Thank you to Harliquinn for beta reading and editing
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Skye was in the city after school on Monday afternoon. She wanted to go to the record store she and Tucker had found a few months before.
Happy had picked her up from school and dropped her off at the store while he went a few doors down to grab something he needed from a hardware store.
Skye was looking for a specific album, filtering through the albums in the right area, when she heard a devious chuckle from behind her.
Skye looked up and saw Carly. She let out a breath before going back to looking for the album.
"So you're just going to ignore me?" Carly asked.
"I don't have the energy to listen to the hot air coming out of your mouth," Skye said as she found the album. She smiled as she picked it up and walked over to the cashier, ignoring the annoyed gasp from Carly
"Found everything you were looking for?" the guy behind the counter asked as he rang her up
"Yes," Skye said as she took out her wallet to pay for it. "Thank you," she said with a smile as she left the store with her new album. She went out to Happy's car, leaning against it waiting for him as he still wasn't back.
Carly came up to her and grabbed the record from her hand.
"Hey!" Skye said grabbing to get it back.
Carly smirked. "You know I've been looking for this for a while. I think I'll take it."
"Fuck you, give it back," Skye said.
Happy came out of the store at that moment, saw what was going on, and went over and took the record from Carly.
"Hey!" Carly said.
"Now you know how it feels," Skye said.
"But it's mine," Carly said.
Happy let out a breath and looked at Skye. "You have a receipt that says you bought it?"
Skye shook her head. "You can go ask the guy in the shop. I'm the one who bought it."
Happy looked at Carly. "Do you have a receipt?"
Carly narrowed her eyes at Skye. "Tell him I bought it."
"No," Skye said. "Because you didn't."
Happy sighed and went into the shop with the record to ask the man.
Skye stayed where she was waiting but ignored Carly.
Carly shoved her. "We're not at school anymore. So I won't be holding back."
Skye took a breath and started to walk away from her, but Carly grabbed her ponytail and pulled hard.
Skye yelped, turned around, and punched Carly hard in the face, causing her to scream in pain.
Happy came out of the store as Skye punched her.
"Skyler, what the hell?" Happy asked.
"I tried to walk away. I really did. She grabbed my ponytail and pulled hard. I am so fucking done with her bullying," Skye said.
Happy unlocked the car and handed Skye the record. "Skyler, get in."
Skye got into the car.
Happy closed the door and turned his attention to Carly. As much as he knew she hurt Skye, he couldn't just leave her there in pain.
"Do you want me to call your parents?" Happy asked, handing her a tissue from his pocket.
"Why the fuck would you do that?" Carly asked as she took the tissue and held it to her nose.
"Because you look like you might have a broken nose," Happy said.
"I swear to fucking god if she broke my nose, I'm going to kill her," Carly said.
Happy sighed and took out his phone. "Give me your parent's number."
"No," Carly said as she walked away.
Happy shook his head, got into the driver's seat, and looked in the rearview mirror at Skye. "You're not hurt?"
"No, sir," Skye said softly.
"Skye, you can drop the sir. I'm not angry with you," Happy said.
"You're not?" Skye asked, confused.
"No, she has had that coming for a while. Do you know her parent's number?" Happy asked.
"No, but I sure I can get it," Skye said.
"Let me see if your dad has it first," Happy said, calling Steve.
"Hey, Happy," Steve said.
"Do you happen to have Carly Nelson's parents' number?" Happy asked.
"What happened?" Steve asked.
"Skye ran into her. Carly made the mistake of initiating an altercation. Skye punched her in the face. I tried to get Carly to give me her parents' number because she might have a broken nose. I think her parents should know what happened. Carly refused and walked away," Happy said.
"Skye's not hurt?" Steve asked.
"No," Happy said.
"I'll call her father and let him know what happened," Steve said.
"Alright, we will be home soon," Happy said before the call ended.
The drive was started.
"Scale of one to ten, how good did it feel to finally be able to do that?" Happy asked.
