Chapter 3
"Are you sure there's nothing wrong? I feel like you're not telling me something," I ask, standing up. "I was about to ask you the same thing, but I promise I know nothing," he immediately replies. "But this is not the number one priority right now, I'm getting the police whether you like it or not." I nod, "fine, not like I have a choose." He sighs, "you can go clean-up, the bathroom should have everything you need, right down the hallway." I nod and bite my lip before standing and doing as I'm told.
Peter's PoV
I pull out my phone and quickly punch in 911. I step outside and unfold the paper in my jeans' back pocket. "Hello, 911, what's your emergency?" I hear a female voice answer on the other side of the line. "Yes, hello. I'm friends with a girl named Gamora, and she gets beaten up by her parents almost every day," I say as calmly as I can. "Okay, what is your name?" "Peter," I simply say. "Full name?" I hear her writing something down on a piece of paper. "Peter Quill." "What about her?" "Gamora Titan I believe (A/N: Based on her alter ego from the comics)." "Have you witnessed this for yourself?" "No, however the bruises speak for themselves and her friend Drax confirmed it to me." I hear her groan, "I hate these kinds of cases." I nod, "me too, she told me she was scared because she truly believes that her parents love her deep down inside." "I believe that too, but they're clearly insane." I frown, peeking back to immediately widen my eyes, Gamora stands there, completely tidied up and looking more beautiful than I remember. "Hello?" I realize I wasn't speaking and I struggle to produce words. I look away and focus on words. "I-I- s-sorry Gamora came up behind me, what did you ask?" I stammer, feeling her curious gaze resting on me. "I asked if you know the address of the house," she says in a relaxing, soothing voice. I relax a little but still fumble on the paper. "311 Holland Street, and I'm 334 Holland street," I reply, shoving the paper back into my pocket. "Alright, where are you and Gamora right now?" "At my house, standing on the porch." Gamora steps out and puts her hands around my waist, which almost makes me yelp in surprise. Almost. "Alright, we're sending two cars, however, I'd like to talk to Gamora." I nod, "alright, Gamora, she wants to talk to you." Gamora nods against my back as I hand her the phone. "Hello?" I hear her say, and I peek back and see her holding the phone with her shoulder so she can keep her hands around me. I want to wonder why, but I already know. She feels attached to me, the effect Yondu was talking about. She doesn't know yet, doesn't remember, but I have to teach her to love me again. Looks like I'm already halfway there. "Yes, they beat me probably every day, and no, they're not drunk they just blame everything on me, things that I didn't even know about. Like my father losing his job three times in a row, my mothers' back issues, my sisters' early death." Nebula? But she's alive?
Gamora continues to answer questions until two cars pull up in front of my house, and I nudge her with my elbow, and her cute little head peeks out from around my waist and she widens her eyes. "The cars have arrived, thank you for letting me talk officer!" she exclaims, and after a few seconds, Gamora hangs up and removes herself from me and steps to my side as the officers exit their cars and walk up to my porch. "Pete? What's going on? You didn't tell me Gamora was still here?" my granddad asks from behind the door. I turn around and bite my lip, knowing that this life will not be around much longer warms my heart but also breaks it. "Yeah, well, something I left out of my talk about Gamora, she gets beaten by her parents. Domestic abuse I suppose, so I took matters into my own hands," I reply, and a flash of pride occurs in his eyes. "I'm proud of you, Pete," he whispers before joining us on the porch. "Hello again Peter's granddad," Gamora says with a slight bow, and my granddad nods. I know she's a warrior and all, but god damn she is so respectful. I can't wait for us to go back, to be able to hold her again, talk to her again in the best way possible, feel her again.
