Disclaimer: Don't own... Don't sue! Plz! Only Shawna's mine and every other character that hasn't been shown on the show.

The school football field was brightly lit and you could the cheerleader's cheer from four blocks away. Just a typical pep rally.

" Can you believe those guys! I mean seriously! I just don't understand why those people just want to jump around in ity bity skirts or throw a ball away!" Caitie explained slightly exasperated.

" And they call us freaks!" Jamie smiled, " Why are you so against cheerleaders and football players anyway?"

Caitie's face slackened, " I'm leaving... I don't want to waste a whole night with you dorks.. Ciao!" and then she walked away.

" Wha... What did I say?" Jamie asked slightly shocked.

" Well, I guess cuz you are the newest one here, I should fill you in on what you missed." sighed Shawna, a petite little blond girl with a nose ring, " Once upon a time, Caitie used to be really popular. I know! What a shocker huh! Anywho, she was like, THE most popular girl in school, every girl worshiped the shoes she walked in and every guy wanted to get in her pants."

*~*Flashback: 2 ½ years ago*~*

" Hey Caitie!" Val Lanier called across the cafeteria.

" Hey there girlfriend!" Caitie called back as she made her way across to get to her table. A slightly chubby girl tripped and dropped her lunch tray. A group of jocks were cracking up hysterically at the sight, " Hey! Shut up!" she glared at the guys, " Are you ok?" she asked the girl crouching down to help her pick up the mess on the floor.

" Yeah I'm..." when she looked up and saw that it was Caitie that was talking to her, she stuttered, " I.. I'm fi...fine."

Caitie smiled, " I'm guessing you're not going to want to eat this." she grimaced at the mess of mystery meat on the caf floor, " Here have mine." she handed the tray to the girl.

" But aren't you going to eat it?" she questioned shyly.

" Nah, I can't stand the stuff... Don't even know why I bought it. You can pay me back later." she got up and walked towards her table, " Gimme a bite of that, I'm starved." she said when she finally sat down. She grabbed Val's sandwich and took a bite. Suddenly, she felt a tap on the shoulder. She turned around to see Jack Forrester, the head quarterback on the football team. He was a total fox and girls drooled over him day and night.

" Hey Caitie. That was really nice of you. To give that girl your lunch I mean." he smiled. Caitie's heart nearly melted at the sight.

" Yeah well..." she blushed.

" I was wondering if, maybe you wanted to go out sometime. You know, on a date. I could buy you lunch." he asked.

" Um, yeah, sure." she answered.

*~*Present Day*~*

" She was like, totally in love with this guy. For a little while, if you could call it love. It was sickening the way she used to hang on to him." Shawna continued.

" So Caitie went out with a football player. Big deal. It still doesn't explain why she's so dead against the preps." Jamie sat down on the curb, waiting for Shawna to give him a more reasonable explanation.

" Did I say I was finished?" Shawna exclaimed, "No! So shut up and listen! Geesh! Can't a girl tell a simple story?! Are we done with the interruptions? Good. Anyway, they were going out for a really long time and Caitie started acting all weird... She stopped hanging out with most of her friends and more time with Jack, which to some people seemed really weird cuz she like hated the guy two months into the relationship. She thought she was in love..."

*~*Flashback: 1 ½ years ago*~*

" Hi Val?" Caitie whispered into the phone.

" Caitie? What's the matter?" Val asked worriedly.

" Val you have to help me, I don't want to be alone with him. Come over. Now. " she hung up the phone as Jack entered the room.

" Who were you talking to?" he asked suspiciously.

" No one." she answered bluntly.

Jack pushed Caitie to the ground and grabbed her wrist tightly, " Don't lie to me babe." he said through clenched teeth, " Who were you talking to? Another guy? It was wasn't it? Wasn't it?!!"

" Why would you care if it was? I know you're fucking Tamara." Caitie spat angrily. Tamara was a tall, red headed slut on the cheerleading squad.

Jack slapped her across the face, " Who is it? Who's the mother-fucker?" he pulled her to her feet and pinned her to the wall. He began to choke her, " Who the hell is he?"

" I can't... breath," she gasped for breath, " let... go."

Suddenly, as if realizing what he was doing, he let go of Caitie, she tried to catch her breath. " I'm sorry baby, I just don't like you talking to other guys. That's all." he stroked her dark brown hair, " you know I love you." he whispered, " I'd never hurt you if I didn't. I love you too much to let you go."

The door bell rang, " Caitie?! Caitie!? Open up! It's me, Val!" she cried.

Jack looked at her, " Tell her anything about this and I'll deny it. It's your word against everyone else. You fell, I caught you. Got it?" he glared at her then got up to answer the door. " Hi Val! Good to see you!" he said as she walked in.

