fixing a broken smile

chapter 9

Maddie was sitting on the front steps of the school. Night had fallen, and it was now time for the parent-teacher conferences. Her dad was currently inside talking to one of her teachers, and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that it was her math teacher. She ran her fingers through her hairs, her leg dancing as she left it sitting on a nerve. She was this close to just pulling out all of her hair and biting off all of her finger nails. Isaac came out of the school, having not been able to stay inside of there and wait for his death sentence any longer. He noticed Maddie on the stairs and he was confused. She hadn't mentioned anything about her needing to come here tonight with her dad on the way home today. "What are you here for?" a voice said down to her.

She looked up to see that it was Isaac standing behind her. She gave him a weak smile as she rubbed her bare arms coldly. He noticed that she was cold and unzipped his sweatshirt without a second thought about it. He shrugged it off and placed it down onto her shoulders with a small smile in return before taking the spot on the stairs beside her. "Thanks." she said to him as she slipped her arms into the sleeves of the jacket and snuggled into it more. It smelled just like him, she noticed. It was also very, very, warm compared to how cold she was before. "And it's my math grade. I absolutely suck at the subject." she explained to him with a hint of a giggle. She looked over at him and realized, that he had to be here for the same reason that she was here for. She hadn't realized that he was sucking in any of his classes, though. He was always the one to get the perfect grades in class. "Well, what about you, Mr. Lahey? Do you suck at math too?" she said over to them, giving him a teasing smile.

He smiled in return as he shook his head at her, chuckling slightly. He was happy to see her smiling and laughing again. He just hoped that nothing happened to set her back again. "Uh, no, it's, um, it's chemistry." he told her. She glanced over at him and saw him sitting just as restlessly as she was. He was in just as much hot water as she was. She moved without hesitation and grabbed a hold of his hand, giving it a tight squeeze of reassurance. He looked over at her and gave her a quick nod of thanks. He squeezed her hand in return, telling her that he was there for her too. The two of them sat together then, their fingers entwined with the other's, both just awaiting for their fates.

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Chris Argent was standing with his wife, another mother named Melissa McCall, and their children. Said children who were currently in the most trouble they had ever been in in their entire lives. He just happened to look over when he heard shouting somewhere close by. It was the girl, the one that Allison had gotten to sit with them at the game. The one who he had seen with the bruises. The man, by the looks of it, her father, seemed to be more upset then even he was with his own daughter in front of him. His eyes scrunched up in confusion was he watched the scene. He felt his heart stop when he saw the man grab ahold of her wrist and he could see that the man had started shaking her. He quickly excused himself from his group and sped walked over to the other. "Hey! Excuse me! Excuse me, sir." he shouted out to the man.

The three other women and Scott all turned to see Chris basically rip Maddie's dad off of her as he moved in between them. Scott and Allison were especially surprised by the act. Scott could practically taste the fear coming off of Maddie, and it had surprised him most because he had never really realized it until now. "I suggest that you let your daughter go before you really make a scene, Officer Carson." Chris snarled at the man. He had seen this man before around town. He was one of the sheriff's men. "I don't believe you want to be in a public place shaking your daughter like you were, if at all. It wouldn't do a man with a badge any good if rumors got around about you hurting your own daughter, now would it?" he suggested to the man.

Maddie held her sore wrist to her chest, staring wide eyed at the scene in front of her. She couldn't believe it, two people had come to her rescue now. She honestly didn't know if it was a good thing or not for her in the end, though. It could only make him more upset with her when they got home. Maddie looked around, people were starting to stare now. She moved forward, taking the spot on her dad's side. "It's okay, Mr. Argent. Really, we're both fine. No need to worry." she tried to convince him, but she could see that he didn't believe her at all. He let it go, though, but only because the screaming had started to be heard around the parking lot just then.

Chris left them first to go to his car to retrieve something and her dad left her side as well to figure out what was going on. His job always came first, it was probably the only thing that he was actually good at and stayed sober for for that matter. Maddie was left alone, not having a clue as to what was going on. She looked around for Scott, but both him and Allison had wandered off just like everyone else. She started talking slow steps away from where she was standing. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that she had to keep moving around instead of staying in one spot. Everyone was screaming and running to their cars, it was complete and utter chaos. "Dad! Daddy?" she started calling out, just wanting to find someone. "Scott! Allison? Sco-ah!" she screamed out as she suddenly yanked to the side by someone.

She hit the man's chest and went into a panic, not knowing what they were doing as they held her against them. She struggled against their hold, pleading to be let go of. The person didn't seem to be loosening their hold on her, though. "Maddie! Maddie, it's okay. It's me! It's Isaac." they said down to her. She finally opened her eyes and looked up at them. As tears ran down her face, she saw that the voice was right. It was only Isaac. "Isaac?" she asked out, her voice was just as shaky as she was. He gave her a quick nod of his head before she quickly slipped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest. He held her close to him, looking over her head to try and find what ever it was that was spooking people.

She kept her head buried into his chest as he moved them away from all of the cars. He didn't want to risk her getting hurt by someone loosing control of their car, and it seemed as if what ever it was that was spooking people was in the parking lot. It seemed like a life time before they all heard two gun shots go off and a cry of agony from whatever, or who ever, it was that was the one being shot at. Maddie jumped in his arms, flinching from the noise of the gun shots. "Isaac, my dad." she said out worriedly to him. No matter how much she hated him, he was still her dad. He was all that she had left, just like she was all that he had left. As screwed up as it was, she knew that was why he never let her go anywhere. He didn't want to risk loosing her like he had lost her mom.

He nodded his head in understanding and grabbed hold of her hand, leading her off in the direction that everyone was heading over to. She only let go of his hand when they got to the crowd of people. She pushed her way through to the front and skidded to a stop when she saw the cougar lying dead in the center. She covered her mouth in horror, a round of fresh tears coming to her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder, one meaning to be of comfort, and she turned, letting out sob as she hid herself in the person's arms. "Shh, Maddie, it's okay. I got you." they said down to her as they started to rub her back soothingly. She looked up and felt her heart drop when she saw who it was.

It was Scott.