Chapter 9- Crash This Train

Lux woke up slowly, taking in her surroundings. She had slept peacefully the entire night through and made a note to thank her parents for moving her. Reluctantly, she climbed out of Cate's bed and quickly made it to be polite. Despite the fact that Cate technically was her mother, she had still only known her for a few weeks and was still trying to get used to how she was meant to act around her.

Lux quietly crept down the hallway and looked around the house. Neither Cate nor Baze were anywhere to be seen, and although she could understand why Baze might not be there, she started to panic about Cate. After checking the rooms once more, Lux rushed up the attic stairs to her own room as a last resort. "Cate?"

A figure in the bed groaned a little and moved, sitting up. Cate elbowed Baze frustrated, and he too sat up, both finally noticing Lux when she spoke. "Seriously, Cate? I mean, really? Again?" Lux laughed dryly at her parents. "You would think you would wait at least a day after your fiancé left to jump in bed with another man, let alone the same one that ruined you engagement in the first place!" Her voice held pure anger although she spoke calmly.

Lux stalked across the room and grabbed a few pieces of clothing before glaring at them once more and walking back downstairs. She grabbed her phone and headed to the bathroom, locking herself in and ignoring the pleas coming from both Cate and Baze.

"Lux? Hey, kid, everything okay?

Lux smiled slightly at Ryan's voice, despite her anger and frustrated tears that were currently forming. "Yeah… uh… well, no- not really. Can you pick me up?"

Ryan hesitated and Lux mentally slapped herself, realizing he was at work and she was putting him in a difficult position. "Of course." He finally answered. "Just let me get someone to cover me. I'll be there in twenty minutes, okay?"

Lux nodded. "Thanks, Ryan."

She hung up and showered quickly, getting dressed and waiting until she heard the doorbell before making her way back into the hallway. Cate was pacing and Baze was leaning against the opposite wall, neither of them hearing the doorbell.

"Lux, wait, we can explain-"

Lux ignored Cate's pleas, walking past them and to the door as they followed. Both were taken back when Lux threw open the door, and Ryan quickly threw a glance in Cate's direction before smiling at Lux. "You ready?"

"Uh, wait? What are you talking about? Where is she going?" Cate looked at Ryan before looking at Lux confused. "Where are you going?"

"School." Lux's voice wavered. "I'd rather be there than with the two of you."

Ryan placed a hand on Lux's shoulder as the two made their way to Ryan's car, getting in and driving away, as Cate and Baze stood shocked and ashamed.

"Lux… it's me again. Please answer my calls-" Lux groaned as she listened to her voicemails, throwing her phone in her bag angrily.

Ryan looked at her side-ways, concerned. "Everything okay?"

Lux rolled her eyes and was about to reply sarcastically but stopped herself when she saw Ryan's genuine concern. "I don't know." She sighed.

Ryan let out a shaky breath, gripping the steering wheel. "He slept over again didn't he? Baze." He spat.

Lux gave him an apologetic look and shrugged, tired of lying. Ryan gritted his teeth and hit the steering wheel while Lux just watched him sympathetically.

"I didn't know until this morning, I swear." Lux offered after Ryan had calmed himself, and he nodded knowingly.

"It's okay." Ryan sighed and Lux knew it wasn't but she also knew Ryan clearly didn't want to talk about it.

They pulled up outside Westmonte, and Lux took and deep breath and looked at the building nervously, Ryan watching her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ryan asked, breaking the silence, the worry clear in his voice. "I can take the rest of the day off. We can hang out, go get something to eat, go to a movie, whatever."

Lux forced a nervous smile and nodded her head reluctantly. "Can I call you if it sucks?"

Ryan smiled, placing a hand on her arm. "Always, Lux." Lux knew he was talking about more than school today.

"Thanks for the ride." She smiled at him, and reached forward to give him a hug. Ryan hugged her back before reluctantly watching her get out of the car and slowly walk into the school.

"This is all your fault." Cate spoke coldly the second Lux and Ryan had driven off and she and Baze had recovered from their shock.

Baze laughed dryly. "My fault?! You kissed me first."

"I was weak." Cate sat down on the couch and began to list off excuses almost robotically. "Ryan was gone. And Lux… What are we going to do about her, Baze?" Cate's tone was different, begging.

