Author's Note: This chapter deals with some serious subject matter, so you've been warned! Also, I'm kind of skimming through the summer so I can get to the good stuff quicker. This fic will continue through the events of the book and afterward. There may even be a sequel...
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, I'm kind of picturing AJ to look like a young Reese Witherspoon. It didn't occur to me till the other night when I was watching Fear (again) and I was like "Hey! She's AJ!" So yeah, just wanted to throw that out there.
Cover up with makeup in the mirror
Tell yourself it's never gonna happen again
You cry alone and then he swears he loves you
Do you feel like a man when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
-Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Three Weeks Later-
AJ looked at the bruise starting to form on her arm. Jesse had grabbed her last night. He apologized right afterward, and he was so sweet when they had made love; AJ knew he loved her. She just made him angry sometimes.
She grabbed a baggy t-shirt and tossed it on, the sleeves just long enough to cover the mark. She knew if Pony or any of the others saw it, they wouldn't understand. Sodapop had already begun to make noises about how much time she spent with Jesse, and how little they saw of her anymore. Even Amy had noticed. Amy had noticed a lot more than that, too.
She had caught her sister changing her shirt the other day and had noticed a mark across her back. She asked AJ about, but AJ had just laughed and brushed it off. Amy was still worried though. She knew, statistically, that nearly thirty percent of teenage girls were in abusive relationships and she was almost certain that her sister was one of them, but she didn't know what to do.
"I'm going out with Jesse." AJ came into her little sister's room.
"Again?" Amy asked. "But…but you guys just went out last night!"
AJ shrugged and as she did, her shirt sleeve rose just a little, enough for Amy to see the beginnings of a bruise on her forearm. "Jesse likes for us to see each other as much as possible. He's says that's what a healthy relationship is all about."
Amy nodded, but she doubted that Jesse Danvers would know a healthy relationship if it danced naked in front of him. "All right." She said uncertainly.
"Mom's working late." AJ continued. "But Soda said you could come next door for dinner."
Amy nodded. She made up her mind right then to at least tell Ponyboy about her suspicions. He would no what to do.
She waited about fifteen minutes after Jesse had picked AJ up before heading next door.
"Hey, Ames." Soda was rubbing Darry's back. "How're you doing?"
"Fine." She said distractedly. "Is Ponyboy here?"
"He's in our bedroom." Soda told her. "Why?"
"I need to talk to him." Amy tried to sound nonchalant about it. "Is it okay if I go in?"
Soda shrugged, nodded. "Sure."
Amy knocked hesitantly on the bedroom door.
"It's open." Pony called out. Amy stuck her head in.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"
Ponyboy was surprised. Amy hardly ever even spoke to him anymore. "Sure. What's up?"
Amy came into the room, shutting the door behind her. She sat down on Pony and Soda's bed, facing him at his desk.
"It's about AJ." She said. "I'm worried about her."
Pony scrunched up his nose. "How come?"
Amy looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. "She spends all her free time with Jesse." She said. "We hardly ever see her anymore."
"Well, he's her boyfriend." Pony said.
"And…he's always bossing her around and stuff." Amy told him. "He gets really upset when she spends any time with you and Johnny, or the other guys. And…" She hesitated. "I've seen some…marks on her."
This got Ponyboy's attention. He turned to look at Amy fully now. "What do you mean, marks?" He asked.
"Bruises." She said simply. "On her arm and on her back."
"You think Jesse is hitting her?" Pony was shocked. He knew stuff like that happened, but he never pictured it happening to one of his friends.
Amy just nodded.
"Oh God." Pony closed his eyes. "What do we do?"
"Well, I was hoping you could maybe talk to her." Amy said. "You're her best friend, Pone."
Pony stood up. "I'll talk to her now."
"She's out with Jesse." Amy twisted her lips. "Just like she has been every other night this week."
Pony shook his head and sat back down. "Don't worry, all right? We'll get this figured out."
The next morning, Ponyboy sat quietly on his front porch, trying to work up the nerve to go and talk to AJ. Soda and Steve, who both had the day off, were playing cards with Two-Bit and Dally in the kitchen.
He figured he'd been sitting there for about ten minutes before he finally took a deep breath, pushed himself off the steps and walked next door. He left himself in, trying to keep Whiskers from running out.
"It's me." He said, trying to keep quiet, because Johnny was asleep on the couch. His wounds from the Soc's had healed up nicely, but he was still spending a lot of time sleeping on the Adare's sofa.
