The words were hard, in their own way. At least, the message was. And some part of Claire couldn't help but acknowledge the truth in them, that there really wasn't an excuse for keeping everything so close to her chest. That it wasn't fair, that it was nigh hypocritical of her, and yet. She looked up at Rizzo, tempted to shake her head, a few strands of hair falling out of place here and there, no longer so curled or carefully tended to. Instead, she leaned over, sat up as straight as her body would reasonably allow.

"Opening my mouth has gotten me... in so much trouble before, Rizzo," she said, the tired strain even evident in her words. "There's a lot, a lot of things about me that I couldn't just let get out into the open, because it totally screwed over my life at home. Made it so that I didn't really even have a home to go to, really. It's not just a matter of me having a regular teenage crisis, like I'm worried about my waistline or my test scores. I'm keeping secrets because back home, it was the only way to keep myself safe."