~"letters"~

Keryn was lying in her bed, she could hear Kayla talking on the phone outside. She hadn't slept since her talk with Taylor. She couldn't. Everything was so messed up. She couldn't even pin point the time it began to get messed up. She decided that she couldn't hide in bed all day and so she wandered into the kitchen. Kayla had hung up and was making herself some herbal tea.

" 'morning" Keryn said as she swing open the fridge door.

"yeah you too, I talked to Justin." Kayla said it short and sharp. Keryn slammed the fridge door shut.

"Oh did you now, and what did he say."

"He's sorry"

"Bull shit."

"No honestly, he didn't realize that you were still hurting about all that Tay stuff."

"Bull shit"

"Keryn just try to understand.."

"Kayla, listen to yourself. Why are you on his side. He tried to bloody well rape me yesterday. I was so scared..I…."

"What?"

"Yes…he tried.."

Kayla rushed to her friends side.

"Keryn I'm so sorry he didnt tell me that.."

"I bet." She replied through snuffles.

"He said that you would let him kiss you and that you were being cold…"

"Bull shit."

"I know I just cant believe that he did that. He had so much respect for us."

"For you, you had Dan he always respected you. He has always been moody with me."

Kayla took a breath while she swallowed the information. Justin's crystal clear image in her mind shattered.

"The bastard! You know what…I am going to ring him now."

"dont.."

"No, I am..and give him a piece of my mind."

Keryn watched through glazed eyes as her friend madly punched numbers in the phone.

"Justin? Yes, this is Kayla…..what's wrong? You're asking me what's wrong…I just talked to Keryn….yeah you should be quiet…..not only did you do that you lied to me…Justin what is wrong….this isn't like you..why did you do that…Justin you almost raped her….Yes rape!…..Okay then what do you call it…..Bull shit it was practically rape….you love her? If you loved her you would be over here now with her, you wouldnt have left it like that last night….no dont come now..we dont want to see you…..later, maybe..maybe sometime in the distant future you will be able to explain yourself….you want to see me? What? This is getting weirder." Kayla paused for a moment. Keryn watched as her face softened slightly… "Okay….tomorrow…at the UCLA canteen…okay..bye."

Kayla replaced the phone fast as if it was contaminated and stared at it. Keryn wiped her eyes and gingerly asked,

" What did he say."

Kayla turned to look at Keryn, her friend was in pieces in front of her. How could she explain this? She pulled up a chair and sat opposite her friend.

"He said he loves you."

Keryn began to softly cry again

"He also said that he would do anything to make it up to you and that last night he wasn't full in control and wants to take it all back."

"How can he say that..he can't"

"I know..I told him that."

"Then why are you going to see him?"

Silence wrapped them fast, and tightly.

"He says he got a letter from Dan….and that Dan said.."

There was no need to go on..Keryn understood. Kayla too began to weep, she was crying in anger, "Why does he still win through death?" she asked. Keryn couldn't answer, nobody could. The sat there for a while sniffing and swearing about how Dan had tried to destroy each of them one by one. All at once Keryn noticed that Kayla's eyes became unfocussed and she was staring at the sink. Kayla threw back her chair with a start and rushed over to the kitchen sink and fumbled around for a while. She withdrew clutching a dirty envelope. It hit Keryn with a thud. Dan's note. If Justin had read his and it had made him do that Keryn shuddered at the thought of what this one could hold. Kayla was ripping the seal with a unseen fury. Her expression was of determination. She wasn't going to let Dan win. Not this time. This was her come back. She pulled the letter out and held it up to the light and read it slowly.

Justin fled from his house. Nothing could wait. He didn't care what Kayla said he had to tell Keryn he loved her. No cherished her. Dan's crumpled note lay in his palm. He had to show her. Show her that he was throwing everything back at him. Show her that he respected her. Show her that he was worth a thousand Taylor's. His car sped down the streets and pull up in front of their house. He stood at the door, breathing hard. He knocked. A sullen Kayla appeared she didn't say anything, didn't even make eye contact, she swung the door open and gestured him in. It was as if she expected him. He rushed into the lounge, the kitchen it was all empty. He ran to Keryn's room, Kayla's the bathroom. She wasn't here.

"Where is she?"

"She left."

"Left?"

Kayla began to cry… "Look" she said pointing to her letter from Dan "He said you would come."

Justin snatched the letter from her hand and read it for himself.

Goodbye. Believe me when I say I died for you. You will never be happy. I will make sure. Isaac is not as perfect as he seems. Justin will shatter Keryn. Don't let him touch her. He will try. Die with me. Die now. If you don't do it yourself, I could make sure that it will happen. Stay with Isaac and I will make it happen. I don't care who I hurt. You should be with me. You will be with me soon. Soon. I will see you soon.

