A/N: Trigger warning for references of past physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in Marisol's storyline.
Main POVs: Marisol, Dave, and Connor
A month later during winter break, Marisol sat in her therapist's office.
"On a scale of one to ten, how are you feeling today Marisol?" Her therapist, an older black woman, asked her kindly. The woman, Dr. Louise Charleston, had set her office up similar to how a grandmother would set her living room up: with floral wallpapers, antique furniture, and porcelain tea sets. The smell of jasmine gave the room a pleasant aroma.
"I don't know," Marisol answered honestly, squeezing the quilt that she was currently sitting on. Ever since she had been released from the hospital and started undergoing recovery treatment, she had been feeling kinda numb to everything. She didn't think that she would be free from Owen and now she had to deal with it. She was slowly getting adjusted to eating and wearing whatever she wanted, and a part of her was still scared that he was going to come out of nowhere and viciously beat her for it.
"You look anxious, would you like some herbal tea?" Dr. Charleston offered while gesturing to her coffee and tea machine.
Marisol bit her lip. "Ma-Maybe…," she stuttered out. Dr. Charleston tilted her head before making some tea. When she was done brewing, she poured some into a porcelain cup and put some lemon and sugar into it. She then handed the cup to her, Marisol took it gently in her hands.
"What's making you anxious today?" Her therapist as she took a sip and swallowed down the hot liquid.
"Owen," she answered as a chill went through her. He would beat her just for answering that. He probably will in her nightmares later. "He'll hurt me if I talk anymore about it," she added.
"He cannot legally come near you, Marisol. He's in jail and he can no longer hurt you," Dr. Charleston reminded her, but she didn't believe it. Her trial was in a few months, and she didn't put the possibility of Owen getting a light sentence behind her. He was a white boy from an upper class background who was widely beloved by everyone, especially his football teammates. The Shep adored him the most. 'And it got him fired among the other awful things he did,' she thought to herself. 'Good riddance.' She always thought the man was a creep with the way he looked upon her and her fellow Power Squad members in lust whenever they performed. He liked cheerleaders a little too much.
"What if he comes out and finds me? I can't help but feel like this isn't over. That I'm in danger. Does that make me stupid?" She asked.
"It's not stupid, Marisol. Your concerns are valid with the situation you were in. Being removed from abusive relationships isn't an easy process and it's okay to feel fear," Dr. Charleston replied.
Fear.
She had known fear since she was twelve years old, since Rick Murray aimed to kill her with his gun. From then on, fear had been a constant emotion she felt.
She had a gun pointed at her in seventh grade, was sexually assaulted by several boys whose identities she would never know and later that year, was sexually harassed the rest of the year for it, and was nearly gang-raped by more boys at the last dance of that year. During the day, she would act as if those incidents never happened, but at night she would struggle to sleep in the darkness. That was before Owen happened and he ultimately went further than any of those boys could dream of doing.
He had not only beaten her but raped her constantly since she lost her virginity to him, and coming to terms with that brought a raw feeling that she was scared to accept. Whenever he would force himself on her, for a brief time she would disassociate from him mentally, pretend she was somewhere but now that he was gone, the reality of what he did to her came crashing down, along with what other boys had done to her. When she entered middle school, she had never thought her body would be constantly used for sexual abuse and it made her feel ruined, filthy. Was this her punishment for being obsessed with boys? Was this her karma?
She had always prided herself on being fierce, sassy, and strong but right now she was a broken shell of her former self and she didn't know if she would ever heal.
Other than fear, she was numb to feeling anything else.
"Sorry man, but you're not really what we're looking for. Being cool is something that comes naturally and it's obvious you're phoning it in. Better luck next time," Jason Mewes said regretfully.
Dave Turner sucked his teeth as he was dismissed from the room, with the next person in line to audition for Mewsical High quickly taking his spot. He didn't know how he could fake being cool, when he was cool. Everyone else just didn't see it.
