In senior high school, she met Alice, unlike the gloomy Bette, the sunshine girl always wore a big smile and never stop talking, even if Bette remained silence. Through Alice, she met Adele and Kelly, she started to accept friends, did more talking, letting go of her insecure wall.

Sometimes she’ll blame herself for her mother’s leaving, what did she do so that Maxine would leave her with her father? Was she not smart? Was she too naughty? She’s so afraid that if she said something wrong, her friends would leave her like her mother. Gladly, Alice, this non-stop-talking girl broke her insecurities.

All the people regard Bette as flawless, perfect in every way. But deep down the real Bette Porter is not happy at all, she feels empty, she feels that no one truly understand her, until she met Tina.

She rather be a normal girl with a happy family than living in the wealthy but cold building like she’s living in right now.

“Bette, are you alright?” Tina’s aunt asks.

Bette shakes her head from her own bad memories. “Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just…a bit overwhelming…”

“Here, drinks some water.” Tina’s aunt hands Bette a glass.

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Kennard, I think I’ve disturbed you too much…”

“Don’t ever think of that way, honey, you are welcome here every time.”

Bette wants to cry, this old lady makes her remind of her nanny, sweet, kind and thoughtful, just like Tina. Gave her jacket when she’s cold, held her hands when she had a panic attack, stayed with her when she’s alone, cooked her dinner, offer her the only bed…

“I…um…I need to go back.” Bette says, quickly packs her stuff.

“Everything alright?” Mrs. Kennard asks.

“Yes, of course, it just…my father is probably waiting for me.” Bette mumbles, she feels that Tina’s aunt knows it’s not true. “I’ll call the cab to take me back, so…”

“Oh, don’t bother, Chrissy already fixed your car, it’s parked outside, you can drive it when you’re going to leave.”

“What the…”

Bette looks outside, she’s right, her crazily expensive car is parking right in front of the house. Her face immediately turns pale when thinks of her car being touched by numerous dirty hands.

“You don’t need to worry about anything, Chrissy knew that you hate other people touching your car, so she did all the work. You can trust her, you know, she’s the best technician in her center, she won’t allow anyone to leave a single scratch on your car.”

Bette brushes for the embarrassment, this old lady is as smart as Tina, always sees right through her.

“Wow…I…I don’t know what to say, how much should I pay? Or I can…”

“Bette, darling, Chrissy also told me you don’t need to pay her back, she covered everything, all she asked from you is that you drive home safely.”

Bette gulps.

Drive safely. Two normal words that she hardly hears from others.

“She’s a good girl, you know, she will be willing to drive over ten miles just to fix her friend’s car, her working shift was seven today, so she woke up two hours earlier to drive to the center to take her tools, she also waked her colleague to help her driving her truck home while she drive yours…what an interesting girl.” Mrs. Kennard smiles and shakes her head. “This was the first time I saw her woke up so happy and full of energy, usually she would wake up wearing a long face, she hated to go to school…but today, looks like she finally finds a good friend she willing to devote.”

Mrs. Kennard pats on Bette’s shoulder, two of them both look out the window, staring at Bette’s car.

“You must be really important to her.”

-CJ-