Jaynehkins and Battycatty :3 **Warning: Mature Content**

"Thank you?" Rhys asked when she blurted out the statement. "No, I'm not. Just concerned about what's going to happen to our planet. Aw, don't cry." He whispered the last part. His hand automatically reached out to touch her shoulder comfortingly, but stopped when he remembered the way she acted around guys. Instead he pulled his hand back to his chest and said, "You know, I could teach you some of this stuff." He offered hesitantly.

"I don't cry," Bella snapped and looked at him with dry but hard eyes. She wasn't afraid of Rhys, maybe because he was there for the same reason? For some reason when he had withdrawn his hand she wanted him to bring it back, then she didn't know if that was a good idea. "You can teach me if you want, but I can't learn." She told him softly, that's what she heard everyday and was convinced of it.

Rhys arched an eyebrow, carefully avoiding her first statement. "Anyone can learn." He stated, and scooted his chair closer so he could show her the paper and what he was writing. He drew a diagram of a dioxide atom. "See here, this dioxide molecule has only two atoms of oxygen. This is usually the form we find it in. But here, we have a layer called the ozone layer. It's made up of oxygen molecules with three atoms. Get me so far?" He asked, not sure how he was doing.

Bella just nodded and swallowed thickly. "Yeah..." She said not really understanding it but figuring she might as well agree. She was getting angry with herself, for being so stupid. Her body started to shake and her breathing grew heavier, this is what happened when she had to keep herself from crying. She gritted her teeth and looked down at the paper ignoring the signals her body was sending her.

"Bella?" Rhys asked carefully. "We don't have to learn about it like this if you don't want to." He smiled gently and patted her shoulder hesitantly, lightly. Certainly in a non-threatening manner. He kept the rest of himself in her line of sight and loose. "Come on, it's okay." He pushed a straand of hair behind her ear and backed his chair up again.

"I'll never learn," Bella breathed, "Dad tells me that, I'm just stupid! I don't know anything!" She gasped, this is what forcing herself not to cry all those years did. Now she couldn't physically cry. She turned and practically threw herself into Rhys arms before backing up and blinking several times, trying to catch her breath, "I-I-I'm sorry." She stuttered, not knowing what came over her. She felt embarrassed and just plain old confused. She was terrified of guys why had she just done that? She sat there gritting her teeth and wringing her hands together trying to grab hold of her breathing her lungs were certainly throwing a fit.

Rhys smiled. "You're intersting." He murmured, "But definately not dumb. No matter what our past is, that doesn't affect who you are deep down inside." He glanced around only to find the mysterious therapist gone. "Since this is so stressing," he whispered conspirationally, "how about we ditch?" He wagged his eyebrows playfully and his suggestion and leaned forward a tiny bit.

Bella grinned and glanced up before biting her lip and standing up. She grabbed Rhys by the hand and pulled him out the door closing it softly behind them. "Wow," She said looking around at the empty hallways. "I've never been so daring." Her eyes were wide and bright and held a certain gleam to them.

"Shh..." Rhys murmured. "We have to be ninjas!" He struck a couple of stereotype ninja poses with ridiculous expresssions on his face. Finally he crept back to Bella and pretended to talk into a headset. Hallway Five is all clear, do you copy." He said in a thick accent. He grinned at Bella and surveyed the hall again.

[You're person is a lot more trusting than Polo's. *glares at Avery* It's nice for a change ^^]

((Bella doesn't usually trust anyone but since Rhys is in the same sort of situation she doesn't find him as a threat, as she does all other men.))

Bella smirked, "I copy." She replied and continued to glance around. "No one is here, let's make a move for it!" She whispered pulling him slightly closer and still looking around. "This will be easy!" She waggled her eyebrows and smirked again, her voice still very soft.

"Unless they have it booby trapped an dhave it covered with snipers." Rhys countered in a whisper in her ear. "C'mon, move it, move it, move it!" He laughed and stumbled out of his scrunched position and into the bright white light streaming from the windows. His hand was still gripped in Bella's so he pulled her along with him.

[Oi. I see.]

Bella followed along behind him, little legs working double time to keep up with his. "We're almost out captain!" She teased as they came near to the doors. For once she wasn't scared, she wasn't terrified of Rhys like she was every other man, there was something about him... something good and pure.

