Chapter four
A startled yelp tore from Anika's throat as she coiled into her seat at the suddenness of being awoken by a rude hit to the underside of her chin. Her bottom jaw painfully caught her tongue and instantly the salty metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. During the trip, Ryleigh had somehow slumped far enough to her side of the car that his head had rested against her lap. She didn't even have time to curse before the next attack hit. Her eyes flew open as her vision was blurred by a hand, grabbing the side of her face and slamming her head into the window. Pain erupted inside her skull as she cradled her head and muffled her whimpers as her headache came back in full swing.
"Ryleigh!" Genevieve looked just as startled as Anika felt, turned around in the passenger seat to stare at the beautiful boy that just attacked her. Once the initial shock of having been hit wore off, Anika had her own things to say.
"What the hell guy?" she screamed, lifting her head up to give him her best death glare. His eyes widened as if he just realized what he did.
"Well?" Anika snapped.
"I-I..." he stuttered, his brows lifting and dropping in his flustered state.
"What's a girl have to do to not get hit around here?" she mumbled more curses and double checked to see if her head was still intact... and the window.
"Sorry alright. Just stay away from me." he scowled in annoyance at her, pushing himself away from her and over to his window. What the hell does he have to be annoyed at? Anika thought feeling what little control over her anger begin to slip.
"How 'bout you don't go slamming concussed people's heads into windows." she all but growled.
"What's your problem bitch?" he glared down at her. Oh, I'm the- I'll show him who's the female dog. Anika thought.
"Me? You're the problem. Who the hell just goes around hitting people that haven't done anything to them? What are you, psychotic? Wait, don't answer that. Of course you're crazy. You're going to Camp Silver Lake where troubled youth can get help." Anika mimicked Genevieve's high-pitched voice. Speaking of the overly perky Silver Lake member, the blond was desperately trying to separate the two and therefore prevent a fight that was bound to happen in the back seat.
Ryleigh gave a short humorless chuckle. "Well obviously you're crazy too since you're here as well."
"I shouldn't be here!" Anika defended. Her deadly grey glare met his equally promising deep blue one.
"Right. Because I'm sure you're so innocent." he rolled his eyes.
"You don't know anything about me!"
"I know that you need to take it down a notch." he made a show of wiggling his index finger in his ear. With an internal scoff, Anika returned to looking out the window and tried to count down from ten to cool her anger before she did something she would regret later on. Quite possibly something that would be an actual reason for her to be shipped off to this camp. Like say... kill the kid.
"Ryleigh, this is Anika." Anika snapped her gaze to Genevieve and gave her an 'are you mad?' look. Ryleigh muttered a heated "Whatever" before looking out his window.
Genevieve continued. "Anika vandalized city property with her graffiti. She's lived on the streets for a while and a week ago her mother-"
"You don't know me either so stop acting like you do or care." Anika felt angry tears prick at the back of her eyes at the thought of that night but she forced all of her emotions back down to her stomach.
With a frown, Genevieve cautiously swung her gaze to Ryleigh who quickly averted her gaze.
"Ryleigh was nearly on the streets too. He was a drug dealer..." Genevieve carried on with his life story but Anika was frozen replaying her last words. A fresh wave of loathing made her blood boil as she struggled to squash the urge to call him every foul word under the sun.
"... and well, with you're mother being a drug addict, you two could have something to talk about." Was this lady on drugs? Anika thought with a cold bitterness settling in her heart. There's no way I'm talking about my... mother- if she could even be called that- with a dealer like him. People like him were the reason she was dead in the first place. Anika wouldn't hesitate to admit she hated the woman just as much as she hated the drugs she took as if they were air and she couldn't get enough of them.
"Awesome, there's more!" Ryleigh dryly stated upon seeing the burning distaste in Anika's eyes.
"How can you even live with yourself? You sick bas-"
"Language." Genevieve gently interrupted, looking warily between the two teens. Good, Anika thought. If she didn't want another fight then she should have kept her mouth shut. So now, she was getting a fight and this time Anika wouldn't be backing down.
"Oh, so now you're verbally attacking me. A person who did absolutely nothing to harm you." Ryleigh shot her words back.
"The fact that dirty slimes like you even exist kill me." Anika sneered.
"So I take it you're not a fan of drugs." he leaned over to get in her face.
"I don't need some powder or pill to make myself feel better." she hissed, refusing to retreat back to her side of the car when he got closer.
A cocky grin lifted Ryleigh's lips. "Well, obviously your mother needed a lot of confidence boosting then, ay?"
"Don't you dare talk about her." Anika's low voice was thick with warning but Ryleigh continued to push the out of control wild fire in her eyes.
"Was mommy not perfect like her angelic daughter?" he taunted, watching the little vein in Anika's temple pulse in time with her racing heartbeat.
"You know, I think I might have seen her a few times." he pretended to think hard all the while studying Anika's dangerously red face. The idea of them associating was impossible seeing as they lived miles and cities apart. Hell, they could've been living in different states. Anika hadn't a clue where she was or where this correctional Silver Lake Camp was located as Larry continued to drive them out into the middle of no man's land.
"Yeah, the face is definitely there." Ryleigh paused and gave a nonchalant shrug. "Though she couldn't always match my price with cash..." he trailed off leaving Anika to pick up on his disturbed thoughts. Even though he knew she followed where he was going with it, Ryleigh continued anyway.
"She was remarkably talented but a bit too... attached for my liking. But, then again the woman would do anything for a dose of my finest." he smirked again and even went far enough to blow on his knuckles.
Without the slightest warning, Anika was unbuckled and throwing fist after fist at a shocked Ryleigh and filling the car with her swears before Genevieve could even begin to start yelling for her to stop.
"You deserve to rot in hell, you good-for-nothing, slimy, pig headed, ugly buffoon!" her onslaught of attacks continued where ever she saw an opening in Ryleigh's shield as he attempted to subdue her arms. Her own blood from her cracked knuckles mixed with the red crimson that was now gushing out of his nose after her latest hit.
The car had barely skidded to a stop before Larry and Genevieve were out of the vehicle and rushing to the back door. The air was painfully knocked out of her lungs as she found herself lying in the dirt under Ryleigh who somehow turned their position around when Larry threw open the door Anika had pinned him against. As if to get her all riled up again, Ryleigh managed a bloody, yet irritatingly smug grin down at her as he captured her wrists with his much larger hands. A strangled groan vibrated Anika's chest as she swiftly brought her knee up to his groin.
"How'd that feel you disgusting prick?" she growled and quickly resumed her battering once Ryleigh let her wrists go to cup his offended area.
A pair of thick arms ripped her off of Ryleigh as he went back to trying to contain her swinging arms and muttering death wishes directed at her.
Sometime during the battle, Anika had acquired a gathering of both teenagers who look eager to see some action and other Silver Lake staff and still, more seemed to be running in to find out what was going down. A rough growl had Anika's eyes snapping back to a fuming Ryleigh who was struggling against another man's hold. A small flicker of panic made her heart beat even more wildly as a hand and cloth rapidly filled her vision. A sickly strong smell burned her nose and immediately made her vision waver as sleepiness threatened to take over but she wasn't finished yet. With on last blind kick in the cursing Ryleigh's direction, she grinned under the cloth as her foot came in contact with what she guessed was his shin, which entitled a louder volume of threats. Satisfaction had her body humming from her scalp to the soles of her feet along with the adrenaline coursing through her veins as she was dragged away from the scene, both physically and mentally with the help of the chemical soaked cloth over her face and whoever painfully jostled her with their grip around her waist.