I softly groaned from the morning light reflecting on me from the balcony doors. I in no way wanted to get up and start the day. Because I knew it would be just like every day usually is within our household. Hell on earth.

"Ana! It's time to get up! I better hear your feet on that ground pronto. No playing around." I rolled my eyes with my covers softly splayed out around me from the rough night of sleep I managed to get. I had stayed up most of the night getting caught up on school work I needed to have done. Moving us in the middle of my senior year was a horrible decision. I looked at the clock on my desk and noted the time was 5:30. So only a mere 3 hours is what I managed to sleep. Great.

"Good morning Ana!" Ava suddenly burst through my door with our father following closely behind, seeming to asses everything he came across. He checked my school work. He checked my room entirely. The whole time I hugged Ava he was walking around as if he was going to find something hidden within the walls of my room.

"Morning sunshine. I see you've done all your work. Good. Keep that up and by the end of the school year, every Ivy League college will be begging to have you." I simply smiled with a nod to appease him, not really wanting to talk about that subject.

"Now go down and get ready for breakfast Ava. Helen has made some amazing pancakes." Helen was hired to do the house work. She does just about everything. Of course I help her out when I can. This is a huge house for just one person to look after. Besides, she's really sweet and already feels like family.

"Now as for you Ana. Remember what I said at the Menendez house. Schooling is your top priority. Your future is your top priority. No distractions can occur. Because you know what happens when you don't follow orders. Don't you....?" He slowly walked towards me with the most hate filled look I've ever seen on his face. He has been so angry about something, more than the usual anger he seems to hold.

"Yes sir.... I know." He lifted my arm into clear view, showing the very visible bruises from a couple days ago. Suddenly, he applied as much pressure as he could muster, sending a loud gasp from my now trembling lips. The pain was horrible. You would think I would be used to it. But no.

"Get dressed." And with that, he left me to my own devices. And my mind swarming with angry thoughts. I finally grabbed whatever I possibly felt like wearing today and went to the bathroom to fix my hair and makeup. My eyes looked sunk in and I just wanted to crawl back into bed. But my mind wandered to the boys next door.
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"Ah. There she is. Hello sweetheart." My mom softly kissed me with a smile, when my eyes landed on someone I didn't expect to see sitting at our dining table.

"Hey Ana." Erik grinned at me with a little look exchanged between us that no one seemed to notice. My dad was casually reading the paper with his usual cup of coffee sitting idly next to him. He didn't seem bothered. And it worries me.

"Hey Erik! You started pancakes without me? Trader...." He chuckled a little as I finally sat down next to him with my plate and orange juice to go with it.

"I can't help it that Helen makes the best ones I've ever eaten." I nudged him in humor, suddenly noting a stack of papers sitting next to him from school.

"Now Erik here volunteered to help get you caught up quicker on schooling. I agreed. But that's it. You need to do your best. More than your best. No playing around. Understand?" My father smiled as if he was trying to come off nice and polite on the whole matter. But the underlying look of stern and cruelty he always displays was there. I simply smiled, taking a sip of my drink, eyeing Erik to see his little smile directed at me. My parents had no idea we have been hanging out so much. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now to tell the tale.

"Okay. I'm off to work. Jose and I need to go over formalities to get this partnership officially kicked off. I will be home by 7." He eyed me, before going to grab his things from his study and leaving us to finally breathe. My mother already left with Ava to take her to school and start her day. She was having a little wives day with Kitty to get to know each other better.

"Holy crap Erik..... I don't think I've ever held my breath longer than this morning. I saw you sitting there and about flipped." He suddenly burst into laughter from the mere look of panic on my face.

"Well breathe. I need you alive don't I?" We both grinned, gathering up our plates and helping Helen out before going upstairs to grab my book bag and papers from my room.

"If I get anymore papers to do, I will drown in them. Promise to save me?" He smiled that cute smile of his with a nod, before I went out to the balcony to grab my sweater for school my dad insists I keep to cover myself. Not that I ever wear it.

"Be reasonable Lyle!! Don't throw your whole life away!! All these tickets are ridiculous!! And school?! I mean, can you do anything right?" My eyes widened from the sudden sight of Lyle and Jose down on the tennis court next door, seeing Jose suddenly thump Lyle in the back of the head so roughly that I flinched. Jose finally went back inside, leaving Lyle out there alone. He flung his tennis racket across the court in anger. But before I could manage to scream out to him, Erik pulled me back inside with a pleading look on his face. He looked.... scared.

"It's okay Ana. My dad just loses his temper every now and then. He..... He doesn't mean to be violent. He's just hard on us." Even though I heard his words, I knew they weren't entirely true. He looked visibly worried.

"Well shouldn't we check on Lyle? He looked hurt Erik." I couldn't get the image out of my mind of how hard Jose hit him. And his screaming was unbelievable. It sounded like he was in my house!

"I uh.... I can go see okay? Just wait for me by my car." I reluctantly followed him downstairs and out of my house to stand against his car, sitting my bag inside beforehand. I didn't want to go to school what so ever. But knowing my dad had ways of seeing if I was there or not. It seemed like forever before I finally saw Erik and Lyle both coming towards me, acting as if nothing was wrong. I noticed my now visible scaring and panicked, quickly covering my arms before they saw. I couldn't tell them.

"Hey Ana banana! Looking good this morning for school." Lyle winked at me as he softly hugged me, seeming to linger on the hug longer than expected.

"I'm fine Ana. It's all under control..." His whispered words into my ear took me by surprise, almost like he didn't want Erik to hear. But we finally broke apart to get going. Lyle was meeting with his girlfriend and Erik and I had to go before someone noticed we weren't at school. The whole drive there was silent for the most part. But I took the silence to just study Erik and his features. He was incredibly good looking and didn't really seem to notice. He was wearing his glasses today and looked so handsome with them on. We finally parked once getting to Beverly Hills High, not getting out of the car right away.

"You know Erik, I'm lucky to have met you and Lyle. I've never actually had close friends. I've never been 'permitted' to." I rolled my eyes with a laugh from air quotes on permitted, seeing a smile crack on his face in understanding.

"Me too. It's a distraction from more important things. Or so I'm told." We nodded in agreement with one another, still lingering in the safety of his car. I knew eventually we would have to face the music. But I honestly never wanted to leave. My sanity was seemingly gone by this point with the constant rules and controlling manner of my father. I didn't want to be perfect. Not by a long shot.