"Crazy field hockey scrimmage today in P.E., huh, Hastings?" Alison bumped her shoulder into Spencer's, and the brunette lost her grip on her math textbook.
The girls both watched as the book skidded across the sidewalk and was stepped on by the kids heading towards their parent's cars or walking home. Alison made no move to help as Spencer scrambled forward to retrieve it, along with the countless scraps of notebook paper fluttering from between the pages.
Spencer hastily crammed the papers back into the book, her glasses sliding down her nose. A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see Alison still waiting, a bit impatiently, for a response.
"Uh, yeah, crazy," Spencer stammered, snatching a paper out of midair. "Look, Alison, I don't want to be rude, but I'm kind of—"
Alison waved a hand. "This is just going to take a second. I need to make sure we're clear on something." The blonde nonchalantly looked around as the last few scragglers hopped into their rides or disappeared over the hill. When they were alone, Alison kicked the textbook out of Spencer's hands.
Spencer lurched backwards, the skin of her palms scraping off as she caught herself on the sidewalk. She watched the papers she just rescued flutter away in the breeze and bit back a less-than-friendly name for Alison.
The Queen Bee stood over Spencer, her arms crossed in a manner Spencer knew she meant to be intimidating. Her voice was low, threatening. "Look. I saw you trying to chat up the sixth graders earlier. And you running around the field during the game, trying to impress them was hilarious." She leaned forward, placing her hands on her hips. "But it isn't going to work, Four Eyes. They're my friends. They didn't pick you to groom for the team next year and they aren't going to. You'll never be as good as I am, so you should just lay off. Understand?"
No, Spencer didn't understand. She brushed the bits of gravel from her palms and stood up, shoving past Alison to pick up her textbook. "Last I checked, you don't own me, Alison. I can talk to whoever I want."
"Last I checked," Ali retorted, mimicking Spencer's voice. Spencer felt the girl's sharp fingernails dig into her arm. "You're a nobody and you should be grateful for my advice."
Spencer yanked her arm out of Alison's grasp and whirled around, hands up in defense. "Just back off, Alison!"
She flinched as Alison's arm swung toward her, but the girl only plucked Spencer's glasses from her face.
"Fine! Let's see how well you play field hockey blind!"
Spencer watched as Alison's arm arced downward, her fingers releasing the thick-framed glasses just in time for them to fly into the concrete. The lenses shattered and the brunette fell forward with a gasp, scrambling to pick them up. Alison brought her brand-new pink sneaker down onto the frames, barely avoiding crushing Spencer's fingers in the process.
"Hey!"
Over the sickening crunch of her glasses, Spencer heard heavy footsteps approaching. Alison hoisted her backpack higher on her shoulders and sprinted away, laughing like some kind of maniac.
"Alison, come back here, you little bitch!" Melissa Hastings stopped beside Spencer and rested her hands on her knees, breathing heavy. Spencer knew her sister's backpack was probably full of those thick high school textbooks or she would have chased after Ali. "You're going to pay for that, kid! I'll kick your ass if you come near my little sister again!"
"Thanks, Mel." Spencer sniffled, picking up her glasses as Melissa retrieved the fallen math textbook off the sidewalk. Spencer stuffed the book into her backpack and tentatively placed her glasses back on her face. The world was fractured into hundreds of little shards.
Spencer wiped furiously at the tears that started to leak down her face. She always hated crying.
"Oh, Spence. Come 'ere." Melissa wrapped Spencer in a tight hug, suffocating her a bit with the scent of the same cloying perfume their mother used.
But Spencer didn't mind. She burrowed her face into Melissa's polo and let her big sister stroke her hair.
"I was wondering what was taking you so long," Melissa murmured. "I should have known it was her again."
Spencer just sniffed in response.
"How about we go home and get your backup pair of glasses, then I'll borrow mom's car and we'll go get ice cream or something? Sound good?"
"Sounds good," confirmed Spencer.
It did sound good. Perfect, actually.
A/N: Whee, sibling feels! I thought the story about the time Ali broke Spencer's glasses needed telling. My own big sister offering to make heads roll and then buying me ice cream inspired the part at the end. I've always thought Spencer and Melissa were close before they got so darn competitive, and we know Melissa is super protective.
I wonder what little blurb will come next? Maybe Aria spotting Spencer at the library?
Hope you enjoyed! Review!
