Author's Note: So, I did my best to not break up my chapters and have the same amount as I had before my revisions, but this is where that plan fell apart :p. On the upside, this is a completely new chapter for my faithful readers. This does mean, however, that all of the reviews from this chapter on will be out of place from where we actually are in the story now. Also, I purposefully altered the time-line of episode 10 here, extending the events by a few days when, in actuality, Lindsay and Kim get over their snit the same day Fredricks calls the geeks in to read his script.

Chapter 11 – Promise

"Hey, Lindsay," I half-greeted, half-beckoned as I neared my friend at her locker.

"Oh, hey Donovan," she returned, sounding friendly. It had been a couple of days since the rift developed between Lindsay and Kim, but the ex-mathlete had at least realized that I wasn't trying to be spiteful in my efforts to distance myself from the clash the two were having and respectfully quit trying to pull me into the ordeal. Linds was a lot more mature than Kim in that regard, as she knew the proper steps of getting over an angering situation. Blondie just let it fester inside of her for days, growing more and more irate over whatever the problem was with each passing minute. It was a side of Kim that I didn't like at all, a side that easily pushed me away from wanting to be around her whenever it reared its ugly head. The girl definitely needed some anger management, but the prospects of her getting any legitimate help in that area were around the same as a snowball's chance in hell.

"Did you take notes during History today?" I asked, feeling stupid for not even paying attention in class at all. Ever since talking with Fredricks, my brain had been slightly fried to anything else. Sleep, focus, my mood... it was all messed up. "I was a little zoned out."

"Yeah, I noticed," she chucked. "I tried getting your attention like five times, space cadet." She proceeded to root around in her locker for a moment longer before pulling out a few pieces of paper. "Here."

"Thanks," I praised, flipping my backpack over my shoulder and gently placing the notes in the sole folder occupying the bag. If the notes were mine, I would have just stuffed the damn things in the sack without a moment's hesitation, but considering how nice and pristine they were when she handed them over, I figured I should be respectful.

She smiled. "No problem. And don't worry about giving 'em back; I've already memorized them."

"Of course you have," I said with a grin and rolled my eyes, causing both of us to crack up.

"Hey, Lindsay," Daniel called, clomping his way over to us; his new-ish, Goodwill-acquired Doc Martens Creepers were thick and heavy, thumping against the tiled floor with every step he took. "I can't take it anymore," he admitted with a sigh as the brunette finished putting her locker back in order after fishing out the History notes for me. "You gotta talk to Kim."

"Why?" Lindsay asked, pulling a black notebook from the top portion of her locker. "Does she want to talk to me?"

I was eager to exit the conversation, as I was sure that Daniel must have had enough of being involved in it himself, but the brown-haired boy had cornered me in in his rush to speak with Lindsay.

"I dunno, but you gotta do somethin'," Daniel continued to lament, and after getting a really good look at him, I could see that he looked tired and unkempt, as if Kim's sour mood was affecting him as well. "She's drivin' me nuts."

Well, there's my answer to that, now if I can just squeeze my way passed-

"I mean she's bitchin' nonstop about her mom, you, your parents... I'm dyin'." He sounded so hopeless, and the look he was giving Lindsay was a notch below begging for the girl's help.

His words stopped me dead in my tracks (not that I had made much progress in getting away from the two). Whoa, com'on now, I scourged inwardly as I gave Daniel a glaring side-eye. Kim's your girlfriend, man. Support her, don't say you're getting' sick of her bitching...

While I might have wanted to distance myself from her for the same reasons, Daniel was far more invested in the girl and, as far as I was concerned, had an obligation to be there for her in good times and in bad.

"Well, why is she going so crazy?" Lindsay questioned, truly sounding as if she was at a loss as to the reason for this whole mess.

Without missing a beat changing his dreary delivery, he gave her her answer. "She says you didn't stick up for her."

"I tried!" Lindsay defended, but Daniel merely just released a big sigh in response. "And she's still mad."

Again, I saw an opening to remove myself from the conversation I wasn't contributing to and didn't want to be a part of, but Daniel's next words caught my attention.

"I know, but mostly it's just her feelings are hurt."

