A/N: Hey, everyone! :) It's time for another update! :D
Before the chapter begins, I would like to thank Childhood Enigma and HamJam for taking their time to review my previous chapter! It definitely brightened up my evening! Thank you guys very much for sending me such fantastic words! I very much appreciate it! :D :)
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WARNING: Comrade's nightmare (the entire italic scene) is a bit freaky in the beginning and it's dark.
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Now, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please review! :) Happy reading, everybody! :) :D :D :)
Comrade's POV
I drummed my fingertips against the surface of mine and Roxy's table, watching in strong suspicion as the Criminal stealthily flipped his denim collar up. Right after he did so, he cautiously poked his head out the library's entrance, scanning down both sides of the vacant corridor. Other than the slight sound of Bender's suspending chain jingling on the side of each of his movements, the entire room was full of total silence.
Roxy leaned over towards me, whispering inches away from my shoulder so only I would be able to hear her, "What in the hell is that Сукин сын doing?" 'Son of a bitch.'
"He's..." I began to respond in a hushed voice, but before I could get another word out, I saw Bender reach up and begin to fiddle around with hinges at the top of the library's door. It didn't take much effort for me to understand what he was doing, considering he has tried to do the same thing in a couple of previous Saturday detentions. Though, he never did manage to get away with it. With a roll of my eyes, I released a soft groan of complete aggravation and whispered back to my sister through somewhat clenched teeth, "He's removing the damn screws from the damn door."
For a moment, Roxy's mouth dropped open in shock. I thought that she was going to say something else, and for a split second, it really looked like she was about to. Nonetheless, I was proven wrong when my sister forced herself to clamp her mouth shut, exposing how she was slightly clenching her teeth together before she pressed her lips together in an impatient manner for the hundredth time. It came to my realization then that she was angrily tightening her jaw as slowly as possible like she was trying to convince herself to not become physically harmful towards anyone.
"Come on, Bender, don't screw around." Andrew ordered from his chair, a serious scowl printed across his face.
As my attention jumped over to the back of the Jock's head, one of my eyebrows now quirked from wondering why he decided to word his useless command like that, Roxy didn't think twice before allowing a sudden smile to mold across her lips, right before she swiftly untightened her jaw and let out a single laugh. At the same time, my eyes leaped back over to Bender, and I witnessed him pull out one of the screws from the old, but somehow still doable, hinges.
"Wow, Sporto, that was a very clever choice of words you picked out there." Roxy informed through her small leftover snickers, but Andrew didn't bother to pay attention to her.
"What are you going to do?" the Princess asked, sounding briefly uneasy with strong curiousness gleaming in her eyes.
The Athlete gave her a small flick of his attention, heartlessly growling out, "Drop dead, I hope." After that, he glanced back over at the Rebel, continuing to coldly glare.
Without removing my attention from Bender, watching as he removed another screw from the hinges, I slightly raised my left arm into the air. "I'll do the honors of finding a shovel and burying his ass in some unidentified area." I said with no specific type of emotion in my accent whatsoever, but only Roxy and Brian bothered to pay attention to my comment.
My sister sunk her still smiling lips into her mouth, trying her absolute hardest to soften the new boatload of chuckles that were already leaking out of her. The Nerd, on the other hand, glanced over at me with utter confusion glazed across his bright blue eyes. He slightly cocked an eyebrow, his lips squished together and forming a slightly quivering straight line as he blinked a few times, as if he just witnessed me slam into a damn walk after trying to mindlessly walk through it. Though, Brian's attention immediately jumped back over to the Criminal when the other dark-haired teen successfully removed the third screw from the hinges.
"Bender, that's - that's school property there," Brian pointed out, clearly trying his hardest not to stutter. "That's - you know, it doesn't belong to us. It's something not to be toyed with."
I pinched the bridge of my nose, vaguely massaging it with the pads of my thumb and forefinger as I aggravatingly grumbled under my breath, "Боже мой, как он будучи чертовски серьезно сейчас?" 'My God, is he being damn serious right now?' Then, as soon as I sharply snapped my attention in the direction of the Geek's unpopular table just a couple of seconds later, I didn't think twice before blurting out, "Do you honestly think that he gives a flying shit?"
A pastel shade of pink smeared across Brian's cheeks, forcing them to stand out from the rest of his pale face as he forced himself to stare back over at me. I could see the mixture of shyness and sharply increased apprehension that was completely etched across his face as he silently shook his head in response to my rhetorical question.
"Yeah, I didn't think so either." I said dryly, but I wasn't entirely sure if Brian heard me since by the time I got to the word 'think,' the sound of the door slamming shut echoed across the library. Just as I immediately fixed my eyes back over on Bender, I noticed him beginning to casually stroll away from the now closed entrance like he hadn't been involved with it.
Andrew's scowl became more brutal in the blink of an eye. At the same time, Claire's mouth dropped open, her Hershey colored eyes overflowing with shock as they followed the Criminal.
"That's very funny, come on, fix it!" Andrew sharply ordered as he and the Princess watched Bender race past their front table. Without waiting, the two preppies spun themselves around in their seats, keeping their eyes on Bender as he dropped one ... two ... three ... okay, the four screws that he removed from the hinges on mine and Roxy's table. A small clink noise briefly filled the air after each of the slightly rusty looking screws landed against the table's smooth surface.
"I'm going to need you to keep a close eye on these, okay, Russian Massacre?" Bender asked, the evident sarcasm in his voice thickly knitted into each of his words.
I narrowed my eyes into thin slits of bitterness at him, leaning back so my shoulder blades lined up with the back of my chair. "Bender, if you really want to hide those damn screws, then you might as well go ahead and shove 'em up your ass for all I care." I sneered in complete seriousness.
"Wow, very touché," Bender rolled his eyes, clearly unbothered by my brutally honest comment as he then turned his head over towards Roxy. "What about you, Russian Queen? Would you like to watch over these screws for me?"
My fists were currently balled up and stuffed into my leather jacket's pockets, but that didn't stop me from clenching them a little harder. I was squeezing them so hard that I was beginning to wonder whether or not my knuckles were as white as snow and getting themselves prepared to pop at any moment. In all honesty, I didn't know what I pissed me off more: (A) Bender was still finding ways and different moments to communicate with my sister, or (B) the Hoodlum asked if she could watch over the freaking screws. Out of the dozens of ways that he could've worded that question, he just had to pick words that related to having vision.
I could tell that Roxy also must've noticed his particular wording too, because her cheeks were now drowning in an almost entirely transparent crimson shade. She was staring in the exact direction of Bender's voice, taking a moment to press her lips together in a certain manner that I could tell meant that she was desperately biting back on a swarm of cuss words.
"Not really, but I will." Roxy then growled.
At the sound of her accent in her mumbling response, a smug smirk curled up on the edges of the Rebel's mouth. I could see the satisfaction madly glittering in his deep brown eyes as he then took the opportunity to send my sister a wink, but before I could open my mouth to tell him to back the hell off, Bender quickly turned away.
I rolled my eyes, silently mouthing a couple of curse words through my slightly clenched teeth. Nonetheless, I immediately clamped myself up when Roxy whispered to me, "Товарищ, дай мне эти чертовы болты." 'Comrade, hand me the damn screws.' By the clearly annoyed tone by her voice, I could tell that she must have just finished rolling her silver eyes behind her excessively dark sunglasses.
I obliged without a word and slid the four screws over the edge of the table, where they landed perfectly in my other hand's open palm. "вот," I quietly said as I then handed the screws over to Roxy's already wide open and waiting hand. 'Here.' My sister meekly nodded, which I knew was her silent way of saying thanks, and she curled her vaguely tan fingers over the stolen "possessions." After that, she unzipped one of the horizontal pockets on her black leather vest, dropped the screws in, and then zipped her pocket back up. A successful hiding spot.
"You should really fix that," Brian spoke up, but nobody at all paid him any attention this time.
"Am I a genius?" the Delinquent asked from where he was now sitting back in his original seat, his hands folded on top of the table once again.
