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after making sure that her daughter was secure after she got in the car by pressing down on her seatbelt to make sure it was locked in place, nadine turned off her blinkers and did up her own. pulling back onto the street, she frowned sympathetically at kori’s words, a sigh escaping her lips. “i bet it does, baby. don’t worry, we’ll be home in a minute, i’ll get you something to drink and you can lay down wherever you want,” she promised softly, worry lacing her voice though she did her best to hide it. just as she was about to pull into the driveway after silence overtook them for a couple minutes, knuckles TIGHTENED on the steering-wheel. keith; she’d kill him with her bare hands if she had to. swallowing hard, the brunette quickly pulled in before shutting off the car, and sitting back in her seat. “did.. you go anywhere with him after, a different room or something? i need you to think super hard for me, honey. i know it’s probably hard to remember but can you try? did you stay with everyone else? i just need to make sure before we go inside so that we don’t have to go anywhere else.” her stomach clenched tightly as she spoke, silently, though she never would in any other situation, praying that the situation hadn’t gone past the exchange of a soda.

KORI LET OUT A SMALL SIGH as her mother pressed her to try and remember. she knew it was important but her mind was all over the place. closing her eyes again so she could go back to the events that just happened. “no...no i just remember feeling sick really fast, and I got scared so i left. . .” she trailed off. “i left!” kori repeated those words as she remembered. “t-that’s how i got here. I left because i started to feel funny, and then i made myself throw up. . .and then i tried to get home.” she nodded after her words to assure her mom she was certain. 

“do i really?” mateo scrunched up his nose, chuckling softly before shrugging. “i pride myself in it.” he joked.

KORI NODDED with a laugh. “mhm, you do. . .so i guess you can be even more proud.” she pointed out. “you’ve made a trademark out of it.”

emilie nodded as she helped the girl stand up. she wrapped the younger girl’s arm around her so she could help her walk. “what happened?” she questioned as she walked to building she had pointed to. “are your parents home? you’re not gonna be home alone, right?”

KORI FORCED HER EYES SHUT so she could try and remember exactly what happened. she’d been at a party with her boyfriend, he brought her a soda because she didn’t want to drink, her stomach started to hurt which was when kori had started to realize something wasn’t right. . .she must have left the party knowing she was in some sort of trouble. “i - i think someone drugged me.” she told emilie cautiously. “i don’t know. . .I think they should be home, maybe?”

silas was on his way home when he came across his sister, the tone of her voice catching his attention before anything else. “hey! hey.“ he called out, quickly moving to her and gently gripping her arms. "what the hell happened to you? you drunk or something?”

KORI WHIMPERED WHEN he grabbed her, she didn’t feel good. . .her stomach was in knots and it took her a while to respond to him due to the fact she was frightened by his sudden questioning. blinking at him she shook her head rapidly. “n-no. . .I only had a root beer. . .keith gave it to me.” keith was her new boyfriend, someone she THOUGHT she was safe with. she chewed on her lip and hid her face with her hands. “i just remember my stomach hurting r-real bad and then i threw it all up.” she cried. 

Worry took over the womans usual lax features as she took in her daughters teary eyes. A breath escaped her lungs, and she swallowed. Her daughter definitely didn’t look okay, eyes a little different than usual. “Okay.. that’s fine.. not important.” Hand on her daughters cheek, she realized the girl was a little warm, and she chewed at her lip. “Let’s just get in the car and then you can tell me what happened, okay?” The calmness in her words was hardly there but she did her best to force it, keep it steady because she knew if she freaked out, it wouldn’t do much at all.

KORI NODDED and followed her mother’s orders as she tried to go over the night’s events one more time before she had to explain it to her mother. getting into the car, she buckled her seat belt and wiped her eyes where she had been crying. though she’d thrown up most of whatever someone had slipped her, she was still a little dizzy and confused. . . and especially not feeling good after throwing up several times. “my stomach HURTS.” kori whined as she pulled her knees to her chest. “i d-don’t remember anything after keith gave me a root beer. . .” she mumbled. more to herself than her mother, the last thing she wanted was her mother to be angry at keith. kori had never had a boyfriend before, and after their first date the two had hit it off or so she thought. kori had felt safe with him, but now she was confused, why would he do something like this? 

“what?” she shook her head when she heard her mentioning her drink, “you think someone roofied you? who? was anyone, like, givin’ you weird looks or hangin’ around all creepy?”

KORI LOOKED AT TYLER for a moment while she tried her hardest to gather her thoughts and memories from the night. the boy she was currently dating had been the only one who gave her a drink. . . a root beer — kori remembered because she had thought it was NICE. . . THOUGHTFUL even that he’d brought her a soda knowing she didn’t feel comfortable with drinking alcohol. it couldn’t have been him right? he LIKED her — her naive emotional brain told her that he would NEVER do that. “keith. . .the boy i’m seeing, but — . . .” she blinked. “but it couldn’t have been him though.”

fingers pressed carefully into the steering-wheel, first secret therapy session over with. it was as though the music was going in one ear and out the other and nadine was hardly paying attention, body completely drained. skidding to a stop in front of a person walking, the brunette almost could’ve screamed. holy fuck. eyes blinked in surprise until her mind registered that it was her daughter she almost hit. turning both blinkers on, she slowly opened her car door with shaky hands, “uh, did we not go over street safety years ago kid –” pausing as she took a real glance at her daughter, her brow nervously furrowed. glassy eyes, shaky appearance. “kori.. where were you just now?”

KORI COULD BARELY breathe in the presence of her mother. not because she was afraid of getting in trouble, but because she was still in shock from almost being run over. trying to gather her thoughts she forced herself to hold back tears. “. . .a party.” the words were ones she felt stupid saying out loud. she felt embarrassed that she’d been dumb enough to trust a drink when she’d always been taught the exact opposite. but in her defense, the drink was a soda, so in kori’s naive mind, it couldn’t have been drugged. 

she had decided to go on a walk after she realized she really hadn’t done much during the day. once she saw the younger girl, she ran over to try and help. after all, helping people was her trademark hobby. “hey, hey, it’s all gonna be okay, alright?” she said softly. “we’re close to your house, right? i’ll get you home and you can lay down and it’s gonna be okay, i promise.”

KORI LET OUT a sigh of relief when her eyes fell on a familiar face. she recognized emilie from around the community, and from everything she could remember she was a nice girl, someone she could be glad she ran into. nodding slowly, she tried to point her into the right direction. “i-i live in that building over there.”

“oh, god.” she sighed softly, watching kori struggle as she walked up to her. the girl was clearly on something, and tyler felt bad for her. “where’s home? i’ll take you, if you want. what did you take?”

KORI LOOKED at the girl with a puzzled expression. what did she take? “nothing! i didn’t take. . .” she blinked as she started to think back to the party. “my drink!” she gasped. “t-they put something in my drink!”

“be honest,” he started, sitting up a bit more straight and inhaling a deep breath. “d’you think i’m a bad person?”

“i know you’ve got a reputation of being a smartass, but i don’t think that qualifies you as a bad person.”