Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, reviews always motivate me to update faster. So this is Chapter 2, I hope you like it. And please do review again.
A/N : I used Victoria Davis in this chapter, but she is completely different from the Victoria bitch from the show, because she had to be for my story to work, just to let you know. :-)
Worst Beating Ever
When the final bell rang, indicating that all classes were done for the day, Haley headed outside, looking for Brooke, who told her she'd be waiting outside for her.
When she didn't see her, she sighed, cursing herself for being so stupid to believe Brooke Davis and started to walk away from the school. She had barely taken two steps when she heard someone call out for her.
"Haley!" She heard a female voice yell. When she turned around she saw Brooke running up to her in her cheerleading outfit.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're still here. I totally forgot I had practise." Brooke said, short of breath, as she looked at Haley apologetic.
"Oh, I understand, it's okay, I'll see you tomorrow then." Haley said, thinking Brooke was sending her home, but Brooke chuckled.
"You can come with me to the gym, okay ? Practise is over in an hour, then we can head home together. You don't really think I'd let you standing in the cold right ?" Brooke said as she looked at Haley, who suddenly turned red of shame.
"I... I... sorry." Haley apologized for not believing Brooke, Brooke just gave her a friendly smile.
"No big deal, I understand. Come on, they're waiting for me. You can't have practise without the captain, right ?" Brooke said as she smiled and lead the way to the gym, Haley followed her.
Once there, Haley sat on the bleachers, watching Brooke, Peyton and the other girls practise, while she saw Nathan and Lucas practise under the supervision of Coach Whitey, as everyone called him.
"Hey, Hales!" Lucas yelled, waving at Haley when he saw her sitting on the bleachers, Haley smiled and waved back. She felt so out of her element as she was watching all of these people just enjoying themselves without having a care in the world. She wished she could be like that, but she knew that was a hopeless wish.
The hour past, faster than Haley had imagined, and before she knew it, she, Brooke, Peyton, Lucas and Nathan were all standing outside together.
"So, why were you at practise today ? I thought you didn't like sports ?" Lucas asked, still suprised that Haley was there today.
"She was waiting for me. She's sleeping at my house tonight." Brooke answered before Haley could. Haley smiled a small smile at everyone, as they all looked suprised.
"Since when are you two such good friends ?" Nathan asked, completely suprised that Brooke was being so nice to someone that wasn't Peyton.
"We're not." Haley quickly said, regretting it from the second the words left her mouth. Brooke looked a little hurt but quickly recovered from that.
"I mean, we don't really know each other. And, Brooke needs help with her math, so I offered to help her. Then Brooke came up with the idea to start tonight and we just figured it would be more practical if I stayed with her for the night. Gives us a good chance to get to know each other a bit." Haley lied, even she was a little suprised at how fast she came up with that lie, but not as suprised as Brooke who looked at her with her eyebrows raised.
"And I wasn't invited ? Now I'm really hurt." Peyton said, pretending her feelings were badly hurt.
"Sorry, P. Sawyer, I want all the dirt on this girl first." Brooke smirked as Peyton laughed while shaking her head.
"Come on, Tutor-Girl, let's head home." Brooke said as she took a hold of Haley's hand, gently, knowing she must still be very soar.
"Tutor-Girl ?" Nathan chuckled as he heard Brooke's nickname for Haley.
"Well, she is tutoring me, right ?" Brooke smiled before taking of with Haley.
Once they got to Brooke's home, Haley could tell Brooke was very rich, just as Haley was, but Haley just hid that fact from most people. She wanted to be as invicible as possible.
"So, what do you wanna do ?" Brooke asked, once they had greeted her parents and they had told them that Haley's father was okay with it, and they had headed to Brooke's bedroom.
"Could I just lay down for like half an hour? Rest a bit ? I don't really get much sleep at home." Haley said, figuring she could as well be honest with Brooke, since she did know the truth now.
"Sure, I'll be downstairs, just yell if you need something." Brooke replied, being very friendly and caring. She walked out of the door, gently closed it behind her and walked downstairs.
As Haley could hear Brooke's footsteps on the stairs, she laid herself down on the bed, closed her eyes and slowly drifted away to a world where everything was okay again.