"No, you're an asshole!" snapped the Jock, just as the Beauty Queen quickly turned herself back around in her seat and stared at the library's entrance with her stunned look still plastered on her face.
"What a funny guy!" Bender sarcastically laughed as he shot Andrew an entirely mocking expression.
Roxy shook her head a little, letting out a small groan before she said, "Can't you all just shut the hell up?" Nonetheless, I seemed to have been the only one who acknowledged her.
Andrew's entire face was now beating redder than a flame of fire. "Fix the door, Bender!" he ordered, growing angrier by the minute.
"Shh! Everyone just shh!" Bender exclaimed as he motioned around with his hands. "Look, I've been here before. I know what I'm doing."
As soon as I heard him say that, I couldn't resist tightening my jaw, shooting vicious and cold eyes at the back of his head. "I've been here before too, but you don't see me yanking any screws out of any damn hinges!" I bellowed.
Bender shot his attention over his shoulder and glared sternly at me. "Well, if you actually paid attention to what I just said, Russian Massacre, you would know that unlike you, I actually know what I'm doing in here! Shh!"
Roxy was now mumbling many insults in Russian under her breath as she vaguely massaged the sides of her head with her fingertips.
"No!" wailed the Athlete, who was noticeably far past being pissed by this point. "Fix the door! Get up there and-"
"Shh! Shh!" the Criminal attempted shushing Andrew, but when the Jock continued to aggravatingly bicker, Bender had enough and furiously screamed out, "SHUT UP!"
Brian's mouth was hanging open as he stared uneasily in the direction of Bender's table, looking like he was debating whether or not he should say anything to attempt calming down the entire scene. Nonetheless, it only took a couple of seconds in the new cloud of silence before everyone's attention jumped over to the library's entrance. From right outside the door, the loud and clearly furious sound of Dick's voice erupted out, "God dammit!"
Without any hesitation, my sister flung her hands away from the sides of her head and neatly folded them back on top of her right knee. At the same time, the Jock swirled himself back around in his seat, attempting to look as natural as possible as the door flew open. Vernon entered the room, an icy look of pure hatred imprinted on his briefly reddened face. Behind him, the door slammed shut.
The Principal sharply pointed towards the entrance. "Why is that door closed?" he demanded to know as he approached the front table that was occupied by the two preps. His tall and somewhat slender figure towered over them both, but he kept his cruel eyes locked on the Athlete. (Dick looks like he gained at least five-to-seven pounds. See, I've attended so many damn detentions that I am beginning to notice the tiniest changes in that pain in the ass.)
Andrew was trying to avoid making eye contact with Vernon as much as he could without giving it away that he, along with the rest of us did, really did know why the door was now closed.
When all Vernon received was silence in response to his question, he enhanced the venom and warning in his voice as he repeated himself. "Why is that door closed?!" He continued pointing in the direction of the library's entrance.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Roxy taking her time to straighten herself back up so her back was perfectly lined up against the back of her chair. She was breathing steadily, obviously trying to not gain over Dick's attention with a straight and simple expression glued across her face.
"How are we supposed to know?" Bender asked as he continued to look at his innocently folded hands. "We're not supposed to move, right?"
The Principal eyed him coldly, but then his eyes drew over to the Diva. "Why?!" Vernon asked, still pointing.
Claire jumped a little, realizing that she was the one who was being put on the spot. Her eyes widened as her mouth fell open. For a few moments, Shitty Shermer's dear Princess had to search for her voice.
"We were just sitting here, like we're supposed to..." Claire said, finishing her sentence with a tiny shrug. That immediately won over my attention. I stared at the back of Claire's head for about three split seconds before I slowly shook my head and rolled my eyes in disbelief, as if I was saying, "You can't be freakin' serious." Absolutely no words could possibly describe how unconvincing the Diva sounded, courtesy of her small pause before she spoke and then the actual sound of her voice.
Nevertheless, Mr. Vernon must've actually taken her answer into consideration. He finally lowered his arm, staring at Claire like a sick pedophile for a few more moments before he moved so he was now standing a slightly fair distance beside Andrew instead of in front of him. Vernon then took the time to shoot Allison a dark glare before he fixed his concentration on Brian.
"Who closed that door?" Dick asked as he motioned towards the closed door again.
The Nerd's eyes looked like they were getting ready to pop clear out of their sockets from expanding so much. Not only that, but his entire face looked like it was drowning in a bright pool of scarlet.
"I think a screw fell out of it." Bender decided to speak up when Brian failed to say anything.
"It just closed, sir." Andrew mumbled without removing his attention from the front of the library.
I couldn't help but catch a glimpse of the small, smug smirk that was lightly playing around with one of the corners of Bender's lips. However, he hid it from the Principal's view by glancing down a little more at his folded up hands again.
"Who?!" bellowed Vernon, now directing his aggravating bitchiness towards the Basket Case, but nobody except Roxy, Bender, and I seemed to acknowledge it.
Allison's mouth dropped open, and she released a squeak that sounded like it belonged to a yelping chipmunk. Then, after she reclosed her mouth, she flung her head down onto her table, which resulted in the fur-trimmed hood of her dark parka covering her head. After that, another squeak escaped from the Basket Case's mouth.
An unbelievably rare grin poked around the corners of my mouth. I actually had to bite down on my bottom lip to prevent myself from releasing any snickers. For some reason that even I couldn't determine, I found it very entertaining and sort of, I guess, childishly cute when Allison kept herself quiet like that and used rodent like noises to communicate with others.
"She doesn't talk, sir." Roxy informed Mr. Vernon, her accent soft, but at the same time, it was heavily bathed in absolute seriousness.
Just then, as the Basket Case let out another squeak just to prove my sister's point, Vernon's eyes flickered over to Roxy. Without any hesitation, the tiny smile faded from my face as I watched Dick begin to approach mine and Roxy's table, looking almost exactly like he was secretly walking with a wedgie. I narrowed my eyes, my veins feeling like they were beginning to grow intensely hot from the strong protection I had for my sister beginning to leak into every drop of my blood. When Vernon stopped walking so he was standing directly beside Roxy's seat, he took a moment to exchange scowls with me before he locked his attention back on her.
"Did you close that door, missy?" Vernon asked, the tone of his voice growing more solid with every passing second. Yet again, he extended his arm out and pointed towards the library's entrance.
Roxy was already looking exactly in his direction, considering she had perfectly followed the sound of his squeaky shoes when he was previously approaching our back table.
"I can assure you, sir," Roxy said as she meekly shook her head, "none of us had anything to do with the door closing. Actually, we..." I turned my head fully in her direction and watched as she pointed her thumb at me and then at herself before she continued to talk. "We were in the middle of thinking about why we are here today and we were trying to figure out how to begin constructing our essays when the door just closed out of nowhere."
Vernon raised his eyebrows, taking a moment to digest everything my sister just said to him. After that, as he lowered his arm back down to his side, his heartless eyes slid back over to me. Immediately, we engaged in another one of our famous Saturday detention glaring contests. Despite how Vernon didn't say a word to me, that didn't stop me from gradually letting out a growl that sounded like it belonged to a viciously snarling junkyard dog.
Dick ended up breaking our glaring contest in order to look back over at the Rebel, who was still eyeing his folded up hands.
My electric blue eyes stuck to the Principal like everlasting glue, watching as he began heading towards Bender's table. By now, I could tell that he must've been so impatient to the point where people just had to invent a new word to describe how aggravated me was.
Just then, from the corner of my eye, I saw one of the corners of Roxy's lips quirk up into a half smirk. "Sucker..." she muttered, obviously referring to Mr. Vernon as she successfully muffled some mocking snickers under her breath. I didn't need her to remove her extremely dark sunglasses to know that the mistaken innocence that was previously in her eyes had completely transformed into positive deviousness. If there was one main skill that Roxy and I both possessed, it was the ability of almost always getting away with acting like we were absolutely innocent when we were actually being mischievous.
"Give me that screw..." Vernon growled from where he was now standing inches away from the Criminal's seat.
"I don't have it..." Bender shook his head a little, not making eye contact with Dick.
