It kept ringing. I hung up from the sixth call I had gave her. Why wouldn't she answer?
"Come on. I have a first aid kit in my mother's car." I said to Spider, furious about my cousin not answering her phone.
We had ran towards the bushes, hiding behind them.The guy hadn't followed us, we were safer than on the beach but Spider was bleeding out and we needed to get to my car.
"Where's your car?" He painfully groaned, probably because of his injuries.
"Back at the festival, a few roads down the site. You can stay here and I'll get it. Don't worry."
"No." He quickly exclaimed. "The guy's still around, it's not safe alone. Let's go."
He took me by the wrist and put our bodies in motion, we walked past the beach, some neighborhoods and finally made our way back. I unlocked my car and sat at the passenger side, opening the glove compartments to take the first aid kit.
"Sit down." I said to Spider pointing to the car's hood and he hardly did that, groaning through gritted teeth at his every move.
I opened the bag and started looking for alcohol, gauze and some bandages to patch Spider up. After that, I finally took the time to analyze his injuries. I hated myself for letting it happened, for letting him fight my battles.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey." He exclaimed, quickly jumping back on his feet. He placed his fingers under my chin and lifted my head towards the moonlight. "You're bleeding."
The adrenaline made everything numb but it slowly started fading once he mentioned my injury. I started to acknowledge them. I touched my lips, blood dripping from them which I swiped with my fingers.
"Let's sit down. The both of us." He said putting his hands on my shoulders and moving me to the car's hood. He took the alcohol wipe and started cleaning up the wound on my bottom lip and chin.
"I'm so stupid."
"Stop talking, I'm trying to clean the blood."
"I shouldn't have come tonight. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have had too much to drink. Maybe I did tease him, maybe I did d-"
"Stop this. It's not your fault." He firmly said, his reaction made me jumped a bit, he had said it louder than he wanted to. "That guy's a pig."
"I guess." He finished wiping the blood. I licked my lips, they tasted like alcohol, they tasted the same as nail removers smell. "Your turn." I said as he sat besides me.
"Do you think this needs stitches?" He asked referring to his forehead injury.
"Nah. It doesn't look that deep. You were lucky."
I took a new wipe and started cleaning his forehead. I wasn't comfortable and with him being so tall, I got closer to his body. I laid both my legs on one of his and pulled his blonde hair back. I continued cleaning his wound.
"Stop looking at me like that." I exclaimed feeling his intense gaze on me, our faces inches away and tension up the roof.
"You stick your tongue out when you're focused."
"Bad habit."
"It's cute."
I glanced at him and scoffed at his comment. He had noticed something I had never even realized. It made my heart melt but I tried my best to hid it.
"Stand still. I'm loosing my balance, here."
He put his hand on my lower back restraining me from falling off the car's hood. I finally finished cleaning the few scratches he had. I let go of his hair and took the time to scanned every parts of his face. I could feel our bodies moving closer and closer from one another. I couldn't control anything, my heart was beating faster and my palms were sweating. He slowly brushed my lips with his thumb, caressing them as I stared up at his eyes focusing on my lips. We barely knew each other and yet, he defended me. Twice, Spider put himself in danger to help me, a stranger. I have always red about this kind of attraction between two person. The ones that never had a logical explanation on how two people had this magnetic tension, always finding one another in the most chaotic situations. I didn't know if I would even see Spider again. But I had a hunch, that some day our paths would cross again.
"I need to go."
"Stay." He softly replied, scrunching his eyebrows.
I didn't need much convincing because deep down, I wanted for him to say this. I nodded and we both smiled at one another. We laid on the car holding each other. Even if the night was cold, my heart was warm. Spider's arms were warm and I seriously thought I would rest in them forever. My phone buzzed, it was Violet. But I didn't want to talk to her, she had ditched me, ignored me all night and wasn't there when I needed her the most.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah." I paused focusing back my attention to Spider. I kissed him passionately like I've never kissed anyone before. "Everything's great."
From: Ant
Can we talk today?
I put my phone face down on the table, next to my basket of fries. I looked out the window while biting on one of the chippies, frustrated. Amerie, Quinni and Darren were chatting about our possible plans for New Year's Eve. We were sitting in a booth at Harry's, Darren still in their uniform.
"JJ, are you even listening to us?" Amerie exclaimed snapping me out of my anger bubble.
"Yes, yeah. I'm down for whatever."
