Chapter Thirteen

Instead of hurting Kyler himself, Kane went to the police. Which, in turn, brought the police to my house, early the next morning.

   "Marley Jay!" my dad yelled, outside my bedroom door. "Get up!"

   His voice sounded urgent so I didn't mess around. I jumped up, threw on some clothes and headed downstairs. I hadn't slept much that night, worrying about what Kane was doing. When I finally fell asleep, I'd had another nightmare about Kyler. Now, I felt groggy and when I saw two police officers standing in the doorway, my heart started racing. The woman officer smiled faintly at me.

   "Hi, Marley. We just want to ask you a few questions," she said.

   I pulled at the bottom of my shirt. I think I nodded. My dad stood back; I felt his eyes on me. I was surprised he didn't demand to know what was going on.

   The male officer said, "Do you want to step outside?"

   I nodded again.

   "Marley, we got a report last night, that you were assaulted. Last weekend?" the man went on. I was so glad my parents were inside the house.

   "At the carnival," I said plainly.

   "Why didn't you report it then?"

   "I... I was..."

   The woman touched my shoulder. "It's okay. The report says a Mr. Kyler King attempted to sexually assault you in the evening of October eighth."

   "Yes."

   "Did anyone witness it?" The male cop asked, standing back a bit.

   "Uh, no. I mean, we were behind the..." I couldn't finished, as tears filled my eyes. I took a breath. "He put his hand down my jeans. I had to kick him to get away."

   He was writing something down on a pad of paper. I was looking at my feet.

   "Did you know Mr. King prior to October eighth?" the woman asked.

   "Well, yeah. We go to the same high school. I mean, we were kissing, but then when he tried to... I said no, and he wouldn't stop..."

   The cop was still writing, the other one gave my arm a light squeeze.

   "Okay, Marley, it's okay."

   Now I was full blown crying. My head was spinning. What would happen now? My parents would know. Everyone at school. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't stand. And suddenly my Mom was outside, holding me, crying with me. And the cops were talking to my Dad. And my world was exploding, all at once.

   I stayed in bed the rest of the day, with headphones in my ears, listening to music that sometimes calmed me down. It didn't work. No one came in. I had my phone turned off. My mom knocked on the door after dinner, wanting me to eat the sandwich she had brought up. I couldn't even look at her, but I took it anyway. When I turned my phone on, late that evening, a bunch of missed texts and calls came flooding in.

   A few from Kaylee, one from Georgia - who still didn't know what had happened. A missed call from Kane, and then a text from him as well. I ignored them all.

   My dad tried to cancel Sunday dinner the next day, wanting to keep this from ruining my life. He hugged me at breakfast, and told me Bruce and Carla would understand. They had literally never canceled a Sunday dinner.

   "No," I said, "Don't. I'd rather you guys just do dinner. Keep it the same, for Andy."

   "This is about you," my mom added.

   I bit into my bagel, then took a breath, "I'm okay."

   "You're not okay. And you're not going to school until that kid is -" my dad tried.

   "Daniel," my mom cut him off, shooting him a look. Andy just looked confused.

   "Don't cancel dinner," I said again.

   I pulled out my phone to check it, and Kaylee had texted again.

   Hey, let me know you're okay.

   I am okay, I quickly sent back.

   Then I saw that Kane had texted again. And there was a text from Mandee. I opened it the second one, but was nervous to read it.

   Uh, what happened at the carnival? Gibson said that Kyler had cops at his house last night.

   I dropped my phone onto the table. Everyone looked at me. "I am not going to school tomorrow," I said, then added, "Everyone knows."

   Kane came in with his dad and Carla, which didn't surprise me. My dad didn't seem to want to take his eyes off of me, and to top it off, it seemed like he was upset with Kane. As far as I knew, Bruce and Carla did not know what had happened, but by the time we were done eating dinner, it was obviously that what had happened to me was common knowledge. My mom sent Andy to play a video game, so I knew something was going to happen. She had been trying to talk about literally anything else, but Carla was looking at me, devastated, and all of a sudden my dad couldn't take it anymore.

   "Why weren't you there?" he asked Kane, putting down his napkin.

   "Daniel," my mom tried to hush him.

   Kane just looked broken. I'd never seen him with such a hurt look on his face. He hadn't spoken a word to me yet.

   "Don't put this on Kane," Bruce spoke up. "You've put enough on him, Dan."

   But my dad was furious that this had happened to his little girl, and he had to blame someone. "I just trusted you would be watching out for her," he said, staring at Kane.

   He looked at me quickly, then back to my dad. "I tried! I went to all of the parties. I told the guys to back off of her. I tried!" Now he was crying, and I lost it. I'd never seen him cry, in all the years and all the memories I had with him, except the one time he flew off his bike, going down a hill too fast. He was eight.

   But this was not physical pain like that had been. This was pure emotion. And Kane was hurting.

   None of our parents said anything, so I just stood up and ran to my room. Someone followed me up, and slowly came into my room behind me. When I looked up, it was my dad. I didn't want to see him.

