"Ohh my god it hurts T!" Amber was crying out with tears in her eyes.
"Stay still." I said. Knowing she couldn't be still for the life of her, I held her down with one hand. Amber had managed to trip, fall, and pop her arm out of place all in one passing period. But instead of going to the nurse like we probably should have, we just went to Hollie's car. I bet it would've looked strange to any onlooker; me holding her down and her crying. Man.
My mom had taught Hollie and me how to fix out of place bones, because it used to happen all the time, especially when I first began martial arts. The bone wasn't too far out there, so it was simple to fix. But I assumed it was hurting her a lot, because she kept whimpering like a lost puppy.
I heard the final pop as I slid the bone back in its rightful place, and Amber let out a sigh of relief as she wiped her wet eyes, that dumb guy that she has her sights set on came jogging up to Hollie's car.
"What're you doing to her?!" he said a little loud.
"It's okay, Sean." Amber said wearily.
"No it's not, he's-"
"Just let it go, alright?!" she said, sounding irritated. "I'm going to math. Alone."
"I'll go with-" Sean started.
"We need to talk." I said, quietly enough so that Amber couldn't hear me as she walked away. I pushed him up against the hood of Hollie's car.
"Dude, what's your deal-"
"Shut up. First of, I'm not Amber's boyfriend. But I'll tell you this; she might as well be my little sister, because that's how I see her."
"Yeah, whatever." he said, getting up.
"Listen to me!" I said dangerously, slamming him back down against the hood. "I'm not usually a violent guy, but if I get wind of anything that sounds like you're mistreating her, you better pray fate is on your side. By the way, this conversations stays between us. Got it?"
He just stared at me, so I repeated myself, "Do you understand me?!"
"Yeah! Dude, whatever. Just let me go." he said with beads of sweating rolling down his head. I regretted ever suggesting this guy to Amber. I blamed myself for exposing her to such a dangerous guy. Well, to be fair, I don't know that he's dangerous, but he's just so arrogant. Doesn't seem like the kind of guy Amber would date.
As I entered my math class, I saw Christopher sitting at the back, struggling to get his wallet back from a freshman I recognized from first hour. He didn't really stand a chance; Chris was only 5'7 and looked to be about 110 lbs, as opposed to the tormentor, who was only 5'5 but thick with muscle. The tormentor, whom I recognized to be Danny, easily overpowered Chris with one arm. "Come on, aren't you a little stronger than that?" he was taunting.
"Please give it back." Chris said pathetically, trying to reach up to grab it. High School could really be a bitch, it seemed.
"Dude, give him it." I said to Danny, towering over him.
"You're actually going to stand up for this dweeb?" he said. His demeanor was the perfect example of an extreme, stereotypically vile jock.
"Look man, just because he's weaker than you doesn't mean you can take advantage of him."
"Whatevs." he shrugged, walking away. I was hoping I had hit a nerve, but I knew I hadn't.
"So that's twice in one school day that you've stood up for me. You're on a roll." Chris grinned. I took that as his 'thank you'.
"Yeah, I should be a policeman." I rolled my eyes.
"Well, what DO you want to be?" he asked. It was a random question, but quite thought provoking.
"I'm just a freshman. I don't even know which college I want to go to." I said helplessly.
"You could be a bodybuilder." he suggested.
"Ugh, spare me."
"What about a celebrity's bodyguard?"
"Then I wouldn't have time to bodyguard the people I care about." I said.
"Ie. Amber Adair?"
"Yeah, her."
"So, are you two a couple, or what?"
"No, we're just really close." I said. "Why?"
"Well, I just want to let you know that you ought to keep a close eye on that Sean guy."
"How do you know about him?"
"Ugh, are you serious? He's been bragging to all of the juniors how he got the first 'bite' of the year. He's obviously talking about your friend." Chris said.
"Where'd you hear this?"
"My best friend is a junior."
"I had a 'talk' with him last passing period. I don't think he's going to do anything." I said suggestively.
"Don't hold your breath; he's impulsive. It doesn't matter how big you are, he won't think twice about it till after the damage is done."
"Let's hope for his sake that this case is different, then."
"Still, you should warn your friend anyway."
"I doubt it'll do any good, but I will." I said. In fact, I knew it wouldn't do any good. In 8th grade a similar situation occurred, but it was less 'severe'. A guy kissed her without her consent. Sounds petty, right? But he stole her first kiss! My point is, I had tried to warn her, but she just said I was misjudging the guy.
I texted her a message saying, "Sean is apparently bad news. I heard he was bragging to the juniors about you 'being the first bite of the year'."
"That just goes to show you that you can't believe everything you hear, huh?" she replied. My point proven. I assumed Sean hadn't said anything about my confrontation with him after she left, or I would have heard about it by now.
