Unchained Melody
By TornPrince'sSmile

Chapter twenty-four: Smile! The World isn't Watching.

Juliet took a deep breath; deeper than any she had taken before. She was nervous; today she was presenting with her English partner, Beatrice, on a book called The Pact by Jodi Picoult. It was a very aspiring book and it was one of Juliet's favorites… the ending surprised her the most, but she doesn't want to ruin it for anyone else. So a slight summary was going to be involved.

"It'll be fine," Beatrice said as if it were nothing, maybe it was nothing, "I'm sure about it." Her friend smiled, showing her slightly yellowing teeth. Juliet smiled slightly; maybe she was blowing this out of proportion. As they stood up to present, people yelled across the room and throwing things at the two of them. As they giggled uncontrollably, Juliet growled loudly; the class died down.

"Oh sorry did I interrupt an 'effing convention?" Juliet asked, resting her hand on her hip and tapping her foot impatiently at a snobbish jock, "hey you don't like it you can leave." Juliet said boldly; Jimmy was rubbing off on her, literally. The jock twisted his head towards the front of the room, away from the head cheerleader.

"Oh sorry, were you sayin' somethin' whore?" The substitute stood up, his face blaring beet red.

"Ted! Out of my classroom this instant! And Miss Kolbe! Watch your tongue." Juliet cocked her hip to the right and watched Ted leave the room, but not before throwing a menacing glare at her, kind of like saying I'll-get-you-back-you-bitch-just-wait-and-see.

The rest of the period went on smoothly; even Juliet's and Beatrice's presentation went by almost too fast. Juliet was seemingly frightened about Ted's glare, but not really; why would they hurt a girl?

Juliet was pushed against the gym wall and the smelly jock was in her face in a split second.

"So girlie," he sneered, looking up and down her body, "my buddy here says you got him in trouble now he can't play next game." As if Juliet's life was complicated enough, she was now to blame for the quarter back's 'no show'. Juliet tried to push him off, but he slammed her back on the wall again.

"Now, my mother taught me never to beat up a girl… but she said nothing about shoving her 'round a bit, right boys?" the other jocks nodded their heads, looking around for prefects; especially her father. But, her father wouldn't do anything special. The jock pressed his arms on her shoulders; the pressure could be felt immensely, especially when she tried to move. She cried out in pain as her shoulders began to bruise, and were cracking in certain spots.

Once he let her shoulders go, her books dropped onto the ground and he kicked her feet from under her. She slumped down, gliding on the wall for support.

"Man, we gotta leave," one jock said worriedly, "she looks bad." The jock that 'shoved' Juliet around laughed loudly.

"Yeah, a little pressure never killed anyone right?" Juliet's eyes fluttered closed as she drifted off into a soundly sleep.

No one noticed the body slumped in the bushes as they passed to watch the football game. No one noticed how badly she hurt. No one probably even cared, well excluding Beatrice, Jimmy, and maybe Petey. Actually, Juliet wasn't knocked out or unconscious, she was just sitting there; her shoulders and legs hurting as she could feel the enormous bruises form from the jock's rather large hands. She just stared up at the stars and listened to the crowd's roaring, well until a shadow crept up on her.

"What the—." The voice belonged to a boy—maybe a prefect, who knows; Juliet couldn't tell either way because of her ringing ears and blurred vision. A hand wrapped around her shoulder and pulled her up. Cries and groans of her hurt and discomforted filled the summer air, but the hand held on tight.

"Don't think I'm a nice guy for doing this. But, people shouldn't mess with girls… especially like this." She knew who it was now—it was Gary Smith.

He had led her back to the girl's dorm and handed her to a random girl—who she thought was Beatrice or Eunice, she couldn't tell right now.

"Look, I found her by the gym. She was just sittin' there. Take her to her room and help her, okay?" the girl nodded and wrapped an arm around Juliet's waist and supported her. Before they entered the building, Juliet whispered a 'thank you' his way; maybe Gary wasn't so bad… but, maybe he was.

Juliet fell asleep once she hit the pillows and she thanked god it was a Saturday night; they didn't have school tomorrow. She tossed and turned and swore she felt someone's lips on hers.

"Juliet." A voice called out, mist and fog dense the air and fogged her vision. She could tell that the voice was Jimmy's; when he said her name it had a certain ring to it. Juliet stepped forward, putting her hands out kind of like bumpers.

"Jimmy?" There was no answer, but she could hear heavy breathing, they were almost tranquil. As Juliet stepped forward and peered into the dark water that was surrounding her feet, hands reached out and pulled her under.

"Juliet!" Beatrice screamed in her ear as she found her friend falling off her plushy looking bed. As Juliet's eyes snapped open, she just so happen to roll off the bed and landed with a 'thump'.

"What?" Juliet hissed, rubbing her throbbing head and massaging her sore shoulder. Beatrice smiled meekly and rubbed her arm as if she were cold.

"Sorry, but Jimmy was looking for you." Beatrice said mousy. Suddenly, Juliet stripped of her shirt and pants she was wearing. She pulled out a tight v-neck shirt that was a dark shade of purple and a dark frilly skirt that was laced up with black. As she pulled her clothes on, Beatrice was turned around in embarrassment. With a bedraggled hair, Juliet rushed down the hall and down the steps. As she ran her fingers threw her hair, she ran into a hard body on her way out.

"What's with you and running?" Looking up, she saw Jimmy; smiling as wide as ever.

(A/N: Yay, I got another chapter done so be happy ya'll! Now, I don't know what to do after this; should I make a sequel already or explain what happens in 'endless summer'. If it's the second one, please tell me what I should do for the 'events' in 'endless summer' it would help a lot. Thanks!)