Chapter Forty-Nine

It was as though the question alone had summoned the presence of the very person who Nicky asked about. Because not before long, their conversation was interjected by the lurking presence of the blonde teen's peeking her head through the opened door of the computer lab. Lorna quickly sensed her blue eyes fiercely staring over her, as if they had heat vision and were trying to burn a hole in the back of her head. Saliva built up on the surface of her mouth right below her tongue. She tried to ignore her stare. Tried to act oblivious to it.

Not surprisingly, her decision to not acknowledge Annalisa's presence in the doorway rather quickly fueled a rage within her. The girl marched her way inside, slowly approaching where the two others had been sitting but stopped when she heard Nicky's voice seemingly interrogating the brunette beside her as to not gain the attention of her.

"Ya gonna give me an answer, doll?" Nicky crossed her arms over her chest while peering firmly across at her girlfriend. Making sure she knew she wasn't going to be able to talk herself out of this. Nicky was determined to get the truth out of her, no matter what it took.

The pet-name Nicky had for Lorna immediately made Annalisa cover her mouth to keep herself from outwardly gagging. Her head shook in disgust—of course those two were actually in a relationship, she thought. A chuckle sat in the pits of her throat, wanting desperately to escape, but she forced it to remain where it was as to not gain the focus of the two teens. Though she knew, regardless of Lorna's ignoring her, that Lorna had certainly known she was there.

Lorna swallowed the saliva that engulfed the inside of her mouth and tried to keep her awareness on Nicky rather than the blonde girl standing a few feet behind where Nicky's back was facing. She kept her eyes on her even though she could clearly see Annalisa's dark glare from the corner of them. Her menacing blue eyes made trying to come up with an answer to her girlfriend's query quite the challenge.

It didn't take much for Nicky to clearly observe the apprehensive look in the younger girl's eyes and instantly she grew concerned. Her hands hesitated not once to reach up and cover over each porcelain cheek. The tips of her fingers brushed gingerly over alarmingly pale flesh. "What's the matter, kid? Looks like ya seena ghost or some shit," she softly inquired, peering her over in a highly methodic manner. A loose strand of brown hair carefully tucked behind an ear.

Once again, in her spot that hid her from Nicky's view, Annalisa faked a gagging gesticulation at yet another sickly pet-name her ears had the distaste of hearing.

Though the older girl who's soft hands held around her cheeks couldn't see it, Lorna didn't miss Annalisa's antics which only deepened the tightness lurking within her chest. She turned her head to focus her eyes back on Nicky and tried to piece together a response that wouldn't worry the clearly already worried redhead standing before her.

Nicky noticed how she had been staring at something rather frightfully and so she decided to twist her own head around in the same direction she'd seen Lorna looking and landed her eyes on the very girl who's name was written on the top of the document. Out of instinct, she released her grasp from Lorna's face and instead wrapped her arms protectively around her waist. Eyes glaring darkly ahead into those of the blonde teen's. She sucked in her bottom lip to try to control the anger that slowly began to creep up.

"Hmm not a ghost but that could always be arranged," the statement easily slipped from Nicky's mouth. The tone of her voice much deeper and raspier than it usually was. Her eyes stared daggers into the ice cold blue ones that pierced back at her.

Annalisa sputtered out a snicker. She leaned her side against the protruding rim of the table and crossed her arms aggressively over her chest. "Is that a threat I hear, Nichols?" The words snapped their way from an otherwise calm voice. Eerily calm. Her eyes shifted between the two girls standing a few feet away from her and shook her head with another chuckle accompanying it.

Tightening her arms around Lorna, Nicky glared even darker ahead at the blonde. "No, it's a promise."

"A promise huh? Yeah, I'd like to see ya try," the blonde retorted back, a smirk melding its way on her face. She reached into the pocket of her jeans and whipped out a piece of gum. After ripping the wrapper from it she shoved it in her mouth and inched her face closer to Nicky's, so close that her mouth was a mere inch from her ear. "You don't have the strength to do anything to me, Nichols, face it," she whispered into the same ear her mouth merely touched over, breath trickling against its flesh.

