*Present Day*
Alice stood in the kitchen, chopping up some vegetables for lunch. She sighed, praying that her migraine would go away, cursing the pills that she took which did not work. Eventually, she stopped, putting the supplies and food away, promising herself that she'd finish later.
She laid down on the couch with a cold wet cloth over her eyes and forehead, attempting to take a nap. Soon, the front door opened and her son and daughter walked in with smiles on their faces. Betty's soon vanished when she saw her mother, remembering that morning.
"Oh, hey, kids." She strained to say, pulling the cloth off her face. "How'd it go?"
"I passed." Betty said as if it were no big deal.
"I knew you would." Alice struggled to smile through her pain. "Did you drive home?"
"Yupp." Betty held up Chic's keys to prove it.
"Congratulations, baby!" She slowly stood, giving Betty a hug that she did not genuinely receive back. "I was gonna make lunch, but I have a massive headache right now, so I'm gonna try to rest and hopefully I'll feel better in a couple hours."
"Mr. Jones didn't stay to make you lunch in bed?" Elizabeth asked with a hint of attitude as she headed into the kitchen.
"No. He...he had to work today." Alice said, sitting back down on the sofa, touching the cloth to her forehead.
"So what is that all about, huh?" Betty asked, looking in the fridge for something to snack on. "You and FP?"
"Betty, honey….I really can't have this conversation right now, okay? My head is really killing me." Her mother spoke quietly.
"Do you want me to make you some tea?" Chic asked, looking down at her with empathy.
"Oh, sweetie. You don't have to." Mrs. Cooper leaned her head back to rest on the back of the couch.
"I will." Her son took off his jacket and headed to the kitchen.
"My boyfriend's dad?" Betty whispered loud enough for the other two to hear.
"Listen, I know we have a lot to talk about. But not right now." Alice's voice continued to grow softer and softer. "And Chic, there's something I need to tell you, too." Her voice began to trail off and it ended with a soft hum as she finally fell asleep.
Chic pulled one of the blankets off the other sofa and placed it on his mother before returning to the kitchen to make Betty and himself and sandwich. After they finished eating, he set the tea kettle on the stove for Alice.
"Why are you so nice to her all of a sudden?" Betty asked quietly, looking to the living room to make sure her mother still slept. "It wasn't too long ago that you hated her for giving you up and now you're making her tea and covering her in a blanket?"
"Betty, there's something you need to understand about Mrs. Cooper. Even I understand it and I've only lived here for about a month. She's the type of person that will do whatever it takes to make sure the people she loves KNOW that they are loved. Sure, she's a bit cold hearted towards strangers, but when it comes to her family, she's super protective. I've noticed that in the short time I've been here. And if anyone crosses her family, she finds it hard to forgive them."
"Yeah, I get that." Betty responded. "But sometimes her actions are very questionable."
"Whose aren't?" Chic responded. "Didn't you just help me clean up a dead body? Didn't you just tell me that you kissed another guy and lied to your boyfriend about it? Aren't you hiding webcamming from your mother? Why? Because you don't want anyone to get hurt. It's the same with her. She's just doing what she thinks will savor the hurt from getting to you."
Betty looked over at her sleeping mother and she sighed, realizing just how right he was. "Finding you was probably the best thing for us." She admitted with a weak grin.
"And for me."
Some time passed and the whistling of the teapot awoke Alice from her nap. Chic poured her her cup of tea and he graciously brought it over to her. "Thank you, Chic." She smiled.
"How's your head?" He wondered.
"A little better. Thank you."
"Mom?" Betty called from the dining room. "Can we talk now, please?"
Alice slowly stood, bringing her tea with her as she lazily made her way into the dining room to sit across from Betty. Chic followed and sat beside her. "I guess I should start from the beginning." She sighed, putting her face in her hands for a moment before continuing.
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*25 Years Ago*
"Hey, Penny!" Alice ran up to her new friend the next morning at school. "Wait up!"
"Um, hi, Alice." Penny awkwardly pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear as she looked down at the tiled floor beneath them.
"How are you, today? Any trouble?" Alice asked with protection in her tone.
"Oh, um." Penny giggled. "So far, no."
"Good. Hey...we're going back to the factory later today, you wanna come again?"
"Yes, of course." For the first time, Penny responded without hesitation.
"Awesome! We-" Alice was interrupted by a commotion they had heard on the other end of the hall behind them. Both girls stopped walking as they watched students from one end of the hall run toward them, passing by and heading to the ruckus behind. "What the hell?" Alice looked over her shoulder to see a large mob of students encircling some others. "Come on." Alice grabbed Penny's hand, pulling her closer to the riot. When she pushed through the crowd to be in front, Penny's hand still in hers, she gasped. "FP! What the hell?!"
