Well hello! As promised, next chapter :D Amazing, I know. I'll make it short, I hope you enjoy it, and leave a review!

"Tada!"

"Oh my god. Please tell me you're kidding."

Sarah stopped on her tracks halfway through her bedroom, not entirely surprised at Emily's reaction to her outfit. She tried to keep a straight face as Emily stood up from the bed and walked slowly towards her, as if she'd be careful not to get to close either.

"But you're dressed like a man!" she exclaimed, her hands now hiding her mouth as she shook her head.

"I know, that's the point. I'm trying to be original here."

Emily kept shaking her head as she studied her friend up and down. Sarah was wearing a stripped blue shirt with a dark tie, a red and blue cardigan over it and had chic, lean boyish pants to top the outfit. Her hair was down and she was wearing just enough of make up so she'd still look girly enough in her man wear. No need to say that this wasn't exactly what Emily had expected.

"But it's hideous!" she continued, her voice breaking as if she'd be absolutely horrified at what she was seeing.

"W-what? No, it's just... Oh fine, I don't have a dress and I don't want to wear one either! So I thought, you know, that this would look cool..." Sarah tried to explain, letting go of a sigh once she saw Emily's face.

"Cool? You look like a lesbian."

"Okay, okay, I get it, thank you."

Sarah sighed once more as she let herself fall on the bed Emily was occupying two minutes ago. She was aware of how ridiculous she looked, but the idea of putting on a dress really didn't seem all that fantastic, she had never felt comfortable in one in her whole life and thinking that it was for a guy who not so long ago had confessed his love for her sounded just plain bad.

"Oh no don't be like that! Hey, you got me, I will fix this, just wait," Emily tried to comfort her, disappearing in her closet as Sarah just let her pouted face rest on her palms.

"You don't have to do this, I'm a lost cause. Just go to prom with Joe and I'll stay here, wallowing in my own mess while Billy is far away from me because he refuses to see me leaving to spend the evening with his brother," Sarah spoke and she dramatically let herself fall down on the bed to stare at the ceiling. "This is really depressing."

"Sarah, shut up," she heard Emily tell her, still hiding in the closet. "Okay so maybe this won't be the night of your life but Joe wants to go with you, not me, so get over yourself and get out of those ugly clothes, please," she scolded her, getting Sarah to sit straight once again.

"Fine, mom!" Sarah shouted at the door, pulling the cardigan over her head in a childish manner.

"You're six years old," Emily's voice spoke again.

"And you're evil," Sarah defended.

"I can live with that," Emily continued, finally walking out of the closet. "Here, a dress."

She extended her arm to show the piece of clothing, to which Sarah frowned as she grabbed it.

"Well, I guess that's acceptable," she mumbled, not finding anything bad to say about it, to her highest disappointment. She raised her head up to meet her friend's eyes, the other smiling softly as she shook her head. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now come on, go put it on."

Sarah squeezed the fabric between her weak fingers and she gulped, biting on her tongue not to speak. The thought of going to Joe and Emily's prom in a couple hours seemed out of place, like nothing in the past months would justify such an event. There was nothing to celebrate, Joe hated school, and so did Emily, both talked about it with hatred and even anger. Wanting to go there and party to for a night just sounded hypocritical and ridiculous. Why would they want to go there?

But Sarah had made a promise and she was going to keep it. If her friends wanted her there, she would go, but saying she'd enjoy was another story.

There was just one thing she had to talk about first.

"Emily?" Sarah hesitated, placing the dress softly on the bed while Emily interrupted her makeup session in front of the mirror.

"Yeah?" she replied, turning around to face her friend.

"I've wanted to ask you something for a while, I..." she mumbled, clearing her voice to make sure Emily would hear her.

Emily dropped her mascara as she took at step forward, realising Sarah was struggling to tell her what she meant to say.

"Me too, actually," Emily informed her, trying to seem casual.

"Oh really? Well, go ahead, I'll tell you after," Sarah proposed.

"Okay, sure."

