The House that I Grew up In

This could not be happening, Christy thought with shock. It had to be a nightmare. Just a few moments ago, she had made the decision to do the right thing and go see Annabelle, no matter what the repercussions - whether Annabelle or Quinn would blame her for the situation, whether Josh would hate her for lying, whether her parents would even believe her. Despite her fears, it was important to Christy that she be there for Annabelle, the way her friend had tried to be there for her.


So Christy had washed her face and hurried into the shower. She ran a quick brush through her hair and put on some jeans and a t-shirt, then headed into her bedroom to gather her things. The last thing she ever expected to find there was The Wiz laying back on her bed, staring at her hard. "What are you doing here?" she whispered, her hands immediately beginning to shake uncontrollably.


Sitting up, The Wiz didn't make a move to stand, so Christy stood still. "What, an old friend can't stop by to say hello?" he replied, his voice cold. "Just stop by to chat about old times? You know, like that summer we hung out? That was a fun time, wasn't it?"


Her heart was beating erratically in her chest, but Christy tried to control her breathing. "I never told anyone..." her eyes were wide with fear as she watched The Wiz stand up and shake his head.


"That's not what I heard," The Wiz's expression went from blank to angry in an instant. "It's not what your boyfriend said."


Trying to take a step back towards the bathroom without him noticing, Christy shook her head vehemently. "I never said anything to Josh-"


Just as Christy was going to try to move all the way back into the bathroom, The Wiz moved with surprising speed towards her and grabbed her wrist. "You are not going anywhere," he told her in a low voice. "Not until we talk about this." His lock on her wrist was tight, so tight it hurt, but Christy barely registered the pain. All she could think of was the last time she had seen his eyes like this, full of anger and annoyance.


"Please don't," Christy looked down and started to cry, unable to stop herself.


"Don't what?" The Wiz used his free hand to take Christy's face and force her to look up at him. "Don't what? Remind you about what really happened? How you were a tease all that summer? Or how you let me think you wanted to fuck, and changed your mind at the last minute? A guy can't just turn on and off that easily, you know."


"I'm sorry," Christy wanted nothing more than to get away from The Wiz, to never see or think about him again, but instead she could feel him forcing her to move closer to him.


"You should be sorry. You dressed like a little tramp all summer," The Wiz looked right into Christy's eyes with a sneer. "You came on to me over and over. You made out with me, and got naked. What did you think was going to happen?" Suddenly, all of his cool demeanor was completely gone, and his face was filled with rage. "And you know what? It sucked! Shit, even for a virgin, you sucked."


There was no way Christy could find her voice at that moment; she was petrified and crying too hard. But she was still shocked when she felt The Wiz shove her towards the bed. "Maybe you're better now, though, huh?" he asked as he immediately leaned over Christy before she got the chance to try to move away and pinned her wrists with one hand. "Maybe fucking Josh these past few years taught you something. What do you say we try again?"


Christy let out a loud sob as she felt The Wiz roughly reach for the button on her jeans. She was trying to struggle away from him, thinking 'Oh God, not again' over and over, when he reached up and slapped her cheek hard. "Enough," The Wiz said coldly, reaching back down for her jeans. "I thought you would have learned the first time. If I want to fuck you, I'm going to do it."


Suddenly though, The Wiz was no longer above her. Christy could barely see through the tears in her eyes, but she definitely heard the crash as his body slammed into her dresser. Looking over, she finally made out the form of Josh standing at the foot of her bed. "Oh God," she jumped up quickly and threw her arms around his waist. "Oh thank God, Josh. Thank God it's you."


Christy was sobbing and blubbering as Josh wrapped his arms around her protectively for a moment and kissed the top of her head. "You're okay now," he promised. "I'm here. I love you. But I need you to go downstairs now and call the cops. Can you do that?" His eyes never left The Wiz as he spoke, and his body was tensing as the stunned boy was slowly starting to rise again.