Brooke entered the kitchen where her mother was cooking dinner. Her father was still at work, he would come home later that night.
"Hey, sweetie, where's your friend, what's her name ?" Victoria Davis asked, greeting her daughter, looking around to see if she was somewhere in sight, but she wasn't.
"Haley James." Brooke answered, for the first time that day she dropped her happy act and only felt sad, sad for Haley, angry that someone could her a person like that, could hurt his own daughter like that.
"Yes, Haley, where is she ?" Victoria asked again as she continued chopping her vegeatables for the spaghetti sause.
"She's getting some rest." Brooke answered, when Victoria noticed the tone in her daughter's voice, a tone filled with sadness, anger and empathy, she put her knife down, stepped from behind the kitchen counter and sat down next to Brooke, facing her.
"Is something wrong ?" She asked as she looked deep into Brooke's eyes, telling her that something was indeed wrong.
"If I tell you this, you have to promisse to tell no one, not dad and deffinately not the pollice." Brooke said, begging her mother for her trust.
"Off course, I promisse. But you're scaring me, honey. What's the matter ?" Victoria asked, feeling very concerned and protective over her daughter
"What if you knew that someone was getting hurt, but doesn't want anyone to find out about it..." Brooke began to speak.
"Well, how bad is the situation that person is in ?" Victoria asked, being carefull about chosing her words.
"It's a really bad situation, maybe even life threatening." Brooke said, now just realizing how much trouble Haley was in.
"That's a hard situation you're in, but, don't you think it's in the best interest of that person that you tell someone ?" Victoria asked her daughter, on which Brooke replied by nodding.
"Is it about that girl upstairs ? Your new friend, Haley ?" She asked and suddenly Brooke couldn't contain herself anymore, she just blurted it out.
"It's her father, he's been hitting her for 5 years. I found out today when I saw all the bruises, it was horrible, mom." Brooke said in one breath, never knowing that someone was listening.
"I trusted you." Haley said in disbelief as she looked from Brooke to Victoria.
"Haley, I didn't mean to, it was an accident." Brooke apologized, but it was no use, Haley stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.
"I think we should call the pollice." Victoria said as she picked up the phone. Brooke just nodded, she had just betrayed someone's trust, something she always prevents doing, no matter how little she knows the person in question.
Haley ran as fast as she could, she couldn't even think about what would happen if her father found out she told someone. She could only hope Brooke's mother wouldn't tell anyone. But that little touch of hope dissapeared as quickly as it came when she reached her house.
There was a pollice car parked on her parents driveway. They had told, Brooke and her mom had told. She was horrified as she stepped up to the front door.
She took out her key, opened the door, stepped inside, and quietly closed the door behind her. But it was not quiet enough, her father had heard.
"Haley ?" He called out, she took a deep breath before heading into the living room. Where she saw her father and mother sitting on the couch, being questioned by two male pollice officers.
"What are you doing home ? I thought you were at a sleep over ?" Her father asked, he appeared to be friendly to his daughter, but Haley knew better. It was just an act untill the pollice was gone.
"We got in a fight, so the sleepover is over." Haley said, playing allong, knowing that if she didn't she'd be even worse off.
"Sit down, Miss. James. We need to ask you a few questions." The youngest of the two officers said, motioning Haley to the empty seat next to her mother.
"Do you know why we're here, Miss James ?" The older officer now asked, Haley shook her head.
"We received a call of domestic abuse taking place in this house. A Misses Victoria Davis seems to think that your father is abusing you. Is this true ?" The officer asked. Haley thought about what it would mean for her if she told the truth. But she was too scared to say anything, so she lied, yet again.
"No, I don't know anything about that. I fell down the stairs yesterday and Brooke, Victoria's daughter, saw a bruise on me, she probably got the wrong idea. That's all." Haley lied as she conjured up yet another fake smile.
"I guess our work is done here, then." The older officer said.
"Haley, show our guests the way out." Nick James said, he had this smug smile on his face. Haley knew it was because he got away with it.
She stood up and led the men to the door. The older officer walked straight out, but the younger one stayed behind, standing right before Haley.
"If you ever need to talk to someone, tell something or if you simply need help. Call this number, my name's on the back, I'm always available." He said as he gave her a piece of paper which he had just written his number on, his name was Ryan Carter. Haley just nodded. He walked away, Haley closed the door behind her.
