Disclaimer: I do not own Roseanne, the series and its characters are all property owned by Carsey-Werner
Forbidden Love
Written By: SSJ God SS Juuhachi
Chapter 22: Guilt By Association
It was 6:29 in the morning. Dan snored as Roseanne slept soundly beside him. The alarm clock beside their bed burned brightly in the darkness. It soon blared as it then changed to 6:30 AM, waking the couple from their slumber. Roseanne fumbled with it for a moment before turning it off. She laid a moment before turning to her husband.
"Dan," She began, "Are you awake?"
No answer.
"Dan," Roseanne shoved his shoulder, waking him up.
"Hmm?" He mumbled
"It's 6:30. Time to get up," Dan groaned and rolled on his stomach, wrapping his arms around his pillow.
"Just five more minutes," He said, burying his face into his pillow.
"No, come on. We gotta make a living." She said, shoving his shoulder to wake him up again. Dan groaned as he refused to get up. Roseanne threw the covers off herself and made her way to the bathroom. Dan tried to go back to back to sleep as he continued to hold close to him.
A few minutes later, a plate of sizzling bacon sat in the center of the table while everyone else except Darlene had plates and silverware in their respective places.
Roseanne, standing at the stove, finished the scrambled eggs and began serving them. "BREAKFAST!" She bellowed as she began, pouring eggs on each plate.
Dan walked in first, "Good morning," He said, kissing her.
He then took his seat at the table where he found his newspaper and coffee already waiting for him. Just then, their children Becky and D.J. walked in, followed by Mark.
"Good morning," They greeted her,
"Morning," She responded
"Looks good, Mom. Thanks."
"You're welcome. Okay, everyone enjoy your breakfast; I'll be right back." She said, walking toward the basement
"Where are you going, Mom?" asked Becky.
"I have to go wake up your sister," She responded, "It's the first day back to school since the incident, and I want to make sure is she up, so she can start getting ready." Roseanne explained, "Which reminds me, can you drop a couple of pop tarts in the toaster for her,"
"Why Pop-Tarts?"
"So she can hurry up and eat. I don't want to be caught behind the school buses this morning."
"Okay," Becky told her.
Roseanne walked downstairs to the basement. She reached Darlene's room and opened the door, flipping on the light, waking the sleeping teenager. "Darlene, it's 6:50, time to wake up,"
"What are you doing? Haven't you heard of knocking?" Darlene grumbled, wiping away the crust from her eyes. "We don't have time for all that; you need to get up and get dressed," Roseanne said as she walked up to the bed.
"Why?"
"You have school today,"
"Can't you just call them and tell them I'm sick,"
"No, I can't," Roseanne told her, annoyed, "You have already been home a week; you can't take any more time off. Now get your ass out of bed and get dressed. We leave in 20 minutes." Darlene watched as her mother walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. After she was gone, she threw the covers off her and began getting dressed.
She soon emerged from the basement a little while later, bookbag in hand. Darlene wears a red flannel shirt, with a pair of thermal underwear underneath her Nirvana t-shirt and ripped-up jeans. To finish the out, she had black converse sneakers.
"Good morning, everyone," Mark, Dan, and DJ, half-heartedly acknowledged her as they ate. "Good morning, Darlene." Becky greeted her sister, "How are you this morning?"
"Tired," The teen responded,
"Oh well, your breakfast is in the toaster." The blonde told her
"Thanks," Darlene walked over to the counter and found two pop tarts waiting for her in the toaster.
She put the hot toaster pastries on a plate and brought them over the table. As she began eating, Roseanne sat down with her breakfast and a cup of coffee.
"Becky," She began, getting her daughter's attention, "You said you were off today, right?"
"Um, yeah,"
"Do you mind running a few errands for me today?"
"No, of course not," She said, "What do you need done?"
