Victor held me, not asking, not judging. He simply held on. His cheek pressed to my forehead.
“Sang,” Gabriel whispered. I opened my eyes and turned my face toward his voice. Blood trickled from his nose and his cheek was puffy. His hand sought out mine and he squeezed it.
Kota was next to him, looking over his shoulder. Blood stained the shoulder of his white shirt. His tie was flung over his shoulder. His lips taunt, his eyes dark. “Let’s get her to Dr. Green.”
I wanted to tell them that I was fine, that I could walk and that I didn’t need anything. Gabriel looked worse than me. My mouth wasn’t working. My lips felt swollen shut. My cheek stung. My knees ached. I didn’t want to let go of Victor. I wanted to let go of him to hold Gabriel because he looked terrible. I wanted Kota.
Victor carried me through the now empty hallways. Trying to figure out where we were going made me dizzy. I forced my eyes closed, my forehead against his neck. His breathing was ragged. He gripped my back and thigh. He wasn’t letting go.
Kota and Gabriel marched beside him. The continued silence had me trembling again. No one stopped us if they walked by.
Victor stopped. There was a gentle breeze of a door opening and then another. Victor drew me in closer as the new hallway was smaller. I cowered into myself in an effort to make myself smaller.
Another door opened.
“What happened?” Dr. Green’s voice floated to us.
Victor turned and I was perched on a desktop. I forced my eyes open. Dr. Green’s face swam into view.
I peeled my lips apart. “I’m fine,” I whispered. I swallowed to recover more of my voice. “I only got hit once.”
“Sweetie, you look like shit,” Gabriel quipped somewhere out of my view.
“He backhanded her,” Victor said. “He hit her in the face and she hit the wall.”
Dr. Green opened a drawer, finding a flashlight. He clicked it on and hovered the light over my face. His eased his fingers over my eyelids and forced them apart. “I suppose you mean someone not Gabriel.” He swung the light into my eye. I flinched at the onslaught of brightness, but he held me in a way that forced me to keep still.
Gabriel snorted. “No, but I’m about to. What the fuck did you think you were doing, Sang? I told you to get out.”
Spots of light hovered in my eyeballs after Dr. Green checked my eyes. He poked with a gentle finger to my lip but I spoke around his prodding. “They were hitting you.”
Gabriel laughed.
Dr. Green backed off and I was able to turn my head.
Gabriel was in Mr. Blackbourne’s chair, his hands hanging over the armrests. “You should have seen her,” he said, beaming and swinging from side to side in the chair. “Oh god, it was beautiful. She stormed down that hallway and I swear if it wasn’t because she was so small, she’d have kicked their asses. If I wasn’t so pissed off, I’d kiss her right now.”
Dr. Green’s lips twisted into a smile. “She doesn’t have a concussion, but you should keep an eye on her.” He fixed his gaze on me. “Anything hurt?”
I shook my head. Nothing outside of my lip and cheek and my own pride. “I’m fine.”
He nodded and pulled away. Victor was against the wall behind Gabriel, his arms crossed, his eyes blazing on me. Kota was gone. Where was he?
“You’re not fucking fine,” Gabriel barked at me. “You’re in a whole lot of trouble. You know what you are? You’re fucking grounded.”
Victor popped him in the head with an open palm. “Stop shouting at her.”
“No. God damn it, she didn’t listen to me. I told her to leave and she didn’t do it.”
“Maybe,” Dr. Green said in a calming tone, a soft smile on his face, “she didn’t listen because she was afraid you were hurt and she’s not the type to back down.” He flicked a wink at me. “Reminds me of some guys I know.”
Victor crossed the room, giving Dr. Green some space to examine Gabriel. Gabriel whined as Dr. Green poked at his face. Victor searched drawers in Dr. Green’s desk and came back with a first aid kit. He found some gauze and applied it to my lip. I flinched, pulling back as it stung.
Victor smirked, touching my chin gently and approaching my split lip at a different angle and with a delicate stroke. “Didn’t think I’d be returning the favor so soon.”
