Me: Sorry I took so long, guys. I guess I wanted to make up for the shortness of the prologue by writing this.
Shi: It's like, three times longer!
Me: Yeah. Anyway, Thank to everybody who reviewed! Hope you like this chapter just as much! And I've gotta go to bed now, but first thing tomorrow I'll start writing the next chapter, promise!
Bob: She don't own The Fast and the Furious or anything related to it... she owns any characters that aren't from the movie...

Chapter One
Heartfelt Good-Byes?

Isabelle flipped her hair back behind her shoulders as she watched him through the large glass window that she knew appeared to be a mirror on the opposing side. She unblinking glared at the man as he sat casually at a table, somehow managing to be extremely calm, collected, and … nice. This was no surprise to her, he always had this way of making people believe him and being calm in the face of danger. It absolutely sickened her; however, she knew it wouldn't work on the police, especially because two of them had seen him hit her and Damien, and the cops also had the teenagers as witnesses – or rather, victims.

It took all the restraint she had in her not to attempt to break through the wall and hurt him like he hurt her. He had basically just ruined her entire life – Damien wouldn't want to date her ever again for fear of her father or another family member coming and wailing on him; everybody at school would think she was more of a freak than they already thought she was and be completely avoiding her; the teachers would decide she was a trouble student and not take their eyes off her; and she'd probably have to more away, because she had no more family there. But at least she'd be free, free of this town, free of those people who all hated her, free of this pathetic ritual she called a life.

"Would you like to go in and talk to him, Isabelle?" a policeman, probably in his forties, inquired, using her first name to try and make her feel more comfortable. He'd just walked into the room, and handed her a cold Pepsi to help her handle everything.

She took a long sip of the fizzy, ice-cold liquid and stood up, nodding her head slightly as she answered him, "Yeah, I want to talk to him. I want to tell him good-bye and I hope I'll never see him again." Isabelle allowed herself to be led out of the room, into a hallway that looked blindingly white compared to the dark secluded one she'd just been in, and was led into another room of slightly less blinding light. As she walked in, she was her father sitting at the table, and saw the handcuffs securing his wrists to each other. That wouldn't help if he wanted to hurt her, he could still beat her up.

The cop that led her into the room motioned to his partner, who'd been interrogating the man, to go outside and give them some peace. Then the law enforcers left the father and daughter alone in the room, glaring each other until one of them gave in. When she caved, her father just laughed, and commented, "Never did have the courage to look me in the eye for more than a couple seconds, did you, alleged daughter of mine?"

"What do you mean, alleged? You know damn well I'm your daughter, and you know what, father dearest? You're about to lose me like you've lost everybody else. You drove us all away, every one of us, and it's all your fault – I hope you're happy," she said, venom dripping from her normally calm voice. She leaned her back against the walls as flipped her hair back behind her shoulders again, a grin on her face knowing how it annoying him to see her do that.

He rose from his seat, giving the people on the other side of the mirror-window the finger before starting towards his daughter. "Angel, I am damn well proud, okay? Damn proud that I was able to do away with that pimp of yours you were with – because I know what was in his dirty little mind. The same thing that's in the minds of every male teenager."

Isabelle glared at him for calling her 'Angel' – it brought up memories, ones she didn't want to relive at the moment. But she wasn't happy with him. "You know what, you can just mind your own business, and how the hell would you know what a teenage boy thinks, huh old man? He's probably the nicest boy in the whole entire school, he treated me better than anybody I've ever met – that is, excluding the person you'll not allow me to speak of."

"You mention her again and I swear I'll rip your guts out, I don't care what happens to me after that!" he yelled as he charged towards her. She got spooked and darted away from him, accidentally tripping him along the way and making him fall to the hard tile floor. "Get back here."

She grinned and watched him from the other side of the room as a police officer came in to restrain him. "Father, I'd like to seize this opportunity to say farewell and I hope to God I never see you again."

