What Do You Want From Me?

They were the first to arrive at Joey Greene Field when six o’clock rolled around. Of course, this was excluding the mobs of their fellow high school students, already there with their camera phones and ready to record the fight like excited paparazzo’s waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars. Jessica shook her head at this upon exiting her car, and was immediately joined by Matt.

“You sure you’re up for this?” He asked her, always the protective shield.

“I’m sure,” She replied with a smile, and that was that.

They walked over toward the middle of the parking lot where everyone else stood; Brian, Zack, Johnny, and Jimmy soon accompanying them, all with matching gazes of concentration. Jessica avoided eye contact with anyone else besides those with her, as it was pretty damn certain some of the crowd were going to be people she previously associated with, and were probably now gunning for her. This didn’t bother her so much, but that didn’t mean she wanted to start anything, and therefore, her attention was kept mainly to Matt (because she didn’t want to admit it, but his intense dedication was so cute), and Jimmy, Johnny, Brian, and Zack sort of socialized with one another. It was almost hilarious to see them talking and finding their mutual homosexuality to be fascinating, for reasons unknown to the others, but was ultimately accepted, nonetheless.

"So, is this guy gonna show up?" Jimmy voiced to everyone.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get a damn tan over here," Zack said next, glancing down at his milky white arms with a pout.

"How are you starting to get a tan, Baker, it's the fucking evening," Matt spat at his friend, while everyone else chuckled.

"Hey, don't pick on him," Brian said in defense of his lover, and Matt merely stuck out his tongue at the other man.

"Anyway." Jessica rolled her eyes with a smirk. "I'm sure they'll be here soon. I doubt Jason would back down, considering half the senior class and then some are here. He loves any type of attention and this will just be the icing on the cake for him."

"The guy's a fucking tool," Jimmy commented, remembering back to the first time he met the other at one of Jessica's events at school. He'd only saw Jason a couple times after that, and each one of them proved just how much of an ass he truly was.

"I second that notion," Matt chimed in with a scoff, while Brian and Zack nodded their agreement.

It was somewhat quiet after that, each of them standing rather still and inspecting the area. Jessica was horribly nervous, her heart thudding against her chest, as she waited anxiously to see the glistening, white Hummer pull in. It was Jason's most prized possession, as a car was to any guy nowadays. He even named the damn thing; Trisha, he liked to call it, and Jessica would only roll her eyes anytime she'd hang out with him, and he'd spend the majority of the time polishing it, while she sat on the curb with a sour expression on her face.

Thinking about their relationship now, it was a wonder to Jessica how she even stayed with him for that long. It was out of longing, mostly; a longing for her parents to accept her even just a tiny bit if they thought she was happily dating the star quarterback. This was before, though, when it actually mattered what her parents thought. Now, she couldn't care less, and was ecstatic to be rid of the cocky little shit.

Finally, after a few more overwrought moments, screeching tires sounded, and every face turned in the direction of the main entrance to the parking lot. The pale colored truck skidded in, exaggeratedly of course, and Jessica couldn't help but chuckle at the sneer gracing Matt's features.

"Well, looky here!" Jason's brash voice suddenly spoke, upon exiting the Hummer. "Sanders found him some backup. Who are these losers?"

"It’s none of your fuckin' business who they are. Let's get this over with, Kiegan. I got shit to do," Matt taunted, and Brian stepped forward to clap him on the back happily.

"Hah, that's funny. I guess doing drugs and drinking categorizes as shit to do," Jason replied, turning to high-five some of the guys behind him.

Jessica frowned at the drug mentioning, remembering that Matt did, indeed, partake in those activities. It was definitely disheartening, but she didn't have much time to dwell on it, as the two groups were slowly inching closer together. Jessica stayed in her place, though, and crossed her arms nervously.

"Well, your brother categorizes it as shit to do, so why can't I? How is your brother, by the way? I heard your parents sent him off to rehab last week. I guess you can thank me for that, considering I was the one who sold him all that good shit." A collective amount of, 'ooh!' and 'snap!' and 'burn!' was received from the crowd at that, and even Jessica had to admit it was a pretty good comeback, because it was the truth that Jason's younger brother, Jake, had been shipped off to a rehabilitation clinic, subsequent to their parents finding out he was mixed in with a lot of bad stuff. She couldn't really blame Matt, though, for selling it to the sixteen-year-old. Jake had made the decision himself to buy and use it.

