Mitch woke up the next morning to the sound of voices. He opened his eyes and saw Paul, Cory and 5 other Socs sitting around talking.
"G'morning sleeping beauty." Cory said, when he saw Mitch was awake.
Mitch didn't reply as he sat up. He hadn't slept enough, his head still felt heavy, but it quickly cleared as he remembered what had happened the night before.
"We're letting go of one of the hoods." Paul stated.
"Let the girl go." Mitch replied.
"No, the hoods were just taken as a warning, she is the one we need to hold onto. She is their weakness." Paul explained coldly.
"She's just a girl." Mitch managed to stammer out after a brief loss of words.
"Not going soft on me, are ya?" Paul mocked.
"No." Mitch shot back and got up off the couch.
Paul ignored Mitch and proceeded to explain the rest of the plans to the Socs. They were going to take Wade (Tim's right hand man) with them that night, go to one of the greasers hang outs and taunt them a bit.
"If we go to their territory, we are gonna be out numbered." Cory pointed out.
"Oh that won't be a problem, we just let them know if they mess with us, we will mess with their precious girl." Paul replied smugly.
Mitch swallowed hard when Paul said that. He did not want that on his conscience, he didn't even know her name, but he felt a strange urge to protect her.
Tia's eyes cracked open, she expected to see her usual room at her house. Instead she peered around a very unknown environnement. The morning light streaming through the window on the backwall was blinding. She slowly sat up and her head felt like a million pounds. She moved her hand to push her hair out of her eyes and could feel dried blood on the side of her face.
She remember now, the socs, the running, getting caught, then her dreams. She laid back down and could feel a sharp pain in her side. Paul had kicked her, glory it hurt now. She closed her eyes and was out like a light again. A few minutes later Mitch opened the door and saw she was still sleeping peacefully. Paul had told him to give her another shot, she he didn't have the heart to.
As soon as Tia's eyes closed, her dreams started again. She was in her living room, it was after a rodeo and she had just gotten out of the shower. She was thinking about how she had seen her brother watching her there, he had looked so angry, but couldn't do a thing as there was a huge crowd around her. She ran her fingers through her wet hair, trying to get the knots out. She was in her pjs, boxer shorts and a tank top. She double checked the lock on the door and sighed before going back to watch TV. She didn't know where her dad was, she hadn't seen him for a few days now.
She sprawled out on the couch and was just dozing off to sleep when she felt a fire on her knee cap and a yelling voice jerking her from her peace.
"You no-good, selfish, free-loading bitch!" It was the angry slurrs of her father.
She gasped in pain as she saw her father had broken a bottle over her knee. It was bleeding heavily and she could see glass was still in it. She just sat there for a second, not sure what to do, oblivious to her fathers rage.
"I'm talking to you!" He screamed, slapping her across the face.
She looked into his eyes, the same eyes her brother had, the same eyes she had. She never felt so empty inside and she choked back a sob. She stood up and shoved past her dad. She grabbed her shoes and her stuck her blades in the back of her shorts waist band. She hobbled out the door and slammed it behind her, still hearing him screaming. She shivered as she walked down the walk way, still only in her shorts and tank-top. She didn't look back as she turned off her street and started walking towards her nearest friends house, a good 45 minute walk away.
She glanced down at her knee and gulped as she tried to keep a grip on the pain. She gritted her teeth and told herself to just keep walking. She knew she'd have to walk through the middle of town to get to her friend's house, she was just listening hard, ready to hide if she recognized her brothers car. She had been walking for 15 minutes when she could tell someone was following her. She glanced over her shoulder to see members of her brothers gang following her.
She gulped, she knew where some were, the rest couldn't be far. She turned a sharp corner and ran smack into her brother. He knew her too well, he knew how she liked to try to lose followers.
"Thalia, fancy meeting you here." Evan said, sarcasticly.
She turned to run, but smacked in Benj. Before she knew it, the whole gang was closing in.
"Where are you going?" Mitch asked Paul who was walking towards the bedroom door.
"The girl, when I kicked her yesterday, I think I might have cracked some ribs. I want to check." Paul said without turning around, opening the bedroom door.
Mitch got up and followed him. He leaned in the doorway and watched Paul kneel down next to her. He clenched his jaw as he watched Paul push up her shirt, even from there he could see a large dark bruise.
"Go get some ice." Paul said quietly.
Mitch was going to point out that it wouldn't do much good now, but decided against it. He was just wrapping the ice in a towel when he heard a gut wrenching yell come from the bedroom.
Tia made a grab for her blades, but her brother lunged at her. She dodge akwardly out of the way and almost fell over. She felt something twist painfully in her ankle, but she regained her balanced. He took a swing at her, she ducked the landed an elbow to his stomache. He had been expecting this and grabbed her by the back of the neck, smashing her face into his knee. She fell down and dropped her blades.
She blinked a few times, trying to regain her vision. She saw her blade a few feet away and tried to reach it. Evan saw what she was doing and quickly brought a heavy boot down on her fingers. She recoiled her arm and groaned in pain. She lay curled on the ground, not wanting to stay there for long, but in too much pain to fight. No. She had to stay on her feet, at least then she could keep distance. She tried getting up, but Evan pushed her back down.
He knelt down in front of her and grabbed her face to make her look at him. Scared green eyes met its cold twins. She wanted to cry, but had to stop herself. She couldn't cry infront of all of these guys.
"Why..." She managed to choke out.
"Benj, take her." Evan said sighing and got up.
She felt Benjs hand take her arm and begin to hoist her up.
"No!" The tone of her voice even surprised herself.
She jerked herself free of Benj's grip and climbed painful to her feel to face her brother. He towered over her, but she looked him in the eye.
"What?" Evan demanded, his tone dangerous.
"No." She restated.
He grabbed her and slapped her face. She wanted to hit him back. She wanted to get her hands around his neck and squeeze till her knuckles popped. She wanted to hurt him like he had hurt her. She was in too much pain and couldn't do anything except keep level with his eyes.
"Look at this." Evan held out his arm so she could see where were had cut him. "Guess it would be fair to return the favor."
He grabbed her arm, but she fought his grip.
"Evan, please don't, no." She pleaded with him once she got her arm free, she started backing up but she ran into Benj.
"Grab her arms." Evan ordered.
Benj had a hold of her arms in a second and held her out to face Evan. She squirmed, but knew she was caught. She started to panick, she hated not being able to move. She finally gave up and went limp in Benj's arms.