Higher Expectations
Chapter 12: Over and Over
"Life is not one damn thing after another, but one damn thing over and over again"- anonymous.
Some changes have gone on since the last chapter, but you won't know until later. Yes, I realize Sophie was gone and Dan took her place for a few weeks, but she is back. You'll find the reason for that later.
*****
one week later
*****
"Scott!" Sophie's voice rang outside the dorm room. It had been a week since they got back from their disaster of a hike and Scott was just now starting to catch up on his sleep. Over sleeping at Horizon, however, was not such a great thing to the counselors and Sophie must have made her way over to the dorm room to wake Scott up for the day.
Scott groaned and sat straight up in bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and jumped out of bed. The start of the Thanksgiving holidays had started and since then, the weather had been far from warm. He shivered, slid some jeans on quickly and grabbed his jacket and put it on. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Scott yelled so Sophie could hear him.
"What took you so long?" Sophie asked as the door to the boy's dorm opened and Scott emerged looking as tired as ever.
"What do you think?" Scott asked. "I don't just wake up fully dressed." Scott rolled his eyes and pushed past Sophie, obviously not in a good mood. Of course Scott hadn't been in a good mood for about a week and a half. Sophie had told Peter about this and Peter understood what Scott was going through.
"He just needs some time to sort all this out. He saw a pretty triggering thing, and it's going to take a while for the three of them to work it out." Sophie remembered Peter telling her after they had gone back to Horizon a day early.
"Scott don't just brush past me like that!" Sophie exclaimed. Scott stopped. "I know you've been going through a hard time this past week, but you can't just get an attitude with anyone you want. I understand wh-"
"No! No you don't understand! Sure, nothing happened to me, but how would you feel if you walked into your girlfriend's sister's tent in the middle of the night because you could hear her crying. How would you feel if you walked in on her and saw.. THAT happening to her?" Scott yelled at Sophie.
"Look, Scott. I know what Dan did to her-"
"Tried to do to her." Scott corrected.
"Yes, that's right, and you stopped him from doing it.. and now he's gone. can you just try and put a smile on? For Shelby? For Jess? Please, Scott?" Sophie asked.
Scott sighed and leaned up against the stairs to the boys dorm. "I guess I can, Soph.. but I don't know how to help Shelby or Jess with this- ah, I don't know what I mean. I just want to help them!" Scott whispered, his eyes going red.
"Just be there for them. That's all you can do. I know this hurts you too, and Scott?" Scott lifted his head up to acknowledge Sophie's presence. "Your dad is on the phone for you. You can take it in Peter's office. He's waiting for you there." Scott winced, but nodded.
They hadn't left each other on good terms, and Scott wasn't sure how to take the phone call, but he forced himself in Peter's office and picked up the telephone.
"I'll just be right out side if you need me, okay man?" Peter said and walked out of his office to give Scott some privacy.
"Hello?" Scott said flatly into the receiver. He could hear a television or something in the background. He also heard breathing and his father finally answered.
"Hello, son." Martin Barringer said through the phone. "It's been a few months since we've talked to each other, and I know we didn't leave each other on such a good note. I wanted to apologize and ask you if you wanted to give coming home another chance... maybe?" Scott couldn't believe his ears.
*Flashback*
"Scott! You're back!" Peter exclaimed minutes after the meteor shower ended. The MORP was about to end and Shelby was still clinging to his arm.
"Yeah. You still have a place for me?" Scott asked, smiling playfully.
"I guess we can make some room." Peter replied patting Scott on the back and giving him one of the famous "Guy hugs" and a pat on the back.
*End Flashback*
"Scott? Are you still there?"
"Uh, yeah.." Scott replied, being jerked out of his memory.
"What do you think?" Martin asked. Scott glared at the phone, though Martin couldn't see it.
"So I'm just supposed to forget about the 'You never said no, not even once!' thing?" Scott asked bluntly. Anger was dripping off his words.
*Flashback*
"So... how long are we not going to talk about it?" Scott asked his father as they sat at Rusty's waiting for their order.
"Well, I don't think this is the right time or place, son." Martin Barringer replied, uneasy about the topic.
"Is there ever going to be a right time or place, Dad?"
"To tell you the truth, it's not something I'm ready to talk about."
"Well then maybe you should be going to Horizon, cause all we do there is talk. We talk about drugs, we talk about depression, we talk about step moms seducing and molesting their step sons!" Scott yelled, now standing.
"Scott, I told you, I don't want to talk about it right now." Martin said, still looking down at the table.