On the way out of the school, he bumped into Alli Bhandari, one of the hottest girls in his grade. He flashed her a flirty smile. "Hey," he greeted.
"Hi Dave," she greeted back in a flat, unenthusiastic tone. He didn't let that get to him.
"You auditioning for the new Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes' flick?" He asked her, trying not to get lost in her big, beautiful dark eyes.
"Yeah, I'm going for one of the biggest parts. I think I have what it takes to get it," she answered, flipping her long black hair confidently for emphasis.
"I know you do," he replied while looking her up and down in desire. Other than her beauty, he really liked Alli for her confidence. She would be a perfect starlet.
She gave him a tight smile before moving past him without another word. 'She'll come around someday,' he thought arrogantly. Alli may think the best guy for her right now was either jocks or some guy that looked like he sold drugs behind a McDonald's at two am, but soon she will wake up and see that he had way more to offer her than any of those guys. He was charming and funny, what was there not to like about him?
While waiting for his mom to pick him up, Dave sat on the school steps, suddenly feeling dejected. He thought he had this audition in the bag after his performance as Mitch in a Streetcar Named Desire was praised. Instead, he was told he wasn't cool enough to play the part of a suave football player. It was embarrassing, and definitely wasn't going to do him any favors when it came to Alli.
He wrinkled his nose when snowflakes fell upon it. 'Black people are not meant to be in this kind of cold,' he thought grumpily to himself, shivering from the freezing cold breeze as well.
Then suddenly a snowball hit him in the face, making him jump. After wiping his eyes, Dave looked to see a bunch of children laughing. "Loser," one of them jeered before quickly running off with their friends.
Dave groaned before bowing his head down in shame.
Connor was happy when his godsister came home for winter break but she didn't seem so happy herself right now.
"What's wrong?" He asked Emma as they waited for someone to take their orders. They were currently at The Dot and while he was trying to make small talk, Emma wasn't receptive to any of it. It annoyed him because he didn't even like making small talk usually unless it was necessary. He always felt awkward about it.
"Nothing," Emma replied dismissively as she continued to rest her chin on her fist.
"Are you sure? Because you are blatantly ignoring what I have to say about getting Godmom and Goddad to invite K.C. over for New Year's dinner and it's making me annoyed," he pointed out bluntly.
His godsister sighed as she decided to be honest. "Kelly and I broke up," she confessed.
"Oh," Connor replied, "Sorry to hear that."
He kinda wasn't, because out of all Emma's boyfriends that he knew, Kelly was the least interesting, even less so than Damian. He was pretty sure the only personality this guy had was smoking marijuana. But he knew he had to fake sympathy for Emma's sake.
"It sounds stupid and anti-feminist but sometimes I wonder if I'm actually going to find the right guy one day. I thought it was Sean, then Chris, then Sean again, then Peter, then Sean again, then Damian, and now Kelly and I didn't work out…is there something wrong with me?" She asked him, more to herself than him. She then leaned in more towards him. "You're a guy, Connor. Is there something about me that scares guys away?"
He didn't know how to answer that honestly, or where to even begin. Despite being a member of the male species, he couldn't speak for other guys and what was specifically wrong with his godsister. Truthfully, romantic relationships were of no concern to him, even if sometimes he wondered what it would be like to date Jenna. She wasn't interested in boys like him so that was just an unfulfilling fantasy for now.
"Maybe guys just don't appreciate your…personality," he decided to answer carefully.
"Am I too annoying?" She questioned, before groaning, "That's what it is. I'm annoying."
"I don't see you as any more annoying than the average female," he replied reassuringly.
"Thanks Connor," she told him in gratitude with a tight smile, "Maybe you could hook me up with Mr. Right."
She dismissed herself to go to the restroom for a bit, telling him to order her a vegetarian pizza if their waiter came around, which he did.
