As the rain continued to beat down on the car Scarlett and Fez just sat there. It wasn't until Scarlett broke the silence that Fez turned to look at her. "So I guess you heard everything, huh?" Scarlett asked. Fez just nodded in response. "Do you hate me for it ?" Her voice cracked when she asked. "What? God no Scar you're the strongest person I know." He responded gripping her hand harder. She gave a slight smile and nodded. "Do you have any questions?" She asked. "Is he in jail?" Fez questioned. "Not as far as I know. After I got released from the hospital we spent like two nights in a motel while my mom searched for places online to rent. The cheapest house was here so that's where we went. As far as I know it was only my mom, me and those girls that know. I doubt any of them would tell. He probably has something over them or they think that they're in love."She told him. "He could go down for so much shit though assault, statutory, I mean everything." Fez told her. "Yeah he could. If anyone told. But they won't. My moms too scared he'll take Sammy away and I just never want to see his face again. I'm sure those girls are too afraid to ever say anything." She said, a tear falling down her face. "How old were you when it started? I'm sorry you don't have to answer that." He said. "No it feels good to talk about it. I've never told anyone before."she thought for a moment. "Well they got married when I was like 7 and when they were dating he was amazing. I guess the first time he ever laid a hand on me I was eleven. Maybe twelve. It wasn't often at all but when he lost his temper it was bad. My mom would make me stay home from school for days so no one would ask questions about my bruises." She told him. "I swear on my life Scarlett if I ever see him I'll kill him." Fez said and when Scarlett looked at him she could tell he wasn't joking. "No. If I ever get to the chance to I want to do it myself." Fez could see in her face she was serious. Scarlett couldn't hurt a fly. She didn't even eat meat because she saw a video once when she was 13 about the meat industry and she cried for 3 days straight and never ate it again. But Fez knew she would do it if she could. It scared him to think that man was still out there in the world somewhere but he knew he should probably stop asking questions. She had shared enough and he felt honored that she trusted him enough to tell him any of it. The rain had let up so they decided to go inside and go to sleep.
The next morning they decided to take the day to lay in bed and watch TV. Fez told Ashtray that he needed to stay home with Scarlett and Ash didn't seem to mind much. Fez was starting to think that maybe Scarlett should be with him. They had never formally talked about what they were but they acted like they were together and they both knew their feeling for each other were mutual. But Fez couldn't help but think that them being together was putting Scarlett in more danger than he had realized. Fez knew he would protect her from mouse but he now knew she was already fighting other battles and he didn't want to add to that. Scarlett had only gotten out of that situation less than two months ago and he didn't know if being with him would be more harming than good. He knew Scarlett would disagree with what he was thinking but it hadn't left his head since last night.
Almost a week had passed and Fez still was unable to get the same thoughts out of his head. Scarlett was finally starting to be okay again. She was laughing, she was hanging out with her friends and even spent the night at Jules's house last night. She was coming to the convenient store in 15 minutes so Fez started helping Ashtray wrap up his work. When he was placing money into the designated bag, while Ashtray was putting something in the car, he heard his phone ring, and thinking it was Scarlett he picked it up on the second ring. "Fezzy! My boy! Just calling to let you know I'm coming by tonight to collect my money." Mouse began. "Uh Ion know man tonight's not a good night for me." Fez told him reluctantly knowing mouse's temper. "It's a good night if I say it is. You and that hot lil chica still a thing? I'd like to see her tonight I have something I might want to show her." Mouse laughed through the phone but Fez was quick to respond. "Nah man we stopped hangin out a couple weeks ago. You know how that shit goes.. hit it and quit it." The words coming out of his own mouth disgusted Fez. He wasn't that guy and he didn't want to be but this was about keeping Scarlett safe. "Alright alright don't get to pressed Fez. And don't lie to me boy you know I got eyes everywhere. If you be lying to me I might just have to take her away from you. Maybe before that though I'd have a lil fun with her first" Mouse said. "I ain't." Fez interrupted the words leaving Mouse's mouth made him nauseous . "Alright then Fezco I'll see you tonight." Mouse hung up leaving Fez to sit with his own thoughts. Mouse was right, he had people everywhere. And that night Fez hadn't lied when he said these weren't the type of people to be messing with.