“Wasn’t really planned,” I breathed out.
Victor chuckled.
The door opened. Kota returned with a collection of book bags and the violin case. Behind him, Mr. Blackbourne appeared with two cold compresses. His steel gaze sought me out first, examining my face. He frowned, passing the compress to Victor. Victor collected it from him and pushed it to my cheek and lip. With Victor hovering over me, his eyes a gentle smolder now, my shivering returned.
Victor squinted at me. “Cold? What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nerves,” I said.
He smirked. “You know you’re supposed to be nervous before you jump into a fight. Or at the very least during. I’ve never heard of anyone waiting to be nervous until after.”
“Normalcy was never my strong suit,” I confided. It was true. When we were forced into plays or speeches in school, before and during the event I was fine. Afterward, I was a jumble of shaking and twisted stomach. Right now if I wasn’t forcing myself to keep up, I would be crumbled on the floor. It was tempting but I didn’t want to scare them.
Mr. Blackbourne turned to Gabriel. “Start talking,” he commanded.
Gabriel hovered the compress over his eye. “Typical homophobic goons. They took one look at me, made an assumption. They waited until the coach and most of the others were out of the locker room. They swarmed me when I was in the hallway. I was waiting for them to get bored when Miss Trouble herself showed up,” he jerked his chin in my direction. “She opened her big mouth and got them to drop me and take her on instead.”
Mr. Blackbourne twisted his head and his eyes widening with surprise. I shrunk into myself, quivering. His face was commanding I speak but I couldn’t find the words.
Victor rubbed a palm at my back. “One of them grabbed her and kept her out of it,” he said. “There were at least ten on top of Gabriel. We were helping him when the guy who had her let go. When he came after me, she flung herself at him and he hit her.”
“We took care of it,” Kota said. “They’re going to be reluctant to do it again if they think we’ll be coming.”
“They know her,” Gabriel said. They all turned on him. “They knew her name. Now they know her face. Rumors are going around about her.”
“What kind?” Kota demanded.
“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “They called her kinky shit or something like that. No specifics.”
Kota pressed a palm to his forehead, blowing out a puff of air.
“We need to find out,” Victor said quietly. He shifted the compress, moving my hand up to hold it for him. When I had it and pressed it to my own face, he turned to look at them. “A couple days in, and they’ve already started. If we let this go, they’ll never stop. We need to divert, redirect attention from her.”
“That coach deliberately disobeyed new security requirements,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “I’ll have to talk with him about leaving the area before students have cleared off.” He turned to Kota, his hands on his hips. “I want a report tonight. Take Victor and Gabriel through records. Pick out the ones responsible. I want them wired before tomorrow.”
Wired? My head was starting to throb. At the speed they were talking, I had no time to intervene with questions. Why are they taking over security for the high school? I shifted the compress against my face, applying it to my temple. My head hurt too much to think.
This averted attention back to me. Victor swept a finger across my cheek. Mr. Blackbourne caught this, the corner of his mouth dipping. Victor was focused on my face and didn’t notice. Did Mr. Blackbourne not like me now? Was he mad that I seemed to make things worse?
“We need to get her home,” Kota
said.
Mr. Blackbourne’s frown softened. “Take her,” he said in a quiet voice. “Reports on my desk and wires set up by start of school tomorrow.” He turned, opening the office door, stepping through. The door crashed behind him.
I cringed.
Dr. Green moved around the desks to me again. Victor stepped aside for him. Dr. Green checked my eyes again. “Head hurt?” he asked.
I nodded.
He smiled. “Shock is wearing off. That’s good.” He stood back and opened a drawer, fishing out a bottle of Tylenol and a bottle of water. “Someone deserves a night off and a hot bath at home. You should take it easy tonight. You’re forgiven tonight’s homework from my class and do the minimal required to do before tomorrow for everyone else. If you need an excuse, come see me tomorrow morning.” He handed two pills to me and opened the water. I swallowed the pills, sipping the water to clear my throat.
“We’ll take her home,” Kota said.