"You want me to yank you out of that seat and shake it outta ya?"
"I don't have it. Screws fall out all the time," Bender explained as he motioned around with his head a little. "The world's an imperfect place." He then peeked up at the Principal, who was now beating so red in the face that I was beginning to wonder if his head was going to explode, but then the Rebel glanced back down at his table.
"Give it to me, Bender..." snarled Dick.
'Okay, I can't possibly be the only one who got a dirty image implanted in my brain from that.' I thought to myself with my eyes now widened like two gigantic glass globes. And sure enough, when I peeked over towards Roxy, I noticed her biting down on her bottom lip and currently battling with one of those wide and irreplaceable smiles of hers that were noticeably attempting to slip across her face.
Claire turned herself slightly around in her chair. "Excuse me, sir? Why would anybody want to steal a screw?"
I arched my eyebrows. "Maybe to horde it into their screw collection?" I suddenly contributed, not even bothering to disguise the sarcasm that was thickly wrapped around my accent.
Mr. Vernon snapped his attention back over to me almost instantly, still coldly scowling. "Watch it, you two..." he hissed as he then looked over towards the Princess, pointing a finger at her warningly before he did the same to me.
I carelessly rolled my eyes, muttering "сука..." under my breath. 'Bitch...' At the same time, I managed to catch the small scowl that Claire sent in Bender's direction.
As the entire room fell silent once again, Allison grabbed the corner of her hood and lifted it up so she could peek out, her dark bangs still suspending in front of her face. Everyone's eyes followed Mr. Vernon as he approached the door and pushed it open, the look on his face giving it away that he was clearly trying to think of a way as to how he could get it to stay open again.
Just then, after a couple of seconds managed to slip by quietly, Roxy leaned over in her chair a little and whispered nanometers away from my shoulder, "Что происходит сейчас?" 'What's happening now?'
I refused to take my eyes away from Vernon as I softly replied with, "Вернон пытаясь исправить глупую дверь." 'Vernon is trying to fix the stupid door.'
Dick grabbed a folding metal chair that was abandoned close to the corner of the room and dragged it across the floor, making sure that he was still holding open the door with his other hand.
"The door's way to heavy, sir." Bender pointed out, but wasn't acknowledged as the Principal lined the tiny chair up against the much larger door. The smallest dash of confidence sparked across Vernon's dull face as he released the door to place his hands on his hips, but the satisfaction didn't last long. In the blink of an eye, the library's entrance became shut up again, the door releasing a loud CRASH sound in Dick's face as it slammed shut.
Immediately, I bit down on the inside of my left cheek to help suppress my incredibly rare laughter. At the same time, Roxy and Brian didn't wait to break out into grins, but while the Nerd hid his smile behind his knuckles, my sister allowed her much wider grin to be advertised for the whole room to take in. As for the Princess and the Athlete, they were noticeably in the middle of wrestling with their own smiles, refusing to allow them to take over their faces. Allison, on the other hand, allowed her mouth to drop open in what looked like shock. And finally, I didn't need to see Bender's face to know that he must've been smirking triumphantly.
"DAMMIT!" Vernon screamed furiously, followed by what sounded like him kicking the metal chair across the hall. As the Principal then walked back into library after throwing his little tantrum, he stared around at each of the detention goers, peeked over towards the door, and then back at all of us. "Andrew Clarke!" Vernon then snapped his fingers as the Athlete turned his head towards the library's entrance. "Get up here. Come on, front and center. Let's go." As Dick continued to snap his fingers a couple of more times, Andrew released a silent and a clearly irritated huff, vaguely shaking his head before he rose from his seat.
Bender's mouth dropped open in staged shock. "Hey, how come Andrew gets to get up?" By this point, Andrew had reached the magazine rack and he was starting to assist Mr. Vernon in lifting it. "If he gets up, we'll all get up! It'll be anarchy!" Bender raised his voice as he gestured around with his arms madly, which had already begun to get on my last nerves.
Roxy flicked her eyebrows up, turning her head in the direction of the Criminal's voice. "Anarchy can be an excellent healing process for the soul." She noted, but there was sarcasm tightly clinging to each of her words.
Nonetheless, I still scoffed, continuing to keep my electric blue eyes on Andrew and Mr. Vernon as I mumbled under my breath, "Only if you're a bitch."
As the Jock started attempting to wiggle his end of the heavy looking rack through the library's entrance, the Principal quickly leaned over to adjust one of the dozens of old magazines. "Okay, watch - watch the magazines." Vernon warned, the sound of his voice giving it away that he desperately sucked at lifting sturdy objects.
"It's out of my hands." Bender concluded, holding his hands up to his shoulders without giving my sister or I the slightest bit of acknowledgement.
The magazine rack now rested between the door and its frame. However, as much as it did manage to keep the door wide open, it just so happened to block off the main entrance and exit to the library.
Mr. Vernon held the rack in place as Andrew, who was clearly ignoring the entertained smile that was playing around on the redhead's plumpish lips, tried to climb over the new obstacle in order to get back into detention. Unfortunately for the Athlete, he ended up slipping on one of the magazines and tripping, which resulted in his leg slamming against the doorframe. Vernon attempted grabbing Andrew's hand to pull him over the rack, but Andrew shook his hand away from the Principal's grip and wiggled back over into the hallway.
I couldn't help but puff my cheeks out for a few seconds in order to contain my laughter. The chuckles pounded against the inside of my chest, but gradually decreased as my cheeks deflated and I quietly drew in a deep breath. An excessively rare grin was now smeared across my lips.
"That's very clever, sir," Bender said, just as Dick rolled his eyes impatiently at Andrew and placed his hands on his hips. "But what if there's a fire? I think violating fire codes and endangering the lives of children would be unwise at this junction of your career, sir." Immediately, my smile vanished when the Criminal glanced over his shoulder at Roxy and I, right before he then looked over at the Basket Case and the Brain when he brought up the word 'children.' I rolled my eyes, but Bender didn't notice; he had already fixed his attention back over on Vernon.
The Principal took a moment to think about Bender's point before turning back to Andrew. "All right. What are you doing with this? What are you doing?" Vernon snapped his fingers again, a slightly puzzled expression now plastered on the Jock's face. "Get this out of here for God's sake. What's the matter with you? Come on!" The two of them then engaged in moving the rack back to its usual spot, unaware of the small smirk that Bender was now flashing his table.
Roxy crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her lips in an annoyed manner. "Damn, that мудак needs to learn some manners." She muttered under her breath, but I could still hear her, and I knew that she was referring to Vernon. 'Asshole.'
I opened my mouth to agree, but before I could get a word out, Brian spoke up. "Well, you know the school comes equipped with fire exits at either end of the library." He motioned towards the ceiling with four of his fingers, pointing out where these emergency exits were located.
Bender snapped his attention over to the Nerd, shooting him a sharp scowl. "Show Dick some respect!" the Rebel growled, the sound of the door slamming shut influencing his warning slightly.
"Let's go," Vernon ordered as he began escorting Andrew back to his seat. At first, he only pointed towards the Athlete's chair, but then Mr. Pain in the Ass Dick actually shoved Andrew in the back. "Go. Get back in your seat." Mr. Vernon was so caught up in viciously watching the Jock that he didn't notice the Geek peek back towards mine and Roxy's table. I could tell that he was only trying to see how my sister was reacting to the Principal's bitchiness, but it didn't take long before his bright blue eyes darted over to me. In return, I warningly narrowed my eyes and flicked Brian the bird. And that was all it took to have him quickly look away.
As Andrew seated himself back in his chair, Vernon took a cautious scan around the room, an aggravated glare printed across his face. Luckily, the fact that I had just lowered my middle finger went unnoticed since the Jock almost instantly regained Dick's attention.
"I expected a little more from a varsity letterman," Mr. Vernon said. Until then, Andrew had been avoiding eye contact, obviously trying to hide his embarrassment; but when the Athlete didn't say anything, Vernon's heartless eyes skipped over to the Criminal. "You're not fooling anyone, Bender."