His conversation with Lindsay continued, but their words were drown out by his last statement echoing in my head. I immediately felt like an ass for outright ignoring Kim's attempts to talk to me about her issue with Lindsay. She wasn't just looking for an outlet to complain to; she needed someone who would listen, maybe even help her feel a bit better about how much the whole thing had affected her. She loved Lindsay just as much as she loved any of the rest of us, so for her to learn that Linds' parents were bad-mouthing her right alongside her own mother and the girl hadn't done a thing to stop it, that must have been pretty disheartening. I didn't know how hard Lindsay 'tried' to stick up for Kim against her folks, but with how Blondie was acting, it couldn't have been that much.

"Don-o-van?" Daniel droned in a slow, mocking tone, poking the side of my head with his index finger and effectively pulling me out of my thoughts. I gave him a blank stare for a moment, perplexed by what was going on, and he began to laugh through his Cheshire Cat grin. "I asked if you wanna hang out with me an' Nick after school today, man. Ya didn't hear me?"

"No, I uh... I guess I didn't," I admitted, trying to laugh through my embarrassment at being caught in a fog twice today. "Yeah, hanging out sounds cool. What's the plan?"

"Nothin' man," he continued to grin, "We'll figure somethin' out, though. I just know I'll go nuts if I have to be alone around Kim again today." After his statement, he turned to Lindsay, asking, "You swear you're gonna talk to her today, Linds? She's really bein' a pain in my ass."

I rolled my eyes at the back of Daniel's head at his apathetic wording, an action that was witnessed by Lindsay, and watched as the girl saved my ass by swallowing her laughter. She collected herself and agreed a moment later, causing Daniel to praise her as a life-saver and telling me to meet him at the front of school after last period.

After Daniel disappeared around the corner, Linds turned her attention back to me, a curious expression set on her features. "You really are a space case today, ya know? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, no, I'm good," I shrugged, trying to play the whole thing off. "Just got a lot on my mind, that's all."

"Yeah, well," she grinned, "you better come back to Earth for your next class. I won't be able to take any notes for ya." She lightly jabbed me in the side with her elbow, causing me to grunt out as I flinched slightly. My ribs were always a soft spot, one that would get a reaction out of me no matter how lightly they were poked, and while Lindsay had found that out much by accident one day, she never forgot nor missed the opportunity to get a jump out of me with a slight prod.

"Ohhhh," I cautioned with a genuine smile on my face. "You're lucky we got different classes next." I reached over and ruffled her hair, causing her to release a small squeak of delight. "Very lucky."

The following day it appeared as if Linds had taken care of Daniel's "problem" and made amends with Kim, because the two were thick as thieves once again, walking together and talking almost every time I caught sight of them. While the storm may have passed for the two, it seemed that the waters were still agitated between Kim and Daniel, with both making extra effort to stay clear of each other. I had assumed that they broke up once again, but Nick corrected my thinking in explaining that they just needed to spend a bit of time not in each other's company before one strangled the other.

During lunch, Kim had asked me to give her a ride home after school and, after I agreed and Kim's attention was elsewhere, Daniel leaned over and thanked me, clasping his hands together as if I had answered an unspoken prayer from him. For the life of me I would never understand how their relationship worked, only that it somehow continued to do so.

The day passed rather quickly and uneventfully, which was a blessing considering how stressful things could be when just a fraction of our group wasn't getting along, and by the time school was emptying out I was on the hunt for my blonde-haired friend. I had a metric shit-ton of homework to complete and messing around on school property after it had already let out was not on my to-do list for the day. Luckily, Kim was not that difficult to locate. Her last class of the day was chemistry and that was exactly where I found her, sitting at one of the back lab tables, scribbling notes in her notebook.

"Hey," I called from the front of the classroom and was met with a glare from the girl as she looked up at me. Her features softened a moment later, but her attention went right back to the textbook and pad of paper in front of her. "We gots to move, missy," I continued, playing as cordially as I could with my request. "I have too much homework and not enough time to be messing around in this dump any longer today."

"Yeah, me too," she laughed, continuing to jot lines down, "and I sure as shit don't want to lug this stupid book home or write all this crap down, but I can't fail this class or I'm screwed. Just give me a minute, 'kay?"

I nodded and strolled down the isles, taking a seat next to her a minute later. If we were going to be stuck here a little while longer, I figured it would be the perfect time to clear the air about my attitude earlier in the week.

"Hey, um, I'm sorry about, ya know, what happened," I began, trying to find the right words that would suffice as an apology but not set her off at the same time. "You wanna talk about it?"

