Four

"Primrose, Primrose!" Called a voice. I could feel someone shaking me as I woke, it was morning.

"What do you want?" I said groggily.

"Why are you on the floor?" They asked.

I opened my eyes exposing myself to the light.

"Dallas!" I cried, giving him a hug. "I missed you."

Dallas lifted me back up on to my bed and sat next to me.

"I missed you too, Prim. What's been going on?" He asked.

"Not much," I said. "Where have you been the past week?"

"New York," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"I got called down there to do some work on cars in a garage there. It was worth the money," Dallas said.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going?" I asked.

"You were in school and I didn't have time. Why didn't you know? I told Cole to tell you where I was," Dallas told me.

"I assumed you were just out most of the time, but the one time I did ask him, he kind of ignored the question," I recounted.

"Has Cole been treatin' you well lately?" Dallas asked, lighting a cigarette.

"Prim, if Cole ain't treating you good then you tell me okay? No one hurts my sister and gets away with it. What's that bruise on your arm?" He said, catching sight of the bruise I got from when Vic tried to trap me by my arms.

"Oh, nothing," I said quickly, moving my arm under my teddy bear.

"It's not nothing," Dallas said, taking my arm and looking closely at the bruise.

"Who did this?" He asked.

"No one, I fell," I explained.

"Who did this?" Dallas asked again.

I felt like I owed Dally the truth.

"It was Vic Criss," I admitted.

"What!" Cried Dallas. "Who is Vic Criss?"

"Calm down or Cole will come in," I whispered. "They're in the Bowers gang. Vic is the blond one."

"I think I might know who that is. I don't want anything to happen to you. You're all I got left now," said Dallas

"Dal, I can take care of myself perfectly fine," I pointed out.

"Wanna go out?" Dallas asked.

"Sure, but let me go shower first," I said.

As I got up and left the room Dallas spoke up. "I'm gonna get the guy who did that to your arm."

I sighed as I locked the bathroom door and turned on the hot shower. I stripped and stepped in. I washed my hair and body, got out, dried my hair and went back to my room with a towel.

"Hello, Primrose," Cole said, standing in my room, Dallas had obviously gone.

"Hi, could I please get changed?" I asked.

Great. Great way to start the day. Note the sarcasm.

Like I mentioned previously if I value my life, and the lives of people I care about, I'm not going to argue with Cole.

"Okay," I said dropping the towel.

Cole's eyes went wide and I saw a bulge appear in his pants.

"You are not a little girl anymore. You are growing into a woman," he said, inching closer to me.

The phone rang. Cole dashed out and answered it in the hallway. When he hung up he came back.

"I've been called in for a job," he said, winking at me. He's a janitor at a hospital.

I sighed heavily as he left the room. I'm so grateful to whoever was on the other end of that phone.

I went over to my closet and pulled out what I was going to wear for the day. I put my underwear on and chose an outfit. I sprayed on some of my perfume, brushed my long blonde hair and left my room to find Dallas on the couch watching TV.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we got into Dallas's souped-up red 1985 Chevrolet Camaro.

"Wanna go eat breakfast?" He suggested.

"Sounds good, where?" I asked.

"You choose," Dallas said.

"McDonald's, I never get to go there anymore," I said.

"McDonald's it is," Dallas agreed.

We drive the three minutes into the main street. Dallas parked and we got out of the car and headed for Macca's.

"Go find a booth and I'll order. What do you want?" Dallas asked.

"I'll have a sausage McMuffin meal with orange juice," I said as I found a free booth.

I sat there for around three minutes when boredom got the best of me. I picked up a napkin and started randomly folding it to pass the time.

I got bored of it and looked around the room, I met eyes with a certain dirty blond grey-eyed boy... It was Henry. 

I noticed that he had something navy blue on his wrist...

"Where are the try-outs for the girls track team?" I asked coach Williams.

"Oh, we scrapped it. Not enough girls signed up," Williams told me.

"That's not fair, Let me try out for the boys team then," I demanded.

"Alright, here's the deal. I'll put you in a race against the two fastest in the boys' team. If you beat at least one of them, you're on," Coach Williams said.

"Alright, that's fair," I agreed.

"Carter, Blake! Get over here!" called Coach Williams.

Two large and muscly boys came running over.

"Yeah, coach?" one of them questioned.

"Over there, all three of you," said Coach Williams, gesturing to the beginning of the running track.

The three of us walked over.

" On your marks, get set, go!" Called Coach Williams.

We were off.

Adrenaline was running through me, I didn't look back. I stopped at the end of the track and the other boys weren't there. They were only just coming up behind me.

"Nice job, Winston! You're in!" Announced Coach Williams.

"But this is a boys team!" Complained Henry.

