Not Your Average High School Experience

A new home and more about the blonde.

For the longest time, Jamie didn't move as she slept on the couch. She had been used to sleeping on couches, seeing as she had to sleep on the couch most nights at home. It was her way of assuring that she could get out of the house in a moment's notice when things got to looking dangerous at home. The only thing that caused her to stir was when she started having her nightmares once again. They always seemed to come to her after a hard beating no matter how much she tried to think of happy things.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? I told you not to come home with grades like this!" The dark-haired male screamed while balling up the piece of paper that he had in his hands before throwing it towards Jamie. Flinching slightly, Jamie looked at the ground before hearing the sound of a bear bottle being set down on the glass coffee table rather hard. Once again, she flinched at the sound and took a step back, knowing what was about to come. The grades that she had brought home on a teacher's progress report didn't make her father happy at all. Mix in the beers that he had already had and things were definitely going to go south and rather quickly.

"I-I'm sorry! I....I try my best, I-I really do..." Jamie stammered out, both in the dream and in her sleep, not knowing that she had spoken in her sleep. She had moved her gaze to meet Andrew's for only a split second before she looked back down at the carpeted floor of the living room. Jamie knew what was going to happen and she wanted to do everything that she could to keep it from happening.

Sadly, she couldn't stop it no matter what she did. Suddenly she felt a sharp pull at the back of her hair and she was forced to look up at the male, biting her lip to keep from crying out in pain at the tug. The moment that she was looking up, she was greeted by the horrible smell of alcohol that was practically rolling off the man in waves and she did her best not to puke because of its sudden overpowering smell.

"I don't give a damn if you tried your best, clearly it wasn't enough because your grades are still s**t. How many times have I told you that you need to get your grades up otherwise you'll pay heavily?" Andrew growled at her, waiting for an answer. When he didn't get what he wanted, he gave Jamie's hair another tug causing her to let out a slight cry of pain. Closing her eyes tightly, Jamie bit her lip a little tighter as she held back the tears of pain that threatened to spill and answered in a slightly shaky voice.

"T-too many." Jamie whimpered before opening her eyes when she felt that her hair had been let go of. This was a mistake because the moment that she opened her eyes she was able to see that the large male was pulling his hand back, preparing to strike her. Closing her eyes tightly she managed to get out a plea before she suddenly sat bolt upright on the couch, her cheek stinging slightly at the memory of the slap. Her cheeks were wet and she knew that when she had blinked, the tears that she had cried earlier that day were once again coming back to her.

After a moment of just sitting there, tears falling down her cheeks she suddenly felt someone's arms around her. She almost pulled away until she got a whiff of vanilla which she assumed had belong to Elizabeth. Relaxing into the arms that were holding her, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to cry for a moment before she pulled away. Pulling the sleeve of the hoodie over one of her hands she wiped her tears off of her face before pulling away from the arms. When she looked up at the person that the arms belonged to she blushed slightly in embarrassment, biting the inside of her cheek a little bit before she looked down at her lap. Elaine was the one that had held her, not Elizabeth.

"E-Elaine. Sorry, I thought you were Elizabeth. Y-you kind of smell like her." Jamie said while looking up from her lap after a moment, suddenly noticing for the first time tonight just why Elaine smelled like Elizabeth. The woman was wearing a hoodie that belonged to Elizabeth which caused her to smile a little. Elaine blushed a little while shrugging slightly, smiling shyly.

"I didn't mean to make you think that I was her. She went out for a little while, she should be back soon if you want to talk to her. You did want to talk to her, right?" Elaine asked causing Jamie to shrug slightly. Normally when she woke with nightmares and was staying over at Elizabeth, they really didn't talk. Elizabeth just held her until she soon fell back asleep.

"Not really, I-I just was going to thank her for holding me but then again, I thought you were her." Jamie explained while shrugging a little, looking back down at the blanket that she had been covered in. She kicked the blanket off and moved to where she was sitting, her feet now touching the floor.

"Oh, I see. Do you want to talk about it anyway? I mean, I understand that I'm practically a stranger to you but talking to anyone is better then talking to no one at all." Elaine said softly while moving so that she was sitting on the couch with her feet pulled up under her in a crisscross style. Jamie thought about it for a moment before nodding a little. She had noticed how Elizabeth and Elaine seemed to be close and assumed that Elizabeth would have told her what was going on, so it wouldn't hurt to open up to the blonde woman that was sitting next to her.

"It's just...the images don't stop when I fall asleep. It's the one time I think he can't get to me and he does. I always end up waking up in the dead of the night because of some nightmare that he's in and the only way that I can get back to sleep is when I've just completely exhausted myself by trying to stay awake so I don't have to see him." Jamie started to explain while looking down at her hands, rubbing the palm of one hand with the thumb of her other. What she had said was true. Most nights she'd lie awake for hours after a nightmare, wanting to stay awake so that Andrew wouldn't haunt her in her sleep, but she could only stay awake for so long until she just couldn't hold her eyes open anymore.

"I'm really sorry, I know that can't be easy." Elaine said softly causing Jamie to sigh slightly, which gained a raised eyebrow from Elaine. Jamie had heard something along those lines too many times when she had to explain why she came to school with bruises and she was a little tired of hearing it. Most of the time it was just something that someone said when they didn't know what else to say and Jamie had a feeling that no one had a damn clue what she had to live through at home or how rough it was.

"Do you? Do you really or are you just saying that?" Jamie asked while looking over at Elaine, noticing the look on Elaine face when she did so. It was as if she was really thinking hard about something, looking down at her lap as she did so. After a moment, Elaine looked up from her lap, her hands now folded and resting where she had just looked up from.

