Personal Goals

I wish I could have said that things quickly went back to normal, but they really didn’t. Everything was different, but I was growing more and more okay with it. I wanted to just skip school every day and stay home with Vic, but he said that he still wanted me to graduate. I guess that was a reasonable request.

It was frustrating not being able to drive myself anywhere, but Vic was more than willing to pick me up from and drop me off at school. He was the best.

He was able to work out a lot of his appointments so that Jess would always be home with someone. It was a lot to deal with to have to look after his daughter so often, but I didn’t mind. On top of loving Vic, I was quickly growing to love Jess as well. She was adorable and luckily not the most difficult child I’d ever seen.

I told my friends everything that happened with my mom, which totally sucked. They felt bad, but what could they do about it? The only good thing that came out of that conversation was that Justin said that I could always stay at his house if something ever came up with Vic. I didn’t think anything would happen, but I thought it was a nice offer.

As we got closer and closer to graduation, the happier and happier I became. I felt proud of myself for being able to stay so sane in such a tough situation. And for what it was worth everything was going well! I didn’t think a single thing could go wrong until one afternoon while I was waiting for Vic to pick me up.

“Hey there Kells,” I heard Matty’s voice snicker as he came up beside me on the curb. I froze. I had almost forgotten about Matty with how quiet he’d been. I just took a deep breath and told myself that Vic would be there soon anyway.

“What do you want?” I sighed.

“You know what I want,” he chuckled. I rolled my eyes.

“Are you really still on that? I told you I wasn’t interested- I have a boyfriend,” I pointed out.

“I don’t give a shit,” he scoffed. “I heard all the rumors- I mean, I thought you’d be jumping at the opportunity now that you don’t have mommy to walk in on us.”

“Shut up,” I moaned.

“Don’t tell me to shut up,” he said, shoving me roughly. I stumbled a bit but didn’t fall over. I scanned the parking lot quickly. Where the fuck was Vic? Why did he have to be late on the one day Matty decided to give me shit.

“Leave me alone,” I said, firmly. I regretted talking back to him, though, because he looked really fucking pissed. It only confirmed my suspicions when he grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me towards him. I struggled against his grasp, but he was already leading me away from the school and towards the wooded area that lined one end of the parking lot. “Let go of me!”

“Shut up, Kellin. I’ll show you just how much you miss me. I know you fucking miss me,” he grumbled.

“I don’t miss you! I hate you!” I shouted, but that only encouraged him to grip me tighter and drag me quicker. I stumbled behind him as he crossed into the woods. As we passed the first couple of trees I started actually getting scared. This was happening. This was fucking happening and there was nothing I could do about it.

Once he decided we were far enough away from the school, he shoved me up against one of the trees.

“What are you doing?” I asked, even though I knew it was a stupid question. Anything to stall him would have been ideal.

“Just catching up on something we haven’t done in a long time,” he said, my stomach dropping as popped open the button on his jeans and stepped closer to me. He looked like he was going to try and kiss me so I clenched my eyes shut and turned my face away. His hands tugged at my collar roughly. “Look at me, dam-“

But before he could finish his sentence, I felt him being pulled away from me, his hands leaving my shirt. I opened my eyes and surveyed the scene before me. Out of what seemed like nowhere, there was Vic standing over Matty, who was now lying on his stomach, his face in the dirt. He’d just thrown him to the ground! And not only that, but all while he had Jess strapped to his back in one of those baby carriers.

I watched as Vic held him down and pinned one of his arms behind his back.

“You get the hell away from him,” Vic barked.

“Get the fuck off of me!” Matty snapped, struggling. “You’re going to break my fucking arm!”

“Good,” Vic chuckled darkly.

“Vic, don’t,” I said quickly. I didn’t know if child services would have anything to say about Vic breaking peoples arms, but I didn’t want to find out.

“Yeah, get off of me and I’ll go report you for assault,” Matty said, sounding frustrated. I mean, I’d be frustrated too if a guy like Vic had me pinned like that.

“Great, then I’ll report you for sexual assault and attempting to rape my boyfriend, you pig,” Vic said, venom lacing his voice. He was angrier than I’d ever seen him. As much as the situation kind of sucked, I liked seeing him so protective of me. I was also very thankful that he came to my rescue. He must have seen Matty taking me from the parking lot or something.

“Okay, fine, Just get off of me and I won’t say anything,” Matty snapped.

“Not only that, but you are not going to touch a single hair on Kellin’s head- ever,” Vic warned.
“Yeah, okay, whatever, just get the fuck off, you psycho,” he said, as Vic only bent his arm back further.

“Vic,” I reminded him, but he let go just before he could really do any damage. Vic stood up as Matty scrambled to his feet and hurried off, muttering something about how crazy we were.

“Are you okay?” Vic asked me, hurrying over to see if I was alright.

“I guess, you got here just in time,” I shrugged, even though I was still shaken up. He pulled me into a hug, holding me tight as we stood there.

“I’m so glad I did. Hopefully that ass never so much as looks at you again or he’s really going to get it,” he said. “No one touches my Kellin.”

“Yours?”

“Yep, mine,” he said, kissing the top of my head. I just smiled and buried my face against him some more.

Even though I knew shit was bound to happen in life, somehow it all seemed a lot more manageable knowing that Vic was going to be there with me. He loved me and cared about me and went out of his way for me. I could easily say that no one had previously done that.

It was weird to think that we had met in a gym because my mom had forced me to go see him. It was even weirder to think that the reason we lived together was because of my mom as well. Everything was just weird, but it was okay, because everything ended up working out.

My parents never really came around, but Vic’s did. I met them that summer when they visited and gave Vic a pretty hefty check to help make ends meet for a while. They were very nice people, but unfortunately we rarely saw them.

Jenna ended up sobering up enough to gain back visitation rights, but full custody of Jess remained with Vic. It was tough for Vic at first to let Jess go with her even for a little bit, but just like everything it got easier.

In fact it was kind of like working out. When you first start, it’s really hard because you can’t lift very much weight, and you don’t have the needed endurance. However, if you train right and give it time, things do get easier. And when those things get easier, they end up helping you with the next challenge you have to face. It was like a snowball effect in that respect, but in a good way. It was just life.