Zoe
I was sitting in the school parking lot waiting for Elise. I told my Aunt Sam I would give her a ride home while she and Dani attended—of all things—a pole-dancing class. It’s not that they both didn’t have the looks and body to do it, but…they seemed a bit older than your average pole-dancer. I gave them props for going back tonight after their first pole-dancing class. What looked like fun was actually hard work, and they carried the bruises to prove it.
The junior high, while not connected to the high school, was on the same campus. So giving Elise a ride home was not a big deal. And I liked spending time with her. She was all sunshine, energy, kindness, and happiness. But lately her light seemed to have dimmed some. It made me sad when life and responsibility stole away the part of a person that was carefree and innocent.
I started the car to get it warm and searched the stream of students cascading into the lot for Elise. After a few minutes I spotted her trudging through the snow toward me. Something about her was wrong. She was hunched over her books, her head was down and, even from this distance I could tell her actions weren’t very…Elise-like. Movement behind her drew my gaze. Four girls seemed to be following her and saying something. One grabbed Elise’s arm and swung her around. A second stepped over and knocked her books out of her hands.
The hair on the back of my neck bristled. I recognized one of the girls as a freshman named Karen Rodgers. This wasn’t some little junior high squabble; these were high school girls. They must have recognized the sweetness in Elise, and like sharks smelling blood, they were moving in to destroy her.
Not on my watch.
I switched the engine off and got out of my car.
You picked the wrong week to mess with one of my friends.
I’d hoped Zack would come to his senses and beg me to get back together, but he seemed hell-bent on being a dumbass. It hurt so bad I could hardly breathe at times. It was the dual loss of both boyfriend and best friend that was hard to cope with. Zack was the one I usually turned to when I had troubles. Nick was being unusually sensitive and sympathetic toward me, but he was caught in the middle. I didn’t want Zack to lose that friendship, too. Although I’m not sure why I cared.
I stuffed my hands into my Army green jacket, which was probably too light for this weather, but it was my favorite, so I wasn’t quite ready to retire it for the season. I kept my gaze on Elise and couldn’t believe it when the girl who swung her around kicked her while she was trying to gather her books.
“Hey!” I yelled, adrenaline firing. I broke into a run. “Hey! Cut it out!”
Everyone in the vicinity was skirting the scene, which pissed me off even further. No one was going to step in and intervene when one junior high school kid was being attacked by four older kids? Although I was shouting and getting closer to them, the girls seemed too intent on beating Elise to notice. The girl who seemed to be the leader was heaving Elise to her feet by her hair.
I was worried about the damage done so far and truly frightened more would happen before I could get there, but they lifted their heads and seemed to take notice of me. They released Elise, but shoved her to the ground.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I would have sounded a lot more intimidating if I weren’t out of breath and panting.
“This is none of your business,” leader girl said. “Get out of here.”
I helped Elise to her feet and she looked at me with such gratitude it tore at me.
“You okay?”
She nodded bravely, but tears were tracking down her face.
Someone thumped me on the shoulder. “I said get out of here.”
I turned to face her, my jaw tightening. “Yeah. That’s not going to happen.”
She looked at the others with a sneer on her face. “Suit yourself.” She, and two of the others, drew padlocks out of their pockets, which they gripped in their fists. They moved toward me.
This is going to hurt. Really bad.
I put my hands up in what I’m pretty sure was an awful fighting stance. I’d never been in a physical altercation before—save what Ben did to me—and had never intended on being in one. Although I’d managed to get away from Ben, I hadn’t a clue of how you were supposed to hit someone.
I turned to Elise. “Get out of here.”
Mistake. I no sooner got the words out of my mouth when a blinding, white-hot pain rocked me. My brain was connecting with the pain when the second blow came, this time to my body. It bent me in half like I was made of Play-Doh. An elbow then connected with the back of my head and I fell to my knees. Elise was screaming, and the girls were cackling, but the sound was muddled. Someone kicked me from behind, and I collapsed face-first in the snow, but managed to get my hands out to brace myself against the ground. I was pissed I’d not even gotten a shot yet to inflict my own damage. Someone—or it could have been multiple people—jumped on my back and grabbed a handful of my hair. The strands being ripped from my scalp did make me cry out, but I couldn’t get much air behind it because my stomach was now inside out, like an umbrella on a windy day. I pushed into the ground, trying to dislodge whoever was riding me, but they were too much for me.
