***AUTHORESS NOTES***

I am high... On Sum 41!!!

I've been listening to their newer CD's and my favorite song of their's
still has to be Pieces. 

This fic has to do with what would've happened if some things had been
changed, such as:

*If Bobby hadn't found out that Taylor hit Jenn
*If Taylor had never laid a hand on Jenn
*If Jenn and Nathan had kissed
*If Josh, Zach, Sam and Vicky had never come into the picture
*If Nathan had been the girl that Jenn expected him to be
*If Jenn had never moved to Hoenn
*If Taylor had never changed

This is going to be fun...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PIECES

BY TORCHICK

(NOT IN POV)

[I tried to be perfect
But nothing was worth it.
I don't believe it makes me real.]


     Jenn looked skeptically around the classroom. No one at all had
changed. How pathetic. Wes was still a jerk, Taylor was still a nerd,
Ryan was still hot. Nothing ever changed at the Academy, as she and
Alexis called it.

     "So who do you think you'll date this year?" Alexis asked her when
she noticed the disapproving frown on Jenn's face.

     "I want to go out with Caleb and Ryan again... Maybe I'll go out
with Cole." Jenn didn't miss the frown on Alexis's face. Well, she had
gone out with Cole last year. He was sweet, and a babe. It was her turn
to be with him this year.

    "Don't frown at me, Alexis. You broke up with him. You had your
chance. He has a crush on me. He thinks I'm hot... Well, who doesn't?
Anyways, I want to go out with him and if he asks me, I'm going to say
yes!"

     "Hi Jenn," wheezed someone behind her. Taylor was still in braces,
with drab brown hair and a wimp's body. She had the urge to hit someone
everytime she saw him.

     "What do you want?" she sneered, giving a disapproving glance at
his outfit.

     "Well... Um... I was wondering if you'd be my girlfriend..." His
voice trailed off and she screamed.

      "EW!!! In your dreams..." Wow, did she ever have bad luck...

    Two days later, Jenn stood in the hallway, waiting for Sam Brady. He
had wanted to talk to her for some reason or another. They talked
occasionally in English, where they sat next to each other.

     "This is for saying no," she heard somebody say behind her. She
turned around, only to see Taylor pull the trigger.

[I thought it'd be easy,
but no one believes me.
I meant all the things that
I said.]


     "Yeah, I sit next to him in English," she said, with a feeling like
she was being interrogated.

     "I bet you like that," Taylor said sarcastically. God, he even
looked hot when he was mad. No matter what anyone said, she was glad
that she had said yes to him. 

     "No, not really," she commented. "I can't stand him. I was just
asking him about the homework."

     "What was the homework?" he asked. Now he was challenging her. He
still didn't believe her.

     "We didn't have any. But I don't pay attention when she announces
the homework, usually I talk to Sierra but today I was writing you that
note that I gave you during passing period between 1st and 2nd hour."

     "This one?" he asked, holding up the little square of paper.

     "Yep!" she told him and then she grinned. He looked so cute when he
looked like he was pouting. But he knew he was wrong.

     "I'm sorry, Jenn. It's just..." He paused for a moment.

     "Just what? You can tell me, Taylor."

     "I love you, Jenn, and I thought I might lose you and that scared
me." She couldn't help but smile. He had no reason to worry. Not a
reason at all.

     "I love you, too, Taylor. Just relax, okay? I would never cheat on
you, and I would never give you up. You're the best thing that's
happened to me in a long time." He smiled back at her. At first, he had
gone out with her just because she was popular, because she was
well-liked, because she had a good reputation. He couldn't believe it
had already been several weeks, and he was falling in love.

     "One day, we are totally going to get married. I've already found
my perfect girl!" he announced to her.

     "If you say so, Taylor. If you say so."

[If you believe it's in my soul,
I'd say all the words that I know.
Just to see if it would show
that I'm trying to let you know
That I'm better off on my own.]

     "What happened, Jenn?" Bobby asked her. She had a giant bruise on
her throat and several red marks on her arm.

