Epilogue

As Isabella stood in front of the crowded conference room full of stuffy people, she felt her nerves kick in. After she was introduced, she would be expected to make her speech that her English teacher had submitted to the state competition. Her mother and siblings sat at a table nearby, and Rosie waved wildly, hoping that she would respond. As her mother tried to detour the seven-year-old, Isabella thought back to the Society, who were unable to come but had wished her well before she went.
“You’ll be great, Bella.” Lana had said, smiling.
“Whatever,” Isabella said. “I don’t even know why Mrs. Wilson submitted it.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Because you’re a great writer and a wicked speech giver. Bella, you’re going to be a president someday, I swear.”
“We’ll be thinking about you the whole time.” Tia said, her arm still in sling, but otherwise much like she always had been, only happier. “If you get nervous just remember we’re there right beside you.”
“Either that or think of us in our underwear.” Aden said, grinning.
“Asshole.” Isabella had said, laughing. “I’ll do that, then.”
But thinking about the Society in their underwear was not helping her be any less nervous. Everything seemed so far away.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to our state speech competition winner. She is a remarkable young lady, and I know that you will love her. Isabella Sanchez please come on up!”
Isabella’s stomach churned, but she walked up the steps to the podium despite her urge to run the other way. She took a few deep breaths and tried not to look at the audience.
“Eleanor Roosevelt once said that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Isabella said, surprised by her own voice coming through the microphone. “Eleanor Roosevelt was, as you all know, an amazing advocate and humanist. She was optimistic, brilliant, and most of all compassionate. I’m not here to talk about Eleanor, though.”
“You see, I have these friends who I have nothing in common with. Nothing in common, except that we’ve all seen more of the world than we’d ever like to see. Between the five of us, we’ve seen rape, poverty, physical abuse, divorce, mental illness and emotional abuse. We have all been victims of the negative social consequences in our society. Yet these friends of mine, despite having nothing in common, formed a tight bond through our hope. We made a pact to each other to strive for something better, to strive for change.
“I believe in hope. I believe in hope with all of my heart because it’s one of the only things I have to cling to. Just like any fairytale I believe that a happy ending is possible. Like many fairytale characters who live through adversity and come through a princess I guess I just hope what I’ve been through will lead to a bright and comfortable future. I don’t want to give up hope, and I don’t want to lose faith, so I will cling to my dreams with everything that I have.
“My friends and I are a generation of more and more broken children. Our families have been torn apart, our lives have been pulled in one direction or another by people telling us we are not good enough, smart enough, or pretty enough. We have seen things we shouldn’t have seen and heard things we shouldn’t have had to hear. We have been discriminated against, walked over, kicked in the mud and ignored until some of us react in the only way we know how, which only leads to more criticism and problems. Yet, we are also a generation of hope.
“From the ashes comes new life; though there is death there is also birth. I believe that the future holds happiness, we just have to take a step in the right direction. We must forgive all the adversity and that which society has imposed on us. This doesn’t mean we should forget, but we should forgive. Once forgiven we can move on and make way for a better beginning. Yet we will remember the past and use the knowledge of our mistakes to secure our perfect future.
“Whether or not you agree with my ideal of hope is up to you. You can go home today and forget everything I’ve said, or you can remember that whether you are the starving man or the wealthy businessman, you have an obligation to society. You have an obligation to care, and you have an obligation to do what is right, not ignore what is wrong. In your heart, you know what is right. In your heart, you know that the things which have been happening to my friends and I are happening too often and with little concern to the general public. These problems are not longer personal, but societal. Though you may not be the one directly making these things happen, you are still a member of this community of Americans. What are we without love? What are we without concern for our fellow human beings and what happens to the people of this country? Each and every one of us has a responsibility to our people and to our community, and it’s about time that we step up and start making this happen instead of ignoring what’s right in front of us.
“I stand before you today as a reminder of your obligation. It’s time for change, and time for healing. Remember that there are thirty-six million people in poverty in this country who worry about whether or not there will be food to put on the table or a place to live in. Remember that while white people in this country live peacefully that passive racism and economic disadvantages still exist for people of color. Remember that abuse and violence is at an all time high in this country, and that the government still fails to step in and help us fix these societal problems. Instead they spend money on foreign wars, funding dictatorships in other countries to keep the people oppressed and unable to object as we strip them of their resources. Instead, the government supports outsourcing our jobs and free trade zones in other countries, tricking them into a free market system that ultimately leads to their collapse. Instead of thinking of its people, our government has been meeting its own agendas and concerns without a second glance at what is going on within our own boarders.
“This is not my America. This is not what our forefathers had in mind. It is a time to be aware of these happenings instead of ignoring them. It is time to exercise our right as citizens to speak out and voice our opinions. We will not be silent, and we will not give up. You are my brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles, and my cousins. We are above all, human, and this common bond is what should drive us to want real equality of opportunity instead of this fabricated web of ignorance that has been created over time.
“So I beg you, as a fellow human being, to not let America down. Being American is not about unquestioning faith and resistance to innovation. Don’t be afraid to questions, and don’t be afraid to disagree. Be who you are and what you believe in. Yet most importantly, be aware. Don’t close your eyes and don’t ignore, take in all sides and all thoughts and decide what it is you believe in. Live with an open mind and an open heart, and you will see that the world makes a whole lot of sense when it really comes down to it.
“My friends and I have learned this by knowing each other and experiencing the world first hand. Not all of it is pretty, most all of it isn’t easy, but it is what it is. We learn, we grow, we move on. What makes us human is our ability to want more. Not only do we experience, but we change and create. This is the very essence of what makes us unique and purely human. Though we have a great potential to create evil, we also have a great ability to create good, and I challenge you now to look at the world in a different way. I challenge you to forgive, to find hope, to change, and to want more. I challenge you to keep an open mind, to be aware, to create and to care. Maybe one day, though I am sure I will not live to see it, everyone will do this. Until then, one person can only set an example and create a ripple of change. So in conclusion, I challenge you to be that change along side of me and our fellow human beings to create a better community, and a better future. Thank you.”
Isabella was shocked to hear applause; she had become lost in her own words. Yet as she looked up she saw her mother crying and several faces staring straight at her with a marked sense of approval. Smiling to herself she only wished that the Society could be there to stand next to her. Yet deep down she knew they always would be, whether or not she could see them. Tia had been right, the bond they had would undoubtedly carry for as long as they lived, and suddenly an amazing sense of happiness swept over her.
“Thank you very much.” She said, and walked off the stage to greet her mother and siblings.