Jason's lips quivered at that, eyes wide, and cheeks flushing a deep pink. "You're going to pay for that!"

And suddenly, Jason's right fist raised and shot out towards Matt's face, striking him a total of once, before Matt was on him like a bat out of hell. He'd been caught off guard at first, but quickly recovered and threw numerous successive punches in a row. The others behind Jason attempted to step in and take Matt out, but Brian, Zack, Jimmy, and Johnny were having none of it, and they jumped in, as well. Jessica began to recognize the others Jason was with, now that they were no longer hovering behind him; Riley Smith, Carter Moore, Alex Stackhouse, and Luis Thornton. She knew them all pretty well, and they had absolutely no reason to be there. They were, overall, good kids; good kids, who made undoubtedly the biggest mistake of their lives in getting mixed up with Jason Kiegan.

It became an all-out brawl; fists flying in every direction, with each party putting up one hell of a fight against the other. Jessica looked on, practically enthralled by what was taking place, and that was when it happened. She was suddenly propelled forward, by an unknown force from behind her, and it was all she could do to stop herself from falling over. She whipped around, and was met with the offending face of one Isabel Vega.

"You," Isabel started. "This is all your fault. Jason told me what happened. How could you just ditch your friends like that?! And for...them." She pointed over in Matt's general direction with a look of disgust on her face.

"It's funny you say that, because if I remember correctly, you were supposed to be my best friend. And then...the next thing I know, I walk into Brock's kitchen and find you and Jason all over each other. Is that how you categorize friendship, Izz?" Jessica blasted back, to which Isabel's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Some of the crowd members now turned their attention to the two girls, whilst still making time for the other fight taking place.

"That's what this is about? Jess, you are even more pathetic than I thought. You barely showed Jason any attention the whole time you were together and even complained to me about him! I saw through the negative attitude Jason showed; saw through to someone who's beautiful, and I gave him what you couldn't. A real friend would have supported that. A real friend would accept my and Jason's love."

"You and Jason's love? Hah, that's funny. First of all, Jason and I weren't even broken up when you started your little affair with him. Maybe if we were, then I'd accept. Second, Jason doesn't love anyone, unless you include himself. You're in way over your head, Izz. If he loved you, why would he be here fighting over me?" Jessica waited to hear Isabel's answer, though, there really wasn't one. "Exactly. You're just a piece of trash, Isabel. You always have been, and always will be. That's why Jason didn't leave me for you, because he knew how dirty you were; everyone does. And as long as you're like that, no one will want you."

Isabel appeared to be fuming, chest heaving uncontrollably, and eyes still as wide as before. "Well, at least people will remember me. No one will remember you. If they do, it'll only be for leaving the most elite group in the whole school for a bunch of fucking crack heads. If not that, then for being the only kid in school who walks in every other week with a new bruise because her parents fucking hate her and regret ever having her. At least my parents are proud of me; yours only wish I turned out to be theirs instead of you."

Without even thinking, Jessica snapped, and hit Isabel with a right hook hard enough to earn the respect of Brock Lesnar. Thanks to all that WWE and UFC nonsense, Jessica learned to hit quite well over the years; not to mention the fact she studied Matt's hits closely, and that helped a great deal, too.

This hit landed Isabel on her bottom, and everyone surrounding them exclaimed their praises and cheers for the new fight taking place. Isabel stared up at Jessica with absolute shock, before pushing herself up and charging at Jess like a rabid bull. She tackled the red head to the ground, but Jessica quickly retook the upper hand and pushed Isabel on her back. She gripped Isabel's long, black hair and proceeded to yank at it and slam the other girl's head against the ground every so often. Isabel's screeches could be heard, and her hands were flying everywhere in an effort to break free. Her fists hit a few times at Jessica's face, sometimes pretty hard from the momentum, but Jessica never let up. After all the years of taking Isabel's shit, taking everyone's shit, it all poured out of her, and she couldn't bring herself to care. Everything else was nonexistent at that moment; the other fights, the crowd of people cheering; it didn't matter.

