CVH
Shira laid in Diego's arms, tracing circles around his chest. Last night had been fun, he had to admit.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Shira suddenly asked, her voice containing a morning rasp.
Diego raised an eyebrow at her breaking the peaceful silence. "Sure, I'm all ears."
"Tell me about what your gang was like."
He looked a her. "What?"
"You said you worked with Raberto when you were in middle school." She said propping herself up. "I want to know what you went through."
He shrugged. "I don't know, usual street life I guess. Out of all people you would know what it was like."
She gave a snort. "Yeah right. Come on, I want details. Or are the details too much for you softie?" She laughed softly, giving him a soft punch to the arm
he smirked at her. "It's really gonna ruin the mood."
"What mood?" She lifted an eyebrow.
"The mood I was hoping to start." He nuzzled into her neck, placing kisses onto her shoulder.
"Sorry to burst your bubble softy, but not really feeling it." She got up from the bed, only holding a blanket around her body as she walked to the door. "At least not here."
Diego gave her a questioning glance. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Figure it out, tiger." She turned around to face him. "I need to go take a shower. Help yourself to any of the food downstairs...That is if you don't want to join me…" She winked at him before leaving the room. Diego was up in a flash to chase after her.
The next two weeks passed by in a blaze of stress as the seniors completed their ACT's and SAT's, but there was a collective relief as the tests finished. The week after Shira and Diego walked through the halls of school to their first period class, Shira holding a piece of paper and shooting off questions at Diego.
"How does DNA form?"
"It's made up of amino acids."
"I can't believe Hanks is making us have a quiz literally one week after all those tests."
Diego shrugged. "Thats the education system for you."
"I guess so. Amino acids are also the building blocks to what?"
"Proteins."
"Good and what-" She cut off as she hit another kid that as walking in the opposite direction. "What the HELL! Watch where you're going shit load!" She roared at the girl she had accidentally pushed to the floor.
"S-sorry I wasn't paying attention." The girl replied. Diego looked at her. She was definitely pretty. Brown eyes framed in softly tanned skin. Her hair was definitely eye catching, blue purple and teal-ish green ombre. She wore a short nicely fitted black dress that made her features pop even more. "You wouldn't know we're biology class is would you?"
Diego gave Shira a nudge. She let out a huff. "Sorry for snapping at you."
"Yeah, we're actually heading there right now." Diego said
"Well in that case I'll tag along." The girl said. "My names Leona by the way."
"Diego." He gestured to his girlfriend who was by his side. "And this is Shira."
"Nice to meet you both… Love your pants by the way." She pointed to Shira's ripped black jeans.
"Uh...thanks." Shira said uncomfortably as the three started walking.
"So Leona, where you from? I take it your new considering you don't know your classes."
"Cove City," she pushed her hair back. "It's a few miles up the coast."
"I've heard of that place," Shira said. "Isn't it widely known for strip and gentlemen clubs?"
Diego gave her a glare. "What? It's true. Gutt and his dad take a yearly trip up there just for the busy season."
Leona chuckled. "Yes it is I guess. But it's also known as party central thanks to the casinos and unlimited bars too. Thinking about going back when I'm old enough to legally do everything." She grinned.
"Maybe you and I could take a trip up there." Diego smirked at Shira. "I'd love to see you up on one of those poles."
She rolled her eyes. "And I'd love to see you doing the same thing in a loin cloth while holding a spear, but we don't always get what we want do we?"
"Can't argue with her there, you'd make a pretty sexy stripper." Leona remarked with a laugh.
Diego could see Shira's eyebrows lower in a zfrown. "Excuse me?"
"Well he's well built, you can't blame me. I'm guessing football player?" She asked, taking a full glance at Diego.
"Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked.
"I've dated a few." She winked at him.
Diego felt Shira's arm wrap around his waist protectively. "Well I guess we share something in common."
"Oh sorry I didn't know you two were together." Leona blushed, and he couldn't help but think it was kinda cute. Only kinda. "In all respect it was meant to be a joke."
"Sure, and I'm gonna get into Harvard." Shira aid unimpressed, letting go of Diego's waist as they neared their door.