My vague wording must have sent the wrong message because it sent Kim into a panic and she jumped up, covering the left side of her face and rushing to the mirror in front of the classroom sink.

"Shit! Did it smear? How bad is it?" she asked in a frenzy as she moved.

Curiously, I raised an eyebrow and replied, "I was askin' about you and Lindsay, not your conceal-" My words just stopped mid-sentence. The smile that I had held on my face since walking into the room and catching sight of Kim dropped completely off my face; the recollection of finding out that she had masked marks of abuse with make-up in the past exploded in my mind like a bomb. "Kim, what happened? What did he do? Are you okay?" I shot out the questions in a rapid spitfire as I stood and briskly made my way to the girl. We both knew who I was referring to with the 'he' in my question, and just the mention of her stepfather's existence seemed to shut Kim down in a way I had never seen her before.

She shied her face away and looked down as I neared, speaking in barely more than a whisper as she turned her back to me completely. "It's nothing. He-" She stopped and shook her head, visually growing uncomfortable and upset with the situation she had just let slip. She began clenching her fists open and shut. "Forget about it, Donovan."

"It's-" My tone had softened considerably as I struggled to console her without crossing any boundaries. I gently placed my hands on her shoulders, wanting her to know that I was still here, she couldn't shut me out from this and it didn't scare me away. "I wanna help, Kim. Please let me help," I pleaded in a crestfallen voice, suddenly feeling more lost and powerless than I ever had before in my life.

She leaned back, resting her weight against me and releasing a hefty, shaky sigh. "You can't."

I let out a sigh of my own at her words. They were so simple, yet powerful and definite in their stance. They were also deflating and defeating to me.

She reached up, cupping her right hand over mine as if she understood the feelings running through my body in that moment, and wanted to calm them as much as she could with her touch. "Daniel said he was gonna look into getting his own apartment sometime soon; I'll just move in with him when he does."

I shook my head, not at all satisfied with leaving it at that. "No."

She stood up straight and turned around to look at me, confusion marring her beautiful features. "Ex-excuse me?" she stammered, a touch of anger present in her voice.

She had every right to be offended by my disapproval. It was, after all, her life and not mine. I knew Kim well enough by that point to grasp that she was a strong person who could handle most things life threw at her. But... she was also important to me. All of my friends were, and I would have taken on a disapproving attitude to any of them if they were in a similar situation and had no actual solution.

"'Sometime soon' isn't good enough, Kim," I asserted, feeling rage and disgust grow in the pit of my stomach at the thought of her having to stay in the same house as her abusive, piece of shit stepfather. "'Sometime soon' Arlo could hurt you again, 'sometime soon' that fucking pig could beat you bad enough to be hospitalized... or worse." I had to choke back tears at the very thought of something more grim than hospitalization befalling my friend. I could see that my reaction was affecting Kim, causing the poor girl to become more unhinged as tears welled in her eyes and threatened to spill over. A hitch caught in my throat as I breathed in sharply and tried to continue. "You shouldn't have to try to cover up bruises and marks that some asshole gives you because you shouldn't have to deal with it at all," I proceeded, fighting against myself to reach out and swallow her frame in a protective embrace. "Fuck him and fuck your mom for letting this happen again and again. This has to stop, Kim."

Above all else, I wanted her to understand that I was being sincere, and as I watched a range of emotions and processes pass as I spoke, I was almost certain that recognition made a brief appearance.

"I- we," I clarified, once again lightening my tone, "can go to the police station right now if you want. I'll stay there with you the whole-"

"No!" Kim shouted, interrupting me with her roar. I could see her expression changing to anger the moment the word 'police' left my mouth, but I had hoped I was just misreading her.

I had hoped wrong.

"I don't want to go to the cops! Are you crazy?!" Her voice came out stark and stern, a harsh difference from mere moments before. "Do you even know what would happen if the police were involved, Donovan?" She only gave me a moment to reply, but I didn't have any kind of answer I was willing to admit to. "Do you?!"

Kim was livid, and I was stunned. So stunned, in fact, that I had lost the ability to form words larger than one syllable. "I- Kim- he-" was all I could manage to stutter out.

"Goddammit, Donovan," she seethed, tears finally breaking loose and streaming down her face. "I'd be taken away, okay?" She wiped at the flow of teardrops, but they kept coming regardless. "I would be taken away to God knows where! Maybe someplace worse! I don't know anyone who can take me in. My dad is long gone, aunt Kathy is dead. My only shot would be Erica, and I can't take that chance. I'm too scared to, Donovan."

