I wish today it will rain all day
maybe that will kinda make the pain go away
trying to forgive you for abandoning me
praying but I think I'm still an angel away
angel away, yeah strange in a way
maybe that is why I chase strangers away
they got their guns out aiming at me
but I become Neo when they aiming at me
me, me, me against them
me against enemies, me against friends
somehow they both seem to become one
A sea full of sharks and they all smell blood
I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
to fly
to fly
Sophie took a deep breath after closing the bedroom door behind her. Seeing Billy so unexpectedly when she had walked out of the bathroom had made her nerves on edge. She quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and a tight purple T-shirt that said "PINK" in white on the front she had bought a long time ago at Victoria's secret. Sophie was glad she had extra clothes in her car from all the times she stayed over at friend's houses, her trunk was practically a closet. Once she was dressed she stood in the room silently, not sure of what to do. She hesitantly looked at the door and slowly went to open it, she knew she had to go into the living room eventually. Knowing Billy was out there filled her with dread. She hated feeling helpless and scared. I'm doing this for Lucas, Sophie thought as she lifted her chin and walked into the living room.
Billy and Bodie were sitting on opposite couches drinking beer and watching television. Sophie didn't say anything and quietly went and sat next to Bodie on the couch. She looked over at Billy and saw him staring at her, looking pissed. She waited for him to say something but he finally just looked back at the television, sniffing and rubbing his nose quickly with his hand. Sophie finally spoke.
"So who's winning?" She asked, directing her focus towards the game on the television.
"Doesn't really matter, this is all pre-season shit. It gets important when the real season starts." Bodie replied.
"Oh, yea never been big into football. I've always been more into Hockey."
"So why the hell are you asking us about a game you know nothing about then? Fucking girls!" Billy interrupted, clearly annoyed like always.
"Actually I do know about football, just said It's never been a favorite sport to watch. I was a cheerleader in high school and you kinda have to know what is going on in a game. Like this game here, it's the third down and they have seven yards to go. If they don't make those seven yards and get a first down then they'll have to decide to if they're going to kick the ball, run the ball, or throw it to try to make a touch down since they're so close to the goal line." Sophie said sarcastically.
Truthfully Sophie had never even wanted to be a cheerleader in high school, but it had seemed expected of her to fit that "Stereotype" since she was in the so-called poplar group in school. Brendan and his jock friends, Sophie and her cheerleader friends….. they had been the "in-crowd". It all seemed so stupid and immature now as she looked back. People had probably thought her circle of friends were shallow and stuck up, but in reality they had all been a close knit group who truly cared about one another. Whether they had been popular or not, their friendships are what mattered. Sophie shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts of the people she longed to be around right now. She felt bad she had shut them out after Brendan's death. Ignoring phone calls and avoiding visits from her concerned friends. Her eyes rested back on Billy. His eyes narrowed at her.
Suddenly he jumped up and stalked over the few feet separating the couches. Before she could react he grabbed her by the neck pushing her further down into the cushions. He didn't grab her so hard it cut off her airway or caused much pain. He looked like he was trying to hold back his anger to some extent, but Sophie was still panicking. She didn't think she could ever get used to the violence she'd experienced the past few weeks.
"Well… little Miss know it all Cheerleader, I suggest you learn your fucking place and think before you decide to run your mouth in a disrespectful way. I will not take disrespect! You better watch your fucking mouth and think before you speak. You ain't shit here like you were where you came from. You ain't nothing!" Billy practically screamed in her face, glaring down at her. His face inches from hers.
Sophie stared into his blue eyes, not knowing how to respond. Her pride wanted her to tell him to go fuck himself but her mind knew that wasn't the right response.
"I'm sorry," Sophie whispered into his face, trying to turn her face away from his. Like the night before he wouldn't let her look away. "I understand." Sophie added. Billy looked like he was about to say something else when the front door opened quickly and a man stepped in.
Sophie recognized him as the blonde man who had dragged her down the stairs at the Hume house. Billy let go of her neck and turned to the man.
"Why the hell aren't you on your corner Baggy?" Billy asked the man.
"Look we have a lot more problems than we thought we were going to have with this Hume situation, we need to talk alone," Baggy said. His eyes resting on Sophie on the couch.
"Fine." Billy said, grabbing his leather jacket off the back of the couch and heading towards the front door. He only turned to give Bodie a look. Bodie nodded at him and turned to look at Sophie.
"Guess it's just us hanging out for a while again." Bodie said with a sigh.
