Battle Scars

Her hands shook while she sat in the car, so she shoved them in between her shaking thighs. She looked over at Bryce, jaw set and gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles white as snow. She had never seen him as angry as this. He looked like Jeremy.

Jeremy. She couldn't believe that he had hit her as hard as he did. She knew she had fucked up, but he really hurt her. It replayed in her mind over and over again. She had been going through his room looking for a pair of jeans when she found the baggie under his bed. Coke, some of the best looking she'd ever seen. She knew he wasn't getting home for another hour, if she took a little big he wouldn't even notice.

Well, he did. He immediately knew it was her- who else would have taken it? She screamed and cried and begged him not to hurt her, but his punches came fast and hard, leaving her in a shock for a moment, her blood pouring from her nose. She looked up at him in disbelief. "Don't ever take my shit again, you hear me?" and with that, he walked into his room and slammed the door.

She curled up into a ball on the floor and wept for about ten minutes, waiting for the bleeding to subside. Finally, she picked off the ground and left, stumbling onto the sidewalk. People stared at her as she went, but no one had stopped to ask her if she was alright. No one but Bryce, and here she was, sitting in his car, knowing that he was going to get the shit beaten out of him.

Through her tears she had stuttered out Jeremy's address when he had first picked her up; she barely even realized what she had been doing. Now that she had calmed down, she couldn't believe she had done it.

"Bryce." she said, trying to sound as even as she could, staring right in front of her. "Listen, please don't do this, you'll just get-"

"Alli, shut up. Just shut the fuck up. This guy hit you, look at you, you're bloody and bruised, when I found you you were sobbing your eyes out, your nose is probably broken, and you expect me to do nothing?" his voice stayed very even and calm the whole time, and that was what scared her the most. She fell silent and stayed that way until he pulled up to Jeremy's house. He slammed the door open and stormed up to the front door, Alli sprinting after him.

"Bryce please no, Bryce don't do this!" She shouted, pulling at the back of his shirt. He shook her off gently and kept going, slamming on the front door with a clenched fist. She closed her eyes, praying that he went out to go buy a pack of cigarettes or something, but she heard the door open and she opened her eyes to his face.

"Where the hell have you been?" he said, not even noticing Bryce for a moment. "Walking around with your face like that, people probably that you were fucking cra-" he finally noticed Bryce, and he bristled quickly, even more so than before. He knew who this was.

"Alli, what did I tell you about this piece of scum?" Jeremy asked, his voice dripping with malice. When she stayed silent he answered for her. "I told you to stay away from this pretty boy faggot- the only person you need is me. So why is he on our front step?"

"'Our' front step?" Bryce mimicked, his face cloudy, "You two don't have anything together, not after this!" he pointed at her, and she quickly looked down at her feet. She heard Jeremy snort, the closest he ever did to laugh.

"You don't know shit about us, so do me a favor: Get back in your parent's car and drive away before you get into something you can't handle, understand?" his voice was extremely patronizing, the kind he would use with her when he was really upset. She tried to pull on the back of Bryce's shirt to get him to move, and Jeremy saw.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" he screamed, his face turning red, "You don't touch anybody but me, you fucking cunt!" he tried to shove Bryce out of the way to get to her, his fists raised. She closed her eyes and flinched, waiting for the blow, but it never came.

When she opened them she couldn't believe what she saw; Bryce's fist connecting with Jeremy's jaw; she could practically see it breaking. He stumbled back into the door, gripping his face.

"You don't ever touch her again." Bryce growled, toweing over Jeremy's hunched figure.

Jeremy regained his composure and stood up; a manic grin on his face. "You wanna play?" he asked, his voicec amused, "let's play." he sprang over to Bryce, tackling him to the ground. Alli shrieked and backed up, trying to get as out of the way as possible.

The two boys rolled down the steps, landing on the stone pathway. Bryce shoved Jeremy off of him and staggered up, spitting blood onto the ground. Jeremy jumped up and swung a punch, hitting Bryce right in the stomach. Bryce doubled over, wheezing for air and Jeremy kicked him in the chest, sending him flying.

"No!" Everything snapped into place inside her mind. She saw Bryce on the ground, gasping for breath, and Jeremy walking towards him, ready to strike, and she did what she has thought was unthinkable; she jumped on Jeremy's back. She grabbed him by the neck and pulled, throwing him off his balance and bringing him to the ground. He reached behind him and grabbed her by the waist, sending her flying onto Bryce. She quickly scrambled up and clutched Bryce's hand, trying to pull him up. He grimaced as he got up, but he did nonetheless. He ran over to Jeremy, who didn't even have time to think as Bryce drove his fist into his face. Jeremy stumbled backward and fell onto the ground, obviously in a daze.

Bryce crouched down on the ground next to Jeremy and grabbed him by his shirtfront. "Let me get something straight with you, you lowlife piece of shit," he yelled, and Alli could see sprays of spit hitting Jeremy in the face, "You are going to stay away from her. You are not going to call her. You are not going to text her, email her, or go looking for her. If you do, I am going to take her to the police and she will file charges against you, and you'll have to answer to me. Do you understand?"

Jeremy nodded, seconds later spitting in Bryce's face. He let go of Jeremy's shirtfront and kicked him in the stomach, his face twisted in disgust. Jeremy slowly rose and walked past the two of them and stomped into his house, not uttering a word.

She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and felt her knees go weak. Bryce caught her before she fell over, and his buried her sobbing face into his chest. He petted her hair and whispered to her that it was all going to be alright, periodically kissing the top of her head. Finally he scooped her into his arms and walked over to his truck, placing her in the front seat, getting in the driver's seat and then driving off.

"I hate myself!" she cried, pulling at her hair, "I'm a complete piece of shit, and I deserve to fucking die! All I do is hurt everyone! I want to die, I want to die..." she trailed off, overcome by her tears.
Bryce pulled the car onto the side of the road. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look over at him. "Alli, you can't talk like this. Like you're a horrible person. I see what you do to yourself, the drugs, booze, the cutting, the binging, all of it. I saw you in a horrible relationship that you didn't want to leave. You act like you deserve this- and you don't. Don't think that you do for a second. You're kidding yourself. You think you want to die, but in reality all you want is to be saved." and in that moment, she realized that he was right.

She started to cry even harder and threw herself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and started to kiss her cheeks, her nose, her neck, every inch of her that was bruised and scarred. Finally he reached her lips, and he wasn't rough the way that Jeremy had always been. He was soft and caring, and it was almost like a caress. They sat there together, kissing from time to time as she cried in his arms, and she couldn't think of a better place to be.