Before we realized it, the bell had rung again for the next period and Kamdyn and I needed to find our way back into the school, unnoticed. Kamdyn gave me a quick kiss before holding open the door we exited from. I watched as he ran down the side of the building and went in another door, leading to a different hallway.
It didn’t occur to me until later that he had somehow managed to open not one but two doors that are locked from the inside during school hours.
I had to walk alone to the caf today. Jayson was no where in sight and it was kind of a relief, actually, thinking I didn’t have to worry about his comments in front of everyone today. Jayson really was a great guy and I didn’t want to hurt him. Especially in front of all our friends. I was seriously hoping I wasn’t put in that situation. I would be completely torn between shutting him down and putting up with it just to spare him the awkwardness. More or less trying to avoid the situation for as long as possible, I headed toward my locker first, instead of carrying all my books with me to lunch. Carrying all my academic crap around was seriously painful. The books were huge and heavy, not to mention boring. But hey, that goes without saying, they are school books.
The bell rang again as I made my way up the long hall. A few people still lingered in the hallways, most likely people who were supposed to be in lunch, but I guess you never know.
I was almost at my locker when I heard someone running down the hall toward me. The footfalls got louder and louder until they were finally muffled by someone shouting.
“You whore! You slept with my boyfriend!”
I knew who it was before I turned around. I guess I should have expected this from Samantha. I turned and faced her without the look of shock on my face. “Ex-Boyfriend. And you really should mind your own business.” I turned back around, hoping, with no real expectation, for her to leave.
“Oh yeah? Than why did someone tell me she walked in on you two naked and all wrapped up in the sheets together?” Her voice was getting louder and more shrill as each word passed her lips.
I kept my voice as level as I could. I was not going to get into a screaming match here in the hallway at school. Not with her.
“Did that someone happen to explain to you how she woke up naked and in bed with someone she didn’t sleep with?” I knew who she was talking about. How could I not. And honestly, I wasn’t even mad at her for it. I had a bad feeling all day that Becky wasn’t going to be able to keep that kind of scandal to herself. She loved the attention that kind of information brought to her. Since she never seemed to be a part of the actual gossip, this was her way of being involved. I would probably have done the same thing in her position.
Well, maybe not, but I still wasn’t going to be mad about it. What’s done is done.
“I don’t care what she did or what your excuse is!” She was screaming now, her voice echoed through the hallways. I started to notice some people trickling out of the classrooms to watch the commotion.
“You know what Samantha, it doesn’t even matter what happened. With us or anyone else, because you two aren’t together anymore. Get over it. Move on. He did.”
I watched as her face twisted with pain and fury, contorting her features and turning her into someone unrecognizable. Then she screamed. A loud piercing scream that was so unexpected, I flinched. In that second, she lunged at me, slamming me against that wall. She grabbing large chunks of hair while the other hand clawed at my face. The whole time, I could only try to restrain her, to keep her hands away from my eyes as much as possible while I attempted to keep my balance. I didn’t fight back, I didn’t want to hurt her, I just wanted her to stop and to leave me alone. When she realized her frantic, desperate efforts weren’t having any impact, she abandoned her pervious plan and reached both hands out, rapping them around my neck and squeezed, before I could do anything to stop her.
When I felt her hands gripping tightly around my throat, the ferocity I was holding back, was released. She had crossed the line. I was no longer going to just hold her off. Screw not hurting her, this crazy bitch was trying to kill me!
With all the things I could put up with, the one thing I could not, was someone attempting to take my life. I felt my right arm moving, not in the attempt to pull her hands free, but to cock it back. My body now on auto pilot, my arm punched forward, toward her face.
My fist landed right in her left eye.Hard. She released my throat immediately and staggered backward. Losing her fight over her balance, she fell to the ground, her hands clenching her cheek.
Gradually my surroundings came back to awareness, my adrenaline beginning to fade, and I saw two security guards approaching from down the hall. I threw my hands up showing them I was not planning to fight.
One guard ran to my side, asking if I was okay, while the other helped Samantha off the floor. As she got to her feet, regaining her balance, she tried to charge at me again. The guard quickly grabbed her, holding her back.
I laughed. Honestly, the sight alone really was hysterical. “Yeah, Samantha, real hard ass you are, trying to come at me again while being held back. By the way, how’s your eye? You should go put something on it.” I gave her smile and a little wave and walked with the security guard down the opposite hallway, quickly out of sight.
The guard walked quietly and calmly down the corridors. I knew exactly where we were headed. I had witnessed my share of fights at my old school and they all ended in the same place, the principles office.
When we got there, the guard walked ahead of me and held open the door. I took the empty seat in front of my new principle, whom I had yet to meet. Great first impression I was making. Yay me!
I hadn’t seen Samantha come down yet and could only assume that she was taken somewhere to calm down before she was brought to face the principle. Plus, I am sure they didn’t want both of us here at the same time. That would definitely be a smart move.
“You’re new here this year, correct Ms. Night?” Mr. Anderson asked.
