Choices

Part 5: Always Stand Your Ground

Chelsea awakens the next morning, somewhere around eleven in the morning. She is tired beyond belief after the night she had, but she can't let that faze her, because Kristine is getting married in a few hours. She decides not to do much with her hair. The curls from the night before last are still barely visible, giving her dark hair a nice, soft wave. She keeps her make-up simple as well. She gets dressed in her light pink bridesmaid sweats and jacket, trying to ignore the feeling of wearing a color she hates, and then grabs her keys. She is glad her dress is already at the church. It is supposed to be a rainy morning and she doesn't want the chance of ruining it.

She arrives at the church around one in the afternoon, exactly at the time Kristine instructed all bridal party to arrive. It means she has an hour to get ready, and two hours until pre-wedding pictures, though half of that is for the groom and his guys, and then the wedding shall start. She isn't nervous, but she is still a little peeved that her missing groomsman partner didn't arrive till last night. She hasn't even met him yet.

"Hey." Chelsea mumbles, not looking around as she enters the bridal area in the church. It is basically a collection of classrooms sectioned off for only the bridal party to use. Chelsea walks over to her dress on the rack, pulls it off and heads into another room to change. None of them say anything through their slight busyness, and she doesn't mind either. She is quick to change into the silver dress and when she emerges, she decides to face her friends. "I'm sorry if I am late, and I am sorry I left like I did last night. I had something I had to do."

"Must have been important." Kristine remarks. The amount of attitude within her tone is enough to tell Chelsea just how mad she is. She was in the middle of getting her hair done, and her make-up artist was just finishing up.

"Indeed it was." Chelsea replies back vaguely, matching Kristine's annoyance somehow in her sluggish state.

"Can't you tell us?" Katarina asks, coming to stand close to Chelsea, already dressed in her gown. It flatters her more than it does Chelsea, but neither seem to reveal it.

Chelsea glances between her friends, and sighs with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I suppose I can now that it is over, but this stays between us. There is still danger in this getting out." She walks over and sits down next Cheyenne in a free chair in front of a mirror, though she doesn't have much interest in seeing just how horrifying she looks in the mirror. "For the past few months I have been allowing child services to use the house as a safe house for children and teens coming from dangerous situations. I never know about a charge until it happens, and if I am unavailable, the child is taken straight to head-quarters. It is a pretty traumatic experience for them to go through, but I try to make the best of the situation." She glances at her friends, who are staring at her intently with shock. "Shortly after I began my teaching job at the school, one of my students witnessed something, and kept it to herself. She didn't tell anyone, but I could see she was bothered, and it was eating away at her. Finally I confronted her, and she told me everything. Her father is a serial killer. Last night they caught him in the act, with the help of my student, and they needed a place for her to stay, somewhere untraceable, so if the trial fell through, he wouldn't be able to find her. That is the cases I deal with. Justin calls me in on the ones he wants left under the radar. The girl was taken to another home this morning, I don't know where, but I know she is safe."

After a few silent minutes, Cheyenne speaks. "Well...you had us all worried. Even Bryce. He thought you were avoiding him."

Chelsea can't help but wonder why they can't leave him out of just one conversation. "I was actually." She admits calmly, refusing to lie. "But that wasn't why I left last night."