Chapter 10

Three days later, Tia slowly opened up her eyes and found herself very disoriented. The first thing she saw was Aden, gently holding her hand, which was decorated with tape and tubes coming out from it. As she looked around she realized she was in a hospital room.
“Don’t panic, you’re alright.” Aden said softly, looking worried.
She coughed a little and tried to move but her body hurt very badly. “Wh-what’s happening?”
“You’re at the hospital, Tia.” Aden said gently. “Don’t worry, I’m here.”
Tia’s vision was still a little blurry from having just opened her eyes. She felt very drowsy, but soon her memory began flooding back. She remembered telling Aden her secret, she remembered crying, and she remembered looking at the window.
“I jumped.” She said weakly. “I jumped, but I didn’t die.”
“Calm down, Tia.” Aden said, coming closer to her. “No, you didn’t die. It’s okay now, you’re going to be fine.”
“Aden, tell me what’s happened.” Tia said, urgently. “I need to know.”
He paused for a moment, but then nodded. “Well, you did jump alright. I saw you fall and so did Jeremy, Isabella and Lana.”
“You saw me?”
“We were coming back from Winter Formal to visit you. It sucked anyway, so we figured we’d keep you company. But then when we were walking there we saw you. Your parents came out and we called 911.”
“My Uncle.” She said, though the words came out in a dry whisper.
Aden frowned. “Tia, let’s take this one step at a time. You’ve been sleeping for three days, a lot has happened.”
“Three days?” Tia said, feeling a sinking in her heart. “Three days.”
“Yes, three days. Your parents are here too, you know, and so is the rest of the Society. We’ve been visiting you everyday, but they went to go get lunch. They’ll be sad they missed you waking up, maybe we should wait for them.”
“No!” Tia said, grabbing his hand with the arm that wasn’t in a cast. “You need to tell me, Aden, please.”
Aden looked at her and she once again saw his look of strained sorrow and concern. “Tia, you suffered from some pretty bad injuries, but you were lucky. You could have died.”
“I wanted to.” She said softly. “When I jumped I wanted to die so badly.”
Aden frowned. “Why, Tia? I told you I would be there.”
“I’m sorry,” She said, looking straight back at him. “I’m so sorry, Aden, I wasn’t thinking at all. I was just in so much pain I wasn’t thinking.”
He nodded slowly. “Well, when your parents came out I had to tell them. Your Dad tried to catch your Uncle but right when I accused him he ran.”
“He got away?” Tia asked.
Aden shifted uncomfortably. “Sort of. Tia, that night Lana stayed at your house to look after Lucy while we were all at the hospital, and she slept in Lucy’s room. Later that night when your Dad finally gave up, he came back to find that your Uncle hung himself in your room during the night.”
“He’s dead?” Tia asked weakly, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.
“He probably finally realized what he’d done, or at least finally felt guilty about it. He did so many bad things to you, Ti, and what he did was his choice, no one wanted him to kill himself. It was a cheap way out, really, he never did take responsibility.”
Tia’s eyes suddenly grew wide. “The baby?”
Aden nodded. “The baby is gone, but you didn’t kill it. The baby died before you jumped out of the window, the doctors said it probably happened because of all the problems it had from the genetics, but they could tell it had been gone for awhile already.”
Realization seemed to spark in her eyes. “I bled awhile ago. I didn’t even think about it.”
“You miscarried.” Aden said, nodding. “According to Jeremy it can happen pretty often to normal babies too. I really wonder about that kid and his knowledge of pregnancy sometimes…”
She nodded, though the news only made her feel sicker. “So what happens now?”
“Well, we’ve mostly been waiting for you to wake up. You’ll probably have to stay in the hospital for awhile, and then you’ll be able to go home. They had some social workers come and talk to us, and your parents are going to put you in counseling when you’re better.”
Tia’s eyes opened a little wider. “Counseling?”
“Tia,” Aden said, squeezing her hand a little harder. “You’ve been through things that no one should ever have to go through. It’s not a punishment, it’s just extra support to make sure that you’ll heal. The Society will still be here for you, after this happened we told your parents all about it and they really like the idea. They want you to hang out with us more now, and they want to help you too. They feel really guilty that they didn’t find this out sooner.”
“It’s not their fault.” Tia said, feeling tears stain her eyes. “I didn’t tell them.”
“They’re not mad at you for that. The social workers explained that he probably made it feel like it was your fault, and he might have even threatened you at times. It’s not uncommon, Ti, none of this is your fault and now the important thing is moving on. He won’t hurt you anymore, you’re free.”
Tia felt an odd sense of relief. Though everything that Aden had said wasn’t exactly comforting, she suddenly knew that the worst was over. Things could only get better, and there was something about the memory of coming so close to taking her own life that made her see things differently. She didn’t know why she hadn’t realized sooner that it wasn’t her fault, and that she could have trusted her parents and told them. Suddenly the wall that had been blocking her rational thoughts came tumbling down and she realized just how much she had to look forward to. She was still young, she had a whole life ahead of her, and she knew now she would make the most of it.
“Your face, it’s healed.” She commented, lifting her good hand to touch what had once been a massive bruise.
Aden smiled. “Yeah, it is.”
“You’re free too.” She said. “We’re free. We’re all free.”
Still smiling, Aden took her hand off his face and pressed it to his lips. “We’re going to be just fine.”

Chapter 9

The next morning Aden waited anxiously by a bench at the park near Tia’s house. His Aunt and his mother were at the clinic, and Aden had told them that since winter formal was that day they were all staying at Lana’s house to get ready. That was partially true, he was supposed to be at Lana’s around noon. Yet he knew that he needed to talk to Tia first. To his relief, he saw the figure of Tia walking quickly towards the park, wrapped tightly in a green jacket with scarf and mittens. He signaled for her to sit down, and he sat down next to her.
She looked like she hadn’t slept, and he was sure that she hadn’t. Her eyes were a little puffy, and painfully he wondered if her Uncle had been in her room that night.
“Tia, I know that you’re still upset that I know. I don’t even know that I had you come here to tell you anything specific, all I know is that I had to see you.”
She nodded slowly. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“You don’t have to worry about it, Ti. When we tell the Society, we’ll all help you. We’ll help you tell your parents, and once you tell your parents your Uncle will probably go to jail. After that, you’ll be free, and we can help you overcome this. You can do it, Tia, everyone is on your side.”
She wouldn’t look at him, but he knew that she was listening. After a moment she said “If everyone is on my side, why do I feel so alone? I’m so lost. Even if everyone is on my side, I’m so lost. He’s my Uncle, it’s been happening for so long. And now…”
She couldn’t finish, but Aden looked cautiously down at her stomach. He knew that the situation was ten times more complicated because of the pregnancy. Her religion would undoubtedly tell her to have the baby, but the process would be so painful for her. Not to mention, Aden knew enough about medical issues to know that the baby would have many problems, and a fifteen-year-old girl’s body probably shouldn’t be supporting a child.
“Ti, I can’t tell you what to do about that part of it, but I can tell you no matter what happens, we’ll be right there beside you.”
She nodded, but he wasn’t sure if she had heard that part of it. Her mind seemed to be turning in a million different directions and he knew he would never quite understand what she was going through.
“I’ll be right beside you.” He continued softly. “If there was anything I could promise you and guarantee that I’ll keep my promise, it’s that I’ll be there for you, Ti. Whatever you need, whenever you need it. I can’t say I’ll ever know or understand, but I can be here. You are not alone.”
She turned her head then and truly looked at him. He would never be able to describe this moment in words later in life, but Aden somehow knew that she was really seeing him for the first time. He wasn’t just someone she liked anymore, he was someone who truly cared for her in a way that he was sure she didn’t completely understand. Words weren’t unnecessary. It wasn’t passion and it wasn’t romance, but a sense of mutual love and understanding so unique the two had never felt it from anyone before.
Tia looked away and Aden continued to look at her for a moment before looking towards the horizon. He knew that they needed nothing more than to sit next to one another, and he silently smiled to himself. So this was life; bitter-sweet in all of its complexity. Yet somehow he couldn’t help but know that somehow, things would turn out okay. So long as they were together, everything would be okay.

* * * * *

“Why are you so late?” Isabella snapped as Aden made his way into Lana’s library a full two hours after their planned time.
“Oh, fuck off.” Aden replied, taking off his hat and scarf.
“What happened to your face!” Lana screeched and instantly ran over to investigate.
Jeremy and Isabella were soon to follow, and the trio began fretting about his badly bruised face, which was now rather purple.
“Lay off, guys.” Aden said, a little irritated. “I’m fine.”
Isabella rolled her eyes. “Because this looks just peachy, I get black eyes all the time.”
“What happened, Aden?” Lana said, looking very worried.
He paused for a moment. He’d been so caught up with Tia that he hadn’t realized he would have to confess his own troubles to the Society.
“Well, got beat up by my drunk Dad. About time too, after he hit me he managed to knock my Mom into something. She’s at the clinic today with my Aunt to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.”
“Oh my God.” Lana said. “Do you know if she’s okay? Are you okay? Are you sure you’re okay to go to winter formal?”
“I’m really fine, actually. I did it on purpose.”
Jeremy frowned. “Why would you do something like that?”
“It was the only way to get my Mom to leave him, if he hit me. It worked, anyway, last night my Mom went to the cops and my Dad’s been arrested. I don’t know that she’ll sign for a divorce just yet, but we’re trying to take it a step at a time. We’ll move back into the house soon.”
Lana shook her head. “I can’t believe this. Aden, why didn’t you tell us about any of this? We just saw you.”
“Hadn’t been planning it for very long.” Aden shrugged. “Sort of a spontaneous decision.”
Isabella shook her head. “If you go out looking like that you’re going to attract a lot of unwanted attention.”
“Cover up.” Lana said, nodding to herself. “We’re going to need lots of cover up.”
“Fuck that, I’m not wearing makeup.”
Jeremy raised his eyebrow. “Too manly, Aden?”
“They might not even let you in looking like that, asshole, they’ll think you’re some punk kid waiting to cause trouble.” Isabella said irritably. “Just go with it for now, no one will notice.”
Lana smiled. “I’m very good with makeup, Aden, trust me.”

