Cresswell Shots

Part 2

For the next tree weeks, Cress didn't show up to school. Throne was a nervous wreck about it. No one heard from her, no spoke about her. It was like she was erased from existence.

But whenever someone, mostly him, tried to bring her up, the subject would be dismissed in seconds. It wasn't in a way that people didn't care about it. More of they thought is was wrong to talk about it.

Still, that didn't stop the evil glares from the entire Freshman class. No one them would even look in his direction without snarling at him. Iris was the worst. She and her band of friends would always gawk at him in disgust and talk about him behind his back.

Worst of all, he knew he deserved it.

How could he have been so blind to the fact that Cress had been terrified of him. And then going out and humiliating her, no wonder she ran for it.

And now Thorne knew about her past. The book had been enough to mortify him. But researching the origin of it's story made the book seem like a bed-time story.

She'd only been three when her mother started abusing her. That was after her father left. Years after, he came back, to get Cress. But when the case was brought to court, her father was denied any kind of custody to Cress, because he left her. The abuse went on, and records showed that she would be locked away in her room for days at a time. Left to starve, or even to die.

Finally, when she was twelve, her father had scrounged up enough evidence to get her away from her mother. But by that time, the damage had been done. She was scarred for life by all of the torture her mother put her through. She was completely afraid of everyone, had a high ranking level of PTSD, and constantly suffered hallucinations for years. Recently, she'd been doing very well with her surrounds. She was even able to be around people without being scared now.

That was, until Thorne had been an idiot.

The story of Crescent Moon Darnel was horrifying, and by the looks of it, it had been a miracle that she was even able to adjust to normal life at all. Now, thanks to Thorne, all that rehabilitation was down the drain. And Cress was right back to where she started.

Afraid.

Thorne couldn't imagine what she must have gone through because of her mother. But he had a good idea of why it made her scared of people. Seeing the way her mother treated her, she wouldn't know if others were just the same, or even worse. Not knowing who to trust, or who could help her.

In that moment, after learning about Cress, and the magnitude of what he'd done, he knew it wasn't that she cared about him.

He cared about her.

It wasn't like being attracted to her, or calling her adorable, though he had to admit she was. He felt the urge, the need to protect her. To shield her from anything that could hurt her.

And he'd been the thing that made her worse. He'd been what he should have protected her from. He was what scared her.

He was just as bad as her mother.

....................

After that, he shut himself in. To keep himself occupied, whether he liked it or not, he did his work in school, and stuck to himself. Though the solitude felt good, people noticed he'd changed.

His parents for starters, picked up on the fact that he was actually trying in class now, and was passing. He didn't even need Peer Pals anymore. Though it wasn't like that was going to help him now.

His teachers and the school noticed that he wasn't pulling pranks or irritating anyone, and were proud of him for that. They said that being in a volunteer group changed him. And that's where they were wrong.