Brenda couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Her mind was working furiously, trying to make sense of what she'd just heard, but she couldn't, there was no sense to it. Despite the warmth of the sun, she shivered. She felt as if something cold had crawled inside her and settled there. Her eyes were riveted on Dylan, searching his face, waiting for him to tell her it wasn't true, but he didn't, he didn't say a word.
Stricken, Dylan couldn't find the words to make it right, there were no words. Brenda's pain filled eyes seemed to be drilling in to his very soul, yet like a passer by at a road crash, he couldn't avert his gaze. Her face was ashen; her anguish clear, silent tears were scalding her cheeks. He wanted to reach out to her, to take away her pain. Slowly, gently he placed his hand on hers.
The tiny movement was enough to break the trance. Shaken out of her shock-induced paralysis, Brenda recoiled from his touch as though he had a contagious disease. "Don't touch me" she hissed, her voice a whisper. "Don't ever touch me again." She shrank back against the wall trying to put as much distance between them as possible. Her tortured mind held but one thought; she had to get away, away from him, away from here.
Blinded by tears she turned and stumbled down the steps, into the path of the football jocks, who swarmed around her, whistling appreciatively. Disorientated, suffocating panic welled up inside her. Desperate to escape, her actions fuelled by pain and rage, Brenda punched and kicked wildly at anything that blocked her path. Cursing, the jocks let her go. Their insults still reverberated around the campus long after Brenda had raced across the grass and disappeared out of sight.
Frozen in place on the steps, Dylan watched wordlessly as Brenda fled. Fled from him. He felt dizzy and breathless, it had all happened so fast. Mere minutes ago, Brenda had been sitting beside him on the steps, now she was gone. All that remained was the sweater she had inadvertently left behind. Slowly, with trembling hands, Dylan reached out and grasped it. Bringing it close to his face, he caught the familiar scent of her perfume, and in that moment he knew for certain that he had lost her forever. Burying his face in her sweater, he let go of the last vestiges of control and sobbed unashamedly.
Aware that the show was over, and a little uncomfortable at such a public display of raw emotion, the onlookers slowly began to disperse. As they left, they whispered eagerly, speculating on what they had seen and heard, and what was to follow. For the rank and file of West Beverly High, a dull December afternoon had suddenly and unexpectedly become a whole lot more interesting.
***
In the lunchroom there was an excited buzz of conversation as the implications of Kelly and Donna's words were assimilated, dissected and generally discussed. Andrea shifted uncomfortably in her seat, aware of the giggles and curious stares directed at their table. She knew she should do something, but her brain still reeling in shock, refused to function logically. Slowly, hardly daring to look, she turned to Brandon. What she saw frightened her. He sat very still, his face like granite, mouth set in a hard line, a small muscle pulsing at his temple.
Of course, she had seen Brandon Walsh upset and angry before, but right now she barely recognised him. Andrea shuddered. It was his eyes that horrified her the most. She'd read somewhere that the eyes were considered to be the window to a person's soul. She sincerely hoped that wasn't true, because all she saw when she looked into Brandon's eyes right now was hatred. Desperately she glanced across at Steve, hoping he would take control of the situation, but he was staring blankly into space, and didn't even register her gaze.
Truth be told, Steve Sanders had been completely blindsided by the unexpected revelation. He'd told Kelly some time ago that he was over her, that he'd accepted that they were never gonna get back together. He had thought it was true, but now he knew that it wasn't.
Hearing her declare her love for Dylan just now, had shown him that he'd been fooling himself. He still loved her. He knew that Kelly didn't love him, not in the way he wanted her to anyway. He'd gotten used to seeing Kelly with other guys, he'd had to, and while he hadn't liked it, he'd accepted it. But this, this was something else; this was Dylan, his friend. Despite himself, Steve was devastated.
"I've gotta get out of here." Brandon announced suddenly, pushing back his chair so violently that it crashed to the floor making everyone jump.
Uncomfortably aware that they were the centre of attention, Andrea placed a placating hand on his arm "Brandon, everybody's looking at you".
"I don't care." Brandon's voice was cold and hard.
"No, but Brenda might" she said reasonably. "Don't you think this is gonna be hard enough on her without the whole school talking? If you make a scene you're just gonna give them a whole lot more to talk about."
For a moment he hesitated, a hint of compassion flickered in his eyes. Andrea thought she'd gotten through to him, but to her dismay he pulled free from her grasp. "Brandon where are you going?" She asked in alarm.
"To get some answers." Brandon replied grimly.
***
Gasping for breath David Silver sprinted down the hallway. Far too late he saw the dark haired girl blocking his path. He tried to dodge sideways, but couldn't avoid barging in to her, sending her books clattering to the floor. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" David shouted over his shoulder, too preoccupied to even think about stopping to help.
He'd been almost at the library when he'd heard Donna and Kelly. He'd reacted instantly, not even pausing to process the information. He had to stop it; he had to stop the broadcast. He cursed, wishing he were faster, if only he'd kept up his summer fitness programme. The longer their argument continued playing to the entire student body, the more damage was being done.
Legs heavy, lungs burning, he rounded the final corner and burst through the doors to the sound booth.
"David!" Donna exclaimed in surprise. "What are you..?"