* * * * *
Aden grumbled while Lana and Isabella pinned him down to cover up the massive bruise on his face, but he didn’t stop them. There wasn’t much they could do about the large cut on his forehead, but after the girls were done it was the only visible sign of the struggle with his father left. After that, the girls went to another bathroom to get themselves ready while leaving Jeremy and Aden to get dressed in the study. They were ready very quickly, and sat side by side on a sofa.
“Tia is what made you do it, isn’t it?” Jeremy said as they sat waiting for the girls to come back.
Aden frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“I don’t know, I just get this sense from you two. You’re like twins or something, you don’t have to speak but it’s pretty obvious.”
Aden looked over at Jeremy, somewhat surprised. “What do you mean?”
“Come on man,” Jeremy said, smiling now. “You like her.”
Aden couldn’t help but smile. “You’re full of shit, man.”
“I’m not the one full of shit, you’re the one who is into her. It’s good though. I think she likes you back and you seem to help each other. I think she’s the one who made you stand up to your Dad.”
Aden’s face went a little blank as he remembered how she was indeed his inspiration for his dramatic actions. He also couldn’t help recalling what he knew about Tia and what he knew the Society would soon find out.
“What about you and Isabella?” Aden said, trying to change the subject.
Jeremy frowned. “What about us?”
“I don’t know, you just seem like you have a thing for her.”
Jeremy laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Isabella? She hates me.”
“I don’t think so.” Aden said, smiling. “I mean, I don’t think she has the hots for you, but she doesn’t hate you.”
Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure whether to say thank you or fuck you, but for the time being I’ll just ignore it. I don’t know how I feel about Bella, but she’s a great friend.”
“Also known as you have the hots for her.” Aden replied, winking “But I’ll keep your secret.”
Jeremy was about to object when Isabella walked through the door.
“This is humiliating.” She said, as she walked in wearing a light pink gown that she had borrowed from Lana. It was form fitting because Lana was a little smaller than Isabella, but it accentuated many curves that the boys had never seen before.
“Jesus Christ, Isabella, you’re fuckin’ hot when you wear girl clothes.” Aden said
Isabella turned quite red, but the look on her face could have shot daggers. “Say one more thing like that and I swear to God I will neuter you in a second.”
At that moment Lana walked in wearing a red strapless dress with black accents. “You’re neutering someone? What did Aden say?”
“I told you this dress is too much!” Isabella muttered to Lana.
“You look beautiful Bella, don’t worry.”
Isabella rolled her eyes. “That’s the problem, apparently.”
Aden winked at her. “What’s the matter? Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“Oh, you are so dead…” Isabella growled, beginning to walk towards Aden. Lana caught her arm and pulled her back.
“You look amazing, so don’t be embarrassed about it and don’t let anyone make you feel bad about it. Just remember this is only one day a year.” Lana turned to the group. “Ready for dinner?”

* * * * *

When the four teenagers made it to the dance they were greeted with odd looks and whispers. The school gym was large and poorly decorated, but the lights were dimmed to try to set a formal mood and there were tables with sophisticated looking food. The foursome knew that they would attract attention as the last four people that would be expected to be seen together, but somehow none of them really cared.
“This is bullshit.” Isabella said, yelling over the music. “What the fuck are we supposed to do?”
“Well, we’re supposed to dance, but no one is on the dance floor.” Lana said, shrugging.
Indeed, the large dance floor lay empty even as the music blasted. Everyone was on the sides, talking or eating food.
“Cool, let’s go eat.” Aden said, grabbing Lana’s arm. The two of them went to a nearby table to pick at some of the snacks while Jeremy and Aden stood towards the entrance.
“This is so lame.” Isabella said. “I don’t even know why I agreed to go.”
“Well, we don’t have to stay for long.” Jeremy said tentatively. “If you’re really uncomfortable we can just stay for awhile and then hang out somewhere else.”
Suddenly the music became softer and a slow song began to play. All of a sudden people were on the dance floor, couples dancing close and to Jeremy’s embarrassment, also kissing passionately.
Isabella rolled her eyes. “Might as well dance.”
Jeremy’s eyes opened wide and his voice cracked a little bit. “What?”
“Well those two are over there eating like pigs, now people are on the dance floor. Let’s just go, afraid to touch me or something?”
“No, no, I mean, sure…yeah, let’s go. Sounds good.”
The words that Aden had said earlier ran through his mind as he tentatively held Isabella’s hand, placed the other on her back and swayed back and forth. She looked stunning in the dress she was wearing, and he had never really thought that Isabella could be so feminine. He felt guilty for thinking it, but he had just never really thought about the prospect of having feelings for her.
“No offense dude, but you’re sweating pretty bad. Is it too hot?”
Jeremy woke up from his daydream. “No, sorry, I’m sorry. I just…Aden said something to me earlier and I’m having a hard time getting it out of my head.”
“What did that fucker say?” Isabella said, clearly irritated.
“Well, um, he just suggested to me that I like you or something, which is pretty stupid because you’re my friend and you would never like me. Just forget it, I’m being stupid.”
Isabella’s irritation melted very quickly. “You like me?”
“I, um…I don’t know. You’re really smart and I think you’re a really cool person. Just, until Aden suggested it I’d never really thought about it before. He said that I liked you but that you don’t like me.”
To Jeremy’s surprise Isabella smiled. “So it has nothing to do with the fact that I have boobs in this dress?”
Jeremy frowned. “Bella, seriously.”
“Just kidding. I think you’re a cool person too, Jay, and I actually really appreciate you telling me that.”
Jeremy nodded. “So you don’t like me?”
Isabella smiled. “I don’t think so, at least not in that way. But hey, we’re fifteen, we have a whole future ahead of us. What do you say to sticking around and being my best friend?”
“Best friend?” Jeremy asked, unable to hide his shock
Isabella nodded. “Yeah, best friend. You’re all the best friend’s I’ve ever had. I would never want to lose that.”
Jeremy smiled. “Me neither.”
“Hey guys!” Lana motioned from the sides. “Come here.”
Jeremy and Isabella walked from the dance floor to the sides to meet with Aden and Lana. After finding a quieter location Lana spoke up again.
“Aden and I were thinking, it really sucks that Tia is missing out on this. What do you guys think of leaving early and stopping by her house to say hi?”
Isabella nodded. “Let’s get out of this hell hole, everyone’s just staring like we’re a freak show anyway.”

* * * * *

While the four teenagers got ready to leave the dance Tia Bennett was experiencing a much different situation. With tears streaming down her face she hugged her blanket close to her body and tried desperately to forget the world. Her depression was deep and she felt the ache in her heart, body and mind as she gently rocked back and forth with her blanket.
“I can’t do this” She thought to herself. “I can’t, God, I am so sorry.”
She was crying so hard her throat hurt and she couldn’t breath out of her nose, yet she felt nothing but the pain in her mind.
“He knows.” She thought. “He knows and now he’s going to make me tell everyone. What will my parents think of me? What will my friends think of me? What does God think of me? Dear God what will I do with this baby? What will my school think when they see me?”
It was a truth that she had been denying for a long time. She cried harder and rocked faster, hugging her knees to her chest. She couldn’t breath, couldn’t think about anything except that it was her fault. She was bringing an illegitimate child by her Uncle into the world and what would life be like for the child? If she gave it up for adoption what would it think later in life when it found out where it came from? What kind of parents would adopt a child coming from such a perverted background? What kind of life would the child have? Would it have health problems?
So many questions and yet her only answer became only more cloudy. Her mind felt like it would explode as the reality of everything settled like wildfire across every pore of her body. She felt trapped, she felt alone. She felt like her life was being sucked out of her body slowly and painfully and she started losing hope. It wasn’t worth it, to feel this way. She needed to get away. She couldn’t bear this for one second more.
Without a second thought, her eye caught her window, which rested on the second story of her house. Everything became temporarily clear. It made more sense than anything else, as notions of purgatory left her mind and the clarity of feeling nothing became more appealing than anything else. She longed for the freedom from her mind, from her pain. There was nothing more that she wanted at that very moment.