I was finding it difficult to breathe, battling both the wind being knocked out of me and my mouth being full of saliva and blood, and the weight of whoever was sitting on me. Elise’s frightened voice cut through the haze of pain and laughter. I lifted my gaze and could see her being held back by one of the girls, but at least they weren’t hurting her. That half-moment of distraction cost me though. My main attacker used my hair as a leash to direct my head to center, then grind my face into the snow. I tried, in vain, to bring air into my lungs. My head spun from the first blow, and now lack of oxygen. I knew if I passed out, I was screwed.
“Shit! Teacher.”
Those turned out to be the two most beautiful words in the world as my hair was released and the weight left my back. Though the whole encounter took less than a minute, I was incredibly tired. I guess I’d shot my wad of energy in the struggle.
“Zoe. Zoe!”
Hands were on me. Gentle hands. I managed to raise my head and spit out blood, saliva, snow, and perhaps a taste of mud.
“Zoe? Are you okay?”
It was Elise. I didn’t have the energy to open my eyes or respond.
“We need to turn her over to get her face out of the snow. But gently.”
I didn’t recognize that voice, but it was male and older. I worked with the hands helping to move me and flopped onto my back, releasing a groan.
“Zo!”
“Holy shit!”
Zack and Nick now? I moaned again. This day is plain in the shitter.
“You. Call 9-1-1,” someone ordered.
I cracked an eye. Were I capable of it, I might have laughed. Heads formed a circle around me. Elise, Zack, Nick, and a male teacher—I think from the music department. The sun radiating beyond them, the worried expressions on their faces, and the perfectly proportioned sphere they formed around me, all combined into a comical scene. Or maybe I’d lost my tenuous grip on my sanity.
“Lie still,” the teacher said gently.
Like I have a choice. I couldn’t move if a forest fire was licking at my hair, which is pretty much what it feels like is happening at present.
If I thought it was mortifying having my ass kicked in front of half the school, it was nothing compared to being wheeled off on a stretcher, but no one would listen to me when I told them I was fine. Probably because I wasn’t. The next several hours were a blur of x-rays, stitches, dozing, and people coming in and out. First my dad. That went something like this:
“Hey, babe. How are you feeling? Man, they really did a number on you, didn’t they? Do you know who they were? It’s okay. Don’t worry. Just rest.”
Then Aunt Sam and Dani.
Sam: “Oh, my God. What kind of animal does this to another human being? I am so, so sorry, Zoe. I heard you were protecting Elise. I’m…so sorry.” Then I think there was some sobbing.
Dani carefully brushed my hair away from my forehead and cupped my face. “Is there anything you need, honey? Anything I can get you?”
My phone buzzed. It was on a table out of my reach.
“Could you—”
Dani picked it up. “It’s a text. Do you want me to read it to you, or do you want to read it yourself?”
“Could you please—”
“Wait. It’s from Zack.”
“I don’t want to talk to him.”
They looked at each other. “Okay.” She made a move to put it back, but I asked if I could have it, in case someone else texted.
Sam spoke. “Umm…I know you’re tired and everything, so, if you don’t want to, I completely understand. But Elise was really wanting to talk to you….”
Elise. Things were kind of blurry. What did they do to her? Panic rose. “Is she okay?”
Aunt Sam took my hand. “Oh, yes, honey. She just…feels bad about what happened.”
“Well, it wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t the one coming after me like a wrecking ball.”
I guess the way I said it sounded funny because they both smiled.
“Yeah. I want to see her.” See for myself she was okay.
Elise came in next. After hesitating right inside the door, she ran to my side.
“Oh, gosh, Zoe. I’m so sorry for what happened to you.”
“What? No. I was spoiling for a fight. You actually helped me out.”
