Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:


Chapter 8 (Pressure Building)

Monday morning, Teddy slowly made her way to the school's front doors. She was noticing something off, the students were all staring at her and whispering. It was making her rather nervous, but she didn't want to say anything. She saw Spencer off to the right, unable to look at her. He was staring down at the ground guiltily, and even had a black eye. She stopped and called out to him. "Spencer, what happened to you?"

"Ivy happened."

"Oh no." She groaned and started inside. This was what she was afraid of, and she explicitly told Ivy to leave things alone! She was oblivious to all the stares she was getting while storming towards Ivy's locker, but when she really started noticing, she began to feel as though she were naked before them all. What was their problem? When she made her way to the lockers, she froze. Hers was beside Ivy's and had something spray-painted on it. She wasn't close enough to tell what the red letters said, but she was already speculating. "No…" Her breath snapped off and her eyes began widening. They couldn't know, could they?

Before she could move towards her locker, Ivy stepped in front of her. "Teddy! We have problems." Teddy whimpered and shifted her gaze to Ivy. Ivy put her hands to her shoulders and quickly glared at the people staring. "What are you freaks looking at? Back off!" Her barking order scared some of the group away, but it didn't ease matters at all. "Teddy, the dumbass Spencer started a nasty rumor about you and your brother." Instantly she felt as though someone just jabbed her in the gut. How could this be possible? Spencer told the school about her incident with PJ? Seriously? "Apparently it was unintentional. I kind of went after him and punched him before he could explain…he was talking to a good friend of his on the basketball team about the breakup and apparently slipped up about the incident."

"Oh god." She threw her hand to her mouth and felt her stomach churning. Her breakfast was already beginning to come up. She didn't need this, not after what happened a couple nights ago with Charlie. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't show her face around school with this going on!

"Emmett's trying his best to put down these rumors, but it's not exactly working out." Teddy stepped back and put her free hand to her stomach, moaning loudly as she tried to stifle a sob. "We're going to solve this, Teddy. We can get through this." Was she crazy? How could they possibly get through any of this?

"I-I can't be seen here anymore, Ivy! They'll blacklist me, they'll-" She looked to her locker and saw it had been opened. The only one that knew the combination was Ivy. "Why's my locker open?"

"I caught people slipping notes in…I went to read them and-" She brushed past Ivy, intent on reading those notes, but Ivy quickly yanked her back. She yelped and protested, struggling with all her might to get to her locker. "No Teddy! You don't need to read them!"

"Why? Why not! What are people saying about me?" She finally managed to pull away, glaring at Ivy. "That I'm a whore? A tramp? A 'brother-lover'? A demon? I've heard it all before from my own family, I've called myself those names, it can't be much different! I'd like to at least know how much people hate me. Are there death threats in there too?"

"Well…" Ivy frowned and looked towards the side. Teddy was overcome with shock and slowly stepped back, trembling with fear. Her fears were confirmed at that. "It's not like anyone would be serious about some of those." She whimpered and buried her face into her hands. "Teddy, it's going to be okay. I promise…" How fast had this spread? At least since last Wednesday, it could have gone anywhere. Then it hit her, what if anyone went to Mr. Heglin's church? Even Ivy went there, so if anything, both Emmett's and Ivy's parents might have found out!

"Oh god…" She couldn't do this. She shook her head and backed up, staring at her friend's concerned gaze. "No." An empty feeling overcame her as she started to feel everyone around her, voices echoing in her head. She could hear them, calling her all the names she called herself. She put her hands to her head and felt her knees beginning to give out.

"Teddy?"

Ivy started to put her hand to Teddy's shoulder, but she quickly shook it away, screaming. "No!" Unable to stand it there any longer, she broke out into a run. With tears in her eyes, she tuned out the voices around her and tuned out Ivy calling after her. She stopped for a second outside and spotted Spencer, frozen in place with wide eyes. He gazed sorrowfully at her, but she felt nothing but loathing for him. She bit her lip and growled. "I trusted you. You fucking bastard! I hate you!"

