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Thanks to Anita, AJsSweety and Ayleen for reviewing chapter ten!!!. I can't wait to hear what ya'll think of 11.

Chapter Eleven

Amber jerked awake violently after another of her nightmares. It had seemed to be so real. A faceless man lunged at her in every vision, tearing her clothing off, but every time, he violated her in a different way. In one, he’d killed her before taking on his sickening act. In another, she’d been at the mall with her friends, when suddenly, they all disappeared and she was alone in a parking garage, where she was drug off to an old car, and raped in the backseat. They were all different in some way, but all the same. In the nightmares, she could actually feel everything, hear everything, smell everything. It was almost a reality. She didn’t feel safe anywhere, which scared her. She felt that she had nobody to run to when in need. She was alone.

Amber sat up in the bunk and scooted back against the wall shaking a little as she peered out the small, narrow doorway and watched the five men goofing off twenty feet in front of her. The blonde boy and tattooed guy with the piercings did nothing but fight. She’d heard them earlier as the blonde was singing. The blonde, she could tell, was the goofball of the group, always looking for ways to have fun and irritate the others without intention. The other seemed to have something on his mind causing him to lash out at him. She had a feeling that he normally wouldn’t be so angry if his mind was cleared of the burden that he was stuck with thinking about for the time being. As for the others…they seemed pretty laid back, except for the oldest one. She observed the newcomer, who’d disappeared for a few days, to be the one to look over all of them. She could tell, just by their actions as she watched them, that he was much respected and looked up to. She had to admit that all five of them were all good looking. What she still didn’t understand was why they were being so good to her. They were famous, she was nothing. Especially now, after what had happened to her. She was greatful for them even giving her a place to stay in her time of need, even if she didn’t want to be near them. She couldn’t trust anyone of the male population. They were all capable of the same thing now, in her mind. If given the opportunity, they would all jump at the chance to do the same thing that the unknown man had done to her.

Amber watched as the oldest, dark haired man closed his eyes, letting out a troubled sigh, and the others closed their eyes too, soon after…all except for the blonde. He was busy playing some sort of football game with a game console.

Amber wondered what time it was. It seemed to early for them to be going to sleep, then again, she slept ninety percent of the time so she wouldn’t have to think about things. When she slept, she couldn’t be depressed. Either way, Amber guessed that something had worn them out. The oldest, she hadn’t a clue…the others, she had a feeling, had something to do with the blonde haired boy.

She observed as the blonde turned off the game, looking around him before standing up and advancing towards her. Amber sucked in her breath, wondering why he had waited until the others were asleep before going for her. Her mind was screaming that he wanted to hurt her, without the others knowing. Amber wanted to run, but couldn’t. She was frozen in place as the boy stood three feet in front of her eyes. He just stared at her for a minute as she recoiled backwards even further.

“Hi,” Nick said with a small wave, offering her a smile.

She looked at him in curiosity. He seemed harmless enough, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The shyest could also be the most dangerous. The blonde, to her, seemed the quite type around those he did not know very well, despite his personality around the other men.

“I, um, I just wanted to see how you were doing since the others are asleep…since I’m supposedly not aloud to check up on you.”

Nick took another step forward, and Amber backed up even more, her back pressing firmly against the wall. She shielded herself with her blanket, covering all but her eyes. Nick backed up a little, holding a hand up, showing her that he meant her no harm.

“Okay, okay…I’ll keep my distance,” he laughed lightly and could see Amber’s tensed shoulders relax a little bit, “I’m sorry if I scared you the other night.” Nick offered, “I didn’t mean to…was just trying to help, ya know?”

Amber continued to stare at him, wondering what the Boy wanted. He appeared to just want to talk, but she didn’t think that it was as simple as that. It couldn’t be that simple. Maybe he was moving slow? She wasn’t sure, but wasn’t taking any chances on letting him come closer.

“I’m fine,” Amber whispered, startling Nick that she’d spoken. He smiled inwardly to himself. At least he was getting somewhere.

“So,” Nick asked, wanting to talk and get to know her a little bit while he had the chance, “How old are you?”

Amber didn’t say anything for a moment, shifting her gaze away from Nick. Nick bit his lip, hoping he hadn’t made her uncomfortable by his innocent question. He knew that he had to be careful with what he said and did. He had to be gentle with the woman, who was in a fragile state. He knew that he had to take extra precautions with Amber until she was better. Had he overstepped his boundaries already?

“I’m nineteen,” Amber finally said quietly.

Nick just nodded, trying to think of something else to ask her. He didn’t know when the next chance he would get would be. Nick felt that the others acting as if she weren’t there though, saying that they needed to wait for her to come to them, was not good for the girl. He was making a point on doing things his way.

“Um…so, are you…um, are you a fan of ours?” Nick asked, curious to know if she listened to their music or not. He didn’t want to sound big-headed by his question either though, and feared that he may have by the strange look he got from Amber.

Amber shook her head, “No…honestly, never really listened to any BSB stuff,” she answered softly, opening up a little bit. She figured that if the blonde was going to hurt her, that he would have done so already, “I’ve heard of you, but, not really my type of music.”

“That’s cool,” Nick answered with a smile, figuring she probably didn’t know their names either then, “I’m Nick, by the way.”

Amber didn’t say anything, still a little weary of him and his motives. He was definitely more forward than the others, then again, she was becoming lonely without anybody to speak with. Trusting or not, she enjoyed the company.