"Bastard!"

Justin threw the letter across the room. He turned to look at Kayla. She looked at wreck. He was not going to let Dan win. Never. He walked over to her and turned her head to look at him.

"I made the first mistake. We are not going to let him win any more. Okay? He is dead there is nothing he can do to break you and Isaac up. Do you hear?"

Kayla stood motionless.

"Kayla?"

She nodded, "He is not going to beat me."

"That's it, let it all out" Justin put his arms around Kayla.

She broke away from him and stared coldly into his eyes. "Don't touch me."



Taylor opened the and stepped into the backyard.

"Ike? Are you here?" Taylor called. "Ike?"

Taylor scanned the backyard. He really needed to talk to someone at the moment and Zac was out. Taylor didn't really know where to find Ike.

"Ike? Are you out here?"

"Yeah, I'm up here!" Ike's voice came from behind a tree.

"Interesting." Taylor mumbled as he wondered why his brother had sat behind there.

"Yes Tay?"

Taylor sat down next to his brother and they both looked into the greenness of the backyard.

"Why are you sitting here?"

"Is that what you wanted to ask me?"

"Well, no. But, why are you sitting here?"

"Well, the fans are out the front again and they can't see me if I'm behind a tree"

"Oh. . . I see" Taylor nodded. The brothers sat in silence for a while. It was blissful. They couldn't hear anything that was happening around them. They had kind of slipped into their own little world. Minutes went by.

"Tay?"

"Yeah Ike?"

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, it's nothing. You probably wouldn't want to hear" Taylor sighed.

Ike looked at his brother with a confused look on his face. "Tay? What's happening now?"

Taylor took the opportunity and started to speak. "You know how the phone rang this morning and I had to ring Keryn?"

Ike nodded. He had slept through the whole thing, but he figured he knew what Taylor was talking about. "Yeah."

"Well, I rang. It was like 4 am or something."

"And?"

"Well. . . She told me something. She didn't exactly say it. But she told me sort of, you know?"

"What happened?"

"Well, she rang me cause she broke up with Justin cause he was an asshole and then the conversation got a little deep?"

"How deep, Tay?"

"I think. . . I think. . . She told me she loved me."

"Oh my gosh, Tay, isn't this what you wanted?"

Taylor nodded and started to pick at the grass, fighting off the grin on his face. "But. . ."

"But what?"

"I don't know, it feels weird. Hang on. Let me give you some comparrison here. . ."

Ike nodded and waited for Taylor to speak. "Well?"

"I know it is stupid. But, do you remember when Ross and Rachel got together on Friends?"

Ike was trying to hold in his laughter and be supportive. "Tay?! How can you possibly compare this to. . . that?"

"Ikkkeeee..... Don't. It's just that. . . the relationship was never the same after that little fling, now was it?"

"True. . . But that is like NBC, it's not real. . . Television Taylor."

"Yeah, I know. . . But it's realistic, the situation and all."

"Yeah. . . But try not to think about that."

"Okay then. . . What about the fact that you are always in love with your first love?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ike questioned.

"What if we broke up? We wouldn't be able to look at each other with other people."

"You don't know that. You would get over it. . ."

Taylor sighed and put his head in his hands. "No Ike!"

Taylor looked to be stressing out, Ike thought it looked quite comical. "What Tay?"

"I have two words for you. Ally McBeal."

Ike started to laugh. "Taylorrrr!"

"You can't tell me Ally and Billy don't still have something and every time she sees him with Georgia. . . Fworrrr" Taylor shook his head.

"Taylor, it's just television. The theory isn't proven. Don't think about it."

"Ike, if you want truth. Here's some." Taylor looked his brother in the eyes. "Keryn and Justin were friends, they got together. She hates him now."

Ike didn't really know what to say. A lot of what Taylor was saying was true. "Tay. . ."

"No Ike, I think I just need to think. I am confused."

"Tay, can I just say something?"

"Sure." Taylor looked down at the grass again, waiting for Ike to start.

"Tay, you're questioning this an awful lot. You're only sixteen, she's only seventeen. All you can think about is it all breaking up. You both say you're in love. If you were in love, why would it break up Taylor?"

"But. . ."

Ike put up his hand. "No, let me finish," Taylor nodded "I think you should wait a few years, see more people, if you feel the same way, get together later."

"Thanks Ike. . . I think I need to think more."

"That's cool Tay. We have no time at the moment for you to get all frustrated by this, be careful of what you do. We have a whole load of stuff to work on."

Everything went silent and the brothers went back to staring out into the backyard.

chapter twenty~nine HOME chapter thirty~one
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