Sorry for the long wait!!! I've been really busy and haven't been able to write! And I've had a writers block as well! Please read and review and tell me what you think!!

Chapter 10

The holiday week had passed by, and soon, school was about to begin. I was glad to be going back. Just as Zach had promised, he was going to his mother to confront her about her affair between Jonathan. I begged, pleaded with him not to yell and scream, but he couldn't make any promises. He would be as calm as he could when he was talking to her.

School had resumed, and things had gone back to their normal pace. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Mr. Wilmont came out to the house to teach my lessons. He was a very quiet, soft spoken young man who played the piano so wonderfully. On our first lesson, he asked me if I could play anything, and I played him the piece that had lingered in my memory. He closed his eyes and listened and after I played the piece, he sat there and was thinking.

"Who is that written by? It's a wonderful piece. It sounds like Bach," he said, stroking his short goatee.

"I don't know...My mother taught it to me," I lied. I didn't want to explain to him my family history and it would have been a lot easier for the both of us.

"Interesting piece, Rose. Do you have the sheet music for it? I have an upcoming concert and I would love to play it."

"No, she never gave it to me. I never found it," I said, keeping the lies short and as void as possible.

"Hmm. Well, let's get into the lesson."

We spent two hours each day, practicing scales, learning how to read music and rhythms. All in all, it was very productive. I practiced often, and as I did, I would always see Nicholas standing in the doorway, smiling with pride as I played.

"You're very good," he announced after I had finished a piece by Mozart.

"I'm not that good yet," I said with a smile.

"You'll be great. Don't worry," he said, patting me on the shoulder. I nodded and continued to practice. This type of routine went on for weeks, until a certain someone showed up at our door.

I was sitting in the den, watching the news when Richard walked in the doorway.

"A Jonathan Jackson is here to see you, miss," he said. My heart stopped and I looked around the room.

"Richard, make sure that Zach is not here to see him," I said, leaping from the couch to find Jonathan. He was waiting once again in Nicholas's office, smoking his expensive Cuban cigars and having a drink. He smiled when I entered the room.

"Rose, how nice to see you," he said, standing up to greet me. He gave me a tight hug and kissed me on the cheek, close to my lips. I stood cold and rigid.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped, glaring at him.

"I have come to talk to you," he said with an impish grin. "About you know what."

"Jonathan, I don't want to be involved in this in any way," I said, turning to walk out the door. Jonathan came to catch up with me and grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him.

"Please, Rose, don't run out on me," he whispered, looking down at me with lovesick eyes. I glared at him.

"Don't drag me into this. I don't want any part of this."

"I haven't come to drag you into this. Just to talk," he murmured, lowering his head to mine. He eyes drooped with desire and I immediately pulled away from him.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" I asked him.

"I want to talk about my relationship with Annabelle. You haven't told anybody, have you?" He asked with some hope.

"No," I lied. "I haven't told anybody."

"Good, good, that works out just fine. Now, Annabelle and I have been talking about a few things. First off, she wants to leave Nicholas. He doesn't love her, and obviously she doesn't love him, so we figured it would be the best for everyone."

I stared at him with my mouth open. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. We're going to move up north, probably New York or something. Annabelle likes it there. We'll get married when her divorce is final, and we'll start a new life together."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was he really serious?

"You're 17 years old! How can you be in love with this woman?" I yelled. His eyes widened as he urged me to quiet down.

"Love doesn't always matter. I'm sure you're not in love with that Stephen boy," he said, coming closer to me. I shook my head.

"I do love him. How dare you say that?" I asked him.

"Rose, nowadays, looks are the only things that matter. Annabelle is beautiful, and she will raise my social status so much. Come on Rose, you can't say that you don't look for looks," he whispered, bringing me close to him and trying to kiss me. I started screaming.

"ZACH! ZACH!" I screamed, trying to pry Jonathan away from me. He smacked me and brought me closer to him.

"Shut up Rose, if you know what's good for you," he grunted, reaching for the buttons on my blouse and started to rip it apart. I continued screaming as loud as I could, and soon Zach burst through the office doors, coming at Jonathan Jackson with full rage.

"Get your damn hands off of her!" He screamed, leaping at him and throwing him to the ground. I quickly covered myself up and backed out of the way. They fell to the floor, Zach throwing a few good punches at Jonathan as he tried to get up.

"Rose, get my mother," Zach yelled, nearly choking Jonathan. I ran upstairs and burst into Annabelle's room, out of breath.

"Rose, what's going on?" She asked, putting down her blush brush at her vanity table.

"Come quickly," I gasped, running back down the stairs, Annabelle hot at my heels. We both entered the office, and when Annabelle saw Jonathan on the ground being beaten by Zach, she turned pale and let out a deadly shriek.

