Ignorance

When I was young, I came home one day with a black eye. It was the work of Justin McCollugh. I was six and he was eight. I was too "weird," he said, and he was going to fix me straight. And instead of complaining to the school or calling Justin's parents, like most parents would, my military father decided it was time for me to learn how to defend myself. My dad was first lieutenant in the Army, so I didn't have to waste time with an instructor. Being a military brat had its advantages. My dad got to work and two days later when Justin came to "fix" me again, people learned quickly that it was not wise to attempt to fix me. Unfortunately, the other parents did not approve of my dad's parenting method after they saw Justin's face. Fortunately, we were moved again before the school was really aware of the confrontation between Justin and I. And since then, I was able to effectively defend myself. So when the pale hand yanked my arm down and the second hand wrapped around my neck, my reaction was only natural.

I twisted around before the second hand could fully grip me and I punched the wrist of whoever was holding me away. A fist shot out from the darkness. I ducked down to avoid the punch before grabbing the person by their shoulders and kneeing them in their stomach. Another body came at me from the side but I stretched my leg out to kick the small of their back before they reached me. I heard two distinctive groans from the floor before hearing the whispering of two other voices and the shuffling of another person. My eyes widened to the darkness when I realized that I was outnumbered five to one. I took a small step back before turning to run off the stage.

"Get her," I heard a cold voice say.

I sprinted to the dressing room, my heels in pain from my boots and my fist stinging. I opened the dressing room door and ran in before slamming it shut. Toby looked up from his guitar before anyone else and shot up to take a good look at me. He took in my quick breathing and already bruising arm with concerned eyes as everyone else straightened from their seats. I licked my lips, tasting my black lipstick, before casually saying, "What's up, guys?"

"Noel, what happened?"

"Oh, you know, I went fishing," I nodded as I walked past them to sit on the couch tensely.

"Noel - " Kai began before the door slammed open.

"Hey, Ani," a voice said in a cold tone. My eyes closed and my fingernails dug into my knees as my mind processed the voice. I could feel the tension in the air and I could hear the breath that was caught in Divine's throat.

I opened my eyes and turned my head to see the other five boys in the doorway. Not my boys. They weren't my boys anymore. My eyes gazed over all of them, one by one. I began with the boy I had to miss the most out of all of them: Richard Barlett. From the very first day I met all of them, Ricky had to be my best friend out of all of them. Even compared to Divine, Ricky was my closest friend ever. His long, dark brown hair had grown out a lot since I had last seen him; it was straight and to his shoulders, some of it hanging in his face. He had a piercing on his lower lip and his once bright green eyes seemed dull with sadness. It was all too obvious that he did not want to be in the area because he avoided looking at me. I looked to his right to see his twin brother, Arik, standing next to him with no emotion on his face. Arik had seemed to go against my advice and got a septum piercing along with snakebites. He also bleached the top part of his hair, which he knew I hated with a passion. I had to scoff on the inside at his blatant defiance towards me. I passed over the two figures in the middle to look at the dark figure on the left. Ethan King looked exactly the same from when we were in high school. He still had all black clothes and black eyeliner. His dark black hair was spiked into mohawk and his always smiling lips frowned over at me. My eyes went over to the one who I could always turn to in my time of need: Joseph Shaw. His blonde hair that made him look angelic and innocent was dyed black, purple, and blue. His bright blue eyes were shining with anger and he bit down on his lip piercing. I had to force myself to look at the one who spoke. The infamous Benjamin Johanson. I knew it wasn't a coincidence when I saw the head of bright red hair in the crowd. I had seen red hair during concerts before but nobody could make red hair as bright as Benji could. His septum piercing, along with his anger, made him look like a bull, even though he really did resemble a porcelain doll. I avoided his blue eyes as I looked away.

"Hey, Benji," I said softly to the floor.

"My name is Ben," he growled.

"And my name is Noel," I snapped.

"You hate that name," Joseph pointed out.

"No, I don't. You hate that name, Jo."

"This isn't about me - " he started.

"Why are you here?" I interrupted.

All their heads turned to Ben, even Ricky's eyes glanced up at him quickly, though the rest of his body had yet to move. Ben stared straight into my eyes, his fists clenching and unclenching. I scoffed at his silence before looking away. Kai quietly but swiftly moved over to sit by me, his eyes never drifting away from the figures in the doorway. He placed one hand on my back and the other on my right knee. I subtly linked my pinkie with his index figure. I knew it wasn't subtle enough when I heard an indignant noise.

"You still got a hell of a fighting style, Ani," Ben said.

"Just go, Johanson. Nobody wants you here," Hero spoke up harshly.

"Oh, like your mommy didn't want you," Ben smiled sarcastically at him.

"Benjamin Michael Johanson, I swear to fucking God, if you do not leave right now, I will kick your ass. Again," I growled.

"Ooh, I'm scared," he mocked.

My eyes shifted to the right when I noticed some movement. Ricky had lifted his hand to his mouth to bite his nails. He glanced up to see me staring at him.

"Ricky...please," I whispered.

"Don't you fucking talk to him," Arik hissed.

"He doesn't need your permission," Toby said.

"I wasn't fucking talking to you."

"You didn't have to."

"Toby, stop. Boys, if you don't leave now, I'll get the security. Leave. Now," Divine spoke up as she walked over in between us.

"Oh, Divine, always trying to force things that will never happen on our poor souls," Ben smirked.

Dee looked up at him from under her eyelashes briefly before looking down at the floor. I stood up and walked past her, looking at her in confusion as I did so, and stood in front of Ricky. He looked in every direction but mine for a few seconds before his eyes connected with mine. I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ricky, you were my best friend. So you have to know how bad this makes me feel. So if you feel any love for me at all still, please...leave. And take them with you," I begged.

"Can't you see how you're breaking his heart," Arik exclaimed. "What a fucking little bitch!" he spat before he pushed me to the floor.

And that was when all Hell broke loose.