Chapter 29
"What do we do?" Chelsea whispered hoarsely, panic taking over.
Raven shook her head. "I don't kn--"
"Ladies." That familiar raspy voice echoed through Chelsea's ears and crept up her spine, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. It was Rocky.
Both Raven and Chelsea turned her head slowly toward the classroom door. Rocky stood there, blocking the doorway, his shoulders shaking with laughter. "Long time no see." He rasped, stepping closer to them. "Pity too, we were having such a ball. I leave, you don't call…you don't write…you don't even send a card. I thought we were friends."
Raven gripped Chelsea's hand so tightly it was starting to turn a different shade, but Chelsea didn't notice. All she could feel was her heart thumping in her chest. She was sure everyone else could hear it too. It was so loud…
The girls started to back away from Rocky slowly. "What do you want?" Raven mustered the courage to ask.
"Well…" Rocky said, scratching his stubbly chin, "That's a toughie. I want a million dollars, a new car, maybe to be a little bit taller. But these ain't gonna happen. See…" He began, inching ever closer, as the girls ran out of room behind them. "…what I want is to make you two dykes pay." Rocky stopped for a second, the wide, evil grin spreading across his face.
"And that is most definitely gonna happen."
Suddenly, the window behind Raven and Chelsea swung open and a loud shout sounded off. "Oh girls!" Deckland sang tauntingly, making both Raven and Chelsea scream, jump and turn around. Deckland hopped inside the window, laughing loudly. "Sorry, did a scare ya? I'm just poppin in tah say 'ello!"
Raven and Chelsea moved back, but Rocky was behind them. Raven snapped her head around, looking at both boys. "Leave us alone!"
"Nah, it's too late fer tat." Deckland scoffed. "We're goin ta 'ave a lil fun wit ya."
The boys closed in on Raven and Chelsea, smiling and laughing manically. Chelsea looked from Deckland to Rocky and back again, tearing her hand from Raven and gripping her schoolbag tightly. Rocky was closer to her; she could smell the cigarette smoke wafting off of his body. She drew in a deep breath and…
Raven heard Chelsea inhale and knew what was about to happen, so she prepared herself for the fight of her life.
Chelsea brought her foot up hard and fast, but a little off target, kicking Rocky very hard in the thigh. "Oh God Damn It!" Rocky shouted, bending over out of reflex. Chelsea took the opportunity to swing her book bag at his head and push forward, sending Rocky to the floor, making desks scatter about the room.
Raven was more on target when she kicked and hit Deckland hard right between the legs. He cursed, doubling over in pain and falling to his knees on the floor, holding his crotch. Thinking quickly, Raven jumped over him and went for the window, nearly leaping head first out of the opening. As she climbed over the frame, Deckland grabbed her ankle.
"Ya God Damn Dyke!" Deckland shouted, red-faced from pain and fury. Raven wriggled her leg wildly and Deckland finally lost his grip. She fell backward the two feet it was from the frame to the hard concrete, yelping in pain as needles shot up and down her right arm.
Quickly squeezing between two desks and avoiding all of Rocky's wild attempts to grab her ankles, Chelsea screamed as she made her way to the classroom door. "Run Raven!"
Rocky was up and moving as Chelsea flung the classroom door open, flying out into the empty school hallway. Her sneakers squeaked loudly as she ran, screaming at the top of her lungs. "HELP ME!" Praying that somebody, anybody would be there and hear her.
"Ben, man, what are we gonna do--" Eddie began, but stopped when a piercing scream echoed through the hallway.
"HELP ME!"
Both boys stood up quickly. "That's Chelsea!" Ben shouted, taking off. Eddie wasn't far behind.
Chelsea turned a corner, panting wildly. The door to the school's entrance was right in front of her. She didn't bother to look back, but she knew that Rocky was closing in. She could distinctly hear the buckles of his leather jacket clinking together. 'Just make it to the door. Make it to the door and you'll be all right.' She rationalized mentally. A figure suddenly appeared in front of the door though and Chelsea let out another yell. "HELP ME PLEASE!"
