Vance strikes Robin in the center of his face and Robin stumbles back, stunned and confused on who just hit him and why.
Vance grabs him by the his hair and yanks him down onto the grass where he starts throwing punch after punch after punch. "Fuck away from my girl!" He shouts in his face, momentarily pulling his punches to spit on him. I lunge at Vance and throw myself onto his back.
"What the..." I struggle to pry him off of Robin. "Fuck are you doing, dipshit?!" I mutter in his ear through gritted teeth.
He grunts and shrugs aggressively to get me off of him. I wrap my arms around his neck but he's stronger and grabs both of my wrists, hurling me onto the grass. He stands, fuming, chest rising and falling rapidly. I can hear his ragged breaths while he glares at me with his angry eyes. I squint up at him. His hands are balled up into fists and he turns back to Robin.
Next thing I know, Robin's already back on his feet. He bolts towards Vance, knocking him off of his own with his forearms.
A small crowd has formed around us. The boy Robin was talking to is cheering. I get up and stare at the two boys in front of me.
Robin is on Vance, straddling him with his fist raised. He brings it down, not on Vance's face, but his throat. I hear a half-choke, half-gagging noise and then Vance's hands go from trying to push Robin off, to clutching his neck.
The crowd has doubled in size. People shout in excitement when they see Robin get thrown off of Vance. The shouting increases once Vance stands and Robin scrambles to his feet. They glare at each other, both daring the other to strike first.
Robin does. He lowers his head and lunges at Vance's torso, trying to get him on the ground again. Vance expects this, and grabs Robin's shoulders, pushing him away hard enough to get him to trip over his feet and nearly fall.
He grabs a fistful of Robin's shirt collar with one hand and uses the other to strike a blow deep into his gut. Robin doubles over and groans. Blood and a trail of saliva drips from his mouth.
When Vance strikes his gut a second time and aims for a third, that's enough to get me going.
I'm behind Vance in an instant, grabbing fistfuls of his hair and yanking it. I lean back on my heels and Vance throws his head back, screaming in agony. I pull again, harder and sort of crouch to get more of an impact because Vance is still holding onto Robin.
Vance throws him onto the ground and turns to see who's attacking him, his hair now out of my reach. There's long blonde strands in between my fingers. I study Vance's face. His nose is crooked and bruised and bleeding. His bottom lip is busted and cut and trembling with anger. His throat is turning a nasty blue colour and his nostrils are flaring. I take a step back.
He looks terrifying.
He glares at me and then at Robin, who's on the ground, clutching his middle with both arms. Without saying a word to anyone, he walks away from the school.
I stare after him as he leaves, as does everyone else in the crowd.
What is it with him? One minute we're cool, he wants to be cool with me. The next, he's back with his fucking glare.
I crouch beside Robin and the crowd slowly starts to lessen, no longer interested.
"You okay?" I ask, helping him up.
He grins and shakes his head. His nose is bleeding and when he spits on the grass beside him, blood comes out.
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and I wrap one around his waist to help him back into the school. "You think the nurse is still here?" I ask.
He shrugs and when we get to the double-doors, it doesn't matter because they're locked. "Well, shit," I murmur.
"It's okay, Bella—"
"Not my name."
"—it'll heal on its own. It's fine. Promise," He takes his arm off my shoulders and I lay mine back on my side. I watch for a little while he limps around, occasionally wincing and clutching his stomach, trying to convince me that he's fine.
I shake my head and smile. "No chance. Let me and my brother take you to the doctor or something."
"I don't need a doctor for a little bruising," He tries to laugh to play it off, but then winces and his hand flies to his middle. It's definitely not a little bruising.
I purse my lips. "I'll pay for the check up."
"Let's go."
~~~~~
Jeremy is leaning against the hood of his car in the school parking lot, sharing a cigarette with... Bruce's brother's girlfriend? What was her name? Vivian? Violet?
"Vanesa?" Robin questions when he sees them.
"Shit. Yeah. How d'you—"
"She used to date my older brother, Carlos, until he found her fucking some other guy."
Jeremy looks our way. He sees Robin and then leaves Vanesa leaning against the car. He gives me a look and then takes my arm and drags me away from them. Robin join Vanesa and she shares the cig.
"Can we take him to the doct—"
"Absolutely not. Where the hell did you find the little beaner, the street? Fuck that. I'm not letting no wetback in my car, I just got it cleaned. And look at the guy, Anna. He's bloody and dirty and—"
"I'll share my allowance with you for two months."
"Okay."
We walk back to the car and Vanesa sits in the passenger seat on the ride to the hospital. Robin and I sit in the back.