Isabelle shielded her eyes from the shiny, white hospital floors, walls, and ceiling so she could see where she was going. That nice policeman, Jack Jones, had come with her to make sure nothing happened to her. She liked him, he was really kind to her, especially since she had nowhere to go. The pair walked up to the nurses' desk and asked if they could visit Damien – they weren't questioned since he was a cop and some nurses had seen Isabelle come in with her boyfriend. As they were led to his room, they became informed of his condition.

"He's got severe bruises covering his body," explained the sweet young male nurse, "as well as some lacerations to his face. His left eye is swollen, rendering his sight to near nothing in that eye, and he's got a fractured radius, a snapped femur, and internal bruises. Also, he's a fair bit drugged up – we had to give him high doses of painkillers. I'm sorry about what happened, young lady."

Isabelle nodded silently as she followed behind him, walking slightly in front of the officer. Suddenly she inquired, "He's not delirious or anything, is he, because I really need to talk to him seriously about something."

"Oh no, nothing at all like that, the painkillers didn't seem to affect him that much," replied the nurse. They turned into a room, which was empty save for a boy on a bed, an IV hooked up to his wrist, watching television. When the trio entered, he struggled and squirmed a little in a failed attempt to see who was there. "Calm down, Mr. Drover," the nurse said, running over to settle him down as he motioned for the girl to stand at the patient's right side.

Isabelle nodded and made her way casually to the hospital bed – she hated hospital beds, and more so hospitals, but she didn't freak out she had to speak to him. Once she reached his side, and he could see with his good eye that it was her, he interlocked his fingers with hers and smiled, while trying to speak.

"No," she ordered quickly, sitting on the stool that was there beside the bed, and placing her free hand upon his shoulder, "don't speak, please. This is hard enough as it is. Listen, I've gotta go away, Damien, I've gotta ditch this place, and I gotta do it soon. Got no family left here, no place to go, now that Dad has been brought in by the police. I'm really sorry about this, but they're sticking me with the closest relatives they can find, and that sure as hell isn't anywhere near this lame-ass town. So to keep the good-byes short and sweet, I hope I'll see you again but I probably won't unless the court crap is being held here. I do apologize for everything I caused by dating you, and I know you'll get better, but I gotta jet Hun. Bye," said she, kissing him softly on the hand before she got up and went over to the policeman.

Damien sat up and called her name, ignoring the nurse's instructions to lie back down so he wouldn't shift any of the bones in his leg, because they hadn't done the operation yet. When she looked back at him, he began, "Don't leave me, you can't leave me, because if you do I'll have no way to take care of you, Isabelle." She just threw her hair back at that comment, knowing she didn't need any protection, especially from I guy that she could probably beat up herself. "Come on, I don't want to lose you, and I don't want to give in to what your father wanted – he just wanted us apart, that's all, and you know it."

The female shook her head and stared out the window into the unusually dark night sky – he knew nothing of what her father wanted. "Listen, Damien, I don't need any damn protection, not from you, not from anybody – my worst threat is now behind bars. Now, I gotta go, because I'm going home tonight to get some things packed up, and then tomorrow morning I'm getting everything I need from the school, and in the afternoon I'm hitching the plane outta this hellhole."

He frowned and inquired, "Well, where are you going? D'you know where I can get in touch with you, because I want us to stay friends, even if we won't be a couple."

"Honestly, I've got no clue where I'm going, I just no I'm gonna be with the closest relative of mine that they can find. They're running some searches when I go home tonight," she replied. "But hey, if I want to talk to you, I've got your number –" she winked "– so I can call ya anytime, to make sure you're doing alright." She knew she'd probably never call him, unless she needed to talk to him desperately… desperately in the sense that it was life-threatening or close to it, and the only time she'd ever felt in that position for a need to call somebody, she didn't know what the person's phone number was. From that experience, she'd learnt to take care of herself when she got in trouble, and not try to run for help. "Now, I've really gotta go, okay?"

Sadly, he nodded. "Good-bye, my Belle, and I hope my eyes will find your sweet face again someday." She simply nodded, while inwardly groaning at the boy's farewell – it disgusted her in a sense, it sounded like something a boy would say to get a girl in bed. And the fact that he'd called her his 'Belle' – his beauty – was enough to make her want to smack him.

