Bad Girl, Bad Boy...Could Only Mean Trouble

Dropping from the branch Toni looked around once more. Walking forward she glanced over her shoulder and up at her window. She could still hear Andrue and Charley yelling at her through the door. Turning around, she ran straight into a wall.

Said wall turned out to be a person, Toni soon found out. Rubbing her head and looking up, she realized that she was looking up at Matt. Freezing for a minute, all Toni could do was stare. Suddenly she remembered what Andrue had told her. She realized that she didn’t need to be scared of Matt, that she should be mad at him. Now she just had to make him believe it too.

“What do you want?” She asked quietly.

“Aw, that’s no way to greet someone.” Matt cooed grabbing her arm roughly and pulling her with him.

“Let go of me you creep. I’m not going anywhere with you.” Jerking her arm out of his grasp, Toni turned and ran in the other direction.

He quickly followed and caught her. “Now, now, no need to overreact. I just want to…talk to you.” Matt said quietly

Bringing her left heel down, she caught his foot underneath hers. Pulling away from him, she turned and hit him in the jaw. Backing away, she turned and ran again. This time she didn’t get very far because she ran into her brother. He had ran out of the house to see if she would climb out her window and caught the end of the fight.

He pushed her in the direction of the house and ran over to Matt. Instead, Toni ran over to where her car waited for her. Slamming the door and revving the engine, she pulled out of the driveway and headed in the opposite direction, towards the beach. Ignoring her phone the several times it rang she pulled up to the curb the lined the beach.

The sand was deserted and the only thing lighting the area was the moonlight. Sitting just out of reach of the water, she finally listened to her phone. Her brother had called twice asking her to come home, Laurie had called four times to see where she was, and Charley had called once to repeat Andrue’s message. Sighing she set the phone beside her and pulled her iPod from her pocket. She examined it to make sure that Nathan hadn’t done anything to it.

Satisfied that it hadn’t been tampered with, she put her earphones in and turned that volume on high. Without looking at the screen she laid back so that she was looking at the stars. She bolted upright when the music finally started. He had messed with the actually songs! Looking at the screen and scrolling through all the songs, she realized that he had rearranged, deleted, and added stuff to her library.

Growling, she put it on a playlist that she hoped he hadn’t screwed up, closing her eyes when familiar music hit her ears. Humming along with the song she examined the stars above her. She could make out some of the constellations, but she was at a lost for a majority of them. Picking up her phone she checked the time and saw that it was almost two in the morning.

She didn’t know when she wouldn’t go home, but she knew that it would have sometime before morning. Sitting up she walked to the water so that it washed over her feet. She wondered why Nathan had changed her music and what he had really been doing at her house. Scrolling through her music again, she looked at the music he had added and realized that it was a lot of songs she liked…or at least the bands were familiar.

She couldn’t think of how Matt would react to what happened tonight…she just knew that it wasn’t going to be good. She still didn’t have a clue what Clark had meant when he said Matt would be done with something. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to know anymore. Turning to go back further on shore she saw Charley standing by her phone.

“How’d you know where I was?” Toni asked.

“Luckily guess. Why’d you lie to me?” Charley asked.

“I didn’t…you just chose not to see the meaning behind my words.” Toni muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Do you think that I wouldn’t notice if you were making it obvious?” Charley questioned.

“I think you would of…but I also think that you would lie to yourself because you don’t want to go through that again…and neither do I.” For the first time in a long time, Toni started crying.
Charley walked over to her and hugged her.

“Then why did you do it? You knew what would happen, knew the consequences. If you didn’t want to put yourself back in that position, why?” Charley asked quietly.

“Cause it made me forget. That’s all I wanted to do. Forget that Matt had come back, forget that Andrue was angry with me. I wasn’t thinking straight.” Toni sobbed.

“Well that much is obvious. So what are you going to do now? And why was your brother outside fighting with Matt? What happened?” Charley pulled away from Toni slightly.

“He tried to take me somewhere. I managed to hit him a few time before Andrue showed up. He was fighting with him because you can’t keep your mouth shut and he found out about the abuse. And I have no idea what to do now…as long as Andrue hates me, it’s hard to be happy. And to be in the same house.” Toni sighed.

“He doesn’t hate you. And I’m sorry I told him…he deserved to know anyways. But maybe you should just sit and talk with him. Sure he got mad and everything, but brothers do that. He was disappointed when he found you in your room and the scared out of his mind when he searched your bathroom. But that doesn’t mean he hates you.”Charley started to walk back to the cars with Toni following.

Toni scowled at the tears still falling and got into her car. She followed Charley home and when she got there, saw Andrue sitting on the front steps. When she stepped out of the car, he tackled her in a hug and she quickly hugged him back.

“We need to have a little talk.” He told her pulling away.

She sighed and followed him into the living room. She was glad that they didn’t have to worry about their parents. When Andrue had turned eighteen, he had filed emancipation papers against them and then asked Toni to come and live with him. She was seventeen and when she got the chance, would follow his lead and file the same papers.

She sat on the couch as he turned on one of the lights. She glanced at him before directing her gaze back at the floor. He sat in front of her and made her look at him. She wasn’t sure where he was going to start this conversation, but she was not looking forward to it.She noticed that he looked tired and realized that he must not have slept the night before. She felt bad for making him worry and for keeping him up late tonight.

“You need to explain some things to me. First, when were you going to tell me about Matt?” Andrue started.

“I wasn’t.” Toni told him.

“Why not?” He asked.

“Didn’t we already go over this? Next question.” Toni said.

“Fine. Why’d you contact Clark of all people? Why go to him for something like that?” Andrue asked, avoiding the words.

“Because I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t think that you would understand…” Toni trailed off.

“Exactly. You didn’t think. What about the bag I found in your bathroom?” he asked.

“Got it from Clark as well…that was because I couldn’t handle you mad at me…but it only made it worse. I was thinking then either.” Toni said looking away from him.

Andrue made her look at him and examined her face as he reached for her right arm. She let him grab hold of it and push up the sleeve. She cursed when he saw the wounds, scowling as he traced them lightly. Throwing her arm away from him, he stood and paced the floor. Once he had calmed down some, he turned back to her.

“This need to stop. I took everything sharp from your bathroom…if you need something you can ask. I know this may seem over the top, but the next best thing to therapy. Unless you want to go there? I don’t want a repeat of last year and neither does Charley. She’s just as worried as I am. Oh, and I’m putting a screen on your window.” Andrue stood and waited for Toni to say something.

“You’re acting just like dad…and it doesn’t suit you.” Toni stood and walked upstairs.