Alright here is chapter three.
I am so sorry it has been so long, but I had pink eye last week and really didn't feel like sitting at a computer and typing.
Please rate and review, it's good to know that people are reading and like the story.
Mkay, here's chapter 3:
Things are becoming routine to Orion. She had been at Horizon for two weeks, and is happy that she gets along with the other cliffhangers. She definitely feels closer to Tristan, Auggie, and Shelby because of their past on the streets, but also finds that she has no problem talking and spending time with the others.
'It's so strange. I have never been close with kids who don't have the same background with me.'
Orion was pondering over how weird it was to make friends with kids who have money as she scrubbed away at pots and pans with Tristan, who was still on dish detail. The two were lost in their own thoughts, until Peter's voice interrupted them.
"Okay guys, that's enough. You have to get to group." He told them. "Today we are going to split up into girls and guys. Orion the girls are with Sophie in the cafeteria, and Tristan the boys are in the other room in the lodge."
"Finally," Orion smirked, throwing off her apron, happy to be done doing the dishes for the day.
Tristan was in such a daze he hadn't even heard Peter. Orion splashed him and grinned.
"Hey!" He said, smiling also.
The two began to walk out of the kitchen into the cafeteria, where Orion was having group. Tristan was trying to rub his wet hands on Orion's shirt, and the two were laughing hysterically.
"Aw, how cute." Juliette squeaked.
The two blushed embarrassedly and Orion took a seat. Tristan gave all the girls a little wave and continued on his way to the lodge. The other cliffhanger girls shared glances. It was obvious Tristan and Orion were into each other, but neither was willing to admit it yet.
Sophie cut Orion's embarrassment short by hushing the group and beginning the lesson. Just as she was about to get into their discussion for the day, Daisy interrupted her.
"Hey, who's that guy, he's pretty good looking. I hope he's a new counselor." She said.
Orion was about to turn and look when she felt someone grab her by the shirt collar and pull her up. Horrified, Orion came face to face with her father. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. His red eyes concluded that he was probably high as well. Her father began screaming obscenities at her.
"You fucking bitch, you didn't even come and say goodbye." He screamed.
"Why would I come see you? I can't fucking stand you." Orion answered.
Sophie watched in horror as Orion's father raised his hand and punched his daughter square in the face. She instantly stood up and tried to pull him off of her, but he simply pushed her off and she landed with a thud on the ground. The other cliffhanger girls watched in shock as the man turned his attention back to his daughter, who had finally gotten up off floor. Surprisingly, Orion lunged at him, but he was too strong for her. Frozen, the girls watched him punch her multiple times in the face and stomach.
The boys were just a few rooms away, joking around with Peter, when they heard loud banging in the cafeteria. Peter instantly stood up and went to check what was going on. The boys followed him. What they saw made them all want to throw up. A big man, who was probably pushing 230 pounds, was kicking Orion, who was bleeding badly and moaning on the ground. Peter instantly ran forward and pulled the man off of Orion. Sophie finally got up off the ground.
"Call the cops!" Peter yelled to her, struggling to restrain the man.
Sophie nodded and headed to the phones, limping slightly.
Tristan and Scott went over to Orion and tried to help her up.
"Just..let..me..be" She managed to say.
The cliffhangers all looked down at Orion. She was in real bad shape.
Thirty minutes later, Orion's father was taken away by the police. Peter noticed that Sophie had hurt one of her ribs when she pushed down and sent her over to the infirmary. Now, he would have to help Orion get over there. A storm had brewed up, and she would have to wait until tomorrow to go to the hospital. He was worried, she was lying on the floor all curled up. However, she was awake. Auggie had kept her talking. The two were conversing in Spanish, so Peter had no idea what they were talking about.
"Orion," Peter said, bending down slightly and speaking gently, "I have to get you over to the infirmary. Scott and Tristan are going to help you up, okay?"
Auggie looked questioningly at Peter, as he was right next to Orion and could easily be one of the guys to help her up. Peter, however, nodded over at Juliette, who was sobbing quietly. Auggie nodded and understood. He went over to her.
As this was all happening, Orion did not wait for the help, but simply stood up herself. The two boys went to try and help her but Orion snapped at them.
"I got it alright? I deal with this all the fucking time. Goddamnit, I can take care of myself. It's not like this is the first time this has happened!" She screamed at Scott and Tristan.
As tough as Orion was, Tristan noticed how much her face paled after she yelled. She was swaying violently. He knew she was going to go down any second. Her eyes found his. Tristan knew she wanted to keep up her appearance, and act like this didn't faze her, but she was in a lot of pain.
"Come on, me and Scott just want to walk with you to make sure you can make it." Tristan coaxed softly.
Orion nodded. Peter told them he would be over soon, that he needed to straighten a couple things out. The boys nodded, and began walking on either side of Orion, leading her to the infirmary. Halfway there, Orion put her hands on her knees and threw up. Scott wished the infirmary was closer, he didn't know if Orion was going to make it. He looked worryingly at Tristan, who was watching Orion stagger as she walked. Finally, they made it to the infirmary. Both Tristan and Scott were relieved. The nurse gasped when she saw Orion.
"What a bad day to storm, she needs a hospital." The nurse stated matter-of-factly.
Orion stumbled over to the sink and splashed water on her face. For a few moments, no one spoke; they simply watched Orion remove the blood from her face. She turned around, exposing a fat lip, black eye, and bruised cheek.