"Oh my god!" Penny quietly exclaimed, looking at the drops of blood on the floor under FP. Her eyes followed the blood trail to the other student whose nose was violently dripping.
"You fucking prick!" FP screamed before waling Tony once more, sending him to the floor.
"Alright, alright! Everyone! Back to class! Now!" The school principal cut through the posse of teens. "NOW!" He yelled once more and they obeyed save for FP, Alice, Penny, and Tony, who was still on the ground. Soon, the janitor showed up to clean the blood and the principal grabbed FP and Tony by the arm, once he stood, and he glared at Alice and Penny. "Get to class, girls."
Alice began to speak while the principal pulled them away. "FP, what-"
"I'm done looking at his smug face after what he did!" Forsythe yelled with a crack in his voice.
"Oh my god!" Penny said once more, slowly backing up before turning and heading down the hall.
"Penny, wait!" Alice gave FP one last look before turning to run after her.
"He shouldn't have done that." Penny whispered, keeping her head down as she power walked away from the other teen.
"I know." Alice scoffed, catching up to her. "But at least we know he was defending us."
Penny stopped, angrily turning to face Alice. "Don't you get it?!" She shouted. "Tony's pissed! All FP did was get himself into trouble while making you and I even more of a target for Tony now." She lowered her voice again, this time whispering. "Aren't you scared?"
It was silent for a moment while Alice thought of a response. "You know what? No. Because you and I are gonna protect each other. We can kick ass...especially if we stick together. And that's exactly what we're gonna do. From now on, it's you and me. Okay? We walk home together, we walk to school together. You give me your class schedule and I'll give you mine. We're not gonna live in fear. Or else Tony wins and so do all the other rapists and abusers out there." Penny had started to cry and Alice reached up to wipe away her tears. "This is only gonna make us stronger." She pulled Penny in for a hug before they both headed to their next class.
Later on that day, they met up with Nani and the boys and made their way back to the old factory to play Hide and Seek just for Nani. After a few rounds, Fred showed up with his girlfriend, Mary, and her best friend, Hermione. They all sat down to discuss what they'd play next.
"I say we do the ghost hunting thing." Fred and Nani both suggested.
"I think you're nuts." Tall Boy admitted as Mary and Hermione agreed.
"Wait, wait, wait. What about Spin The Bottle?" Hermione suggested with a smirk.
"Absolutely not." Gash protested.
"Mmmm, no." Beau jumped in.
"Yeah. Come on, guys. Why not?" Mary wondered.
"Hey…" Tall Boy pretended to whisper to Beau, but he said it loud enough for everyone to hear. "If we play, you might get to kiss Alice."
"Heyyyy." Alice perked up, having missed a lot of what was being said until then.
"He's kidding." Beau turned and punched Tall Boy in the gut.
"I think we should let Penny decide." Alice graciously offered as the entire group looked over at the shy girl, sitting alone on the conveyor belt.
"M-me?" Penny pathetically pointed to herself, looking around at the older kids.
"Yeah." Alice sent her a bright smile. "Why don't you pick a game?"
"Trust me, it can't be more lame than ghost hunting." Mary glared at her boyfriend.
Penny looked around at, who she associated as, the 'cool' kids, and she felt more confidence, seeing their encouraging smiles looking at her. "Ummm...what about Truth or Dare?"
"Perfect!" FP shouted as he hopped up onto the conveyor belt beside her. "Ow!" He winced in pain at the bruise on his side from today's fight with Tony.
"You alright there, Hoss?" Fred asked, finally noticing the black and blue mark forming over his best friend's left eye.
"Yeah." He groaned.
"What the hell happened?" Hermione wondered.
"Dumbass here, got into a fight at school today." Alice walked over to the conveyor belt, setting a hand on FP's shoulder before jumping up to sit between he and Penny. "I'm not gonna complain...it was for our honor." She put her hand on Penny's beside her and weakly smiled at her before continuing. "But it was still stupid and probably got him suspended."
"Expelled." FP corrected beside her.
"What?" Beau stepped forward.
"What?" Nani sat on the desk beside her.
"Wait! What?" Alice looked to FP on her right.
"That's right." He shook his head with disappointment. "They expelled me." He sighed, looking to Fred. "Looks like I get to go to school with you now."
"You're being transferred to the Northside?" Hermione chimed in.
"Mhm. They think it's gonna be better for my character or some shit like that." Jones scoffed. "But hey…" He saw the sad looks on his friends' faces. "We'll still get to see each other after school and during the Summer. We'll make this our little fort! We can come here all the time. Things will still be the same, guys. I'll always be a Southsider."
"We're gonna miss you so much, though." Alice said, sadly putting a hand on his as well.
"Hey...what did I say? We're still gonna see each other…...Now, who's up for some Truth or Dare?"