you'll even meet some of Averys friends!"

"Really? I really want to meet them! Will Jaiden be there like he said he would?"

"He should be, unless he got sick." Avery responded. "Whhyyy? You looove him???" She said cheekily. Velvet blushed and laughed. "No! Avery, we just met. I wouldn't develop feelings for someone that I just met."

"You suuure?" She said, batting her eyelashes. Velvet laughed. "Positive."

"Okaaay, but I'm watching you two." She said suspiciously. Velvet rolled her eyes, going back to her breakfast.
~•~•~•~
"Ladies and gentleman, let's go!" Aunt Skyla called from the limo. They all rushed to the long car, and got in. "How long does it take to get there?" Carlos asked. "Eh, not to long. About 20 to 30 minutes."

"Aww, that's so long!" Velvet pat his head. "I'm sure you'll survive Bear." She said, laughing. "But I wooon't!" He said, huffing. "But I'll be so sad! I won't have my fun buddy!" Velvet said with puppy dog eyes. Carlos sighed. "Fiiine, I guess I can survive for 20."

"10 now!" Aunt Skyla called from the front seat. "Yay!" He said.
~•~•~•~
They pulled up to a decently sized white building with a bell tower and a cross in the front lawn. There was also something... Peculiar... There was a rainbow flag held high and proudly in the sky by a pole. Huh... She thought to herself. "Yeah... This church is really accepting. The councilors are really understanding, they've helped me a lot when no one could or wanted to."

Sounds like a really good church. Not at all like the other two.

"Come on Vel! Let's go!" Carlos said, dragging Velvet into the church with him. This was when she started panicking again.
What if they don't like me? What if they yell at me? What if they do something to me? What if the church doesn't accept me? What if THEY hate me? What if the boys are here? What if-
"Velvet? Carlos???!" A voice called from inside. It was so familiar. As Velvet walked in, she saw
Jason!

"Jason!!" Carlos and Velvet both tackled him with a hug. "Hey kiddos! I missed y'all! When Vel didn't come over, I was very worried. So when I went over to your home and saw y'all weren't there, I thought you guys disappeared like your parents. I didn't know what to do. You guys are like family to me. I couldn't lose you guys. So I planned on going to the police station if Vel didn't show up on Monday."

"Uncle Jason? How do you know Red and Carlos?" Velvet looked over and saw Jaiden looking at them. "I helped them out when they were homeless. With money and food from my shop." Jason responded, smiling gently at Vel.
Dang it. Jaiden didn't know that about me.
"Homeless?" He said, looking at the two with a pitying expression.
"Um... Yeah..." Velvet responded, looking at her feet. "I-I never knew... I'm sorry..." He ran over to them and have them both a very tight hug. "I'm glad y'all aren't in that position anymore and have someone who actually takes care of you." Jaiden said, hugging them a little tighter. "I am to..." She said softly. "It was really hard... And my boss didn't help any..." She mumbled under her breath.

"Hey, you Velvet?" A dirty brown haired girl asked her. She had this really chill vibe, and looked to be around her age. Her eyes were a hazel color, and her hair was very messy. She wore a mask with a small rainbow design on the corner of it, and she had a red drawstring hoodie.

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"Oh it's good it's you, I was afraid that you wouldn't be and we would both be panicking not knowing what to do next, hah. But that didn't happen! So hi! My name is Tori, Avery's told me a lot about you! And you don't seem like a jerk, so we can be friends. If you want to of course." She said, holding her hand out for Velvet to shake. "Um, hi! Avery's told me a lot about you to, also your mask looks super cool!" She took Tori's hand and shook it, as Tori laughed. "Thanks my dude!"