Then she realized it was Rocky's friend Michael.
Raven scrambled backward, her jeans scraping on the concrete as she fought to stand but her legs weren't working properly. Her breath hitched in her throat as she saw Deckland stand, his face red, his jaw tightened and his teeth grinding. "Yur fecking dead dyke." He sputtered through his teeth as he slowly made his way out the window.
Raven turned on her belly and pushed herself up with her arms, finally gaining control of her legs as she stood up. As she went to run though, another figure smacked into her, pushing her back down on the ground. Looking up, a moan of anguish escaped her lips. Tyrone towered over her, his black sunglasses reflecting the sun. Before she could do anything else, he picked her up by her shirt and began to drag her across the yard, scraping her boots against the ground.
"Let go!" She screamed loudly but Tyrone just gripped on tighter. "Help! HELP!" Raven shouted as she tried to break free of Tyrone's grip. In a flash he lifted her up, spun her around and not a second later, the back of Deckland's hand was connecting with her face.
"Shut tah feck up!" He shouted and then doubled over again, breathing heavily. Raven fell back against Tyrone, dazed, as he wrapped his arms around her whole upper body, still dragging her along.
"Mikey STOP HER!" Rocky shouted as they ran. "STOP THAT BITCH!"
Chelsea ran as fast as she could; she didn't know what she was going to do once she reached Michael, all she knew was that she had to make it outside.
"HEY!" A voice shouted from behind Rocky and he turned, his eyes widening. It was Ben Hartman and Eddie Thomas…the dykes' guy friends. What the hell were they doing here? It didn't matter now, it was too late and he wasn't going to let Chelsea go.
"MIKEY CATCH THAT BITCH!"
Michael stood frozen in the hallway just a few feet from the door. If he moved out of her way, Rocky would kill him. But if he caught her, Rocky was going to hurt her. To top it off, the girls' friends were here too. He knew that everything was going to go wrong. Time was running out as they got closer and closer. He had to make a decision.
"CHELSEA!" Ben and Eddie called out together as they ran.
"MIKEY FUCKING GET HER!" Rocky screamed, his voice cracking from stress and lack of oxygen.
Michael bent down, opening his arms just as Chelsea ran up to him. Now, if he were intent on catching her, he would have made a loop around her waist with his arms and swung her around, putting her in a bear hug of sorts. Instead, as Chelsea connected with Michael, he leaned back on his left leg and lost his balance, sending both himself and Chelsea to the floor. He prayed that she would move fast enough to get away.
Chelsea and Michael slid, getting tangled up in one another. Chelsea wasted no time wiggling from his loose grip and sliding on her belly away from the boy toward the doors. She scrambled to her feet, pushing one door open and letting the sunlight hit her face before someone slammed into the back of her and sent her on to the cold, hard concrete. She shouted as her arms scraped against the ground.
Rocky bent down over Chelsea, wrapped his fist around her hair and pulled, forcing the girl to scream and stand up. "Please..." She whimpered and Rocky snickered in return.
Tears streamed down Chelsea's face as Rocky whispered in her ear, "You're fucking dead."
Raven had stopped fighting with Tyrone and Deckland just before Chelsea appeared at the top of the school steps. She watched as Rocky pushed Chelsea to the ground and then pull her up by her hair.
"Chelsea!" She screamed, beginning to struggle all over again. Tyrone tightened his bear hug around her and began to drag her up the steps, with a now laughing Deckland trailing behind them. She wondered where the security guard was or if people driving by saw what was happening. Nobody was walking by the school, but cars must've been driving by. Why wasn't anyone stopping to help? Tears began to fall from her eyes when she heard Chelsea shout in pain.
Michael stood up seconds before Ben and Eddie reached him. Eddie was about to tackle him when Michael put his hands up! "No! Outside quick!"
Ben sailed past him to the doors.
"Deckland!" Rocky shouted as he turned Chelsea around. "We got company!"
Deckland shot up the stairs just as Ben emerged, swinging away. Ben dodged the first few, but Deckland caught him in the left eye with one, sending him backward.
