13 Shades of Grey
Chapter 02: Fist Fights
RAN: Eh voila, here is chapter three. R&R please. I hope I didn'y mess up on the translation, sorry if they're not perfect.
Arista fumed while she watched Brooklyn and the rest of her former team practice drills. They were skating on the smooth ice, around bright orange pylons. She held in her anger as best she could but couldn't stop it from forming in the pit of her stomach.
She cursed the red head. Damn him. It was his fault. Everything was his fault. If the clouds came crashing down from the sky she would blame him. If World War III started it would be his fault. If the school burned down, it would be his fault. There wouldn't need to be an explanation why, it would just be his fault. Simple as that.
She ground out a cry of fury while she watched them aim shots at the net. Mariah was guarding it, but every now and then a puck would go flying in. She cursed the pink haired female too. If it were her in there she wouldn't let in a single puck, she thought to herself. Turmoil was rapidly gathering in her stomach. Should she just back out of the dare? Watching and not playing was bad enough. But then he would get the satisfaction of seeing her take the cowards' way out. She wouldn't let that happen. Couldn't, she realized bitterly.
Her heart sunk again when Mariah let another puck slip in through from the top left corner of the net. This was too much. She had to get away. She had to go somewhere, do something. She went into the change rooms, and searched around for a c.d. player. She found one in Shahero's bags pocket. Taking it out she slipped on the headphones and pushed play.
Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights
Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The goddess of imaginary lights
Arista sighed with relief. She turned the volume up most of the way blocking out all sound save for the music. She hummed along with the tune, and exited the small room. She left the rink, and made her way to the stairs. She climbed them quickly and made her way to the roof of the school. Cursing because she didn't bring a sweater or a jacket, she made her way into the cold. It wrapped around her like a blanket of icy coolness.
In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
She shivered slightly, but continued to walk to the edge of the building. She sat down, her legs dangling over the edge of the giant limestone school. She sighed and lowered her head. She had a need to just jump over that board and take Mariah's place. A need she hardly had control over. It frustrated her that because of her stupidness she couldn't play for her team. And that was what was driving her crazy. What ifs continued to fill her head.
I linger in the doorway
Of alarm clocking screaming monsters calling my name
(Let me stay)
Were the wind will whisper to me
And the raindrops falling tell a story
She shook her head. Being pessimistic wouldn't help her any. It would, though, she thought happily, annoy Brooklyn. Annoying him gave her satisfaction just because that was something she had over him. Right now, she wanted beat him to a bloody pulp.
If you need to leave the world you live in
Lay your head down and stay awhile
Though you may not remember dreaming
Something waits for you to breathe again
Arista's lips curved. If I ignore and avoid him, I don't have to do anything he says.
In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
Arista tensed when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around and pushed whoever it was back, and onto the ground. She stared at the old man. Then mumbled a sorry, and held out a hand to help him up.
He said something but she couldn't hear him. She couldn't hear him, so she lowered the volume on the song and waited for him to repeat himself.
"What are doing up here?" He asked her.
"I was thinking and... Well I wasn't actually, I... I don't feel well." She ended lamely. "I should go."
In my field of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
He nodded. "Looks like thunder and rain. Better get inside, I still have to mop up here." The janitor motioned with his hand towards the bucket and mop behind him.
"Yeah." She glanced at it. "You should get Swiffer Wet Jet. It's a hell of a lot easier to use." She suggested because she felt awkward after having knocked him down for no reason.
"You would know." She just shrugged her shoulders. "I'll hold you to it. Put in a good word for it with the VP."
She smiled because she suddenly felt a lot better. "Sure thing."
Arista literally skipped her way to the door, and jumped down the stairs two at a time. She ran past everyone and made her way to her dorm room. She ran inside and made her way to the stereo. She slipped in a cd from the stack on the floor, and pushed play. She skipped it forward to song number five and listened to the music pour out of the stereos.
Somewhere there's speaking
It's already coming in
Oh, and it's rising
At the back of your mind
You never could get it
Unless you were fed it
Now you're here
And you don't know why
She smiled and threw off her t-shirt. She still had on a tank top underneath, but she left it on. She found her towel on the floor and went to her bed drawer to get clean underwear. Then she realized who was sitting on her bed. Her smile quickly faded, an angry frown covered it now.
"Sonia!" Ozuma yelled across the hall to the garnet haired girl. "Wait up." He pushed his way through the crowd and joined her side. Amber was mumbling something incoherent and looking over a piece of paper.
"Hey, Oz. Sup?" She smiled at him.
"Going to study hall. I have to finish my maths homework."