Rhys threw open the door and yelled, "JAIL BREAK!!!" at the top of his lungs. He saw Bella wasn't really keeping up, so he decided to stretch his luck and throw her over his shoulder and make a run for it. He could see students peering out of their classrooms curiously, and one of them flashed him an evil glare before raising his hand to tell. Rhys sprinted faster, and didn't notice when one of his contacts fell out, the one that had been bothering him before.

Bella's heart beat faster and her eyes fluttered as her breathing increased. Another flashback tried to make way into her mind. "No-no-no!" She cried, "Put me down please don't hurt me!" She couldn't physically cry but she sounded like she could. She gripped Rhys' shirt as the flashback deepened and she was being swallowed in it. "Help me!" She cried out before letting herself go limp.

After they were safely in the woods, Rhys gently set the limp girl down. "Bella? Bella!" He asked frantically, waving her with his hand, trying to revive her. "Bella, I'll never ever hurt you!" He promised, not making any contact with her. "Bella, please, I'm sorry!" He tried again hysterically.

Bella's eyes fluttered open and she lurched forward throwing her arms around Rhys' neck. Sobs that could not escape racked her tiny frame as she clung to him. Frightening and horrible images flashed through her mind over and over again as she tried to clear them but had no success. "I-I'm sorry." She whispered her eyes still closed as she laid her head lightly on Rhys' shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Rhys patted her back gently, supporting her neck with his hand. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" He asked after a while, pulling back so he could look her in the eyes. "You don't have to if you don't want to, though." He blinked his eyes. Why did they feel different? Oh, sh.....

Bella swallowed hard then looked at his eyes closely. "Your eyes..." She started then shook her head, "Wow, never mind, I must be going crazy." She didn't move, rather stayed in Rhys' comforting embrace as she sat there and stared into his eyes for a moment before she broke the gaze. "I could have sworn your eyes were blue earlier." She shook her head and then sighed softly.

Rhys swallowed nervously. "Um, yeah, you must be hallucinating." He laughed nervously, checking his pockets for something to distract and his box of spares. He pulled out the small box discreetly and countered with a statement. "You still didn't answer." He said firmly. "Wait, I've go to go to the bathrrom." He laughed and stood up and walked to a large tree. Quickly, he popped the contacts into his eyes and muttered a string of curses.

Bella shrugged and when he came back she was sitting on a log and looked at him with sad, dull, but sharp eyes that watched his every move. "I've never really told anyone... I just tell people I'm afraid of men and that's why I'm in therapy... but I never tell them why." Bella explained, voice soft and somewhat trembling. A piece of stray hair fell in her face and she tucked it away before it insisted on falling in her face again.

"Okay." Rhys stated simply before sitting down next to her. "So why aren't you afraid of me? Am I not male or something?" He joked, but his face remaining serious. "It's okay if you don't want to tell. Or if I'm crazy by thinking you're not afraid of me..." He trailed off hesitantly.

Bella looked at the ground, "I don't know why I'm not afraid of you." She told him, voice soft and timid. "I've been asking myself that." She shrugged, "The reason I'm afraid of-" She stopped when the words choked her and Dominic's face entered her mind. She blinked several times and looked away before squeezing her eyes shut.

"It's okay, we don't have to talk about it." He said before hesitantly pulling her into a hug. Quietly, he whispered to her, "See that squirrel?" He asked, pointing to a nearby tree trunk. "I'm going to name it Squella." He chuckled. "Squirrel plus Bella."

Bella felt butterflies in her stomach, but not the bad ones, ones she had never felt before. She smiled and closed her eyes, she had no idea why she felt safe with Rhys she had never felt this way with Dom. She just felt, safe, like nothing could ever hurt her. She leaned into Rhys' comforting touch and whispered, "I'll tell you someday."

"And I'll tell you mine that same day." He whispered back. He didn't want to pull away and ruin the moment, but he had to. "So now that we've ditched, wherer shall we go?" He asked pleasantly, standing up and offering her his hand to use to get up as well."We can't go back to my house, you're deathly afraid of your own, so what shall we do?" He mused, a hint of a smirk on his face.