A/N: Hey all of you Tike shippers! :D I've told some of you this but I'm going to be updating this story more frequently than before. How does every Friday sounds? (: Sorry I couldn't post this yesterday! Very very long day. But here it is! Last chapter was pretty trippy huh? I apologize for any confusion any of you might've experienced. Nonetheless, thank you for the many positive reviews I received! I literally had a ^_^ face reading them. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.
Chapter 10
All she wanted to do was fall to the floor from the exhaustion of kicking and crying, but Karofsky's grip on her was so tight and secure, she could barely breathe properly.
He was almost done ripping the last layer of her flimsy dress. All she could think about was how after this, she'd be one of the million victims of rape. The emptiness she'd feel after, how her life would never be the same. How she'd never get to have a special first time, and that in a matter of minutes, her first would be Karofsky. Big, fat, ugly Karofsky.
Just when all her faith on humanity was about to succumb, the sound of footsteps raised her hope. Please, God, send me an angel to save me from this shithole was what her prayer intended. But when her hope had easily risen, it just as easily fallen when those nearing footsteps could no longer be heard and silence became her only friend.
Everything was a blur after that. She felt his sweaty hand rub against her stomach as he roughly smothered her neck. Her body ran colder from the lack of clothing while it was still being torn apart on the spot.
But suddenly his grimy touch was no longer felt, and a great sense of freedom toppled over her. She could breathe.
Though her excessive tears made her vision hazy and unclear, her hearing was perfectly intact. It was the sound of Karofsky fighting with another guy but she couldn't familiarize the other's voice.
"What the fuck Chang? Get the fuck off!"
Mike.
"Did you fuck off when she begged you to? You don't get to touch her like that you worthless piece of shit!"
Now, more and more footsteps were crowding around her as her sight was being slowly renewed. She made out the image of what looked like Mr. Schuster and another male teacher holding the two teenagers from their fight.
"Mike stop! It's done!" Mr. Schu demanded.
"Mr. Schu he doesn't deserve to not be fucked with!" he yelled angrily.
"Well it seems like your whore of a girlfriend thought otherwise Bitch!" Her heart stopped dead in place. From all the pain he'd caused her, having that ignorant sentence from hurting her so much was the last thing she'd imagined it would do, but it did. It hurt a lot.
Her vision fully rejuvenated right as Mike brutally punched the enormous teenager right in his blubbery face. An immense amount of blood was flowing from his nose and the area around his left eye was badly bruised. Somehow, Mike escaped from Mr. Schu's grip which allowed the powerful hit, though Mr. Schu regained control by entangling his arms behind his back. In the midst, Tina continued to cry furiously without any intention of stopping.
"Tanaka, take Dave to the office," he ordered promptly. "I'll be bringing Mr. Chang too."
She couldn't believe her ears. Why was Mike being put into the office too? All he did was try to protect me ..
To her surprise, it seemed as if Mike accepted the consequence rather quickly, almost like he thought he was wrong too.
"Hey Em, can you take care of Tina?"
Mr. Schu, Coach Tanaka, Mike and Karofsky walked, disappearing through the halls. She felt a gentle hand lay on her arm that stunned her and already brought back the traumatizing feelings she had not too long ago, but the touch itself was warming and comforting.
"Hey Tina, do you mind if we head to my office? I just want to talk about some of the things that happened."
She nodded as Ms. Pillsbury helped her stand steadily on her feet. It made her feel better to be asked if she wanted to do something. At first, she didn't even bother to answer, having this awful mentality no one would listen to her. And as she patiently walked Tina toward her room, a group of girls Tina had never spoken to loudly whispered, "Isn't that the girl who gave that guy in a wheelchair a blow job?"
The benches were aged and seemed like they were an ounce away from collapsing into wooden particles. The room smelled like the sweat from anxious, troubled teenagers and almost looked like those empty, cushiony rooms where insane people in stray jackets go. Well, not really. He just really didn't want to be there.
All he could think about was Tina. Even if he gave Karofsky what he deserved, he couldn't help but wonder where he'd be if he didn't just wait to beat the crap out of him: The principal's office or by her side?
"Mike Chang?"
"Oh, uh yeah, that's me," he politely answered as he stood up.
The lady adjusted her thin-framed glasses, scanning him with a peculiar look on her face.
"I've never seen you here. You seem like a nice boy. I wonder how you ended up in a place like this .. Do I wanna ask?" He slowly shook his head.
"Thought so. Well Principal Figgins would like to see you now. "She insisted to open the door for Mike.
When he stepped into the room, Figgins let out a startled expression.
"Mr. Chang? Did you need something?"
"I kind of was sent here."
He let out a breath, relieved. "Ah, I see. You need another community service sheet. Let me just go through this pile of junk. Look at you, helping out the community! More kids should be like - "
"I beat someone up." It really took all his courage just to quietly admit it but the guilt was tearing him up inside.
