Thank You for Saving Me

[Stella’s P.O.V.]

The next day, I was grounded, not by myself, but by my mom. I explained to her that I wasn’t solely my fault for the fight.

“I would have beat her butt too,” Rose said.

“But she could have just as easily talked to Grace, instead of fighting her.”

I looked at Mom angrily. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not right here. I didn’t mean to start fighting, but…” I sighed, shaking my head. She wouldn’t understand.

“When has it ever been OK to be violent, Stella? That’s not like you.” Mom sounded like she was so disappointed in me.

Looking at her made my eyes sting, so I just looked at my hands as they just rested in my lap. I wished that my dad was at home. He would have probably been on my side. I sat still in the chair with nothing but silence in the room.

“Can I go to my room now?”

Before I got the words out of my mouth completely, I was up and walking down the hallway.

“Stella! Come back.” Mom shouted.

“No,” I mumbled to myself as I walked into my room, shutting the door gently. I fell on my bed, running my fingers through my hair.

I just pissed me off that every time I found someone incredible to care about, stupid people or stupid things had to get in the way.

My phone vibrated on my bed and as I reached over to pick it up, I saw Kara’s name in the caller ID. I smiled to myself as I answered it.

“What the hell happened?” She asked urgently.

“I beat Grace’s ass, I guess.”

“You guess?” Her voice strained. “I heard you got banned from the mall.”

I sighed out a heavy breath. Word spreads quickly. “Well, yeah. That’s true. For a while.”

“Ohmygod! You have to tell me everything.” Kara was too excited.

“Well, pretty much,” I started, “I saw Grace touching Jack. And Jack pretty much flipped too.”

“Ohmydeargod. I wish I could’ve been there. Are you alright?”

I stood up, going to look at myself in the mirror. “Well, my eye is pretty swollen. It’ll be black for a while. And I’m kinda sore, but whatever.”

I heard Kara sigh and it sounded sad. “So, I figure you’re grounded?”

“Yes ma’am.” I flopped back down on my bed. “I can only come out for ‘graduation and graduation related things.’” I mocked my mom.

“That fucking sucks. I wanted you to come with me tonight. The guys are practicing later.”

“I’m sorry, Kar. But I’ll see you tomorrow at graduation practice.” I felt horrible because I really wanted to hang out with them.

“Ok sweetie. See ya.” She hung up and I sat on my bed a while longer before deciding to get ready for bed.

[Jack’s P.O.V.]

I pulled into Rian’s driveway slowly.

It’d been a terrible day. I’d seen Stella earlier this morning…really early…then I slept mostly all day. May didn’t say anything to our parents about what happened at the mall, but she was worried about me. I told her I was fine before I left for practice, but I knew she didn’t believe me.

I walked in with my guitar in hand. As soon as I stepped my foot in the garage, it started.

“Woah-ho-ho! Look who it is? Where’s your bodyguard?” Alex yelled, grinning. I rolled my eyes, not responding to him. I noticed that both Rian and Zack weren’t in the garage, yet. “Oh come on, man. Don’t tell me you aren’t ecstatic about this.”

I turned to look at him after I lifted my guitar out of its case. “Well, considering that all this shit happened because of me, no Alex, I’m not happy.”

Alex got quiet after I spit those angry words at him.

I sighed, letting my guitar strap hold up my guitar. “I’m sorry, man. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself for getting her into this fucking mess.” I rubbed my forehead for a second.

“What’s the story, dude? I just heard that Stella saw her and kicked her ass…AND got her ass kicked, too.”

My mouth turned up as I grimaced. I thought about seeing her and Grace go at it. “It was so fast, man.” I thought about again, thinking to the beginning. “I guess we ran into each other and she told me that she wanted my help talking to Stella again. She said she missed her. And do you know that she told me that she didn’t even like Ryan? She’s playing that idiot.” Alex shook his head, still listening. “Then she told me that Stella was lucky to have a guy like me. Then she grabbed my thigh.” I told him that after that, everything was pretty much a blur. “Stella ran, I mean, came out of fucking nowhere, punches were thrown, hair was pulled.”

Alex sat, staring in disbelief. “Stella? Your Stella? Little, skinny, hot Stella?”

I nodded my head. The look on Alex’s face was hilarious. I couldn’t help laughing.

“What?” He asked, trying not to laugh. “That had to be the hottest thing EVER.” I started to laugh so hard, I couldn’t breathe. “I’m getting hard thinking about it. Stella flying through the air, making that dumbass cry. Damn! Where the hell was I?!” I doubled over laughing.

The garage door opened while Alex was goofing around. I saw Rian and Zack walking in, through teary eyes because I was laughing so hard.

“Hey guys,” Alex said to them. “Next time Stella is around, hold me back. I might piss her off, just to get off.”

We all laughed at him and at that moment, I was proud to have these amazing friends.