Okay so, apparently I've struck gold with this story, and I've decided the only thing to do about it, is to stop after the first chapter….
SYKE! Haha JUST KIDDING. I would never do that to you! Okay, but just to warn you, I am notorious for not finishing my stories, because I eventually lose inspiration for them. However, my resolution this year is to stick it out with all of my stories, starting with this one. After this story, I'll finish "Bad Luck", "The Fudge", "Lies to be Forgotten", and then I'll repost my other golden story, "Desperate Acquaintances".
Merry Christmas to all!
And Happy Hanukah!
And Happy Kwanza!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
SIX MONTHS LATER
Kory was better now. She had gone to therapy for half a year, and things had finally started looking up for the teen. She was three quarters of the way finished with her junior year. Since her bubbly, fun-loving personality had returned, she had once again become the school's most popular girl, and even the bounce in her hair and the shine of her skin had come back.
There were many rumors as to why Kory Anders, THE Kory Anders, had been spotted leaving and entering the psychologist's office on Pittners Street, or why the notorious alumna Xavier Red had reportedly been arrested for extreme violence towards an innocent girl from his past. There were rumors about the cuts and bruises that Kory had managed to turn up to school with for a solid three or four months, covered in make up and clothing. People wondered if Kory's friends had staged an intervention for her eating disorder yet...or the eating disorder that Kory was rumored to have. The only thing there weren't rumors about in Kory's life, it seemed, was Richard.
It was evident that Kory and Richard were meant to be, and it had been for a long, long time. Unfortunately, neither really realized that the other was madly in love with them. It was a wonder Kory stayed with Xavier so long, or that Richard had had that on and off fling with Barbara Gordon, who was also in Xavier's graduating class.
Only five people on the campus of Jump City High knew Kory's full story, including Kory. The other four had secretly taken it upon themselves to protect and guard Kory from anything that might ever hurt her again. She was the center of the group, she held them together, and ended their fights. Having her be timid and quiet for such a long time had caused them each significant pain, but when they had questioned her about the bruises, or the cuts, or the swollen, puffy eyes, she'd snap at them, and draw even farther away from them, into her little shell.
Blindly, they had decided to leave her alone for a while, hoping that she would somehow get better. They figured it was the best thing to do, since straight forward helping seemed to make her shy away from them even more. They silently noticed her drop in food consumption, and when she cut off her liquid supply, too, they had arranged a secret get together, to speak of the possibilities and of their options of helping their friend.
They knew Kory's parents were never home; always off at some party or another. Kory's family was of a royal line, they were rich, and it was the money that separated Kory's parents from their kids. It had caused Kory's older brother, Ryan, to leave and join the military straight out of high school, and Kory's older sister, Koma, not long after, to run away from home altogether. This took quite a toll on Kory, so Richard wrote a letter to Ryan at the naval base, and Ryan began checking up on Kory regularly. This brightened her spirits somewhat, but she never told Ryan that anything was wrong. It was always "I'm fine, how are you? Mom and dad send their love." And things like that. At around the same time that Xavier had become abusive, however, Ryan was shipped out…to Iraq.
So the group had never taken a largely active role in their friend's life, but this was different. It was getting way out of hand, and they had to stop it. They all cared about Kory too much to let her die from anorexia, and in their meeting, they planned to confront her the next day. They were going to talk to the principal, and ask for the most class periods off that she would allow them, and to borrow an empty classroom. They expected no intervention from the principal, since she was personally good friends with Victor's mom, and had a special place in her heart for the "famous five" as they were known on campus.
