I checked my hair and make-up in the small mirror in my locker and then looked down and smoothed my cheer skirt as I closed the door. I turned and walked down the hall, my legs taking long strides as I walked with a purpose despite the gnawing nervous feeling in my stomach. I turned a corner and saw a small group of people hovering around my target. I let out a quick breath and continued my march. A few of them noticed me coming and shrunk back against the wall opening up a path for me to get through. I stopped behind Kevin and reached out and tapped him gently on the shoulder. He spun around and his eyes went wide when he saw me. He glanced around at the group gathered there and then back at me.
“Hi Kevin,” I said in chipper voice, “I was wondering if you’d be my date. Wait… I mean, boyfriend. We’d go out on dates and stuff, of course, but I want you to be my boyfriend. I mean, you’d be my date too if we went out, but right now I guess I’m asking…”
“Amy,” He stopped me from rambling on, “Are you sure?”
I nodded quickly, “Yes. Please be my boyfriend.”
I heard the crowd around him start to whisper as they kept their eyes on the two of us but I didn’t care. Some of them looked at me in disbelief, others with distrust, and others just looked me up and down with lust themselves. I started to fidget with my thumbs on the strap of my backpack and finally couldn’t stand the short period of silence so I started to talk again, “I mean, I know I haven’t been the nicest to you lately and I’m sorry for that, but I really like you and…”
“Yeah. I’d love to be your boyfriend,” Kevin interrupted me with a smile.
The pit of tension in my suddenly evaporated into butterflies and I smiled at him broadly.
“It’s a trap,” One of the boys by him said in his ear loudly.
“Oh, Brad’s gonna mess you up. This is a bad idea,” Another said.
Kevin shrugged at them and then looked back at me, “Sometimes it’s worth it to get beat up.”
“I’ve got to get to class, okay?” I said in a chipper voice, “But save me a seat at lunch okay?” I paused and then felt my face flush, “Am I saying okay to much? Why is it so hot in here all of a sudden? Okay, well, I’m going to go, okay? Ah!”
I spun and quickly walked away as I shook my head and clutched my book to my chest feeling like a moron, but still couldn’t seem to get rid of the grin on my face.
++++++++++++++++++++
I was sitting in my first period class when suddenly my phone started to vibrate in my bag. Then another. And another. And another. A couple of the kids sitting around my desk looked at me, but I ignored them. For the next ten minutes until class finished my phone seemed to be buzzing non-stop. When the bell rang I ducked down and grabbed it and swiped the screen to look at the flurry of text messages. More seemed to be coming in as I started to look through them.
Brittney What did you do slut?
Tiffany Peepz is saying your dating tht guy tht got beat up in te h parking lot. Ha ha ha ha ah.
Rachel OMG! Are you dating the lead guitarist in a band?!?!
Hannah You go girl! Way to get the rebound boy out of the way!
Brad Your Cheatin on ME? You obviously don’t know who I am. Good luck gettin any1 to ever look at you again! I’m gonna find this guy and beet the snot out of him1! He won’t even ba eble to walk1
Leslie Some loser in Adv Geo said you’re dating that loser from Adv Calc. Is that true?
Lauren Hey, heard you dumped Brad. Good for you! Too bad about your new guy though, you feeling okay?
Eric The entire team is going to be hunting for that loser now. FYI. You should say something nice at his funeral.
Trevor Hey, can we forget that thing at the dance? Oh, and do you know if Brittney has that guy’s phone number? Txt it to me, k, thanks!
Carrie Is it ttrue? OMG is ittrue?
Vince FUCK1N B1TCH
I let out a long breath and then dropped my head to my desk and then perked up and remembered that Kevin might not know anything. I quickly typed out, Not safe here. Brad is pissed and coming after you. Can you duck out or disappear? I hit send and then clicked to Brittney’s name, Asked Kevin out this morning. He said yes. Do you hate me? And then I hit send again.
As I got up I wondered if the message would get to Kevin before Brad did. I then gathered my things and headed out. I felt like everyone was staring at me as I walked through the hallway. I clutched my books to my chest as I glanced around as I felt my cheeks flush. Suddenly Hannah bounced out of an intersecting hallway and crashed into me with her arms wrapping around me tightly as he gave me a bear hug.
“I was so waiting for you to kick Brad to the curb. He is such a pig. I heard that your new guy is a total sweetie though! He was tutoring you in math right? He helped the swim club with their fund raiser and…” Hannah was chatting excitedly when suddenly I saw Brittney storming down the hallway toward me with a seriously angry look on her face.
Hannah saw my smile evaporate and followed my eyes to Brittney’s face, “Uh oh. Good luck with that. Stay strong. She can’t tell you who to date.”