"I'm assuming you are Peter Quill," one of the two officers ask, both of which are male which surprises me since the operator was female. "Yes, a pleasure to meet you officer," I say, holding out my hand. "Same to you," he replies with a smile. "I am officer Gordan, this is officer Jamison," Officer Gordan says, then pointing back to the approaching officer. "I'm officer Jamison," he says, and I shake his outstretched hand. "Now, Gamora, we heard that phone conversation, so we'll take you right over and if anything gets violent we will step in," he says, and we walk over to their cars. Officer Jamison slips into his and officer Gordan slips into his, and we follow Gordan. We go into the back and I immediately take Gamora's hand and squeeze it. "You sure you can do this?" I ask quietly, leaning in closer to her. She nods quickly, "I can be free." She smiles, and for the first time, I think it's a true smile. I smile back, just as warmly and gently as her, and I see officer Gordan adjust his mirror so he can see us. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, we just want to see if it's true." She nods, "I understand, but I'll stay on the porch. I ran away last night, so they'll be mad. I ran because they were going to beat me, so I locked myself in the bathroom and went out the window." The officer nods. "Let's roll out," he says, and the car goes into drive, and within what feels like years we reach her tiny house. "Wow…" Officer Gordan whispers. "I know," Gamora whispers back, and she gets out, and even from here I can see her shaking. Officer Gordan moves forward a bit so the car is far from her view, then gets out, his stun gun in hand. I get out as well and hide behind the brush in front of her house, where Office Gordan stands, ready to take them in. Gamora's hand shakes as she stands at the broken-down, preparing to knock. Please don't get hurt, I whisper to myself as she knocks on the door three times.
Gamora's PoV
I hold my breath as I stand at the door, all of my problems are behind this door. I can run now, let the officer handle it, or I can show him. They'll deny it, and maybe the court will believe them since they're not drunk or on drugs, and my bruises are not visible right now, so what will they say seeing me with a clean face? They'll think I'm lying and I'll be back where I started. Maybe worse. I let out my breath and look at my shaking, pale hand, and jump at the sound of brush moving behind me, but I know it's just them. I close my eyes and knock on the door three short times. I open them to see a very angry bald man. I can practically see the smoke rushing out of his ears. "YOU!" he hisses, as he pushes me down the steps. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he growls, and suddenly he's on top of me, about to punch. "NO!" I hear Peter scream, and Officer Gordan immediately springs up and stuns my father, and he groans and falls to the ground. "Go get your mom," Officer Gordan growls. I nod and walk up to the door again. "Mom? I'm home!" I call, and my mother runs towards me and slaps me across the face. "Why?" she hisses. I back away from the porch and she follows, but freezes as she notices the stunned father behind me and the Officer approaching her, handcuffs in one hand, an active stun gun in the other. "Which would you prefer ma'am?" Officer Gordan asks, stepping in front of me, and I immediately feel arms around me and squeak. "Shh, it's okay, it's me. Are you alright? I'm so so so so so so sorry you had to do that," Peter whispers in my ear, and I pull away and turn around, properly hugging him. "I'm alright, don't be sorry, we got em!" I exclaim, as I peek back to see that my mother decided to try to punch the officer. Nice one mom, I hope the stun gun didn't hurt too much. "Thank god you're alright. I guess you'll need to go to court with your parents, right? Luckily Officer Gordan thought ahead and recorded your fathers attack on you," Peter whispers, and I rub his back comfortingly. "You seem more nervous than me," I say with a giggle. He nervously laughs, "I just don't want anything to happen to you." I blush but don't move away. "Ahem," Officer Gordan says from behind us. I nervously laugh and pull away, my cheeks still red. "Sorry," I simply say. Officer Jamison pulls the car up and opens the door to put my parents in, and I smile as Peter and I jump in the back seat of Officer Gordan's car. "Let's go," Peter simply says, and the next few days blow by.
~Summary of court in Gamora's PoV~
My parents got sent to jail for life, and I get to live with Peter! He ever so kindly offered it (with permission of course) and I accepted, telling the court that I'd rather move in with him than a relative in a different state, and they happily obliged after seeing how close Peter and I are. I could tell that they hated seeing a child abused, even if I was eighteen and could take it, they must hate it. They showed no mercy on my parents, not that I really wanted them to. Now I've been living at Peter's for about two days, and now since it's Wednesday again (I burnt through Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, two days for court, two days of living) we need to go to school, which we easily get to, and now here we go!
