(written by Lacy) Dozens of people swarmed around the large backyard as Jess zig-zagged her way through to the back patio. Seeing Howie standing just outside the backdoor, she sighed gratefully for finally spotting someone she actually knew and made her way over to him. "I don't even know half of the people here," she said to him, leaning against the house. "I know, sorry about that. AJ heard the word 'party' and invited half or Orlando. He didn't know it was supposed to be your going away party, though. As well as being embarrassed, he also feels bad," Howie said, laughing. "Well, if you see him before I do, tell him I said I forgive him, but he'd better have a huge going away present for me tomorrow," Jess said, smiling at him as she walked into the house.
"Hey, where's the bathroom?" someone asked from behind her as they brushed past her shoulder. "That way," she said, pointing in the direction of the bathroom without even looking up to see who the person was. "Thanks," they said. Jess looked up and frowned. The guy who she had just gave mutual directions to looked strangely familiar to her, yet all she could see was his back since he was walking away from her. Shrugging it off, she headed in the direction she had been going --- to Jade's room. Apparently she had disappeared there about an hour ago, according to Nick. Kevin was busy barbequing and hadn't even had time to scratch his head let alone keep tabs on Jade. As she reached the top of the stairs, she heard music coming from Jade's room and knew where she would find her friend.
"Jade, what are you doing?" Jess asked as she opened Jade's door and stepped into the room in bewilderment. Jade jumped at Jess' voice and looked up from her spot in the middle of the bed where she was sitting cross-legged with about a hundred pictures scattered on the bed in front of her. There were boxes everywhere and clothes all over the floor. "I'm going back to Philly with you," Jade said, and Jess stood there in shock at Jade's straight-forward answer. "Oh," was all she could think of to say in reply. "Come on, I can finish this later, let's go to your... our party," Jade said, avoiding Jess' questioning gaze and walking around her and down the stairs. Jess had no choice but to follow her.
As she tried to keep up with Jade, Jess almost fell down the stairs and as she walked out the back door, almost ran into the wall. When she finally reached the backyard, she looked around but came to the realization that she had lost Jade among the crowd of people. Sighing in confusion and frustration, she spotted Brian and made her way over to him. "Hey, sexy. I've been looking all over for you," he said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck. She smiled and tempted to put her flustered thoughts to the back of her head. Eventually, she did, and after a while even started to enjoy the party. That is, until she heard the blood curdling scream. Jade's scream.
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As Jade stood on the dock, looking out into the quiet, peaceful night, she was beginning to relax when she heard someone walking onto the dock behind her. Knowing it was too heavy a step to be Kevin's, she turned around and froze when she saw who was standing behind her. Directing his heavy gaze on her, James D. Buckland crossed his arms smugly and let a smirk fall across his face. "Wha--what are you do--doing here?" she asked, her stuttering making her feel even more uneasy. "I heard there was a party here tonight. I had no idea it was a pimp party," he said, uncrossing his arms and slowly walking closer to her. Jade, frozen in fear, took a very unsteady breath and shuddered as she let it out. "Scared?" he asked as he neared her, "You should be." Jade's eyes widened even more at his quiet threat and quickly regaining the blood flow to her brain, she began to take small steps backwards.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Judging the distance, I'd say you have about three more baby steps before falling into the lake," he said, smiling as he realized she wasn't going to get away from him. "Leave me alone," she whispered, her voice shaking. He laughed loudly at her, his voice seeming to grow more darker with every breath he took. "No," he said, taking one last step towards her before grabbing her arm and pulling her against him. She struggled with all the strength she had in her, but she couldn't get loose from his iron-tight grip. Not knowing what else to do, she threw back her head and screamed as loud as she could.
"Shut up, you bitch!" he growled, slapping her across the face so hard she would of fallen into the water if it weren't for his holding her against him. He was holding her so tight, she could feel her arms start to tingle from the loss of blood flow. She screamed again, this time with all she had in her, and again she felt as if her face was on fire when his hand came in contact with her cheek. Trying to scream again, but only a gurgle coming from her since her ex-boss had a hold of her throat, things slowly started to get very black.
Suddenly a loud growl was heard from somewhere in the crowd, almost sounding like an explosion, and not even a second later James Buckland was laying on the dock with a broken arm and blood all over his face. Kevin was on top of him, pounding his face with all the strength he had in him. "Kevin! Kevin! You're gonna kill him!" Brian yelled, running towards his cousin with Nick, Howie, and AJ right behind him. "Let him kill him!" Nick yelled, running past them and kneeling beside Jade. It took all of AJ, Howie, and Brian's strength to pull Kevin off from Mr. Buckland, and it took even more to hold him back from pouncing on him again. Howie quickly grabbed the unconscience man's hands and dragged him off from the dock and let him lay in the grass to get him away from Kevin.
A crowd had formed around the dock as the five Backstreet Boys and Jessica Patterson kneeled beside the very bruised and battered Jade Green. "Oh my God...," Jessica prayed as Kevin silently picked Jade up and carried her into the house. Howie and Brian stayed outside and were telling people to go home as Jess ran to the freezer to get ice and AJ, Nick, and Kevin knelt beside the couch where Jade was laying. "I'm fine," Jade muttered, trying to sit up, but being pushed back down again by Kevin and Nick. "Stay," AJ said, running into the kitchen to help Jess with the ice.
"I'm not a dog," Jade mumbled, covering her face with her hands as the light was starting to give her a headache. Nick sat on the edge of the couch beside her with a worried look on his face. Kevin was sitting on the floor beside the couch with a very pissed off look on his face. Neither of them said anything. "Here's the ice pack," Jess said, rushing back into the livingroom with AJ right behind her. Kevin took it silently and gently pressed it against the side of Jade's face, and she cried out in pain, making Nick jump and tears form in Kevin's eyes. "I'm so sorry, baby," Kevin softly whispered in her ear, his voice filled with hurt as if he were the one in pain. Jade just looked at him through her one good eye, his form blurring before her as a single tear fell onto the couch. Kevin saw it and slowly wiped it away, almost unable to control himself as he felt the most love and need of protection for her that he had ever felt. An hour later, they all let out a sigh of relief as Jade finally fell into a deep sleep with Kevin and Nick still at her side.
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