Save Me

{Rainy}

The rest of the morning passed quickly. At lunch, Matt had been late. He said that he had some business to take care of. From the way he was avoiding my gaze led me to believe something was up. I just shrugged it off. It’s his business and if he doesn’t want to tell me about it then he doesn’t have to.

When lunch ended we all got our books for next period and then Jimmy, Matt and I walked to English class. Class was pretty boring today and to me it seemed like it dragged on. It wasn’t till I entered the girls’ locker room to get changed that the day got a bit more interesting.

I was walking to my gym locker when Liz and two of her friends came walking towards me. From the look on Liz’s face I could tell she was pissed but I wasn’t exactly sure what about. Though, I did have a guess and I’m about to find out if my guess is right.

“I thought I told you that Matt is mine and for you to stay away.” Liz hissed at me. Yep I guessed right. I just gave her a blank look and walked around her; continuing on to my locker.

“Don’t walk away from me, you bitch.” I heard Liz say. I then felt her hand on my arm and she forced me to turn around and face her. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing writing notes with him and walking around the school with him? Didn’t I tell you that you would regret it if you didn’t stay away?” she seethed then pushed me.

I just ignored her and tried to walk to my locker again but Liz had other plans though. She stopped me by getting in front of me and then she slapped me. I got to give her some credit because she can slap hard, but she just pissed me the fuck off. I looked her in the eye and smirked. I’m tired of her thinking she can push me around because she thinks she’s better than me. What I did next was a long time coming.

I punched her real hard knocking her to the floor. I heard her two friends gasp from behind me. They probably weren’t expecting me to fight back. Normally I wouldn’t fight back because I don’t really like violence, but if someone royally pisses me off, I will fight back.

Liz got up off the floor with a murderous look in her eye. She slowly walked towards me, lifting her hand. I thought she was going to slap me again and I got ready for it. Instead though, I saw her fingers curl in so she was making a fist and just as she swung her arm, I moved my head out of the way. With how close I was standing to the lockers, her fist collided with one of them resulting in a loud clanging sound echoing around the locker room.

I moved around her as she gave a loud cry of pain. She turned quickly and jumped at me causing both of us to fall to the floor. Liz then started hitting me in the face, or at least tried to. Her punches weren’t as hard as her slaps and I blocked most of her attempts. I was able to roll us over so that I was the one on top and just started swinging.

As I was punching her, Liz resorted to pulling my hair and scratching me. She got in one good scratch; I could already feel the blood running down my cheek. I don’t know how long I was hitting her before I felt someone grab my arms. I was pulled off Liz but I was trying to get back to her so I could inflict more pain. This fight had been about four years in the making.

Once whoever pulled me off of Liz had me about ten feet from her, I started to calm down a little, but I still had fury pulsing through my veins. I watched as one of the female gym teachers helped Liz up off the floor. Liz was crying and screaming about her nose and when she looked up at me I saw that it was a little crooked looking. I broke the bitches’ nose. Apart from that her eye looked a little swollen and she had a trail of blood running from the cut on her bottom lip.

Ms. Snyder, the teacher that helped Liz up, helped walk her out of the locker room and I heard her say she was taking Liz to the nurses’ office. Mrs. Packard, the other female gym teacher who happened to be the one who pulled me off Liz, grabbed my left wrist and started to pull me from the locker room.

“The rest of you girls get to the gym now.” She barked to the other girls. “I’m taking you to the principals’ office.” She said to me when we got out into the hall.

Mrs. Packard didn’t say anything as we walked down the hall. Once we got to the main office she told me to sit down in one of the chairs that were lined against the left wall. I sat down as she talked to Mrs. Mason, the secretary. A few seconds later and a nod from the secretary, Mrs. Packard went to the door to the principals’ office and knocked. Going in when told to enter; Mrs. Packard shut the door behind her so I couldn’t hear what was being said.

A couple minutes later the principal, Mr. Franklin, came out of his office and told me to go in and have a seat. He told Mrs. Mason to call Brian to the office. When I walked into the room, Mrs. Packard gave me a disapproving look before she left. As I sat down in one of the chairs in front of Mr. Franklin’s desk, I heard Brian’s name being called over the intercom.

