Point Of View: Roy Payntace
Uni avoided me all of second period the following day. She didn't talk to me like usual, she didn't wave at me to greet me, she didn't even look at me. Well, that's not true, she sneaked awkward glances at me occasionally, but she explicitly seemed to avoid eye contact with me. It made the whole period a little uncomfortable and I left as soon as the bell would let me.
Before I knew it, I was sitting in my English classroom counting the minutes before lunch. Part of me was waiting on lunch to see how Uni reacted to me. The other part was the day just growing long, of course. As my creative writing class came to a close, I got up quietly from my desk, wrapped in my own thoughts. Those thoughts were quickly shoved aside by a voice echoing in my ears. "Roy?"
"Huh?" I asked dumbly, looking around. It was Blanc, in front of me.
"I asked you if your brother said anything about that thing on Saturday," she said softly, her patience not waning in the slightest with me as if she was used to this.
"Oh, really? Uh, he agreed to it, actually," I told her. "We haven't worked it out much past that, but he always has something up his sleeve."
"I must admit, the idea has me excited," she said, smiling at me as she clutched her book to her chest. "I don't get to go out and do things like this with friends a lot."
"Yeah, school can be brutal like that," I laughed.
"School... yeah," she sighed.
"It's boring!" Ram chimed.
"It's so long," Rom added.
"You'll live," I told them with a smile.
"Will we, though?" Ram asked. "What if we die before we graduate?"
"That might be arranged if you keep ignoring your homework," Blanc stated coldly.
Rom took shelter behind her sister. "I-I did mine," she said defensively.
"Thank you, Rom," Blanc said, picking up her bag. "You're still not coming with me on Saturday, but I appreciate you doing what you're told."
"That's not fair," Ram blurted.
"We'll discuss this later when we're not at school," Blanc commanded.
"But-"
"You wanna talk back?!" Blanc growled. Ram swiftly shut her mouth. I didn't know what to say or how concerned I should've been, but either way, what I wound up doing was just kind of watching as I put my books back in my backpack. "That's what I thought," Blanc humphed after a moment of silence. "Anyways, shall we make our way to lunch?"
"Race ya there!" Ram yipped, speeding out the door.
Rom struggled to keep up behind her. "Wait for me, Ram!"
Blanc drew a heavy sigh and started on her way out the door. I fell in behind her. "They're quite the pair, aren't they?" I thought out loud.
"They're annoying," Blanc dropped bluntly. "They're good girls, though."
"Well, death threats aside, I think they're pretty lucky," I said, following her out of the classroom.
"Let me guess, for having me as a sister," she predicted as we made our way through the hallway.
"Maybe," I said hastily. "I'm just saying, as a dude who grew up with a strict-ass brother, I probably wouldn't have the grades I did if he didn- OOF!"
A tall figure collided with me all at once. It was a familiar level of tall, too, a menacing one. I looked up his body slowly to see Peter towering over me, looking down on me like I'd just insulted his mother a bit too well. "Roy?" He asked, his eyes focusing square into mine. He never called me that, and that scared me.
"Peter?" I whimpered, stepping back.
"The one and fucking only." He cracked his knuckles as Blanc fell in line beside me. "Did your little cousin pass on the message?"
"What?" I asked. "No, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Perfect, then you'll never see it coming," he snarled. Two big beefy hands grabbed me from behind and tried to pull my arms behind my back. Naturally, I immediately put up a struggle, but also to my aid was Blanc, who was prying him off me with some serious strength.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" I shouted, wrenching my arms free and causing Peter's friend to stumble back against the lockers on the wall.
"This is for your little girlfriend's beatdown!" He yelled, reeling back for a full-force punch to my face. It was too fast for me to do anything. I impulsively shut my eyes tightly and waited for the shock of being hit to wash over me... but it didn't.
I opened my eyes confusedly to find Blanc wrestling Peter's fist mid-punch. "Not today, asshole!" she barked. Her head shifted and turned back to look at me over her shoulder. "RUN!"
She didn't have to tell me twice. I took off as fast as I could past Peter's friend and down the hallway in the opposite direction. It didn't take long before I heard the struggle break behind me and someone breaking into a run. I wasn't about to waste time looking back and seeing who it was, I needed to get the hell out of there.
As soon as I hit the staircase near the edge of the building, I swung my way down the stairs as fast as I could go. Peter probably wouldn't come at me if I were in a group. I couldn't help myself as I touched down on the ground floor, though, and I looked up the stairs to see a very unpleasantly dispositioned Peter at the top of the stairs racing after me. My heart shot up into my throat again and I shot back into motion down the hall towards the cafeteria.
