CHAPTER 49


Andie cuts out of her high school classes Tuesday afternoon to meet Tyler at the University's food court. She's wearing a red blouse and a short denim skirt with heels. Her long red hair is pulled up in a ponytail. Tyler walks in the food court and sits down next to Allison. Andie watches them talk. They appear to be having a friendly chat. Andie looks around. She spies Nicky walking towards the food court. She texts Tyler "now."

Tyler leans in, smiles at Allison and kisses her. To Andie's surprise Allison returns the kiss and pursues it which is a nice surprise for Tyler. Allison wraps her arms around Tylers' neck and Tyler wraps his arms around her. Andie turns around to see Nicky standing next to her watching the kiss. "I'm going to kill him." Nicky says.

"Your girlfriend is into it more that Tyler. Look at Aly go." Andie says in a teasing tone trying get Nicky even more riled up about the kiss.

Nicky turns to leave. Andie follows him. Nicky stops and turns "Why are you here Andie?" He demands. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Andie looks at him and shrugs, she has no good answer.

"You set this up! You told Tyler to kiss Allison to piss me off and make me break up with her." Nicky accuses.

Andie puts her hands on her hips. "Maybe I did ask Tyler to kiss her but honestly I was afraid she would push Tyler away and it would all be a waste of time. But that's not what happened, Nicky. She kissed Tyler back." Andie chuckles a little. "Probably shocked the hell out of Tyler, but I'm sure he doesn't mind."

Nicky shakes his head at her.

"Don't be mad at me, Nicky. I did it because I love you and yes I do want you to break up with Allison. This was the only way I could think to do it."

Nicky just stands there. He doesn't respond.

Andie pleads. "I did it because I love you Nicky. I'll do anything it takes to get you back. Let me ask you one thing?"

Nicky sighs, "What?"

"Do you still love me?"

Nicky answers. "I'm trying really hard not to."

Andie has her hands on her hips. "Stop trying and just go with it."

Nicky stands still in deep thought. Andie puts her hands on his hips and wiggles her hips against him. He looks down to see what she's doing. She takes the opportunity to reach up and places a gentle kiss on his lips. He looks her in the eyes. She reaches up and slowly grazes her tongue against his lips. He parts them for her and the next thing she knows their tongues are dancing. He pulls her in tight. After a minute, he grabs her hand. "Come on, I better take you back to school before you get in trouble."


Charlotte knocks on the door of Tess's hospital room. "I hear you're being discharged tomorrow."

"Yep." Tess nods.

"Good, this is a step in your recovery." Charlotte sits in the chair next to her. "It means your body is physically healing."

"Thanks, I'm feeling better today."

"You may need some help healing emotionally. I want you to consider talking to a therapist. I recommend Violet Turner or Alexis Rhodes. I work with both of them, they're both excellent. Violet is in her fifties and has experience with dealing with sexual assault. Alexis is younger but she's very easy to talk to."

"I met Dr. Rhodes. They sent her in to talk to me after I was admitted. She seems nice."

"So, will you talk to her?"

Tess nods. She's holding her Nook Tablet XLS in her hand.

"I see you're reading To Kill a Mockingbird. That's my favorite book." Charlotte tells her.

"Chase told me that. We have to read it as part of the tenth grade required reading material. Chase and I are reading partners."

"I remember Andie had to read it last year when she was in tenth grade."

"Did she like it?"

"I think so, but she would never admit it to me since it's my favorite book." Charlotte tells her.

"You didn't tell Andie what happened to me, did you?"

"Course not. That's privileged information."

"I don't have anything against Andie but she has friends at school. I'm afraid if she tells one of them it will get spread around the school."

"You don't have to explain anything to me." Charlotte tells her.

"I'm not going back to school until these bruises are gone."

"Chase can bring your work home to you."

"Did I tell you the police sketch artist came to see me earlier?" Tess asks.

"No, you didn't."

"I had to give them details about what he looked like. I did the best I could but it happened so fast and most of the time I was looking at his fist."

Charlotte shakes her head. "Let's hope they catch him soon."


Noah's skyping with Marley. "Did you hear Lila and some other kids got cut skipping class again today?" Marley asks Tyler.

"What were they doing this time?"

"Smoking weed and drinking beer at the beach." Marley informs him.

"But they already got caught and got suspension for doing that. Why would they do it again?" Noah asks.

"I don't think they care about getting detention." Marley tells him." They're just looking for attention."

"Violet and Pete pay attention to Lila." Noah tells her.

"I didn't mean that they're looking for attention from their parents. They're looking for attention from other students so that people think they're cool." Marley tells him.

"I must be a nerd because I don't think it's cool." Noah tells Marley.

Marley laughs. "I actually said that to Lila today. I told her it wasn't cool."

"What did Lila say?"

"She said wasn't trying to be cool. She said she liked the way it made her feel."

"How did it make her feel?"

"She said it made her feel super relaxed like she was outside her body and her whole life was more vivid...-" Marley laughs. "For real. She really said her life was more vivid."

Noah interrupts."What does that even mean?"

"I don't know but it sounds wicked." Marley says with excitement in her voice.

"Sounds like you want to try it."

Marley hesitates before answering. She twitches her nose at Noah. "Maybe just once to see if it's as wicked as Lila says."

"Hmm?" Noah thinks.

"You want me to ask her to get us some and we can try it together?" Marley asks.

Noah thinks a minute then shrugs. "K. Why not?" He tries to justify his thinking. "Everybody tries it once."

"Good. I'll ask her tomorrow." Marley smiles and continues the conversation. "Lila lost a lot of weight too."

"I hadn't noticed."

"I only noticed because we used to be the same size and share jeans. She gave me all her jeans to keep because they're too big for her now. I'm not fat. Right?"

"You're not fat, you're normal." Noah answers.

"You think I need to lose weight?"

"I like you the way you are."

"Lila must think I'm fat because she went on a diet. She thought she was fat and we were the same size." Marley explains.

"Who cares if Lila thinks you're fatter than her?"

"I do." Marley shoots.

"I'm your boyfriend and I don't care." Noah tells her.

Drew comes running into the room to do his monster checks. "I gotta go." Noah tells her, "the little monster is listening."

"See you at school tomorrow." Marley tells him.

"See you tomorrow, Skelly."

"Skelly? Why'd you call me Skelly?"

"It's short for Skeleton. I just thought it up as a nickname, so you don't think your fat." Noah tells her.

"K, Then I like it." They purse their lips and kiss each other through the computer screen before logging off.

"Eww!" Drew runs down the hall. "Noah kisses his computer."