Connor looked this man up and down as the wheels started churning in his head. As he gave his order to this person, he remembered that this guy was also sad and lonely due to a recent breakup. He also was only a year older than Emma so the age difference wouldn't be an issue.
Maybe this guy would be the perfect fit for his godsister.
Later at the nail salon, Marisol was looking at the different nail colors available while Chantay talked. Her dad had given her money to get her nails and hair done, and Chantay was eager to meet up with her. Like always, she was going to get acrylics.
"Nothing will make you feel better than a new, stylish mani pedi!" Her friend declared cheerfully as she picked up a purple, glittery bottle. "What do you think about this one? It would look so cute on you!"
Marisol's automatic response was to decline. "I think it would look better on you," she replied with a smile as she looked at the other bottles. Her eyes fell on the red ones.
Her instinct was to only choose red, as that's what Owen constantly had her pick out. He thought it made her look more sexier and would make her feel like shit for getting her nails painted any color. However, just the sight of any shade of red was enough to make her ill. She looked at the other colors on the stand until a bottle of pink nail polish stood out to her. It was of a shade similar to cotton candy.
Pink. She had missed pink.
After her and Chantay picked out their colors, two nail technicians led them to the back of the salon where the massage chairs were. She sat down in one, took her boots off, and let one worker begin scrubbing her feet. Chantay began talking about her new relationship with Danny Van Zandt and what has been going on with Power Squad these days.
"Everyone misses you, even Holly J. You're one of the best members on the team," Chantay said.
"I can't come back for a while. Not until my doctor says I can," she replied sadly. 'And who knows when that would be…,' she thought to herself in fear.
While the brain injury she had from Owen wasn't too severe to the point of long lasting injuries, she still had to undergo physical therapy treatment for it, and she had to take medication as well. It would be a few months at the minimum before she was in the clear to participate in cheerleading again, which hurt her. Cheerleading was her passion, her joy, and now she was cut off from it. She was going to learn how to drive next year as well but even that might be off the table due to her injury.
'Owen took everything from me,' Marisol realized as her eyes began to water.
She couldn't even enjoy getting a mani pedi after that.
After helping his mom prepare dinner, Dave decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to clear his mind.
Getting rejected for a part in Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes' new movie sucked considering how eager he was to get his acting career started up. He wanted to be the next Will Smith who stars in all of the hottest blockbusters. He wanted to be admired by his peers and looked upon as the coolest guy in school. It was better than the alternative, which was getting regularly pranked by the school bullies.
"To be a star, you need to have charisma first, which you don't have at all," his cousin Chantay would say, and he would roll his eyes in return. He had plenty of charisma. He just needed to find someone who appreciated it.
He was about to walk past Eli Goldsworthy's house when he heard loud arguing from inside. Out of nosiness, he stopped to hear what was being said.
The front door slammed open, and Eli's girlfriend, Julia Harker, stormed out in anger. "I'll come back when I'm actually wanted!" She shouted at Eli before getting on her bike and riding off.
Eli was standing in the doorway, looking quite frustrated himself. Then their eyes met, which intimidated Dave. Eli was kind of a scary ass dude. Him and his girl were always brooding or scowling at somebody in school.
"What are you doing here?" Eli demanded.
"I was just walking around!" Dave replied quickly, throwing up his hands defensively. Eli was short and lanky, but he knew that emo white dudes had the capacity to do anything crazy if they put their minds to it.
"Well fuck off," the other guy replied rudely before closing his front door back up, slamming it roughly.
'What is this dude's problem?' Dave thought wearily to himself as he walked back to his house, deciding to end his walk early.
Talented as he was, Eli and his girlfriend were some weird ass folks.
Later that night, Connor found his godsister in her room eating the vegan cookies she baked tonight. He didn't try any because they looked to be of horrifying quality.
"I found someone for you to go on a date with tomorrow," he announced, proud of himself. Emma stopped eating her cookies and sat upright in her bed.
"What, who?" She questioned in confusion.
