Bad Girl, Bad Boy...Could Only Mean Trouble

Toni sat on a swing and swung her feet gently back and forward. She twirled one of her blue streaks in her fingers as different thoughts swam through her head. She hadn’t thought that Matt would be coming back, hadn’t counted on the truth getting out. She had never told her brother which of her past three boyfriends had done what, but she hoped that he never found out. He worried enough already as it was, she didn’t need him going all over-protective on her ass.

Sighing, she dropped her hair and swung her legs harder. The higher she flew, the more she forgot about the day. She finally spotted her brothers car being followed closely by Laurie. She slowed down by dragging her feet in the ground. Suddenly someone grabbed the chains of the swing. Knowing that it wasn’t her brother or one of her friends seeing as they hadn’t arrived yet, Toni jumped out and the swing and spun around.

The guy Clark had called Nathan stood behind her, holding the swing.

“Why’d your friend say that today?” He asked quietly.

“Because it’s true?” Toni asked sarcastically.

He growled at her and pushed the swing at her violently. Not expecting it, it clipped her chin and she caught it on the downswing.

“What the hell?!” She fumed, rubbing her jaw where it had hit her.

She threw the swing back, quickly following after it and punching him square in the jaw. He stumbled backward, rubbing where she had hit him. She was about to hit him again, when she felt someone wrap their hands around her waist. She looked back at Laurie who glanced over to Andrue.

“What’s going on?” Charley asked.

“He hit me with a fucking swing!” Toni fumed.

“You punched me and insulted my girlfriend!” Nathan yelled back.

“You’re still with that whore? You’re stupider than you look…” Toni muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He growled.

“Exactly what you think it means.” Toni taunted.

Nathan stepped forward but Andrue grabbed his arm and stopped him. Nathan shook him off and turned around, stalking off in the opposite direction. Andrue watched him go as Charley looked between the two. Toni was watching her feet, struggling slightly against Laurie and Nathan kept kicking anything he walked past. She had never seen Toni get this worked up, not even when she was purposely picking the fight…but she wasn’t sure whether she had been picking the fight or not. Charley knew about Toni’s past with Matt and knew the effect that it had on her.

Toni finally got free of Laurie and walked over to the park bench where they traditionally hung out. She sat and put her head in her hands. She knew what Charley was thinking as she watched her. She knew that she shouldn’t have acted out like that, even if Nathan did deserve it. At least it had happened off school campus…that way they couldn’t try to expel her again. She felt someone sit close to her but didn’t bother to look up.

“What was that all about?” Andrue asked.

“It was nothing…I just lost my temper when the swing hit me.” Toni lied smoothly.

“That’s bull.” Andrue huffed.

Ok, maybe not so smoothly. Sighing, Toni looked up at her brother and looked him in the eye. She didn’t know if she wanted to say this next part yet, so she decided to lie once again.

“I swear that I just lost my temper. And anyways, that boy has had it coming.” Toni held his gaze.

Andrue was the first to look away, signaling that he believed her. She sighed and leaned back letting her head fall so that she was looking at the trees above her. Charley came and sat on Andrue’s lap.

“So do you know when you want me to distract him?” She asked Toni.

Toni gave her a sharp look and shook her head. Andrue looked between them confused and then went back to whatever he was doing before to Charley. Toni, not wanting to watch her brother and best friend go at it, decided to join Laurie on the swings. When she walked near, Laurie jumped off the swing she was sitting on so that she landed nearly on top of Toni.

Toni reflexively screamed and clutched her heart. Laurie laughed and the other two jumped up. Toni started laughing once she could breath again and smacked Laurie lightly on the arm.

“Ooow!” Lurie whined, pouting.

“You deserved it bitch.” Toni told her, sticking her tongue out at her.

Laurie grabbed her tongue and held on to it. Toni pulled back and quickly began spitting on the dirt. Charley and Andrue were laughing the entire time. Finally finished spitting, Toni yelled something unintelligible and began chasing Laurie around the play ground. Charley fell off of Andrue’s lap, she was laughing so hard. Finally Toni caught Laurie, tackling her to the ground. When Laurie started yelling, Toni just smirked and started tickling her.

Andrue watched the entire scene with an amused expression before suddenly Toni stopped and grinned evilly at him. He watched her stand up and start to slowly walk towards him. He stood from the bench and began to back away. She knew that he was ticklish, and he didn’t plan to succumb to the same fate that she had doomed Laurie too. Once she reached where Charley sat in front of the bench, watching them, he turned and ran. Toni immediately took off after him.

Charley giggled and encouraged Toni, which got a cry of mock outrage from Andrue. She was glad that Toni was getting the events of the day get to her too bad…sure she had lost it for a minute with that Nathan kid, but she agreed that he had had it coming to him. Suddenly Andrue was in her lap and Toni followed close behind.

“What the hell?! Get off me!” She yelled struggling to push both of them off of her.

Andrue and Toni burst into laughter as she finally pushed them off and pretended to fight for breath. Laurie walked over to them and sat on the floor beside Charley and watched Andrue and Toni wrestle.

“Are we sure they’re related? Siblings should not get along like they do…” Laurie stated.

“Yeah I know…I wonder that every time I look at them.” Charley said.

“Hey, you two talking about us?” Toni asked, pausing in the middle of putting Andrue in a headlock. He took the opportunity to break free and return the favor.

“Yeah, we were. But it was all good, we swear.” Charley grinned innocently.

“The fact you have an innocent smile on your face tells us your lying.” Andrue stated.

“Hey! What are you trying to say there?” Charley asked mock defensively.

Andrue caught his mistake and quickly tried to back track, stumbling over his words and letting Toni go. Everyone laughed at him as he flushed, realizing that she had been messing with him. He scowled and stuck his tongue out at her. Charley returned the favor before standing up.

“I have to be back soon…anyone else coming?” She asked.

“Me!” Andrue and Laurie called out simultaneously.

Toni sat and thought about her options for a minute before deciding to stay at the park. She told them that she would meet them at the house later as they left and walked back to the bench. She sat and pulled out her ipod and phone. She liked to be alone, but even then she still needed someone to talk to at times. Putting in her headphones and turning the volume up, she flipped open her phone and searched through her contacts. She stopped at several but moved on after a moment. Finally, she settled on Clark.

hey, are you busy?

He responded quickly

not really. Whatcha need?

Toni thought about her answer before cautiously responding.

an escape