I barreled past students and teachers alike, covering ground at a pace I never had before and ignoring any calls for me to slow down. With little regard for anything else, I sprinted towards the usual table everyone was at. It didn't take a genius to see me running that way in a panic and know something was going on, so the moment I ran into view, Noire stood up. "Roy? Are you okay?" She called out to me.
The voice barely pierced the crowd and made it to me. I jerked my head to the noise, eyes wide, then looked over my shoulder. Peter was in hot pursuit a ways back. I didn't have time to explain anything to anyone. "NO!" I blurted, starting up my legs again and getting the hell out of dodge. Everyone else exchanged looks of worry before accompanying Noire to follow me, albeit slower than Peter and I were going. Naturally, he bowled right through the group to get to me, but I was already jumping down the small set of stairs that lead out of the cafeteria and to the side of the school. He had now chased me from one side of the school to the other.
I blasted my way out the door onto the lawn at the side of the school, not that far from the weight room. Unfortunately, from there, it lead out into the street. I couldn't just run into traffic, so I stopped and turned around only to be met with Peter tackling me full-body to the ground. I covered my face with my arms as his large fists started coming down around my head and upper torso. As soon as he realized I was trying to protect myself, he went for my neck instead, grabbing it and crushing my windpipe with his hands. I gagged and gasped as he put pressure on my throat, trying desperately to heave for air. Everything in my eyesight began to waver. That's when the girls burst out the door.
"Roy!" Nepgear exclaimed, noticing that I was being strangled at that moment.
Noire didn't hesitate like most everyone else. She quickly rushed in and delivered a kick to the side of Peter's vulnerable stupid head, knocking him off me. I gasped for air as my airways opened up again. The world had started to flutter around me at that point, so I was having trouble processing a lot of what was going on at that point.
"Noire!" Neptune called. "Here!" Neptune's small hands threw a short sword-sized stick to Noire, which she caught swiftly with one hand before gripping it and flourishing it as if it were a real blade. After she had effectively proven she knew what she was doing, she fell into an actual fighting stance with the weapon. I didn't know where Neptune had gotten the stick, for all I knew she had been keeping one for this very incident, but it didn't really matter to me much either way. It was being used to help save me, so I was glad it was around.
Peter quickly recovered, standing up with his fists at the ready despite his apparent disorientation from getting hit. As soon as he could see straight, he reeled back his fist and threw a punch straight for Noire, just as fast and hard as he had thrown one at me. Within a flash, though, she was out of the way like it was nothing. She was so light on her feet, it was amazing to witness. Then, with a swift twirl, she swung the stick with one hand firmly, clocking Peter in the side of the head again. He grunted as it impacted his skull with a loud thwack and he fell back to his knees.
Noire pointed the stick at him. "Are you ready to surrender?" she asked.
"You're not just some average bitch, are you?" Peter countered.
It didn't look like Noire took the 'bitch' comment too well because she firmly placed another kick directly to his chest, knocking him over backward again. "This isn't fucking over," he winced, getting up slowly.
"Whatever," Noire huffed, letting him run off to the parking lot, or stumble off at least. She turned her attention to me, still on the ground and kind of soaking in what just happened. "Are you okay, Roy?" she asked, offering me a hand.
I nodded dazedly, taking her hand and getting up. "Yeah... he just... he just came after me, I barely know what happened."
"I know what happened." Blanc's voice rang out across the lawn as she walked outside with the school's on-campus police officer. "I'll fill you in on it later. For now, let's just make sure this gets properly sorted out."
"Come on, Roy, I'll walk you to the nurse," Noire said. Almost immediately as it left her lips, a blush crept over her face. "Not like I'd like it or anything, it'd just make me feel better knowing you're safe. I mean-"
"It's okay, I get it," I stopped her. "Don't hurt yourself. I'm fine, but I could maybe use an ice pack for my head, so..."
"Then what are you waiting for?" she questioned, tugging my arm. "Let's go!" And with that, I gave an awkward look to everyone else. Uni stood at the back of the group, onlooking as her sister dragged me away. There was a tinge of sadness on her face, but I wasn't sure what it was for. It was probably just what she had just seen, but you never know, right? Either way, I didn't have time to dwell on it at that moment. Right then, I just had to worry about coming down from all the adrenaline that was making my legs feel numb, and that was gonna take a bit.
I put the ice pack wrapped in a paper towel to the bruise forming on the side of my head from where I'd been punched a few times. It stung and the swelling was noticeable, but it wasn't bad considering what he could've done if he'd just been given another minute alone with me. Sitting on the edge of the nurse's office bed, I drew a heavy sigh. I didn't see the day going this way. Noire sat walked back into the room and sat down next to me on the bed. "You doing better?" she asked.