Everybody wanna try to box me in
suffocating everytime it locks me in
paint their own pictures than they crop me in
but I will remain where the top begins
cause I am not a word, I am not a line
I am not a girl that can ever be defined
I am not fly, I am levitation
I hear the criticism loud and clear
that is how I know that the time is near
so we become alive in a time of fear
and I ain't got no motherfucking time to spare
cry my eyes out for days upon days
such a heavy burden placed upon me
but when you go hard your nay's become yay's
I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
to fly
to fly
Two days went by and Sophie rarely saw Billy. There was always one of his men at the apartment with her and she felt like a little kid being babysat. She had no clue why she was being kept around. The few times Billy had come back to the apartment he had barely acknowledged her. She would catch him looking at her but he rarely spoke directly to her, just talked to his men.
Sophie finished preparing three plates of food for dinner. The last she covered in tin foil and put it in the refrigerator in case Billy was hungry later. Even in this situation the manners she had been raised with subconsciously shown through. The past two nights she had done the same thing, Billy had never acknowledged it but every morning she had noticed his plate had been eaten sometime during the night and left in the sink. Sophie loved to cook, she had learned from her housekeeper Gloria growing up. Sighing, Sophie took the two remaining plates and brought them into the living room. She had discovered that none of Billy's men knew what a kitchen table was used for and always ate sitting on the couch.
"Pasta with alfredo sauce and garlic bread." Sophie said simply as she handed the plate to Baggy. He took it eagerly as his eyes lit up.
"Thanks girly, I think being on Sophie duty is my favorite because I get well fed," Baggy replied as he dug into his meal.
Though Sophie still didn't technically like Baggy their seemed to be some unspoken truce between them since he'd been the one to watch her the most besides Bodie. At first they wouldn't even speak to one another, but over time and obviously over cooked meals it had become an almost comfortable, yet uneasy companionship.
"So the boredom continues," Sophie said between bites. "What do you want to do now?"
"I don't know, wanna watch another movie?" Baggy asked.
"I guess, but I get to pick this time. Did you pick up those movies I asked for at blockbuster?" Sophie asked, inwardly smiling as she thought what movie she was going to make Baggy endure.
"Yea, which one you wanna watch? I don't know what any of them are about. When I rented them the guy who rang me up looked at me kinda funny."
"Hmmm…. I think the Notebook sounds good. You'll like it." Sophie replied with an evil glint in her eyes.
Almost two hours later Sophie finally laughed for the first time since being brought to Billy's apartment. At first Baggy had started bitching that the movie was a chick flick but now as the credits rolled she was listening to Baggy's tirade about how pissed he would have been if the couple hadn't ended up together after all they'd been through.
As she was laughing the front door opened and Billy stepped through, followed by a group of his men. For a second his eyes showed surprise at her smiling face but then it seemed a wall went up and his face showed no emotion. Billy plopped himself down on the other couch by Baggy.
"So what you guys laughing at?" Billy asked.
"She's the one laughing not me. She thinks it's funny that she "Notebooked" me or whatever she called it. Said she and her friends all did it to guys back in the day." Baggy replied. "It's fucked up man," but there was humor in Baggy's voice.
Billy's eyes narrowed. "Notebooked?" he asked.
"It's a movie," was all Sophie replied. Billy continued to quietly stare at her, a cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth.
"Well, we have things to discuss Sophie." Billy finally said. He took a manila envelope out of the inside of his jacket and tossed it on the coffee table, motioning for her to open it up.
Sophie grabbed the envelope and pulled out what was inside. She froze when she saw it was a series of candid photos of people close to her. Slowly she looked at them. A couple were of her housekeeper Gloria leaving her house, the old woman obviously not aware that she was being watched. Some were of Sophie's father either leaving or going to work in the parking garage of his work building. One showed him walking into a restaurant with some blonde woman. The last pictures made Sophie gasp. They were taken in the hospital. The pictures showed Lucas laying in a hospital bed unconscious, hooked up to many machines. Sophie looked up at Billy confused.
"You see Sophie, I'm in a bind right now. Actually all of my upper level men are in a bind because the police are just not letting this Hume issue go. And I kept thinking how the hell am I going to get my men and me out of this mess. It seems we're the top suspects… and then it dawned on me. I have you." Billy said after he had quietly let what the photos meant actually sink into Sophie's brain.
Sophie knew Billy was trying to make a point that he could get to anyone she cared about easily, and she had gotten the point that Billy was threatening them but was still confused as to what he exactly wanted.
"What do you mean you have me?" She asked.
"What I mean is that you are the perfect alibi. The police know how close you were to the Hume family so why would you ever cover for their killers? Once they hear you were at my place hanging with me and the boys the night the Hume's were attacked they'll have no choice but to look at other possible suspects." Billy concluded.
Sophie felt herself getting angry, "And why the hell would I have randomly been in this apartment the night they were attacked! I didn't even know you then!"
"I thought the same thing myself, but Bodie came up with a reason that at first I laughed at," Billy said, running his eyes over her body and then resting on her face. "It seems you and I have been in a relationship for months. Guess I've had a girlfriend and didn't even know it. Now it's our job to make people believe it." Billy said with a smirk.
I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
to fly
to fly