Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Jackieeeeee...Happy Birthday To You! Here is your birthday chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Three: Breaking My Heart
Lindsey
"You can't go down for this Lindsey," my dad told me across the table. We were in a room alone. He is my lawyer.
"I know. But what am I even going to do about this? There's no way out of it," I complained.
"So you did do it?" he asked.
"Well, yeah. I already told you that." I sighed, playing with my shirt.
"Okay. Let's see…did you know she was fourteen at the time?" he asked.
"Not at first…but then Thomas found out and he told me. But…I still did it anyway," I said.
"Who else knows about this? Besides Thomas and the girls?" he asked.
"No one…well, I guess her dad does obviously because he called the cops on me. But I don't know how he figured out who I was because Sarah didn't tell him anything," I told him. "I know she didn't."
"Well, there's a possibility that we could get you out of this. If Thomas will testify and say that neither of you had sexual relations with the twins, and if you go up, that may be enough. That is, if we can get the girls to lie as well. It's the only way it would be believable," he explained. "They'd have to say that their dad mistook you for someone else. We just have to figure out where he got your name from."
"How will that even work? How will we get to the twins to tell them to lie to get us out of this? They won't let me or you anywhere near them."
"I'll figure it out. I can probably get them on the bus. You said they take the city bus to school right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess so. But what about Kate? She's pregnant. How will you get around that?"
"Lindsey, there's no telling who the father of that baby is, first of all," he said. I interrupted him before he could say anymore.
"Thomas is the father. He's the only one she's ever been with," I said, groaning.
"Lindsey, you don't even know that for a fact. The girl could be lying, and if not, it doesn't matter. We'll just get her to lie about it," he assured me. "Like I said, you're not going down for this."
"Time's up," an officer said, walking into the room.
My dad stood up and shook my hand.
"I'll try and see what I can do about your bail," he said before leaving.
Craig
"I hate it that I don't ever get to see you," Manny said, lying next to me.
"I know, I hate it too," I told her, kissing her lightly. I rubbed the small of her back, and put an arm around her.
"Do you have to stay at that school?" she whined. "You have me now. There's no reason for you to be so far away."
"I know. But I'm already almost halfway through the year." The truth is, I do have a reason to be there. And his name is Nate. But I like Manny too. I can't choose between them. There's no way I'd tell her that though.
"It wouldn't be hard for you to transfer back here you know. I'm sure you're learning the same crap you'd learn here. And it would be even easier to do over vacation…" she hinted.
"Sorry Manny. I can't."
"I hate this situation," she pouted.
"I'll make it up to you. I promise," I told her, pulling the blanket over us.
Remy
I hate Thomas. And Theresa.
I gave up banging on the door and left the mall, even more pissed than I had been when I walked in.
I sped out of the parking lot, not really knowing where I was gonna go. After driving around for a few minutes, I decided to just go home.
I regretted it as soon as I pulled in the driveway. Because sitting right there, in his car, was Kelly James.
Rex
"How'd you get here so fast from Connecticut?" I asked Alyssa as I took Gracie and hugged her.
"We weren't at home when I talked to you," she answered. "We were in the city doing Christmas shopping."
"Oh, well I'm glad you made it anyway," I said. I kissed her on the cheek and started to take Gracie's jacket off.
"Leave it on," she instructed me. "We can't stay long."
"Oh okay then. Let's go up to my room." She followed me up and I closed the door, thankful that she hadn't been seen. I kissed her hard, knowing it was what she wanted. "Can you guys take your coats off for just a minute?" I asked. "I want to get a picture of all of us together."
"Sure." I watched her gently take her coat off and fold it, placing it over the chair next to her. She did the same with Gracie's and then sat on the bed like I asked her to. I pointed the camera so it was lined up, set the timer, and ran over to the bed. The flash went off just as I was kissing Alyssa on the cheek.
