Call Me Sarah
Author's Note
This story begins the night of last year's Last Blast Dance. Enjoy and feedback, please!
Chapter One
"Chloe, we gotta hurry! The guys will be here any minute!" Belle screamed from her bathroom.
Chloe smiled and shook her head. "Belle, you're telling me to hurry? I don't think you've been on time for anything in your entire life." She laughed as Belle flew out of the bathroom, still dressed in her slip with curlers in her blond hair. "Case in point."
Chloe watched in amusement as Belle frantically raced around her room, pulling out drawers and knocking over the pile of clothes that had been created earlier in her mad search for the perfect dress.
"What are you looking for?" Chloe asked finally.
"My new earrings, they go perfectly with my dress and I can't find them!" she cried.
"The ones with the."
"Yes, those!" Belle answered, hands on her hips as she surveyed the disaster area she called her room.
Chloe calmly walked over to Belle's wicker nightstand and picked up two small sparkly items and placed them in Belle's hand. "Here."
"My earrings! I knew there was reason why I wanted you to help me get ready." Belle enthused as she gave Chloe a crushing hug. "Okay, be right back!" she cried and with a giant whoosh! she rushed back into the bathroom.
Chloe just smiled to herself and examined her reflection in Belle's full- length mirror. She smoothed her dress around hr body and tried to smooth away the nervousness that fluttered in her stomach.
{Why are you so nervous, Chloe? It's just a dance.} But then again, she hadn't had much luck with high school dances. Unbidden memories of last year's dance came to mind. Despite wowing everyone in the little red dress she had worn, finally earning some respect and admiration, the evening had still almost been ruined when others decided to play a cruel trick on her. She had come within a hairsbreadth of being doused in blood, ala "Carrie."
But still the dance had its good times too. That night had marked the beginning of her relationship with Phillip. He had taken one look at her in that dress and she stopped being "ghoul girl", the opera-loving freak with the dark clothes and glasses. No, she was now a beautiful creature. A thing to be treasured, desired, worshipped.
She remembered how it felt to dance with him, the feel of his arms wrapped around her. She remembered so many things from this last year. Their first kiss, the first time he told her he loved her, how he made her feel. Special, wanted, loved. She hadn't been loved in a long time and it felt wonderful.
For that reason she stayed with Phillip. She stayed with him through the not-so-good times. Finding out about the bet, dealing with his out of control jealousy, her false rape accusation.
Chloe paused, remembering that night. The night she and Phillip almost made love. They had been dating on and off again for most of the year. That night she had been especially upset with her mother in particular and her life in general. But Phillip soothed her with his talk of how beautiful she was and how much he loved her. Before she really knew what was happening, her clothes lay on the floor in the barn and she and Phillip were getting ready to make love.
It had felt good at the time, though she was scared of her first time. It had felt so good to just run away and hide in the arms of the boy who loved her. Yes, it had felt good. However, she had been more than a little relieved when Phillip's supposedly dead father Victor walked in on them.
Phillip's lies gave her the excuse she needed to lash out at him and back out of her present situation. She was so angry with him for lying about his father's death. But secretly, she was angrier with herself, for letting herself get so carried away. For almost giving herself to someone she didn't love.
{No, of course I love him.} she told her reflection in the mirror. {I wouldn't be with him if I didn't love him. I wouldn't have almost made love to him if I.}
Her thought trailed off unfinished as she thought again of that night. Later that night. She had run from Phillip's barn - angry, upset, and half- naked. She wandered the streets of Salem for hours in a daze of blurry visions and memories that didn't make sense. She had felt like she was on the verge of remembering something forgotten during one of her "dark times", periods of her life that she has no memory of.
Faces, names and places whirled in her mind, things she had done, people she had known. And one last horrifying vision of different men touching her, kissing her, and.
"Chloe?" her mother's arrival in her car had startled her out of her trance, her recovered memories quickly flying away like leaves in the wind.
Her mother took in Chloe's disheveled, distraught state and came to an immediate conclusion.
"Chloe, were you raped?"
Chloe stared at her mother with wide unfocused eyes. And told her the truth.
It was only after her mind had cleared, after Phillip's arrest, that she realized what she had done. Before she knew it, she was trapped against her will in a hospital examining room. Trapped until she was rescued by an unlikely hero, Brady Black.
Chloe frowned as she turned away from the mirror. Once again she was thinking about Brady. She still didn't know what to make of him, or how exactly she felt towards him. She only knew that her thoughts of late seemed to center around him.
Their friendship, if one could even call it that, was hardly normal. Yet, despite their frequent heated and intense arguments, he was quickly becoming a person whom she treasured in her life.
