To say I had a good time on the boat was an understatement, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. That was how I felt Monday morning when my shrill alarm rang and forced me out of my delicious dream. Despite how much fun I had with Leo, I completely forgot about my English essay and was forced to stay up into the late hours of the night to complete it which led to my extra tired state on this cloudy Monday morning.
As I was driven to school, I couldn't help but notice the bad feeling I had building in the pit of my stomach. Last time this happened, my instinct was correct and terrible events took place. I already called Leo this morning and made sure he was okay to which he responded that I was now being the clingy one. However, he did let me know that he was okay and wasn't leaving his office today so at least I didn't have to worry about his safety.
I walked through the doors of the school that seemed to match the mood of the dark clouds brewing a storm outside and headed to my locker. The girls were already huddled there as usual, but I didn't notice any tense looks on their faces. I guess it was just me that was cursed when sensing things could go wrong.
"Good morning ladies," I greeted as I entered my locker combination and traded out the books in my backpack for the ones in my locker.
"Morning," they all chorused, seeming to be as tired as I was this frightful morning.
"How was the boat?" Claire asked suggestively.
A blush overtook my cheeks as I replayed the moment Leo and I shared yesterday. "It was amazing, the boat was huge!" I gushed to them, closing the locker door and leaning against it with a dazed look in my eyes.
"Hmm was that the only thing that was huge?" Elena wiggled her eyebrows at me.
I shook my head with a smile on my face, "We didn't go all the way, but we did something that was very nice, to be honest."
"Did he go down on you?" Claire asked me, squealing in the process.
I shushed her, "Keep it down woman, you know people are always listening and I do not want them knowing what Leo and I are up to, but yes he went down on me." I ended with a smile as I covered my face with my hands.
"Oh my God!" Victoria whisper-shouted, while Elena smacked my shoulder lightly.
"About Time," Claire said with a huge smile, "Was it good?"
"It was mind-blowing," I said in a daze before I shook my head of my thoughts as they laughed. "So anything fun happen for you ladies?" I asked them.
Claire shook her head, "Nah, Justin came over and you guys already know what we did so..."
My brows lifted at her statement before I turned my attention over to Elena and Victoria, "What about you guys?"
"Margot and I are doing good, she was acting distant but we worked things out," Elena said with a smile as she spoke about her girlfriend.
I smiled at her, "I'm glad you guys are still going strong Elena, we should all hang out again soon. What about you and Damon, Victoria?"
A blush appeared on her face at the mention of her new love interest. "He's great, he's so kind and gentle and ugh I just really like him guys," Victoria rambled.
"Have you spoken to Vince at all since you and Damon got together?" Elena asked her curiously.
Victoria shook her head, "I don't think he knows about Damon and I. It's not that I'm trying to keep it a secret or anything like that, it's just that I don't feel like I have to tell Vince anything after everything he did."
I nodded my head in understanding, "Well, whatever happens, we're all here for you."
She smiled in thanks and the bell rang as we all separated and made our way to our classes. Surprisingly, however, the day seemed to fly by rather quickly and I was joined by Claire, Justin, Victoria, Damon, Elena, and Margot at our table in the back by the windows. It was times like this that I missed having Leo in school with me especially when everyone was loved up and I was forced to deal with high school alone while Leo worked. I really missed Leo.
I decided to text Leo to soothe my aching heart. I mean, I didn't see him for a couple of weeks and yesterday was the only day I got to see him, which wasn't nearly enough so of course, I missed him.
I sent him, high school sucks without you :( to which he replied a couple of seconds later, Life sucks without you, but seriously who made you feel this way so I can take care of them.
I rolled my eyes at his overreaction before typing, no one, I just miss seeing you at school is all. Any way you can come over tonight? I saw the little texting bubbles before his reply showed up, Of course, I'll be there sweetheart, anything for you and I miss it too, but at least you have your very own sugar daddy now ;) Let me know if anyone does anything to you baby. I love you.
The smile on my face grew as I replied with my very own, I love you and turned off my phone to bring my attention back to the group.
"Who are you texting over there?" Claire asked me, raising her eyebrows up and down.
I rolled my eyes, "The love of my life."
"Leonardo will be happy to know you called him that," Damon said laughing and I felt a blush appear on my cheeks.
"Don't raise his ego anymore," I joked back as everyone laughed.
"You know he's in an important meeting right now," Damon replied, as I widened my eyes.
"Why did he respond then?" I asked confused. I could've waited for his reply.
Damon rolled his eyes, "He doesn't care. If it has something to do with you that is his top priority, everyone knows that."
