So I'm like really sorry for the wait!! I've had this chapter half written for like forever but I've been out of mojo!! this chapter is a lot more tragic than I originally planned but if someone can guess thy 'why' of the sudden outburst, I'll send you a cookie. It's easy really...lol.

Plus, I've been moving all weekend and I'm stuck on trying to get a right plot down for a new story. It's driving me insane, right BEG? ;) But it's taking it's toll and I'm behind on everything!! So bare with me. But I promise next chapter will be worth it and some tempers will be flared...again. I think you all know who's tempers I'm talking about...lol.

Also I'm going to try and start replying to the reviews in a PM rather than on here. So this might be the last time I write it down here. Also, if anyone has any suggestions or other remarks about this...PM me. I'm all ears. :)

BEG75- It's not stupid our secrets, I like it too...lol. Yes, I could so see Devon buying her own ring just so she can show it off. What a wench, huh? Thanks for all the support and late night (well, late my time) talks. I appreciate all the pep talks too. :)

Soccer- Yes, she's gone. Peace, good bye, never come back. Thanks!! :)

Forest- It did seem long overdue, huh? I wanted to make sure y'all didn't like her...lol. Thanks for the review and as I said to Cherryspark...I didn't want to introduce every cast member at the same time. :)

Jayden- Aww thanks! Yes, I was excited to write her waking him up and him being all grumpy until he sees its her. I thought it was a nice way to show he is starting to like her. I think they honestly don't really realize they are into each other until the last minute...lol. But Jo and Linds will have more secret sharing and I cover that here. They will be good friend on many levels, like the horrid times of the past. And I so agree with you on Mac. His and Jo's relationship will slowly getting stronger but it will mostly be like a father/daughter of course. I'll touch on that soon. :)

hope4sall- THANKS! BEG is my idea go to girl! She gives me my boost...lol. I'm still so proud of myself for writing these witty lines. They just come naturally especially when Devon is the receiver!!

cherryspark- Never say never...a lot will come of that. ;) I didn't want to add all the reg NY cast all at the same time nor did I want to overshadow Don and Joli with too many cast members. Mac will have his tid bits as will Stella. My main focus is Don&Joli and Danny&Linds and of course, Sid. But I did like writing the Mac/Joli moment. So thanks. :)

iheartcsiny- LOL! Thanks for the review! I'm glad I made quite a few people's day with that.

Wenchester- I feel lousy now!! You wished there was an update in your inbox every morning and I took soo long to update!! Gah, I'm sorry. But I do really have the next like 7 chapters planned but it's been real hectic around here.

Lyris- Thanks, so much! You did not bore me at all, it was quite the opposite, it made my night!! I'm glad you like it so much and I appreciate that you stayed up. There will be quite a bit of Danny too, so don't worry. :)

"So," Danny panted, trying his hardest to take the top off of his water bottle. Don sat next to him on the bench, leaned back with his arm draped over his face trying to hide from the sun

"So what?" Don mumbled. Danny took a long sip from his bottle and set it down on the ground. He leaned forward on his knees and stared out at the basketball court in front of them.

"So you've been a single man for nearly two weeks." he stated. Don cracked and eye open and looked at him.

"So what?" he repeated. Danny look over at him and leaned back up.

"So are you like sick or something?" he asked. Don moved his arm completely and looked at his friend.

"No, do I look sick?" he asked and leaned up all the way. "Why would you ask that?"

"Well, you're not acting like yourself, that's all." Danny shrugged.

"How so?" Don asked. "I want examples." Danny took the glasses off his face to wipe them as he thought for reason to give to his friend.

"Well, like yesterday. At the coffee shop." he remembered and put his glasses back on. "The pretty little blond that always flirts with you? You didn't flirt back." Don chuckled and shook his head.

"She's married." he reminded him. Danny nodded and draped an arm over the back of the bench.

"That never stopped you before." Danny chided and looked around the court. "And you always flirted your way into information with females at the scenes. A few days ago, when we had that rich doctor case, you didn't even give his daughter the once over."

"Her dad was murdered!" Don exclaimed. "The last thing she needed was to have me flirt with her."

"I didn't say you should flirt with her but never," Danny pressed and held up a finger. "Not once, have you passed up the opportunity to get a good look at a pretty girl." Don stared at him like he had grown another head and huffed a little.

