Stella’s life soon changed. No longer was she just in a stuffy apartment with Jason. She was going out to another house with five other giants! Sometimes, she and Jason would stay at the house for a few nights at a time. The thought alone would surely send her into a panic attack, but it didn't. It was actually nice to be around others sometimes.

Jason was out on a date with Clair again, which meant that Stella was with Glenda and the guys again. This was fine cause that meant Stella was away from being grabbed by Jason or sneered at by Clair.

Stella leaned against the pepper shaker getting lost in thought. It was November now, so she began to wear sweaters more to fight off the cold. Meanwhile, the twins were doing homework at the table.

“This is so dumb!” Charlie groaned out. “Divisions is so hard.”

“Dude, it's so easy.” James replied from across the table.

“Then help me.” He asked.

“No way.” James said, covering up his answers.

“Charlie, do your own work.” Glenda called out as she was cleaning the kitchen.

Charlie groaned and slumped down in his chair. He then looked over at Stella.

“Psst!”

Stella looked over at Charlie. He pointed his pencil over to his brother. She immediately knew what he wanted. She gave him a smile and a nod before walking over to James.

“So division is easy, huh?”

“Yup.” James mumbled, concentrating on his work.

“Mind teaching me how to do it?” Stella asked. “I never really learned how to do that, since I never went to school.”

James looked back at Stella. “Sure, all you have to do is-”

“No.” Charlie groaned. “Stella that's not what I wanted.”

“I thought you wanted help?” She replied.

“No, I just wanted the answers.”

“Grandma, Charlie is using Stella to cheat off of me!” James called out.

Glenda rolled her eyes. “Charlie, you should have just listen to James explain it to Stella. Then maybe you would have learned something.”

“It's too complicated.” Charlie snapped.

“I'm with you, Charlie.” Stella replied. “Looks way too hard for me to understand.”

“Well, there goes my plan for tomorrow.” Charlie mumbled.

“What plan?” Stella asked, shooting him a look.

“Nothing, it's not important.”

Glenda overheard everything and hovered over her grandson's chair. “What was the plan, Charlie?” Her voice was calm and stern.

Charlie looked away from Glenda. “It’s nothing.” He responded in a quiet voice.

“Well, then I guess Grandpa can find out.” Glenda said as she started to walk away.

Charlie's brown eyes widened. “Okay, okay!” All eyes were on Charlie now. He took a deep breath. “I was going to take Stella into school tomorrow and have her tell me the test answers.”

“Excuse me, but who said I wanted to go?” Stella snapped.

“I was just going… to take you.” Charlie said shyly.

Anger built up inside Stella. This damn kid was just going to shove her in his backpack right before school tomorrow. He wasn't even going to tell her! Leave it to a giant kid to forget she was a person.

“Charlie, that is an awful thing to even think of!” Glenda Scolded. “Doing that could have put her in danger!”

“I would have been careful!” Charlie stated.

“Not with Betty Johnson in our class.” James chimed in.

Stella snapped her head over to James. She felt a morbid curiosity creep up on her. “What's wrong with Betty Johnson?”

“Betty Johnson is really weird. She once found a feral on the playground and squeezed him so hard, you could hear a loud crack and he stopped moving!” He explained.

The color suddenly drained from Stella's face. She had bad memories of being squeezed nearly to death. She could almost feel the grip like it happened yesterday.

~~~~~~~

Stella jumped as the door slammed down the hall.

“Please don't be drunk again.” She whispered to herself, but the sound of stumbling footsteps made her heart sank. Looking out of her cage was Ed; A chubby man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a green polo shirt and khakis, he had just gotten off work but it looks like he stopped at the bar before he came home as Stella could smell the whiskey from all the way across the room.

“Ten years and they still don't give me a raise!” Ed slurred as he stumbled across the clutter that laid around his living room. “How can I afford anything with this salary they give me?!”

Stella's stomach quietly growled for food. It had been a week since she ate, but it was so difficult to ask for food while he was drunk. He had been so stressed about his job for a while now that he forgot to feed Stella. If she didn't speak up soon, she was afraid she would waste away.

“Excuse me… Mr. Ed.”

Ed turned his cold blue eyes towards the tiny girl in the cage.

“I…. I was wonder… wondering when we… we were going… going to have dinner.”

Ed scoffed. “I already had dinner! I don't know what you're getting.”

“I haven't had anything this past week.” She replied timidly.

Ed stomped over to her cage and glared down at her. “You know, didn't I leave bread in there for you?”

“Th-That was gone a… week ago.”

“Well it's not my fault you keep eating everything!” Ed snapped. “I'm barely scraping by, and what are you doing? Just lounging around, eating like you have an unlimited supply!” Ed opened the cage door and grabbed Stella with a tight fist. “Well I'm sick of it!”

“Please… I'm sorry.” Stella gasped out. Ed's grip around her grew tighter and tighter. She could feel the air escaping her lungs as she choked on cries for help. Ed's face filled her vision, he had a nasty look on his face. He was too drunk to realize he was squeezing her tighter than normal. Her vision started to grow black.

~~~~~~

“Stella!”

Stella snapped back into reality and found herself leaning against the pepper shaker in Glenda's home. Her heart pounded out of her chest. Glenda, James, and Charlie were all staring at her with concerned eyes. Oh god, she must have had an episode in front of everyone! She began shaking, did she say anything? Did she mention Ed to them? Did any of her scars become visible?! Her eyes widened with horror as she looked down at her arms. Thankfully, her sleeves weren't rolled up. But she still felt anxious as everyone towered over her watching her, waiting for her next move. Stella had no idea what to even say. The last thing she wanted was to explain what had just happened.

“Boys, I think you should finish your homework in your room.” Glenda said calmly.

Neither of them argued. They took their belongings and left.

Glenda disappeared into the kitchen but came back a few minutes later with a tiny cup of tea for Stella. “Here, I think you could use this.”

Stella nodded and took the cup with a shaky hand. The fragrance alone was enough to soothe her and taking sips only helped.

“Are you okay?” Glenda asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Stella nodded. “Thanks, I needed this.”

“Do you need anything else?” Glenda asked. “Food? Space? Fresh air? We could go somewhere like the park if you want?”

Park? Ever since Stella met Jason, she has always been inside. The only time she ever gone out is when Jason was taking her somewhere and even then she was just shoved in a pocket or held by him. Now that she thought about it, she did feel stuffy being trapped in a house or an apartment all day.

“You know, the park sounds nice.”