"Zach! Stop! Stop!" She cried as she grabbed her sons shoulders and ripped him off as best as she could. It took both of us to get him off of Jonathan, and when we did, we had to hold him down.

"What the hell is going on here?" Annabelle asked.

"You know exactly what is going on here, mother," he spat at her. She turned to Jonathan.

"He knows, Annabelle, and I know too," I said, glaring at her.

"Knows about what? This is all silly," she said, forcing laughter.

"Don't play innocent, you slut!" Zach screamed. I even flinched at his harsh words. "You're sleeping with this son of a bitch who is just as old as me!" Annabelle looked like she wanted to die.

"Jonathan-,"

"You little bitch! You said that you didn't tell anybody," Jonathan screamed at me.

"Well, I guess I lied," I said, glaring at him.

"You knew?" Annabelle asked me. I nodded.

"How could you do this to Nicholas? How could to lie to everyone? To cheat?!" I screamed at her.

"Rose, you don't understand-,"

"It's not like he's never done this to me before!" She retorted.

"That doesn't matter!" I screamed back, but she did have a small point.

"I hope that you leave this place and never come back! I never want to see you again!" Zach screamed. Tears sprang down Annabelle's face.

"Zach, you don't mean that," she said softly.

"Yes I do! Take him and your stupid stuff and get out! You're evil! I HATE YOU!" Zach continued to vent. "Did you think that you could get away with it all?"

"Zach, stop." She pleaded, tears streaming down her face.

"What is going on?" I heard behind me, and I turned to see Nicholas standing in the doorway, a puzzled look on his face. I wanted to sob.

"Nicholas, don't believe them. They're lying-"

"Stop Annabelle!" I screamed. The room was silent. "Nicholas, Annabelle is having an affair with this boy," I said. His face didn't change. He stood there, staring off into space, and then calmly walked away. Annabelle ran after him, and I went to go and talk to Nicholas, but Zach grabbed my arm.

"This is something that they need to talk about," he said softly. "Go upstairs."

"Not until he leaves," I snapped, turning to him. Already, his eyes were black and blood dripped from his broken nose.

"Get out. Before I throw you out," Zach growled. Jonathan clumsily stood to his feet and started to walk toward us. Zach grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him close to him.

"You say one word about this, and you'll regret it quickly," Zach threatened. Jonathan held his head high as he walked out of the door and out of the house. After he was gone, I burst into tears.

"Zach, that was terrifying," I said, trying to calm myself down, but seeing Zach nearly rip Jonathan to pieces didn't settle me. He pulled me into his embrace.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that," he said. "But don't cry."

"Why? Annabelle and Nicholas are fighting upstairs, and you nearly killed a guy, all because I walked into the office and saw them together. This is all my fault."

"This isn't your fault. Why do you put the blame on yourself?"

"I don't know," I sobbed.

"Come on, grab your coat and we'll go somewhere while they talk," Zach said, grabbing his keys and walking to his car. I looked up at the master bedroom and saw the muffled sounds of Annabelle and Nicholas arguing. I shook my head and sat in Zach's car as he sped off in one direction.

"I wish that I had never walked into that room that night," I muttered looking down at my feet.

"I'm glad that you did. Things would have been much worse," Zach replied. I rested my head against the window of the car and closed my eyes. I wish Stephen was here...

Zach and I drove around pointlessly for a good half an hour, and then decided to head home. The house was quiet, unnaturally quiet as we stepped inside and looked around. Nothing had been broken, everything was in its place, and no fighting was happening. Zach and I charged up the steps and slowly tiptoed toward the master bedroom. Silence. Zach went to go see if Annabelle had been in a different room and I slowly pushed open their door to see Nicholas sitting on his bed, his head low.

"Nicholas?" I barely uttered, afraid he would shatter. He looked up and stared at me. Usually when he saw me, his eyes would sparkle and his smile lit up the whole room, but Nicholas did not smile.

"She's gone," he whispered. I fled to his side and wrapped my arms around.

"Nicholas I'm so sorry this is-"

"Don't put the blame on yourself," he immediately said, tilting my chin up. "This was her doing. She brought this upon everyone. But now she is gone."

"But I was the one to discover them. I was-"

"Rose, stop!" He said. That was the only time he had ever been forceful with me. I shut up. He stood up and shook his head.

"I don't know where she went. I don't care. I never want to see her again."

My heart was breaking. I never wanted to see him unhappy, considering he was a very upbeat person.

"Don't worry about me Rose. I'll be fine. You need to do your homework," he said, turning away from me. I walked out of his room, shut the door and saw Zach standing there.

"I heard."

