((1 year later))

"Jonathan!" Jon sat in his small room. It was barley ten feet by ten feet. The bed took up the majority of the room; all his books and papers making the room look almost like a storage room instead of a bedroom. "Jonathan!" He groaned as his father stumbled drunkenly around the apartment. "Boy!" His father called, his voice dripping with anger. He didn't want to answer his father knowing what would happen but he also knew that if he didn't it would be so much worse. He put the book he was reading down and left the room.

"Yes?" He asked seeing his father in the small kitchen.

"Come here boy!" He said. "How do you explain this?" He asked pointing to a broken lamp that was lying on the floor. His father had knocked it over in his drunken stupor but obviously didn't remember. "Well?"

"I'm sorry dad." He said. "It was an accident." He knew by now that he should just accept the blame. Telling his father that it was him that did it wasn't the best of ideas.

"An accident?" He asked. "An accident? Just like it was an accident you killed your mother?" He asked.

"I didn't-"

"Don't give me that 'it wasn't your fault' bull shit." He said slapping Jon. Jon fell to the ground. He didn't bother to get back up he knew it was useless. His father fumbled with his belt a moment before he finally pulled it off. He folded the belt in half and kicked Jon onto the stomach. Jon moved onto his hands and knees knowing the usual routine.

He felt the first bite of the belt against his skin making him flinch. He didn't scream. His father, for every scream, added another lash to the unnumbered lashes he received on a nightly basis.

Jon's back throbbed. He could feel his own hot blood running down his skin, the lashes adding more lines to his already scarred back. Tears ran down his cheeks and still he did not scream.

"You're worthless you know that?" His father yelled. It was the same words every night. The same words, the same belt. It was like he was stuck on a scratched record skipping back every time it was played.

"You'll never amount to anything."

Jon knew he should keep his mouth shut but the words slipped out. "Just like you?" He asked.

The last thing Jon saw was the bottom of his fathers shoe before he lost consciousness.

((Seven years later))

"Happy Birthday Jon." Jon looked over to see one of his co-workers walking towards him. "How's the big sixteen?" He asked. Jon shrugged.

"No different than yesterday." He said. He turned the speaker of the head set down so that it wasn't in front of his mouth anymore but under his chin. He handed out the last bag through the drive thru window and watched as the ugly yellow car pulled away.

"Oh come now." He said. "You don't feel…. I don' know… more grown up?" Jon looked to him his head tilted as he leaned sideways against the drive thru wall.

"I've felt grown up since the day my mother died." He said rolling his eyes. "You know I've only had myself the majority of my life."

"Yeah I know. Just like a lot of us here. You know most of our background stories man. Yours ain't so strange." He slapped Jon's ass hard and walked away.

Jon jumped though more from the slap than surprise. "Hey!" He said. "That shit ain't free!" He yelled across the counter. Normally he wouldn't speak like this at work in fear he'd get fired, but the restaurant was empty and the managers gone for the day. His co-worker whom he calls Bick on a count of the fact that him and one of the other guys in the back do nothing but bicker all the time. The other co-worker he dubbed Banter. To be honest he didn't even remember Bick or Banter's real names. The only way he knew was by looking at their nametags. If they wore them.

Jon looked over to see one of the new girls he worked with cleaning some of the tables. He moved back slightly so that he was hidden by the drive thru wall. He watched her a few moments as Bick came up to him again.

"Beautiful ain't she?" He asked. "When did she start?"

"Last week." Jon said.

"And I'm sure you haven't been able to keep your eyes off her eh?" He laughed. "Have you asked her out?"

"No." He said. "Why would she want to go out with a freak like me?"

"You're not a freak Jon." He said. "Not all the time anyway." He said laughing. "Go ask her. There's a Halloween dance this Friday isn't there?" Jon nodded. "Go see if she wants to go with you."

"But I don't dance." Jon argued.

"You'll learn! Go ask!" He pushed Jon in her direction as she was coming towards them with a few trays. He crashed into her and both of them toppled to the floor.

"Oh my god!" He said trying to help her up. "I'm so sorry are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine." She said getting up. Jon glared at Bick as he picked up the trays.

"Hey, um…. I was just wondering." Jon paused as he stood up with the trays and pushed the swinging door open to put the trays in the back. "There's a Halloween dance at my school on Friday and I was just wondering if you uh…. Maybe…. You know….." The girl smiled.

