Music - http://maxpages.com/bsbfiction/Dont_leave_me_now_part

CHAPTER 3

The next morning:
"Trisha? Hey Trisha it is time to get up?" AJ was shaking her gently.
"Huh? Ok, ok I am getting up." Trisha said sitting up slowly.
"What are we doing?" Trisha asked half-awake.
"We have eat breakfast and get all our stuff on the bus and than travel to South Carolina. Sound like fun?" AJ asked jokingly.
"Yeah a lot of fun"Trisha said getting out of bed and going over to her suitcase.
"Well I am going down to get some breakfast."AJ said opening the door.
"Ok I will be down there after I get dressed." Trisha said as he closed the door.
"Hey boys!" AJ greeted the boys a little too cheerful for that early in the morning. "Well hello to you too." AJ responded when nobody answered him.
"Did you find out what is going on with Trisha?" Howie asked him.
"No she was asleep when we got back." AJ answered.
"Still?" Nick asked.
" Yeah I don't know what is going on with her but something tells me that it happened before she left home."
"You think? Are you sure it wasn't something one of us did or said?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah I am pretty sure." AJ responded. Just than Trisha walked in a sat down between AJ and Nick.
"Good Morning." Nick said to Trisha
"Good Morning guys." Trisha said looking around the table at everybody. Just than a waitress came over to take her order.
"I will just take some coffee."
"Caffinated or decafe? The waitress asked.
"Um, caffinated please." Trisha responded.
"Ok I will be right back." The waitress said a left.
"Is that all your getting?" AJ asked.
"Yeah I don't eat a lot when I am not fully awake." Trisha said.
"Really I didn't know that." AJ said not believing her.
"What?" She asked knowing that look. "Call my mom and ask her."
"Fine I will." AJ took out his cell phone and dialed a number. " Hey Chris, whereâ€™s your mom yeah ok I will hold on. ¦Hey Ann this is AJ. Yeah I just wanted to ask you a questions ¦yeah¦. Does Trisha ever eat in the morning why not? ¦Because she is never fully awake?! Are you serious¦Yeah she is here? Yeah hold on. Here Trisha she wants to talk to you."
"Hello?" Trisha said. "Hi mom, ¦yeah, I read itâ€¦I know I donâ€™t what to do about it's¦yeah I wish I could have done something about it but you know what was going on ¦yeah¦yup¦well what do you want me to do about it. no but I didn't even have anything to do with him when it happened exactly so?
Yeah whatever but mom, no! That is crazy he knows he cant Justin was my only life lineSo if he does I don't know what I am going to do€¦I thought the judge said â yeah ¦so he can't ¦yeah OK I will but mom I am not going to€¦. That is stupid ¦okay ¦okay. bye." Trisha hung up the phone and handed it to AJ. "I will be right back." Trisha got up and went to the room and looked for a number and made a call to her friend in New York. Just than Nick and the guys came up to see what she was up to.
"Yeah is Jessica there? Thanks Hey Jessica¦. Yeah I heard. What am I supposed to do about it I know but now without Justin around? He was the only one who saved me from the jaws of Jeff€¦well my mom said that yesterday he left€¦I don't€™t think he knows€¦no I never told anybody€¦I know€¦Jess I am so freaking out right now€¦I have no clue€¦What am I going to do about it€¦No I never even told AJ what€™s going no€¦He would freak about it and over react€¦. I told you how he is about this stuff€¦I know€¦okay€¦hey I got go but I will call you later€¦. Yeah I promise€¦okay€¦bye." She hung up and the guys ran to the end of the hallway to act as if they just got off the elevator.
"Hey you ready?" AJ asked, "We need to get going."
"Yeah I am ready." Trisha said
"Ok guys lets get ready to hit the road." Kevin said and started towards his room to get his stuff.