"You've lost your mind." he declared and picked up his own water bottle.

"No, I'm pretty sure we got started in this because I think you've lost something." Danny reminded him. "Or gained something." he added in softly. Don stopped in mid sip and looked over at Danny.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Danny shrugged and raised his hands.

"Nothing." he replied and bit his lip. "Except maybe that you're not telling me something."

"What would I not tell you? And if I did not tell you something, maybe it's none of your business." Don told him honestly. Danny held up his hands in defence and shook his head.

"All I'm saying is that you're acting a bit odd and I wanted to know what was up. I care about ya." Danny defended. Don raised a brow and stared at Danny. He was confusing the hell out him this morning.

"I'm not acting weird." Don stated. "And I'm not hiding anything from you. I don't have anything to hide." he assured. Danny nodded slowly and picked up his bottle.

"Okay. That's all ya needed to say." Danny said casually. The two men sat in silence for a few minutes and watched the new game of basketball unfold. Don only noticed that Danny wasn't done grilling him when the bench started shaking and he looked to see Danny's leg bouncing.

"Spit it out, Messer." Don sighed. Danny moved a little to face him and Don was surprised at the serious look on his face.

"Do you have a secret girlfriend?" he asked. Don laughed out loud at the question but stopped when he noticed Danny's frown.

"What? You serious?" Don asked and Danny nodded.

"I'm pretty sure there's a reason they call is a secret girlfriend, Dan-o." Don told him.

"So you do?" Danny asked.

"No, I don't. Why are you so curious?" Don asked. Danny shrugged again and looked back at the game. Don waited for him to say something and else when he didn't, Don made him. "Messer." he growled.

"I just want to say that if I had a secret girl, I'd tell you." Danny blurted out.

"But then it wouldn't be a secret." Don commented.

"As long as you didn't tell Montana it would be." Danny smirked and Don frowned. Danny caught onto what he had just said and frowned with him. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm not cheating on her."

"Again." Don added quickly. Danny frowned and waved his hand around.

"My point is," he sighed. "I trust you enough to tell you things that I wouldn't want anyone to know about and I like to think you think the same of me."

"I do." Don nodded. "But there's nothing to tell. No secret girl on the side, no illness that I know of. I'm good." Don assured him.

"Okay." Danny nodded and leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"Ah I'll be right back. The restroom calls." Don mumbled and stood up, tossing his water bottle into the trash can. Danny chuckled and watched Don walk into the restrooms. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out his phone and hit redial.

"Hey." came the soft voice but eager voice. Danny smirked and looked around to make sure Don was still gone. "Did you get anything?"

"No Linds, I didn't get anything." he said when he was done inspecting the area. "We had a heartfelt guy talk and I got zilch."

"Heartfelt?" Lindsey groaned. "You better not mean stupid guy stuff, Messer. Or the stuff you try and talk to me about."

"No, it didn't consist of sex and boobs." Danny chuckled.

"What about-"

"Not hockey either." he interrupted. "Why don't you trust me with these things?"

"Because you're you." she told him bluntly. Danny frowned and looked behind him again.

"That's real nice, Montana." he said and turned back to the court.

"Where's he at?" she asked

"He's in the restroom. Why?"

"Just wondering." Danny furrowed his brows and sighed

"You want me to keep trying, don't you?" he asked.

"Yes." she exclaimed unintentionally. "Or find something else out. Drop hints." she begged.

"You going to pummel her with questions later?" Danny asked, referring to the other peson involved in Lindsey Monroe's secret plan.

"Yes, I am." she said confidently. Danny looked around again and saw Don walking out of the restroom.

"Alright, I'll try. But he's back so I gotta go." he told her.

"Thanks." she gushed.

"This better be worth it. I haven't played Cupid since high school and I was really bad at it." he reminded her.

"Well, you want him happy don't you?" she asked and he sighed. "Exactly. Not go and call me later." Danny hung up just as Don walked up to the bench.

"Who was that?" Don asked.

"Montana." Danny replied and set his phone down next to him.

"Being that we talked about my non existent personal life, how about you tell me what's going on there." Don smirked and sat down next to him. Danny sighed loudly and sat up straight.

"It's going." he replied. "We're trying not to talk about it or categorize it. Taking it one day at a time." he explained. Don nodded and looked down at his phone when he started to ring.