Nicky quickly lifted a hand to shove at the taller girl's shoulder to push her away with. The taunting tone of her voice only aggravated the anger that had previously boiled through her veins. She furrowed both of her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes on the other. "Mind telling me why your name is on Lorna's assignment?"

Her grasp on Lorna reluctantly released itself so that she could take Annalisa by the sleeve of her shirt and shove her in front of the computer screen the brunette had just been typing on. She gestured her hands at it rather violently. The anger merely controlling her every move at that point. She twisted her head slightly to see the reaction on Annalisa's face but all she saw was that god-damned smirk that had to be embedded into it by now.

Nicky's little interrogation only brought a laugh out of Annalisa, who stood facing the brightly lit screen with her signature sneer. Slowly, her eyes averted over onto Lorna and she silently threatened her to keep her mouth shut by the movements of her eyebrows. The meek nod she received in response warranted her eyes to shift back on the screen. She bounced her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. "It's called a project, Nichols. A project that Mrs. Bell assigned to both me and little Morello. Are ya slow or somethin'?"

To both of their surprises but even more so to Annalisa's, it was Lorna who spoke up next. She peered firmly at the blonde teen and waved an aggressive hand in her line of view. "Don't call Nicky names."

Even Lorna was taken aback by the boldness inflected in her voice. The palms of her hands rapidly grew incessantly sweaty. With a gulp, she bowed her head so that her eyes were staring into the dotted pattern of the floor beneath her converse shoes. Maybe her comment should have been kept to herself, she mentally affirmed. Regret settling in now that she pondered over the impulsive decision she made only moments prior. Being bold with Nicky and family was one thing but to do so in Annalisa's presence—her bully that never ceased bullying—wasn't the wisest move on her behalf.

And, as if to prove her point, Annalisa cracked her head around so fast that Lorna was stunned it hadn't decapitated from her neck. The expression on her face was anything except impressed. Her fingers curled tightly into the palms of her hands at her sides. An urge to dig her nails into those pale little cheeks of Lorna's came over her; she would have done it, too, if Nicky hadn't been there to witness it.

Instead, Annalisa just roughly grabbed onto the brunette's head and forced it to move in direction of her own. She wanted their eyes to be on the same level for when she said her next statement. "Oh, are we tough Lorna now? You think I'm scared a ya?" The tone in her voice taunting with a mixture of sing-songy thrown in there. She chuckled when she saw how timid Lorna suddenly became and knocked her back a small amount. A rather bold move considering Nicky probably noticed it but Annalisa couldn't care less.

All that mattered to her was making sure the brunette was well aware of the fact that no matter what words she tried to spew out at her, none of them would affect her in any way that might possibly benefit either of them. "Your girlfriend is," she said right into Lorna's ear, "a," the pause for a few loud chews of gum; she smirked at the petite girl's obvious discomfort and grimacing. "junkie dyke."

Impulse took over, despite the timidity, and Lorna lifted her leg up to kick rather harshly at Annalisa's genital region. Upon impact the blonde doubled over in pain and Lorna quickly grabbed onto Nicky's hand to yank her out of the lab with her. Not thinking about all the stuff she was leaving behind, either. All that was on her mind, in that particular moment, was getting both she and Nicky as far away from Annalisa as possible.


It wasn't until they entered one of the girls' bathrooms—on opposite ends of the hallway to put the most distance between them and the blonde teen—and securely locked in the handicap stall that either girl said anything. Both slid to the floor, panting to regain their breath from the energy their bodies just exerted from all the running, and grabbed hold of each other's hands.