“The guy we picked up earlier…that’s Kevin. The one I always fight with,” Nick grinned at that remark, and Amber could tell that he purposely picked fights just to get laughs in. Typical immature male, “That one is A.J…we call him Aje sometimes though. The two shorter guys…the darker haired one is Howie, the other is Brian.” Nick paused, wondering if she was catching any of it. She had a far away look in her eyes, “Well, if you ever need anything, just call for any one of us. We’re all friendly and all. We won’t hurt you, just remember that.”

Nick glanced nervously behind him to make sure that the others were still sleeping. He would be in big trouble with them if they caught him so called ‘pestering’ Amber. He turned back to the girl and smiled warmly.

“I’m going to go back up front now,” he informed her, “If you need anything, you know where to find us. I’ll try to come back and talk to you again soon.”

Amber said nothing as Nick hesitated for a moment before turning and leaving. Amber sat still for a moment, stunned that Nick hadn’t tried to violate her in any way. He had given her the distance she needed while speaking with her. He seemed nice enough to her, but it was till too soon to let her guard down around him, and know that he could be trusted. He could always try something the next time that he spoke with her. Maybe he wanted to gain her trust, only to attack her. All of these thoughts ran through Amber’s mind. Then there were the other four. She was terrified of them, for she found their actions odd, not wanting to approach her. The same thoughts kept running through Amber’s head. Everything had changed for her in the past week. She wondered when things would start to get better and if they would ever be the same again. Amber let out a stifled sob, wanting her old life back again. She wanted to turn back time, and have everything back the way it used to be. Unfortunate for her though, that was impossible and she was left with the scars, both physical and mental, that would remind her of what had happened for the rest of her life.

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Kevin opened is eyes and sat up, looking around him before breathing a huge sigh of relief at the familiar surroundings. He’d been afraid that when he woke up, he would be back in the jail cell, being freed all a dream.

Kevin noticed that the others were still sleeping, Nick was bouncing a small rubber ball on the ground in boredom.

“Hey, Nick,” Kevin stated, happy that Nick was awake. He’d wanted to talk to the boy about two things. One being his experience over the past few days, since Nick could relate well to that. The second was why the guys thought that he’d tried to harm Amber. Kevin knew this wasn’t true, but wanted Nick’s side of the story anyways.

Nick jumped, startled, the ball rolling across the bus and out of sight.

“Hey, Kev,” Nick said, then looked around nervously before asking, “What did I do?”

Kevin laughed, “Nothing,” he replied, “Just wanted to talk.”

“Oh,” Nick replied, looking down before asking again worriedly, “What did I do? The only time you want to talk is when I did something.”

“I swear Nick, You did nothing wrong.”

Nick relaxed a little bit, believing that Kevin honestly wasn’t there to scold him on something he had done.

“I just wanted to know exactly what you did to make the others think that you scared Amber.”

“See, I knew I did something wrong,” Nick shot out, not even giving the man the chance to say anything more.

“Nick,” Kevin tried to stay calm, “I’m not here to yell at you. God, I’m not that horrible of a person. Maybe I’ll be on your side. Just give me a chance here. Jeez.”

“I highly doubt you’ll be on my side,” Nick muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and drawing one knee up, his eyes narrowing, “I’m just a dumb blonde who has no clue what he’s talking about.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. The blonde definitely had a knack for making things difficult, and at the worst times yet.

“Just tell me,” Kevin said, “Maybe if I agree with you, I can talk to the others and get them to lay off of your sorry ass.”

Nick looked over at Kevin and saw him grinning. Nick let a small smile escape his lips. Kevin had changed in some way since being locked up. Nick couldn’t place a finger on it, but knew that he was different. More sarcastic for one, but also a little more light hearted about things. Kevin looked at Nick expectantly to tell what happened, and Nick took a deep breath and spoke.

“I was woken up by Amber. She was moaning in her sleep, ya know? So, I go closer and hear she is saying things…like, she having nightmares about the rape…I guess that is what it was anyways. So, I try to wake her up. I mean, it can’t be good for her to be doing that. She start screaming in her sleep then, then jerks awake. That is when the others appear behind me, and they think I tried to make a move on her. But I wasn’t. I swear. I just wanted to help. They told me to stay away and leave her alone. I promise you though, I would never do anything like that. I just wanted to help, ya know?” Nick finished off, taking in a deep breath of air and letting it out. He’d spoken so rapidly, he was hoping that Kevin had caught it all.

Kevin sat, staring thoughtfully for a moment. If what Nick said was true, then the others were being unfair to him. Nick’s intentions were good. He knew that Nick would never hurt Amber, and told him so.

“Ignore them,” Kevin told Nick, “If you feel what you did was right, then try to help her if it happens again.”

Nick nodded, knowing that it would. It had every night, after all. Nick thanked Kevin for being on his side, for once. Kevin patted Nick on the back. The boy may still be a kid at heart, but he was growing up in some aspects too.

Then came the second part of what Kevin wanted to talk to Nick about; the prison experience. Kevin opened his mouth to begin, but quickly decided against it. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about it yet. It wasn’t exactly something he was proud of, even if Nick had been though the same thing.

“Was there anything else?” Nick asked, catching on to Kevin’s hesitation.

“Nah, that’s all,” Kevin lied with a smile.

“Kev,” Nick stated, “Just so you know, you smell really bad.”

Nick plugged his nose to prove his point and Kevin just playfully smacked him over the head. Leave it to Nick, after a serious conversation, to end it with something completely off the wall. Some things never changed, then some things did. He had a feeling that with taking on the new responsibility, his own life would be one of them.