Chapter 3

Shooting glances from the corner of his eye, he checked to see if she was still staring at him, 'yup, she still was.'

His gaze quickly fell back to the book he was reading as he tried to ignore the intense gaze blondie was shooting at him. It was lunch time and Chris resumed his standard spot at the corner of the library staring blankly at the book pages as usual. However, ever since he stepped foot inside the library blondie had been shooting strange glances at him causing him to shift uncomfortably.

'Isn't she Josh's girlfriend? Why the hell is she still staring at me? She's probably staring at my bruises; god knows they draw enough attention anyways… usually in the negative sense though.'

Three days after his birthday and the bruises were already slowly beginning to heal leaving behind a slight bluish tint on his cheek and eye.

The next morning after Nick had finally sobered up enough to be slammed back into his parental senses; he had already apologized a zillion times and had taken Chris out to eat breakfast at his favorite diner. Chris had of course replied with his usual answer of, "its okay, dad. I don't blame you." It was like déjà vu on repeat.

When Chris dared chance another look, he could've sworn she had winked at him.

'Pshh. Dream on, Chris.'

As he caught a glimpse of red from the other corner of his eye, his head popped up from behind the book only to find his least favorite person heading into the library.

'Josh. I didn't even think he knew where our library was, not to mention actually step foot in it.'

Chris managed to shrink up in his already petite size and try to go ignored not looking forward to his daily rounds of insults. He particularly hoped that blondie wasn't still staring at him because that would only add to Josh's list of reasons to Kick Chris's ass.

After seeing that Josh was busy trying to stick his tongue down blondie's throat, Chris silently rose to his feet and made a quick exit trying to find another area where he could have some alone time.

"You sure you got everything?"

Ryan rolled his eyes and drawled out his answer in a sigh, "Yesss, mooomm."

"Do you really want to go, because you know I could use some help moving equipment around the club," Leo reminded him for the millionth time as he stood giving him a hopeful look.

Ryan started to rub his chin pretending to think hard as he mocked his family, "Should I stay here with my psycho family who'll never quit pestering me…. Or should I go visit one of my closest friends who I haven't seen for ever… hmm, such a difficult choice…. But I think I'll have to choose my friend."

"And bare the pain of knowing you left your absolutely awesome and loving family behind?" Phoebe questioned in forged horror.

"I think I'll manage."

"But is driving necessary? I mean all you'll do is waste your time, pollute the air, and risk the danger of a car accident. Now isn't orbing much better?" Wyatt inquired.

"No."

"And you'll be back before midnight, right?" Piper asked as she stood with the rest of her family in the foyer.

Pushing back his impatience, Ryan managed a weak smile and replied through gritted teeth, "yes, mom."

"No partying before driving, got it mister?"

Flushing at his aunts accusation, he whined, "Aunt Paige!"

"I'm just messing with ya, lil' buddy."

Finally getting fed up with his families babying Ryan faked a large smile and sarcastically replied, "Goodbye, family!"

The last thing he heard before he shut the door in his family's face was his Uncle Cole's sing-song voice, "Stay out of trouble!"

He had just finished his shift at the café and he felt as though he was going to crumble on the spot. His feet were swollen from all the standing time and his arms ached from all the heavy piles of dishes he carried back and forth. Damn his day had sucked. All he looked forward to was falling straight into his bed for a long sleep.

Hanging up the last of the uniform, Chris reached into the faculty locker and pulled out his book bag while slinging it over his shoulder.

As he exited the buzzing café, he was met with the blow of cold air that sank into his bones while he slowly trudged his way home. Through the bitter cold, the faint musk of rain was in the air and the low grumblings from the clouds above gave hint to the incoming storm soon to come.

'Maybe it'll snow. No school, no work… I could live with that.'

Marveling at the relief a fleet of snow could bring him, Chris didn't hear the footsteps steadily drawing nearer from behind or the Grey SUV trailing behind him.

When a sudden hand grabbed him from behind and slammed him face first into a wall, Chris's immediate reaction was to call for help as he felt the sting from where his face scraped against the rough brick. But a sudden hand clamping tightly over his mouth kept his cries muffled. Another pair of hands began to fumble as they held his hands firmly behind his back and began to wrap them with a jagged rope that immediately began to irritate his skin on contact. The hands then yanked him away from the wall but before he could get a look at his attackers has was already over one of their shoulders and being loaded into the car.

Glancing down at his watch, Ryan frowned when he noticed how fast time flew by. After driving for about an hour, he had met up with his old friend Ben and they had ever since been catching up at an old diner. It was already 10:30 P.M and he knew that he should start thinking about heading back but couldn't seem to want to move.

"Wow, it really has been a long time hasn't it? I think the last time I saw you was right after we graduated from Parsons High two years ago," Ben rambled as he took a slow sip from his mug of coffee.

Nodding his head in concurrence, Ryan replied, "Yeah. You decided to move here and go to college while I stayed back home… funny how things turned out right?"

Letting out a chuckle, Ben nodded, "Yeah. You know, Ry. If you really want to, you can still go to college. So you'll graduate two years behind others, so what? I really think you should reconsider. I mean you can come here and go with me. Since I'm gonna be a third year I can get an apartment and we could share it, how about it?"

Ryan held Ben's gaze for a second before dropping it and lowering his head, "Naw. I just don't think I can ever leave home like that. I mean, my family drives me nuts treating me like I'm a fragile piece of glass, but I just couldn't stand being away from them for such a long time. After everything that happened in our past… it wouldn't seem right."