"Tell me we don't have a scene." Danny groaned as Don picked it up and flipped it open. Don shook his head when he saw it was a text and opened the message. A broad smile spread across his face as he read the text and that perked Danny's interest.

"If you're that happy about a dead body, you need help." he commented and moved to look at the phone but Don turned it away with an amused smirk on his face.

"Nosey much?" Don joked.

"Yeah." Danny nodded honestly. "I wanna know what's making you smile like a fool because this is why we had this conversation earlier. I think you're sick or got a secret."

"I don't have a secret. And I'm not smiling like a fool." Don defended.

"Alright." Danny nodded. "Grinning like an idiot?" he suggested. Don rolled his eyes as he sent a text back. "Who is it from?"

"None of your business." Don smirked and closed his phone.

"Come on, man!" Danny exclaimed. Don smirked and shook his head.

"How did we go from you and Linds back to me and my secret girlfriend?" he asked. Danny raised his brow and looked at him.

"Was that a confession?" he asked. Don laughed again and stood up from the bench.

"Ya know what, I gotta go. I don't have the time nor do I feel like listening to you and your ramblings." Don chuckled and grabbed his bag from the ground.

"You're confusing me with Adam and you can't just leave." Danny said standing up after him and packing his own stuff up.

"Yes, I can. I don't know about you but I have plans tonight." Don told him.

"You didn't have plans earlier." Danny noted and Don smirked.

"Well, I do now." he told him. Danny crossed his arms and gave Don a stern stare.

"Who sent you the text, Flack?" he asked. Don sighed and looked over at his friend. "Who do you have plans with?"

"Joli, alright. She got tonight off and we're having dinner at my place." Don admitted. A grin spread across Danny's face and Don sighed again. "Don't give me that look."

"So what's going on there?" Danny asked. Don shook his head and threw the strap of his bag over his shoulder.

"Nothing. Now leave me alone." he called as he walked off. Danny grinned and pulled phone out again. He opened his message box and started typing a new message to Lindsey.

M, I think you might be right. They are having dinner, tonight.

D.

"What about this color?" Joli asked, holding her foot out to Lindsey. Joli arrived about twenty minutes after Lindsey got the text from Danny and was shocked that she didn't have to press Joli for the dinner plans. Joli had casually said that she was having dinner at Don's place and she was wanting to watse some time before she left. Lindsey pressed for more information but she got about the same amount of info that Danny got from Flack.

Lindsey leaned over the coffee table and crinkled her nose.

"Too bright." she said. Joli pulled her foot back and grabbed the bottle of nail polish remover and wiped off the pinkish color on her toe. She tapped her lip as she looked on the table for another color, a darker color. She smiled and picked up another pink colored bottle and twisted the top off. She had just touched the brush to her toe nail when Lindsey's fingers came across the table.

"I've never done them this good." Lindsey smiled and Joli laughed.

"They look good." she agreed. "I can't do my nails for nothing. My toes are no biggie but God forbid I take a color to my nails. I'd look like a two year old."

"I'm the opposite. I can't do my toes. My legs don't like to stretch for me." Lindsey laughed.

"Well, I'll do your toes, if you do my nails. Deal?" Joli smiled and Lindsey nodded.

"So what are your plans for Thanksgiving? It's only two weeks away." Lindsey asked. Joli scoffed and shook her head.

"Well, my sister wants to come here for turkey day but my mom wants me over there. I explained to her that CiCi wants to see dad but she said well I want to have both of you here." Joli told her.

"Ya can't always get whatcha want." Lindsey half sang and half laughed.

"Exactly. But I think CiCi's going to come out here for like a week and hang out." Joli smiled. Lindsey noticed that the smile was not her regular happy smile, it was sadder.

"You miss her, huh?" Lindsey asked. Joli's eyes watered and she sniffed as she set the nail polish bottle down.

"Yeah." she mumbled and wiped her eyes. "I feel guilty sometimes for leaving her there." she confessed. Lindsey set the polish bottle down and moved over to the other couch to sit next to her. Joli leaned her head on Lindsey's shoulder and sighed. "It's always been up against mom even when we were fighting. And now I feel like I abandoned her."

"Has she said how things have been?" Lindsey asked.