A couple minutes later Scarlett walked through the door. "Hello" She sung as she entered the "fridge". Fez's heart wouldn't stop racing and he didn't want to do what he knew he had to do. "Scar we gotta talk" he told her. "Okay? What's up?" Fez hesitated wondering if this was the right thing to do. Scarlett had to be kept safe and that was all he kept saying to himself. He came up with the words as he went along. "Listen i didn't mean to give you the wrong idea. I just realized I ain't that into you anymore. You been holding out on me too long and spendin this much time working for it ain't the way I do things." He said. There was silence for a few seconds. "I can't tell if your joking." Scarlett responded slowly. "Look I was into you but I ain't feelin it anymore. It just ain't worth my time." He told her shrugging his shoulders. She starred at him for a while trying to process what Fez was saying. This wasn't the Fez she knew and everything had felt so real. Maybe this was just a game and she hadn't realized it. She must've missed the clues. He had played her. She had trusted him and it was all just a ruse so he could get her in bed. "I don't understand. Why would you do all the shit you did if you didn't care about me? What did I do Fez? Seriously tell me." She could feel her eyes welling up. Fez knew he had to say something to make her believe him. Something that wouldn't make her want to show up at his place later to talk things out. Something that would cut deep. He knew if Mouse figured it out both their lives would be in danger. He took in a deep breath and met her eyes. "Your just not worth the trouble." He could audibly hear her suck in a breath. She nodded with tears streaming down her face. "Sorry to waste your time." She whispered and with that she left the fridge passing Ashtray and ran down the street. After about four blocks of straight running Scarlett slowed to a stop and tried listening to her own breathing to calm down. It didn't work. She walked to the side of an office building and leaned against it. Fez's words kept running through her head but the last thing he said echoed in her mind. Scarlett had spent a lot of time feeling unworthy. It was the one thing that this town had given her and she knew it was because of Fez but also her friends here. They all made her feel worthy. That was up until now. Scarlett let out a sob and started sliding her back down the wall she was leaning on until she reached the ground. She sat there for a while sobbing uncontrollably until she realized she had no place to go. She couldn't go home, even though all this had happened it didn't change the night where her mother and her had dredged up the past in the worst way possible. She started to call every single friend she had in this town and Cassie was the first to pick up.
Cassie has told Scarlett she was more than welcome to stay at her house as long as she wanted. Scarlett told her the bare minimum she had to in order to update Cassie on her situation at the moment. That night Cassie, Lexie and Scarlett raided their moms wine cabinet and Scarlett ended up drinking a bottle and a half of red wine. It was clear their mom wouldn't be able to decipher what she had drank on her own versus the girls. On the second day Cassie stayed home from school and they finished off most of the left over vodka in Cassie's hiding place. That night Cassie FaceTimed McKay which made Scarlett excuse herself to take a shower where she actually just turned on the water and cried for 30 minutes straight. Cassie was a little too drunk and a little too in love to realize that Scarlett's face looked like she had been crying. The next day Scarlett, Maddy and Cassie smoked the rest of the weed Scarlett had on her. It was enough for the three of them to end up raiding Maddy's pantry to the point of emptiness and drinking all the water bottles she had left. The fourth day Scarlett had yet to go to school. She woke up around 2pm and when she realized she had to stop drinking other peoples alcohol she started down Cassie's street to the corner store. She sat on the curb for a while thinking over her plan and when she saw a man who was probably middle aged with grey hair approach the store she put her plan into action. "Excuse me sir?" Scarlett said towards the man. He looked her way his eyebrows raised. "I know this sounds funny but my mom sent me to get um," she looked down at her phone as if she was looking at a text message, "higher end vodka for her dinner party tonight and she gave me the money and everything but the new worker inside won't let me buy it even though the owner knows my mom and she's just gonna be so mad at me if I don't do what she asks." The man stood there for a minute taking her in. Maybe he was looking at her attitude, maybe it was her outfit, maybe it was the way she was twirling her hair but he just nodded and took the cash from her. "A handle of Tito's okay?" He rasped. Scarlett smiled at him and nodded her head. As he went inside Scarlett tried to hide from the clerk so the guy didn't think she was lying. At the time Scarlett didn't know this but the man was Cal Jacobs. She knew about him based on how Jules called the whole family "scary" but she had never met him so she had no idea this was the man Jules was so afraid of. The man walked to the side of the building handing her the bag. "Keep the change." He said handing her back her money. Scarlett just smiled at him telling him thank you and that her mother would really appreciate it and watched him walk to his car and drive away. Scarlett mentally fist bumped herself for her amazing plan and headed down the street back to Cassie's.