"Anytime!" Velvet laughed. Tori made her feel comfortable. She had a feeling they were gonna get along just fine. "Oh! You need to meet my bro and sis! Hang on, I'll be right back." And with that, she left to her row. She saw Jaiden, his mom, and Jason in the same row of her family and Toris in front of them. Wait. Did she say sister? -

"This is Mi-Mi and Erin!" Tori said, bringing her attention to a tall and muscular male and a very small child. Erin had messy black hair, and he was VERY tall compared to Velvet. His eyes were green, and his face was speckled with freckles. His mouth was covered by a pitch black mask. Mi-Mi was very small and adorable! Although she looked very shy and uncomfortable. She looked to be the age of Carlos. She had curly black hair with chocolate brown eyes. Her mask had a heart on it, and she was wearing a rainbow tye-dye jacket.

"H-hi..." AWE SHE HAS A STUTTER LIKE MEEE! SHES SO CUTE!

"Hey there, what's your name sweetie?" Velvet bent down to get to eyelevel with her. "U-um... M-my name i-is M-Mi-mi... What's yours?" She said, looking down. "My name is Velvet, it's very nice to meet you Mi-mi." She said, smiling. "You to Velvet..."

"You should see her when she's home. She's a ball of energy then!"

"We should get her and Carlos to meet! They seem like they could be friends. Carlos is my brother by the way." Velvet told Tori as Mi-mi went back to her seat and started drawing.

"And this chicken nugget is Erin! Say hi Erin!"

"Don't you dare call me that again or I will kill you." Erin growled.

"Awh, I'm sure you will! Just introduce yourself to her!"

"Fine. Hey, I'm Erin. But you already know that. But I don't know your name, so what is it?"

"I'm Velvet. Nice to meet you Erin. I really like your mask!" His face lit up, and he started telling her the origin story of him and his mask. When he finished, Velvet was left speechless.

"T-that's cool. Do you have any idea how I could get one?" She asked. "There's lots of places you could look. Literally and figuratively. But if your hinting that you want ME to get you one... I might be able to find one somewhere in our house."

"Thanks! Just tell me how much it is-"

"Non, your good for free." Velvet was surprised. "Thanks!"

"Its no problem really." He nodded at Velvet, his eyes indicating that he was smiling at least a little, and made his way to the piano in the corner next to the stage for the service. Why's he there? "Hey Tori, why'd he go to the piano?"

"He plays the piano right before and after church starts. It signals that we have 5 minutes until service starts. So we'd better sit down." Tori went to her row and sat next to Mi-mi, while Velvet plopped on the middle of Avery and Jaiden.
~•~•~•~
Church was over, and Jaiden was going home with them. He said that his mom was working on the bills so he couldn't stay home.
Velvet was right about her assumption that Carlos and Mi-mi would make good friends. They ended up talking a bit after church, and now they set up a date for him to go to her house after school the next day.

On the way home, Velvet learned that she was now going to go to school. Her aunt had signed her up the last night. Velvet was scared. She had never been to school before and always relied on her instincts.

"Hey, I'm sure you'll love it there!" Jaiden nudged her. "How did you-"

"I can just tell." He said mysteriously. Velvet rolled her eyes. "Ok mister mysterious!" Jaiden laughed then looked at her seriously. "When we get home, I've gotta talk to you about something privately."

"Ok...?" Jaiden nodded, then turned towards the window again like Avery.

All of a sudden, there was a GIGANTIC bump, that sent Velvet falling onto Jaiden, as she wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Velvet blushed, and mumbled sorry, and tried to get up, but she felt Jaiden pat her head, that was on his lap, urging her to stay. So she did. And she eventually fell into a deep sleep.
~•~•~•~
(WARNING SELF HARM)
"Hey Red," Velvet woke up to someone stroking her hair. As Velvet eyes fluttered open, she remembered what just happened, and sat upright like a flash of lightning. "S-sorry!" She said, flustered. Jaiden laughed. "Its totally fine! Don't apologize! You're actually really cute when you sleep, you know that?" Velvets face heat up. "W-what??" He chuckled. "You heard me." He whispered in her ear. A shiver ran up her spine.

"Come on you two love birds!" Velvet heard Averys voice come from the open door of the limo. She immediately got up, and ran towards her home. She could hear Jaiden sigh and follow behind them.

