Chapter 10: A Shoulder to Cry on.

Everyone was sitting at breakfast in their normal seats. Everything seemed different, like everyone was closer together for they weren't use to having Mike there. All of the Cliffhangers sat at the table and ate in almost complete silence. It was nothing how it usually was but too bad.

"So..." David said trying to start a conversation since he didn't seem to be liking to quiet.

"So, Shelby..." Mike said and flashed a grin to Shelby.

She couldn't stop herself from laughing. She thought it was pathetic that Mike was still after her even though it was pretty obvious that she was with Scott.

"Mike, does it really look like I'm the single one here?" She asked him still trying to give him subtle hints.

"Oh. You meant Scott? No problem." Mike sounded so sure of himself.

"Whoa. Rachel, he's the male form of you." Scott said teasing Rachel.

"So he is. But, please remember, I grew out of that." Rachel meant the words for Scott but her eyes were David.

Mike tried to get Shelby's attention again but it didn't work. Her eyes were all for Scott. The couple stood up and walked out of the kitchen. They walked down by the docks to talk and Mike looked out a window to follow them with his gaze. But when Rachel stood up her grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the kitchen and into a corner where they wouldn't be bothered.

"What were they talking about back at the table?" Mike asked suddenly very interested.

"Oh. That. When I first got here a couple of weeks ago, I had the major hotts for Scott and tried to break him and Shelby up so I could have him to myself. Why?" Rachel said the last part very curious.

"Why?" Mike asked kind of disgusted.

"Why what?"

"Why did you like Scott?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders lightly.

"I'm not sure," Rachel said. "I just did. I did a lot of stupid things when I first got here. Now why you do want to know about this?"

"Well, I like Shelby." He said as if that said everything.

"No shit. What's that got to do with me?"

"I'm thinking that maybe we can work together to separate them."

"Now, if you asked me about 2 weeks ago, I would've agreed with you in a hot second but I'm perfectly fine with them. You're on your own, buddy."

"Fine! I'll get her myself." Mike retorted.

Rachel whistled and went wide-eyed kind of teasing Mike.

"Don't believe me?" Mike asked hotly.

"I didn't say that. Jeeze. Are you always this big of a spaz?" Rachel shot back.

Mike slammed him hand into the wall right next to Rachel's face and she flinched.

"Shelby will be mine!" Mike said with force.

"Whatever you say, Mike." Rachel was fighting to keep her voice calm. She didn't want to piss off Mike even more. She was scared of what he would do to her if she did.

"I wonder what Mikes deal is." Scott said.

"What do you mean?" Shelby asked.

"I mean, why's he here? And why does he keep hitting on my girlfriend?"

"Getting jealous?"

"No." Scott said sternly but with a look from Shelby he changed his mind and said, "a little."

Shelby smiled.

"Now how did you think I felt with Rachel?" Shelby asked trying to make her point.

"All right. You proved your point. You win."

Shelby bit her bottom lip.

"Oh I love winning." She teased.

"Well for winning, you need a prize." Scott said.

"What's my prize?"

"Anything you want."

"Anything..."

"Anything."

"OK. Well what if I was to say I wanted you as my prize." Shelby grinned.

"That can be arranged." Scott grinned back.

Scott moved so he could kiss Shelby and she welcomed the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he put one of his hands on the back of her head, rubbing his hand through her hair.

Scotts mouth moved away from her mouth and started to moved down her neck and Shelby closed her eyes, giving herself completely to him. Scott stopped abruptly and it main Shelby groan in anger that he stopped.

"Not here." He said and grabbed her hand.

He walked them towards the Janitor shed and reached for the door to go in but he stopped when he saw another hand grab the door knob first. Scott looked around and saw Mike. He sighed in frustration. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with Mike right now.

Before Scott could say anything, Shelby beat him to it.

"What do you want now, Mike?" Shelby asked frustrated that he was getting in the way.

"Am I such a nuisance to you?" Mike asked as if he really wasn't.

"Yes." Scott said sternly.

"You stay out of this," Mike said. "This is between me and Shelby."

"There is no 'you and Shelby'." Scott retorted.

"Sure there is. Ask her yourself." Mike turned from Scott to Shelby with his eyebrows raised.

"What are you talking about?" Shelby said accusingly.

"Your feelings for me." Mike said with so much simplicity it was strange.

"My feelings for you? What feelings?" Shelby crossed her arms over her chest while answering.

"The ones that make you think about me while you're kissing him" Mike pointed to Scott.

Scott was about to grab Mike to pull him away but Shelby stopped him.

"OK. Mike. I don't know what kind of withdrawal symptoms you're dealing with but I don't have feelings for you. And I sure as hell don't think of you when I'm kissing Scott." Shelby said.

"Stop lying to yourself, Shelby." Mike said with just a little bit of force.

"I'm not. You are."

Shelby grabbed Scotts hand and said, "Come on, let's go." And they did. They walked away from Mike and left him standing by himself.

