I am on time for once when it comes to posting! Yes!
Thank you for the reviews, Prinzessin Mia and PFC. Awesomeness - tonsils are a bitch. I can't wait to keep posting and let everyone see what will happen next.
Ravan belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction, and Alex belongs to me.
OoO
"So, how was sitting in the backseat?"
Over the past couple days, in the spirit that everyone had to be nice to each other, Alex was for once allowed to talk to Yuri at school rather than the occasional time they were alone at her house. It was strange, but it was good to talk to someone who wasn't going to chew her head off for finding Vlad being nice funny.
Alex sighed and rolled her eyes as they entered the cafeteria. "Oh, I had a blast! I wasn't aware that once he got a girlfriend I was banded from shotgun."
Another adjustment in the spirit of being nice was the seating arrangements – Vlad now sat with them. It bothered Alex that her brother had to sit with them, but there was nothing she could do about it. It just made her angry that he could touch Ravan at the table, but if Simon came within three inches of her she was dead when she got home.
She sat next to Simon and kissed his cheek. "So, when are we going to find out who put the pic in the paper?"
Ravan's eyes fixed onto the side gate, "As soon as I see Gareth walk into this school, I'm homing in on him like a missile to the back of an F-13." She dug her nails into the table.
Gary looked at her, "Easy, Ravan. He's not the one who did it."
"I know, but I want to know who I get to murder."
John sat down on the other side of Gary, "In all good time, Ravan. In all good time." He cleared his throat before forcing a fake smile and a cheery tone, "How are you doing today, Vlad? I say, you look a fresh as a rose."
And the fun for Yuri and Alex began. Their mental notepads got ready to write the days comments for later use. If Ravan knew what they had been doing, they'd be dead. Vlad sure as hell knew by the look he gave her. "Thank you, John. You look very nice today yourself."
Vlad got that glint in his eyes, like he had been around this time, and brought Ravan closer to him. "And you look mighty fine today too, Ravan." He kissed her cheek and smiled. Alex knew how much that was going to bother the guys at the table. Vlad had really been testing himself, and after they found out who the guilty party was today, he was going to get smoked.
Ravan seemed disgruntled today; maybe it was the fact that she was going to learn who it was today. She wanted to know so badly, her shoulders tensing up. "I can't wait…"
"We're going to get him, Ravan." Gary squeezed her hand, "I promise."
"Oh, I know, and I'm going to destroy him." Her voice came out like a low growl.
Vlad rubbed her back soothingly. "We're going to destroy him. No one fucks with my life or my girl."
Alex had Simon's hand splayed on the table and played with his fingers. "It could be a girl you know. I can think of one in particular who isn't happy with you right now."
"Natalie? She's not smart enough for this. And even if she was, she would have confronted me about it instead of doing this."
Still, Alex had her worries. "I'm just saying. When a girl gets cheated on, her first thought is revenge."
"GARETH!" Ravan literally ran across the table, jumped down and took off. Everyone followed after. She slid to a stop to a towering Brit donning a cap with his country's flag. His smoke filled orbs watched as everyone else made their way over. "We need you to show us the video surveillance from the AV room. It's super important!"
As soon as everyone got there, he cleared his throat, "Hi, Gareth! How was your time visiting your dying grandfather back in England? Why, yes, I did. He's going to make a full recovery, though. Thanks for asking, Gareth!" His accent slightly raspier than Simon's.
She sighed heavily, "I missed you, Gareth. But this is important." She hugged him tightly.
Gareth hugged her back, before looking down at her, "Course it is, your eyes only get that dark when it's super serious. What is it?"
John dug through his backpack and found the news letter. Still folded open to page seven like it had been left. "This happened while you were gone."
They waited until he finished reading it, a swoop of rage flushing over his face. Though, it could be disputed about their coupling or the invasion of privacy. He looked right at her, no one else, "Who?"
"That's what we need you for," she grabbed his wrist as she started pulling him towards the AV room.
"They used the AV room to post it up, using Vlad and I's IDs. We need you to show us the video so we can find out who."
He nodded quickly, "Seems doable. If Simon wasn't such a thief, he'd be able to help."
Simon rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't be a thief if you would have just shared…"
"And if you hadn't been a thief, we wouldn't have that camera in there, and if we hadn't had the camera, we'd be screwed." Alex smiled at Simon and pecked his cheek. She could feel Vlad's eyes burning holes into her. Oh he hadn't seen nothing yet. It was the last day of being nice – she was going to take advantage of it, even though when she got home Vlad would try and kill her.
Vlad nodded at Gareth. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's find out who the bastard is."