"Is she always that serious?" Leona asked.
Diego shook his head. "Nah, she's just stressed about some tests we have coming up. And she didn't get to have coffee this morning. Believe me, on a regular day she would have encouraged the joke."
She gave him a smile. "Glad to know she won't permanently hate me." As they walked into class, she handed her office note for excused work to mister Hanks, assigned by the office to new students.
Diego could see him take a quick glance at before he sat down and the bell rang.
"Alright class, today we have a new student joining us. Syre." he gave the blue haired girl an encouraging smile. "Why don't you tell the class a bit about yourself."
"Well i moved here from Cove City because my father's company moved their headquarters to Coast Valley. Um...I'm an only child. I was on my high school's dance team, and was actually captain." She gave a smile to the class. "I guess I should stop, take it a lot of you guys don't want to hear much more."
"I wouldn't mind hearing more from you, sweet cheeks." One of the boys said in the front of the class called out, causing a few laughs.
"Thank you Mr. Daniels but no one asked for your opinion." Mr. Hanks sarcastically said. "Leona why don't you take the empty lab table in the back." She obliged, her hair bouncing almost hypnotically as she walked.
At the end of class she came back over to Diego and Shira. "Do either of you have calculus with ?"
"Yeah, I do." Diego replied "Take it you have her class next?"
Leona nodded. "Mind if i follow you there?"
"Just don't stalk me to my other classes and you'll be good." He joked. "Common, I'll show you wear it is." He turned to shira, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see you at break, ok?"
"See ya." She replied walking away from him. He couldn't help but think her hostility was a bit odd.
Shira heaved a content sigh as she removed the energy drink can from her lips. "Caffeine work your wonders."
"You're too dependent on that stuff." Ellie chuckled as she payed for a granola bar at the cafeteria check out.
"Hey at least it's not heroine." She replied.
"Yeah thank god for that." Her friend replied as the two started to walk to find the rest of the herd. "So tell me about this new girl you mentioned."
Shira shrugged. "I don't know. She's got some pretty cool hair, I've died mine a tone and have never gotten it to look as perfect as her's. Respect if she was able to do it on her own. Uh, she seems friendly enough. A bit of a flit, she made a pass at diego-"
"Please tell me you didn't attack her when she did." Ellie cut her off.
"Nah, I just had to show he was my territory." She gave a grin. The two made it to where the rest of the herd was, along with Leona.
"Hey." Diego said as Shira walked up to him, leaning on his shoulder. He gave her a kiss on the forehead as she took another sip of her energy drink. "Feeling better."
She nodded. "Much."
Sid, being the overly friendly kid he was, introduced Leona to the rest of the herd. She seemed to hit it off fine with everyone. She had a few classes with the other herd members and by the end of the day was laughing and joking with them as if she had known them forever. The group said their goodbyes at the end of the day and headed off their separate ways. Shira was driving home with Manny when he suddenly asked her a question.
"So what do you think of her?"
"Who, Leona? She's alright I guess." Shira shrugged.
He gave her a glance that read 'oh come on'. "You weren't necessarily friendly."
"I'm not usually 'necessarily friendly'."
"Is it because she made a pass at Diego?"
"No, as she said it was a joke." She defended. "And even if she meant it there would be no reason for me to care. I have nothing to worry about. Last time I checked I have Diego wrapped around my finger."
"Then why do you seem so hostile around her?"
"Com' on Manfred, have you met me? I'm not exactly the type of person to greet someone new with open arms."
"Yeah but you're just seemed kind of… I don't know, weird around her." He said.
She sighed. "In all honesty I could care less about her, alright." She turned to look out the window, watching the city pass by. She uttered her next words in an inaudible whisper. "But I swear I know her…."
The next few weeks passed without much happening. Leona stuck around with the herd seemingly becoming more and more friendly with everyone. Well everyone except Shira.
"Oh come on, at least try and get along with her!" Diego said as the two sat down at their table for lunch.
Shira rolled her eyes at him. "As long as I'm not trying to pick a fight with her I consider it getting along."
"She's been nothing but nice to you and you just give her the cold shoulder. What's with that huh? Are you upset that she was flirting with me again?"
