Chapter Four

"I said, get OFF her," Tyler growled. His face was blank, not showing any expression whatsoever. I had never seen him look this way. He usually didn't focus on one thing like this. He always seemed drawn into himself, like he lived in his own little world.

"Hey, man, calm down," Jason said. I could feel him shudder on top of me. He climbed off the bed and away from me. I let out my breath in a long whoosh.

I sat up and yanked down my skirt. I wiped at my eyes. My tears were black from my mascara. I was shivering, just thinking about what had almost happened to me. I couldn't believe that Jason had done that.

"Get out of here, and don't ever come near Hope again," Tyler growled, his eyes narrowing. His hand never wavered, holding that gun. It scared me to think that he had a gun in the house. He wasn't the sort of person I would trust with a gun. But right now I was grateful that he had come when he did.

"Fine," Jason said raising his hands in surrender. He looked back at me and shook his head, "Your whole family is crazy," he said.

There was a thundering bang and Jason was on the floor writhing in pain. Dark red blood flowed out of his shin.

"Tyler!" I screamed in terror. I never thought he would actually shoot Jason.

I looked up at my uncle, he was staring at the blood and smiling a little. He looked up at me and nodded as if to say your welcome. He turned and walked away carrying the gun at his side.

I ran to Jason and put my hand over his wound. I was furious at him, but I wasn't about to let him bleed to death in the middle of my bedroom.

He groaned in pain as I pushed down on the wound to stop the bleeding. I was vaguely aware that there was no longer any music coming from downstairs.

"Hope!" A voice cried in surprise. I looked up to find Greg and Carly standing at the doorway.

"Call the police!" I yelled. Carly hurried away.

"What happened?" Greg asked as he knelt down to roll Jason over into his back.

"Tyler shot him," I said quickly. I knew Greg would want to know the whole story but I just couldn't tell him right now. I wasn't eager to tell him what one of his good friends had almost done.

"This whole family is crazy," Jason moaned in agony. Anger bubbled inside my chest, but I pushed it away before it boiled over. I couldn't let Jason get to me, not now.

"They are on their way," Carly said, running back in. She got a towel from the bathroom and we wrapped it around Jason's leg. It was soaked through by the time the police got there. The doctor in town hurried into the room and took over for us.

I felt tears well up in my eyes as I looked down at my bloody hands and rumpled clothing.

"Who did this?" the police officer asked.

I didn't answer him. I couldn't let him take Tyler away. What would my mother say, if I let her brother go to jail. He would never last in there with real criminals. They would eat him alive.

"Miss, you have to tell me who did this," the officer said again.

I sighed and shook my head.

"It was her uncle, Tyler, he's in the room down there," Greg spoke up. The officer hurried to the room, he didn't knock, he just burst into the room and came out a minute later with Tyler in hand cuffs. He was looking at the ground. He had changed his shirt as I imagine the other one had blood on it.

"Tyler!" I ran over to him. He wouldn't even look at me. I grabbed his arm but the officer pulled him away from me. He was led downstairs, I followed them all the way out the door into the front yard. There were two other police cars with their lights flashed red and blue all over the yard. All the guests from the party were outside behind a barrier of yellow tape and police officers.

"Don't worry Ty, I'll get Mom and Dad and we'll be there right away!" I called to him as he was lowered into the car. He looked out the window with the saddest look on his face as he was driven away. My heart was breaking for him, being taken away like that. I remembered how much he'd always looked for everyone's approval. He knew that Mom wouldn't be happy about this. He looked so ashamed about what he had done. Only I knew that he had saved me from what Jason would have done.

"Hope!" I voice called. It was Jenna Andrews. She was standing in her little group of friends; I noticed a hint of a smug smile on her face. As if she had known all along that my party would be a disaster.

I ignored her and went back inside. The doctor was helping Jason out the door.

"Oh, in case you didn't know Jason, we are over," I called after him. Right now I was feeling very angry at a lot of people. I knew that some of my anger was unreasonable but I couldn't control it.

I saw Greg standing in the den with his arm around Carly. I rolled my eyes at the dopey look on her face. She was so happy to be here with him that she had barely even talked to me through the whole party.

I stalked over to them, "Why did you tell the cops it was Tyler?" I demanded. I fought back the little voice in my head that told me to stop now, before I dug myself into a hole too deep to get out of.

"Because it was," Greg said simply.

"Now he is in jail, you know he won't last an hour there!" I yelled. Tears were welling up in my eyes. I couldn't help seeing my mother's disappointed face flashing before my eyes. What would she say when she found out there had been alcohol? Would she ever trust me again? I was just thankful that Colin hadn't been here, then mom and dad would really be furious.