“Yes.” Obviously.
“So is this the impression you would like to leave on your new school and classmates?”
See? “No, not at all.” I was trying to hold onto the same mentality I had with Samantha. This man, for whatever reason, was obviously trying to see what would make me tick, but I wasn’t going to let him. It really isn’t a good idea to try and start a fight with someone who is already pumping full of adrenaline from a recent fight. Yet that seemed to be what he wanted, but I was more reserved than that, and I wanted, needed him to see that. I let out a breath and pushed back my anger.
“Did you make a habit of fighting at your old school, Ms. Night?”
“Mr. Anderson, I would really appreciate it if you would stop trying to play games with me. You have my files, right there under you hand. You know everything that has ever happened involving me at any school I attended.” I smiled sweetly for good measure.
He smiled back, a small smile that did not reach his eyes. “Yes, Ms. Night. You are right. And very observant I might add.” he said as he tapped the files under his left hand. “Might I add, that I am sorry to hear about the accident.”
I looked away in that moment. That was not something I was ready to think about right now. There were too many emotions creating a choking fog in this room right now, there definitely wasn’t room for another.
He must have noticed my slight unease and continued. “Why don’t you explain to me what brought on this little fight you were involved with today.”
I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly and, careful to leave nothing out, I told Mr. Anderson exactly what happened. What did I have to hide? I didn’t do anything wrong.
When I finished, I watched as Mr. Anderson was careful to keep his face as blank as possible. Under normal circumstances, the look he was giving me now would have made me want to run and hide under something.
“As far as I know, that is true, Steve.” He cleared his throat. “Mr. Anderson.” He corrected. “When we got close enough to see
, Ms. Redding had both hands around Ms. Night’s neck. We saw her hit Ms. Redding, but when she fell to the ground Ms. Night here just stood over her. She didn’t try to do anything more, even when Ms. Redding was vulnerable and on the floor.”
I jumped at the sound of the man’s voice. I hadn’t realized the security guard had followed me in. To my surprise, the guards had seen a lot more of the fight than I thought. And at this moment, I was glad someone else had seen it.
“Are you vouching for her story than?” Mr. Anderson asked surprised.
“Yes, I am. She was clearly defending herself.”
“Thank you, Frank.” His eyes flicked toward me, his hard features still remained unreadable. “As for you Ms. Night, I accept that you are telling me the truth. You acted in self defense against an attack. But… I am still required by the Board of Education to reprimand you for fighting on school grounds. Your term will be shorter than Ms. Redding’s, but I must.”
He stopped to look at the guard again and nodded his head. I heard the door behind me open and then close. My witness was gone. “I will call your guardians to come and pick you up and you will have the rest of the week off as your suspension.”
“I understand, Mr. Anderson. And thank you for believing me.” I said sincerely. I certainly didn’t want him to think that I went around fighting with everyone in school, regardless of what my file actually said. You never know what you can get away with at any given school. “May I got to my locker and get my things while I wait?”
“Yes. I have to see Ms. Redding as well. Now would be a good time to go. Once you are all packed, I would like you to go see the nurse and have her check out your neck and your scratches before you leave. You can wait there until someone comes to pick you up.”
I left the office in a daze, like I was walking in someone else’s body, and went to my locker. By the time I got there, I felt more like myself when I saw Lauren leaning against my neighbor’s locker, waiting for me.
“Oh my god! Are you alright?” She asked running toward me. “Someone told me you got into a fight. I figured you needed to come back to your locker before you left. So I just waited. And don’t worry, I didn’t say anything to anyone else, which is why I’m here alone.” She leaned forward, cupping her hand around her mouth and whispered. “If Jayson knew what happened I don’t think anyone would have been able to stop him from breaking down the office door.”
She laughed as she straightened then became serious again as her eyes drifted down toward my cheek and settling on my neck. She reached her hand up and placed it gently against my neck. She grimaced and pulled her hand away. Her eyes locked on mine. The concern I saw for me there was heart wrenching.
“I’m okay. Just a couple scratches.” I wasn’t sure why, but it felt wrong having her care that much about me. The emotion I could read in her eyes alone. I felt unworthy of it. I quickly turned and opened my locker, cramming every book I had into my backpack. “I’m going to be out of school for the rest of the week.” I said to break apart the now awkward silence. “Suspended.”
“Wow! That’s a long time. Can you tell me what happened?”
I told her the whole story, everything, as I finished packing my bag. She insisted on walking with me down to the nurses. “I’ll be your body guard until you are safely at home.” She said puffing her self up like a meat head. I understood her trying to lighten the mood. And she knew, as well as I did, that her as a body guard wasn’t really going to cut it. But I appreciated the attempt at least. Lauren left me just inside the nurses office, telling me she would call me later to give me all the “updated gossip”, than disappeared, headed back to the caf to finish what was left of lunch.
She told me she thought the fight was kind of funny. Not the actual fight fight, but that Samantha thought she actually had the right to fight with anyone over Kamdyn. Even though she was friends with Samantha at one point, she was happy someone was here to finally wipe the smug smile off her face. I was happy to help.
