A Sweets Life-Chapter 9

At last! I apologize for the delay! Too many personal issues, and a muse on “vacation”. Hah! As if.

High school life tends to be a bit dramatic sometimes, and “cliques” form fairly early. The popular kids, the brains, the slackers, and all the smaller subgroups would be recognizable to anyone who has ever attended an American high school. There are always cross-overs, like a Jock who is popular and brainy, or a cheerleader that understands math and computers. This is generally accepted and normal.

Candy quickly became known as being “pleasantly weird”. Aside from her gender issues, she seemed to be able to fit in with almost anybody, without really being sucked into any one group. She was comfortable with the brains, hung out with some of the popular girls and the jocks, and had friends who lived to the beat of a “different” drummer.

It was becoming clear, however, that there were some people who didn’t like her. Some of the Bible thumpers were offended by her, and there seemed to be some people who just hated her without any real reason. In fact, it sometimes seemed that someone really wanted to hurt her.

Super glue on her chair, “liquid ass” sprayed in her locker, graffiti on her backpack, and even some so-called “accidental” incidents involving pushing, tripping or being shoved into walls or lockers. Several nasty rumors had been spread, and some of the “friends” she had made in the beginning of the year had begun avoiding or ignoring her.

Her real friends did all they could to protect her, but they couldn’t be with her all of the time, although they tried. Surprisingly, perhaps due to the girls’ support at the games, the jocks seemed to have adopted Candy and her group of protectors, which helped to intimidate most of the bullies.

The harassment went on for some time, but Candy didn’t give in to the intimidation. She and her friends held their heads high, and did their best to volunteer and help out at school. Gradually the rumors were shown to be false, and some of the more physical incidents stopped, but things continued to happen to her, and it even spread to her friends. The worst incident was when someone had secretly sprayed glue into Tina’s hair while she studied in the library. It had to be cut short, and Tina had been very upset.

Danni was very careful to make sure she only inspired the mayhem, and never actually did anything to Candy or her friends. There were too many risks, and too many people watching. Yes, she had started a few rumors, but only in very subtle ways, and even that had stopped once people started to see how friendly the girls truly were. It was very hard to convince anyone that the four girls were even capable of nasty behavior.

She wasn’t sure what it was that most irritated her about the “Goody Squad”, as she called them. Somehow they just really offended her, and that was enough to provoke a total dislike for them, especially that gender freak, Candy. It only took Danni seeing Candy to send her into a black, angry mood.

There was more to Danni’s rage than just anger. She was very frightened.

Danni suspected that she might be pregnant. Her period was very late, and she felt nauseated a lot. She thought about seeing the nurse, but she was afraid it would get back to her father. At first, she had thought that it would please her father if the child was a boy, but then she realized that this baby was in real danger from her father. If he somehow discovered she was pregnant, she was truly afraid of what her father would do to her. The baby was a real danger to him, because now she had proof that he was raping her.

It was no longer safe to be anywhere near her father, and Danni knew she had to runaway as soon as she could. It was too early for her to show yet, and she needed some clothes and a stash of money she had been hiding from him. Her plan was to catch a bus to some big city, and then turn herself in to the police. The police in say, Sacramento, had no connection to her father, and would take her concerns seriously. The key was to keep things hidden from her father, and protect the baby at all costs!

She was so concerned that she became distracted, and left her book bag in her 5th hour class. Candy saw it, and tried to return it to Danni, but they became separated before Candy could catch her. Unknown to Candy, Danni had skipped her last class, so that she might be able to slip into and out of her house before her father found out, so that she might possibly avoid her father’s attentions that night.

After class, Candy went down to the office, hoping to see Danni before she left, but when she didn’t see her, she asked if she might have Danni’s address, in order to find her and return her books. She rode her bike home and told her Mom what had happened. Jenna was nervous about Danni being in that neighborhood, so she asked Robin to come with her, and Robin convinced her boyfriend Mike to tagalong.

They rode their bikes to the neighborhood where the directions said Danni lived. It was a very grimy and almost spooky neighborhood. The buildings on the block didn’t seem to have any complete numbers, but they were working on a way to find her address when Candy heard the sound of someone crying in pain. They followed the sound, and discovered Danni in between two cars, hiding and holding her stomach.

“Danni, are you okay?” Robin asked, but Candy rushed over to her.

“Get away from me! I don’t need you to help me, you. . . freak!”

Candy ignored her, and helped her to her feet.

“I told you, I DON’T WANT YOUR HELP!” She screamed and glared at Candy, but that was all she could do, she was too weak for anything else.

“I DON’T CARE about what you want!” Candy told her, and she hugged the injured girl. “You need me right now, and I AM going to help you!”

Danni looked at Candy, and she knew that she truly wanted only to help her. She collapsed tearfully into Candy’s arms. She was able to help pull her out and into the safety of Mike’s huge arms. Robin had already called 911 on her cell, and they could hear sirens in the background.

“He-he killed my baby!” Danni wailed, in despair. “He saw me vomiting, and he knew I was pregnant. He kicked me and punched me in the stomach to force me to miscarry!”

Mike suddenly seemed to have grown 2 feet taller. He was angry, but he carefully and gently asked who she meant.

“My-My father! He raped and beat me, and now he wants to kill me! I’ve been hiding, but I know he’s going to find me!” She looked around, frightened that her father might come around the corner at any time.

“Let him.” Mike said, and his angry voice was like the rumble of an earthquake.

“No, Mike! We need to let the police handle this.” Robin cried and held his arm. “I don’t want you to get into trouble, and if you kill him in your anger, you’ll go to jail. I couldn’t bear that!”

Her tears were enough to calm Mike down. “All right, Rob, I’ll be good, I promise.”

The sirens seemed to get closer, and soon they could see a patrol car and an ambulance. Just as they pulled up, David Evans sprang at Danni with a knife. Mike grabbed her and turned so that his back was between Danni and her father, but everyone was surprised when Candy spun and kicked Mr. Evans in the face with a quick roundhouse kick, which caught him in the jaw. He fell to the ground, stunned, and the officers were upon him immediately.

“Whoa!” Mike said, as he stared at Candy. Robin was in shock, as Candy modestly blushed. “Mom insisted I take self defense classes. Really, it was just a lucky kick!”

“Well done, young lady. That was impressive!” One of the officers told her. “Can anyone tell me what happened-one at a time please?”

The paramedics were checking Danni over as she tried to explain. “Please, Miss! Relax, and you can tell him once we get to the hospital! You need to lie back, and let your friends take care of this, please!”

Candy stood next to the gurney. She kissed Danni on the forehead.

“We’ll get things started here, go to the hospital and see if there is anything the doctors can do. We’ve got this, girlfriend.”

Danni looked into her smiling eyes, and she cried. Girlfriend? “But I . . .”

“Shush, I’ll be there as quick as I can, okay?” Danni stared for a second, then nodded and closed her eyes. “Be safe.” Candy whispered to her. They loaded her into the ambulance, closed the doors and drove off, lights and sirens blaring.

End, Chapter 9. More to come! I’ve handcuffed my muse to the bed. She seems to like it!