Getting to Know You

Simon and Jeanette's story

Part XIIX B

Bill couldn't have planned it any better than it had turned out… he had been trying for weeks to get Jeanette, and now, because he had started a fight with Simon, she had run away from him in tears. This day was going great! That and the fact that he had a little "surprise" for Simon waiting at the park…

Simon was pissed… he had just agreed to a really dangerous bet, which was completely out of character for him, then fate decides to compound his troubles. He looked over his shoulder and saw Alvin and Britney hurrying over to him. Alvin had a look of genuine concern, and Britney looked about ready to kill him…

"What did you do?" she yelled at him.

"Nothing to her…at least, not on purpose…" he said indignantly, what business was it of hers?

"Whoa, you guys, just calm down okay?" Alvin said, trying to get in between them.

"Did you say something to her?" Brit continued, ignoring her boyfriend completely.

"No," Simon said, defending himself angrily, "I accepted a bet and she just freaked out. I WAS going to chase after her and explain things to her, but you stopped me just now and I have no clue where the hell she went now."

"Well why did you stop?"

"BECAUSE YOU RAN OVER HERE ACCUSING ME OF SHIT!" he roared at her, his usual calm demeanor cracking and falling completely apart.

"HEY!" Alvin finally interrupted, shutting them both up, "Brit, I know you're protective, but for everyone's sake, please let Simon and Jeanette sort this out their way alright?"

"Fine, but she better be alright Simon." she sulked.

Simon and Alvin shared a quiet nod of understanding and he took off, leaving Alvin and Britney alone in the middle of the courtyard with everyone staring at them like they were ground zero for an explosion.

Simon ran into the art department and walked until he found the empty classroom at the end of the hall, this had been his and Jeanette's personal sanctuary when they were freshmen and wanted a place to just think. It worked especially well when the library was being used for classes. He cracked the door and saw her sitting on the teacher's desk staring at the collage they had made of every great writer, scientist, artist, and philosopher. He remembered picking out the pieces and putting them up there with her late in the afternoons last year. She had always giggled when he had gotten trapped in glue and paper. And he had laughed when she slipped on the floor scraps. He was drawn back to reality by a soft, barely audible sound coming from her hunched over form. He heard a soft sob and it was as if a rusty knife pierced his soul.

"Jeanette?" he called quietly, walking into the room and shutting the door behind him so they would have privacy.

"What do you want?" she asked through her tears, "Run out of people to fight?"

The remark stung him deeply, "Come on now, you only heard the last part of the conversation and besides, when have you known me to be unnecessarily violent?" he said in his defense.

When she didn't respond, he continued, "I mean, the only reason I'm even going to fight him is so that he'll leave everyone alone, you didn't hear him when he walked over Jeanette, he wants you and I am trying to protect you."

"How is fighting going to solve anything?" she asked, looking over her shoulder and glaring at him.

In her face, Simon saw anger, fear, and distrust. But her eyes showed concern and worry. She was truly a gentle soul, the kind that wouldn't fight back if they were attacked to stay the higher ground. He didn't deserve her, but he needed her, even if he didn't always appreciate it.

"I can't justify what I did except by saying this, if I win, I'll have made this school and this town a little bit safer. If I lose, I'll have shown everybody that you can stand up to anything if it is wrong." He said, turning to leave.

As he opened the door, he heard the squeak of the desk legs against the tiles and felt her soft touch on his shoulder. He turned back around to face her. "Just promise me one thing Simon…" she said, looking up into his ice blue eyes.

"Anything Jeanette, I'll promise you anything but that I won't fight. I have to do this."

"I believe you, but I want you to swear right here and now that if you can't win, you will run. I don't want you to lose, but I also don't want you to get hurt or die either." She begged

"Babe, I will win, the fight's after the final bell, I'll go over there, kick his smug ass, and I'll be safe…" he tried to reassure her

"I know you'll win, but if he cheats, I don't want you in the hospital…if you're gone, who would I go to if he tried anything? He's had his eye on me like I'm a piece of meat ever since he knew we were together."

"I won't ever let him hurt you, I swear…" he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her deeply.

