Karen remained hidden behind Brian being the shy girl she is. "Don't worry," Brian said, "No one bites."
Karen eased up a bit and looked around. 'There's Nick.' She glanced over at A.J. 'Oh no, that guy definitely hates me.'
"Nick! Theresa! Dawn! Aaron! Let's get going," Kevin said impatiently.
"We better go," Dawn suggested. "Kevin's gonna get mad!"
"Yeah...." Nick said. He looked over at the impatient Kevin and he looked at Brian. There was someone standing behind him, he couldn't see who it was though, so he started walking towards Brian to see who it was. As he got closer, he was surprised to see..........'Hey it's Karen, what's she doing here?' Nick thought happily.
Theresa looked over at the dirty figure with Brian. 'Oh no, not her again, what's she doing here?'
Theresa walked over to Dawn, "Look at who's with Brian. What's she doing here again?" Theresa said coldly.
"Theresa, don't get all jealous again, please..she looks like she needs some friends." Dawn said.
"But, she..Nick..he's..never mind."
"Theresa, just try to be nice, okay? Don't judge her just yet."
"But she's an ugly whore..."
"Calm down, Theresa..you don't know her."
"Dawn, why are you protecting her, you don't know her either, your suppose to be my best friend."
"No, I'm not protecting her, I'm just saying if the guys can see good in her, then why don't you try, or they'll never want to hang around us anymore...."
"Okay, I'll try, but I'm not saying that I'm going to be her friend...."
Dawn just looked at Theresa worried, 'I just hope this girl is a nice and good person, then maybe, just maybe, Theresa will ease up her anger a bit.'
Nick quickly walked over to Karen and Brian, "Hey, Karen, How are you? I've been worried about you. Brian, how'd you...?"
"I'm fine, Nick!! I'm sorry I didn't call, I just had too much to do." she lied. Brian looked at her knowing she was only trying to protect herself right now. He understood completely.
"I ran into her when I was jogging and we just sat down and talked. She's coming to stay with me, Kev, and Howie for awhile." Brian explained.
"Oh.." Nick said confused. He then looked at Karen. 'She's still in the same torn up clothes and she even dirtier then before. She looked like she's been crying a lot more too. I wonder what's going on.' He looked at Brian again. 'I hope his jog got his mind off Leigh Ann, but...but he looks like he...he is hiding something from us. I know he is..what..what's going on? Maybe I'll ask him later.' He looked up at them both, "That's cool, now we can all be friends." Hoping that it were true. "And no running away right?" Nick asked.
"No more running away, I promise!" Karen replied cautiously.
They all packed up their things and got into their cars. In Kevin's car was A.J., Amanda and Howie and in Brian's jeep were Nick, Theresa, Dawn, Aaron and Karen. They were all squished into the back seat.
'God, it stinks back here and man, is she ever dirty. Why do we have to run into her again? Great, now Nick is never going to notice me. Everytime SHE'S around his full attention is on her.' Theresa thought to herself. She was beginning to feel more jealousy arising. She looked over at Karen. 'God, why is she staying with Brian? Doesn't she have a home? I wouldn't be surprised if Nick was there everyday now.'
As they arrived at Nick's house they all filed out of the jeep. "Hey B-Rok, are you going to stay for a bit?" Nick asked.
Brian looked at Karen. "Nah, I'm going to take Karen back to my place and make her feel at home."
'Man, he's so sweet. He's also generous enough to let me to stay at his place.' Karen admired.
"Come on, just stay for a bit. Have dinner with us." Nick begged. 'I want to know what's going on.'
"We'll come back later." Brian suggested. He leaned over and whispered. 'I think Karen would like to take a nice shower first.'
"Promise?"
"Yeah."
Theresa pulled Dawn aside. "Do you see that? He keeps eyeing that witch. He's like begging for her to stay. Damn her."
"Calm down, Theresa. He probably just wants to help her out."
"But Brian's there, he can help her?"
"Yeah but he can't do it alone."
"Why not?"
"Theresa, you're definitely not yourself. You've never complained so much about a boy before. You really do like him don't you?"
"Yeah...I guess so.."
"Let's go."
The two girls walked back towards the two guys talking. "Where did Aaron go?" asked Dawn.
"He went inside to play Nintendo." Nick said.
"Oh, is it alright if I go join him?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah sure." Nick replied.
"Are you coming Theresa?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah," Theresa said. 'I don't want to stay here alone.'
"Yeah, I'll be in in a bit..." Nick told them. He turned back to Brian, "I'll see you later I hope."
"Don't worry we'll be back." Brian reassured. He turned to Karen, "Let's go!"
"Bye, Frick...." Nick yelled out. "Bye...Karen! See ya later!"
"Bye!"
The two got back into Brian's jeep and sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. "Well, are you ready to go to your new home?" Brian asked.
"Yeah.." she said nervously, "I think I'm ready."
"Don't worry, you're under my care now, and you have nothing to worry about." Brian said sweetly and he started heading towards his home.
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