Skye smirked "Ten."
Happy shook his head.
"What? You even said she had it coming," Skye said.
"I know. She did," Happy said. "If I were you, I'd have a different look on your face in front of your dad."
Skye bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Noted."
When they got home Skye went inside. She didn't get very far before she saw her dad sitting in the kitchen. She dropped her bag on the floor and set the record on the table.
"You angry?" Skye asked.
"Tell me exactly what happened," Steve said.
"She came into the record store after I had been in there a few minutes. We exchanged words, and I went and paid for the record and walked out. I was waiting by Happy's vehicle because he was inside another store. Carly came out and grabbed the record from me, saying she was going to keep it. Happy came out and took the record from her, and she tried to claim it was hers that she just bought. Happy went into the record store to ask the man working there who bought it. She shoved me and said since we weren't at school she wasn't going to take it easy on me. I tried to walk away. She grabbed my ponytail and pulled hard. I turned around and punched her in the face as Happy was coming out of the shop," Skye said.
"Did you punch her with all your strength?" Steve asked.
"I wanted to hurt her, not maim her for life," Skye said.
Steve let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He wanted to be angry with her, but he really couldn't given the situation. "You sorry you did it?"
She bit the inside of her cheek and took a breath to keep herself from smirking. "Do you want the answer you want to hear or the truth?"
"You know I want the truth," Steve said.
"Well, then no, I'm not sorry. Dad, she has been bullying me for over a year. I have been the bigger person, over and over again. I'm tired of it," Skye said, her eyes welling up.
"Come here," Steve said, opening his arms.
Skye went over and Steve wrapped his arms around her tight.
Skye hugged him and buried her face in him, sobbing.
"I'm not angry with you," Steve said rubbing her back. "I know you have taken the higher road every time. And honestly, I knew if you two ended up in a confrontation outside of school you would snap,"
Skye calmed down some and looked at him. "Promise you're not angry?"
"I'm not angry with you, with the situation yes, but not you," Steve said.
"You talked to her parents?" Skye asked.
"Her dad, yes," Steve said. "He is not happy about the situation either. He believes that she instigated the fight. And he knows that she has been bullying you for a long time. He is pretty fed up with her behavior, too."
Skye nodded. "I wouldn't put it past him or his wife to try and press charges though."
"Skye, if they do we have several things we can press charges on her for. No one is pressing charges. If she continues to bother you, continue to walk away when you can and defend yourself when you can't," Steve said.
"Even at school?" Skye asked.
"Try really hard to walk away at school, but if you are defending yourself you won't be in trouble with me. You will be suspended, I'm sure, but we can deal with that if it happens," Steve said.
"Okay," Skye said.
"And you're really not hurt?" Steve asked.
"I'm fine, promise," Skye said.
Steve grabbed the record from the table. "Taylor Swift, I should have guessed."
Skye chuckled. "It's apparently the hardest one to find."
Steve nodded. "Well, I'm glad you found it."
Skye smiled. "Me, too."
"Go, start on homework," Steve said, handing her the record.
Skye took the record and picked up her bag before going to her room, dropping her bag on the floor next to her desk and putting her record away with her other one. She changed out of her school uniform into a pair of sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt before sitting at her desk, pulling her books out of her bag, and starting on her homework.
About half an hour later her phone rang. She looked at it and answered on speaker.
"Hey, Tuck," Skye said.
"Hey, so I got a text from my cousin," Tucker said.
"Okay. What did she say happened?" Skye asked.
"That you came up to her and started beating the shit out of her," Tucker said.
"Do you believe her?" Skye asked
"Well, she sent me a picture of her face. She was at the hospital and has a broken nose," Tucker said. "But I'm guessing there is more to the story than what she is saying."
"Well, I did punch her in the face, once. Yeah, I could have broken her nose, but that was after she started things. Again," Skye said.
"Okay," Tucker said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Skye said. "And I have reached the end of my patience when it comes to her. She made the mistake of attacking me outside of school."
