A/N: Trigger warning: There are scenes of violence and bullying in this chapter.

Candice had never been more excited for the weekend. Using the laptop she'd been given the year before as a Christmas gift, she spent her Saturday morning outlining a persuasive paper she'd been assigned in her American Literature class and felt like herself for the first time since the morning of the thunderstorm. Her paper wasn't due for another month, they'd just been given the information Friday, but she'd finished all her other homework in detention the day before and saw no reason to delay at least completing an outline for each of her three potential topics. It was always best to have three options, on the chance that for some reason you couldn't do your first choice. She believed in being prepared.

"You're such a freak."

Freezing mid-stroke, Candice turned to return her sister Eleanor's glare. "It's rude to enter someone's room without knocking."

Eleanor rolled her eyes in response and strolled in, flopping down gracelessly onto Candice's perfectly made bed. "Yeah well, I leave the manners and good intentions to you."

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"I'm going to the mall. You're coming with me."

"No thank you." Satisfied that the conversation and her sisterly duties were over, Candice turned back to the computer screen in front of her and sunk back into her outlines.

"You don't have a choice," Eleanor replied with a hint of irritation. "Mom says I can't go if you don't go, so you're coming with me. Call one of your friends and tell them to meet you there."

"I'm busy with homework."

"You and I both know whatever you're doing right now probably isn't due for another week."

The fact that that was true grated, but Candice turned her attention back to her sister. "I hate the mall."

"I don't care." Raising herself up on her elbows, Eleanor studied Candice with a frown. "You look better without the glasses, but you need to get some new clothes. Maybe a haircut. You'll have plenty of time to do all of that while Troy and I go see a movie."

"As of Monday, you'd broken up with Troy," Candice shot back. "Why do I need to be dragged into this over someone you swore just five days ago you never wanted to speak to again?"

"Have your first kiss and then I'll think about asking you for dating advice." Deciding the matter was settled, she hopped back up off the bed and made her way to the door. "We're leaving in fifteen minutes. Get ready or I'm dragging you out as-is."

Grateful that her sister hadn't been looking at her long enough to notice the sudden reddening of her face, Candice snapped her laptop closed and stood up. She'd just bring her laptop and work in the food court while her sister went on her date. This was just another example of how pointless an argument would be. With any luck, the movie would be a short one and they'd be back by two.

Candice stared at the clock hanging precariously between KFC and Magic Wok and allowed herself to imagine just exactly how her sister would disappear. It was three thirty, they'd been at the mall since eleven that morning, and while Candice had thought to bring her laptop charger, none of the available tables had been even remotely close to an outlet, so her computer was dead and her patience was nonexistent. Picking aimlessly at her salad, she weighed her options. If she stayed there, her sister would at least know where she was, but Eleanor wouldn't feel even a little bit obligated to check in until she was ready to go. If she wandered around, she'd be toting around her computer bag, and her sister may very well just leave her stranded at the mall.

Well, at the very least, she could go to the bathroom. Picking up her bag, Candice tossed her salad into the nearest trash and made her way to the restrooms near the movie theater. With any luck, she'd spot Eleanor and they could be on their way. Of course, she was smart enough to know not to hold her breath on that note.

The mall was packed, which she imagined was typical for a Saturday afternoon, not that it mattered to her one way or the other since she was hardly worth noticing anyway. Aside from the occasional shoulder bump and distracted apology, no one paid her the slightest bit of attention. She couldn't even put into words the amount of relief she felt at the return of her anonymity. It was just better for everyone for her to maintain her quiet, homework-centered life.

As she made her way through the mall, she heard the distinct voice of Seraphina as she and her friends stepped out of one of the more high-end shops. Candice felt the color drain from her face and she stared hard at the ground as she hurried past, praying that they hadn't noticed her. She made it into the bathroom without any incident and let out a relieved breath before stepping into a stall. When she came out and moved to the sink, the restroom door opened and Seraphina stepped in, trailed closely by her two friends, Missy Johnson and Kendall Daws. One look at the malicious glint in Seraphina's eyes had Candice's heart in her throat. She didn't stand a chance.

"Told you I saw her," Kendall said smugly, tossing her fried and bleached blonde hair back over her shoulder.

"What are you going to do without your boy toys to fight your battles for you, Crista?"

