HEY!!! I am soooooo sorry it took so long for this. I've been really really
sick. Like, the kind of sick where you can't move off the couch for a week
and a half. Um, alright so I'm going to Florida next week so depending on
the REVIEWS *cough cough* I get, I will have another chapter up before I
go, maybe even 2 lol. We'll see how that goes, Thanks to everyone who
emailed me to review during the fanfiction.net crisis I really appreciated
it and I'm sorry it took so long to get this up! Let me know what you
think! As always I do not own Higher Ground or the characters on it, I own
Marissa and the other new characters introduced in this chapter but thats
it lol. Okay. ENJOY!!
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5:45 am
The sun had barely risen off the mountains and the night air was still fresh in the sky as Marissa laced up her skates. The cold, wet dew formed tiny droplets on the grass and pavement. She inhaled the freshness of the air and the dew and a small sigh escaped her mouth. Who would of thought the underdeveloped civilizations of the countryside could become so refreshing. It had been a while since she'd laced her skates up, too long.
Street hockey was a way of life for the kids on her block. Growing up it was basically all they had and all they wanted. Every morning before school, every afternoon after their homework and before dinner, when they got older there were midnight games that involved sneaking out. Always for fun never for fame, that was their motto. Unfortunately, those same kids who scraped up their knees and fell in the dirt with her, ended up a lot like herself, if not worse. People came and went, but there was a core group of about 6 who were there through middle school. Marissa, Adam, Kirsten, Josh, Ben, Frankie, and Angela. Towards the end of 8th grade, Angela had become more of Frankie's cheerleader than an actual participant. Ben had disappeared into his brother's crowd, a bunch of punk 20 year olds who spent more time inhaling drugs than actual oxygen. Josh was involved in a robbery and sentenced to 3 years juvie, Kirsten and Adam, Marissa's two best friends stuck around the longest. Kirsten ended up working the streets and sucked Marissa into that life style with her, but only after Adam sold out and went prep. He was sent to a private school in the village where he lived. None of them really saw each other anymore, they were just reminders to each other of the lives they used to have.
The skates brought back more memories than she would have cared to have come rushing back to her. If only they had all come to a place like this, maybe it all could have been different. *I guess we'll never know*
Scott skated up to her as she was dazing off.
"You look a little worried there shorty, you know you can still call it and back down"
"Kiss off Quarterback" she brushed past him as she skated ahead gaining momentum as she made her way down the court, gaining control of her skating legs for the first time in years. It all came back to her as if she'd never given it up. After doing a couple laps she decided it was time to play.
"Alright whose in? or do I get my one on one?" Marissa winked at Scott and Shelby rolled her eyes.
"I'm always up for a little one on one" Scott raised his eyebrows and skated forward a bit on the suggestive side.
Marissa looked at Dave and nodded her head, he blew the whistle.
"Good" The puck dropped and before Scott registered the fact that they were supposed to begin she'd already made her way down the court and shot the puck into the goal.
"I wasn't ready" Scott protested as the others just laughed.
"Right right, well, are you ready now?"
"Well... yea, lets go"
The puck dropped once again and this time Scott went for it, he was quick but nowhere near talented enough to match half a lifetime of skill. Marissa cleanly and swiftly stole the puck with some serious handling skill, shot it through his legs and brushed past him, Scott still unaware that he had lost control of the puck.
"Huh?, Shit!"
"Damn, homegirls got skills" Auggie and the others laughed as Scott tried desperately to catch up. Deciding she'd be nice, Marissa "danced" around the goal for a while with the puck, Scott kept approaching but wouldn't block her.
"You gotta lighten up or you're never gonna get it"
"You're a girl, I'm not gonna check you"
"Then your not gonna get the puck. Get over it, just pretend I'm a guy"
Scott laughed at this.
"There's not enough imagination on this planet to make that image pop into my head"
"I'll take that as a compliment, but..." she shot and scored "flattery isn't gonna win you this game. Defense is"
"I think I know a little about defense... "
"Well, you sure don't know how to act on it"
This conversation continued as the others just stood back and laughed at Scott's incapability.
"Yo Meat, what's the problem! I thought you could play anything!"
"He won't touch her thats the problem" David spit out laughing
"Coulda fooled me," Shelby muttered under her breath.
"No, he means he won't check her, he's scared he'll hurt her, he's such a dipshit" Daisy shook her head with a scowl
"Awww, that's so sweet." Juliette cooed
"Yeah, but dumb if he actually wants to win the game" Ezra replied
"I don't think he could win if he tied her to a tree, she'd find some way to mentally control the puck" David just rolled his eyes and sat down. He began to rip flowers out of the ground in boredom.
"That's right Dave, continue on your path of destruction by ruining anything that constitutes as life"
"This coming from Morticia" David spat back, Daisy just glared.
"Scott, this is ridiculous, get over it and play or get off my court"
"So this is your court now?"
"Apparently it's been all my court for a while now considering you're too concerned with being a gentleman to actually play"
"I don't hit girls"
"Good, you shouldn't, but right now, you're not a guy and I'm not a girl, we're hockey players, it's a different breed and until you learn that, we're not gonna play."
"Oh we're not huh?" Scott took his elbow pads and kneepads, as did Marissa
"Nope" she sat down to take her skates off, it was almost time for breakfast anyhow
Scott skated up to where she'd sat down on the pavement and plopped down beside her, he leaned in to whisper.