She was a shivering mess by that point, pacing back and forth as as she tried to stem her crying. Silently, I did what was likely the first smart thing I had done since the whole thing started- I walked towards her and embraced her in my arms, wanting nothing more than to make her feel safe and secure when I had already done so much to destroy any sense of the words for her. She wrapped her arms around my upper torso, clutching fistfuls of my shirt and squeezing her body close to mine. Neatly, she rested the side of her face against my chest, head tucked perfectly under my chin like she had anticipated my action as I made it.

"If we go to the cops or tell anyone..." she said, stability slowly returning to her voice as her speech sent vibrations through my body. "I could lose Daniel. I could lose Linds. I could lose Ken and Nick..." She trailed off and I could feel her loosen her grip and pull her arms back, cradling them to her body and tracing her fingers over my chest. "I could lose you." Her last statement was quiet, and the way she said it almost made me feel like the idea was terrifying to her.

My signals were crossed, damn-near knotted, as I tried to figure out what was going on. What is this? Is she trying to guilt me away from pushing the subject again? Why did she say she could lose me like that? Why can't I figure this out? Why am I trying?

"We could lose you too, Kim," I finally commented, trying to push my confusion away and concentrate on what I knew was happening.

She let out a soft laugh and continued her soft strokes. "He's been an unfortunate part of my life for seven years now. I can make it another two if I really have to."

"I just can't-" I began to sigh out, feeling defeated on the matter but wanting to protest it nonetheless.

Kim was quick to cut me off, not changing her position on the issue. "Yes, you can. I want you to promise me, Donovan-"

"Please don't," I begged with an interruption of my own. It wasn't hard to guess what she was going to ask me to promise to, and for me it would be comparable to Atlas being condemned to hold up the world for an eternity.

"Promise me you're not going to tell anyone or try to be some sorta hero," she continued, cleanly ignoring my plea.

I sighed loudly, feeling uncomfortably squished between a rock and a hard place. I would never break a promise to my friend, which is why this one was so hard to make.

"Promise me."

After another few moments of silence, I finally caved for the girl. "I promise." A fierce wince shot across my face as I spoke and swallowed my dignity; the two words were as painful to say as I made them sound.

"Thank you."

A few more seconds of silence passed between us before she commented again. "You guys are all so typical sometimes." A tinge of sarcasm coated her words, but dropped with the next set. "Daniel thought he could stand up to Arlo too; that's how he got that shiner last month."

A flashback of first seeing his black eye when trying to return my friends' ID cards back flickered in my mind. It perfectly explained why he was so elusive about the bruise, as he was likely sworn to silence long before I even arrived in their lives.

"You know..." Kim sniffled and pulled back, looking up at me. "Sometimes we just need a guy to listen and pay attention, not try to fix everything."

I sheepishly threw a smile her way, easily becoming caught in her eyes as they sent out an invisible trance that I didn't even think she was aware of. "Listenin' and payin' attention are what got us started on this to begin with, Blondie."

She sniffled again and broke out in a short laugh before sticking her tongue out at me. My smile grew at the sight, but I could feel it quickly falter as I laid my eyes on the exposed portion of purple-ish red bruise that encompassed her cheek.

"Oh Jesus, Kim," I whispered, feeling heartbroken all over again.

She winced at my expression, appearing sad that I had even noticed. "Bad?" she had asked, but turned around a second later to examine the blemish herself in the classroom mirror. A groan escaped her before she whorled back around on her heels. "I gotta go fix my face, then we can tell this place to get bent for the weekend, yeah?"

I silently nodded, trying to smile but finding the simple action nearly impossible, as she strolled passed me, delivering a small hip-check in the process, and made a beeline for the door.

As I leaned against the wall opposite the women's restroom and stared a hole into the empty space in front of me, I began doing exactly what Kim had made me promise not to- planning a way to fix her stepfather issues. As I heard her begin to hum some song or another from behind the door, I realized that I needed something to distract me or I would get to the point where I wouldn't be able to stop myself from finding Arlo and causing a scene. Doing something I could invite Kim to and avoid dropping her off at her house for a while would also lift a weight off my shoulders. As Kim exited the bathroom, looking like nothing had even happened and her makeup reapplied perfectly to hide the sad truth beneath, an idea popped into my head.