Hannah then unwrapped her arms from around me and disappeared down the hallway. Brittney grabbed my wrist tightly and looked around until she spotted a bathroom and then yanked me inside. Two girls were chatting as they washed their hands and checked their make-up and they both stopped and stared at Brittney when we came bursting in. She gave them a look that would melt steel as she yelled, “Out!”
They grabbed their backpacks and scurried out of the room. Brittney then checked the stalls one by one and after she verified they were all empty she locked the bathroom door and stormed back to me as I stood in the middle of the room fidgeting with my backpack strap.
“Are you fucking stupid?” She hissed, “You couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could you?”
“What?”
“Oh don’t what me,” She glared at me, “This is going to destroy your popularity. It’s going to mess up the reputation of the cheer team. It’s going to wreck the entire social hierarchy of the school. And probably most importantly, YOU’RE GOING TO GET KEVIN FUCKING KILLED!”
She spun and brought her hands to her forehead as she paced back and forth, “Fuck you are selfish sometimes. I fucking can’t believe you. Why would you fucking do this?”
“I want to be able to put my head in his lap like you put your head in mine,” I said quietly as I looked at her with sad eyes.
She stopped pacing and eyed me evilly for a second and then out a loud breath as her shoulders dropped and her face softened. She took two steps to me and then hugged me tightly as she said softly, “Yeah. Okay. I get it.”
She then pushed back off me and started pacing again, “Well, what do we do now…? What’s the damage control?” She again brought a hand to her forehead as she kept talking while she walked, “Okay. I’ll tell Brad I’ll date him. If he’s dating me I can actually chase off the other slutbags that hover around him, and once he’s only getting relief from me I can make certain he knows he’s not getting any unless he stops trying to kill Kevin. I mean, it’s two minutes on my back pretending to like something. It’s not that hard.”
She paused for a breath and then looked over at me, “You are going to have to convince Kevin to quit the chess club. We’ll have to take him shopping and get new clothes… that boy seriously lacks fashion sense. Oh! He can play guitar! Okay, we’ll get him in a band. That will help…”
“Brittney we have to get to class,” I interrupted her as the bell rang.
“We are dealing with something important right now, you’ll just have to take the tardy. You know you could have at least warned me about this shit!” She said back to me as she flung her hands up in the air, “Just send me a text message the night before… Or heaven forbid actually tell me about it this past weekend and I could have maybe set some plans in motion ahead of time! You know, treat me like your actual best friend!”
“I tried to talk to you about it,” I said dryly, “But this past weekend I couldn’t control my body and most of the time your nipples were in my mouth.”
Brittney stopped pacing and let out a giggle, “Okay, that’s true.” She paused and then looked over at me, “This is what you want? Like really what you want?”
I nodded and bit my lip and Brittney squealed and bounced and then hugged me tightly, “You better not screw this up slut! Make sure you suck his dick the way guys like it because I’m gonna be pissed if the three of us break up again.”
I rolled my eyes, “Nice Britt,” I paused and then pushed her back and grabbed her shoulders as I looked in her eyes, “You are not going to date Brad, though. He can go hang out with his right hand. That pig doesn’t deserve either of us and we’ll figure something else out, okay?”
“Look cutie, planning has never been your strong suit. Looking good in a short skirt? You’ve got that locked down, but planning not so much. Luckily, you have me. Get to class. I’ll figure something out,” Brittney said as she slapped my ass then headed to the door, unlocked it, and held it open for me.
“Thanks Britt,” I said as I left and started walking through the hallway.
I got to my next class a few minutes late but luckily before the teacher had started. I shrugged at him and told him I needed to use the little girl’s room and so he told me to hurry and sit down. No harm, no foul. As I slid into my seat the boy next to me leaned over and whispered, “If you were that hard up for a boyfriend why didn’t you let me know? I’d have gone out with you. I’m a black belt. Brad wouldn’t have such an easy time beating me up.”
I rolled my eyes at him and whispered back, “You know why I picked Kevin?”
When he shook his head I brought my arm down pointed at my crotch and then pulled my fingers all the way down to my knee. The boy’s eyebrows raised and he looked back at my face with disbelief. I nodded and then whispered, “You know why Brad beats him up every day?” I held up my hand and spread my thumb and my pointer finger about two inches apart from each other, “Jealousy.”
The boy covered his mouth as he started to laugh, “Oh shit!”
I turned my attention to the teacher and tried to ignore the fact that my phone was still buzzing non-stop. I wondered when that would end. I sighed as I realized my social media pages would no doubt be blowing up as well. I looked over and saw the boy next to me now typing in his phone, obviously spreading the word about size comparisons around school. I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about finally getting to let out one of Brad’s dirty little secrets. It almost felt cathartic.