"Just keep your wits about you." I replied.
As the bell rang, I could have sworn that our mathematics teacher was the twin brother of our history teacher. He had a monotoneous voice to complement his appearance, as well.
"The Pythagorean theorem is a relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle..."
In an odd experience of deja vu, a girl on my right whom I did not know passed me a note, presumably to keep out of the sandman's grasp.
"Hi. I'm Ashley. You're really hot." it read. I silently sighed to myself. I hated having to turn down girls, because I hate hurting their feelings. Although, in my defense, she could have been more tactful about the whole making a move thing.
"Hi. I'm Trent, or T. Whichever you want. You're beautiful too, but I'm gay." I wrote and sent back the note. She didn't seem to take it hard.
"I was prepared for that one. I knew you probably were because a) you're not tormenting that guy in front of you, Chris or whatever, and b) you stood up for him." she wrote. Oh how I hate stereotypes. However, I didn't want to be awkward, so I wasn't going to bring up the fact that neither of those things had anything to do with me being gay.
"Oh, cool." What else was there to say? "So, I'm guessing you don't like Math either?" I wrote.
"Not as much as the girl in front of me does." I looked at the girl in front of her and sure enough, she was staring as though the teacher were David Beckham naked.
"Maybe she just likes math."
"Yeah, whatever. By the way, I hope you're not considering Christopher as a possible candidate for your next lover."
"Not that I am, but why not?"
"We went to the same school last year, and he let ALL of the guys on the soccer team bang him secretly."
"Um, if it's secret, how do you know about it?"
"Because my boyfriend at the time was one of the guys! Sigh."
"Oh, I'm um, sorry." It was awkward, let me tell you. "I don't know if I believe it though." I wrote.
"Of course you don't! It's so easy to overlook the truth when you're BLINDED by emotions!" she replied, breaking her lead twice in the process.
"Are you okay?" I looked at her kind of weird-like as I passed the folded note.
"Yes. Just dandy. Who knows? Maybe he's changed since last year. I know I have."
"Yeah, here's hoping."
"Okay, so, my sister is a senior. We don't get along so well but I do know she's throwing a party this weekend to help ease the student body's way into the school year. Wanna come? You can bring some friends if you want."
"Um, don't we have to be invited to do that?"
"Ugh, please. It's a high school booze party, not an elegant cocktail party." she wrote. "Just show up; no one will say anything." http://home.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user "Cool, maybe I'll be there." In reality, I wasn't sure a party was really my thing. Sure, I liked to have fun, but I had never drunk alcohol or done drugs or anything, so I wasn't sure I'd really fit in. But if Amber were with me, I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad. After all, I'm sure everyone could stand to release some tension after sweating over the thought of high school all summer long.
Eventually the unnecessarily loud ringing of the school bell broke the sound barrier, signifying the end of third period.
"So," Amber started as she walked up to me. "Sean seems kind of.. jittery. Any idea WHY?" she put emphasis on 'why' as though I should know.
"No idea." I said nonchalantly, fighting the urge to grin.
"Whatever T. I'm keeping my eye on you."
"I didn't think you could look that high up."
"Shut up." she said, backhanding my stomach. "Ow! Dick. So, you have Swedish with me this hour, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't understand why a high school would offer a language spoken only by like 8 million people."
"Ugh, you're such a geek. Let's just go; the only other option was Russian, and god forbid we put ourselves through THAT."
"We could skip instead." I suggested.
"No way! Some of us actually want to learn."
"And you're one of them huh?" I said, giving a short laugh.
"You're unbearable." she muttered, grabbing my bicep and pulling me down the hall with little success.
"Oh, you want me to walk. I see." I grinned.
"T!" she sighed.
"Alright, let's go."
Our class was a mixed class, its students ranging from freshmen to seniors. I spotted Hollie and Ashlyn in the middle, so I drug Amber over there and we got two seats nearby.
"I figured you guys would have already gotten your foreign language credits out of the way." Amber said.
"Oh you know us, world's most famous procrastinators." Hollie said.
"So are you guys going to actually try to learn it, or just blow it off?" Ashlyn asked.
"Dunno, what're you guys going to do? I think I'll pay attention for the hell of it. I've already dosed off in two classes so far." Amber said.
"Same! What about you, Trent?" Hollie asked me.
"I may or may not.. alright, if it sounds pretty, I'll give it a shot. Deal?"
"Deal." Hollie said. And with that, a tall woman who looked to be in her twenties entered the room.
"Välkommen till din första svenska lektion!" she said. I hoped she wasn't planning to teach us via full immersion. I had heard about such a style, where the teachers speak only the target language and use body language to help the students understand.