Her voice trailed away as he pushed past her, diving for the button, and flicked the switch to 'off'. He paused for a moment; eyes closed in relief, and then slowly turned to face Kelly and Donna who were staring at him as if he were a madman.
"David what are you doing? What's going on?" Donna demanded angrily, struggling to comprehend her boyfriend's erratic behaviour.
Fighting to regain his breath, David sucked in several huge lung fulls of air, before finally answering "You were on air Donna, you've been on air for the last five minutes."
"What? No!" Donna's hands flew to her mouth in shock. "No we couldn't have been, I haven't turned the mic on yet." She looked at the offending microphone in disbelief. "The show isn't supposed to start for another five minutes, I didn't turn it on. I know I didn't" she wailed.
"Well someone did because it was on." David insisted.
"No. You're wrong David, you've got it wrong" Donna was adamant, her mind refusing to accept the awful possibility.
David shook his head glumly "I'm not wrong Donna."
Suddenly Donna laughed, taking David by surprise. "Oh you're good David, you really had me there for a moment". She smiled, the relief evident in her face "This is a joke, this is you teasing me about the show again isn't it?" When he didn't respond, her alarm came rushing back. "Please tell me it's a joke David" she begged, clutching his arm in desperation.
David shook his head again "I'm sorry Donna" he said sadly "I wish it was a joke, but it's not".
Finally seeing that he meant it, Donna sank back in her chair in defeat and then was hit by the awful realisation "Oh my God Brenda!" she moaned in dismay. "Do you think she heard it?" Her eyes were wide with fear, tears already threatening.
"Donna the whole school heard it". David said in exasperation, worry causing him to snap more than he intended.
Donna groaned and covered her face with her hands "What are we gonna do?" she asked panic stricken.
As Donna and David's frantic conversation swirled around her, Kelly Taylor sat rigid in shock. She could hear their voices but they seemed very far away, and she couldn't follow what they were saying. She kept telling herself that it wasn't real, that it wasn't happening. This was a terrible nightmare and any second now she was gonna wake up. Desperately she willed herself to wake up, but it was no good, this wasn't a dream it was real. An icy hand closed around her heart and began to squeeze it tight. Brenda knew. The room tilted violently and Kelly closed her eyes fighting nausea. The secret was out and there was no turning back. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. How had it all gone so horribly wrong? Fate had played a cruel trick allowing Brenda to find out this way. She wondered where Brenda was, half expected her to come bursting into the sound booth. Just the thought of Brenda listening to those words made Kelly feel awful, but the thought of the entire school hearing them too was unbearable.
"Is it true?" An angry voice demanded from the door. Kelly's eyes flew open in shock and fear, and she turned to face her interrogator.
"Is it true? Brandon repeated with barely concealed hostility. Taken aback by the anger in his voice and the hatred in his eyes, Kelly could only stare at him mutely.
"Look Brandon, I think you should just calm down" David said reasonably, trying to take the heat out of the situation.
Brandon glared at him "I don't need to calm down, what I need right now is some answers". He advanced on Kelly, ignoring Donna's pleas for him to stop. David moved to block his path but was too slow. Bending down until his face was inches from Kelly's, Brandon glared at her menacingly. Kelly had never seen Brandon like this before, and it frightened her. As she cowered away from him, tears rolled down her cheeks but that didn't abate his anger any.
"Now I'm gonna ask you one more time. Is it true?" Brandon demanded.
"Yes it's true." Dylan responded softly from the open doorway.
Startled Brandon span round to face Dylan. For a brief moment their eyes met, and then Brandon had covered the short distance between them, and swung a brutal left to Dylan's jaw. As Dylan staggered back from the impact of the blow, Brandon threw a heavy jab to his ribs. A further blow to the side of the head and Dylan was on the floor.
Blinded by rage, oblivious to the screams from Donna and Kelly, Brandon failed to notice that Dylan wasn't fighting back, wasn't even trying to defend himself. David, trying to pull Brandon off, received a vicious elbow in the ribs. Doubling over in pain, David dropped to his knees. Gasping in horror, Donna ran to him.
Brandon had stopped thinking, stopped caring, he was acting on pure anger now, reigning down blows on the inert form beneath him. Suddenly a pair of strong arms was pulling Brandon, pulling him backwards. He tried to struggle but to no avail.
"That's enough" Steve Sanders instructed firmly, using his superior strength and weight to drag Brandon off. Placing himself between Brandon and the prone form of Dylan, he squared his shoulders and stood firm. Stopped in his tracks, breathing heavily from his exertions Brandon glowered at Steve.
Arriving just in time to see Brandon and Steve facing off against each other, Andrea was appalled. Her eyes darted around frantically, taking in the full horror of the scene before her. David and Donna were huddled together on the floor. He was obviously in some pain, and Donna looked pale and frightened. Kelly was standing by the door to the sound booth. Her red-rimmed eyes and tear strained cheeks tell tale signs of distress. She was staring in mute horror at something on the floor. In horrid fascination Andrea followed her gaze, and gasped in shock when she saw what Kelly was transfixed by. Lying prone on the floor was the crumpled form of Dylan McKay. His eyes were closed, the left one already swollen and turning a garish purple. His lip was split, and trickling blood, and she realised with sickening clarity, he wasn't moving. Once glance at Brandon's dishevelled clothes and bruised knuckles was enough to tell her what had happened.