Baze took a seat beside her, both lost in thought as they starred at their shoes. "You saw how she was last night. School's going to kill her."

Baze nodded, resting his chin on his hands. Neither knew what to do, or how to handle it. They didn't even know how to handle a child, let alone one who had been raped after meeting them.

Finally Baze stood up and took out his phone. "I'll call Math and tell him to keep an eye on her. You should go get ready incase she needs us."

Cate looked unsure but nodded and quickly left to head to get dressed.

Math spotted Lux by her locker the second he had hung up the phone with Baze. She looked pale and was physically shaking with fear, but there was a look on her face that Math didn't recognize, determination maybe?

"Lux?" He called out to her and she spun around in fear before forcing a smile.

"Hey Math."

Math let it slide that she had called him Math rather than addressing her correctly. He smiled at her. "What are you doing here? We didn't expect you back for a couple of weeks."

Lux nodded, looking back in her locker and grabbing her books. "Yeah. I-uh, I wanted to."

Math nodded understandably, trying to decide on the best way to handle the situation. Lux wasn't meant to be there until everything with Jones had been "sorted out". Math knew he had raped her, but the other teachers including the school board and PTA seemed to side with the popular, rich, quarterback rather than the former foster child of teenage parents.

"He's back at school, Lux. He was only suspended for a day." Math decided to just tell her the truth and frowned as she shivered at the mention of Jones. "The police and the school board ruled that there wasn't enough evidence and that it was a he-said-she-said case. I'm sorry, Lux. You might see him today if you stay."

Lux nodded and bit her lip, drawing blood. Her eyes filled with tears as she mentally debated her options. Stay home with parents she was furious at, or stay at school and see the person who violated her in the worst way possible?

"Lux?" Math's voice pulled her out of her thoughts and he smiled at her kindly.

Lux forced a half-hearted smile back, hesitantly before answering. "I can't afford to fall behind." The excuse sounded nothing like Lux or something Lux would say.

"Okay." Math reluctantly sighed. "I'll be in my classroom if you need me. Or if you just want to hang out, or have a break, come and find me okay."

Lux nodded and closed her locked, walking off slowly down the hallway to her first class. She took a shaky breath before pushing open the door, and was immediately welcomed with twenty seven identical glares, including that of the teacher. Coming back to first lesson English in which the teacher also substituted for the father of one of her rapist's teammates wasn't exactly Lux's smartest idea.

Lux slowly walked in, and mentally slapped herself for choosing a seat at the back of the room. Every student she walked past, including the ones she had never even talked to, glared at her and coughed some sort of insult or laughed as another was said.

Lux took a seat and set her books down, finding the courage to look up at the still shocked and angry teacher. "Uh-" He coughed. "As I was saying…"

Lux found it impossible to concentrate and by the end she was completely dissociated with reality, and had accumulated a nice collection of insulting notes which had been thrown at her over the period of the lesson.

Math was waiting in the hallway by the door and greeted her the second the lesson was finished. Lux, however, just walked past him. Her walk turned to a run as she ran past the glares and taunts, and she dropped her books as she turned into a sprint.

Lux ran until she could no longer run, finding herself on a bridge she had visited multiple times but had never really noticed before. She dropped to the ground sobbing hysterically, gripping her stomach as she bent over and emptied its contents.

Finally calming herself enough to stand, Lux pushed herself up from the ground. She felt nothing, and the numbness was the greatest feeling of release she had felt in a long time.

Lux leant against the stone railing, looking over into the water. It looked freezing, but that wasn't new for Portland. She had thought it in the past; when the foster homes were bad or she felt like there was no purpose; but it hadn't really occurred to her until now how simple it would be to just end it all.

"Lux."

Lux spun at the voice, feeling herself begin to choke as she recognized it immediately.

"Jones."

A/N: Cliffhanger! Yay! Lol but I promise to get another chapter up for both MLWSWY and Can't Go Back Now asap!

But on another note, holy crap Family Theapized was the greatest episode ever! I absolutely adore the Lux coming home scene and the Cate/Lux hug! And Ryan! I've already watched it 4 times and plan on watching it many more :)

Anyway, as always please enjoy and review!