* * * * *

“You’re walking too fast, wait for the short person.” Isabella snapped.
Aden shrugged. “It’s not my fault you’re wearing heals.”
“Oh shut it, they weren’t my idea and it was a formal dance. If I’d known it was going to be that idiotic I wouldn’t have gone.”
“God, will you two stop fighting?” Lana said irritably. “Don’t you have anything nice to say about each other?”
“He’s got a big head and an ego the size of Texas”
Lana frowned. “I haven’t checked my dictionary lately but I’d say that’s not in the definition of nice.”
“TIA!” Jeremy screamed suddenly and the three were taken aback as they looked in the direction Jeremy had begun running towards.
They all saw it at the same time, but it was too late. As they had come around the corner, Jeremy was the first to see as Tia stood in her window frame and began to fall. The group all watched as in only a few seconds she hit the ground about 15 feet below with a sickening thump.
It was as if time slowed down. Lana began to scream and they all ran over to Tia who lay lifeless on the ground. Her arm was twisted in a direction it wasn’t supposed to be and there was blood coming from her head, which was laying in a flowerbed in her front yard.
“Don’t touch her!” Jeremy yelled, already standing over Tia. “She can’t be moved until paramedics get here!”
Lana fumbled with her cell phone and said shakily “I’m calling 911.”
Just then there was a door slamming and voices of Tia’s parents yelling. “What happened?”
“Don’t touch her!” Jeremy yelled again. “We’re calling 911, and she’s still breathing, if we touch her we could do more damage.”
“What happened?” Tia’s father demanded. Tia’s mother instantly began to cry and ran over to her daughter.
Isabella shook her head. “We just came to visit, and then…she just--she fell.”
“She didn’t fall.” Aden said angrily. “She jumped out of that window, she did it on purpose. God damn it, Tia.”
Tia’s mother, still in tears, leaned over her daughter, resisting the urge to touch her. “What do you mean she jumped?”
“Him.” Aden said, pointing at Tia’s Uncle who had slipped out to join the crowd around Tia. “He’s been molesting her since she was in fifth grade when he moved here. She just told me that last night and she promised that she would tell everyone tomorrow but she said she needed time to think. It was too late, though, wasn’t it!”
Suddenly all attention turned to Aden. In the background they could hear Lana’s voice talking to the police and there was a cold wind blowing, but everyone else was suddenly silent.
“What are you talking about, Aden?” Tia’s father said, angrily.
Aden walked up to Tia’s uncle, ignoring Tia’s father and so angry he could barely contain himself. “Did you know she’s pregnant? Did you know you got her pregnant? Did you know she thought it was her fault? That she blamed herself for all of this? She thought she was a sinner because of what you did! She did this because of YOU!”
Tia’s uncle backed up slowly as Aden approached him and almost instantly began running. Without a second thought, Tia’s father began running after him and Tia’s mother started crying harder. Aden looked overly distraught, pacing back and forth beside Tia.
“Aden,” Isabella said softly, approaching him. “Calm dow-”
“How am I supposed to calm down?” Aden screamed, tears coming from his eyes. “She could be dead! She could be dead and I knew, I could have stopped this!”
Isabella grabbed his arm and Aden sunk to the ground, his head in his hands. Isabella kneeled down also, holding his shoulders.
“Aden, stop, it’s not your fault, no one could have predicted she would do this.” She said softly, trying to comfort him. Isabella looked up and caught Jeremy’s eye. They exchanged a glance that expressed their mutual shock and confusion. It had all happened so fast and the two of them could only stand, Isabella comforting Aden and Jeremy comforting Mrs. Bennett. Soon there were sirens and fire trucks appeared.

* * * * *
Aden, Isabella and Jeremy sat in the hospital waiting room at three in the morning, waiting to hear from Tia’s mother. Soon after the fire trucks had appeared it didn’t take long for the paramedics to prepare Tia for the ambulance that showed up only a few minutes after. Tia was taken away, and Lana volunteered to stay at the house with Lucy so that Mrs. Bennett, Jeremy, Aden and Isabella could go to the hospital.
After several hours of waiting Mrs. Bennett was invited back to see her daughter, though the three teenagers were not allowed because they weren’t family members. Tia was in a coma, and the doctors had needed to do some emergency surgery for internal bleeding. Other surgeries would be needed for her broken bones including a badly fractured arm, and a broken collarbone. Her injuries were numerous, but it was only to be expected from falling so high.
Still, the doctors seemed to be optimistic. She hadn’t broken her back or neck, and after an MRI there seemed to be no apparent damage to her skull or major brain damage. Tia was young, and the doctors seemed to think that she would wake from her coma and eventually recover.
Isabella put her hand on Aden’s hand. “She’ll be fine, the doctors think she’ll be fine.”
“She won’t be fine.” Aden said softly, not hiding his frustration. “She’ll never be fine. Her wounds might heal, but her mind never will.”
“Hey, man, let’s just think about her waking up for now.” Jeremy said, nudging him. “We can deal with that later.”
Isabella frowned. “Aden, stop blaming yourself. This was not anyone’s fault, especially not yours.”
“It just could have been so different.” He said, avoiding eye contact. “If I’d only told someone when she first told me. She made me promise not to tell anyone, she made me promise to give her a day. It was a day too late.”
“Aden…” Isabella said, shaking her head. “There was nothing you could have done, lets just concentrate on her getting better. Don’t beat yourself up, any one of us would have done the same thing and you know it.”
Aden nodded, but his head wasn’t with her words. He simply stared off into space again, wondering when Tia’s Mom would come out and give them another update.

Chapter 8

It had been several weeks since Lana’s traumatic encounters, but little did the Society realize that their problems were only beginning. One quiet day as Jeremy sat in his room, he knew something was wrong. He knew that it was happening before it happened. There had been an unusually quiet afternoon around his house as Jeremy settled into his room to do homework. Kyle wasn’t home from Jr. high school yet and wouldn’t be for a few hours, but on a usual day Jeremy could hear loud sounds coming from his parents’ room. That particular afternoon, however, there was only silence. Sometimes silence is worse than sound.
The boys had been called into the living room by their mother and were instructed to sit down on the couch while their mother sat in a separate chair from their father. Jeremy could almost hear the words come out of his mother’s mouth before she said them.
“Your father and I are filing for a separation,” She said. “and it does not mean that we don’t love you and that we won’t do everything that we can for you. We just need some time off.”
“You guys and your Mom will stay in this house.” His father cut in. “I’m going to move into an apartment for awhile, but I’ll be over to visit you a lot and I’ll take you to my place some weekends.”
Jeremy suddenly got a picture in his head of a stale and generic one-bedroom apartment and his heart sunk quite low into his chest. He knew it was going to happen. At some points he’d even wished it would happen. Yet now that it was happening, the reality of the situation weighed on him like a heavy cloud over his head.
His mother looked worried. “Jay, sweetie, this will probably be temporary. Your father and I are going to try counseling.”
Jeremy looked at her with the little life he could conjure from his awkwardly broken heart. “I need to do homework now.”

* * * * *

“I’m sorry, Jay.” Isabella said
“Me too, Jeremy, that’s really awful.” Lana said from the study room couch in her mansion of a house. The study room, since their first meeting, had become a regular meeting place.
“That’s nice, you guys, but you don’t have to act sorry for me. I know it’s not that big of deal.”
Isabella frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? Your parents are separating, it’s a huge deal. It’s going to change all sorts of things in your life, and you don’t think it’s a big deal?”
Jeremy simply shrugged, but Aden spoke up. “I think what he’s saying is he thinks it doesn’t compare to a parent dying or nearly being raped. Not to mention Lana’s accomplishment last night, having convinced her mother to go to a shrink.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Thanks, buddy.”
Aden smiled sarcastically back. “Anytime, Jay boy.”
“It doesn’t matter if it compares or not, Jeremy, the point is we understand. Your home-life as you know it is starting to break apart, and you have a right to be upset.” Lana said
“And you have a right to be hurt.” Isabella put in. “We’re not just giving you sympathy, Jay, we mean this. That’s why you’re part of the society, asshole.”
Jeremy nodded. “Thanks guys. It’s really not that much of a crisis, they’re only separated and they seem to want to try and work things out if they can.”
“That’s good.” Lana said. “We’re here for you, though, if you need us.”
“By the way, Lana, get a diagnosis yet?” Aden asked, stretching himself over the entire length of the couch he was sitting on.
“Bi-polar. As if I hadn’t called that years ago.”
Jeremy nodded. “Meds?”
“Plenty, but she’s good at taking meds, so I’m not too worried. The psychiatrist seems to think an anti-depressant and some sort of tranquilizer will help her symptoms, as well as several years of therapy. Seems to think it may have been brought on by severe anxiety and family history. I guess my grandpa was bi-polar.”
Isabella smiled. “You called that one too.”
Lana simply shrugged. “What can I say? I know my mother.”
“You should be a pharmacist.” Aden said, smiling at Lana.
She made a face at him. “Maybe if I was actually into that type of thing. I think I’ve seen enough little white pills for one lifetime.”
“Doesn’t Rash Hashanah start today?” Tia said suddenly, startling the group.
Aden nodded. “Yeah, it does. I didn’t know you knew Jewish holidays, Ti. Tried to get my Mom to go to the synagogue but she thought I was being crazy, we haven’t gone since I was little.”
Isabella frowned. “You’re Jewish?”
Aden raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I told you guys that.”
“I thought you were being obnoxious.” Isabella said, surprised. “I didn’t think you were actually Jewish.”
“What’s the matter, don’t want to admit that I’m a minority too?”
Isabella rolled her eyes and made a face. “Shut the fuck up, you are hereby forgiven for being white but not for being male.”
“Hey,” Aden said “I thought being a minority forgave me from everything. What about Jeremy?”
“No, he’s not forgiven for being male either. But he’s not as crude as you so he gets brownie points.” Isabella said, playfully.
“I respect women, flipping femanazi.” Aden mumbled, pretending to feel rejected and clearly enjoying Isabella’s twisted expression.
“For someone who is Jewish you were quick to use the word ‘Nazi’” Lana said, shaking her head. “How did you know it was Ra…how do you say it?”
“Rash Hashanah.” Tia said. “I’m interested in other religions and stuff. Just because I’m Mormon doesn’t mean I don’t know about other religions, plus Jesus was Jewish.”
Aden nodded. “Fuck yes, he was.”
“Don’t be an ass.” Isabella said, rolling her eyes.
Jeremy smiled. “It’s his only gift, don’t take it away from him.”
“Touché.” Aden said, eyeing Jeremy. “Did I not mention my other gift? Because I’m hella hungry.”
Isabella snorted. “Good luck finding edible food in this house, and eating does not count as a gift.”
Aden nodded slowly. “Guess I’ll have to stick to being an ass and complain about how hungry I am.”
Lana sighed heavily. “I’ll be right back.”