An even deeper blush covered my cheeks as Elena squealed, "How romantic!"
As everyone laughed at Damon's confession about Leo, no one noticed a very angry Vince storm up to the table.
"Are you fucking kidding me Victoria? You're with Damon now?" he screamed, bringing unwanted attention our way. Damon sprang into action, standing in front of Victoria.
"Calm down Vince, you don't want to do this here," Damon tried to calm him down.
"Shut the fuck up Damon, this doesn't concern you. This is my problem with that whore that you're protecting behind you," Vince seethed and that was when I jumped up as well.
"Watch your mouth, Vince, leave us alone," I said getting in his face as Damon pushed me to stand behind him.
"Vince stop, we're not together anymore. I don't know why you care so much," Victoria stepped up, her voice low in an attempt to stop the unnecessary stares.
"Is that what you think? Victoria, honey, get this through that thick skull of yours, you're mine and you'll always be mine," Vince said condescendingly.
"She's not a piece of property asshole," I defended Victoria, standing in front of Damon now. He desperately tried to move me behind him, but I shooed his hands away. I wasn't scared of Vince, for hell's sake, my boyfriend is the Don of a mafia.
Vince tsked in a mocking way, "Oh Aria, you try to play innocent, but I know you're just as much of a whore as the rest of your little friends. Leo would probably be better off with someone else, someone who isn't such a slut."
This made my blood boil because not only was this the second time someone had called me a whore in the span of a couple of weeks, but he also called me a slut. To think that Vince was a good guy at all made me sick to my stomach. I thought about all the things Victoria must've had to hear from him in the time they were together and it made my skin boil. It all happened in rather slow motion, my hand locking flat against his face as his face turned to the side at the impact.
I moved my hand down, barley beginning to feel the stinging in my hand as I saw him raise his hand in a fist and connect with my nose. The impact pushed me into Damon who quickly caught my body. I was stunned for a moment before everything clicked at once and the pain made itself known. Damon placed me into the arms of Victoria as sobs began to leave my body. I touched around the area feeling sticky wetness that was gushing down my nose.
I heard shouting around me as Damon and men in suits who I assumed were guards that I never noticed jumped onto Vince and quickly took him out of the cafeteria. My tears mixed with the blood and soon Victoria was leading me out of the cafeteria with Elena, Claire, Margot, and Justin.
"Give me my phone," I cried out. Claire handed over my phone as we walked towards the nurse's office, Justin found some napkins so we could attempt to stop the bleeding before we saw the nurse. I opened up my phone with shaky hands and clicked on Leo's contact, placing it next to my ear and waiting for him to answer, meanwhile the girls attempted to clean up my face.
"Hello baby, is everything okay?" His voice came from the other line and a sense of safety came over me.
"L-Leo," I stuttered, trying to breathe through my sobs.
"Aria, what happened? Are you okay?" his voice became much more frantic and worried.
I took a deep breath to begin to explain, but Victoria accidentally pressed against my tender nose too hard, causing me to whimper in pain. "Aria are you hurt? Who hurt you? Where are you?" he fired questions at me.
"L-Leo, I'm at school. Vince called me a whore so I slapped him and he p-punched me. I think my nose is broken," I cried into the phone.
Leo made an animalistic noise over the phone before saying, "I'm on my way there Aria. I'm going to fucking kill him, I promise."
"You can't Damon told me you were in a meeting," I tried to tell him.
"I could give less than a shit about the meeting baby, I'm on my way now," he seethed into the phone, however, I knew his anger wasn't directed towards me.
I just nodded my head, "Please hurry Leo, I need you. It hurts so bad."
"God baby, I'm on my way. Go to the nurse's office until I get there, okay? I'll be there soon, don't you worry," his voice sounded pained and frustrated.
"O-okay," I sobbed into the phone as we finally reached the nurse's office. I hung up the phone as the nurse sat me down and told me to keep my head angled. She began cleaning up my nose as I let out little whimpers when she pressed down on the sore area.
"Good news is your nose isn't broken," the nurse said, as I held an ice pack to the area. "Bad news, it's gonna bruise. How did this happen?"
"This boy decided to take his anger out on her in the cafeteria," Elena spoke up for me.
"This wasn't Leonardo Moretti right?" the nurse asked, her eyes wide.
"No, no it wasn't. It was Vince Marino, a student from our grade," Claire reassured her.
The nurse nodded, "Okay, well hold that ice pack against her nose. I'll give a call to your parents to let them know what happened and if they would like to send you home early."