     "Nothing. Just a shortness of breath," she lied with ease. Lying to
her family about Taylor was a talent of her's now, something she didn't
even think twice about now.

     "Then why do you have a bruise on your throat?" he questioned her.

     "I must've hit something when I fell. Give it a rest, Bobby," she
said and flopped down on her pillows.

     "The doctors say you can come home tomorrow." She didn't ever want
to come home, didn't want to go back to Taylor. She felt so safe here in
the hospital. But she couldn't ever tell that to her brother.

     "That's great!" she exclaimed with an excited tone, but nothing in
her was excited. Something in her had been smashed under Taylor's foot
along with her inhaler.

     "You must miss Taylor. He's called your cell about three times
already," Bobby teased and that made her want to crawl up and die. 

     "Yeah, I do," she said quietly.

     "Are you sure nothing is wrong?" Bobby asked her, but once again
she shook her head. 

     The next day, she was escorted by wheelchair to the car where Bobby
and Brooke drove her home. Her parents were at work, no surprises there. 

     The sights were all a blur to her and when the car stopped in front
of her house, she just wanted to stay outside. 

     The car was still going though. "Where are you guys going?"

     "It's a surprise!" giggled Brooke. That meant they were going to
get her a 'welcome home' present. How touching.

      "We're only going to be gone about an hour," Bobby told her. She
opened the car door and ran inside. It was nice and homey, so different
from the sterile white hospital but she felt no sense of security. She
was afraid to be home.

     She climbed the stairs to her room, to find her door cracked. She
felt her heart leap up to her throat, but she tried to ignore it. Why
was she so paranoid? Bobby or Brooke must've been in her room to borrow
something.

     That would've been great if Taylor wasn't sitting at her desk
chair.

     "Finally! I thought you'd never get home," he told her
exasperatedly.

     "Oh," was her only response. She couldn't move. She was drowning in
her own fear. 

     He saw the look in her eyes. "You bitch. You told one of your
siblings something, didn't you?"

     "Taylor, I didn't... I promise."

     He got up quickly and she backed out of her doorway. "You stupid
fucking whore... You did too, you're lying to me!"

     He was walking towards her now and she kept backing up. He was
angry, and knowing that terrified her. "I'm not, Taylor, please!" She
was pleading for her life now.

     She had stopped moving right next to the stairs. She knew that if
he tried to hit her, she was no match. She was still weak, physically
and emotionally. 

     "Have a nice fall," he said with a wicked grin and before she could
realize what was happening, he pushed her down the stairs.

     He watched as she tumbled down and down, both her bones and spirit
breaking. He even laughed a bit as he heard her crying softly. 

     He walked down the stairs to leave the house, but he couldn't help
but kick her as he passed her aching, bloody body.

     Jenn was laying there in her own blood, wishing someone would get
home and save her. Everything in her hurt, but the most painful injury
he had was the loneliness and hope to die. Minutes ago, she had been
begging him not to kill her, but now she just wished that he had.

[This place is so empty,
my thoughts are so tempting,
I don't know how it got so bad.]


     Jenn passed him in the halls, with a longing in her heart and a
lump in her throat. What if he tried to hurt her again? What if he still
had the same feelings that she did? Sometimes she wished that he had
killed her when he kicked her in the throat, but she knew she was lucky
to be alive. Most of the time.

     "Hi, Jenn," he said quietly, and she wanted to cry, but she
wouldn't give him the satisfaction again.

     "Hi," she said, looking down at the sandals she wore. It was summer
on the outside, but a cold, fierce winter inside her heart, and her
mind.

     "How was the hospital?" he asked. Was he mocking her? All she
wanted was for him to hold her.

     "Fine... But I need to go." Jenn was sure that he thought she was
still scared of him. But she couldn't look Taylor in the eye, without
remembering the few good times they had. When he had truly loved her.
But she had never stopped loving him.

     Inside her room, she found the one thing she had been wanting all
along. Her father's gun. She had hidden it under her bed when she was
dating Taylor, afraid that he would come in and strangle her during the
night.

     But she was glad she hadn't given it up. Because she still had
something she wanted to do with it.