"It's a surprise, but you might find it to be a pleasant one," he answered.
"Connor, I wasn't actually being serious when I suggested that you hook me up with someone. I was joking," Emma said while raising an eyebrow.
He had a hard time detecting when something was a joke, he had to admit. It was one of the downsides of having Asperger's. However, he was confident about this plan and he needed to see it happen.
"Well, either way you have a date tomorrow at noon at Little Miss Steaks. Don't worry, this guy would be a wonderful partner for you," he assured her.
His godsister looked as if she didn't believe him, and he supposed it was reasonable considering she didn't know who it was. But Connor had high hopes that she would enjoy her date tomorrow. He needed her to because Emma deserved happiness.
And he also needed for her to stop stressing baking those disgusting looking cookies.
In the shower, Marisol scrubbed her body raw, but it did not make her skin feel any less clean.
All of the bruises she had gotten from Owen had faded away over time, but she could still see them in her mind. There wasn't an area on her body that he hadn't brutalized. There were some nights where she dreamed that they reappeared on her skin, a permanent reminder of her relationship with him.
She had washed her hair too, and wasn't surprised to feel a bald spot in the back of her hair. Owen had pulled on her hair many times in anger, and one time he had pulled on it so hard, he ripped some of her strands out. He said it was her fault for being a dumb bitch.
When she got out of the shower, she dried herself off with a towel before looking at herself in the mirror, shaking.
She didn't see a future prom queen, or a confident queen bee. She instead saw a broken, weak girl with invisible, ugly scars.
She saw a victim.
The next day, Dave was walking out of a convenience store eating on a breakfast sandwich. He didn't know what to do over winter break with all of his friends having something else to do. Even Wesley, probably the most nerdy and uncool kid around, was at a ski resort with his family.
He was on his way back home when a creepy looking hearse pulled up by him. The windows, so dark he couldn't see anything inside of them, came down to reveal that Eli was the one behind the wheel. Of course this guy drove a funeral car.
"Sorry about yesterday," Eli apologized sincerely to his shock, "Do you want a ride home?" He offered.
'Hell no,' was what Dave almost answered. A creepy, scary emo kid that drove around in a funeral car offering to drive him home only meant that he probably wanted to kill him and hide his remains in the snow somewhere. If this was a horror movie, he wouldn't be the stupid black guy that got offed first.
But at the same time…he actually didn't feel like walking home…
"Sure bro," he said before getting in the passenger side. He nervously buckled himself in as Eli started driving again. He turned on some grunge music.
"My parents got me this for Christmas," Eli informed him excitedly, "I call him Morty."
"It's pretty cool," Dave replied with a fake smile.
"Julia loves it. We've been spending a lot of time in Morty since I first took him out for a ride," Eli continued.
'Y'all fuck in this car, don't you?' Dave almost asked, and he was disturbed yet oddly curious at the concept. How do emo kids have sex anyway? Is a blood sacrifice involved? Emo music? Pentagrams?
"Not that it's any of my business, but what was up with you two yesterday?" Dave asked. There was clearly trouble in paradise, or hell considering the couple involved.
"She's just mad at me these days for whatever reason. I can't do nothing right even though I try my best. My grandparents came over for Christmas dinner and I had her leave beforehand for her own good. My mom's parents aren't the most welcoming people and they would have done nothing but judge her, but she didn't see it like that. She accused me of not caring about her when it's not true, it's not true," Eli ranted, and Dave got even more nervous at the sight of Eli's knuckles turning white.
"I left my friends for Julia, because they didn't accept her. But it feels like that's not enough," Eli continued.
"Well girls are weird creatures. They're always bitching about something, best thing to do is just ignore them until it's over," Dave advised lightheartedly even though he never had a girlfriend himself. The girls at Degrassi just didn't know what they were missing.
"I don't like making her upset. She's my soulmate, my other half. Her being mad at me makes me feel like a piece of myself is being disconnected from the rest," Eli replied with a sad look in his eyes.