"Yeah, mate, the bastard." His voice sounded somewhat dejected. He unlocked the door to the AV room.
"It smells like nerds in here." Gary whined.
"Shut it, Gary. I'm part of the AV club too." Ravan's eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah, one of the first to join when I started it," Gareth slightly grinned. He led everyone to the back of the room before removing a roof-to-floor poster, revealing a secret door. It had been the extra closet, but no one knew about it. He plopped down at a computer, "So, when was this posted?"
"Sometime Monday," Ravan stood behind him, peering down at the screen.
"Alright, it's going to take a couple of minutes for the tape to rewind," he looked up at her. Like the only person he wanted to acknowledge right now was her. But his eyes quickly snapped to Gary, "Who hates your sister?"
"That's just it, the only person I think would hate her would be Natalie, but she's a moron!" His hands thrown up in the air.
"Too right, mate. The ditz." Gareth now looked back to Ravan, "Who'd you piss off, love?"
"I have no idea." Ravan crossed her arms, getting her fury going.
Vlad sighed. "It's probably some guy trying to get back at me, not her. So once again, I'm going to apologize for pulling you into this."
"That's the third apology this week, a personal record." Alex teased Vlad, earning a glare from him. "Watch it, or you'll be seeing your personal life in here."
"Do what you want, but everyone knows my business. I have no secrets." Vlad snorted in response. His sister was very honest. But Alex bit her lip as she watched the tape. If only Vlad knew what secrets, or more like secret, she kept from him. Now that would make headline in the school paper.
"Alright, Ravan and others – here's midnight, Monday Morning." Gareth pressed play. It became eerily quiet in the room, everyone wanting to know the perp. As they watched, one AM, two AM, three AM, four AM. "There we are," the light from the door opened peered into the room. All they could really tell by the build of the person, that it was a male.
Ravan felt her heart collapse, "He's covered from head to toe…"
"CHEATER! NO FAIR! I CALL CHEATING!" Gary screamed at the computer.
"Can't hear ya, mate." Simon gripped his shoulder, "Didn't even have the bollocks to show his fuckin' face."
"I can't believe it… he's getting away with what he did to me… to Vlad…" Ravan's head dropped in shame as she used Gareth as support. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, trying to keep herself from letting any tears escape.
"Fucking bastard…" Vlad watched as the man in the video uploaded the picture. He wrapped an arm around Ravan's waist and kissed her head. "So fucking close!" If Vlad could only see his face! The build and the way he walked looked familiar, but he couldn't place a finger on who exactly it was. Whoever they were was getting away with what they had done.
Alex put a hand on Gareth's shoulder. "Is there anything else you can do? Enhance it or something? Zoom in? There has to be something we can identify him by!"
"No offense, miss, but if he never looks at the camera, I can't do anything." Gareth looked at her, "Logically."
Ravan leaned closer, pulling away from Vlad. Her torso leaning over Gareth. Everyone watched as she zoomed in a bit, but they weren't sure about what. Pulling back, everyone saw this anger on her face.
"That motherfucker!" She ended up shoving Vlad into a wall, Alex to the floor and almost ripped the door off its hinges.
"RAVANNAH!" Gary took off after her, Simon close at his heels.
Alex stayed with her brother and Gareth. "Who the hell is it?"
Vlad looked between the door and the computer. "I'm going to follow her," he handed his car keys to Alex, "Just in case I'm tempted to get that thing from the car."
Shoving the keys in her pocket, she followed behind with Yuri. That thing happened to be their father's sidearm that was always in the glove box of Vlad's Charger. She looked at Yuri. "Do I go and hide the gun on him or do I just follow?"
"Following should do."
To catch up, the two had to run. It wasn't hard to find the scene – there was plenty of yelling, swearing, and kids gathered around. Alex looked around for her brother and Ravan, but was having a hard time seeing. Being short had its disadvantages. "Yuri, you got them?" He nodded and whistled loudly. "Well we got our offender."
Simon walked over to Alex, hunched over. "She punched me in the stomach for trying to pull her off him."
Gary hopped over on one foot, "Kicked me in the shin! Her own brother!"
Ravan had Quincy Shepherd against the floor, her fist nailing against his face time and time again. She wanted to stop, she thought she got her point across – but she couldn't. He invaded her privacy. Made a fool out of her. Made a fool out of Vlad. But more importantly her! No one ever gets away with messing with Ravan, she made sure of it. Quincy tried shoving her off, but it wasn't working. It was like Ravannah had hooks in her knees, the hooks being attached to the ground. She was making sure he understood boundaries, and how it's rude to snoop. Or, at least she thought that's what she was doing. That's what she had told herself.