"Well, I do, dad." Scott replied, matter of factly.
"Not here."
"Yeah here. Now!" Scott yelled, getting agitated.
"Would you just-"
"Why didn't you believe me?" Scott asked, frowning.
"It wasn't something I wanted to believe."
"That's great, dad. So make me carry all the water, make me do all the heavy lifting."
"If that's how you want to look at it." Martin replied, not caring anymore.
"How else should I look at it, Dad!?" Scott screamed, now enraged.
"Look at it from my point of view! You're my son!"
"And she was your WIFE!" Scott yelled.
"Yes! She was my wife. And not once did you say no, not ONCE did you have the guts to say no!" Martin yelled at Scott.
"Is that what you're saying? It was my fault?"
"Yes. If you couldn't control yourself, who's fault do you think it was?"
"Hers, dad. Don't you get it? Hers. Not mine, hers!"
*End Flashback*
"Scott, did you hear me?" Martin asked, after getting no reply.
"What?" Scott asked, once again being jerked out of his memories.
"I said that I'm sorry for what I said. You know I didn't mean it. I just want you to come home, Scott. I miss you." Martin repeated.
"No, I don't know that you didn't mean it. You shouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it. You should just go ahead and be lonely. Now maybe you'll know how I felt when you left me home alone with her for weeks at a time while you went off gallivanting with your business friends. You should have been there with me when you still had the chance. I'm not ready to forgive you. Bye, dad." Scott said and hung up the phone.
Peter was standing at the door. "I heard you yelling. I thought maybe-"
"It's okay. I'm okay now." Scott said, brushing past him. Peter didn't believe him for a second.
*****
"How you feeling, Jules?" Daisy asked, watching Juliette sit on her bed. She had been staring at the same point of the wall for about ten minutes straight. She jerked her head and was snapped out of her daze.
"Oh, um. I'm fine." Juliette replied, looking back at the spot of the wall.
"You know I don't believe that for a second." Daisy said. Jules closed her eyes and let herself fall back.
"I just don't know how to take all of this, that's all. For so long, since my real dad left us, I have had two ways of dealing with everything. Throwing up, and cutting. Now I don't have either of those things, and I don't know what to do now!" Juliette exclaimed. Daisy got up off her bed and came to sit with Jules.
"Hey." Daisy said. Juliette looked up. "I know I'm not the best at this kind of thing, but just hear me out. I think all you need to do is talk to people. All you need to do is let it all out. I know that when my father turned to physical abuse and I hit him with that golf club it wasn't the right thing to do, but I let it all out and I felt better afterwards actually. I figure now, after being at Horizon, talking in group and to Peter and Sophie in private, you should be able to get through this pretty easily. A lot better than you could by yourself." Daisy explained, knowing that she had worded that kind of confusingly.
Juliette nodded, "I think I know what you're getting at. Thanks Dais."
"No problem."
*****
"So..." Shelby said to her sister, trying to strike up a conversation.
"What?" Jess asked coldly. This wasn't like her sister.
"I know you had a scare the other night," Shelby said. Jess glared at her sister, "but Scott saved you from it. Nothing happened. It was about to, I won't deny that, but nothing happened, Jess. Dan's gone now.." Jess winced at the name.
"I know. I guess you're right." Jess said sincerely. "I know I shouldn't be sulking around, but it isn't just about him. It's about Walt and the trial too." Jess said Walt with so much hatred that Shelby winced.
"I hear it's almost over. We should get the verdict any day now." Shelby reassured her sister. She had indeed heard that the trial was almost over. Her mother had told her that it looked good. Shelby wasn't sure what good was to her mother anymore. Good that the man that hurt her daughters was about to go to prison, or good that her husband was about to come home.
"It's lasted so long. Two months, Shelby. Can you believe that?" Shelby nodded. "I have never heard of these things lasting that long."
"I think that's a good sign, Jess. It means that there was a lot of discussion and the judge didn't just throw the case out of court. I've heard of a lot of these trials lasting so long, a lot of the time they turn out in favor of the prosecution." Shelby said, what she said was just about true. She wasn't sure about the last part, though, but she wanted to reassure her sister that things might turn out for the best.
Jess looked at her sister skeptically for a second, but Shelby wouldn't lie to her on purpose. Maybe Walt would be thrown in prison, where he belonged, for a long, long time. She smiled at her sister, "You know what? You're right. Let's go get some lunch."
