Fiona

"Why don't you believe me?"

"I do," he stressed and sighed. "Really I do. But we can't get enough evidence and they will tear you apart in that courtroom. I am sorry, but it's not my decision ... it's not my decision at all." He coughed and scratched his head and looked into the weeping eyes of the pretty teenager. "I'm sorry I can't do any more for you. Have you been offered counselling?"

"Yes," Fiona snapped. "And I don't want it."

"Well maybe you should," he offered.

"Well maybe you should put Michelle and Jenny and all that in jail." He hesitated and Fiona backed away from him. "Yeah, thanks for nothing!" She spat. "I knew reporting it wouldn't help me."

"Fiona," he called out and watched as the girl strode away from him into the library and sat down with her book, opening it at the first page and barely reading it.

Why wouldn't the Police believe her? Why did they want her attackers to go free? It really didn't make any sense; weren't the Police supposed to make the streets safer?

She glared at the print on the page and wiped her eyes, before clenching her fists; she couldn't concentrate. "There's the slut," Michelle spat as Fiona's three tormentors surrounded the quiet girl. She looked up from her book in the library and a handful of younger girls scattered from around her, once the menacingly trio glared at them. "Just so you know, we ain't finished with you yet."

Fiona closed her hardback book with a thump and slammed it against Michelle's hand leaning on the table. "Oh, was your hand there?"

Jenny grabbed Fiona by the throat as she stood up and pushed her away, causing the blonde girl to fall over the arm of her chair, and she landed on the floor with a bump. She squealed and scrambled to her feet as Sophia advanced on her. "Your lies got Annabelle expelled," she spat in her Bulgarian accent. "And your lies broke me up with Hayden."

"Your bitchiness broke you up with Hayden," Fiona barked and glared at the girl. "And he didn't like always fucking you up the arse." She waited for Sophia to snarl and then licked her lips. "And all those shows of vegetables going up there, he'd rather he went with a girl a little less stretched." Sophia squeaked and brought her hand up to strike Fiona, when the attacker fell against the bookshelves.

Kathryn smiled at her room-mate. "Not causing you any problems, are they?" Fiona smiled weakly as Kathryn raised her eyebrows at the three girls anxiously looking at each other. "Ahh, not so big and strong now that Annabelle's not here to lead you," she taunted. The voluptuous Michelle took a step towards Kathryn, but the Fiona's room-mate's arm arrowed out of her body and stopped an inch from Michelle's face. "I am a black belt in Karate. I can give you a broken nose to look like Snouty here, or you can do one." Her eyes watched the three girls melt away and Kathryn picked up the book that Michelle had knocked onto the floor.

"Are you really a black belt in Karate?"

"Sure," Kathryn muttered and smirked. "Does it matter? All that matters is that they believe it." Fiona thanked her and took her books from her room-mate. "I did do Karate," Kathryn explained. "And still do it when I am back home but I am a long way from being a black belt."

"Well now they are after you," Fiona told her, solemnly.

"What? So room-mates aren't supposed to stick up for each other?" Kathryn asked with raised eyebrows. "Sure they are."

"Just as long as you know what you are taking on."

"Nothing I can't handle," she promised and looked at her friend. "And I do have a small favour to ask. Ummm ... are you free a little later?"

* * * * *

"He looks about fifty," Fiona muttered from the other side of the small village pub to Kathryn and looked towards the door as it closed. Kathryn giggled and got up from her seat, passing her coat to Fiona and walked the ten metres towards her date.

"I thought I was going to be stood up," she complained and gestured towards an empty table in the window. "Shall we?"

"I'd rather be in the corner," he replied with a smirk and glanced towards the other side of the pub. Fiona listened and watched as he held out his hand towards the secluded section of the establishment and smiled sweetly. "It'll be romantic."

Fiona sat on an adjoining table, and listened in to their conversation; "Billy" was certainly pushy, and had been divorced once before although he didn't disclose why. He plied Kathryn with alcohol and was lewd when he spoke; Fiona didn't like him much.

She heard her room-mate warn the middle-aged date about his wandering hands on several occasions, but her firm demands changed into giggles when he smiled at the drunken girl. Fiona had not ever dated anyone as pushy as Billy, and struggled to see Kathryn's attraction towards him. She tried to make eye contact with her, but her friend was too tipsy to notice.

Fiona had a brief drink with Sam and Laura, who had been out for the afternoon and were having an evening drink, but had to make excuses for her rudeness, as her attention was constantly diverted on her friend, in an exceedingly short skirt, having to repel the forceful advances of Billy.

