Emma Pov.
It was the next morning & I took a long sip of my iced almond milk latte I had made this morning. I was currently sitting in my car in the school parking lot, not wanting to go outside & into the cold air. I was a little early anyway. I snuggle further into the faded pink hoodie I was wearing & sigh, putting my now empty drink into the cup holder of the car.
I looked up from my phone, stopping my scrolling through my Instagram feed to look out the windows of my car as students passed by. I watched as this one slender looking guy walked by with his hood up, his posture seeming oddly familiar. I sat up in the seat & tried to get a better look at the mysterious guy. Then he turned his head in my direction for a moment & my stomach lurched. It was Jack Dail....but you could barely tell that by his bludgeoned face. What the fuck?! Who would have-Ethan. He didn't.
My eyes widened in realization & I yanked the keys out of the ignition, grabbing my backpack off of the passenger's seat & opening the car door to step out in the frosty air. It was getting colder each day as the beautiful autumn season neared the harsh winter. I shoved my hands along with my keys in the pocket of my hoodie & walked quickly into the school, shoving the main doors open.
I glanced around the hallway, scanning around for that inky-haired feisty kid. My eyes then landed on him, leaning against his locker wearing a thick grey hoodie as he ruffled through his backpack looking for something. I lowered my eyes & jogged over to him. Once I reached him I smacked his shoulder with mild lower & he turned to look at me.
"Ethan! What the hell did you do?" I whisper yelled & Ethan looked as if he was thinking for a moment, before opening his mouth. "He deserved it." Was all he said & I scoffed. "Still, Ethan, you could get suspended now if Jack tells the principal and I told you it's nothing." I explained, causing Ethan to turn his head sharply towards me & move closer. "It is not. Nothing. He had no fucking right to do anything of the sort to you." He stated, poking a finger at me lightly right above my chest. His jaw was clenched & that hard look was back in his eyes, staring to breathe heavy with anger. If I really looked at his cold eyes, I could tell that he was indeed wearing contacts. I guess I just never gave a shit before so I never noticed. I sighed in defeat, reaching up my hand to gently stroke the side of his face. "Okay, calm down, E." I said softly & rubbed the skin on his cheek until his features softened completely, weak at the affection.
"Just say sorry to him, please?" I asked & Ethan pursed his lips together tightly, before rolling his eyes & sighing. "Fine." He muttered, slamming his locker shut after grabbing his folder for Spanish. I dropped my hand from his face & was about to walk to Spanish when I felt Ethan tug on the sleeve of my hoodie. I turned to him with a confused expression, wondering what he wanted. He just pulled my arm back over to him gently & pushed the sleeve of my hoodie up suddenly, examining my arm that had extremely faint red prints from yesterday.
"Do they hurt?" Ethan asked quietly, running his finger over the tainted skin on my arm. I gently grabbed his wrist & pulled him off of my arm, pushing my sleeve back down into place. "No Ethan, they don't. I told you it's fine, it was my decision to let you use me as a pain reliever. Not yours." I stated & he just shook his head slowly, still staring at my sleeve that was by my side. "Okay, to Spanish we go." I announced, hearing the bell ring. He nodded & walked by my side in a comfortable silence to our first hour.
Having Spanish for first hour really drags on, especially when the teacher is all snobby & Hispanic. But I got through it, now walking towards my locker to trade out my Spanish folder with my notebook for social studies instead.
I turned my lock code smoothly on the cold-metaled door, opening it as it creaked. I tossed my Spanish folder in my backpack & grabbed my notebook for my next class, slamming the rusty door shut to head towards the classroom that was full of history.
On the way to my second period though, I had to go to the bathroom. I felt like I was about to piss my pants. Damn iced almond milk latte. I sighed, turning to look up at the small clock on the hallway wall & noticing that I had around three minutes to take my little bathroom break. I took it & practically ran into the bathroom that was a few feet away, dropping my notebook outside against the wall to wait. I rushed into a stall & locked it shut behind me, relief flooding through me.
After doing my business, I flushed the toilet & walked over to one of the porcelain sinks to begin washing my hands in the warm, soapy water. I glanced up at my reflection in the dirty mirror & made sure my foundation on Jack's bruise he cause yesterday was keeping it covered. It was.
A few seconds passed & I shut off the faucet of running water, grabbing a few paper towels & hastily drying my hands. I walked out of the bathroom & bumped into somebody on accident, too busy looking down at the water droplets left on my slim hands. I heard the person scoff & I looked up to see who it was. Meredith.