The famous five consisted of Rachel Roth, a shy, quiet girl, but a great friend. She was slightly gothic, but more punk than anything. She was short for her age, very petite, but she never let that stop her from shoving her foot up anyone's…er…backside if they rubbed her the wrong way. She wore dark clothes, and had dyed her hair a beautiful shade of violet, to match her exotically violet eyes. Garfield Logan was different. He was the class clown, and jokester. He was an animal lover, and had become a vegetarian when he was about seven. He had the most amazing green eyes, and his hair was tinted green. Richard Grayson was the playboy of the group. Although all five were quite rich, he was definitely the richest. He was handsome, playful, funny, and very athletic. He had a soft spot in his heart for Kory that no one could ever replace, but once you were his friend, he'd do anything to help you out. Victor Stone was the school's star quarterback. He had earned a varsity letter in freshmen year, and had leaded the school to three championship games already. In the first game, the coach played a senior quarterback since it was his last year, and the team lost horribly. The second game, Victor sprained his ankle three days before the game, and had to be tied down to his chair during the game so that he wouldn't try to get up and play on it. The team lost horribly. The third game…well, no one really knew what happened for sure, but Victor refused to play. However, he was determined to win it all on his senior year next year, and he was training all year round, getting ready for what he called "his last chance to prove himself". Last but not least, was Kory. She was really the best friend any of the famous five had ever had. She had stuck with Rachel when her father was abusive in seventh grade, and the two were like sisters. When Victor's dad had gotten in a fatal car accident, she was at his house immediately with a shoulder to cry on, for both Victor and his mother, and she was like family to both of them. When any of Garfield's pets had died, she was the only one to hold proper funerals, and she'd even take him out for ice cream…100 soy ice cream…afterwards. The next day, he could always count on her to appear on his door step with some fascinating new animal she had ordered from her homeland, Tameran. And to Richard, she was…everything. She always listened and tried to understand his problems and…well…he loved her.
So, the famous five planned the whole thing out, what they were going to say, what they were going to do, and how they were going to that talking to them about her problems would be okay.
But that night, as Richard slept fitfully, wondering about what was wrong with Kory, he got a call that woke him up, and forever changed everyone's lives.
But all that was six months in the path. Kory was pretty much back to her normal self. Rich and Kory were the cutest couple in JCH, and the five friends were closer than ever before, and Rachel, Garfield, Victor, and especially Richard, were hell-bent on making sure that nothing like that would ever happen to Kory, ever again.
And so, here we are now, are the very cusp of our story, and now you know the background of it. You know that Kory is extremely happy for the first time in God knows when, and that her friends are intent on keeping her that way.
But what you also know is that nothing ever is as it should be and that all good things eventually come to an end, whether we like it or not.
So even as Kory climbed the steps of her front porch and gave Richard the key to open the door to her house, and even as she watched her boyfriend's figure stepping into her house, and even as she thought to herself that she was the luckiest girl on earth, you know that this happy streak of lucky events are doomed to end sooner or later.
And unfortunately for Kory, these events would end sooner rather than later.
As Kory reached her hand into the mail box and felt around briefly until she found an envelope addressed to her, her brow furrowed in bewilderment and slit open the outer packaging, quickly skimming the contents of the formal letter she held in her hand.
The shock of what she was reading took her by surprise, and she felt a sudden wave of nausea over take her. As Rich came back out of the house to jokingly see what was taking her so long, she swooned on the sight, and he managed to catch her before she hit the ground. She managed to stay conscious, and leaned on him as they slowly made their way inside. Once they were in, Rich picked her up bridal style and laid her down on the couch, running to get her some water.
When at last he was sitting by her side with a glass of water at hand, he saw that she had either fallen asleep, or fainted on the couch.
His worry overtook him, and he called up Victor, whom he knew was currently driving Garfield and Rachel to their houses, and told him all that had happened. As Victor offered to turn the car around at once and drive them all to Kory's house, Richard told him to hold on a moment, as something caught his eye.
Kory was clutching a piece of paper in her hand, and as he released it from her grasp, the same overpowering shock came over him, and he sat down on the floor next to Kory's silent figure on the couch. Raising the phone back up to his ear, he relayed the message to Victor, who immediately made a U-Turn and promised to be there right away.
Ryan had been hurt in a battle. They weren't sure if it was fatal or not.
The worst news of all, however, was the letter that wasn't read. The letter that had dropped to the ground when Kory began to feel woozy. The letter that was now blowing away, and wouldn't be read by any of the famous five, but eventually blown into a storm drain and lost forever.
The letter that sealed not only bad news, but also Kory's fate.