~School- 8 a.m.~
"We have so many classes together, I'm so glad," I say with a laugh as Peter grabs my hand and we walk down the hall to our next class, which happens to be History (since classes move due to the day), where Markus is. We walk in to see the class filled except for Peter and I's seats. I blush as everyone stares at our entwined hands. He takes it away, blushing as well, and we take our seats. Luckily, I didn't get a spitball in my hair this time, probably because Markus is who does it and Peter probably stopped him. And with that, class went by quickly and it's already 9 o'clock, two hours until lunch.
I exit class and wait, Markus exits, not seeing me, and Peter exits right behind me, smiling as he sees me. He walks forward but I yelp as someone, no, not just someone, Markus, with Francis and a few other boys behind him, pin me to the wall right outside the classroom. "LET GO OF HER!" Peter screams, trying to push Markus off, but Francis pulls Peter away. "No can-do Pete, you knew the consequences for denying us. Let's take this to the showers, shall we?" Markus says with a smirk. The four boys help carry me and Peter down the stairs and to the showers. We enter the stalls of the male locker room, and Markus pins me against the shower wall, and I bite back a scream. "What's wrong? A little quiet?" he asks, and he rubs his hand up and down my thighs. "Stop," I moan out, trying to see how I can stop this. The tight blue sleeveless shirt I'm wearing is suddenly thrown off, and I hear screaming coming from Peter, but the boys keep him still. "LET HER THE HELL GO YOU BASTARDS!" Peter screams at the top of his lungs. My black lacy bra shows, and I bite back my cries and feel my eyes welling up with tears. "Sorry Peter, but if you thought she could be your girlfriend, you were wrong. She's officially mine, and not in the girlfriend way," Markus growls as he feels my exposed skin. "What did I ever do? I never told Peter to come after me, and we're friends, he doesn't like me like that idiot!" I growl as his hands slip to my back. "Oh, you're such a fool. He loves you more than anyone or anything, even your little Drax. Have you seen the way he looks at you?" Markus growls, his dark eyes scaring me. "Back off," a familiar voice says from the doorway of the showers, and I turn to see Drax, Rocket, and Groot standing there, looking like a team. Our gym teacher is also there, Mr. Keener. "How?" Markus whispers. Rocket springs forward like a little rabbit and frees Peter, knocking one of the boys down, and Groot follows, knocking down Francis and dragging him to the doorway, where the gym teacher stands, and soon the principal is behind him as Peter grabs Markus by the waist and completely flips him over, and I simply slump to the ground, feeling useless, but seeing Peter struggle as two boys try to take him makes me growl. Even though I'm half-naked, I jump up and kick one of the boys, with my high-heeled boots, to the ground. He cries out in pain and the other boy does as well when I grab him from the torso and throw him to the ground. Drax hands me my shirt and I immediately throw it on and slump to the ground again, my legs refusing to move. Several teachers are suddenly there, taking the boys, including Francis and Markus, and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Gamora, oh my god," Peter gasps, getting on his knees. "I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so-" "I'm alright, just… shocked. I'm alright, I really am Peter, and it's not your fault," I interrupt, flashing a charming smile, he frowns, not convinced, but I know I don't feel pain anywhere, well, except my heart. He loves you more than anyone or anything. "Gamora, I'm sorry, I should've come sooner, but I saw them taking you to the showers and gathered up a small team, I'm sorry," Drax says softly, plopping down on his knees next to Peter. "Let's get you to the nurse," Mr. Keener says from above me. "I-I-I" I stammer, but I point to my legs. "I-I can't feel them," I say, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Oh god," Peter breaths, but he immediately grabs me and carries me. Mr. Keener is about to offer help, but he backs off as Peter carries me all the way to the office, and all I do is lean my head against his chest, close my eyes and listen to his steady heartbeat. He lays me down on the same bed Drax was on, probably because he knew it would comfort me, and the nurse looks shocked to see me. Peter whispers to her and she gasps. "Please leave the room dear," the nurse says, and Peter frowns but nods. "No," I croak, my eyes snap open, stopping Peter in his tracks. "I n-need him," I stammer, and Peter blushes but looks back at the nurse. She sighs, "fine, but we'll be talking about lady things." Peter shakes his head, "Gamora, I'll be gone for a few seconds, she's just