⌜ chapter ten ⌟

"Go back to putting books on shelves, like I pay you to do." Tyler says as he walks backward, away from Letty.

"I finished with my aisles." She tells him, her camera aimed at him. "This is a small store, it really doesn't take very long. You're just slow." She says as she continues taking pictures of him.

"She's not wrong." A friend of his, who's sitting on the floor, agrees with her.

"Shut up." Tyler glances at him before going back to what he was doing.

Letty snaps another picture as he looks at the three books that he's holding. "Are you aware that those are upside-down and backward to you?" The brunette asks, and he looks up at her, obviously annoyed.

"You're fired, get out." He tells her, and she smiles from behind her camera.

"No, I think she just discovered why you work so slow." His friend says, and she starts laughing.

An hour later, Letty walks into the Matthews' kitchen. "Hey, Mr. Matthews, can you help me with something?" She asks as she sits down beside his wife.

Eric looks at her for a few seconds, and then returns his attention to the slice of cake that he's eating. The two of them haven't talked much since that day at his father's store, and he has no idea how he's supposed to act around her anymore.

"Sure, but... I thought you were working at the bookstore tonight." Mr. Matthews says as he looks at her.

"Mhm." She nods. "I was, but Tyler fired me."

"What?" Mrs. Matthews looks at her, and she quickly shakes her head.

"Oh, no, it's fine. He does that, like, three times a day. Sometimes while we're at the house."

"And what'd you do this time?" She asks, clearly amused.

"Oh, well, see, I always finish my part before him, and then I proceed to annoy him until closing time. Yeah." She nods. "He fired me, I laughed. He told me to do something productive, I took his picture. He threatened to break my camera, I tried to break his hand. We have a special bond."

"I see."

"I finally left when his friend started flirting with me." The brunette makes a gagging noise, and she laughs.

"What can I do for you, Scarlett?" Mr. Matthews, but then Cory makes his way down the stairs, and they all look at him.

"Cor, it's Friday night. Aren't you going out with Topanga?" His mom asks when she sees that he's in sweats and an old t-shirt.

"Alright, you know what this family hasn't done in a long time?" Cory asks. "Sing."

His dad looks up at him, obviously confused. "How 'bout Shawn?"

"Come on, we'll do rounds." He says. "Michael, row the boat ashore. Halle— Just the mommies." He points at his mom, but she just looks at him.

"What happened between you and Shawn?"

"Okay. Just the friendless, dateless lonely boys." Cory points at himself, and then Eric starts singing with him.

"Michael, row the boat ashore. Hallelujah. Sister help—"

"Alright, alright." Their dad makes Eric stop singing, and Letty shakes her head at the two teenage boys. "What's the matter with him?"

"Oh, come on. He's at that age where it could be almost anything. I wouldn't even know how to guess." The oldest of the Matthews' kids tells him, lying through his teeth.

"What about you?" Mrs. Matthews nudges Letty, and the brunette looks at her.

"What? Me? I don't know anything about teenage boys." She says. "Hello, I lost the only one that ever even liked me."

"I wasn't talking about Cory." She shakes her head. "You don't have plans tonight?"

"My plans were annoying Tyler, but then he locked me out of the store." She says. "I have no other friends."

"That can't be true."

"There were only ever three people who liked me at that school. One is sitting in front of you, one moved to South Dakota, and the other referred to himself as a rat." Letty tells her. "Oh, and there's Shawn, but he has his own friends."

"You don't have any girl friends?" She asks.

"Besides Hope?" She shakes her head. "Does my ex-boyfriend's little brother's girlfriend count?"

"There has to be someone." She says, and Letty shakes her head again.

"No, everyone at school calls me trailer trash." Letty tells her as Eric then stands up and goes upstairs to bug his younger brother.

He knows all of this already, and he hates it. What he hates even more is how numb Letty's become to all of it after all these years. It doesn't bother her anymore, which should be good, but she's stopped defending herself. And now he's not at school to take her mind off of it.