* * * * *
“Wait up, Ti!” Aden yelled out as he saw Tia began to disappear around the corner of Lana’s driveway. She had been avoiding him for awhile now, and at first he had been a little angry at her so he didn’t make much attempt to try and talk. Yet, the distance had begun to put strain on him, and he realized that it was more than likely she really hadn’t meant her recent behavior.
Tia stopped, and turned slightly to look at him. “Yeah?”
“I want to know.” He said, walking up to her.
“What?”
“I said I want to know. No games anymore, Ti, this is getting ridiculous. What’s wrong?”
The look on her pale face pained him. “I told you, Aden-”
“No, you can’t tell me that. Don’t tell me that you can’t tell me.” He said, methodically putting his hand on her shoulder. “Ti, please.”
She looked into his eyes, and for a moment he thought she would tell him, but to his disappointment she shook her head. “I just can’t.”
“What if I did something?” Aden asked. “What if I stood up for my Mom tonight? If I do that you have to tell me.”
“Aden-”
“I’ll show my Mom that we shouldn’t take it from my Dad anymore. I’ll do it. Then you need to tell me. You told me that just sitting around wasn’t doing anything, and you’re right. I’m going to do something about it tonight. But Tia, sitting around and not telling anyone about what’s wrong is not getting you anywhere either. You can let someone abuse you, but what’s the point? You have people who love you and the last thing they want is for you to be getting hurt. And if it’s someone you love who is doing the hurting, then they probably shouldn’t be in your life. Just because you love someone doesn’t mean that they’re good for you.”
Tia was looking at him very strangely, and Aden couldn’t identify the look. Without even realizing, his hand went from Tia’s shoulder down to her tiny hand. He slowly felt her fingertips against his own, and then slid his palm into hers. At first she looked down at what he was doing, but once he’d held her hand she carefully looked back up into his eyes, her expression unreadable.
“You don’t have to do this on your own.” Aden said softly. “That’s what the Society is here for. Let me help you. Let us help you.”
She didn’t say a word, but her face expressed the thousands of emotions that Aden was unable to identify or even begin to understand.
“Don’t get hurt.” She whispered.
“Is that a yes?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m still not telling you. But I know no matter what I say you’re going to do what you want to do tonight. Just please, don’t get hurt.”
He smiled oddly. “I can’t promise that either. Physical wounds heal, and no matter what happens tonight I’ll be fine. Emotional wounds can stick around longer than scars, though. We don’t need to see the bruises to know that about you, Ti.”
Tia frowned, and the hand Aden was not holding shot up to rub her forehead in frustration. “That’s not fair, I told you, I just-”
“Tia.” Aden interrupted, grabbing her hand and gently pulling it away from her face. “I’ve made up my mind. Some how or another, I will find out tonight.”
She could only stare at him then, and somehow she knew that he was right. Still, she was determined not to let him know that he just might win. He couldn’t find out, he just couldn’t. She didn’t even know why she couldn’t let him, she had grown to trust Aden more than she trusted anyone. Yet there was something within her screaming to run away, to hide, and to never let anyone know. She couldn’t tell him, not then at least.
“Don’t get hurt.” She whispered again, looking away to hide her face.
Slowly, carefully, he turned her head back towards him, resting his hand on the side of her face. She looked back at him, suddenly noticing the deep green shades in his multi-colored eyes. It was then she realized the way he was looking at her. He leaned towards her, bringing his face very close to hers, and stopped when his lips were barely an inch away.
“I can stop.” He said quietly.
To his surprise, she smiled and said. “Don’t stop.”
Smiling back, he closed the gap to gently kiss her lips. Pulling away, he couldn’t hide the happiness on his face, and to her surprise she was just as happy. She looked down to hide her smile, embarrassed that he had distracted her from trying to convince him to stop his plan.
“I’m serious, Aden, don’t do anything that you’re going to regret.”
He only grinned back at her. “I don’t do anything that I regret. I’m sure about this.”
With that, he quickly kissed her again before turning to walk towards his house. She sighed, and watched him leave. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

* * * * *

Late that night, Aden heard the noise he’d been waiting for. Somehow, he didn’t understand why he hadn’t planned to do this so many times before. It was clear in his mind now, though he didn’t quite know how he’d come to this realization. All he could remember was the look in Tia’s eyes, a look that he had seen in his mother before. He wouldn’t let it happen anymore. He couldn’t watch two women in his life suffer from something they didn’t deserve. No one deserves to be hurt.
He anticipated the crash before it happened, but sure enough the front door slammed open and he heard several grunts from his father. Aden got up from under his covers, fully dressed, and slowly opened his door to creep out where he could see what was happening.
His mother was sitting on the living room couch, watching t.v. She looked nervous, but she said “Hi Jim, how was your day, honey?”
His father grunted. “Fuck you, Claire, fuck you! I work all day and I come home to see you watching this bullshit?”
His father began to reach for her, and Claire flinched, but Aden had a plan. Before his father could grab her he yelled out “Stop! What the hell are you doing, you asshole!”
Confused, his father turned to look at him through the doorway of the living room. “You little fucker, what are you doing out of bed? I’ll teach you…”
“No!” Claire screamed. “Don’t touch him! Don’t hurt him!”
But before Claire could get up to try and stop him, Aden’s father was walking towards him full speed. Aden stayed put. He didn’t try to get away, he didn’t even raise a fist. He braced himself for what he knew was coming.
The blow hit him a little harder than he expected, but his father was large and very strong. Aden had been in fights before, but with kids his own age, and in those fights he’d fought back. This was different. Aden lost feeling on one side of his face, then quickly felt a throbbing start to echo across his skin radiating to his nasal bone and cheekbone. He could no longer see out of his left eye, and time seemed to slow down very suddenly.
He watched as his mother ran up to his father, pulling with all her might to get him away from Aden. He saw his father turn and throw her off in a more intense fury than he’d seen him in for a long time. Suddenly, time sped up again, and Aden took action. He ran past his father who was about to attack his Mom, who at this point was laying on the floor. Pushing his father as hard as he could, he grabbed a hold of his mother and pulled her with him out their front door.
Claire was sobbing, and Aden saw that her head was bleeding. Quickly and quietly, he picked her up and began running. He could hear his father in the background yelling and screaming. The left side of his face was still throbbing, but he didn’t care. He needed to find help. He hadn’t planned that far ahead, but all he knew was he needed to get as far away as he could.