She waved goodbye to the couple and glanced back towards Kathryn, pushing Billy's hands off her wrist. "Stop playing games," he barked. "Yer comin' back to my place, love. I know yer kind. Yer always wan' it."

"I don't want to," she said quietly and caught Fiona's eye, staring towards the toilet. "And I need a wee." Fiona gave Kathryn ten seconds inside the toilets before she joined her and looked at her friend leaning against the sink.

"What the hell is going on?" Fiona asked and Kathryn shook her head.

"He's a friend of a friend," she admitted. "Well some guy I used to know and his mate wanted a date. But ..."

"You need to get out of here."

"I can't. He will follow us. I don't want him chasing me down the road!"

Fiona passed Kathryn her coat and pointed towards the bathroom window. "Old school way?"

"Climbing out of toilet windows?" Kathryn said with a giggle. "But we've not paid our meal."

"Billy can settle," Fiona snapped and she put her foot on the radiator to haul her weight up to the window before pushing it open. "Excellent," she cried. "There's grass almost at window height. This must be built into the hill," she mused and looked down to see Kathryn rubbing her eyes. Fiona jumped down and gestured towards the open window.

"Me?" she asked with a snort. "You first."

"You first," Fiona barked and held her hands together to provide a "step" for her friend. "Hurry up, he'll be getting suspicious." Kathryn groaned and took off her high heels, placing them on the sink while her mind whirred. She put her left leg on Fiona's hands and pushed up against it, before using Fiona's shoulder to stabilise herself.

"Too pissed to do this," she moaned, as her hands reached for the window ledge and she kicked her legs to get her balance. She forced her body through the small opening, catching her clothing on the hook and swore as she fell onto the soft mud below.

"Kathryn," Fiona cried. "You OK?"

"Yes," a voice called back. "Covered in mud."

"I'll meet you 'round the front," Fiona said over the window.

"What!" Fiona picked up the shoes on the sink and opened the door to the toilet, before striding into the pub. She glanced at Billy, staring at the toilets and he looked at her.

"There's a brown-haired girl in there. Is she OK?"

"Fine," Fiona muttered and saw his eyes glance towards the distinctive red shoes in her hand. "She's fine."

"That's ..."

"Go pay the bill," she taunted. "And goodbye."

Fiona reached the door of the pub when she felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her back. "Where is she?"

"The toilet," Fiona lied. "And get off me." She pushed Billy away from her loudly and her eyes lingered on the barmaid. "And you got a meal to pay for. Trying to run away without paying." The landlord looked towards the commotion, but Fiona guessed she had less than a handful of seconds before Billy came out and found them.

Kathryn was a state: her skirt was ripped to her flimsy underwear and the white top and coat was both covered in mud. She cocked her head and raised her eyebrows at Fiona. "He's coming," Fiona yelled and grabbed her friend's dirty hand. Kathryn squealed as Fiona ran across the cobbled pavement, but there was little point in her friend changing into her heels.

"Where are we going?" Kathryn cried as she led her friend into a cul-de-sac. "School's that way."

"Change of plan," Fiona cried and walked up to a semi-detached house with only one light on. "Someone I know!"

"Greg?" Kathryn asked breathlessly.

"Hayden, a friend of Greg's. Greg's out tonight. And even better, Hayden can drive his Dad's car and his parents are in the pub. I saw them."

"Assuming he's in."

"He is in," Fiona replied, as she knocked on the door. "The car's on the drive." There was some noise behind the front door and Hayden slowly opened it. He muttered something when he saw the bedraggled Kathryn but Fiona interrupted him. "Small favour to ask," she said as she walked into his house.

"What happened."

"Slight issue that will take too long to explain," Fiona patronised. "So just do what I ask for."

"A bath?"

"A shower and a change of clothes."

"I don't think my underwear will fit her."

"Hayden!" Fiona barked, sizing up the teenager dressed in a tracksuit. "You have dozens of pairs of tracksuits. Just one that is clean but doesn't fit too good, or even one that does and I can give it back to you tomorrow. Or at the School Dance."

Hayden shook his head, but beckoned Kathryn into the house and pointed her towards the "downstairs bathroom." Fiona crossed her arms and glared at him as Kathryn thanked him and closed the door.

"All my tracksuits'll be too big," he told her. I'm far taller and bigger than her. And ..."

"It doesn't matter," Fiona replied. "Really, it doesn't matter. Come on Hayden." She raised her eyebrows at him and blew him a kiss. "Come on, you love me, really."

"No. That's Greg." Fiona snorted and Hayden crossed his arms. "Seriously Fiona, he thinks the world of you."