Even when strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her off the screaming girl, she fought them, too; kicking her legs and repeatedly saying, 'let me go, let me go.'

"Jess, it's me. Calm down. Please calm down."

It was a soothing voice that spoke to her now, and her legs began to settle after a while; head falling back to rest against the others shoulder blade, breathing heavy, and eyes watering.

"It's over. Everything's okay now."

"It's never going to be okay, Matt; never." And Jessica was quite positive on that one.

"It is right now. They're leaving, see?" Matt pointed, and Jessica looked to see Jason and his friends scrambling back into their SUV. Isabel stumbled up from the ground and did her best to join them, but the cowardice man skidded away and left her there. Jessica wanted to go after her again, because the anger within was still very much there and itching to come out, but Matt's arms tightened around her and it was obvious he wasn't going to allow it anytime soon.

"Relax, please. You were great; you took care of it; but now you need to relax. Come on, let's go sit."

Matt led her over to the set of bleachers not too far from them, and made her sit. He kept his arm around her, just in case she decided to make a dash for Isabel again. This was doubtful, because Jessica had started to calm significantly, and because Isabel was currently about to hitch with another one of her friends, but he just wanted to be sure.

"Well, what'd you expect, kid? Hah. Those guys didn't have shit on us, believe that." Matt looked over and saw Jimmy conversing with some kids from the crowd, who were obviously praising their fighting skills. "And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go check on my dear cousin. She's the one you should be talking to. Did you see what she did to that chick? That was some hardcore shit right there."

Matt couldn't help but grin, even through the split lip he had, as Jimmy was just so content with himself. He'd obviously been in a lot of fights, and was the majority winner.

"Hey, is she okay?" He asked, upon reaching the two.

"I'm fine, and I can talk for myself," Jessica replied, annoyed at the fact he thought she was fragile or something.

"Obviously," Jimmy concurred with a laugh. "You fucked that bitch up."

"Shut up," She said, but couldn't hide the smile gracing her features. "I just got so angry. I couldn't help it. That's not even me, either."

"That's not you?" Brian chimed in as he and the others now walked over. "Girl, if that wasn't you, you've got some serious explaining to do as to where that came from."

Jessica only shook her head and turned to rest it on Matt's shoulder again. She knew where that built up anger came from, but she couldn't tell them. They'd only feel bad for her and probably treat her differently. No, she couldn't let that happen.

"Lay off her for a bit, okay?" Jimmy said, reading the truth behind Jessica's eyes, as he was one of the only to know absolutely everything.

"It's fine, Jim. I just...I've been dealing with Isabel's shit for far too long is all, and I guess I just snapped," She told them, earning nods of understanding.

"Understandable. If it were me, I probably would have done it ages again. But then again, I also don't have a handle on my anger most of the time so." Matt laughed, and Jessica couldn't help but chuckle, as well. Matt just had that effect on her for some reason. She pulled her head from his shoulder and glanced back at him, as she suddenly remembered he had just been in a pretty dangerous fight. Her eyes widened when she saw blood dripping from his wounds.

"Matt! You're bleeding all over!" She exclaimed, and he only snickered at her eccentrics.

"Well, yeah, that's generally what happens in a fight. You should see the other guy," He replied with a wink, and she slapped his shoulder with a smile.

"Don't be such a hard-ass. Come on, I have some tissues in my purse." Jessica took him by the hand and stood from the bleachers, pulling him with her and over to her car. The rest of them giggled, with Brian being the main instigator.

"Aww, mama's gonna clean your boo-boo's, Matty?" He taunted, and Matt simply flipped him the bird as he watched Jessica fish through her purse, which she'd left in the car prior to the fight, and then allowed her to wipe the crimson fluid from his face.

"Thanks," Matt mumbled shyly. It'd been a while since someone took care of him like this; probably since the last time he was in a full on relationship, and that seemed like ages ago compared to now.

"Don't worry about it," Jessica replied. "Just make sure you actually clean them when you leave here. I don't want you getting any infections because of me."

"Hey, what did I tell you? This isn't your fault. I was happy to do it, honestly," He told her with a hearty smile. "I think I broke his nose, too. Hah."

Jessica grinned at Matt's obvious amusement, and wiped the last bit of blood away from his lip. "All better."