going to talk about things I shouldn't hear." I shake my head violently. "I don't want you to leave, and since when did you have so much respect?" I ask, attempting at a joke, and he smiles. "Fine," he says, faking an exasperated groan. "You're killing me smalls," he sighs, and I giggle. He sits on the edge of the bed as the nurse walks over and kneels, her eyes even with mine. "How far did it go? How much did he," the nurse staggers, clearly shocked into silence. "Just the shirt, my friends got me out in time, including Peter," I say, and I reach up to grab his hand. He gladly takes it and smiles at me, and I immediately smile back, but I don't take my eyes off of the nurse. "Thank god, but how do you feel, like, mentally?" she asks, inspecting my legs. "Actually, I'm alright. I've been through worse, my parents used to beat me until Peter called the police and told them," I say, and the nurse widens her eyes. "You poor, poor girl. No one should have to go through this, no one!" she growls. "I'll make sure he goes to juvenile for this… wait, he's eighteen! Under law he will go to prison for this," she groans, knowing that the principal will be light on him. "Why is the principal so light on him?" I blurt out, and immediately feel embarrassed and shut my mouth. The nurse widens her eyes, "oh, you don't know? I figured that your boyfriend would have explained that to you dear," the nurse asks, glancing over at Peter. "He's not my boyfriend, just a friend, but no, why?" I ask, stifling a laugh at the thought of Peter liking me. Markus just lied, I know it. He does that all the time, anything to ruin our friendship. Although, Peter was silent when Markus mentioned it. Ugh! I know he doesn't like me like that, but why does it hurt so much? "Oh, his loss, but, Principal Green isn't who he says. His actual last name is Young," the nurse says, a frown planted on her face. My eyes widen and look at Peter, who also widens his eyes. "E-Even I didn't know that," he stammers, staring at the nurse, his hand going dead cold in mine, oh wait, is that my hand that went cold? I won't ask. "He'll expel him without a doubt, but I doubt he'll do anything else. His own son and he never teaches him a lesson, I think the other students deserve a rest of year expel but not prison, they didn't physically touch you, only Markus, right?" "Well, Markus attempted to rape me, but the only other one who touched me was some guy helping to carry me down to the showers, not in an inappropriate way," I reply, and I feel Peter's hand squeeze mine tightly. "It's alright Peter, I told you, I'm fine, I can feel my legs again, it was just shock and being pinned to a wall in the way I did," I say soothingly, and I feel him relax. "I'm not physically hurt," I say as the nurse opens her mouth to ask. She closes it and nods, "then I guess you should relax, or go home if you want, it's not like you should be around Markus's fan club," the nurse mumbles, and I nod. "Can Peter come home with me? We live together," I say, and the nurse looks shocked. "You two are friends, right? Not related?" We both nod. "Then why do you guys live together? That's a little… weird." We both smile, "because it was the only way to stay in this state and not be around other relatives who may be just as violent, I mean, I've never met them." Peter nods and the nurse just shrugs, not showing her approval or disapproval. "I guess you two can, don't let the security guards stop you, oh and you can use my phone to call your parents," she says, pointing to the school phone on her desk.
We nod our thanks as she steps out of the room to go look for the principal, and I look up at Peter, my eyes full of questions. "About what Markus said..." I let my voice trail off, hoping he'll know what I'm talking about. "We can talk about it later, right now though, we need to focus. We need to let your friends know you're okay, I'll call my granddad really quick, if you don't mind," Peter says, and I nod, not bothering to look at him as he picks up the phone and practically yells at his granddad. "Something happened, as I said, but I don't really want to discuss it without Gamora and I together, in person." I actually agree with that, but I can't bring myself to look at him yet. After Peter agrees to explain everything, he clearly got his granddad to pick us up and I smile at his aggravated growls. I sit up and giggle as I look as his flustered face. He sits back down next to me and smiles, his face still red. "What?" he asks in a humorous tone. "You're cute when you're angry," I blurt out, and I blush and throw my hands over my mouth. He pouts, "I'm not cute in general?" I laugh loudly and don't even care, but I stand and offer him my hand. "Come onnnn, as you said, we need to let my friends know I'm alright." He smiles as I drag him off and into the principal's office.