Kimber was the one who came to pick me up from school, and she wasn’t happy when I got in the car. I wasn’t exactly sure how much the principle told her and I wasn’t about to lurch into all the details of my fight if she wasn’t told everything. For some reason, I was embarrassed by the whole thing. And I was scared. Scared that Kimber would suddenly think different about me. We got half way home when she finally spoke to me.
“Trystie, do you want to explain yourself?” She used a very calm tone, more like a big sister would use than a woman who now has custody of an unruly teenager.
Cautiously I prodded to see what she knew. “What did Mr. Anderson tell you exactly?”
“All he told me was you were in a fight and that you were suspended.”
“Yeah, that’s about right.”
This time she pulled over to the side of the road and turned in her seat to look at me. “Please, Trystie, tell me what’s going on. I won’t be mad, but I need to know if this is the type of behavior that I should be expecting from you or…”
“Listen, I am sorry about this happening. And it is definately not something that I normally do. Not to mention this wasn’t my fault. At least I didn’t start it.”
“Can you elaborate a little, please.”
Fine. “The ex-girlfriend of a friend of mine attacked me. When she tried choking me, I defended myself.” I stopped and looked up at Kimber hoping that was all she really needed to know, but the look on her face said I wasn’t even close to being off the hook.
“Why did she attack you?”
I sighed. Here we go. How the hell was I supposed to explain this in a way a parent would understand and not overreact about?
“She thought I slept with her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend.” She knew I slept there, it was only logical to tell her that was the reason. Why make something up when I didn’t really need to lie?
“Oh.” Looking over her shoulder, she pulled back out onto the road.
“You know, the night of the party, when Jayson and I stayed over at Kamdyn’s?”
“Yes, I remember.” She was quiet for a minute that seemed like an hour, then looked over at me again. I definitely didn’t like that look. “So did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Sleep with her boyfriend.”
“Ex-boyfriend. And no, I did not! She only thought that because she found out I stayed there.”
“Okay, Trystie. You don’t have to get all worked up. I believe you. I will always trust you unless you give me a reason not to. You could have made up any story to tell me why she confronted you, but you told me the truth. I want you to know that even if it were true, you can come to me with any of this. Anything. It may be something we are both uncomfortable with, but if it helps you to talk to someone or you need advice, I will always be there for you. All you need to do it ask.”
“Thanks, Kimber. That means a lot… and it helps me feel a little less tense about things. I never wanted to keep anything from you, and I haven’t so far. I would like you to know everything. My parents always did.”
I turned to look out the window at the surroundings that were flashing by again as we drove fast down the hill. “Am I grounded?” She hadn’t said and I needed to know. It would help me get a feel for exactly how much she trusted me.
“No. Why?”
“I just thought since I got in trouble at school, you might ground me.”
“No. You told me it wasn’t your fault. And your principle did tell me you reacted in self defense.” She looked at me again and smiled. She knew exactly what happened because my principle told her. She was testing me!
Jayson came over after school school, as usual. But I was actually surprised to see him, since I had barely seen him all day. If he had stayed with me today, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But I couldn’t blame him, it wasn’t his fault. Apparently news of my fight had traveled at warp speed around the school. When Jayson had first arrived, he looked, well, he looked pissed. I could see it in his eyes that what L
auren had told me was true. If he had known about the fight while I was still at school, there was no way anyone would have kept in away. Usual, having any guy think he can “come to my rescue” really burned me. But there was just something about Jayson’s protectiveness of me that warmed my heart. I don’t know, maybe it was only because he didn’t get the chance to pull his macho crap with me.
Jayson went into detail about how the waves of gossip had started small and truthful. By the end of the school day, the waves had become ten foot swells and there could be no truth behind them. There had even be weapons that got thrown in. Apparently a few people said that I started the fight, attack Samantha because I was jealous that Kamdyn didn’t want me. Others had stated that Samantha came after me, scream all types of things about how I should leave Kamdyn alone, that he didn’t want me and that I should stop throwing myself at him. I had to laugh at that one. But there were actually a few rumors that happened to be pretty much the truth, just a little inflated. The longer that conversation went on, the more relaxed Jayson became. By the end, he was smiling profusely as he told me about the reenactments done by the people who said they saw the fight. They were hilarious. “I wish I was there.” was all he could say over and over, laughing so hard he was gasping for air.
But I knew better. If he was there, things would have been a lot different.
Jayson went on and on for what seemed like hours. Everyone in school had bombarded him with questions, asking him about me, why the fight happened, how awesome it was to watch, if I was coming back, etc. I finally had enough. I didn’t want to hear about it anymore. Jayson apologized and laughed some more as I collapsed on the bed.
“What the hell is so funny?” I screamed at him sitting back up.
He came and sat on the bed next to me, a little too close. He put and arm around my shoulders and pulled me in, lifting his other hand to my cheek. “You know, we could always continue our other conversation. You know I have a lot to say about the subject.”
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