"Tonight, midnight you and me, no audience"
"Why, you've already been publicly humiliated by me, what's one more loss?" she smiled and pulled her skates off.
"I think we could use some alone time thats all"
"Well, how do other individuals feel about that?" Marissa nodded her head towards Shelby who was arguing with Daisy about something.
"They're gonna have to get over it"
"That's an easy demand for you to make, not an easy request for her to fill"
"Look, Shelby's tough she'll get over it"
Marissa looked toward Shelby who had her arms crossed and her eyes down, Daisy looked pissed, she was obviously not happy about something.
"It's about the layers Scott. It's always the layers that catch up to you in the end" He just looked at her not sure what she meant but sure he needed to think about it. He was about to say something when everyone came rushing over.
"Nice one meat"
"Yea Mr.MVP how does it feel to get the crap beaten out of you by a girl?" Ezra pretended to be an interviewer.
"Alright Alright, I get it, I know I lost, now can we get some food, I'm starving, that's probably why I had to let her win..."
"LET ME WIN? you asshole!! you never even had a shot. I think all that peroxide you use on those precious curls must be depleting your brain cells quicker than we all thought"
The teasing went on as the kids headed towards the dining hall for breakfast. The dance was that weekend and they had a lot of work to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7:30 am the morning before
"Do you need anything?" Faith Yokas tiredly whispered into the phone, she didn't have to be in till 9 that morning and didn't really appreciate the premature wake up call.
"No, I'm good"
"How's your ma?"
"She's fine"
"How are you?"
"Faith-" his tone warned her that he didn't want to go any further on that topic
"Alright, Boz. Let me know how it goes."
"Later Faith"
Bosco hung up the phone and sighed. Without taking another moment to think about it he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, he swung it open and came faced to face with a kid just about to knock.
"Can I help you?" He asked annoyed and trying to get out
"Uh, well, I was looking for Marissa"
"Look kid, I don't know who the hell you are or what you want with my sister, and frankly I don't really give two shits, but she's not here, and I gotta go"
"Maurice please, I heard what happened, I know she probably doesn't wanna see me, I mean, I figured it'd been a while and maybe she wasn't so mad anymore, and ---"
"Who the hell are you?"
"It's me, Adam..."
"Adam, who the.... Adam Cavalano? How's the east side?"
"Uh... it's alright. Look.."
"She's not here Adam but I'll tell her you came by lookin for her"
"Well, where is she?"
"Not here"
"No I know, I mean-"
"I know what you mean kid, now I hope you can get what I mean. She's not here. So get outta hear"
Bosco started to walk away and for a second Adam just stood there but then he followed him.
"Look Bosco, I noticed you don't like me, I get that, but I really want to see Marissa, she's...look she's the best friend I ever had you know? She... I know she hates me but I owe it to her to see her, try to ..."
"Try to what, try to help her? she don't need your help, we're helpin her just fine her. Maybe you should of thought of helpin her when she and her other friend were out walking the streets all night doin god knows what, maybe you shoulda helped her when that other kid got tossed into juvie and she wouldn't come out of the god damn house for a month, or when that other one went and starting gang bangin with his brother's dirt bag friends. Look prep, you got out, you made it, congratulations and its nice of you to want to share the wealth, but you ain't comin. Like I said, I'll let her know you stopped by"
"Well, I'm here now, and maybe thats a good idea. Like you said, I got out, I'm not like the rest of them. Maybe I could be you know, a good influence or something"
The desperation was clear with this kid, even Bosco could see it. Any more influence was the last thing that Marissa needed, but maybe he had a point. Not sure why he was doing it, he silently consented and Adam hopped along with him into his car.
"Don't talk, don't touch, don't breathe too loud." That was all he said and they drove off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After two days of complete silence the two guys pulled into the campgrounds and stepped out of the car. Adam stretched and looked around.
"Can't believe you sent her here"
"I told you no talkin" Bosco didn't even look at him as he headed into the main office. Adam decided not to follow, but to explore for himself.
"Mr.Boscorelli" Peter greeted him with a hand shake "How was the trip"
"Long" He looked around for a moment "Where is she?"
"She's uh, setting up for the dance tonight" Sophie stepped into the room. "Want me to get her for you?"
"Uh yea, yea that'd be good"
Sophie nodded and closed the door behind her.
"So, How's she been doin?"
"Great, she's uh, supposed to be singing Saturday night at this dance they're all setting up for, her academics are good, she's excelling far and above many of the other students in her English classes. She's getting along with most of the students, there were some problems between her and another girl, but they seem to be working themselves out"
"Thats good. Yea, she doesn't get along with too many girls."
~~~~~~~
Adam had somehow managed to lose himself near a lake and accidentally stumbled across two girls fighting.
"You can't just do that, you'll never get away with it"
"Well, I can't take it anymore!"
"Have you even thought this through or are you just jealous over Marissa"
Adam's ears perked up and he zoned into their conversation.
"I'm not jealous"
"I'd be jealous, we all see the way Scott looks at her"
Adam laughed to himself, this was a reoccurring problem with Marissa.
"Well, I'm not." Shelby replied through gritted teeth
"What are you gonna do when they find you, which they will, what if they won't let you come back?"
The question hung in the air.
