Chapter 15: It's Good To Let It Out

A/N: Hey guys! Just to let you know, I fixed the part in the story that says Paige is with Spinner (Chapter 3). It now says: Paige used to be with Spinner but now she's with some older guy (aka Mr. Oleander).

As soon as Manny heard the doorbell ring, she ran upstairs to let Chris in. She was surprised to see Chris' parents there with him. Heather was standing behind her. "We called them and told them to come. After you tell Chris, they should know," she whispered in her ear. Heather brought Chris' parents into the living room. Manny grabbed Chris by the arm and dragged him all the way to her room. They sat down on her couch.

"I really have to tell you something. It's hard for me to say, and you can't get mad," she told him. "Promise me you won't hate me."

"Manny, I could never hate you. I love you too much for anything to come between us. I'm getting a little worried though," he replied.

"Chris…I'm pregnant," she whispered, tears filling her eyes. Just by looking at his face, Manny could tell that he didn't know what to say. After a few minutes, he finally spoke.

"But we used a…" he started to say when she interrupted.

"You might not be the father," she said, very softly. Now Chris was really upset. Manny saw a tear fall down his cheek.

"How could you do this to me?" he asked quietly.

"I didn't do anything to you Chris. I love you just as much as you love me. I would never want to hurt you and you know that."

"So what are you gonna tell me now, someone raped you or something?" he asked, angrily. Manny could not believe what he just said. She couldn't even reply, but she burst into tears and turned away from him. She got up and lay down on her bed, her back to Chris.

"Manny…" Chris whispered, making his way to her bed. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Did someone rape you?" He sat down on the bed in front of her. She didn't say anything but simply nodded her head in reply. "Who did this to you? I'll kill him!" he started to yell.

"Chris, don't scream like that. I don't want anyone to hear you." She was still crying, but felt a little better since Chris wasn't mad at her at the moment. Manny sat up and threw her arms around him. He hugged her back and they were silent for a few minutes. They were both crying.

"It happened that day after school. The day I stayed after to help JT," she finally began. Manny told Chris the entire story, from the time she left the library, to the moment she got away from Craig and ran home. By the time she was finished, Chris was furious, and he was ready to kill Mr. Oleander and Craig.

"I want to tell you one thing Manny. No matter what happens, I'm always gonna be here for you. Even if this baby is not mine," he said, putting his hand to Manny's stomach. "I want to be the baby's father, no matter what any blood test says."

"Oh Chris, I love you so much. You know that, don't you?" she asked him.

"Of course I do. I love you too. But I think we need to tell our parents now. They need to know the whole truth," he said.

"Yeah, I guess we have to. But first I want to call Emma and her parents. I think they should be here too. I really don't want to have to tell this story over and over again," Manny said as she picked up the phone. She called Emma and explained that she had to tell everyone something important. Emma informed Manny that they would be over in a half hour, after they ate dinner.

"Manny! Chris! Dinner's ready!" Jason called down from upstairs. "Come and eat!" Chris and Manny went upstairs to eat. Everyone ate dinner in peace, making small talk. While Manny helped Heather clean up, she mentioned that Emma, Spike, and Snake would be coming over to hear the news. Right after she finished telling her, the doorbell rang.

Once the children were all put to bed and everyone was situated on couches or chairs in the living room, Manny asked them if they could all listen, that she and Chris had something to tell them. "As some of you know, I went to a doctor's appointment at 12:30 this afternoon. I had some blood work done. About four hours later, Dr. Murray called me back to tell me the results. I found out that I am pregnant," she told them.

Chris' parents were very shocked and did not say a word. Chris began to rub Manny's back, comforting her. Spike, Snake, and Emma could not say anything either. Heather and Jason already knew of course. "That's not the worst of the news," Manny confessed. "There is a big chance that Chris is not the father," she said and burst into tears. This time, even Heather and Jason did not know what to do. They had not been told about this.

"How could you do this Manuela?" Mrs. Hawkins yelled at her.

"Just how many boys have you slept with?" Mr. Hawkins yelled.

At this time, everyone began talking at once. Heather and Jason were both angry with Manny for not telling them, and angry with Chris' parents for yelling at her. Spike was trying to comfort Manny over all the noise because she knew exactly how it felt to be pregnant and alone. It wasn't working. Emma tried to get to Manny, but all the parents were in each other's faces, and she couldn't even make it across the room.

Quinn heard the commotion from her crib and began to cry. Manny was the only one to hear her. Desperate to get away from everything, Manny ran upstairs and picked Quinn up, rocking her back and forth. She sat down in the rocking chair with her and cried. Quinn, welcoming the company, stopped crying and simply looked up at Manny. No one had even noticed that Manny had left room.

All of a sudden, Chris began to yell above the noise. "That's enough!" he yelled. To his surprise, everyone stopped what they were doing. "Sit down!" he commanded, and everyone sat. "I'm really disappointed in all of you. I can't even tell who the adults in this room are. Mom and Dad, I really thought you would listen to the entire story before shouting accusations!" he finished.

"Where's Manny?" Emma asked, being the first one to notice Manny's absence.

"I don't know, but I'm not surprised that she left. You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. None of this is Manny's fault," he said.

"Then whose fault is it Chris?" Snake asked suspiciously.

"Manny was raped," he stated. When he said this, there was complete silence. Not a single person talked or even moved.

"What?" Emma finally asked.