Once we arrive, the door is already unlocked and a lot of yelling is going on behind the door, I can't make out any of the words, but I do recognize Markus as the one yelling. "You sure?" Peter whispers, and I nod and swing open the door and step inside, dragging Peter with me. Peter gasps as he attempts to close the door but I'm dragging him too much and he only gets the door halfway closed, and I force my smile down and stare at the principal. "So, I'm assuming you aren't sending him to prison for sexual assault? He's eighteen," I say, staring into Principal Young's dead eyes. "Nineteen!" Markus hisses. "You're just making your punishment worse," I hiss back. "Enough!" the principal growls. "He is not going to prison, he is being expelled," he growls, staring at his son in anger. "Don't," Peter whispers at my anger. "He'll do something to the nurse." I shake my head, "and how would the nurse know it? Markus has probably shared it with the whole school." Peter sighs, "fine." I look at the principal with dead eyes and for a moment, I think he's scared. "Markus, or should I say, your son, has been harassing me since the start of high school, he's been in your office three times in a week. I don't even know how often he's been in here all year round, but I don't want to know, you're showing him so much mercy, and I'm sick of it, you hear me? He just committed a crime. A full-out crime, a sexual assault, and you refuse to take action. See this fucking bruise?" I growl, and he jumps at my language, I show my arm, where a nasty black and blue bruise appears, spreading down half of my arm. He cringes at the sight of it and I almost lunge at him. "This is from him. All you do is not take action because he's your son. What are you so scared of? He deserves this because you refuse to teach him or try to fix this!" I walk away in anger, refusing Peter's worried glances as I slip out of his hand. "I'm sorry," I whisper to Peter as I slip out of the room and go to find Drax.
~Peter's PoV~
"You with her?" Principal Young asks. "I'm not going to follow her, but I agree with her words," I say, forcing back my growls and harsh words. They laid their hands, in an inappropriate way, on a woman, and he's acting like it's no big deal. Gamora had every right to lash out at him, if I were her, I would've went harsher. "He doesn't deserve this, this isn't the Markus I know," he replies calmly, looking at his son with angry eyes. "Really? Then how come he lays his hands on a woman every day? Maybe not as far as it went today, but he gives her a new bruise every day. Look at the cameras if you don't believe me! I hope you realize that if you don't inform the police, someone else will, and you will be removed from the office- oh, wait, too late, I'm going to call them right now and inform them about your lack of action," I growl, and I step out of the office. "Wait!" I hear him call back, but I immediately punch in the numbers, and soon the same operator from the other day picks up. "Hello this is 911, what's your emergency?" she says, and I smile. "Hey, it's me again, Peter Quill, from the other day. I have another case with Gamora, from school this time," I say calmly. "What happened? Is she alright?" the operator asks nervously. "Yes, she's alright physically, but think she's breaking mentally. She almost got raped by another student named Markus Young. The principal happens to be his father, and he is refusing to inform the police despite the fact that Gamora is not only being bullied by him but by his friends too, not to mention that he hits her and punches her- oh my god Gamora," I say in a hushed whisper, looking around to see any signs of her. "Jesus," I hear the operator whisper. "What school is it? Are you in the school right now?" I nod as I speak, "Youthful Spartans Highschool (A/N Don't ask! I just took the first name in my head) and yes, both of us are in the school, however, I have no clue where Gamora went. She probably went to tell her friends that she's alright," I reply, and the operator sighs. "I'm sending a car, tell your principal that him and his son are under arrest." I nod, "thank you." "Bye for now," she replies, and I nod again. "Alright, bye." I hang up and enter the office, to see the principal looking at his laptop in awe. "What?" Markus growls as I step closer. "Both of you are under arrest, there's going to be a police car outside the building in a few minutes, so just be nice and choose the hand cuffs, not the stun gun," I growl, and I walk out, turning back to see that neither of them moved. "Well, come on, we need to go to meet the cops out there," I hiss, and Markus stands. "No," the principal growls. "I need this job, and Markus has done nothing wrong! It's clearly Gamora's fault for making him aggravated enough to make a move on her!" he exclaims, and I widen my eyes at his stupidity. "I don't even want to know what your IQ is," I say, "now come on, let's go." I step out and Markus follows, but the principal does not. "Whatever I'll get the cops to get him," I mumble, and Markus nods. "I know it doesn't help, but I'm sorry you had to see that awful, dark side of me, I didn't want to hurt her or you. I can see why you love her; she's a badass for starters, like come on she kicked my friend's asses, so," he says with a light chuckle, and I stare at him. "She's beautiful, clearly smart, speaks for herself, never gives up, and she clearly would rather her get hurt than her friends. If I don't go to jail, I'll call off everyone else, so she can recover, you know? It won't fully stop, but people will soon see the things I have," he says as we walk down the stairs and to the front door. "As much as I appreciate you wanting to stop this, I'd rather you go to jail and have them listen to me and my friends. I may love Gamora but you have no right to tell me why. I don't love her for how she looks, even though she's beautiful," I growl. "Inside and outside she's beautiful, I think you mean," he says with a smirk. "Yes, she is," I say back as we stop in front of the door. "Now, tell me why you love her if I'm oh so wrong," he says with a snicker. "Well, duh, she's beautiful inside and out, that's all you need to know. She knows quite a lot about me," I say and silently add, despite most of what I told her being a lie. "So, that's it? That's pathetic," he snickers. "Maybe I love her for every reason you said, but trust me, I love her for hundreds of reasons that you will never understand. Seeing her jump in front of Drax to take all the punches for him, I immediately knew she was the one for me. I always knew how beautiful she was, how amazingly smart she was, how she accepts lessons and teaching from others. I taught her how to dance, I introduced her to good music, I showed her what a friend, a true friend, says to another," I say, watching as the car starts to pull into my view. "You think Drax isn't her true friend?" he asks, his eyes full of curiosity. "I think he is, I just think she deserves to have a friend that reminds her how amazing she is, how much she drives everyone wild, but I also think that Drax is just… not as social as some others. I guess even Rocket and Groot are good friends when you get to know them," I say with a sigh, "why?" He snickers as the police car parks right in front of the school. "What?" I ask, and his eyes dart to behind us, and I glance to see Gamora standing there, a very shocked look on her face. "You little bitch," I growl. "Feels good to let your feelings out, huh?" he asks with a snicker. "Let's go," I growl, taking my eyes of Gamora and dragging Markus out to the officer.