"Yeah, things are fine. I mean, it was me that my mom nagged on most of the time because she knew that CiCi looked up to me, so I had to be perfect and the popular." Joli told her and turned her head right when something flashed across the television screen. She grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

"Oh gosh, look at this." she breathed and Lindsey looked over. On the screen was a picture of a young woman and her two kids from a tiny town outside of Rochester, NY.

'Investigators are calling this a double murder. Officials have confirmed that the mother, Kennedy Chandler and her two children, Thomas and Ian, were found shot to death in there home.'

Lindsey reached for the remote suddenly and tunred the tv off completely. Joli looked shocked and was about to ask what was wrong when she saw the pale and saddened look on Lindsey's face. Lindsey felt her staring but siad nothing as she picked the nial polish bottle up and finished doing her fingers.

"Back home, in Bozeman, there was this tiny diner about 20 twenty minutes from my house." Lindsey smiled softly. Her sudden and random outburst shocked Joli but not as much as the look in her eyes. She only said a few words but the way she said them was almost enough to bring chills to your skin. "Everyone would go there after school or after games in Friday nights. I'm not too sure why it was the place to be but everyone flocked there." she smiled and Joli nodded, setting Lindsey's left foot down and gently grabbing her right foot.

"They had the best homemade milkshakes. Gran, the owner, didn't like sing the soft ice cream machines. She made sure the workers ordered and used the hard ice cream. They were perfect and once a week she made the ice cream herself and sold the skakes at half price. My mom said she used to make the ice cream herself everyday but as she got older she couldn't."

Joli kept focus on the tiny nails on Lindsey's hand and slowly nodded and glanced up ever so often to let her know she was paying attention.

"Anyways, me and my friend would always go there after games and just to get out of the house, to relax and have our time to chat. Gran would keep the diner open later on nights we got in there before she closed on time. She was always so sweet." Joli looked up when she heard the familiar crack in her voice. She paused her painting to see the glossy look in Lindsey's eyes.

"Remember what you told me earlier? That you were listening." Joli whispered and Lindsey nodded. "Well, I'm listening too." Lindsey looked over to her and cracked a tiny smile.

"Remember when I said every had a past, some were just worse than others?" she asked and looked down at her hands.

"Yeah, I do." Joli nodded.

"Well, mine is worse than others." she whispered and bit her lip. "A lot worse." Joli reached out for her hands and smiled softly.

"You can talk to me, Linds." Joli told her. Lindsey closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"When I was sixteen me and three of my friends were at the diner with Gran and her oldest son Charlie. We has just left the movies and we wanted a milkshake. So we stopped by Gran's and were chatting about the movie. About my second refill on my shake," she said and cleared her throat when her voice broke. Joli felt her heart start to shake with the anticipation of what her friend was about to reveal. "I had to go to the bathroom." Lindsey whispered and closed her eyes.

She saw herself in the diner again, sitting next to Marie, Candy and Allison. She saw the food and shakes spread all over the table and she heard the sound of their laughter all over again. It was heaven at that time, it was the time of her life. She remembered walking to the restroom, laughing at a joke that Marie had just said and she almost wet her pants before she finally gave in and jumped out of her seat to run to the restroom. She still laughed as she slammed the door shut and locked it.

"I didn't hear the first shot until I reached for the door's lock." she whispered, her lip quivering as the emotions and member flooded her brain. Joli fought hard to keep herself composed. She knew Lindsey wouldn't ever calm down or continue if she couldn't keep herself together. "I heard the screams. I don't know who but I heard them, loud and clear. My hand just lingered over the handle as I stood there."

She remembered covering her mouth with her tiny hand and stifling the screams that she thought were going to erupt form her lips but was shocked to hear nothing. She knew the only people out there were her friends, Gran and Charlie. She knew that the screams that she was hearing from the bathroom door were those of the people she had left out left there. She knew those screams were of excruciating pain and most likely the onset of a death, or deaths. She couldn't scream, she felt she had no reason to. Hers were silent. Silent and hidden like she was.

"I fell down to the ground and just listened to them." she cried to Joli. "I sat there and did nothing, Jo." she sobbed as Joli quickly moved to pull the tiny brunette into her arms. Joli held Lindsey tight to her chest and smoothed her hand over the curls in her hair, whispering soft words of encouragement to try and calm her down but there was no calming.