"She what?!" Shira turned with ice cold eyes. Diego put his hands up in defense.
"It was in a joking way, I promise." He assured her. "But is something else going on? You've seemed kinda out of it lately."
She sighed, rubbing her face. "It's fine...Just kinda stressed about something at the moment."
He sat down next to her giving her a concerned look. "About what?"
She leaned forward on the table. "Nothing...just, uh, family matters. Yeah just family problems."
"You want to talk about it?" He asked. She gave him a glance that seemed to ask 'really?'. "Of course you don't, you don't like to talk about personal problems."
She chuckled. "Man are you going soft."
"Only soft for you." He gave her a kiss. "What if I take you out for a date this Friday night? Take your mind off things. We can go to a nice restaurant, get some dinner… And go back to your place afterwards to wrap up the night." He said cheekily.
She smirked at him. "That would be nice. And it would assure me you don't have eyes for that blue haired, big eyed, busty-"
He placed his hand behind her neck, bringing her into a passionate kiss. "You know I only have eyes for you." She let out a little laugh at the gesture before pulling away as the rest of the herd arrived.
"Hey I'm on my way." Shira said into the mouth of her phone as she twisted her key in the lock of the vintage weapondry store. She was currently talking to Diego on where they would be going on their date they had planned for the night.
"Great," Diego's voice rang over the phone. "I'll head over to Rumarieo's right now."
"Wait Rumaieo's?" She gave the keys a final tug, making the door shudder. "Isn't that the really fancy place on the other side of town? I thought you said Rubios."
"No I did not say Rubios."
"I'm pretty sure you did."
"And i'm pretty sure I know what I said, Kitty." She heard him growl. "Just tell me are you ready or not?"
She rubbed the back of her neck, looking down at her outfit as she walked down the empty mall hallway. "I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt….Take it that's a little too under dressed?"
"Yeah. You know what, i'm fine with going to Rubio's for dinner, hopefully it will be less crowded." She smiled at his easiness of letting go of a fancy dinner in a luxurious restaurant. It just wasn't them, so cheap Italian seemed much more like the right way to go. "Doubt anybody else is going to be there for dinner."
"Yeah especially after there was that rumor about them using rat meat in their pizza." She joked.
"Oh my god would you stop, that's disgusting." He laughed over the phone. "I'll meet you here ok?"
"Ok see you in a few, tiger." She chuckled as she hung up. She made her way down to the sublevels of the mall where the employer's parking lot was and which had the only open gate at these late hours. As she passed through the almost empty parking lot she heard laughing. Turning to see the source, four guys stumbled out from behind a truck. She recognized them, they were a couple of dropouts that worked as janitors. She also had to trouble recognizing that they were drunk.
"Hey there pretty lady." One of them called out after her as she rolled her eyes and continued walking.
"Oh come on where you going?" Another one said running up to her, staggering to keep up with her pace and face her at the same time.
"Well considering I am walking in the opposite direction of you burnouts, I'd say away from here." She sassily said.
"But we'd love to have your company." Another one remarked walking up to her. She quickened her pace, wrapping her hand around a knife she held in her coat pocket.
"There's four of you, pretty sure that's enough for each of you to give each other a blow job!" She barked.
The final guy came up, obviously wasted and almost unable to stand. "I like her. She's funny. *Hic!* Don' you think she's funny guys?"
She rolled her eyes at the group and continued to walk, turning her back to them. The first guy caught up with her and grabbed her wrist. "Oh come on darling why don't you stay?"
She stopped in her tracks. "You have three seconds to get you hands off me." She said dead serious, not turning around to face him.
He tightened his grip and sneered. "What if I don't?"
She spun around at lightning speed, slamming her elbow into his face. He fell to the ground, blood rushing from his nose.
"You'll regret it more." She growled, holding her knife to his chin. His friends let out shouts and insults running to their fallen comrade. Knowing she wouldn't be able to take on all of them if a fight broke out Shira started to jog out of the garage. As she reached the sidewalk outside she was tackled by one of her pursuers. He grabbed her hair, trying to pull her back. As he did so she used the momentum to spin herself and collide her fist with his side. His grip loosens a little but he used his other hand to grasp her mouth. She kicked at the air, but he just lifted her up.