~Gamora's PoV~
I see Peter and Markus walking together towards the front door, which makes me confused, but I follow, hearing Markus laugh makes me sick, but I must know what's going on. I already found Drax, he was walking to his class, which happens to be on this floor (the first floor) and I was going to go up the stairs, but was interrupted by Rocket and Groot, so now I'm here, waiting for Peter and Markus to fill me in. They walk up to the door and my ears can't believe what they're hearing. "I may love Gamora, but you have no right to tell me why," Peter growls, and they fall deep into a conversation as I slowly approach them, soon I'm standing right behind them, and Markus snickers. "What?" Peter growls, and he turns to see me and just stares. I want to run, I want to hide and never talk about what I heard, I wish I just stayed put, next to the stairs and out of sight, but moving closer was something I had to do. So, Markus wasn't lying. He does love me, for many different reasons, too. But why? Why me? We've known each-other for a week and he loves me already, I mean, I think I may love him too, but I can't shake off my feelings for Drax for some reason. Like he matters more to me than Peter. I know he doesn't, Peter and I feel like we belong together, but Drax is my best friend who's been there for me forever. He turns back and they leave the building, going to the cop. I look down and close my eyes, not believing the choices I'll soon have to make. I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I'm brave enough to do it. I look up again and suddenly the cop is inside, looking right at me, and Peter is behind him. "Are you Gamora?" he asks, and I slowly nod, Peter refuses to make eye contact with me, which kind of hurts me. He's always been the bold one, but now he's scared? I know it's his feelings and he's probably scared, but why? He seems like he's so attached to me though he barely knows me. Okay, he knows me pretty well, but I mean we've only known each-other for a week! I was questioning why I felt so attached, but jeez. They walk right past me, and I don't even notice, instead I feel Peter's arm brush past mine, and I shudder, feeling his gaze on me. I wish I could return the gaze, but one way or the other we'll end up talking about this. Peter's granddad's car pulls up and I think about getting Peter, but I don't. Instead, I walk out and enter the car. "Are you alright dear?" he asks sweetly. "Where's Peter?" I then explain everything, and it takes until Peter joins us to explain everything, and we drive home without another word. This time Peter and I don't even hold hands, something we do every day on the way to and from school.
~At home~
We plop down on the couch and Peter's granddad retreats to his room, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. I look at Peter, who has his eyes glued to the ground and I sigh. "Why are you so upset?" I ask in a whisper, and he jumps at my voice. "You're not mad?" he asks in a sad voice, looking up. "Of course not, Peter, I could never be mad at you," I reply, holding out my hand, he bites his lip but takes it, the silence in the air is unnerving to me. "Are you," I start, but I sigh and change my choice of words, "do you really, well, love me?" He lets out a breath and looks right into my eyes, which sends a shiver down my spine. "Yes, and I doubt you feel the same," he says, looking down again. "Peter," I whisper, "I honestly don't know, I feel like I do, I feel like I want to, and ever since the day I met you, I've felt attached to you, but there's something with Drax that I feel that's holding me back." He nods in understanding, "keep in mind that I won't be mad if you don't like me back, I won't be mad at you, I'll keep our friendship normal, and hopefully right now it won't get awkward." I nod, "thanks Peter, just l-let me talk to D-Drax first though, I want to s-see what he thinks." "About us?" he asks, his eyes staying on the floor. "No, about me. What if he loves me? I don't want him to be jealous, to think that I'd rather someone I met a week ago over my best friend for life. Which, keep in mind that I do like you a lot, but I mean, I just don't want to burn the bridge to my friendship to Drax." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and he looks up at me. "Okay, so let's pretend this never happened until you talk to him," he says with a smile that I can tell is forced. I smile back, but he just moves closer. "I want to see you genuinely smile," he says, and now we're inches away from each-other, which makes my mind scream at me to just reach up a little bit more. "Kind of hard since I only have one thing to smile about, and I also don't really know how," I say, letting my lips fall. "And what would that one thing be?" he asks in a low whisper. "Being here with you," I reply in just as low as a tone as him. He leans down so low that are lips are only an inch apart, and I wait for the contact and even close my eyes, but it never comes, instead, he backs off a bit and I frown. "What's wrong?" I ask, and he shakes his head. "I'm not going to force anything on you," he whispers. "That wasn't force, I wanted it," I say, leaning up a bit more. "If you want it, then initiate it," he says, and I bit my lower lip. "Maybe after I ask Drax," I say with a smile, and this time, he looks at me and smiles back, "that's better." He runs his hand across my cheek, just staring at me, and we stay like that, engaging in small conversations here and there, but for the most part, we just stay there, staring at each-other until we fall asleep.