"I've gotta get back. They're too inept to hang up banners by themselves. I'll see you later" Daisy headed back towards the dance hall. Shelby sighed and kicked a rock by her foot before sitting down. A tree branch cracked under Adam's foot and she jumped up.
"Who's there?"
"Sorry, um I'm Adam and I'm kinda lost"
"You a newbie?"
"A newsie?"
"Newbie, are you new here?"
"OH! no no no, i'm just visiting a friend, what's your name?"
"Shelby" Shelby took in his appearance, which wasn't bad. He had dark hair, almost black with piercing green eyes, white teeth and he was wearing a lot of abercrombie. She rolled her eyes.
"So who were you trying to find?"
"Uh... Marissa Boscorelli"
"Figures, come on preppy, I'll lead the way"
Adam followed her down the docks and towards the building ahead . ~~~~~~
"No guys, stop wait WAIT! no! damnit"
Marissa had been trying to direct the guys in setting up the decorations for over an hour. It was quickly becoming a futile mission considering they couldn't handle basic instructions. Auggie would pull one way while Scott would pull the other, Dave would throw paint at Ezra and Ezra would drip onto the posters. This had been the scence for far too long and finally, the banner ripped.
"I give up" Marissa sighed in exasperation and sat down on a bench.
"Never figured you for a quitter" A voice called from behind her, a voice she recognized instantly.
"Never figured you for a preppy. It's funny how these things happen overnight"
Marissa turned around secretly thrilled to see him, not that anyone would be able to tell, besides Adam.
"You look great"
"I look like a Picasso" Marissa looked down at her black tee shirt covered in all different colors of paint.
"You wear it well"
"Adam, what are you doin here?" She motioned for him to take a walk with her outside. Scott glanced over with a concerned look, not pleased about this potential competition.
"I wanted to see how you were, I ran into Ben, he's getting himself clean in some clinic. He wants to be an EMT, his brother was just hit. Anyhow so I ran into him and he said that Frankie had run into Kirsten and it turns out that she's workin the streets and Angela thought you were workin em with her, so I had to see if it was true, I figured Josh would know so I went to visit him up at Juvie and wouldn't you know it, Kirsten was there she was talkin to Josh on one of them little phone things and he looked PISSED, he was slammin the phone and everythin, so then I went up to her and was all cryin and shit so then she told me... well, she told me what happened. About how you was in the hospital and stuff. Then I went to the apartment and ran into Maurice and hitched a ride with him here"
"You know, it amazes me that after almost 4 years in a nice private prep academy, you still can't get your grammar right. So Ben's EMT now?"
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Avoid"
"It's just in my nature"
"So do I get a hug or somethin"
"I don't know"
"Come on" Marissa laughed and jumped into his arms and he twirled her around to the EXTREME distaste of a nearby Scott.
"So my brother's here?"
"...Yea..."
"What's he... oh wait... Scott!! over here!" Silently thanking God she didnt' ask him what they were doing there Adam turned to meet Scott.
"Scott, this is one of my best friends from the city, Adam, he's one of the guys I was tellin you about, he plays hockey, or played anyhow"
"Nice to meet you"
"You too, so you played her?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a game"
"Yea thats usually how it goes with her."
"He wouldn't check me so it was barely a game"
"Ohhhh, yea you're gonna have to get over that otherwise you'll never come close to scoring"
"Yea and he's definitly been working on the scoring aspect" Shelby walked up from behind them.
"Adam... this is Barb... I mean Shelby"
"Yea we met"
"Oh you did?"
Before the conversation could continue any further, Sophie came and pulled Marissa aside and into the office. Scott and Shelby just looked at Adam who shook his head.
~~~~~~~~ The three of them waited in chairs outside the office, they couldn't hear anything that was being said or if the meeting was almost over or not. Finally, after what felt like centuries, the door swung open and Bosco, Peter, Sophie and Marissa walked out.
Adam looked at her but she wouldn't look at him, or anyone for that matter, She wasn't crying, her face just looked like stone. All the warming up she'd done to everyone in the past couple weeks had once again frozen up as she brushed off Scott who tried to say something to her.
"Not now" Adam whispered. Scott ran his hands through his hair and stalked off.
"What happened" Shelby asked, not giving away in her tone whether or not she was really interested.
"Her brother's in the hospital, it doesn't look good, he was attacked. He found the guys who... well. "
"Who what?"
"Well, you know, who attacked her, when she was on the streets"
"She was on the streets? wait a minute, are you saying she was raped?"
"oh fuck. You didn't know, I thought you guys all had like issues and talked about them with each other."
"Issues? Look, I don't know what you've seen on Maury Povich, but we're not a different species okay. And, no, we don't tell each other what we don't want anyone to know" Shelby stood up and stalked off.
"Shit. She's gonna kill me" Adam sunk into his chair before standing up to go find Marissa. ~~~~~~~~~
"So you're leaving?" Scott stood in the doorway of the girls dorm.
"It would appear that way" Marissa locked the last of her suitcases and slid her signature black sunglasses over her stormy eyes.
"What happened"
"Life"
Scott walked over to her and lifted the sunglasses from her eyes.
"You shouldn't cover them up all the time"
"I like it that way"
"I know... the layers right"
"ah, you're learning"
"You ever gonna let me know what ..."
"I don't know. I think I have to figure it out for myself first"
"When are you coming back?"
