S sighed and shut the door. He walked down the stairs and into the living room. He looked over at Sheridon and Gideon, who stared expectantly at him.

“Same as earlier,” he said softly to them.

“My God, it really must have been bad,” Sheridon murmured sympathetically.

It had been two days since Charise had met with her mother, and she had not left her room, except to use the restroom. She took all her meals in her room, and would only allow S to see her.

“I wish I could get my hands on that mother of hers,” Gideon growled. “That evil, nasty old bi--”


“Wishing bad things on her mother won’t help matters,” S said. “The problem is that Charise is still extremely upset by the whole thing. I can’t blame her.”

“Yeah, you told us about it,” Gideon replied. “I don’t blame you for chewing her out, S. She deserved it.”

“Poor Charise,” Sheridon said softly. “I wish I knew what I could do for her.”

“You know,” S said, “this isn’t the first time she’s been like this.”


“You mean, she’s been this upset about a visit from her mom before?” Gideon asked.

“Actually, no. Back when we were about thirteen or so, she got really, really upset about something, to where she didn‘t come out of her room for a day or two,” S replied.

“What was it?” Sheridon asked.

“You mean she never told you?” S asked, surprised.


“Thirteen… thirteen…” Gideon muttered, trying to jog his memory. “The only thing I can think of is when she asked me out and I told her I was interested in Sheridon…”

He trailed off, and then stared at S. “How bad was it then?”

“Really bad,” S responded.