The buzzing of her phone drew Bridgette from slumber, shattering the image in her mind of her and Geoff being crowned king and queen of prom. She glanced around the room, her vision still blurry from having just woken up. As her vision cleared she began to realize there was something off about the room, though she couldn't quite figure out what. It was then that she became aware that she was not alone. She glanced to her right and her eyes widened in surprise. Laying in the bed next to her was Geoff, who was clearly still asleep.
It was then that everything came flooding back into her memory. She had been at prom with Geoff and their friends, she and Geoff had been crowned king and queen and then, at some point they had left and returned to Geoff's house. Bridgette felt a twinge of pain shoot through her head as these memories replayed in her mind. She wondered if they had done anything besides sleep, not that she cared if they had, it was just that she wasn't fully healed from her attack and she was pretty sure sex qualified as the sort of overexertion Doctor Lunderman had advised her to avoid. She glanced down at herself and saw that she was still wearing her bra and panties which calmed her. If she was still at least partially clothed then she and Geoff had most likely not had sex, though that wasn't necessarily a good thing. But if they hadn't had sex, why was she in his bed? True they were officially dating again, but they had not discussed having sex or sleeping together for that matter. As usual, Bridgette found she was unable to come up with any satisfactory answers and she supposed it didn't matter. It was then that her phone buzzed again, drawing Bridgette's attention back to the reason she had awoken.
Bridgette reached for her phone, being careful not to move the bed too much to avoid disturbing Geoff. She glanced at the screen of her phone, noticing that she had several missed calls as well as several texts. She checked the texts first, noticing that the oldest ones were from Nikki and Gwen asking about her night with Geoff. Bridgette ignored these and moved on to the more recent texts, which were from her mother, asking her to come home as soon as possible. The tone of her mother's texts made Bridgette's insides freeze, and as she checked her voicemail her feeling of unease only increased. Two of her missed calls were from her father, who hadn't left any messages, but two of the others were from her mother who's voice messages also asked Bridgette to come home. And then there was the message from Chef, which asked Bridgette to meet him, Coach and Ron to discuss their deal regarding Mr. McLean. It was this message that made her growing panic spike. What did Chef mean they needed to discuss their deal? Did that mean the Kings weren't going to help her after all? Or had they found something that would allow for a case to be brought against Chris? Either way she was determined to find out.
She slid off the bed, her bare feet touching the soft fabric of her prom dress which was laying on the floor beside the bed. Shit, she thought, we came here right after the dance and I don't have any other clothes. How am I supposed to get home if I can't go out in public? Cuz I'm not going out there in nothing but my underwear. She glanced at Geoff, who was snoring now, and decided her only option was to wake him and ask if he had any clothes she could borrow. She sat back down on the bed and slid over to Geoff, placing a hand on his shoulder as she did.
She gave his shoulder a gentle shake and muttered, "Geoff, get up."
Geoff didn't move and continued snoring, completely oblivious to the fact that she was in his room. Bridgette sighed and shook him harder. "Come on Geoff, get the fuck up." she said, almost shouting.
Geoff grunted and rolled over, his eyes opening. "Hey Bridge, what's up?" he asked, stifling a yawn.
"Um, could I...I need to borrow some clothes." she said, her gaze penetrating his bright blue eyes.
Geoff sat up, suddenly alert, and looked at her in concern. "Bridgette is everything alright?" he asked, his voice as concerned as his gaze.
"I gotta get home." Bridgette answered. "I think something has happened, something involving the Kings and I need to know what it is."
"The Kings?" Geoff asked, puzzled. "What would they want from you?"
"I...well I may have told them I already know the identity of my attacker and they agreed to help me confirm my theory." Bridgette answered, reluctant to tell Geoff everything.
"Who do you think your attacker is?" Geoff asked, though he looked like he could already guess.
"Mr. McLean." Bridgette answered. "And don't act all surprised, Nikki told me you already know. Now come on, I need some damn clothes."
Geoff didn't immediately respond. He seemed too shocked by the revelation that his girlfriend had been raped by one of their teachers to do anything other than sit there with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Geoff?" Bridgette asked. "Geoff are you even listening to me?"