My next class I was able to block out most of the drama simply because it was a math test. My phone was shut off completely and everyone was eyes forward and to themselves. After it was done Eric stared daggers at me, but I in turn just smiled sweetly back at him. The next class a few girls asked me more about Kevin and who he was but at least none of the guys tried to hit on me or tell me how I could do so much better with them. My next class was with Rachel and Hannah and they instantly wanted to talk about how well equipped Kevin was. I couldn’t believe how fast gossip spread around my school. I rolled my eyes and tried to down play it but ended up giggling like a small school girl and eventually my resistance fell apart as I gave them the info they were after. Rachel seemed upset she once again missed out on a boy and Hannah covered her face as she turned red and asked me how far I had gone with him. She seemed curious about how I dealt with it and I in turn smirked at her as I asked if she was still a virgin. She let out a little yelp and her face turned an even darker shade of red as she sat back. I gave her a quick hug and told her if she had any questions she could always ask me.
Finally it was lunch time. I stowed my back pack in my locker and headed out to meet up with Kevin. As I walked into the room I looked over and saw the rest of the cheerleaders sitting at our usual table and the football players sitting at it as well. Brittney looked over at me with raised eyebrows and patted an empty seat next to her while I saw the rest of the football players either glaring at me or ignoring me completely.
I smiled at Brittney and then pointed to Kevin with my eyes. She understood and gave me a quick wink and then turned back and started to talk with Tiffany. Kevin was at his usual table as well, but this time it was completely empty. I sat down next to him and smiled.
“How’s your morning?”
“Really weird,” He replied with an odd expression, “I’ve been asked out by three girls I don’t even really know, Five people asked me if I’m the lead guitarist in a punk rock band, and half my friends want me to share naked pictures of you while the other half are completely petrified to be around me because they’re worried at any moment I could get an entire team of football players beating the snot out of me and anyone in the vicinity. Oh, and people I don’t even know are asking me for fist bumps or high fives. How’s your morning?”
“Surprisingly almost identical. Right down to the naked pictures of you,” I said with a shrug.
Kevin laughed as he cracked open a soda and took a sip. We then both turned and saw a skinny short guy that I could remember usually sitting at this table on previous days and Kevin called out, “Hey Fritz! Where is everyone?”
“Oh, we’re eating in the AV room. No one wanted to get covered in blood at lunch man. Sorry. Are we still on for Thursday night?”
“Yeah man, I’ll be there.”
“Cool,” The boy replied and then looked at me nervously.
“Hi Fritz,” I said and gave him a small wave.
His face went blank as he mumbled out, “Amy Summers knows my name.”
He then jogged out of the lunch room and I heard him yell as he started down the hallway, “AMY SUMMERS KNOWS MY NAME!”
“You just heard me use his name didn’t you?” Kevin asked me with a grin and I nodded slowly.
“Don’t tell him, okay?”
Kevin nodded as I glanced over at my normal table and saw Brad cracking his knuckles. I looked down at the table in front of me and then saw Kevin hold out an apple. I took it from him and smiled as I bit into it. “You can go sit over at your normal table you know. I won’t feel offended in the least,” I heard Kevin say.
I dropped my head to his shoulder as I shook my head, “I’m right where I want to be. I’m just worried you’re going to get killed over it.”
“Bah. It’ll be fine. They’re not even coming over here, see?” Kevin said as he waved and smiled at the football players, “Besides, I apparently have three body guards who bounce for me at my concerts, so who would mess with me now?”
I looked at him questioningly, and he laughed, “I heard someone saying that in advanced calc. I was like, what the hell, right?”
I shook my head as I giggled, “I can’t believe the rumor mill in this school.”
We chatted as we ate and my guard went down when everything seemed to be going okay. As the period bell rang and we got up I was relieved to see the football players filing out the door before us and not coming over to do anything. Kevin bumped my shoulder lightly with his and said, “See, nothing to worry about.”
I nodded happily and Kevin threw out our trash in the garbage and we walked out as well. As we turned the corner we suddenly stopped as a pile of people stood there. Before my mind registered who it was two large guys grabbed Kevin and pushed him against the lockers. The mess of large football player bodies encircled him before I could get to his side and I watched between their shoulders as Vince and Brad each took a turn punching him, once in the gut and then in the face. I heard Kevin’s head bounce roughly off the metal lockers behind him.
“Kevin!” I screamed out and pushed my way through two broad shoulders.
