Something Worth Fighting For

Dallas was waiting outside the school for Natalia. Having parked his car in the school parking lot, he had decided to wait for her outside. There was no way she was going to walk home again. He had even come ten minutes early to prevent this.

Dallas leaned against the school wall. He blew out an explosive breath. Seeing the warm air he had blown out condense in the cold was a little amusing.

He still couldn’t get over this morning. Natalia had woken him up. He had been sleeping in her bed. She had been tugging on his arm lightly, calling his name. When he woke up, she was dressed for school. She seemed to be in good spirits.

Of course last night had been a wonder too. The fact that she had told him what had happened and let him stay with her with no arguments was nothing short of a miracle. At least he thought of it that way.

As he waited, a few boys stepped out of the school. They were gathered around the outside of the doors that lead into the school. They were right across from Dallas, apparently not taking any notice of him.

They were talking rather loudly, loud enough for Dallas to hear their conversation.

“So Raine, who are you going to the semi with? Is it that tech girl?” One of the guys asked, pulling out a cigarette. “Are you kidding? I wasn’t planning on going with her. I’m going with Marissa.” Raine told his friends, he lit the cigarette for his friend before puffing on it himself. Dallas listened carefully. “I thought you two broke up?” One of his friends asked. “Nah, it was just temporary. Marissa was pissed at Natalia for getting some tech award even though Marissa had paid a lot of money to get her project done. She bet me that I couldn’t get Natalia to go out with me.” Raine said with a laugh. Dallas could feel his blood boil.

“No one ever goes out with that girl. Everyone says that she just turns guys down. I think some guy even called her the Ice Queen.” Another guy was snickering. “Yea? Well I got her to say yes, she thought we would go to the dance together. When I broke up with her yesterday…you should have seen the look on her face.” Raine was telling them with reverie. “She looked like you had hit her with a bus.” One of the guys piped up. Raine threw down the cigarette and stomped on it. “Yea well, the deal was I break her heart. I think I did that quite well.” Raine told them. “How far did you get with her, anyway?” His friend asked. “First base or second? Or did you strike all the way home?” Another friend sneered. Dallas held his breath. He had balled his hands into fists, luckily for Raine, Dallas’ hands were in his pocket.

“Are you stupid? Zero. She wouldn’t even let me kiss her.” Raine complained. Dallas breathed a sigh of relief. “No wonder she’s such an Ice Queen.” His friends commented. Dallas was enraged. Just then the bell rang.

Students started pouring out of the school. Dallas had made up his mind.

-----

Natalia packed her things, and closed her locker door. Today had been the longest day of school. Ever. She didn’t want to have to pass anymore people whispering about her. For the most part her friends had been sympathetic. Even Dawn and Clara had refrained from prying into what had happened. Now all Natalia wanted was to quickly get out of school and go home, instead of enduring stares and more talk about the semi-formal which she would not be attending in the evening.

Natalia walked through the double doors that lead to the school parking lot. She was unhappy having to walk past Raine. I wish I could wipe that smirk off his face, she thought as she walked past him, deliberately holding her head up high. She would not let him think he had hurt her.

Natalia walked to see where Dallas was. She didn’t spot his car. Weird, she thought. She noticed that some one was waving to her. When she turned to see who it was, she found it was Dallas. He waved her over to him.

“Why are you outside?” Natalia asked. “I was waiting for you.” He told her, simply. “Here take the keys, go and sit in the car. Wait for me. I have something to take care of.” He told her. Dallas handed Natalia the keys. “Okay…” Natalia mumbled as she headed in the direction of his car.

What did he have to take care of? She wondered. As she reached the car, she turned to see what Dallas was up to.

-----

Dallas headed for Raine and his friends. They were still hanging outside the school entrance. Dallas had seen Natalia hesitate before walking past Raine. Dallas knew it hadn’t been easy for Natalia to face her school today. All thanks to the jerk that stood before him.