"What's a little whore like you doing in here sweety? Looking for another taken guy to fuck?" Meredith spat & my eyebrows furrowed. How did she know about Ethan & I on the night of the messed up party? "And yes, I do know what happens. Your little boy toy would tell me everything when we were dating." Meredith continued & I sighed. "You should talk, all you ever do is fuck guys left and right. All for your own pleasure. You never think about a guy's feelings, just fuck, have a fake relationship as you fuck other guys & then leave them." I stated, glaring at the bitch. Her lip curled up into a snarl & she was about to say something but I pushed past her to leave to my second class.
I felt Meredith grab me by the hood of my hoodie & dragged me back so my back hit the tiled wall of the bathroom. "I'm not done with you bitch." She growled our & I swallowed. Sure, we were both girls but she is way more nasty & more of a fighter than me. "You're a fucking cunt," She started & slapped me across the face harshly, "I leave Ethan for one fucking second and you gotta go and take him. Well guess what? You aren't even his type, I am. He'll never like you back slut." She explained, getting closer to my face as I held my cheek. Why was I always getting fucking hit?! "First of all you fake ass hoe, I don't even like Ethan! I'm his fucking friend because nobody else but me seems to give a shit about him if he's not fucking them!" I stated & she glared at me. "You lying whore! Shut the fuck up!" She raised her voice, punching me in the stomach & making me double over. I spit out the small amount of blood that raised up in my throat. "I'm not fucking lying bitch! If you want him back so badly then take him. It's not like he's mine you fucking idiot." I said lowly. How was this my problem? "I said shut the fucking hell up! I'll take him back once you're out of my way!" She said, raising her voice. I was about to look up at make a snarky remark but she grabbed my head & forced it to come down onto her knee harshly. My vision spotted for a moment & I fell onto the floor, feeling like I just got a concussion. "I'm not in your goddamn way. Jesus fucking Christ, when will you realize what I'm trying to fucking tell you?! I. Don't. Like. Him. Like that." I whispered, loud enough so that she could hear but quiet enough that I wouldn't give myself a bigger headache. "Yeah, and I'm supposed to fucking trust you why?" She said maliciously & I blinked lazily, my vision blurry as my head pounded. I shut my eyes for a split second.
Then I suddenly felt a hand squeezing my jaw very hard & I shot my eyes open to see Meredith bending down in front of me while grinning. "Just know this, if you don't get out of my fucking way....I'll have somebody do something to you that will make you." She threatened & I was about to responded through my raging headache but she yanked my head forward by her grip & then slammed my skull back against the wall behind me.
The last thing I saw was Meredith standing up & then my vision went black as I felt myself sinking further against the tiled floor.
James Pov.
I sighed sadly, sinking down further into my uncomfortable chair. Second period would be over in around two minutes but I couldn't stop thinking about Grayson & what happened yesterday. All I did was walk up to Emma & him to talk but he pushed me away & ran from me. He hasn't talked to me since & I don't fucking know why. I thought we really connected the night before at the bar, could've just been the alcohol that was talking though. But I think I might have feelings for him that I don't want to admit. I mean I always joke about him being 'hot' or 'daddy material' but, I never really meant it.
Grayson avoiding me has actually been affecting me in many ways that are noticeable in my appearance as other students have been pointing out. Since I feel like a sad piece of shit, that's exactly what I look like; no makeup, floppy hair, baggy hoodie & fucking sweatpants. I don't know why Grayson not talking to me is affecting me though. But I still wondered what I did wrong?
The bell rung, letting out class & I got up from my seat slowly while grabbing my binder. I also grabbed my notebook before walking out the door of the classroom, heading into the busy hallway. I made my way through the maze of students & hastily threw my personal belongings into my locker, having to use the restroom. I trudged towards the closest bathrooms & stood outside of them for a second. Should I go into the boys or girls bathroom? Well I am gay. I also don't wanna risk running into Grayson since he's mad at me for some reason.
I sighed, running into the girls bathroom as the urge to piss became very prominent. I barely watched where I was going, running into one of the small blue stalls & quickly locking the stall door behind me.
After I was relieved of my business, I flushed the porcelain toilet by its small metal handle & opened the stall door. I started to walk towards the few sinks but almost shit bricks at what I saw laying on the dusty-tiled floor of the bathroom. Emma?!
I quickly ran the short distance over to Emma & kneeled beside her, picking her up onto my lap by her pink-hoodie-covered shoulders. She had an extremely bloody & bruised nose that looked almost broken, along with very prominent scratches on the side of her face that looked almost like nail marks & some dried blood on her bottom lip & chin. I was a little sister-scared to even see what wounds might be hidden under her hoodie.