Nodding, Christy ran out of the bedroom and downstairs. She picked up the phone and dialed 911. "You have to come to my house," she sobbed into the receiver. "Someone... someone tried to... tried to... rape me. But my boyfriend stopped him. But he's here..." she dissolved in tears again as she heard a large crash followed by a series of thumping sounds coming from upstairs, and then another crash. "Please, you have to hurry!" Giving her name and address, she hung up quickly and ran back upstairs.


Christy ran into her room and found Josh standing over The Wiz, punching him repeatedly. As Christy rushed to Josh’s side, it gave The Wiz enough time to rise to his feet. Christy barely saw his fist hit Josh’s chin, sending him smashing across the room.

Josh’s vision was confused, and he didn’t know what to think as he felt The Whiz grab him by the collar and pull him to his feet. However, the pain from the next punch was nothing he could confuse. “I made you who you are,” The Wiz said from above Josh’s place on the floor. “And I’m sorry you ended up dating a little whore. But that’s not my fault.”

Just hearing those words were enough to pull Josh from his stupor. He lunged at The Wiz, punching him a few times before they started wrestling for superiority. It only took a – frightening – minute for Josh to realize that The Wiz was bigger and stronger than him. As he felt his face getting pounded on, he felt no pain; he only felt guilty for not being able to defend Christy.

It was at that moment that Josh felt The Wiz’s body roll off his. Josh looked up in confusion as he watched Christine kick The Wiz in the gut. “Get off my boyfriend,” she said to the mass coughing on the carpet beside Josh, the broken handle of a scotch bottle in her hand. “The cops will be here any minute. Don’t make it any worse for yourself. Because, I swear on my life, if you try to stand up, I will kill you.”

There was no mistake in Christine’s eyes; she wanted to kill The Wiz, and was looking for any good reason. Josh was still coughing as he rose from the floor, watching his girlfriend from the corner of his eye, but mostly looking at The Wiz. This was the guy he had idolized for years, thinking a total stud with girls and the coolest guy he knew. As sirens started to roar in the distance, he shook his head in disgust.

“You’re pathetic,” Josh said softly to The Wiz, as his arm slid around Christine’s waist. She jumped at first, but then melted into her boyfriend’s embrace as he carefully slid the bottle head from her hand. “The cops will take it from here,” he promised his girlfriend as he rested the boot of his shoe on The Wiz’s chest, just to remind him who was in charge. “He won’t be able to hurt you again, I promise.”
Still holding her hand, possessing the broken bottle in its fingers, up to his chest, Christy buried her face in Josh’s chest just as the police arrived. They gently took the bottle from Christy, aware of a situation like this’s influence on a girl. “Do you have her?” the kindly older police officer asked as they took The Wiz into custody. “We’re going to need, at least, a statement from her. But we understand if she needs some time… with people she trusts.”

Josh quietly thanked the police officer, while never letting go of Christine’s hand, which was gripping his with intensity. As they were left in the room alone finally, Josh looked at her face. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.

Her hand still tightly wound, as if she were still holding the scotch bottle, Christine looked up at Josh. “I could have killed him,” she said simply. “If you hadn’t stopped me… I probably would have.”

“I couldn’t let you do that,” Josh pulled a resistant Christine to his chest, holding her close until she finally gave in and melted against him. “I wanted you to – to make him pay for everything he’s done. But not at any cost to you… you’ve been through so much. I couldn’t let you do something that would shed a negative light on you.”

Taking a deep breath, Christine knew that Josh was saying was true; despite all her fears, he still loved her. “We… I probably have to give a statement,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion but her eyes betraying her guilt. “I’m so sorry, Josh,” she suddenly broke down in his arms. “I never meant to deceive you.”


“You didn’t,” Josh promised, pulling Christine close to him, his hand lovingly running over her spine. “God, I’m the one who should feel guilty. I made you…”

“No,” Christine began. She sat down on the bed and motioned beside her for Josh to sit. “Let me at least tell you the truth,” she said. “Because you’re the most important person in my life. Before I tell the police, let me tell you.” This was the hardest conversation she would ever have, but she was finally ready to be honest.

Thanks to Annabelle.

-----

There was no need, as she felt fine, but Annabelle let Quinn help her into Christine’s house.