"I need you to go to the post office and mail off a couple of bills for me; we're short on a few things here, so I need you to run to the grocery store today, pick up DJ after school. "
"Okay," She said, "write a note of all that you need at the store, and I will pick it up this afternoon. Mark will go with me,"
"You're off today too?"
"Yeah," Mark replied
"He can go with me, and we can get these things done a lot faster," Becky told her mother. "I don't care how you do it, as long as you get it done."
Darlene got up from the table, dumping her plate in the sink, "I am going to go brush my teeth,"
"Well, hurry up. I don't want to get caught behind the school buses."
"I won't be long; it will just take me a few minutes." She said, walking out of the kitchen, leaving her family to continue with their breakfast.
Water ran from the faucet as Darlene stood by the sink, brushing her teeth hard. She spits out the toothpaste into the sink and rinses her mouth out.
"Darlene, come on, let's go!"
The teenager rolled her eyes at the familiar nagging sound of her mother. "I'll be done in a minute!" She dried her mouth and exited the bathroom, making her way downstairs.
As she descends the stairs, she sees her mother looking impatient as she stands by the door. Roseanne notices her coming and turns to her, "Are you ready to go?" She asked her
Darlene grabbed her coat from the coat hanger, "Yeah," She replied, putting it on.
"Here's your lunch. I put in there an apple, a bottle of water, and a salad. I hope that will be enough," She said, handing her a brown paper bag.
"It'll be plenty, thanks," Darlene told her, taking the bag in her hand. "Here's your bookbag, now let's go. I don't want you to be late for school."
Darlene took the book bag from her mother's hand, and soon the two walked out the door.
Moments later, they were in the car and on their way to the High School. Roseanne turned to her daughter and saw Darlene staring out the window.
"So, how are you feeling this morning?" She asked, making Darlene turn to her
"I'm fine," She replied
"Are you nervous?"
"Why would I be nervous?" Darlene asked, a look of confusion on her face.
"Well, it's your first day back after...you know what happened, I just want to be sure your all right,"
"I already told you, I'm fine." The curly-haired teen told her, clearly annoyed at her persistence.
"Okay," Roseanne said, "Well, just remember if Marcy and her friends try to approach you, don't confront them, just go in the other direction,"
"Mom, I can handle Marcy and her friends,"
"Do you?" The older woman asked, "The last time you encountered these girls, they beat you up,"
"I know, Mom, I was there," Darlene grumbled.
"All I'm saying is they will most likely try to provoke you into a fight, don't let them. Be the bigger person and walk away,"
"Thanks for the advice but chances are they won't even talk to me. But if they do, you don't need to worry. I'm not going to get into a fight with them. They're not worth it anyway." They soon pulled up in front of the school.
"Here we are. Try to have a good day."
"I'll do the best I can." The teen responded, "See you later,"
Darlene grabbed her book bag and got out of the car. Roseanne drove away as the teen looked at the building, for a brief moment, before stepping inside to begin her first day back.
The sounds of lockers slamming and overlapping conversations filled Darlene's ears as she made her way down the hallway to her first-period class. When she entered the classroom, there were already a few students chatting amongst each other.
She walked up to Mr. William's desk and opened her bookbag. Darlene pulled out her book report of all 14 chapters, "To Kill A Mocking Bird," and placed it on his desk.
Afterward, she walked to the back of the classroom and took a seat. She got the things she would need out for the period while other students walked in and took their seats. Just then, the bell rang, and Mr. Williams walked into the room, closing the door behind him.
The class quieted down immediately as he began speaking, "Good morning, class," He began, "Did everyone have a good weekend?" No response. "Good, now today, I have a new assignment for you all-" He then paused when the door opened, and in walked Molly. Everyone turned to her.
"Sorry, I'm late," The brunette said; softly.
Darlene began watching her as Molly quietly made her way to her desk.
That was she saw it. There on her right cheek was; an obvious; bruise she tried to cover up with make-up."What happened to her?" Molly took a seat at her desk before turning to Darlene.