"I don't know"
"Are you coming back?"
"I don't know"
"Well, when will you know?"
"I don't know"
He sighed, this was going nowhere.
"Well, when you do know, will you let me know?"
Marissa looked up and into his eyes. If only things had been different, different lives, different circumstances, different memories, then maybe this would all be easier.
"Marissa lets go!" a voice called from outside.
Never breaking her stare she leaned up and kissed him, quickly and softly. Then she picked up her bags and headed out the door.
"Here, " she handed him a tape "It's not me singing its just a song that reminds me of you guys and stuff. Play it tomorrow, Don't follow me"
Scott complied and just sat on the bed. He popped the tape into the radio
*Good Charlotte "Motivation Proclamation"*
brSpend your lazy, Endless crazy, Days inside my head, You're so selfish, You're not the only, One who thinks he's dead, I'm paid to smile, Now I'm on trial, For what you think I said,
But I never said, That everything, would be okay, And I never said, That we would live, to see another day, yeah, yeah, (What)
Motivate me, I wanna get myself out of this bed, I want good thoughts inside of my head If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up off the ground If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up off the ground
un-realistic, narcissistic, You say I'm selfish and absurd, You try to change me, You try to save me, You say I'm gonna learn I'm so blind, I'm out of time You're so unkind sometimes I never lied, I never lied, I never lied,
but I never said That everything would be okay And I never said That we would live to see another day
Motivate me I wanna get myself out of this bed Captivate me If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up off the ground If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up... Cause everything It'll be okay You know we're gonna live To see another day, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/br
~~~~~~~~
"Is this the last one?" Adam asked her as they were loading the car.
"Yea it should be"
Bosco was talking some things over with Peter and everyone else was lined up waiting to say goodbye.
"Oh, I'm gonna miss you so much!!!" Juliette squeezed her tight
"Uh... haha okay , um you're gonna be missing me even more if you don't allow me to inhale oxygen soon"
"Sorry" Auggie pulled Jules off her and gave her a quick hug.
"Next time you want a real game let me know"
"I'll do that" she laughed
"Oh Marissa, you're breakin my heart here" Dave pretending to break down and cry, he fell to his knees and mocking marlon brando in the old hit "street car named desire" he let out a loud
"MARISSA!!!!" (AN: instead of "stella" this won't make sense to anyone who hasn't read the book or seen the movie lol)
"Get up you freak" She gave him a quick hug and then proceeded to say goodbye to all others present. Neither Shelby nor Daisy had showed. Which was fine. The three of them climbed into the car and headed back towards the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hospital
"Marissa are you sure you wanna do this, maybe you should wait, he doesn't look ...good" Bosco was trying unsuccessfully to detain her
"Maurice, he's my brother. I didn't look good either 2 weeks ago and both of you came to see me. Besides, its my fault he's here to begin with"
"Hey" he grabbed her by the shoulders and made her face him "Hey... this is NOT your fault, no part of this is your fault, He's the dumbass that went after the guy by himself. Not you okay? not you."
Marissa just pushed past him and opened the door to Mikey's room. He was laying in the bed unconscious and stuck full of tubes.
"Oh my god" she whispered. Gingerly she stepped forwards and lifted up his hand into hers.
"What do the doctors say? Maurice? and don't bullshit me, I'm not 12"
"They say...well look at him baby, it's not good. But that doesn't mean he's not gonna make it. Mikey'll pull through, he always manages to." The machines beep continued to penetrate the silent room until a knock on the door. It was Faith.
"Hey sweetheart how are you?" Faith gave Marissa a hug.
"I'm existing, you?"
"can't complain, I was lookin for you actually Bos"
"you gonna be alright?"
Marissa nodded and he left the room behind Faith.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We have a problem" Faith pulled him into the corner near a vending machine
"What?"
"Do you know a Joshua Whitman?"
"Yea, he grew up in the neighborhood with Marissa, last I heard he's serving a few years in juvie for knockin over a couple stores"
"Yea well he's out. He escaped, and now two guys turned up dead, one of whom fits the description Marissa gave us as to one of her attackers."
"So what, you sayin her friend is killin off the guys who..."
"I don't know....is that what I'm sayin?"
"It's what you're thinkin"
"It hasn't been released yet, I checked files. I thought you should know, thought maybe you'd wanna handle it, find him before the others do. He could do hard time for this."
"I'll find him. Don't worry about it, just stay with her till I get back alright."
"I gotta go get the kids, Fred's sick"
"I can stay with her" a voice popped up from around the corner.
"Adam..."
"What?"
Bosco sighed.
"What the hell, just make sure she doesn't get into any trouble, I'll be back soon"
"Actually, hey Adam? thats your name right? do you know anything about a Josh.." Faith began
"What about him" Adam interjected immedietley
"Where is he?" Faith instantly replied, it was evident in his response that he knew something.
Adam sighed and looked down, running a hand through his dark hair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Horizon:
"She's gone and I have no idea where she is" Sophie frantically called to Peter "I've looked everywhere talked to everyone, shes gone"
"Put out the call" Peter sighed grabbing his coat "She couldn't have gone far"
"Damnit Shelby" Daisy muttered hiding behind the closet door.
~~~~~~~~
Shelby wrapped the jacket tighter around her as she stepped out of the cab. She walked to phone book and opened it up searching for a name. Finding what she was looking for she tore out the page and started walking. About an hour later she found where she was looking to go. She pressed the buzzer to apartment 5C and waited for someone to pick up.
