Misplaced Words

I laugh as Tony pulls me behind the pillow fort we made in the student lounge.

“We can’t let the enemy get us.” He whispers into my ear.

I giggle and crouch down lower, “I understand Jedi Master Perry.”

“Baby come out,” Vic fake whines, “I need you.”

“Hey, I call foul on trying to seduce your girlfriend to come to you.” Jamie shouts from the couch, where he is being referee to one of our weekly goof offs.

“All is fair in love and war!!!” Vic shouts, as Mike chuckles beside him from behind their fort on the other side of the room.

I laugh as I grab a water balloon filled with whip cream from the pile that lays between Tony and I, “baby?”

“Yeah?” I hear him respond.

I get up and hit him on the top of the head with the balloon, “I got you.” I laugh, ducking down again, giving Tony a high five. “All is fair in love and war babe.”

I hear Mike cracking up, “That’s it. Let’s take the battle to them.”

I hear them run and slam their bodies into the fort. The pillows topple around us, I start crawling away. I squeal as Vic grabs me by my waist and pours paint on my head. I giggle, and he flips me over, pressing my back into the floor as he crashes his lips against mine.

Suddenly, I am standing in the supermarket by my parent’s house and Ally is blabbing about some boy, my mind is half focused. I am just so stressed about my schoolwork, I really need to study tonight. Will I even have time? The parents work, I need to cook and clean. I have to make sure the little one gets his homework done. I groan inwardly as I open the supermarket door, I hope I don’t fail.

“Hey Victor, you saved us our stuff?” I don’t look up, instead, I look at Ally and roll my eyes at the blush she is now wearing.

Next thing I know she is running down the aisle after Victor to help him with the bags. That girl is so boy crazy. The female cashier, Katherine, leans over her register and calls me.

I look at her nervously, “uh yeah.”

“Watch Victor around your sister, he may have the hots for you but they clearly like each other. “ She leans back and snaps her gum, satisfied with herself.

I laugh, “oh it’s no worries, Ally flirts with every guy. She is just like that.” I shrug off her comment about the cute cashier having a crush on me. I tug my xxxl shirt down over my size 16 pants that are only being kept up by a belt, anything to hide my figure. I tug my hat lower to cover my eyes, no one likes me. “I am sure it’s no big deal.”

“Yeah, but he is way older then her.” She pops her gums and I look at her, she is pointing to the end of the aisle and I see Ally and Vic making out. “I tol’ you girl.”

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I woke up in a cold sweat, I always knew. I just buried that memory deep within myself. I denied, pretended, acted, but I knew. I knew Ally loved Vic and I still dated him. How could I be so selfish? How did I end up blocking him completely from my mind? Why did this happen to me? To Ally? To Vic? I started to cry quietly. I couldn’t go back to sleep, not when yet again, memories in the form of dreams are bombarding me. I don’t want to deal with this right now. So I decide to take a walk, I creep out of bed to not wake Kellin. I head to the dorms, maybe Ally will be up and I can talk to her. Or maybe I should talk to Vic first and come clean about what I remembered tonight. That’s how I ended up here, standing across from Ally with Vic’s door directly between us. She stares at me wide eyed with shock before she narrows her eyes at me and purses her lips.

“What are you doing here?” She places her hand on her hip, putting up her defenses.

“I was just walking….wait, what are you doing here?” I raise my eyebrow at her, giving her a knowing look. “Does Aiden know that you are here?”

She takes a step back like I punched her, a surprised look flashed across her face and she starts to stammer with her words.

“I….I…,” she shakes her head and sighs, “I came here to apologize to Vic for being a jerk and to tell him that Aiden and I are planning our future.” She places her hand over her belly and smiles, “I wanted to tell him that I want to be friends again but Aiden is my future, so I have to let go of the past.”

“WHAT?!?” I shout despite the late hour, “You can’t have a baby Ally, you haven’t even been together long enough to even know each other. You aren’t even close to being married. How will you take care of the baby? Or of each other? You could get a strike if JT finds out you are having sleep overs. You’d be kicked out of the school. What about your dreams?”