"You're not getting away that easy bitch!" He growled as one of his buddies came to try and get a hold of her legs. Thinking fast, Shira bit down on his hand, the taste of blood flooding between her teeth as they punctured deep into the flesh. The man let out a howl of pain, releasing her and allowing her to kick the man at her feet in the chest.
She was now in a full out sprint trying to get away. Her heart pounded in her chest as adrenaline coursed through her veins. She could hear her pursuers behind her, shouting and grunting like a pack of wild dogs. All she could think about was reaching the end of the street where more shops and stores were. And where there's business there's people, and when there are people there is cover.
Her feet pounded against the concrete, in and out of the street lights. Suddenly there was a loud bang! Movement ripped the air to her left.
"Shit!" She cursed, now dodging from side to side to avoid anymore bullets. The men behind her fired again, and again. "Just keep running, keep running." She whispered under her breath. One of the metal pieces hit her in the back of the calf, sending excruciating pain through her leg. She fell to the ground. Another wave of pain tore through her side as a second bullet snapped the flesh at her rib cage as she hit the concrete. She clenched her teeth to prevent from screaming in agony as she forced herself up. Shira held her side to try and stop the blood flow, doing her best to run with an injured calf. Her only goal was the end of the street where she could turn the corner.
As she did so she ran into someone.
"Oh sorry, I didn't see you there." The guy apologized before seeing her panicked expression. "Are you alright?"
She let her back hit the wall of the corner building, clenching her eyes closed,to try and black out the pain. "Gah, no!"
"What's wrong?" She heard another person, this one a women say. The lady must have seen the blood because she let out a gasp. "Call an ambulance!"
Diego looked at his watch anxiously. It shouldn't be taking Shira this long to get here from work, would it.
He sighed, tightening his suits jacket in an effort to keep warm. Snow had started to fall and the streets' population progressively diminished
"She wouldn't stand me up." He said to himself. His phone started ringing in his pocket, and when he brought it out it was a number he didn't recognize. "Hello?"
"Hello, is this Diego Sebter?" I woman's voice asked.
"Yes. May I ask who's calling?"
"This is Half Peak Memorial Hospital. We had your friend Ms. White come in a little while ago after receiving two bullet wounds. As her emergency contact we're asking you to come down."
His eyes widened at the news. "I'm on my way."
He took off running to his car. Jumping in and speeding away as fast as he could without being pulled over. The minutes of crossing town were a strange mix of prolonged centuries and flying by images as he crossed roads and passed signs. The only thing on his mind was Shira.
Once at the hospital and parked, he dashed inside finding the nearest desk where it seemed he could ask questions.
"Hey my names Diego, I was called here for my girlfriend Shira. She was brought in with bullet wounds where could I find her?." He managed to get out in one breath. "She's kinda short, black hair, was probably saying almost every curse word known to man when she was brought in?"
The nurse who was behind the desk raised her eyebrow at him. "She's probably still in the ER, but you can head over there and wait till she gets out. Go down the left corridor, you'll see the sign eventually."
He gave the desk a pat before hurrying off. "Thanks." He eventually made it to the ER's waiting room and after telling a nurse there the same thing, was told to take a seat and wait while Shira was still being operated on.
As he sat in the chair he tapped his foot anxiously,running his hands through his hair, anything that might help cope with the stress. He heard people enter and leave but paid no attention to them, not caring about anything else but the well being of his girlfriend.
So when he heard her name said by someone else who had just entered his neck snapped up.
Gutt stood at the desk with tension as he was also told to sit. The man's eyes immediately caught site of Diego as he turned.
"You." He snarled from under his beard, trudging over to him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"My girlfriend was shot! I'm her emergency contact. I could ask you the same thing." He defended.
"Sorry goldy locks, but you're mistaken because last time I checked I was the one she called when she needed something." He gave Diego a look up and down. "And if I know Shira she usually doesn't like to admit she needs something to more than one person."
