After arriving at school the next day, Deena was appalled by hearing what the jocks were talking about.
"I mean, she's just a basic blonde but she's hot."
Deena felt bad that she assumed they were talking about Sam, but that's how people, jerks, at the school would usually talk about her.
"You see her hanging out with that lesbian? Deena?"
Deena's stomach drops, preparing herself for what they're gonna say next. She had heard it so much, but each time it felt like being attacked. Because every time Deena had the slightest bit of hope that for once, she could be accepted by people for being herself. But no, everybody acted like she was the worst person in the forsaken town of Shadyside.
There were many way worse people than Deena. In fact, Deena was one of the best in Shadyside, though she would never think that highly of herself.
"Yeah. That fucking weirdo," a man laughs, "They're just in a play together, hopefully. Unless Sam's a lesbian also?"
"I don't think so. Even if she is, she'll still let me mess around with her," a voice says. And Deena could recognize that voice, and then it all hit her.
She opened the door, and all the jocks there looked up at her, grins on their faces. "She's hot too."
"Yeah," Deena says, "and she'll never date you."
"Come on!"
Deena looks at the familiar boy, freezing in place. They look around, and the boy just whispers to the other jocks, her stomach dropping as they walk up to her, their fists clenched. She walks against the door, Briar grabbing her by the collar of her blouse and pulling her into the closet.
With a punch to her nose, she already feels dizzy, receiving multiple punches and kicks to her stomach and face. And as she falls to the ground, they switch off the lights and close the door as she lays there, in pain as she bleeds. And Deena just sighs, struggling to move.
Because every time she took a step forward, she also took about eight steps back.
Feeling light headed, she puts her hand up to her nose, blood streaming down it as she passes out.
Walking into second period, Sam was already concerned enough that Simon and Kate didn't see her in last period when they should've, and it just concerned her even more when Deena didn't show up for the other periods.
She kept trying to tell herself that Deena probably ditched class, but she had a gut feeling that something was wrong. So for her next periods, she walked around the whole school, checking every place she could in look for Deena.
Until she found her, bloody, bruised in one of the school closets. She falls down, moving the hair out of Deena's face as she feels herself freeze.
"Deena.. Deena! Oh my gosh, Deena!"
With Deena unresponsive, Sam puts her head in her lap, tears streaming down her face. "Please..."
With her eyes slowly opening, Deena puts her hand on Sam's chest. "Sam," she faintly smiles, but then concern comes over her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, babe. What.. what happened?"
"Y-Your,"
"What's going on in here?" Simon asks, barging in, stress pumping in his veins as he spots Deena.
"Talk when you're ready," Sam smiles, but quickly it fades off as she looks up at Simon and Kate. "We gotta go back, fuck the other classes."
Kate nods in agreement, Simon joining. Sam helps Deena up and she wraps her arm around the blonde girl, walking to the car. Kate drives, and she just sighs, in a bad mood the whole car ride. "I just don't fucking understand," Kate mumbles, fixated on the road, "I hate it. Seeing my best friend being hurt like that, and it never fucking stops! And it's all because somebody assumed she was a lesbian."
Deena yawns, hearing what Kate said made her sad, but the pain in her stomach overlapping it made her head hurt, so she just lay her head on Sam's shoulder. "I wish they would just leave her alone," Simon adds, an idea popping into his head.
"What happened, Deena?" Sam asks her softly. She looks up at the blonde girl, seeing genuine pain in her eyes as she looks down at her. She doesn't respond, and so they go inside, sitting down on the couch. "The jocks."
"What about them?" Kate asks, handing her a glass of ice cold water. "And uh, your ex," she adds, looking at Sam.
"He never stops," Sam sighs, putting her head in her hands, "never. He's not going to give up, he wants to be with me. And he's gonna go to extents to get that. Gosh, what am I supposed to do!? I don't want him hurting anymore people like that."
Simon wipes off the blood on Deena's face with a wet rag, Sam applying bandages after. "Hey, Sam?" Kate hums, looking at the girl. "Yeah?"
"Does Briar by any chance have a blue car?"
"Um, his friend does, yeah, why?"
Kate shares glances with Simon and Deena, groans falling off all of their lips. "Briar and his friend through rocks at us, then," Simon laughs sarcastically. "Gosh, I'm gonna go kill those motherfuckers!" Kate yells.
"He's dangerous," Sam mumbles, "the closest way of you getting to him is through me. But it's... risky."
"Risky in what ways? Everything is risky here."
"He has, weapons," Sam says, the memories going right back to her head. "W-Weapons?"
"The rocks were a warning."
"A warning? Sam, what?-" Kate begins.