   I screamed, before he could say anything. "This is not Kane's fault. I sure hope you apologized. This is my fault. I should have listened -"

   But my dad was hugging me, hard, crying with me. "Marley, what happened is not your fault. Please, honey. I'm sorry."

   And I just let him hold me, because I really needed it.

   I didn't go to school for two days. Both of the days, Kaylee and Georgia came over right after school. On Monday, they just sat with me, in my room, not talking much or asking any questions. Tuesday, they brought me math and science homework and told me Kyler hadn't been at school that day.

   "No one really knows anything," Kaylee reassured me. "I think Gibson and Mandee know, but they sure aren't talking about it. And I could tell they were freaked out that Kyler was MIA today."

   I sighed. "I don't know when I should go back to school."

   "Mr. Cole came to find me today, to ask me to bring you your homework. He said he'd like to meet with you," Kaylee went on. Mr. Cole was our school councillor.

   "My mom went to talk to him. And the principal," I told them. "Fuck. How did this happen?"

   Georgia was quiet. Kaylee had had to fill her in on what had happened to me, at the carnival. She hadn't really reacted; I think she was probably just in shock.

   "Kane hasn't been to school either," Kaylee said, running her fingers threw her short hair.

   "Really?" I asked. I hadn't been expecting that.

   "Well, I haven't seen him."

   "My dad yelled at him. Can you believe that?" I told my friends, shaking my head.

   "Your dad is just upset," Georgia finally said.

   "Yeah. But Kane... he already feels bad enough."

   "I'm surprised Kane didn't beat the crap out of Kyler already," Kaylee said, but was completely serious.

   "I'm not sure that he didn't," I answered.

   Kane's phone went right to voicemail when I called him that evening.

   I agreed to go to school the next day, but only after my mom made sure that Kyler would not be there. Mr. Cole had told her he was suspended for a week, and being "dealt" with. It sounds like so much drama. So much for trying to avoid that.

   Surprisingly, no one was whispering in the halls about me. I felt okay, knowing Kyler was not there. I really hoped to not run into Mandee and Gibson, though. My first two periods were fine, uneventful. The teachers apparently thought I'd been at home sick. I handed in my homework and all was well.

   Lunch started off okay, but I should have seen it coming.

   "Uh, Mandee and Gibson at three o'clock," Kaylee said, turning her back to me.

   I wanted to run, but they were too close.

   "Hey," Mandee said to me, narrowing her eyes. "Can we sit for a minute?"

   I took a deep breath, then nodded. Gibson sat to my left, and Mandee slid in beside Georgia.

   "It's true, isn't it?" Mandee went on, lowering her voice. "I just didn't believe it when -"

   "Yes it is, okay? What do you guys want?" I interrupted.

   Gibson put his hands on the table. "We wanted to see how you were doing?"

   "I... I'm fine. Really."

   "I was there, when the cops came to talk to him. He denied it, he called you crazy. But I could just tell he was lying," Gibson told me.

   "Oh, God," I said, covering my face.

   "He didn't have an alibi or proof that he wasn't with you... so they charged him, took him in to the station. But his parents bailed him out Sunday. And he came to school on Monday, acting like..." he stopped, not even able to finish. "I can't fucking believe him."

  "Then the principal and the councilor heard about it, so he got suspended," Mandee went on.

   My heart felt like it would fly out of my chest, it was beating so fast. I knew it was good that Kyler was suspended, but I was still nervous. Nothing was certain, except that I was still scared of Kyler.

   "Has Kane been here?" I asked them, figuring they would know for sure.

   Mandee and Gibson looked at each other, obviously unsure how to answer.

   "He was here on Monday. There was an... altercation."

   "What do you mean?" I asked.

   "Kane got sent home. We haven't heard from him," Gibson finished.

   I hung my head, "Fuck."

   The bell rang, ending lunch.

   "Hey, don't worry. We haven't told anyone," Mandee said to me, touching my arm. She seemed genuine, so I nodded, then watched them get up from the table and walk away, holding hands.

   I tried calling Kane again right after school, but it rang and rang and he didn't answer. Finally it went to voicemail, but I decide not to leave a message.  

   Walking across the field with Kaylee, to her car, someone called my name. Stupidly, I turned around.

   "You bitch." It was Stephanie, Kyler's sister, coming up behind us.

   She had just sat through sixty minutes of Calculus in the same classroom as me, and didn't say a word. She hadn't even looked at me. I had almost forgotten she was even in the class. Now she wanted to start a fight.

   "Back off," Kaylee said to her, stepping in front of me.

   "My brother is off the football team again, and now he has a permanent record, because of you," she continued, coming closer.

   I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

   "Walk away," Kaylee yelled at her.

   "You don't have anything to say?" Stephanie went on, looking right at me.

   "He was going to rape me," I said, since she was close now. "I told him no, I told him to stop, and he didn't. I know he's your brother, but..."

   Stephanie seemed shocked that I'd actually used the word rape, like maybe she hadn't even thought about it that way before. I was sure she was going to scream at me again, or call me a liar, but she just stood there for another few seconds. And then she turned and walked away.