*****
David walked into the boys dorm room for his mid-day shower. Luckily, for him, his limp had faded and it was becoming easier and easier to hide his feelings again. David had never been a touchy feely person, and for him to just burst out in group like he did a few weeks back, it was like jumping from step one to step one hundred.
As he took off his shirt, he noticed one or two bruises on his side that were starting to fade. Other than those bruises, he was starting to look good. Maybe he would be able to walk around in the heat with his shirt off and play basketball like a normal guy for once. Not like it was going to be hot anytime soon, but he was looking forward to sports.
David had always been pretty good at football and basketball. He was called, for the first few days he had went there, "sling shot" for his sling shot of an arm in football. He had shown Scott his skills by throwing the football around with him during last school year when he first arrived back. David wasn't sure about how to deal with Peter, though. He wasn't ready to talk or anything and now that Peter knew that his dad had hurt him, it wasn't going to be easy to get him off his case.
*****
"Hey Scott." Shelby said, walking up to Scott at the docks.
"Hey, Shell." Scott said, looking genuinely happy that Shelby had approached him. "I'm sorry if I haven't been the best boyfriend over the past week." He said. Shelby smiled at him and fell into his arms. She loved how warm and comforting it felt to be with him.
"The verdict should be in soon, that's what Jess is worried about. Not the whole Dan thing." Shelby said, putting a lot of negative emphasis on Dan's name.
"Oh," Scott said pulling Shelby away and holding her in front of him. "How do you feel about that?" He asked. Shelby shrugged. She still wasn't comfortable talking about her feelings like that to anyone.
"I guess I'm a little nervous. I mean, that's normal, right?" Shelby asked Scott. Scott nodded.
"Of course it is." He said. He took Shelby back into his arms and sighed. "Don't worry, things will turn out well." He said. Shelby looked up at him.
"And if they don't?" She asked. Scott smiled at her. He pulled her in for a kiss.
"If they don't.. I'm always here for you."
*****
Well, that turned out kind of long. Haha, I hope you enjoy. I just got the idea for Scott's father to call him and worked with it from there. I tried to incorporate a lot of the other Higher Ground characters. I didn't really have a line for Auggie since he isn't really all the troubled as the others. Well, it doesn't seem like it anyway. I'll try to work him in later. If you have any ideas, though, try and put then in a review or e- mail me at purplehole@hotmail.com
Chapter 12: Over and Over
"Life is not one damn thing after another, but one damn thing over and over again"- anonymous.
Some changes have gone on since the last chapter, but you won't know until later. Yes, I realize Sophie was gone and Dan took her place for a few weeks, but she is back. You'll find the reason for that later.
*****
one week later
*****
"Scott!" Sophie's voice rang outside the dorm room. It had been a week since they got back from their disaster of a hike and Scott was just now starting to catch up on his sleep. Over sleeping at Horizon, however, was not such a great thing to the counselors and Sophie must have made her way over to the dorm room to wake Scott up for the day.
Scott groaned and sat straight up in bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and jumped out of bed. The start of the Thanksgiving holidays had started and since then, the weather had been far from warm. He shivered, slid some jeans on quickly and grabbed his jacket and put it on. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Scott yelled so Sophie could hear him.
"What took you so long?" Sophie asked as the door to the boy's dorm opened and Scott emerged looking as tired as ever.
"What do you think?" Scott asked. "I don't just wake up fully dressed." Scott rolled his eyes and pushed past Sophie, obviously not in a good mood. Of course Scott hadn't been in a good mood for about a week and a half. Sophie had told Peter about this and Peter understood what Scott was going through.
"He just needs some time to sort all this out. He saw a pretty triggering thing, and it's going to take a while for the three of them to work it out." Sophie remembered Peter telling her after they had gone back to Horizon a day early.
"Scott don't just brush past me like that!" Sophie exclaimed. Scott stopped. "I know you've been going through a hard time this past week, but you can't just get an attitude with anyone you want. I understand wh-"
"No! No you don't understand! Sure, nothing happened to me, but how would you feel if you walked into your girlfriend's sister's tent in the middle of the night because you could hear her crying. How would you feel if you walked in on her and saw.. THAT happening to her?" Scott yelled at Sophie.
"Look, Scott. I know what Dan did to her-"
"Tried to do to her." Scott corrected.
"Yes, that's right, and you stopped him from doing it.. and now he's gone. can you just try and put a smile on? For Shelby? For Jess? Please, Scott?" Sophie asked.
Scott sighed and leaned up against the stairs to the boys dorm. "I guess I can, Soph.. but I don't know how to help Shelby or Jess with this- ah, I don't know what I mean. I just want to help them!" Scott whispered, his eyes going red.