Isabelle tossed the two dufflebags containing most of her possessions into her living room while listening to Evanescence's Haunted on her CD Walkman. Now that it was the morning after, a couple of bruises were beginning to show on her cheeks, contrasting the slightly bronzed skin, and there were dark rims around her eye - not from not getting enough sleep.Walking through the house, she scanned each room for anything else she figured was important enough to take with her. She'd already retrieved most of the photo albums, clothes, books, and movies that belonged to her – her mother had always told her to take an extra change of clothes with her carry-on bag in case her luggage got lost. Isabelle had placed one of her books, along with a change of clothes, into her bookbag, along with her CD case, digital camera, and wallet.

As the teenager entered the attached garage, she took up on one of the high shelves, by the ceiling, and noticed a box which was taped up. She grabbed the ladder and propped it up so she could get the box down, and, once she got on the cold cement floor again, brought the box to the workbench. Snatching up a knife she sliced through the masking tape, being sure not to cut deep enough so as not to injure the contents.

"Whoa," she whispered in awe. She picked up the exercise books and flipped through them, seeing drawings of cars and engines, along with information on different kinds of cars. Isabelle remembered working on this when she was younger; she never realized her parents had kept it, although she figured it was her mother who did. Her mother was much nicer to her than her father, even if she wasn't always there to help her.

Outside, she heard a car pull into the driveway, and immediately ran back into the house with the books in her hands. She shoved them into her knapsack and, loading the knapsack onto her back and snatching up the dufflebags, she made her way outside to regard a police car, with Officer Jones leaning against the door, waiting for her. With a little two-fingered salute to him, she placed the bags in the trunk and hopped into the passenger seat. "So, Jack, we off to my school?"

"Yep," he concurred as he slipped his seatbelt on, motioning for her to do the same, before backing out of the driveway. "Okay, we're going to go to all your teachers and explain the situation, and then go to the principal's office to get all your transcripts and stuff."

She nodded, smiling, and kept her eyes on the road ahead of her. Her classmates and teachers would already have heard about Damien being admitted to the hospital, and being in intensive care, and she knew her name would've popped up when they learned why he was there. Of course, they would all shun her when she walked into the school, so lucky for her it was already halfway through first period, meaning everybody wouldn't be roaming about the halls.

Jack watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling, but he knew she was worried about what everybody at school was going to say when she walked into school. He'd purposely come to pick her up after the first period began so she wouldn't have to deal with everybody in school. "Don't worry, kid, everything's gonna be fine," he tried to reassure her.

Isabelle was being cheery – sure, it was fake cheery, but she didn't like looking sad because it always made people pity her. "I know that, Jack, because I'm getting outta this place, and it's the best damn day of my life since I moved here five years ago," she explained to him. They pulled up in front of her school, and she bounded out of the car before it even had a chance come to a stop. 'The faster I get this over with, the faster I can leave, and the faster I can get to wherever the hell I'm going!' she thought to herself as the policeman called to her to slow down.

The yelling attracted attention, even from the classrooms on the top floor, as faces began to appear in the open windows. They were all probably thinking the same thing at this point – that weird girl Isabelle, who'd beaten up her boyfriend, was getting brought to jail for a couple years. 'Yeah, that had to be what they were thinking,' Isabelle told herself as the muttering started.

"So, how we doing this, Jack? We both going to every one of my teachers together, or are we splitting up and doing it in half the time?" she inquired, slinging her bookbag over one shoulder.

Jack thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, you've got six teachers, so yeah, we'll take three each, then meet up in the principal's office in five minutes. That good enough?"