"I get it," Tucker said. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you snapped. And I know you could have done a lot worse than just broke her nose."
Skye sighed. "Yeah. I could have. And I don't always have control of it. It's part of the reason I just tried to walk away at first. I could have seriously hurt her," she said softly.
"But you didn't. You just did enough to get her to back off," Tucker said.
"I hope she backs off now, I really do. But part of me thinks this just made it worse," Skye said.
"Where and what exactly did this happen anyway?" Tucker asked.
"Outside of that record store we went to a few months ago. I was there looking for an album, and she showed up. A few words were exchanged before I found the album and paid. I went outside to wait for Happy, who was in a shop a few doors down from the record store. She came out and there were more words, and she yanked the record out of my hands. Happy came out, and she tried to claim she had just bought the record. So Happy went back into the record store to ask the cashier because I didn't have the receipt. She told me that we weren't at school and she wasn't going to hold back. She shoved me. I tried to walk away. She grabbed my ponytail and pulled hard. I turned around and punched her straight in the nose," Skye said. "And of course, Happy walked out at that exact moment."
"You in trouble?" Tucker asked.
"No, Happy and my dad knew she had it coming," Skye said.
Tucker chuckled. "I have to agree."
They were quiet for a couple of minutes.
"You still there?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah," Skye said.
"You okay?" He asked
"I just," she started and was quiet again.
"What is it?" Tucker asked.
"I didn't want it to come to this. I don't want to hurt people," Skye said. "And I just feel like I'm back having to look over my shoulder all the time."
"If there was a way I could help with that, would you accept it?" Tucker asked.
"Depends on what that way is," Skye said.
"I can get you two in the same room, and you two talk," Tucker suggested.
"We have talked. She came here to talk to me. It was all bullshit to try and manipulate me. Everything she has done since day one has been to screw with me. We could talk, but it would just be bullshit coming from her," Skye said. "She can not seem to accept that I didn't sell you out."
"For fuck sake," Tucker muttered.
"Who was it who sold you out by the way?" Skye asked.
"Gabriel," Tucker said.
"Really? He is about the last person I would expect to give you up. Other than me," Skye said.
"I told him to," Tucker said.
"What?" Skye asked.
"He is dealing with the possibility of hard time, having been the only technical adult with a bunch of minors. I told him to give my name to hopefully lessen his time," Tucker said.
"Do you know if it worked?" Skye asked.
"Got him six months off a five-year sentence," Tucker said.
"Five years!" Skye said, shocked.
"Yeah, he had a bunch of other charges that we didn't know about," Tucker said.
"Wow," Skye said. "How do you know all this?"
"We've talked a few times," Tucker said.
"Oh. How?" Skye asked.
"The phone, he does get calls," Tucker said.
"Right," Skye said.
"He's doing pretty good in there," Tucker said.
"That's great," Skye said.
"I could probably get him on the phone to tell Carly that he was the one who gave my name," Tucker said.
"Does she know you told him to give your name?" Skye asked.
"No, I can't tell her or she'll tell my aunt and uncle, and it will be a whole thing," Tucker said.
"Okay, I get that," Skye said.
"But I can get him to tell her he gave my name. It could be enough to get her to get that stupid thought out of her head," Tucker said.
"Well, you can do that. I have no say in if you do that, but I can't be in a room with her," Skye said.
"Okay," Tucker said. "Can I ask you what's going on with the court case?"
"Sixty-two people have come forward, he knows he is caught. He is taking a plea deal," Skye said. "She is also being charged with neglect for not stopping it. He is getting a lot of time in prison. She is getting some sort of house arrest and probation and such."
"Wow," Tucker said.
"So no trial," Skye said.
"That's a good thing right?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah," Skye said.
"You're sure?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah, I'm just tired," Skye said.
"Okay, I'm going to let you go and rest," Tucker said.
"Okay, talk later," Skye said before they hung up and she went back to her homework.