"Just be there for them. That's all you can do. I know this hurts you too, and Scott?" Scott lifted his head up to acknowledge Sophie's presence. "Your dad is on the phone for you. You can take it in Peter's office. He's waiting for you there." Scott winced, but nodded.
They hadn't left each other on good terms, and Scott wasn't sure how to take the phone call, but he forced himself in Peter's office and picked up the telephone.
"I'll just be right out side if you need me, okay man?" Peter said and walked out of his office to give Scott some privacy.
"Hello?" Scott said flatly into the receiver. He could hear a television or something in the background. He also heard breathing and his father finally answered.
"Hello, son." Martin Barringer said through the phone. "It's been a few months since we've talked to each other, and I know we didn't leave each other on such a good note. I wanted to apologize and ask you if you wanted to give coming home another chance... maybe?" Scott couldn't believe his ears.
*Flashback*
"Scott! You're back!" Peter exclaimed minutes after the meteor shower ended. The MORP was about to end and Shelby was still clinging to his arm.
"Yeah. You still have a place for me?" Scott asked, smiling playfully.
"I guess we can make some room." Peter replied patting Scott on the back and giving him one of the famous "Guy hugs" and a pat on the back.
*End Flashback*
"Scott? Are you still there?"
"Uh, yeah.." Scott replied, being jerked out of his memory.
"What do you think?" Martin asked. Scott glared at the phone, though Martin couldn't see it.
"So I'm just supposed to forget about the 'You never said no, not even once!' thing?" Scott asked bluntly. Anger was dripping off his words.
*Flashback*
"So... how long are we not going to talk about it?" Scott asked his father as they sat at Rusty's waiting for their order.
"Well, I don't think this is the right time or place, son." Martin Barringer replied, uneasy about the topic.
"Is there ever going to be a right time or place, Dad?"
"To tell you the truth, it's not something I'm ready to talk about."
"Well then maybe you should be going to Horizon, cause all we do there is talk. We talk about drugs, we talk about depression, we talk about step moms seducing and molesting their step sons!" Scott yelled, now standing.
"Scott, I told you, I don't want to talk about it right now." Martin said, still looking down at the table.
"Well, I do, dad." Scott replied, matter of factly.
"Not here."
"Yeah here. Now!" Scott yelled, getting agitated.
"Would you just-"
"Why didn't you believe me?" Scott asked, frowning.
"It wasn't something I wanted to believe."
"That's great, dad. So make me carry all the water, make me do all the heavy lifting."
"If that's how you want to look at it." Martin replied, not caring anymore.
"How else should I look at it, Dad!?" Scott screamed, now enraged.
"Look at it from my point of view! You're my son!"
"And she was your WIFE!" Scott yelled.
"Yes! She was my wife. And not once did you say no, not ONCE did you have the guts to say no!" Martin yelled at Scott.
"Is that what you're saying? It was my fault?"
"Yes. If you couldn't control yourself, who's fault do you think it was?"
"Hers, dad. Don't you get it? Hers. Not mine, hers!"
*End Flashback*
"Scott, did you hear me?" Martin asked, after getting no reply.
"What?" Scott asked, once again being jerked out of his memories.
"I said that I'm sorry for what I said. You know I didn't mean it. I just want you to come home, Scott. I miss you." Martin repeated.
"No, I don't know that you didn't mean it. You shouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it. You should just go ahead and be lonely. Now maybe you'll know how I felt when you left me home alone with her for weeks at a time while you went off gallivanting with your business friends. You should have been there with me when you still had the chance. I'm not ready to forgive you. Bye, dad." Scott said and hung up the phone.
Peter was standing at the door. "I heard you yelling. I thought maybe-"
"It's okay. I'm okay now." Scott said, brushing past him. Peter didn't believe him for a second.
*****
"How you feeling, Jules?" Daisy asked, watching Juliette sit on her bed. She had been staring at the same point of the wall for about ten minutes straight. She jerked her head and was snapped out of her daze.
"Oh, um. I'm fine." Juliette replied, looking back at the spot of the wall.
"You know I don't believe that for a second." Daisy said. Jules closed her eyes and let herself fall back.
"I just don't know how to take all of this, that's all. For so long, since my real dad left us, I have had two ways of dealing with everything. Throwing up, and cutting. Now I don't have either of those things, and I don't know what to do now!" Juliette exclaimed. Daisy got up off her bed and came to sit with Jules.