From that day, I was transfixed. The melodic language and its words just flowed together, the sounds greatly resembling those of a mermaid's song, if you will.
My worries of "total immersion" were relieved when she said moments later, "Welcome to your first Swedish lesson." with a slightly recognizable European accent.
"My name is Linnéa Lundström, and I look forward to instructing you all on the great pilgrimage to fluency. Since I want to begin right away, I'll start by telling you a basic cultural aspect. In Sweden, students do not call their teachers by their respective titles and surnames as you all do in America. With that in mind, I'd like for you all to just call me "Linnéa". We are all equal."
"The Swedish language is not an easy one to learn. However, do not let this daunt you! I see myself as a great educator, and I hope to make even the most gruesome aspects of the rich language appear simple and logical."
"Now please, retrieve your Swedish books that can be found under your desks. Turn to page one. I believe that knowing a country's language is not enough to fully enjoy a trip to the country itself. No, I believe one must know about the country's history, its culture, political system, ect." she continued.
"On page one, you see an ice hockey match in progress. This is here because ice hockey is a very popular and wellknown sport in Sweden, and Scandinavia in general. Does anyone, or has anyone, ever played ice hockey?"
A few people raised their hands, but not many.
"Ice hockey is very popular in Scandinavia for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons, I have found, is because of its cold climate. When I immigrated from Sweden to here, Oklahoma, I was in for a bit of a shock. Do not get me wrong; we have hot summers and such, but it is so much windier here in Tornado Alley than it was in Sweden."
"Swedish winters are bitterly cold. The northern parts of the country often hit below zero at night, and the snow accumulation is awful. However, since this isn't a meteorology class, I'll get on to the aspects of the language."
"The entire language is based off of a system which splits nouns into two types; "en" words and "ett words"..." she said. Throughout the whole lesson, I was listening as though my life depended on it. I felt like knocking out the jerks in the back of the room who were blaring their iPods, but I was afraid I'd miss something.
As I looked to the my right towards the end of the class, I saw Amber and Ashlyn writing notes at an alarming rate. Before I knew what had hit me, the class was over.
"Adjö!" Linnéa waved as we filed out of the room.
"So, looks like you're the nerd now." Amber gloated.
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking down at her.
"Please! You were staring at her so concentratingly that, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were checking her out or something."
"Shut up."
"Trent's a nerd! You're so nerdy that I'm going to call you Trenerd, or something." Amber giggled.
I picked her up and put her over my shoulder. "Trent put me down, oh my god!" she was half laughing half screaming.
"I think I hear something but it could just be my mind playing tricks on me.." I grinned.
"I'm going to pull your hair, or something, if you don't put me down!" she said as though it were supposed to scare me.
"Hun, I got more endurance than a navy SEAL."
"I don't care! Just put me down!"
"K."
"Man, you wait till I get buff!" she grinned.
"Yeah right. You look better when you look like you're gonna slip through a crack on the ground." I grinned.
"Why're you so mean to me?" she said, obviously stifling a giggle.
"Because I can be." I said, putting an arm around her. "So you ready for lunch?"
"Actually I'm starving. I really hope they don't have anything disgusting out, though." Amber shuddered.
"Well, Hollie just texted me and said that she and Ashlyn are going to Wendy's. Wanna join them?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure! Sounds better than waiting in line for 20 minutes just to get some sub-par food."
"Great."
I heard loud footsteps racing behind us, and I looked back to see my least favorite person as of yet; Sean.
"Hey, er, Amber, can I talk with you real fast?"
"Sure!" she said. I lifted my heavy arm off of her and waited around the corner while they talked. In reality, I was eavesdropping. But they didn't know that. The bell had rung, and they were the only two people in the hallway.
"So you probably won't be too cool about this but I don't know if I can stand you being so touchy feely with that guy." he said.
"Sean, he's like a big brother to me. We're just really close friends."
"You may think that, but it's obvious he has feelings for you.." his voice trailed off.
"Ugh, how could you be so arrogant like that? Are you intimidated by him, or something?"
"It's kind of hard not to be when he's two years younger than me but can kick my ass!" his voice cracked.
"Wow, are you serious? Whatever. I'm leaving. I can't believe you."
"No, wait!" he said rather loudly.
"Let go of me!" I heard Amber say even louder. "Get off of me." I felt my face turn red hot with rage.
"I guess I'll just have to show you how wrong you are." His voice growled.
I heard Amber's muffled cries for help clearly, and I had enough adrenaline pumping through me to give a junkie a run for his money. How dare he put his hands on her? And why was I just standing there, concealed?
I ran into the hall and ripped Amber away from him, throwing him against the wall. Blinded by the anger coursing through my body, I put one of his hands in a painful wristlock and threw an extremely forceful kick to his shin. There was a distinctive CRACK as his bone broke and he began to scream in pain.
