-sniffle- Oh, this is the last time I'm probably going to be doing this. Now that you can actually REPLY to your reviews. Well, actually, I think that's kind of cool though. At least they're making an effort.

sing to the stars - Uhm . . . okay. Please refrain from doing freaky dances. lol

flonshoe - thanks for understanding, Lauren. But I will try and work on Inferiority, I promise.

Musically Obsessed - Hey, Katie! Didn't know you had a FFN account. Well, thanks for reviewing.

The Cee Factor - You'll wanna kick his ass even more in this chapter. Oh, and his mother's.

Mediatorgrrl - the more reviews the better, MG.

I think this chapter is longer, for those who were asking me to make it longer. I tried okay? Oh, and there is a lot of dialogue in this chapter. I just couldn't get them to not talk, you know? Whatever.

Summary: (Partially AU) Jessica Mastriani - the well-known Lightning Girl - is waiting. Waiting for her savior - her knight in shining armor you could say. She isn't known for her patience, but for this one thing, she'll have to wait. Wait patiently.

Disclaimer: Meg Cabot owns everything, not me. Give her all the praise!

Waiting Patiently

Chapter 8

Jess's POV

I was sitting in the living room two days later - we had a four day weekend for school, because of President's Day or something like that.

I was absentmindedly watching tv. You know, when you're trying to focus, but you really can't because you've got something on your mind. Yeah, that.

The thing that was on my mind?

I hadn't spoken to Rob for two days, since we were at the park. He hasn't called me or stopped by. Okay, so I don't even think he knows my number, but he could have looked it up or something. I know our number is in the phone book. And me? Yeah, I was too chicken to call him, but I did look it up in the phone book. At least I made some kind of effort.

My stomach growled.

I got up and went into the kitchen to grab something to eat. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed an orange and started peeling it. It was then that I heard the doorbell ring.

Figuring it was just Ruth, I walked over to the door and opened it.

Imagine my surprise to see Rob standing there looking uncomfortable.

I knitted my brows. "What are you doing here?"

He looked troubled, like something bad had just happened to him. "I need to talk to you."

My heart stopped beating. Was he breaking up with me? All ready?

What the hell did I do?

"Um, okay," I replied, trying to act nonchalant. "Do you want to come in?"

"Is anyone else home?" he whispered.

I shook my head. "No. My dad is at the restaurant, my mom is out shopping, and my brothers are out with their girlfriends."

He nodded. "Okay, then I guess so."

I opened the door wider and let him in, leading him to the living room. I sat down on the couch, gesturing for him to do so too. He did and turned to face me. "So," I said, "what do you - uh - need to talk about?"

"I know you probably don't want to talk about this anymore, but," he broke off and sighed. "Kevin filed a lawsuit against me," he said bluntly.

"What?" I practically yelled.

He nodded. "Yeah, he did. I have the paper right here." He handed me the paper and I read it carefully.

After I finished reading, I looked back up at Rob. "You have got to be kidding me," I said.

I shook his head. "I wish."

"But you didn't do anything wrong!" I protested.

"I know," he said. "But they only know one side of it. And I can't do anything about it."

I stared at the rug. I knew what I had to do, but that could get me in trouble and I'd lose my parents' trust.

But Rob didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't deserve to have to go through this. He was only protecting me from Kevin. Okay, he may have beat the shit out of Kevin (more so than he might have needed to), but come on, the guy was a jerk; he deserved to get the shit beat out of him.

I just didn't want anyone else to know what Kevin did to me. I wanted it to stay in the past.

But telling someone was the right thing to do, for Rob's sake.

I brought my head back up and looked him square in the face. "You need to leave. I have to go somewhere."

Rob looked shocked. Like he didn't believe what he was hearing. He thought I was just trying to get rid of him. I guess I was, but not in the sense that he was probably thinking.

He left. Then I found Mike's car keys and took his car. He was at Claire's, which was literally like five feet away, so he didn't need his car.

Showtime.

- § -

I knocked on his front door. I was standing out there, freezing my ass off and whimpering inside. I was afraid of what he did to me and I just couldn't stand to be less than a foot away from him. But I had to be strong, for Rob.

The door opened and there stood Kevin's mom. She narrowed her eyes at me and said harshly, "What do you want?"

"Um," I tittered nervously, "can I speak to Kevin?"

"No, you cannot speak to him. Because of you, he can't even see out of his right eye."

Okay, I was angry now. "Because of ME? Why because of me?" I demanded angrily.

"Because you were so goddamn slutty that you sent your new boyfriend after him," she growled.

I laughed with no humor. "Is that what Kevin told you? God, you are naive. You really want to know what happened? I'll tell you if you want to know."

She glared at me. "I believe my son. He did nothing wrong."

I clenched my teeth and balled my fists. "Sexually harassing someone is doing nothing wrong? Is that what you think?"

"Wh-what?" she stuttered.

"Yeah," I said. "I wouldn't put out for your son, and when he saw I was talking to a friend who happened to be male, he got me alone and tried to rape me."

"I don't believe that."

I cocked my eyebrow. "Oh? You don't? Fine, I'll show you the bruises he gave me two nights ago."