One of the edges of my lips twitched upward, forming a tiny and smug smirk when I witnessed Andrew sneakily flick Vernon off when he was pretending to fold his hands.
"The next screw that falls out is gonna be you or Mr. Alexandrov."
Without any hesitation, my eyes expanded to the point where they felt like they were about to bulge out of my skull after getting caught off guard like that. Although, I could tell that my true anger was exposed from the impatience that was intensely glowing in my eyes like over a million of heavily guarded jewels. What in the hell did I do to deserve getting tacked onto the end of that warning?!
Bender, on the other hand, looked unfazed. His attention remained nailed on his table as he leaned himself back in his chair, but as he did so, he mumbled under his breath, "Eat my shorts." However, he wasn't quiet enough.
"What was that?" Mr. Vernon asked as he began approaching the Hoodlum's table, his hands slipped into the back pockets of his ridiculous looking pants.
Bender's eyes flickered towards the Principal. The annoyance that were glistening in them was absolutely evident. For a couple of seconds, Bender remained quiet in order to rest his right arm along the back of his chair, but then he repeated his three words.
"Eat. My. Shorts."
Immediately, Roxy bit down on her thumbnail and released a single snicker that she had noticeably managed to soften so only I could hear it.
'Damn, this dumbass must have a bad habit of pointing too much.' I couldn't help but think to myself as I watched Vernon point a finger at Bender.
"You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister."
"Oh," the Delinquent huffed sarcastically, rolling his eyes away from the Principal. "I'm crushed..."
Dick narrowed his eyes a bit. "You just bought one more right there."
"Well, I'm free the Saturday after that!" Bender carelessly exclaimed, and then he shifted himself so he was leaning forward in his seat. "Beyond that, I'm gonna have to check my calendar."
"Good! 'Cause it's gonna be filled! We'll keep going..." Vernon watched the dark-haired teen seep back against the back of his chair again. "You want another one?"
Bender refused to say anything back, his aggravation obviously increasing as he glanced away from the far older man.
"Say the word! Just say the word!" demanded Mr. Vernon. "Instead of going to prison with Mr. Alexandrov, you'll come here!"
At the mention of me, I noticed Roxy tighten her jaw from the corner of my eye. "Ой, черт возьми, нет..." she quietly mumbled, but when she started to prepare herself to stand up, I placed my hand on top of her balled up fist and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 'Oh, hell no...' As much as I hated to admit it, I was glad that she couldn't see the bright crimson shade that had splattered across my face due to my anger. Reluctantly, my sister uncurled her fingers, no longer holding them together in the tight fist.
The Rebel crossed his arms over his chest, but the stern silence was broken when Vernon pointed at him again and said, "Are you through?"
"No." Bender replied like he couldn't possibly care less.
"I'm doing society a favor!"
"So?"
"That's another one, right now! I've got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don't watch your step!" Dick flicked his eyebrows up in dead seriousness. "You want another one?"
Bender hesitated for the few smallest seconds before he spat out, "Yes!"
"You got it! You got another one right there!" Vernon bellowed at the top of his lungs, ignoring how Bender looked away from him again. "That's another one, pal!"
Not being able to help myself, I opened my mouth and proclaimed, "Джон, drop it already!" 'John.' At the same exact time, Claire exclaimed, "Cut it out!" from where she was watching the Criminal with somewhat wide eyes over her shoulder. At first, Bender looked over his shoulder, his deep brown eyes racing back and forth from me to Roxy a couple of times. Then, after he turned back around in his seat and glanced at Claire, she mouthed 'Stop' with an almost entirely pleading look pieced together on her face.
"You through?" Dick asked, regaining Bender's attention in less than a second.
The venom enhanced incredibly in the Rebel's tone as he replied with, "Not. Even. Close. Bud."
My sister started rubbing the sides of her head with his fingertips, grumbling one string of Russian curse words after the next. I, on the other hand, rolled my eyes and vaguely shook my head, referring to Bender as I quietly growled, "He is being such an unbelievable dumbass right now..."
"Good! You got one more right there!" assigned the Principal, the scowl on his face gradually becoming redder.
Bender narrowed his eyes some. "Do you really think I give a shit?"
"Another!" Mr. Vernon barked, but when all he received from the Hoodlum that time was silence and a slim glare, he continued. "You through?"
"How many is that?"
As I jammed my fists back into the comfortable pockets of my leather jacket, I flipped my brunette hair back and flatly mumbled through somewhat clenched teeth, "Seven..."
Then with only a split second left to spare, Brian spoke up. "That's seven including when we first came in here and you asked Mr. Vernon here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet." The entire time he talked, his attention wouldn't stop jumping back and forth from Bender to Dick.
"Now it's eight." Vernon instructed, right before he snapped his head in the Nerd's direction, pointing at him. "You stay out of it!"
"Excuse me, sir, it's seven." Brian corrected. As if they were evidence, he held up seven of his fingers, innocently blinking.
"Shut up, Peewee!"
The Geek folded his hands together in defeat, nodding slightly as he mouthed what looked like "Yeah" and he glanced away.
As the Principal fixed his eyes back on the Criminal, he held up his index and pinky fingers. A small, triumph smirk was fiddling around with one of the corners of his lips as he started heading towards the front of the library again, but he refused to take his attention away from Bender.
"You're mine, Bender. For two months I gotcha ... I gotcha." He turned his hand the other way around, still keeping his two specific fingers flicked up in the air. "And, Mr. Alexandrov, don't think that I forgot about those eight weeks that your ass will be serving. I'm also keeping my promise in contacting your grandmother."
I tightened my jaw a little, but stayed leaning against the back of my chair. "Hey, just look on the bright side, Richard ... you actually have somebody to call who isn't wasting their lives away in a fast food joint and the highlight of their evening is delivering you food."
"Do you want me to make it nine weeks, Mr. Alexandrov? 'Cause I sure as hell will!" Mr. Vernon waited to see if I would respond, but when I only rolled my eyes, he turned back to Bender once again. "I got you for two months and I got Mr. Alexandrov for eight weeks ... I gotcha both."
There was a pause in the entire conversation as Bender turned his head away so he wouldn't have to look at anyone. "What can I say?" he spat after glancing back over at Dick. "I'm thrilled!"
"I can already feel the damn excitement charging through every single vein in my body." I sneered, my accent soaked in aggravated sarcasm.
"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe!" Vernon pointed his forefinger at Bender, and then at me. "You know something, you two? You both ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourselves and a little less time trying to impress people."
The Delinquent glanced away from everyone again, slightly nodding his head like he was actually considering Mr. Pain in the Ass Dick's statement. As for me, I clenched my teeth behind my straightened lips and carelessly shot the Principal a murderous glare.
Roxy glanced down at her lap and caught her bottom lip between her teeth, beginning to chew at it in what I could tell was guilt. She must have finally came to the conclusion that even though she could possibly mouth off at Mr. Vernon, she wouldn't be able to get him off my case no matter what.
"You both might be better off," Vernon stated as he looked directly at me, but pointed at Bender. "All right, that's it! I'm going to be right outside those doors!" Again, he motioned towards the library's main entrance. "The next time I have to come in here, I'm cracking skulls!"
At the Principal's three final words, Bender and I mouthed along in a mixture of mock and anger.
The room grew silent, everyone taking in the glare that was printed on Mr. Vernon's face before he turned away and began approaching the door. By this point, Allison slowly began to raise her head back up from her table. As she took her time to remove her hood from her head, she peeked over at me with a slightly shocked expression smeared across her face. Nonetheless, the shock immediately faded and transformed into a small, but very protective scowl as she glued her almond colored eyes over on Vernon's back.
After Vernon reached the door and pushed it open, he turned back around and raised his pointer and pinky fingers again for the entire detention to see. Then, as he allowed the door to close with a loud SLAM, Bender shouted in absolute fury at the top of his lungs, "FUCK YOU!"
