Little Shelby Girl

Part 30. John's right

"Don't." She spats back at me. "Don't talk this right for yourself Tom. It were just KIDS and don't tell me what I would have done because..." 

"Kids? KIDS, oi? You know what they did to her Pol?! You know what we walked into this afternoon? Two boys pinning her against the brick wall, beating her and ripping the clothes off her body while the others were humiliating her, again! What would you have done, oi?!" I cut her off.

I let out a sigh and lean my arms on my desk, trying to maintain my calm. "Pol, I don't want to fight you." 

"How is she?" She says after a few seconds of taking in what I just told her. 

"A few cuts and bruises, but we took care of that."

"What about her school Tom, how can she ever go back after today?"

"She won't." I say demonstratively. 

"She won't?" Polly repeats. 

"Yes, just like you said, there's no way she can go back, nor would I let her if there was. I'll arrange homeschooling for her."

Polly nods. "What if she don't want that?"

"Oh, I'll bet she wants that." 

As she walks away she suddenly stops and turns back at me. "Oh and Tommy, you know what day tomorrow is?" She says. I shake my head since I have no clue. 

"Her birthday." With that Polly leaves my room and shuts the door. I let out a deep sigh while I light a fresh cigarette. Her birthday... what a time for a fucking  birthday. 

Vive's POV

"Love, wake up..." a quiet voice speaks to me. When I open my eyes I see its Polly who sits on the side of the couch next to me. I try to stretch myself while rubbing my face, completely forgetting the side of my back. 

"Ouch!" I flinch and recoil into the position I was in. 

"Careful." Polly says while putting a pillow behind me. 

"How are you feeling?" 

"I've had worse." I say, smiling a little. "How long did I sleep?"

"Uhm, about two hours. Not too long." 

"You want to talk about it?" I see she hesitates about asking me this. I hardly ever talk to Polly about serious 'stuff', I don't really know why, but I just rather talk to my brothers about my problems than with her. She knows and I feel like she respects that.

I shake my head while looking into my hands instead of her eyes. "No need to. I'm fine."

She nods, still looking at me with a concerned look. 

"You know, if you don't want to talk to me, please talk to your brothers."

I nod. 

"Alright then, I'll go get dinner ready. You stay here and rest."

"Where's Tommy?" I ask. "In his room.." 

As Polly disappears into the kitchen, I make my way off the couch and I stumble towards Tommy's room. I knock and wait patiently for him to answer. 

"Yes?" 

I open the door and he looks surprised as he sees me standing in the doorway.

"You up already? Come'ere, sit." He gestures to the big chair in front of his desk. I take place. 

"How you feeling?" He asks as he puts away the papers he was working on, giving me his full attention. 

"Wounds still sting, but it's fine." I say, answering this question honestly this time. 

"I can give you something against the pain if you want?" He answers, giving me a serious look. 

I shake my head being stubborn again. Still wanna play a tough act while I would love to have some medicine right now. "No, that's okay. I'll manage." I answer. 

"Uhm, I just wanted to inform you that I am not going set foot into my school ever again. I want to go to a different school, or you have to arrange homeschooling for me." I continue, trying to be a confident and determined as possible. 

Tommy raises his eyebrow. 

"You're informing me?" He chuckles. I nod violently. 

"Well, after everything that has happened, you don't have to. I'm actually glad you came with this yourself. You'll never see those kids again"

"You mean the two you didn't kill?" I spat. Immediately regretting my sarcastic tone.

He clears his throat before reacting to my "About this afternoon..."

"No, it's fine." I cut him off, not wanting to hear about it anymore. I just want to move on from today and never think about the whole Luke situation again. 

"Vive..." He continues. "I want you to know that we got held up on our way to you. That's why weren't in time, not because we forgot you."

I shrug my shoulders. "What difference does it make?" 

Tommy turns his gaze to his desk, pressing his lips together. 

"It doesn't, but I just want you to know." He almost whispers. 

"I know, but I'm not mad anymore. Like John said earlier, it's my own fault. Thereby, you warned me about killing them, too pity Luke's the one that got away." I spit, again using a passive aggressive undertone.

Tommy now looks up his eyes locked on mine while shaking his head, clearly shrugged by my comment. 

"John didn't mean it like th..."

"Yes, he did, but that's fine, really, I agree with him." I say, giving my brother a blanc face expression, trying my best to not show any sort of emotion before getting up from the chair, planning on going back to kitchen. 

"Wait. Come'ere." Tommy says. 

I turn back around. He gets off his chair and walks up to me, pulling me into a soft hug. I feel he's trying to be careful with me, not wanting to hurt me or touch my bruises. He lets out a small sigh before pulling away from me and getting himself on the same height as me. 

"You didn't deserve that and it wasn't your fault." 

I nod but continue my way towards the door of his office, leaving Tommy standing in the middle.