A Beautiful Wish Ch. 06

"Damnit," she thought, "why can't you just ask me? Why can't you stop being a good guy for just a few minutes?"

As the day ended and the children gathered in the courtyard to be picked up by their parents, Karen learned that one of her campers had forgotten their towel in the pool area. Seeing this as her last opportunity before the weekend to talk to George, she almost sprinted back to the pool under the guise of finding the towel before the camper's parents arrived.

As she reached the entrance to the locker rooms she froze as she noticed Rocko with his friends Eric and Russell leaving the boy's entrance. Rocko and Eric were high-fiving each other. Russell followed close behind, but looked particularly glum in comparison to his friends. Karen and Rocko's eyes met and he flashed her his dazzling smile. For her part, she managed to fake a nervous grin. She hoped he would pass her by. Instead, Rocko dismissed his friends and strode over to her with his broad chest pushed out and his arms flexed.

"Hey there, pretty girl." Rocko's gaze scanned her form from head to toe. It made Karen even more uncomfortable.

"Um, hi," she said nervously. She folded her arms across her chest and rubbed them like she was cold.

"So, I was thinkin', there is this really cool movie comin' out today. Me and the boys was gonna go, but I blew them off to go with you. How does eight o'clock sound?"

"Is he serious?" she thought. "Is he really so clueless that he doesn't even know how upset I am? No. Not this time. I'm going to be strong."

"Sorry, Rock, I have plans tonight. I'll call you this weekend if I'm able."

"Aww c'mon, girl. I already told my friends I was gonna... gonna take you out instead of hangin' with them. Don't leave me hangin', girl."

Rocko looked so pitiful to her all of a sudden, like a child who wasn't getting his way, on the verge of throwing a temper-tantrum. "Don't call me girl. My name is Karen and I said I couldn't tonight."

"Okay, Okay, I'm sorry g... Karen. How about tomorrow then?"

"I... I don't know. I'll call you." Out loud she faltered, but inwardly her resolve was iron-clad. She swore she wouldn't let herself be the victim again.

Karen walked briskly through the girls locker room. She'd show Rocko, she'd show her father, she'd show herself that she deserved better. She was almost giddy as she approached the stairs leading up to the pool.

Karen almost knocked into George as he left the boys locker room at the same time. Startled, she broke into a hurried explanation as to why she was there, when she noticed that George's left eye was swollen and black. He looked like he had been in a fight.

Instinctively, she brought her hand up to touch his face. She wanted to heal him, to take care of him, but George pushed her away. He turned in shame, saying something about falling on a bench. But George looked like he had been gut-punched. Nobody became that emotionally damaged over a simple fall.

As he walked away, he said something that would haunt her for the rest of the weekend.

"You can do whatever, I don't care."

Her heart felt like it had been ripped from her chest. Destroyed, all she could manage was a meek, "Okay..."

As George disappeared all of her hopes and dreams vanished into nothingness. She walked to her car in a daze, forgetting all about her campers. The entire time, she attempted to unravel how her world had changed so suddenly. She had gone from marching up to the gates of Heaven without a doubt in her mind to falling end over end into the deepest pit. It wasn't until she reached her old second-hand SUV that she began to make sense out of what had just happened.

"Had George heard that I gave Rocko a handjob? Does he think I'm some kind of whore?" Karen knew he hadn't really fallen, George was easily the worst liar she had ever encountered. Then she remembered Rocko and his crew leaving the locker room just before she entered. Rocko must have done it. The question that baffled her was why.

But all of those thoughts were second to George's words. She replayed them over and over again in her head, and each time she did it felt like she was being stabbed. "...I don't care. ...I don't care," over, and over.

Her hands shook as she fumbled with her keys and started up the car. When she began to pull out of the parking lot, she found herself unable to concentrate on the road. Her vision blurred with tears as she pulled over into a gas station less then a mile from the college. She buried her face in her arms, leaned against the steering wheel, and surrendered to despair.

She knew then that she had been a fool. No man would ever love her, especially not a man like George. She wasn't pure enough, she wasn't innocent. She was a miserable little slut, just like her father had called her. She deserved to be used, to be abused. She was a victim, it was all she'd ever be. She felt like nothing.

Karen spent that night and most of Saturday alone in the darkness of her bedroom. She curled herself into a ball in an attempt to become as tiny as possible. If she could have disappeared, she would have.