" Oh, hi Jack. You been here long?" she asked.

" Nope, I better get going though, see you at school Val." he left.

Val walked into Caitie's living room to see her on the ground crying, " Oh God, Caitie? What happened?"

" I... I fell... Jack caught me... I.." she burst into sobs.

" Shh, shh. It's ok. It's ok. He's gone now. It's ok." Val soothed Caitie.

*~*Present Day*~*

" Your typical abuse relationship." Jamie concluded.

" Not the typical type. The bad type. The type where you don't even want to live anymore. Ever wonder why Val wants to be a doctor so much? I mean, she started her EMT training a while before all this happened, but what really pushed her so that she never takes a break?" Shawna asked Jamie.

" ER?" he answered sarcastically.

" No. Not even close. Caitie tried to kill herself... you know commit suicide. She almost did it too."

*~*Flashback: 1 ½ years ago*~*

The bottles of pills shook in Caitie hand. She tried to steady herself. They were prescription, for her fathers high blood pressure. She also had a small pile of pain killers and some allergy medicine, " What am I doing... this is stupid. I'll just call him up and tell him it's over. I deserve better. I don't need him. I'm Caitie. I don't do things the easy way. I don't take the easy way out." she mumbled. She picked up the phone and dialed Jack's number. " Hello. Mrs Forrester? It's Caitie. Is Jack there?"

" Hi Caitie. Yeah, Jack's here. Hang on a sec hon." Jack's mother said into the receiver.

Caitie's hands shook, " Hey babe... look, this better be important. I need..." he began but Caitie interrupted.

" It's over Jack. I can't see you anymore. I deserve someone better then you." she began shakily, then more forcefully.

" Excuse me? Did I hear you right? You deserve better. Sorry baby, but they don't get any better then me. You got it... and listen. Nobody and I mean NOBODY breaks up with me. I screw them till I'm fuckin' sick and tired of their whimpery little voices cryin' telling me it's over on the phone. I break them till they can't FUCKIN' take it anymore! And I'm not done with you yet." he slammed the receiver down.

Caitie slid to the ground, hands clutching the phone. Tears slid down her cheeks, " God help me! Please help me!" she shakily opened the pill bottle and swallowed the small pile of pills. Almost instantly, she felt tired and tried to stand up, she stumbled and fell to the floor. She picked up the phone again and dialed Val's number, " Val, I did something stupid. Val... come quick... please?" she said weakly into the receiver. Then, she collapsed to the floor. The phone hanging from the cord.

" Caitie? Caitie?!" Val said through the other end. Then she slammed down her phone and ran as fast as she could out the door and towards Caitie's house. When she got there, the doors were open so Val ran inside. When she got in, she saw what she expected, Caitie lying on the floor with a bottle of pills by her side. She quickly grabbed the phone and dialed 911, " Hello? My friend just swallowed a bunch of pills! Please come! Quick!"

~*~Present Day~*~

" Ok, so, Caitie was in an abusive relationship, she was suicidal and almost killed herself! Sounds more like a soap opera then real life. You're not making this up?" Jamie asked suspiciously.

" I'm not creative enough to make this up! Honestly! Ok, well, as you can probably guess, Caitie didn't kill herself, duh! But people didn't look up to her any more. They thought she was scary. No body could believe that someone who had everything would be so sad to almost end their life! So, she became one of us! Story's over people! Go home!" Shawna exclaimed while getting up to leave.

" Hey Jamie! You coming?" one of the guys from the group called out as they walked away.

" Nah! I'm just gonna stick around here for a while! Later!" he called back. The boy shrugged and jogged to catch up to the group.

Jamie started walking in the direction that Caitie had gone earlier when he spotted a dark figure sitting on the fence, " Caitie?!" Jamie called out.

The figure looked up then slumped down again. Jamie walked pver to her, " Hey look, i'm sorry about before, I didn't know." he began.

" I guess you were bound to hear it sooner or later." Caitie shrugged. Then, her shoulders started to shake, " I was so stupid! I can't believe I fell for him! I was just... just... SO Stupid!" she cried.

Jamie held the sobbing girl in his arms, trying to help her calm down, " Shh.... it's ok. You weren't the stupid one, that Jack person, or whatever his name was was stupid to do that to you. If I was there, I'd kill him for hurting you so much!" he said angrily.

Caitie looked up at him through teary eyes, " Thank you." she said, " For being there for me." she hugged him tightly.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



Tada! Whadda ya think? A little different from my first story... a lot more mature i guess.... Oh well! What can I say! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! Your comments and flames are welcome... I need all the writing tips I can get. Thanx for reading this!

*~*Luv*~*

Shawn's Gal