Crash ~Justin Bieber~

Chapter 9 ~ To Live By Your Mistakes

(Rachel's POV)

They were good.

Nobody could deny it. They were humorous, different and fun. I don't know why I was shocked. Justin and Randy had always performed well together. They had this natural charm, and while Justin was the loved and Randy was the hated, together they were interesting.

The judges seemed to think the same thing, and a lot of their praise was directed at Justin and Randy both. Everything went seamlessly. They had won this thing before the last judge was even done. And I knew it, I could see it in their faces, they were friends again. The fire had fixed everything that had already been done, and I felt sick.

~*~

I always wondered how Justin and his friends got away with so much, but when the first show ended I saw just how many connections they had throughout the hotel. Justin and Rob found me immediately. They took me to the restaurant and asked if it could stay open just for us. The manager said yes.

Rob called his uncle who was a doctor just like my dad, and Justin called the hotels security guards, who were his friends, his protectors, and the guys who were going to make the library incident disappear. When they were done, it was like nothing had ever happened.

My wrist wasn't broken. Rob's Uncle Frank said that it was just badly sprained. He gave me a prescription for some pain medication, and Rob took it to a twenty-four hour chemist to collect it for me. I didn't want him to go.

I didn't want to be left alone with Justin. He was acting differently already, and it was making me mad. For weeks he had made me the hunted, going after Randy with the rest of them. And now, he was just deciding to be nice, pretending that I didn't have a reason to hate him, and that our past was just as clean as that library.

"Where's Randy?" I asked.

"He will be here soon"

Justin pulled up a chair and sat next to me. He did his best to ignore the hateful looks I was throwing him. Justin knew I was annoyed, but for now, he was going to keep playing nice.

"I can't believe Randy helped me" he said. "I can't believe that all just happened. I'm in shock"

"So am I,"

"He's really changed"

"And he's really stupid"

"He really - wants things to go back,"

"Like I said, he's really stupid,"

Justin finally looked at me, "You're not happy?"

"Course I'm not. You're friends again aren't you?"

"Yes"

"Then I'm furious"

Justin rolled his eyes, "Because I'm such a jerk"

"You are a jerk!"

"I know - I'm a complete dick. I mean why wouldn't you hate me? I've done so many things wrong to you!"

"You have!"

"I haven't!"

"Randy and I have been going through hell all week and you never once helped us!"

"You have no idea what you're talking about"

"I know that Randy has been punched, pushed, laughed at, embarrassed and - "

"Rachel," he stopped me, "You don't even know the half of it, so shut up!"

The shut up made me pause. "Then explain it to me!" I demanded.