Chapter 5:
Andi sighed as she sat down in her seat and pulled out her English book. Everyone the last couple of days had been giving her odd looks, and she knew it was because they'd seen her on the trial coverage. She'd tried so hard to shield her face, but the press had gotten pictures anyway, and everyone in school seemed like they knew her secret. People she'd never spoken two words to were suddenly acting like her best friend, and other people were acting like she carried a disease. She sighed.
The rehearsals for the show were a gift. Three hours a day, alone with him, away from the scathing remarks and odd looks; oh, she really needed those 'breaks'. Ryan knew about her trial, and her past, and he didn't care. He treated her the same as always; with respect and care. The press was everywhere, trying to get pictures of her. They had been warned off the Julliard campus, but Andi knew at least two of them were trying to shadow her movements. So she and Ryan had been having dinner either at his loft, or at her apartment when Rose was out for the evening.
Their relationship had gotten stronger; Andi had no complaints there. Even Candace had been unusually quiet, staying away from Rose and Andi. The other girl ignored them both during the few classes they did have together; after a couple of weeks Andi barely even noticed her presence. Freed from her worries, her dancing had gotten better; she was now on the receiving end of more of Madame's praise than criticism.
And here came Candace, strolling in with her skirt rolled up under her shirt so it was several inches higher than the regulations allowed. Andi could almost see Candace's underclothing under the skirt. It disgusted her.
Behind Candace came the usual string of boys, five this time, panting and drooling at Candace's heels like dogs on a leash. Andi shook her head, and beside her, Rose grinned and made a face. Andi smiled.
Candace saw the face. Pink with anger, she sat down in her chair with more than necessary force, settling into a slump in the chair and frowning. The teacher frowned as she rose from her desk in the front of the room. "Candace Roth," she said. Candace looked up.
"Violation of uniform regulations again, I see," the teacher said tartly. "Another detention. I believe that makes three detentions, Miss Roth, and three detentions mean you're due for a disciplinary hearing in the principal's office. Young lady, don't make that face at me, or I'll make you stand up here making that face to the whole class." Andi turned in her seat to look at Candace, sitting in the back of the classroom with her arms folded and a disagreeable smirk on her face. The other students laughed at the expression, and Andi laughed too; Candace did look funny.
"Now, class, open your books to page two thirty-five; we'll pick up where we left off yesterday in Act three of 'Hamlet'. Rose, please start reading." Rose began to read, and Andi bent her head over her book, never seeing the poisonous glare Candace was giving her back.
After English was Chemistry; Andi hated the class because it was so boring. In fact, a lot of her classes were boring; she had already learned most of this from private tutors at home. As her grades were so good, she was allowed to skip the class to attend rehearsals with Ryan…which was really what she wanted to do anyway.
"Hey," she grinned happily as she breezed into the studio wearing her practice clothes. "How're you doing, Charming?"
Ryan made an annoyed face. "I really hate that."
"But it's cute," Andi grinned. "It suits you. You're my prince Charming."
Ryan's frown melted as he looked up at her. "Oh, all right. How are you, Baby?"
Andi grinned. "Perfect. Wonderful. Candace got called to the principal's office; she was wearing her skirt too high, as usual, and she had those five guys hanging off the end of her skirt like dogs; again, as usual." She looked at his lap. "Sewing slippers?"
Ryan made a face as he pricked his finger on the tiny needle again. "Yeah. I swear, Baby, I don't know how you girls do this. We guys only have the elastic; you've got elastics and ribbons!"
Andi giggled as she took the other slipper from his lap and helped herself to a needle and some thread. "Oh, Ryan. It's not that bad." Since they still had some time before the teacher came in, she applied herself to the strap on his slipper.
Ryan paused a moment, looking at the pretty face bent earnestly over his slipper. It had been a week since he'd spoken to Uncle Jason about Andi's problem with Candace. That was probably why Candace was being called to his office that afternoon. Ryan's mind drifted back to the conversation he'd had with his uncle…
"Andi?" Uncle Jason had raised his eyebrows. "That pretty girl with the long brown hair?"
Ryan nodded vigorously. "Yes. Have you seen her?"
