Walls

As time passed by, Skylar and Alex grew closer together, but they still weren't officially together; despite everyone thinking they were because of the way they acted in public. She had become better friends with Tara and Kara and while she was suspended, Kara had started dating Rian and Tara was starting to fall for Jack. They hadn't been seeing much of Vince aside from the few times he had shown up at the school to talk to Tara. It was the day before halloween at school, and everyone was trying to decide what to do. They were in the cafeteria discussing plans.

"I think there's a party at someone's house." Kara stated, while eating her salad.

"Whose house?" Jack mumbled with his face full of food. Kara shrugged and went back to eating. "So no party then, since we don't know where it is."

"You guys could dress up and come over, my parents won't be home. I'll invite Lacey and Zack too. We can watch horror flicks or something." Everyone agreed since there was nothing else to do.

The bell was about to ring, so Skylar stood up with Tara, who she discovered was also a smoker, and they made their way outside to sit on the bleachers. Some guys were tossing a football around on the field in front of them so they went to the top and watched. It was a lot colder now, so they were wearing warmer jackets and gloves to keep their hands warm. Skylar handed Tara a cigarette and they let the smoke fill their lungs.

"So how are you and Alex? Still figuring things out?" Skylar nodded at her question and frowned.

"Yeah, I want to be with him and I know he wants to be with me. I just....there are some things I need to figure out first. I was in a relationship after he left and the guy was a jerk. I broke it off after I found out he cheated on me. I don't want this to be like that. Alex doesn't know about him."

"Why haven't you told him?" Skylar nervously bit her lip.

"He doesn't need to know. Plus he knows the guy, and if he knew that we dated and he cheated on me, he would get seriously angry. It would be ugly, lets leave it at that" She let out a small laugh and went back to smoking.

"What would it take for you to accept being in a relationship with him?" It took Skylar a few minutes to think this one through before she could find an answer.

"I honestly think time will tell. I trust Alex more than anybody else. I know he wouldn't hurt me on purpose. I just need to know he isn't going to leave again like last time, that he's always gonna be there and that he won't keep things from me anymore, no matter how bad it gets."

Satisfied with her answer, she smiled and put out the rest of her cigarette. Tara did the same and they started walking back to school. They went to the side doors, next to the parking lot instead of the main doors, because it was closer and it was cold outside.

"You guys are meant for each other, I have no doubt you'll be together soon enough."

When they got to the doors, Skylar could faintly hear Tara's name being called out from behind them, making her spin around. She could see Vince and his friends making their way towards them. There was no way they could deal with all of them by themselves, especially since Tara is only 5'2 and weighs 110 pounds.

"Tara go get the guys." Immediately, she darted off running inside to look for the guys, knowing Skylar would be okay for a few minutes.

Vince was in front of her as soon as Tara had gone inside. He went to pull open the door to the school, even if he wasn't a student, but Skylar side stepped in front, blocking him.

"Move it Raine." She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

"Nah. You're not going to speak to Tara. Not while she's with me anyways." The first bell rang to indicate they had 10 minutes to get to class.

"Alright fine. You got my money?" Again, she shook her head, and smirked at him.

"Believe me, if I had a grand, I would use it on something useful, rather than give it to your sorry ass." He stepped closer, and she could faintly smell weed on him.

"Dont underestimate me, I have no problem hitting girls so either you move out of my way, or I will break you." Inside, she was terrified but she wouldn't let the fear be shown to him. She wasn't going to back down.

"Maybe I'm just not scared of you. You're nothing but a pathetic coward who hits girls." I guess he could hear the doubt of herself in her voice, because he had grabbed her by the jacket and slammed her into the brick wall next to them.

She heard a crack, and knew something was broken, but she wasn't going to give up yet. Her had her by the collar of her shirt and was holding her up, so she spit in his face, and when he let go to wipe it off, she swung her arm up and punched him in the face. She could see him smirking and then mutter the words 'Get her' to his friends. Next thing she knew, they had shoved her to the ground and were repeatedly kicking her sides and stomach. It wasn't until a teacher came rushing out of the school with Alex and the guys close behind that they stopped.

"This isn't over." He left her on the ground, curled up in the fetal position and walked back to his car, with the teacher yelling out for him to stop and that she would call the cops next time.

Alex tried to scoop her up in his arms, but when he did, she screamed out in agony. He set her back down and the teacher went to get the nurse. He sat on the concrete, putting her head in his lap and stroked her hair, whispering that he was sorry in her ear. Eventually, the nurse came out, and helped Alex bring her inside where they called an ambulance.

