Chapter Rewrite Complete

Danny and I awoke the blare of his alarm clock early Monday morning. I grumbled at him to turn it off, but neither of us moved. I couldn't even remember why the damn thing was being so insistent about waking us up until Jazz called from outside the door.

"You've got to get up, Danny. You're going to be late for school!"

School. Shit. I hadn't even thought about that. It was never a fun place to begin with, but rumors about what happened with Dash Friday night were sure to be spreading and not one of them would be fun to deal with.

Danny sat up and turned off the alarm. "Mom won't let me skip today. Lancer called about my attendence again last week."

"I'm coming with you." I could deal with Danny being in a different part of the house, but an entirely different building was too mucn. I still needed my safety blanket.

"You sure?"

"I can't avoid it forever." The rumors were going to be bad no matter how long I stayed out. The sooner I faced it, the sooner they might start to fade away.

We got ready for school and made our way down to the kitchen where Maddie was working on breakfast. Pancakes- the one thing her and Jack had never managed to bring to life.

"Sam, dear you don't have to go back now if you don't want to. Mr. Lancer is aware of the situation and would be happy to arrange for you to do your work from home for a while."

"Does that mean I can stay home, too?" Danny asked, hopefully.

"Not with your attendence record. Mr. Lancer says you're barely hitting the attendence requirements. Not to mention that you're barely passing and the only work you actually turn in is the stuff assigned in class. Unless you care to explain all your absences, you're going."

Danny slumped down in his chair, the dream of a parent-approved skip day thoroughly crushed.

"I'm going. I know it's a terrible plan, but I've got to try. Everyone is going to be talking about it either way. At least if I'm there I can defend myself." I knew that defending myself wasn't really going to work, but I wasn't going to be the girl that hid from everything just because it got hard. They didn't get to know how broken I was. It was bad enough that Danny and his family had seen it and I refused to add high school bullies to that list without putting up a fight.

Maddie nodded. I don't know if she really understood why I wanted to go, but at least she knew she wouldn't be able to talk me out of it. "Okay, but I want you to call me if you realize it's too much for you. I don't have much planned for the day and I'm happy to come get you if you need me to."

"Thanks."

We walked to school and with every step, I started to doubt my decision more and more. If any member of the A-list had spoken to Dash, they would crucify me. As we walked through the doors, I tried to hide behind Danny. I knew I shouldn't have come, but I wasn't going to call Maddie before I even tried.

We were barely through the doors, but the whispers were already starting.

"I can't believe she would show her face here."

"She's just an attention seeking slut."

"Does she really think we'll buy into her bullshit?"

"If she wanted attention, she should have just killed herself."

The further we got into the building, the less they tried to hide it. A few girls looked sympathetic, but most just looked at me with disgust.

"So, the lying whore finally came out of hiding." That was Star. Funny- I'd expected Paulina to be the first to act. The A-list started to surround me. "We talked to Dash and spent all weekend looking for you."

"He told us exactly what you'd say, but we know the truth." Kwan. Damn. I'd actually thought he was better than this.

"What makes you so sure he's not the one lying?" I knew I shouldn't engage, but I couldn't stop myself. I wasn't going to take this shit lying down.

"He's the king of the A-list, bitch!" Star again. Paulina was being eerily quiet. "He's got no reason to lie. You, on the other hand, are a loser."

"Well that doesn't change the fact that he fucking raped me!" I'd actually said the word out loud. I guess anger is a powerful motivator.

The crowd surrounding me had grown. It wasn't just the A-List anymore. Half those people weren't even in my grade. I had never wanted the event to be common knowledge, but Dash and the A-List had taken that choice from me. Everyone knew, and what's worse is that no one believed me. I started scanning the crowd, looking for an escape route. I didn't know how much more I could take.

I felt Danny beside me, his energy starting to grow. I'd completely forgotten that he was dangerous one. I couldn't do much more than run my mouth, but Danny could absolutely destroy these kids without even breaking a sweat if he lost control.