chapter 4
Later on the bus.
"So where exactly am I going to sleep." Trisha asked as soon as they were in the bus. The bus had five small rooms, which just had a bed nightstand and small closet. You can only fit one, maybe two people in a room at once it was so small.
Nick was the first to speak up. "You can use my room, I can bunk with Brian or I can sleep on the couch."
"Thatâ€™s ok Nick you don't have to, I can sleep on the couch." Trisha responded.
"No really I wouldn't want you to get a bad back from sleeping on the couch all week." Nick said.
"Well, it wouldn't matter to me because I am not the one who has to perform you do. So I should sleep on the couch." The rest of the guys just stood there listening to the two fight over who got the couch and who got the bedroom.
"Ok you two. How about Nick goes with Brian and Trisha can have Nick's room?" Kevin suggested.
"Yeah ok that's fine." Nick said and looked at Trisha to see what she would say.
"Yeah whatever." Trisha shrugged.
"OK I will show you where it is." Nick said to Trisha and started to lead her back to his room. Just before they reached his room the bus jerked and Trisha fell into Nick and he caught her just before she hit the floor. They stared at each other a few seconds.
"I am really sorry." Trisha said quickly get up and backing away.
"That's ok it happens sometimes." Nick said. "Here it is. My home away from home." He opened the door and walked inside. It was very small the bed up against the wall with a small nightstand next to it. On the other side of the wall was a small closet. There was€™t much room between the bed and the closet. It was a very tight in-closed space.
"Wow, there ain't much room huh?" Trisha said looking around.
"No but that's€™s ok because we usually don'tt spend more than one or two nights on the bus." Nick said.
"So€¦where is the restroom." Trisha said just to break the silence.
"Oh yeah, um, it is just down the hallway. I will show you." Nick said and had to squeeze past Trisha to get out the door. He led her down the hall a little ways and opened a door.
"And here is the very small bathroom." Nick said opening the door wide enough for her to peer inside.
"I can see that." Trisha said looking in.
"I haven't showed you that best part of the bus yet." Nick said and closed the door and continued to walk back farther into the bus. And when Trisha though you couldn't go much farther he opened a door into a bigger room. "This is what we call the "Rec." room, and believe me it usually looks that way." Nick said laughing. He opened the door and lead her in to room that had a small Stereo system and a good sized television that seemed to be hooked up to a game box like Playstation or something similar to that.
"It looks cool." Trisha said looking around. Down the hall towards the front of the bus. Just past some curtains was a room that looked like the kind of kitchen you see in a trailer. It had a small stove and oven and and some cupboards. Than there was a table where most of time. This or the kitchen." Nick said. "Follow me." Nick turned and walked out the guys were seated and a couple of chairs were close by it.
"It took you guys long enough. What did you do get lost?" AJ asked laughing.
"No I was just showing her where everything was." Nick said taking a seat. Trisha decided to sit at the table next to Howie across from AJ. She started at him frowning. He knew that he was in trouble.
"So what do you think of our bus." Howie asked Trisha.
"I think it is cool. It is nice." Trisha responded.
"Good, most girls think it is too small." Brian said from the doorway. Trisha turned to see whom it was talking.
"You sure are different." Brian continued. " Are you sure that you are a regular girl?" Brian and the rest of the guys started to laugh.
"Well I like to think of my self as a regular girl but I hear that I can be different at times, why? Is that a bad thing?" Trisha said looking at each of the guys.
"No." All the guys said at once. They all looked at each other.
"What?" Trisha asked thinking that she said something wrong.
"Nothing." AJ said and got up. " I am going to listen to some music." Howie started to get stuff out of a box that looked like a briefcase. " I am going to e-mail some friends." He got out a laptop and his cell phone hooked a wire up to from his cell phone to his laptop. He opened up the laptop and turned it on. Trisha sat there and watched him." Do carry that everywhere you go?" Trisha asked curiously.
"Yup." Howie replied. " Just about. It helps me keep in contact with family and friends better." Howie explained.
"Oh I see. That is cool." Trisha said.
"S¦." Howie was not sure if he wanted to start with what he knew or not. " Have you talked to anybody from home yet besides your mom?"
"U¦" Trisha was not sure if she really wanted to open up to Howie yet. He seemed like he could keep a secret and would really listen to her. But she was willing to give it a try. "Yeah I have." For a few minutes on the phone I was talking to my friend Jessica. I want to talk to my best Friend Sara but she is working over vacation so I cant€™t talk to her until tonight." Trisha explained.
"Is Sara the kind of best friend that you tell everything to?"Howie said getting curious.
"Yeah she is defiently that kind of best friend." Trisha said wondering why he was asking such questions.
"Just wondering what kind of person you are." Howie said while trying to check his e-mail.
"That's ok." Trisha said watching him. "A lot of people do that a lot. They say that they can't tell just by looking at me. That is why they ask questions. At least that it part my own theory."
"Well, that sounds like a good theory to me." Howie said while reading his e-mail. " So how long are you planning on staying on tour?"
" I am not sure." Trisha replied " Hopefully for the rest of the tour."
"Why?" Howie asked.
"Because I feel that I need some space from family and friends so I can figure out what I want to do with my life. I have been really confused lately. Have you ever been confused about life?" Trisha asked.
" Well there have been times when I ask myself why I am here and if I should keep on singing and being in the group and than I think about what I would do if I wasn't€™t with the group and come to the conclusion that I would be better of staying right where I am." Howie looked at Trisha. "Do you know what I mean?"
"Yeah I understand." Trisha replied.
"Good. Do you want to check your e-mail?" Howie asked turning the computer towards her."
"Yeah I guess. Maybe Sara wrote me." Trisha said going to the MSN website. She logged on and checked her e-mail. Most of it was junk mail but there was a couple from friend€™s back home. One was from Sara. She opened that one first:
Trisha,
Hey girl! How are you? Where are you now? I miss you lots girl! I hope you come back soon or at least call me soon! So have you heard about Justin? You must have. It is all over the newspapers and television. I am really sorry. I know you must be sad about it. I was sad when I heard about it and I hardly knew him but you were closer to him. Well, you need to call me sometime so I can talk to you about this. What's up with Jeff? Is he bugging you? I know that without Justin around he can get around easier. You know what I mean. Well I will talk to you later girl!! Miss ya!! J
Your Best Friend,
Sara J