"Hello?" a woman's voice rang out from the speaker
"Yes, hello is this Mrs. Boscorelli?"
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REVIEW!!! REVIEW!!!! REVIEW!!!! lol please???:)
5:45 am
The sun had barely risen off the mountains and the night air was still fresh in the sky as Marissa laced up her skates. The cold, wet dew formed tiny droplets on the grass and pavement. She inhaled the freshness of the air and the dew and a small sigh escaped her mouth. Who would of thought the underdeveloped civilizations of the countryside could become so refreshing. It had been a while since she'd laced her skates up, too long.
Street hockey was a way of life for the kids on her block. Growing up it was basically all they had and all they wanted. Every morning before school, every afternoon after their homework and before dinner, when they got older there were midnight games that involved sneaking out. Always for fun never for fame, that was their motto. Unfortunately, those same kids who scraped up their knees and fell in the dirt with her, ended up a lot like herself, if not worse. People came and went, but there was a core group of about 6 who were there through middle school. Marissa, Adam, Kirsten, Josh, Ben, Frankie, and Angela. Towards the end of 8th grade, Angela had become more of Frankie's cheerleader than an actual participant. Ben had disappeared into his brother's crowd, a bunch of punk 20 year olds who spent more time inhaling drugs than actual oxygen. Josh was involved in a robbery and sentenced to 3 years juvie, Kirsten and Adam, Marissa's two best friends stuck around the longest. Kirsten ended up working the streets and sucked Marissa into that life style with her, but only after Adam sold out and went prep. He was sent to a private school in the village where he lived. None of them really saw each other anymore, they were just reminders to each other of the lives they used to have.
The skates brought back more memories than she would have cared to have come rushing back to her. If only they had all come to a place like this, maybe it all could have been different. *I guess we'll never know*
Scott skated up to her as she was dazing off.
"You look a little worried there shorty, you know you can still call it and back down"
"Kiss off Quarterback" she brushed past him as she skated ahead gaining momentum as she made her way down the court, gaining control of her skating legs for the first time in years. It all came back to her as if she'd never given it up. After doing a couple laps she decided it was time to play.
"Alright whose in? or do I get my one on one?" Marissa winked at Scott and Shelby rolled her eyes.
"I'm always up for a little one on one" Scott raised his eyebrows and skated forward a bit on the suggestive side.
Marissa looked at Dave and nodded her head, he blew the whistle.
"Good" The puck dropped and before Scott registered the fact that they were supposed to begin she'd already made her way down the court and shot the puck into the goal.
"I wasn't ready" Scott protested as the others just laughed.
"Right right, well, are you ready now?"
"Well... yea, lets go"
The puck dropped once again and this time Scott went for it, he was quick but nowhere near talented enough to match half a lifetime of skill. Marissa cleanly and swiftly stole the puck with some serious handling skill, shot it through his legs and brushed past him, Scott still unaware that he had lost control of the puck.
"Huh?, Shit!"
"Damn, homegirls got skills" Auggie and the others laughed as Scott tried desperately to catch up. Deciding she'd be nice, Marissa "danced" around the goal for a while with the puck, Scott kept approaching but wouldn't block her.
"You gotta lighten up or you're never gonna get it"
"You're a girl, I'm not gonna check you"
"Then your not gonna get the puck. Get over it, just pretend I'm a guy"
Scott laughed at this.
"There's not enough imagination on this planet to make that image pop into my head"
"I'll take that as a compliment, but..." she shot and scored "flattery isn't gonna win you this game. Defense is"
"I think I know a little about defense... "
"Well, you sure don't know how to act on it"
This conversation continued as the others just stood back and laughed at Scott's incapability.
"Yo Meat, what's the problem! I thought you could play anything!"
"He won't touch her thats the problem" David spit out laughing
"Coulda fooled me," Shelby muttered under her breath.
"No, he means he won't check her, he's scared he'll hurt her, he's such a dipshit" Daisy shook her head with a scowl
"Awww, that's so sweet." Juliette cooed
"Yeah, but dumb if he actually wants to win the game" Ezra replied
"I don't think he could win if he tied her to a tree, she'd find some way to mentally control the puck" David just rolled his eyes and sat down. He began to rip flowers out of the ground in boredom.
"That's right Dave, continue on your path of destruction by ruining anything that constitutes as life"
"This coming from Morticia" David spat back, Daisy just glared.
"Scott, this is ridiculous, get over it and play or get off my court"
"So this is your court now?"
"Apparently it's been all my court for a while now considering you're too concerned with being a gentleman to actually play"
"I don't hit girls"
"Good, you shouldn't, but right now, you're not a guy and I'm not a girl, we're hockey players, it's a different breed and until you learn that, we're not gonna play."
"Oh we're not huh?" Scott took his elbow pads and kneepads, as did Marissa
"Nope" she sat down to take her skates off, it was almost time for breakfast anyhow
Scott skated up to where she'd sat down on the pavement and plopped down beside her, he leaned in to whisper.
"Tonight, midnight you and me, no audience"
"Why, you've already been publicly humiliated by me, what's one more loss?" she smiled and pulled her skates off.
"I think we could use some alone time thats all"
"Well, how do other individuals feel about that?" Marissa nodded her head towards Shelby who was arguing with Daisy about something.