Emily cleared her throat as well, replacing her hair on her head as she thought of how to phrase her sentence.

"I just wanted to ask you why Billy let you go to prom," she finally said, already regretting asking.

"W-What? He..." Sarah sputtered. "He didn't let me go to prom; he just said he didn't mind me going. I don't need his permission to-"

"But why did he change his mind?" Emily insisted. "How did you solve the fight, I want to know. I mean... I'd like to."

"How is it any of your business?" Sarah exclaimed, taking a step back as she studied her friend up and down. She didn't know why Emily was so concerned about knowing everything about this incident, it's not like it would change anything in her life anyway.

"For goodness' sake, Sarah, I'm your best friend! You tell me everything, but you refused to explain to me what happened with Billy. Clearly there's something you're not telling me," Emily replied, silencing Sarah as she took a minute to think.

"Fine. I... Billy wanted to know about my life before Boston. And... I know you were always curious about that and I always refused to tell you about it, but Billy's my boyfriend and, I owed him that," Sarah explained, hoping Emily would understand.

"Oh..."

"I'm sorry Emily, if it was only for me I wouldn't have talked about it, but... at the same time, it's nice to have someone who knows," Sarah continued.

"No, I get it, it's fine," Emily sighed, smiling at her friend to show her she wasn't angry. "So, did it go well? Did he freak out like you were afraid anyone would?"

"Surprisingly, he was fine about it. He was..." Sarah bit her lip as she remembered the moment they shared.

After spilling everything out to Billy, he had taken a minute to breathe and try to understand what had happened, and how that had made her who she was. It had finally all made sense, and in the end he seemed very satisfied she had been able to open up to him about it.

"He was understanding," Sarah smiled.

"Good, good."

Emily smiled back and they both stayed silent for a second as they wondered what to say now that the subject was closed.

"So, what did you want to ask me?" Emily remembered, taking Sarah out of her thoughts.

"Oh, uh, you know, just..." Sarah hesitated yet again.

"Yes?"

"I was, um, wondering about that thing, you know, that um-"

"Sarah, talk."

"What happened with Billy's ex girlfriend?"

Emily's jaw dropped as she proceeded the information, the thought of Sarah knowing about Billy's past relationship having never occurred to her. However, she thought, it was actually a surprise she had never asked about it before. Most couples, at one point or another, talked about their previous relationships, but Billy Darley surely wasn't like any other guy to be in a relationship with.

Sarah waited patiently as Emily seemed to think about her answer, eager to finally learn about what had gotten Bodie's girlfriend so uptight about the only time she had met her. She had mentioned a girl Billy had dated, and had said they were alike. Since then, Sarah had never been able to get that thought out of her mind, while she couldn't convince herself to ask Billy about it. So she was taking at chance, thinking maybe Emily knew a thing or two about that mysterious lover.

"You knew her, right? I mean, you were there when it happened? What was she like, what broke them up, I... I want to know," Sarah spoke, since Emily still hadn't said anything.

"Maybe I'm not the right person to ask, Sarah. Talk to Billy," Emily replied, terrified on even getting started on the subject. If Billy was to learn she had talked about it...

"In all honesty, do you really think Billy is going to tell me exactly what happened? Do you even think he will even want to talk about it?"

"Probably not, no. But... he's going to kill me if he knows I..."

"I won't tell him. Emily," Sarah begged, taking her friend's hand as she pulled her to sit on the bed with her. "Please. I need to know, it's driving me crazy."

Emily took a deep breath, trying not to lock eyes with Sarah, knowing she wouldn't able to resist telling her. Sarah squeezed her hand, and she was obligated to turn her face towards her. That was it.

"Fine. Yes, I knew her. But when I met Tommy, they were already dating, I don't know what brought them together, although Tommy did tell me they knew each other since they were kids," Emily started, and Sarah only stared at her, all ears, drinking every word Emily pronounced.

"How was she?"

"Uh, she was a nice girl, I mean, I never really talked to her, she was always with Billy but whenever he wasn't around, she was god knows where and I never got to hang out with her."