"I don't need a hospital." She said. "I never go to the hospital."
The nurse stared in disbelief.
"You need to go." She replied.
"No, I don't." Orion stated, as though it were final, "Can you just do your job and get me cleaned up, please?"
The nurse did as she was told and began examining her. Orion's throat had her fathers hands imprinted on it. It was obvious that he had been choking her.
"Boys, I need to look at her ribs now, I think you should leave." The nurse said.
The two looked reluctant to leave, so the nurse told them that Orion was going to be fine, she just needed some patching up.
Scott nodded and turned to go. Tristan, however, walked over to Orion, who was lying down. He took her hand lightly and bent down and kissed her forehead. Orion squeezed his hand and looked up at him.
"Thanks Tristan. Thanks Scott." She said.
Both boys told her it was nothing; they were glad that she was going to be okay. They left then, letting the nurse finish up her job. On their way back to their bunks, Tristan and Scott ran into Peter. They noticed that Peter had a bruise on his face. He walked over and greeted them.
"How was Orion? Are you guys okay? I was just talking to the cliffhangers, trying to call them down. The girls are really shook up, especially Juliette. She was surprised Orion never mentioned anything about her father." He said.
Peter sighed. His facial expression made it obvious that he would never understand how parents could treat their children like this.
"I have to head over to the infirmary and get checked out. Are you sure you guys are okay?"
"Yeah, we're okay for now." Scott said, speaking for the both of them.
Peter nodded and continued on his way to the infirmary.
Tristan and Scott starting walking back to the lodge. Abruptly, Tristan spoke.
"I like her." He said.
"Yeah?" Scott asked. "Me and Shelby thought you did."
"It killed me seeing her like that. I want to make it better." Tristan stated.
Scott realized that this was the most emotion Tristan had shown since being at Horizon. Usually, Tristan was just the happy-go-lucky street kid who had made a mistake and drove drunk. It turned out he had only done it to protect his sister from getting the shit kicked out of her by some pretty tough girls.
"She's gunna be okay. I think you should give her a bit of time to get over this, and then tell her how you feel. Me and Shel think she might like you too. I mean, you guys have been close since she got here. What she probably needs right now is a friend." Scott advised.
"Yeah," Tristan said. "But getting hit by your parents isn't really that uncommon in our world. I don't think Orion would really wanna talk about it. It's normal for shit like that to happen. I need a fucking cigarette."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Well, Shelby's all out again, but she's getting some in this weekend. You'll have to wait till then." Scott said with a shrug.
Tristan groaned.
"Orion said she smoked though. You could invite her, you know? Maybe she will be well enough by then." Scott offered.
"You sure Shelby wouldn't mind sharing her smokes?"
Scott laughed slightly. "She gets them for free, so I doubt she'll care."
NOTE: I AM NOT INFERRING THAT SHELBY DOES ANYTHING SEXUAL FOR THE CIGARETTES, LIKE IN THE ONE EPISODE. SHE SIMPLY HAS A CONNECTION WHERE SOMEONE CAN GET THEM FOR HER.
"Why are we talking about cigarettes when something big just happened?" Tristan asked.
Scott shrugged. "Hell, I don't know."
The two looked at each other and cracked up laughing. It was one of those moments that you just couldn't help. They were making light of a situation that made them uncomfortable and edgy. Just as soon as they had started, the stopped. The two walked in silence back to their cabin. They changed and got into bed. Tristan stayed up, thinking about Orion.
'She's been here for two weeks, and I already know that I like her.'
Inside, he was dealing with if it was too soon to have feelings for her. He was worried that she was hurt. He couldn't take it any more. Tristan got up, out of his bunk and headed quickly over to the infirmary. He knocked quietly and walked in to find Orion conversing with the nurse (Ruth). The two glanced at him as he walked in.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He said
Ruth took this as a cue to give them a little space and walked into the supply closet to clean up. Orion smiled.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you and Scott before..." She began
"No, don't say that." He said. Tristan walked over and sat down on the chair next to her bed.
"So, are you okay?" He asked in a caring tone.
Orion nodded. "My ribs hurt like hell, but it's happened before. I convinced everyone that I didn't need a hospital. I hate hospitals. When my mom had cancer, I was always there."
Tristan grabbed Orion's hand, seeing how thinking about her mother made her upset. They talked for a while, before Ruth came back and told Tristan he should probably head to bed. He nodded, bid them both goodnight, and headed back to his dorm. As he was leaving he heard the nurse tell Orion how cute the two of them would look together. He hadn't heard Orion's response to the comment, but he hoped she shared similar feelings.
On his way home, he found that Auggie was heading back from the docks. Tristan looked at him questioningly.
"Jules is really shook up." He said.
Tristan nodded.
"How's Orion?" Auggie asked gently.
"How did you-
"Come on man, it's obvious you like her." Auggie interrupted.
Tristan told him Orion was doing fine, and ignored the fact that everyone seemed to know that he had feelings for her.
'Does she feel the same?' was the question that kept Tristan up all night.
OKAY THAT WAS CHAPTER THREE. I DON'T KNOW IF I WROTE IT THE WAY THAT I HAD ORIGINALLY WANTED TO, BUT I SIMPLY WANTED TO PUT ORION'S FATHER IN THERE. I PROMISE THAT THE NEXT CHAPTERS WILL BE FOCUSED ON ORION'S EXPERIENCE AT HORIZON: HER FRIENDSHIPS, ROMANCE, ETC.
