Rocky stood from the table; he felt the sticky warmth from the meal on his head slip down the back of his head and into the back of his collar-shirt. It felt like a warm finger. It was gross. He stood in Darren's face with an expression set to kill. However, rather than kill his rival, he instead turned around and grabbed the Funny Bones snack cake from Sadie's lunch bag, opened it up, and grabbed the front of Darren's tracksuit-pants where he then shoved it into the front of the cocky blond's pants. He rubbed it in to smash around the chocolate cake filled with peanut butter.
"You little.." Darren drew back his fist and popped Rocky in his right eye.
The attack erupted into a full-on brawl… Or at least, it would have, had Rocky actually stuffed a snack cake into Darren's pants. It would have been brilliant. The cocky blond was begging for the assault wearing pants like that.
No. Rocky didn't get a chance to lay a hand on Darren because it was Emily who stood up to him with a firm slap across his face.
"I can't believe you did that? Why are you being immature?" She snipped at him. "We said we'd stay friends. You said you understand.."
"I did. But then it dawned on me over how much bullshit it was." His cheek was turning red, but he didn't place a hand over the sting, he just kept his eyes on his too-freshly acknowledged ex-girlfriend. "Your phony boyfriend lied to you. He just magically recalled that you're dating… Come on, Emma, don't be dumb to him because you know him."
"It wasn't. I mean.. Rocky wouldn't lie to me."
"Wouldn't he? We'd talked about this. It's just a little too convenient that he and me hate each other, so that when I go out with you suddenly he comes clean about the two of you."
"It's you and I," he left out the insult, although the way that he raised the 'I' implied it. "And so what if the two of you being together made me come clean,"
"Yeah. He only hid the truth because the doctor told him not to force my memories."
Darren scoffed and shook his head. "That's retarded. I'm still not buying it."
"I'm not asking you to. We're over, Darren. I'm sorry." And her expression truly did seem as if she regretted saying it. "It was really nice seeing another side of you, considering everything I've heard about you. But, we can't see each other as anything other than friends."
"This isn't over Douglas." He shoved Rocky by the shoulder before going to his table to sit with his friends.
"Come on, I'll help you get cleaned up." She grabbed his hand and led him from the bathroom.
The couple walked into the hall, headed for the bathroom. Rocky was about to protest about a girl going into the boy's bathroom, but the strong-willed Emily already made up her mind and went in. Nobody was inside since they were mostly at lunch or in class.
Rocky was led to the sink. He was instructed to tilt over, and once he was bent over the sink she washed the food from his hair for him. She made sure to get out every greasy speck before going for a handful of paper towels.
The couple walked into the hall, headed for the bathroom. Rocky was about to protest about a girl going into the boy's bathroom, but the strong-willed Emily already made up her mind and went in. Nobody was inside since they were mostly at lunch or in class.
Rocky was led to the sink. He was instructed to tilt over, and once he was bent over the sink she washed the food from his hair for him. She made sure to get out every greasy speck before going for a handful of paper towels.
"I'm sorry for all this." Rocky mumbled as he helped his girlfriend dry his hair with the napkins. "If I had said something sooner than you wouldn't have gone out with Darren in the first place." He lowered his hand, and held hers from continuing to help clean him up. "It must have been pretty embarrassing."
Emily nodded. "Yeah. It really was embarrassing. Darren shouldn't have acted like that after saying everything would be fine." She smiled. "But, I'm proud of your maturity for not retaliating."
Rocky chuckled. "You kinda beat me to the punch - or in this case the slap."
"Happy to do it. I hate when people lie."
Rocky swallowed over a sudden lump in his throat. 'You didn't lie. You aren't lying.' He repeated the declarations. "I.." He stopped himself from making the guilt in his stomach worse. "I'll finish from here. I don't want you to get caught in the boy's bathroom."
"Ok. Hurry back. I'd hate for you to miss our first lunch together."
"I will." He took the wad of napkins shoved at him, and waved goodbye to her.
When Emily was safely out of a situation of detention, he made himself busy unbuttoning his shirt. He gave himself quiet praise for wearing a full button-down instead of a three-button pullover like he'd planned to before his shower. He slipped out of the garment and scooped the mess from it onto the napkins. He tossed them into the trash bin before using clean napkins to scrub the food mess from where it landed on his shirt.
