Concrete Angel

I screamed once again and tucked my head behind Joey again. This movie was horrible. I wasn't bringing my head up again. I hate scary things, I don't like to be scared. I heard a song come on and assumed it was the end credits. It was. I quickly reached for the remote and cut the movie off. It was dark in the living room, I flipped the tv back on to some random channel and glanced around quickly. I was waiting for one of the guys to demand that the second movie starts soon. I looked up at Joey and saw his eyes were closed. He fell asleep, you have got to be kidding me. I squinted around the room to see that all the guys were knocked out. Boys are crazy. How can they fall asleep during a movie like that?

"Joey." I whisper poking his cheek.

"Mhmm." Joey groans in his sleep shifting slightly. His arm moved on me and pulled me closer to him.

"Joey." I mumble trying to position myself differently. I couldn't move without waking him up, which I couldn't do without waking everyone up, which would lead to watching the next move. I think I'll stay put.

I reached for the remote and barely got it. I flipped through the channels hoping to find something cheerful to make the movie leave my head. I was still confused how the stupid boys feel asleep. I found a channel that was having a Gilmore Girls marathon. This is what I'm talking about. This is a real marathon. I watch and start to realize how tired I am. I don't know what time it is. The guys didn't get here until around 8. We spent at least a hour messing around before we started the movie. It has to be late. I feel my eyes getting heavy. I was going to go to my bed but I couldn't move under Joey's arm. I yawn and poke him in the cheek once more trying to get him to move; no such luck. I had to admit he is real cute when he sleeps. No Elizabeth, stop it. You will not fall for him. I felt tired, so tired.

"Johnny! Johnny!" I yell running through the crowd.

"Johnny, where did you go?" I scream close to tears. We convinced Mom to let us go to the fair by ourselves. Johnny was 13, and I was 10. We were old enough, plus it was only down the road. I scan the crowd again and see someone wearing a blue hat and white shirt. That was what Johnny was wearing.

"Johnny!!" I scream running towards the body. He went down an alley. I turn and see that no one is there. Dead end, dang it. I turn around to go back to where I came from. I hit a body, not Johnny's body.

"Are you lost little lady?" his voice says, his terrible voice. It sent chills down my back. I knew what was about to happen. I had to get away.

"Izzy! Izzy!" Joey was saying repeating shaking me.

"Don't touch me. Leave me alone." I say flinching away from his touch.

"Izzy, it was just a dream. Izzy, calm down." Joey says reaching for me once again.

"J-Joey?" I say quietly taking in my surroundings. We were still in the den. Everyone else was sound asleep. I didn't know how long I had been asleep. I was scared. I have that nightmare all the time, but it seemed so real this time; like it was happening all over again.

"Izzy, it was just a dream." Joey says wrapping his arms around me as tears fall down my face. He wasn't supposed to see me like this. I wasn't supposed to let that haunt me anymore. It was over. He couldn't get me anymore.

"I guess that movie was just too scary." I say wiping my tears away and shaking the bad thoughts out of my head.

"You kept saying Johnny." Joey says looking at me concerned.

"I did?" I say quietly not giving away anything. I couldn't tell him who Johnny was. I couldn't tell him the truth.

"Who's Johnny?" Joey asks quietly glancing at the other guys to make sure they were still asleep.

"Hell if I know." I say turning away from him and laying back down on the couch.

Joey slide me over a little and then takes his place and lets me lean on him. I smile slightly up at him before resting my head on his stomach. Soon I hear his breathing slow and I know he has fallen asleep. I was afraid to close my eyes again, I didn't want to see his face. I didn't want to relive that night or any of the nights. It was too much. I turned over and reached for the remote. I turned Gilmore Girls on once more before letting sleep take over me.

"GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!" Jake yells loudly to the room.

"Shut up Jake." Scotty yells and I open my eyes to see a pillow being thrown across the room.

"You are not nice in the morning." Chris says laughing slightly at Scotty's grumpy face.

"I hate mornings." Scotty snaps rubbing his eyes.

"We can see that." Ron says yawning.

"You are worse than Ron." Chris says laughing.

"I'm not that bad!" Ron yells his face mad looking.

"This is true." Chris says throwing his arms up.

"Scotty's horrible." Jake says pulling Scotty's covers off of him.

"STOP IT!" Scotty yells throwing a punch at him.

"Will all of you shut up!? I'm trying to sleep." Joey's voice says loudly.

"Joey, I see you aren't a morning person either." Jake says grinning broadly.

"I am when no one is here." Joey says rolling his eyes.

"Too bad you have a roommate now." Jake says laughing and I see a pillow hit him in the head.

"Speaking of which, ya'll look cozy." Chris says raising an eyebrow. I love how they didn't even bother to see if I was awake.

"You sure do, now Joey; no hooking up with your roommate." Ron says disapprovingly.

"Shut up." Joey says and I see another pillow fly across the room.

"Defensive much?" Jake says grinning.

