A shorter chapter this time around, it's a pretty significant chapter though. Think of it as a long interlude.
Flashback to last chapter
Craig's POV
Complete silence. As I drove back to Joey's with Ellie, a backpack clutched in her hands, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
When I had first gotten a call of a desperate sounding Ellie, I was confused as to what was happening until I had heard the sound of a door crack, a sound I knew all too well, the sound of someone trying to break into a locked door.
When Ellie was interrupted by that sound, my mind panicked for the safety of her. I remember telling her to jump out of her window, and that I would rush towards her house as soon as possible.
Going almost 20 kilometers past the speed limit, I made it to her house in less than 5 minutes, I had just hoped Ellie could hold on for that long.
"Ellie?!" I shouted, hoping she was alright. When I saw her pop out of the bush, I was relieved to see that she was alright, but she seemed traumatized, as she ran and held onto me.
"Ellie Nash," everything seemed to go quiet as I saw Ellie's mom holding a knife, approaching us. Putting Ellie behind me, I watched as her mom looked at me, fury in her eyes.
"Let me see my daughter,"
There was no way I would let her see Ellie with violence in her eyes, even if it meant taking the blow.
"Put the knife down, first."
While I was shocked to see that she stopped in her tracks, dropping her knife and her eyes beginning to water, my mind shifted to Ellie who was crying her eyes out, fresh tears pouring out.
Thinking her mom finally got out of the trance, I moved aside, expecting Ellie and her mom to hug, but instead she held onto me as she cried her eyes out. Her mom, now on her knees also crying. All I could do was hold Ellie, and try to calm her down.
Eventually, it did, and after an exchange, Ellie's mom agreed to get the help she needed, while Ellie would live with me.
While I was shocked at what she said, I wasn't complaining. Ellie needed the help, and I was going to be there for her. While I was curious as to what Joey would say, I knew Ellie counted on me to take care of her now.
Ellie's mom telling her daughter to get her stuff so she could live with Joey and I reminded me too well of when I confronted my biological father, after the beatings. He had let me go, looking back at me saddened. That was the same face Ellie's mom gave us as we drove away.
The situation felt way to close to home, and it only made me empathize and care for Ellie much more. At least Ellie's mom was willing to get better, acknowledged her problems, and thought that staying with Joey and I for a bit would be a good idea while she sobered up. In a way, I knew she cared for Ellie.
As I entered to driveway of Joey's place, I tapped Ellie to notify we were here. She gave me a nod, before exiting the vehicle.
Immediately opening the door to the house, I was given stares from Caitlin, Joey and Angela, likely from the new person who had entered with me.
I turned to Ellie, "Go and put your stuff in my room, you can take my bed." While she was confused, she nodded as I settled into the house.
Eventually Joey confronted me, "Craig, who's that?"
"That's Ellie-" He cut me off.
"The girl you've told me about?" I blushed slightly, but remained composed.
"Yeah, she had a pretty bad fight with her mom, so she'll be staying with us for a bit,"
He shook his head, "Craig, you can't just let random people live here now,"
I sighed, "I know, it's just, she's been through a lot, and now her mom almost stabbed her-"
"What?"
"Can we please let her stay until her mom sobers up?"
He took a breath, "Fine, but no more people, okay,"
"I understand, does any of you mind her staying here for a bit?"
"No, it's fine, it's just, don't make this a regular occurrence, that's all,"
I smiled and nodded, going upstairs in my room to tell Ellie about the good news. The next couple of months would be very interesting to say the least.
Knocking on the door, "Come in," I heard her say.
As I entered, I noticed that she had a weird piercing on her belly button. Realizing I was staring, I shook my head, "Sorry, I didn't know you had a piercing there,"
"It's fine, nobody does, besides I owe you big time for this,"
I responded a few seconds, "We'll call it even, you helped me during counseling,"
We smiled at each other, before I continued, "So, you can take my bedroom to sleep in, I'll take the couch,"
She stared at me, "Are you sure? I mean it's your room after all-"
I interrupted her, "Yes, I'm sure, just let everything work out,"
She smiled before giving me another hug.
"I don't know who I would've stayed with if it wasn't for you,"
"Everything will be okay, now get some rest, we have school tomorrow,"
"Will you give me a ride?"
"Yeah, we have counseling though so we'll get back a bit late,"
She smiled at me, laying down in my bed, as I caressed her cheek, "We're messed up,"
I smiled back, "Alone, but when we have each other, we're at the top,"
We gave each other a look, staring in each other's eyes for what felt like minutes. Eventually I looked away.
"I'll order some dinner, what would you like?"
"Nothing too filling,"
I smiled, immediately thinking of getting guacamole for Ellie. I knew how well she loved it and I knew it would help her feel better.
Toby's POV (1 week later)
It seemed that my theory was wrong. I thought that I would be given the eye for at most three days, before everything would die down. It turns out, a week later, and everyone was still interested in me. It has seemed that the altercation between Jay and I seemed to have become the next big thing to talk about.
I laughed silently, of possible ideas forming in people's heads.
"The nerd versus the bad boy?"
"What happened to him?"
I shook my head out of my thoughts. I was not going to let people's thoughts get to me. The pressure of pretty much an entire school looking at you was something you don't see in your lifetime, and I actually was hard.
This school must find the altercation real funny, because I didn't. I was defending my friend from the likes of that tyrant, and everyone makes it to be a next boxing match.
I groaned in frustration at what everyone was saying. The one time I asked for privacy, to get away from this school, everyone must talk about me.
I isolated myself yet again, only keeping in touch with Craig, Ellie and Marco. Craig was still himself in the class. He had told me that Ellie had moved in with him and Joey, which surprised me, but after telling me what happened, I thought he did the right move.