Just as I got into the inner circle Vince’s arm came flying back as he went to punch Kevin again and his elbow caught me squarely above the right eye. My head snapped back and I started to lose my balance as the world swam around my eyes and I saw stars dancing around. I tried to put my foot back to keep myself upright but it was moving far too slowly. Time seemed to be slowing down as I watched everything tipping backwards and felt the cold floor on my butt and then my back. I was suddenly looking up at the ceiling and slightly confused. I sat up as quickly as I could and then heard Brittney screaming.
“I’M GONNA RIP YOUR FUCKING FACE OFF YOU FUCKING APE!”
Suddenly she was in the middle of the group of football players. She kicked down hard on Vince’s knee cap and I heard him scream in pain as he dropped to his one good knee and went to grab the one Brittney had just beaten in. She had right her arm already wrapped in front of her and pushed her fist with her left arm as she brought her right elbow forward into Vince’s temple with enough force that I head the smacking sound clearly over the rest of the commotion. Vince was unconscious before his body hit the floor and Brittney had already spun and grabbed another football player by his hair as she viciously started to punch him in the face repeatedly. Two football players grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her off the beaten man, and as they managed to separate the two I saw Brittney’s tightly balled fist still had a large amount of hair dangling from her fingers. She jerked to get out of the two men’s grip and another football player went to grab her from the front as well, but he was rewarded for his efforts by a swift kick to the teeth. He staggered backwards as blood sprayed out of his mouth. Brittney dropped her leg and then brought it up once more in a long arcing kick that looked like the standing splits with one leg up to her chest as her toes nearly caught the face of the man on her left side while he attempted to restrain her. He managed to avoid her foot by ducking backward but it caused him to lose his grip on her arm and she instantly jumped and crawled up the stunned football player who was still trying to restrain her on the right like a possessed spider monkey. I could barely see her arms as she began pummeling the guy’s face and he started falling backwards to the floor near me.
I struggled to my feet as I saw Rachel diving onto another football player’s back and putting him in a choke hold while he tried to get a grip on her arms and pull her off. On the other side of the group I saw Hannah taking a stance and swinging one of her long legs up with frightening velocity and catch another football player right in the junk with a startlingly loud crunching noise. The man grabbed his jewels as he dropped to his knees and she followed up with another kick to his nose and another brutally loud crunching noise as once again blood went spraying. My face throbbed and I shook my head trying to clear the stars and noticed Tiffany bringing her palm up into another football player’s nose like we had been taught in self-defense class and the man fell to the floor as his eyes rolled back. She looked down at the man and yelled, “It’s easier to get a look up my skirt when you’re lying on the floor, huh Jackson?” She then began delivering kicks to the man’s ribs and midsection as she let out more screams of anger.
I saw Lauren dousing two more of them with pepper spray she had pulled out of her bag and they screamed in pain as they too went down on the floor clutching their faces. I looked back and saw Kevin break free of the two players still holding him as they looked around at the mayhem and he reached out for me, “Are you okay?”
Before he could get to me Brad clocked him on the side of the head and he did a half spin. I took a step forward and reached for him as he saw Brad’s next punch coming and he ducked. Brad’s fist swung through the air where Kevin had been standing and when it didn’t find purchase on Kevin’s face it continued on its arc to where I was standing and struck me in my chest. I grunted as I felt pain flash through my breasts and yelped out in pain. Kevin came back up and saw me grab my chest and he reached out for the collar of Brad’s shirt with one hand and punched with the other. Kevin’s fist struck Brad’s face and I saw his head jerk around toward me with a stunned look on it. The entire room was suddenly a shade of red as anger exploded through me and before I knew what was happening my arm was cocked back and I saw my small balled fist sailing through the air towards Brad’s face. My knuckles smacked against Brad’s nose and I felt it break as more pain exploded in my hand.
Suddenly there was a fog horn going off as the principal screamed, “I’ll get the fire hose next! Knock it off!”
I bent over and pulled my hand to my stomach as I winced in pain and I felt Kevin put his arms around my shoulders and hold me to him. The sounds of fighting had almost stopped except for a small scuffle off to my right. I looked and saw Brittney with yet another football player bent over in front of her as she brought her right knee up in wicked strikes to his ribs while two teachers attempted to pull her back away from the young man. She tried to get out of their grasp but they yanked her back to what they thought was a safe distance only to see her scissor kick suddenly and catch the football player squarely in the face and drop him flat on the floor as she screamed, “YOU BETTER STAY DOWN YOU PIECE OF SHIT! YOU GO AFTER ONE CHEERLEADER YOU GET US ALL!”
“Everyone in my office! NOW!” The principal yelled and then stopped and looked at all of us as he muttered, “I don’t have enough room in my office,” And then yelled out, “Auditorium! NOW!”