Chapter 8: Forgiving, Forgetting and Finding Out
By: iluvguygermaine00 & Cimmy

Emily: Eh, we hope this chapter was quick enough; we'd hate it if we had to fight off Portman. Well, maybe not. Fred's being a bit of a jerk, but he'll come around. Hopefully.
FlatOutCrazy: So, you're officially the new mind-reader. Seriously, you completely unveiled the plot. Hmmm, you deserve a prize for that, but you'll just get this update.
Chelsea: Don't you worry; Portman will also come around eventually. And thank you for your awesome reviews! Please stay tuned, there will be some more commotion soon.

Luis's point of view
By: Cimmy

There is no sun when I crawl out from the tent this morning. Earlier I heard raindrops hit the fabric, making those drum noises that are really annoying at 5.00 am in the morning. Ken is still sleeping; he was out late partying with his new crush. Some of the others went with them, so I don't expect anyone to be up to join me for breakfast.

There was some commotion here last night as well. Drama, ah, who could live without it? Fulton announced that Portman had some girl in his tent, he'd heard them talk or something. But when he questioned Portman about it, Portman refused to say who it was. He's usually bragging like crazy when he's been with a girl. I guess he struck out, ha!

Speaking of the Devil. Portman shows up from the bathroom, but pretends that he doesn't see me. I sigh. What did I do? He stops when he's almost at the tent, turns around and walks back.

"I guess you're here to torture me with your questions," he snaps. I haven't even said anything! What the hell is wrong with him today? "Well, I'm tired of being gossiped about. Just say what you have to say, and let's get back to our lives!"

"Eh, good morning?" I try, raising my eyebrows. "How are you today?"

"Very funny," he mutters.

I begin to walk towards the canteen, and he follows me. "Okay, since you're dying to tell me; what were you up to last night?" I finally ask.

Portman throws his hands into the air, moaning. "I knew you were going to ask!"

"We all know about the girl," I explain, slightly smiling. "Was it one of those chicks from the tent next to us?"

"What girl?" he asks, sounding horrified. "What are you talking about?" He looks panicked, so I try to make things better by staying away from the subject of his nightly adventures.

"Wanna grab something to eat?" I say.

"What girl?!" he howls, completely hysterical.

"I don't know! Some girl, I don't know who she was!" I shriek back. He's making me nervous. "Shouldn't you at least know who she was? I was just trying to have a conversation with you!"

"She was just some girl," he mumbles. "How did you know that she was there?"

"Well, you weren't exactly quiet. Fulton went back to get some money, but he heard that you were occupied with something important in the tent, so he just came back and told us about it."

"You heard us?" Portman exclaims, his face turning bright red. I've never seen him blush before, and it's very entertaining. I nod, trying to disguise my amusement. "Eh, you know, it wasn't like that..."

"Hey, I wasn't there, I don't know what Fulton heard. I just assume that it was the usual noises. You know, you make sounds when you have sex. But she was being quite loud, Fulton said," I chuckle. He just stares into the ground for a moment.

Suddenly he grabs my arm. "Luis? What if I did something really wrong and I was really regretful about it. Would you forgive me?" he wonders, sounding awfully serious for being Portman.

"I suppose so," I reply. "Depends on what you did."

"If I slept with someone I shouldn't have slept with, just to prove a point and get revenge?" he continues, still with his questioning voice.

I shrug. "That's not a very nice thing to do to a girl. But I guess I don't really have a problem with it. Unless it's someone I care about, but I assume it's not?"

"No," he mumbles. "No, you don't know her. I was just asking. Don't tell the others."

Jeez, people just keep confiding in me during this vacation, don't they? First Catalina and now Portman. I guess it's because I'm not all that into gossiping. I'm delighted that people entrusts me with things.

"Sure thing," I smile. He walks back to the tents, and I take up the hunt of that breakfast.

Breakfast has to wait several more minutes, because I find Catalina along the way. She's standing over by one of the water hoses, splashing water into her face. I decide to go see if she's okay. She had a really bad day yesterday, and she was still sad when I left her to go see the Bad Cash Quartet.