Mr. Franklin came in with a couple of wet paper towels. When I reached out to take them as he handed them to me, I saw that the second knuckle on my right hand was bleeding. As I wiped away the blood I saw a small cut. Must have happened when I was punching Liz. I didn’t even feel it. I used the other paper towel to hold against my cheek and just looked at the principal as he sat down in his chair.

“So, why were the two of you fighting?” he asked me. He knows I don’t talk so I don’t know why he asked question that requires more than a yes or no answer.

“Did she hit you first?” I just looked at the floor. I knew it didn’t matter if she hit me first or not. She would get away with fighting and I would get in trouble. Her daddy would pull some strings that would get her off the hook.

We just sat in silence for about two minutes and I thought about how upset I am with myself that I let my anger get the best of me. I guess I just got so sick and tired of Liz’s shit. There was a knock at the door and Mr. Franklin called for who ever it was to come in. The door opened and in walked Brian. When he saw me he came over and took a look at my cheek.

“What happened?” Brian asked.

“Rainy here got into a fight with Liz Davis in the locker room.” Mr. Franklin told Brian.

“How did it start?” Brian asked as he looked me in the eye.

“I’m not sure yet. I asked Rainy if Liz hit her first and she neither denied nor confirmed it.” Mr. Franklin stated. “And I haven’t spoken to Miss. Davis yet.”

“Well Lauren Walters told me she saw the whole thing.” Brian said.

“Then I shall talk to her once I’ve spoken to Miss. Davis.”

“Yeah, and Liz will putt the blame on Rainy. Saying that Rainy attacked her.” Brian said through gritted teeth.

“How do you know Liz will put the blame on Rainy?” Mr. Franklin asked.

“Cause Liz doesn’t like Rainy.”

“Be that as it may be, I’m going to have to suspend Rainy.”

“Look, I know my sister,” Brian said, “she hates violence and she’ll walk away from a fight when she can. If she can’t then she’ll defend herself, but she won’t be the one to throw the first hit.”

“Fighting results in both parties being suspended for five days. No matter who the student is, what the fight was about, or who started the fight. Liz will be getting a five day suspension as well.” Mr. Franklin stated. He then turned to me, “You can come back to school next Thursday.” I nodded letting him know I understand.

“You two can wait outside my office while I call your aunt or uncle to come pick Rainy up.”

“I’ll take her home.” Brian said almost immediately.

“You have to finish the school day, Mr. Haner.”

“Well Ray and Maria are both at work and it’s likely that neither one can come get her. Besides I have the rest of gym and then shop. I won’t be missing anything.” Brian said. It was a slight lie though because Ray and Maria are probably both home right now because they both don’t have jobs. Brian just didn’t want me going home with them alone.

“Very well.” Mr. Franklin said. “I’ll still have to call them to let them know about your suspension.” He addressed to me and again I nodded.

I think he may have read between the lines and figured out that Brian didn’t want me to be alone with Ray and Maria. A lot of people knew that they beat us but no one can do anything.

When Brian and I walked out of Mr. Franklins’ office, we saw Liz sitting there with an ice pack on her nose. She looked up at me with pure hatred and a little fear in her eyes. I just smirked at her as we walked past. Bitch got what she deserved. Maybe she’ll think twice about trying to push me around.

I thought she would have known better after what happened in seventh grade, but I guess not. We had gotten into a fight and she didn’t come out of that fight victorious either.

“Man, you kicked her ass.” Brian said laughing when we exited the main office.

We walked down the hall and headed to the locker rooms so that I could get my bag and he could get changed. When I got my bag I stood by the door to the boys’ locker room and waited for Brian to come back out. When he did he handed me his notebook, which I put into my bag.

“I’ve got to give the teacher this note.” He said holding up the slip of paper that Mr. Franklin gave him to give the gym teacher. “Then I’ll get the keys from Jimmy so we can take his car. Why don’t you head on out to the parking lot.” I nodded and he went into the gym.