Chloe shook her head. {Why am I thinking about this?} A doorbell below interrupted her thoughts. Belle flew out of the bathroom, hair done and fully dressed.
"They're here! They're here!" she cried as she raced around the room in a frantic search for her shoes. She found them under her bed and finally they were ready to make their grand entrance down the penthouse stairs.
Chloe stopped dead at the last step, her breath caught in her throat. Lord, he was gorgeous. The tuxedo fit perfectly showing off his fine, athletic physique. Chloe tore her gaze from his incredible blue eyes and forced words out of her suddenly dry mouth.
"Brady! Um, are you going to the dance too?" she stammered, a pink blush stealing into her cheeks.
"Yeah," he answered sheepishly. "I'm chaperoning with Nicole Walker. In fact, I'm going to pick her up now. You guys have fun." He called as he walked past Shawn and Phillip toward the door. "Shawn, uh, not too much fun, got it?" Brady asked with just a hint of a threat in his rich voice.
"Uh. Got it." Shawn stammered.
Brady turned back around and stole one last look at the ladies. "Tink, Chloe," he addressed them with a lingering gaze at Chloe. "I will see you at the dance." And he turned and left.
Phillip frowned slightly. He hadn't missed the looks between Chloe and Brady. "He's going to the dance? Brady, a chaperone?" he asked Belle, his voice almost accusatory.
"Don't look at me, I just found out." Belle protested innocently.
"Well, I guess it's no big deal if he wants to hang out at a high school dance. Come on ladies," he offered Chloe his arm, "my limo awaits."
Brady roared down the highway in his van on the way to the Kiriakis mansion where Nicole lived with his grandfather, Victor. "I cannot believe I am going to a high school dance." He groaned in horror. Brady absolutely detested these kinds of things. It had been bad enough the first time around in boarding school, but now that he was out of school it was even worse.
"So why am I doing this?" he asked himself. {For Chloe.} came the unspoken answer. He couldn't explain it, he just had a strong urgent feeling that something horrible was going to happen to her tonight. And he was going to stop it. No matter what.
"Okay, that's the last one." The curly haired brunette whispered.
"Are, are you sure we should do this?" a hesitant girl with ash-blond hair asked.
"Don't be such a wuss, Lockhart." Jan Spears sneered from her position behind the slide projector. "Our plan is going to work, Mimi. Tonight, Ghoul Girl is going to get exactly what's coming to her."
Author's Note
This story begins the night of last year's Last Blast Dance. Enjoy and feedback, please!
Chapter One
"Chloe, we gotta hurry! The guys will be here any minute!" Belle screamed from her bathroom.
Chloe smiled and shook her head. "Belle, you're telling me to hurry? I don't think you've been on time for anything in your entire life." She laughed as Belle flew out of the bathroom, still dressed in her slip with curlers in her blond hair. "Case in point."
Chloe watched in amusement as Belle frantically raced around her room, pulling out drawers and knocking over the pile of clothes that had been created earlier in her mad search for the perfect dress.
"What are you looking for?" Chloe asked finally.
"My new earrings, they go perfectly with my dress and I can't find them!" she cried.
"The ones with the."
"Yes, those!" Belle answered, hands on her hips as she surveyed the disaster area she called her room.
Chloe calmly walked over to Belle's wicker nightstand and picked up two small sparkly items and placed them in Belle's hand. "Here."
"My earrings! I knew there was reason why I wanted you to help me get ready." Belle enthused as she gave Chloe a crushing hug. "Okay, be right back!" she cried and with a giant whoosh! she rushed back into the bathroom.
Chloe just smiled to herself and examined her reflection in Belle's full- length mirror. She smoothed her dress around hr body and tried to smooth away the nervousness that fluttered in her stomach.
{Why are you so nervous, Chloe? It's just a dance.} But then again, she hadn't had much luck with high school dances. Unbidden memories of last year's dance came to mind. Despite wowing everyone in the little red dress she had worn, finally earning some respect and admiration, the evening had still almost been ruined when others decided to play a cruel trick on her. She had come within a hairsbreadth of being doused in blood, ala "Carrie."
But still the dance had its good times too. That night had marked the beginning of her relationship with Phillip. He had taken one look at her in that dress and she stopped being "ghoul girl", the opera-loving freak with the dark clothes and glasses. No, she was now a beautiful creature. A thing to be treasured, desired, worshipped.
She remembered how it felt to dance with him, the feel of his arms wrapped around her. She remembered so many things from this last year. Their first kiss, the first time he told her he loved her, how he made her feel. Special, wanted, loved. She hadn't been loved in a long time and it felt wonderful.
For that reason she stayed with Phillip. She stayed with him through the not-so-good times. Finding out about the bet, dealing with his out of control jealousy, her false rape accusation.