"Hey, what are you doing up?" I ask her. She jerks her head up, startled by my question. I give her a look of concern. She doesn't look too happy. Actually, she looks like hell.

Catalina takes one step back, trips over a rock and almost falls into a tree. I hurry up to her to catch her before she falls. "Watch it," I tell her, helping her get her balance back.

"Get off me!" she shouts, pushing me away. People are awfully grumpy this morning.

I try to get her to calm down. "Take it easy, will you? I was trying to help you. Did something happen to you? Why aren't you in your tent, sleeping?" Catalina looks upset by my question, her hands are shaking. Now I'm beginning to get worried. What's happened to her?

"I don't really have a place to go anymore, since Fred's in our tent and everyone else just doesn't give a damn!" she howls, shaking even more.

"Catalina, come one! Tell me what's wrong! You can trust me, I'll help you out! Just tell me, and I'll do whatever it takes," I beg her. She's my friend, and if she feels bad, I should try to comfort her the best I can. I'd do that to anyone of my friends if they were in trouble.

There is a long silence between us. I leave her alone, I figure she needs space. Then she breaks down and cries, so I pull her into my arms to soothe her. At first she tries to shove me away again, but then she surrenders and puts her head against my shoulder. She's sobbing violently, her hands resting on my arms. I notice how tiny she is, crawled up in my embrace like this. She's this tiny little girl, shaking in my arms, crying like the world has just ended.

"Oh, Luis," Catalina whispers. "I can't tell you. You'd hate me. I just know that you'd loathe me forever."

This makes me upset. Nothing could ever make me hate my friends! "No, I won't hate you! It's not that bad," I promise her, stroking her back with my hand. "If you tell me, I promise that I'll do anything to help out."

"You would?" she sniffles, still gasping for air. She grabs my sweater with her fingers, holding on real tight. I look at her hands, and they're still shaking.

More rain comes pouring down over us, and I lead her towards one of the shelters. I pick her up and place her on the counter of a closed ticket booth. Catalina is still clutching on to me, her arms around my neck. We stay like that for a long time, Catalina sobbing into my shoulder while I'm just hugging her to give her comfort.

"Please," I say. "Tell me how I can make this better." I wipe away the tears from her eyes, while she's pulling herself together long enough to stop shaking.

"You know how I told you about Fred and Connie? I saw them kiss yesterday, and I don't think I handled it all that well," she says with a low voice, swallowing hard. "I got drunk."

"You're allowed to get drunk under these circumstances," I explain. "Did they really kiss? Right in front of you?"

"No, they didn't know I was there."

"Don't be upset because of that! It'll work out fine, I promise. He's just stupid for letting you go. He'll come around."

"Not when he finds out what I did," she whispers, her voice trembling. "No one's ever going to want me now. I did something horrible."

When she starts to cry again, I sigh. "Catalina, just tell me!"

"I slept with someone else last night. And I can't stand myself. I hate me. I get sick just thinking about it. I feel like the lowest human being right now, and I just want to kill myself."

Okay, this was far more serious than I first thought. I just figured she was depressed about the breakup, I never expected something like this. I always thought of Catalina as this reasonable girl, one of those girls who always knows how to stay away from trouble. And now she throws this at me? "Who was it?" I want to know, feeling anger towards the person who'd take advantage on someone like this. She's just a young, helpless girl, for God's sake!

Catalina shakes her head. "Doesn't matter. It was all my fault anyway."

Now I get even angrier. "Of course not!" I raise my voice. "Don't you ever think that! Did he hurt you? He didn't... rape you, did he?" The word gets stuck in my throat, and I don't know if I can handle her answer.

"No," she sniffles. "But thanks for being concerned about me. I don't think I'd tell anyone but you about this."

"You can always talk to me," I say, giving her another hug. "Do you want me to talk to him? Do you need to talk about what happened?"

