Problem Child

The morning after I woke up hoping that last night's events had just been part of a terrible nightmare. As soon as I sat up in bed and felt the burning pain between my legs I knew that it had all really happened. I put my hand over my mouth, I could still feel the ducktape. 'I could tell Grace and Jonathan, they'd have to believe me' I thought. The tissues in the bin...they could be used as evidence couldn't they? A million things were rushing through my mind. Thank god I didn't have school that day. I grabbed some clean clothes and rushed across the hallway towards the bathroom. I could hear movement coming from downstairs but I didn't stop to find out who was up. I slammed the bathroom door shut behind me and locked it in a hurry. I paused for a moment and then realised that Jonathan had promised to sort out the lock for my door today. I felt my eyes burning as I fought back more tears. It was a case of too little too late really. The worst thing imaginable had already happened so what was the point? 'To stop him from doing it again' I told myself trying to remain strong. But I didn't FEEL strong, I felt weak and pathetic, used and dirty. So dirty. I had to take a shower.

I undressed and felt the warm relaxing water wash straight over my sore body. I analysed a bruise he had made on the inside of my right thigh from where he'd prized my legs apart in order to for fill his sick satisfaction. Why had he done this? I could have sworn that just the other day he'd shown me some kind of sympathy after I'd hit my head. It was like he had been taken over by some unstoppable force, he was like a boy possessed. Once I'd finished showering I got dressed into my jeans, t-shirt and hoodie. He'd made me so conscious of how I looked, all that stuff about 'if you dress like a whore you should be treated like a whore' had stuck in my mind. It must have been seeing me with Tre that had sent him over the edge. Then I suddenly remembered, he was probably going to call me today and we were going to arrange to meet up. Would he be able to tell what had happened? Maybe it was written all over my face.

I hurried back to my room and closed my bedroom door. I even pushed my chair right up against the handle to prevent any unwanted guests from entering. I picked up my phone and called Tre.

"Hello?" He answered sleepily. It had just gone 9am which was early for him to be awake on the weekend.

"Hey, it's me." I said quickly.

"Oh, hey you." He said sounding more cheerful. "How's it going?" He asked me casually.

"Well...not great. It was kind of tough at home again last night and...I was wondering if maybe I could come over and stay with you over the weekend." I explained meekly. I paused and tensly awaited his reply.

"Oh wow, sorry to hear that. Of course you can stay, I told you that you're welcome any time." He said. I sighed out loud with relief.

"Thank you Tre, thank you so much." I said. He laughed.

"Hey no problem. So when should I expect you?" He asked. I got up with the phone still in hand and began to pack a bag.

"Can you come and pick me up now?" I asked in hope.

"Ah sorry, my Dad's working so I don't have the car. But I can come over and carry your bag for you?" He offered sweetly. I smiled.

"That would be great. But...hurry okay?" I said urgently.

"Sure, i'll leave now." He confirmed. It usually only took him 10 minutes to walk to my place. I finished packing and then decided to go and get Grace's permission to leave the house. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about me spending 2 nights away from home and then going to school from Tre's. She didn't really consider him to be trustworthy, mature or a good influence which was ironic seeing as he was all of those things and Billie was in fact the opposite and she couldn't see it. So I made myself look a little more presentable and cautiously made my way downstairs. To my delight Grace was sitting down in the living room alone reading a magazine.

"Hey." I said quietly trying hard to pretend that I was fine.

"Wow, good morning. This is a first!" She said on seeing me awake so early. I forced a smile.

"Where's Billie?" I asked feeling sick at the mention of his name.

"He's still in bed." She stated. 'Thank god' I thought.

"Grace...would it be okay for me to spend the weekend with Tre? It's just that he's really behind on his school work and I promised that I'd help him study, and I wasn't allowed to go over the other night." I explained. She looked at me for a moment and I held my breath. Then she smiled.

"Okay, that's fine with me. But on ONE condition." She said. I nodded. "You both get yourselves to school on time on Monday." She said. I laughed half-heartedly.

"Of course." I said. I sat with her for a few minutes more and waited for Tre. I could tell that something was still bothering Grace by the way she kept glancing up at me. "What is it?" I asked her frowning.

"Oh, nothing." She smiled. I wasn't buying it. I gave her a look and she finally gave in. "Oh okay, there WAS something I wanted to talk to you about." She admitted. I sat upright and waited for her to continue all the while checking out of the front window for Tre. "It's about Billie Joe." She started. My mouth suddenly went dry and my heart started racing.

"What about him?" I asked hesitently.

"Well, you know the other night when I came into your room and saw you both asleep on your bed?" She asked. I nodded. "Uhm...well...the two of you weren't...you know..." She insinuated. I felt sick in light of what had happened just the night before. My eyes grew wider.

"Weren't what?" I pressed. Grace looked utterly uncomfortable with the whole conversation.

"I know that the two of you had your differences at first, but lately you both seem to be acting very strangely around one another. As soon as we get the two of you in a room together I can feel this tension between you both." She explained.

"And?" I asked wanting her to get to the point.

"It's probably just all in my head but..." She said before pausing. Did she know? Had she read the signs? "Do the two of you...have feelings for each other?" She asked. I wanted to laugh and cry and kick something. I got up and Grace looked worried that she'd upset me.

"ME have feelings for HIM?!" I cried. "I HATE him! He's evil and twisted and...and...he's been..." I stuttered. Grace looked over my shoulder towards the doorway. I spun around to find Billie Joe stood there in his shirt and boxers looking a bit bewildered. I snatched my bag up from the couch and ran straight past him. I flung open the front door and nearly bumped straight into Tre who was just about to ring the doorbell.

"Summer!" Grace cried out after me. I grabbed hold of Tre's arm and began to drag him across the grass.

"Come on!" I pleaded. He looked totally confused nearly tripping over himself but he did as he was told. Grace appeared at the front door still calling for me. Billie was stood there too.

"What the hell's going on?" I heard him ask as Tre and I made it across the street. They both looked on helplessly as we ran down the road. We'd be running for 3 blocks before Tre finally said something

"Why are we actually running Sum?" He asked sounding out of breath.

"Because...I couldn't...stay there...with THEM." I managed to get out. Tre stopped and grabbed my arm.

"Hey c'mon, we're well away from there now." He pointed out. I stood still to catch my breath. I had to admit that it was such a rush just breaking free like that ignoring what anybody else said. "So, what happened back there?" He asked. I knew that it looked pretty serious.

"It's just Grace, she's been really getting to me lately...and then there's Billie, he's being...well Billie." I started to explain. Tre nodded sympathetically back at me. "So I guess it's just a mix of everything...I really couldn't take any more." I said looking into his eyes in desperation.

"Well it's okay now, 'cause you've got me." He smiled proudly. I laughed a little as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I winced slightly, I still ached pretty much everywhere. "Are you okay?" He asked looking puzzled.

"Yeah fine, but i'll feel better once we get to your place." I said. We began walking again until we reached the safety of Tre's house.