"Bro, all couples have their fights. The both of you will move past this," Dave said, disturbed at how dramatic Eli was being right now.
Eli said nothing more as he continued driving. There was a haunted, dark look on his face.
In the afternoon, Connor escorted his godsister into Little Miss Steaks. Emma was dressed in a lovely green sweater dress and wore light makeup. Her blonde hair was styled in bouncy curls.
He had his arm hooked around Emma's as they looked for her date inside the restaurant. When they found him in the back, Emma's eyes widened in a comical manner.
"...Spinner?" She asked in pure, raw shock.
"Hey Emma, you look great!" Spinner complimented her cheerfully as he stood up from his seat at the booth. He handed her a bouquet of fresh sunflowers. "I already ordered some vegetable hummus as an appetizer. Super vegan friendly."
"Can me and Connor talk for a moment?" Emma asked, grabbing his arm. Spinner nodded, and before he knew it, Emma had dragged him off to a corner somewhere.
"Spinner and I barely talked in high school. He's the last guy I can see myself with," she said, her voice barely above a hiss, "He bullied me and Manny on our first day of seventh grade!"
"Well now you two can get to know each other more," Connor reasoned, "Spinner seems like a nice, friendly guy and he's very enthusiastic about this. He thinks you're pretty great. Give him a chance.
She pursed her lips but released his arm.
"If this goes bad, do not set me up with another guy again," she warned him.
"You have my word," he vowed, "But first, go back to Spinner before he eats those chips and hummus all by himself."
She narrowed her eyes at him before walking back to Spinner, who still had an enthusiastic smile on his face.
He still had a good feeling about all of this even if Emma didn't.
At the ice skating rink, Marisol sat on a bench and watched Katie and Maya as they skated around on the ice with everyone else. She didn't feel like participating.
Katie came off the rink to walk up to her. "What's wrong, Mare?" She asked her in concern.
She could say that it was too cold in here, because it was. Even in her furry white coat, gold gloves, and pink scarf, she was still shivering. She could see her breath and it wasn't flattering. But instead, she decided to be honest.
"I don't have much energy to do anything. I feel…hollow," Marisol answered, looking up at Katie. Normal activities that she would have loved doing just didn't give her a buzz. She didn't participate in any Christmas decorating or cooking this year, and she couldn't even be excited when she opened up her presents. The most energy she had each day was eating, showering, and sleeping when she actually could sleep. She barely even went outside her room unless it was necessary.
Katie looked upon her with sympathy. "You're going to be okay, Mare. I know there's still a girl in there who likes to have fun," she said as she pointed to her heart.
Was there? Did she even know how to have fun anymore? Owen took her out on dates but it was only to places he liked and he literally beat it into her that the only fun she could actually have was underneath him afterwards.
Katie took her hand gently and rubbed her thumb over it. She was urging her with her eyes to get up and join her and Maya. Marisol bit her lip but didn't resist when Katie pulled her up to her feet. The two of them entered the rink together and began skating around.
The cold wind blew in her face, and it was a little unpleasant, but when Katie spun her around playfully, Marisol couldn't help but release a small giggle.
Somehow, Eli got him to stay over his house for a late lunch. He had agreed to come over, only because he had a morbid curiosity as to what Eli's home life looked like. From the rumors spreading around school, he had expected Eli's house to consist of torture chambers, a morgue in the basement with rotting skeletons, and shrine dedicated to Satan. He expected Mr. and Mrs. Goldsworthy to be bloodthirsty maniacs who served human flesh.
Instead Dave was dumbfounded to find a nicely decorated, normal house with two rather eccentric, but kind people. And Eli's mom was serving leftover ham, turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, bread rolls, and mashed potatoes for dinner.
"We loved your performance in A Streetcar Named Desire. You're a really good actor!" Eli's mom complimented him warmly while passing his dad a pitcher of iced tea.