Diego held back a snarl. "Yeah, I know that. She's prideful. But I'm here for her and I got here first so I'm guessing she wants me around." He glared at gutt. "I'm betting she'll be ok with it."
The older boy continued to glare at Diego, cracking his knuckles at his sides. "For now I won't smash your face in blonde. For her. Now I want to know if you're the one who put her in the situation."
"What? Of course not why the hell would I?!" He exclaimed appalled. "I asked her to meet me for dinner. I don't know what happened in between but i was waiting for her when i got the call to come down here."
Gutt's lip twitched as if itching to say a remark, but it never came. He sat down in one of the waiting chairs instead. Diego did the same thing, and could nearly feel the aggression coming of the Pirate captain.
They sat in awkward silence, Diego texting the rest of the herd the news while Gutt sat with a glare. Finally after another 20 minutes a nurse came in asking for shira's visitors.
She took the two boys back to the recovery rooms where Shira laid in a bed behind a curtain that was slightly pulled back.
"She sustained two bullet wounds. One in the calf and one in the chest." She started to explain. "Lucky for her though the second bullet only skimmed one of her ribs. If it had been an inch further to the right it would have hit her lung. Thankfully her sides wound was easy to fix, and the operation to remove the bullet from her calf was a success. Although she will need physical therapy to help with the muscles healing process."
"Thank you nurse." Diego said. "Is there any chance that I might be able to stay with her over night?"
She nodded. "Of course. It's going to take some time for the anesthetic to wear off anyway. Besides with cases like these we like to keep the patient over night since they get here so late." She turned her attention to both the boys. "Now do either of you know her parent or guardian's contact? We checked her phone but couldn't find any. You two were her only emergency contacts"
Diego new the last thing Shira would want in this situation would be to have her stepmother show up. When was the last time they even uttered a word to each other anyway? Maybe he should call Manny, after all he was of legal guardian age and she did live with him.
"I am." Gutt blurted out before diego could suggest his friend. "She's my...younger sister. She lives with me."
"Alright good to know." The nurse wrote down on her clipboard. "Just to let you know we are going to put her on antibiotics just in case her wounds sustained any infections, it looked like she had fallen on them a few times before she arrived. It's just a precaution. All be back in a minute to give you some paperwork work Mr…?"
"Gutt."
"Alright thank you." She left the room which was essentially just two walls with a curtain blocking the front.
Gutt looked at shira in her bed, rubbing his beard. "How much do you think the bill is going to be?"
"Enough to put you in debt if you don't have a couple thousand bucks stored away." Diego sighed. "They always overcharge you in hospitals."
Gut grunted, sitting in the chair next to Shira's bed, staring intently at her face. "Has she made any enemies lately?"
"What?"
"Did I stutter blonde? Has. She. Made. Any. Enemies. Lately?" He growled, emphasizing every word.
Diego shook his head. "Not that I know of."
"Well that rules out any clues to who might of done it." He rubbed his beard, thinking. "When she wakes up, tell her to call me. Maybe she recognized them." He got up about to the the curtained room. "And Diego,"
The blond haired boy looked up. It was the first time gutt ever called him by his name. "If I EVER find out you put her in a situation where she end up like this," he ,optioned to her unconscious form. "You better pray your daddy's money can pull you out of hell because that's where I'll put you. I never want to see my right hand incapable of fighting." With a final glare, he left.
Diego watched him retreat down the hallway, not even stopping when the nurse from earlier came up with a clipboard and forms for him. Letting out a heavy breath Diego pulled the chair close to Shira's bed side, gently taking her hand in his when he sat down.
"If you heard any off that Shira, I want you to know I would never put you in harms way. I promise…. I will never hurt you."
Hey guys sorry for the long wait (as always). But i hoped you liked this chapter! Leona Syre is a character co-created with DiegoxShira4eva, and she will be around more in the next few chapters. Also i didnt get to read over this chapter, so if it seems kinda clunky thats why. I'll probably come back to edit it later but i know many of you were wondering when te chapter would be out so i tried to get it posted as soon as possible Once again im sorry i took soo long, school has been a pain in the ass. Feel free to leave a review or suggestions.