I shook Emma's still form frantically. "Emma!" I said & her eyelids fluttered. "Emma, come on wake up!" I pleaded & she slowly blinked her eyes open. She frowned & tried to sit up but then winced, grabbing her stomach & laying back down on my lap. What the hell happened?!
"Emma who did this to you?!" I asked worriedly, shaking her again as her eyes were threatening to close once again. She kept them open, eyebrows knitting together. "Meredith?" She replied, sounding like she was almost asking herself. I glared at nothing, thinking about that bitch. Meredith. I'd only heard a little about her, considering I was fairly new to this school. All I knew was that she dumped Ethan after being his fuck buddy for a long time, even though she fucked many other people while being with him. I was gonna sister-slit her throat. Why the fuck would she do this to Emma? Sweet, innocent Emma.
I looked back down at Emma who was now fully awake but still seemed out of it. She probably got a concussion somehow. I gently grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her with me as I stood her up. She stumbled & was about to fall but I caught her, wrapping her arm around my shoulder & my hand around her slender waist. Killing Meredith could wait, right now Emma needed to get to the nurse's office or something.
"Come on, we gotta get you to the nurse's office Em." I stated & began to walk out of the bathroom as she leaned her full weight on me, which wasn't much at all. She shook her head weakly as we walked. "No..wanna go home." She whispered & I sighed. I don't know where the fuck she lives. And it's not like I could ask her when she's acting like this. I couldn't just take her home & leave her there either-"Emma?!" I heard somebody yell, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I looked up to see Grayson running towards us. I swallowed the lump of air in my throat. "What the fuck happened?!" Grayson asked, looking sadly at Emma & attempting to brush a strand of hair out of her face but she just flinched away subconsciously. "I don't know, I walked into the bathroom to see her lying on the floor knocked out. She said something about Meredith when I asked who did this to her." I explained & Grayson clenched his jaw when he heard that it was Meredith who caused this. He stepped closer to us. "Give her to me, I'll take her home since I know where she lives." He said, holding his arms out & I nodded as I gently unwrapped her arm from around my shoulders. She collapsed into his arms & flinched, groaning as he picked her up bridal style. She kept her head up & didn't put her arms around his neck like normal though, as if she didn't trust him or something. He sighed.
"Thanks." Grayson said awkwardly & I nodded, looking anywhere but at him. "Look, James I-" He began, but somebody cut him off by yelling. "Emma?!" Grayson & I turned our heads to see Ethan once standing in the middle of the hallway, now running towards us. Emma turned her head lazily as well, seeming to not know what was happening. Her nose started bleeding again slightly.
"What the hell fucking happened?!" Ethan yelled & Grayson explained to him exactly what I had said before. Ethan's posture stiffened at the mention of Meredith's name & his hands that rested at his sides clenched into fists.
"That fucking bitch! I'm gonna fucking shove my hand down her throat & turn her esophagus into a fucking trumpet!" Ethan yelled & turned on his heel, scanning the hallways for Meredith. He spotted her chatting with one of her fellow minions & began to storm towards her.
"Ethan?" Emma said weakly, sounding so small. Ethan immediately stopped in his tracks & turned to look at Emma with a softer expression. A tear slid down Emma's cheek & she looked so hurt it made me wanna sister-sob. "E." Emma said again, voice cracking as if she was calling out for him. She was so out of it. Ethan looked drawn between either beating Meredith's ass or comforting Emma who was now looking like she was about to breakdown in Grayson's arms.
Ethan sighed, jogging back over to Grayson & holding his slightly-less muscular arms out just as the bell rung. Yes, both twins were muscular but Grayson a little bit more than Ethan.
Grayson looked hesitant for a moment at Ethan's silent request but after looking down at how broken Emma looked, he gave in & handed her small figure over to his older brother. Ethan held her the same way that Grayson was, except now Emma buried her face into his hoodie & wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she cried silently. "Shh, it's okay....you're okay." Ethan said softly, stroking her hair almost hesitantly. He looked like he had no idea what he was doing. "It hurts." I heard her mumble against Ethan's hoodie in between quiet sobs as she was most likely referring to her nose. "Imma take her home." Ethan announced quietly & Grayson & I nodded.
The tardy bell rung & we realized there were no other students but us in the hallway. Ethan just turned with a broken Emma in his arms, walking towards the main entrance doors of the school. I turned my gaze away from them & to Grayson instead, who was already staring at me. He looked like he something to say, but he just turned around & walked away to the direction of his next class.
I sighed in defeat.
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Author's Note: hehe. lyyyyy alllllll. ☕🥰