Trigger warning: on-page assault and rape mention. If this triggers you in any way, please skip this chapter. You will not lose any of the storyline. It is important to me that my readers feel safe. 

Lizzie

Just as we're all wrapping up breakfast, we hear a voice. "Hey everyone." We turn around and see a very bedraggled and rough-looking Tammy. She's definitely not looking her best self this morning. Not at all.

"Jeez, you look like shit." Brandon states the obvious. I nudge his leg with mine and give him a slap on it for good measure.

"Yeah well it was a bad night." She plonks herself down on a spare chair at our table. "Give me some coffee would you please," she asks no one in particular. I'm guessing our girl has literally crawled out of bed, slung on her favorite black skinny jeans and grey hoodie and instead of brushing her hair, tied it in a top knot on top of her head.

This is the first time I have ever seen Tammy looking worse for wear. Usually her face is done up, and she'll be wearing bright pink lipstick and wearing her trademark pink. "You want to talk about it?" asks Lilly, concern etched all over her pretty face.

Tammy begins to cry; tears run down her perfect cheeks, her gorgeous eyes well up. I can't stand to see her like this, and I immediately hug her into me. "You have got to stop drinking, Tammy, and those pills. It's so bad. You're going to ruin yourself and throw college goodbye." I continue to hold her.

She wipes the tears from her face and sniffles. Brandon hands her a red napkin from the stack in the center of the table. "I know. I just can't help it." She snuffles again.

"Maybe you need to go to rehab or go and speak to a therapist," Denver suggests. Tobias still says nothing, but he is looking at Tammy. I am guessing he wants to be the one holding and comforting her.

"I don't need therapy or to speak to someone. I just need my folks to give a shit." She inhales and pushes her shoulders back. "Shit, I must look awful." She tries to grin, but we can all see it's a huge struggle for her.

"You want to talk about it with us. Did anything else happen last night?" Lilly has now budged Brandon off the chair next to me and sitting the other side of Tammy, also with her arms around her. Girl Power. Boys can be pretty useless at this kind of stuff. Trust me I know from experience. Whenever I've bawled my eyes out, Brandon hasn't got a clue what to do.

We watch as Tammy nods her head, which is hanging so low, her chin is practically touching her chest. "You can tell us," I say. "Or do you prefer the guys to fuck off and then tell us?" She deliberates; her eyes are huge and round as she looks deep into mine. I just know something bad has happened. Or why else would our perfect Tammy be looking like she hasn't slept in a week and been living on the streets? Did she even shower? I'm guessing not.

"It's okay. They can stay only...." Her bottom lip begins to quiver, and the tears start to roll down her cheeks. "It's my own fault." She starts. I'm pretty sure whatever she is about to say will not have been her own fault, and I am also guessing it's to do with that jerk guy she walked off with last night at the party.

We're all sitting holding our breaths. I, for one, am bracing myself because I have a huge feeling I know what is coming next. "Nothing will have been your fault." I say, squeezing her arm. At this point, Jed comes back to the table to see if we want anything; he senses now is not the best time and quickly makes himself scarce again.

"Thanks, mate," Denver says to him and then looks over at Tammy, who now has her hands covering her face. Lilly and I don't let go of her, our arms still around her. We're probably all going to be late for our classes but fuck it. It's only school; we're nearly done for summer in any case. What will they do? Ground us? Not likely, we're all A+ students, and our parents donate so much cash into our school they daren't say a thing. Besides, it's not as if we've ever been late much. Well, except Brandon; he could get a black belt in lateness.

Tammy starts to talk; her voice is so low it's practically a whisper. "I took some pills, as you know." She glances up at me, then at Lilly. We nod. We saw. "With that guy." We still say nothing. "And we ended up going into a bedroom." She becomes silent. I feel sick at the thought of what is coming next, really fucking sick. Like my stomach is going to come up and out of my body. Lilly glances across the top of Tammy's head. She looks frightened. I notice that Brandon, Denver and Tobias are all tense, each clenching and unclenching their fists. This is going to be bad. I can just tell.

"And he tried it on with me. I pushed back; I didn't want to do it with him. I just wanted to get high and have some fun. But he wouldn't let it go and said I was a tease." She starts to cry again and buries her head deeper into her hands. I think I'm going to vomit. Brandon looks like he wants to find this guy and punch the living shit out of him. I can't blame him. We all now know where this is heading.

"Take your time," I say soothingly even though inside I'm as tight as a ball.

"He forced me on the bed, and he just did it. I don't even know what happened with my clothes." Denver shoots a knowing look since he was the one who found her face down on the bed naked. Brandon's face is like thunder. Someone I know is going to find themselves pretty beaten up in a dark alley at some point this week. There's no way our guys, Denver and Brandon, are going to let some jerk get away with this.

"You have to press charges, Tammy," Lilly says. Tammy shakes her head.

"I can't. It's all my fault for giving him pills, for wearing a short skirt, for being flirty." That makes Brandon spew his guts.

"It's not your fucking fault, Tammy." A couple of the other people in the diner look over at our table. I mouth sorry to them and ask Brandon to sit back down and to calm down.

More gently I say, "Listen, girl. None of this is your fault. He's a fuck up and can't get away with raping you." The words sound so harsh to me that I feel strangled even saying them, but it has to get out. She flinches; I feel Tammy tense up. Lilly is crying. Tobias has gone as white as a ghost. Denver and Brandon are trying very hard to control their tempers. This is the worst thing that has happened to our group in our entire lives.

We're only eighteen; we're not adults. How do we even cope with this happening to one of us? "You have to tell your parents, and you have to go to the police. Lilly and I will come with you, Tammy. This is not your fault. None of this is your fault. If he's done it to you, he will do it to someone else and probably has already done it to some other poor girl. A man does not have the right to take what he thinks he can." I don't state the obvious. It's a mess. A big fucking mess, and I could drive a knife straight through the man who did this to our beautiful and innocent Tammy girl.

"There's no way you're going to school today," Brandon says. He sounds authoritarian, almost like my father. "I'm driving you back home with Lizzie. Lilly, you can explain at school to the principal what has happened and that we're taking Tammy to the police station later this morning." Lilly nods.

"Good idea," Denver adds. Tobias is very pale, and I can see tears glistening in his eyes. I want to hug him, too. We all know he is in love with Tammy. But right now we have got to take care of our girl. She needs us now more than ever.