I like to do that. Throw money at things until they go my way. It makes things simple and easy.
I don't always do it, though. I like to work for what I have, but sometimes when hard work won't get me what I want, money is always up for grabs.
I look at Robin, who's looking out of the window. I scoot closer to him and look down at his knuckles, which are bleeding. I take his hand in mine and his eyes dart from the window to my hands. I run my thumb over the blood and wipe some of it away with my coat sleeve.
I hold his hand in my lap the rest of the way there, staring at his torn and bruised knuckles.
"I'll wait here while you get him checked," Jeremy tells me when he finds a parking space. He stops the car and Robin and I climb out.
The hospital lights make me feel sick, so when I sit in the waiting room waiting for Robin, I have to look down at my shoes to try to keep myself from throwing up. There's a vending machine in the corner of the room. I slip a dollar bill into it and press on the Sprite button. The soda can falls from the bottom. I get another for Robin.
I signed the paperwork at the front desk the moment we stepped in. I used Jeremy's credit card information because if Mom and Dad found out I used their money to pay for someone else's health insurance, they'd give me lecture after lecture after lecture.
When Robin comes back out into the lobby, his knuckles and nose are bandaged. "So what happened?" I ask as we walk outside to Jeremy's lowrider.
He opens the soda and takes a long sip. I open the door for him and he slides into the car. He looks at me and lifts up his shirt so that I can see his entire torso is wrapped in bandaging. "Broken rib. Fractured nose. You know, the usual," he grins. "Like I said, perfectly fine. Broken ribs mend themselves. Eventually."
I shake my head and smile. "Of course."
I slam the door behind me and smile when Jeremy glares at me through the rearview mirror.
"You sure you're all right, bud?" Jeremy asks Robin as we pull out of the parking space. Robin nods.
"Yeah. Thanks for driving me."
"No problem. Caring is just kinda my thing, ya know?" Jeremy smiles a sweet smile and I mock it in the mirror to make sure he knows how stupid he looks.
"You wanna stay at mine for a bit or do you wanna get dropped off at your house?" I ask Robin.
"Probably my place. Thanks for everything, though, Bella."
"Not my name."
"Sorry, Bells."
I roll my eyes and smile. Robin tells Jeremy his address and when we pull into his driveway, I step out of the car with him.
I wrap my arms around his shoulders. "I am so sorry about this. Paying was the least I could do, really. Vance is a dick. I don't know what got into him. But I mean, you put up a hell of a fight."
He smiles at me when I pull away. He kisses my cheek and then walks away towards his front door. My fingers hover over the spot where his lips touched and slide back in the car.
"When I told you that you should go watch a movie with him, I was just trying to piss you off. You better not be messing around with that kid, Anna. I mean it."
"Shut up," I huff and fasten the seatbelt. With Robin gone, I can study the girl in Jeremy's car. Vanesa. "So, Vanesa," I begin, smiling wide. "How's Junior? And I suppose you also know Amy?"
Vanesa's face freezes a bit. "Who?"
"Junior. Your boyfriend? The one you were with last Friday. Come on. You know, Bruce's older brother."
Jeremy's car screeches to a halt on the side of the road a few houses from ours and looks at Vanesa.
"I don't know who you're talking about. That wasn't me," She stammers.
"I told you that I don't like you around that fucking Junior Yamada. I told you that I don't like the way he looks at you," Jeremy's voice is cold and hard. "Anna get out and walk home, I have to talk to Vanesa for just a bit."
"I'm not walki—"
"Out!" He shouts. His hands are wrapped around the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles are turning white. "Now," his voice is trembling and he exhales a shaky breath.
I get out of the car and start walking home. When I unlock the door, I can already tell that something's wrong. I take a step backward and look out at Jeremy's car down the street.
Mom and Dad aren't home, they're working late tonight.
But there's someone in here. I can feel it.
I climb up the stairs and when I open the door to my room, I know why. Vance is sitting on my bed, bruised and angry.
"Sit," he tells me when I shut the door. "I wanna talk to you."
word count: 1853
a/n bru i deadass cant get that one song outta my head it goes like I HAVE LOVED YOU FOR MANY YEAAARS MAYBE I AM JUS NOT ENOUGHHH😫😫 literally fav song ever. also my ego is stretched out rn cus i jus rizzed this girl laura n shes soooooo fine when i tell u she looks just like becca but with darker skin and longer hair wit curtain bangs she is SO MF BEAUTIFUL. i gave her my number n she texted me n then left me on read when i replied so id say its going great