New chapter is up. Notes are at the end. Take time to read them if you will.

Chapter 29: Cosmic Girl

The bell had rung; ending art class for the day. Ronnie finally shook out the stiffness for sitting that long. She had been today's model for the hour. She had to admit that it was kind of fun. She stood up and stretched; hearing a pop or two from sitting so still.

"Before we go; a round of applause to our model today." Mr. Chessex commented. The class had cheered for Ronnie and all of them had welcomed her back warmly. "Welcome back Miss Mason and we look forward to seeing your work tomorrow." Ronnie smiled to her classmates and headed back to her seat.

"Okay please place your work on my desk. Remember to use a blank sheet between works." Mr. Chessex continued. "I'll look them over before tomorrow's class. If you have any ideas for your semester end project; please bring it to my attention in the morning. I will be out of the building for the rest of the day." Mr. Chessex was gathering his things as he spoke. "Will the last person please shut off the lights and close the door? Thank you and I'll see you all tomorrow." Mr. Chessex had left with a good portion of the students.

Nikki was in the process of cleaning up her area. Ronnie had been sharing the area with Nikki and Francine Davison. Francine had just finished putting her things away when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Francine turned to that person, it was Ronnie.

"I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to properly thank you." Francine blushed. "Thank you for helping to save my life. If there is anything that I can do to help return the favor; please let me know." Francine smiled and nodded; placing her hand on Ronnie's and giving it a quick squeeze. Francine picked up her bag and left the room. The room was mostly empty except for Ronnie and her friends. They all met in the middle.

"We good for lunch?" Shane called as he walked in. "C'mon I'm hungry."

This got a collective chuckle from the group. Shane stuck up the middle finger on each of his hands and showed them to his friends.

"Shane; behave." Ronnie smiled at him. "Actually, I'm going to catch up with Nikki for lunch if that's alright with everyone."

J.J. and Edgar had nodded. "Sure, you two have some catching up to do." Edgar smiled, turning to Shane. "Coming Captain? I sure could eat too."

Shane gave Edgar a thumbs-up. "You cool Ronnie?"

"I'm good honey. I'll see you after school, I promise." Shane smirked at her and turned to Alyson and Gabe.

"Are we saving you two a spot?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, we'll be right there." Alyson responded automatically. She turned to her boyfriend and gave him a look. "Could you get me my usual? I'll be right along in a minute."

Gabe gulped and nodded to his girlfriend. He knew that look. He had only seen it a few times and was glad that it wasn't directed at him. He grabbed her stuff and ushered the boys out of the room. There was some commotion from them.

"Dude! What the actual fuck?!"

"Shane; right now, we don't need to be in there."

"Are they gonna fight?" J.J. asked.

"Little J; just shut up and let's go." Gabe got the four out the door; much to his chagrin. Shane closed the door as they left, not sure what was going on. Gabe blocked the door.

"What is going to happen to my cousin?" Edgar asked with great concern.

"Are they really gonna fight?" J.J. asked again.

"Gabe, we should be in there just in case."

Gabe placed his hands up. "Look, nothing is going to happen. Ally is just going to talk to Nikki for a minute and that's it. I'm sure that there will not be any bloodshed."

At the same moment…

Alyson cracked her neck and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and looked at the two girls. She looked at Nikki and wasn't happy with her. This girl was supposed to be there for her best friend when she was in the hospital. Nikki wasn't there. She avoided the situation for a semi-good reason. People despise hospitals. They are places that good and bad happens. Alyson knew that the bad usually outweighed the good. Nikki didn't like hospitals for what happened to her mother; that was a general fact that they all had known.

It wasn't a good enough of an answer for Alyson.

Ronnie had become a friend to her; almost like a little sister. They got along and shared some of their deep dark secrets. Alyson shared information with Ronnie that even Gabe only knew parts of what happened. She sat by this girl day by day and bonded with her. She knew the hurt that Nikki put on Ronnie and quite frankly; Nikki didn't deserve a second chance. Alyson turned to Nikki and found the calmest voice that she could.

"Nikki; I need to speak with you for a moment. Now when I mean that I have to speak with you; it means that you don't say a fucking word, let me say what I have to and we go from there."

"Alyson, that's not necessary."

Alyson walked toward and pulled Ronnie into a hug. She whispered in her ear and placed a kiss on her forehead. Ronnie nodded and pulled from the hug. She stepped two steps away and let Alyson continue.

"Alyson…" Alyson interrupted Nikki by stopping her before speaking.

"Nikki; shut the fuck up. Last warning." Alyson took a deep breath. "I'm going to say what I need to and I'm going to leave." She sat down on top of one of the art tables. "What you did to Ronnie by abandoning her when she needed you is unforgivable. I get that you don't like hospitals and I'm sorry to what happened to your mother when she was in one. You should have been here or tried to contact her. You didn't do that. That one thin thread of trust was broken; never to be repaired again."

Alyson took another breath and continued. "However, Ronnie is a helluva better person than I will ever be. She's willing to give you another chance to work things out. Maybe it's because she cares about you or she wants things to work; I really don't know. All I care is that she's happy. If for some reason that you being here makes her happy; well then work this out. I guess that's all I have to say about that matter."

Alyson hopped off the table and moved towards the door. The two girls watched as Alyson opened the door; only to close it again. Alyson looked over her shoulder as she spoke; her voice cold as ice and devoid of any emotion.