He turned to face her, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Oh my God Bridgette, you were raped by McLean. How is that even possible? I mean I knew he was a perv but I had no idea he was so fucked up in the head."
"Geoff, it's not your fault." Bridgette said. "No one knew he was so sick, there was nothing you could have done. Now come on, I need clothes."
"What happened to yours?" Geoff asked, wiping his tears away.
"We came here directly after we left prom, all I have is my dress." Bridgette answered.
Geoff nodded and got out of bed. He walked over to his closet and dug out a pair of sweats and a slightly oversized shirt. He handed them to Bridgette who smiled and pulled the clothes on. The shirt was huge on her and the sweats were a little too large as well, but it was better than having to head home in her underwear. She headed for the door, but Geoff caught her by the wrist.
"Wait Bridge, let me get dressed too." he said, their eyes meeting for a half second.
"Geoff you don't have to come." Bridgette said, her voice slightly pleading, as though she was trying to spare him the pain of hearing what the Kings would potentially be telling her.
"No, I want to be there for you." Geoff said, his tone calm. "I promised to stay with you no matter what and I intend to keep that promise."
Bridgette nodded and Geoff got dressed. They then headed over to Bridgette's house where they found her parents and the Kings waiting for them. The looks on their faces were serious, but Bridgette could tell that the Kings weren't here to deliver bad news.
"Okay, I got your messages." she said, as she and Geoff ascended the steps. "Sorry I didn't respond immediately, I was kinda sleeping."
Bridgette saw her father's jaw twitch and moved to smooth things over. "Okay, I know I should have called and told you guys I was at Geoff's, especially considering everything that's happened, but I was caught up in the moment and I forgot."
"I think your father is more upset by the fact that you didn't tell him that you had us investigating Mr. McLean than he is by the fact that you didn't tell him you were spending the night with Mr. Martin, Miss Wells." Ron said, with an amused smile.
"Actually it's a bit of both." Mr. Wells said, with a stern look at his daughter. "But I suppose it doesn't matter now, given the information the Kings just gave your mother and I."
Bridgette's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, you have information?" she asked, glancing at the Kings. "What kind of information?"
"Why don't we head inside and we'll tell you there?" Chef suggested.
Bridgette nodded and moved towards the door. Her father opened it for her and she entered her house, followed by her mother, Geoff, the Kings, and finally her father. Bridgette headed for her room to change, reemerging a few minutes later dressed in a pair of jeans, a shirt and her favorite light blue hoodie. She handed Geoff's clothes back to him with a thankful smile and sat down on the couch between him and her mother. Her father was seated in his recliner and the Kings were standing in front of the TV, all three of them looking very serious, as usual.
"Okay, so what kind of information do you have for me?" Bridgette asked, staring at the Kings, both her tone and her gaze expectant.
"We caught him Miss Wells." Coach answered, glancing at her parents as he spoke. "We caught McLean. He is currently in custody at the county jail, though I do not know when, or if, there will be a trial."
"Wait, you caught him?" Bridgette asked. "So that means the DNA they gathered from my...you know...was a match?"
"Indeed it does." Ron answered. "That alone should be enough for a trial, but there's more."
"How can there be more?" Geoff asked, with a puzzled glance at Bridgette.
"It seems Miss Wells is not the only underage girl with whom Chris McLean is obsessed, nor is she the first." Ron answered. "We raided his home and found more than enough evidence to convict him of sex crimes. In his closet we discovered a shoe box full of photos, nude photos, of more than two dozen girls, some of whom have been out of high school for more than six years now."
"So, this has been going on for a while then?" Bridgette's mother asked, horrified.
"Yes." Chef answered. "It seems McLean has been spying on girls for quite some time now. But it goes beyond simply spying on girls. It seems he has a habit of seducing or coercing girls into either having sex with him or performing sexual acts for him. We found video footage on his computer that confirms this, video of him having sex with high school girls. There were also more photos on his computer as well as a file of emails sent to various girls asking them for sex or insinuating that sex should be performed."
Everyone in the room sat in horrified silence as Chef finished speaking. It was all too much to process, especially for Bridgette and Geoff who had trusted McLean. He had been an awesome teacher, a teacher who was beloved by his students, and to learn that the entire time he had been a sick, twisted, perverted pedophile who preyed on teenage girls was more than they could handle.
