"Savannah!" Ariel sings into my ear very loudly. I peel my eyes open slowly, my whole body feeling tired as I register the teenage girl jumping on the bed next to me. "Wake up!" She continues to sing, not looking down at me to notice I already am awake. "School starts in an hour!" That causes me to sit up. The sudden move of the covers causes Ariel to slip, falling backwards, thankfully landing on the bed. "What's wrong?" She frowns, noticing my sudden look of panic.
"I don't have anything to wear to school." I tell her, looking across at my clothes sat on top of Ariel's desk. I can't go to school wearing the same clothes as yesterday. That'd just give Aline a new topic to bully me about.
"Oh, you can wear something of mine." Ariel says lightly, waving her hand in a dismissive way to show its no problem at all. Even though the idea of wearing Ariel's clothes worries me more. She dresses a lot different to how I usually would. For example, she always wears leather jackets; I don't think I could pull one off. And she always has heels on her boots, but I suppose I can still wear my converse.
Once I've showered, I walk back into Ariel's room in a towel, seeing she's laid an outfit out for me on the bed. Even a set of undergarments that still have the label on are laid out. A small smile takes over my lips as I close the door to change. I drop the towel, pulling on the undergarments quickly, then I dress into the black skinny jeans and grey t-shirt with a skull printed on the front. Completing the outfit is, of course, a black leather jacket.
As soon as I pull the jacket on, there's one short knock at the door then Ariel waltz's in, carrying a black backpack and a pair of chunky heeled boots. She hands them over to me with a wide smile before stepping back to inspect me.
"Can't I wear my converse?" I ask pleadingly, holding the shoes away from me like I'm scared of them, which I am a little.
"No, they go better with the outfit." She says sternly, giving me a no nonsense look. I know there's no point arguing with her so I sit down on the bed to pull the boots on, which are a perfect fit for me. I stand back up and realise Ariel is looking at me proudly. "You look badass." She tells me.
"I look just like you then." I chuckle, gesturing towards her outfit. She's wearing a pair of black leather leggings, with a white t-shirt, a leather jacket with large silver buttons over it and a pair of black, high heeled boots with multiple buckles on them. She laughs with me, nodding ironically.
I reach for the hair tie on my wrist, about to tie my hair up in my usual bun, when Ariel shakes her head sharply, stepping towards me. "Leave your hair down." She instructs me, pulling my hair back over my shoulders so it shapes my face. I've been cutting my own hair for the past five years, but I've never been brave enough to cut loads off, so my hair is quite long. It stops a couple of inches above my belly button. The dark brown shade of my hair just adds to the whole badass look. "You look great." Ariel smiles, stepping back to pick up her own bag.
I pick up the bag she gave me, glancing inside to see she's stocked it with notebooks, pens and pencils. Thankfully, the text books I need for today are in my locker, along with my calculus homework that I completed in school so I just left it there.
We don't see any of the guys as we head down to the kitchen. Ariel walks straight to the refrigerator, pulling out two bottles of water and handing one to me. I take it gratefully, placing it into the backpack Ariel gave me.
"What's that?" I ask her as she picks up what looks like a sticky note with money attached to it off of the refrigerator door. There's something written on the sticky note but I can't see it. I did have reading glasses when I was younger but my dad didn't take me back to get bigger ones when I grew out of them at 14. Now I've just gotten used to not being able to see things in the distance. Which is another reason why I sit at the front of the class, because I can't see the blackboard from anywhere else.
"My school money from Kirk. I have my own money but he insists on paying for my lunch and other school supplies." She says with a roll of her eyes, pulling the sticky note off of the money only to reveal another sticky note underneath with more money attached to it. She frowns, reading that sticky note, before a wide smile takes over her face. Without another word, she hands the sticky note over to me. I look down at it in confusion, reading it to see there's only one word written on it.
'Anna' it reads, telling me instantly that this sticky note is also from Kirk. I start to shake my head, trying to hand the sticky note back to Ariel.
"I can't take money from him." I tell her insistently, placing the note down onto the counter when she won't take it back from me.
"Savannah, he has plenty of money, ten dollars is not going to hurt him. Also, he's just trying to do something nice, let him." She says with a sigh. He's already been nice enough to me. Before I have a chance to say anything else, Ariel takes the money off of the sticky note and shoves it into my jacket pocket, zipping it up after. "Lets go." She smiles, effectively dropping the conversation. That is the first and last time I'll take money from Kirk Viper.
Ariel stops me from getting out of her car when we pull up to the school, taking a light hold of my wrist. I'm half tempted to use my new technique on her to show her what I can do but I decide against it. I turn back to look at her curiously as she places something into my hand, closing my fingers around it.