Shelby walked into the girls dorm just as Rachel was leaving. Shelby didn't really care what Rachel was doing she ignored it and sat down on her bed. She tried to stay silent but couldn't resist asking the other girls about Mike.

"Hey. What do you guys think of the new guy?" Shelby asked.

"He's kind of weird." Juliet said.

Daisy didn't answer. She continued to look at her tarrot cards and gave and occasional 'hmm' sound.

"What are you doing?" Shelby asked Daisy since she didn't answer.

"Surely you know what I'm doing." Daisy said.

"Well, yeah, but you can still answer the question. What do you think of Mike?"

Daisy looked up and shook her head.

"Nothing good." She said.

"Why?" Juliet asked.

"I don't like what I'm getting on him from my cards."

"What are you getting?" Shelby asked.

"I'm not sure. But it's not good. And it has something to do with you." Daisy said looking to Shelby.

Shelby tensed and looked back and forth from Juliet to Daisy and was obviously nervous. She's never known Daisys cards to be wrong. They were right about her big change and about Daisys mom. Shelby took in a deep breath and tried to relax herself but couldn't. If something bad was going to happen that involved her and Mike, she wanted to know what it was. But all she was left doing was wondering.

Rachel walked up behind Scott and grabbed his shoulder.

"What?" Scott asked. He wasn't sounding mean, he was just sounding normal.

"Hey. Did Mike try talking to Shelby today?" She asked and managed actually sound worried.

"Why?" Scott asked not answering her question.

"Just answer my question and then I'll explain." Rachel said sternly.

Yeah, he did. He was going crazy and it was like he was trying to convince Shelby that she liked him or something. I'll tell you, he's messed up." Scott leaned on a stool and watched Rachel as she became uneasy. "What?"

"He asked me to help break you two up earlier. He seems to think Shelby likes him but that you're holding her back."

"So he really is the male form of you." Scott insulted her.

Rachel did her best to ignore that.

"No, it was different than what I tried. He was different. He seriously thinks Shelby has feelings for him. I'm afraid he's gonna try something." She said and sounded worried. But Rachel worrying about Shelby was unrealistic.

"Like you did, you mean?" Scott asked.

"No. I don't mean just a kiss." Rachel shook her said while speaking.

"What you mean, like rape?" Scott asked worried than shook his head. "No, he wouldn't do that. He's messed up, yeah, but they wouldn't send someone who isn't afraid to rape someone here. Especially since that's the reason some of us are here in the first place." Scott looked down and then back up to Rachel. "What makes you think he'd go that far anyways? You didn't"

"I'm an amateur, Scott." Rachel said it like that explained everything.

"So is he."

"No. When it comes to making people love them, this boy's about to turn pro. But that's also assuming he hasn't already."

Scott stopped leaning on the rock and stood up strait again. He looked down at Rachel and they both had worry in their eyes. Rachel never really liked Shelby but there was something there that made her worry about her right now.

"You really think he'll take it that far?" Scott asked concerned.

"I don't know what to think, Scott. But he nearly took my head off when I told he was being a spaz." Rachel replied.

"He hit you?" Scott asked angry. He was the type of guy who strongly believed that a man should never hit a women.

"No but he was damn close. He slammed his fist in the wall right next to my head."

"He should die for that as it is."

"Awe. I didn't know you cared." Rachel asking teasing.

Scott cracked a smile but then it went away.

"I can't stand guys who hit girls. Any guy who has to beat up a girl is nothing but a coward." Scott said.

"Why didn't I have your pep talks last year?" She asked to herself more than to Scott.

"What do you mean?"

"You know why I'm here, don't you?"

"Not the full story. I just know what Shelby rubbed in your face a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh. Well that's not the half of it," Rachel said. "I guess you could say I never really felt loved when I was growing so when I got to be about 13 I..." Rachel looked down and continued, "I would have sex with lots of guys and I would let them hit me." A tear fell down her face but she wiped it away and once again continued, "It's stupid, I know but I felt loved then. When I was with the guys, it was like they needed me and that meant they loved me. I guess I knew deep down they didn't and once I came to that realization, I tried getting them to stop." Another tear. "But they wouldn't." Rachel finally looked back up to Scott. "That's why I'm worried so much. I've been raped over a dozen times and I would never inflict something like that on anyone. Not even my worst enemy."

Scott pulled Rachel into a hug and tried to be comforting. Rachel broke down in his arms and just cried. Scott rubbed her back and kept repeating 'it's okay, you're okay' to her but she could barely hear him over her sobs.

After a few minutes of crying Rachel wiped all the tears from her face and looked to Scott.

"Thank you," Rachel said to Scott softly. "Thank you for just listening to my screwed up past and letting me cry on your shoulder. I've needed that for years."

"Well, it wasn't too long ago I needed someone to cry on so I understand." He replied softly.

"Who did you cry to?" Rachel asked out of curiosity.

"Shelby actually. It was the first night we were ever together. If you want the background on me and Shelby, that will have to wait for another hour that we have to waste."

They both chuckled and walked back towards their dorms. Not holding hands or with either of their arms around the other. They were simply friends and Rachel was OK with that.