"Sweet. It's a relief to know my devastatingly handsome looks were able to be salvaged, and it's all thanks to you." Matt quirked his eyebrow, somewhat similar to how The Rock would, and Jessica couldn't hold back the laugh even if she tried. It was strange, though, thinking about what had just happened; the fight, the harsh words exchanged, the straight-up war that might now take place; and yet, there they were; talking, laughing, having fun. Jessica was absolutely content. Matt was absolutely content. Neither were upset or afraid, and both knew it was the other that made these feelings possible.

"Hey lovebirds," Jimmy called over, and Jessica turned to flash him a dirty look. "It's getting late, and knowing my aunt and uncle, they won't be too happy if my lil' cuz is home past curfew."

Jessica scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever," She spat. The mere mention of her parents always killed her mood. "But...you're probably right. If I want to ever be allowed out of the house again, I'd better get going."

Matt glanced at Jessica and saw the look of distaste she possessed. It gave him the sudden urge to ask just what was so terrible about her parents. It obviously had to be something bad, and remembering back to the day he saw her in school all bruised and swollen, he wondered if maybe, just maybe, her father and mother were the cause of it. Of course, Matt didn't ask, because it kind of wasn't his business, but he only hoped that, in the future, he might be able to get to the bottom of it.

"I think that's a good idea. But you're gonna have to avoid them for a few days, at least. If they see your face as it is now, they're going to ask questions and..." Jimmy trailed off, but everyone sort of understood what he meant.

"I know the drill by now. I have cover up and everything I'll need. You, mister, had better not let Aunt Maryssa see you like that either. She goes through enough putting up with you and everything," Jessica said, giggling, and Jimmy showed a face of mock shock.

"I resent that, missy. I'm the fucking golden child of our family."

Everyone broke out laughing that time, even those who didn't truly know Jimmy too well, and he simply crossed his arms and stuck up his nose in a pretend fit.

"Well, I'd better get going, as much as I hate to say it," Jessica started again.

"Aw, don't worry. We'll see each other tomorrow, right?" Matt replied with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, we will. And I know these aren't really the right words, but I want to thank all of you for what you did today. I honestly don't know what I would have done if you guys weren't here for me."

"Don't thank us, sweetie. You're apart of us now, so technically, we'd do anything for you," Zack chimed in, and Jessica could only blush in return.

"Well, thanks," She said shyly. "Uhm...listen, my excuse is going to be that I was with Jimmy, so if my mom calls you or calls your mom, can you make it so maybe Aunt Maryssa confirms? I know she doesn't like to lie but..."

"Don't worry about it, Jess. I'll cover it. With a little smooth talking, I'm sure mother dearest will see it my way," Jimmy replied with a wink, and Jess nodded.

"Okay, well, I'll talk to everyone later then." She opened her car door again and waved to the others, who were all bidding her their farewell. Matt stood next to her, ready to close the door when she got in, but was caught off guard when the girl turned and embraced him in a tight hug. He, of course, returned the gesture, and a warm feeling took over his whole body. What in the world was coming over him anymore?

When she pulled away, a smile was the only thing she showed, before finally climbing back in the car and shutting the door. Matt was, for a moment, speechless at the turn of events. What did it mean? 'Nothing. Of course, nothing. She was only thanking me for standing up for her. She couldn't possibly have meant it to mean anything else and I'm just a fool for assuming so.'

Matt nodded at his affirmation, but put on a smile anyway and waved to her as she backed out of the parking lot. The guys poked their fun at him, as per usual, because they witnessed the little hug take place. Matt responded only briefly by telling them to shut their traps, and his mind wandered, just as it always did when Jessica wasn't around. Even though there was absolutely, one hundred percent, no way in hell Jessica could ever want him, he thought about the possibility of there being a time when she would. It was a distant time, and a time that lived in another dimension where far-fetched things actually did come to life, but it was a time that was very much alive deep within Matt. He'd only been seeing her for what, almost a week? Yet, the feelings coursing through him resembled nothing like he's felt before.

Of course, there was no basis, and Matt wouldn't act on them at all. But...they were there, ever present, and he knew for a fact they weren't going anywhere any time soon, and somehow, he was just fine with that.