It took her by surprise, but Jeanette eventually melted into the soft, caring kiss. She may not say it out loud, but she really did love this boy. He was everything she wanted, and everything she had was his. The bell rung as they kissed, and they were startled apart. As they walked out, Jeanette thought up an idea, "Hey Simon!" she called as she chased after him down the hall.

"What is it Jeanette?" he asked, turning to face her.

"You said the fights after the final bell right?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, right over in the park, why?"

"No reason, just wanted to know how long you were going to take before going over there is all."

"You hate fighting," he commented, suspicion growing inside him about her true motives…

"I know, but I want to see Bill get what's coming to him, he messes with everyone and I want to see him get messed with." She continued, trying to keep up the mask of a lie.

"Well, okay then, just stay out of the way alright? I don't know what I'd do if he got you." Simon warned, sensing that there was something else afoot.

"I will. I'll see you later!" she called as she ran towards her second to last class of the day…

Okay, confession time…Jeanette had no intention of staying out of the way, she was going to try and stop the fight before it began. She just had to get up the courage to follow through on her crude plan. In essence, she was going to skip a class for the first time ever. Luckily, it was a study hall, so they didn't really care, the hard part would be finding the spot. But she would worry about all that stuff later. Right, now, she was trying to look natural as she walked off campus during the five minutes between second to last and last periods…

Luckily, the campus security didn't seem too motivated today, so she made it across the street without problem and walked into the park. She found a huge small clearing and saw a person leaning up against a tree. As she got closer, she recognized the form as … Bill! Maybe this would be easier than she thought.

She walked over to him and saw a look of pleasant surprise on his face. "Well well, if it isn't the librarian…" he commented, sneering at his unfunny joke.

"Hey Bill, listen I came out here to talk to you about something…" she started before he busted out laughing.

"Let me guess, you want me not to fight that little bitch ass you call a boyfriend." He said, and when she didn't answer out of shock, he continued, "You think that after he humiliates me in class, and makes a bet with me that lets me kick his ass, I'm going to back down?"

"I was hoping that you would see reason and stop this silly rivalry now before it got too serious." Jeanette tried to explain, jumping a little as Bill pushed off the tree he was leaning against.

"Ooooh, a little jumpy are we?" Bill taunted

No, you startled me is all…" Jeanette answered, staring at the ground as he advanced closer.

"You know, I was meaning to find you earlier, I wanted you to know how much I like the new look." he said sickeningly sweet, the words sent chills up her spine and she backed up another step, "I like it when girls dress like what they are."

"What do you think I'm dressed as?" Jeanette asked, curious despite her instincts telling her to run.

"A slut," Bill said, running at Jeanette and throwing her to the ground. "Now you listen here sweetheart, I'm going to have a little fun with you before your boyfriend shows up. And when he does show up, you're going to tell him exactly what I did to you. Then I'm going to beat him so bad that they need to take him away in a hearse, then if you're lucky…I'll fuck you again."

"No!" Jeanette screamed, terror in her heart as Bill viciously made a grab for her shirt, she kicked up with her knee and caught him square in the groin. As he doubled over in pain, she rolled him off of her and started to slip into a running position, but she was too slow.

He grabbed her ankle as she ran and dragged her back down, when her back hit the grass, he crawled up her and pinned her legs to the ground as one of his hands held her arms over her head. He took out a folding knife and opened it to cut up the front of her shirt. she tried to scream again, but she was afraid of what else he would do if she did. A tear slid down her cheek as she silently called out for help.

"Awwww, don't cry little whore, I won't kill you, and who knows, you might enjoy yourself…now let's see what we have to work with shall we?" he taunted as he slid his hand up her stomach and brushed over her bra.

She cringed visibly as his hand closed over her breast and began to grab her roughly. Pain shot up her side as he did so. he brought the blade up again and ran the flat of it's cold steel against the skin of her stomach and chest. He then deftly flicked his wrist and her bra was cut in half from the front. Her silent plea had changed to thoughts of vengeance, she needed Simon there. He would give him justice. She called out to him as loud as she could in her heart. She looked away from her attacker, as if not seeing what was happening would make it less real. She thought she saw someone in the trees, but it couldn't be… could it?

