Chapter 1

Ann. Evil Ann as some called her - but only behind her back - was the town's only resident Goth. A tall girl, skinny but strong, she had pale skin and long black hair. Perpetually dressed in black and seemly always in a bad mood she possessed an imposing presence.

To the sheltered residents of the town she looked like something out of a horror movie. Her strange appearance coupled with her sudden arrival and sullen, hostile attitude had caused quite a stir at her school and rumour abounded. At various time she was an actual witch, an escaped mental patient, had burned down her last school, killed a teacher or fucked the principal.

The truth was far more mundane. Her parents had lost their jobs in the failing economy and out of desperation they had had taken jobs out here. Moving from a major city to a small town had taken some adjusting for them all, but Ann being a child of the city had taken it especially hard.

Some poor assumptions by her teachers and classmates coupled with her anger over losing her friends and home had resulted in a number of incidents, even fights - the first month had seen numerous visits to the principal's office and near expulsion.

Time had passed and despite her unusual appearance, and propensity for violence she had slowly gained acceptance, friends and even an odd sort of popularity. She now occupied a strange place in the social ladder in that while she remained very much the outsider she was still invited to all the various parties and social gatherings, particularly this one, since it was Halloween.

Ann wandered through the big Halloween party weaving around clusters of poorly costumed and very drunk teenagers in search of a friendly face.

Amongst the increasingly raucous party goers she noticed a blonde girl in a ridiculously slutty cat costume huddled up in a corner in obvious distress. She was clutching her chest, hunched over defensively and she had clearly been crying. Ann approached the crying girl and recognised her as Beth.

To Ann's eyes Beth was a walking stereotype. She looked like a barbie doll, beautiful to be sure, but in the most generic way possible: long curly blonde hair, equally long legs, large breasts and a waspishly narrow waist. Of course, she was a cheerleader and dating the school quarterback. She wore expensive designer clothes, usually pink and tight fitting, and hung out exclusively with the self appointed "in-crowd". She only lacked a small dog and oversized pair of sunglasses to complete the airhead look. To top it off rumour had it she was something of a slut.

Despite representing everything she disliked and being a walking cliché to boot, Ann couldn't bring herself to dislike Beth. She was one of those people that just made everything around them seem brighter. She appeared to be happy all the time and, unlike the rest of her social circle, went out of her way to be nice to everyone. She was one of the few people that had actually talked to Ann when she first arrived. Under all the makeup, the clothes and the utterly generic conformity Beth was a genuinely good person. There was just something about her, innocence perhaps, that seeing her crying like this troubled Ann greatly.

"Beth, are you ok?" Asked Ann touching Beth's shoulder. The crying girl looked up startled.

"Uh yeah I just need the bathroom" Said Beth shakily still clutching her chest

Ann took her arm and pulled it away, Beth's torn top fell open exposing her breast. Ann released her and Beth tried to regain her dignity.

'Did someone do this to you?"

"Yes-no- please - I just need to go"

"Come with me" Ann took the protesting girl by the arm and led her swiftly through the house, ignoring the stares from the other party-goers as they passed.

Ann finally found an unoccupied room, by the looks of it a guest bedroom. She shepherded Beth inside, shut the door and locked it before jamming a chair under the handle for good measure.

Unsure of herself, Beth dithered around the room. Ann sat her on the bed and sat down beside her.

Now that her charge was out of harm's way Ann was uncertain what to do next. She tentively put her arm around the girls shoulder. The pretty blonde girl immediately put her face against Ann's chest started sobbing.

"Oh um, there-there, it's ok" She tried to sound comforting; in truth she was somewhat out of her depth here.

Beth cried for a long time, Ann held her tightly and made what she hoped was comforting noises.

Finally the tears stopped and Beth sat up wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry"

"It's ok, just let it out. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Uh huh. I was just talking with Jane and Mary and some of Chad's friends came over. Mary and Jane went to the bathroom and they just surrounded me, really close. I thought they were just playing but they kept grabbing me. I couldn't get away and they wouldn't let go. They kept saying awful things. Someone pulled my top and it tore and I screamed but they wouldn't stop. I think they would, wanted to, to-"

She broke down into tears again.

"It's ok sweetie you're safe now, they'll get what's coming to them don't you worry" murmured Ann

Beth continued between sobs "-it's just with everything these last couple week, since I broke up with Chad my friends won't talk to me cause of all the things he said about me, even though none of its true!"

Ann like everyone else at her school knew of the break up, It was impossible not to. Rumours abounded as to the details, but the general consensus was that Chad had dumped Beth after discovering her fucking someone else, possibly more than one. Ann had shared the consensus that Beth was a slut and had easily believed the rumours.