Labor of My Love

Two

It didn't take a genius to see that the guy in the road, Daniel, wasn't like other boys his age, and somehow Rae couldn't seem to find any way to get him out of head. There was something... Off about him, and she couldn't figure out whether it was good or bad.

Going back to college on Monday was rough for Rae, as the entire campus setting was never too kind to her.

As she passed a group of chattering girls, she turned her head and kept her eyes down. Although she tried her best not to be noticed, as their paths crossed the chatter died down to a whisper, and she silently held her breath for a snide remark from behind her back. But they were quiet, and for a moment Rae assumed that they had been too caught up in a conversation to acknowledge her much.

Suddenly, a pair of hands gripped her firmly by the shoulders from behind and shoved her hard. With the added weight of the book bag across her shoulder, Rae pitched forward, stumbling over the curb and toppling over into the road flat on her face, which knocked the wind out of her. Sprawled out on the pavement, she wheezed, trying to pull air into her lungs but ending up just gasping like the true fish out of water that she was.

"Get out of the road, bitch. People are staring," a short blonde girl perched on the edge of the curb told her with a cruel giggle. Her pristine coral nails tapped the screen of her phone twice as she took a picture.

"I bet she likes the attention," a second girl sneered with a half-sided smirk, tossing her mass of chocolate curls over her shoulder. "It's not like she gets it any other time."

The third girl stepped around the other two so she was in front. "You want attention, huh? Maybe you should crawl out a little farther into street and get yourself run over by a car. That'll turn a few heads, I think."

She threw back her head and cackled, and the other two joined in in a chorus of ear-splitting shrieks of laughter.

Rae bit her lip and winced as she shifted her weight. Hoping the girls would finally let her go, she slowly inched toward the sidewalk to the left of them, but the blonde saw her and kicked her squarely in the chest, and she crumpled back in the road.

"Going somewhere?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips as if talking to a child.

"S-stop," pleaded Rae in a trembling voice.

"And what are you going to do? Cry?" The second girl sneered, popping her hip and placing her ebony hands in the pockets of her pants. Slowly, others began to crowd around and watch, and to Rae's great disappointment no one made any move to help her. Not that she had expected anything from anyone. She was a caged animal at the zoo vulnerable to a mass of curious eyes.

Raegan begged again, "Please. Leave me alone."

"Not a chance," they said. "This is just too much fun."

Rae scrambled to her feet and tried to run, but the blonde girl stuck her foot out and swept Rae's legs out from under her.

The edges of Raegan's vision lit up, and her heart pounded in her ears as fury pulsed through her veins. She screamed at them, "I said leave me alone!"

As the anger took complete hold of her, she swung a fist at the blonde's porcelain face, and before the girl could dodge, her fist met her nose with a resounding crack.

A ripple of gasps and murmurs rippled through the ever-growing swarm of people. The girl's eyes narrowed as she slowly put her fingertips to her nose, then looked back up at Rae with disgust when she saw that her fingers were stained the same crimson as Rae's hair. Pain flooded to her face as she staggered back with surprise, gaze flicking from her two friends and then back to Rae.

The two that were left glanced at each other, communicating silently until finally the taller girl with honey-colored hair and sharp brown eyes took a small step forward. She paused only for a moment before lunging toward Rae with arms outstretched.

Rae jumped to the side and shoved the girl with both hands, but she quickly recovered and in turn socked Rae in the gut.

Rae doubled over coughing, and the girl swung another first toward her head but the blow was dodged. That was when the two girls had finally had just about enough of each other, and the girl lashed out and raked her plastic nails across the side of Rae's face.

Screaming, Raegan threw the girl in a headlock, and they both staggered off balance as they struggled to get at the other. Finally, as they were both about to stumble and fall, Rae's energy surged and she threw the girl to the ground.

Everyone fell silent as she fell to the ground in a heap, and there was a sickening crack as her head hit the curb.

No one moved a muscle. No one dared to breathe as Rae turned her head to face the third girl, but before she could attack she heard a small click. When she looked, the girl with the dark curls was aiming a small pistol right at her head.

"Don't," was all she said, tilting her head slowly to the side as if daring Rae to make a move.

Panting heavily, Raegan scrambled to think of what to do. She took a step slowly to the side, and there was a second click. She knew the girl wasn't joking around and was suddenly very aware of how serious the situation was.

The girl with blood streaming down her face from her nose stepped to stand next to her friend with murderous glare. Rae raised her trembling hands in the air as a sign of surrender, hoping and praying that they didn't shoot her.

Suddenly, a strange car came tearing down the road behind them, a rather strange-looking silver square car that Raegan had once heard called a Toaster. It slowed to a stop along the curb, and Rae didn't turn around but heard the door slam shut as the driver get out.

"What's going on here?" Came a stern female voice.

The girl with the gun never wavered. "This doesn't concern you."

The driver came into view, stopping and standing between the gun and Rae. Shaking her head with amusement when she saw the gun, she advised the girl, "Put the gun down, sweetheart. I don't want to have to hurt you."

The girl's assertive stance shifted slightly as she sized the the driver. Admittedly, she didn't look like much with her messy blonde hair pulled into a brain resting on her shoulder, warm green eyes, and relatively short stature. "Pssht. Hurt me? Let me remind you who the one with the gun is here."

The woman sighed, and in one fluid motion, lashed out with one arm and knocked the gun right out of the girl's hand. The girl's big brown eyes widened, and she took a small step back as the driver swooped down and picked up the gun, then held it level with the girls' heads. Instantly, everyone went into a panicked frenzy, and the girls shrieked in horror and disappeared into the crazed mass of people sprinting away from the scene.

Rae watched the crowd with a lump in her throat. "I am so going to get expelled..."

The woman turned to Rae and looked her dead in the eye. "This isn't the place for you, anyways. Come with me, get in the car, I'll take you home."

Rae looked over at her, then at the gun in her hand, and finally, at the car. She was silent for a long while.

The woman shrugged. "You're a smart girl. I understand that you don't trust me. No matter, I trust you know not to try to go into school like that." She waved at the bleeding scratches down Rae's cheek.

"I'll just... Walk home for today, I think," decided Rae.

The woman nodded, and Rae numbly turned and walked back down the path, watching the woman get back into her car with the gun in her hand without another word.