* * * * *
When Tia opened the door of her house at eleven that night, she was somehow not surprised to see Aden with his mother in his arms. She hadn’t expected anything less from Aden: when he told her he would do something, she knew that he would. Though she didn’t know why, she also knew that he would come to her house for refuge. She had even warned her mother.
Tia’s mother came up behind her in the doorway and said quietly “Oh no, come in Aden.”
Half of Aden’s face was bleeding and bruised. It looked like the blow had been intended for the side of his head, but it was clear that his father’s fist must have been very big. His mother was bleeding from her head and quietly crying into Aden’s shoulder. Calmly, Tia’s mother told Aden to put his mother down and she would take her to the upstairs bathroom to look at her head.
“You take Aden to the hall bathroom and help him clean up his face. If there’s anything that looks like it needs stitches let me know and we’ll bring them to the hospital. I have a feeling I’ll want Claire to go the hospital just incase she has a concussion, but I’d like to talk to her first.”
Tia obeyed her mother and led Aden to the bathroom just down their hall. She sat him down on the toilet seat and began searching the bathroom drawers for rubbing alcohol and bandages, very noisily.
“You let yourself get hurt.” Tia said, angrily.
“I had to.” Aden said, his speech a little slurred from the cut on his lip.
Tia frowned at him, and grabbed his chin to take a look at the cut. “You’re lucky he didn’t knock out any teeth. You’re lucky if you ever see out of that eye again, too.”
“My Mom wouldn’t have left if he hadn’t hit me, Ti.” Aden continued, ignoring what she’d said. “He’s never hurt me before. I’ve never let him hurt me before. But that’s why she left with me. She’s a stronger woman than she looks, she could have gotten away if she wanted.”
“Is that why your dad hasn’t killed her yet?” Tia said, irritably.
“Actually, yes.”
She looked at him, and quickly looked away when she saw how he was looking at her. She felt a tear in the corner of her eye but quickly regained her composure. “I’m mad at you for getting hurt, still. You didn’t need to get hurt.”
“Tell me.”
She knew the question was coming from his look, but she didn’t want to answer it. “Aden, that’s not fair.”
“Yes it is, Tia, because I’ve been thinking about it, and you haven’t been hiding everything. You’re like a puzzle, but now is when I figure out the last piece. This is it, Tia, it’s your turn. We can help you through whatever it is, you don’t even have to tell the rest of the Society right away.”
“Aden, I just-”
“It has to do with your Uncle. He’s the one who has been hurting you.”
Her head snapped over to looked at him, very surprised. She didn’t know he knew about her Uncle.
“But he isn’t hurting you in the same way that my Dad has been hurting my Mom.” Aden continued “You told me that. You’ve been sick a lot too, you know it’s crazy, Jeremy said one time you were acting like you were pregnant.”
She knew the look on her face gave it away, but she couldn’t help it. She had no idea that he had been trying to piece the situation together, or that the Society had been talking about what they knew of her. The look was unconscious, but it was all Aden needed to figure out exactly what was happening to her.
“You’re Uncle-”
“Aden!” She whispered harshly. “Don’t talk too loud!”
He brought his voice down to a whisper as well. “Tia why couldn’t you have told me that? You’ve been sexually abused and you’re just dealing with it? We need to tell your parents!”
“No!” Tia said “You don’t understand, it’s a sin-”
“What he’s been doing is a sin, you’re a victim, Tia! Your parents of all people would understand that! God would understand that!”
“Aden please,” Tears were coming to her eyes. “This is hard, okay? I don’t know what to do, and I know you guys want to help me, but you finding out is bad enough. Please give me some time, just a little bit of time.”
“How much time do you need, Tia? Another year? Two years? This is fucking ridiculous, you need to tell someone-”
“One day.” Tia said, harshly. “Give me until after winter formal, it’s tomorrow, right? Give me until then, we’ll have a meeting on Sunday and I’ll tell the Society. You just have to promise me, Aden, you have to promise me that you’ll give me that and you won’t tell anyone.”
She was crying, and the look in Aden’s eyes was very strained. “I promise. But I swear to God, Tia, this is not your fault, and we’ll work through this. We’ll help you through this, I promise you.”
He pulled her into a hug, which at that point Tia needed more than anything. Her secret was out. Her emotions were running wild, and she wasn’t sure what to do. Pulling away and wiping away tears, she opened the rubbing alcohol and said with a teary-eyed hiccup “This might hurt a little.”
“Tia, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay.”
Aden flinched as she began to wipe away blood. “Let me see you tomorrow morning. Meet me at the park down the street just for ten minutes. Tell your Mom you’re going for a walk.”
Tia nodded slowly, and as she did her mother popped her head into the bathroom. “I’ve cleaned up your Mom, Aden, but she’s told me she’d like to stay with your Aunt while she figures everything out. After Tia finishes cleaning you up I’ll drive you guys over there. I’m going to insist that your Aunt bring your Mom into a clinic in the morning, I’m very worried about that bump on her head.”
Aden nodded and smiled. “Thank you Mrs. Bennett. Thank you so much for taking care of us.”
Mrs. Bennett smiled back. “No need for that, Tia tells me all about how good of a friend you are to her, and I’ve known Claire for awhile from back when you two were in kindergarten. You get cleaned up now, and we’ll head off.”
Tia’s mother left, and Aden looked at Tia again. “Tomorrow at eleven. Please, Tia.”

Chapter 7

Things had seemed to return to normal, for the most part. Though Isabella’s family was coping as much as they were able, Isabella was proud to admit that the death had spurred not only grief but also change. Her mother had quit one job in order to be around more often, and with Isabella’s father gone, a little bit of their financial strain had been relieved because their father often took money to buy drugs. George had opted to begin working as well, though their mother protested that it would disrupt his schooling.
“We’re not gonna be able to afford a big house anytime soon, but I think we’re all trying harder now.” Isabella said to the Society one day. “Rosie and I have been helping as much as we can cleaning up the place, going through my dads shit. I’m not afraid to admit I wish things had gone differently, but in a way it ended up a wake up call for all of us.”
Lana smiled. “That’s good, Isabella. It’ll take time still, but I’m glad your family is doing well. I’m glad you’re doing well.”
“Yeah, that was quite a stunt you guys pulled. I swear if you tell anyone I cried I’m going to kill you all in your sleep though.”
Aden nodded, ignoring Isabella and eyeing his checker pieces while Jeremy made his move. “Not that I’m a gossip queen, but a little birdie also known as Isabella told me Neil’s been going out of his way to impress you, Lana.”
Rolling her eyes, Lana retorted “If by impress you mean mortify. I wish the guy would get off my back, he’s not going to win whatever bet he’s got going or fulfill any sick ambition.”
“What’d he do?” Jeremy asked, as Aden made his move.
“Somehow, he got into my locker and had a bunch of flowers in there. Also left a note once again asking me out. Half of it was in internet slang, and all it talked about was how sexy I was. Whatever happened to someone liking you for your personality?”
“Did that ever exist?” Isabella said sarcastically.
“Maybe not.” Lana said, sighing. “Screw men, they’re such self absorbed, competitive, testosterone driven assholes. No offence.”
“Whatever.” Aden and Jeremy said at the same time, still quite absorbed in their checker match.
“Tia are you okay?” Isabella asked, and Lana looked over to see that her face was very pale.
“I’ll be back.” Tia said quickly and ran out of the room.
Isabella frowned. “Sick again? This is the second time tonight and she’s been sick most every morning.”
Aden looked up from the game. “Where’d she go?”
“Probably to the bathroom to throw up again. Has she told you anything?”
Aden shook his head. “About being sick? Why would she have anything to tell me about it?”
“Maybe someone’s poisoning her.” Isabella said. “That can explain sickness.”
Aden laughed. “Her family doesn’t seem like the poisoning type. Maybe she’s just sick, I’ve gotten bad stomach flu’s before.”
Lana frowned. “Still, a week? She hasn’t looked well for awhile now.”
“Maybe she’s pregnant.” Jeremy said. Everyone looked at him with shock.
“Jay, Tia would be the last girl on earth to be pregnant. She’s Mormon, and we‘re fifteen.” Isabella said.
Jeremy shrugged. “I’m just saying, whatever her problem is, it’s bad right? Being pregnant would be really bad, and it would make her sick for more than a few days. Morning sickness can happen at any time of day.”
Aden shook his head, still shocked at Jeremy’s suggestion but quickly dismissed it. “Nah, whatever is bothering her has been bothering her for a long time, longer than this year. You didn’t know her in elementary school, she used to be a lot different until fifth grade. So what are you going to do about prince charming, Lana?”
Lana frowned, still thinking about what Jeremy had said. “I’m just going to keep ignoring him until he leaves me alone. Eventually he’ll give up.”
“Are you going to winter formal with anyone at all?” Jeremy asked, looking over as Tia came back in the room.
“No,” Lana said. “Maybe with a friend or something, but not with a boyfriend or whatever.”
“What about you Isabella?” Jeremy inquired.
Isabella snorted. “Like anyone would go with me. I don’t even know if I’ll go.”
“Why don’t we all go together?” Aden said, rolling his eyes. “It doesn’t have to be such a big freakin’ deal.”
“Yeah, because Prom queen over there really wants to be seen in public with us.”
“Why not?” Lana said, frowning. “I don’t care anymore, Isabella, they already know that we hang out after the whole lunchroom thing. Do you know how much I’ve been called out on it? I don’t ask for them to accept me as part of their group, I’ll do what I want and if they kick me out then I know who my real friends are.”
“I’m not allowed to go.” Tia said, her face still rather pale.
“Why?” Lana asked
Tia shrugged. “It’s my mom, she thinks that modern dances are too sexual with how everyone dances. She says she’ll let me go to prom when I’m a junior and senior, but any other dance I have to miss.”
“That’s too bad.” Isabella said. “Though not that your mom’s too far off, my brother says high school dances are just an excuse for everyone to dry-hump each other.”
“They don’t have to be.” Lana said, rolling her eyes. “I’d rather have fun.”
Aden nodded. “Alright then, Isabella and Jeremy you are now a date and me and Lana. Let’s shake things up a bit, eh?”
“Your turn” Jeremy said, shortly.

