⌜ chapter sixteen ⌟

"Hey, Scarlett, I haven't seen you around in awhile." Turner says as he walks over to where the brunette's doing her work on the bench in the school hallway.

"Yep, been busy."

"With what?"

"You're lookin' at it." She says, not lifting her head from her notes.

"Right." He nods. "Chet called last night, asked about you."

"Yeah? What bogus story did he feed Shawn about where he is this time?" The teenager asks, and he sighs.

"Said he was on Airforce One with the president." He tells her, and she nods. "Take it he does this sort of thing often?"

"Disappear and then tell Shawn a load of crap that he's all too willing to believe because he loves his dad? No, not at all." She says sarcastically. "Why do you think he's living with you?"

"You alright?"

"Shawn and Cory told you what happened with Eric." It's not a question.

"They're worried about you." He tells her.

"So Shawn asked that you talk to me, try to make me feel better by being the adult that I can count on, the one I always call when shit hits the fan."

"Hey, language, kid. Not at school, at least." He says, and she scoffs.

"I'm fine, Turner. Tell Shawn that there's nothing to worry about." Letty says, still writing.

"He says that you've shut down." He sits beside her and sees that she's not actually doing work anymore, she's taken to drawing in the margins. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"Come on, kid. He's worried about you." Turner tells her. "And I gotta be honest, the longer I sit here, the more worried I become."

"I'm fine."

"So you've said, but you haven't looked up once since I walked over." He says, and she shakes her head. "You can't bottle everything up all the time, it's not good for you."

"What do you want me to say? That the one person I never thought would say anything to deliberately hurt me did exactly that because we got into an argument? You want me to say that I don't feel any better about the situation even after he apologized for what he said? You want me to say that I feel a little bit better having gotten that off my chest?" She asks. "Well, he hurt me, he apologized, I don't forgive him, and I still feel like shit. Thanks for the talk." The brunette grabs her backpack as she stands up, and then she walks away from him.

Letty's at school the next day, sitting in the same spot, when she hears Shawn and Cory arguing by their lockers. "No, no. You know what I think, Shawn?" Cory says as he grabs his best friend's arm and pulls him back so that he's facing him again. "I think it bothers you that I finally found something I'm good at." He says as Letty stands up and turns to face them.

"I think you should shut up and let go of me right now." Shawn tells him.

"Shawn, why are you acting like I did something to you?" He questions.

"I said let go of me!"

"Fine." Cory shoves his shoulder, and Shawn pushes him back.

"The hell's going on over here?" Letty asks as she takes a few steps toward the two boys.

"Stay out of this, Scarlett." He says, not taking his eyes off of Shawn. "Let's see what you got, Hunter."

"No." Shawn shakes his head. "No. Look, Cory, you don't want to do this."

"No, I do." He shoves his shoulder again and then grabs him and slams him into the lockers.

"Fight! Fight!" A girl starts yelling as Letty quickly moves forward and grabs Cory.

The brunette then pulls him back, placing herself between the boys. Cory lunges again, and she shoves hard on his shoulders, causing him to stumble back until he loses his footing and falls to the floor. Shawn tries to move toward Cory, but she turns just in time and places her hand on his chest, pinning him against the lockers.

"Get off of me!" Shawn snaps as he looks up at her.

She raises her eyebrows as her brown eyes meet his. "Make me."

"Matthews, are you alright?" Mr. Williams asks as he helps him off of the floor.

"What's goin' on here?" Turner questions, walking over from the opposite direction.

"That's a good question." Letty says as he looks between the three teenagers. "I just pulled these two out of a fight." She tells him as Shawn smacks her hand away from him.

"Get to class." Turner tells the kids who stopped to watch the scene unfold.

"Did you guys know you were fighting each other?" Williams asks as he looks between the two boys.

"I'm out of here." Shawn tries to shove past Letty, but she pushes him back against the lockers again. "Stop that!"

"Aw." She teases, clearly amused. "Now, what's got the baby friends all riled up?"

"You don't wanna talk to me about what's bothering you, I don't have to tell you anything."

"I'm pissed off because I was trying to help Eric, and he intentionally said something that he knew would hurt me. Reminded me of when you did the same, and I'm sick of getting treated that way." She tells him. "Your turn."

"The problem is I'm good with a camera, and this guy's jealous." Cory says behind her, and Letty narrows her eyes skeptically.

"What did I say to make you leave before the Summer?" Shawn asks, his voice low, but she knows that that's not the real question.

It suddenly clicks, and her expression softens as she looks down at her brother. Letty sighs as she then removes her hand from his chest. She doesn't know what's going on between the best friends, but she knows exactly who it involves.

"Look, Mr. Williams, I've been inspired, alright?" Cory says as he turns to face their journalism teacher. "I want you to enter me in that news contest."

"I don't think you'll have the time, Mr. Matthews." Feeny says as he walks over to the five of them, and the teenager sighs as he looks at the older man.

"Detention?"

"Let's not call it detention. I prefer Hooked On Feeny." He tells him.

—

Letty and Shawn are making their way through the trailer park, and they climb up on top of his uncle's trailer. It's a shortcut that they learned years ago, faster than going around peoples property when they have somewhere that they really need to be. And that's when they hear a familiar voice, and given the reason they're here, they know exactly who he's talking to.

"Maybe I keep pounding your face into the ground until you forget everything that happened tonight." Eddie's saying as he wrings his fist, looking down at Cory, who's hunched over as he clutches his shin.

Letty hops off the top of the trailer, landing between Eddie and Cory, she uses her elbows to shove him back a step. "You get more and more pathetic every time I see you." The brunette says as Shawn steps up beside her.

"You two got no business here."

"Looks to me like we do." She argues. "You ever go anywhere near these boys again, and you'll be sorry that you did."