Nicky snaked an arm tightly around Lorna's waist and pulled her closer. The top of her chin innately laid over the top of her girlfriend's head. For a few silent minutes, she sat there swaying the two of them gently back and forth. There was an aching in her chest that she hadn't noticed until now. She wasn't sure if it was from all the running or the anger she felt seeing how cruel Annalisa was to Lorna. Either way, however, she ignored it and tilted her head so that she could stroke her lips over the crown of Lorna's forehead.

"Ya got a good kick on you, ya know that kid?" A light-hearted comment that she thought they both could benefit from. The small giggle she acquired in exchange morphed the aching sensation in her chest to a warm, melting, one. And, of course, her girlfriend's angelic giggle influenced one to escape from her own windpipe as well. "Are ya like a secret professional soccer player or somethin?"

Heat radiated from her reddening cheeks. Though, this time, it was from the loving and playful comments that her girlfriend had so kindly been spewing out at her. Lorna shook her head with a warm laugh and turned slightly so that she could reach her hands up to frame affectionately around Nicky's cheeks. As she gazed into her big brown eyes, her demeanor quickly shifted to a more serious one. The menacing words that Annalisa whispered about Nicky into her ears echoed through her mind and she felt a knot meld itself into her gut.

She inched her face closer in order for her lips to mold themselves delicately over Nicky's. She held them there for several seconds before moving her head back a slight amount. Her eyes soaked in every single feature of her girlfriend's angelic face. Nothing about her Nicky was bad, she deemed. Nothing Annalisa thought or would say in the future had the capability of changing the simple fact. Nicky was the purest soul Lorna had ever met, had ever had the fortune of falling in love with. No one had the right to speak ill of her precious Nicky. No one. Lorna would kick a million Annalisa's if she had to to prove her point.

"I appreciate the compliment, hon. But me and sports happen to be a disaster when mixed together," a good-natured chuckle followed behind her statement. She lifted a thumb and pressed it softly onto the tip of Nicky's nose, leaning close enough that their foreheads naturally brushed together. "I don't take lightly to anyone who thinks it's okay to talk shit about my beautiful Nicky. Annalisa deserved a lot more than just the tiny kick I gave her."

Nicky's eyes instantly glazed over and she was unable to resist from taking Lorna's head in her hands and gently resting it onto her soft-beating chest. Her chin nuzzled its way back atop the other's head and she swallowed roughly to stop herself from expelling any sniffles. "Well, babe, you're right on one thing for sure—Annalisa deserves much more than that phenomenal kick you gave her."

Once again Lorna couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped her. She snuggled closer to the chest beneath her and pressed her lips delicately around it. "I'm not surprised you would agree, honey," her voice murmured lovingly, lips continuing to stroke gingerly along the flesh it happened to be surrounded by. "You did say ya could arrange for her to become a ghost." Both shared a snicker at the memory. The very fond memory right next to the one where Lorna actually kicked the girl.

"Yeah? I did, didn't I?" The two laughed before Nicky's expression grew solemn.

She rocked the two of them gently back and forth for a moment with her chin pressed down on the top of Lorna's head. Carefully, she lifted her chin and brought her hands down to cradle around her girlfriend's cheeks which in turn raised her up a slight amount as well. Just enough for their eyes to peer into each other, nearly melding together. "Baby, you never did answer my question before that blonde little fucker rudely interrupted us."

Lorna gulped at the unexpected change of topic. "Erm, I mean ya know exactly what Annalisa said…we're stuck working on the assignment together. That's the only reason her name is on the paper."

"Hmm," Nicky acknowledged, though didn't know whether or not she believed her completely. A sigh escaped her, however, and she brought Lorna's face closer to her own so she could place a warm, loving, kiss atop her lips. She nuzzled their faces together and then gently laid Lorna's head back onto her chest. "Okay, doll," her voice murmured; she combed a hand soothingly through thick waves of brown hair. "I just don't want you being taken advantage of, yeah? You're too sweet, Lorna, and I want to make sure no one hurts you because of that."