"How did he keep it all a secret though?" Geoff asked, after a moment.
"I would assume that it was fear, mostly, that kept this in the dark for so long." Coach said. "Fear on the part of the girls he stalked, coerced, molested, and now raped, that they would be harmed if they told anyone. Though I assume they told someone as it is my understanding that there has been a general consensus amongst students that McLean is a pervert for a number of years now."
Bridgette and Geoff shot guilty glances at one another and then Geoff asked, "What did you mean when you said 'and now raped'?"
"Bridgette seems to be the first victim of rape on McLean's part." Ron answered. "It seems, from what we have gathered, that the other girls he had sex with did so willingly, though I would assume that their willingness was limited at best and that they often only agreed to his requests because he threatened them in some way. Several of the emails we found seem to support this theory, as McLean often mentions his intention to reveal secrets about his victims if they do not engage in sex with him."
At that moment Chef's phone rang and he stepped out of the room to take the call. The others sat in silence, all of them still trying to process all of the information the Kings had given them. It seemed that even the Kings had not yet fully wrapped their minds around how deep and disturbing McLean's depravity was. A few minutes later Chef reentered the room, a grim smile on his face.
"That was the judge." he said. "It seems the court has decided there is enough evidence for a trial, so we should all be prepared. Because of the nature of the crimes the court wants this trial to happen as soon as possible, but I don't know exactly when yet. I would imagine it will be sometime in the next week or two however."
Bridgette felt her chest constrict at these words. She had known there would be a trial and she wanted one, McLean had to pay for his crimes. But she was unsure if she could face him now, so soon after the attack. But even as these fears began to creep into her mind she pushed them away. She had to be strong and she would be. No matter how hard it was she would face McLean again if it meant he was put away for life.
"Bridgette, are you okay?" Geoff asked, glancing at her. He seemed to have picked up on her uncertainty and moved now to comfort her.
"I'm fine." she answered, not looking at him. He looked as though there was something else he wanted to ask her, but he remained silent. Bridgette looked at the Kings, hesitating for a moment, and then asked her final question, "Can you tell us who McLean's other victims are?"
"Under normal circumstances no." said Chef. "But since the trial will be held sooner than expected and because you'll probably figure it out anyway, I suppose we can tell you. Many of them you already know, Heather Chen, Nikki Wong, Gwen Carver, Izzy Sharpe, Lindsey Peterson, Caitlin Cooke, Jen Masterson, Courtney Smith, Tricia Helman, Marlowe Welling, Starr Sullivan, Sierra Vasquez, and a number of others. Alyssa Channing is another name you might recognize. All of them have been victims of McLean's to some extent or another."
Bridgette was horrified. Nearly half the list of McLean's victims were people she knew. She had had no idea her friends had all been targeted by McLean at some point. Why hadn't any of them told her anything about this? She supposed it had been to protect her, since she was the new kid, but she wished someone would have told her about all of this sooner. Still, she couldn't be angry with them now, not when they all needed to stick together.
"Is there anything else you'd like to know, Miss Wells?" Ron asked.
"No, I think I'm good, thanks." she answered.
"In that case we'll be on our way then." said Chef. "We'll call when a trial date has been set." He smiled and exited the room, Coach and Ron following him. Bridgette nodded at them to show her thanks and then turned to her parents and Geoff.
The looks on their faces were a mixture of concern, relief, and several other emotions Bridgette could not decipher. She smiled at them to let them know that she was alright, even though that was far from the truth. She was actually terrified and uncertain that the trial would lead to a conviction, despite all the evidence. Still, she had to admit that it felt good to know that for now McLean was behind bars and unable to hurt anyone else. The Kings had honored their promise and she would be forever grateful to them for that, even if Chris somehow escaped conviction. And despite her fear she knew that when the time came she would be able to face him because she would have all of the people she cared about there to watch her back.
A/N: Well, there you go. Now Bridgette can get some fucking justice for the horrible things that have happened to her. Prepare yourselves folks, next chapter will resolve everything (mostly).
