Unlikely Heroes

"Cal I'm really sorry about the car," Mikaela said quietly. They had enlisted Leon and Brett's help in getting the car out of the ditch; they had both looked almost devastated by the state of it; and thankfully it still drove fine. Now they were back at Mikaela's house and Cal had been tense and silent the whole way there, his jaw clenched tightly.

"It's not your fault," he said now.

"It kind of is." Mikaela curled up tightly on the end of the couch, keeping her eyes trained on the TV screen so she didn't have to see the look on Cal's face.

"They never bothered you before you started hanging around with me," she went on. "Sadie's jealous as hell, Derek's pissed off, and Jeff and Mikey are probably still paranoid I'm going to blab about the night of the accident. That's why they're all going after you. Plus I'm the one who insisted we go to the Halloween party."

"Mikaela. Stop it." Cal scooted closer to her, gently grabbing her chin when she still refused to look away from the tv.

"It's not your fault," he repeated firmly. "They're assholes and they'll take any excuse to fuck up someone's day. Derek thought he was the stud on campus but he can't win you back. He's stuck with Sadie instead. It's no wonder he's going psychotic."

Mikaela managed the tiniest of smiles and leaned her head against his shoulder. "We're not going to let them get away with it," she said. "You were right before; they need to learn that they can't mess with us."

"That's my girl." Cal smirked and tugged her closer so he could kiss her. Mikaela felt like a flame had been ignited in her chest. She was fed up with Derek and his goons trying to make their lives miserable. She shed all trace of guilt she had felt for crashing Jeff's car. They probably deserved worse. Come Monday morning they were all going to see the real Wicked Bitch of the West.

It was going to take time and effort to get the paint and seats of Cal's car redone and the windows replaced and he wasn't pleased about having to leave it at home and take the subway to school. Mikaela told him he could stay at her house while her dad was gone, yet again. So Monday they walked to school together and Mikaela noticed Sadie watching them as soon as they stepped into the parking lot.

"I guess Slutterella's carriage turned back into a pumpkin," Sadie sneered, eyes fairly sparkling with evil delight. Mikaela didn't even glance at Sadie or the others as she and Cal walked by, though she noticed Cal's jaw clench.

"Just ignore her," Mikaela said, leaning against her locker.

"That's easy to do with you around."

Mikaela laughed softly as Cal slid his arms around her waist and hugged her. They stayed that way until it was time for them to head to first period, ignoring the annoyed "get a room" looks they received. Mikaela sighed.

"This year can't end soon enough," she muttered.

"I'll walk you to class."

"Won't you be late?"

Cal shrugged. "I'm usually late."

Rolling her eyes Mikaela let him take her hand and lead her to her chemistry class. She spent the entire morning brooding about what Mikey and Jeff had done to Cal's car, and what she was going to do about it. On her way to the cafeteria at lunch she was intercepted in the hall by Brett, who looked at once excited and a little nervous.

"Hey, we're still on for your ice skating double date thing next weekend, right?"

"Sure," Mikaela smiled. She had made up that story on the spot when they were at the party, but she figured if Brett and Dana had hit it off so well they may as well follow through.

"So you two get along, hm?" she asked as she and Brett walked. He nodded a little too enthusiastically and flushed when Mikaela laughed.

"Brett, relax. I knew you'd like her that's why I introduced you."

"Yeah. That was pretty cool, by the way. Thanks."

"What are best friend's popular girlfriends for?" She smiled again and nudged him with her elbow before sitting down next to Cal.

"We're going ice skating next weekend," she murmured under her breath while Brett and Leon started arguing about God only knew what. Cal grimaced faintly until Mikaela gave him a stern look.

"It's for Brett," she reminded him and he sighed.

"Okay, okay."

"I have to cheer at a game tonight. I don't expect you come rah-rah and show team spirit or whatever the fuck, but I thought you'd like to hang out after?"

"I'll gladly go watch you rah-rah any day," Cal grinned. Mikaela punched his arm. There had been decidedly less enthusiasm in the school spirit department recently with three players out of commission. Mikey had been the first to return to the playing field, Jeff returned soon after. This was the first game with Derek back, since his doctor had finally cleared him to play again. So spirits were back in full force and people cheered wildly when Derek jogged into the field. He was clearly loving the attention and Mikaela rolled her eyes.