She nodded, and replied, "Perfect. Now, you'll take Rooms 213 – my Math teacher – and 324 – French – and 317 – Geography. I'll take the rest. Let's go then." She handed the officer a couple of papers, and then went off down the hall, running at a pace that would normally get her a detention. There was a reason she'd given Jones those teachers (or rather, a reason she hadn't given him her other teachers). The woman who taught her English and Writing had a prep period at the moment, and she was one of the only teachers whom she could confide in; her Science teacher was a good friend of her mother's, so she knew she could trust him; and her Chemistry professor was the one she'd have at that time anyway, and she wanted to explain what was going on to her classmates. She arrived at her Science teacher's room first, to see him walking about the classroom, checking students' work. When they heard the door creak open, everybody's head jolted in her direction, and she just smiled.

"Yo, Mr. Neary, I need to talk to you," she stated simply, not leaving her post at the door. When he said that he'd talk to her after class, she shook her head and added, "It's urgent, sir, I need to talk to you now." The students were all looking at her oddly, and she knew the second that she started talking to the teacher, they would burst into comments, so she decided to clear things up. "Just so everybody's clear on everything, I did not beat up my boyfriend, as you've all heard by now – it was my father, who's now in jail, probably awaiting a court hearing or something. I can't stay here, seeing as I've got nobody to live with, so I'm ditching town and going to live with some relative of mine…"

The teacher nodded, and grinned slightly because he knew that the students had been spreading false rumors. "Very well, Isabelle, approach the desk, please," he said, motioning his hand towards his desk, towards which he was walking. Once they were there, he handed her a sealed envelope before talking to her in a whisper so only they could here. "That's a letter for you, kind of a good-bye from the family, alright? I'd heard the details last night, when I was in to speak to your father about what was going to happen to you. I'm very sorry to hear about what happened, as I'm sure you've already heard from everybody you've talked to."

She smiled as she stuffed it into the pocket of her hoodie, and she responded, "Thank you, and I have. I just need some things from you…"

Isabelle knocked on the Chemistry Lab door, and waited anxiously for somebody to answer it. She'd been to see her English/Writing teacher, whom she spent nearly three minutes talking to, and was now prepared to speak to her class.

"Hello, what is it – hey, Isabelle!" was the reply that soon came to her knock, as a tall guy answered the door. "I was wondering when you'd get here – we'd already gotten word from a certain law enforcer that you'd be visiting."

She just grinned stupidly, like a three-year-old who'd just received a lollipop. "That would've been Jack, I presume? And don't none of you people worry –" she indicated her classmates "- because he's not my parole officer. I'm ditching town, folks!"

Everybody just stared at her, confused, while the teacher just gathered the things he needed to give her. One of the students, a girl who would talk to her every once in a while, piped up, "Isabelle, why do you need to leave town?"

"Because I've got nowhere to live," she firmly stated, "not here anyway. My father got put in prison for assault, for putting my boyfriend in intensive care. Hence, I'm left fatherless, so I've got to go somewhere where I have family – unfortunately I've got no clue where that is yet. But they do, and I've been too lazy to ask. It's probably somewhere lame like up in Alabama or something…" They all laughed, more so at her predicament than what she was amused by. "Anyway, I hope you all have very horrible lives, and I do hope I'll never see any of you again, so… bye?" She winked at them, for some unknown reason, and went over to the teacher. "So, Mr. Cramm, that's everything?" she inquired as she took the small file he was holding out to you?"

He nodded, grinning, and replied, "Yes-sir-ree Bob. Now, good bye to you, girlie, and I hope you keep doing good in Chemistry."

Isabelle nodded and said her final farewell to the people she'd spent the better part of the last five years of her life with. When she exited she booted it down the hall, up two sets of stairs, and into and office where Jack was waiting with the principal. "Everything squared away here?"

"Yes, Isabelle," Jack answered before giving a little chuckle. "You were being too slow. Having talks with people, were you?"

She shrugged, a smile on her face as she waved a farewell to the Principal and walked alongside Jack towards the entrance. "Meh, just telling people what a joy it is to be leaving here and free of them," she explained and laughed.

Me: Well, there ya go. Now, ya see that little button on the bottom left of the screen? Go review. Please? Flames accepted and will be used to roast marshmallows. Bai bai!