The other girl quickly looked away and turned back to Mr. Williams began speaking. "Now, where was I? Oh, that's right. I have an assignment for you all today. I want you all to write a short story. It can be about anything you want, but it has to be 100% your own material. The assignment will be due Friday." As he spoke, Molly turned away from Darlene and began getting out the things she needed for class.
Darlene turned towards her again, watching as Molly began taking notes. All the while, wondering who or what gave her that bruise on her face.
She knew she couldn't ask Molly directly what happened with their current situation, so she decided it would be best to go to another source.
But who could she ask? Darlene thought for a moment before remembering she had seen Molly with a couple of friends when passing her in the hallway; she didn't know their names, though.
"Ah, it doesn't matter. I will find them later and talk to them. Maybe they know something." Afterward, she turned away from Molly and began taking notes herself on the assignment.
At the Lanford City Garage, Fred and many other employees were working on the school buses in front of them when the bell suddenly blew, signaling it was time for lunch.
Fred looked up at the time and saw it was 11:00.
"Wow, lunchtime already." He said, "Time does fly when your busy," The men stopped what they were doing and went over to wash their hands before heading to lunch.
Dan sat in his office signing papers when he heard a knock on the door.
Fred popped his head in, "Dan? It's time for lunch,"
Dan didn't respond, however. He lifted a finger, letting him know he would be with him in just a moment. He had a couple more papers that needed signing, and he would have finished with his work.
He quickly scribbled his signature to the papers, "And done!" Dan then turned to the door, "Now, what were you saying, Fred?"
"I was telling you it was time for lunch,"
"Is it?" Dan looked at the clock on his wall, "So it is; I was so busy this morning I didn't even pay attention to the time."
"Me and a few of the guys were going to head to the Lunch Box to grab a couple of loose meat sandwiches, you want to come with us?"
"Sounds good," Dan replied, "We better get going though if we are going to beat the lunch crowd."
"Okay," The two men exited the office and walked into the break room, where they found a small group of other employees waiting for them. "You guys ready?" He asked them, "Yeah, we've just been waiting for you,"
"Sorry about that; let's go." Fred took the lead as the group of employees followed after him, with Dan in close tow behind them as they headed to lunch.
After finishing her lunch, Darlene threw away the contents of it in the garbage. Afterward, she begins looking for Molly's friends. Darlene scanned the cafeteria in search of them. Darlene didn't know their names, but she knew what they looked like, both the average girl-next-door look about them, except one; had dark-brown hair and the other was a blonde.
She soon spotted them sitting at a table, chatting with each other on the right side of the cafeteria. Darlene casually approached them. As she drew near, both stopped talking and turned to them.
"Hey," She greeted them; somewhat awkwardly.
"What do you want?" Sarah asked, snidely
"I need to talk to you two. Do you have a sec?"
Sarah scoffed, "And what makes you think we want to talk to you?"
"Because it's about Molly."
Ashley and Sarah looked at each other before turning back to Darlene.
"Are you serious?" asked Ashley, speaking for the first time.
"You have a lot of nerve to mention her name after what you did to her." The dark-haired girl stood up from her seat.
Darlene leaned back slightly as Ashley pointed a finger in her face.
"She was there for you, she cared for you, and for you to hurt you the way you did was just cruel."
"What happened between Molly and me, that is between us that has nothing to do with you-" She is then interrupted when Sarah suddenly spoke, "The hell it doesn't!" The blonde stood up and joined her friend.
"We were the ones who were there comforting her. We were the ones that told her everything was going all right. Not that you would care, you just went on about your life like nothing happened," Sarah sneered at her, "If you ask me, Molly is better off without you."
"Listen, Betty and Veronica," Darlene started, "You think I care what you think of me? I don't. I couldn't care less what your opinion of me is. All I want to know is what happened to Molly."
