~Althia~

Monty finally finished his game of beer pong and we made our way inside to get more drinks and find Alex and Jessica.

"Did you really have to make that poor freshman lose so badly to you?" I asked him as I looked back behind us to see the boy leaning against the table with his head in his hands

"Hey, he's the one that wanted to play and couldn't get a single shot" Monty defended himself

I laughed as I shook my head

Before any of us could say anything, the sound of someone yelling came

I looked around confused as I spotted a worried Alex yelling for Jessica

Panic rushed through me as I saw the panic on his face when Monty and I approached him

"Have you seen Jess? Where's Jess? I turned around for a second and I couldn't find her, I-" Alex said as we joined him

I got on my tippy toes and started scanning the room for Jessica

The three of us quickly moved to the space in between the kitchen, the living room and the foyer as we searched for Jessica

"There she is" I pointed her out as I saw her running towards the slide doors to get outside looking frantic and emotional

The three of us took off after her, calling out her name but she didn't stop moving

We found her outside leaning on the wall beside the door, crying

"Jess, baby! What happened?" Alex asked her as he went to touch her but she backed away

"What's wrong? What happened?" Monty asked as he took a small step forward making her shake her head as she slid down the wall until she was sitting down on the ground

"Jess, you're scaring us... What happened?" I gently questioned as I crunched down to her level

"Bryce... He... Grabbed me... And then touched-" Was all she could say before choking up in tears

'Bryce' and 'Touch' was all I needed to hear to make me get up and make my way back inside

I could hear Alex telling me to wait as Montgomery called out my name but I kept moving

I headed straight for the kitchen since that's where Jessica seemed to have ran out of

Fortunately for me, I found Bryce in the kitchen with a couple of his posy making himself a drink and chuckling like he hasn't done a single thing

I tapped on his shoulder making him turn around

The second he saw me, a smirk appeared on his face

"And to what do I owe this great plesu-" He went to say but I swung my hand right on his jaw, punching him straight in the face

"Touch my fucking best friend again and I swear I will kill you with my bare fucking hands" I spat at him as he looked at me in shock

I turned around only to be faced with Alex and Montgomery

I knew what was about to happen next so I quickly stepped aside

Alex threw me his car keys and I stepped out right as Monty shoved Bryce against the counter

I jogged all the way outside until I was, once again, with Jessica who was with Sheri in the exact same position I had left her

Ryan joined us and he handed a water bottle to Jess but she didn't take it so I grabbed it

I thanked them both before turning to my friend

"Come on Jess, I'm getting you out of here" I told her as I spoke gently and grabbed her hands

Jessica let me make her stand up

We both started slowly making our way through the back gate

Once we got to the driveway, I started walking down it looking for Alex's car

Luckily for the both of us, he had parked not too far down the street

I unlocked his car and opened the back door, helping Jessica inside of it

She let herself being helped in and didn't move more than what she needed to do

I leaned forward and put her seatbelt on before closing her door and walking around the car to go on the other side. I got myself settled in the car beside her and looked behind to see if Alex was coming.

I took a quick glance at Jessica as she slowly leaned her head on the window

I hesitated on whether or not I should speak but then I saw tears rolling down her cheeks and I decided it was best if I didn't say anything right now. I slowly brought my hand on top of hers and almost pulled back when I felt her stiffen but then she grabbed my hand tightly.

We sat in silence for what felt like hours until Alex suddenly opened his drivers door making us both jump

He got in the car and looked back at the two of us

I handed him his keys and he took them as his eyes drifted onto Jessica

She had her eyes closed but she shifted in her seat as she could feel his eyes on her

Her whole body turned towards the window the closer that she could get to it as her hand only grasped two of fingers now

Alex didn't say anything as he turned back around and started his car

The whole car ride was silent as Alex drove. He didn't announce where we were going but I knew that we were making our way to Jessica's house.

Once we had pulled into her empty driveway and Alex stopped the car, Jessica opened her eyes and looked around as Alex got out of the car. He opened her door and she shook her head.

"Can we have some time?" She asked him quietly

Alex looked at the two of us with soft eyes

"Of course, my love" He answered gently before shutting the door again

Jessica waited until she couldn't see him anymore before turning slightly towards me

She took a deep breath and I waited for her to say something

"This isn't the first time that Bryce has done something to me" She started and immediately I could feel my heart stopping and my breathing getting caught in my throat "I was-" She went to say but her voice cracked

I unbuckled my seatbelt and slid closer to her, fully grabbing her hand again

She took another deep breath as she squeezed my hand

"I was raped by him" Jessica said

My jaw dropped and I looked at her as tears formed in her eyes, feeling my own tears building

