italics — rues narration

you know when you're with someone and things just aren't right? but you're afraid to ask, because the answer might be worse than the feeling right now.

"wait, did you guys hear about nate?" cassie asked. "no." everyone responded, except for rue who sunk back into her seat awkwardly. athena looked over suspiciously, "you heard about him?" she whispered, making sure no one was looking at them as she leaned towards her. rue refused to look at her, shaking her head vigorously. "no."

nate had been temporarily expelled.

the night of the carnival, while fez and athena were on the ferris wheel and i was with jules looking for gia, nate and maddy were feuding. she came to the carnival dressed, in his opinion, inappropriate. she got high on molly with cassie, which made her confidence go through the roof, so she went and wrecked his family's chili booth win.

he got pissed, dragged her between two trailers and choked her. she came to school the following monday with bruises on her neck, which staff noticed even though she tried to conceal it.

nate was picked out as the abuser almost instantly. the principal had interviewed almost every student who knew maddy or nate, in which they all literally said nate was abusive. and gay, which was why he was abusive towards maddy.

and although he tried to fight it and be proved innocent, he couldn't. he got suspended until further notice, and was required to stay away from maddy until the case was closed. but, he couldn't do that either.

at first, nate spent most of his days in bed. then he decided to spend his days driving around aimlessly. sometimes he'd check in on maddy. sometimes he'd check in on jules. or watch her house at night.

jules told me that the night of the carnival she was going to meet up with the guy she had been texting for a few weeks, which i didn't object to since it wasn't my place. i didn't think it was a good idea, i had a bad feeling about it ever since she told me she was texting him.

i guess my gut feeling was right, because she knocked on my window at 12 in the morning that same night, crying and told me he didn't look like his pictures.

and i didn't know it at the time, but she met up with nate that night.

"hey. what's up, athena?" fez looked up adoringly at athena, who was dressed as katinka from zoolander. she smiled as he pulled her onto his lap, fixing her dress as he did so. "hi fez." she turned his face towards her and kissed his cheek, her red lipstick unknowingly leaving a stain on his cheek.

"you didn't bring ash?" she frowned, noticing that his little sidekick wasn't with him. he shook his head, "nah, he went trick or treating." he said. "by himself?" she asked. "he's twelve." he chuckled, which sounded like music to her ears.

"i know. but he's such a kid, also he has like no friends. who did he go with?" she asked. "nobody, stop worrying about him athena. he's good." he muttered, pulling the blunt he always had on his ear off. he held it with one hand as he pulled his lighter out of his pocket and sparked it, putting it in between his lips. "you came with rue?" he asked. she nodded, "yeah, i don't know where she is, though."

she watched him intensely as he inhaled, her face heating up as he looked insanely attractive. "what you staring at, baby?" he asked, not even having to look at her to notice. she blushed as she looked away, "nothin'."

fez and athena were doing really good. they still weren't officially together, but they both knew what was up. she was his, and they both knew it. fez never really liked pda, but he couldn't help himself to show off his love for athena any chance he could. athena was ecstatic. she had never had someone love her as much as fez did, and they weren't even dating yet.

and they probably would've had a good night tonight if it weren't for me, but i guess i just have a thing for ruining everyone's night.

fez took the blunt out of his mouth and brought it to athenas, "open," he cooed, making her part her lips almost immediately. she inhaled and gave the blunt back to him, coughing slightly. "you can't handle your smoke anymore?" he asked. she chuckled, "shut up, fez." he laughed. "i'm just fucking with you." he said.

he handed her the blunt back, watching as she didn't cough this time. "see? fuck you." she mumbled, making him chuckle. "shit, you might." she hit his chest gently in response.

fez put the blunt back in between his lips while athena stared at him. her eyes looked over all of his features, and his outfit. he was matching with her, dressing as mugatu. the only thing he was missing was the hair, since his head was shaved. still, he looked too good for athena not to stare.

he didn't notice as his eyes wandered to the pool where jules had come up from the water. rue was kneeling beside the pool, talking to an obviously drunk jules. "ain't that rue and her homegirl?" as soon as fez pointed to them and athena looked their way, jules had pulled rue into the pool. "fuck." athena handed the blunt back to fez quickly and got up off his lap, making him frown.

he watched as she made her way towards the pool, hiking up her dress as she kneeled down. "rue rue, come on." she frowned as a clearly upset rue surfaced from the water, her perfectly done makeup and hair ruined. she looked like she was about to cry as athena stretched her hand out to her, taking it and helping her out of the pool.

jules surfaced too, but athena pulled rue away quickly. fez stood up, "you need a ride?" he asked as they got closer to him. athena shook her head, "she's soaking, fez. i don't wanna get your seats wet." rue was shivering beside athena, her head hung low. "it don't matter. do you need a ride?" he asked again. "no, fez." she said. "you got an expensive ass car, i don't care about my seats." he tried to convince her. "no." she said sternly. "athena,"

athena looked at rue, who refused to even look up for fez. she sighed as she shook her head, "it's okay, fez. i'll text you later, okay?" athena wrapped her arms around fez, who kissed her forehead as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "alright, catch you later." he muttered, not wanting rue to know he could show affection.

rue twisted her lips to the side as athena pulled away from fez and started walking into the house with her. they made their way through a bunch of people, who very obviously noticed the fact that rue was wet.

when they made it outside, athena looked over at her sister. "you okay?" she asked. rue didn't respond. "rue," she pulled her keys out of her tiny bag, unlocking her car. "i'm sorry," she apologized. athena stopped in front of her car, "for what?" she asked. "for being a burden." athena gave her a look. "you're not a burden." she assured her, opening her door.

rue got in, feeling bad for soaking her seats. athena got in too, barely even noticing. "can i sleep in your room tonight?" she asked, needing the sense of familiarity and comfort to feel okay. athena smiled, "duh. you can tell me all about your little high school drama love story." she teased.