—

The phone rings at Letty's place, and Reggie's yelling as he makes his way out of his bedroom and down the hall. Letty shakes her head as she walks over to the phone, and he goes to the fridge to get himself some water since he's up and nursing a hangover. She answers the phone, ignoring the grouchy older boy as he tells her to kill whoever's calling them so late.

"Scarlett?" A familiar voice comes through the phone, and her eyebrows furrow. "Is that you?"

"Cory?" She asks, confused.

"What the hell is going on out here?" Alec questions as he and Tyler make their way out of their own bedrooms to see what all the noise is about.

"Can you meet me at Shawn's trailer?" Cory asks.

"Kid, do you have any idea what time it is?" She questions. "You just woke up the whole house."

"I wouldn't be calling if it weren't really important." He tells her, and she takes a deep breath.

"Yeah. Okay... Yeah, I'll be right there." Letty says.

"It's midnight. Where the hell are you going?" Alec asks as she hangs up the phone.

"That was Cory. He wants me to meet him at Shawn's. I-I don't know." She tells him, and he sighs.

"Alright, let's go." He says as he grabs his car keys from the counter.

"You don't have to come with me."

"It's midnight, and you're seventeen. You're not going without me." He says and then looks down at his bare feet. "We should probably put shoes on."

She nods in agreement. "Yeah."

The siblings get to the Hunters' trailer, and Letty doesn't bother knocking. She walks in and sees the two teenage boys, then immediately demands to know why she's not in her bed. Cory takes a deep breath as he looks at her.

"Because we can't help her." He says, and her eyebrows furrow.

The siblings look over at the blonde girl that's sitting in Chet's green chair a few feet away, and she looks up at them. Letty's expression softens, and Alec's jaw tightens when they see the huge purple bruise surrounding her right eye.

"Your dad?" Letty asks, and the younger girl nods. "Will you let me help you get cleaned up?"

"You're Scarlett." The blonde says, and she nods. "Your dad used to..."

"He used to hit us both." She says as she looks at her brother for a moment before returning her attention to Shawn's friend. "I know that you're scared, but if you let me, I can help you."

She looks down.

Letty pauses for a moment before continuing. "I know what you're thinking... He's just been stressed. He's angry, but it's not at me." She walks over and kneels down in front of her. "If I just stay out of his way, I'll be okay until I can leave. I'll be eighteen before I know it, and that means freedom... What's your name?"

"Claire." She says as she looks at her.

"You can't make him stop all on your own, Claire." She tells her. "And you can't keep living like this. I know that it's scary now, but we can help you."

"I didn't do anything to him." Claire's voice breaks as she fights back sobs, and Alec turns around and walks out of the trailer. "I didn't do anything... Why did he have me?"

"Claire..." Letty reaches forward and takes her hand between both of hers. "What he's doing to you has nothing to do with you. You are not what's wrong, and this is not your fault."

"I know...but sometimes it's hard to believe."

"I know." She nods. "Will you let us help you?"

Claire hesitates for a moment and then nods. "Okay."

Alec walks back in then, having gotten himself better composed. "We're going down to the police station, right?" He asks, and Letty nods as she and Claire both stand up.

"You and Shawn are taking Claire." The brunette tells him. "I'm taking Cory home."

"But—"

"No." She shakes her head as she looks at Cory. "Claire doesn't need an audience for this, and the last thing we need is a bunch of teenagers in a Philadelphia police station in the middle of the night. She trusts Shawn, so he can stay with her while Alec gets her help. You and I are going back to your house."

"You'll be alright to get home from the Matthews' place or do you want me to pick you up after I bring Shawn back?" Alec asks.

"I'll be alright." She tells him, and he nods.

After talking to Mr. and Mrs. Hunter to let them know that Shawn's not home and why, Letty walks to the Matthews' house with Cory at her side. His parents are waiting for them, just like she knew they would be, and Cory turns to look at his best friend's older sister.

"You know, you're not what most teenagers consider cool." He tells her. "Why are you always tellin' our parents on us?"

"Cory, you called me in the middle of the night and asked me to leave my house and meet you over at Shawn's. I don't give a rat's ass about being cool, I'm making sure that you little punks are safe." She tells him.

