"I'll never leave you," he whispers. I smile and blush after he says that, I can't help it. I love him, as my best friend. Something about those eyes, seem so familiar, but I don't know what it is. I shrug it off and we hug for what seems forever.

"Thank you," I finally say. We sit down on the bed and we stare at each other for a while, I look down, breaking the gaze. He chuckles softly and slightly smile. He looks down at himself, realizing that he's still half-naked and he slides on his pants, then his shirt that was on the floor. He grabs my hand and takes me outside to my backyard on the grass. We lay down and I put both arms on the back of my head, as he puts one behind his head. I stare at the clouds and point out some that look like other figures.

"You know," he starts, turns his head at me, his full attention to me, and I look at him. "My dad died of cancer, and I was depressed, so was my mom. We both felt... lost and it took a while for us to snap out of it. Emily practically raised herself on her own for one year, that's why her and I don't trust everyone so quickly. My mom, she's not that supportive, I know she may seem like it, but there's days where she just lays in bed, crying her eyes out, hugging a picture of him. Emily and I make dinner for her whenever it's she's like this. Sometimes, I just wish that our family wasn't like this. When I snapped at you that day when I left, I did it because I thought you were just there to be there, and I didn't want to get really attached. I don't want to lose someone that's close to me and you just changed me, I didn't want to lose a friend like you. I lost my girlfriend that meant a whole lot to me, and I didn't want to lose you either. I was thinking to myself, 'Jeez, I already lost too many people and now I'm losing both of them?' Emily... she may seem like she hates you, but she just doesn't want me to get hurt again. When she said for me to stop flattering you and crap, she was just being protective. There where nights when mom wouldn't come home and she'd come home in the early morning around five am, drunk. It took me awhile to be happy, it took, I think a year? When I met Jessica, she made me feel alive again, then I just fell apart when she broke up with me. But you were there for me, and you fixed me. Thank you, Melissa." A tear rolls down my cheek and he sheds a tear also, I smile, trying to lighten the mood. I can tell he's been keeping this in for a long time and that he's never told anyone this before. He gives me a small smile and wipes both of our tears away. The sparkle in his eyes, I've seen it before, it's killing me, but I push the thought away.

"Don't you have a dad?" he asks quietly. I wince at the question. I nod and sigh, he stares at me.

"No, he passed away. He was in, um, the army so he died at war when I was nine. I was like Emily, I raised myself, and my mom was in complete depression, but she got over it when I was twelve. Sometimes, I go to this place where we would always talk and think when things went wrong, or when he was about to go to back. One day, I had my friend drop me off there waiting for him, because you know, he promised and he never came. When I got home, my mom was in one of those depression-shock moments and I knew, that he was never gonna come back," I explain. I sigh again, staring at the clouds.

"Oh, I'm sorry. So, I guess we have things more in common than we thought," he says. I still feel his eyes on me, and I turn my head to face him. I manage to smile a little and I stand up, holding out a hand for him. He takes it and smiles back.

"I guess we do," I say softly. We walk back inside to the kitchen while he makes breakfast, I feel bad, but he said that he wants to do it, so I just back off. I go to my bathroom and I wash my face, brush my teeth. I walk into my room and I put on some sweats and I change into a tank top. Eh, I don't have to look good in front of Jordan, he won't care. I think. Well, he's seen me cry for hours, he saw me in my underwear, so that can't get worse. I walk out to the kitchen and he made pancakes, he made more than I thought, it's like a serving for four people. He smiles and he has everything out on the table, I don't know how he figured out where everything was. Probably looked in every cabinet, yeah, seems reasonable. Jordan pulls out a chair for me and I sit in it, as he pushes me in. I don't remember how long ago it was since a guy cooked here, maybe 12 years? That was before dad joined the army, I taught myself how to cook, bake and do anything to survive. I got a job when I was 10 at this little family business, and I was payed 40 dollars each week. I thought it was a good amount of money since I worked there for 3 hours a day, after school. I guess they felt bad for me, because my dad died and they knew about my mom being depressed. I remember that day, it was like it was the first day I was on my own, I felt like an adult.

I walk inside Querida's family business looking for Tom. Tom should be here, he always comes here after school. My tummy starts to growl from hunger, I hadn't ate anything in two weeks, since dad died and mom stopped caring for me. It's like she didn't have the energy to care, as Tom told me. Tom is three years older than me, so if you do the math, he's thirteen. He's pretty young to be working here, I think, well some teachers at school say that to him. But he needs the money, he has to raise his sister, Annabell, since his parents both died in a car accident.

"Melster!" Tom yells behind the register, with a smile on his face. I don't get how he could be smiling when he's all alone with his sister. He works until midnight to earn around seventy dollars a week. I know that's a fake smile, but I don't want to worry him, he doesn't know that I haven't ate in two weeks.