"New year's gonna be epic. We must attend the hottest party in town. I want some action."
They continued planning and looking to which party we should attend. I half-listened to what they said, I thought about Ant. About the other night's dinner and how it all went downhill. It was supposed to be a beautiful moment, an important step for our relationship but it was a disaster.
"Okay, babe. Spill the tea, my break's over in 15." Darren said picking a fry up to their mouth, chewing it in a sassy way.
"You can trust us. What happened?" Quinni asked turning her body on the booth to face me. I sighed.
"I had Christmas' dinner at Ant's."
"Oh. You guys aren't in the casual stage anymore." Amerie smirked but I cut her off before she could get any ideas.
"I left. Or maybe his mother kicked me out. Either way, it went badly."
Their eyes widened and they gave each other's looks, worried and intrigued ones.
"I wasn't religious enough for her." I added.
"That's harsh. It's fucking 2022, your beliefs are your choice." Amerie said.
Quinni went to hug me but my phone buzzed on the table, making our embrace brief. Darren brutally took it from across the table before I could.
"What? I want to bullshit-proof it for you. It's for your own good." They said as they shoved it in front of my face to unlock it. "From Ant: Meet me at the basketball court in an hour." Darren red the text out loud.
"What do I do?" I asked my friends in very need of their tips. I hadn't talked to Ant since the dinner but I missed him. So very much. I wanted them to say I should meet him. I tried the cooling off act for a few days, but it was all a facade. I had waited for this particular moment when he would write to me.
"Go." Quinni excitedly screamed, she jumped out of the booth and pulled me out of it by the arm. Darren got up, handed me my cellphone and gave me a little push towards the doors.
"Go my little dove. Go get your man."
"Get some dick for those who can't." Amerie shouted.
I chuckled and mouthed stop to them. I wasn't actually embarrassed of the few witness in the restaurant, I was just glad I had these idiots as friends. I exited Harry's and got in my mother's car. I drove to the basketball court, the one next to the school grounds. When I arrived, Hartley High's looked like a ghost town. It was weird seeing it so quiet. No students playing, running, walking, chatting, laughing, nothing was making the soil trembling. I spotted Ant sitting, his back laying on the metal fence. He had his white cap on backwards and played with the basketball in between his legs, making it do little bounces. I went and sat besides him, both of us staring at the horizon. I bit the insides of my lips and cheeks, I was worried of what he might say. I didn't like him having this much power over my happiness. Because yes, right now, he was the one making me happy.
"You know you're enough, right?"
He spoke up and I directly turned my head but he was still looking in front of him. I kept on staring at his face, at his expression wishing it would give me a hint on how he was feeling.
"Didn't feel like it, the other night."
"But you are. You're more than enough. You're every guy's dream girl."
"You shouldn't have let your mother talk to me like that."
"I know." He sighed. "I can't stand up to her, I never could. And I'm sorry, I wished things were different."
"Do you still want to be with me?"
He finally turned his head and looked directly in my eyes before replying. I felt my cheeks burn.
"Are you kidding? Being with you is worth every fights with my mother. She could kick me out for all I care if that meant I could be with you."
I felt my face softened and I smiled.
"Damn. You're good." I chuckled looking away, I could feel my cheeks becoming more red by the second. He laughed to the compliment.
I put my hands on my face, trying to hide my flushed cheeks. This boy made me feel like a kid all over again. In the same motion, I pushed back my hair behind my ears, I needed to get a hold of myself, of the butterflies flying around in my stomach. Something I have never thought I would be feeling again, with someone else. A little part of me always wondered if it was really Ant making me feel that way or the fact that he was giving me the attention I was so craving for.
"Come here." I said as I pulled him by his shirt's collar and locking lips with him. We kissed passionately, the butterflies slowly fading as our kiss stopped. He spoke up.
"So what are we doing for New Year's Eve?"
________________________________
AUTHOR'S NOTE
hello hello!
I hope you are all enjoying this new chapter. There will be a few more before ending Justine's story.
However, I still have a lot of inspiration so I've just published the first chapter of my new Heartbreak High Fic called PLAYMATE. With this one, I've chosen to write a more personal path to my oc and more unique content that doesn't necessarily follow the original story of the show.
Anyways, go check it out! Don't forget to follow me on tik tok @/emcithy to see edits of our faves!
I will see you when the next chapter is published!
Much love xxx