“She needs some rest,” Christine’s mother sounded exhausted as she spoke. “And so do all of us, I guess,” her angry voice finally gave in to the stress of the morning. “Belle, are you going to be okay?”

For the first time since the summer had begun, Annabelle heard Christy’s mother the same way she had as a child – kind, concerned, involved.

“I’m going to be fine,” Annabelle promised. “I just… I could use some rest. Is it ok if Quinn helps me to bed?”

There was a look of confusion on Christy’s mother’s face, as if she wasn’t sure she should follow Annabelle’s wishes. “My mother would be fine with Quinn in my room,” Annabelle suddenly supplied. “Actually, not WOULD be. WILL be, as soon as she arrives.”

It was clear that the teen was not being manipulative, but simply honest, so Christy’s mom nodded. “Ok, whatever makes you feel better,” she finally said.

Quinn innocently helped Annabelle into the guest bed. Without any intention besides helping her feel better, he shed her of her clothes and put her into pajamas gently. Only then did he sit beside her. “Do you think Christy will be okay?” he asked softly, his honest concern clear.

Things had definitely changed since summer had started, Annabelle thought sarcastically to herself. “Thank you for being concerned about Christy,” she praised Quinn honestly. “I hope she’ll be okay. But mostly… thank you for taking care of me.”

“Of course I’ll take care of you,” Quinn immediately replied, confusion written openly on his face. “You’re my… you’re my… everything.”

There was nothing Annabelle could say at that moment. It wasn’t because she didn’t love Quinn, or because she questioned his love for her – that was all clear. She just felt so badly…

As Annabelle climbed, literally, into his arms, Quinn accepted that her reasons for sobbing weren’t because of him. Christy – his former archenemy, but now someone he considered a true friend – had been hurt. Both in the past, and again just that night. It was too much for sensitive Annabelle, who cried in his embrace.

“You saw how Josh was?” Annabelle asked suddenly, apropos of nothing.

Holding her close, Quinn nodded in confusion. “He’s upset he couldn’t help Christy sooner,” he began.

“She thinks what happened to me is her fault,” Annabelle cried into Quinn’s chest. “That’s the worst part. She’s not thinking about herself tonight, or a few years ago. She thinks she hurt me NOW. I know her, Quinn.”

Looking into Annabelle’s dark, tear-filled eyes, Quinn understood. “Where is she?” he asked, believing his girlfriend would know.

“You know,” Annabelle smiled softly, suddenly looking much more at peace, knowing Quinn was in control . “Josh is looking for her, but he doesn’t know where to look. She’s at the place where you first told me you thought you were falling in love with me.”

With a small nod, Quinn made sure Annabelle was comfortable in bed. He kissed her lips softly, begging her to get some rest. Because he would take over the next step… what Annabelle really wanted to do.

Quinn was about to break every promise he had ever made to himself, and become friends with the prom queen….

-----

DON’T WANT TO GO TOO MUCH INTO IT, BUT WASN’T IN THE MINDSET TO WRITE AGAIN UNTIL NOW. SORRY FOR THE DELAY, BUT THANKS IF YOU’RE STILL READING, AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU REVIEWED. AND SPECIAL THANKS TO:

7YEARS, CU-KID, CUTEGIRL12356, JOEE AND BABYANGEL2999 – THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING. AND EVERYONE ELSE, YOU ROCK!

PIKACHEESE: YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE REVIEWER, THANK YOU! YOU ARE SO LOYAL (EVEN WHEN I DON’T DESERVE IT), GIVE THE MOST IN-DEPTH REVIEWS, AND STILL DON’T GIVE ME TOO MUCH CRAP FOR MY HAPHAZARD POSTINGS. LOVE YOU!

GIRLFIXER: YOU’RE STILL AN AWESOME LOYAL FAN, AND I LOVE YOU FOR THAT.

AND, OF COURSE, MY MUSE AND GUARDIAN ANGEL NESTL247, WITHOUT WHOM I’D FORGET TO EVER WRITE AGAIN…