"Yeah," I responded with a nod.
She gave me a smile. "Good." Within a moment, though, that smile faded. "What was that about, anyway?"
"Peter's... well, he wasn't really always like that, he just kinda started acting like that and never stopped," I said. "I don't know what put him onto me today specifically, though."
"So there was a time when he was nice, huh?" she hinged on.
"Yeah, he was... just kind of a normal guy," I affirmed. "Eventually, he started acting like a dick to everyone." There was a little more to it than that, of course, but I wasn't sure how much the details mattered at this point.
"What an ass," Noire sighed. "It's a good thing you've got us here to help you. I hope you're grateful."
"Oh, don't worry, I am," I said, a smile playing onto my face as I looked at the tile floor and thought back to what had happened. "I mean, he was choking my fucking lights out when you rushed in. You ever see someone do some shit like that when you're half-unconscious? It's sort of like you were an angel descending to save me."
Noire's face flushed a bright red as she looked away, something I failed to notice as I pressed the cold pack to my dome, blocking my peripheral vision. "O-Of course! Good!" she stuttered. "I-I'm glad you see it so highly."
"Are you kidding?" I asked, looking back up at her with a grin. "I've been waiting to see someone take him out like that for years. Seriously, Noire, thanks for saving me."
She gave me a smile back that said sincerity, even with the light dusting of red still over her face. "I'm... glad I could help."
That little moment was nice, but only lasted for so long as quickly after that exchange, the door opened and in walked two adult figures, the vice principal and the school's police officer. "Miss Noire?" the VP asked.
"Yes?" Noire responded a tad impatiently, seemingly upset at the interruption there.
"I'd like to speak to you in my office for a moment," he said. "I'm afraid I have to read you the terms of suspension."
"The terms of what?!" Noire exclaimed, her eyes growing wide and her expression surprised.
"Now hold the phone here, man," I interrupted with no regard for giving any kind of a fuck. "She got Peter off of me after he tried to strangle me out!"
"Maybe, but she still engaged in the violence and that makes her liable for punishment," the cop spoke up with a rather dark, jaded voice.
"What was she supposed to do, let him choke me out?!" I questioned impatiently.
"Mr. Payntace? I understand the position, but it's school policy. Peter's getting suspended, too." The VP adjusted his glasses. "Now, Noire, if you could follow me."
Noire drew an unhappy sigh and gave me a look like she was sorry she had to go before standing up from the side of the bed. "I guess I'll see you later, Roy," she said, following the VP and policeman out slowly. I could hear a string of curse words stream out from under her breath as she turned for the door.
With that, the room fell quiet for a few minutes. They were long minutes, as well as boring ones, but they gave me a bit to think. I mostly spent that brainpower hoping Noire would be spared by our system, even if I knew there was jack shit chance of that happening, but it's the thought that counts, right? Either way, that thought train got interrupted by the door opening again. This time, the person who entered was none other than Arkas.
Arkas's expression was nervous but changed to relieved when he saw me sitting relatively alright on the bed. "Roy!" He called out. "I-I came in as soon as I heard what happened... I'm sorry, I should've told you about what happened with Blanc and Peter."
"What did happen there?" I asked.
"Well, IF, Compa and I ran into Peter and his friends moving in on Blanc while she was alone," he explained. "We kinda interrupted them and... well, Blanc may have helped kick their asses."
"Wha- really?" I asked, a little dumbfounded at the idea of Arkas and Compa helping beat up Peter.
"Okay, it was mostly Blanc, b-but I was there, a-and he told me to tell you that we and our friends are meat." Arkas took a seat on the bed across from the one I was sitting on.
"So look out for him now? Great, fun, my favorite," I groaned.
"I'm sorry," Arkas sighed.
"Don't start this crap, please. I'll live, I'm just... I thought I was done dealing with him," I admitted.
"Well... We've got your back either way," Arkas smiled.
"Thanks, man."
"You gonna need help getting home?" Arkas asked.
"Nah, I think I'll be fine. I've gotta wait around and talk to the administration about what happened, so I might stick around a little while after," I explained to him, drawing in a heavy breath.
"Alright, then. I should get back to lunch," Arkas said, getting up. "I-I'll see you later, alright? T-Try and stay safe."
"I'll try," I responded. And with that, Arkas left slowly back to his lunch period, leaving me alone once again. I took a deep breath and set down the ice pack on the bed beside me. This week was gonna be a long one, I could just feel it.
A/N: Another scene I've been planning since early on. A lot of the finer details of the chase scene were written at 4 AM on a day where I had class. Muse is a fickle mistress, but personally, I think I'm satisfied with how it came out. Hopefully you like it just as much.