"I'd love to go with you." She said.

"Really?" He asked shocked. "I mean….. yeah…. Great."

Jon watched as she walked away from him to collect more of the tables from previous customers.

"Quit staring man…. She could still cancel on you." Bick laughed. Jon shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts and jumped slightly when he heard a beep on the headset.

"Welcome to A&W drive thru what can I get for you?" Jon asked walking back up to the drive thru till. He leaned on the side of it as he rang in the persons order and sighed after he turned off the headset. The rest of the week was going to be long.

1001001001001

((Halloween night))

(ding dong)

Jon waited on the front steps playing with his tie. He looked down at his hands as they shook.

"Calm down Jon…. She's just a girl." He sighed and put his hands in his pockets and then thought better of it and just hung them at his sides. The door was opened and he looked up at a tall man at least five inches taller than him and about twice his thickness if not more.

"Um…. Hi…. Is…….. Chastity home?" The man almost seemed to snarl as he opened the screen door to let Jon in.

"Honey, your date is here!" The man called upstairs in a deep voice. The man was very intimidating though whether he did that on purpose or that was just his natural demeanour he didn't know.

Chastity came down the stairs and smiled when she saw him. She wore a black dress with purple trim. A green necklace was around her neck and from her ears hung two little gold hoops.

"Chastity you look….. awesome…." He said mentally kicking himself. Chastity laughed.

"Thank you Jon." She said smiling. "I just have to grab my purse I'll be right back." She headed into the living room leaving Jon alone with the man. He walked up to Jon and backed him against the door.

"You make her cry…." The man warned. "And I'll make you cry!" Jon gulped audibly as the man walked away. Chastity came back into the room and smiled at Jon.

"Are you ready?" She asked. Jon glanced at the man again before nodding. "I'll see you later daddy!" She called before taking Jon's hand and leading him out of the house.

"Don't mind my dad." She said as they walked down the street. The school was only about a block away from her house, in walking distance. "He can be a bit…. Protective." He laughed nervously.

"I can see that." Jon said.

"Did he pull the whole 'you make her cry I'll make you cry' bit?" Jon nodded. "Yeah he does that a lot. Specially with…." Jon looked at her as she paused.

"With who?"

"No one…" She saw the school and smirked. "Hey look! They put out jack-o-lanterns. She said running towards the school. Jon raised an eyebrow in confusion before taking off after her.

She walked along the front of the school looking at each pumpkin in turn. She laughed at some of the dorky looking ones.

"Must have been done by the art class." He said. Chastity nodded. "Yeah…. Hey look there's mine!" She said pointing to one. It had a picture of a bat on it.

"Why a bat?" He asked. Chastity shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I just don't see why bats are considered as Halloween thing." She said. Jon raised an eyebrow.

"I don't get it." He said looking down at the pumpkin. Chastity shrugged.

"I don't know. It's like…. I know in my head but I can't explain it. You ever have been in that situation?" Jon shook his head.

"No…. I don't talk to people much so I don't really need to explain my thoughts." He moved away from the pumpkins and towards the main doors. "So, just out of curiosity. Did anyone else ask you to the dance?"

Chastity shook her head. "No…. one guy was supposed to ask me out but…. He didn't want to come."

"What do you mean he was supposed too?" Jon paused and paid for both his and her pass in. Their hands where stamped and they made their way into the dance.

"Just a bit of a warning I can't dance." Chastity said. Jon noticed how she had avoided the question but decided not to press the issue.

He smiled. "That's okay, neither can I."

Despite Chastity's claming her inability to dance, she turned out to be a wonderful dancer. He had a hard time keeping up with her but held his own.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Chastity asked. Jon shook his head. "What was your first kiss like?" Jon paused and looked down at his feet embarrassed.

"I've uh….. never been kissed before." Chastity looked shocked.

"Never?" Jon shook his head.

"Not yet." He sighed and shrugged. "Some people just-"

"Hey freak!" Jon paused and looked over to see three boys coming towards them. He recognised one of them, it was Duncan LeBlanc. He was in a grade higher than him but had the intelligence of a fifth grader.

"Duncan. What do you want?" He asked.

"What are you doing with-"

"Duncan! I thought you said you weren't coming!" She said.

"I heard you where coming with this freak. Thought I'd come investigate."