"It was the summer between freshman and junior year and everybody was going to this party that was supposedly going to be the biggest one of the summer, of course it was hosted by Bryce" She started "I was feeling good about myself, sure I transfered into Liberty during the second semester but I had made the cheer team, I had a new friend that was going through the same thing as me and well I had a thing with the one and only Justin Foley who everyone wanted but only I could truly have" She continued "It was my first big real party and I went really hard into drinking, I was trying to impress Justin, to impress the cheer squad, to impress myself and to prove myself to these cool kids" She went on "I, um, can't really remember exactly what happened afterwards even to this day a lot of it is cloudy and based on what others have told me" She finished as she took another shaky breath

I didn't take my eyes off of her since I wanted her to know that she had my full attention

"Justin brought me upstairs because I was completely smashed and I was throwing myself at him and then as he was laying me in bed while trying to figure what to do next, Bryce rushed through the door and then, um, Justin tried to keep him out but it didn't work. Justin got pushed out of the room but he came right back in. That's when Bryce shoved Justin out of the room and then locked the door, leaving him and a super drunk, half passed out me alone. I can remember feeling this sudden weight on me and it was making it hard for me to breath but every time I tried to take it off or move myself, I was being fought against. I remember this weight holding me down as someone pinned my arms above my head and I gave all I can to fight it off but nothing seemed to be working. That's when everything went black and I can't remember anything else. The next day, I woke up feeling so awfully sore with my head pounding like crazy. I found my underwear on the floor all torn up and my first thought was what the fuck happened and I tried so so so hard to remember but I couldn't figure out a single thing. All I could remember was Justin helping me up the stairs and so I put two and two together and thought that Justin and I hooked up. It would explain a lot of things and it was easier to make myself believe that we had hooked up while both being completely trashed then it was for me to question everything that didn't feel right" Jessica told me as she blinked away some tears

I brought my free hand up to me face and wiped away my own tears that were falling

"I got out of the house and tried calling Justin but he wasn't answering, as I was walking to my house Hannah called me and told me to meet her at Monet's in such a panic voice. I got to Monet's as fast as I could and I found her at our table, I sat down and her face is something that I will never be able to forget. She had such a pained, guilty, distraught look on her that made goosebumps appear on me. She began by telling me that her and Clay had went upstairs and started making out but then they both panicked and stopped. She said that Clay left and she stayed in the room for a bit recollecting herself until someone came barging in, she panicked, I guess, and went to the closet." Jess paused as my hand went up to my mouth in shock "She then proceeded to tell me that Justin and I walked in kissing but then I said I wasn't feeling good so he just laid me down on the bed before telling me that he was going downstairs to find someone to drive me home but before he could reach the door, Bryce walked in and saw me. Justin told him to leave and that I was asleep but Bryce pushed him out of the room and started walking towards me, Justin came back in the room and Bryce yelled at him before shoving him out. Hannah told me that she was there during all of it, she started to cry saying that she didn't know why she didn't do anything. She said she had froze and all she could do was close her eyes and wait for it to be over. When Bryce was finished, she said she quickly covered me up and left me" She continued "During all of the time she was talking, I was in denial. She must be jealous, I thought, or she must be saying this for some weird cry of attention. She was trying to hurt me because I was the one who got with Justin and not her. She was mad that I had hooked up with someone when her boy had panicked. A bunch of thoughts were racing through my mind and I didn't believe her one bit. I mean the smallest part of me that thought maybe she was telling the truth kept screaming at me, telling me that if what she's saying was true, why didn't she stop it? Our friendship had started to go a bit rock bottom when I started hanging out with Justin but still I saw her as a friend and as a friend how could you just sit there and watch someone get taken advantage of? I would help a complete stranger if it looked like something non-consensual would be happening and yet my friend was trying to tell me that she watched me get raped and still didn't do anything to help me afterwards" She went on

I looked at her in total disbelief as she took another shaky breath and I prepared myself for the next parts

"Only after waking up alone in Bryce's house to having Hannah tell me everything to having Justin complete ignore me, did I start thinking Justin and I were done because I was a bad hookup. It was the only thing that truly made sense to me. Everything from there went downhill. Oddly enough, I started hanging out with Bryce a lot. We skipped school to smoke a lot which resulted in my grades dropping in my classes and missing cheer practices. Every time I was with Bryce, I got these foggy flashbacks of me on a bed with a huge weight on me. I couldn't explain these flashbacks and I turned to alcohol on top of the smoking. It got really bad to the point where I needed to have at least half a bottle of something before going to bed. It helped me fall asleep because without it, I was getting flashbacks and they wouldn't go away" Jessica continued as she played with our fingers

It all made sense to me now why everyone wanted me to keep away from alcohol when I was upset.