The two sat there together against the cold tiled-floor of the bathroom stall for what seemed like an eternity to the pair—a heavenly eternity, no doubt—until they heard the ringing of the bell alerting them back to planet Earth. A sound that reluctantly forced the girls apart and on their marry ways—after one last, long, loving embrace of course. When they released their hold on each other, Nicky turned the opposite direction to head to her next class while Lorna went back to the computer lab to retrieve her things as well as print what she had completed.

However, the second she reentered the archway to the tech room she was greeted by none other than the one and only demented Annalisa Damiva. The girl stood right in front of where Lorna was needing to go, making her halt herself from stepping any closer. By the expression on the blonde's face she knew if she were to walk any nearer that could easily cause her to be the next one to lie on that floor in pain. Something she wasn't particularly fancying in that moment.

On the other hand, Annalisa narrowed her stare on Lorna the millisecond she made her way back in the door. No one kicked her and got away with it. She shook her head fiercely while peering the brunette over methodically. Her head quickly turned around to scan the room and, to her fortune, the two previous students who occupied it and had long left. Hands rubbed together at the realization. She walked over to the door, shut it, and turned back to Lorna with a devious smirk on her face.

"Think you're real tough now, do ya Morello?"

Lorna shuddered at the closeness between them; the other's breath was easily felt over her face when she spoke out her question. There was a noticeable knot that formed in the pit of her stomach and she gradually backed away. Though the discreetness was not sufficient as she felt Annalisa roughly grab her by the collar of her shirt. "No, no. But I warned ya not to call Nicky names and you-you did it anyway," her voice shakily pointed out, she turned her head away from the other and focused her stare on the computer where stuff still resided. "I don't regret kicking ya—you were talking trash about my girlfriend."

That was all it took for Annalisa to shove Lorna against the wall away from the door. Her hands grasped gruffly atop her shoulder blades as she restrained her onto the plaster behind her. She moved her face closer, mere inches from Lorna's, and glared rather darkly into her eyes. "I don't care if my insults of your precious little girlfriend hurt ya wee little feelings. You don't get to kick me, little Morello," the words spewed out in an eerily calm tone; she brought a finger up to touch over Lorna's cheek and let her nail dig sharply into the flesh. "You know I could end ya real fast. You better watch your back because if ya ever do some shit like that again I will do worse than give ya a black eye."

Lines scrunched up on the skin of her forehead. Do worse than give her a black eye? The thought ran perturbingly through her mind. Lorna swallowed hard. Was that foreshadowing what Annalisa was planning to do now? Trepidation quickly set in and the only thing she could do to ease her nerves was suck in her lower lip. "What do ya mean do worse than give me a black eye? Ya ain't gave me one to begin with," the words seemed to flow out of her without much processing. She gulped at what might possibly come of her.

"Ya know what? You're right. Let me fix that, yeah?"

A calculating chuckle expelled from her throat as she lifted one of her hands from its previous position on the brunette's shoulder. Balling it into a fist at her side, Annalisa steadily oscillated it and collided her fist starkly into the right side of Lorna's face, merely below her eye. She repositioned that same hand back on the blade of her shoulder and gave her one last glare, "There's a lot more from where that came from, Morello. If ya don't get our assignment done on time, I'll make sure your other eye gets a nice shine too."


Once school finished for the day, Lorna decided against catching up with Nicky and instead headed straight for the bus. Guilt was certainly felt for the decision she made, however, she didn't want to chance Nicky catching sight of her bruised eye from her little run-in with Annalisa earlier. She'd settle for giving the girl a call once she arrived back at her foster family's house. Their weekend plans could wait until tomorrow, she reasoned, at least that would give her time to cover up the bruise. Or, she hoped, maybe it would be faded by morning.

The bus ride to the Chapman's wasn't too long—blatantly quicker than her walk to school earlier—and after she got off, she advanced rather swiftly to the front door of their house. Fingers crossed that no one would be there or, at the very slightest, wouldn't notice the shiner beneath her right eye.