"So I'm thinking we torture Jaiden by giving him a makeover. And you, cause why not???" Velvet giggled at the thought. "We should!" Velvet and Avery laughed evily.

When they got inside, she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Red, can we talk somewhere in private?" Velvet looked at Avery, and she nodded and mouthed "go get your mans!" Velvet hadn't an idea what that ment, but she could piece it together. "Sure, let's go to one of the indoor pools." She started to walk up the stairs, but then felt a tug on her shirt. "Uh, your going the wrong way Red." Jaiden said, pointing her to the right staircase. She suddenly felt very embarrassed that a boy knows his way around this maze better than herself.

They were in the pool room, and we're sitting next to the water in silence.

"What is it you need?" Velvet asked him. "I wanna know what they did to you. And what you did to cope. And if you still use that method today. I also want to talk to you about Avery." He said all of this confidently, staring into the water. Velvet immediately know a what he ment about "coping" and her "method" to do it.

"I used to. Until your uncle found them." She pulled up her velvet sleeved sleeve, which showed many scars on her wrist and forearm. "I have more on my shoulders and thighs." Jaiden was staring at them. "And your sure you don't do this anymore."

"Positive." She said, smiling sweetly at him. "I don't break my promises." She said confidently. "And what about you?" He shifted from his position uncomfortably. "I... I used to to. But this isn't about me. This is about you."

"Subjects can change easily." Velvet remarked, pulling up his sleeve, and turning his forearm over. There lay very deep scars. Velvet gasped. "These are so deep! Why in hell did you ever do this??? Do you have any recent ones on your shoulders or thighs???" She asked, holding his head in her hands. "I... I have one or two on my shoulders..." Velvet immediately unbuttoned his long sleeved tux. Thankfully, he was wearing a white shirt underneath. She pulled the sleeves up slightly on the shirt, and it revealed some very nasty fresh cuts. Velvet sighed.

"Why did you do this Jay?" He started sobbing uncontrollably. She took him into her arms, and he clung onto her. "M-mom... She's so MEAN. She hates me, and I don't know what I did wrong??? I keep trying to get her to love me, but it won't work! She just hates me! She blames our money on me... And I do to... Maybe if I died... Things wouldn't be as hard for her... Then there's Avery... I don't help her... I only hurts her... And I HATE that..." He cried even harder, his breathing getting sloppy. "Hey, first of all, breath. Breath into your nose. And out your mouth. Hold each breath for 1 second longer than the last. Second. Don't you DARE think that the money problem is because of you. And don't even THINK you should look yourself. It'll just cause so much pain. Ok? Please don't think that. Ever." He started to do the breathing she suggested, and eventually, he stopped all together and cleared his throat.

"Now, tell me about Avery."

"Not after you tell me what they did to you."

"How do you know someone did something to me?"

"Cause people always do something to people like you." Velvet sighed. "Fine. My boss was abusive. And two boys almost raped me before my aunt came and saved me." Jaiden looked like he was about to kill someone. "What are their names." His face was scary. "J-Jaiden, it's ok! I'm ok! And they're both gone now!"

"That still doesn't make up for what they did to you!"

"No it doesn't... My bosses name was Rick... And I don't remember the boys names." She lied. "Hm.. Ok. If you ever feel like remembering, tell me." He said. Damn. How did he read me so fast??? Is he just that good?

"Now tell me what's wrong with Avery."

"I think she's been cutting." Velvet was shocked. "Why do you think that???"

"She's been wearing long sleeves for a while now and her happiness seems... Forced..." Velvet could definitely see that. "I'll talk to her about it, I promise. Now As for YOUR cuts." Velvet started, getting up from the edge of the pool and towards the med kit on the wall.  Jaiden looked guilty as she cleaned up his wounds. "Listen. I know you can't stop that easily. But at least do it less. Can you do that for me?" Velvet asked.

"Of course... And... Thanks for understanding..." Velvet smiled.

"Anytime! Now let's get to Avery before she begins to think we've been doing other... Stuff... Down here." Jaiden laughed. "Yeah, lets."
~•~•~•~