"They're gonna have to get over it"
"That's an easy demand for you to make, not an easy request for her to fill"
"Look, Shelby's tough she'll get over it"
Marissa looked toward Shelby who had her arms crossed and her eyes down, Daisy looked pissed, she was obviously not happy about something.
"It's about the layers Scott. It's always the layers that catch up to you in the end" He just looked at her not sure what she meant but sure he needed to think about it. He was about to say something when everyone came rushing over.
"Nice one meat"
"Yea Mr.MVP how does it feel to get the crap beaten out of you by a girl?" Ezra pretended to be an interviewer.
"Alright Alright, I get it, I know I lost, now can we get some food, I'm starving, that's probably why I had to let her win..."
"LET ME WIN? you asshole!! you never even had a shot. I think all that peroxide you use on those precious curls must be depleting your brain cells quicker than we all thought"
The teasing went on as the kids headed towards the dining hall for breakfast. The dance was that weekend and they had a lot of work to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7:30 am the morning before
"Do you need anything?" Faith Yokas tiredly whispered into the phone, she didn't have to be in till 9 that morning and didn't really appreciate the premature wake up call.
"No, I'm good"
"How's your ma?"
"She's fine"
"How are you?"
"Faith-" his tone warned her that he didn't want to go any further on that topic
"Alright, Boz. Let me know how it goes."
"Later Faith"
Bosco hung up the phone and sighed. Without taking another moment to think about it he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, he swung it open and came faced to face with a kid just about to knock.
"Can I help you?" He asked annoyed and trying to get out
"Uh, well, I was looking for Marissa"
"Look kid, I don't know who the hell you are or what you want with my sister, and frankly I don't really give two shits, but she's not here, and I gotta go"
"Maurice please, I heard what happened, I know she probably doesn't wanna see me, I mean, I figured it'd been a while and maybe she wasn't so mad anymore, and ---"
"Who the hell are you?"
"It's me, Adam..."
"Adam, who the.... Adam Cavalano? How's the east side?"
"Uh... it's alright. Look.."
"She's not here Adam but I'll tell her you came by lookin for her"
"Well, where is she?"
"Not here"
"No I know, I mean-"
"I know what you mean kid, now I hope you can get what I mean. She's not here. So get outta hear"
Bosco started to walk away and for a second Adam just stood there but then he followed him.
"Look Bosco, I noticed you don't like me, I get that, but I really want to see Marissa, she's...look she's the best friend I ever had you know? She... I know she hates me but I owe it to her to see her, try to ..."
"Try to what, try to help her? she don't need your help, we're helpin her just fine her. Maybe you should of thought of helpin her when she and her other friend were out walking the streets all night doin god knows what, maybe you shoulda helped her when that other kid got tossed into juvie and she wouldn't come out of the god damn house for a month, or when that other one went and starting gang bangin with his brother's dirt bag friends. Look prep, you got out, you made it, congratulations and its nice of you to want to share the wealth, but you ain't comin. Like I said, I'll let her know you stopped by"
"Well, I'm here now, and maybe thats a good idea. Like you said, I got out, I'm not like the rest of them. Maybe I could be you know, a good influence or something"
The desperation was clear with this kid, even Bosco could see it. Any more influence was the last thing that Marissa needed, but maybe he had a point. Not sure why he was doing it, he silently consented and Adam hopped along with him into his car.
"Don't talk, don't touch, don't breathe too loud." That was all he said and they drove off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After two days of complete silence the two guys pulled into the campgrounds and stepped out of the car. Adam stretched and looked around.
"Can't believe you sent her here"
"I told you no talkin" Bosco didn't even look at him as he headed into the main office. Adam decided not to follow, but to explore for himself.
"Mr.Boscorelli" Peter greeted him with a hand shake "How was the trip"
"Long" He looked around for a moment "Where is she?"
"She's uh, setting up for the dance tonight" Sophie stepped into the room. "Want me to get her for you?"
"Uh yea, yea that'd be good"
Sophie nodded and closed the door behind her.
"So, How's she been doin?"
"Great, she's uh, supposed to be singing Saturday night at this dance they're all setting up for, her academics are good, she's excelling far and above many of the other students in her English classes. She's getting along with most of the students, there were some problems between her and another girl, but they seem to be working themselves out"
"Thats good. Yea, she doesn't get along with too many girls."
~~~~~~~
Adam had somehow managed to lose himself near a lake and accidentally stumbled across two girls fighting.
"You can't just do that, you'll never get away with it"
"Well, I can't take it anymore!"
"Have you even thought this through or are you just jealous over Marissa"
Adam's ears perked up and he zoned into their conversation.
"I'm not jealous"
"I'd be jealous, we all see the way Scott looks at her"
Adam laughed to himself, this was a reoccurring problem with Marissa.
"Well, I'm not." Shelby replied through gritted teeth
"What are you gonna do when they find you, which they will, what if they won't let you come back?"
The question hung in the air.
"I've gotta get back. They're too inept to hang up banners by themselves. I'll see you later" Daisy headed back towards the dance hall. Shelby sighed and kicked a rock by her foot before sitting down. A tree branch cracked under Adam's foot and she jumped up.
"Who's there?"
"Sorry, um I'm Adam and I'm kinda lost"
"You a newbie?"