"Teddy!" He exclaimed. His 'friends', his 'teammates' stood around him and laughed. He glared at them and put his hand up. "Shut up guys! Seriously!" He turned back to her and frowned. "Teddy, I'm sorry. Honestly, I never meant-"

"Shut up. I should never have trusted you!" She looked over her shoulder and saw some of the cheerleaders smirking at her. The head cheerleader walked towards her with a smug look on her face, her blond curls bouncing with every step.

"Wow. And I thought fucking Mr. Reinhardt for an A was bad, but you screwing your brother makes me look like a saint!" The girl laughed, sending a cold chill down Teddy's spine. She whimpered as everyone around her began laughing. "Slut!" The cheerleader started pumping her fist in the air, starting a chant that everyone joined in on. She could hear Ivy trying to shut everyone up, along with Spencer, but it was to no avail.

She started running off, the students began following her, only making her blood pressure rise to frightening levels. She clenched her eyes and jumped into the street, praying that a car would hit her.

She heard the screeching of tires on pavement and the screaming of the students trying to avoid being hit. When she looked back, she saw Emmett blowing his horn and signaling her to get in. Without hesitation, she ran into his car and let him speed off. "Let me just say, I'm sorry you're going through this," he said while glancing off in the rearview mirror.

She sniffed and pulled her knees up to her chest, burying her head into them and sobbing. She wasn't sure where they were going, but she didn't want to talk. Today was already beginning to be hell, and she feared it would get worse if she opened her mouth.

Emmett swerved around the corner and sighed as he started slowing down the car. "By the way, we're going to go see PJ." She scoffed and lifted her head, glancing out the window and watching the buildings go by. "Have to be careful. Mom and Dad know now and don't want me hanging around you guys, but I don't really care." She raised an eyebrow, but still remained silent. She wasn't surprised to hear about his parents, but it was at least good that he was willing to still try and stay connected to his friends. "Ivy's parents feel the same way, but-"

"Great." She narrowed her eyes and looked away, mumbling softly. She didn't care anymore. What was the point, she should have known she'd lose her best friend due to this eventually.

"Don't give up hope on her yet Teddy, she's not done anything." She waved her hand in the air and sighed. She needed a break, she wanted a break, but when would she get one? Either way, she didn't know that she wanted to see PJ right now, and was curious as to what they'd talk about. He was pretty much done with school, so he wouldn't have to endure the hell that she'd just seen.

The rest of the drive was very quiet. They met up with PJ outside of the Kwikki Chikki, and he did not seem happy. He was pacing the front, tapping his chin and growling at random moments. Teddy hurried from the car, followed closely by Emmett. "PJ, what's wrong?" He stopped his pacing and glanced over to her with a subtle frown.

"I'm not longer employed. Apparently Mitch got hold of the fact that you and I did…you know…and so he fired me." He sat at one of the outside tables and started tapping his fingers anxiously. Wasn't it illegal to fire someone just because of something like this? Discrimination? Then again, Mitch and Kwikki Chikki were anything but legal. "Why am I not surprised?" He smacked his hand down on the table, causing her to flinch for a brief moment. "I was his best damn worker, or at least the best out of those shitheads in there!" He leaned back and yelled his last few words at the building, shooting off an obscene gesture. "I'll be back with a lawsuit one day! Just you watch!"

"Okay PJ, relax…" She was surprised to be saying that after this morning, but hell, one of them had to be calm. She couldn't be, so it was kind of expected that he be the calm one. He took a deep breath and leaned forward on the table, staring her in the eyes. "So why did you have Emmett bring me here?"

"He told me about the crap going on at school. I just thought I'd pull you away for a bit, enough to let you know that Mom and Dad want to visit grandma for Christmas. They said they have some sort of announcement to make."