Anger flares up in her eyes, “THIS IS WHY I NEVER TELL YOU ANYTHING! You are always so quick to judge everything.” Suddenly she is crying, “Naomi, was never like that with me.”

I see Vic’s door open from the corner of my eye but my focus is on Ally.

“I am not trying to judge you, I just think that’s it's a huge step to take with someone you hardly know.” I take a step towards her, “Ally, please don’t shut me out. Please, help me understand why you want to have his baby.”

Vic steps out of his room, “You’re trying to get pregnant?”

Ally doesn’t look at Vic, she keeps her eyes firmly glued on the floor, “yes, I am. I came here to say sorry that things didn’t work out between us. What we had was just a childish fling and you were right, we wouldn’t be good together. I hope we can be friends one day, but for now, I need space from you. Both of you.” She straightens her back and turns on her heel, “good night Vic and Lizzy.”

Vic looks at me and I wipe the stray tear from my face.

“I shouldn’t have come here,” I whisper before heading to the exit.

I push open the glass door and there he stands. A smirk plastered on his face. There are two guys standing on either side of him with a bored look on each of their faces. They barely look at me, while he stares so long that my skin starts to crawl. I hear a loud scream ripping through the air, a scream quickly turns into soft whimpers and gentle crying. I feel a wet tear roll down my cheek, that’s when I realize that it was me, I screamed. My body is trembling as Robert slowly makes his way toward me. He walks so agonizingly slow, he is well aware that each step he takes is a torture for me. I want him to walk faster and get it over with but I also want him to be gone. I feel the desperate need to run, but my feet feel like they have been covered in cement and joined with the ground I am standing on. He removes a knife from his pocket and presses the blade against my cheek.

“Did you miss me Elizabeth?” His voice makes bile rise in my throat, he waits a few moments “nothing to say, huh? Funny, because you were pretty chatty in court.”

I hear the doors thrown open behind me, “Lizzy are you…”

The rest of the question gets caught in Vic’s throat, “who the hell are you?”

His voice is hard and cold, I shiver. I have never heard him sound like that before. The door opens a few more times and I know that the guys are filing in behind Vic. They must have heard me scream. I hear Gabe mumble, ‘call Kellin’, and my heart starts to pound faster. I don’t want Kellin to be hurt, I want him to stay safe. The door opens once more and I hear a bit of a commotion but I can’t make out the mumbled words.

“Leave her the hell alone you pig!” Ally’s voice rings out, and I start to cry. She came, Ally came for me. I hear her draw closer, “I said leave her alone.”

“Ally, no.” I hear the fear in Vic’s voice.

I know Ally won’t listen, I know he is wasting his breath. The two guys move closer, standing so close that I can smell the sweat on their skin. Robert gives them a stern look and they take two steps back.

“I see you have quite the fan club Elizabeth,” He pulls me into him and then turns me to face all of them. “Oh look, mostly guys, have you become a slut? I do like a dirty girl.”

I can’t stop openly sobbing, Ally closes the gap between us in seconds.

“Hey, aren’t I the one you want? Aren't you pissed because I didn't show up that night?” She has a fearless look on her face, “well, here I am take me instead.”

I know Robert is looking her up and down, Ally doesn’t even cringe under his gaze. He licks his lips, and smiles.

“Fine, come here my sweet.” He reaches his free hand towards her, while slightly loosening his grip on me. “Come on, hurry before I change my mind.”

Ally is next to him in seconds, she briefly grabs and squeezes my hand before Robert lets me go. He pushes me, hard, and I stumble away from him. Vic grabs me, pulling me towards him and the others. Kellin comes running with Roxy and Brendon tailing him. I am crying so much, my face is buried in Vic’s chest. I am fighting back waves of nausea as I remember the last time Robert had me so close to him. I am so scared, but I can’t let him have Ally. I turn towards him and calm myself. He has one arm around Ally’s neck while he ran his other hand through her hair with a smirk on his face.

“My, my, you have grown even more beautiful Aaliyah.” My stomach churns in knots and Ally’s face remains unchanged, no signs of fear exist in her body language. She looks confident even. “I am not surprised that my little brother fell in love with you.”

