Surprising Life: Secrets

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans...Duh.

Wally stood by his locker, knowing that her locker was right opposite his. Her. He didn't even know her name, yet she was always in his mind. What was wrong with him? They'd barely spoken, but he already felt like she'd always been in his life. He pictured her long lilac hair, falling over her neck; those pink eyes dazzling off her pale, soft skin. Suddenly, he was dragged out of his daydream by the sight of her. Today, she was wearing a dark blue jumper over a white shirt and black trousers, making her look smart, sophisticated, mature yet beautiful at the same time. He began to approach her, not sure what he was going to say. He could start with 'What happened yesterday?' or 'Why did you push me away?', but those thoughts left his mind as he saw her face. On her left cheek was a huge bruise, barely covered up by her foundation; her cheeks were red and cut and her eyes were puffy and red. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but he didn't even know her name! As quickly as he could, he analyzed her property, looking for any object that had her identity on it. He spotted her maths book and her name.

"Jen, what's wrong?" he asked, sympathectically. Jennifer looked startle for a moment.

"OK, how do you know my name?" she asked. Wally laughed and pointed at the maths book in her hand. She blushed slightly for being so stupid and looked away from him.

"Jen, can you tell me what's wrong?" he asked again, in a more serious and hurt tone. I thought she trusted me. Why won't she tell me?

"Wally, can I tell you later? Please?" she pleaded, just as the bell went. She left for her lesson, leaving Wally standing by her locker, fearful and worried.

"Jen, can you tell me now!?" he asked for the hundredth time that day. School was over and Jennifer still hadn't said anything and to be honest, she was running out of excuses.

"Look, Wally! I don't want to talk about it!" she exclaimed, groaning in frustration.

"But I want to help!" he replied, standing in front of her. She hadn't realised just how tall he was, but then again, everyone's tall when you're only 5ft 1...

"WALLY! Just stop! I don't want to have to go through it again," she said, wincing as she touched her bruised elbow. Wally looked suspicious.

"Go through what, Jen?" he asked her, walking along besides her. She was silent for a while, not sure whether or not she could confide in him just yet. Finally, she made a decision.

"Wally, whatever I tell you now, you can never repeat," she began. Wally nodded, his face carved into a serious expression.

"It's obvious that my dad's an alcoholic, but what you don't know is that he..." She couldn't bring herself to say it; it made her sound so weak and helpless. Wally watched as tears began falling from her topaz pink eyes and he pulled her into him, not wanting to let her go. She didn't disagree as Wally had thought she would have done; she just dug her head into his chest and cried. She didn't have to say those last words; he already knew what they were.

"Come back to my house and show me, yeah?" he asked her, his arm over her shoulder. She nodded and the two solemnly walked back to Wally's house in silence.

"Where are your parents?" she asked, looking around at the big, bright empty house. Expenisve looking ornaments were placed around the room and pictures of Wally were hung onto the walls.

"They don't come back till about 8pm, so we're fine for the while," he replied, pulling out a chair for her.

"Now, sit and would you like anything to eat or drink?" he asked her, pretending to be a waiter. She giggled. Did I just giggle?

"Nothing, thank you, garcon," she replied, sitting upright in her chair.

"Very well, madamoiselle," he responded, getting a coke from the fridge. The two sat in the common room and began to chat about everything. Wally listened patiently, waiting for Jennifer to confide her problems with him. Soon, it was 5pm and Jennifer finished talking.

"Jen, I didn't want to interrupt you, but we came here for a reason," he whispered. Jennifer tensed slightly. Yes, she had agreed to show Wally the marks, but was she ready? However, she didn't have any time to think about it as Wally held her hand in his. She looked up at his face, sparkling with trust and sympathy for the girl.

"Promise not to tell anyone?" she asked as she slowly rolled up her blue jumper and shirt, showing cuts, bruises and scars. Wally looked at the new cuts, some looking like they had only just stopped bleeding. He looked at the bruises, a mixture of blue and purple painted onto her soft skin, sticking out like a dark dot on white paper. The scars must have been there for a long time, always reminding her.

She watched as Wally studied the effects of her abuse. As soon as she thought he was done, she rolled down her jumper sleeves and pulled up her trousers. Lashings and lashings of red marks ran up her legs and Wally flinched a bit, imaging the amount of pain they must have caused Jennifer. He glanced at her face, tears welling in her eyes. He couldn't imagine just how much it must have hurt her to have to reminisce of the memories.

She breathed out, trying to calm herself down. She couldn't cry a second time in front of Wally; her own dad hadn't even seen her cry before. She saw him flinch at the marks on her leg and when she had rolled her trouser down, the fabric had rubbing lightly against the markings, stinging her a bit, hence the reason tears began trickling down her cheeks. Yeah, that's the only reason I'm crying, she told herself. But is that the only reason? argued her inner self.

Pulling down the trouser leg, she continued, rolling her sweater up to show her torso. This was were most of the marks were, unseen by the public, but always there. She turned around, showing Wally the full effect of the punishment she had 'deserved'. Bruises, cuts, marks, scars and even the occasional bite mark stood out from her skin and Wally was slowly becoming angry; angry at her abuser, angry at the people who made her feel useless, angry at himself for not knowing and helping sooner. Finally, it seemed that Jennifer had finished showing all of her scars and for a while, the two sat there in the awkward silence, silent tears falling down Jennifer's face. Suddenly, she felt someone's body heat on hers and a hand wiping away the tears.

"Don't cry," Wally whispered. Unfortunately, those words were enough to trigger a river of tears to flow from Jennifer's eyes and she laid in Wally's arms for half an hour, just crying for herself. The tears stopped and Wally brought her a glass of water.

"Have some water. You must be dehydrated," he pointed out, making Jennifer giggle.

"What am I going to do, Wally?" she asked him, gulping all of her water down very quickly. She watched as he refilled her cup and poured himself one, both drinking extremely quickly. He seems to do a lot of things quickly...she thought.

"Jen, you can't stay there. Your dad is a lying scumbag and you don't deserve him or the cruelty that he's giving you. You deserve happiness, you deserve love, you deserve..."

"You?" she finished, watching him from her seat. He stopped pacing around the room at the answer and she quickly covered her mouth. The two teens were briefly interlocked, eye to eye, for a moment, before each looked away, smiling but also highly embarassed.

"That was supposed to be a thought," admitted Jennifer, laughing softly. Wally chuckled as well, unsure of whether that was a smart move or not.

"Well, thanks for having me and I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she quickly said, picking up her bag and belongings.

"You sure you don't want to stay longer?" asked Wally, trying to persuade her to stay. He didn't want to be alone; he wanted to be with her.

"I'm a bit tired, so I think I'm going to go to sleep. Thanks again. Bye," she said, stepping out of the door. Just as she was about to step away from the house, something pulled her back in and suddenly, she was confronted on the lips by something. It took her a while to realise that Wally was kissing her. She closed her eyes, lost in the world of paradise. A warm feeling tingled her insides and she didn't want to let go, but, seeing as they needed to breath, Wally parted from Jennifer reluctantly.

"Wally?" she asked, still standing in his arms, her head resting on the bottom of his chest.

"Yeah?" he replied, stroking her hair, softly, making Jennifer feel very comfortable, as if she was having a full body massage.

"I deserve you," she whispered, pulling closer to him.

"And I you," he replied back, kissing her one last time on the lips before letting go off her.