Untold Secrets

Chapter One

This fic is going to be AU. The characters are the same, the plot is different. I'm going to go ahead and post the first three chapters all at once just so you can get a feel of where this story is headed. Let me know what you think :)

Norma's life had never been easy. From the day she was born into a family that didn't want her, she had struggled. Her mother was hardly ever aware of her surroundings and her father had been collecting disability money for an injury that was long gone. He spent most of his time drinking and physically abusing Norma and her mother.
The only person she had by her side throughout her childhood aside from her brother was Alex Romero. They grew up next door to each other and had been there for each other. Alex went through similar situations as Norma. The only difference was, he didn't get raped by his own sibling.
Before anything had happened between Norma and Caleb, they had been best friends. He was her soul mate, her protector, her big brother. They had hours upon hours of conversation. He patiently listens to her, gave his inputs, and even cried to her once.
But none of that mattered that night. He was seventeen and she had just turned ten when he kissed her even though he knew that would mark the beginning of their end.
Even though he knew it would be the beginning of the end of her childhood.
Even though he knew that would be the her experience leading up to loss of innocence and growing up. Even though he himself hated being a grown up.
In that moment, she wasn't his best friend, she wasn't his baby sister whom he had cried to or who had cried to him.
She was just a pair of lips that wouldn't say no.
She felt like a prisoner. Like she had been kidnapped in her own home.
He ruined her, defeated her, claimed dominance over her, and humiliated her. Every time she looked at her own body, she didn't see a beautiful, young body like everyone else saw when they looked at her. No. She saw a wound. She saw a constant reminder of what she wasn't strong enough to control.
"Where are you?" Alex asks, looking back at her. She looks up into his dark eyes, from her spot in the grass before quickly handing him the flat stone in her hand.
"Nowhere." she lies, watching him turn back to the lake and throw the rock across the water, skipping twice before sinking.
"You're quiet." he points out while she grabs another rock and hands it to him.
"Sometimes I don't have a lot to say." she lies again, brushing her hair away from her face. He glances back at her with a knowing look.
"You always have something to say, Norma Calhoun." he says with a smirk. She smiles softly but doesn't reply. Alex had a very round face, still carrying the baby fat in his cheeks. The rest of his body was skinny as can be, no meat nor muscle. But her favorite part of him was his brown eyes that were just barely covered by his dark, shaggy hair.
"You ever think about cutting your hair?" she asks. He looks back at her and automatically reaches up to touch his rather long hair.
"Why?" he asks.
"Just curious, square." she says with a shrug.
"You ever think about cutting your hair?" he asks, grabbing a rock from the ground and skipping it three times.
"Yeah, sure." she says, making him look back with surprise.
"Hell, maybe I'll die it blonde." she says jokingly.
"Norma Calhoun as a blonde. That'd be something." he says with a laugh.
"Have you talked to Bob or Keith recently?" Norma asks. Alex tenses up at the mention of their names. They had all been great friends growing up but as time passed, Bob and Keith had become bullies towards Alex.
"I mean I've seen them in the halls. But they haven't shoved me into a locker recently." Alex says with a slight chuckle.
"What about Rebecca?" Norma asks, referring to Alex's most recent girlfriend. Alex shrugs, tossing another rock at the water.
"I don't know. I like Rebecca. But I don't think it's going to last very long." he says honestly.
Norma nods with understanding, picking at the grass beneath her.
"How has your dad been? After the...incident." Norma says, referring to Alex's mother committing suicide. Norma hadn't taken the loss well. Theresa Romero had been like a second mother to Norma when she wasn't sedated. She was kind and gentle and beautiful. Everything her own mother wasn't.
"Fine." Alex says, becoming short with her. Norma should've known better than to bring up his mom's suicide. Her death had changed something inside of Alex. It was like part of him had died with her.
"I gotta get home. My dad's gonna kill me if I'm late." Alex says, grabbing his backpack.
"You coming?" he asks, noticing her lack of movement.
"No not for a bit. My dad won't be home till seven tonight so i'll just stay here." she says, sitting down in the grass.
"By yourself?" he asks.
"I'll be fine. I'll talk to you later, square." she tells him with a smile.
"Okay. Bye." he says before running off into the woods.

It wasn't until later that night when Alex heard something outside of his bedroom window. He was already in bed with his lights out but his mind had kept him awake. He slowly sat up, reaching over to grab his bat that was leaning against his desk beside his bed. He slips out from under his covers and holds his bat up, prepared to defend himself against whatever is outside his house.
Norma popped up in front of him, making him flinch and jump away from the window. Norma smiles slightly and waits for him to slide his window open.
"Jesus Christ, Norma." Alex sighs, kneeling in front of the window.
"Sorry to scare you." she says softly.
"What're you doing here? It's late." he states.
"Can I come in?" she asks. He looks around before looking back at her, looking uneasy.
"Fine." he sighs, leaning out the window to grab her hands and pull her up into his room.
"Cute outfit." Norma says, glancing at his red boxers with sharks on them. He hadn't had time to grab a shirt or pants before letting Norma inside.
"Wasn't expecting company." he says, grabbing sweat pants and pulling them on before sitting next to her on his bed.
"So? What's up?" he asks, wanting to get to the point.
"Well, uh...wow, where do I begin?" she asks herself.
"So, i'm pregnant." she says nonchalantly. Alex widens his eyes with shock, looking down at her stomach as if he would be able to see the bump this early.
"John's?" Alex asks. John Massett had been Norma's boyfriend since she was a freshman. She and Alex are seniors now, just days away from graduating.
"Norma?" he asks, noticing her lack of response to his question. Tears form in her eyes and she quickly looks away from him.
"What?" he whispers.
"I...I haven't been completely honest with you." she tells him. He looks at her with confusion, wondering what she could've done that was so bad that she didn't want to share with him.
"Well you're already pregnant so there can't be anything too shocking." he says with a chuckle. She opens her mouth but no words come out.
"You can tell me." he says. She takes a deep breath and begins playing with the hem of her light blue dress.
"For...for a long time...my brother and I...we used to have sex." she manages to whisper. The shock hits Alex like a truck, rendering him frozen.
"I didn't know any better at the time. I was so young and he was all I had. But then...then I realized that it was wrong and I tried...I tried to stop it but..." she trails off, shaking her head.
"I'll kill him." Alex says through gritted teeth. He had never felt so much rage run through him before. To think that her own brother had forced her to do such vile things.
"Alex, please." Norma says, grabbing his face and making him look at her.
"Please, don't. And don't tell anyone. Okay?" she asks.
"Is it his baby?" Alex asks, his mind going a million miles a second.
"Yes. But..." she begins, looking back at him.
"But what?" he asks.
"It...well it could be yours." she says slowly.
"What? We haven't-"
"I know. I know we haven't. But...Alex, if you...if you help me out with this we could run away together." she says wth excitement.
"What about John?" Alex asks.
"Fuck John...and fuck Caleb. It's you and me. We can do this, Alex." Norma says, standing up from the bed.
"Norma, this is...its..." he trails off, standing up to pace his room.
"It's crazy. And wild and...and..this is our way out! This baby can help us get out of here." she finishes, smiling widely.
"Norma, I can't." he tells her, stopping her.
"Why?" she asks, her face crumpling.
"Are you hearing yourself? Look at us, Norma. We're just kids."
"I'll give you time to think, Alex. I'll come here after graduation, okay? You'll have an answer by then?" she asks. Without waiting for an answer, she places a kiss on his cheek and escapes through his window just as swiftly as she had arrived.