Chloe paused, remembering that night. The night she and Phillip almost made love. They had been dating on and off again for most of the year. That night she had been especially upset with her mother in particular and her life in general. But Phillip soothed her with his talk of how beautiful she was and how much he loved her. Before she really knew what was happening, her clothes lay on the floor in the barn and she and Phillip were getting ready to make love.
It had felt good at the time, though she was scared of her first time. It had felt so good to just run away and hide in the arms of the boy who loved her. Yes, it had felt good. However, she had been more than a little relieved when Phillip's supposedly dead father Victor walked in on them.
Phillip's lies gave her the excuse she needed to lash out at him and back out of her present situation. She was so angry with him for lying about his father's death. But secretly, she was angrier with herself, for letting herself get so carried away. For almost giving herself to someone she didn't love.
{No, of course I love him.} she told her reflection in the mirror. {I wouldn't be with him if I didn't love him. I wouldn't have almost made love to him if I.}
Her thought trailed off unfinished as she thought again of that night. Later that night. She had run from Phillip's barn - angry, upset, and half- naked. She wandered the streets of Salem for hours in a daze of blurry visions and memories that didn't make sense. She had felt like she was on the verge of remembering something forgotten during one of her "dark times", periods of her life that she has no memory of.
Faces, names and places whirled in her mind, things she had done, people she had known. And one last horrifying vision of different men touching her, kissing her, and.
"Chloe?" her mother's arrival in her car had startled her out of her trance, her recovered memories quickly flying away like leaves in the wind.
Her mother took in Chloe's disheveled, distraught state and came to an immediate conclusion.
"Chloe, were you raped?"
Chloe stared at her mother with wide unfocused eyes. And told her the truth.
It was only after her mind had cleared, after Phillip's arrest, that she realized what she had done. Before she knew it, she was trapped against her will in a hospital examining room. Trapped until she was rescued by an unlikely hero, Brady Black.
Chloe frowned as she turned away from the mirror. Once again she was thinking about Brady. She still didn't know what to make of him, or how exactly she felt towards him. She only knew that her thoughts of late seemed to center around him.
Their friendship, if one could even call it that, was hardly normal. Yet, despite their frequent heated and intense arguments, he was quickly becoming a person whom she treasured in her life.
Chloe shook her head. {Why am I thinking about this?} A doorbell below interrupted her thoughts. Belle flew out of the bathroom, hair done and fully dressed.
"They're here! They're here!" she cried as she raced around the room in a frantic search for her shoes. She found them under her bed and finally they were ready to make their grand entrance down the penthouse stairs.
Chloe stopped dead at the last step, her breath caught in her throat. Lord, he was gorgeous. The tuxedo fit perfectly showing off his fine, athletic physique. Chloe tore her gaze from his incredible blue eyes and forced words out of her suddenly dry mouth.
"Brady! Um, are you going to the dance too?" she stammered, a pink blush stealing into her cheeks.
"Yeah," he answered sheepishly. "I'm chaperoning with Nicole Walker. In fact, I'm going to pick her up now. You guys have fun." He called as he walked past Shawn and Phillip toward the door. "Shawn, uh, not too much fun, got it?" Brady asked with just a hint of a threat in his rich voice.
"Uh. Got it." Shawn stammered.
Brady turned back around and stole one last look at the ladies. "Tink, Chloe," he addressed them with a lingering gaze at Chloe. "I will see you at the dance." And he turned and left.
Phillip frowned slightly. He hadn't missed the looks between Chloe and Brady. "He's going to the dance? Brady, a chaperone?" he asked Belle, his voice almost accusatory.
"Don't look at me, I just found out." Belle protested innocently.
"Well, I guess it's no big deal if he wants to hang out at a high school dance. Come on ladies," he offered Chloe his arm, "my limo awaits."
Brady roared down the highway in his van on the way to the Kiriakis mansion where Nicole lived with his grandfather, Victor. "I cannot believe I am going to a high school dance." He groaned in horror. Brady absolutely detested these kinds of things. It had been bad enough the first time around in boarding school, but now that he was out of school it was even worse.
"So why am I doing this?" he asked himself. {For Chloe.} came the unspoken answer. He couldn't explain it, he just had a strong urgent feeling that something horrible was going to happen to her tonight. And he was going to stop it. No matter what.
"Okay, that's the last one." The curly haired brunette whispered.
"Are, are you sure we should do this?" a hesitant girl with ash-blond hair asked.
"Don't be such a wuss, Lockhart." Jan Spears sneered from her position behind the slide projector. "Our plan is going to work, Mimi. Tonight, Ghoul Girl is going to get exactly what's coming to her."