The Music Of Loving You

11. Family Matters

I stood outside watching for Tiffany. All she'd said was that she needed my help and that she needed a place to stay the night. Now, watching headlights drag through the humid night and the moon jumping between clouds, I was beginning to wonder if she would come. Then, a figure appeared in the dim yellow of a street light. Her blonde hair messy and sticking up everywhere, her eyes tired but gleaming with tears. This was Tiffany, reduced to nothing but fear.

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Tiffany sat quietly on the floor as I wrapped her arm. Four scratches ran down her right arm. She hadn't said anything so I was left to believe that someone had scratched her with their nails. Beyond that, she had a bruised cheek and a clump of missing hair. When I was washing the dirt off her face she randomly burst into tears and I hugged her until she settled down to hiccuping breathes. I had no idea what had happened, but I was going to find out, no matter what.

After Tiffany was all cleaned up, I make a bed on the floor for her.

I poked her shoulder. She looked up at me, then at the blankets. She lay down in the pile and soon her eyes drooped and she was asleep.

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I'd woken up early this morning in an attempt to find out more about Tiffany and Ocean's families. Oddly enough, although I found a lot of information about Don Farfield, but almost nothing about Michael Cooper, Ocean's Dad. Don knew a lot of big company owners, but I'd never heard of any of them. Such as DeLorean Motor Co. The company went bankrupt despite how well-known they were. He paid three visits to John DeLorean, the owner, a few months before his company closed. I searched for John DeLorean and found an article that stated that he loved to gamble. The article suggested that John had gambled all his money and lost. But John swore that he always kept a limit on how much he was willing to gamble.

As far as my research on Tiffany Nova went, all I found was a blog set up by someone who claimed to be her sister. The account name was Bella Nova and she had a screenshot of girl that held a slight resemblance to Tiffany.

Tiffany woke up an hour later. Considering the chaos last night, I'd thought it would be better if she skipped school, but from the moment Tiffany opened her eyes she was determined to go to school.

"Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather just stay here?" I'd asked her. (I'd scribbled it on a post-it note)

"No! They'll get suspicious if I don't go, have to go" she stated stubbornly.

"Who's they?" I wrote. Tiffany was quiet for a moment before she answered.

"My sisters; Bella and Eleanor"

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School went by as usual. Tiffany and her group of moody preps chatted over salad and fruit in the cafeteria and I'd tucked myself away at a table with some other random kids. We all had headphones in so we could avoid the awkwardness of trying to talk to each other.

I'd been attempting to consider the fact that maybe Tiffany's sisters had hurt Tiffany, but I kept getting distracted.

I sighed, everything reminded me of Jackson. Every guy who had dark hair made me do a double take, in every class I swore I heard his laugh, and I could just imagine his half smile as we used to glance at each other in the hallway. It was like everything was ours, every moment was there because of him. Which only made that pain in my heart grow.

"Millie?" Someone said. I jerked my head around to see a girl standing beside me. Her face was hidden in her hood and her voice was soft. She took the hood off and my jaw dropped as I saw who was underneath.

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