Jason Matthews wiped his hand on the napkin. "Yes, as it so happens, I have. I caught her in the hall the second week of school slapping another girl for pouring glue in a friend's dance bag. The friend is not well off, apparently, and young Andi was furious that a new pair of shoes had been ruined." He took a sip from his glass and looked at Ryan. "You are going out with her?"
Ryan nodded again. Jason ruffled his nephew's hair. "Nice taste, old son," he said affectionately. "She's a wonderful girl. Not like that prissy little piece of baggage she was scrapping with, that Candy something-or-other."
"Well that's what I wanted to talk to you about, Uncle," Ryan said. "Candace isn't leaving Andi alone. Since Andi started sticking up for her friend Rose Candace has transferred her dislike from the other girl to my Baby. And she's using her other friends to persecute her too. I didn't get all the details; Andi is incredibly closemouthed about herself, but Rose told me that Candace caught Andi as she was leaving school after her detention. And Candace had three of her boyfriends with her. She threw all of Andi's books in the mud, then had her goons throw her into the mud too, and rubbed her face and her hair in it. Then she kicked her. I saw Andi's bruise, Uncle; it was this big." He made a circle with his hands and held it up against his side where Andi had her bruise. "I tried a lift, and Andi nearly screamed when my hands touched it. We had to practice around that one particular move until the bruise healed. Uncle, I've never asked you to do this, not for me, but I have to ask, for Andi. Can you look into it, and see if Candace's actions can get her expelled?"
Jason Matthews's eyebrows came together, and he frowned at Ryan. Ryan hastened to explain. "Her actions wouldn't be acceptable in school anyway. If any of the teachers knew about it, she'd have been expelled already for ganging up on Andi and hurting her like that. But Andi wouldn't tell anyone, and no one else is saying anything, even though the whole school knows. I heard Dave and Terry talking about Candace a few days ago. Did you know everyone calls Candace the 'easy girl' of her class? She's gone out with so many guys even Terry's lost count. He says he wouldn't touch Candace with a ten-foot pole. And you know how Terry is; chases after every skirt in the school. But they all know; the 'easy girl' beat up the 'pretty girl', and the 'pretty girl' is too nice to tell on her."
"Ah," Jason sat back. "I had heard something of the like, but no one will tell me who the 'pretty girl' is, and you know what the students are like; they see the principal coming, they clam up. Okay, old son, I'll take a look into it for you."
Ryan was sorely tempted to tell Andi why Candace was called to the principal's office, but restrained himself. He didn't want to ruin her good mood. It was the first time he'd seen her smiling in the week since her parents' trial, and there was little enough for her to smile at these days.
* * *
Jenny shrieked in horror as Candace slammed into their dorm room. "You have to leave? Because you've got too many detentions? Because your behavior's unacceptable? Oh my God!"
Candace hauled her suitcase up on the bed. "I'm going to call my father and have him get me back in," she said confidently. "If he gives a large enough donation to the school they'll have to let me back in. You know why they're doing this, right?" Jenny looked at her with wide eyes and didn't answer. Candace wanted to shake the silly girl. "Because of that stupid Andi Munroe, of course," she said, tossing her long blond hair back over her shoulder. "All the teachers think she's so good, so pure. Well, she's nothing but a dirty little street tramp!" Candace said, slamming her suitcase closed. "I bet she liked all that stuff her parents did to her, the stuff they were talking about at the trial. The horrible girl!" She sat on her bed, fuming. "I'll get back at her. I will!" She bit her lower lip. "But how?"
* * *
Andi sighed and stretched. Finally her report was done! She hit 'print', then as the printer hummed away, she got up and went to the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of orange juice. She was standing in front of the fridge wondering what she was going to make for dinner. Ryan was coming over; she wanted to cook for him tonight. Maybe the chicken stir-fry Ororo had taught her to make, the one Ryan loved. She was reaching for the package when the phone rang.
"Hello, this is Andi," she answered it.
There was some really loud music going in the background. She could just barely make out the words 'Ryan' and 'loft.'