All she kept seeing in her mind was her sixteen year old self sitting on the bathroom floor, covering her ears from the piercing screams and shots from the other room. She felt her hands being removed from her ears and listening to the eerie silence that took over her and building. She saw herself move ever so slowly to the door and push it open just enough to see through into the dining room where she had just been.

She felt the emotions again. The feeling of sickness as she scanned the room and saw the bodies scattered around the usually spotless dining area. The blood pooled around said bodies. She felt the horror and pain when she remembered seeing the look on Marie's pale face, eyes wide open and scared. She was looking straight at her but through her all at the same time. But most of all she felt the fear and angry rise in her when she saw the lone figure standing in the middle of the scene, calm and composed with a shot gun in hand.

"He just stood there and looked over everything, like he was trying to memorize it. He stood there and watched as my friends died and bleed to death." she cried again and Joli held her tighter.

"Shhh it's okay. It's alright, Linds." she whispered and closed her eyes tightly. Never in a million years would she hae thought that something this horrible had happened to Lindsey. She never showed the trauma of something like and she Lindsey's overall attitude was nothing but happy and sweet. How could some like that be hiding something so horrible?

After a few more minutes of body wracking sobs, Lindsey took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. Joli looked down as Lindsey moved from her arms and wiped her face.

"That's why I am who I am." she told Joli softly. Joli nodded, understanding completely. Lindsey wasn't the only one who's past decided what she was going to be when she got older. Joli understood that well.

"Did they find him?" Joli asked. Lindsey sighed and closed her eyes again.

"They did and he got convicted." she nodded and then looked over at Joli. "Long story short, I just testified two years ago."

"That long?" Joli asked, shocked. Lindsey nodded and laughed a little.

"Yeah, right after I moved here too. The thing I wanted to get away from caught up to me and bit me hard. But I didn't care. I was fine as long as he was going to prison."

"I take it everyone else knows?" Joli asked. Lindsey laughed again but this time it was a little sweeter.

"At first I didn't tell them what happened. I think Mac knew but he'd never tell me that." she smiled. "One day at a scene I flipped out and left. Stella was trying to be nice and I snapped one her leading her to snap on me and it was one big blowout."

"What happened?"

"Well, I ended up talking to her about it later. Told her what happened and that I got a subpoena to go testify and I was just freaked out about seeing him again." she said whispering the last words.

"How did you handle it?" Joli asked and Lindsey smiled again, shaking her head lightly.

"Danny." she replied. Joli smirked and leaned back on the couch to listen to the story.

"No need to stop now." she smiled and Lindsey smirked at her.

"I don't know. Ever since I got here there had always been this connection between us. I loved working with him and we worked well together. Well, about the time that I got the news that I had to testify, Danny started realizing that we might have something." she told her.

"Bad timing." Joli stated.

"Very." Lindsey agreed. "Well, he cornered me one day and all I could do was blow him off. I had to think about the trial and get ready to leave to go back to Montana, not about getting into a relationship with a co-worker." she sighed and Joli nodded.

"Seems everything worked out though." she smiled and Lindsey nodded.

"He followed me to Montana." she declared and looked up at the surprised face of Joli.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, he flew out the day I had to testify. Mac let him have a few days off and we flew back together." she smiled. "He gave me that boost I needed to face him and testify." she said and Joli rubbed her arm when her voice cracked. "To put in jail for what he did."

The images of the diner flooded back again. She watched him slowly walk out of the diner, as if nothing had happened. She waited a few minutes before she pushed the door open and slowly stood to her feet to walk out. She found out quick that her voice was back she let out a shrill scream. Her eyes scanned the floors and the bodies of her three best friends as they lay twisted and bloodied around the table they had sat at every time they had come in here for the past four years. A loud sob escaped when she turned around, trying to look away from the horror, and was greeted to the site of Charlie, the cook. He was laid out in a booth with a huge gaping hole in his chest.

Lindsey shook her head uncontrollably and tip toed around the mess on the floor and over to the counter to reach for the phone. Whens he got to the counter the phone was off the hook and she leaned over to see Gran laying on the ground, phone clutched in hand. Her heard broke and she sank to the ground again and sobbed.

Joli wiped the tears from her face and sniffled. Lindsey sent her a weak smile and squeezed her hand.

"I'm so sorry, Linds." Joli whispered. Lindsey shook her head and wiped her cheeks off.