I had been caught up in tapping my fingertips against the table and blankly staring at my piece of paper for what felt like an eternity. Unfortunately, when I twisted myself around in my chair to see the gigantic clock that hung in the further back of the library, it came to my realization that it was only 7:45. Surprisingly, the entire room had managed to remain absolutely silent for those whole two minutes that had slowly slipped by ever since Dick left.
I rolled my eyes, taking in how there was still over eight hours remaining for my sister and I to be trapped in this shit hole. As I spun myself back around in my seat, grumbling many unspeakable words in Russian under my breath, I couldn't help but immediately notice Roxy. She had her arms lying across each other, making the shape of an 'X' on top of our table. Her forehead was also resting against the top of her right forearm, hiding her dark sunglasses and entire face from view.
"Roxy?" Concern heavily coated my eyes as I gently placed my hand between her shoulder blades. "Are you okay?"
She quietly drew in a deep breath through her nostrils and released it through her mouth. "Yeah, I'm fine, Comrade ... I'm just tired..." A small yawn escaped from her mouth, but she continued to talk. "I didn't really get much sleep last night..."
I bit down on my bottom lip, feeling the corners of my mouth trying to tug down into a guilty frown, but I refused to allow any of it to spread across my face. Ever since Roxy and I had no choice but to leave Russia, we both have been suffering from intense nightmares almost every night. And these dreams weren't like the 'I'm-falling-and-I'm-going-to-wake-up-with-a-gasp-as-soon-as-I-slam-into-the-hard-ground.' Instead, they were the types of nightmares that were like, 'I'm-about-to-wake-up-screaming-bloody-murder-with-a-thick-sweat-covering-my-entire-body-because-I-just-went-through-hell.' Not only that, but each of the nightmares somehow had to deal with one of the four tragic events that completely twisted mine and Roxy's lives around.
I opened my mouth to ask her if she had a nightmare last night, but before I could get a word out, the sound of a match being lit snatched a hold of my attention. That's when I noticed Bender lighting the tip of his boot on fire, a cigarette suspending from one of the corners of his lips. He then carelessly shook the match out and tossed it to the floor, right before he actually pulled his foot up to his face and stuck the end of his cancer stick into the boot's flame. As a reaction, I narrowed my eyes and shook my head disapprovingly, deciding that right then would be a great time to see what the other detention goers were caught up in doing.
One of my eyebrows automatically quirked upward when I saw the Geek 'accidentally' drop his beanie into his lap. It didn't take much effort to notice that Brian was attempting to hide his tiny warrior, which was getting itself excited after the Nerd took some time to stare in the direction of the daydreaming Claire.
"Он не имеет абсолютно никакого проклятый шанс..." I muttered to myself as I peeked down and saw a loose thread poking out from my flannel. 'He has absolutely no damn chance...' Just then, as I pinched a hold of the deep green strand between my thumb and index finger, I glanced over at the Basket Case with a small smirk poking around the corners of my lips. It took a couple of moments, but it felt like it was supposed to take place on a specific cue before Allison peeked over at me. I arched an eyebrow, continuing to smugly grin as the two of us made eye contact and I slowly pulled on the thread so she would understand what I was getting at.
In return, another mistakenly innocent smile slipped across the Basket Case's face for a split second. She nodded at me, not wasting another second before she began her personal search for a piece of thread from her own entirely dark outfit.
While waiting, I glanced over at the Jock, watching as he absentmindedly played around with the drawstrings of his deep blue hoodie. After that, my eyes fluttered over to the Princess, who was still staring off into the distance and stupidly grinning as this glazed look in her Hershey colored eyes gave it away that she was completely lost in her own world of shopping, shirtless guys, and makeovers.
When I then turned my head to look back over at Allison, I couldn't help but fix my electric blue eyes on Roxy as she released a small groan. "Whoever is messing around with matches or whatever, put out the damn fire..." Her accent was dripping in a mixture of sleepiness and annoyance, meaning that you wouldn't want to even try messing around with her. "I would like to leave this detention without the tiniest bit of contamination in my lungs from secondhand smoke."
The Rebel stared over his shoulder, gluing his eyes on her instantly. The burning cigarette repeatedly danced from one corner of his mouth to the other, but after he took the time to examine how my sister now looked - her face still hidden from pure exhaustion with her somewhat messy ponytail still raining down to the nape of her neck - Bender wordlessly turned back around in his seat and easily smacked the fire out.
After that, I turned my attention back over towards Allison and noticed that she finally found a thread, her shock from how long it was completely exposed all over her face. With another small smirk fiddling around with the edges of my mouth, the Basket Case and I started wrapping our strands of thread around our forefingers to see who could go the longest without stopping over the worry of cutting off the blood circulation or from running out of thread. It was a so-called game that we both sometimes did in order to occupy each other when we were oh-so-desperately bored.
Bender, on the other hand, began to play another imaginary air instrument. By the calm look that was plastered on his face, I could tell that the nicotine must've definitely been racing through his entire body at an impressive speed.
The tip of my index finger was starting to become a bright shade of purple, but when I gazed over to see how Allison was doing, I immediately noticed how much deeper the shade of purple was on the tip of her forefinger. Without any need for hesitation, I started to unravel the green thread from my finger and released three quick whistles in a row, making it sound like I was calling for a dog. The Basket Case stared over at me in less than a second, and I mouthed, "You win this one." I could tell that she must've understood what I said, because she flashed me a stealthy smirk and nodded before she began untying the black strand from her index finger. After she did so, she snatched her pen back up and continued scribbling away at her piece of paper.
When I fixed my eyes back on the Athlete then, I witnessed him beginning to play paper football with himself. Within seconds, he was letting out silent roars of complete cheer and celebration, as if he just won the ultimate championship or something like that.
Suddenly, as I started to fall back into boringly staring at my slip of paper, I heard the sound of Bender's voice say, "Hey." And sure enough, when I cranked my neck back up so I could see the Hoodlum, we ended up making eye contact since he had turned himself back around in his chair yet again.
With a careless roll of my eyes, I said, "What in the hell could you possibly want?"
"I want you to give this to the Russian Queen," Bender instructed, clearly choosing to ignore my eye roll as he held up his red scarf.
From the corner of my eye, I took in how Roxy hadn't shifted from her resting position even the slightest bit. Nevertheless, she was peacefully drawing in deep breaths before quietly releasing them after a matter of seconds each time, revealing how she was definitely out like a light.
I scoffed. "Are you kiddin' me?" I watched the Delinquent blow a gray cloud towards the ceiling after he took another drag from his cigarette. "There's no way in hell I'm letting any piece of you go near my sister." I viciously sneered.
Bender took the opportunity to then roll his deep brown eyes. "It's just a damn scarf. What could somebody possibly do to tamper with a scarf?" He slowly made eye contact with me again, a slim smirk peeling across one of the corners of his mouth after a moment. "You wouldn't want her to be cold, would you?" The Criminal released a small snicker, extending his arm out towards me with his hand clutching one of the ends of the red scarf.
I darkly glared at him, my eyes narrowed in intense warning as I grinded my teeth just a little bit behind my closed lips. As much as I despised admitting it, the library was pretty drafty, and even though I was beginning to wish that I could take off my leather jacket to give it to Roxy for warmth, I honestly knew that I couldn't take the risk of having any of the other detainees catching the smallest glimpse of any of my scars.
Wordlessly, I reached across the table and yanked the scarf out of Bender's hand, but the scowl refused to fade from my face. In return, the Rebel smirked in satisfaction and spun himself back around in his chair. As he did so, he took one final inhale of his cigarette, holding the smoke in until he dropped the cancer stick to the floor and put it out with the tip of his boot.
Suddenly, as my glare slowly vanished when I took the time to gently wrap the pretty warm scarf around my sister's shoulders, I couldn't help but feel like I was just smacked in the face with a handful of sleeping dust. My eyelids were starting to grow heavy, drooping slowly before popping back open at the speed of lightning, only so they would start falling again right after. I rested my arms in the same 'X' position that Roxy had hers, right before I relaxed the side of my head down on top of my right forearm so I could be looking in the direction of my sister and the Basket Case. I didn't even bother to battle with my sleepiness, allowing my eyelids to fall and actually stay closed. Before I knew it, I was off in my own dreamland ... and it was awful.