"Tyler didn't have any details when he called to let us know where Cory was." Mr. Matthews gets their attention. "You wanna fill us in?"

"This time, the boys were actually trying to do the right thing." Letty says as she looks back at them. "Admittedly, the obvious right thing doesn't always feel like the best choice. Not when the one who needs help is reluctant to get it."

"Were you reluctant, or just scared?" Cory asks as Eric walks down the stairs.

"I was hopeless, Cor. My dad wasn't some important guy with a high stress job. He was just angry, and hurting me was his outlet. He beat me into nothing, so I didn't believe that anyone cared enough to save me. Even everything that Miller did to protect me, to make me feel less alone in all of it — the abuse made me believe that there was no way out. Claire told Shawn, she's stronger than I was. And she's stronger than Alec was." She tells him. "I know that calling me wasn't easy, but you did the right thing for her. I've seen her around school before, and she never looked as bad as she did tonight. It's impossible to know just how far the abuse can escalate. You and Shawn quite possibly just saved her life."

"I think you did that." He tells her. "I don't think she was going to let us go to the police before you showed up and talked to her."

Cory then explains everything a little better to his parents, who send him to bed after his story is over. Letty promises to call in the morning if she gets any news from Alec tonight on what's gonna happen for Claire. The brunette then takes a deep breath as she looks back over at Mr. and Mrs. Matthews.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" She asks, and the teenager nods.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." Letty says. "Just, uh... Seeing her like that tonight was like...looking back in time. The bruises, the fear... But she'll be okay too."

Mr. Matthews glances at his oldest before looking back at her. "Thank you for taking care of the boys, and getting Cory home safely." He says, and she nods.

"Always."

Eric makes his way down the last few steps as his parents walk past him, and Letty looks over as he continues toward her. "How are you really?" He asks as he stops in front of her, and she takes a deep breath.

"I realized something about myself tonight." She tells him. "I'm okay. I mean, I'm not perfect, and sometimes I still get that feeling like the walls are closing in on me, but... I really have come a long way, haven't I?"

He nods. "Yeah, you have."

"I'm not stuck in the trailer park with an abusive alcoholic. I live in a house with my big brother, who I missed a lot more than I was even capable of admitting six months ago. I have two jobs again, but it's not because I have to pay the bills — I have them because I want them, because I like them. I'm in a good place with Shawn, and I feel good about my relationship with Alec." She smiles as he reaches up and wipes tears from under her eyes. "And for the first time, in my entire life, I finally feel like I'm...floating on top of the water instead of drowning in it."

"I'm proud of you." He tells her, and her smile widens.

"I'm proud of me too." She says, and he smiles down at her. "I never would've gotten here without you, Eric. You fought for me when I didn't know how to fight for myself. You told your dad what you saw even though I begged you not to. You saved my life."

"I will always fight for you." He says as he runs his thumb lightly along her cheek. "I know you saw me with that girl at Chubbie's. I saw you leaving."

She nods. "I saw you on Singled Out."

"Yeah? You get the questions right?" He asks, and she nods. He smiles. "That's because we're meant to be together... Letty, you told me to date. You think that if I do, I'll move on."

"That's the general idea after a breakup."

"You told me to date, so I am." He tells her. "And maybe it'll finally prove to you what I already know."

"Which is what exactly?"

"No matter how many dates I go on, or who I date... I'm not going to get over you, and you will always be the only one that I love. Because you are the love of my life, and we are meant to be together." He tells her. "So, you take as much time as you need to heal, and I'll do what you want — not let my life pass me by, and when we're supposed to be together again... We will be."

Letty takes a deep breath as she looks up into his brown eyes. "You have no idea how much I wish I could say it right now... But I still have some progress to make, more growing to do." She tells him, and he nods.

"I love you." He leans down and presses a soft kiss to her forehead, and she closes her eyes. "I love you enough to say it for us both. And that'll never change." He wraps his arms around her, and pulls her into a hug as she then buries her face in his shoulder.