The House that I Grew up In

The car ride had been silent so far, as Quinn looked over at Josh. The boy's hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles were turning white.

"I don't understand why she didn't tell me before," Josh said suddenly, but his voice was low. Quinn actually wondered if he was talking to himself for a moment, before Josh glanced over at him, a pained expression on his face, before turning his eyes back to the road. "I've been with Christine for three years. I can't believe she didn't tell me... why would she do that?"

Wishing he had an answer for Josh, Quinn felt at a loss. "I'm sure she had her reasons," he finally said, but knowing it was an inadequate response, he went on. "I mean, it must have been awful for her. Maybe she didn't want to think about it."

Chewing on his bottom lip, Josh didn't seem to accept this answer. "Fine, I get maybe that she didn't want to be reminded about it before," he said to Quinn. "But to not tell me when The Wiz showed back up in town? Jesus, to think I got mad at her for being a bitch to him. I'm such an asshole."

Quinn did not think Josh was an asshole at all, but he could tell how quickly the upset boy's emotions were changing. "Don't be mad at Christy... Christine," he advised. "And don't be mad at yourself, either. There's only one person to blame for this situation."

Sitting rigidly for a moment, Josh seemed to digest this recommendation. "You're right," he said, his voice stronger, but added nothing more.

Suddenly, Quinn was starting to feel strange. Leaving the hospital, he had been livid over what had happened to Annabelle that night - and what had happened to Christy years earlier. Somehow, over the course of the summer, he had come to care about the girl that he had previously considered his least favorite classmate. And the truth of the matter was that NOBODY deserved to have something like that happen to them.

Still, Quinn was feeling uncomfortable in the passenger seat now. Part of him wished he hadn't left without saying anything to Annabelle; she deserved better than that, especially after what she had been through earlier. Another part of him could hear her voice, and he was having a hard time ignoring it. "You're not doing this for me," his subconscious told him in Annabelle's voice. "I don't want this. What was it Gandhi said?"

And despite all the anger coursing through his veins, Quinn's mind still found a quote immediately: "An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." It might be Gandhi's most famous quote, found on bumper stickers across the world, but for some reason it was resonating with him. How could he claim to be defending Annabelle when he would be doing something she would be entirely against? And how would beating up The Wiz make any difference, when Quinn knew it was likely to cause him to go back to Juvi - disappointing Annabelle, Forest and Katy, his mother, and even his father, whose family had welcomed him earlier that night as if he'd always been a part of it?

"It's not worth it," Quinn finally said quietly, just as Josh was turning onto a cul-de-sac in an affluent neighborhood. Seeing the confused expression on the other boy's face, he let out a frustrated sigh. "Beating the crap out of this guy. It's not going to do any good."

"It'll make me feel better," Josh snapped back.

"Is that what's important?" Quinn asked gently, knowing he was treading on thin ice. Josh was beyond angry; he could likely take out that anger on Quinn. Not that Quinn was afraid of him, but he had no desire to get into a fight with Josh. "Isn't what's best for Christine and Annabelle most important? Believe me, I want this guy to hurt, too. But it's not going to help anything right now. What will help is if you talk to Christine, and I talk to Annabelle. We need to have them file police reports; we need to have this guy locked up."

Josh had pulled up in front of a huge chateau-style home and stopped the engine. "Why can't I kick the crap out of him first, and then have them do that?" he asked, looking doubtfully at Quinn.

Quinn didn't blame Josh's suspicions; after all, he had been as ready to kill The Wiz as Josh when they left the hospital, but somehow - even though she wasn't even there - Annabelle had changed his way of thinking about things. "If you hit him," he explained slowly. "You're likely to get arrested. I have no idea how that might affect a case against him - they might try to bring up the jealous boyfriend vibe or whatever. And as for me," Quinn shook his head. "This would be the last thing Annabelle would want. I don't want her disappointed in me, after what she went through."

There was a moment of silence as Josh took this all in. He let out a grumble, which caused Quinn to sigh in relief. He was agreeing with Quinn's request.