Despite her crossed fingers, when she opened the door she walked into a sitting room full of people buzzing about. Eyebrows furrowed ponderously on her forehead. What the hell had she just entered into? She swallowed uneasily, stood frozen by the front door not sure of what to do. Her eyes searched through the room to see if any of the people had familiar faces but there were no Chapmans in sight. Which only added to the puzzling sensation that already loomed over Lorna.

She busied herself by slipping her shoes off and setting them on the rack. Still pondering on whether she should enter the room fully or run up the stairs to the privacy of the room she'd been staying in. Considering the fact that she wasn't entirely comfortable entering a room full of people she hadn't known, Lorna decided on going up the stairs to her room. She needed to call Nicky anyway to give an explanation for why she never met up with her after all their classes ended.

However, before she could even get her foot on that first step, an elderly woman stood in front of her—one of her wrinkly hands placed over Lorna's shoulder. The sensation immediately caused her to jump backwards, not at all fond of being unexpectedly touched by a stranger. She stood a few feet back from the older woman and allowed her eyes to look her over very precisely. There was a faint familiarity Lorna saw by observing her facial features. The blue eyes and mouth resembled that of both Mr. Chapman and Piper. Such realization made Lorna ponder over whether or not this woman across from her was somehow related to the Chapman clan.

"Ah," the greyed haired woman muttered, standing closely to Lorna. Her blue eyes staring her over with a strong bout of intrigue. "So, you must be the girl Bill and Carol are fostering, yes?"

It felt like the woman had read Lorna's mind. Though she did not state who she was, she inadvertently implied that she shared relations with Mr. and Mrs. Chapman. Which alone was sufficient to quail the young teen's nerves. She allowed herself to relax slightly, nodding her head to the quest she'd been asked. "Yeah, I'm Lorna. I-I, erm, shouldn't be here that long, though." Her teeth dug into her tongue somewhat; she hoped she wouldn't be there much longer, anyway.

Nodding attentively, the greying blonde pursed her lips into a smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you Lorna. I'm Celeste, Bill's mother," she introduced herself—in a tone, to Lorna, that sounded rather forced and through gritted teeth—while reaching out a hand to shake the brunette teen's with. When she complied and Celeste felt the weight of her hand in hers, she gave it a firm shake before releasing it.

"My son has such a big heart, I'll tell you. He's been talking about fostering for a long time. The only reason he hasn't sooner is because of that wife of his." Mrs. Chapman took a pause to inhale a breath of air. She shook her head in a distasteful manner at her own mention of Carol. There was something about her that just rubbed her the wrong way. "Now don't go telling anyone this," she said, leaning closer to make sure that only Lorna had been able to hear her, "Carol can be a bit of a snob. She's a real pain to deal with, Lorna. And that's a lot coming from someone like me—I, too, have been known around here as a snob at times but Carol is the snob bitch."

Once Celeste moved herself back away from her, Lorna subtly scrunched up her nose while trying to process what had just been told to her. Of course, she easily agreed with every word the older woman spoke. There was a vast unnerving aura any time she happened to be within Carol Chapman's presence; she wasn't entirely comfortable around her and hearing what Mr. Chapman's mother said made her sigh in relief to know she wasn't the only one to feel that way.

The girl's silence caused Celeste to innately place a hand back on the top of her shoulder for a friendly squeeze. Her smile had not faltered but grew into a more genuine one than it first was. "Well, for as long as you're here with them, I'm happy to have you as part of the family. I stop over once a week, usually Fridays, so we can gossip over tea about how crazy Carol is as I'm sure you'll come to find out the longer you're here."


It felt as though years passed before Lorna had finally made her way up the stairwell to the guest bedroom she'd been given. Of course, in reality, when she opened her phone and saw the time it was only fifteen minutes which had passed between the start of her conversation with Celeste and her sitting on the mattress of the guest bed now. She pushed herself back so that her spine easily rested on the base of the headboard. Her eyes focused down on the cell phone in her hands, searching through the contacts until she stumbled on Nicky's. A smile melded onto her face as she used her thumb to click on the call button.