But she led the cheers with the same faked gusto and brightness that she always did, glad that the season was nearly over. Their team won and the crowd was beside itself. Mikaela slipped away as everyone else celebrated, finding Cal and Leon by the bleachers. Cal handed her a jacket to slip over her cheer sweater and the three of them pushed through the throng of people. Brett had, of course, gone in search of Dana.

"Look at this, two losers and a skank walking down the street."

Mikaela glanced behind them to see Derek and Sadie, their loyal little flock of sycophants snickering at Derek's joke.

"What a clever insult," Mikaela said sarcastically. "What do you want, Derek?"

"I don't want anything from you. Well nothing I haven't already had anyway." He grinned but it was more of a leer. Mikaela felt Cal tense beside her and she linked her fingers through his. His eyes were fairly spitting sparks.

"How many times do I have to kick your ass before you learn to fuck off?" Cal growled.

"You got a lucky punch last time," Derek snapped back. Cal snorted.

"Keep telling yourself that, limp dick."

"You really wanna get beat over this bitch?" Derek took several steps forward, glaring in Mikaela's direction. She stepped between him and Cal, shrugging Cal off when he tried to pull her back.

"You have three seconds to get the fuck out of our faces," Mikaela snarled. Derek let out a startled laugh.

"Or what? You can't do anything to me, Mikaela."

"I can. Leave her alone."

Everyone froze in surprise as Kyle stride toward them. Mikey and Jeff shuffled back as Kyle got in Derek's face. He was normally friendly and laid back, but his eyes were hard.

"What the fuck, Kyle?" Derek demanded. He wasn't a small guy, but Kyle was bigger than any other guy standing there.

"You guys are always assholes to Mikaela, and I'm sick of it. Leave her alone, or I'll make a permanent dent in the sidewalk shaped like your ugly mug."

"Mind your own fucking business," Derek said, but there was a trace of worry in his gaze now. If it came down to a fight, Kyle would win. For her part, Mikaela was stunned that Kyle was coming to her defense like this. Leon and Cal were gaping the same way she was.

"I'm making it my business," Kyle said to Derek. "I heard you guys talking after practice yesterday. I know what you were doing the night you crashed Jeff's car. If you ask me, you don't deserve to be standing here now. Next time you want to mess with Mikaela, you're gonna have to go through Bennett and me.m, assuming Mikaela doesn't just rip your balls off first. Now get out of here, all of you."

Derek looked like he was going to argue further but Kyle's fists clenched and he gave Derek a look that brooked no argument. Derek flipped them all the finger before muttering, "come on," to the others. Sadie's eyes were comically wide and even she seemed too shocked by this turn of events to offer a parting snide remark. Once they were gone Kyle was his usual amicable self again.

"Sorry those guys are such jerks," he said.

"It's okay. You're nothing like them." Mikaela smiled. "Thank you," she added softly. "You didn't have to do that."

"I've been quiet long enough. If I had known sooner about that night... I'm glad you're okay, Mikaela. If they try anything again just tell me. Me and Cal can throw them over the telephone wires or something."

Cal cracked a grin. "Sounds like a plan."

Kyle returned the grin almost shyly. "Well, I'll see you guys around I guess."

"You wanna go get pizza with us?" Mikaela asked. She glanced at Cal and Leon. "I mean, if you guys are cool with that?"

"Sure thing," Leon said. "If Kyle sits at our table no one will ever wanna mess with us. It'll be the new cool table."

"Excuse me? I make it the cool table," Cal said, making a face. "You taint it with your geekdom."

Brett and Dana met up with them later, and Mikaela watched everyone's smiling faces and realized that seamlessly and in an unspoken agreement, she had joined Cal's circle of friends; and now it seemed Dana and Kyle were on their way to joining as well, as unexpected as it was.

Even though Kyle had run them off after the game, Mikaela still felt a vindictive need to punish Derek, Mikey, Jeff and Sadie for what happened to Cal's car. So she made the following week a living hell for them. First she shattered the windows and flattened the tires of all their cars. And she made sure to do it from across the lot while people were gathered around so no one could try to pin it on Cal. Then she took it a step further, making them trip, run into things, and spill drinks all over themselves and each other. She overheard Derek and Sadie whispering fiercely to each other after lunch, debating whether it was the ghost of Kaylee's aunt that had terrorized them at the Halloween party.

When she told Cal, he fell off her couch he was laughing so hard. For the first time in her life, everything felt pretty close to perfect.