“Let her go,” Aiden walks calmly to the front of the crowd, I didn’t even hear him come out. I can see Ally smiling. That’s why she isn’t scared, she knew he would come and protect her. “now. I won’t say it twice.”

Robert laughs and pulls Ally closer to him, “Hell no. Am I supposed to be scared of you?” He laughs and spits in Aiden’s direction, “you ain’t nothing but a pretty boy."

“Fine, have it your way.” Aiden shrugs as he swaggers past Robert and walks up to the two thugs. He lifts his fist and knocks one out. The other tries to grab him from behind but Aiden flips him over and drives his foot into his face. The guy screams and clutches his nose. Aiden turns his attention back to Robert, as the guy whimpers on the floor. Robert, now, looks very afraid, he presses the knife to Ally neck and her smile never wavers.

“My boyfriend is going to beat the crap out of you.” She looks amused at the thought.

“Shut up!” Robert hisses at her before turning his attention back to Aiden. “Back up or I will kill her.” His voice shakes. “I swear I will.”

A dark look crosses Aiden’s face, “no, you won’t.”

In a blink Aiden grabs Robert’s arm from around Ally’s waist and Ally kicks Robert’s groin. He loosen his grip around Ally’s neck, giving Ally a chance to pull away. She, however, gets cut in the process. When Ally is out of Robert's distance, Aiden grabs Robert. He effortlessly snaps Robert’s arm that held the knife, you can hear the crack of his bone. Roberts yelps and pulls back from Aiden, who throws him onto the floor.

“You stay away from them or I will kill you.” Aiden hovers over him and the police come charging in with JT in tow.

Aiden straightens up and takes a few steps away from Robert.

“Sorry, they created a diversion and sent us on a wild goose chase. They even wounded a few students, that’s what held us up for so long.” The lead officer, Grant, looks at the thugs and then looks at Aiden, “uhhh…well then… good job, son.” He pats Aiden on the back, “you saved the day.”

Aiden shrugs, reaches his hand out to Ally, who intertwines their fingers seconds later. He pulls Ally into his arms, never unlocking their hands. He tenderly caresses her face and she melts into his embrace. Her eyes shining with an immense love that I have never seen on her face before. Could she love Aiden more than she loved Vic?

“Are you okay, mi belle?” He runs his thumb on the shallow cut on her neck.

“Yes, mi Amor. I knew that you would come for me.” She tip toes and kisses Aiden hard on the lips, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He pulls her away from the scene and my words seem to be trapped in my throat.

“Thank you Ally,” I shout as she vanishes back into the dorms, an officer follows, to get their statement, I am sure. I turn towards my boys and smile, “thank you boys.”

I give each one a hug, I know they didn’t do much, but they showed up and that’s what matters. I know that if Ally didn’t step in, they would have. When I get to Vic, I kiss him on the cheek. I smile warmly at him before I turn to I look at Kellin, who has a sullen look on his face.

“I should have gotten hear sooner,” he mumbles as I place my head on his shoulder.

I quickly kiss his pouty lips and laugh, it was the kind of laughter that was brimming with relief. “We live across campus. You got here as fast as you could my love. Don’t be so hard on yourself, besides, Ally is the hero today.” I look over to the dorms, my sister does love me. No matter what, no matter how many times we screw up, she didn’t want me to get hurt. She protected me. I start crying. “I’ll be back.”

I sprint towards the dorm, and I push open the door. Spotting Ally right away as she leans against the wall while Aiden gives his statement to Officer Grant. I walk toward her and hug her before she could say a word.

“You are my hero baby sister, thank you. Thank you so much.” She buries her face in my neck and I can feel her smiling. “I love you Aaliyah.”

“I love you Lizzy.” She mumbles into the collar of my pajama shirt.

“Okay, everyone, once the police have your statements, please head back to your rooms. Thank you.” JT says outside.

Officer Grant makes his way towards us and Aiden calls Ally’s name. She pulls away from me and gives me a huge smile.

“How could I not love him?” Then she runs to his side, the happiest I have ever seen her.