My jaw dropped as a loud, bloodcurdling scream roughly racked itself against the inside of my chest, but not a peep escaped from my mouth. I could've sworn that my eyes were about to explode clear out of my head as I stood there at the top of the wooden staircase, absolutely stunned in what I was looking at. There was a woman with brunette hair at the bottom, lying motionlessly against the carpeted floor with one of her arms bent underneath her slender figure. The bright yellow sweater that she was wearing - decorated in the pattern of pastel pink lilies and what looked like fresh splatters of blood - was now suspending off from the left half of her upper body, exposing her other vaguely tanned arm. From what I could see, it looked like there was about seven dark bruises dotted along her skin.
Kneeling beside the brunette woman was a black-haired man, the denim shirt that he was wearing showing off every single dent and muscle that was carved into his towering high figure. His large hands were on the lady's slightly broad shoulders, shaking her rather roughly as he exclaimed in a solid and entirely Russian accent, "Penelope, Проснись! This isn't a game! Проснись!" 'Wake up!' I could've sworn I saw a solid green, glass bottle that was half empty resting beside one of the man's huge feet, which were hardly covered by a pair of desperately torn up socks.
"Penelope, this isn't funny! Get your осел up!" the man ordered, almost spitting as he continued to shake the young woman. 'Ass.' Then, just as I thought that the scene couldn't possibly become anymore horrifying, I was proven wrong when the man smacked his hands onto his knees and released a loud moan of aggravation. Without any need of hesitation, he shoved the lady over, revealing her entire front side. I could've sworn that my stomach sunk down to my knees, a massive wave of nausea splashing against my face as I hooked my hands over my mouth in an unbelievable amount of shock.
One of the woman's cheekbones were completely visible, blood slowly trickling out of the fresh wound and dripping down the side of her head. Black circles, one of them already halfway done with healing while the other looked brand new, surrounded both of her closed eyes. The front of her orange tank top was torn up, revealing most of her purple bra and the plunging hole that had been sliced into her midriff. That enhanced bloodbath was pouring out of her like a river, soaking the upper half of her deep blue jeans and staining the carpet as it drained the color from her skin in the blink of an eye. Her bangs stuck to the deep cut that was split across her forehead and more blood leaked out from her wide open mouth, exposing how she had somehow lost at least two teeth. The nasty scent of her blood and slowly decaying flesh whirled around the air, making the corners of my eyes water.
Nonetheless, what really got to me was the way her head was positioned. It was bent all the way to the left, the bottom of her earlobe passing a couple of inches from the end of her shoulder. And that revealed the truth that her neck was really broken.
I imagined the sound of her neck cracking, disfiguring her head from the rest of her body and ending her life just like that. My cheeks automatically puffed out as a sharp gag that was too strong for me to control forced some vomit to leap into my mouth, but I kept one of my hands pinned over my lips and turned around to make a run for it. However, I accidentally tripped over my own bare foot before I could manage taking my second step, resulting in a loud BOOM echoing throughout the two-story house as soon as my side landed against the floor.
I quickly looked over my shoulder, witnessing the black-haired man immediately fix his attention up on the top of the staircase. "Hey!" he bellowed in evident rage, but I had already scrambled myself back up and took off down the short and narrow hallway. As soon as I hurried into the ridiculously small bedroom that Roxy and I had shared ever since we were first born, I slammed the oak door shut behind me and locked it.
My sister was sitting cross legged on her neatly made bed, currently lost in bobbing her head to a song that was coming from her brand new Walkman. She was dressed in a pair of denim overalls and a plain black T-shirt that was noticeably a couple sizes too big for her naturally thin figure, but it was still doable. Her jet-black hair was pulled all the way back, exposing her whole face as it trailed down to the center of her shoulder blades in a single silky braid. A bright purple bruise decorated the middle of her left cheek, the gradually fading bluish rim that surrounded it proving that it was healing.
"Roxy!" I quickly trotted over to her bed, immediately pulling her right headphone out of her ear and then her left one as soon as I got there.
"What the - Comrade?" Roxy snapped her head in my direction almost instantly. "What the hell are you doing?"
I could hear the blaring lyrics of the "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper coming from her Walkman. No wonder she didn't hear me bash into the room and then slam the door shut...
"There's no time to explain," I informed as I stared directly into her eyes with every serious word I spoke. "Come on, we're going to hide under your bed."
Roxy threw her legs over the edge of her bed and she stood up onto her bare feet, refusing to break her eye contact with me as she did so. "We're going to what?" Her accent was dripping in a mixture of shock and confusion.
"Like I said, there's no time to explain!" I exclaimed in an incredibly hushed and strict voice. "Come on, Dad's on his way up and his ass has never been this pissed before!"
That was all my sister needed to hear before she eagerly got down on her hands and knees, refusing to allow another moment to slip by. As she wiggled herself into the dimness that was underneath her bed, I positioned myself flat on my stomach and hauled myself after her. Shoving aside some neatly organized bored games and childishly named stuffed toys, I bent my legs at their knees so they were fully hidden as well, my whole body lying as still as possible beside my obviously nervous sister.
She looked directly at my face, resting on her side in an almost entirely fetal position. Each of her excessively quiet breaths trembled in masked fear, her eyes resembling totally anxious and glassy marbles. Ever so gently, I caringly caressed her cheek with my knuckles to help her calm down.
"Hush now, Rox. Everything is going to be okay..." I quietly spoke with the straightest face known to all mankind. I knew with my entire heart and soul that there was no way in hell I could tell her about what I just witnessed from the hallway.
"Comrade, what could he possibly be pissed about this time?" Roxy asked, almost sounding like she was pleading for an answer.
I hesitated for a moment, pressing my lips together to the point where they looked like they were about to vanish from the rest of my face. "You ... you definitely do not want to know." I assured, but when Roxy cocked one of her eyebrows at me in utter confusion, I arched both of my eyebrows and added, "Trust me, you don't." However, just as I got to the 'you,' I was interrupted when a loud BOOM erupted from the opposite side of the locked door.
"Roxanne! Comrade!" the bitter sound of the black-haired man's accent blustered, followed by three more loud BOOMS. He was violently banging his fist against the door. "You two better open this door! I know your asses can hear me! Let me in right this minute!" There was a small pause, but the silence was shattered when the doorknob was heard getting madly jiggled. After that, there were two more BOOMS, followed by the man's voice exclaiming, "On the count of three, this door better be open or else I'll just open it myself!"
Silently, I raised my forefinger up to my lips and shushed my sister. In return, she meekly nodded, still not allowing her attention to draw away from my face.
"One!"
BOOM! BOOM!
"Two!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Roxy flinched a little, closing her eyes for a split second before quickly opening them again in order to continue looking at me.
"Don't be scared. I won't let him hurt you." I mouthed to her, the straightest face in all of existence still plastered on my face. Again, my sister softly nodded her head in response.
"THREE!" the black-haired man, who definitely didn't deserve to be known as mine and Roxy's father, was completely fed up for about the billionth time in his entire life. "That's it! I warned you two! You had your chance to make this easy and you both blew it!" Within seconds, our bedroom door swung open and rammed into the wall from the lock giving out, it being weakened by the single rough kick that our dad had slammed against the doorknob.
Dad towered in the doorway, a demonic stare printed across his crimson face. "Где черт возьми вы двое?" he blurted out as soon as his hard eyes finished scanning around the small bedroom. 'Where in the hell are you two?' A couple of seconds of plain stillness went by as Roxy and I just blinked, remaining as still as statutes.
Our father suddenly chuckled, sounding evidently devious. "Are we playing Hide and Seek again?" He stepped into the room, slowly glancing around at every inch possible and sending uneasy chills up my spine. "You know, you two should really just come out because I know you're in here and I have something very important to discuss with you both." Dad then tapped his foot vaguely against the floor, beginning to carelessly fiddle around with some of Roxy's possessions - a pair of floral sunglasses, a dusty snow globe, a rubber bouncy ball, and a couple of multicolored gel pens - that were resting on top of her dresser.
