Kat walked out onto the quad. This had been the day from hell--- okay, the past two days. Not that it was abnormal for her to be head-up about something, but... She'd accidentally hurt Mandella, one of the few people she liked in this insipid looney bin, and Patrick was still ignoring her. Worse was the fact that she cared that he was ignoring her.

Stupid Bianca, on the other hand, had apparently been trying to make money by doing what all girls of her level do best: Teasing high-school boys. But, she'd gotten caught, and Kat had gotten a good laugh out of the fact that her father not only walked in on her, but took the door away. She loved Bianca, but... that didn't mean she had to like her. She didn't know what she was doing on her stupid webshow, and, frankly didn't care. It wasn't really affecting her at all, now, was it? But, she quickly found out how wrong she was... She saw two boys, waiting on top of her car.

"Get off my car, loosers!" she snapped.

And, they got up, so she started to get into her car, but felt herself being shoved into the backseat. To her mortification, she let out a loud, startled yelp. The boys were considerably more husky than her, and, as much as she loathe to admit it, stronger. Plus, she was pinned down in the tiny backseat. Made it hard to get away, to fight back.

"What do you want?" she glared, seething at them.

"Oh, I think you know what we want, Stratford..." the blonde one said with a smirk. "I think you need it yourself... might relax you. Calm you down."

Kat's heart pounded in her chest as she struggled, and the one with matted brown hair spoke.

"I saw your sister's webcast." he said. "You shouldda been on it; much hotter." he said, stroking at her arm.

She tried shoving them off, but, being in the position she was, it did no good. The hands always just went right back. Stroking, touching... The fat one bent his head and pulled her shirt down to began nibbling at her bare breast.

"God, why didn't I wear a bra today?"

She felt a hand going under her skirt and real fear finally kicked in as the hand began massaging her through her lace panties. She squirmed as the thumb and forefinger found her clitoris, squeezing and rolling lightly. Tears streamed down her face, and finally reason kicked in.

"Help! Somebody! Help me!" she screamed, but the boys ignored her. She closed her eyes, struggling, screaming, and, finally she heard a noise, and felt one of the weights off of her, then very quickly the other. She adjusted herself, all the while hearing crashing noises and the sickening sound of skin very hard against skin. She got out of the car, finally, and saw him. Patrick. Standing over their unconscious bodies, fist still clenched, trembling a bit from the rage.

But, a small noise from Kat made him turn, carefully catching her as her knees buckled.

"Easy... are you all right?" he asked gently, one hand steadying her by the arm, the other cupping her cheek with gentleness she did not know existed in him.

But, all she could do was fling herself into his arms for now. And sob. But, he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head and whispering reassurances to her.

"Shhh... I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry..." he murmured.

"Sorry?" she mumbled against his chest. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because I wasn't here sooner. Because... they had their filthy hands on you." he said, looking at her, his chocolate brown eyes searching, a definate question in them.

"They... they..." she started, but, her breathing started to quicken, and it was hard to get oxygen into her lungs.

"Shhh... calm down, in, out..." he soothed, leading her to the curb to sit down. "Did the... hurt you?"

Kat looked down at her knees. She wasn't sure how to answer, but Patrick was insistant, and cupped her chin to make her look him in the face.

"Kat. Did they hurt you?"

Kat shook her head. "No... You... you got 'em off of me before... they tried, but..."

Patrick sighed, gathering her into his arms again. And, then the sirens started...