"You just don't want to admit you cheated on your loser boyfriend!"

I didn't even process who it was before I lunged forward, fully prepared to hang that girl by her intestines. It turned out that all it took was five minutes worth of bullshit for me to lose it.

Danny wrapped his arms around me just in time to stop my attack. His hands were both warm and cold and I looked down to see them faintly glowing green. We needed to get of there. If I lost control, I might land a few hits and get suspended. If Danny did, people might die and his secret would be revealed.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down and Danny let me go when he felt me relax. "FUCK ALL OF YOU." I turned on my heels and walked away, throwing up my middle finger on both hands. It was a compromise with myself. I couldn't attack, but at least they could all know how much I hated them.

I caught a glimpse of Paulina as I forced my way through the crowd. She still hadn't said a word. She glared at me, just like the rest of them, but it didn't hold the fire that I was used to seeing. It was like she was only doing it so her friends wouldn't turn on her. I could have sworn I heard her mutter "good luck" as I walked by, but she'd never say anything that nice to me, even sarcastically.

Then I remembered the phone calls I'd heard my mother on around the time Paulina and Dash broke up. Mother had asked several times "how could she be abused when there isn't a mark on her?" I'd always thought that was a stupid argument and that hitting someone wasn't the only way to abuse them, but I never did find out who she was talking about.

Maybe there was a reason Paulina turned into such a bitch. I'd never been her biggest fan, but she was never that bad in middle school. She didn't start turning into a full-blown grade-A bitch until after she started dating Dash. Maybe Paulina deserved a little less hatred than the rest of them. Whatever she'd been through didn't give her the right to treat everyone else like shit, but at least there was a reason for it.

Maybe. I'd probably never know if my theory was right. Even if I could get through a conversation with that girl, she'd never tell the truth. Not with me being a loser and the Baxters being the most powerful family in town. All I could do was speculate and hope I was wrong. As much as I didn't like her, no one deserved to be in that situation.

I walked through the halls, Danny trailing after me. Lancer tried to stop us, but I wasn't going to stay in that building for another second and that meant Danny wasn't going to either. The closer we got to the doors leading to freedom, the less energy I felt coming off Danny. It had been a long time since I'd seen him get that worked up. I'd learned to fight for myself over the past years and forgotten how protective he could be.

We sat on steps outside while Danny called his mom. I heard the first bell ring and breathed a small sigh of relief. At least with classes in session, people were much less likely to follow us out here.

Danny tapped on my shoulder. "She wants to talk to you."

"Hello?" I was nervous. Maddie had said she would come get me, but I don't think she expected to get the call so soon.

"Hey, sweetie. You know I'm happy to come pick you up. I just want to know what happened."

"Oh, you know. Just rumours, lies, and name calling. Star's a bitch, Kwan's an asshole and the whole fucking A-list can die in a fucking fire for all I care."

"That bad, huh?"

"I knew it wasn't going to be pretty, but I thought they'd at least have the decency to let me get to first period before they descended on me."

"You know how teenagers are. Most of them don't have the maturity to deal with anything even remotely hard." She sighed. "Alright, I'm coming. I just need an honest opinion. Does Danny need to come home too, or is he just following you?"

"We were both about ready to start punching people."

"Okay. I'll be there soon."

Maddie hung up and we just sat in silence waiting for her to show up and save us from the hellhole called high school. Everything that had happened in the short time I was in there had proven that I made the right choice. Formally pressing charges would have just made things worse and Dash probably would have gotten away with it anyway. He's the star quarterback from a family with more money and power than anyone could ever need. He would have gotten away with it and ruined my family in the process.

For the person asking if the original version of this story will still be available after the rewrites are complete: It won't be. I've been replacing chapters without backing up the originals and didn't realize I'd lost the original documents until I was already a couple chapters in. I promise I am still following the original storyline, though. I'm just adding some new plot-points and improving the overall quality of the writing.Comments and feedback are as welcome as always!

Invisible One