"Hey Chris, wait up!" I shout running down the hallway to catch up to him.
"Hey Sky." he says looking down at me with a small smile on his face.
"Umm...my brothers said that I can go out with you tonight." I tell him a small smile forming on my face.
"That's great! How bout I pick you up around 7?" he asks the smile on his face growing bigger.
"Umm...my brother Darry said the only way I can go is if he gets to drop me off there and then you can walk me home. Is that okay?" I ask him timidly worried that he's going to not be okay with it.
"It's okay Sky, so why don't you have him drop you off there around 7 and I will meet you outside the theater." he says reassuring me.
"Okay, I'll see you then." I say waving at him as I walk away to my first period class. To my surprise the school day goes by in a blur and when the final bell rings it seems like the day just started, that's how fast it went by. When I get home I immediately go to my room and sit at the desk to do my homework, wanting to finish it before my date with Chris tonight. It's 4 o'clock when I finally finish it all, Darry and Soda should be home in about an hour. If it was last night I would've started making dinner by now but it's Pony's night to cook so he's in the kitchen making it. I go out in the living room and plop myself down on the couch, turning on Mickey.
"Hey baby girl." Soda says coming through the door what seems like only minutes later but is really an hour later I notice looking up at the clock to see that it's a little past 5.
"Hey." I say back looking up at him briefly before turning my attention back to the t.v.
"Where's Pony?" he asks sitting down next to me.
"In the kitchen making dinner." I tell him simply. He just nods in response.
"You smell like a sweaty car engine." I tell him in disgust, plugging my nose.
"Yeah I know, I have to go take a shower before dinner." he says getting up and heading for the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
"Hey peanut how was school today?" Darry asks as usual coming through the door and setting down his tool belt.
"Fine, boring as usual." I tell him shrugging my shoulders.
"So what time am I dropping you off at the movie house tonight?" he asks shutting the t.v. off so that my attention is completely focused on him.
"Around 7. Chris is going to meet me outside of the movie house and then walk me home once the movie is over." I tell him standing up and stretching out my limbs.
"Okay sounds good." he says looking at me once more before heading for the kitchen. He may say that it's okay but the look on his face says that he is completely against this, all my brothers are actually. But, they'll get over it eventually I mean I'm 15 now so a guy was going to ask me out at some point, it's just bound to happen.
I follow Darry into the kitchen and grab plates and silverware to set the table. After we've all finished dinner and Soda is in the kitchen washing the dishes I look up at the clock and notice that it's 6:30 so I should probably start getting ready. I first go in the bathroom and brush my teeth, before going into my room to change into something else. I decide to wear a pair of my jeans and one of my purple shirts. I then pair it with my leather jacket that Soda got me for my birthday last year, along with the bracelet Steve got me and then I put on my black converse lacing them up. When I'm done the clock says ten of 7, so I go out of our room and into the living room to find Darry.
"Hey Sky you ready to go?" Darry asks before I even have the chance to.
"Yeah. I do look okay right? I'm not really sure how any of this works." I ask quietly.
"Baby girl you look fine." Soda says coming up behind me placing his hands on my shoulders reassuringly.
"Okay." I say believing him because he's been on dates millions of times so he has to know what he's talking about when it comes to this stuff.
"Don't worry about not knowing what to do or how this works, just go and have a good time." he tells me smiling at me.
"Soda's right Sky, just go and enjoy yourself and if he does anything to you or anything bad happens tell him that your brothers will beat the shit out of him." Darry says completely serious.
"Okay I get the message. Now can we go please? I don't want to be late." I ask him.
"Lead the way peanut." Darry says ushering me out the door. I hop in the passenger seat and Darry gets behind the wheel, the ride to the movie house is very short so we get there in no time. Once Darry puts the car in park, I hop out and start to walk to where Chris is standing by the entrance.
"Sky wait." Darry says calling me back to the truck.
"Yeah?" I question.
"Be careful and have a good time and I want him to walk you home right after the movie is over. Okay?" he says sternly.
"Okay, bye Darry." I say waving at him as he drives off.
"Hey." Chris greets me once I'm standing in front of him.
"Hey. Should we head inside and find seats?" I ask timidly feeling my face already heating up and the movie hasn't even started yet.