***Trisha finished reading the e-mail and wanted to cry she missed Sara so much and wanted to talk to her so bad. She hit the "Reply" button and wrote back.
Sara,
Hey! I miss you too!! The worst part about losing Justin is that I will not be able to attend the funeral for fear that Jeff will find me and my life will end just as quick as Justin's was. I am so scared now that Justin is gone. He is the one that saves my life and calms Jeff when he fells the need to come after me. Although he couldn't always Jeff from coming after me he did a couple of times. But you know about that already. I need to talk to you girl!!! I need to talk to somebody who knows what kind of thing I am going through and I know that if I tell AJ he will just yell and scream instead of help me. I just know he will. Well I will try to call you soon. Ok? Talk to you later girl!! Miss ya too L
Your Best Friend for life,
Trisha
Howie was reading what she was writing and acting like he wasn't. He wanted to know what was going on with her. He wanted to help her.
As soon as Trisha was finished replying to all her e-mails her turned the laptop back to Howie who was staring off in to space thinking. "Here you go." Trisha said waking him out of his thoughts. "Thank you for letting me check my e-mail."
" Your welcome." Howie said coming out of his thoughts. "Anytime you want to check it or just go on-line just tell me, you are welcome to it."

"Thanks, I might take you up on that." Trisha said smiling.
"You better." Howie said winking at her. He was determined to get to the root of her problem.

CHAPTER 5

Finally Trisha thought closing the door to the room that she was going to be sleeping in that night. It was midnight. The guys had kept her up making her play video games and listening to music. She had been wanting to go to bed since 10:00, but Nick insisted that she play a game with him first. So she agreed to play only one game with him. Of course one game turned into a lot of games. What they didn't know was that Trisha was the kind of person that has to have her own downtime, by herself for a couple of hours each day. Trisha was not sure how she was going to pull that off. They all seemed to enjoy spending time with her. She didn't want to look like she didn't hang around them but if she didn't have some down time she didn't even want to think of what would happen to her. She climbed into a tank top and shorts and flopped into bed. She lay there with her eyes thinking about how she was going to tell the guys when she heard a knock on her door. She said, "Come in"
"Sorry to bother you." Nick said quietly. " I just wanted to get something out of the night stand drawer."
"That's ok." Trisha said quietly. "It's your room." Nick went over to the nightstand drawer and pulled out what looked like a magazine. On his way out he looked her in the eye and said, "have sweet dreams." Smiled and walked out the door. Trisha lay there thinking of how she was going to escape this one.