"Alright, I see blood." Gareth pushed through the group of students. He stood behind Ravan, hooked his arms around her and yanked her up. She was still flailing, screaming obscenities. 'He's not finished yet!' 'I haven't taught him his lesson yet!'. He heard her friends walking up to surround Quincy. His nose bloodied, his lip split. You could already see the bruises forming on his arms and face. Slowly standing up, you could see some scrapes on his back from being tackled onto the hard concrete. You almost could feel sorry for him. Almost.
Gently rubbing Simon's arm, she risked a glance at her brother. Of course it was Quincy – the bastard had been out to get Vlad since he took his place on the football team freshmen year. She didn't know what Vlad would do. It could go one of two ways.
"So, Quincy – how are you feeling?" Vlad heard him murmur something smart to him. He crouched down to his level, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him up to his feet, then slammed into the nearest surface, which just happened to be the wall. "What was that? I didn't quite catch it."
Gareth set Ravan down, locking his arms tightly around her to keep her from going back for round two. "Quincy, I knew you were an idiot, but this is a little extreme," his voice holding anger, but his face didn't show it.
Ravan tried ripping away from him, "HE'S NOT DONE YET! HE'S STILL TALKING SHIT, GOD DAMN IT!"
"Shh…" Gary rubbed her shoulders, obstructing her view. "Ravan, it's over. He's learned his lesson. There's blood on your shirt."
"YOU RUINED MY SHIRT, YOU FUCKER!"
"Ravan, you won." Gareth rubbed the small of her back with his knuckles, "Everything is over and done."
She huffed for a minute, "The spineless…"
"Yes, he's a sack of shit, worthless, nothing, leech, detestable…" he droned off, "and you won."
"Fine." Her arms crossed tightly, small movements every time Gareth rubbed downward on her back.
Vlad tore his eyes away from Quincy to watch Gareth and Ravan. Just this once, he'd let it slide. But for now, he had to focus on Quincy, and the fact he would be paying the principal's office very soon. His mom and dad wouldn't be happy about this.
"Now Ravan didn't do shit to you, you understand? It was me the entire fucking time." Vlad pressed him harder against the wall and tightened his grip on Quincy's shirt, making his knuckles turn white. Ravan didn't need to go to the principal and get suspended.
Quincy glared at him. "Well, look who's turned into a big softy."
With a smirk, Vlad quickly nailed him in the stomach, making Quincy hunch over and start a coughing attack. Just as Quincy hunched over, he was down on the floor from another punch and Vlad was flexing his fingers, blood all over them and spatters on his clothes, but he kept a knee on Quincy's stomach to keep him in place. He had to admit, Ravan did a good number on him.
"Or, how about Quincy doesn't say a fucking thing about any of this." Gareth stepped around her. The rest of her friends, besides Simon, didn't really know Gareth. No one really knew why he was being so over-protective of Ravan either. He looked down at him, holding his hand out to Vlad. Giving him an unsure look, Vlad grabbed his hand and Gareth helped him up. "You got jumped on your way to school."
"No, I di—"
Within a second, Gareth had his collar and ripped him up off the floor. "You. Got. Jumped. By. Other. People. Or else that little key of yours is going down a fucking drain and you'll never step another foot into the AV room without worrying about if I'm there or not. If Ravan," he stopped for a moment, closing his eyes tightly, "or Vlad get in trouble for any of this – you're going to be worrying about me, mate. And trust me, I live next door to you – do you really think you'd ever be able to hide from me?"
Quincy shook his head, "N-no… but everyone else will tell!"
"I don't think so, mate. They don't like you either. You brought this on yourself. Now get out of here." Gareth set him down gently.
Ravan watched as he took off, "Thanks, Gareth."
"No problem, love." He looked down at his hands, decorated with crimson. "Oh, gross. I'm going to go wash my hands and get the school work I missed. Talk to you guys later."
Vlad nodded a thank you to Gareth, but he had his doubts about Quincy. He didn't mind going to the principal's office and getting a couple days of suspension – if it wasn't this he got suspended for, it sure as hell was going to be something else.
"You know, the teachers aren't going to know what's up with you, Vlad. You haven't paid a visit to the principal in two weeks. He's going to think you've lost your way." Yuri looked mischievously at Vlad.
Vlad smirked. "Oh, the principal will get what's coming to him," he looked at Ravan's friends. "after I get what's coming to me."
He turned to them, his hands in his pockets. "Alright, have your goes at me. The perp has been caught, no more need to be nice."