"Darren." He angrily mumbled. "I can't believe he'd do something like that… Oh, wait, of course he would." This was done by the guy who once unscrewed the wheels on his bike when he and his friends went for lunch after riding around. 'Good thing he at least isn't enough of a jerk to vandalize cars.'
Rocky was satisfied with the job he did with cleaning up. And, with a slight chill on his back because of the water that stayed damp in the shirt, he headed back to the cafeteria.
…
"Hey, Douglas!" Darren barked from behind him right as he shoved him into his locker. "You're gonna be sorry for messing with me and my girl's relationship."
Rocky steadied his nerves before turning around. He doesn't have time for this. He just wanted to change and get through with gym class without confrontation. But, Darren has other plans. Big surprise.
"Look. She made her choice, so get over it crybaby." He smacked himself on the forehead for letting that last part slip out.
That's not the behavior of someone who's "Cool as granite rock". Those are the words of a hot-head. Prime example, the very person standing before him looking for a fight in the locker room.
He let out a calming breath. "Sorry about the crack, but why not just ask someone else out? Why are you fixated on Emily?"
"I'm not fixated on her. I just think it's dumb that she dropped me for you, when you're clearly making shit up."
"I'm not making anything up. She and I were already dating before the accident."
"Just mess his pretty-boy face up so we can be done with him." Said Darren's best friend Jackson. "Ya girl will come around once she sees him looking like an open can of Hormel."
Rocky held his laugh, not only at the improbable scenario but the imagery was funny. Chili in a can is some nasty looking stuff. "Look… Whatever issue you have with this, save it for after school. I'm not getting in trouble because of you."
"Sissy."
"I'm not." He walked away saying nothing more. Why engage? He even saved the roll of his eyes for when he turned around, to prevent escalation.
"Man, I'm sick of that family." Jackson said.
"Yeah, and every sickness has a cure." He pointed with his chin. "Come on."
"Everybody on this side of the gym, grab a ball. Everyone on the other side, you're dodging." The teacher waved half of the boys over to the ball bag.
Rocky furrowed his brows when seeing Darren lock and load with two red rubber balls. Great. It would be a dodge ball day. Oh well. He's not a ninja for nothing. Let Darren do his worst. After all, his side of the room gets the next turn as throwers.
…
Things were going just as Rocky had expected them too. Darren was gunning for him, no matter where he moved to Darren was on him. And, as expected, he dodged. It was too easy. Until Darren's friend got involved. Despite being on the same side for teams, Jackson grabbed Rocky from behind by surprise and held him in place. He took a ball to the face twice, and one in the gut. Rocky thankfully broke free of the hold before Darren got him below the equator.
"Jackson!" The teacher finally noticed the shenanigans going on the third time it happened and a few students moved out of the way from unintentionally blocking the gym teacher's view. "Pay attention! He's on your team."
"Sorry, sir, it won't happen again." He winked at Rocky letting him know that it would happen again, he was just going to be more clever about it.
'You wanna be dumb. I can lower my I.Q.' Thought Rocky. However, he cleverly spun around Jackson so that the balls flying in his direction slammed into him instead. The aggressive renegade tripped him, but he quickly got to his feet before he could take a ball to the head.
The game finally came to an end, and rolls were reversed. At least for the other students. Rocky was tossing and still having balls tossed at him, from Jackson "accidentally" having terrible aim. Rocky was hit on the back of the head three times. It was because it happened so much that the couch finally called him to sit out. Then it was just down to exacting revenge on Darren. He landed every toss. Some he even impressively used the wall to bounce the ball off of to hit his rival against the back of the head.
Darren seemed to have enough, because he stormed across the gym ready to lay into the ninja.
"Time!" Called the teacher.
"Just wait until after school." Darren hissed.
"You sure about that?" Rocky snipped back.
The pair glared at each other. This was going to be interesting, considering Rocky didn't have any intention to fight.
X x X
Commentary: Yay, I got my laptop. Thanks for reading. Thank you for any review or follow or favorite. Having a good coming week.