"Are they gone ?" Nick James asked, coming from the living room. He didn't smile anymore now, he just looked pissed off. Haley knew a beating was headed her way.
"You shouldn't have told anyone, you stupid bitch!" He yelled, before he slapped her across the face, making her fall to the ground.
"I didn't. I didn't tell, I swear. Brooke saw the bruises and figured it out. She told her mom, I begged her not to tell anyone." Haley cried, knowing that whatever she said was no use. He would never believe her.
"Get up!" He yelled as he yanked at her arm, pulling her up. He pulled her arm so hard she felt it snap. It was broken, she was sure of it. She cried out in pain as he hit her in the stomach, causing her to fall again.
He didn't even bother to pull her up again. He just bent down, starting hitting her everyone, along with kicking her in the stomach. It continued for at least an hour, maybe even longer then that. If Haley was sure of one thing while he beat and kicked her, was that this was by far the worst beating she had ever received. It was also the 1st time in all those 5 years that she broke something, and she was possitive her arm was broken.
When the beating finally stopped, Haley let out a sigh of breath, relieved she was still alive. She had been petrified that he would kill her this time.
She was in so much pain, she could hardly move, she dragged herself to the couch, deciding to sleep there for the night, since getting up the stairs would be simply impossible.
She didn't sleep at all, she couldn't. The fear and pain prevented her to sleep. Moving just one inch hurt her more then it ever had. Combined with the pain she still had from the previous beatings that week, she had never felt so awfull.
When she saw the son coming up tomorrow, she knew her parents could be downstairs at any minute. She didn't want her father to see that she didn't sleep in her room, so she softly slid herself of the couch and crawled into the hallway closet, knowing they wouldn't open it because they always took their jackets upstairs with them.
No more then 10 minutes later she heard her parents come down. She was almost afraid to breath, scared to death he would hear it, but luckily they left about 5 minutes later. As soon as she heard her parent's car drive away, she came out of the closet, her hiding place.
She realized that if she went to school today, everyone would see how beat up she was, since all her make-up was her backpack, which she forgot at Brooke's home last night. But if she didn't go to school, she knew her father would find out, and she couldn't stand another beating right now.
The only other option was to call that officer, Ryan Carter. She still had the piece of paper clutched into her hand. She looked at it, but shook her head. She couldn't do that. She was too scared.
So when she finally decided to go to school today, she headed out the door. Still in the same close as the day before, she knew there was blood on them, so she grabbed a long coat she found in the hallway closet, put it on and was relieved to see it covered her entire body. It was so long it came to the ground.
She noticed she was walking with a limp, also very slowly. She had her hair hanging before her face, to cover the bruises and how swollen it was.
About 40 minutes later she arrived at school. Normally she did it in 10 minutes, but this time she was just too weak and beaten to have done that.
As she entered the school, she noticed students were watching her because she was limping. She tried to ignore them and started looking at the floor.
Before she reached her locker, she heard someone calling her name. It was Brooke. Haley was determined to ignore her, so she just kept walking, very slowly as every step she took hurt over her entire body.
But Brooke wouldn't give up so easily, she quickly catched up to Haley, standing right before her.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay ? But we needed to help you." Brooke tried to explain, but as Haley lifted her head up, Brooke was too shocked to say anything else.
"Great help you were." Haley said with much trouble, since even breathing let alone speaking hurt her. After having said that, she started walking again, leaving a shocked and guilty feeling Brooke behind.
But Haley wasn't out of the woods yet, she had just taken 6 more steps when she heard someone coming up from behind her, calling her name. This time it was Lucas.
"Hales, hey, Hales, do you know what's gotten into Brooke, she's like watching you and just standing in the middle of the hallway." He said as he walked up besides her, not yet having noticed her limp.
When she didn't respond and just kept walking very slowly, Lucas noticed she was limping.
"Haley, what happened ?" He asked, but still, he got no response from her. He grabbed her right arm, to make her turn around, but it was the arm that was most likely broken. She screamed it out of pain, shocking Lucas, he let her go as fast as he had touched her.
