Wednesday

"My favorite customer," Brooke said with a smile when Haley walked into Clothes Over Bros.

"I wish I was shopping. I wanted to talk to you about Sam," Haley said. She'd given it a few days. Every time she saw Sam, the teen practically ran in the opposite direction. Haley had given up hope that Sam would come around. She knew what she had to do. She just hoped it ended up helping Sam, not hurting her even more.

"What did she do?" Brooke asked warily.

"She didn't do anything. Why? Has she been acting out?" Haley said.

"You could say that," Brooke said with a hint of sarcasm. She began telling Haley everything that had happened the day before.

Haley bit her lip. "Brooke, there's a reason Sam has such a hard time trusting that you won't hurt Seth."

"I know her foster dad hit her, but I'm not him." Brooke sounded completely exasperated.

"He did a lot more than hit her," Haley replied. "Brooke, he raped her."

"Are you sure?" Brooke stared at Haley slack-jawed. She couldn't believe something so terrible had happened to Sam. The teen was only fourteen years old! Why did bad things happen to kids? As her initial shock faded, Brooke realized that this actually explained a lot of Sam's behavior.

Haley nodded with a grim expression. "I saw her and Jack making out in the hallway. I was going to lecture them, but when I got over there I noticed that Sam looked scared to death and had tears in her eyes. When I asked her about it, she told me what happened."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Brooke asked.

Haley sighed. "I had to drag it out of her. She said she hasn't told anyone because she wants to forget it happened."

"How can you forget something like that?" Brooke asked.

"You can't." Haley shook her head. "I think she needs to talk to a therapist, but she doesn't want to."

"Haley, what should I do?" Brooke asked desperately.

"She needs to talk to a therapist. You need to take her whether she wants to or not," Haley suggested.

"Where's Seth?" Sam asked when Brooke picked her up from school minus the five year old.

"He's at basketball practice. He wanted to play on Jamie's team," Brooke replied. Sam smiled and nodded in approval.

Brooke knew she needed to talk to Sam, but she was dreading the conversation. She had no idea how to bring up the subject. She'd tried to come up with something to say, but nothing felt right. There was no right way to talk to Sam about something that should never have happened in the first place.

Brooke felt terrible about what had happened to Sam. She knew nothing she could say would fix it. She wished she could get her hands on the ass that had hurt Sam.

Brooke waited until they got home. "Sam, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" She said gently.

Sam gave Brooke a weird look. "OK."

"Is there anything you want to talk about?" Brooke really wanted Sam to tell her what had happened. She knew it was stupid, but she felt a little jealous that Sam had gone to Haley instead of her.

"No, I'm good," Sam said with a slight smirk.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "You don't seem good."

"Thanks," Sam said sarcastically.

"You're going through a lot right now. You look like you haven't slept in days. You're distant. You're angry. You even yelled at Seth at your mother's funeral. I'm-"

"I'm sorry if I wasn't a happy camper at my mom's funeral," Sam muttered.

"That's not what I meant. I'm worried about you. I think you should talk to a therapist," Brooke said. She saw a flicker of recognition in Sam's eyes.

"No, you don't. Haley is the one who thinks I should talk to a therapist," Sam said with a hint of anger. She shook her head. "I can't believe she told you."

"She only told me because she cares about you," Brooke said. "So do I. I wish you would have told me, Samantha."

"It's none of your business!" Sam yelled. She stormed out of the house, completely ignoring Brooke calling out to her to come back. She texted Jack to meet her at the river court.

Haley was the first person Sam had trusted, and she'd broken that trust. Now Sam would have to talk about the worst night of her life with Brooke and a therapist. It was bad enough to have to go through it once. Constantly reliving it was torture. Sam knew as soon as she went home, Brooke would be waiting to ask her questions that Sam didn't want to answer.

Jack was the only person Sam could trust. He didn't know what had happened. He thought she was strong because he didn't know the truth. He wanted to be with her no questions asked.

"Hey." Jack grinned when he saw Sam.

"Hey," Sam replied with a smile. Seeing him always made her feel better no matter how bad her day had been. They sat down on the bleachers and listened to Sam's iPod. Sam rested her head against his shoulder.

They sat comfortably for a little while and then Jack kissed Sam. Sam stiffened as the flashbacks started. She knew Jack would get suspicious if she kept acting weird every time they kissed or did anything. She needed to figure out a way to relax. "Jack, were you nervous the other night when we were going to have sex?"

Jack blushed a little but nodded. "Yeah. Were you?"

Sam nodded. "I do want to have sex, though. If we have a few drinks first, maybe it'll help us relax."

