Disclaimer: I own nothing not the show and not the music.

Warnings: Mentions of Rape and self harm, and some pretty strong language.

Chapter 8

One week later

The week following Pucks party was pretty uneventful. Me and Britt had this unspoken rule that everything I told her would be left between the two of us. Neither of us thought it had to go anywhere else. Even though Quinn and Rachel would also help, we didn't think it was necessary to go through the painful process of retelling and therefore reliving both events. Britt said she could be there for me anytime I needed her, day or night she was just a phone call away. She took to checking me every day to see if I was cutting myself some more. I hadn't. She really was helping me. When I needed a shoulder to cry on she was there.

She told me it was okay if I didn't want to tell Sam, but it was something that I could tell him if I wanted to and everything would be okay. She talked me out of breaking up with him, saying that because I wasn't conscious it didn't technically cheat on him. I still felt kinda bad though.

I think he could tell something was different because I didn't really like to fool around with him anymore. We hadn't gone past kissing the whole week. I can't explain it, but every time he is really close I get this nervous feeling. It's not the good 'I think I might be in love' feeling, its the 'go away your making me uncomfortable' feeling. I also stopped smoking but he assumed it was because of Brittany getting mad at me last time. Really I was just trying to deal with things the healthy way this time.

Prom is tomorrow and, as my mom keeps warning me, 'everyone knows what happens on prom night.' I cant even think about doing that. I really do like Sam and for a while I thought I actually might be in love with him, but like I said before now I'm just uncomfortable around him. But it's not just him. I was pretty close with all my guy friends, like the 'hug touchy feely' close I am with all my friends, lately I can't even hug another guy without getting tense. Brittany usually notices and understands so she links her pinky with mine and I calm down almost instantly. She really has been amazing through all of this. It's only been a week and she is already helping me cope way better than when I tried to do it by myself the first time.

"So are you girls ready for tomorrow?" Rachel was all smiles extremely excited for prom tomorrow. We are currently at Quinn's house, Rachel thought it would be best if we planned out our schedule for tomorrow together so we would all end up at the park the same time for pictures.

"Definitely I cant wait to dance." Brittany replied equally excited. She was going with Artie but only as friends. She never was one to be in a relationship. I don't know what she had against them but she always found ways to take the perfect guy and find the smallest detail that would ruin his chances with her.

"Yeah I think it will be really fun, Jay finally asked me so its good to have a hot date that can dance too" We all laughed as we remembered Quinn's date last year. He had absolutely no rhythm the only thing that saved him for her was he was really cute.

"It's going to be awesome. Hey Quinn are you going to make it official with Jay or stick with no strings attached?"

"I don't know yet San I guess it just depends on how tomorrow goes" she smirked and winked at me.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're not talking about his dance moves right now."

"And you would be one hundred percent correct on that Rach" We all laughed again.

"What bout you S, you going to finally go all the way with Sammy boy?"

I tensed and Britt noticed she linked our pinkies under the table, and I calmed. "Q, thats way to cliche for my taste. I'd rather not be the stereotypical teenager at prom." Even I was surprised with how easily I said that. They all just smiled.

"Always have to be different don't you S?" Rachel smiled at me. I still felt a little bad about not telling them everything, but Britt was right as long as I had her I didn't need to go through the pain of telling anyone else.

Prom day!

I had to wake up extra early this morning to get all primped for prom. First pick up the flowers, then get the hair done, then the make-up, and the dress and finally once all that shit is done I had to pose for about fifty-million different pictures from not only my parents but Rachel and Brittany and Quinn's as well. By the time we finished with all the pictures we were all starving so we decided to go to Breadstix for a short dinner before going to the school for the dance. Of course Mama and Papi just had to embarrass me in front of Sam before we could get safely in his car to get going.

"That's precious cargo there Sam, make sure she gets home safely" my mom smiled.

"And preferably still pure." My dad through in with a glare.

"Yes Mr. and Mrs. Lopez." Sam said with a surprisingly strong voice considering he looked like he was trying not to shit himself. "I will definitely respect both you and your daughter."

"Well, thanks Mama, Papi, you have officially scared him and scarred me so if this painful event is over we shall be going now. I'll be home later. Bye"

They were laughing as I grabbed Sam's sleeve and dragged him over to his car.

"Sorry about that they think they are funny."

"No, No thats fine I was actually expecting a lot worse from your dad he looks pretty intimidating."

"Yeah I was a little surprised he didn't throw in the ever hilarious 'I have the pull to rig the autopsy, they'll never know who did it' with a smirk at the end."

"I'm really glad he didn't, then I would have for sure shit myself." We laughed as he pulled up to the restaurant. He opened my door just like a perfect gentleman and I'm almost positive he was thinking my dad was actually the type to follow us here and possibly to the dance.

All our friends were already inside at our table. The all re-greeted us as we sat down. All us girls ordered salads and the guys got pasta.