Everyone in the whole school was looking at the two of them now, including Brooke, who hadn't taken her eyes of them yet.
Haley turned around, her head still looking down to the floor. Lucas saw a small strain of blood travelling down her hand. He carefully touched her hand, she flinged, but didn't pull away. A part of her wanted to run away from him, but a bigger part of her just wanted him to know that she needed his help, only his help, no one elses.
He carefully pulled up the sleeve from her coat, revealing blood on the sleeve of her T-shirt. Lucas swallowed before pulling up that sleeve, reveiling an arm that didn't even looked like an arm. It was all swollen and different shades of collors. It looked broken.
"Haley ?" Lucas asked, not sure what to think of this, did she fall, what happened ? Why didn't she go see the doctor. Haley's arms hurt even more now since Lucas touch it, but she remained sillent, without a sound. After a few seconds, which seemed like hours in her mind, she lifted up her face.
Reveiling it to everyone in plain sight, she could hear people all around her gasp for air, they were stunned by what they saw.
Lucas couldn't even recognize her anymore, you could hardly see her eyes because they were so black and blue. She had several cuts on her face and her lips. Other then that, her face was so swollen that she looked like a big balloon.
"My god, what happened ?" Lucas asked, as he had to hold back tears as he saw Haley.
"Her father did this. He's been doing this for 5 years now." Brooke, who had just joined them, said.
"Why don't you just stay out of this ! It's your fault this happened! You shouldn't have told anyone!" Haley yelled, the entire school could hear her, several teachers had even come out of their classes to see what all the comotion was about, but they were too shocked by the sight of Haley to calm her down.
"You think he wouldn't have found an other excuse to beat you if I never said anything." Brooke said, defending herself, she couldn't believe Haley was blaming her now.
"Wait, you knew about this ?!" Lucas asked, raising his voice now too.
"What is this ?! Blame it all on Brooke day ?! I accidentily saw the bruises yesterday during gym, that's how I knew!" Brooke said, yelling now too.
"And you didn't tell me ?!" Lucas yelled at Brooke, he was so angry that Haley's father would do something, so he took his anger out on Brooke, which he knew was wrong.
"It wasn't my place to tell!" Brooke yelled back, shaking her head in disbelief that everyone was blaming her now.
"But it was your place to send the pollice to my house ?!" Haley yelled, she wanted to cry, but her eyes were too swollen to cry.
"Ugh..." Brooke sighed, waving her hands in the air, she couldn't win, could she ?
Before they could start yelling again, Nathan and Peyton made their way through the crowd, recognizing Lucas and Brooke's voices.
"What's the deal man ? Since when do you start scream..." Nathan started to ask his brother, but suddenly stopped when he saw Haley's face. Peyton saw it too, she was shocked, stunned.
"You should've told me Haley. I thought we were friends." Lucas said, he didn't yell this time, but everyone could clearly hear what he had said. His voice was trembling, they could tell he was on the verge of crying.
"We were friends, we haven't been for two years. I didn't ow you anything." Haley said, she knew she was hurting Lucas by saying that, but she was so mad at the entire world that she just took her anger out on everyone.
"5 years Hales!" Lucas yelled, shaking his hands.
"Maybe we weren't friends these past two years, but what about the first 3 years he beat you. Hu ?! What about then ?! We were friends then. I never stopped caring about you, you were the one that shut me out, pushed me away." Lucas said, a tear running down his face.
Peyton, Nathan and Brooke stayed quiet, they had no idea what to say anymore. They found the whole conversation heartbreaking.
"What happened to my best friend ?" Lucas asked, not paying attention to his tears.
"I guess she's dead. She's gone, Luke. Can't you see ? The Haley you knew, your best friend, she died the day her soul died. Do you see me ? I'm just an empty shell, nothing more." Haley said, for the first time, confessing how she really felt.
Before Lucas could respond to that, they heard a firm and angry voice coming their way.
"What is the problem here ?!" He asked, he was mad that they would dare yell like that in his school, but when he saw Haley's face, his expression turned from angry to stunned, to shocked.
Haley knew everyone was looking at her, everyone knew now. All of her efforts to become so invisible were all in vain. She looked back to the ground, for the first time since last nights beating stopped, she wished she had been killed...
TO BE CONTINUED