Blind Love Ch. 08

**I apologize, first of all, for the horrendously long time it has taken me to get this chapter written, but as I promised, the story is not dead yet! I also apologize for the darker tones of this chapter and the lack of sexual content, but that will be remedied shortly, I promise!**

Sophie could not stop smiling. She probably looked completely foolish, but she just did not care. Daniel had put that smile on her face, and over the past few weeks had made her nothing less than deliriously happy. Their relationship was still a secret, even from Tom, but Sophie kind of liked it that way. The secrecy made things more fun, and definitely much hotter.

She grinned, thinking of the half-dozen times a day their hands "accidentally" brushed against each other, how they played footsie under the table during lunch in the cafeteria, the way they would sneak into the stairwells just before class started to steal all-too-brief kisses. A part of her felt irrationally afraid that once the newness and the secrecy of their relationship wore off, their passion would fade, but the more rational part of her brain chided her for thinking such ridiculous things. She knew that there was no way of knowing what the future held, and that they had been together barely a month, but somehow this felt like a sure thing. It was all she could do to prevent herself from planning out the details of their future together. She just couldn't help it.

She was still lost in happy thoughts when she walked into the bathroom, so preoccupied that it took her a few moments to realize that the other girl in the bathroom was sobbing. Sophie thought she recognized the girl, a freshman or a sophomore, she wasn't quite sure, from her French class, and she felt that she ought to do something to comfort her, but had no idea where to begin.

"Are you ok?"

The other girl, a very pretty brunette, continued to sob, but managed a "yes" between hiccupping sobs and gulps of air. Sophie said nothing, waiting patiently for the girl to calm down, handing her tissues so that she felt like she was doing something at least slightly useful. When the girl seemed to be over the worst of her crying jag, she splashed her face with some cold water. Turning to face Sophie, she spoke.

"Thank you," she said, her breath still coming in uneven gasps.

"You're sure you're ok?" Sophie asked, kindly

"I was," the girl replied, "until Mike Simpson came along."

Sophie felt her heart give a tiny lurch at the mention of Mike's name.

"What did he do to make you so upset?" Sophie realized she dreaded the girl's response. Her heart was racing, her stomach filled with nausea-inducing butterflies. "I really liked him," the girl said, sadly. "And then he started paying attention to me, and I thought I was someone special. I mean, he's Mike Simpson, and I'm just a freshman and he noticed me."

Sophie felt sick. The girl's feelings were uncomfortably familiar. She could have been Sophie only a few short weeks ago.

"I know how that feels," she murmured sympathetically.

The girl gave Sophie a grateful smile, fresh tears flowing down her face.

"It's just, you never expect a guy like him to notice a girl like you. And then he starts talking to you, and inviting you over for some beers and to play pool, and then before you know it, you're alone in his bedroom..."

Sophie's stomach lurched again, the bile rising in her throat. What had she saved herself from?

"What happened?" Sophie asked gently, not wanting to force the girl into talking about her ordeal, but she sensed that the girl desperately needed to tell someone what had happened. Her instincts proved right when the girl seized the opportunity, gathering her courage and spilling out everything in one long stream of words:

"So we'd had a few beers, and we went up to his room, everyone else had left. And we started making out, and then his hands started to move, and that's ok, but then they started to go lower and lower and I didn't want to keep going, and I told him that, but he wouldn't listen. He said I really did want it, I just didn't know it, and he was going to show me how much fun it could be. And...and I tried to stop him, I really did, but he wouldn't listen and the more I struggled the more he kept going, and he had this sick smile on his face, like he knew it was hurting me, but he kept saying if I relaxed, I would enjoy myself. I don't really remember what else happened, I kind of blanked out. I know he was telling me I was enjoying it because I was getting turned on. The next thing I know he's hitting my arm and pinching me, telling me to be more interested, to stop being such a frigid bitch, and then he kicked me out of his room. And when I saw him this morning, I smiled at him, and he looked at me as if I were a piece of trash, and then he said something to his friends and they all kind of looked at me and started laughing. I just feel so worthless. And stupid. How did I ever believe he could really like me?"

She looked suddenly spent, the torrent of emotion behind her words draining her. Sophie didn't know what compelled her to do so, but she found herself reaching out to the girl and hugging her, tightly. "Don't worry," she heard herself say. "You are not a piece of trash, trust me. Mike is. I know - he made me feel the same way."

The other girl looked at her in shock. "I'm not the only one?"

Sophie shook her head, a grim look on her face.

"If that bastard has tried to force both of us, I'm willing to bet he's done the same to other girls. What's your name?" It occured to Sophie that if they were going to take on Mike and take him down, she would at least need to know the name of her first ally.

"I'm Hannah," the other girl said.

"Alright, Hannah. We need to do something. I don't know what, but we need to do something. This douchebag has pulled this crap for the last time. Are you in?"

Hannah hesitated a moment, then smiled tentatively, extending her hand. "I'm in."