As the girls had dinner Scarlett poured the vodka, she had put into multiple water bottles, into her cup of sprite under the table. The dinner was pretty enjoyable considering Scarlett was tipsy the whole time and Cassie and Lexi's mom was telling the story of how she got pregnant for the first time. While Lexie was showering and Cassie was FaceTiming McKay again, Scarlett was silently drinking herself into oblivion and she hadn't remembered falling asleep that night.
On the fifth day it was time to go to school. She knew her mom wouldn't care but she felt bad freeloading in Cassie's house and just sitting in her room all day. Cassie and Lexi said they didn't mind and their mother thought Scarlett was "good company" but she still felt like she needed to try to go to school. Scarlett had snuck into her house in the middle of the night after she had left Maddy's the other day. She had packed 2 duffle bags full of clothes but once she got back to Cassie's she didn't unpack. She decided after a week she would try to find another place to stay for a couple days then just keep floating. She reached into her duffle bag to pulled out her too short plaid mini skirt and white crop top. She borrowed some of Cassie's slip on vans and push up bra with her permission because she specifically said "the girls need to be shown off if your heartbroken. Believe me it helps". She decided to take her advice and put on the bra. When she looked in the mirror she saw what Cassie was talking about. She looked hot and she knew it. Before she left though she reached down into her duffle bags and pulled out her "water" bottle to stuff into her purse. When she arrived at school she could tell she was getting more male attention but she wasn't sure if she liked it. Maddy told her that she needed to have a "hoe moment" to get back on track emotionally and maybe she was right. She had been avoiding Jules and Rue and she knew first period would be hard. When she arrived to first period she sat down next to Jules who was smiling at her. "Damn Scarlett you look good. I haven't seen you in forever." She exclaimed. Scarlett gave her the best smile she could and reached into her bag to take a big swig of her water bottle. First period seemed to drag on almost as slow as second ,third and fourth. On top of drinking half a water bottle Scarlett was barley eating. She wasn't doing it on purpose it was just that she wasn't hungry, food was the last thing on her mind and she only ate when it was dinner time at Cassie's which was normally salad since they didn't eat vegetarian like she did. Scarlett wasn't complaining though, they had allowed her to eat and sleep at their house for free. She sat down at a picnic table outside. Eating the bag of carrots the lunch lady had given her and washing it down with the vodka she had. Just as she was sipping the last drop in the bottle she looked across the parking lot. She could see two guys talking before they shook hands and one started his walk across the lot. When she zeroed in trying to see who it was she breathed in sharply. She recognized the sweater. She didn't want him to see her. She knew that Fez probably wouldn't try to talk to her but the thought of him being so close made her sick. Just as she was throwing away her carrots and empty water bottle she could've sworn they met eyes. It was hard to tell from a distance but she felt a pang in her chest. As Scarlett was standing there starring at Fez as he faced back towards her she felt a hand grip under her arm. "Ms.Abrams come with me please." She looked to see it was her principle and as he spoke she tried to look for Fez again but he was gone.
She sat down in the office feeling the cold chair against her burning skin. She wasn't sure if it was the vodka or seeing Fez but her stomach was turning and she couldn't stop sweating. Her principle was sitting across his desk just starring at her. "Why am I here?" She asked trying not to slur her words. "Well it has come to my attention that one of your teachers believes, based on the smell of your breath, that you have been consuming alcohol on campus today." He told her. Fuck. She thought to herself. The wheels started turning in her head but before she could respond he started dialing on his desk phone. She waited while he held the phone up to his ear, tapping his pen on the desk. "Hi Mrs.Abrams if you could give me a call back when you get a cha-". Scarlett had leaned over his desk to press down on the hang up button on the phone. "She won't answer no matter how many times you call." Scarlett said sitting back down. "Ms Abrams you cannot just-". "Look I understand your position you've obviously heard about my break up and you are doubting my mental stability" she said making up the lies as she went trying not to leave any time for him to interrupt. "Just because your a man does not give you the right to think you are stronger than me. Yes I'm heartbroken but just because I'm not being attentive to a male staff member somehow means I must be drunk? Now I don't think that's right and that goes against everything I believe." The principles eyes widened and she acted as though she dropped her pencil on the ground. When he reached down to pick it up she popped a piece of gum in her mouth, gave it two big chews then spit it back into her hand. "Sir do you want to smell my breath?" She asked innocently. "Oh that won't be necessary." But as he said that Scarlett leaned over and breathed on his face. "Mouth wash must smell like alcohol to Mr. Campbell. I'm so glad we had this talk" Scarlett said walking out as confidently as she could trying her best not to stumble.