"Ready to go?" she asked, blowing a rogue strand of hair away from her forehead.

"Mm-hmm," I mumbled with a bit of an oddball, forced smile. "But I was thinkin' maybe we could hang out for a little longer before I take you home."

She let out a small snort as we fell in stride with one another, walking down the empty main hall of William McKinley High School. "Didn't we both just complain about having a shit-ton of homework this weekend?"

"We did," I acknowledged with a nod, "but we have 'til Monday to finish that crap."

"Well... what did ya wanna do?" She shifted her backpack on one shoulder and jammed her other hand in her pocket. "Nothing involving Daniel." She stopped and stood on the balls of her feet for a moment, lurching forward slightly and pretending to vomit.

"Charming," I deadpanned, briefly once again wondering how the two ever stayed together.

"Oh you love it!" Kim retorted in a cheeky tone.

I shook my head and began to chuckle while an unavoidable grin spread on my face.

"Seeee?" A lighthearted airiness was still surrounding her voice.

"Sometimes I think you know me too well." My statement was the earnest truth. In mere moments I had went from sulking on an idea of revenge to being amused by my friend's antics. I looked over at her for a moment, my delight only growing at the sight of a genuine smile on her face. "Anyway, I was thinking... do you have your fake ID on you?"

Kim stopped in mid-motion, halfway out the door I was holding open for her. Her eyebrows rose with curiosity. "Why?"

Feeling like I looked more devious than ever with the smirk on my face, I shared my shoddy idea with her. "Wanna head down to Ichabod's and play a few games of pool? They still have free tables there."

The bar, Ichabod's Ale House, was my favorite local hole-in-the-wall, and they had a pretty good pool setup in the place to boot where the owner would host tournaments every couple of months. It was one of the first bars I had gone to after getting my fake ID and, even though the place was a little grungy, there wasn't a better spot for pool in town. Joel Reed, a senior linebacker who had graduated the year before, introduced me to the game and, after quickly teaching me a few trick shots, I became hooked.

"I don't know how to play pool, ya goof!" Kim exclaimed, her tone still playful, as she rose her arms up for emphasis. "Plus, it always looks so boring when I watch people play."

"Well, that's perfect! I can teach you how to play and show you that it isn't all that boring. Who knows," I turned to her and winked, "you might even have a good time."

She scoffed and narrowed her eyes slightly. She wasn't angry from what I could tell, just doubtful. "I'm getting drunk first."

"Nope," I shook my head, narrowly avoiding a swift kick to the ass from my friend, "'cause you're coming over for dinner after." I unlocked the passenger side door and turned to see yet another quizzical look spread over Blondie's face.

"What is with these plans all of the sudden, Donovan?"

"I, uh..." My voice trailed off and I looked down at the set of keys in my hand, jingling them for a moment before deciding to come clean. Looking back up at her, and squinting slightly from the sunlight reflecting off the school windows, I cleared my throat and replied, "If I take you home now, chances are pretty good that I'll try to knock your stepdad's block off. I'm not one for breaking my promises, but I might not be able to help myself if I see him, so... so I figured I'd just steal you away for the day instead, and we could sneak you back home tonight."

I realized how stupid and somewhat chauvinistic my whole thought was as I said it, but the words were out by that point and I could only wait for some form of retaliation at the idea that I had any say about taking a protective role over my friend.

Kim's mouth fell open slightly and it looked at if she was on the verge of saying something, but only silence followed. She finally cut into the awkward quiet by giving me a small nudge. "Come on, you're gonna teach me how to play pool."

As I made my way to the driver's side of the car, I almost felt compelled to say something more on the subject, but Kim had her own ideas on what needed to fill the air between us.

"Is there even gonna be enough dinner to go around? I mean, it's not like your parents are expecting me."

I smiled and released a laugh. "My mom always cooks too much for dinner. Like, we could have leftovers for lunch almost every day."

"Ha!" Kim burst out sarcastically. "All I usually get are those Swanson TV dinners."

We closed our doors in unison and she released a long sigh as she looked forward, scrunching up her face in disgust towards the end of her lengthy breath.

"They're gross. I hate 'em."

I snorted out a laugh, not being able to help myself while wondering if Kim was referring to the TV dinners, her parents or both. She smacked my arm lightly as I started the engine and then began to laugh herself.

It was so incredibly easy for me to fall back into line with her.