"Shut up and leave him alone." Scotty yells from the floor where he has stretched out to sleep again.

"I'm just saying." Chris says throwing his arms up.

"Me too." Ron says laughing.

"Well, I'll say what they are thinking. Joey's going to get some!!" Jake yells loudly. I feel Joey move underneath me and soon I'm thrown on the floor.

"JOEY!" I screech opening my eyes fully. I see Joey grabbing Jake's shirt only to turn around and face me with his eyes wide.

"I'm so sorry." Joey says rushing to me and helping me up.

"Why did you move?" I say grumpily. I didn't want any of them to know I had heard everything.

"You slept through all that yelling?" Jake says impressed.

"You were yelling? Way to be considerate." I say throwing a pillow at him.

"Another grumpy person. This room is bringing me down. Come on, Scotty; let's go to our room." Jake says pulling Scotty up from the floor. Scotty glares at him but lets him lead him out of the room.

"Goodbye." I say waving slightly. Chris and Ron both stretch and mumble something about showers and leave behind them.

"You okay?" Joey says looking at me.

"I'm fine. My head is hurting a bit though." I say glaring at him. He looks real sorry, I should let him off the hook.

"I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you, somehow." Joey says begging for forgiveness from me.

"Let me have the bathroom first and we're even." I say smiling at him. He grins and nods and I rush to get my stuff before heading into our bathroom. It wasn't real big. Joey's stuff was all over the place. We'll have to figure out how to split up the space in here. I can't keep carrying my stuff in and out of here. I'll have to carry my clothes, can't go outside without them. My makeup will have to go somewhere where I can get it quickly, at least for now. My eye was still black and blue. I close the medicine cabinet so I can see the mirror. My hair was disheveled a little bit. It was strange looking at the new me. I keep expecting something different. My face was the same but the hair made everything look different. I tugged on the ends once again before shaking my head and wiping away the makeup that hadn't came off yet. I would have to wear some concealer or powder to cover my eye at night but not too much. It was going away some. I shower quickly and get dressed. The make up was what took so long. I had to put on enough to cover my bruise but not too much. I didn't want to look like a freak. The darker it gets the quicker it heals. That's what I kept telling myself. I hope it is going to be gone before this week is up.

"I thought you said you weren't one of the girls who took hours in the shower." Joey yells through the door.

"It hasn't even been an hour yet. I'm almost done." I yell back laughing at him.

I run a brush through my hair and fix it in a cute way. I hear Joey mumble something else about how long I was taking. I look at my phone and see that it had been a hour. I guess I should let him have it. I should let him wait another hour but I didn't want to sit in here and do nothing for an hour.

"All done." I say smiling as I walked out of the bathroom.

"I'll be out in five." Joey says rushing to the bathroom. He must of had to pee because he basically ran to the bathroom.

"It's been twenty." I yell through the door. I was bored. I didn't have much to do. I played with my phone, trying to figure it all out. It was brand new. No contacts other than Pizza Hut and a radio station. Those were the only numbers I was still allowed to have.

"I'm almost done." Joey yells through the door and soon enough he came rushing out the door only to plop down on his bed and grin at me.

"I need to go shopping." I say looking at him and smiling slightly.

"No way. I have three sisters remember?" Joey says his eyes growing wide.

"Joey, my head really hurts." I say pouting at him and holding my head in a hand.

"Not fair." Joey whines but I grin and jump up dancing. He grabs his phone and I hear him talking to the guys saying they have to come too because it's their fault he dropped me.

"Joey's going shopping with me!" I yell dancing out our door only to run into someone.

"My bad." I say laughing and turning around to face whoever I hit. My face pales and my smile slides right off my face.

"I knew you were attracted to me, but I didn't realize your attraction would be so rough." Zack says smirking down at me.

"I thought I told you to leave her alone." Joey says pulling me behind him. I have never felt so grateful for him in my life.

"I think she should be the one to decide that. She is apparently very pulled towards me." Zack says glaring at Joey.

"She looks more scared than attracted to me." Jake's voice says as he walks down the hall towards us. Scotty was right behind him.

"I think you weren't in this." Zack snaps at them.

"I think you need to leave." Joey says loudly pushing me further behind him.

"Elizabeth wants me here. I can just tell. When she says leave, I'll go." Zack says looking around Joey and at me. I hate guys like him. He thinks he can control everything. He thinks he's in charge of me. I've put up with enough of that for a life time. I hate him. I hate all guys like him. I can't be pushed around anymore. I'm not that girl anymore.

"What's going on?" Ron asks as him and Chris come out of a room from down the hall.

"Tell him what you want, Izzy." Joey says smiling down at me and I got a surge of confidence. He wouldn't let Zack put an arm on me.

"I want you to leave me the hell alone." I say looking Zack dead in the eyes.

"For now." Zack says softly before walking away from us all.

"Shopping?" Jake says to release some tension and we all nod and let him lead us to the bus that took us into town.