----- Sophie left the bathroom feeling highly perturbed. It was obvious that Mike had taken advantage of numerous other vulnerable girls - he had to have. But then why had she never heard anything about Mike? She wasn't the world's biggest gossip queen, but she considered herself to be fairly upto date on most of it, and yet, she had never heard a single thing, not even a rumor about Mike's treatment. The silence was both frightening and unnerving, and she wanted to find out why. These thoughts ran through her mind for the rest of the day, distracting her from everything else around her. She remained so distracted when she went to get her books from her locker at the end of the day that she didn't notice when Daniel appeared beside her.

He quickly realized that she had not registered his presence, so he leaned in from behind to whisper into her ear.

"Hey, beautiful, you've been driving me crazy all day. I can't wait to get you alone."

His words, however, failed to have the intended effect. Instead, his sudden appearance startled Sophie, and his voice made her leap forward slightly before turning around to face him and realizing it was Daniel. Upon seeing him, she relaxed a little, and gave him a quick hug.

"What's wrong?" he asked? He couldn't see her facial expression, but everything else he could sense about her screamed tension. "Bad day?"

"Something like that," Sophie replied, amazed once again at how well he could read her.

"Want to talk about it?"

She reached out and gave his hand a grateful squeeze. "I do, but not now. When we get to my house?"

"Sure thing." He gave her hand a squeeze in return and restrained his urge to question her until they arrived.

--------------------- Later that afternoon, Sophie and Daniel lay comfortably entwined on her bed. Leg over leg, Daniel's arms around her, her head laying gently on his chest - it was the safest, best feeling in the world. As Sophie snuggled in a little closer to him, Daniel tightened his arms around her, kissing the top of her head softly. He still couldn't believe this was real.

Finally, Sophie broke the silence.

"So this morning, I was in the bathroom, and there was this girl from my French class in there, crying. We started talking, and it turns out Mike tried to basically rape this girl, and then he said he would tell everyone what a whore she was if she said anything. And I just...I want to stop this bastard. He can't keep doing this." She began to cry softly. Daniel pulled her in even tighter, and kissed the top of her head. He didn't tend towards violence normally, but this was the one time where he felt he would be willing to make an exception.

"What are you thinking of doing?" he asked, gently, after a few moments.

"I don't know yet, but I'm going to do something. If he's tried to force me, and force Hannah, then chances are, he's tried to force other girls too. I just need to get them to speak up."

Daniel found her face with his hands and used his thumb to gently wipe away the damp trails left by her tears.

"Sophie Jones," he whispered, "You are amazing and strong and it is an honor to know you."

She tilted her face upwards and kissed him, softly, tasting the saltiness from her lips on his.

"Thank you," she whispered back.

They lay in comfortable silence for a few more moments, kissing occassionally for comfort, and before they knew it, they had both drifted off. ---------------- "What the hell?!?!" Tom's angry voice awoke the two of them with a start. "What the fuck is going on here?"

'Oh shit,' thought Daniel. The two of them had discussed how best to tell Tom about their relationship, but Daniel was certain none of the scenarios had involved Tom walking in on them like this.

"Tom, calm down," said Sophie.

"What the hell is going on here?!" he demanded, again. He turned to face Daniel. "What the hell are you doing in my sister's bed?"

"Tom, man, listen..." Daniel began.

"Not that it's any of your business," Sophie interrupted, increasingly irritated with Tom's tone of voice, "but the two of us are together."

"What the hell, Daniel, she's my sister!"

"Look, Tom, it's not what you think..." Daniel tried desperately to find the right words, knowing full well that when Tom got angry like this, he became impossible to reason with.

"I think it's exactly what I think. You are in bed. With my sister. WITH MY LITTLE SISTER" Tom yelled, his face flushing with anger.

"TOM!" shouted Sophie, "Shut the HELL up! This is NOT your business, I am NOT a baby, and I want to be with Daniel, so you had better get used to it, whether you like it or not."

Tom did not look at all pleased to hear this, and focused his ire on Daniel instead. "Goddamnit, we've been friends for our whole lives and this is how you repay me? Some friend you are, cradle-robber." With that, he turned and stalked out of Sophie's room, slamming the door behind him.

As enraged as she still was with her brother, Sophie knew that his words had hurt Daniel, deeply. "Hey," she said, tugging his arm gently, "don't listen to him. You are not a cradle-robber. He'll realize he's being an ass sooner or later." With that she gave him a peck on the cheek.

Daniel sighed. "You're right," he said, "but it still sucks. I would have thought he'd be happy for me, happy for us."

"He will be, once he gets that stick out of his ass," said Sophie. "You know how he gets when he gets up on his high and mighty horse, and you know he's always been protective of me. Let him calm down and then we can try talking to him again. C'mon, cheer up," she urged, playfully.

Daniel still looked subdued and glum until Sophie began to place teasing little kisses along his jaw line, inching ever closer to his mouth. When his lips finally captured hers, the two of them collapsed back on her bed, enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies and sweet, tender kisses filled with love.