"Oh great…Grandma Petunia?" She rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair. The incorrigible grandmother, of course! Why wouldn't they go see her? "You've got to be kidding me…I'm not in the mood for extra stress."

"Well no one said it'd be extra stress…So anyway. You and Emmett want to hang out at the mall for a bit? I figure you don't want to mess with school right about now." She groaned and leaned forward, propping her arm up on the table and rubbing her forehead.

"That's the last place I want to be. The slutty cheerleader, you know, the one that hits on all the teachers?" He slowly nodded and raised an eyebrow. "She was calling me a slut, PJ! Me! It was one time! One time, and it didn't even mean anything at all!" She started to sob again, her emotions still getting the better of her as usual. PJ shook his head and Emmett rubbed her back, there really wasn't anything they could say. All she wanted was to be left alone. "I'm now the pariah of the school! Great! All because I just had to tell Spencer!" She groaned loudly and moved her hands over her eyes, increasing her sobs. "God I hate my life! At least Gabe doesn't have to deal with this, right?" Emmett and PJ exchanged sad glances and lifted their shoulders.

At the junior high, Gabe was doing fairly better, but there were some kids that heard the news from their older brothers or sisters. He was being taunted for having a pair of siblings that had sex with each other. Of course, his best friend Jake, and Jo, were at his side defending him.

Currently Jo was up on the cafeteria table, shaking her fist at the students. "Any of you want to mess with my boyfriend, you come through me. You got that!" Gabe chuckled as her left eye appeared to grow larger than her right, giving her that cute, but creepy glare that could scare the skin right off someone's bones. "I am not far from mastering martial arts, so if anyone wants to tango, we can tango!"

Jake put his hand to Gabe's shoulder and smirked. "I'd like to say something, but I think Jo's handling it just fine."

"Probably." He drew in a heavy breath and started to leave the cafeteria. He was grateful for Jo, grateful for Jake, but he didn't need protection. No, what he wanted protection from, they likely couldn't help with.

As he stepped out into the courtyard, he glanced up at the sky. The school's courtyard was basically an open area inside the school with no roof above it, nothing too special about it, but it created the feeling of being outside. He loved the outdoors, it always calmed him down, and lately that was the best escape.

"Home is hell, and it isn't getting any better…" There was a sinking feeling in his gut, something that told him the trouble hadn't even begun yet. He loved PJ and Teddy, and he loved Charlie. He was a bit confused whether she was his sister or his niece, but he still figured her as a niece more than a sister. The last thing he'd ever want was to lose them, but the way things were going, he was beginning to fear the worst.

Gabe bowed his head and slowly closed his hands. School used to be an escape, video games used to be an escape, but not anymore. Every day was another fight, and every day meant a greater part of the picture was shattered. The people he loved and held closest to his heart, he felt slipping away and becoming more and more distant than ever.

Was there nothing he could do? For the first time in his life, he was aghast, and felt truly helpless and alone. A tear left his eye as his still heart started to darken. Even he blamed his parents for everything that was going wrong. He wasn't stupid, he heard PJ and Teddy talking about leaving the house some day, if things were bad enough. Did they know how much he needed them? How much he depended on them?

Now his parents wanted to visit Grandma Petunia for Christmas. Normally he would be overjoyed, but he knew his grandmother's track record pretty damn well. There was just that unshakeable feeling in the pit of his stomach, something he couldn't get rid of no matter how hard he tried. Something was bound to go wrong. He just knew it.

"Hey Gabe, are you okay?" Jake asked from behind. He jumped at his friend's voice and turned to see his friend and his girlfriend staring at him. He smiled sadly and shrugged.

"I don't know yet. I don't know…if things will ever be okay…"


That was very rough, and Gabe seemed a bit foreshadowing. Spencer should have kept his mouth shut. Pity PJ lost his job too, though I'm not so certain it is legal how he got fired for that. Well what do you guys think of the chapter.