"He's going to try and kill you."
"Us!?"
"Deena."
And as everybody looked at Deena with concerned faces, Deena just sighed heavily. It was expected for people to be shitty in Shadyside, so shitty that Deena wasn't even that worried about it. She hated how she wasn't really affected too badly by it.
"Hold on, what? How do you know this? And why Deena out of all of us? Him and his friend threw rocks at all three of us, not just Deena!"
"And you notice how Deena was got the worst injury out of all of you three?"
"Well, how do we stop him!?" Simon yells. "We can't," Sam sighs, "ever since he walked in on Deena and I at that party, he's been doing this shit. So we can keep it a secret from other people, but not the one we especially need to."
"So? What's his next attack going to be?" Kate asks. "I don't know. It's never gone this far."
"How do we stop him?"
"It won't be eas-"
Sam's cut off by the sound of pounding on the door. She walks up to it, opening the door slowly. And then there he is, fists clenched. "B-"
With a fist to the face, Sam shuts up, still trying to push the door shut. "What do you want?" she asks in a whisper, earning another punch. She whimpers.
"I better not see you with any of these freaks at the party together," he grits his teeth. "Come on, what the fuck is this shit?" Deena groans.
"Oh, look at you, needing others to come to your saving once again. They picked you out of that fucking closet?"
Deena slams the door, locking it. "You okay?" she asks Sam, but once she saw the bruise on her cheek she knew that was no. "Fuck, man, why won't he just leave us alone?" she groans as she grabs a pack of ice for Sam's bruise.
"He wants me."
Deena locks eyes with Sam, shaking her head. "No, Sam, I'm not gonna let you give yourself to that piece of shit. You can't. Please."
"I won't, but I will act like I'm getting closer to him so we can all bring him down."
"Yeah, and what the fuck are we supposed to do to get to the conclusion of bringing him down?" Simon asks loudly.
"Everybody has their weaknesses, Kalivoda. And Briar's is his state basketball trophy. I know, that man is trying to attack us and his most prized possession is a basketball trophy I could easily find a replica of online that only costs thirty dollars. If we can manage to take it, then boom! We threaten to break it if he doesn't leave us alone."
Kate and Simon stare at her, confused grins on their faces. "And if that doesn't work?" Kate hums.
"We can uh, pass that road when we get to it. But I'm telling you, he loves that trophy, so it should work. Just be careful, please? Who knows what he's going to do next. So, tonight. We go to that party, I talk to Briar, he asks me to come home, I take it."
"And if it doesn-"
"Don't worry, Simon. We can again later if it doesn't work. You guys get ready, alright?"
The two nod, walking upstairs, and Sam turns all of her attention to Deena now. "That's not going to work, Sam."
"You don't know that."
"He wants to kill me just so I don't get into your old relationship with him. He's a fucking crazy ex."
"So what do we do then?"
"There's nothing that we can do. I've already had rocks thrown at me, had to jump in a pool and be pulled out by Simon, and then I got beat up by him and a bunch of jocks. After this, who knows? He just keeps notching it up, it's too dangerous."
"Can we at least try it?"
"And risk you getting hurt? No. We can't. There's nothing we can do until he messes with us again. And I'm not going to let you fake around and kiss him and all knowing that you will hate it so much. I can't deal with that, Sam."
Sam sighs, sitting next to her.
"If he wants me, then I'll give him what he wants."
"No, Deena-"
"I'm not going to let him do his plans. I'm going to make him think that he can. You going to change or just stay in that? Party time, Fraser."
She nods slowly, following Deena upstairs. Simon runs out of the bathroom, shirtless. "Dude, where are your button ups?"
She walks into her room and throws Simon a polkadot button up, Kate grabbing to cover herself but then realizing it was just Deena.
Deena walks to the closet and throws on a flannel and jeans, giving Sam her multicolored sweater and a pair of jeans. Kate had thrown Deena's sweater and sweatpants on, and they all looked at Simon, who was in matching polkadot shirt and khakis.
"Don't get beer all over that," Deena jokes. "Really though, I like that outfit so keep it clean for me."
Simon nods, and him and Kate walk out of the room so Deena and Sam could change. They undress of their articles of clothing, and Deena throws a button up and jeans on. Once they're both done getting dressed, they walk downstairs and get in the car.
Once they arrive at the party, they all stick together, and Simon starts to drink. But as he's filling up his third cup, Kate slaps it out of his hands, and it spills all over the floor. "What the fuck?" he questions. "Tonight is serious. We can't let you be extremely drunk," she fires back.