Eddie smirks as he glances at Shawn before returning his gaze to Letty. "Such the protective little guard bitch." He chuckles. "You gonna take a swing at me?" He questions.

"You know damn well exactly what I'll do." She says, and his jaw tightens.

"Shawn ain't your family. He's mine." He says. "Just 'cause yours left you doesn't mean you get to make him think he's a stray and take him in."

Letty takes a step forward, and his expression hardens. "You have never acted like family toward him. He's my little brother, and I will kick your ass if you ever touch his friend."

"You act like you two are so much better than me."

"Oh, Shawn is better than you." She tells him. "Always has been, always will be."

"Okay." Eddie nods. "Play his hero. But you'll both be back. This is who you are." He says as he looks between her and his brother.

"No, it's who you are." She corrects. "It'll never be who he is, not as long as I'm alive. And if I have to drag myself from this life to keep him out of it, then that's exactly what I'll do. 'Cause I'm okay with being his guard bitch, keeps him from ending up a lowlife like you. Now, take a hike."

He looks at Shawn again and then he turns around and walks away from the three of them, his group of friends following right behind him. Letty knows that Cory wants answers, but she also knows that the trailer park isn't the place for it, so she makes the boys start walking.

"Hey, where have you guys been?" Mrs. Matthews asks as the three teenagers walk into the kitchen from the backyard.

"Oh, I've just been playing hero." Letty tells her, and Eric watches her as he leans against the counter by the fridge.

"For most of my life." Shawn says, and she smirks as she looks at the younger boy.

"A protective little guard bitch." She chuckles.

"That isn't funny." He shakes his head. "Why do you let him talk to you like that?"

The brunette shrugs. "'Cause it is funny." She tells him as she leans against the counter by the sink. "He talks down on me, but he's the one playing pretend — pretending he and I are anything alike. His most stable home is his juvie cell, mine is right here in this house."

"He really doesn't bother you?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

"Don't listen to anything that Eddie says, he's an idiot." She says. "And even if you and I do end up back in the trailer park when your dad eventually rolls back into town... You are so nothing like him. I think your mom probably dropped him on his head when he was a baby."

"It's possible." He nods.

"A brother?" Cory questions as he looks at his best friend, finally gathering his thoughts on everything that he witnessed. "You have a brother?"

"A half brother." Shawn tells him.

"How is it that you two hide things like that?" He asks as he looks between him and Letty. "I mean, what else have you guys been hiding? Shawn, you have a wife? You got kids?" He asks, and Letty chuckles, gaining his attention. "You got a secret sister too?"

"I might." The brunette shrugs. "I haven't seen my mom in twelve years, and I doubt either of my parents practiced abstinence in all that time."

"Sorry, Cor." Shawn says, regaining his attention. "Just didn't seem worth talking about."

Cory pauses for a moment, thinking over everything that's happened. "So, that's why you didn't want me to hand in my story." He says. "You were protecting family."

"I guess." He shrugs. "I'm sorry they broke your camera."

"They didn't get the tape." He says as he pulls it out of the inside of his jacket, and Shawn chuckles as he looks at it.

"You know, Mr. Williams was right — you are a pretty good reporter." He tells him.

Cory looks down at the tape and then holds it out toward his best friend. "Take it. It's your family." He says, and Shawn shakes his head.

"No, no, You take it." He pushes the tape away from him. "Go win that contest."

"What about protecting your family?"

Shawn looks at Cory and smiles as his gaze briefly moves to Letty. "She did that for me. Eddie's only blood." He looks back at Cory. "You guys are my family."

"Aw, the baby friends have reconciled." Letty teases. "Good, because I'm never separating you two in a fight again."

"Fight?" Eric questions. "At school? How did I miss that?"

"Hey, Scarlett?" Shawn gets her attention just as she turns for the stairs, and she looks back at him.

"Yeah?"

"What Eddie called you — it bothers me." He tells her, and she smiles.

"I've been called worse, Shawn." Letty tells him. "And believe me, I care about the opinion of Eddie less than I care about anyone's. Besides, he wasn't entirely wrong."

He smiles. "You know, I really don't know what I'd do without you."

"And lucky for you, you'll never really find out."

"Hey, uh..." He clears his throat. "I don't know much about your childhood, I don't think many people really do...but I do know that because of some things that happened, you believe that the truth comes out when people are either angry or drunk, and, uh... You know, sometimes, people say stupid things when they're angry, not because they mean them, but because they're too angry to see the consequences...or too angry to care about the consequences at the time. It doesn't mean that we actually wanted to hurt you, but that we were hurting, and that, maybe...blinded us, a little bit."

"Yeah, Shawn, I know a little something about blind rage." She nods. "And sometimes people need time to cool off, so that they can break that cycle of speaking things they don't mean and can't take back." The brunette says, and he nods. "But I heard you, and I'm listening. I just..."

"Need time." Shawn nods. "Yeah, I think we can all understand that."

"You should get home, Turner's gonna be looking for you." She tells him. "And keep your friend out of the trailer park without adult supervision. It's not in the safest part of town."

"I make that mistake once." Cory says, and she chuckles.

"Glad to hear it."

"Hey, Scarlett?" Shawn gets her attention again, and she raises her eyebrows as she looks back at him. "Have you talked to Miller lately? 'Cause, you know, he tends to do for you what you do for me, and I think that talking to him might help you figure some things out. I mean, he moved to the trailer park to protect you, and I know you think of him as a brother too."

"Uh..." The brunette takes a deep breath. "John's not really known for being easily accessible, and that's kinda been made worse because he and Bobby had a falling out a few months ago. I think between that and the whole Dean-Hope thing... I really don't expect to see the Winchesters around anytime soon, Shawnie." She tells him, and he nods.