Concrete Angel

~One Year Later~

I exited the car hugging both of my parents and sighing at they let me walk off. I had convinced them to continue letting me go to the boys boarding school. I loved it there so much that I didn't want to leave. I felt almost as if I couldn't. Mom and Dad thought it was best because for the first few months home I was jumpy and felt out of place. I kept expecting something horrible to happen. There were just too many bad memories in that place.

Mom and Dad actually moved once I told them I wanted to keep going to the boys school. There was a town close by and they packed up moving there. We later found out that Joey's parents lived across the street and Zach's family was next door. It turned out nicely over the summer for us.

Johnny and myself quickly came together again. It was like nothing ever happened. We, of course, had our issues and spent the first month in group therapy and then single therapy. Johnny got over the thoughts of it being all his fault and my nightmares slowly began to come to an end. Johnny began to fit in with my friends and it was like he knew them for years.

We were all looking forward to school starting again. Aunt Ann had not only gotten me into school but she also got me a new roommate which I guess was fine. Zach and Joey decided to room with each other and they would be across the hall. Scotty and Jake would be next to them and Ron and Chris would be next to me. Aunt Ann thought it was best that I wasn't allowed to room with my boyfriend which Johnny agreed with and actually demanded to be my roommate. Everyone agreed that would be best.

Leon was gone but at times it seemed like everyone was still on edge. His trial was quick one that we all had to suffer through. We all were made witnesses and had to testify against him. I never wanted to see him again and yet they put me on a stand in front of him. I looked straight into his eyes and told the whole courtroom what he did to me each time and how I was under protection which is why the world thought I was dead. It was all on TV and everyone everywhere watched it. That was another reason as to why Mom and Dad thought it'd be best we move. People in our town weren't very considerate during that time.

He was sentenced to death. There was actually an offer for me to go and watch. I refused. I was still having nightmares and even though he ruined me and tortured me and did awful things to me the last thing I wanted to do was sit there and watch him die. I couldn't. I knew I wouldn't be able to live past that. Joey supported that and actually told he would have stopped me if I wanted to go. My Dad and Howard went and watched just to make sure there was no funny business and that he was actually gone. Dad came home that day and assured me that he was never coming back again. I think that was the day I finally started healing from it all.

Howard was still around but instead of as my cop protector, he was there as my god father and my Dad's best friend. Things settled down and you could tell my parents were happy having him around again. They were happy having everything somewhat normal again as was I.

"Izzy!" Joey says as I enter the hall. My parents and Johnny were behind me carrying loads of our things so we could unpack. Joey always acted like he hadn't seen me in ages when I came into his sight. It was nice to have someone look at you like that.

Joey was actually the only one who still called me something other than June. I questioned him about it once and he said that he felt like Izzy fit me. I pushed a little further with it later on and he told me that he wanted to call me something that was all his own. He always had. It was something that made me seem more like his. I found that funny and joked that I was all his even if he didn't call me Izzy but he still seemed to like Izzy the best and in all honestly, I liked it too.
Joey and I were doing fantastic. We were madly in love and everyone picked at us for it. We spent a summer together with Johnny and Zach tagging along for some stuff and now that school is starting back we are even more excited. The other boys kept in touch over the summer and visited occasionally but it wasn't the same. They all lived at least an hour or two away.

"Are the others here?" I ask giving him a hug before walking into my new room to help Johnny unpack.

"Jake is. Ron and Chris are supposedly pulling up. Jake went to go meet them. Zach's in our room and Scotty is on the road." Joey says grabbing a box from my mom and carrying it for her. Mom smiled at him patting his arm thankfully.

"Mom, I'm going to say hello to Zach and the others." I say quietly and she nods unpacking my clothes for me. I loved having her around because she would organize everything for me and I would barely have to unpack anything. Mom nodded and Joey grabbed my hand leading me across the hall. Zach quickly jumped up and hugged me saying hello.

Zach was like a different person now. He had let go of his anger and became almost normal. I could see how Joey and him were best friends. They were opposites but they complimented each other in various ways. Joey and Zach were like jelly and peanut butter. When they started becoming friends I worried about Scotty and his relationship with Joey but he never minded. Scotty was Joey's brother and that would never change. Scotty accepted Zach and they all were trouble together.

"JUNE!" Jake's loud voice shouts and I turn to see him standing in the doorway. I rush into his arms and smile yet again.

Jake was himself. Nothing had changed about him. He was still him and so were the other boys. Chris and Ron both had apparently started dating girls in their neighbor over the summer so that was new. Jake was devastated because they wouldn't be his wing men anymore once they started clubbing again. I offered to be but Joey quickly shot that one down.

"June." Chris says a little quieter and I hug him and then quickly hug Ron who was standing behind him. They had grown some but other than that it was all the same. I was glad. A lot of things had changed in my life but I was growing used to it and I wasn't nearly on edge anymore.
After everyone had their hellos there was some crisis with trash bags so I offered to go get some. I walked out in the parking lot and headed to the cafe to ask the lunch men for some only to be stopped.

"There's my favorite girl." a guy's voice says making me smile and quickly turn around.

"There's my favorite cowboy." I say smiling at Scotty who stood there with open arms. I ran right into him forgetting about my task and walking with him back to the room.

"So how are you? How's things? Last time I saw you, you still had some healing to do." Scotty says quietly placing his arm around me comfortably. He was right. The last time he was around me, I was still jumpy and randomly burst in tears. He and Joey spent the whole week Scotty spent trying to make me better.

"I'm good. I'm healing. I always am. But I think it's much better." I say smiling at him.

"Good. You had us scared. After the trial, you were going downhill. Joey was killing himself over you. He didn't know how to help. None of us did." Scotty says smiling sadly at me.

"I know. Ya'll were so good to me. I thank you for that. You did wonderfully. You all did. I'm blessed to have met ya'll." I say quietly making Scotty squeeze my shoulder before we entered the hall to have Scotty tackled by our friends. I grinned at the very sight of them. They were all so good to me. I really was blessed.

I spotted something on the ground and reached down to pick it up and spotted my arm. I still had my scar from Leon. It clearly read never ends and the very sight of it used to haunt me. At the beginning of the summer when Scotty visited, I would spot the scar and burst into tears remembering everything. It was something I believed was true. It would never end but the more I healed and the more I looked at it, I realized it was very true but not in the way Leon meant. It would never end for me because each day I grew stronger. Each day I forgot little details about Leon that haunted me, like how he smelled or how he felt. Everyday I spent with the guys in front of me I grew into a girl I always dreamed of being and I knew that would never end. I began to learn how to trust and love properly and how to just be normal. I would never forget what happened to me but it would never haunt me again. The fact of the matter is that the only thing that is never ending for me is my love and my friendships and my courage and my strength that grew more and more each day. Those things would never end and those are what I now thought about when I looked at my arm.

"Izzy, are you okay?" Joey says snapping me out of my thoughts. I smiled at him and the guys who were all staring at me.

"I'm okay. I'm perfectly okay." I say and for once in my life I actually meant it. I was okay and that was never going to end.