"There he is," Sam whispers in an aggressive tone. They all look at the door, and there he is, looking around at everybody there. "Duck!" Deena says, pulling Sam down. And when Briar doesn't spot them around, he just goes to get some drinks.
When Deena gets back up, she spots him, kissing some girls who were in this line. She clenches her fist, but she releases it when she feels Sam hold it.
They eventually split up into groups of two, Deena and Kate walking together and Simon and Sam walking together.
And it was all going fine, at some points they'd even mess around together, until Deena and Kate ran right into Briar. Literally.
Deena had literally walked right into him, and he just laughed, watching as she backed up. Kate grabs her by the arm, the two of them slowly backing up together. "You two at a party, again? Even after it seems to never go right, Deena?"
Deena just gulps, still walking back slowly with Kate. "You know, I miss when you two were a couple and you stopped messing with my girl."
Kate just rolls her eyes. Once they reach the fence wall, Kate steps in front of Deena, arms crossed. "What do you want from us?"
"I want her. Not you, Kate."
"Well too bad, because you won't be getting to lay a hand on her when I'm here."
And so he steps forward, picking Kate up by her shirt collar and pushing her up against the rough, concrete fence. "Does it hurt you, Deena? To see the people you care about being hurt? Then why don't you step up, be so brave like you claim to be."
Kate shakes her head at Deena, mouthing "no." But Deena couldn't take it, she steps forward, kicking him in the nuts with full force. As he backs up, Deena spots the jocks running up to her, and as she tries to run away, she's tripped and she falls down.
"You think he's with Deena and Kate?" Sam nervously asks, biting her nails.
"I don't kn-"
"Is this really what you want?" Deena asks, her nose bleeding, "you just want me to be beat up? Just so you can go and kiss a girl you know doesn't like it! All that just for that and even after you do all of it, you kiss a line of girls? You don't care about Sam, clearly the only thing here isn't just you wanting to fuck her. So what is it, Briar? You want me gone?"
"I want you to be in pain," he simply smiles. "And why? Is there a reason you want that?"
"Because, you're not normal, Deena Johnson! You're different. You're weird. Everybody hates you! Because you don't deserve to be loved. You don't deserve to be with a girl like you oh so want to. You need to be with a boy, who can change you. Make you into not such a weirdo. Into not such a freak. Sam doesn't even want you, I can assure you that! She's only getting close to you because of that stupid little play role. You deserve to have pain inflicted onto you, because you, are just a depressed piece of shit. And that's why. That's what I want."
Deena just stares, her fist unclenching. Usually, she wouldn't let jocks, or people who hated her get to her, because she was used to practically everything they would say. But this time, with every word he continued on, it felt like a sharp pain. And he wasn't going to stop giving her that sharp pain.
"Now, do you wanna see me hurt your friends, hurt Sam, or do you wanna give yourself up?"
Deena looks around, Simon, Kate and Sam were shaking their heads, but she still sighed. "What do you want?" she says, her voice weak.
"Stay still."
She nods, her hands by her side. He walks forward, grabbing her and pulling her to their car. Simon, Kate and Sam chase after, but the car was already driving up the road. "Go! Go! Drive!" Sam yells to Kate, who nods and starts the car, speeding after the two. They eventually caught up, and Briar noticed this, but he decided to ignore it.
"So, Deena-"
"Don't even start."
Kate honks, and she keeps honking, until Briar swerves across the road, making Kate gulp.
"What the fuck is your issue?" Deena yells.
"Shut up."
"Okay, they're catching up fast," Briar groans, "jump out of the car."
"What?"
"JUMP OUT OF THE CAR!"
Deena looks at the man who had his eyes focused on the road. "NOW! Or I'll-"
Deena opens the door, sighing before she slides out, rolling on the hard road and then falling down a trail of pebbles. "Stop! Stop the car!" Sam yells, and Kate pulls over, and they all jump out. They spot Deena, against a tree.
"Deena!" Sam yells. "Deena, not again."
She was there, just staring as the blonde girl pulls her up right. "I'm sorry," she mumbles, putting her hand over the cut on her arm.
"Please don't apologize," Kate mumbles, "Sam, take off your belt. Simon, get leaves. We need to cover up her scars."
Simon walks into the woods, sighing. He wasn't even in the mood to joke about anything, he was so, he couldn't explain it. He was sad, but he also had no motivation to even cry. He was so tired of everything like that happening to Deena because of some rumors. And that's why he was so insisted to do his idea he had got earlier.
He wanted to come out, so for once he could also get some shitting on, rather than all of it going to Deena. And he was really planning on doing so.
He sighs as he walks back with the leaves. Deena had the belt around her arm, and leaves sat on her cuts.