Ellie and Marco, while I didn't talk to them as much, I still acknowledged them and said the occasional hi to them. While they were worried about me, as I seemed to have been slipping back to my post-shooting phase, I told them that I was going through some more pressure and thoughts, that I needed to distract myself yet again, and they accepted, telling me to take care of myself, and that if I needed anyone to talk to, don't hesitate to talk to them.
It was nice to have people who understood your actions, and instead question them, allowed you to execute them. They didn't stop me, they encouraged me, and that's how I knew they were genuine friends.
Right now, I had skipped my last class, to work out, and therefore, spend the school class time exercising. Not only would I avoid the looks of many in the class, but I would be able to get more workout time in. Even then, my last class' workload was relatively light, and it was mainly a work period, I could finish it later at home.
Running across the track field, my mind continued to look around. I was aware that the room was the exact area where Jay struck me with a glass bottle, but now I was confident and capable enough to handle anything he brought towards me.
After 25 minutes of running, I went into the change room, where I exchanged my gym clothes, a simple white T-shirt and short pants, into baggy hoodie and sweatpants. Even though spring was warming up, I was thankfully able to withstand the heat outside for long enough. Even so, the school's air conditioner was making it a lot colder in the school.
I was relatively surprised to see two students sitting down, talking about random stuff. One was a relatively tall, skinny guy, with a hat, while the other, much shorter, was talking. Shrugging them off, I sat down, drinking my water bottle, as I carefully put on my hand wraps and my headband again.
"So how was the experience?" I looked up to see the short guy speaking.
"Ah, no luck, she was seemingly all about it until we almost did it, I guess I'm not getting my dick sucked," the other, taller guy replied.
I chuckled lightly; this wasn't your typical conversation.
"What are you guys doing,"
He ticked, "It's always, we say hi, we make out, and then bathroom break, if this continues, then I'm not getting head by prom,"
"Maybe you should try your luck with Emma Nelson, I hear she's been off the ropes recently,"
My eyes widen slightly as I heard Emma mentioned within their conversation, and quickly my mind was racing, as my fists clenched hard.
The tall guy shook his head, "Nah, I'm staying away from her, that slut has gonorrhea, she'd give me a gonorrhead, I'm sticking with what I got,"
The other student laughed at what he had to say before telling him he would be heading out. Giving the guy a hand shake, he left, leaving the tall guy alone who was packing his stuff up.
Growling lowly, I got up from my seat, standing just next to the student who was unaware of my presence up next to him.
"What did you say?" I spoke quietly to him.
He turned around, "The hell you talking about?"
I gave an innocent nod, I didn't want this to escalate, "Oh, just curious on what you were talking about, I heard you mention Emma?"
He scoffed, "That slut can suck a dick for all I care,"
"Yeah, here's the thing, you are not going to call her that again.
He raised his eyebrows, both in shock and amusement, "Excuse me?"
I continued to stare at him, "You are going to call her by her first name, not some 'slut' moniker, you hear me?"
The student wasn't threatened by my words at all, "Listen here, bub, I don't know who you are, but if you think you can control me, then you're in for a treat."
I noticed he was getting in a stance, preparing to fight.
"Listen, maybe I went a bit too far, I don't want a fight, just agree you won't call her that again"
He chuckled, "Look at you, pathetic, you threaten me, yet don't want a fight? Listen, I can say what I want about that bitch, and I can do whatever I want with you!" He took a quick punch, aimed towards my face.
I quickly skipped back, before retaliating with a punch of my own in his abdomen. The student bent over in pain, which gave me time to continue. I gave him a swift hook to his jaw, before grab him by his shoulders, turning him around and pushing him back towards the wall.
He tried fighting back, contesting with my strength, but whereas his was probably from an afterschool sports event, mine was from months of nonstop workouts, and as a result I kept him locked.
He tried using his legs, kneeing me on my hip, but a quick kick back on my own, followed by pushing my legs onto his trapped him fully on the wall.
He continued to struggle, so eventually I pushed my leg behind him, and with me pushing him to the side, he fell on the ground, with me on top of him, holding him captive. He kept resisting, but I overpowered him. His face was on the floor, my hand pushing it further towards the ground.
After one last attempt to break through that failed, he let up, "What the fuck is wrong with you! You're crazy!"
I pushed his head with more force, shutting him up, and getting up close to his ear, "Listen here you piece of shit, if I ever hear you call Emma by that term ever again, I will do more harm than what you've witnessed,"
He continued struggling, "You son of a bitch! You're a pyscho!"
I continued to confine him, kneeing him in the back until he gave in.
"Alright fine! I'll call her Emma, get off of me, please!"
Chuckling, I got close to his ear again, "If you ever try and pull something against me in the future, go ahead, I've been waiting for so long to be able to deal with pieces of shits like you,"
I let him go, and he immediately ran out of the room, a terrified yell going alongside him.
Sitting down, I pondered.
"That could've gone better"
While it was nice to see the obnoxious smirk wiped off of his face, the fact that violence insured that quickly showed a glimpse at future altercations, which I knew I didn't want to get involved in. Fighting just as much would make me a tyrant.
While it was something, I didn't want to resort to every time, it was nice to know I could handle myself should things go south, sort of like a practice in case I get ambushed by Jay or Spinner.
But my non-violent stance was still there. There had to be a better way to deal with this rather than physical altercations. I needed to work on my approach it would better the situations from getting violent.
Sitting up, I looked in the mirror to make sure every feature looked nice, you know, not like I was in a fight, before exiting the change room.
As I continued to walk through the hall, I realized what started the fight, and I facepalmed.
"Come on Toby, don't resort to your old ways, they died!"