"Two little things Nicolette. One, offer your naked body to my boyfriend again and I will break you; mentally, physically or another way is up to you. Secondly; if you hurt Ronnie again in any way, shape or form; you will cease to exist."

Ronnie merely shuddered at her friend's commentary. Deep down in her heart of hearts; Ronnie knew that Alyson was serious. Nicolette didn't know Alyson as well as Ronnie and decided to push the issue just a step too far. With a slight smile on her face, Nicolette spoke in a joking way.

"Is that a threat Miss Manning?"

Alyson turned half a step and looked Nicolette dead in the eyes. "Push me and find out." Nicolette's eyes grew wide as Alyson turned and left the room. Ronnie sighed deeply and continued to clean up her area. Nicolette turned towards her friend. She was shaken, but decided to play things off.

"Heh. That Alyson; playing like she was really going to do those things." Nikki commented.

"I wouldn't try and find out the results." Ronnie nodded back. "That's just me though." She closed her giant sketchpad and placed it in a cabinet. She grabbed the supplies from her easel and took them into the backroom. She placed the pastels in the cabinet and placed the smudge stick in the drawer. She dusted off her hands and was about to turn around when something yellow wrapped around her face. Ronnie stumbled back and leaned against the cabinets in the far back. She pulled the yellow garment from her face.

It was a Degrassi Freshman polo.

Ronnie looked up from the direction that the polo came from and felt her jaw drop. Nikki was standing in front of the door; blocking the way. Nikki had taken off the polo to show off the silky pale skin that the polo hid; the black lacy push-up bra (if it could have been called that) accentuating her assets. She had unbuttoned the khaki skirt and had let it hit the floor. Nikki had done a slow turn; the panties matching the bra in color and style were a huge contrast to Nikki's nearly pale skin. Nikki had taken out the band that held hair up in a high ponytail and had shaken her hair loose with her hands. She took two steps towards Ronnie; a seductive smile on her face.

"Nikki what are you doing?" Ronnie nervously laughed, not sure how to react. She tried to back away, realizing that there was nowhere to go in this situation. With dry mouth and lips, she tried to speak again. "Nikki, I have a boyfriend…"

Nikki moved closer her friend; the smile growing bigger. "I know that silly." Nikki spoke in a sexy purr. "I just missed you and I wanted to show you how much you meant to me. No more silly games; no more hiding and no more bullshit. I almost lost you to those two psychos. I'm not going through that hurt again."

"Nikki, this isn't right…" Ronnie tried to get out. "We're in school and what if Shane…"

Nikki closed the distance between the two of them. Nikki placed a kiss on Ronnie's lips that glued her to that spot. Each kiss was more passionate than the last. Nikki broke from the last kiss; both of them panting for air. Nikki's right hand found the buttons on Ronnie's polo while her left was pulling the scrunchie out of her hair. The left hand left her hair fall down and gently removed her glasses; placing them on top of one of the counters. Nikki ended up returning to trade kisses with Ronnie. Nikki pulled away; gently licking Ronnie's upper lip. She moved to Ronnie's right ear and nibbled on the right earlobe. Ronnie bit her lip and tried to push her semi-naked friend away from her. Nikki had found Ronnie's weak spot.

"Ronnie, no one will know." Nikki purred. "No one found out us on that Halloween night." This caused Ronnie to blush and laugh quietly. Nikki continued. "This time I promise to be gentle."

"Well, maybe not too gentle." Ronnie said, tugging on her polo shirt; pulling it slowly over her head. "I would like to walk out of school somewhat normally."

Nikki nodded to her best friend. She gently moaned as she pulled on the button of Ronnie's khaki pants. Nikki's left hand pulled the zipper down as the right found the hem of her panties. Nikki promised to herself in the acts of teenage foreplay that she wouldn't lose her best friend ever again. She would do anything and everything to make sure that she was always happy; no matter the cost.

So how about that?

Honestly, THIS had to be the hardest chapter for me to write in a long time. Maybe not for the reasons that you would expect. And for the record, no I'm not too worried about writing about "naughty" acts and/or actions. I'm not worried about pushing the envelope or writing "blue" material. (Not sure what I'm talking about? Look it up kids. Old man over here doesn't have time to explain old phrases that were last used in a black and white movie from the '50's).

Let me explain...

When I started this story back up again after a really long hiatus; I had a plan to where things were going to go. At least in theory/planning. The vicious attack on Ronnie was going to be much more different and it possibly could have been really graphic. Instead I went the safe route and wrote about the aftermath. I know that it was the right choice and not receiving any commentary from P.T.S.D. victims of rape/assault/etc. was a real motivator. However, the changes that Ronnie is going through are right on track and the results are moving along swimmingly. Same goes for Gabe as well (although he has yet to experience his changes).

I bet you're asking right now "What are you talking about?"

Psychologically speaking; when a person goes through a traumatic experience, there is sometimes a change in behavior that is the polar opposite of who they really were before the incident.

Don't believe me? Look up the case of Phineas Gage and briefly go over that information.

I'll wait.

We cool? Okay. While Mr. Gage's story is a bit more wilder that this; Ronnie did have a really bad thing happen to her (Chapter 23+24). This is her (right now) dealing with the situation and things have changed about her (Chapter 26). People close to her are going to start noticing things more and more. Just wait.

Anyway, I'm done for now. I'll have a new chapter up once I have the time to piece the aftermath of this situation. Reviews and comment are welcome!