Confusion started to sparkle across Roxy's eyes as she lip synced, "What do you think he wants to talk about?" Nonetheless, I only shrugged, pretending that I had no damn clue.
"I'm warning you, Comrade and Roxanne ... I'm not in the damn mood for any of these obnoxious hiding games." the black-haired man growled, the impatience overpowering his accent once again. The echoing sound of his footsteps stomped over towards the closet, making the floor feel like it was shaking beneath Roxy and I as he ripped the door open and roughly slid the hangers apart, only to reveal the unaccompanied backspace. "Dammit!" Dad then furiously rammed the closet door shut again, right before he threw a rough punch against the peeling wallpaper and continued grumbling in Russian under his breath.
Repeating myself from a little before, I placed my index finger against my lips and silently hushed Roxy, noticing some glimmering tears beginning to outline the corners of her eyes. We were huddled up so closely together that I could've sworn that the wild beating I was hearing wasn't coming from my heart, but hers. I had gotten so lost in paying so much attention to my sister's exposed nervousness that I hadn't really noticed how our whole bedroom room was beginning to become overwhelmed with complete stillness. In fact, it had grown so quiet that I was positive that if somebody dropped a pin, the entire neighborhood would definitely be able to hear it.
"All right, Comrade..." Roxy mouthed, but just as she began to understandingly nod her head and she opened her mouth to say something else, I witnessed her eyes shoot gigantic like she just saw the actual devil. Out of nowhere, her eyes had became so massively large that it was as if they were suddenly too large for her head. "COMRADE!" Roxy then released a horrified and ear-splitting shrill as she was roughly yanked out from underneath the bed, Dad's sturdy hands securely locked around her bare ankles.
I could've sworn my heart dropped all the way down to my gut. A strong amount of my stored up anger was triggered immediately. By this point, a small piece of me was starting to debate whether or not my cheeks were beginning to melt off from the rest of my face, courtesy of how blistering hot they've become in that tiny cluster of seconds. "ROXY!" I shoved myself out from under the bed as fast as I could, my body flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water. Without any hesitation, I snapped my neck around in the direction of weeping my sister, releasing a somewhat loud "дерьмо!" through my angrily clenched teeth after I accidentally bumped the back of my head against the bed's wooden frame in the process. 'Shit!'
Roxy had already lifted herself back up onto her hands and knees, but as she desperately attempted to stretch out her body and regain her freedom by wiggling around as much as she could, our father heartlessly gave her another cruel tug. Her arms instantly fell back and she sank onto her stomach, bumping her chin pretty hard against the carpeted floor as her hot tears began to flow down her face like individual rivers.
Dad was kneeling down by her feet, his chapped lips peeled back to reveal his viciously grinding (and not to mention bright yellow looking) teeth. "Stop your squirming!" he demanded, almost spitting in my sister's hair from how she was struggling to keep her streaked face hidden in the carpet. He was squeezing her ankles to the point where some of her skin was beginning to turn bright red, leaving her feet with the lack of ability to move, and his knuckles were slowly becoming as white as snow. Then, just as I thought that the scene couldn't possibly get any worse, the black-haired man released Roxy's ankles only so he could throw his muscular arms around her waist. Her pleading whimpers and falling tears were left ignored as he roughly lifted her into the air, rolling his eyes at how she was still madly kicking her legs around, and he tossed her over his broad shoulder, leaving her secured there like a sack of potatoes.
"Let me down! Let me down! Please let me down!" Roxy, as much as I knew she loathed it, was sobbing so hard that her breathing was raspy and her whole body was quaking in terror.
"Shh..." Our father jammed his free hand into one of the desperately worn out pockets of his charcoal colored jeans and pulled out a cigarette. Leaving it unlit, he placed its end between his chapped lips, taking in the heartbreaking noise of Roxy's stuffy cries with absolutely no emotion whatsoever. "Hush now, my children. There's no need to weep or struggle away from me, you both know that. Now ... I know that you two wouldn't want to make me even more mad than what I already am due to both of you acting disobedient with me."
"Вы сукин сын!" I blurted out without even bothering to consider the consequences. 'You son of a bitch!' My accent was overflowing with rage and flames of fire from the deepest part of the devil's wonderland might as well have been flickering in my eyes. "Who in the hell do you think you are?! Put Roxy down, Вы чертовски отродье сатаны!" I quickly helped myself up from the floor, refusing to remove my sharp scowl from the black-haired man. 'You damn spawn of Satan!' Even at the age of twelve, I looked like I was about to turn fourteen. Roxy, on the other hand, looked more like a defenseless ten-year-old.
Dad pinned his lips tightly together, the dark bags that suspended underneath his cold eyes completely noticeable as his entire face managed to be overrun by another tender shade of scarlet right in front of me. "All right..." A low, clearly pissed off growl vibrated out of his throat, his cigarette slightly dancing between his lips as he spoke. "You better watch that damn mouth of yours before I decide to slice your tongue out in your sleep, Comrade."
I narrowed my eyes at him, refusing to acknowledge his dark and terribly vivid threat. Right then, my focus was entirely on protecting my sister. "If you think you're going to hurt her, I assure you that you're going to have to go through me first." I snarled in complete seriousness as I curled my fingers up and tightened them as hard as I could, transforming my sort of bruised up hands into solid fists.
"God, Comrade, I don't have time for your damn nonsense! I have something that's actually important at this moment in my life to deal with!" As the demonic glare on the black-haired man's face grew redder, he shot his unoccupied arm out and grabbed a rough handful of the front of my barely stained T-shirt that advertised a picture of The Beatles over the chest. And that's when I flung my arm back, keeping my hand as steady as possible in its solidly clenched position as it then came in contact with my father's nose. Without any hesitation, as soon as he automatically released a loud "UGH!" that was created out of both fury and pain, Roxy hid her face in the back of Dad's shoulder blade, not being able to resist releasing another scream, but it was muffled by his shirt.
A small, but very sharp twinge raced through my knuckles. I peeked down to examine them, shaking my hand like that was somehow going to end the pain as I continuously repeated "черт побери!" under my breath. 'Dammit!' And that's when I noticed something. My full attention mistakenly drew to my knuckles, causing the rest of the scarring scene that was going on right in front of me to grow almost entirely forgettable. There was blood now smeared across my knuckles, courtesy of none other than how I must've given my dad a bloody nose. His deep red blood that felt unbelievably cold to me was dripping down my hand and slipping between my fingers. The first time I actually gave a bloody nose instead of being the one receiving it...
Suddenly, the dark-haired man caught me off guard as he flung his unoccupied arm around my shoulders and hauled me up over his tall and burly figure. My head was pinned against his ribs so hard to the point where I could feel them uncomfortably massaging the back of my neck. His arm slid up and I could've sworn that I felt his fingertips burying into the bone of my shoulder as he squeezed his open palm against it. He had his very muscular forearm pressed against the front of my throat, his hard bones poking against my skin as the oxygen started to gradually disappear from my lungs.
My hands flew to my father's arm and I grabbed it as hard as I could, but no matter how much I tried to force his forearm away from my throat, it was no use. He was too damn strong for me to beat. My eyes were gigantic, literally looking like they were now bulging right out of my head as I attempted to regain some air when I opened my mouth, but all I ended up being able to do was let out what sounded like a choked gasp.
"It's time for you both to come with me..." Dad growled, unaffected by my fingernails that were currently lunged into his skin. I could smell the stale alcohol on his breath ... and that's when I remembered the half empty bottle from downstairs. "Come, my little children..." Without another word, the black-haired man turned around and exited the incredibly tiny bedroom, ignoring my strained coughs and my sister's muffled sobs as he started to down the hallway like everything was ordinary.
My legs wouldn't stop flailing around, pounding against the wooden floor with one erupting BOOM following the next. I clutched my eyes shut, secretly wishing with my entire life on the line that this was some sort of awful dream that I'd been trapped in ever since Roxy and I were first born. Right then, half of me was beginning to pray that I would finally wake up in a safe, secure, and loving home with my sister. Unfortunately, I deeply understood that this was our actual life ... and I freaking hated it.