--

Alex followed the ambulance in his car, and stayed in the waiting room, silently praying she would be okay. He called his parents, since she was still fighting with hers, and they were on their way over. By the time they go there, she was in the recovery room, Alex at her bedside, holding her hand and resting his head on the bed. His parents decided to go back to the waiting room and find a doctor to talk to. Alex could feel her stirring in her sleep, and her eyes fluttered open.

"Where am i?" Her voice sounded dry so he handed her a glass of water.

"At the hospital, you have a broken arm and bruised ribs." She nodded, taking in her surroundings.

"What time is it?" He looked at the time on his phone and told her it was around 7pm.

Thats when the nurse came back, announcing visiting hours were over. Alex stood up to leave, but was pulled back by Skylar who refused to let go of his hand.

"Don't go." She sounded so weak and looked so fragile, he couldn't leave her.

"Uh, is it okay if I stay? Just for tonight?" The nurse looked at Skylar and nodded, then walked out of the room and shut the door. Alex sat back down in his chair, and sighed.

"What's wrong Lex?" Her eyes were closed, but she must've heard him sighing or known he was upset.

"I'm sorry this happened, I should've been there."

"You came when you could. Don't beat yourself up over it. Lay with me?" He stood up and carefully laid down on the bed beside her. Her head was on his chest and he had one of her hands in his.

"Skye? i want to be with you, i want to protect you, I want you to be able to count on me. Please just let me be that guy." She looked up at him, searching his eyes for any lie, or doubt, but all she could find was sincerity.

"Okay" It was almost a whisper, but he caught it.

"Okay what?"

"Okay, you can be that guy Lex." A smile started spreading across his face.

"So you'll be my girlfriend?"

"Yeah." She grinned cheekily, and snuggled close to him, trying not to crush her rib into his side. He kissed her forehead and they fell asleep like that.

--

The next morning, Skylar woke up in pain, Alex nowhere in sight. There was only a note and a vase of daffodils on the table beside her. She picked up the note and read it.

Skye,
Sorry I wasn't there when you woke up. Had to go to school but I'll be back after. Hope you like the flowers :) Feel better!

-Alex <3

For the rest of the morning, the doctors were doing tests to see if she had improved. the police stopped by to talk to her about the incident but she didn't want to say anything without Alex's parents there so they had to go to the station when she was to be released. She decided to just watch TV for the rest of the afternoon, waiting for Alex to come back.

--

Back at the school, Alex was in class with Jack but he couldn't concentrate. His thoughts kept drifting towards Skylar and how they were finally together as a couple. Jack took notice and nudged his side.

"Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about?" Alex started tapping his pen against his notebook.

"Skylar."

"She's going to be fine, she's a tough girl." Jack gave him a reassuring smile.

"I know it's just...we're together now."

"FINALLY" Everyone's head snapped up to stare at Jack, who slunk back in his seat, making Alex laugh.

"Detention Mr.Barakat." Jack rolled his eyes and continued his conversation with Alex.

"So you finally told her?" He lowered his voice so the teacher wouldn't catch him again.

"No. I just basically told her how I felt, and I guess she accepted it." Jack grinned.

"That's great, but Vince is still out there." Alex frowned and leaned back in his chair.

"I know. I'm gonna get his money and be rid of him."

"Dude how are you going to get two grand?" He hadn't thought that far yet.

"I'll....get a job or something."

"Talk to your parents?" Alex chuckled.

"Yeah that's gonna go over well. 'Hey mom, can I have two grand to pay a debt to a psychotic gang member?' I don't think so Jack."

Jack laughed, and the bell rang so Alex got up to go eat lunch, leaving Jack behind since he had detention. On his way to his locker, he went through his phone, and decided to call his brother, thinking maybe he had an idea of how to get out of this mess. His brother was friends with Vince, he just didn't back Vince up when he was being a bully. After the third ring,he picked up and it sounded like he was somewhere quiet.

"Hey bro, what's up?" They hadn't talked in a while, it was good to hear his voice.

"I need your help, desperately."

"What's it about?" He made his way outside, onto the bleachers.

"Vince."

"What happened?"

"I feel like this is going to become a war and thats not what I want. He says I owe him a grand. So does Skylar on Cody's behalf. Neither of us have it." He heard his brother groan on the other end.

"How the fuck did you...nevermind I don't want to know. How far did he take it?" Alex sighed and started bouncing his leg up and down out of nervousness.

"Skylar's in the hospital with a broken arm and bruised ribs. She doesn't deserve this." His brother knew how much Skylar meant to Alex.

"Fuck okay, I'll get you out of it. Hang tight."

"Thanks Tom." He hung up the phone and started heading back to the school to meet up with his friends.

For the rest of the day, all he could think about was how Tom was going to get him out of this mess. He didn't want him to get in trouble or on Vince's bad side but he felt like there was no other way out of this. The day dragged on slowly, and when it was over, he rushed directly over to the hospital to see Skylar.