* * * * *

Lana walked down the hall to go to the bathroom during History. The girl’s bathroom was an absurdly long way from her classroom, but Lana was in no hurry. She began spacing out and thinking things she did not want to think about. She wondered how she would be viewed after going to the dance with Aden, Isabella and Jeremy. No doubt Cadence would have made plans, and Lana would have to tell her that she had also made plans. How would Cadence take it?
Something that Lana had been struggling with was deciding whether or not the people she believed to be her friends really were her friends. Cadence was adorable and sweet, which was why Lana had taken to her. Yet she lacked the spirit that the people of the society possessed. She liked being challenged; she liked the combination of personalities in the group. The people she normally considered her friends were very generic, and often only said and did things they felt people wanted to hear and see. So what would she hear when she was seen publicly with three people of completely different cliques and lifestyles?
Still, the prospect excited her as much as it frightened her. She had grown to love her new friends more than she wanted to admit. The group still pretended to meet only out of convenience, but Lana had long begun to feel differently. She liked spending time with them more than she’d liked spending time with anyone before. Somehow, even in the short two months the groups had been together, she felt as if she had a family.
“Ouch!” She screamed suddenly as something grabbed her from behind. She had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t noticed someone come up behind her. The person put their hand over her mouth to prevent any other screams and grabbed both her hands, pinning them behind her back.
It all happened so quickly, Lana would later have a hard time recalling the details. After she was trapped, she was shoved into a closet, and the closet door was shut. Her offender quickly turned her around, and Lana realized several things at once. Firstly, her hands were now tied behind her back, though she wasn‘t sure how it had happened. Secondly, her offender clearly meant harm. Thirdly, from what she could see from the little light in the closet, her offender was none other than Neil.
“No one refuses me.” He said in a low voice that send shivers down her spine, and he took his hand away from her mouth to harshly kiss her lips.
Lana felt tears stain her cheek and run into the blood on her lips from Neil’s force. She could do no more than whimper as she felt his hands wander up and down her body, greedily forcing his hands in forbidden places. The more Lana struggled, the harder Neil pushed, and soon his hands wandered to the zipper of her jeans. Breathing hard, Lana couldn’t help but cry a little harder and she wished with all her might that something would happen; something that would stop what she knew was about to happen.
As if in answer to a prayer, she saw a gleam of light through her tears, which she knew was the door opening. Neil pulled away quickly, and Lana was able to fully see the blurry figure of Tia standing at the doorway.
“Get away from her.” Tia said in the fiercest voice Lana had ever heard come from a person, nonetheless a person like Tia.
Neil managed to pull up his trousers and run away very quickly, at which point Lana fell into Tia’s arms and let the river of her trauma flow through tears.

* * * * *

“Holy shit.” Aden said, holding Lana as she cried some more. Tia had instantly brought Lana outside behind the dumpster where Aden often skipped class. “That…scum, that…miserable piece of crap! Lana, you have to tell someone. You have to go to the school about it.”
Lana was in no shape to answer, but Tia spoke up. “I don’t know that that will do much, Aden. I hate to agree with what Isabella said before, but if she tells someone, are they going to believe her?”
“Tia,” Aden said angrily. “You are a witness. There’s no way he can deny it, and if he tries the school would be idiotic not to believe you two. There’s no reason why they would doubt you.”
“Even if I am a witness, what difference does it make? They’re just going to think that I walked in on them and that she’s just doing this to save her reputation-”
“Tia!” Aden said harshly, holding up Lana’s already badly bruised arm. “This is not about any fucking reputation, okay? She almost got raped. You saved her, Tia. Do you understand that? If you hadn’t opened that door…”
Tears began to form in Tia’s eyes, but she did everything in her power to keep from crying. Why hadn’t anyone saved her?
“Okay, I’m a witness.” She whispered.

* * * * *

It took Lana quite a long time to be ready to talk to anyone about it. The Society held an emergency meeting at Jeremy’s house that night and quietly helped clean Lana’s cuts and put wraps around the worst of the bruises. Lana’s lips were crusted in blood, and during the struggle she’d gained a bump on her forehead. Her wrists had clean cuts from the rope Neil had tied around them, and a few clear bruises of handprints were visible on her arms.
“This wouldn’t look so bad if I didn’t bruise so easily.” Lana said, trying to put a little humor into the situation. “It looks like someone tried to kill me.”
Isabella shook her head. “He may as well have tried to kill you. What a fucking shitbag, he must have had this planned for weeks with the rope and everything.”
“It just happened so fast.” Lana said softly. “If I’d just been paying attention I wouldn’t have been trapped so easily.”
“Don’t do that, Lana, you are not blaming yourself for this.” Jeremy said forcefully, looking at the cuts on her wrist. “Never blame yourself, you shouldn’t have had to be paying attention because nothing like this should happen.”
“What am I going to tell my mother?” Lana began to show tears again. “I can’t go home looking like this.”
“We can sneak you in,” Aden said “We’ll say you got sick and distract her. That way you can miss school tomorrow too.”
“You may need stitches for this.” Jeremy said, pointing to a gash on her shoulder that he helped clean. “It looks really deep, you probably cut it on something in the closet.”
Isabella raised an eyebrow. “Since when are you a doctor?”
“I really like medical stuff.” Jeremy shrugged. “I think I might want to be a doctor.”
“What’s up with you, Tia?” Aden said, and the attention turned to the pale-faced hero.
Tia looked nervous. “Nothing. What would be wrong with me?”
“For someone who just saved someone else you’re really quiet and you’re acting like it was your fault. Loosen up Tia, it’s over now and that asshole should go to jail as far as I’m concerned.” Isabella said, wrapping a bandage around Lana’s wrist.
“I…I have to go.” Tia said. “My mom isn’t going to like that I went out today. I’m sorry.”
Jeremy watched as she rushed out of the room. “What’s with her?”
Lana shook her head. “She’s been acting strange since she found me.”
“If I didn’t know better I’d think she believes you actually meant to get raped.” Aden said, angrily.
“I don’t think so,” Lana said. “You should have heard her when she opened that door. She told him to get away from me, and the tone in her voice sounded like she was ready to rip him to pieces. I’ve never heard anything that intense come out of her mouth. She knew exactly what was happening.”
Jeremy frowned. “There’s a reason she’s acting so funny.”
“You know,” Isabella said slowly. “When I went over to her house for dinner, there was something really strange going on between her and her uncle.”
Aden looked at Isabella. “Her uncle lives with her?”
“Didn’t you know that?” Lana said, surprised. “With you guys being so close I’d thought you would have known. He moved in with their family in the fifth grade.”
“She’s never talked about him.” Aden said, now staring off into space. “She’s talked about her parents and her sister, but I didn’t know she lived with an uncle. Why did he move in?”
Lana shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I know he’s never been married, and I think I remember Tia mentioning something about him having problems finding a job in Utah. I met him once when he first moved in, he seems like a strange person.”
“Tia had bruises on her face.” Aden said. “One day, I saw bruises on her face and she was so upset, she was skipping class. She couldn’t stop crying, but she wouldn’t tell me anything except it was different than my mom’s situation.”
Isabella had stopped bandaging Lana, who was nearly cleaned up. “Are you saying that you think Tia’s problems have to do with her uncle?”
“It’s just so confusing.” Aden said. “You say there’s something weird between those two. I see bruises on her face. She’s getting sick a lot. Now she’s acting really strange about what happened to Lana. What does it all mean?”
“It means that girl is one huge mystery.” Jeremy said, looking grim. “We can’t assume anything either, assuming is dangerous. Before we accuse her uncle of anything we need to be sure that he’s what’s causing Tia’s problems.”
“I guess.” Aden said, and watched as Jeremy finished up bandaging Lana’s shoulder and Isabella started to cover up her facial bruises with cover-up. “So how do we do that?”
Everyone was silent as they thought, but soon Isabella shook her head. “There’s no way around it, we can’t do a damn thing until she tells us something. Anything. Doesn’t even have to be everything but she isn’t giving us anything to go off of.”
“Besides acting really weird.” Jeremy said.
Aden sighed. “Bella’s right, I don’t know what to do. Every time I try to get her to tell me anything she just says she can’t. What am I supposed to say to that? I can’t make her tell me anything.”
Lana raised an eyebrow. “Aden, it’s not like this is only up to you. We’re here for her too, we’re just as frustrated as you are.”
Aden looked surprised. “Yeah, I know.”
“Come on, Lana, he wants to be her guardian angel.” Jeremy said, smiling. “Let Billy here be a hero.”
Aden looked at Jeremy with an odd combination of confusion and anger. “I don’t even know what to say to that. It doesn’t deserve acknowledgement.”
“Well, Tia does.” Isabella said, rolling her eyes. “My guess is her acting weird to this whole thing has something to do with her situation, so give her a break, yeah? Let’s not make her feel bad.”
The group nodded, but Aden couldn’t help but continue to feel frustrated at Tia. There was no reason in his mind why she should be acting so insensitive towards Lana, and he knew that she was better than that. Sighing to himself, he got up to help Isabella and Jeremy clean up.