"A newsie?"
"Newbie, are you new here?"
"OH! no no no, i'm just visiting a friend, what's your name?"
"Shelby" Shelby took in his appearance, which wasn't bad. He had dark hair, almost black with piercing green eyes, white teeth and he was wearing a lot of abercrombie. She rolled her eyes.
"So who were you trying to find?"
"Uh... Marissa Boscorelli"
"Figures, come on preppy, I'll lead the way"
Adam followed her down the docks and towards the building ahead . ~~~~~~
"No guys, stop wait WAIT! no! damnit"
Marissa had been trying to direct the guys in setting up the decorations for over an hour. It was quickly becoming a futile mission considering they couldn't handle basic instructions. Auggie would pull one way while Scott would pull the other, Dave would throw paint at Ezra and Ezra would drip onto the posters. This had been the scence for far too long and finally, the banner ripped.
"I give up" Marissa sighed in exasperation and sat down on a bench.
"Never figured you for a quitter" A voice called from behind her, a voice she recognized instantly.
"Never figured you for a preppy. It's funny how these things happen overnight"
Marissa turned around secretly thrilled to see him, not that anyone would be able to tell, besides Adam.
"You look great"
"I look like a Picasso" Marissa looked down at her black tee shirt covered in all different colors of paint.
"You wear it well"
"Adam, what are you doin here?" She motioned for him to take a walk with her outside. Scott glanced over with a concerned look, not pleased about this potential competition.
"I wanted to see how you were, I ran into Ben, he's getting himself clean in some clinic. He wants to be an EMT, his brother was just hit. Anyhow so I ran into him and he said that Frankie had run into Kirsten and it turns out that she's workin the streets and Angela thought you were workin em with her, so I had to see if it was true, I figured Josh would know so I went to visit him up at Juvie and wouldn't you know it, Kirsten was there she was talkin to Josh on one of them little phone things and he looked PISSED, he was slammin the phone and everythin, so then I went up to her and was all cryin and shit so then she told me... well, she told me what happened. About how you was in the hospital and stuff. Then I went to the apartment and ran into Maurice and hitched a ride with him here"
"You know, it amazes me that after almost 4 years in a nice private prep academy, you still can't get your grammar right. So Ben's EMT now?"
"Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Avoid"
"It's just in my nature"
"So do I get a hug or somethin"
"I don't know"
"Come on" Marissa laughed and jumped into his arms and he twirled her around to the EXTREME distaste of a nearby Scott.
"So my brother's here?"
"...Yea..."
"What's he... oh wait... Scott!! over here!" Silently thanking God she didnt' ask him what they were doing there Adam turned to meet Scott.
"Scott, this is one of my best friends from the city, Adam, he's one of the guys I was tellin you about, he plays hockey, or played anyhow"
"Nice to meet you"
"You too, so you played her?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a game"
"Yea thats usually how it goes with her."
"He wouldn't check me so it was barely a game"
"Ohhhh, yea you're gonna have to get over that otherwise you'll never come close to scoring"
"Yea and he's definitly been working on the scoring aspect" Shelby walked up from behind them.
"Adam... this is Barb... I mean Shelby"
"Yea we met"
"Oh you did?"
Before the conversation could continue any further, Sophie came and pulled Marissa aside and into the office. Scott and Shelby just looked at Adam who shook his head.
~~~~~~~~ The three of them waited in chairs outside the office, they couldn't hear anything that was being said or if the meeting was almost over or not. Finally, after what felt like centuries, the door swung open and Bosco, Peter, Sophie and Marissa walked out.
Adam looked at her but she wouldn't look at him, or anyone for that matter, She wasn't crying, her face just looked like stone. All the warming up she'd done to everyone in the past couple weeks had once again frozen up as she brushed off Scott who tried to say something to her.
"Not now" Adam whispered. Scott ran his hands through his hair and stalked off.
"What happened" Shelby asked, not giving away in her tone whether or not she was really interested.
"Her brother's in the hospital, it doesn't look good, he was attacked. He found the guys who... well. "
"Who what?"
"Well, you know, who attacked her, when she was on the streets"
"She was on the streets? wait a minute, are you saying she was raped?"
"oh fuck. You didn't know, I thought you guys all had like issues and talked about them with each other."
"Issues? Look, I don't know what you've seen on Maury Povich, but we're not a different species okay. And, no, we don't tell each other what we don't want anyone to know" Shelby stood up and stalked off.
"Shit. She's gonna kill me" Adam sunk into his chair before standing up to go find Marissa. ~~~~~~~~~
"So you're leaving?" Scott stood in the doorway of the girls dorm.
"It would appear that way" Marissa locked the last of her suitcases and slid her signature black sunglasses over her stormy eyes.
"What happened"
"Life"
Scott walked over to her and lifted the sunglasses from her eyes.
"You shouldn't cover them up all the time"
"I like it that way"
"I know... the layers right"
"ah, you're learning"
"You ever gonna let me know what ..."
"I don't know. I think I have to figure it out for myself first"
"When are you coming back?"
"I don't know"
"Are you coming back?"
"I don't know"
"Well, when will you know?"
"I don't know"
He sighed, this was going nowhere.
"Well, when you do know, will you let me know?"
Marissa looked up and into his eyes. If only things had been different, different lives, different circumstances, different memories, then maybe this would all be easier.