I nodded. "I have some homework to take care of," I mumbled, brushing past him and going into my room. I tried to concentrate as best as I could on my homework, but my mind always lingered to the fighting that had occurred hours before. After a while, I couldn't take anymore of it, and I finally went to sleep, having a nightmare about Zach murdering Annabelle and Jonathan.

Days had turned into weeks, and weeks had turned into months, and there was still no word from Annabelle. Nicholas seemed happy, but turmoil bubbled inside of him. I tried to help him everyday, but he pleaded that he didn't need my help; time would fix everything. I let the situation die and let time fix things.

My piano lessons had progressed every week, and at the end of the school year, all of the performing arts students participated in the spring concert, and I was performing along with them. I had perfected a piece Mr. Wilmont had given me; a variation of Bach. I practice more and picked at everything that was wrong with it until I thought that it was absolutely perfect. Nicholas and Zach would be there, along with Stephen and my closest friends, so this performance was very important to me. The day of the concert had arrived, and I was racked with nerves. Zach and Nicholas had tried to calm me down, but I still had butterflies flying around in my stomach.

We arrived at the school, and I went to the auditorium to warm up and play a few notes when Stephen came up from behind me and hugged me.

"It sounded great," he said. I turned around and leaned in to kiss him.

"I'm so nervous," I stammered, looking at the crowd that was taking their seats.

"You'll do fine. You're great."

"I'm still nervous," I said, sitting down at the piano bench. He rubbed my shoulders.

"Stop it. I have to go. I'll see you on the stage," he said with one final kiss before he ran off. I waited backstage and listened to some of the performing groups. Many of them were very talented, and I was scared that I wasn't going to be as good as they were. Finally, the director announced my name, and I slowly walked out onto the stage, sat down at the piano bench, and sighed. I flipped open the book to my music, placed my fingers on the smooth ivory keys and began to play. At first, my eyes read bar line to bar line, but after things started to go well, I took my eyes away from the music and darted my eyes into the audience, seeing Nicholas, Zach and Stephen beaming with pride as I played. I stumbled on one note, but was hardly noticeable, and I was finished with the piece. The crowd gave me a standing ovation and I quickly scurried off of the stage, sighing as my body started to loosen up. I exited from backstage and went to go sit with Nicholas and Zach.

"You did wonderful! It was awesome!" They both cried as the next performer stepped onto the stage. Zach handed me a dozen red roses and Nicholas handed me a white one. I watched the rest of the performances and then headed outside. Stephen pulled me aside to say a long goodbye.

"I'm very proud of you," he said, kissing my cheeks. I beamed.

"I could tell," I replied with an impish grin. He wrapped his hand in mine and he walked me to the car.

"Want to come over to my house after school tomorrow?" He asked me.

"I'll see what Nicholas has to say about it, OK?" I said, kissing him lightly on the lips, teasing him. He grabbed my waist and pressed my body to his.

"Fine then," he said, laughing as he kissed me goodbye. I hopped into the car and went home.

I did end up going to Stephen's house after school the next day. We took the city bus together over to his house and headed inside of the house. His little brothers, Matthew and David were already there, so we headed upstairs into his cluttered bedroom. I took a seat at his desk while he went to the stereo and turned on his favorite band. He came from behind me and started kissing my neck. I giggled.

"What?" He asked, laughing as he pulled me up out of the chair and into his arms.

"Nothing, it just tickles," I replied. His hands slid down to my rear and he kissed me again. I grabbed his face, running my fingers through his hair and smiling. He pulled away and sat down, pulling me on top of him. I giggled and he kissed me again, rubbing my shoulders and reaching underneath my shirt to unclip my bra. I was somewhat hesitant, because I was never really good at these things. I didn't know what to do! I let Stephen take control and he slipped my bra off and set it down next to us. His hands slithered up my shirt and began to fondle me, and I couldn't help but let out a tiny moan. My body started tingling and I kissed Stephen harder, letting him know without words that I wanted more. My hands traveled down to his belt buckle when I slipped it off easily and unzipped his jeans. Stephen watched with sultry eyes as I slid down his jeans, and I stood up to take them off. He was left in his boxers and my hands traveled down to his growing manhood.

"Rose," he said. I started moving my hand up and down and he let out a small sigh as his lips dove for my neck. I started moving faster and faster, and I could tell that he was shaking and about to reach his point. He kissed my breasts, rubbed my back, and grabbed my shoulders when he jerked.

"Rose, oh god," he said, and I felt him reach his peak. He sighed, and reached for a towel and wiped off my hand and I stood up and put my clothes back on. He stood up, slid his jeans on as well, and wrapped me in his arms. I was shaking, somewhat from nervousness and some from excitement, but he kissed my forehead, and I felt a little better.