Opening Up

Chapter 5

One Month Later...

I wake up from the nightmare, which has been happening more often since school started back up. I wanted nothing more than to move past all Danny had put me through. Things always got more complicated before they got easier.

Agent Ryan is keeping her word. She's doing everything she can to ensure that Danny pays for what he has done. I met with her and one of the other girls involved with Danny. However, she wasn't as lucky as me. She has a child with him. I am grateful to God that he didn't add that to my life.

As I get ready for school, I can't shake my dream. It was the first time Danny had forced me to do any of those acts with him. I need help getting ready for my meeting with Agent Ryan. Deep down, I know that this is for the best.

There's a knock at my door, and I jump. "Who is it?"

"It's Vicky; could I come in quick?" She says from the other side of the door. Her voice was quieter than usual, and I am sure that was because she was trying to talk through the door. She usually isn't this quiet.

"Yeah," I said, moving from my bed to my closet and grabbing a shirt; I wasn't sure what I wanted to wear today. "What's going on?"

"I think..." she trailed off for a moment, and my heart raced.

She loves wearing dresses, and it is oddly warm for this time of year. She is wearing her baby blue knee-length dress; I'm not sure why she loves wearing blue so much, but she always buys clothing in that color. Her emerald green eyes shine brightly today, and they make me feel more at ease with having to meet someone else who dated Danny.

"I think I like someone, and it's not just like, oh, I like you, but it might be more than that."

"What do you mean, Vick?" I ask as I pull a few other shirts out and lay them on my bed so we can look at them. "Help me find a shirt to wear today while we talk."

"Okay." She takes a deep breath and looks at my three shirts on the bed. "This purple will look nice," she said, holding it out to me. She is always the one I'd go to for help, knowing what to wear to anything. She loves designing clothing, and she helps my mother with her business once in a while. "I mean, I think I like someone in our class."

"Wait, what?" I ask and stop what I'm doing. She never had time for boys and didn't want to waste her time on them. "You like a guy in our grade? This can't be happening?"

"Oh, it is, I'd love to go to homecoming with him, but I'm afraid to ask him." She drops her gaze for a moment and smiles. "I don't know how to ask him, and I can't ask Dean to help me."

"Why can't you ask him to help you? He's your brother; he'd do anything for you. Stop hiding you like someone; look at Dean and me. Danny and I would have never dated if we had just told each other sooner than we did."

"I know, but come on, he's my brother, and it's so hard to talk to him about this stuff. Besides, you have a few classes with this guy." she smiles, and I have an idea before she says anything else. "I just wish I knew how to tell him; I want so badly to know how he feels about me."

"Then ask him," I said as I walked to my closet and changed into the shirt she had picked. "Is it Peter?" Her face turned red, and I couldn't help but smile. Of all the people for her to like, it had to be Peter. "Peter Carter." I couldn't help but laugh.

"How can I just be like, hey, let's go to homecoming together," she laughs with me. Peter isn't much taller than us girls, and his golden-brown hair makes his honey-brown eyes stand out.

"When I get to school today or tomorrow, would you like me to ask him for you?"

"Please, I feel like a child when I think about him and hate it. I want nothing more than to know how he feels, but maybe we should start with homecoming first. Speaking about homecoming, am I making your dress this year again?" She loves making my dresses, and I didn't mind it.