"Thanks Mrs. Goldsworthy," he replied while eating another slice of turkey. He actually was enjoying her cooking. Was she better at it than his own mama? No, but it was still pretty good.
"In this house, you can just call us Bullfrog and Cece. Formalities are for stuffy folks," Eli's dad told him, "The only sticks I like having up my ass are the fun kinds," he joked.
"Bullfrog," Eli replied to his dad in a warning tone as his parents laughed. Dave himself couldn't help but laugh. Eli's parents being sexual freaks didn't surprise him.
"Eli's just jealous because him and his girl don't get down like his folks do in the bedroom. We barely hear any screaming in his room," Bullfrog continued as Eli turned red in embarrassment.
"Oh really?" Dave asked him, amused and getting a kick out of this.
As everyone continued to eat dinner and joke around, he found that he actually liked the Goldsworthys. They were weird but the good kind. His own parents were more snobby in comparison. When there was no more food left to be consumed, he got up to help Cece clean up.
"Oh no, sweetie. Bullfrog and I can handle this," she said while holding her hand up to stop him, "Why don't you go upstairs with Eli and play some video games with him? Eli needs someone to hang out with." There was a pleading, desperate look in her eyes.
Dave looked at Eli, who shrugged. "Alright, I'm cool with that," he accepted as he followed Eli out of the dining room and upstairs to his room.
He didn't expect today to spend so much of his time today with Eli Goldsworthy so far but he supposed he had nothing else to do.
Later that evening, Connor was back in his room, playing a video game. He was having difficulties getting past this one level but he was close to finally beating it…
His godsister opened up his door, and in his distraction, his character died again on screen. Sighing, he put his controller down and looked at Emma. "How was your date, Emma?" He asked.
"It's unbelievable but…Spinner and I were hitting it off pretty well," she answered, and there was a soft smile on her face, "He's actually really sweet, and funny, and just…great. He's taking me out to a club tonight. "
"So are you guys dating now?" He asked, pleased with how this went.
"Well yeah, but we have to take things easy for now because we both just got out of heavy relationships," Emma answered, "We both just want to have fun and see where this goes."
"Do I need to plan the second date as well?" He asked, somewhat jokingly.
His godsister giggled. "No, we don't need your help this time, Connor. But thank you, you're the best godbrother ever."
Connor smiled in response as that comment made him feel good. He loved Emma like she was actually his blood sister and he always wanted the best for her.
After they came back from the ice skating rink, Katie had ordered Chinese takeout for them to eat while watching Mean Girls. Marisol was sitting between the Matlin sisters on their couch as they ate. She numbly ate her food, not really interested in watching what was on screen.
"Your favorite scene is coming up, Mare," Katie said with a smile while pointing at the screen. Marisol watched the scene and smiled for Katie's sake. Her best friend had been trying her best to support her since she got out of the hospital.
Picking up her chopsticks, Marisol ate the last piece of her General Tso's chicken, feeling tired. She got up off the couch to go to the kitchen. She dumped the plastic container holding her food in the trash. Katie then came into the kitchen and went into her freezer. "What better way to end the day than with ice cream?" Her best friend asked her cheerfully as she held up a tin of cookies and cream ice cream.
Marisol bit her lip as she thought about how Owen would react. 'You already ate enough, Mari. I don't want a fat and ugly girlfriend,' he would say.
"I'm good," she turned down quickly as she moved to leave the kitchen, only for Katie to block her path.
"Mare, you love ice cream. Have some, you deserve it," Katie insisted firmly.
Marisol found herself ready to cry. She already did enough things that would make Owen mad. If she kept doing more things, he might just come out of jail and make her pay for it.
"Katie, I'm tired, okay? I just want to go to bed," she turned down more strongly this time as she began to shake.
Her best friend frowned but let her move past her.
Dave found that Eli was actually a pretty good dude to play games with, he just got tired of Eli whooping his ass at each game.