"It was that day she helped JT after school. Mr. Oleander asked her to put away books. He locked her in and he raped her. Then he let Craig in and Craig raped her too," he blurted it all out. "That's why she doesn't know who the father is."

"We had no idea," Jason stated, in shock. "She didn't even tell us."

"That's why she stayed home for the rest of that week," Heather added.

"I don't believe this. Why didn't she tell anyone?" Emma asked.

"I have no idea. I just found out right before dinner," Chris replied.

"She obviously didn't tell anyone because she was scared to. This has got to be so traumatic for her," Spike stated.

Meanwhile, back upstairs, Quinn had fallen back asleep and Manny put her into the crib. She could tell that the noise had stopped. She knew Chris must have told everyone what happened. She decided to go back downstairs and face this once and for all.

Everyone heard Manny coming down the stairs, and they all just stayed where they were and stared. Once she made it into the living room doorway, Chris hurried over to her and hugged her. She began to cry again, and everyone was crying with her. Chris held on tight, as if he would never let go.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­


The next day, Chris, Manny, and Emma all went to school as if nothing had happened. They acted as if it were just a normal Wednesday at DCS. They were all tired because everyone stayed at the Daniels' house until almost 12am. They all talked calmly about the entire situation and what they were going to do about it.

Paige ran up to Mr. Oleander the moment she saw him at school. "Matt, I need to talk to you," she said as she approached him.

"What is it Paige? We're not supposed to even talk at school, you know that," he whispered.

"I…well…I kinda met someone else. Well, it's not like that, I just like someone, and this relationship is not good for either of us," she quickly explained. She could tell that he was getting angry. Instead of responding right away, Matt grabbed Paige's arms and shoved her against the lockers.

"You are not leaving me Paige. I won't let you!" He was too busy being angry that he didn't notice the people coming up behind him.

"Matthew Oleander, you are under arrest for the rape of Manuela Santos," the police officer said. "Get your hands off of this student before any further charges are added." Mr. Oleander loosened his grip on Paige's arms and turned around to face the officer.

"Officer Perez, is it? I don't know what you are talking about," he lied. Officer Perez turned Mr. O around and slapped handcuffs on him. He led him away to the cruiser that was parked in front of the school. Paige didn't understand what was going on. She was crying, and bruises were forming where her former boyfriend grabbed her.

"Are you okay?" The other officer, a woman, asked Paige.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He just scared me a little," she said.

"Well, I don't know what he was doing with you just now, but it didn't look too good. You'd better stay away from him from now on. From the sound of things, he's not too friendly," she warned Paige.

"Don't worry, I don't want anything to do with him," she reassured the officer, and she meant it. She hurried away, eager to find Manny and see if it was all true.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­


Manny, Emma, and Chris were at their lockers, getting everything they needed for class, and putting away what they didn't need. Craig walked up to the lockers. "Emma, why did you break up with me?" he asked. He was very upset. "I heard it, on the radio. How could you do that to me?" He looked at Manny as if he just noticed her standing there. When Emma didn't say anything to Craig, he moved closer to Manny.

All of a sudden, he grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the lockers. "You did this to me! You took Emma away from me! I thought I already taught you a lesson!" he yelled in her face. Manny began to cry and Emma started screaming at him.

"Craig! Stop it! Leave her alone!" she yelled at her ex-boyfriend. Craig didn't listen. He slammed Manny against the lockers one more time and threw her to the ground. Manny screamed as she fell. She sat up and held onto her stomach, trying to protect her baby.

"Craig!" Chris yelled from behind him. Craig turned around just in time to get a face-full of Chris' fist. Chris punched him one more time and twisted Craig's arm behind his back, shoving Craig face-first into the lockers. "She's pregnant you asshole," he said to Craig. "And I swear, if that baby's yours, I'm going to kill you."

"I'll take it from here," Officer Harding said as she walked up behind them. She grabbed handcuffed Craig and led him away. "You are under arrest for the rape of Manuela Santos," she told him.

"It wasn't me! I swear! It was Mr. Oleander," Craig protested

"Oh we already have him," she said. Then she began telling him his rights. Chris helped Manny up.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Oh great, here comes Paige. She looks pissed. I bet she'll blame me for her boyfriend being arrested," Manny said.

"But I thought Craig was with Emma," he said, a little confused.

"He was. Her boyfriend was Mr. Oleander," Manny said. Emma and Chris looked at her in disbelief. Manny was the only one who knew about Mr. O and Paige. Hazel didn't even know, and she was Paige's best friend.

Paige was charging towards Manny now. "Paige, wait, before you…" Manny began, but she wasn't listening. She threw her arms around Manny and hugged her.

"Manny I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I would have told someone but I didn't know," she said. She was crying now.

"It's okay Paige. It's not your fault."

"Craig too?" Paige asked. "I saw him being led out of the school."

"Yeah, him too," Manny said sadly. When Paige finally let go, Manny turned to Chris and Emma. "Hey guys, I don't think I'm going to class, at least not right now. Can you tell Mr. Simpson for me?"

"Sure. Don't worry about it Manny. We'll see you later," Emma told her. She gave Manny a hug before heading to homeroom. Chris gave her a kiss.

"I'll see you later okay? I love you," he told her.

"I love you too," she said as he walked away. "Come on Paige, let's go talk," Manny said.

A/N: I'm not posting any more until I get more reviews! So tell your friends:)