"Sorry, Bowers. If we let her in, she'd be there fastest one. I raced her against two of the fastest guys on this team. I gotta," Coach Williams explained.

Henry gave me a dirty look.

All the other boys came running up to me, and they lifted me up chanting "Primrose, Primrose, Primrose!"

Henry didn't, he took a seat on the benches and scowled.

When they put me down, I went over to see if Henry was okay.

"Henry, what's wrong?" I asked.

"This is a boys team, Primrose! Are you a boy?" he questioned, before storming off.

I was hit with a bit of surprised. He didn't call me Primrose much at all. He always called me Prim.

"I hate you! Never talk to me again!" He cried before running off.

What just happened?

"Don't worry about Bowers, he's just jealous. It's his loss anyway," Coach Williams said with a chuckle.

The next class was science, Henry was my lab partner, so he had to sit next to me. When I arrived in class, he was already there. I went down to sit next to him.

"Hey," I said.

He didn't answer. I didn't even bother trying to talk to him after that.

The rest of the day bought dark skies and rain poured down.

My next class was Geography. I sat down and Emma sat next to me.

"What's going on with you and Bowers?" Emma asked kindly.

"I got into the track team, and he suddenly got really angry at me," I said.

"Hmmm. Boys are confusing aren't they?" she said with a giggle.

"You're telling me," I agreed.

Henry and I usually walked home together, probably not today though.

It was pouring with rain, and I didn't have an umbrella, I would usually use Henry's in this case.

I walked out of the school and the rain hit me hard. It was pouring very heavily. I decided to just wait for the bus. I missed the first one, so everybody had gone. I sat down on the bench, alone.

I felt a tear come to my eye. I lost my best friend. Without even meaning too. I knew I had no reason to feel guilt or remorse, but I did anyway.

Suddenly the rain stopped. I turned around, Henry was next to me, he had his arm outstretched, holding his umbrella over me, and letting himself get completely soaked.

"Hey," he said with a weak smile. "I've been an asshole."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"I was jealous. I didn't mean any of it. I swear. You're my best friend," Henry said.

I smiled at him.

"I understand, and thanks for the umbrella. You're getting soaked," I laughed softly.

"I don't care, I just want your forgiveness," Henry pleaded.

"I forgive you," I said, taking the umbrella, moving over and then giving it back to him so we were both under it.

Henry gave me a hug.

"I've got something for you," said Henry, taking something out of his bag.

It was a drawing.

"Is that me?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah, I drew it in English. I was gonna write a story about the adventures we've had as friends for my assessment, but I want you to keep this," he said.

"Henry, that's so nice," I gushed.

"There's something else too," he said, pulling out two bracelets.

Well, they weren't really bracelets, they were adjustable pieces of string. He handed me one. It was light blue with a little silver 'H' charm. His was navy blue with a little silver 'P' charm.

"I made them in art. Friendship bracelets," Henry explained. "Yours has an 'H' for 'Henry' and mine has a 'P' for 'Prim."

"Thanks, Henry," I said softly with a smile.

Henry slid the bracelet on to my wrist and I did the same for him.

"Let's make a pact, we can't take them off. Ever," I suggested.

"That's what makes them friendship bracelets!" Henry gushed.

"Pinky swear?" I suggested.

Then we interlocked our pinky fingers together like we did when we were little.

"Should we keep waiting for the bus?" I asked.

"Nah," said Henry. "Let's walk home together."

Henry was still wearing that navy blue friendship bracelet he made for me back in the sixth grade. Mine's at home in my jewelry box, I still have it, I just can't bring myself to wear it.

I quickly looked away and looked down at the table, and that's when Dallas came back with the food.

"Dallas, I have to tell you something," I said.

"Anything," he said, taking a bit of his bacon.

"Cole raped me. A few years ago. Now he has sex with me every now and then, but it's not rape because I let him, because he'll probably kill me if I don't. Most days he does other things," I blurted it out, looking down at the table.

"W-why didn't you tell me this?" Dallas asked quietly.

I shrugged.

"Prim," said Dallas, taking my hand. "That's still rape."

I tried to hold my tears in.

"I-I don't know what to do. He made me drop my towel in front of him this morning, but he had to leave before he could do anything," I stuttered.

Dallas shook his head. "You should have told me, I could have stopped this."

"He said if I told anyone he'd hurt me, hurt you and all my friends," I mumbled.

"We're moving out as soon as possible," said Dallas firmly. "I'm so fucking sorry that this has happened to you, and I know my words aren't enough to make things better. You're the only thing I love in this world. I love you so god damn much. The thought of you suffering just kills me on the inside. I'll find us our own house in Derry."

"I don't know what to say," I said, smiling.

"Don't say anything," said Dallas, smiling back.

i love dallas winston so much omg. how cute is that gif of him... if you don't know the outsiders you should watch it or read it!

- ella