"No, I don't feel like it," she murmurs. "I'm just going to do this by myself. I don't want you to feel obligated..."

I put my hand on her arm. "It won't be because I have to. I want to help you out. You can't do this on your own. I'll help you. Was it just some stranger?"

"What do you take me for?" she shouts. "Of course not."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to know if it meant something. Did it?"

Catalina shrugs, jumping down on the ground again. "At one point, I think it meant something. But then it just became too scary."

"Did he hurt you?" I repeat.

She seems reluctant to answer at once. "You won't tell anyone, right?"

"No, I promise. Catalina, did he hurt you?"

"Yeah, I guess he did," she mumbles. "But not on purpose. I'm just... I've only been with Fred before. And he used to be really careful. With this guy, I'm not even sure if we used protection. I have no idea what he did to me. I just know that I ended up at a strange place, with a hangover, my body aching."

I close my eyes and try not to find the whole situation too unpleasant. But I can't help it. Who would do such a terrible thing? "Who was it?"

"Don't be mad at me."

"I'm not being mad at you. If you tell me, I could talk to him; try to get him to apologize." Or beat him up. Whatever suits the situation best.

She slowly opens her mouth, looking scared and nervous. "He didn't do anything wrong. He just slept with me. Please don't hate him."

It's someone I know.

"Catalina..."

"It was Portman."

I clench my fists in pure anger. I can't think straight. That bastard, trying to talk me into forgiving him for doing such a horrible thing to one of our friends!

Before Catalina has the chance to stop me, I run off to find him. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind, and it won't be nice. Just as long as the others won't know about this. I promised to keep it a secret, and I can't break a promise like that. But what I CAN do is try to solve this problem.

Preferably by punching Portman for being such an inconsiderate jerk. I hope he won't hit back, though.

Julie's POV
By: iluvguygermaine00

This spring break is great! I don't care if anyone else is having fun right now, 'cause I'm having a blast!

Mark, yea he's great. He got us, the Ducks, backstage passes and they are fabulous! I'm using mine today, and I'm leaving soon, and nobody can stop me!

Sharing a tent with Connie ain't that bad either. I was sort of disappointed, because Samantha promised that we could "tent" together. But, being the nice girl she is, and for the sake of everyone else, she switched with Connie. But we only share it at night, obviously, and we're sleeping, so it's really not that big of a deal. Besides, Connie is like one of my best friend.

It's like 10 in the morning now and I'm ready to go. "I'm leaving!" I scream, waking some people up and making the people who are awake jump.

"Julie, wait a little while." Charlie says.

"Noo." I groan.

"Yes! Not everyone is up yet."

"I always have to wait!" I pout.

"You'll live, honey."

"Don't call me that!"

Charlie just sticks out his tongue.

5 minutes later…

"I'm leaving and no one can stop me!" I scream.

"Julie, stop and shut-up! You're going to wake everyone else up!" Charlie scolds.

"Good! Then we can leave!" Boy, I'm sounding awfully selfish. Aw, screw it. It's for Mark!

"Julie, be reasonable! It's like 10 in the morning! Give the others about an hour; some of them are just off getting breakfast."

"But that's no fair! I always have to wait!" I whine again.

"You'll live! We're here to stay together. I'm in charge and I don't want us getting split up." Charlie says as I mock him.

"But yesterday Fred and Connie and Catalina and Port---."

"But yesterday, nothing. I'm making new rules that are in effect as of today. We all stick together, I can't lose any of you, Bombay would kill me!"

"Yea, yea, yea." I groan. "Maybe it would be better if he did." I mumble.

"What?"

"Uh, maybe it would be better if I was fed." I try to cover up.

"Yea, whatever. Don't leave. Stay here. I'll go get you food. …Oh, look there's Portman; he can keep an eye on you. Hey Portman!" Charlie calls.

Portman just looks up.

"Make sure Julie doesn't run away. She can't leave the table, kay?"

"Yup." He groans.

"Once again, no fair!"

"Life ain't fair, honey." Portman says.