"Yeah. I just got my History essay back. I got a fucking fifty-three per cent. Apparently it's not in 'properly written paragraphs' and it lacks a certain something." Amber said angrily. She shoved the paper into her pants pocket and looked to the ceiling of the hallway. "Does he hate me or what?"
Ozuma shrugged. It was hard to hate her, Amber was just likeable. "I don't think so." He thought out loud.
"Yeah, it's kinda hard to hate you." Sonia added.
"If it is, then why the hell is my locker painted over with yellow and pink stripes?!" Sure enough there were striped of pink and yellow on her locker. It was still wet and there were drops falling in sputters to the floor.
Amber charged towards it, and wiped furiously at the paint. When she couldn't get it off she gave cry of anger and frustration. The paint wasn't quite dry yet so it was all over her hands. She didn't realize and unconsciously ran her hands through her hair leaving streaks of paint behind. She struggled to open her lock, and had to try the combo at least four times before it opened in her haste.
A tumble of books, paper, clothes and other knick-knacks fell out, knocked her down. She sat on the floor. Most of everything had fallen into her lap, and everything else was scattered in the floor in front, behind and around her.
"I'm going to kill that little jackass!"
She shoved everything back into her locker furiously then tore off down the hall. Ian Petrovich was going to die, then go to hell, then come back and be reincarnated so she could kill him again.
Sonia and Ozuma couldn't help but laugh at the Irish teen's misfortune.
"What are you laughing at?" Aspin asked as she joined them, Kane was walking along side her and joined them too. She glanced at the painted locker. "And what the hell happened there? Did someone lose their eyesight?"
The four of them stopped to look at the locker.
"Ian never had any colour co-ordination." Kane snickered.
"I don't know how you put up with him." Sonia said exasperatedly.
"Hush." Aspin ordered. "That's a good boy." She coaxed him and patted his head after scratching behind his ear.
"I'm not a dog."
"You look like one." Miyami said from down the hallway. She was holding a box overflowing with paper. Some of them fell down. She bent over and lifting them put them back in the box. Kai walked out of a classroom with a similar box, except his was a bit bigger.
"What are you doing?" Sonia asked.
"We're holding boxes." Kai replied.
Aspin rolled her eyes. "Besides that."
"Delivering papers to teachers." At Ozuma's raised eyebrows Miyami elaborated. "It's a make up detention. We weren't paying attention when we were supposed to."
"Oh. So what kind of papers?" He probed.
"Blank, white sheets because there was a note on the VP's desk saying that everyone ran out. So now we have to give them out or be stuck with Mr. Sherman in the Science lab cleaning out dissection plates."
"I guess you know what we chose." Kai added as an afterthought.
"Way to be Mr. Obvious." Kane said sarcastically.
Aspin rolled her eyes again. "I said hush boy." She yanked on his tie. Kane just shrugged his shoulder. Sonia laughed.
"Good boy, you deserve a cookie." Sonia patted his head and smiled.
Ozuma laughed at that. "Come on let's go." Aspin and Kane left them walking opposite ways. Ozuma and Sonia walked the other way towards the study hall.
Miyami and Kai continued to put a stack of papers in every classroom.
Brooklyn was laying down on what he figured was Arista's bed. It was comfortable, so he made himself at home. As much as possible anyway. There were dark blue pillows, and navy comforter striped with silver. The pillows had been decorated with tattoos and designs. He guessed that Miyami had helped with most of them. There was a dragon in red fabric paint, a phoenix in gold, a lion in white, Sagittarius was written in block letters decorated with stars and a rose tattoo.
Just then the door opened and Arista came waltzing in. She had smile on her face and made her way to the stereo in the corner of the room. She probably didn't even realize he was here.
She put in a cd and pushed a few buttons. He watched her. She took off her t-shirt and threw it on the floor. A blue tank top with the words 'Bite Me' was visible in silver handwriting. She looked around for her towel and found it on the floor near the door. Picking it up she sang along with the song and made her way towards her dresser drawer.
But under skinned knees and the skid marks
Past the places where you used to learn
You howl and listen
Listen and wait for the
Echoes of angels who won't return
She opened it, then turned her head and cocked it towards him. The smile fell from her face immediately. She scowled and scrunched her nose.
"What are you doing here?" Arista ground out.
"Sitting. What does it look like?" He retorted.
"Zasranec!" She cursed him angrily.[1]
He's everything you want
He's everything you need
He's everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
He says all the right things
At exactly the right time
But he means nothing to you
And you don't know why
He rolled his eyes. I guess she forgot I'm Russian too.