Now, Principal Figgins straight up looked like he was going to shoot him with the rocket launcher he most fondly used to annihilate zombies in Resident Evil.
"What the -"
"Can I come in?" The door loudly creaked. Mr. Schuster was peeking behind it.
"What do you want Will?" he snapped.
"It's regarding Mike's situation."
He gripped onto that seat with his dear life. He was even sweatier than he got from football practice and his butt was aching from all the pressure he had on the firm chair. Having Mr. Schu there was either a really good thing or a horrible, terrible thing.
"So tell me Mr. Schu, what exactly happened?" Oh please Mr. Schu, help me out a little.
"Well Principal Figgins, basically .. Mike saved a helpless girl from being a victim of rape." Both Mike and Figgins were in shear shock. Thank you. "But he almost killed him in the making."
Well, he couldn't deny it. But who wouldn't want to kill someone like Karofsky if he hurt a girl like Tina?
"Who was the culprit and who was the victim?"
"Dave Karofsky. Mike found him pushing against Tina Cohen-Chang on the lockers and sucker-punched him before the worst," briefly explaining with a mild frown.
Figgins looked at his disorganized desk in thought.
"Well then. I guess you're off the hook Mr. Chang. But under one condition," he started.
"Garbage pick-up during lunch starting the whole of next week." He looked at Mr. Schuster and added, "The custodians refused to work after I reduced their pay."
"Will do Principal Figgins," shaking his hand thankfully. "And sorry, but I actually do need another community service sheet."
As Mike and Mr. Schuster walked together down the barren halls, they stood still taking in everything that had come their way. "She went home. Her parents picked her up half an hour ago and that monster of a person is at the police station."
He nodded, regret captivating every inch of his body. "I should've been there sooner. I should've known something was wrong when I couldn't find her. I couldn't prevented this whole thing .."
Mr. Schu patted his shoulder staring at him with empathetic eyes. "Mike, it's not your fault. The only person who's to blame is the person who is now going to pay for his actions with the police. You helped her so much from stopping what could've happened. Mike, she really needs someone right now."
Without warning, the tears came flooding. He felt so helpless. He really couldn't help but blame himself for what happened to Tina even though Mr. Schu made it clear who was at fault. The noble teacher gave him a hug just like the one he gave Finn when he sulked about Quinn's pregnancy.
"Stay strong for her because she needs you." He let go of him and quickly took out a pen and paper to write on. "What's your 5th and 6th period?"
He slowly breathed in and out, calming his worn-out heart. "Art then Spanish with you."
"I thought you were getting your teeth cleaned?" He handed him the small piece of paper he wrote on. It read 'Early dismissal pass: Mike Chang. Reason for leave: Dentist appointment. Mr Schu'.
"Have fun at the dentist."
He smiled back in gratitude. "Thanks Mr. Schu, you're the best." He walked through the evident lockers, images hitting every corny of his conscious.
Within a matter of minutes, Mike was somehow outside of Tina's house, fresh sunflowers and a goldfish stuffed animal at hand. He recalled Tina raving about her former pet fish who coincidentally was named Leila, and this one time they walked pass this tiny flower market, she paid attention to the sunflowers, closing her eyes completely taken aback while smelling their fragrance. Hopefully this cliché of a gift would have the same effect.
He slowly made his way to the front door gesturing what he'd do and how he'd say it. It almost felt like he was going to ask her on a date or something, but he wasn't. This was a lot more serious than that.
As he maneuvered to knock on the wooden door, it quickly opened. "Oh hi, I'm Mike, Tina's friend."
The middle-aged Asian woman made a melancholy face while gesturing Mike to move back. "Mike, was it?" He nodded politely. "I know you're here to check up on Tina, but she's at a very fragile state right now. After what happened she's definitely not herself and as a teenager as yourself, I don't think you'll be able to handle -"
"I know, Mrs. Chang, Cohen-Chang .. and I'm sorry for rudely interrupting but I need to see Tina. She's helped me so much. I kind of need to return the favor and I promise I won't do anything stupid." She listened thoughtfully. "I'm .. different."
Mrs. Cohen-Chang had a regretful face, but seemed convinced. "She's upstairs in her room. Make a right from the hallway and it's the very last room."
He smiled with gratefulness as he did a little curtsey. He kind of wished he could take it back though; it was a little embarrassing. But there were more important things that had to be thought about.
Now there he was, right outside another door but just as nerve-racking. Going through each door felt like such a corny metaphor for life: You get closer and closer to your destination but trying to get to the next door, nonetheless opening it was a task of its own. Why he paid attention in English, he didn't know.