"I should be apologizing. I didn't mean to go all emotional here. I don't know what came over me." she laughed a little, trying to ease the tense situation. "I've never been this emotional before."

"I get real emotional before my period." Joli smirked.

"I get tired, really tired when I'm on mine. I yawn like crazy. Danny hates it." Lindsey laughed. "I start to yawn and then he gets sleepy and blames it on me." Joli laughed with her and shook her head.

"That sounds like Danny." she chuckled and then got really quiet. Lindsey reached out and grabbed her hand.

"I didn't mean to upset you. Especially before you go to Don's." Lindsey apologized again. "God, I'm stupid, I'm so-" Joli held her hand up and that's when Lindsey noticed the tears. "Jo, what is it?"

"I feel so bad now. Guilty." she sniffed and looked up at Lindsey. "You just told me the most horrible thing that has happened to you and I-"

"I didn't mean to." Lindsey butted in and groaned. "I did but I don't know what came over me, really." Joli shook her head and sat up.

"No, I don't mind." she assured her.

"Then what's wrong?" Lindsey asked.

"I lied." Joli whispered.

"About what?" Lindsey asked.

"About the attack." Lindsey almost didn't hear her and when she processed what she heard, she didn't understand what she was talking about.

"You didn't get attacked?" Lindsey asked.

"No, I did." Joli nodded and wiped a tear away from her cheek. "But I told the girl that story to get her to help us out." she confessed.

"What was a lie?" Lindsey asked, rubbing her hand slowly to calm her down and let her know she was here for her.

"I was the it girl in high school." Joli sniffed. "I didn't have to do my homework, people did it for me or I just turned in an empty sheet of paper. I was the equivalent of Devon back then. I was mean and on top the world. I could do whatever I wanted, whenever and wherever I wanted to and no one could stop me. I mean, I wasn't a hellion but I was the head cheerleader and ruled that school." she sighed and Lindsey watched her intently. Lindsey wasn't going to push her into giving out more than she wanted, although she did want to comment on how she just couldn't see Joli being like Devon at all.

The girl in front of her was a very low key and casual girl. Her glasses hung on her narrow nose and her hair was always in a bun or pony tail. Lindsey wasn't sure if Joli owned any kind of hair products. Joli didn't wear the designer duds that Devon adorned 24/7. Joli was a jeans and t-shirt girl. A basball cap wearer with her hair tucked in. Joli didn't wear make-up, honestly she didn't need it and no, Lindsey was not calling Joli ugly, she was far from it. But attitude wise, Lindsey Monroe could not see any likeness between Devon and Joli.

"But as always, being in that situation, I got a lot of attention. Most of I wanted but one day," she whispered and held up a finger. "One day I got more than I wanted."

"I was always the first to get there and the last leave. I might have head a huge ego but I was dedicated. I made sure that everything was cleared off the field and that everyone was gone before I left." she whispered and closed her eyes. "It was Friday and I was getting ready to leave when I heard someone yell from behind me."

She turned around to see who was on the field when she thought everyone had left and saw someone running across the field.

'Hey, you need to leave. The field is shutting down.' she yelled to him as he ran. Aggravated that the man didn't yell back or head to the exit, she crossed her arms and glared as his figure ran up to her. She didn't get to see who he was because it was dark and he was facing away from the lights on the field. She sighed as he reached her and she pointed to the exit.

'I know where the exit is.' he spoke. Joli furrowed her brows and moved to see the man's face.

'Coach Jones, I thought you left?' she asked.

"Oh my god." Lindsey gasped and moved to grab the box of kleenex for Joli.

"All he said was that he had something to take care of." Joli whispered while taking a tissue.

'Alright. Well, I'm heading out. Great game.' she smiled and turned around to walk to the private exit. She turned back around in surprise when Coach Jones' hand grasped her upper arm. She would have freaked out but he was pointing to the bleachers next to the field.

'You forgot the cheer bag.' he said. Joli looked over to the bottom bleacher where her cheer bag was. The cheer bag was filled with the pom pom's and banners they carried and she could have sworn she already locked that away in the lockers.

'I guess I did.' she whispered and moved from his grip and walked over to the bleachers. She didn't start to panic until he followed her as she walked. She turned to him and smiled.