"Ya paneemayoo Russian."[2]
"Mne do lampochki." She snapped at him.[3]
"Well, I do." He said calmly, and smirked.
This was great. Fucking great, she thought to herself. How come he had to be everywhere to ruin everything for her. She'd wanted to take a bath and forget about him, but no. Not even a simple thing like that. He was the devil's advocate. Out there to ruin everything.
"Loh! Poydi ki Chertu." She shoved him hard with her arms. He fell back onto the bed and rolled over to fall onto the other side of it.[4]
You're waiting for someone
To put you together
You're waiting for someone to push you away
There's always another wound to discover
There's always something more you wish he'd say
Brooklyn got up; walked around to her side and stood in front of her.
"What did you do that for?"
"Because I wanted to! What does it matter? You're such an asshole. What do you want anyways?"
His confused and angry eyes met hers. "I was waiting for you."
"Why the hell for?" She snapped.
"Because," He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of paper then handed it to her.
"Remember that?" He asked her.
She glanced it over. It was a contract, she assumed. It had her signature and his.
I, Arista Belyaev, agree to sign this paper knowledgably knowing that I owe Brooklyn Adams 13 days of service under which terms I do whatever he wants me to.
Sighed on the date of: 9 October 2004
Under that it had 'Signed by' and their signatures. She re-read it and remembered signing it right after she had left the change room the day he beat her.
He's everything you want
He's everything you need
He's everything inside of you
That you wish you could be
He says all the right things
At exactly the right time
But he means nothing to you
And you don't know why
Arista hated him even more now. She scrunched the paper up into a ball and slipped it into her mouth. She chewed it quickly and swallowed it awkwardly, almost chokingly. Brooklyn didn't even try and stop her. He just watched her almost boredly.
"I made more than one copy."
"Fuck you." She aimed a punch at his gut, his hand came down, blocked it. She used her other hand to aim a punch on his eye. He easily caught and held it.
She gritted her teeth. "Let go! "
But you'll just sit tight
And watch it unwind
It's only what you're asking for
And you'll be just fine
With all of your time
It's only what you're waiting for
He considered it for a moment, thinking about it. She was on an 'Angry at the World rampage'. The music continued to play in the background. He was about to let go but she didn't want to wait for him to choose.
She aimed a kick where the sun didn't shine. He let go of her writst's like they were a wasp's nest, and instinctively lowered them. He groaned in agony. Arista didn't even glance at him; she just grabbed a sweater from the floor and ran out the door leaving it open.
She kept running, didn't look back once. After she made her way out of the school she ran and didn't stop until she was at the Skate Park. She saw Shahero on the bench and made her way across to her.
"Hey." Arista sat down on the bench.
"Suppers?" Shahero could see that the other girls' cheeks were rosy and pink. She looked out of breath and her sweater was on backwards.
Arista shook her head. "Nothing. What're you up to?"
"Thinking about shit and stuff." Shahero smiled.
"That's what washrooms were made for."
"So? It's a free country!"
Arista laughed. "Yeah."
"Your sweaters backwards."
"So? Like you said, it's a free country."
"Damn right."
A comfortable silence settled down on them. They continued to sit there in each other's company for at least a quarter of an hour before they decided to leave.
"It's really cold, come on let's go."
Shahero nodded in agreement and got up. They started walking back to their school.
Amber jerked her head around when she heard a noise. She was inside the gym, and Ian was hiding from her. She had found him in the boys' washroom after Bryan told her where he was. She'd waited for him to come out, when he saw her he almost automatically ran past her. She chased after him and they'd ended up in the gym.
Because he had gotten in here before her, he had hidden somewhere and she couldn't find him. He was small making it easy to hide from her. She would wait him out, she decided. He would have to do or go somewhere eventually. She heard another noise from behind her, and turned around.
There was Ian dragging out two rolls of dodge balls. She groaned, this wasn't going to be pretty. Ian smirked and glanced at her. He reached down towards the rack of plush balls, and picked up two. He threw one at her but she dodged. He threw the other at her; it hit her on the leg.
Amber scrambled to pick up the fallen dogde balls and throw them back at him. She threw some well aimed and others flopped onto the ground. Ian kept grabbing and throwing until he ran out. Then he picked them off the floor and threw them at him. Amber covered her head with her arms, blocking her view of him. Ian took the opportunity to run away.
When the rein of dodge balls stopped Amber tentatively looked up, Ian was no where to be seen. "Damn it!" She cursed then ran out the doors.
Ian wasn't far off when she started after him again; he looked back and yelped almost tripping. Amber's eyes were narrowed and angry. A chain of curses and profanities wrung through the still air. If there was anyone lurking in the hallway or any teachers in the classrooms they did nothing to stop the two, or stop the yelling.
