I called Alicia and Marissa over, just like Serena asked me to. She wanted to tell us all at once so she didn't have to talk about it another time. We all sat on my bed, anxiously waiting for Serena to start talking. Nobody spoke, knowing this was hard for her. Serena opened and close her mouth repeatedly, like she wanted to be sure about what to tell us. Marissa, Alicia and I looked at each other, worry evident in our eyes. They didn't know what to expect. I did, but I hoped I was wrong.
"Serena, are you okay?" I whispered as she seemed to zone off.
"My father was there." She blurted out.
My and Alicia's eyes grew wide. "What?!" Alicia shouted. Marissa looked from Alicia to Serena to me. She didn't understand what was wrong about Serena's father being there. Alicia and Serena looked at each other. It seemed like they were talking without using their voice. Serena nodded lightly and Alicia whispered something in Marissa's ear. She was telling her about Serena's dad.
Serena would be okay with Marissa knowing, otherwise she wouldn't have asked me to call her over.
Marissa's hand flew to her mouth. She had tears in her eyes. She didn't know what to say, and we all understood. Serena didn't look up, she kept staring at the blanket on my bed while moving her index finger around it. I felt the anger growing in me. How could someone do that to her? Her own father.
"Why was he there?" I asked after finally swallowing the lump in my throat.
"I don't know, Demi. I didn't ask him." Serena sarcastically laughed.
"Serena," Alicia spoke up. "we're trying to help." She gently said.
"I know." Serena shot me a weak smile. "I don't know what he was doing there, I only know what he tried. In fact, it's been haunting me."
I sucked in air. "And w-what was that?" I hesitated.
"What he did years ago." Serena dryly replied. She didn't cry. She didn't even look sad. She just stared blankly in front of her.
"Serena," Marissa spoke for the first time that day. "did he rape you?" Serena didn't even flinch at Marissa's choice of words. Alicia and I did though. I didn't like the way Marissa asked her, but I knew it had to be done. Alicia and I were too shocked to talk so I was glad Marissa did.
"He would have if Nick didn't push him off me." I think our eyeballs might have fell out at that moment. Nick? I wanted to ask her what he was doing there but I refrained.
"Serena, are you ready to talk about it or not?" Alicia asked, sensing the tension in the room.
Serena looked up at her. "Yeah, that's why we called you." She answered, slightly confused.
"Can you tell us what happened then? We're all really confused and the two words answers aren't really helping. Look, we care about you and we're trying to help. I can imagine that this is hard, but we're here for you." She placed her hand on top of Serena's.
Serena nodded. "I'm sorry, I'm confused as well." She took a deep breath. "I was dancing with Brandon and I excused myself because I had to use the restroom. He told me it was upstairs so I followed his directions. I ended up going into the wrong room. It was a bedroom and it had a balcony. The view was pretty so I decided to stand there for a while."
She stopped talking for a few seconds and took another breath. "I heard his voice. It came from the bedroom. 'Hi Serena'" She impersonated him, staring in front of her.
"I wanted to run away but I couldn't. I was so shocked as to why he was in that house. In this city." Anger flashed into her eyes. I knew she was mad. Very mad.