"This is all a misunderstanding," Candice said softly, pulling the strap to her bag tighter to her chest. "I've tried to explain to you what happened, but−"

"First you stole my boyfriend, and then you put your hands all over Coop," Seraphina snapped, cutting her off with a sneer. "I don't know what kind of tricks you managed to pull to persuade either of them to leave me for you, but I can promise to make you regret it."

Candice's gaze jumped from one girl to the next, trying to determine the likelihood of being able to walk past them without incident. She had a strong suspicion her chances were slim to none. "I apologize for the misunderstanding, but my sister's waiting for me." She hadn't taken one step before she felt the sting of a backhand on her right cheek and fell back a step instead, blinking in surprise.

"You shouldn't take what isn't yours," Seraphina said coolly before giving her two friends pointed looks. Before Candice had even decided how best to react, she had a girl on either side, gripping her elbows and dragging her to a stall.

She heard Seraphina slide the lock to the main door in place and finally found her voice, letting loose a shriek she felt would've put even the most senior banshee to shame. She kicked out desperately and tried to wrench away as they entered the stall, cursing the fact that the restrooms were so far back down an otherwise deserted hallway. Who would even hear her?

"It's not like your hair is good enough to ruin anyway, but we think you could do with a nice, cool facial cleansing. Don't we, girls?"

Candice struggled, but it was three against one, and she'd never been exactly athletic. Still, as they forced her face down into the (blessedly clean) toilet bowl, she managed to kick out and connect with one of their shins, which was rewarded with a hard kick to the ribs. "Stop struggling," one of them snapped. "It'll be over in a minute." But she didn't. Even as her face became submerged, she struggled and kicked, earning a few sharp heels on both sides. She came up gasping, and just as she sucked in the air to scream again, her face was submerged. It went on for what felt like forever. In and out until her entire body hurt from fighting and her lungs burned with the need for oxygen. At one point, Seraphina's stiletto was pressing down punishingly between her shoulder blades to keep her more under control.

When, finally, her arms went limp, too weak from fighting to continue and she felt as though they'd end up killing her, intentional or not, with their warped version of waterboarding, they let her go and she dropped hard on her knees, her arms shaking with the effort to hold herself up.

"Don't touch what's not yours," Seraphina said with one last hard kick to the ribs before, snickering, the three of them strolled back out of the bathroom, leaving Candice curled up helplessly on the floor.

She wasn't going to wait for her sister. They lived a good ten miles away, and she'd left her cell phone at home, but she couldn't wait. She'd wrung her hair out as much as possible in the bathroom sink, ignoring the hot tears running down her face as she let it drop limply down, wishing she'd thought to bring a hair tie. But of course, how could anyone have planned for this? There were spots of blood seeping just a little through her shirt, not enough that she worried it might cause concern were anyone to even notice her walking past, but the shirt was ruined.

Candice straightened out her clothes as she stared numbly in the mirror. When her gaze moved up to her face and noted the bruises forming on her right cheek from when she'd been backhanded and in a few other places from where she'd been slammed repeatedly into the porcelain rim of the toilet, she choked back the tears and thought she should consider herself lucky that at least she hadn't had her glasses this time.

Once she'd cleaned herself up in whatever way she could and once she felt her legs wouldn't simply collapse at the effort, she stepped out of the restroom with her computer bag across her body. No one noticed her as she came out of the empty hall and stepped back out onto the main stretch of the mall. She didn't care. She felt distantly annoyed at the strain she felt from the simple task of carrying her bag and walking.

It hurt to breathe. Her ribs were sore and she had a slight limp, favoring her right leg, though she didn't remember anyone focusing on her legs in their onslaught. God, she just wanted to be home. When had this world gone crazy? When had everyone lost their damn minds? She was utterly harmless without a mean bone in her body, and yet they'd treated her worse than a criminal.

She was so lost in her dazed thoughts that she didn't hear it when her name was called, and she didn't hear the approaching footsteps as they came towards her. She jerked roughly at the hand on her shoulder and raised a hand as if to hide her face. Her sister's matching brown eyes stared back at her, brows furrowed in shock and confusion. "What happened to you?"

Candice lowered her arm with a small sense of relief. "Can you take me home?"