"So Sam how'd it go with Mr. Lopez?" puck asked laughing.

"He's kinda scary but it wasn't too bad, he kept it short."

"Thanks to me" I laughed, "if I hadn't cut in who knows how long they would have gone on."

"Man San, remember when I went over to your house to study for that math exam and he fucking grilled me for like thirty minutes just cause he thought we were dating?" Puck laughed.

"Yeah he definitely wasn't that bad this time which confuses me considering Sam and I are actually dating."

"Must just be something about you Puck" Quinn laughed.

"Hey, I'm not that bad I mean we were literally just studying how does he get a bad vibe just from that?"

"He's a good judge of character. See I'm a nice guy so he didn't say much, Q's right its just you."

"Alright enough bagging on me. Who's stoked for tonight?"

There was a round of cheers from all of us and we went into regular conversation when the food came. I had a good feeling about tonight.

The dance was pretty normal and then we went to Puck's after for a small party. We were all having a great time until his neighbors came over Jake was with them. As soon as he walked in the backyard, Puck gave me a panicked look. My eyes widened and I immediately grabbed Brittany's hand who was sitting next to me. She jumped a little and gave me a questioning look. I mouthed 'thats him' and looked straight at Jake.

She jumped out of her seat immediately and took a step towards his direction. I got off Sam's lap at the same time and started to pull her towards the house. I didn't know what she was planning on doing but whatever it was I couldn't let her do it right now.

"Hey whats wrong Babe?" Sam asked.

"Um nothing I just need to used the restroom." I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and hauled Brittany into the house.

Once we were safely in the bathroom Brittany clarified, "Thats the asshole?"

"Yeah thats him" I said looking down concentrating on breathing and not freaking out. Brittany pulled me into her.

"Hey sweetie look at me focus on me. Don't let him do this to you, don't let him make your life miserable. Think of us think about how much fun we all have together. Think about before he did this. You're okay you're safe he cant touch you, remember nothing can hurt you when we are together."

My breathing finally evened out and I looked straight at her. I don't know how I got so lucky to have her as my best friend but whatever I did I'm glad I did it. I held her stare for a few seconds and whispered a 'thank you.'

"Don't worry bout it San I made you a promise. Whenever you need me I'm here. That's a lifetime offer."

"I don't know why you would make that promise. It must be a pain to have to take care of me like this."

"Never. And I mean you took care of me when we were younger, its just my turn now."

"Britt your biggest problem was stupid little kids. You're paying me back times like fifty probably more." I laughed a little.

"Ever heard of interest?" We both laughed at this. She gave me one more soft hug and said, "Now lets get back out there, it's our night for fun."

When we went back outside, Jake was gone, along with most of the other neighbors. Puck looked pissed and everyone else just looked confused. I sat back down on Sam's lap but kept my pinky linked with Brittany's.

"What happened?" I whispered to Sam.

"Puck went all crazy on the guy, I think his name was Jake, and nobody knows why. He just kinda pulled him aside and it started kinda calm but then he started screaming at him and punched him and just kept wailing on the guy Mike and I pulled him off and the other guys left and took Jake with them. He wont say why he freaked though." I couldn't stop the small smile that formed on my face.

"I'm gonna go see if I can get it out of him" I stood pulling Brittany with me again "I'll be right back."

I pulled Puck towards his house before asking "What just happened?"

He looked at Brittany trying to decide if he should talk now or wait till we were by ourselves.

"It's okay she knows."

"Oh okay, well I went up to Jake and told him he should leave and he was all 'why should I do that' trying to act all innocent and shit and then I called him out and he kept trying to deny it so i got pissed and kicked his ass. The good thing is that now the whole neighborhood now knows the truth and I told them not to say anything cause nobody here knows and you would like to keep it that way."

"Wow, thank you Puck. It really means a lot to me that you would do that for me."

"Well, like I said before, I care a lot about you San. I would do anything for you."

"I would give you a hug right now but everyone is watching us and thats only going to add to their confusion, so lets just say that I owe you." We both smiled and me and Britt went back to sit by the fire while he went inside to do whatever he needed to do.

"So what was that all about?" Quinn was the first to ask.

"Oh Jake owed Puck some money for some bet and he was refusing to pay up you know just being a little bitch about it and Puck just lost it."

Britt and the few neighbors that were left smiled at my cover and then we all went back to regular conversation.

Britt and my pinkies stayed linked the whole night and I couldn't help but think this is how it was supposed to be. Her and I had always been the closest out of our quartet. We had all known each other the same amount of time but the two of us just clicked tighter than the others. Our pinky linking came from our uncountable amount of pinky promises. Whether it was secrets we wanted the other to keep or just a promise to do something for or with the other it seemed like we did it so often it only made sense to leave them like that always. For some reason though, to me, it seemed even more important for us to have this right now.

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