Retarded In Love

After a while, I built up the strength to get up. My head still hurt pretty bad, but other than that the pain was bearable. A deep purple and yellow bruise had formed on my entire right shoulder, and was perfectly visible around the strap of my usual spaghetti-strap top. Bam had attempted the loop a few more times before Jeff made him quit. He was worried about his safety, mostly, and promised Bam he could try again the next say before we tore down set. We all watched as Tony and Matt dressed up as chickens and did the loop again.

It was around four in the afternoon, and they had opened a couple coolers full of random food items. Because I wasn't feeling so well, I just grabbed another bottle of water and made my way to the group of people sitting in the back of a truck. I sat down next to Ehren and took long drink, then watched as they rebuilt set and put a plastic tarp over the slide. I jumped out of my stupor when my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered before looking at who it was, because I was expecting Dico's call.

"Hey..." It was Maria.

"Oh, hey!"

"Did David call you?"

"Uh... Yeah. Why?"

She was silent for a while. "Did he tell you the whole story?"

"What's the whole story?" I was completely and utterly confused at this point.

"Well, the night you left, David was taking it pretty hard, and well, we uh..."

I could feel my anger grow above my pounding headache. "You did what?"

"We kinda... Gosh, Ellie, I'm sorry!"

"What did you fucking do?" I yelled. I could feel all eyes shift to me as I jumped off the truck and stood beside it.

"We... made out a little, and one thing lead to another... Look, El-"

I cut her off. "You fucking skank! I can't believe my best friend would screw my boyfriend the fucking minute I leave. Fuck you Maria."

"Ellie, listen!"

"No, you listen. I'm fucking done with you, and David, and my old stuck up snotty ass friends. Like, fuck... I guess having a random assortment of jackass friends is better, because they wouldn't fuck me over like that. Fuck. You, Maria."

I hung up the phone and stormed away from the truck. I could hear voices yelling at me, asking where I was going, but I didn't know. I was so mad. I was so extremely mad I wanted to kill someone, preferably Maria... No, David. No, anyone who messed with me.

"Ellie! What happened?" Dunn jogged up beside me.

"Leave me alone." I snapped at him, not turning to face him. Just walking away.

"Ellie... Come on." He picked up his pace and stood in front of me, spreading his arms as if that would stop me.

"Leave me alone, Dunn," I warned him.

"No, Ellie. Come on, let's go." He stepped toward me and wrapped his arms around me when I tried to walk forward.

Almost instinctively, I wriggled lose of his grip and started swinging punches. One connected with his jaw, my other hand following up and catching his chest. I repeated the motion over and over, him reeling backward yet still coming toward me. I took one final swing, this one hitting his cheek right below his eye. He screamed and hit the ground, holding his face. I turned and walked in the opposite direction, passed the truck and to the other side of the ramp. Hiding away, I collapsed against the wooden figure and let myself break down.