"I'm not just saying that. I understand what it's like to fear going to sleep because you have to see the face of someone that you live with in an unpleasant way." Elaine said softly. After Jamie started paying a little more attention to what was being said, wanting to know a little more about what the woman was going on about. When Elaine seemed to notice that Jamie was paying a little more attention, she looked away from the girl slightly, her gaze moving down to her hands as she twiddled her thumbs a little bit. Truth be told she was a little nervous about saying something because she had never really told anyone about what happened to her as a child.

"It's okay...I know I'm a stranger, but as you said, it's better to talk to a stranger then to talk to no one at all." Jamie said, recalling the words the Elaine had told her earlier while she reached out and took ahold of one of the hands Elaine had been looking down at. It was something that Elizabeth had done to her and she herself had found it comforting, she thought she'd see if it gave the woman the same feeling. When Jamie felt the woman give her hand a gentle squeeze, she couldn't help but smile softly.

"When um...shortly after I was born my mother passed away and left me in the care of my father. Naturally, when I got a little older, my dad started expecting me to take up a more adult like role in the house to help him out I guess. It started off as cleaning, doing the dishes, cooking dinner for him so it was ready when he got home. Wife stuff really...soon that um...that all changed. It was about the age of ten when he started expecting me to um...perform in the bedroom...t-that abuse carried on for a while and soon he also start striking me when I didn't do things the way he wanted...it finally stopped when I was sixteen. I just, couldn't take it anymore so I ran. Packed a bag and snuck out of the house one night while he was sleeping.." Elaine said in a low voice, closing her eyes. Jamie watched her as she spoke, now knowing just want Elaine had meant. They both shared the similar abuse from their fathers, but Jamie couldn't imagine being... molested by her father...she knew now, that in a way, she was lucky her father hadn't pushed things further and only struck her. Images of what could have possibly happened to the woman that was sitting next to her flashed through her head and she closed her eyes as the horror. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she slowly opened her eyes and looked at Elaine.

"I'm so, so sorry..." Jaime whispered as she suddenly let go of Elaine's hand, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck in a rather tight hug. At first, Elaine didn't seem to respond, but soon Jamie felt Elaine return the hug by wrapping her arms around the younger girls waist.

"It's okay...it's not your fault, you weren't the reason it happened or anything like that." Elaine said softly, her voice slightly muffled as she spoke into the hood of the hoodie that Jamie had been wearing. Jamie nodded a little at this, but still couldn't help but feel bad about what the woman had to go through.

After a moment, Jamie slowly let go of Elaine and moved to where she was sitting back down on the couch beside the woman. Sitting where she had been to start with. Biting her lip slightly, Jamie looked down at her lap before she thought of something.

"What happened after you ran...? You don't have to tell, I-I'm just being curious." Jamie said softly, not really wanting to pry into the woman's past. After a moment, Jamie heard Elaine finally speak up.

"I managed to find my way to a nice looking neighborhood and knocked on the first door I could find. Soon one door lead to another and I finally managed to find a woman that was willing to take me in. She raised me until she passed away and then I ended up here after I finished my schooling." Elaine explained, causing Jamie to nod a little bit. She was glad that Elaine had found someone that was willing to treat her right like she should have been treated.

"Well, I'm happy that you found someone willing to take you in." Jamie said before she ended up stifling a yawn. Elaine seemed to notice this and slowly stood from her seat on the couch, telling Jamie to lay back down. After a moment, Jamie complained and let out a mouth yawn. When she laid down and got comfortable again, she yawned for a third time before looking over at Elaine as she thought of something. Looking over at the woman, she soon cleared her throat a little getting the woman's attention.

"Everything okay, Jamie?" Elaine asked while moving to sit at the foot of the couch, making sure that she didn't sit on Jamie's feet. Jamie nodded a little and allowed her gaze to follow the woman's movements, looking down at her now.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just...can I tell you something?" Jamie asked softly, biting her lip a little.

"Of course, you can tell me anything." Elaine said softly while watching the girl intently. Jamie close her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath before slowly opening them.

"Elizabeth doesn't mean to um...snap at times. I don't know if she's snapped at you yet, but I'm sure she will at some point and I don't want you to be pissed at her. I-I'm not trying to get her off the hook for yelling, but she's just...the accident changed her...she's not who she was before and I want you to know that before either of you get serious or anything like that. She will get pissed, she will yell, she will yell at you as well, but I want you to know she may not be pissed at you. She just...she thinks the whole world is against her at times and she can't handle it sometimes." Jamie explained, for some reason finding that she wanted to let Elaine know that before things between the woman and Elizabeth got any further.

Jamie could tell that there was something between the two already and she didn't want things to fall apart because Elaine didn't understand why Elizabeth seemed pissed all the time. Elaine nodded a little and Jamie slowly closed her eyes and got ready to get comfortable. Jamie was getting ready to finally give back in to her exhaustion before she heard Elaine speak up in soft voice.

"Can...can you tell me about the accident?" Elaine asked, causing Jaime to open her eyes and look down at the woman once again.

"Elizabeth hasn't told you anything about it?" Jamie asked, watching as the woman shake her head slightly.

"No, no she hasn't. Every time I try to bring up the accident or something even close to it she shuts down it seems. Puts on a mask and doesn't tell me anything." Elaine explained causing Jamie to nod a little, knowing that this was how Elizabeth had gotten a few times when Jamie had first got to know her and started asking about it.

"I'd love to tell you, maybe give you a look at why she acts the way she does sometimes, but I don't want to say something when she's keeping it from you. Just give her some time and I promise you that she'll come around. Once she starts to trust you and opens up a little more, she'll tell you eventually." Jamie said softly before closing her eyes once again. Jamie got comfortable under the blanket once again, hoping that this time she would actually be able to get some sleep and she wouldn't be haunted in her dreams once again.