"Hey." Daisy said. Juliette looked up. "I know I'm not the best at this kind of thing, but just hear me out. I think all you need to do is talk to people. All you need to do is let it all out. I know that when my father turned to physical abuse and I hit him with that golf club it wasn't the right thing to do, but I let it all out and I felt better afterwards actually. I figure now, after being at Horizon, talking in group and to Peter and Sophie in private, you should be able to get through this pretty easily. A lot better than you could by yourself." Daisy explained, knowing that she had worded that kind of confusingly.
Juliette nodded, "I think I know what you're getting at. Thanks Dais."
"No problem."
*****
"So..." Shelby said to her sister, trying to strike up a conversation.
"What?" Jess asked coldly. This wasn't like her sister.
"I know you had a scare the other night," Shelby said. Jess glared at her sister, "but Scott saved you from it. Nothing happened. It was about to, I won't deny that, but nothing happened, Jess. Dan's gone now.." Jess winced at the name.
"I know. I guess you're right." Jess said sincerely. "I know I shouldn't be sulking around, but it isn't just about him. It's about Walt and the trial too." Jess said Walt with so much hatred that Shelby winced.
"I hear it's almost over. We should get the verdict any day now." Shelby reassured her sister. She had indeed heard that the trial was almost over. Her mother had told her that it looked good. Shelby wasn't sure what good was to her mother anymore. Good that the man that hurt her daughters was about to go to prison, or good that her husband was about to come home.
"It's lasted so long. Two months, Shelby. Can you believe that?" Shelby nodded. "I have never heard of these things lasting that long."
"I think that's a good sign, Jess. It means that there was a lot of discussion and the judge didn't just throw the case out of court. I've heard of a lot of these trials lasting so long, a lot of the time they turn out in favor of the prosecution." Shelby said, what she said was just about true. She wasn't sure about the last part, though, but she wanted to reassure her sister that things might turn out for the best.
Jess looked at her sister skeptically for a second, but Shelby wouldn't lie to her on purpose. Maybe Walt would be thrown in prison, where he belonged, for a long, long time. She smiled at her sister, "You know what? You're right. Let's go get some lunch."
*****
David walked into the boys dorm room for his mid-day shower. Luckily, for him, his limp had faded and it was becoming easier and easier to hide his feelings again. David had never been a touchy feely person, and for him to just burst out in group like he did a few weeks back, it was like jumping from step one to step one hundred.
As he took off his shirt, he noticed one or two bruises on his side that were starting to fade. Other than those bruises, he was starting to look good. Maybe he would be able to walk around in the heat with his shirt off and play basketball like a normal guy for once. Not like it was going to be hot anytime soon, but he was looking forward to sports.
David had always been pretty good at football and basketball. He was called, for the first few days he had went there, "sling shot" for his sling shot of an arm in football. He had shown Scott his skills by throwing the football around with him during last school year when he first arrived back. David wasn't sure about how to deal with Peter, though. He wasn't ready to talk or anything and now that Peter knew that his dad had hurt him, it wasn't going to be easy to get him off his case.
*****
"Hey Scott." Shelby said, walking up to Scott at the docks.
"Hey, Shell." Scott said, looking genuinely happy that Shelby had approached him. "I'm sorry if I haven't been the best boyfriend over the past week." He said. Shelby smiled at him and fell into his arms. She loved how warm and comforting it felt to be with him.
"The verdict should be in soon, that's what Jess is worried about. Not the whole Dan thing." Shelby said, putting a lot of negative emphasis on Dan's name.
"Oh," Scott said pulling Shelby away and holding her in front of him. "How do you feel about that?" He asked. Shelby shrugged. She still wasn't comfortable talking about her feelings like that to anyone.
"I guess I'm a little nervous. I mean, that's normal, right?" Shelby asked Scott. Scott nodded.
"Of course it is." He said. He took Shelby back into his arms and sighed. "Don't worry, things will turn out well." He said. Shelby looked up at him.
"And if they don't?" She asked. Scott smiled at her. He pulled her in for a kiss.
"If they don't.. I'm always here for you."
*****
Well, that turned out kind of long. Haha, I hope you enjoy. I just got the idea for Scott's father to call him and worked with it from there. I tried to incorporate a lot of the other Higher Ground characters. I didn't really have a line for Auggie since he isn't really all the troubled as the others. Well, it doesn't seem like it anyway. I'll try to work him in later. If you have any ideas, though, try and put then in a review or e- mail me at purplehole@hotmail.com