"He's not a freak Duncan. He's a very sweet young boy." Jon scoffed.

"Thanks." He said sarcastically.

"Aw did you hear that boys, he's a very sweet young boy." The guys around him laughed.

"Just lay off Duncan. I'll talk to you on Monday!" Duncan glared at Jon a moment.

"I'm watching you!" He said. "You touch her you're good as dead!" Duncan said moving away from them.

"Why was he so-"

"Can you take me home Jon?" She asked. "I don't want to be here anymore." Jon looked at his watch. It was nine thirty anyway. Almost his curfew.

"Yeah, come on." He lead her out of the dance.

"Thank you for inviting me."

"Thank you for tolerating my awful dancing." Jon said laughing as they walked along the side streets of Boston back towards her house.

They walked in silence, Jon's hands shoved deep in the pockets of his faded dress pants. She stopped walking causing Jon to stop as well.

"What's wrong Chastity?" She shrugged.

"I just… I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate all you've done for me tonight."

"Me? I haven't done anything special." He said. "Other then step on your toes a few times." He said laughing. She shrugged.

"It's the not having done anything I like." She said. "All the guys I have gone out with at some point try to get in my pants. You haven't even tried to kiss me yet." She smirked.

He looked down at the ground suddenly shy. "Yeah well… I'm not so good at this whole dating thing…. So…. Even if I wanted to I wouldn't know where to st-" He was cut off as she panted a quick kiss to his lips.

He didn't say anything a few moments as if he where in a daze.

"You know…. That was my first kiss." He said smiling slightly.

She smiled. "I know." She smirked. "You know…. I like it when you smile. You should smile more." He smiled again and leaned forward to kiss her again. "Jon look out!" She cried. Jon turned around just in time to see the two by four connect with his forehead. He fell back into Chastity knocking her into the wall behind them.

"Duncan!" Chastity cried. "What are you doing?"

"I told this freak if he touched you he was dead." His two friends grabbed Jon's arms and held him in place. Duncan punched him hard in the stomach. But just like his fathers punishments, Jon didn't cry. Didn't make a noise other than the air rushing from his lungs.

"Duncan what is wrong with you!" She moved up to Duncan and grabbed onto his arm trying to stop him. Duncan pushed her back and hit Jon again.

"So what makes you think you can take my girlfriend to a dance and get away with it?" Duncan asked.

"Your…" Jon looked to Chastity. She covered her mouth. The hurt in his eyes was just heart breaking.

"I'm sorry Jon." She said as Duncan hit him again. "Duncan, stop this!"

"What's the matter Jon?" He asked. "You sad that you didn't get to fuck her?" He laughed. "Or are you upset cause I fucked her first?"

"Duncan!" Chastity cried.

Jon didn't make any sound as Duncan hit him again. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and grabbed onto Jon's face. "Why so serious Johnny boy?" He asked laughing. He put the knife to Jon's throat.

"Duncan please…. Stop!" She cried. Jon used the boys holding him up as leverage to lift himself up and kick Duncan back. The force pushing against Duncan pushed the two boys back forcing them to let him go. Jon jumped up and ran.

"Get back here you fucking freak!" Duncan yelled. He pulled himself up from the ground and chased after Jon. It wasn't long before he caught him. "You think that's funny? You think you're fucking tough?" He stood up letting go of Jon and pulled a thin stripped wire out of a near by garbage can. Jon stood up and tried to run again.

"Oh no you don't." Duncan put the wire so that the ends where in each of his hands. He put the cord around in front of Jon trying to wrap it around his neck. As Jon ran forward he pulled back, the cord wasn't low enough and caught in Jon's mouth. Duncan laughed as he pulled back on the cord.

"Duncan stop!" Chastity cried. She could see blood coming from Jon's mouth from where the wire was being pulled at the sides of his mouth. "Duncan you're hurting him!"

"He ain't screaming." Duncan said laughing and pulling back harder. "Probably don't hurt much."

"Duncan you're such a fucking idiot stop!" She screamed. Jon's eyes started to blur from the pain as Duncan pulled back harder, the wire hooking up into his teeth cutting the gum between. He finally cried out. He could feel blood flowing down his face as his whole body shook from the pain. He could feel tears spring to his eyes and could hear the faint sound of sirens in the distance before Duncan let him go. He fell to the ground as Chastity ran up to him. She was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.