'I can get it. I've done it before.' she assured him but he didn't repsond nor did he stop following. 'Coach, I got it.' she said a little more firmly. He smirked at her and at the last minute he lunged for her. Joli screamed and threw her bag down as she took off running. She heard him curse and she looked back as she ran under the bleachers.

'Stop now! Hammberback, get your ass back here.' he yelled as she ducked under metal rods and poles as she ran as fast as she could. She looked back to see where he was and how far behind her but didn't see him. She stopped for a split second and started running again but didn't get far.

He grabbed her by her arms and pushed her against the metal gate that surrounded the back of the bleachers. He pressed her hard against it and she cried out.

'Please, let me go.' she pleaded as he held her hands behind her back and let his other hand fumble with her cheering pants. Now she was glad thats he agreed to do the game in the pants otherwise she'd be in her skirt. 'No, please.'

'Why not? You like the attention. Don't you like it, huh?' he hissed and started to pushed her pants down, leaving her in a pair of tiny black practice shorts.

'No, please no.' she sobbed as he started to push up her top.

"He froze when a car door slammed." Joli recanted. "He covered my mouth and looked around to see who was there or if anyone could see. That was the only opportunity I had to get away and I head butted him." she said and smirked a little. Lindsey couldn't help it either.

"You pulled a Danny." she chuckled. Joli laughed to and wiped her eyes.

"I can see him doing that." she nodded and sighed deeply.

"What happened next?" Lindsey asked. Joli huffed and shook her head.

"Nothing much. He fell and I ran." she replied shortly. Lindsey contemplated asking the next and obvious question but didn't get a chance to ask. "And no, I didn't tell anyone." Joli added.

"Why not?" Lindsey asked.

"I was afraid, I guess. Part of me believed that no one would have believed me anyways. They would have thought I was fooling around and trying to make a scene. So I saved myself from more hurt." she shrugged.

"What happened to the coach?" Lindsey asked, not wanting to press the issue of her not telling anyone.

"All I know is that he quit and transferred to a new school."

"No one asked questions?" Lindsey asked.

"There wasn't any questions to be asked." Joli relied simply. Lindsey nodded sadly and sighed. "I only told the girl that story because I wish I had told someone." she confessed a few minutes later. Lindsey smiled and patted her leg.

"Well because of your story, whether it was true or not, we found him and he's going away for a long time." Lindsey told her and Joli smiled. "So is that how you got to be who you are today?" she asked. Joli laughed and leaned back onto the couch.

"After that I did a complete 360." she told her. "I burned my old clothes, I started doing my own work. I stopped fixing myself up and I secluded myself." Joli explained.

"Why though?" Lindsey asked.

"I though if I made my undesirable, it wouldn't happen again." Joli admitted bluntly. "If I became the girl that was never made up and considered a nerd," she said finger quoting the last word. "That no one would see me like that and it would get me out of the lime light."

"Did it?" Lindsey asked.

"Yeah, it did. My friends slowly lost interest in me and I became the lesser know girl in school." she nodded. "And college was even better. No one knew my old self and they didn't look at me as some bimbo, I got credit for my work and it was great."

"Didn't anyone notice? Like your mom?"

"My mom only noticed that I had changed for good when I told her what I wanted to do with my life." Joli smirked a little.

"Lemme guess she had a conniption fit when you told her?" Lindsey asked.

"Oh boy yes. She flipped." Joli laughed. "She went on a half an hour rant about how I should be a cheerleader or a model." she said rolling her eyes. "She was livid. Told me I was breaking her heart and letting her down. But you know what?" she smiled and looked over at Lindsey. Lindsey smiled seeing the sparkle back in her eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"My dad," Joli smiled softly. "He was so proud of me. He's always been proud of me but when I called him to tell him I was going to nursing school, I could hear it in his voice and feel it through the phone." she gushed.

"I bet he ranted and raved about the joys of going into the medical field." Lindsey laughed.

"For hours. We talked for hours." Joli exclaimed. "It was the first real time me and my dad talked like that. All the others times it was me talking about this girl in school and my boyfriend. It was never real and personal. But that night it was." she smiled.

"I bet he enjoyed it though." Lindsey told her.

"He did, no doubt but it felt good to feel closer to my dad. After such a bad accident, that he didn't know about, I had him back and the change was all worth it in the end." she smiled.