"Okay, one more," I said. I set the timer again and sat down. We had Gracie in between us on our laps, and smiled just as the flash went. We ended up taking a few more before I placed Gracie down in her makeshift playpen that I had set up for Christmas.
"Come here you," Alyssa said, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me over to the bed. I straddled her and started undoing my belt.
"We have time for a quick one, right?" I asked, grinning. I didn't actually want to do it. All the feelings I ever felt for Alyssa were long gone. They had been ever since I found out she was pregnant; when I realized it was no longer fun and games.
"Yeah. Real quick," she said. I pulled her underwear off and got to work.
Jesse
I got the perfect present for Rex today. I just know he'll love it. I called his cell phone and he didn't answer. That was good, since I wanted to get home and hide his present before he saw it. He was probably at the movies, or he would have answered.
Running up the stairs, I heard noises coming from nearby. I hope Marco's not cheating on Andrew with Rory. That would crush him.
Actually, why do I care? He probably is.
When I got halfway down the hall, I realized the moaning was coming from our bedroom.
I threw the door open and there he was, Rex, my boyfriend, just collapsing on top of Alyssa. Tears formed at the corners of my eyes. I saw their daughter sitting in her playpen, unaware of what was going on around her.
Spinning on my heels, I ran.
"Jesse wait!" I heard him call after me.
"I better go," Alyssa said.
I ran to the stairs, but too fast. I felt myself starting to fall…
Rory
We'd been waiting for Marco's test results for two hours. They said it would take awhile, but that we could stay if we wanted to know right away. We did.
"Are you nervous?" I asked him.
"A little, yeah." He squirmed in his chair a little. I placed a comforting hand on top of his.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," I whispered.
"Yeah, probably," he agreed.
"Marco Del Rossi?" a woman asked, walking up.
"That's me," Marco said, standing. He was still holding onto my hand.
"Here you go." She handed him a slip of paper and walked off.
I watched him read it. I saw the tears form.
Marco
We walked out of the building, hand in hand.
"Let's have a congratulatory dinner!" Rory yelled excitedly.
The results came back negative. I was so relieved.
"I'm sorry Rory," I said, looking down at the ground.
"Oh, it's okay if you don't want to have dinner with me. I'd understand," he said, stopping where he stood.
"No! It's not that at all. I'm sorry that I don't have it, and you do…" I trailed off, looking into his eyes.
"Marco! Don't even say that. Don't think it. I'm so happy right now. If you had gotten HIV, I would've blamed myself," he assured me. "Now, where to?"
"I dunno. I don't know my way around here. Rory…"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks. Thanks for coming with me," I said, hugging him. All of a sudden I felt sweaty and nervous, and I had no idea why. I planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek and put an arm around his waist as we walked along the sidewalk.
"Hey there fags!" someone yelled from across the street.
"Come on Marco, let's go," Rory said, pulling me in the opposite direction. We went down an alley way.
"Where you goin'?" another guy yelled. "We just wanna talk!"
They caught up before we could go any farther. There were six of them. Three on one side and three on the other.
"Leave us alone!" Rory yelled back.
"What are you gonna do about it? Two little faggots gonna beat the shit out of us?" The guy who said it shoved Rory into the wall. He winced in pain, and I couldn't take it.
I ran forward and punched him in the face. I instantly regretted it. My hand hurt like hell, and four of them were coming at me.
I couldn't see Rory anymore. I couldn't see anything but the blood rushing by my eyes.
And then I couldn't hear anything either.
I wanna fight
Afraid to fight
Why don't I fight
And make you see
I hold my breath
And disappear inside myself
I'm losing strength, I'm losing all strength
A/N: Poor Jesse…what do you think will happen to him? And who do you think Craig will choose; Nate or Manny? What about Remy and Kelly? Oh and of course, we can't forget about Rory and Marco. You'll find out in the next few chapters…I'm not sure how long it would actually take for HIV results to come back, so I'm gonna pretend that's right. The song is "Breaking My Heart" by Aqualung and they own it (also where the title of the chapter comes from).