"Hey, Pony, what's up?" AJ came into the front room still in her pajamas.
Ponyboy rubbed his hand along the back of his head. "I came to talk to you, actually."
"What about?"
Pony sighed. "Can we go out on the porch maybe?" He looked at the hallway door, where Amy had appeared. She chewed her lip and nodded to him.
"Okay…" AJ looked confused. What was going on? She was surprised when Amy followed them out. "Amy, go away. Pony and I are having a private conversation."
"No," Pony said. "She needs to hear this."
"Hear what?"
"AJ, has Jesse been hitting you?" Pony asked in a rush.
AJ felt the blood drain from her face. How did he know? "Of course not!" She lied. "Jesse would never lay a hand on me! He loves me!"
Amy smirked. "Then what was that bruise I saw on your back?"
"I…I fell!"
"Yeah, right into Jesse's fist, I bet." Amy said. AJ whirled around to face her.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" She said heatedly. "Jesse loves me! Sometimes I do things that make him angry, but that's not his fault! Its mine!"
"Is that what he told you?" Pony asked incredibly. On an impulse, he grabbed her shirt sleeve and pulled it up. When he saw that angry finger marks there, he felt sick to his stomach.
"Come on!" He said, grabbing her hand.
"Stop, Pony!" She shouted, but he had a tight grip. He pulled her across the yard and into his own front door, with Amy close behind.
"What the heck are you guys doing?" Soda asked. "It sounds like a herd of elephants in here!"
"Show them your arm, AJ." Pony said. She shook her head, her eyes wide and fearful.
Soda looked between the three younger ones. "What's going on?" He asked. By this time, Steve, Dally, and Two-Bit had come into the front room as well.
"Show them!" Pony barked at her. She winced and lifted her sleeve.
There was a beat of silence when they guys saw the bruise.
"Did…Jesse do that to you?" Soda finally asked faintly. She nodded, her eyes filling with tears.
"It was an accident." She whispered. "Jesse loves me."
"Does he hit you?" Steve asked quietly, his blood starting to boil. "Does he, AJ?"
"Only when I mess up." She said.
Two-Bit closed his eyes. "And how many times have you "messed up" since you started dating him?"
She shrugged. "A…a few."
Dally cracked his knuckles. "That little son-of-a-bitch is gonna get it." He said and Steve nodded.
"He doesn't mean too!" AJ said. "Jesse loves me!"
"That's not love, Abigail!" Sodapop yelled at her. "Love doesn't hurt!"
"Where is he?" Steve asked.
"What?" AJ asked.
"Where is he right now?" He repeated.
"He's at Brandon and Allie's, but you can't-." He didn't even wait for her to finish, before he, Soda, and Dally were out the door and in his car.
"Oh shit." Two-Bit said. He grabbed his own car keys, and propelled Amy, Pony, and AJ outside. "We better follow them."
Jesse was outside with Brandon when Steve pulled up. He was out of the car in a flash, with Soda and Dally right behind him.
"What's going guys?" Brandon asked. Steve pushed passed him, not answering. He grabbed Jesse by his shirt collar and pulled him up.
"I bet it makes you feel like a big man, doesn't it? Beating around on a hundred pound girl?"
As soon as Two-Bit pulled to a stop behind Steve's car, AJ was running across the yard. She arrived just in time to see Steve smash his fist into Jesse's face.
"Stop!" She screamed. Brandon was trying to pull Steve off Jesse.
"What the hell's the matter with you, Randle?" He yelled.
"Look at her arm!" Steve yelled back, pointing to AJ. "Look and see what your little buddy did to her!"
Brandon looked at his sister-in-law. "AJ, what's he talking about?"
AJ shook her head, but Amy wasn't going to let it pass. "She's got marks on her arm and on her back from where he hits her!" She said.
Brandon's eyes widened. "What?"
Two-Bit and Ponyboy hauled AJ forward and Brandon lifted her sleeve. When he saw the marks there, he felt his stomach turn over. He looked at Jesse.
"Did you do this, you little son-of-a-bitch?" He asked.
By this time, Alice had come out on to their porch, with little Kimmy on her hip. "What is God's name is going on out here? Y'all woke Kim up from her nap!" She said angrily.
"Get out of my yard." Brandon said to Jesse, ignoring his wife. "If I ever see you around my family again, I'll kill you."