“Hey Raine.” Dallas called out. The boys standing in the corner looked at him. They all were grinning. Most people loved Dallas, even if he had disappointed them slightly, they were still welcoming to their favourite player. Dallas was about to take advantage of that.

“Wow. Dallas Owen. I didn’t expect to see you. I heard you came home, but I didn’t believe it.” Raine said, he extended a hand for Dallas to shake. Cringing inside, Dallas shook the hand of the boy who had hurt Natalia for some stupid vengeful girl.

“How are you?” Raine asked. He was staring at Dallas. “I’m good.” Dallas replied. “I heard you talking about Natalia.” Dallas said, getting to the reason why he had decided to confront Raine. “Yea? Well she’s lucky to have gotten any chance with me. From what I know, she’s an icy person. No emotions whatsoever, I’m surprised I got any reaction from her when I told her we were over.” Raine said to Dallas. “Her reaction should have been recorded.” Raine said with a laugh. His friends were laughing with him.

Dallas had pulled his fist back. He would no longer hold back. WHAM! Came the sound of fist hitting flesh. “What the hell!” Raine roared as he put a hand over his nose. He had been knocked to the ground. Raine’s friends closed in on Dallas. Dallas shook his hand, trying to shake away the numbing sensation. “If you ever try to hurt Natalia again, you will have to deal with me. You make one wrong move, and I swear you will be sorry.” He warned Raine.

“What could you possibly do to me?” Raine asked arrogantly. “Well for starters I could maim you…but you know what, I know someone who would love to join me.” Dallas told Raine, coldly. “Who?” Raine asked, as he touched his nose checking to see if there was blood. “Derek, and he’s not one of your fans. So if your wise, you won’t do anything to Natalia again. Or else Derek and I will be there to make you pay, and I know you wouldn’t want that…now would you?” Dallas asked, as though daring Raine to answer.

“Dallas!” He heard his name being called. Raine, nodded and left quietly after his friends helped him up. Dallas turned his attention to the source calling his name.

-----

Natalia had no idea what Dallas was up to. At least she hadn’t until she heard some yell. “What the hell!” Natalia turned away from what she was doing, which was unlocking the car, and looked towards the source of the commotion.

Standing in the middle of Raine and his friends was Dallas. What is he doing? Natalia wondered. It was then she saw Raine on the ground. Dallas was surrounded.

Natalia quickly unlocked the car door and threw her bag inside. Putting the keys in her pocket, she started to walk quickly to where Dallas was.

As she came near, Raine and his friends had started to leave. “Dallas!” She shouted. Dallas was standing by himself near the school doors. Raine had left holding his nose.

“Dallas!” She called out to him again. This time he turned to face her as she reached him.

“What did you do?” She asked him, she didn’t know how to react. “What your brother was going to do had he found out. Actually he would have hurt him more. I just wanted to get my point across.” Dallas told her as he started walking in the direction of the car.

“And your point was?” Natalia asked. “Irrelevant. Anyway how was your day?” Dallas asked, changing the subject. “It was bearable.” They reached the car. Natalia gave him the keys.

Once they were seated, Natalia asked again. “What was the point? Why did you hurt him?” Natalia asked. It was then that she saw the full extent of what he had done.

Dallas had put both his hands on the steering wheel, to reverse the car from the parking lot. Natalia noticed the knuckles on his right hand were bleeding. He must have hit Raine quite hard. There was some bruising on his hand.

“Stop. Please Dallas?” Natalia asked. Dallas obliged. Natalia opened her back pack. She had always kept bandages, with her tech classes she knew she needed them.

She took hold of his hand and wiped away the blood with a napkin. “You’re going to have to wash it when we get home.” She told him quietly. Dallas nodded. She looked up at him, and couldn’t believe he had done this because of her. He had punched Raine because she had gotten hurt. She put the bandages on his hand. When she finally let go of Dallas’ hand, she knew a part of her was steadily losing a battle...trying not to like him wasn't working. Especially since he had been there for her.