Bill was having the time of his life. He had the most sensual girl he had ever seen laying beneath him, terror in her eyes, and he was in control, there wasn't a thing in the world that could fuck this up for him. he pushed aside a part of the cut rag that had once served as her bra, and he was now staring at her magnificently full breasts. He reached out a hand eagerly and grabbed hold roughly. The bitch let out a cry of pain, but he knew she liked it rough, he started to massage her and she cringed, as she did, he got harder by the second. This was nirvana for him, in control and sharing the pain of life with another. He made a grab for her stiffened nipple when his world exploded in pain. He tumbled off of Jeanette and landed face up in the grass. He got one look at the thing that hit him before his whole being descended into blackness…

Simon had had a weird feeling all last period. He tried to chalk it up to nerves, but this was different, it was like there was a tingling in his spine that he couldn't shake. He was also bothered by what Jeanette had asked in the hall after lunch. For someone who hated violence, she had been very keen to learn about the fight. There was something wrong here. He raised his hand and said he was feeling sick. The teacher told him to go to the attendance office. He gathered up his things and made a beeline down the hall, out the doors, and across the street to the park.

He walked for about three minutes before he saw a small clearing and a couple lying there getting very involved, he was about to move on and give them their privacy when the girl tried to get up and run away and the guy pulled her back. This was no couple. The girl was being raped. He had to stop it, but as he was about to jump out of the trees and surprise the attacker, he saw a flash of light and realized that the rapist had a weapon. He would have to be careful and quick if he was going to do any good.

He looped around the ring of trees around the clearing until he was at the attacker's blind side, he tried to figure out what to do next when the girl looked to her side and saw him there. He noticed her eyes and was stunned that he recognized her… Jeanette was the one being raped! His thought process shut down and he surged forward in a tidal wave of fury that crested as he reached the rapist and slammed his foot into the side of his skull. The man rolled onto the ground and started to shake off the impact and get up. Like hell was he going to let that happen… Simon knelt down and brought his fist back only to push with all his strength right into the center of the rapists face. He was satisfied that he both felt and heard a crack as he broke the rapists nose, and hopefully some facial bones. Either way, he wouldn't be getting up until the cops were called in. he turned to Jeanette and saw that she was sitting up, holding her shirt together, and crying as she watched him pummel the guy into submission.

"Are you okay?" he asked, feeling stupid that he asked it.

Surprisingly, she laughed a little and replied, "Yeah, now that you're here, I'll be fine."

He leaned forward and held her close in the grass, trying to comfort her and reassure himself that she was fine. He stood up and helped her up. When she was also standing, he took off his jacket and threw it over her smaller frame. She zipped it up and silently thanked him. she then turned to him and asked him a question.

"Do you realize who you just knocked out?"

"Uhhh," he replied as he looked behind him at the crumpled form in the grass, his jaw dropped and he almost went back to beating him up when he saw that it was Bill who had attacked her.

"Why were you out here alone?" he asked angrily, more at himself than her, "You knew that this douche-bag was trouble, why would you put yourself at risk?"

"I wanted to convince him not to fight you…" she said as the tears built back up in her eyes.

"Shhhh, shhhh, it's okay, it's alright." He comforted her, running his hands up her back, trying to make her feel safe. "We'll go back up the school and then we'll figure out what to do about him okay? But first things first is to take care of you got it?"

She sniffled and said okay as he led her away from the limp form of Bill and back up towards the school. They walked as far as the parking lot before the shock wore off of her and Jeanette started to weep uncontrollably into Simon's shoulder. He picked her up and walked her over to her truck where he put the bed down and sat down while he cradled her close to his heart. He wouldn't say it to her, but he was more scared at that moment than he had ever been in his whole life. In the distance, he heard the final bell ring for the day and the rush of people leaving their classes, but it felt surreal as he held Jeanette while she cried. She was so kind, so pure; she didn't deserve any of this. And the icy hand of guilt gripped his heart as he realized that he had caused it all. The two of them sat there and he watched as their siblings saw them and came rushing over. What would they say? What would they do?

There you have it, the end of Ch. 18. What did you think? Not what you were expecting? Well let me know in the review page. Tell me what you want to see happen. And don't forget to subscribe so you can stay filled in on all the excitement of GtKY. Ch. 19 and 20 are relatively slow by themselves, so I will try my best to release both of them in about a week. Look for them and remember, I am always open for Beta's and conversations. Just send me a PM and remember,

Happy Reading

musicalreader