As he sat there watching his friend with sorrowful eyes, Ben nodded his head showing he understood, "I know, Ry.

Smiling at his friend, Ryan looked down at his watch; his mom was going to murder him….

Chris had been carelessly tossed back in the back of the SUV where he lay faced down, hands tied behind his back, mouth full of some fuzzy weird tasting cloth, and his eyes covered by some shroud. He had no idea what was going on or where they were headed for, all he knew was they had been driving for a while now and they had taken many twists and turns to get to where ever the hell they were going.

When the car suddenly jeered left and came to a sudden halt, Chris felt his body lurch and heard the sounds of doors slamming open and muffled voices all around. He was grabbed by his upper arms and pulled out of the car and onto some soft ground that crunched as he fell upon it.

Just as he was about to attempt to lift himself up of the ground, two pairs of strong hands grabbed his upper arm on either side while roughly hauling him to his feet.

He was unprepared for the blindfold to be suddenly torn away from his face, but after adjusting to the new darkness of night that flooded his vision, he immediately recognized the faces that surrounded him.

"Miss me, freak?"

'Greeaatt… just my freakin' luck,' Chris thought as he suppressed the panic welling in the pit of his stomach.

He examined his surroundings and found that there were three other guys with Josh and they were located on the side of the road somewhere in a forest-y area. He could tell these were one of those roads on which people rarely drove on seeing that there was a long stretch of forests for several miles. Basically, any hope that a driver passing by might see him getting the crap beaten out of him and actually help him was completely driven out of his mind.

'I'm so screwed….'

"So… you've been messing around with Jessie lately?" Josh asked casually as he stared at Chris with his arms crossed against his chest.

'Jessie? Who the hell was Jessie?'

Chris tried to reply but his words became muffled by whatever was stuffed into his mouth.

Sneering, Josh stepped into Chris's face and mocked, "Can't seem to hear ya."

Resisting the temptation to roll his eyes was more than torture. All Chris could do was stand there while being held by two big goons. They're grip was slowly beginning to become painful and he could practically see the bruises forming.

"You know what? I heard an interesting story yesterday. I heard that you were looking at my girl yesterday and trying to make a move. Even when she tried to be nice about rejecting you, you still had to come back and bother her. Well guess what? Me, I'm not so nice when it comes to these situations. Did you even think she would go for the school freak? Get real."

Now it clicked in his brain, 'Blondie Jessie'…….. great.

The first punch across his middle caught him off guard and managed to knock all the wind out of him as he slumped over breathing through his nose to get enough air.

The hands pulled him back up straight where he got two more across his face on his left side. But on the second hit, he felt something jab into his skin on the side of his face and drag it through the punch.

'Is he wearing his rings!' Chris panicked as he felt blood trickle down his face and onto his neck.

Chris was on the ground by this time while a foot jabbed into his right side repeatedly. "Stay. Away. From. Her." He punctuated each word with a kick.

'She was the one who was staring at me!'

Having his hands behind his back, Chris only lay with his knees curled up in order to protect as much of his stomach as possible. His whimpers were muffled behind the cloth and his last thoughts were, 'I'm gonna die out here.'

Abruptly, a bright light flashed across the scene as it pierced the night's darkness. Chris faintly heard someone exclaim, "Oh Shit!" before a rustle of footsteps surrounded him and the sound of doors slamming and a car revving to life filled the air.

'They left me hear! They freakin' left me to die out here alone and tied up! Those low dirty bast-'

"Hey, kid. You alright?" a warm voice questioned him as a warm hand grazed his face.

Chris mumbled through the cloth still lodged in his mouth as he let out a moan.

"Oh! Sorry, here let me get that for you," the man replied with nervousness as he tentatively pulled the foul piece of cloth away from Chris's mouth.

His mouth dry, Chris managed to make out, "My hands… could... you-"

"Yeah, I'm working on it. Almost loose-"

Chris felt his hands being released as he brought his wrists forward he began to rub where the ropes had begun cutting in to him.

"Can you get up?" the man's concerned voice questioned as he placed a hand on the younger boys shoulder.

"Y-yeah… I think so."

"Here, my cars right there. I'll help you get in to the passenger seat."

With the man's help, Chris stumbled over to small jeep where the door was open and managed to climb in. The door slammed as the other guy got in as well.

"Do you want me to take you to a hospital? You're really banged up, kid."

"No, I'm good."

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

The man revved the car up and they began to move down the road, "What happened? Who were those guys?"

Chris sat holding his stomach; something was probably bruised inside, "Nothing. Just a stupid rivalry thing."

"That's a bit harsh for high school rivalry isn't it?"

Chris shrugged but then bit back a moan. Everything just seemed to throb.

"What's your name, kid? Or do you just want me to keep calling you kid?"

Wheezing slightly, he managed to weakly reply, "Chris."

The man was quiet as they continued to drive down the one lane road, "You hanging in there Chris?"

"Y-yeah."

"Well, I don't know where you live but I'm gonna just take you to my house which is only another 15 minutes away. You're pretty bad, and my dad used to be a doctor. We'll get you checked out a little before we figure everything out and call your parents alright? By the way, my names Ryan. Ryan Halliwell."

AN: Sorry, I know this chapter took forever to put up but I just cant seem to think of ne ideas ne more. Ultimate case of writers block. Well, "When will it be okay?" should be updated really soon. Putting my finishing touches on that update.