"What?" It didn't sound like Ryan. She put her hand over her ear to block out the sound of the printer and said, "Ryan? Is that you?"
"I'm…brother…Ryan wants…to meet him…here at the loft…he got a call…from NYCB…want him…dance…are you coming?"
Andi tried to figure out what the person was saying. Suddenly it clicked. Ryan had a little brother. He was calling from his cell phone from Ryan's loft, where there was apparently a party going to celebrate Ryan being asked to dance for the NYCB. Andi grinned. He'd been waiting for that for so long. "I'm on my way!" she said into the receiver, and hung up. She yanked her report out of the printer, shut down both the computer and the printer, then scribbled a quick note on a sheet of paper.
Rose: Ryan got asked to join NYCB. There's a party at his loft. I'm going. See you later! Don't wait up for me. Love, Andi.
She taped the note to the computer screen and grabbed her jacket and her keys.
She could hear the music as she got out of the car. There were three other cars here, she noted vaguely as she hurried up the metal steps to the entrance to the upper loft. If she had been less preoccupied, she would have recognized Candace's pink Jeep parked around the corner, but she never saw it.
She opened the door to the loft. "Ryan!" she said. "Ryan, I'm…" her words trailed off as she saw who was there.
Candace switched off the stereo that was blaring her favorite rock music. "Well, well, look who's joined the party," she said with a smile. "Hello, 'Baby'," she said, mocking Ryan's nickname for her.
Andi realized it was a setup, and turned to leave. Candace snapped her fingers, and two men wearing ski masks jumped out from behind the door and grabbed Andi. Andi shrieked, struggling, but they rammed her head against the wall, once, sharply, and Andi went limp.
Candace grinned as she held out a pair of handcuffs. "Strip her and cuff her," she snarled to the guy holding Andi's left arm. He took the handcuffs and locked them around Andi's wrists, pulling them up in front of her. Another man stepped up and tossed a dog chain over an overhanging beam, positioning the hook directly over Andi. The first man lifted her effortlessly, hanging her from the chain like a limp piece of wet laundry, then whipped out a switchblade and started to cut Andi's clothes off. "Not too gently," Candace purred, rubbing herself up against the man. "I don't care if she's cut up some."
When the man finished, Andi was nude, and a trickle of blood along her hip and outer thigh showed where the knife had nicked her skin. Candace stuffed Andi's bra and panties into her mouth as the guys started taking their belts out of their pants; Candace took the one the first guy handed her and smiled sweetly just before she struck Andi's limp body with all her strength.
Andi woke, screaming in agony. Or at least, she would be screaming if her mouth hadn't been filled by her underclothing. Her eyes flew open, and fastened on the blond girl standing in front of her, smiling as she raised the belt again. Andi couldn't see behind her, but the other four men in the loft were readying their belts too. As Candace struck her again, three other belts smashed into Andi's defenseless body from three different angles. Andi gave a muffled scream of pain as welts rose on her shoulders, back, and thighs. Her feet kicked uselessly, trying to find the floor, but they had her trapped, and they knew it. Andi whimpered, in pain from the welts and from her straining shoulders; her eyes begged her captors to let her go, but Candace wasn't about to do that.
When Candace's arm got tired of wielding the belt, she handed it to its owner, who kept hitting Andi with it. Andi was crying now, helpless tears of pain as her body jerked in agony with each impact. She couldn't see it, but on her back and shoulders where the belts had struck more than twice in the same spot her welted skin had broken and she was bleeding. The belts kept descending until Andi hung limp from the chain, exhausted, only jerking once in a while as a belt opened more gashes in her skin. Candace signaled to the guys to stop, then to let Andi down. Andi hit the floor on her side, too exhausted to stand, and cried as circulation returned to her numb, purple fingers. Candace grinned, and cleared the CD's and stereo off the table, and two of the guys dragged Andi's limp body to the table and hauled her up on it. The chain was wrapped around her ankles and then passed under the table, stretching her body securely over it, and the men raised the belts again. Andi whimpered, begging them to let her go with her eyes; she wasn't sure she could live through another beating.
Candace smiled, nodded to the four men, and stepped back as Andi started to scream again.