"Well he shouldn't," the teenage girl snapped. "I'm not worthy of his love. Now, this tracksuit!"

Hayden ignored her. "Fiona, I'm serious -- he loves you. He won't admit it to you or me, but as his friend I am telling you, he loves you. Something you should know, he wants to get closer to you."

"He doesn't," Fiona snapped. "And we had this agreement, if he falls in love with me, then he either sees sense or we split up." Hayden gulped as Fiona adjusted her top and the blonde soubrette didn't need to do too much begging to elicit an old tracksuit, destined for the charity shop to take into the tiny bathroom for her friend.

Kathryn giggled when she adjusted the trousers around her waist. "Feels so naughty, I'm naked under this!"

"Now, what the hell was going on with Billy?"

"Nothin'." Kathryn said shyly and she shrugged. "OK, I fancied going out with someone a bit older," she confessed and sighed. "He is the brother of the gardener. He came to visit him and we got chatting. He's come from Derby to see me. OK?"

"You're mad."

"A little," she confessed. "But that's why you are here." Fiona sighed and zipped up the tracksuit top, before opening the bathroom door. Hayden picked up a beer from the table and smiled at the two girls as they entered the lounge.

"How many have you had?" Fiona asked, anxiously.

"This is my second."

"No it isn't. You've got to drop us off at the Abbey," the smirking blonde replied and picked up the bottle of beer from Hayden's hands. He groaned as she sat down.

"What's in it for me?" He said with a smirk.

"I'll let you beat me a pool next time," she said with a giggle.

"I do that anyway," he said and put his hands on her waist as she turned away from him. He began to tickle her and she squealed a warning that she was about to drop the beer on his parents' sofa that caused Hayden to stop.

Fiona put her head back and looked into Hayden. "OK the next time Greg fancies a threesome, I'll give you a call," she promised and Hayden grumbled.

"Yeah OK," he muttered and smirked as she took a gulp of his drink. "Can I get you anything?" He asked.

"Yes, she wants a dose of common sense and a glass of something very powerfully alcoholic," Fiona replied and he bit his lip.

"I'll show you what I've got," he said, getting up from the couch and pointing towards his father's little drinks cabinet. "What do you want?" Kathryn smiled shyly and looked coyly at Fiona.

"What has he got?"

"Bigger than Ewan and Greg. Not quite at Sam's size," Fiona giggled, and blew a kiss towards the teenager, shaking his head at the two girls. "Don't worry, she's as bad as me."

"Wow!" Hayden cried. "Can she play pool like you as well? If so, fancy a game of strip pool?"

"Hayden!" Fiona warned. "She's just nearly been kidnapped by a sixty year-old."

"Fifty-two," Kathryn replied with a frown. "And not kidnapped. Just ... molested."

"Shit!" Hayden cried. "Well maybe you should, y'know. Talk to the Police."

"Don't be silly," Fiona spat as she wiped her eyes. "They are useless. But she should find herself a proper boyfriend. With the emphasis on 'boy' not 'decrepit.'"

"When I find someone who knows their way around the female anatomy and is under twenty-five I shall go out with someone who is under twenty-five," Kathryn replied with an aggrieved tone.

"But that's the beauty of finding guys who don't," Fiona explained. "You get to teach them what you like." Her eyes glanced over to Hayden and she raised her eyebrows. "You are not to repeat this," she warned him before turning back to the tracksuit-clad teenage girl. "But I just adore virgins and non-experienced guys. They are such a challenge, and, they are more grateful for any female attention." Kathryn sniggered at Fiona's seriousness.

"Yeah but Greg isn't non-experienced now."

"Sense of achievement. I took a young man who needed help, helped him and now he is a master. His sexual skills are my handiwork. Every orgasm he gives someone else, they owe me a debt of thanks."

"Yes, and it doesn't always work out like that, does it?" He raised a bottle of vodka towards Kathryn who nodded appreciatively as Fiona frowned in thought. "Peter. Now he wasn't exactly grateful, was he?"

"That's not true," Fiona argued. "I taught him well, and after we split up, I know he told everyone at your school I was a crazy nymphomaniac slut, but he did bag that cute girl."

"Actually they split," Hayden corrected her, as he poured a very generous measure of vodka in a tumbler, and then added a smattering of Coca-Cola from a bottle. "She said he was too 'sex-mad.' They had a row in Maths."

"Well he always was a bit clingy."

"I hate clingy guys," Kathryn said as she thanked Hayden for the drink. "They always want something and are always there."

Fiona agreed and stretched her legs, leaning back against the sofa cushions and taking a swig of the beer. "Greg can be a bit intense at times but he's not too bad. He knows." She looked at Hayden and nodded. "Right?"