"What do you mean 'What happened to her'?" asked Ashley
"Her face. Molly had a bruise on her cheek when she walked into English class today. It looked like she tried to cover it up with make-up before coming to class, but I could still see it." Darlene explained, "And with us not speaking, I can't ask her about it, so that's why I'm here. To ask the two of you if you know anything of what happened to her."
Sarah and Ashley looked at each other briefly before turning back to Darlene. Ashley was the first one to speak, "Neither of us has seen the bruise you're talking about, but...we know who gave it to her."
"You do? Well, who was it?"
"We don't know her name," Sarah started, "but we've seen her around the school. She is always with these two girls."
"That's her," Ashley said, gesturing behind Darlene.
She turned her head and saw Marcy, Stacy, and Cindy across the cafeteria talking to what appeared to be a freshman. They couldn't make what they were saying, but it was clear they wanted something. The kid didn't comply, and Stacy gave him a wedgie, making him cry out in pain and fall to his knees. The three girls laughed at this.
"Marcy Davis? Your sure it was that gave Molly the bruise?" Darlene asked, turning back to Ashley and Sarah. Both girls nodded in response.
"It was her. For the close to a week, she and her friends have bullied her, making her life miserable."
"So this has been going on for a while,"
"Shortly after you were gone, that Marcy girl and her friends set up a paint bomb in Molly's locker so when she opened it, it would explode on her. Afterward, Molly thought it would end there. They had their fun, had a few laughs at her expense, and would move on. But it was just the beginning. They started pushing her around, knocking her to the ground. They even shoved her in a locker a few times." Ashley explained to her
Hearing these things made Darlene angry. She turned her head to Marcy and her friends again, her eyes burning with anger. It was one thing if they came after her. That didn't matter to her; she knew how to handle them. She had a history with not only Marcy but with Cindy and Stacy as well. But for them to go after Molly? It just wasn't right.
As Darlene stared at her, she could feel her blood boil. Part of her wanted desperately to go over there and say something to her, but she knew in her current state that it would turn into an altercation, and that's not what she wanted.
She turned back to Ashley and Sarah, "I'll take care of this later. I'm going to head on to class,"
"Wait, your not going to do anything?" Sarah objected, making Darlene turn to her and say in a harsh tone.
"Didn't you hear me? I said I would take care of it later." The two girls were taken aback by her harsh tone, "Now, if you don't mind, I need to get to class," Darlene afterward walked away from them, leaving them speechless as to what just happened.
"What was that about?" Ashley asked
Sarah shrugged, "You got me,"
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the 5th period. Molly entered History class. The teacher, Mrs. Abner, was writing notes on the board. She took her seat at her desk, opened up her notebook, and began to write what was on the board. Just then, Stacy and Cindy walked through the door; Molly saw them coming and became nervous as they took a seat on either side of her.
Mrs. Abner then turned to the class. "All right, class today we are going to talk about the Civil Rights Movement, starting with Martin Luther King..." Her voice faded as Molly's heart began pounding in her ears as Stacy and Cindy turned towards her. "Hey, Molly," Stacy said with a grin, "How's it going?"
"That's quite a bruise on you have there on your face. You should see a nurse about that." Cindy then added a grin on her face as well.
"What do you the two want?"
"Oh nothing, we just wanted to talk to you, make sure you understood what Marcy told you before."
"We already went over this, all right? I'm not going to say anything."
"See that you don't, or next time it will be worse. You got it?" Cindy warned her,
"Yeah," Molly said softly, avoiding eye contact,
"Good," Stacy concluded,
"Let's get out of here. This class is boring," The two girls then got up and made their way towards the door.
"Hey, where do you two think you're going?" Mrs. Abner asked
The two teens ignored her and walked out of the classroom.
Meanwhile, Molly sat trying to calm herself. As Mrs. Abner continued her lesson, Molly broke down in quiet tears as the overwhelming feeling of anxiety and stress got to her. She didn't know how much more of this she could take, dealing with this torment day in and day out; she just wanted it all to end.