"Tina?" He reluctantly knocked on the slightly opened door. He heard a silent breath so he slowly swung the door to allow himself in.
The first sight he saw was her learned against the dashboard of her bed looking out her window. She changed from her pretty purple dress that was probably wrecked from Karofsky's rough hands. Instead, she was compiled in oversized sweaters and a black, stringy scarf wrapped around her neck. It was as if that cold of hers caught up although that wasn't it. He wanted to kill that sad excuse of a person but at that time all he needed to do was be there for her.
She finally noticed him after a good minute of standing awkwardly and was caught off guard.
"Um, hi." She forged a smile.
"Please, don't .." Mike heartbrokenly pleaded. "You don't owe me anything."
She looked at the gifts in his hand then worriedly looked aimlessly into mid-air.
"Oh, and these are for you." He held out the flowers and stuffed animal. She remained in the same trance she'd been in: staring at nothing. A smile 10,000 miles away.
"Look if you want me to go it's fine." She sharply looked at his direction, misery bleeding from her eyes. That's all it took.
He threw the flowers and toy to the ground unconcerned of the condition the gifts were under and quickly sat on the bed by her side. He saw each tear fall one by one with a slight frown glued to her face. These tears were so different than the ones he'd previously seen at the auditorium. When she cried at the auditorium, it was a non-stop sob where she let everything inside of her out. This time, her tears were moving so slowly you could count each one that fell. It was like expressing the pain she had to undergo hurt too much to even cry about.
He squeezed her hand. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there earlier Tina. I would never let him hurt you like that .." She rested her head on his chest, whimpering in pain unable to reciprocate.
His arms wrapped around her body tightly. "I'll stay by your side and we're gonna get through this together okay? You're never gonna be alone, okay? I won't hurt you and like I said before .. I'll never leave you."
It was almost 6:30 and Tina had fallen asleep in Mike's arms for about three hours. He didn't mind. The whole time he'd just been staring at her (not in a creepy way) closing his eyes one minute then opening them then next. His shoes and jacket had been off since he already figured he would maintain this position the moment she drifted asleep.
He insightfully scanned her bedroom a little amused from his findings. The walls were painted a vibrant yellow that made his eyes a little sore. There was this big mahogany book shelf that contained burnt CDs, aged books and picture albums. Plastic flowers in small, tan pots were laid out throughout her room. On one corner, there were pictures of the Glee club and people who seemed to be her family members.
He noticed himself on one of the pictures on the wall. It was from that one time they stopped by their infamous fro yo spot after a long day of rehearsal. They just started to get silly and took a whole bunch of random pictures together. It was one of the few times he felt like he could just let go, feel free and not have to worry about what others think. It hurt him to know he could never have Tina feel the same way. At least not now. When something like that happens to you, it's hard to let go. It's hard to forget.
Suddenly he felt a faint movement from the girl enveloped in his arms. She opened her eyes sluggishly and looked straight at him a bit confused. It was cute how lost she was, kind of like a puppy.
"What time is it?" she asked.
He smiled. "Just hit 6:30."
"You stayed here the whole time?"
"Uh, yeah. I did." Her surprised expression forced a subtle blush. That was until she clung onto him tighter like she never wanted to him to leave. She didn't say a word but just allowed his embrace. "Do you want anything? A drink or something? I can buy you something, let me just get my coat -" Tina held onto his arm and tugged him gently as he shifted to put his sneakers and sweater on.
"Sorry," he huffed. "I get ahead of myself."
"It's okay. Just lay down with me some more," she begged. "Do you know if anyone's home?"
"Well when I came in your mom was leaving the house. It didn't sound like anyone else was here though."
"She had work. My dad's probably at work too. They don't get back until 8 .." she said, saddened by the realization she'd have to be alone.
Mike looked at her. "Well I guess we'll have to kill an hour and a half!"
A slight smile finally appeared. "Really?" He nodded. "But how about Leila? Don't you have to get her around this time?"
"I got it all covered, I promise."
She hugs him again as they positioned themselves like before. "Thank you."
It was the only time she'd smiled today and for Tina, that was an extremely rare thing. So it completely slipped his mind that the Thompsons told him they could only take care of Leila until 6:45 due to a family party. He figured he'd just call and ask them to bring her to the day-care center. Being a frequent volunteer there, Carrie hopefully wouldn't mind taking care of Leila for a while. He never really did ask for much.
:) Long update, no? Hope you guys liked this one! I'm introducing many OCs but they aren't going to have a big role so yeah, no worries for those of you non-OC fans. OH, and sorry that I didn't really equally write Tina's POV as much as Mike's. I just thought Mike's POV was more crucial. Reviews are love, as well as story alerts and faves or just a view! If you find any mistakes, feel free to send me a message and I'll change it asap. Thanks guys, you mean lots to me! ;D