"Hope, calm down, we had to tell them," Carly insisted. She reached out and touched my arm lightly, reassuringly. I looked into her eyes and I saw the best friend that I had always known. She had never really left. I suddenly felt horrible about ever being jealous of her being happy. I should be happy for her, not be yelling at her.

I swallowed hard and sat down on the couch. I had to brush away beer cans before I sat. The tears flowed down my cheeks freely now.

"I'm sorry guys," I said, wiping my eyes. My tears had now washed all my makeup away.

Carly sat down beside me and took my hand, "What did Jason do?" she asked. She sounded genuinely concerned, "What happened?"

"That's a good question," I heard a voice. Mom was standing in the doorway of the den with her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked around the room, eyes falling on each and every beer can.

"Carly, Greg, thank you for coming to the party, but I think you should be getting home now," Mom said, "Erin is outside waiting for you," she said.

Carly hugged me before getting up. She and Greg left the room.

"Honey, what happened?" Mom asked. To my surprise she looked more concerned than angry. Maybe I had underestimated the faith my mother had in me.

"A lot," I said, "But Tyler is in jail, we have to go down there," I told her. I got up quickly. Mom's expression transformed into a look of horror. I had never seen her look so frightened before. Not even when Colin hadn't come home from school on the bus when he was nine.

"What?" she whispered.

"Let's just go," I said. I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the front door. The police were still crawling all over the house, probably collecting evidence. I hoped they wouldn't charge Mom for all the alcohol and underage drinking.

"What happened!?" Dad cried as he came in the door. He looked absolutely furious when he saw the beer cans in the living room.

"Later, Trevor, we have to go to the police station, Tyler has been arrested," Mom said quietly.

My father looked at me a moment and I saw the disappointment in his eyes. No doubt, he thought I had caused my mother this pain. She was so protective of Tyler.

My father and I had never been very close. I knew he loved me, and I loved him, but we just didn't do things together that other father and daughter's did. I always felt like he didn't feel comfortable around me. It was sometimes like he blamed me for everything bad that ever happened to Mom or Colin. Now he was blaming me again.

But maybe it was my fault this time. I shouldn't have led Jason on only to push him away again and again. I should have known this would happen. It was my fault that Tyler was in jail. Sometimes I wondered if I was adopted, I always felt somehow out of place in this family. Like I wasn't fully welcome.

I told my parents why Tyler was in jail on the way to the station. I left out the part about Jason being drunk. They already knew that there was alcohol. Mom listened quietly. I saw her eyes well up with tears. I hated hurting her this way. If Tyler had just left us alone, I could have handled it. Dad's hands gripped the wheel tighter and tighter as we got closer to the station.

He slammed the door closed leaving Mom and I in the car at the station.

"I'm sorry Mom," I whispered.

"Hope," she said turning around quickly, "It is not your fault, you father is just angry at Jason, he doesn't blame you for any of this and neither do I, I love you and I'm so grateful that you are okay,"

Mom and I got out of the car and she hugged me tightly. She kept her arm around my waist as we went into the station.

Dad was already talking to Tyler in the one conference room. We went inside. Tyler was sitting opposite Dad at the wooden table. His hands were folded on the tabletop and he had a blank look on his face. I wondered if he knew what he had done.

"Oh Tyler," Mom cried. She ran over and hugged him tightly. She was crying freely now.

"It will be okay, I helped her," Tyler said, patting Mom on the shoulder.

A policeman came into the room and sat down in a chair at the side of the room. I saw his badge read Officer Bricklin.

"What is going to happen to my brother Officer?" Mom asked. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she looked very tense.

"Well, it all depends on whether Jason Carter's family decides to press charges or not, he could go tot jail for assault with a deadly weapon or even attempted murder," he said calmly.

"Attempted murder!" Mom cried.

"It is unlikely Skye," Trevor piped up.

"It is possible," Bricklin said.

We bailed Tyler out and went home with him. He sat silently beside me in the back seat. Mom and Dad didn't say anything for the whole ride. All we could do was wait now until the Carter's decided what to do. Waiting made me nervous. I couldn't imagine having a trial. I would never be able to forgive myself if Tyler went to jail.

At home Tyler went straight to his room. The cops were all gone.

I followed Mom and Dad into the den to help clean up. We picked up cans for a few minutes in silence. Somehow I knew what Dad said was coming.

"How could you do this Hope?" he asked dropping his garbage bag, "I thought you were more responsible than this,"

"I'm sorry Dad, I tried to stop them from bringing in the beer but they-" I was interrupted. "I don't want to hear it," he said shaking his head.

"I'm trying to explain, you're my father! Don't you care what almost happened to me?" I cried. Tears were welling up in my eyes again, just when I thought I was all cried out. I sat down and put my head in my hands.

What my father said next would have knocked me right over if I hadn't already been sitting down.

"I'm not your father," he said, "you mother has some things she has to tell you," he stalked out of the room and the front door slammed shut.