Just then, a car sped around the corner and pulled up directly behind Josh's truck. "What the hell?" Quinn looked in the rear view mirror and opened the door. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Trying to keep your stupid ass out of jail," Katy nearly jumped from the passenger side of Forest's car and came charging up towards Quinn, annoyance written all over her face. "What the hell is wrong with you? How could you just leave Annabelle at the hospital like that? And do you have any sense at all? Forest said you're on probation - you could go back to jail for this! Is that what you want? To spend the next four years locked up?"

By now, Forest and Josh had gotten out of their respective vehicles and walked over to watch Katy yelling at Quinn. Quinn, while a little bit annoyed that he wasn't able to get a word in edgewise so far, was far more touched by Katy's concern - and amused by her anger. "You're right," he told his friend.

"What?" Katy's face contorted with confusion, causing Quinn to chuckle.

"I said, you're right," Quinn repeated. "It was wrong to leave Annabelle, and it would be dumb for me to do anything that would get my ass locked up again. I was just telling Josh that I don't think it would be right for him to do anything either. He needs to talk to Christine first."

Looking like she wasn't sure she was understanding Quinn properly, Katy tilted her head. "You agree with me?" she sounded like she didn't quite believe him. "And you told Josh the same thing?"

"Yeah, he did," Josh interrupted, sounding annoyed but resigned. "And I guess I agree that I should talk to Christine before I do anything. But if she wants me to, I am going to beat The Wiz within an inch of his life," he threw a warning glance at Quinn as if asking him to challenge this reasoning. Quinn just put up his hands in surrender and smiled a bit at Josh, proud of him for reigning in his anger.

"What the fuck is going on on my front lawn?" Somehow, The Wiz had wandered out of the house unnoticed while everyone was arguing. He stood in the middle of the landscaped yard in only pajama bottoms, obviously having been woken by the yelling that had just been taking place. "Josh? What the hell are you doing here? It's, like, not even seven; my parents aren't even awake yet. And who are these people?"

Quinn felt every muscle in his body tighten as he took in the man standing in front of him. He knew that he could take him, that he could punish him for what he had done - and had intended to do - to Annabelle the night before. And he knew that, between the two of them, he and Josh could do a lot more than that. But somehow, he managed to control his anger enough not to move forward. "I'm Annabelle's boyfriend," he said simply instead, his voice low and threatening.

A small look of surprise passed over The Wiz's face, but disappeared a moment later, to be replaced by his normal arrogant smirk. "Oh? How's she doing this morning? She got pretty wasted last night."

"She got pretty roofied last night," Josh interjected angrily. His whole body was shaking with anger, and Quinn wasn't sure he'd be able to keep up his plan to not beat down The Wiz. "I took her to the hospital last night, and they found the drug in her system."

"That sucks," The Wiz shrugged as he took a few steps closer to Josh, his voice still calm and cool. "Could have been anyone at the party, though. Guess she's lucky we're the ones that found her like that." He didn't turn his head to look at Katy as she made a random noise of disbelief, although his eye twitched a little. "Still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"Well," Josh stepped closer to The Wiz and looked at him straight in the eye. "I guess we figured out that it was probably you that drugged Annabelle. It makes sense; I mean, you raped my girlfriend. Right?"

The Wiz's expression didn't change, but he didn't reply for a moment, and Quinn could see his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed, digesting what Josh had said. "You don't believe that," he said simply. "If you did, I would be on the ground right now. You're just mad because you know that I slept with Christine before you did, and she never told you. Not my fault, dude. I'm sorry; I should have mentioned something earlier this summer when we first started hanging out again, but I didn't want to cause any trouble between you two. But now I wish I had - I can't believe she'd lie and say I raped her. That's just fucked up."

"She didn't tell me," Josh's eyes were blazing and his hands were curled into fists. "She told someone three years ago, and then denied it immediately. She's obviously afraid of you or something. But I'm not."

Studying Josh's face, The Wiz seemed to be trying to figure out what to say. "We're friends, Josh," he said finally. "And I don't want to fight with you. But I didn't rape Christine. She was totally into it; in fact, she initiated it."

"Like Annabelle did last night?" Quinn suddenly interjected.

