Disclaimer: "This I Promise You" is the property of Nysnc. See chapter 1 for more disclaimer crap.
A short note: Wow, you guys. Read slower or this story's going to be over in a week. LOL, just kidding. I know you guys love this story, and I can't wait till you guys hear what I have planned for a sequel. Mwahahaha. For those that have checked out my Idea Notebook, it's kind of like Some Mistakes are Meant to Be. That's the only hint I'll give until the end of Broken Dreams.
Reviews: Summers Rage, hamanor12, catgirlversion3.0otakufan, SkyAngel429, That Bloody Demon, Samantha-Girl Scout, Twilight's October Sky.
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Chapter 7: This I Promise You
And I will take you in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
Till the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
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Sam was getting braver. Slowly but steadily, her confidence was building back. Jeremy would try to kiss her, and she would jerk away from him. Sure, he glared at her, but his threatening gaze was meaningless as long as she didn't get stuck alone with him again. She made sure that never happened again. She let him walk her to class, but if the halls began to look empty, she would walk faster and tell him to get to class before he was late. As things between she and Jeremy began to look almost normal again, Danny began to back away. Sam desperately just wanted to confide in him, to tell him everything so he would stay by her side and protect her from Jeremy. But Jeremy's threat was too great to be ignored. She kept her mouth shut to save his life, hurting herself and her heart each time.
"Jeremy, stop it! I'm not just going to just sit there and let you hurt me this time."
Danny stopped short at the sound of Sam's voice, slipping into a corner to hide.
"You're hurting me!"
"Stop it." Jeremy's voice joined Sam's. He sounded angry. "We already talked about this. Could you live with yourself knowing it was your fault he died?"
"No…" Sam's voice sounded small, frightened, and full of tears.
There was silence for a full ten minutes then Danny heard Sam whimper and Jeremy groan. Was he mad at Sam for making another noise? Danny heard shuffling, and he barely managed to turn invisible as Jeremy walked by, leaving Sam behind. Danny waited till Jeremy had disappeared around a corner before returning to visibility, moving out of his hiding place to approach the goth girl sitting listlessly in the middle of the empty classroom.
Sam didn't know how he'd done it. She had been so careful about ending up alone with him, and somehow Jeremy had found a hole in her plan and attacked. She rubbed a bruise on her arm that Jeremy had left on her from his second violation of her body. God, how could I have been so stupid? She wiped at a stray tear, gathering her books. She whirled around as shuffling reached her ears.
"What're you doing here?" she asked, hoping he hadn't been standing there too long.
"I could ask you the same question," Danny said, a small smile on his lips. "Did the zipper break?"
She shook her head, returning to gathering up her fallen books. "No, I tore a hole in it." Truthfully, Jeremy had done it in his rush to drag her here. God, I didn't think guys could get off so fast, she thought darkly, thinking of the fifteen minutes of hell he'd put her through.
Danny knelt, picking up one of the fallen books. "Tucker and I are doing a movie night tonight. Did you want to come?" He handed her the stack he'd acquired.
"Tonight?" Sam took the stack from him, thinking. "What time?"
"Well, we were going to do it at six, but I thought maybe we could head to my place right after school."
A whole afternoon and night with just the three of them. Just like it used to be? It seemed too good to be true. "Yeah, I'll come."
Danny didn't tell Tucker about what he had heard nor did he mention the bruise on Sam's arm. Tucker was blind and deaf as far as relationships went. If something like that went on, Tucker wouldn't even notice. But Danny was worried. If Jeremy was hurting her, why was she staying with him, and how badly was that bastard hurting her?