Dr. Green nodded, standing back. Kota started collecting bags again. Victor fished out his keys and picked up the violin case.
Gabriel crossed the room, stopping in front of me. His face was wiped clean and he looked almost normal again except for some minor swelling at his nose and at the crest of his cheek. He hooked an arm under my thighs and around my back to pick me up.
“I can walk,” I said.
“Like I give a shit,” he said, his deep voice softening.
He lifted me. My arms threaded around his neck. His fingers gripped me tight to his body. My head sunk into his shoulder. I breathed in musk and lavender.
Dr. Green held open the door for us. “I’ll go find Mr. Blackbourne before we’re one coach short tomorrow.” He followed us out into the main hallway and took off in a direction I couldn’t see.
Gabriel, Kota and Victor marched together toward the parking lot. Gabriel carried me like a badge of honor, his arms tight around me. He pressed his cheek against the top of my head.
At the BMW, Victor held the back door open. Gabriel angled himself into the car, keeping me in his lap. The bags and the violin were dropped into the seat next to us. Kota slid into the passenger side and Victor started the car.
I wondered if my sister noticed I was missing. Would they say anything about my face? How would I hide it? I trembled.
“Okay, you need to stop shaking,” Gabriel said against my forehead. He slipped fingers into the straps of my sandals, sliding them off of my feet. He dropped them onto the floor. He tucked his arm over my thigh, pulling me to snuggle against him. “It’s too hard to be mad at you when you’re shaking.”
“You’re mad at me, too?” I asked. Now that we were away from school and he was holding on to me, I felt calmer. I wondered why I wasn’t blushing from being in his lap but in the moment, I didn’t really care. It felt too good to have him touching me, enveloping me like a blanket. I felt I should be embarrassed. Kota and Victor didn’t seem to blink an eye at this so I could only assume it was okay to do.
“I told you. You’re grounded.” His jaw and his nose nuzzled against the side of my head by my ear. His lips curled up.
“For how long?”
“Until I’m done being mad at you. I don’t know. A billion years. Fucking shit, Sang.” He squeezed me to him, knocking my breath from my lungs. “Don’t you ever jump in like that again. I don’t care if my head is on fire. You ever see shit like that, you run.”
“You didn’t run,” I said.
He released me and a chop fell on my shoulder. “Fuck you. I was saving your pretty ass.”
“Stop yelling at her,” Victor said, “or I’m kicking you from this car.”
“See? Victor’s mad at you, too. If you do it again, he’ll kick your ass. And then Kota will, but then I’ll do it again because Kota will probably be all soft and shit.”
“Nope,” Kota announced, turning in his seat to look back at us. He smiled at me, winking. “I’d have to beat her, too.”
I chuffed, feeling the smirk on my face even though it hurt to do it with my lip bruised.
“See?” Gabriel said. “And don’t even get me started on Silas and North and Luke.”
“And Mr. Blackbourne,” I said. “He’s mad at me, too.”
“Girl, he’s about to go murder some teenagers. I’m probably at the top of the list for letting those goons anywhere near you.” He shifted. He pulled back to look down at my face but he glanced down at my shirt, fingering the missing buttons. “Aw, they ripped your shirt. Victor, we have to get her a new shirt.”
I rolled my eyes, twisting my mouth awkwardly to grin and trying to do it without hurting.
“What’s the plan?” Victor asked.
“We’re taking Sang home,” Kota said. “We need to cover her face.”
“Have to do everything around here,” Gabriel said. He pulled his book bag out of the bundle near us and started pilfering through pockets. “I might have something that’s your color. You’re lucky I brought this today.”
“Sang,” Kota said, his green eyes focusing on me, “when you get home, keep me in touch. Let me know if your family says anything. If they ask, tell them it was a crazy dodge ball in gym class.”
I nodded. “What are you guys going to do?”
“We’ve got work,” Kota said.
“Wiring those guys? What does that mean?”
Gabriel juggled compacts in his hands, looking at the back labels. “Stop asking questions.”
“It means you’re going to listen in on their conversations. You can’t do that,” I responded.