"BEN!" Chelsea screamed and Rocky yanked on her hair.
Tyrone violently threw Raven aside as they reached the top of the stairs, sending her sprawling out on to the concrete once again just as Eddie ran outside. Eddie tackled Tyrone, both boys rolling on the ground as they fought.
Ben took another hit to the stomach but ducked when Deckland threw a right hook. He recoiled, punching Deckland has hard as he could in the gut before quickly (and very luckily) upper-cutting the boy right on the chin. Deckland's head snapped back; he fell to the concrete, unconscious.
Raven sat up, rubbing her throbbing arm just as Eddie and Tyrone rolled by, fists flying everywhere. Michael emerged from inside. "Rocky stop!" He shouted, but didn't move from the doorway.
Everything was happening so fast and all at once…Michael didn't have time to think.
Rocky was distracted momentarily by Michael's outcry and Chelsea took that opportunity to show his leg her foot again, kicking his shin with her heel as hard as she possibly could. He shouted, his grip loosened, and Chelsea stomped on his foot.
Ben shook the cobwebs from his head, the world spinning a little as he zeroed in on Rocky and Chelsea. He ran for them just as Chelsea stepped on Rocky's foot.
Rocky grabbed Chelsea by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. He saw Ben running for them out of the corner of his eye. He had seconds, but it was all the time Rocky needed. Ben ran for them, intending to hit Rocky. Instead, Rocky pushed Chelsea and in a matter of moments, ducked under Ben's swinging arms, spun around behind Ben and pushed him as hard as he could toward the red-headed girl.
Ben connected with Chelsea, sending both of them flying down the hard stone school steps.
Seeing the whole thing, Raven screamed, "CHELSEA!"
While he was falling, Ben heard Raven. 'My vision,' he thought just before he hit the bottom and came to a rolling stop.
Rocky stood at the top of the stairs, panting heavily. Both Ben and Chelsea stopped moving as soon as they hit the bottom; Chelsea lying on her back at the foot of the bottom step and Ben on his stomach a few inches away.
Eddie rolled on top of Tyrone, punched him in the face and was going to punch him again when he heard Raven screaming. His fist stopped mid throw and he looked up, seeing Rocky standing at the top of the stairs and Raven scrambling to her feet. Ben and Chelsea were no where in sight.
Tyrone took the short pause as an opportunity to hit Eddie in his gut with both hands. Eddie let out a choked gasp before rolling off of the boy. Tyrone was immediately on his feet, kicking Eddie in the side for good measure before taking the unfolding scene in for himself.
Michael was sure he stopped breathing when he saw Ben and Chelsea hit and his legs felt like rubber as he staggered toward Rocky, afraid to see what was just beyond his line of sight.
Raven shakily made her way to the bottom, screaming Chelsea's name the whole way down, until she fell to her knees beside her fallen girlfriend. Chelsea's eyes were closed and she wasn't moving. Raven looked at Ben for a second. He was moving around a little, slowly bringing a bloody hand up to the back of his head.
She immediately turned her attentions back to Chelsea. She floated her hands centimeters from Chelsea's head, afraid to touch her. "Chelsea." She whispered slowly.
No answer.
Raven cautiously took one of Chelsea's hands into one of her own, squeezing it tightly. Chelsea's fingers hung limply in Raven's hand. "Chelsea, baby--" Raven began, carefully running a hand through Chelsea's hair, trying to bring the girl's head on to her lap when her fingers found something wet and warm.
Raven's heart skipped a beat as she withdrew her hand from Chelsea's head.
"That'll teach you to mess with Rocky Collera." Rocky shouted from the top of the steps, but his voice was a little shaky, as if he were unsure of what he had done.
"Rock what did you do!" Michael screamed, running down the steps to Raven and Chelsea.
If Raven was paying attention, she would have realized that what was happening right now was her vision. But she wasn't paying attention because all she was doing was staring at her hand. All she could see was her hand; the rest of the world melted away around it. Four fingers were covered in blood…