《︎𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝》︎
Rusty dropped Ariel and Chloe off at the church. They went inside and Vi helped clean Chloe up. After about ten minutes Roger and Shaw came rushing in. Shaw's eyes darkened.
"That son of a bitch." He grumbles.
"Careful, Daddy, you're in church." Ariel whispers. Roger sits down in front of Chloe.
"Look at me." He says in a demanding tone. Chloe's lip quivers and she turns to face him. "Clover.."
"I..."
"Did Ren McCormack do this to you?" Shaw asks. She huffs.
"Answer him!" Roger raises his voice.
"Let's keep calm. We don't even know what happened." Vi whispers.
"His daughter has been assaulted, Vi." Shaw says before shaking his head. By this time Ren had already showed up at the church. He stood at the entrance and eavesdropped when he heard his name. "I'm calling the police. I want that boy in handcuffs."
Chloe scoffs and stands up. "I can see how that works for you people, just blame everything on Ren. Just like you guys blamed everything on Bobby." They all stared at her. Ren raised his brows.
"What?" Ariel asks.
"Oh don't act so dumb. Bobby spent his whole life trying to make your family proud and you know it." Ariel shrugs in her seat. "He made good grades. He went to church every Sunday, and God help him because he made one mistake? Now nobody remembers the good things about Bobby, all they remember is that damn accident!" Chloe exclaims.
Roger stands up. "Clover.."
She turns and hold a hand up to him. "Oh don't you "Clover" me. Why don't we have a school dance? It's because of Bobby! Why do we have this stupid curfew? Because of Bobby! Bobby's to blame for all this bull-!"
"Lower your voice, and talk in a civil tone." Roger says.
"If you're going to go blaming people, blame Lacey too cause she's just as much to blame as he is." I spit.
"Let's not do this here." Ariel whispers.
"Why Ariel? Isn't this my church? Isn't this where we're supposed to talk about our problems? It's been three years, so why don't we start talking?!" She huffs as more tears run down her face. "I have been so lost. I've been losing my mind, and none of you even see it! You don't even care." Chloe chokes out.
Vi grabs Chloe's arms. "Of course we care."
"We don't expect you to understand everything we do that's intended to keep you safe." Roger whispers.
"Stop it! I hate it when you treat me like I'm a child."
Roger walks toward Chloe. "Well, whether you like it or not young lady, you are my child!"
"No I'm not! I'm just the kid you got stuck with!" She exclaims
"Please don't talk like that." He whispers.
"Okay. Calm down. You're being ridiculous Clover." Ariel huffs.
"Oh stop it. Quit acting like you don't have a part in this! Why don't you tell your daddy about how your "science project" beat me up." She suggests.
Ariel's eyes fill with anger. "Shut it, Dunbar." She hisses.
"Why don't you tell him where you really are every night, because you're definitely not at Rusty's." She yells. Shaw and Vi give each other a look.
"I said shut it!" Ariel yells back.
Chloe turns back to the adults. "Don't bother trying to pass another law. 'Cause that sure as hell didn't keep him out of Ariel's panties!"
Ariel slapped Chloe across the face making her grab her cheek. Vi pulled Ariel back before things escalated. Ren clenched his jaw. Chloe started to think that she maybe should've kept her mouth shut this time.
"Well, let's go get that guy that blackened my eye, 'cause we don't hit girls in Bomont, do we?" She turned and ran out into the rain. Ren called after her but she kept running until she got to the train tracks.
When she got there she collapsed on the floor of the train cart and cried her eyes out. After about a minute she felt arms wrap around her. She looked up at Ren, who's eyes widened when he saw her black eye.
"Awe, Chlo.." She started to cry more. Ren pushed her head into his shoulder.
Chloe didn't know what it was but Ren gave her a type of peace she had never felt before. He made her feel safe. After a few minutes she lifted her head. Ren looked down at her.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
"I've been better."
"Who did this to you?" Ren says pointing to her eye.
"Cranston..." She whispers. Ren's eyes darken. Chloe clenches his shirt in her hand. "Don't even. I busted his windows in, we can deal with him later." Ren shakes his head.
"What was all that back there?" Ren asked.
"Three years of built up pain and anger." Chloe huffed. "Of course it had to be me and my blunt self that said all of that."
"You did the right thing." Ren grabbed Chloe's hand and linked their fingers. "Is your eye gonna be okay?" Chloe nods.
"Yeah. Hopefully it's healed by the next town meeting." Chloe says referring to the day of Ren's speech. Ren huffed.
"Let's not talk about that right now, I'm nervous enough as it is."
Chloe laughs. "You'll be great." She says as she sits up. The rain quits pouring and starts coming down as a mist. Ren glances outside.
"Where are you gonna go?" He asks. She shrugs.
"I don't know... Definitely not home." Chloe says getting up. Ren slowly gets up. His phone starts to ring. He sees Willard's name pop up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, man. This is Willard and Woody speaking. Have you seen, Chloe? She's not picking up her phone." Willard's voice echoes on the other side of the phone. Ren glances at Chloe who is looking at a white book.
"Don't worry, she's with me. What's up?"
"Dude Chuck is pissed. He sent one of his freak friends to football practice." Ren hears Woody say.
"He's not the only one that is pissed right now. Meet us at the Diner." Ren hangs up the phone. He looks back to Chloe.
"You hungry?"
She shrugs. "I could eat."
"Willard and Woody are meeting us at the diner." She nods. "They're not gonna be happy when they see that black eye." He points to her face.
"Yeah this is not gonna end well." She huffs. They head out the train cart and start walking back to where Ren's car is parked.
"You know these people are wrong about a lot, but tossing Chuck in jail sounds good to me." Ren says. Chloe walks in front of him trying to balance on the edge of the train tracks. The sun was starting to set and it had come out from behind the clouds with the mist still falling.
"I just want this whole thing behind me." She huffs. Ren glances down at her hand and sees the white book from earlier.
"Whatcha got there?" Ren says pointing to the book. She glances down. By this time they have made it back to his car.
"Oh I got you something." She hands Ren the book.
"A Bible?"
"It's not just any Bible. It's my Bible. I've had it since I was ten. I marked a few pages. Thought it might help going up against the city council." Ren flips through the book and smiles at all the verses she had highlighted and all of the notes she had taken. He looks back up at her.
"This is great."
Chloe looks down awkwardly. "Really?"
Ren makes her look back up at him. "Yes. Really." He looks back down at the Bible.
Chloe smirks to herself. "You know, McCormack. You said that you might kiss me someday."
Ren grins and nods his head. "Yeah I did. Jenkins." Taking a step closer, he presses her body up against the car.
She smiles. "You think that someday could be today?" He lifts his hand and caresses her face. He glanced at her eyes before he looked to her lips. After a few seconds he finally pulled her in and kissed her.