"Would everyone stop calling me that!"

"Fine, just don't move or I'll have to sit on you."

"You most definitely will not!" I shrieked.

"Don't tempt me." Portman growled.

"Touchy."

Portman glared and started to get up.

"I'm sorry! I'll stop!" I screamed. Imagine if he sat on me…it'd be bye-bye Julie, hello pancake!

Connie's point of view
By: Cimmy

I stand with Fred in the food line, waiting for breakfast. Again. It feels like an eternity passed by since I stood here the last time, but it's only been 24 hours.

"So..." I mumble, looking very intensely at a fork.

"So," Fred repeats, looking around. None of us continues our trail of thoughts, so silence reigns again. Then he turns to grab a soda from the shelf, giving me a quick glimpse. "I had a nice time yesterday."

My face clearly shows that I'm thrilled about this announcement. We did have a really nice time yesterday, away from the others. But nothing too interesting happened between us, except for some really passionate kisses. I would've definitely liked it if we went even further, but Fred was sort of edgy yesterday.

We almost ended up with more than just making out, but Fred said that we should grab something to eat instead, taking things slowly. I guess he feels bad about Catalina. I feel bad too, but in different proportions. I like Fred too much, and I wouldn't think twice about sleeping with him again. But he's not as interested anymore, and I feel a huge rejection coming my way.

"I did too," I whisper, letting him pay for my food. Also again. He's such a gentleman. Unlike someone else who refused to pay for anything. But I won't mention names. "You wanna... You wanna do something today?"

Fred seems to ponder, he does that a lot obviously, and then he nods. "Yeah, that'd be nice. Look, Connie..."

"You don't have to say anything," I sigh, knowing what to come. "If you want to go back to Catalina, I totally understand."

"No, of course not!" he exclaims. "I was going to say that I'm sorry for yesterday. I know I was being a bit weird, so I'm going to act less strange today."

We walk over to one of the tables, doing our best to avoid our friends. I'm just about to ask what he wants to do when he looks at something behind my back. Before I have time to ask, he stands up. Luis comes bursting past our table, looking upset and angry. Fred opens his mouth to say something, but Luis just ignores him, moving towards the tents.

Suddenly Catalina comes running after him, in tears. Fred grabs her arm before she has time to disappear. "Catalina? What's happened?"

"Don't touch me!" she bellows, pushing him away.

"Why are you crying? Are you okay?"

Catalina gives him a horrified glare, and then she snorts loudly, turning her stare towards me. "Leave me alone!"

Fred watches while she tries to catch up with Luis. I have to ask. "Do you think she knows?"

"I don't think so. Who would've told her? Nobody knows," Fred says, sitting down again. "Sorry about that."

My conscious strikes again. Catalina has been my friend for a couple of years now, and I should worry about her being okay. I hope Luis hasn't done anything to her. But why would she follow him if that was the case? I decide to turn my thoughts back to Fred again.

"I'm not really that hungry," I explain to Fred after a while. He sighs, nodding in agreement. "We could go and join the others; Charlie said that we should stay together today."

No more make-out sessions, that is.

Fred leans closer and kisses me; his lips are soft and have a taste of chocolate, after that candy bar he just finished. "I'll think of something," he murmurs. He has the most affectionate eyes I've ever seen. Maybe he really does like me? I hope he does.

We walk back to the tents and are met by a bunch of people wearing those jackets, showing that they work at the festival area. A young girl, in our age maybe, comes running up to us. "Be careful when you spread to love," she beams at Fred, handing him a condom.

"Why are you handing out these?" I question.

"Oh, we're handing out these to everyone on the area, to keep people from having unprotected sex. We're very responsible," the girl smiles. "You look like a nice couple. Have fun!"

I blush, I don't know why. Fred snickers, and I already know that he's blushing too. Much less embarrassing things makes him blush, but it's cute. Then he grabs my hand and drags me along back to the tents. "She read my mind," he says to me, and I stop doubting about how he feels about me.