At the Lunch Box, Roseanne stood at the cash register, "Here you go," She handed the customer his receipt, "Don't forget to tell your friends about us," The man nodded and left. The dark-haired woman then turned to see her sister standing nearby, talking on the phone with the florist.
"Who is she talking to?" Leon asked, handing a loose meat sandwich to a customer.
"She is talking to the florist about flowers for the wedding,"
"She needs to do that on her own time,"
"She can't, Leon. Since you decided it was better to open for breakfast, we work longer hours, and by the time we got off work, most places are closing, so this is the only time she has to make preparations."
Leon looked annoyed, grumbling under his breath.
"Would you relax? The wedding this weekend at my house," She told him, "So there is no pressure trying to book a church, the only thing that is left to do is calling the florist, the caterer, and ordering the wedding cake. We can do the decorations ourselves. All of the preparations should take one day, two days tops."
"Fine, just tell her to hurry it up, this is a place of business after all, and I won't have it tarnished because some people refuse to look professional."
Roseanne rolled her eyes.
"Phfft, like we looked professional before?"
3:00 PM
The bell rang, signaling the end of yet another school day. Students began to walk out of the school building. The day had come to an end, and they made their way to the buses while Darlene stood nearby, leaning against the school, waiting for Marcy to come out.
She soon spotted her walking towards her towards the parking lot to her car. Darlene pushed herself from the wall and made her way towards her.
"Marcy!" She called out to her, "Marcy, hold up!"
As Darlene approached her, the other girl turned to her.
"What do you want, Darlene?" asked Marcy as she then stopped.
"I need to talk to you,"
"About?"
"Molly," The dark-haired girl answered, "I know that you hit her,"
"Did she tell you that?"
"No, I figured it out for myself," Darlene answered, "I also know you and your friends have been bullying her for a while now,"
"So?"
"So I want it to stop. You, Stacy, and Cindy are going to leave her alone, you hear me?"
"And if we don't? What are you going to do about it?" Marcy asked, shoving her
Students noticed this and began to stop and watch.
"Don't touch me," Darlene warned her,
"Or what?" She shoved her again
Darlene shoved her back hard, knocking her down. Marcy quickly picked herself up and struck Darlene hard across the face, splitting her lip. Darlene turned towards her and charged at her, tackling her to the ground.
The students around them began to crowd around as the two girls grappled with one another, throwing punches, hitting each other as hard as they could.
Molly exited the school and noticed the group; of students standing nearby chanting "Fight, Fight, Fight," She walked over to them, pushing her way through the crowd to the front, where she saw Marcy and Darlene fighting ruthlessly.
Before she could react to the situation, Staff Members pushed their way through the crowd of students.
"All right, that's enough break it up!"
"Get off of her!"
Both teachers tried to pry the two girls apart, but to no avail; they both kept a firm grip on each other and were not letting go.
Whatever occurred, it was clear that this fight was to the death, and they weren't going to stop until only one of them was left standing. The teachers noticed other staff members heading towards them.
"Call the police! Hurry!"
Minutes passed, and police cars pulled up onto the property, their sirens blaring. Police officers rushed out of their squad cars and over to the scene. Students got out of the way as the officers grabbed the two teenagers and pulled them apart from each other.
"Get off me!"
"Let go!"
Darlene and Marcy struggled against the police offers, trying to break free of their hold.
"Get down on the ground and put your hands behind your back!" He shouted.
Darlene did as she was told and put her hand behind her back as the police handcuffed her, hearing them click in place while Marcy continued to fight against the other officer.
The police officer forced Darlene to her feet. It is, at this moment she saw Molly standing there. A look of shock and confusion on her face. Darlene stared back at her, a look of guilt on her face.
Marcy, now handcuffed, was forced to her feet by the other officer.
"All right, let's go!"
The two officers pulled the girls away, escorting them towards the squad cars. Students murmured and whispered to each other as they watched the police put the girls into two separate squad cars, their sirens blaring once more as they drove away.