"What's going on here?!" a security guard asked, shocked.
"He tried to rape me." Amber said faster than I could get any word out.
"Who??" the guard's eyes widened.
"The guy screaming!" she said, obviously in disbelief of what just happened.
"You two, come with me please. Gonna have to ask y'all some questions." the guard said. I nodded and hugged Amber. I felt tears well up in her eyes as she buried her face in my chest. I held her tightly as two policemen came up to the school and began to question us separately. I texted Hollie and let her know what was up, and as I expected she freaked out.
"Omg is she okay??? You say it was Sean Rodriguez?? Tell me the full story!" she texted.
"I'll tell you it all when we see you." I replied.
"Am I going to be fined for causing damage to him?" I asked the security guard.
"No way. This guy will be lucky if the judge gives him a reasonable bail price. You two go on, we've got things from here. You may want to take her to a doctor or at least her parents." he told me.
"Thanks." I said, before putting my arm around her again and guiding her outside. She had stopped crying but her eyes were still red, and she was leaning her head on my shoulder.
"How could I have been so stupid?" she asked in a sobby voice.
"Self-blame is a common occurrence when something like this happens, but it's not your fault." I told her.
"God I love you Trent." she gave a weak smile and I hugged her tighter. "For now on, you have to approve the guys I try to get with, 'kay??"
"Whatever you want." I said quietly.
"I feel so weak." she gave a quiet sob.
"The guy was two years older than you, don't be ashamed. And if you want me to kick his ass again, I will."
"Probably more trouble than its worth."
"Nah, I'm still pissed. I'd like to make him a human punching bag. Man I'm so angry. I should go like, flip his car upside down." I growled.
"You're buff, T, not superman." Amber said.
"I'm pretty sure I snapped his shin like a twig with one kick." I managed to get a smile out of her as we approached Hollie's car.
"Oh Amber!" she said before throwing her arms around Amber.
"It's cool, don't worry."
"No way it's not! Trent better have thrown that guy around some!"
"I did, don't worry." I said.
"Let's just get some food." Amber said weakly.
Inside the restaurant, Ashlyn and Hollie ordered all of our food while Amber and I waited.
"I'm sleeping over tonight." I told Amber.
"T, really, you don't have to.." Amber said, but I could tell she wanted me to. God knows what nightmares she'd be having.
"I know I don't, but like you said, I'm like your big brother. And that's what big brothers do." I winked at her.
"Alright alright."
"I think you should go home after Lunch too." I said.
"Alright, Dad." she said sarcastically.
"No, really. Come on, it's just two hours."
"Look T, I may not be the toughtest girl physically, but I'm not an emotional wreck."
"A guy took advantage of you and treated you like trash. That's pretty traumatic. Just skip the rest of the day, please?"
"Okay, fine."
"Oh, and, another thing; I WILL crush his scrawny ass the next time I see him. I dunno whether to snap his arms or crush his neck.."
"Don't be so brutal! Really, it's fine." she said. "Let's just eat."
"Alright." I said. But as I'm sure she knew, I wasn't going to let it go that easily. I had an anger raging through me that wouldn't be satiated till I made his life a living hell.
The rest of the day passed quickly. Science and English was a breeze, and the adrenaline from the whole Sean incident helped me dominate during football practice. Normally I would have went to the gym after school, but I figured it'd be best to get home, shower and change, then get to Amber's.
After I showered, I changed into some light blue gym shorts and decided not to wear a shirt. It still was around 80F outside, after all.
Around 9:00, Amber had showered and changed into her pj's. "I'm real sorry about this T." she said.
"Don't be. I'll do this for as many nights as you need, just say the word." I said, hugging her.
"I don't say it often enough.. but you're a great friend."
"Hey, we've been friends since we were pre-schoolers. I'll always be here for you."
"I'll repay you somehow, some day. Just wait." I could tell she meant it.
"Until then, let's get some sleep."
"Right."
I guess any onlooker would have thought there was more to the situation than there was, 'cause Amber was cuddled up against my bare chest, but it really wasn't more than that. I probably say that more often than necessary, but we're just extremely close. Sometimes I wondered whether or not I was trying to convince more than just the general public.
I felt kind of bad for not telling Christopher anything, but I didn't want to spread the incident around. With any luck, not everyone will know tomorrow. Here's hoping. Besides, it's not like he's my boyfriend. We only just met today.
And with that thought in mind, I slid into my dark dreams of what I had in store for Sean the predator tomorrow.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait! I've had a bad bout of insomnia recently and haven't been able to focus! Please tell me if this chapter's quality is better, or worse than chapter one's, and what you think the best/worst parts were. Thanks!