I look down to see an iPhone in my hand. I'm not sure what generation it is, but it's quite small and thin. It's completely black with not one scratch on it.
"That's my old phone. My number is in it, as well as Kirk's, Logan's and Elian's." She tells me. Oh yeah, I found out Blondie's name is Elian, but the gang call him 'Smokes'. I didn't ask why. "I want you to call me or any of the guys if you ever need us." The look on her faces tells me not to argue against this.
"I will." I promise, giving her a small smile before shoving the phone into my jacket pocket.
I follow Ariel into the cafeteria at lunch time, once again gaining unwanted attention. Today has been strange; people haven't looked at me with disgusted expressions, they've stared, but something about everyone's looks was different. Except for Aline, she looked more disgusted by me, if that were even possible. She didn't approach me once though, which was a change I enjoyed.
After Ariel and I have bought our lunches; we both got pizza and fries, she leads me over to a table to the left of the room. There's only one person sat there, Logan Black. I haven't spoken to Logan in the short time that I've been around the gang. We've been in the same room but we've had no need to talk to each other. So, I sit down opposite him feeling a little uneasy. Ariel doesn't notice my discomfort, digging straight into her food after greeting Logan. I look down at my plate, slowly picking up a small fry.
"Savannah." I look up in shock at hearing Logan call my name. I'm not shocked to hear him talking, it was the softness to his tone. He said my name with a sort of delicacy, like he was worried I'd break if he spoke it any louder. Once he's seen he's got my attention, he continues, a small smirk on his face, probably from my gawking expression. "Kirk told me to tell you your first training session is tomorrow after school."
"Training?" Ariel asks in confusion before I get a chance to reply to Logan, which I'm kind of thankful for, because I don't think any sound would have came out of my mouth. Ariel looks at me accusingly, her eyes telling me to spill what ever I've been keeping from her.
"Uh, yeah. Kirk asked me to have some training sessions with Cole." I explain quietly, finally placing the now lukewarm fry into my mouth and chewing slowly.
"When?" She continues to ask, a frown now lining her brows.
"Last night." I whisper, staring down at my plate, noticing how the cheese of my pizza is slowly hardening as it gets cold. "I went to get a glass of water and he was in the training room. We spoke for a little and he convinced me it'd be good for me if I knew a little self defence." I pick up my pizza, taking a small bite while Ariel looks like she's processing my words. I can imagine the little cogs in her brain churning with this new information. In the short time I've known Ariel, I've realised how the blank face she wears around school is non-existent around the people she cares about. Every emotion she feels is evident on her face, which has mainly been happy, from what I've seen.
"Well, that's great. I'm glad you agreed to do it. But I want to be there, in your session." She says intently, the no nonsense look back on her face, like it is every time she says something she thinks I'll disagree with. She's wrong this time.
"I was actually going to ask you to come." I say matter-of-factly, raising my eyebrows in a sort of condescending, but playful, way.
"Good." Ariel says shortly in a huff, causing me to chuckle quietly. She fights it, but a small smile takes over her own lips.
"Thanks for telling me, Logan." I finally reply to him, feeling a little more confident now that Ariel has made me feel comfortable. I'm always braver once I've adapted to a situation, it just takes me a little more time than others. He looks up at me with a small smile, nodding his head as a response to my words.
Ariel gives me a ride to Lenny's after school, parking her silver Volvo in the spot closest to the doors. She gets out with me, locking her car. I look at her with a confused expression, which she understands perfectly.
"I'm just getting takeout." She chuckles, reassuring me that she's not sitting there to look over me through my entire shift. Because, lets be honest, she probably would do that. I nod, giving her a small smile before leading the way into Lenny's. I see Janie as soon as we walk in, clearing a table. Her eyes bulge when she sees me before a smile takes over her lips. A sort of pleased expression shows on her face.
It's very quiet and I'm at work half an hour early, so I sit with Ariel while she waits for her takeout order to be made. Apparently, she's ordering for everyone in the house, or she's just very hungry. Either way, her order is going to take a while.
After a couple of minutes, Janie approaches our table holding a plate that has steam billowing off of it. She places it down in front of me with a smile. The plate contains a serving of Lenny's famous mac and cheese with a side of fries. Somehow, that man always knows what I want to eat.
"Thanks Janie." I smile widely at her, leaning over to the cutlery basket to pull out two forks. I hold one out towards Ariel, gesturing for her to take it. "You have to try this mac and cheese. It's the best you'll ever have." I promise her, moving the plate so it sits between us on the table.
"I don't know. I've had some pretty good mac and cheese before." Ariel smirks before picking up a small mouthful onto her fork, blowing at it to cool it down. As soon as she's put it into her mouth, I see the look. The look that everyone has when eating this mac and cheese. It's a look that shows all of their tastebuds are tingling right now with how good it is.