"Yeah, let's go." he says grabbing my hand and leading us to the entrance. I offered to pay for my ticket but Chris insisted on paying. Once inside we both go and get a pepsi before sitting down in seats somewhat in the back. Probably 20 minutes into the movie a chill runs up my spin making me shiver, it probably wasn't the best idea on my part to wear my leather jacket because it's not that warm.
"Are you cold?" Chris asks me in a whisper.
"Yeah a little." I say back. Chris smiles at me and then wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close to him, instantly providing me with the warmth I was needing.
"Better?" he asks sending another chill down my spine, but this time it's not because I'm cold it's because he's making me nervous. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I don't know what to do in a situation like this but it's kind of hard not to.
"Yeah thanks." I say resting my head on his shoulder. We sit like this for the rest of the movie, his arm wrapped around me and my head resting on his shoulder. Once the movie is over we both stand up and start walking towards the exit, as we're walking Chris grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers. Chris and I walk back to my house at a slow pace not really in a hurry, just enjoying each others company. Once we reach my house Chris walks me up the porch front steps and we just stand there facing each other with our hands still intertwined.
"Well here we are." he says still not letting go of my hand which I don't mind one bit.
"Thanks for walking me home, I had a really good time tonight." I say shyly a small smile forming on my face and my cheeks heating up immensely.
"Me too." he says letting go of my hand and leaning in closer to me.
"What are you doing?" I ask confused.
"I'm going to kiss you." he says his face not even two inches away from mine. I smile shyly at him before his lips are placed on mine. I'm nervous at first not really sure what to do and also kind of shocked, but once I get past that I start to kiss him back. As we're kissing though thoughts of Carter forcefully kissing me and thoughts of what he did to me start running through my head. In my mind now instead of seeing and knowing that Chris is kissing me all I can see is Carter and how rough and forceful he was when he kissed me against my own will. I immediately shove Chris hard not wanting him anywhere near me now.
"Stop, don't touch me." I tell him sternly.
"What's wrong?" he asks completely confused by my reaction.
"Go away! Leave me alone!" I start to shout at him as flashbacks start running through my head fogging up my senses.
"Sky you're talking crazy talk." he says calmly still confused.
"I said no! I said no!" I shout at him as he morphs into Carter, I distance myself even further away from him until I hit the railing on the other side of the porch. I hold my arms out in front of me in case he decides to come closer to me.
"What's going on out here?" I hear Darry ask frantically coming outside hearing the commotion.
"Leave me alone! I said no!" I shout again tears starting to rapidly fall down my face.
"Baby girl calm down, you're okay." I hear Soda tell me, I can't see him though because I'm still stuck in the flashback. I'm back in that abandoned storage closet with Seth, Carter, and Cole surrounding me like lions do before they eat their prey. Seth yanks me up roughly by my hair holding me in place while Carter roughly places his lips on mine before moving down to my neck and then back to my lips, unbuttoning the buttons on my shirt as he goes.
"Kiss me back you bitch!" he shouts at me slapping me across the face before roughly placing his lips on mine once again. Against my will I kiss him back not wanting to get beat anymore than I already am. I can now feel the cold air on my stomach since my shirt is completely unbuttoned. I feel Seth and Cole release their grip on me only to slide my shirt off my shoulders before once again tighten their grip on me. Carter pulls his lips off mine finally allowing me to take in the much needed air he was depriving me of, but my happiness is short lived as he snakes his hands around to my back to unsnap my bra.
"Please don't." I whimper but my pleas don't stop him and he just continues to pull my bra completely off, leaving me bare in front of him. I try to pull my arms out of Seth and Cole's grasp to cover myself but I can't because they are too strong. I squeeze my eyes shut when I feel Carter's big and rough hands on my chest. I try to hold back the sob forming in my throat but I can't and it just comes out, which earns me another hit from Carter this time to my stomach.
"Baby girl you have to snap out of it. They're not here, it's not real, you're safe at home, they can't hurt you anymore. Come on baby girl, come back to us." I hear Soda's begging voice break through my thoughts, snapping me out of my flashback. I'm now out of that abandoned storage closet and transported back on the porch with my brothers and Chris surrounding me. I turn my head and look at Soda through my blurred vision due to all my tears, I continue to sob even harder and collapse into his arms hanging onto him like he's my life line.
"Shhh...you're okay. I'm right here, Soda's here." he coos as my whole body trembles in his grasp. He rubs his hand up and down my back soothingly trying to calm me down while kissing my head and whispering soothing words to me. It's not helping though, I grasp his shirt tighter in my hands my knuckles probably turning white but I'm terrified that if I let go he will disappear and Carter will take his place.