As I was walking down the hall I started thinking about why Liz had pissed me off so much. I mean she’s always been saying all kinds of shit to me, but I’ve never got that mad. I continued thinking about it and while I thought back to everything she said and did and that’s when it hit me. Liz pushing me around wasn’t the reason why I got so angry. It’s what she said. Well, just one thing she said. About Matt. I realized that my anger was from Liz saying that Matt was hers. And it hit me, pretty hard too, that I don’t want Matt to be hers. I want him to be mine.

I had to stop walking because I was so shocked at what I realized and it started to scare me a little. I don’t know if I want to have those kinds of feeling for Matt or not. Hell even if I did, I know that Matt would never feel the same way towards me, so it doesn’t matter. This revelation would explain why every time Matt smiled at me it felt like there were butterflies in my stomach. Why I craved to hear his voice and see him everyday. And I t would explain why right now, just the thought of him being with Liz or even liking Liz like that, is enough to get my blood boiling and want to go back and beat the shit out of her some more.

I shook my head of those thoughts as I walked out the front door. I don’t want to think about any of that. I made my way over to Jimmy’s car and leaned against it, waiting for Brian to come out. I didn’t have to wait long as Brian came out like five minutes later. As we were driving down the road I was so busy thinking about my little revelation that when Brian shook my shoulder it made me jump. I looked over at him.

“You didn’t hear a word I said did you?” I shook my head and he sighed. “I said that I’m going to drive by the house and if Ray isn’t home, then we’re going to get some clothes.” I gave him a confused look.

“We’re staying at Johnny’s for a couple day cause when Ray finds out about you being suspended; he’s going to be pissed.” I nodded knowing the beating I would get for this.

As we drove by the house we saw Ray’s truck in the driveway so Brian kept on driving. He pulled up to Johnny’s house two minutes later and turned the car off. We got out and walked across the front lawn to the side gate that led to Johnny’s back yard. We walked up the back steps and Brian reached up to grab the spare key that was on the top of the door jam. After Brian unlocked the door he put the key back and we went inside. While we waited for the guys to come, we watched some TV.

While we were watching an old Scooby-Doo re-run, I saw Brian look over at me a couple times. I knew that hen wanted to ask me something so I just stared at him waiting for him to look over at me again. When he did I raised an eyebrow in question, but he just looked back at the TV so I just waited.

“What was the fight about?” Brian finally asked five minutes later. I looked over at him.

“I mean,” he started as he got up from the chair and sat down next to me on the couch, “was it because she was just being a huge bitch?”

I didn’t want Brian, or anyone, to know it was because I’ve developed feelings for Matt. That the fight was really about me being a little jealous when Liz tried to stake her claim on Matt. So I just nodded my head slowly.

“So, you just got fed up with her?” Again I nodded. It’s not entirely a lie because I was fed up with Liz. It’s just; I figure that explanation was easier to deal with.

Brian laughed and said he was proud of me. I shook my head at him but a small smile made its’ way to my lips. It was about an hour later when Zacky and Jimmy walked in. Jimmy ran over to me and pulled me up so that he could give me a big hug.

“Where’s Johnny?” Bri asked as Jimmy nearly squeezed the life out of me.

“Oh, Matt’s coming over so Johnny rode with him to show him the way here.” Zack said. Oh great. It’s not that I don’t want to see Matt, because I do. It’s just that I kind of hoped I wouldn’t have had to see him so soon after my realization and I’d be able to sort out my feelings for him.

“Do you have to work tonight?” Zacky asked me. I shook my head no.

“Good cause Johnny had a great idea of celebrating tonight.” Jimmy said.

“Celebrating?” Brian asked.

“Yeah. A celebration of Rainy kicking Liz’s ass. Johnny’s going to give Jeremy a call when he gets here.” Jimmy explained as Zacky looked at my cheek.

Not even five minutes later, as I was walking out of the kitchen after I got a soda, Johnny and Matt walked into the house. They saw me and Johnny had this huge smile on his face. He came over and gave me a hug.

Matt and I just kind of stared at each other and when he started to walk over to me, I could feel my heart beat start to quicken. Oh hell, I could already see tonight being an interesting night.