Storm Warning - TLOM Prequel

Chapter Four - The After Effect

Lark raced out of the room, anger and fear both ruling her head, and flew down the stairs in search for her brother. "Alex?!" She called as she whipped her head around anxiously. "Alex!" She spotted a boy that looked a little like him and headed towards him on the makeshift dance floor. As soon as she stepped onto it she wished she hadn't.

A guy came up behind her and started 'dancing' behind her, trying to grind on her, and pulling her back towards him. "No way big fella." Lark said below the music, pushing herself off him and out of his reach. She shuddered as more people touched her, and Lark felt more than one person slip their hands up her skirt. No way, José. Lark Weston was done with parties.

Scrambling to get out of the way of all the people, Lark risked a glance up towards the stairs. "Crap." She murmured as a familiar looking boy came down the stairs, looking around, the red mark obvious on his face even in the distorted room. The beers and whisky had started to hit her and Lark felt herself trip as she exited the room; she ran down the driveway as carefully as she could, but footsteps soon sounded behind her.

Lark ran faster, ignoring the catcalls of the boys hanging around outside the house, desperately running for home.

She was round the corner and nearly up the block when someone caught her.

"Let go!" She exclaimed, scared as hell after her adrenaline rush had passed. "No!"

"Lark!" Her brother's wyes met her own as she turned and Lark caught herself on a sob. This was Alex's friend, she didn't want a fall out. "What happened?"

"Some guy..." She murmured, looking down. "Some guy tried to feel me up, and kiss me and stuff."

Alex's jaw tensed and fluttered with anger. "D'you know who it was? Me and Brett can go find him and kick his ass!" Lark shook her head and her brother sighed, slinging his arm around her. "If you'd like, we can go home?"

Lark checked the time on her cell and frowned. "You go back. I'm ok." She shrugged, knowing her brother would like to carry on partying. "I'll walk home."

Alex cast her a doubtful glance and Lark sighed. "You haven't even been there an hour, go back and have fun." She reassured him and his face split into a grin.

"Thanks Lark!" Alex kissed her cheek, and jogged off into the night, completely unaware of the tears rolling down Lark's face.

The loneliness and cold of the night brought Lark to a shuddering stop, and she grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket to send a message. Her mom's contact came up with a reply not a minute later:

Mom: On my way, baby x 

Lark continued walking, shivering violently. She rubbed her arms and forced the memory of other people's hands on her skin out of her mind.

What on earth was she going to do about Brett?

He'd taken her first kiss; she'd had her first make out session with a guy she barely knew.

She'd been played. He was fooling around; he hadn't really wanted to kiss her. Lark had just been played like a game, and she wasn't liking the feeling. Anger was sweeping through her veins as she saw the silver car cruising towards her, and Lark thanked her lucky stars she hadn't decided to march back and slap Brett Anderson again. She'd gotten herself so wound up that she practically threw herself in the car and slammed the door behind her.

"What happened?" Marie Weston asked gently, as she ignored the small temper tantrum and began to circle back around the block towards their little row house.

"Nothing." Lark deadpanned, still furious about what had happened between her and the football player jerk.

"Don't lie to me." Marie rarely raised her voice, but she had a certain tone that told both her kids and her husband that she was not going to be lied to or messed around. She was using that tone right then, and Lark sighed as she realised she needed to talk about it. It was gnawing at her.

"This guy from school... Alex's friend." Lark stumbled over her words and took a deep breath. "He kissed me but I wasn't sure if I wanted to kiss him, and then he said something, I can't remember exactly what, but it made it sound like he did it for a joke." The little redhead was twisting her hands together now, and she saw Marie cast her a sideways glance.

"And what did you do?"

"I slapped him." Lark winced as she recalled the incident, and grimaced when she forced herself to continue. "Then um... ran off."

Laughter rang through the car, and Lark looked in disbelief at her mom. "What?!"

Marie continued to laugh until they turned the next corner, and her laughter had simmered to a chuckle by the time she said, "You hit him then ran off?"

Lark raised an eyebrow as her mom snorted with laughter. "Umm... yes?"

"I'm sorry, baby," Marie smirked, "It's just... you're five foot two! And you slapped, I'm assuming, a six foot football player?" At Lark's nod, Marie sniggered again like a mischievous kid. "That's such a funny picture in my head, I'm sorry."

She wasn't so sorry as to stop laughing, and Lark began to picture it herself. It must have looked pretty comical, actually, for a third party. Despite her anger towards Brett and her growing feeling of humiliation, Lark began to chuckle as well. "Ok, ok, it might be a little funny, but what do I do now?"

"You don't have to do anything." Marie smiled at her as they pulled up into the driveway. "It's his place to do something, and you just need to ignore whatever people might say."

Lark was grateful her mom didn't tell her father that night. He would have made it awkward for her, asking questions and Lark didn't want that. She didn't have the answers.

One answer Lark did want, however, was who the mysterious boy was who'd pulled Brett off of her in the kitchen. The other kids she'd seen at least once at school. Not that guy. He'd been someone she'd never seen before.

Maybe he could have been someone from the next town. Lark could have sworn she'd seen him going upstairs with a pretty girl later on. Maybe he was someone new?

Lark sighed as she pulled herself up the stairs that night. The house was quiet, seemingly empty. Marie was closing the door and turning off the hallway light below her as Lark slipped quietly into the dark bathroom and locked the door behind her. The brightness of the bathroom light nearly blinded her as she turned it on, and Lark took a second to let her eyes adjust. Her hair, when she looked in the black framed mirror, was a mess, and her eyes had shadows beneath them. "Just great." She muttered, and sighed. It was going to take ages to comb her hair out.

Then again, she had a whole weekend before she had to face the world again.

And boy, was it a long one. Lark spent the night tossing and turning, fretting about Monday morning. Brett would kill her. She was certain he wouldn't let her get away with slapping his handsome face.

Lark was also certain she'd have to stop thinking about him like that.

When sleep finally came at four am the next morning, Lark greeted it gratefully. It had taken a lot out of her, and she'd been hurt by Brett's actions. The only thing to do was sleep.

XXXX

A knock on her door woke her. Lark groaned loudly as her bedroom door opened and someone stepped inside.

"Morning Lark." Alex's voice chuckled. Lark didn't open her eyes. "Too much to drink?"

Lark rolled over and shot him a glare, pulling back the covers so she could see him. He looked tired, but still cheerful and mischievous, just like he always did. Alex's normally combed hair looked dishevelled, but Lark knew if he shook his head it would fall into place quite easily. Lark, with her messy mop of frizzy red hair, had always been jealous.

"Go away." The fifteen year old groaned at her brother again and pulled the cover over her head. "I don't want to see anyone."

"What happened last night?" He asked, ignoring her earlier comment, and Lark felt the bed dip as Alex slumped down on the bed. The comforter was yanked away from her face and Lark winced as she tried to struggle for the comfort of her blanket.

"Alex!" She yelled, giving up and collapsing on the mattress. "Go away!" Repeating her words had no effect on her brother, who smacked her upside the head, and said something that made her ears prick up.

"Want to watch Big Bang Theory?"

"Hell yes."