"Oh..."

"Yeah. She was from the streets, I think, she worked at the bar, actually, but I never went there without the guys so again, I didn't know her all that much."

"What happened?"

"Relax, I'm getting to it."

Emily laughed and Sarah gestured she would stop talking.

"She worked full time, all the time, and I didn't see her do much other than being with Billy or working, and that's because she was saving for college. She had this dream of going to New York and study, and get out of here, pretty much like any of us, the difference being that she actually could. She was smart, you know, she could do well."

Sarah bit on her tongue to stop herself from asking a hundred other questions and waited for Emily to continue, finding it hard not to just ask what had happened to the relationship with Billy.

"And so one day she... she left."

"What?"

Emily nodded, confirming what she had just said, something Sarah didn't seem to understand.

"She left? Without saying goodbye or anything?"

"She left a note, to Billy. I don't know exactly what it said but apparently, and that's what Joe told me so he might have exaggerated on some details, she didn't want to say goodbye because it would have been too hard and she planned on coming back as soon as semester was over to tell him all about it and to get him to come with her but..."

"But?" Sarah insisted, unable to contain her curiosity.

"She never did."

The two girls stayed silent as Sarah tried to assimilate the information, finding it hard to believe someone could do something like this. Just leaving, without so much of a goodbye. Who does that?

"She never came back?"

"No. He'll never admit it, but he changed after that, he became more of an asshole. I think he got his heart broken," Emily concluded, as Sarah couldn't find anything to say.

What was there more to say?

Emily was about to add something when the sound of the front door opening interrupted their conversation. The two girls shared a knowing look as they waited to see who was there, knowing exactly who that was.

"Hey babe!" A voice spoke from the kitchen, and soon Tommy appeared at the door. "Whoa, you guys aren't ready yet?" he asked in surprise.

Emily glanced at Sarah as she made her way to her boyfriend to greet him. "Almost."

She turned to Sarah and pointed at the dress. "Get dressed, honey, we're going to be late."

Sarah broke out of her trance and nodded at her friend, smiling sadly at her to tell her she was fine. Emily walked unsurely outside of the room with Tommy, leaving Sarah alone.

Alone with nothing but the thought that she might be a replacement to the girl who broke Billy Darley's heart.

[...]

Everything was as it should be. The colour lights on a small dance floor in the school gym, the teachers moving awkwardly in a corner, the cool kids laughing out loud at a joke that wasn't funny while judging everyone's outfits, who was with whom, who's hair was nice, who looked like a total whore, name it. A prom night at its finest.

It was to wonder why someone like Joe Darley would have been standing at the door, all dressed up in a fine suit, staring at all of them, those he had spent his school years with but had never got down to really knowing anyone. The only reason he was there was just to show them that they weren't better than him, that all the funny looks and the names and the bullying in middle school and the shit he went through didn't do anything to stop him from getting it over with high school. He was done, and he was damn proud of it too, ready not to ever step a foot in a school again. This was the last time, and he was going to make a night of it. If only Sarah could show up.

"Aw, look at him, he looks all grown up and shit."

Joe's attention went to the hallway behind him, where a feminine voice had spoken. A wide grin appeared on his face when he saw who it belonged too, but most importantly who this person was walking with.

"Thanks, Em, you look nice too," Joe laughed with his friend as the girls reached him. His eyes never left Sarah, even if Emily had continued talking once he had replied. She was weirdly standing there, in a short strapless white dress that went to her knees, a small bag hanging loosely from her hands and...

"...sneakers."

Sarah laughed softly as she placed a strand of her hair behind her ear, the rest of it behind attached in a messy bun behind her head.

"I really tried, Joe, I did, but she wouldn't listen to me," explained Emily as they made their way in the school gym.

"The only heals you had are at least three inches high and make me look like a giraffe!" replied Sarah as if Emily had just offended her. "Besides, Joe really isn't that tall and I would have probably been taller than him, and that wouldn't work for your manly ego, now would it?"