"Marissa lets go!" a voice called from outside.
Never breaking her stare she leaned up and kissed him, quickly and softly. Then she picked up her bags and headed out the door.
"Here, " she handed him a tape "It's not me singing its just a song that reminds me of you guys and stuff. Play it tomorrow, Don't follow me"
Scott complied and just sat on the bed. He popped the tape into the radio
*Good Charlotte "Motivation Proclamation"*
brSpend your lazy, Endless crazy, Days inside my head, You're so selfish, You're not the only, One who thinks he's dead, I'm paid to smile, Now I'm on trial, For what you think I said,
But I never said, That everything, would be okay, And I never said, That we would live, to see another day, yeah, yeah, (What)
Motivate me, I wanna get myself out of this bed, I want good thoughts inside of my head If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up off the ground If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up off the ground
un-realistic, narcissistic, You say I'm selfish and absurd, You try to change me, You try to save me, You say I'm gonna learn I'm so blind, I'm out of time You're so unkind sometimes I never lied, I never lied, I never lied,
but I never said That everything would be okay And I never said That we would live to see another day
Motivate me I wanna get myself out of this bed Captivate me If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up off the ground If I fall down, would you come around, pick me right up... Cause everything It'll be okay You know we're gonna live To see another day, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/br
~~~~~~~~
"Is this the last one?" Adam asked her as they were loading the car.
"Yea it should be"
Bosco was talking some things over with Peter and everyone else was lined up waiting to say goodbye.
"Oh, I'm gonna miss you so much!!!" Juliette squeezed her tight
"Uh... haha okay , um you're gonna be missing me even more if you don't allow me to inhale oxygen soon"
"Sorry" Auggie pulled Jules off her and gave her a quick hug.
"Next time you want a real game let me know"
"I'll do that" she laughed
"Oh Marissa, you're breakin my heart here" Dave pretending to break down and cry, he fell to his knees and mocking marlon brando in the old hit "street car named desire" he let out a loud
"MARISSA!!!!" (AN: instead of "stella" this won't make sense to anyone who hasn't read the book or seen the movie lol)
"Get up you freak" She gave him a quick hug and then proceeded to say goodbye to all others present. Neither Shelby nor Daisy had showed. Which was fine. The three of them climbed into the car and headed back towards the city.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hospital
"Marissa are you sure you wanna do this, maybe you should wait, he doesn't look ...good" Bosco was trying unsuccessfully to detain her
"Maurice, he's my brother. I didn't look good either 2 weeks ago and both of you came to see me. Besides, its my fault he's here to begin with"
"Hey" he grabbed her by the shoulders and made her face him "Hey... this is NOT your fault, no part of this is your fault, He's the dumbass that went after the guy by himself. Not you okay? not you."
Marissa just pushed past him and opened the door to Mikey's room. He was laying in the bed unconscious and stuck full of tubes.
"Oh my god" she whispered. Gingerly she stepped forwards and lifted up his hand into hers.
"What do the doctors say? Maurice? and don't bullshit me, I'm not 12"
"They say...well look at him baby, it's not good. But that doesn't mean he's not gonna make it. Mikey'll pull through, he always manages to." The machines beep continued to penetrate the silent room until a knock on the door. It was Faith.
"Hey sweetheart how are you?" Faith gave Marissa a hug.
"I'm existing, you?"
"can't complain, I was lookin for you actually Bos"
"you gonna be alright?"
Marissa nodded and he left the room behind Faith.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We have a problem" Faith pulled him into the corner near a vending machine
"What?"
"Do you know a Joshua Whitman?"
"Yea, he grew up in the neighborhood with Marissa, last I heard he's serving a few years in juvie for knockin over a couple stores"
"Yea well he's out. He escaped, and now two guys turned up dead, one of whom fits the description Marissa gave us as to one of her attackers."
"So what, you sayin her friend is killin off the guys who..."
"I don't know....is that what I'm sayin?"
"It's what you're thinkin"
"It hasn't been released yet, I checked files. I thought you should know, thought maybe you'd wanna handle it, find him before the others do. He could do hard time for this."
"I'll find him. Don't worry about it, just stay with her till I get back alright."
"I gotta go get the kids, Fred's sick"
"I can stay with her" a voice popped up from around the corner.
"Adam..."
"What?"
Bosco sighed.
"What the hell, just make sure she doesn't get into any trouble, I'll be back soon"
"Actually, hey Adam? thats your name right? do you know anything about a Josh.." Faith began
"What about him" Adam interjected immedietley
"Where is he?" Faith instantly replied, it was evident in his response that he knew something.
Adam sighed and looked down, running a hand through his dark hair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back at Horizon:
"She's gone and I have no idea where she is" Sophie frantically called to Peter "I've looked everywhere talked to everyone, shes gone"
"Put out the call" Peter sighed grabbing his coat "She couldn't have gone far"
"Damnit Shelby" Daisy muttered hiding behind the closet door.
~~~~~~~~
Shelby wrapped the jacket tighter around her as she stepped out of the cab. She walked to phone book and opened it up searching for a name. Finding what she was looking for she tore out the page and started walking. About an hour later she found where she was looking to go. She pressed the buzzer to apartment 5C and waited for someone to pick up.
"Hello?" a woman's voice rang out from the speaker
"Yes, hello is this Mrs. Boscorelli?"
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