I nodded my head as she left the room, and was even more surprised when a very angry Leo walked through the same door. His eyes met mine and his face turned into one of pure anger, but when a tear slipped down my cheek, it automatically softened.
"Baby, oh my God, what did he do to you?" Leo asked, more to himself than to me as it was a low murmur that I barely heard. He walked over to where I was seated on the clinic bed and got down on one knee so he and I could see eye to eye.
At this point, my tears had stopped and instead I was letting out shaky breaths and an occasional hiccup. "It hurts Leo," I whispered to him, still holding the ice to my nose.
Leo moved the ice pack away from my face, taking a sharp inhale of breath at the still bloody and now bruising area around my nose and slightly under my eyes. "My poor baby, don't you worry. He will pay for the pain he left you and for every tear that fell out of those beautiful eyes of yours," I saw the promise dance in his eyes, and I nodded as Leo placed a gentle kiss to the crown of my head.
"Why does this always happen to me, Leo?" I asked him, feeling heartbroken that I was beginning to turn into the target for people to take their anger out on.
"I don't know baby, but believe me when I tell you that this will stop. The little shits in this school will learn about the consequences of hurting you in any way," he stated, taking his phone out of his pocket and clicking on someone's contact.
He held the phone up to his ear before the person on the other side answered, "Leonardo."
"Mr. Moon, I'm assuming you learned about the situation that took place today. I'm going to take Aria to my house as I handle some business if that's alright with you?" Leo asked my dad, but it sounded like Leo was set on taking me to his house regardless of whether my dad said he could or couldn't.
"Of course, take care of her son and make sure you make that son of a bitch pay," I heard my dad's voice on the other line say, making Leo's once gentle face turn to a sinister smirk.
"I have intentions to do both," Leo said and ended the call. "Alright, let's go home sweetheart. That way I can have someone actually qualified to take a look at your nose."
I nodded as he stood up and grabbed my hand, helping me stand up as well. I didn't notice when the girls and Justin stepped out of the room, but they weren't there when Leo and I left the room. As we left the nurse's office, I noticed the curious stares from classmates that were making their way to their classes after lunch. An embarrassing feeling took over me as I pressed my self into Leo's side so he would shield me from everyone that was judging me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him, noticing my discomfort.
His car was waiting out front as soon as we walked out the doors, and I practically ran into it, wanting to leave this shit show of a school as soon as possible. I slid into the seats when the driver opened the door and for some reason, I began crying again. I was sick and tired of feeling like the damsel in distress, I was tired of being the target for people's anger. So I cried. I let the tears leave my eyes and the sobs leave my lips.
Leo took me into his arms and let me cry into his chest, so I did. Everything that had built up over these past couple of months; Leo getting shot, me killing someone, Leo's dad being in a coma, being held at gunpoint on more than one occasion, being called a murderer on my first day back at school, being called a whore, getting punched in the face, it all hit me so I cried it out. I needed to move on and stop holding onto the things that I couldn't fix any more, but with moving on I needed to be strong. I needed to be the person no one messed with anymore because I was a bad bitch. I am a bad bitch.
"Why are you crying baby?" Leo asked me when my crying once again seized. "I hate seeing you cry, you of all people don't deserve to cry."
I sniffled, moving away from his chest so I could look at him, "Because I'm sick and tired of being weak."
"You're not weak sweetheart, you're one of the strongest people I have ever met in my life. Where's this coming from?" Leo asked me, worry laced in his voice.
I sighed, "Just everything that's happened these past couple of months, the fact that these things keep happening - it makes me feel weak because I can't stop them from happening."
"Baby you can't stop the things that other people do to you, to me, to anyone. The only thing you can control is how you let these things affect you. You can give people the power to let these things tear you down, or you can take away their power by continuing to stand strong despite everything they throw at you whether its bullets or punches. You are one of the strongest people I know sweetheart and like you always tell me, you're a bad bitch, there isn't a single thing you can't handle," he spoke and I knew he meant every single word that he said.
"Thank you," I whispered, placing my lips on his.
"Anytime baby, you know I'm always here for you. Now let's get you home," he murmured against my lips.
So that was exactly what we did. We went to his house where a doctor was waiting and confirmed that my nose was not broken, which I was relieved about. The doctor also prescribed me some pain medication.
Leo laid with me in bed until I eventually dozed off and fell into a nightmare filled sleep.
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I hope you enjoyed, I wanted to update one more time before 2019 is over. I'm posting this chapter before I start getting ready to party it up! New Year's Eve is definitely my favorite holiday and I hope 2020 is an amazing year for all of you! I know it'll definitely be a good year for Aria and Leo! Happy New Year and see you all in 2020, love you