That was when Kevin came up behind his mom. "Jess, what are you doing here?"

"I came here to talk to you, Kevin," I said unhappily.

He noticed my tone and winced. Or maybe it was because his face was hurting so much. Wow, Rob really did do a number on him.

He looked at his mom and must have mouthed something or whatever, because she walked off in a huff. He invited me in, and, grudgingly, I went in.

Why was he being so nice to me?

"Why are you pressing charges against Rob?" I asked bluntly and angrily.

He narrowed his eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, my face is a little screwed up thanks to him."

"You know, he wouldn't have done that if you hadn't tried to - to . . . rape me."

"What?" he asked, like he really had no clue what I was talking about.

"Don't play dumb with me. You may have been drunk, but you weren't that drunk to not know what you were doing."

"I did? What - Jess, I had no idea, I swear. I—"

"Save it, Kevin. If you drop this lawsuit on Rob, I won't tell anyone about what you did to me. Deal?"

He hesitated. That was when his mom came back in.

"No," she spat. "No deal."

"Mom—"

"No, Kevin. I knew this girl was trouble form the moment I met her. I knew she'd cause you pain and trouble. Whores like her aren't even worth it. And I really don't see where you get off saying my son tried to rape you."

"Don't you ever call me a whore again. You know, Kevin was my first boyfriend. And he tried to get me in bed with him on several occasions, but I refused. I didn't want to become what you say I am."

She glared at me again. She came over to me and grabbed my arm and hissed, "Get out of my house. Now!"

"Fine, I will. But, like I said, you better drop the charge if you don't want me to tell the authorities of what your son did."

"My son is innocent, you dirty slut," she hissed and threw me out of the house.

Fine, if they are going to be that way, then I will go to the authorities. I'll tell them everything Kevin did to me.

- § -

I did it. I went down to the police station and confessed everything. I even put on a little poor, injured girl act. And, I have to say, they bought the act.

I showed them some of my bruises and they took me over to the local hospital to give me a full scan. They called my parents, which I really didn't want them to do. But, it was for Rob. I had to do it for Rob.

One of the doctors at the hospital gave me a full check. Thank god it was a female or else I would have freaked out, seriously. She was nice too. She actually talked normal to me and didn't lie to me like a norma doctor would.

"Jess," she said, as she was checking my thighs. She said that was the most important place to check, because that's where most bruises are from a sexual assault. I don't think I have to explain why. "Can you tell me exactly what happened? If you don't want to you don't have to, but it would be helpful."

I nodded and said, "Okay." I told her everything/ Not just what Kevin did to me, or what went down at the party. But I also told her about Rob and how we had been fighting and everything.

"And Rob," she said, "you like him a lot?"

I blushed and nodded.

She chuckled. "It's nothing to be timid about. It seems to me, actually, that you more than just like him a lot, if you know what I mean."

I grinned. "You got me. But . . . just don't tell him. I just got together with him. I don't want to freak him out."

She rolled her eyes. "God, for being psychic, you really are blind. From what you said he did to your ex, it seems like he really does care about you."

I ignored the psychic crack, because I knew she was just joking. "It's complicated."

"Yes, I know it is. Love always is," she said, almost like she was regretting something.

She finished checking me and recorded the last few things she found. Then she put it away in a file and set it down on the counter.

"Okay, you're all good to go. Now I have to make a copy of this and give it to the nice policemen."

I smiled and thanked her and attempted to leave.

I say attempted, because the doctor stopped me. "Jess," she said. "My advice for your little love problem? Let him come to you."

I grinned. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said, "now leave."

I did and walked out of the room and into the waiting room where my parents were. I honestly didn't feel like facing them right then, but I had no choice.

"Oh, honey," my mom said, standing up and hugging me. "Why didn't you tell us?"

I shrugged. "Because I didn't want to have to go through all of this."

My dad looked confused. "Then why did you tell?"

See, my dad was the one that saw past everything. He saw past the whole sexual assault thing and focused on what everyone else ignored.

"Kevin filed a lawsuit against Rob," I said bluntly.

My mom knitted her eyebrows. "Rob?"

Oh, right, I never told them about him.

I sighed, exasperated. "Can we talk about this when we get home?"

"Honey," my mom said, "we have to go back to the police station to file the complaint."

I groaned. "Will this ever stop?"

"Sweetie, if you want him to get what he deserves, then you have to go through with this."

"Whatever," I said and slumped into one of the seats in the waiting room. We had to wait for Dr. Harris, the doctor that checked me, to finish making that copy.

She came out a few moments later and handed the paper to my father. Then we went over to the police station and they wrote up a police report.

"Ma'am," one of the policemen said.

I looked up. "Yeah?"

"This may not hold up in court. You don't have all that much evidence. I foyu had come the night it happened, or the day after, you would have had a chance, but I'm not so sure now . . ."

Damnit! Why can't anything go right?

My parents talked with the officer, but nothing else came of it.

I just wanted to help Rob. I didn't want him to have to go through something like that, especially since I know he's not exactly at peace with authority.

Review, por favor.

Oh, yeah, Spanglish rules.