Gary walked up to him, "You know, all this time we've spent hanging out shows that we're actually not that different. I think we could all get along and be friends." He smiled.
"Really, Gary?" Ravan's eyes lit up.
"NO, NOT REALLY!" Gary yelled, "WHY MY SISTER?! ALL THE WHORES IN THE SCHOOL AND YOU GO AFTER MY PURE RAVANNAH?! ARE YOU INSANE?! SHE'S NOT GOING TO SUCK YOUR DICK, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR! RAVAN IS A GOOD GIRL! A GOOD GIRL! SO, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE YOUR ASS, YURI, AND YOURSELF BACK TO THAT SLEW OF JACKASSES AND LEAVE THE INOCCENT ALONE?!"
Everyone stood there for a moment, Gary's outburst stunning them. They all glanced back and forth, "Gary Bryce Sanderson…" She muttered.
"Don't full name me, Ravannah Blair Sanderson! He's bad for you, you know it!"
"No, you want to know something?" Ravan stood in front of Vlad, "You guys just don't want to face a single fact. One blaring fact."
"What?" Simon glaring deeply at Vlad.
"Vlad has treated me better than most of you have," her arms crossed tightly. Their attention turned to her, and they went to argue. "He's never lied to me. He's never forgot about me. He's never ditched me. He always remembers me. I mean something to him all the time, not just when I'm interested in someone else. Or when he thinks I can' think for myself. Out of everyone standing around me in this group, Vladimir Makarov is the only one who has never, ever hurt me."
"And the prophet has spoken." Vlad clasped his hands together. He wasn't going to say anything to ruin what was actually true. This week had been a little too exciting for him and he needed to let off some steam, steam that wasn't going to be wasted on them. "Now, if none of you mind, I need to get Ravan cleaned up and to class. And Yuri and I…"
Yuri smirked. "Oh we're going to go for a walk. Can we have the keys to the Dodge, Al?"
"Just don't touch Mason." Mason was the name of the gun in the glove box. Her and Vlad didn't know where the name came from, but for the past two years, that's what they called it.
Rolling his eyes, he snatched the keys from his sister's hands. "Oh I'm not going to kill anyone – we're just gonna have some fun with principal Snyder, Al." He smiled at the group around him. "So you have your answer – I'm not leaving Ravan, no matter what any of you say or do, so get over yourselves."
Gary started stuttering, and Ravan walked up to him. "Gary, I love you more than life itself, but this is something your whining isn't going to change…" She turned around to walk with Vlad, "I'm going to go get cleaned up, I'll catch up later."
He watched as his sister walked away with the man he tried so desperately to keep her from, "This isn't fair," he sounded like he was about to cry.
"Mate…" Simon placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"This isn't fair, this isn't supposed to happen. Ravan is a good girl, not a bad one." Tears fell from his eyes.
"She's still a good girl, Gary. Now, she's a good girl dancing with the devil…" John muttered, awkward in situations that had crying.
"He's going to make her bad…"
"No one's going to make anyone bad. Look, I live with that fucker and I'm still okay!"
Jason rolled his eyes. "You are not okay. You're fucked up in the head, if anything."
"Oh shut up Jase!" Alex gave Jase a light shove, laughing. "We're all fucked up in the head, some more than others. Ravan could handle herself pretty damn well against Quincy – Vlad will be no different."
Simon's eyebrows twitched for a moment, "Gareth, uh… Gareth was kind of… handsy with her, don't you think?"
Gary wiped his face, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Ravan doesn't really like being touched all that much… exceptions here and there… I never knew they were that close. He was massaging her back while Vlad took his turn with Quincy."
"Yeah, she and Gareth are close," his voice weak, "they IM each other all the time, and when…" he sighed heavily, "Like Ravan said… when he forget about her when we make plans, he's always been there to make sure she wasn't alone. They used to hang out all the time freshman year. Played video games at our house a lot. Real try hard."
Alex shifted uncomfortably. As much as Vlad would want her to tell him what was said when he, Ravan, and Yuri left, she would have to lie. He would go through the roof and that's something she didn't want.
"Well, how about we drop it? I don't like it either, but it's been a very eventful day and none of us need my brother having an aneurism over this, because he will and it won't be pretty."
"Why are you so keen on dropping it?" She shrugged at Jason. "Because the more I talk about the guiltier I'm going to look when I go home tonight and I get interrogated by my brother. Which reminds me Jase," she stuck her tongue out at Simon, "since a certain boyfriend is too busy for me tonight, you want to come over and keep me company? We can talk then."