"Well?" I ask after I've taken my own bite.
"That's the best mac and cheese I've ever had." She admits with an ironic nod, instantly going in for another bite.
"I told you." I smirk, picking up a bit of mac and cheese and a fry onto my fork, eating them together, which also tastes amazing.
Fifteen minutes later, Ariel's order is finally ready. Two big bags are placed onto the table in front of her, both filled to the top with Tupperware containers.
"I'll pick you up for school tomorrow." She calls to me as she's leaving, not giving me a chance to tell her she doesn't have to before she's gone.
I take my empty plate through to the kitchen, placing it into the industrial sized dishwasher before heading over to the counter to put my bag on there. As I'm about to put on my apron, Lenny stops me.
"Actually, Sav, could you work in the bowling house tonight. Tommy's in there on his own." He asks me, a strange smile on is face when he says Tommy's name that confuses me slightly.
"Sure." I nod slowly, frowning at him one last time before placing my apron back onto the hook and heading to the bowling house. Tommy is behind the counter, looking rushed off of his feet, pouring drinks at the drink counter while a line forms for the lanes. I hurry over, jumping behind the lane counter to get the line down. I help each person, setting up their lanes over the system before inputting their price into the cash register. I don't work in the bowling house much but I enjoy it when I do. It's a nice change from the diner.
Once the line is gone and Tommy has finished at the drinks counter, he comes over to stand next to me, a grateful smile on his lips. "Thanks Sav. You really saved me there." He chuckles, leaning against the counter next to me. I notice his eyes not so subtly travel down my body, a look that he never gives me when I wear my baggy sweaters. "You look good today." He smiles lazily at me.
"Thanks Tommy." I say a little too brightly, my insides warming from his compliment. He's finally noticing me how I've wanted him to notice me for so long. What he does next though, I'm not so sure about. He leans back, his eyes travelling over the back of me before stopping on my butt for a couple of seconds. I squirm a little uncomfortably, not knowing what to say to him. I decide to just drop it. He's probably just reacting to my change in outfit.
I don't know how I feel about Tommy's hands on me. By the end of my shift, he'd touched my hips at least six times, each time making me incredibly uncomfortable. Touching my hip is not exactly the worst thing he could have done, but each time he did, a strange feeling came over me. I almost wanted to shiver from disgust and knock his hand off of me, but I didn't want to appear rush. This sudden feeling towards Tommy is confusing me. I've always had a crush on him, I've wanted him to look at me the way he did. And when he finally does it, I was wishing I could disappear.
Uncle Phil is waiting outside of Lenny's for me when I finish work, his truck still running. For some reason, I'm not surprised. I also wouldn't be surprised if the trucks still running so he could catch me easily if I tried to run away. But I don't. I head obediently over to his truck, pulling the passenger door open and climbing in.
Phil doesn't even look at me, pulling out of the parking lot before I even have my belt on. The whole drive is silent while Phil drives way above the speed limit, weaving through cars. I keep a hold of the sides of my seat the whole time, saying a prayer in my head when we make it to the house safely. I'm not a religious person but it just felt like the right time to do it. Uncle Phil always drives fast but never like that, never to the point where I actually fear for my life.
When we walk into the house, I'm not surprised to see my dad waiting in the hallway for us. I prepare myself for what's about to come, my whole body tensing up, until I realise how calm my dads face is. He looks at me with a bored expression.
"Go to bed." He says in a monotone voice, pointing towards the stairs lazily. It takes me a couple of seconds to realise he is actually talking to me. I'm straight up the stairs after that, rushing straight into my room and closing the door. I place my ear against it, checking they weren't coming after me, making this some kind of cruel joke. But, all is silent.
Could it be possible they're not angry with me? No, that can't be right. Whenever something happens to them, even if I've done nothing wrong, they always blame me. So, why are they not punishing me this time when I've done something wrong? Maybe, just maybe, they're afraid. They've obviously realised I'm deeper in with Kirk's gang than they knew. Maybe they think, if they touch me again, they'll have Kirk's gang to deal with.
Could life possibly be going well for me?
"Here. These will be more comfortable to train in." Ariel tells me as she hands me some folded clothes. I raise my eyebrows, giving her a little worried look, but she just smiles at me encouragingly. "Come to the training room when you're ready." She tells me lightly, leaving the room, closing the door after her.
I inspect the clothes she's given me, or rather lack of clothes she's given me. All I hold in my hands is a pair of black, lycra work out pants and a black sports bra that will leave very little to the imagination. But, it doesn't seem like I have a choice. It's either I work out in these or the clothes I'm wearing now, and that'll be both uncomfortable and too hot.
