Average

The trio was walking back to the museum when Bethany stopped in her tracks on the sidewalk. Alex and Jack stopped quickly after and turned to look at the young girl. “Everything okay, Bethany?” Alex asked her. Feeling like she was having déjà vu, Bethany shook her head. “I don’t want to go home,” she said quietly. She looked more vulnerable and scared than she ever had, and Alex’s heart went out to her. Alex nodded. “Then don’t,” he told her simply. Bethany’s eyes bulged. “What?” she all but screeched. Alex shrugged. “Come over to my place,” he told her. “It’s what friends do, right?” Jack smirked. He still didn’t know the whole story. “Slumber party!” he screeched.

Bethany looked at Alex for help. She couldn’t go to his house; he was twenty for god’s sake. She was sixteen! What would she tell her parents? She could almost visualize the conversation now. Oh don’t worry mom; I’m just going over to this singer’s house. He’s twenty, but no big deal! It would never work. At the hesitant expression in Bethany’s eyes, Alex said, “Bethany, I don’t want you to go home. I don’t want Drake…” Alex trailed off, sneaking a glance at Jack. “Just come over to my place. I live there with one of my other friends, Rian, and his girlfriend will probably be there. Plus Jack will be there, so you don’t have to worry about being alone. At least come over until you’re parents get home. Please?” Alex pleaded. He was desperate. He didn’t want Bethany to go home and get hurt by that bastard, Drake. He felt protective of her; almost like she was his little sister.

Bethany thought this over. She could just tell her parents she was at one of her friend’s house from school. They never bothered to check up on her when she did that. “Okay,” she finally said, quietly. Jack smiled a goofy grin and exclaimed, “SLUMBER PARTY!” again, just like a five year old girl. Bethany giggled, and linked arms with the guitarist. They skipped back to the bus. “What about school?” she asked her new friends, who shrugged. “I ditched enough school in my day to know that missing one day of school won’t hurt.” Alex winked at her. "Alex, I can't skip school. I'll get kicked out! This isn't just a regular school.!" Alex groaned. "Jack, stay here. I have a plan," Bethany instruced.

Along with Alex, Bethany walked back to the bus. They were early, therefore the only occupant of the bus was the driver and Mr. Chapman. The young girl walked towards her teacher shyly. She hoped this would work. "Hello Miss Sanders. Who's your friend?" Mr. Chapman boomed. "Um, this is my brother Drake. I totally forgot that I had a doctor appointment to go to today, and that he was going to pick me up at the harbor to leave. Here's my note." Bethany scrambled in her bag, her eyes getting wider by the second. "Shit Drake! Mom didn't write me a note, did she?" Bethany exclaimed once popping her head out of the bag. Alex shrugged in responce. "Mr. Chapman, I can't miss this appointment. I'm getting my final HPV shot. Would you be so kind to excuse me for the rest of the day?" Mr. Chapman eyed Bethany, her pleeding eyes almost impossible to look into. The teacher nodded, allowing her off the hook. Afterall, Bethany was a straight-A, 100% trustworthy student. Right?

Later, in the car Jack squealed. “This is going to be great! I love the thrill of skipping school!” Bethany rolled her eyes. “Jack, you aren’t skipping school. I am.” The lanky guitarist shrugged. “So what? It’s still awesome!” Bethany laughed. Alex smiled. He knew having Jack around would be helpful in some way, and if it meant getting Bethany smiling and laughing he was all for it. When they got to Alex’s Bethany stayed back and called her mom. She told her her plans and that she had a half day at school today. When her mother said it was fine, Bethany walked into Alex’s house. Already, Alex, Jack, and two other guys were sitting on the couch; Jack and one of the other guys I didn’t know were playing a video game. “Bethany,” Alex said, getting up from his spot on the couch and walking over to the girl. “These are my friends. That’s Rian and that’s Matt.” Rian had short, dark hair, almost buzzed and “piano key teeth”, and Matt too had short dark hair, along with a lip ring and gauges. Bethany waved hello, and the two boys said their hello’s back.

Suddenly a buzzer went off, causing Bethany to jump slightly. She needed to calm down. “What was that?” she asked Alex. He shrugged, looking at his friends for an explanation. “Pizza,” Rian said. “In the oven. Someone want to get it out for us?” Bethany nodded. “I will,” she told Alex. After all, being alone for a few minutes might calm her down. She walked into Alex’s kitchen and grabbed the pot holders off of the counter. Opening the oven, Bethany leaned over to grab the pan of pizza out. Normally, she was extremely cautious around ovens, being careful not to burn herself. She must have not been paying attention because the second she leaned down, her jacket clad arm made contact with the sizzling hot oven. “Fuck!” she exclaimed, jumping back and dropping the oven mitts. “Fuck, fuck, and fuck!” she cursed, looking for something close that would be cold.

Suddenly, Matt, who had come to the kitchen to get a bottle of water, was next to her. “Are you alright?” he asked, concerned for the frightened girl. She shrugged. Matt dragged her over to the sink and pushed up her jacket, prepared for a raging burn to have formed. Instead of a line shaped burn mark, he was met face to face with bruises that were shaped like his fingers, just shorter. Matt gasped. Bethany shrunk back, covering up her arm. “What happened?” he asked her. Then, before Bethany could answer, Rian, Jack, and Alex, hearing the commotion of the girl cursing combined with the dropping of the pizza pan came to investigate. Alex came over to Bethany’s side, taking a protective stance. He pushed up her jacket sleeve again and investigated. He too caught site of the bruises on her arm. “Bethany; what does he do to you?” Alex asked her quietly.

Bethany shrunk backwards, grabbing her arm and covering it up again. “Nothing, it’s nothing Alex.” She pushed by the boys and went into the living room. She collapsed onto the couch and covered her arms up even more with her jacket, wrapping her arms around her stomach. “Bethany; I want to help you. I would if I knew what he did to you. Please talk to me,” Alex begged. Bethany sighed. “He’s just a douche bag. He doesn’t understand the word ‘no’ and he doesn’t understand the word ‘incest’, so not only is he a douche, he’s a stupid douche at that.” Not even realizing she was letting out too much information, Bethany didn’t realize she had just said “incest”. The guys all gasped at this. “What?” they all said at the same time. Bethany looked up with big doe eyes. “Fuck,” she muttered to herself. She didn’t want everyone and their brother to know her secret. It was bad enough Alex knew, but now three total strangers knew also?

“Drake’s your brother?” Jack asked her finally. Bethany just nodded, not bothering to look up. “Holy shit!” Bethany winced. She prepared herself for getting kicked out or made fun of, but it never came. “We need to go beat the shit out of that guy! Or get Zack to do it!” Bethany smiled a small smile at Jack. “Thanks, but no Jack. Nothing you guys do or say would help. Unless you forced the information down my mother’s throat, but even then she probably wouldn’t believe us.” Bethany looked at all four faces around her, and each one expressed a different form of sympathy or pity. “Stop,” she told them firmly. At their confused looks, she went on and said, “Stop pitying me. I’m gonna be fine.” Bethany's stomach turned, her throat locked, and her eyes gained tears. She knew she wouldn't be fine.

Jack sat next to the young girl and began stroking small circles on her back. "You're going to be fine now. He won't hurt you anymore." Bethany looked into Jack's eyes, and he felt a surge of pain go throughout his body. The young girl was terrified. "I promise he won't," Jack whispered.