Looking over at Quinn for a moment, The Wiz looked as if he were bored. "I didn't roofie Annabelle," he said. "I'm sorry that your girlfriend preferred hanging out with me at a party than being with you... but I guess I can't say I'm surprised." Looking Quinn over once more, he just rolled his eyes.

"You're going to jail," Josh said suddenly, and for the first time that morning, The Wiz looked taken by surprise.

The Wiz quickly recovered, though. "Hearsay from three years ago?" he asked with contempt. "A drugged drink in a house full of people? There's no way any of that would stick in court."

"I'm sure there are others," Quinn said suddenly with certainty. "And I'm sure we can find them... from the high school, from your college. You're going down. End of story." With that, Quinn turned around and started walking back towards Josh's truck.

"That's bullshit, dude," The Wiz finally started to look a bit nervous as he turned to Josh, making Josh think that Quinn's assessment about other girls was right. "J, you know me, man. Don't fuck with me, alright?"

"If I see you again anywhere in town," Josh's voice was low and cold. "I will kill you. You get one warning. And as for what Quinn said? He's right. We're taking you down." He then, also, started walking towards the truck.

"You're scum," Katy finally said, looking at The Wiz with loathing.

"Who the hell are you?" he replied in confusion.

"Oh yeah, you don't know me," Katy said, and then smiled evilly. Forest watched, his eyes growing wide, as his girlfriend swung hard and smashed her fist into The Wiz's face. As he reached up to cover his nose, she followed up by kneeing him in the groin. The Wiz immediately crumbled to the grass, coughing and wiping blood from his nose.

Josh, Quinn and Forest were all looking at her with wide eyes. "I thought you didn't want us to hit him," Quinn called out.

"I didn't want YOU to," Katy grinned. "But that was something I've wanted to do for three years." She quickly turned on her heel, knowing that The Wiz had no idea who she was and was in far too much pain to take note of Forest's license plate number. He wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about this, and Katy suddenly felt a little bit closer to Christy for the first time in over three years. Taking a seat in the car, she watched as her boyfriends silently slid into the driver's seat, a grin on his face.

"You never fail to amaze me," Forest didn't even look at Katy as he started the car and began following Josh's truck out of the neighborhood. "And I love you so much right now, it's unbelievable. My little bruiser."

-----

Josh stopped by the hospital, to drop off Quinn and to see if Christy had returned yet. When he found out she hadn’t, he decided to go see her. “Your boyfriend’s alright,” Josh told Annabelle, who hadn’t been told anything yet. “And your friend over here?” he motioned towards Katy. “She’s awesome.” Katy just grinned as Josh gave Annabelle a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye, shook hands with Quinn and left.

“What was that about?” Annabelle looked at the three people grinning before her. Suddenly, she frowned. “What happened? Geez, Quinn, I was so worried about you! How could you just take off like that? You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?”

Taking Annabelle’s hand, Quinn lifted it to his lips and kissed it. “Well, I definitely thought about it,” he admitted, looking contrite. “I was so angry that someone could hurt you – and Christy. But on the ride over, I kept hearing this little voice in my head telling me to think about what Gandhi said. Boy, that voice is annoying…” he smirked at Annabelle.

Her eyes glittering with tears, Annabelle gave Quinn a warm smile. “Really?” she asked in disbelief. “You didn’t do anything?”

Taking a seat on the bed beside Annabelle, Quinn shrugged. “Well, Josh and I told that asshole that we’re going to get him put away for what he did – and I mean that. I’m not going to rest until he’s in jail for a long time.”

“But you didn’t hit him?” Annabelle smiled proudly at Quinn.

“Nope,” Quinn’s normal grin took over his face. “But Katy beat the crap out of him.”

“What?” Annabelle’s eyes grew wide and she looked over at her friend, who was smiling ear to ear.

“I know you don’t believe in violence,” Katy replied, not looking apologetic at all. “But I have wanted to do that for years. Guess you’ll have to accept our differences. But in the meantime,” her smile fell and she shook her hand out. “That really hurt. I’m going to go put some ice on my hand. Maybe have a doctor check it out. We’ll be back.” With that, she bounced out of the room, Forest trailing behind her with a huge smile on his face as he shook his head.