As I cracked my eyes back open just a little bit, I couldn't resist beginning to imagine how purple my face must've been growing from my large lack of oxygen. My lungs were tingling, now feeling like they were on fire. At the same time, my heart was pounding faster than I've ever felt it pound before in my chest, each hard pump rocketing up my spine and causing my head to twitch. Then, just as an aching pain started fingering at the center of my brain and I thought that I was about to fall unconscious, the heartless man detangled his arm from around my neck and he shoved me into the hall closet.
Immediately, I placed my clean hand against my throat and drew in a deep breath, feeling it whirl around inside of my lungs before expanding throughout the rest of my body.
"Это верно, получить ничего не стоящие задницы там!" Dad hissed. With another one of his painfully rough yanks, he removed Roxy from his shoulder and shoved her away from him as soon as her feet hovered just inches above the cold and dusty floor. 'That's right, get your worthless asses in there!' By this point, after my sister had managed to catch her balance from our father pushing her, she slowly backed herself up into one of the tiny and dull colored room's corners. Tears were still tracing down her crimson face, but her bawling had definitely decreased, becoming nothing more than some noticeably softened sniffles as she shrank herself up into the terrified fetal position after her back came in contact with two of the meeting walls (which, by the way, were damaged from a couple of old water stains).
"What in the hell is wrong with you?!" I screamed at the top of my renewed lungs, shooting glaring eyes of pure hatred at the man that was towering darkly in the doorway. "You could've suffocated me into a coma! If you squeezed my neck any harder, you might've just cut off my airway permanently! You hear me, алкогольные кусок дерьма?! You could have actually just killed me!" 'Alcoholic piece of shit!'
"Don't you even think about trying to cheer me up right now, you hear me? I'm pissed as hell..." Dad cursed some more under his breath and rolled his eyes, right before he pulled out his deep purple lighter from his other worn out jeans pocket. With a small flick of his thumb, the glowing flame automatically appeared at the lighter's tip and he used it to light up his cigarette, which was still securely poking out from one of the corners of his mouth. He inhaled an unbelievably deep drag, relaxing his eyes shut and holding his cancer stick between his middle and index fingers until the smoke seeped out from his nostrils.
I narrowed my eyes at him for about the millionth time, but then just decided to roll them away so I could set my attention back on Roxy. She hadn't shifted from her fetal position in the corner, her chin tucked on top of her knees with her arms wrapped around her shins, holding her legs extremely close to the rest of her slender figure as she vaguely rocked herself back and forth. Also, more salty tears continued to leak out from her eyes, which were now highlighted with bright red rims and glowing with a mixture of fear and nervousness. Believe it or not, absolutely nothing except our father terrified Roxy like that.
"Penelope had a little accident..." Dad said like it was the simplest thing in the entire world to say. Instantly, I fixed my attention back on him, the uneasiness from what I had seen just minutes before at the bottom of the staircase beginning to take over my whole mind once again. At the same time, what felt like a bottomless whirlpool of nausea splashed around in the pit of my stomach. However, just as I glanced down at the floor to avoid making eye contact with my father, something came to my realization. All of that blood ... the position that I noticed the woman's head was in ... the fact that her neck was definitely dismantled ... there was no way in hell that she could've just done that to herself. How could that have just been a 'little accident?'
Roxy rose her head from her knees immediately, her mouth hanging open in shock. "An accident?" she blurted out, clearly worried. "Is she o-"
Unfortunately, before she could finish getting out the word 'Okay,' our father flung his forefinger up to his mouth. "Shh!" His eyes had creepily expanded in less than a second, his pupils almost looking entirely dilated as they swayed back and forth from me to my sister. "Hush, my children ... and do not even think about weeping ... life is full of unexpected situations, you hear me?" He raised one of his bushy eyebrows, taking a couple of seconds to coldly examine Roxy before he glanced over at me. "Accidents like ... getting married to a woman who ended up refusing to have an abortion after discovering that she was pregnant ... but just as the dear husband then believes that the incident couldn't possibly get any worse, he's proven wrong when he overhears his woman say she's carrying twins ... and after twelve agonizing years, she has an accident, abandoning her husband to handle the two little bitches himself." He rose his cigarette back up to his lips, sucking in another heavy drag and allowing the nicotine race through his system before the smoke poured out from his nostrils again.
With every word that the black-haired man said, the more I felt the realization increase inside of me, which caused my heart to begin picking up the pace yet again. My eyes expanded, looking like they had morphed into two massive glass globes that took up the entire upper half of my face.
"As for right now..." Dad ran his other hand that wasn't holding his cancer stick through his buzz-cut. I could see the deep shade of scarlet gradually returning to his cheeks, but most of it was hidden by his patchy stubble. "I have some damn business to take care of between Penelope and I. It sure as hell is personal business too ... and I don't need your asses snooping around. So until I finish what I need to handle with her..." Finally, I started stomping towards the door with a brand new scowl plastered on my face, but before I could even attempt saying a word, Dad creepily stepped back at the speed of lightning and slammed the closet door shut. "Until I finish what I need to handle between Penelope and I, you two will be keeping your worthless asses put in there!"
I grabbed the doorknob so roughly that I was already beginning to wonder whether or not my knuckles were going to pop, but as I jiggled the knob, I instantly became aware that Dad had locked Roxy and I in the closet. By this point, I was so furious that tears were steaming up in the corners of my eyes and taking their time to leak down my reddened cheeks.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?! WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR MOTHER?!" I was hollering louder than I ever have before, repeatedly banging my clenched fists against the door and smearing some of the leftover blood from my father's nose against the wood. BANG! BANG! BANG! "LET US OUT OF HERE! WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!" My accent was beginning to be influenced by my pain and sorrow, the tears raining down my face like hot waterfalls as I continued to violently rack my fists against the wooden door. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! "I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, YOU DAMN DRUNK! OPEN THIS DOOR! LET US OUT!" I was beginning to sob. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR MOTHER?!"
"Comrade!" Roxy whimpered as she quickly helped herself up from the dusty floor and trotted over to be. "Comrade, calm down!" Just then, as she looped her arms around me from behind in an attempt to get me to stop my furious screaming, we both froze when we overheard a small 'click' noise come from the opposite side of the door. It had been unlocked, the knob now starting to slowly rotate to the right until it could turn no more. And finally, as the door finally flew open, Roxy and I ended up staring in complete confusion after we noticed who was staring back at us from the hallway.
"Какого черта..." I grumbled under my breath as I hurriedly wiped away as many of my tears as I could. "Mr. Vernon?!" 'What the hell...'
The Principal's narrowed eyes examined me from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, right before they did the same to Roxy. A stern glare was plastered on his face, coated with a bright shade of scarlet.
"Wake up!" Vernon finally snapped.
My electric blue eyes shot open as my entire body twitched from Dick's sharp voice, but I hadn't shifted from the position that I had fallen asleep in. So it really was just a nightmare...
Beside me, Roxy released a small and muffled groan, announcing that she was also awake. Until now, I hadn't realized that all around the library, each of the other detainees had decided to allow themselves to doze off as well. And now, even though we each remained in our sleeping positions, that didn't stop Vernon from scolding us from where he now stood at the front of the room.
The Principal's eyes jumped around, briefly examining the seven of us before he said, "Who has to go to the lavatory?"
Without any hesitation, I lazily shot my arm up into the air with Roxy accompanying me in less than a second. At the exact same time, the five other arms that belonged to each of the other Saturday detention goers unitedly rose.
A/N: How did you all like that chapter? :) It's so far the longest one yet! :D
Remember, my goal is at least four reviews per chapter! :) :) Feedback really does make my creativity soar! :D
ALSO: Please keep in mind that I return to school on August 19th, but no matter what, I'm not going to give up on my writing. :)
Anyway, that's all I got for now, so I'll see you all in the next chapter! :D :D :) :) Until the next update, everyone! :) :) :D :D
THE BREAKFAST CLUB FOREVER!