"Hey, hey, hey, I am taller than the average, alright? It ain't my fault your legs never end," Joe defended, also insulted about Sarah's words.

"Okay, I'm sorry, you've very tall and manly, and you look really handsome," Sarah apologized, a warm smile spreading across her face. Joe's features soften and he stopped walking as they arrived at the photo booth.

"And you look beautiful," he complimented her. Sarah couldn't help but blush as the positioned themselves in front of the photographer.

"Thank you."

"No talkin' miss, it ruins the pictures! Now gimme that sexy smile of yours, yeah, right there! Here ya go!" shouted the man as he snapped a picture before any of them could get comfortable enough to smile correctly. They both exchanged a strange look as they walked away, leaving Emily to take a picture only with her pitiful self, having failed at convincing her boyfriend to come with her.

"I'm really not sure about this," sighed Sarah after Emily had joined them by the buffet, consisting of only one table with less than thirty crackers and a punch rumoured to be filled with vodka after a student had succeeded in emptying a bottle in it.

"It hasn't even started yet," Joe defended, raising his hands in the air.

"Actually, yes, its eight thirty now and it started at seven," Emily corrected him, staring down at her phone. "Oh, Tommy texted me!"

Sarah and Joe rolled their eyes at the same time as Emily read the text, whispering the sweet words to herself as Joe pulled a chair for Sarah to sit in.

"I would have tried that before if I had known suits made you guys gentlemen," Sarah teased, and Joe chuckled as he sat down next to her.

"I don't think that'd work on Billy, though."

"Yeah, I figured."

[...]

"Well this is officially the shittiest idea I've ever had."

Sarah and Emily woke up from their trance when Joe spoke, the two girls only realising now that they had been absently staring at people dancing for quite a while.

"Told ya," Sarah said, turning her head to look at her date.

"I didn't think it'd really be that boring," Joe whined.

"What? You actually thought people had fun at proms? It's the after prom, honey, that makes it worth it!" Emily explained.

"What after prom?" Sarah wondered.

"Some kid, that hockey guy. He's got some big house somewhere, supposed to be one hell of a party."

"Well, I ain't going to that stupid ass party. Bodie's having some drinkin' contest at his place with the guys and some chicks. I ain't gon' miss that. You comin'?"

Joe nodded in Sarah's direction to state he was talking to her.

"Uh, I don't know, is Billy going?"

"Think so. Said he had some important things to do about something happening next week, I don't know what, but I think he's going. D'you know what they've been preparing?"

"Nan, Billy doesn't tell me much 'bout his work. But he seemed pretty stressed out about it," Sarah replied, taking a sip of her punch – that definitely consisted of some strong vodka – with a shrug.

"Tommy too. He said something about B-Street interfering with their dealings," Emily added. The three of them shared a worried look as they remained silent for a second.

"Next week you said?" Sarah asked again.

"Yeah, that's what Billy said."

Sarah sighed as she put her drink on the table they were sitting around, wondering if she really wanted to deal with a drunken Billy when he had something that seemed so important on his mind. It was never pleasant to be around, and she was thinking that maybe she'd be better off just staying home and going to bed early. She had been going back to the dinner for a short while and had been surprised to see she had lost a bit of energy in her work, which had direct consequences on her sleeping schedule.

She was about to expose her thoughts to the other two when Joe's phone began to ring in his pocket. He reached for it and opened it slowly, his boredom showing in his attitude.

"Hey Billy."

Sarah instinctively stood straight in her chair at the mention of her boyfriend's name, which got Emily to smile as they both watched Joe listening to his brother. Their smiles faded when Joe's features turned into shock as Billy's voice got louder through the phone.

"What- what the fuck is going on? Wait, what? No! No fucking way, I'm coming with you!"

Billy's voice continued screaming as Sarah's heart started beating faster; knowing something was going down and that Billy or someone in the gang must have been in trouble.

"Billy- no! I can do this! Just let me- Yes, yeah, she's with me. What? Fuck, come on man, I can't- what? Ugh, alright! But after I'm coming over to help! Okay."