"This one night I was with Bryce and all of the boys were over to play video games. Scott, Monty, Justin, Zach, two other boys from the team and Alex were all there. I remember it was the first time in weeks that I was in the same room as Justin since the party. He wasn't at school most of the time when I decided to show up and when he was there, he disappeared the second I went to look for him. I also remember thinking that it was strange that Alex was there, he wasn't on any teams and he didn't seem like the kind of guy to hang out with the rest of the boys. We had known each other a bit since he had transfered to Liberty halfway through the semester not long after me, and the guidance counselor at the time tried to force a friendship on us but it just never worked. Anyways, I was watching the boys play and was getting super bored so I decided to start messing around with Bryce. I got up and sat on his lap, it was nothing out of the ordinary since I was doing that almost every time we hung out. I remember all of the boys looking either shocked or having smug looks on their faces and then Justin rushed over to us and literally yanked me off of Bryce. I got pissed at him and reminded him that we weren't together and that he hasn't talked to me in weeks. Justin told me to stay away from Bryce and I taunted him asking why he cares so much and why I should listen to him. I knew what was coming and I just needed him to say it so I could finally let myself believe it. That's when Justin yelled and said 'You stay away from him because he fucking raped you Jessica! He raped you'. My heart sank and everything became a blur. That feeling I got where there was a huge weight on me came back stronger than ever. I ran out of that house as fast as I could, my phone in my hand as I was trying to call my dad. Nobody came out of that house except for Alex, he kept his distance but watched over me as I cried on the phone to my dad. He stayed close up until my dad came racing to pick me up. In the car, I told my dad everything. From the party, to what Hannah had told me to what Justin told me. He brought me to the police station right away and they couldn't do much, they couldn't do a rape kit since the rape had happened weeks ago but they did question me. I felt so useless in that room, I couldn't remember anything. But then another officer came into the room and said that there was a young boy who was willing to testify on my behalf. It was Justin. He told them everything. He told them about how when Bryce had firstly pushed him out of the room and when he had came back in, he saw Bryce with his... With his penis out and then that he got pushed out of the room a second time. He said that he stayed at the door banging and begging Bryce not do anything. He told them that he could hear Bryce's moans through the door and my muffled sounds. My case went to court and Bryce walked away with nothing except 3 months of probation. I was expecting it though because I had nothing and he had parents with so much money, they could probably fire the entire police force and judge and replace them with new ones all in the same day. Afterwards, I went to therapy. I stopped drinking exceptionally. It wasn't until I was going through of all this that I realized who my real friends were and that was nobody except for Alex. Nobody came to check up on me or ask me how I was doing except him. We didn't even know each other well and he came and saw me almost every single day. I pushed him away and away so many times but he stayed by my side through it all. It took me so long to finally let him in and when I did, I regret nothing because look where we are now. I grew a lot from experiencing what I did and when it was time for me to go to school again, I was ready but still so scared. I had a restraining order against Bryce and I wasn't afraid of him necessary but more of what he could do to other girls and what he told everyone about me. But Bryce stayed away. It wasn't until Alex and I made it official and that I decided I didn't need to renew the restraining order, halfway through our junior year, that he started to comment dumb shit on my Instagram and talking to me again. I knew it was his way of taunting me or making Alex angry but he didn't bother me at all. I wasn't going to show him any of my weaknesses because I was so much more stronger than I was the night he did what he did to me" Jess went on "For the longest time, it was just me and Alex but then you came along and I don't know how you did it but you brought together a group of people that barely talked and had so many grudges against one and other together. I had forgiven Hannah a long time ago when I was in therapy as well as Justin and all of the guys that were there that night but some people never change and in the long run you see that. Others prove themselves and make up for past mistakes. When you and I became close, it felt nice. I didn't have any girl friends at all, hell I didn't have any friends except for Alex. When Bryce started his shit with you, I wanted to tell you of all of this right away but then I saw how you handled him and his group. You didn't let them get to you and in a way you taught me your strong attitude and I became stronger than what I was beforehand" Jess continued "But tonight, when he touched me again for the first time in years and I froze like a complete idiot. I felt so weak and hopeless. I showed him all of that, I showed him that I still fear him and the look on his face said that he was glad. It's like he wanted to grab me again just to remind me of what he did. Instead of being strong and saying something like I would usually do, I ran and cried. I felt like the little girl I was when he raped me and I hate that I did that. I hate that I let him win again" She finished as tears rolled down her cheeks

I blinked away my tears and brought her in for a hug.

"Jessica, you are not weak or hopeless. In my eyes and in the eyes of many others, you are one of the strongest women out there and this is before I knew your whole story. Now that I know what you have been through, you are the strongest and bravest person I know. You are an inspiration to me. You didn't let him win. Not tonight or the night that it happened. It was out of your hands and you cannot blame yourself for it. You handled tonight in a way that nobody else could have done. You experienced so much and you are so wise. I love you" I whispered

Jessica let out a cry as she hugged me tighter

"I love you too" She said as she slowly pulled away from me

"Tears of a powerful warrior" I said as I wiped them away

Jess hugged me again

"Let's go inside" I gently said as she nodded

We got out of the car and walked inside her house where Alex was in the kitchen staring blankly at the floor, waiting for us

At the sound of us walking in, he walked up to us quickly

He reached for Jessica and she held his hand slightly

"I'm going to go shower" She told us and we both nodded

She slowly let go of Alex's hand and walked out of the room, making her way upstairs, leaving us alone