"Sure," he muttered and pursed his lips. "He does think you are the best girlfriend anyone could ever want."

"I am when it comes to some things," Fiona boasted and chortled. "And I s'pose he's a decent boyfriend." Kathryn spluttered when she took a sip of her potent drink and Fiona giggled. "Well he does what I want in the bedroom, easy-going, kind and ... errr ... well, he has said he doesn't mind me playing away." Kathryn's eyebrows rose and Fiona bit her lip. "We had a chat before the party and he promised me that as long as I was honest and it wasn't a regular thing, he was OK with it. Now Eddie wasn't happy when I arranged a threesome and he asked for it."

Hayden laughed. "Umm ... didn't you arrange a threesome with his older brother?"

"Yeah? And?" Fiona asked aggressively. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought a threesome was three people, he didn't say who he wanted."

"And, well, he told everyone about it at school when you went out with Peter, but after he said 'no' didn't you go and screw his brother anyway?" Fiona shrugged.

"I'm not proud of it," she admitted and swirled the beer in the bottle. "But I got a bit pissed, and I was up for something and he just acted like a child so I wanted to show him what he was missing."

Hayden tapped his fingertips. "You broke him," he said quietly. "He hated his brother after that, and ..."

"I was younger," Fiona admitted. "More naïve. I didn't know."

"Well ... Greg knows what to expect. Everyone knows about you at our school," he told Kathryn. "You've been christened on every bog wall in our school."

"Does it matter?" Kathryn asked and then sniffed. "But that's why I hate boys from our year. They just boast and stuff."

"Greg doesn't," Hayden said immediately. "Actually, he got in a fight with Peter a few weeks ago when your ex called you a slut." Fiona's eyes widened and Hayden gestured with his hands. "But don't tell him I told you or say anything to you."

"That's quite sweet," Kathryn purred as she finished her drink and Hayden replaced it with another. Fiona held the beer bottle aloft and called for another. "So are you the Hayden that Sophia dated?"

"Yes," Fiona cried as Hayden looked away. "He is hopeless with choosing women."

The host crossed his arms and sighed. "I don't have to take this abuse," he warned with a smirk. "I can just throw you out and spend the evening with Kathryn."

"Now she is a much better choice than your previous bitches, cows and harlots." Fiona smiled at Kathryn and then Hayden. "You just seem to pick dire partners."

"OK Miss Matchmaker," Hayden teased. "What sort of woman should I be searching for?" Fiona took a deep breath as she looked at him and considered her options.

"Smart, can argue and keep you in check. Some girl with a decent libido but not too scarily kinky."

"Sophia was into everything weird," Hayden mused. "I don't mind the odd bit of anal, but she was just fucking ... weird."

"I know," Fiona muttered and then continued her ponderings. "And discreet, sporty and fun. I don't think you take yourself as seriously as Greg takes himself, so a cheeky, fun girl would be great."

He looked at her with pursed lips. "Any names then?"

Kathryn stared at Fiona as she hummed. "Chloë would be good, if she ever breaks up with Ewan. Oh, Lee had a younger sister, Christina, she'd be great." Hayden giggled at the smirking girl and she looked around at Kathryn staring at her. "What?"

"Well aren't I smart, argumentative, discreet, sporty, fun and sexed up?"

"Yes, but you only want old guys."

Kathryn groaned. "I don't want old guys," she said wearily and rubbed her eyes. "I want guys who ... know their way 'round the female body and who are just fun and relaxed. Not too serious."

"So do you want a date with Hayden?"

"Does he meet my requirements?"

Fiona hummed and nodded. "I guess so. He's not too bad. And he's fun and relaxed. OK, when are you free then?"

"Oh," Hayden cried. "Don't I get a say in all this?"

"No," scoffed Fiona and adjusted herself in her seat. "How about the weekend? Bowling, cinema in Derby?"

"Yeah, Saturday'll be fine." Her eyes glistened and she giggled.

"Is this Fiona's dating agency?"

"Why not? I think I would be good at it." She looked at Hayden who smiled back at her. "Sorted." Fiona looked at Hayden, with a smirk. "When are your parents back?"

"Eleven. They always stay 'til eleven."

"I just thought I could give you a game of Strip Poker. Just so Kat knows what she is getting."

Hayden laughed and shook his bowed head. "That's not going to happen: you wouldn't win."

"Pah!" Fiona spat and finished her beer. "You know I would beat you any day of the week." He argued and Fiona held out her empty bottle. "Prove it. Play me. Katty's got a big drink to finish so play me."