     She could see herself pointing the gun at her head in her mirror,
but she turned away. She didn't want to chicken out of her last mission.

The perfect ending to the perfect day.

[Sometimes it's so crazy
That nothing can save me.
But it's the only thing that I have.]


     "I have an idea," her mother told her and Jenn looked up at her
with hope.

     "What? Anything would be better than being stuck in this lame old
house."

     "Why don't we go meet our new neighbors? There's only one other
family in the town, and I'm sure you would like to meet them," Valerie
suggested.

     Jenn's eyes lit up. "That'd be great! Let's go!" So they walked the
full two minutes next door and the door was immeditately opened by an
exuberant middle-aged woman.

     "Hi, welcome! My name is Karen Pickens," she ushered them inside. A
teenage girl and a man in a lab coat sat on a couch, facing the
television. "This is my daughter, Ashley and my husband, Jacob."

     "Nice to meet you," Jenn said quietly. She had met the girl she had
expected to.

     "I'm Valerie Frost, and this is my daughter, Jenifer."

     Jenn felt anything but settled in this new place. Maybe meeting a
boy would've been a relief, so she could go on with her life and get
over Taylor.

[If you believe it's in my soul,
I'd say all the words that I know.
Just to see if it would show
that I'm trying to let you know
That I'm better off on my own.]


     And as their lips met, Jenn knew she was glad that she had been
wrong, glad that he wasn't a girl, glad that she had let herself have a
crush on him.

     "Jenn? Are you sure this is okay?" Nathan asked her and she smiled.
She felt lazy and happy and in a great mood.

     "Of course, I don't know why it wouldn't be."

     Nathan looked into her eyes, and she felt like he was looking into
her soul. "Well, it's just, I know what you've been through lately and I
don't want to rush you into something you're not ready for."

     "Nathan, I can't imagine my life without you," she smiled. She was
blushing, but she was sure that it was because she was around him.

     Nathan looked uncomfortable. "Does it seem hot in here to you?"

     She giggled. "No, it's just me."

     "Jenn, I'm serious. It feels like it's on fire here." Ironic
saying. The door was in flames now.

     Jenn's eyes grew wide. "Oh my God, Nathan, we need to get out of
here!" she cried. She knew and didn't care that tears were rolling down
her face.

     He led her to the open window. "No, Jenn, you do. You have promise
and a future. All that matters to me is saving you. I love you. Don't
ever forget that."

     Jenn opened her mouth to protest but she didn't even have time to
think as he pushed her out. His words would be stuck in her head for
eternity.

[I tried to be perfect,
It just wasn't worth it.
Nothing could ever be so wrong.
It's hard to believe me,
it never gets easy.
I guess I knew that all along.]

     She looked back on route 111. "What do you think is going to happen
to us one day, Nathan?"

     "I don't know. Maybe you'll be rich and I'll live off you," he
joked.

    "I'm being serious now! Where do you think we'll end up?"

     "Fighting over a rotten banana peel with all the other hobos in the
park."

     "Are you being serious?" Jenn gasped with wide eyes.

     Nathan slapped his head. "Of course not! I think you'll be in a
good place, but wherever you are, I'll be there right beside you."

     "I'm always going to have your back," she said thoughtfully. "Do
you think we're going to be together wherever we are?"

     "It depends on what you mean by together. As a couple, I don't
know. It could happen. I could picture it, but I can never imagine it
really happening. As friends, of course."

     "You're my right arm," she joked.

     "Then what's your left arm?"

     "Ice cream sundaes."

     He swatted her playfully. "You're lame, Jenny Nichole Frost!"

     "So are you, Nathan Scott Pickens!" she shot back and instinctilly,
she began to run. He chased after her and she laughed as the wind played
with her hair and he tackled her. She landed with a thud on her back and
laughed even harder.

    Maybe it would all end up okay. And maybe it wouldn't. But she was
going to make sure that she never did it alone, if Nathan could be there
with her.

[If you believe it's in my soul,
I'd say all the words that I know.
Just it see if it would show
That I'm trying to let you know
That I'm better off on my own.

THE END