"I'm out of here. Your sister is a wack job, I never want to see her again." Chris says disgusted with me.
"Watch your mouth you bastard." Darry hisses punching him in the face hard.
I feel Soda's grip on me loosen slightly making me freak out even more, he can't let go of me if he does he'll disappear and I'll be back in that closet.
"No don't let me go, please don't let me go. They'll take me away if you let me go." I cry gripping his shirt tighter in my hands.
"Shh... baby girl, I'm not going to let go of you. I'm right here, nobody is going to take you away. You're okay baby girl just try to calm down, I don't want you to pass out. You're safe, I'm not going anywhere. Soda's got you." he coos reassuring me by tightening his grip on me, but not painfully so.
"You're all nuts, but she's the craziest out of all of you." Chris spats pointing at me, so I hide my face in the crook of Soda's neck so I can no longer see the disgusted look on his face that is directed towards me. My sobs slowly turn to whimpers as Soda continues to rub his hand up and down my back soothingly, still whispering soothing words to me and telling me how much he loves me.
"Get out of here, I never want to see you near this house ever again or you'll regret it. If you have half a brain you'll listen to my warning because next time I won't be so nice." Darry hisses before punching him in the face once again. Chris then walks down the porch steps and sulks away down the street and out of my life forever.
"I'm sorry for freaking out like that but when he started kissing me I was immediately brought back to what they did to me." I say quietly lifting my head up from Soda's shoulder to look at all of them.
"Peanut you have nothing to be sorry for." Darry says sadly walking over to me and picking me up out of Soda's grasp and holding me tight to him, surrounding me in his strong embrace that keeps me safe from everything bad in the world.
"I knew you weren't ready for this yet Sky." Pony says quietly but still in an 'I told you so' tone of voice.
"I know but I wanted to think I was, I don't think I will ever be ready for something like this after what I went through." I say hiding my face in the crook of Darry's neck.
"Baby girl you will be ready to date at some point, but it's just going to take a lot of time because it's par for the course when you go through something traumatic like you have." Soda says softly rubbing his hand up and down my back while I cling tighter to Darry not wanting him to put me down just yet because right now I still need that safety blanket that his embrace provides me with.
"Can we go to bed now? I'm tired." I ask sniffling at the end and wiping away some of my tears on Darry's shirt.
"Yeah peanut it's kind of late anyways." Darry says still not putting me down and carrying me inside with Pony and Soda following behind us. Once inside he puts me down and I go into the bathroom to get ready for bed and change into some of my pajamas. Once I'm done I put my clothes in the hamper before going into my room and getting in bed, crawling under the covers. Darry comes in shortly after to say goodnight.
"Goodnight peanut." he says leaning over and kissing my head.
"Goodnight Superman. Sorry about your shirt." I say.
"Sky it's okay, I love you." he says giving me a soft smile.
"I love you too." I tell him before he turns around and walks out the door shutting off the light on his way out.
Shortly after he leaves the room Pony and Soda come in all ready for bed. They both climb in on either side of me snuggling down under the covers themselves.
"You okay now baby girl?" Soda asks rolling over to face me.
"Not really but I'm getting there." I tell him quietly.
I roll over on my side facing the other way when I realize that Soda isn't going to say anything else. Soda doesn't say anything, all he does is wrap his arms tightly around me pulling me close to him, shielding me from all the bad thoughts that are constantly swirling through my head.
"Am I ever going to be my old self again, like before all this happened to me? Or am I going to be crazy and broken like this forever?" I ask him quietly feeling fresh tears flowing down my face but I quickly reach up and wipe them away.
"You'll get through this baby girl and you will eventually be the Sky you were before once again. I think one part of you will be different, but that's expected when you go through something traumatic like you have. But no Sky you won't be broken and like this forever. You have us and the gang to help you get through this, it's just going to take time." he says softly kissing my temple.
"Okay. You'll help me though right? I can't do this without you Pepsi." I ask him turning my head to look at him.
"Of course I will baby girl, I'm not going anywhere. Now try to get some sleep." he says kissing my forehead before laying his head back down on the pillow. I turn my head back the other way and also lay my head back on my pillow, closing my eyes and getting some sleep like Soda told me to.
Long and dramatic chapter, I know. As always please review!