"My brother can buy us something. What do you want?" Jack asked.

"Just some beer," Sam replied. She handed Jack a twenty from her purse. "When can you get it?"

"Whenever. Tonight," Jack said.

Brooke didn't know whether she should go after Sam or give the teen a little while to cool off. She hesitated long enough that her decision was made for her. Sam was long gone.

Brooke didn't start getting worried until it got dark outside. Sam wasn't answering her cell phone. The teen had been gone for hours. Brooke should never have let her walk out the door. Sam had been so upset. Who knew what she would do?

Jack and Sam went to Jack's brother's house. It was rundown with the bare minimum for furniture. "Sam, this is my brother, X."

"Hey." X nodded at Sam. He had always been nice to Sam, but she didn't like him. He beat on Jack sometimes. Even if she hadn't known that, he gave her the creeps. There was just something about him.

"Hey."

Jack gave X the money, and X went on a beer run. He returned with a twelve pack of cheap beer.

Jack and Sam each grabbed a beer. They played games while they drank. They put Sam's iPod on shuffle. The last one to guess the name of the song and artist of the song playing had to drink. They were both laughing and having fun.

After four beers, Sam was buzzed. She'd become noticeably more comfortable with physical contact. She didn't care about Patrick. She didn't care about anything. She just wanted to forget everything and have fun.

"Where's X?" Sam asked.

"You don't remember?" Jack smirked. "He went out a little while ago."

"So we're alone?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

Jack grinned and moved closer to Sam. They started kissing and taking their clothes off. They were both clumsy as a result of drinking. Jack struggled to take Sam's bra off, which made Sam laugh hysterically. "Do you have a condom?" Sam asked. Jack fumbled to put a condom on.

"That was sex," Jack said. He looked at Sam nervously to gauge her reaction "It was…nice."

The beer had the desired effect. Sam had been relaxed. She hadn't been scared or upset.

"It was nice," Sam agreed with a smile. When Patrick raped her, it had hurt a lot. Jack was gentle. It was nothing like the violent attack she'd experienced before.

Jack grinned. "Do you want to stay here?"

"Yeah, but I can't," Sam replied. She really didn't want to go back to Brooke's, but Seth was there. She couldn't leave him.

Brooke's worry had turned into full-blown panic when Sam was still missing at eleven pm. She was wearing a hole in the floor with her pacing when the teen finally walked through the door. Brooke felt a huge sense of relief, but it didn't last long. Anger consumed Brooke as she rounded on Sam. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I'm tired so can you yell at me tomorrow?" Sam didn't wait for a response. She started for her room, but Brooke grabbed her arm before she got very far.

"Oh, I'm tired, too!" Anger was practically radiating off of Brooke. She pointed at a barstool. "Sit down." Sam stood defiantly glaring at Brooke. "SIT DOWN!"

Sam begrudgingly sat down.

"I think it's time we go over the house rules. Curfew is-"

"I've never had a curfew. My mom actually trusted me," Sam interrupted with a hint of anger.

"Well, you do now," Brooke said in a firm tone that left no room for argument. "These rules aren't because I don't trust you. They're because I worry about you, Sam. And for the record, I don't trust you. I wish I could, but you have done nothing but lie and sneak around since you got here."

"Don't hold back. Tell me what you really think," Sam said sarcastically.

"I'm trying here, but I need you to try, too," Brooke said. The anger was gone from her voice now. She almost sounded desperate.

"Stop trying to be my mom! My mom's dead, but she raised me, OK? I'm done!" Sam cried out. She saw a flicker of pain in Brooke's eyes, but she was too angry to care.

"I know I'm not your mom, but you are my foster daughter, and I have to do what is best for you. It is NOT in your best interest for you to have no supervision," Brooke said through gritted teeth.

"You said you had an extra room and it was mine if I wanted it. You said there was no catch. Now you're making rules, and what? I just have to follow them or leave?" Sam said.

"Sam, we're both tired and pissed off. Go to bed. We'll finish this conversation in the morning," Brooke muttered. She knew if they kept talking, they would say things they didn't mean. They were already treading dangerously close to Sam leaving because she didn't like Brooke's rules.

Brooke wanted Sam there. Sure, she'd originally wanted a younger kid and she loved Seth, but she cared about Sam, too. Sam kind of reminded her or herself at that age. The teen was fiercely independent, a total smartass, and rebellious, but she would also go to great lengths to protect the people she cared about. Sam had been incredibly selfless as long as Seth was taken care of. Brooke genuinely liked Sam.

"Can't wait," Sam said sarcastically. Her bedroom door slammed behind her.