--Chapter 9--It'll Be Okay--

As soon as Jeff recovered from the blows, Robbie was gone. He glanced over to see Nicole trying to get up. She was small, but she was tough. He ran over to her.

"Nicole, are you okay?" he asked sympathetically.

"I'll be fine." she said, rubbing her cheek, which, by the way, you could tell was bruised, even in the darkness of the night. "What about you?"

"I'm fine." he said.

"Your eye is red, it's going to bruise. You need to do something about that." she said.

"Let's just get you out of here first." he said, helping her to his car.

They drove in complete silence, until they pulled into Jeff's driveway.

"Nobody's home. I'll take care of you here, I don't want your mom questioning you right now." he said, getting her out of the car.

"Thanks."

They got into the house as Jeff went into the kitchen to clean off her wounds.

"Jeff, we can't tell anyone." Nicole said.

"Nicole. You have to. This guy is just going to come back." he said.

"No. He won't. He was just mad, it's fine." she said.

"He hasn't done this before, has he?" Jeff asked in a concerned tone.

"Well, he did once, well twice, but they were both totally my fault." she said, trying to put the blame on herself.

"Bullshit. No guy has the right to hit a girl. I don't care what anyone says." Jeff said, placing the cloth on her cheek, making her cringe.

"Ouch. That stings." she complained.

"No kidding. Keep it on there, it'll help the swelling." he said, placing one on his face, also. "Nicole, you seriously have to tell somebody."

"No. Jeff, please. Don't tell anyone either. I'd never ask you for anything else. I know we just met, but please." she begged.

He looked into her eyes, and seeing the fear and hurt, he agreed. "If it happens again, we have to tell someone."

"Okay." she lied. "Now, I fell out of the car and hit my cheek on the door. You got into a fight with...um...Josh." she said. Jeff rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Okay. It's 10:57, I'll take you home now." he said.

"Okay." she agreed.

Nicole gave Jeff a quick kiss and thanked him, mostly for sticking up for her and not telling anyone. She ran inside and explained to her mom the lie she made up. Her mom bought it. Sue said she'd go to the store to get her something to put on it, and a few groceries as well. She told Nicole she'd be gone about an hour and a half.

Nicole walked up the stairs and sighed, "It'll be okay." she told herself. Boy, was she wrong.