"Get back here, ass wipe!"
"In your dreams." Ian shouted back.
Ian darted to the stairs and climbed them quickly; Amber copied him jumping them two at a time. She made to grab the back of his shirt but narrowly missed. He cursed and bolted up. Amber growled and tripped on her untied shoelaces. She was at the top of the stairs now; she fell forward but used her hands to brace her fall. Her left sneaker slid forwards. She scrambled up and shoved it back on roughly, shoving her laces into her shoes.
There was a prick in her knee, but she ignored it and kept running. She pushed open the doors on someone. She didn't bother to care she was knocked down again when a big brown box fell on top of her. Blood sputtered around her, but it wasn't hers. The wind was knocked out of her lungs, and she struggled to breathe.
"Amber?" Miyami surveyed the female under Kai and the box. "Shit! Here." She pulled Kai up and shoved the box off Amber.
She reached out a hand and helped Amber up. She turned to face the blunette. "Kai, you okay?"
Kai's hands, which were red with blood now, covered his nose. Blood was leaking through his hands and spilling on the ground. His crimson eyes rolled back, and he moaned in pain.
Amber didn't notice him, all she could think about was that Ian was getting away. She took in a few breaths then turned around and ran after Ian.
She didn't have far to go because Ian jumped her when she was about to turn the corner, he landed on top of her. She fell to the floor again.
"What the hell? Geroff me!"
Amber struggled with him, and pushed him back knocking him off balance. Ian fell to the floor, Amber turned him around and straddled his legs. She twisted back his arm and held him in an uncomfortable position.
"Amber!" Miyami called from down the hall. Amber turned around and her grip on Ian loosened. He took the opportunity to knock her off him. Amber fell back and groaned. She shook her head and got up, Ian was facing her in a fighting stance.
"I don't usually hit girls, but then again when are you ever a girl?"
"You want hand to hand, Petrovich?" Amber took her own stance. "You're going down. I'll hit you so hard you won't know what happened."
Ian feigned a punch to her stomach, she lowered her hands to block it. He used his other fist to make an uppercut jab to her face. It hit on target, making her go back a few steps.
"Damn you." She spat then kicked his knee so it made a sickening crack. Amber aimed a punch to his gut, and another to his face. He couldn't move fast enough to block so her punches landed on target.
Arista and Shahero ran to where Amber was and stood ready to fight.
"I've always wanted to beat Ian to a bloody pulp." Shahero sniggered.
"Yeah. He's always annoyed me." Arista smirked.
"Your face annoys me, Belyaev." Ian said, his eyes shifting around from face to face.
"Yeah well, your existence annoys me. So let's take you out of it." She shot back.
In one quick movement Arista had dumped him to the floor and held his hands down, Amber straddled him so he couldn't get up and started punching his stomach. Shahero waited anxiously until Amber was done. When she was done Shahero took her place, and pounded him.
After putting all the paper back in the boxes, and getting Kai paper to stop the bleeding, Miyami made her way to the trio beating Ian. She smirked and watched them.
"Amber, you possibly broke Kai's nose, and now you want to kill Ian too? I thought one a day was ho you were going to handle it."
"I lost count." She answered merrily. "Besides Wonder boy looks better that way." She said after glancing at Kai. He was a way off, but his hands and a bunch of toilet paper covered his nose.
"My turn." Arista said happily and took Shahero's place. She aimed a few punches to his face, and a few to his guts. She decided that he was already beaten enough and got off him. Amber let go of him as well and got up.
"Cheers to a job well done." Shahero commented. "This calls for a celebration."
"Yeah. Let's get really, really drunk." Arista suggested.
"Uh-huh. Miyami, are you gunna come?" Amber asked her Japanese friend.
"Nah, I gotta finish putting the papers away. Besides, I doubt Kai will wanna join anyway."
"See ya." The three linked arms and skipped away down the hall and turned the corner.
Ian was on the ground, too tired and sore to get up. Miyami watched him and kicked him just for good measure. Ian groaned and rolled over. He hoisted himself up by using his hands as support and lifted himself off the linoleum floor.
"I always get the last laugh, they're going down." He said to himself through gritted teeth. He started his way down the hall opposite the way Amber, Arista, and Shahero had taken. He made it to is dorm, and slipped into bed after taking a few Advil's.
[1] "Zasranec!" (Asshole)
[2] "Ya paneemayoo Russian." (I understand Russian)
[3] "Mne do lampochki." (I don't care)
[4] "Loh! Poydi ki Chertu." (Loser! Go to Hell)