Her only contact with the outside world came from her roommates knocking on her door to see if she was okay, and the solace crushing phone calls from Rocko. He must have left ten messages on her machine before she finally picked up. She didn't even know what he was saying, but it didn't matter to her. She knew what he wanted. There was no use resisting. Whether it be Rocko, or some other guy, they would take it from her eventually. She thought about running again, but no matter where she went there would always be guys like Rocko who would take advantage of her.

She heard something about being ready for Sunday night. "Might as well get it over with," she thought. She agreed.

That night, Karen fell into a restless daze in which she only caught fleeting glimpses of sleep. In the hours between her naps she lay there staring at the clock, thinking. She wondered what her father would say about this. She could imagine nothing constructive. But she found, in spite of herself, that she missed him. But that was part of the problem: seeking shelter in the jaws of a monster. She flirted with the idea of going home, but it felt so far away. Not that she ever really had a home with her family to begin with. But what she thought about most was George. She wanted to know what he was doing. She wanted to imagine that he was thinking about her.

Sunday morning came and went. It wasn't until some time around noon that she climbed out of bed. She prepared herself for her date with enthusiasm reserved for a dog going to the vet.

Eight o'clock finally rolled around and still no Rocko. If he was going to rape her, he could at least be punctual.

Eight forty-five, and Karen's nervous wanderings were finally broken by the sound of Rocko's supped up Trans-Am pulling in front of her apartment window. He honked the horn impatiently, the bass from his stereo shook the neighborhood. Karen took one last look at herself in the mirror, breathed deep, and headed downstairs to meet him.

---------------------------------

"I'm such an asshole," said George.

"Oh George," sighed Dawn, "there was no way you could have known. And besides, you had just been punched in the face. She will forgive you."

He and Dawn lounged on his old bed. George laid on his back with his head near the edge while Dawn propped herself up with her elbows as she lay on her stomach beside him. She was playing a video game on George's small TV while she allowed him to observe Karen and Rocko's date as it unfolded. The two were dressed for bed, with George in an old pair of now very baggy sweatpants and a white undershirt, and Dawn in a set of traditional looking sky blue pajamas, but made of the finest silk imaginable. George made it a point to keep at least a finger touching her at all times.

"Maybe. I feel like shit anyway. I mean, I could have really helped her and I blew it. I don't even deserve to be her friend."

Dawn's on-screen avatar lost a life as she sighed once more in frustration. "I really do not understand all this nonsense about people not deserving one another. If you do not at least believe it is possible then how would you ever find anyone. Rocko certainly believes he deserves her. And as despicable as he is, he still gets the girl."

"Wow. I never really thought about it like that."

Dawn quickly apologized, "Sorry, I did not mean for it to come out so strongly. But I would hate to see someone hurt but for a simple lack of confidence. You do deserve her. And she deserves you." She giggled unexpectedly, "And I deserve to watch."

George smirked, "There you go again."

"It is literally a one track mind." She raised her rump off the bed and wiggled it for George.

"So what do you think I should do?"

Dawn placed her controller on the floor and moved closer to George so she could rest her chin on his chest. "I think you should do what you know to be right. You said before that with great power comes great responsibility. If you truly believe this then we must help Karen now."

"But what if she finds out about you? What if Rocko found out?"

"They will not, unless you want them to. But you know this." She crawled upwards so that she could gaze upon him. "What is really bothering you?"

Dawn's heavenly piercing eyes bore right through his defenses. He cringed as he admitted, "What if I make things worse? What if I screw up again?"

Dawn placed her finger on his lips and gently quieted him, "George, things have become this way because you did not act. You know, much better than I, that it is time for you to stop running and start acting. And if things become worse we will deal with it, together. The rewards for inaction are that things stay the same. But the rewards for being a hero are... vast."

George pulled her closer and embraced her. "Be the hero?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Okay, maybe this one time, I'll make a wish. But only to make sure she isn't raped. I don't think I could stand it if something like that happened to her again."

Dawn sat up straight and clapped her hands together. "Very well. Hmm..." she looked as though she had come to some conclusion.

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking, this is the first time that I will use my abilities to save somebody. I feel like a character in a video game!"

George laughed, but he had to admit that he did as well.

"Okay, I wish..."