Later that night, when they were all back at the house, with Deena actually now having antibiotics and bandages on her cuts, she lay with Sam in bed as the blonde kisses her softly, and somehow, even in that moment, she made Deena smile slightly.
"You up for play practice tomorrow?" she smiles, and Deena just nods softly.
And the next morning, with the rain pouring down on the window, Deena got up and stood downstairs, at the dinner table, sighs falling off her lips.
And that's how she sat, for a while, with her thoughts, and the pain of the cut she got from rolling on the road. Until Kate got up, and just took a seat next to Deena. She expected her to say something, but Kate just sat there, understanding what Deena was going through. And Deena appreciated that more than she could explain in words.
And they just sat there, in silence, until Simon was woken up by Sam tripping over his legs, and he was slightly hungover. Deena and Kate laugh whilst Simon yells into a pillow and Sam groans. "You guys gonna get ready?" Sam yawns.
Deena gets up and kisses Sam on the forehead before walking up to her room, grabbing fresh clothes for everybody. She throws on her long gray sleeved shirt and short sleeved maroon one along with some oversized sweatpants. She grabs Simon's white shirt and red jacket that she had washed for him, along with a pair of sweatpants. She got out a sweater and jeans for Kate, and Sam just wanted to stay in the clothes she already had on.
So after everybody changed, they all got in the car again, and drove to school. "I want you guys to be at the cafeteria for lunch," Simon says, shutting his locker. Confused, Deena asks, "why wouldn't we be?" and Simon just stares. "Deena, you've ate lunch here in many places that aren't the cafeteria. And yesterday, we ditched so many classes, I know we had reasoning to but— just be there, please?"
Deena and Kate nod, all three of them going their separate ways to get to their classes.
First period was chemistry, and during that whole period, Deena and Sam shared glances at each other. And in English, Sam sat on Deena's lap for a while until they had to get to writing. Deena was almost done with her essay, and so was Sam. They were supposed to read them out to the class tomorrow, and Sam was stressed, nervous, but she knew she was doing what she had to.
And at lunch, Deena and Kate showed up like Simon had asked them to. Sam was there too, sitting with the cheerleaders, the people who had claimed to be her friends but in reality they all knew that they didn't give a shit about Sam.
Simon stood up on the lunch table, causing Deena to look up at him, moving her hands off the table so he had space to move around, if he needed to. Because Deena and Kate had no idea what he was doing, but he was clearly trying to get everybody's attention.
"Hey, people!" Simon yells. Some look up at him, but the loud chatter continues, and he sighs once he realizes they weren't paying attention.
"HEY! PEOPLE!" he yells as loud as he can, his throat hurting, but he didn't care. Practically everybody was looking up at him now, as he rubbed one hand through his messy blonde curls. He was nervous, but he knew he couldn't continue to watch Deena go through everything she does just because people assumed that she's a lesbian.
"Some of you might know me, some of you might not. I'm Simon Kalivoda, and I'm one of what you guys tend to call the outcasts. But I'm more than happy to be with them, they're my best friends. Deena Johnson and Kate Schmidt. Now, I know a lot of you will recognize those names. The cheer captain and the one girl that people hate, people beat up, just because some rumors spread that she was a lesbian. And do you know how dumb that is?"
"Simon-" Deena begins, but Kate covers her mouth with her hand.
"Because, Deena, she's one of the nicest girls I've ever met. And she doesn't deserve any of what some of you utter pieces of shit do to her. She never even confirmed if she was a lesbian, you all just ran with it, finding a reason to hate an innocent person. Deena is tough on the outside, but she's such a sweetie when you get to know her. And I love her. And so, I'm tired of seeing one of my best friends being beat up, physically and mentally, just because of some rumors. So, here's something about me that isn't a rumor, and is coming from me directly."
"Simon," Deena says, and Simon just looks at her, giving her a thumbs up. "I want to do this," he mouths, and Deena sighs, nodding.
"I'm gay."
Some gasps fall out, a bunch of mumbling and chatting, but Simon doesn't care. He sits down, and Deena just hugs him, and she doesn't stop. She hugs him until the end of lunch, and she couldn't thank Simon enough.
"I love you, Simon. Thank you."
"I love you too, Deens. Why did we ever go along with Dee? Deens is so much better," he rambles on, and Deena was happy that he was still being himself, being all giddy and taking stuff lightly or as a joke, and rambling on, even in those situations.
"Tell us if anybody bothers you," Kate smiles, hugging him. "I'm proud of you, Simon."
"I'm proud of you too," Sam smiles, walking over to their lockers.
"I love you guys," Simon smiles.
"We love you too," they all reply.