I begrudgingly change into the clothes Ariel gave me, trying to stretch the sports bra out a bit so it hides more, but to little success. It seems like this is the best I can do. I pull my converse back on before getting up to look in Ariel's floor length mirror. My body doesn't necessarily look bad right now, if you can ignore the wrap around my ribs and the huge bruises all over my body.
I just keep the thought in my head that I will never sustain these bruises again as I walk to the training room. It gives me the confidence to wear them proudly. I'm training to protect myself, so, if anyone tries to hurt me again, I can give them bruises. I'm not saying I'm going to go out hunting for revenge, but I do like the idea of giving my dad and uncle Phil exactly what they deserve.
Cole already has a couple of things set up when I walk into the training room. They all look simple, like a skipping rope and a small medicine ball. Ariel is sat to the side, crosslegged on the floor, looking down at her phone in her hands. Cole looks up at my arrival, smiling widely at me.
"Hey, you ready to start?" He asks brightly, walking towards me with some sort of red roll of fabric in his hands. I nod, smiling shyly back at him and walking further into the room. "Okay. Let me wrap your hands first." He gestures towards the red roll in his hands. He reaches forward and softly takes a hold of one of my hands. He places it out in front of me before apart the velcro on the wrap to release it. As it falls open, I realise there's another wrap attached to the end of the first one by its velcro.
Cole wraps both of my hands and wrists, telling me they'll protect me when I'm punching the bag. I nod, showing I'm listening to what he's telling me before he hands me the skipping rope.
He times me skipping for sixty seconds, telling me to speed up every now and then. I've never been good at skipping so I trip often, almost falling flat on my face at least twice. I'm already breaking into a sweat when Cole makes me move straight on to the medicine ball. I pick it up, almost dropping it in surprise by how heavy it is. Cole instructs me to lift the ball into the air, over my head, then drop it down into a squat, twenty times. Surprisingly, I find this easier than the skipping. Although, I do start to get a little discomfort from my ribs, I power through it.
Next, Cole has me laying on the floor on my back. He stands directly behind my head, telling me to wrap my hands around his ankles for support. Then, I have to lift my legs into the air without bending them, touching my feet against Cole's outstretched hands, then I drop them down, but they're not allowed to touch the floor. I have to repeat this twenty times. And, trust me, this warm up hurts. My whole stomach feels like it's cramping while my hamstrings feel like they're just going to drop out of my legs. Next, I have to repeat that but while rotating my legs, so they make a circle in the air, once again, twenty times.
"Okay, warm ups done." Cole announces while helping me to my feet, making me sigh in relief. I'm already covered in sweat and my throat is completely dry. "Take a quick break." He tells me. I nod, heading over to where Ariel is sat. She holds a towel and a bottle of water out to me. I take it gratefully, wiping my face and chest with the towel before sipping my water.
"How are you feeling?" She asks me curiously, placing her phone onto the ground next to her to give me her full attention.
"Really good, actually." I smile while wiping the towel along the back of my neck. Who would of thought working out actually makes you feel good? I surely didn't think it would.
"Wait until you actually start punching stuff. That feels great." She smiles mischievously.
She was right. For the next fifteen minutes, Cole has me doing sparing into his hands, while he's wearing some huge gloves that look a lot like boxing gloves but they're kinda cupped. He teaches me different combos, including swinging towards my head to teach me how to dodge hits. Then, we move on to the punching bag. Cold holds it still while telling me to repeat the combos we just practiced. I'm really getting into hitting the punching bag, feeling all of my anger from the past five years coming out of me, when a voice from behind me disrupts me.
"That's enough for today." Kirk says strongly from the doorway, his eyes on me.
"Why?" I ask with a frown, turning to completely face him, my breathing coming out in harsh gasps.
"You're in pain." He replies surely, gesturing towards the wrap on my ribs. He's right, I am in pain, but its pain I'm used to so it's easy to ignore. I know I could cause more damage but I'd stop if it got too bad.
"I'm fine." I sigh, crossing my arms over my chest as he walks further into the room, coming closer to me.
"Tell me your ribs aren't hurting at all right now." He demands, looking down on me with blazing eyes. I can't name the emotion behind his eyes right now, but it's enough to make a blush rise to my cheeks. I don't have a clue why. My face is already flushed from working out so the blush isn't noticeable, but it disarms me a little. The space between Kirk and I is minimal now as he awaits my answer. I glare at him for a couple of seconds, debating wether to lie, but I have a feeling he'll know if I do. So, I look down to the floor, because I don't have the willpower to admit I'm in pain. "You're done for the day." He repeats adamantly before turning and leaving the room without another word.