The two girls waited impatiently as the intense conversation took place, their breathing stuck as long as Joe didn't tell them what was going on.

"What's wrong? What's happening?!" Emily spoke before Sarah could.

"B-Street. I think it's that shit they were talkin' about, it's happening now! Some punks showed up at a couple corners, they shot some people, they're in The Office! Billy's heading over there to help with the guys, some fucked up shit is about to happen," Joe explained as fast as he could, his face growing red from his talking and anger towards the events.

Sarah and Emily shared a worried look as they both thought of their boyfriends.

"Tommy was at the Office tonight, he was spending the night there with Baggy," cried Emily as she brought a hand on her mouth, her eyes watering as she spoke. "Maybe something happened to him."

"We don't know that yet, don't panic for nothing," Sarah tried to reason her friend, a way to hide how freaked she was at the thought of Billy getting hurt as well. "Wait," she continued, turning to Joe now. "Please tell me you're not going there."

Joe held her stare and he nodded slowly, his jaw clenched as if he was trying to convince himself that this was the best thing to do.

"No, no, Joe, please," Sarah begged, her hands reaching for him across the table. "You don't have to do this."

Joe stared down at their intertwined fingers before going back to her face and shook his head.

"They need me there," he said. "I'll drop you two off at my apartment and I'll go help."

"What?"

"No! Tommy's there, I can't just wait for him to get killed!"

"Joe, it's too dangerous!"

"Hey hey," Joey interrupted them. "Billy's orders. I can't do anything about it, you're going to the apartment and that's all!"

The two girls' shouts ceased at the mention of Billy's name, knowing that if he had ordered it, Joe would make sure it was done, and Billy would make anyone regret it if they decided not to listen to him.

Joe stood first, making his way towards the exit and his friends followed quickly, leaving the gym in a hurry, their boredom no longer affecting any of them. They had much more important things to worry about now.

As they got in Joe's car, that wasn't really his since he had borrowed it from Dog earlier that night, Sarah surely regretted they were all there, at prom, when things like getting attacked by other gangs threatened them. Yes, Billy had never mentioned it to her, but it was always a possibility, especially now. You didn't have to be a genius to know when Billy Darley was in a good mood or not, and his temper had been even worse for the past few weeks. She knew something was wrong, yet, she had never really worried about it.

She sure did now.

The worst part was that Billy should have been with her that night, because he rarely worked on Fridays. He'd keep the guys busy but he'd always be pretty relax on that day, he would drop her off at the dinner and get her back once she was done, and they would hang out together, at the bar or at his place. Because of prom, she was busy, and Billy had decided to work instead, making it clear that he had no intention of sticking around waiting for her when she was out with his brother, which wasn't surprising and very legitimate considering the situation.

"Hurry the fuck up, Jesus!" shouted Joe at Emily, the girl being so freaked out she could hardly stand on her legs, and had taken a second too long to open the door to the car.

"Oh shut up, I want to help them as much as you do, alright?!" Emily snapped, slamming the door as she sat in the passenger's seat.

"Well you won't, you're going to the apartment!"

"That's bullshit!"

"ENOUGH!"

Joe and Emily stopped shouting to turn at Sarah who had been patiently sitting in the back seat, trying not to hit them both because of their immature behaviour.

"We are not going to help anyone if you too keep screaming at each other instead of doing something useful!" she started. Emily opened her mouth to speak but Sarah stopped her. "No, I don't want to hear it. We are all worried, you don't need to keep saying it, it just makes it worse. Now Joey, please just drive the damn car."

With that, Joe turned back around to face the wheel and started driving, while Emily stared at Sarah a little longer before turning around as well.

Since took over as the three teenagers itched to get out of the car, to get where they were supposed to go to finally know what was going on. Joe drove as fast as he could, so much that when they got to a street light, it turned yellow as they were meters away from the street.

Joey pressed harder on the accelerator, trying to pass before it turned red, but it didn't have time to. A van from the other side of the street started moving when the light was still yellow, going directly in Joe's car's direction.