chapter 6

Trisha looked over at the clock on the nightstand. It was 10:00. I better get up she told herself. She rolled out of bed and without even thinking she walked into kitchen area where she found Nick sitting down drinking coffee.
"Morning." Nick said as soon as he saw Trisha walk in to the room.
"Morning" Trisha replied. She turned towards the fridge with her back to him and when she turned back around to sit down with her orange Juice she knew she had been caught.
"What on earth happened to you?" Nick asked clearly concerned.
"What are you talking about?" Trisha was trying to play dumb.
"You know what I'm talking about." Nick said in a soft voice. "Who hits you?"
"Nobody hits me, and if I did get hit I probably deserved it." Trisha said smoothly. Just as she got up to leave Nick grabbed her and pulled her down next to him.
"No girl ever deserves to get hit." Nick said quietly. "Who hit you?"
Trisha sighed knowing that there was no way out of this one. "My Boyfriend."
"You have a boyfriend." Nick asked surprised.
"I used to." Trisha said softly. "I don't anymore. When I told him I was leaving he said it was over if I walked out and I did. Obviously he didn't believe that I was going to walk out otherwise he wouldn't have started beating up on me. And Justine wasn't even there this time. I didn't know where he was until I left and came here." Trisha rushed through the whole thing and knew that Nick probably didn't even know what she had said.
"Come here." Nick said and led her to her room. "Now tell me again but slower. And start at the beginning."
"Well, I used to go out with this guy Jeff. He's real nice and sweet and loving and he always gets me stuff when I'm sick. Well we started going out last year at the end of the school year. So our first year anniversary would have been next week. But after about a month he used to hit me stuff when I did something stupid."
" What did you do that was stupid?" Nick asked her.
" Um, I don't know like if I forgot to tell him something, or if I forgot to call him when I got home and stuff like that. Well he used to hit me all the time because I always forgot to call him whenever I got in from work or going out with my parents and stuff."
"Why did you have to call him." Nick asked curiously. This guy sounds like a real jerk he thought.
"He said that he wanted to keep close tabs on me. So I had to call him all the time."
"And he hit you if you didn't." Nick said
"Yeah or worse." Trisha said tears were coming to her eyes.
Almost afraid Nick asked, "What's worse?" Trisha broke down crying but managed to answer her question.
"He would whip me." She left up her shirt and he saw a whole bunch of lines across her back. It took everything for Nick not to sit there and kiss each one away. He just sat there and held her as she cried. â€˜This is the way it should be he thought With her in my arms and not that jerks.
"It's ok Trish." Nick soothed her. "He is never going to hurt you again."
Trisha wished that she could believe him. But she knew that he didn't really know how bad Jeff was, and how badly he wanted her.
From outside The guys could hear somebody crying, it sounded like it was coming from the room Trisha was sleeping in but as they got closer they could her Nick talking to Trisha. They decided that they should leave them alone and find out from Nick what was going on later. They went in to the kitchen and got some coffee and was sitting down when Nick came in without Trisha.
"Hey guys." Nick said. It looked like he had been crying also.
"What's wrong?" Brian Asked clearly seeing that something was still bothering him.
" I am not sure if I should be telling you guys this¦"Nick started.
" Telling us what?" AJ asked knowing it was about Trisha. "Tell us man. You know hat if we keep anything away from each other it will be harder in the long run."
"Yeah I know but it isn't about me, it is about Trisha."
"What's wrong with her?" Howie asked alarmed. "Is she ok?"
"Well I don't think so." Nick said and everybody immediately looked concerned.
" What is going on?" They asked.
"Well you know how Trisha had a relationship before she came here? Well the guy she used to go out with beat her. BAD." Nick said. Looking like he was going to cry again. "She still has marks to prove it. I wouldn't have known except she came in here with a tank top on and I could see through it. And I just saw all these lines and big purple marks all over her back. So I asked her what was wrong and eventually she told me."
"Did you she tell you everything." AJ asked
"No but enough." Nick stated. " That guy made her think that she was stupid and worthless and that she could never get another guy to love her. I could kill that guy."
"Well Nick a lot of abusive guys do that." Kevin said calmly. "Im surprised that Trisha actually put up with him, she seems so strong and confident."
"That' a front she puts up that she gets from being the oldest." AJ explained. "A probably so her parents wouldn't find out."
"But the worst part is, that she actually thinks it her fault for him hitting her." Nick said sadly. "I don' know what to do. I want to show her that she doesn' deserve to be treated that way."
"We all should." AJ said. "I am just not sure how."
" Well I am sure we will think of something." Kevin said. They sat there for a bit sipping coffee for bit when Trisha came in looking real tired and had red bloodshot eyes.
"Morning." AJ said cheerfully.
"Yeah." Trisha mumbled back to him walking towards the fridge.
"What's rong?" AJ asked.
"Life!" Trisha replied exasperated. She clearly did not want to talk about it. And they all sensed it.

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