She waited through the rings and while she did so, her eyes wandered onto the window that sat upon the wall right beside the bed she rested on. Albeit it being nearly four in the evening, the sun still sat high in the sky with its rays beaming in through the window. The smile on her face only intensified at the sight—that solidified spring was finally on its way. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the line picking up and the sound of Nicky's warm, husky, voice instantly sent a warm shiver through her body.

"Hey, kid," Nicky affectionately greeted having already seen the caller ID before picking up the call. She sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of her that Red prepared for her upon both their arrivals from the school. An affectionate, motherly, gesture that warmed her heart more than anything else. She reached for the mug, lifting it to her lips for a savoring sip.

"How come ya didn't come to your locker after last period? I was lookin' for ya, doll."

The innocent, sweet, query formed a significant pang in Lorna's chest. Her mouth closed and she swallowed a good chunk of air. "I'm sorry, hon. I wasn't feeling too good after my last class so I just wanted to get outta there as quick as possible," the lie easily slipped from her mouth. One she hadn't even pondered over for too long beforehand. A sigh expelled from her lungs and she felt the pang in her chest slightly grow stronger. She didn't like lying to Nicky, however, she also didn't want her seeing that black eye and question her on it.

Lorna's response quickly melded a concerning mien to Nicky's face. She took another sip of her coffee and let it slide down to her throat. "Not feelin' good? Are ya sick, babe? What's the matter?" Her fingertips naturally caressed along the rim of the phone she held pressed up to her ear. She longed for the phone to be Lorna's face she was caressing but that would have to suffice for now since she wasn't there.

"Erm, I'm okay now—I think I just ate something that didn't agree with me."

The explanation should have put Nicky's mind at ease. But it didn't. In fact it only caused more apprehension and worry to form. She felt a knot sit in the pit of her stomach while pondering how to voice her concern on the matter without also upsetting the younger teen. This hadn't been the first time worry had seeped at the thought of Lorna's subtle issue with food. And, sure, the comment appeared rather innocent but Nicky was beginning to wonder if there wasn't some hidden meaning behind it.

After having another sip of the warm beverage in her mug, Nicky sucked in a sharp breath. "Is that all it was, are ya sure? What'd ya eat, kid?"

Lorna swallowed uneasily, eyes retaining their stare out the window on the side of the bed. A couple of birds perched on a nearby tree and when a bustle of wind whirled through one of them flew away. She should have come up with a better lie at the very least, she realized. Lungs erupted a rather large puff of air and she shook her head. She was a professional at digging her own graves.

"Uh, I had an egg for breakfast and ya know, I musta undercooked it is all. But I feel much betta now."

"Mhmm," Nicky muttered. Though she hadn't completely bought what Lorna was trying to pawn off as a reason, she decided against arguing with her on it. There was no use when she had undeniably no evidence to back up her suspicions. Instead, she settled for finishing off the rest of her coffee and placing the empty cup into the sink. "How the hell did ya undercook an egg, doll? Have ya not made them before?"

There was a playful tone in Nicky's voice that easily brought a chuckle from Lorna. Despite the undercooked egg story being a lie, she went ahead and amused her with a response that continued the fib. It wasn't like it was a bad lie; it wouldn't hurt either of them, Lorna reasoned with herself when she felt a guilty pang in her chest. "I mean no, I don't cook much. I just threw it in the pot and moved it around a few minutes," she commented in a nonchalant manner.

Nicky snickered and shook her head. "Well, kid, next time try cooking the egg in a pan instead of a pot, yeah?"

The two shared a few more laughs and spent the rest of their phone call planning out their weekend. It was nearly two hours later when they'd finally ended the call. Lorna rested her head on the pillow behind her, turning on her side to gaze out the window, and smiled. Maybe things were truly starting to turn around for her.