~Morning~
"Gamora, wake up," I hear, and I groan but obey, seeing that it's already 6 a.m. "Crap," I whisper. "You know the drill," he says with a smile. I see he's already fully ready and I growl. "You let me sleep," I say, growling but smiling at the same time. He chuckles and waits by the door as I go get ready, slipping into a green and red tank top and skin-tight jeans that match literally everything I wear. I run through the same morning drill as always, running a brush through my hair and brushing my teeth, making sure to apply make-up and quickly join Peter so we can get to the bus stop, this time we're hand-in-hand, which comforts me as we get there right in time to see the bus there and waiting. "You shouldn't have let me sleep," I say with a giggle as we get on the bus and take our seat. "Sorry but I figured you needed it," he says, chuckling back. The bus ride there seems short as Peter talks about his past and his love of space, which I find the story more and more captivating every time he tells it. I always remind him on how much I love space and how much it fascinates me knowing that we're not alone out here. Once the bus arrives at the school, Peter and I thank Mr. Adel and we get in the school. I immediately spot Drax and Peter lets me go talk to him, and I thank him and run to his side. "Hey," he says as I approach him and we walk to homeroom. "I have to ask you something," I say as we walk, no students are around us since we're late, but I know someone's probably watching us. "What is it?" he asks back, glancing down at me, and I step in front of him and I look at him. "We've been friends- no, best friends- since our childhood. You've been there for me through everything," I say with a smile. "I know this is about Peter, and no, I don't love you as anything more than a friend, you're free to go with him. I won't separate from you," he says with a smile. My eyes widen in surprise. "W-What? H-H-How do you know I-I-" "I'm your best friend Gamora, as you said, I knew from the second you looked at him that you loved him. It's not that hard to see, and I'd feel terrible if you didn't feel that way about him, because I knew that because of everything I've done for you, you loved me. I wanted you to have someone you truly loved, and not me, so seeing him talking to you, seeing you happy with someone other than me made me feel proud," he explains softly, and we start moving to homeroom again. "Thank you Drax," I simply say as we enter class.
The rest of the day flashes by, I still haven't told Peter about what Drax said, and though we've been talking all day, he hasn't brought it up, which I respect, and I'm happy when the end of the day comes, and we're on the bus. "So, what should we talk about now?" he asks as the bus takes off and we're left with nothing but the sounds of screaming teenagers behind us. We already talked about space and our past and our future and our dreams, hobbies, classes, friends, his music taste and much, much more. "Hmm," I say with a smile. "How about Drax?" he asks, raising his eyebrows. "Dammit I was hoping to save this until we got home," I say with a smile, but my smile doesn't fade. "If you want to, that's fine," he replies. "Then let's tell each-other something we haven't yet," I say with a bright smile. "I'll tell you some embarrassing stories then," he replies, and that's what we do until we reach home. Peter checks in with his granddad and we plop down on the couch, and every day I've been here we've always been here, I haven't even seen his room yet. "So," he says, and I giggle. "So," I reply with a smile. "Care to tell me what he said?" he asks with a smile. I grin and know what I have to do, but should I? He may be mad at me, but then again, he did this to me just yesterday. Well, almost. Maybe actions will tell you," I whisper, and I lean against his chest and smile. "This is supposed to tell me what?" he says with a chuckle. "You do this every day." Shoot. I turn around and now we're inches apart. "Well?" he asks, raising his eyebrows. I lean forward even more and blush as I close the gap between us and he gasps as our lips finally touch, and I close my eyes. The softness of his lips drives me crazy, but it only lasts a couple seconds as I feel the softness leave me, and I snap open my eyes to see my life flash before my eyes. My pale skin being green, the two times I- no- we saved the galaxy. Peter, Drax, Rocket, Groot, and me. Drax is green? I'm green? Rocket is a raccoon? Groot's a tree? PETER'S EVER HOTTER? I see my full life and I gasp, Thanos, Ronan, falling in love with Peter, the moments our team shared, and I even see Mantis. My eyes return to normal and I see glass, and realize what happened. Wrath, the man threatening to take over the universe, trapped us and put us in a game. A terrible, terrible game with no end, or so he thought.
A/N: I'm sure it was obvious that the world they were living in was fake, but next chapter will explain everything as thoroughly as possible. Next chapter should be around Saturday or Sunday so yeah! This chapter was done pretty quickly simply because I am a little busy these next few days so I'm getting as much work done as possible. Thank you all and enjoy! Please review! Tell me all what you think so far!