***

Eleanor took in her sister's appearance and felt an unfamiliar heat begin to bubble up from within. Candice's hair clung limply to her bruised face and there was a dim, almost lifeless, look in her eyes. She held her bag's strap like a lifeline with both hands, hands that had just been raised protectively as she'd flinched away from Eleanor's touch in fear.

"Ellie, were we going to go grab a bite?"

She barely even acknowledged Troy as he came up behind her, touching her arm to gain her attention. Not bothering to respond, she reached forward, snatching her sister's bag out of her grasp and slinging it carelessly over her own shoulder. "Come on."

Relief had never been an emotion Candice had ever presented when faced with her sister, so the sag of her shoulders and gratefulness shining in her otherwise dead eyes, pulled at Eleanor like nothing she could ever remember experiencing. She wrapped an arm around Candice's torso, loosening it a bit at the pained hiss that escaped her sister's lips.

The boy was forgotten as the sisters moved through the crowd. Candice didn't speak or offer any sort of explanation for her appearance, and Eleanor didn't ask. She offered up an icy glare towards anyone who so much as blinked at her sister, feeling vehemently protective in a way that seemed to come across to most of the other shoppers who offered the two of them a wide berth.

Eleanor tossed Candice's bag into the backseat of her car and helped her sister gently into her seat, clicking the seatbelt into place when it became apparent that Candice had retreated into herself. Closing the door, she moved around the car towards the driver's side, her gaze moving over the rest of the parking lot as if she may find the culprit holding up a sign announcing their presence. She'd find them, she promised her sister silently. She'd find them and she'd make sure there was nothing in their life they regretted more than what they'd done today.

***

Candice didn't remember the drive home. She didn't believe her sister tried to speak or question what had happened, but if she was being honest, Candice wouldn't have answered her anyway. When they'd pulled into the drive, she murmured a barely audible thanks and got out, making her way to their front door without a backward glance. Somewhere in the fog of her mind, she heard the slamming of her sister's car door, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to think about what Eleanor might be thinking.

She'd barely made it inside before Eleanor was herding her towards her room, opening the door and tossing Candice's bag carelessly onto the desk chair before pushing Candice down onto the edge of the bed and rummaging through the dresser.

Candice felt like she was watching her sister through a television screen. Numbly, she watched as Eleanor pulled out clean clothes, draping them over her arm, her mouth pressed into a thin line. It was funny; she couldn't remember Eleanor ever having nothing to say. Clothes in hand, she turned back towards Candice, gripping her upper arm and lifting her back up to stand. It was firm and meticulous; it didn't feel like pity or even empathy. It was nice.

"You need to take a shower," Eleanor said by way of explanation as Candice found herself herded once again.

The toilet was the first thing her gaze landed on as she was pushed over the threshold, and she felt her entire body tense as her mind flashed to an hour before. Eleanor's hand pressing firmly on her back brought her back to the present and she moved to the shower. After her sister had set the clothes on the bathroom counter, Candice expected her to leave but was surprised when Eleanor moved towards her instead. "I don't need help taking a shower."

"Just shut up and lift your arms," Eleanor snapped back, pulling at the hem of Candice's shirt. Candice struggled not to flinch in pain at the motion, but she heard the sharp intake of breath from her sister as she took in the damage.

Feeling a sudden rush of embarrassment, she tried to pull away. "I've got it."

"Don't be stupid," her sister replied, her voice tinged with irritation. She pulled off Candice's shirt a bit more gently than she'd initially started to, but didn't demand answers. Swallowing the burn of embarrassment and shame, Candice let herself be helped. Even as she stepped in under the spray, her sister remained. Though they'd never been close, neither chose to remark on the abnormality of the situation.

The heated stream started to wash away what was left of her numbness, and for the first time in her life, Candice felt a burning sense of self-righteous anger. How dare they. How dare they do this to her! The pain, the humiliation, the fear, and for what? Some boy they didn't even really care for? One missed bus and her entire life changed.

            She went through the motions of washing away the filth slowly. Carefully. The anger was all-consuming; she felt as though it were swallowing her whole. It burned with a terrifying fury. The water stopped and she was being wrapped in a towel, pulled out from behind the curtain and into her sister's arms. It wasn't until she heard the echoes of the sobs off the bathroom walls that she realized she was crying.