"Look out!" Emily yelled, pointed at the van. Joe pressed on the breaks as hard as he could, resulting in stopping the car right in the middle of the street, the van almost touching the front of the car. It flew right passed them, so close that the three of them had the time to see two guys in the front seat, two green spots flying by them. Two green spots holding guns.

"Those are the guys! They're B-Street guys, they're going towards the Office!" shouted Joey, still parked in the middle of the street as multiple other cars honked at them.

"Follow them for christ's sake!" pleaded Emily.

"I have to get you guys to the apartment!" he replied on the same tone.

"There's no time, they're back-ups, they're probably going there to finish the job, we have to go!" Emily continued. This time, Sarah didn't interrupt their argument. She too knew there was no time to drop them off and then go to the Office. Everything would be over by then.

"Joey, we need to go there, now," Sarah added to help her friend as Joe was clearly thinking the idea through.

"Fine," he mumbled, before turning the wheel to the right and starting to follow the van, direction the Office.

Emily glanced at Sarah through the mirror and they both nodded at each other, thanking each other for getting Joe to take them with him. They knew there wasn't much they could do to help them, but there was no way they were going to stay at home while everything happened, leaving them to worry and think the worst. At least they'd be there.

Less than two minutes later, Joey entered a lot protected by a large fence, driving towards a huge building that seemed to have been abandoned for quite a while. However, Sarah didn't take too much time to study the place; she was more interested in knowing what was happening on the inside. The sound of a gunshot didn't help her nerves.

"Oh my god," shouted Emily, also having heard the sound.

"Okay," started Joey, getting the car into a stop. "You girls are going to stay in this car, alright? I wasn't even supposed to bring you here, there is no fucking way you're getting near this building, you hear me?"

Both girls nodded at the same time.

"Yes, we're not moving," agreed Emily.

"Good. Be careful alright?" he said, talking to Emily, before turning to Sarah and locking eyes with her. "Yeah?" he repeated.

"Yeah," she agreed. Joe cracked a small grin at her and nodded.

"There's a gun under the seat if something happens," he explained. "But please, don't do anything stupid."

He looked back at Emily when he said that, holding her stare as if he'd be trying to send her a message. She didn't respond anything, forcing Joe to end the conversation.

"Be careful!" Sarah said as he walked away, and he only turned around for a second to nod before he disappeared by the back door.

Once Joe was gone, a minute of silence got the girls frozen in their seats, waiting for something they weren't sure they really wanted to come.

Before any of them could say anything, another shot was heard in the building.

"Fuck. They're all gonna die, that's it," Emily cried.

"Stop it," Sarah mumbled. "They're not dead, you don't know."

"They are. I can feel it."

"Will you shut up?!"

"I'm going in there," she announced, as if Sarah hadn't said anything.

"What?"

Emily ignored her as she stared at the building, thinking about what she was going to do. Before Sarah could do anything, she opened her door and stepped out of the car, her eyes still fixated on the tall structure.

"Emily, are you crazy?! We're gonna get killed!" she half shouted- half whispered now that the door was open, not wanting anyone to noticed their presence. Emily took a glance at the building nervously and brought her body back inside the vehicle, ignoring Sarah's protest. Her hand disappeared under her seat and for a second, Sarah couldn't see her friend anymore, being in the back seat, but soon enough she leaned back, her hand stiffening around a dark object. Her eyes scanned the gun, the young girl obviously stepping in a territory she wasn't familiar with, but before she could fully deal with it, she turned back to her friend.

"I can't wait here anymore, it's driving me crazy! I'm going in there to find Tommy and make sure he's alright!" she explained, closing the door on Sarah face.

"Emily!" Sarah repeated, but her friend was now walking towards the building, ignoring her once again.

Sarah sighed deeply as she watched her disappear where Joe had a couple minutes ago. What now?

She could wait here as her best friend got killed in a house full of gangsters, or she could go with her and make sure she wasn't throwing herself in a suicide mission.

Sarah resisted a desperate scream and opened her own door to walk out of the car, following Emily inside the hell house.