Gabriel popped a palm against my thigh. “I said shush.”
“You said stop asking questions,” I retorted. “I didn’t ask. I answered.”
“She already knows,” Victor said. He turned down Sunnyvale Court. “It involves her now.”
Kota grunted. “Let’s just stop talking. We need to focus. We can have this discussion later.”
“I just have one more question,” I said.
Kota swung his eyes at me, his head tilting. “What?”
“So… Dr. Green is an actual doctor doctor?” I smirked because my question was ludicrous. It hadn’t occurred to me until he was looking at my eyes earlier that his doctorate might mean he was a medical doctor and not a doctorate in physics or something like that. I just wanted validation and to change the subject.
Gabriel snorted. Kota beamed, laughing. Victor chuckled.
“Fuck,” Gabriel hooted, his eyes glossing with tears. He dropped his arms around my shoulder, hugging me. “Yes, okay. That’s it. We’re keeping her forever.”
S winging H ammers
When Gabriel finished applying makeup to my face, Kota dismissed me to my house. Gabriel and Victor wanted to walk me home but Kota insisted I go it alone.
When I got in, the house was silent. Marie was gone. I suspected she ran off to Danielle’s house. My mother was asleep. That was good news for me. I went unnoticed.
I sent a quick text to Kota to let him know I was in the clear for the moment at home.
Kota: “Good. Now do your homework and relax. I’ll call you later.”
I checked my face in the bathroom mirror. There was a dark spot on my lip if I pouted enough, but otherwise it was mostly just a little swollen. My cheek felt puffy. Any redness or bruising was masked by a thin veil of concealing foundation thanks to Gabriel.
I spent some time curled up in my bed. I kept trying to review what happened, analyzing my actions. How did I lose so much control like that? I reimagined the warmth from Victor’s arms around me. I missed the way Gabriel held me in the car. I wondered why Kota was so quiet with me. He’d kept his distance the whole time and I wondered if he was angry, too. I worried how the others would react when they learned what happened. What would happen tomorrow? Would those bullies see me in the hallway and try again?
And why were Academy students now in charge of security at the school? Suddenly Nathan’s and Victor’s disappearance on the first day of school seem obviou
s. There must have been another fight. Nathan got the brunt of it. Did Victor swoop in and help?
The speculation was annoying because I didn’t have a method of figuring out what the truth was. I didn’t think they would be honest with me.
I was finishing up homework when I heard the phone buzzing in its hidden spot in the attic.
Luke: “Are you busy?”
Sang: “Not busy. Where are you?”
Luke: “At the diner. Can you come? And bring some water?”
I put on a pair of shorts and brushed my hair. I checked in on my mom. Every once in a while, my mother got hit hard by the medication she took because she was sick. There were times when she would sleep for long hours, day and night. She was passed out now. I wondered if this was one of those cases or if it was just a nap. To test it, I made a little noise outside of her room, knocking the door into the wall.
Nothing.
She was out. If I was lucky, and I hated to think that because she was my mother and it was unhealthy, but I hoped she would be out for a while. The peace of mind of knowing she was asleep made it safer to venture out of the house for both Marie and I.
I wasn’t quite sure where Marie kept running off to, but I was hoping this was a good sign. If she was with Danielle or anyone else, that meant I had more opportunities to get out of the house, too. We never had such a chance before. Would we finally get to here on this street? If our mother was kept in the dark about where we were, if Marie and I were careful, maybe being on our knees, or worse, wouldn’t happen as often.
The old church at the end of Sunnyvale Court had the cross removed now on the outside, though there was still a smudge outline over the top of the door. Otherwise, it looked like a big storage building.
There was a black truck parked in front of the doors that I didn’t recognize. When I got closer to the church, I heard shouting inside. I paused, unsure if I should enter if they were fighting. I’d had enough of that today.
I opened the front door and followed the sound of voices and crashing until I found the kitchen. Silas and North were shirtless, causing me to do a double take. Their muscular chests were caked in patches with dust. Each held a sledge hammer.