“So enough about that,” Quinn said as Annabelle looked at him once again. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Annabelle replied honestly, still a bit amazed by the story she just heard. Shaking her head to focus, she smiled at Quinn. “I really am. The drug worked its way out of my system. Kristy’s parents are at the nurse’s station now, filling out the paperwork to get me out of here. I should be able to go back with them in a couple hours.”

“Good,” Quinn smiled with relief.

“But they called Julia,” Annabelle continued with a frown. “I understand why they did, but I wish they hadn’t. She’s planning on coming back early. She’ll be here later this week.”

“That’s understandable,” Quinn replied, but his face had immediately turned to a frown. “She’s worried about you. But…”

“But what?”

Hating to be selfish at this moment, Quinn couldn’t help it. “If your mom is coming back, does that mean you’ll be leaving sooner?” His eyes were filled with sadness at the prospect.

The thought hadn’t actually crossed Annabelle’s mind. “I don’t know,” she told Quinn honestly. Suddenly, her eyes filled with tears – of sorrow this time. “If she’s going back to Mexico, I should really go with her. There’s always so much work to do there; I couldn’t just send her back alone.”

“Couldn’t you stay a little longer-” Quinn started, but Annabelle shook her head.

“No,” Annabelle choked back a sob. “Quinn, the thought of leaving you in a month was killing me. The idea of going even sooner… I hate it. But you have to understand; Julia is leaving everything she’s worked on all summer to come to me, because she thinks I need her. I can’t just tell her to go back to Mexico by herself. I… I have to go with her.”

Moving closer to Annabelle, Quinn put his arm around her shoulder and urged her to rest her head on his chest. How long did he have left with her now? Days? How could that be possible. In just the past two months, this beautiful girl had become the center of his world. How was he going to cope with losing her so soon?

-----

Josh had spent the entire car ride from the hospital trying to think what he should say to Christine. He wasn’t angry at her; Quinn had been right about that. More than anything, he felt guilty. There must have been a reason she didn’t trust him enough to tell her the truth.

Was Josh really the self-absorbed asshole that Quinn had thought he was prior to that summer? Maybe. Maybe he had been so caught up in being the sports star and the popular guy, he hadn’t been there for Christine the way she needed. Maybe she had wanted to tell him, but thought that he didn’t care about her.

And that was the furthest thing from the truth. Since freshman year, Josh had been hopelessly in love with Christine. And not the Christine everyone else knew. He loved the tender, quiet side that she rarely showed anyone else. He loved her laugh, and her kisses, and the way she made him feel. He never felt dumb around her, even though he knew she was much smarter than him. She never let him feel dumb.

Throughout high school, people – including his father – had insinuated that Josh was wasting his youth with one girl when he should be out dating lots of girls. But there was no one else he wanted. Christine was everything to him. He just wished he had been enough to her for her to confide in him.

Determined to tell Christine everything that he had just figured out, Josh turned onto her block. But he was immediately faced with the one thing he had never imagined he’d find.

The Wiz’s car was parked outside.

-----

CU-KID: THANKS FOR THE COMMENT ON THE PASSAGE IN CHRISTY’S HEAD. THAT WAS A LITTLE TOUGH FOR ME, TO DELVE INTO HER PSYCHE LIKE THAT. AND THANKS ALSO FOR THE SWEET WORDS ABOUT MY WRITING :)

BABYANGEL2999: THANKS FOR THE REVIEW. THERE ARE PROBABLY THREE MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS, GIVE OR TAKE ONE.

THANKS ALSO TO GIRLFIXER, JOEE, 7YEARS AND CUTEGIRL12356 FOR TAKING THE TIME TO REVIEW.

AND, OF COURSE, THANKS TO NESL247. IF NOT FOR YOUR CONSTANT PESTERING, I WOULD NOT HAVE STARTED WRITING AGAIN. J/K – YOU KNOW I REALLY APPRECIATE IT (AND I DO PROMISE TO WRITE YOU AN EMAIL ASAP!)