"Damn it," he swore as Eli's Scorpion on screen brutally decapitated his Jax. The two rounds they had weren't really even a battle.
"Someone needs to do some practicing," Eli mused.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Dave dismissed before checking the time. It was late. "You don't mind taking me home?"
The other boy rose from his bed. "It's no problem with me," he accepted.
The drive back to his house was peaceful as they had light conversation.
"I still can't believe I couldn't get a part in that movie, it would have been my big break," Dave complained.
"Acting is a competitive industry. You'll get plenty more opportunities," Eli assured him, "Besides those guys don't make the best movies anyway."
"Maybe you can cast me as the lead in your movie someday? I promise I'll get you an Oscar," Dave suggested, and he was only half-joking.
"That would be nice," Eli replied with a smile as they chuckled together. Eli was only a block away from his house.
"We should hang more, you and I. You're a pretty chill guy," he declared. The other boy sighed.
"Right now, I don't have the time. Julia's my main priority and she'll fall apart if I'm not at her side," Eli answered regretfully.
"Isn't that a bad sign?" Dave questioned, "All guys need their bro time with their buddies and if she can't understand that, it's time to set some boundaries."
Eli didn't respond, but Dave could see something trigger in his face at that statement. That was the reason he stopped being friends with Mo Mashkour and Jake Martin wasn't it? He picked his girl over them, but he didn't seem too happy over his decision.
When they pulled up in front of his house, Dave got out of the car and waved his new friend goodbye.
Eli waved back with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes before driving off.
Connor was staying in the living room, reading a book until Emma came home. It was eleven p.m. and he was getting worried. Where was her and Spinner?
The front door opened, and Emma came in with Spinner at her side. Both were giggling and sharing soft kisses. Connor turned the lamp by him on, and they jumped together in fright at the sudden light in the room.
"I see you finally came home," he said as he set his book down on the coffee table, "I thought I would have to tell Godmom and Goddad."
"Oh God no, they don't need to know," Emma said before grabbing Spinner's room. They began walking over to the basement steps.
"Are you two going to have sex now?" He asked them bluntly.
"No! We're just going to do some more talking, right Spin?" Emma denied quickly before looking at her new boyfriend, who's face told him all that he needed to know.
"Yeah…we're gonna talk about saving the environment and the dolphins…," Spinner added, and it was an obvious lie. Connor, however, decided to not press the issue.
"Good night guys," he said as he prepared to go upstairs to his room.
"Night Connor!" Spinner replied cheerfully with a final wave before him and Emma went down the steps. Connor settled into his bed for the night and threw the covers over his body. He hoped he wouldn't overhear anything. Connor was happy for Emma and Spinner but he was not interested in hearing them have sex.
He overheard Emma once when she was with Sean and she sounded like a cat being strangled.
Later, Marisol woke up from her nightmare with a shout, walking Katie up as well.
"Mare?" Katie asked her in concern, but she only started crying. Owen in her dreams again, choking and forcing himself on her even when she begged for him to stop…
Her best friend wrapped her arms around her. "You're going to be okay, Mare. It's going to be alright," she said while rubbing her back. It was a small gesture that brought her relief.
"He'll come back for me," Marisol replied fearfully.
"He won't," Katie assured her, but she didn't know if she could believe it.
Marisol's lip trembled as she began hating herself. This wasn't who she was, and she knew it. She just didn't know how to be her again. "He made me weak," she murmured to herself, feeling sick at the thought.
"You're not weak, you're strong. You're stronger than anyone I know, including me. You're going to get through this," Katie affirmed.
Marisol wanted to believe her, and maybe one day she would, but right now all she knew was the one constant emotion.
Fear.
A/N: Semma stans pls don't kill me, I ship them too but I unfortunately ship Sellie more :(((
And so ends the first half of Part IV, thank you everyone for the reviews, kudos, and views so far! Will this wild ride get any more wilder? Find out next chapter!