"Hi," I try to smile back. He comes around the register, and opens his arms. I run into them and sob for a while, thinking of how we managed to make it this far, together. He smells good, like expensive soap and cologne. His scent is welcoming and it's where I feel safe, like nothing on earth could hurt me, because he wouldn't let it. Tom and I are wise, giving each other advice, he thinks that I'm too young to be this wise and, well, smart. I mean, I'm only in 5th grade, and I get straight A's, but Tom said that I have a gift, of smartness. Which is silly, because I don't think it's a gift, I think I just understand everything, I never had problems with any subject in my whole life. I told him that it's not a gift, it just runs in my family. He's so stubborn, so he would always win in our arguments.

"How's it goin' kid?" he says, noticing that I'm thinking about an event. He knows me too well for this.

"Um, I guess it's alright," I say and pull away from him. He frowns and pretends to wipe away a tear from his eye. I giggle, which makes him smile. Why do we try and act happy? He was only ten when his parents died and ever since then he's never been the same. He doesn't smile as often, his eyes don't light up like they used to. The only way I could see him smile, is when I'm here and I do something silly.

"Melissa, I know it's hard right now, but it will get better. I promise," he whispers and grabs my hand. I know it well get better, but when? How long is this going to last? I have no money, I never got allowances and no one would give a silly old girl like me. Or so they would say I'm a silly old girl. I don't like it when people underestimate me. It makes me mad. Tom knows what I can do, or I think he does. Of course he does. He puts his hand in his pocket looking for something and he pulls out money. He offers for me to take it, by putting it in my hand, and my eyes go wide.

"No, Tom, I can't take your money, you worked for it. You earned it, it's yours," I say, putting it back in his hand. "I don't need it as much as you do." He gives me a confused look, and pouts, giving me the puppy dog face. "You know that doesn't work with me."

"Just take it, Melissa. You look so skinny," he gestures at my body.

"I'm not that skinny!" I protest.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes."

"No."

"YES!"

"NO!"

It's silent until Maria comes outside, wondering what the screaming is all about. I wave at her and her eyes go wide.

"Ay, mija! You're so skinny!" she screams. Tom shoots me a "I told you so" look, and I glare at him. Maria grabs me by my shoulders, and pushes me in front of a mirror. My eyes cannot believe what they see. A little girl, her hair in a ponytail, tied with a ribbon, wearing baggy clothes, her cheekbones pop out, bags under her eyes, and she's bony. Her hair is light brown, because it's almost summer, and she's pale. I look horrible. "You need to get something into your system, mija." She takes me into the little office and her co-workers are staring at me. I feel weird now from everyone staring at me, Tom tells one of his co-workers to go to the register while he looks after me for a while. They make me eat some chicken soup with veggies. I take little bites, but Tom makes me eat. He gives me water to wash it down.

"Mel, you need money, why don't you work here? I think Maria can find you something to do, I'll ask her, I'll be right back," he says, patting my back and walking towards Maria. I always thought of Tom like my big brother and Maria as my aunt, but I call her Tia Maria sometimes, because she always babysat me and took care of me when I was a baby. He comes back, smiling and nodding, with Tia Maria behind him. They approach me and sit in front of me.

"Okay, mija, this is what you can do, since you're good at math and talking to people, you can answer the phone and take orders on what people want to buy, and that's it. You're going to be fed, okay? I'll pay for you, and when you think you need a brake, you can help Tom with the register," she informs me, smiling. I jump up and down, hugging the both of them.

My voice was starting to hurt from answering all the calls, I think I took fifty calls today, and about thirty orders, boy, I'm tired. I get off of the chair and decide to sneak up behind Tom. I quietly sneak out of the office and close the door behind me, crawling so he won't notice me. When I'm close to him I jump on him, my arms wrapped around his neck, he seems startled and he laughs quietly when he knows it's me. He lets me down and puts me on top of the counter, my legs dangling. He laughs.

"I love you, you know that right?" he says, and laughs. I love him to death, we've been friends for a long time, we met when Tia Maria was babysitting the both of us, and we became instant friends. I smile and nod since my throat hurts. He smiles and gives me a big hug. A man clears his throat, and it makes the both of us jump. Oh, just a customer. "Yes sir, may I help you?"

"I'm here to pick up Melissa Romo?" he says, more of a question though. Tom narrows his eyes, and tells me to hide behind him. I hug his legs, I never seen that man before.

"Sorry, she's not here. I'm her friend, who are you?" he asks. I see that Tia Maria is walking really fast out of the office.

"Get out of here, you creep!" she hisses. Tia knows who that guy is, that means, he isn't good. Tia Maria has a really good sense of people, like she sees it inside their soul. "Get out before I call the police!" The man rushes out of the place and Tia comes over to me, putting me on the counter.

"Who was that, Tia?" I mumble. She stares at me and her face softens.

"Mija, never talk to that man, or any other man, okay? They're not nice, please promise me that you won't talk to them," she says softly. I feel Tom's eyes on me, waiting for my answer.

"I won't," I say, I think they can hear me.

"Hello? Melissa?" Jordan's voice brings me back from my memories.