* * * * *

With much convincing, Lana and Tia made an appointment with the principle to tell him about what had happened. The seriousness of the situation was immediately apparent. With Tia as a witness, the school was forced to involve the authorities, and an investigation went underway. To Lana’s horror, her parents were notified and Lana’s relationship with her mother became even more strained than it had been before. Neil was expelled from the school, but this action only began gossip that spread like wildfire throughout the school.
Lana’s clique was more supportive than she expected them to be, with Neil’s friends admitting that he had talked about raping Lana. Those friends offered to testify in Lana’s defense; a few of them even apologized to her for not taking Neil’s talk more seriously. They told her they never thought he would actually carry out his plans, and had assumed that it was just locker-room talk. What was more, Lana was not the only girl Neil had talked about raping, and he had even bragged about “taking down” another girl just a few weeks earlier. That girl, a timid Junior, was immediately questioned with disturbing results.
The rest of the school was not quite as forgiving. Being part of a popular yet unpopular and consistently unforgiving clique led the other members of the school to attribute Lana’s experience as asked for and purposeful. One day, as Jeremy walked through the halls he could hear the murmurs of disapproval from his fellow classmates.
“She’s so lying about it.” He heard a girl say to her friend. “She was just embarrassed that she got caught. I heard Tia Bennett was the one who walked in on them. She probably made Tia tell the school it was rape, she’s so shy she would be easily manipulated by a girl as popular as Lana.”
“Even if he was trying to rape her,” The friend put in “She should have expected it. You can’t be in that group without having sex, they’re all such whores.”
Later in the week while Jeremy and Lana took a walk after school, Lana simply shrugged it off. “I know what they’re saying, I’ve heard them too. I don’t blame them, I know my group has been mean to them. If I were them I’d be saying the same things.”
“Just don’t let it get to you.” Jeremy said. “I…I didn’t believe Isabella before when she was talking about why she didn’t tell anyone. I guess I just never thought that people would assume that it was the victim’s fault.”
“It’s not their fault, it’s just how we think. Everyone does it, everyone blames the victim if there’s a reason to doubt them.” Lana said.
“I don’t understand why you’re not pressing charges.” Jeremy said, looking cautiously over at her. “You know it’s just going to make them talk more.”
“Prue is pressing charges.” Lana reminded him, referring to Neil’s other victim. “I’ll probably be called in as some sort of witness, but I won’t be tied up in court cases for years to come. I’d rather just forget about the whole thing.”
Jeremy shook his head. “She didn’t want to, either. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t want justice.”
“Bella is right more often than we give her credit for.” Lana said, smiling ironically. “It’s not really going to change anything whether I get justice or not. It happened, he’s not sorry for it, and no one can change things.”
Jeremy only frowned. “I guess.”
“I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else.” Lana said, staring off into the distance as the two made their way towards their houses. “No one should ever have to experience that. I will never be able to get that out of my head, it will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Jeremy looked at Lana, and carefully put his arm around her shoulders to give her a side hug. There was nothing he could say.

* * * * *

Silence had become a new custom in Lana’s home. What had usually been her mother talking all night and Lana listening had turned into pure silence. Since what had happened, Lana’s mother had just stopped talking. In a way, Lana was relieved. When her mother wasn’t talking, she wasn’t criticizing, which was something that Lana was not sure she could handle. Yet soon the silence was uncomfortable, and one night at dinner Lana decided to break the silence.
“Mom I don’t know why you’re mad at me, but you’re making it pretty obvious.”
Her mother looked up from her carefully prepared meal. “Lana darling, I’m not mad at you.”
“Yeah you are. You haven’t talked to me at all the whole week.” Lana said, frowning.
Her mother looked at her for a moment, but simply shook her head. “I’m not angry, Lana, don’t be so silly. No wonder your grades are slipping, worrying about silly things.”
“Mom,” Lana said, forcefully. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Criticize me like that. My grades are fine, if you hadn’t noticed, I had a four point grade average throughout middle school and I haven’t gotten grades for this semester yet but I’m sure I’m doing fine. I’m barely one-hundred pounds and you call me fat, and you rarely go a night without pointing out which feature about me you like least that particular day.”
Her mother frowned. “I don’t do that.”
“Mom!” Lana said, standing from her seat. “Yes you do! Or can’t you remember because you’re usually high on prescription drugs?”
“Alana Kelly Wei, don’t you talk to me like that.” Her mother said, clearly shocked.
“Why, Mom?” Lana felt tears in her eyes, but she didn’t care. The frustration and pain that she’d felt from her mother was coming out all in one disgustingly large ball of emotion. “You know it’s true just like Dad knows it’s true, and your doctors, but God knows they don’t give a shit. I give a shit, Mom, I give a shit about you. I care that you almost kill yourself, and I care that sometimes you want to kill yourself. But you don’t care, do you? Just another excuse to get the attention off of you, your daughter nearly getting raped and believing it was her fault.”
Lana was taken aback when she saw tears form in her mother’s eyes. She knew she’d gone below the belt.
“Lana, I would never think that was your fault. I don’t know why you would think that.”
“You haven’t been talking.” Lana said in a softer voice. “When you found out you never said anything. You didn’t say anything. What am I supposed to think?”
Her mother looked at her as Lana had never seen her look before. “You didn’t tell me. I had to find out from your principle that you had nearly been raped. You told your principle before you told me.”
“I didn’t want to tell, Mom. My friends found out because Tia was the one who saved me, and they told me that I needed to tell. They even made the appointment for me.”
“But if Tia hadn’t found you and your friends hadn’t known, would you have told me?” Lana paused. She knew as well as her mother that she would not have told her. “Don’t get me wrong, darling, I think you’re very brave for telling your principle, even if your friends told you to. I never told.”
Lana frowned. “What do you mean you never told?”
Her mother now had visible tears coming down her face, but she kept talking. “I was in college when it happened. I was walking back late from visiting your father’s dorm room. Stupid enough to think that I didn’t need him to walk me back, though he did insist. And then…”
Her mother was not able to finish. She simply trailed off, still looking at Lana.
“I never told anyone.” She continued suddenly. “It took me years to be able to tell anyone, and your father still doesn’t know.”
Lana then looked at her mother as she had never looked at her mother before. It was the first time she had ever opened up to her. Lana knew very well that her mother had many problems, and Lana had been sure that her mental illness had roots in her past. Yet Nancy had never opened up to her daughter, despite years of Lana taking care of her and opening up to her.
“Mommy,” She said, shaking her head. “You need help. I love you so much, but you need someone to help you, and it can’t be me anymore. You can’t keep drowning your problems out with medication, and you can’t keep taking it out on me either.”
“I never meant to make it so you felt you couldn’t talk to me.” Her mother said, tears still coming down her face. “I just wanted us to be strong and successful.”
“Sometimes it’s okay to admit weakness.” Lana said. “ Sometimes life is too much, but that’s okay. You don’t deserve to feel this way, you don’t deserve to feel so sad and you don’t deserve to feel like you need to be perfect. No one is perfect.”
Her mother nodded, beginning to really hear her daughter. “Help?”
“Help.” Lana said, nodding. “We’ll do it together, okay? I’ll go too. We could even go at the same time if you wanted, but this has to happen. I’m so sorry, Mom.”
“Lana,” Her mother said, now crying “I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you I just love you so much and…”
But her mother couldn’t finish what she wanted to say, she was crying too hard.
“I love you too, Mom.” Lana said, walking over to hug her mother for the first time since as long as she could remember. She knew she had broken through a lot of walls to get her mother to admit she had a problem, but suddenly Lana felt more normal than she had in a long time. She would need to stay with her mother over night to make sure she was okay, but then she wouldn’t have to do it alone anymore. Lana could barely grasp at the thought that she would no longer be alone in this struggle to help her mother. Everything is going to be okay, she thought, everything…

Chapter 6

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