She laughed. “Those girls were suspended permanently, by the way. All four of them.”
“Had they bothered you for a while?”
She hung her head for a second then nodded.
“Elise, you know you can always ask me for help if you need anything, right?”
She gave me that radiant smile of hers. “Yeah. I know. Thanks.”
Nick stuck his head in the door. “Zo?” His eyes were closed. Elise and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh.
“Uhh…Nick…. What are you doing?”
He slowly opened his eyes. “I didn’t know if you’d be fully dressed or not. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had a visitor.”
“No. That’s okay.” Elise offered. “I have to get to gymnastics. Zoe, will you be back to school tomorrow?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll text you later.”
Elise left, and Nick came in a few more steps but still stood pretty far away. His hands were jammed in his pockets. “So…uh…how are you doing?”
“I’m okay.”
He came a step closer. “Man. They really messed up your face. You look like shit.”
I frowned. “Gee, thanks, Nick. You really know how to sweet talk a girl.” I grabbed my phone and opened the camera to get a look at the damage myself. “Holy shit.” I turned my head from side to side to get the full view. “You understated it.” My whole face was red and had tiny scratches. Like I was burned. “What are all these scratches from?”
He shrugged. “The snow, I guess.”
“Oh.” That made sense.
“How many?”
I stared at him blankly. “How many what?”
“Stitches.” He pointed to the bandage on my face.
“Oh. They said sixteen.”
“Had any before?”
I didn’t understand the line of questioning. Sometimes Nick was a bit of a freak. “No. Why?”
“Then I have you beat. I had fifteen from that bike accident last summer, and seven when I was a kid and fell on some playground equipment.” He rocked back and forth looking pleased with himself.
“I didn’t realize we were in a contest.” I shook my head. He needed to be taken down a notch or two. “Ever been in a fight?”
He tilted his head and stared at me.
“And I’m not counting the whole Jeffrey Lynch thing. You guys were four. That was more like a temper tantrum.”
“Oh. Then I guess not.”
“Then, you don’t know what it’s like to get hit by a girl using a padlock as brass knuckles.”
He inhaled. “Is that what they had? I saw something flash.”
“Yeah.”
“And you don’t have any broken bones?”
“Nope. Bruised ribs, a mild concussion, and this.” I pointed to the bandage.
A nurse entered the room and came around to the far side of the bed to check my pulse. “How are you feeling? Any more blurry vision?”
“I’m okay. Just sore.”
“Well, we’ll give you another round of pain meds here in a minute.” She looked at Nick pointedly as she put a blood pressure cuff on. “Visiting hours ended fifteen minutes ago.”
“Oh, really?”
She frowned. “I told you that when you got off the elevator and you said you only needed to use the bathroom. Then I find you in here.”
I stifled a laugh, looking from one to the other.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
Her frown became deeper and I felt like, if Nick pushed it more, we might hear her growl. “Well, maybe we need to check you for a concussion then, since that was only ten minutes ago.”
He grimaced. “All right. All right.” He faced me. “Will you be back in school tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
We both looked at the nurse. “I doubt it,” she said without looking away from the tablet she was using to record things.
“Okay, then, I’ll stop by the house, or here, wherever you are.”
“Thanks, Nick.”
The nurse folded the cuff and placed it in a basket on the wall. “I’m going to get those pain meds. I’ll be right back.” She moved to the door and held it open. She made a sweeping gesture to the hallway. “After you.”
“Fine,” Nick huffed.
Five minutes later, I got a text from him.
SOMEBODY TAKES HER JOB WAY TOO SERIOUSLY HA HA LMAO
It wasn’t a text from Nick unless it had at least one LMAO and a HA or two, followed by at least five emojis. I chuckled.
Truthfully, I was glad everyone left. I was tired, and I wanted to think about the fight and worry about what would have happened if that teacher didn’t show. I fell asleep. When I woke, I sensed something. Did I hear a noise? I tensed, listening. Another rustle of movement had me flipping over. It was dark, but I had no trouble making out the figure.
Zack stepped forward. My heart squeezed. Happiness and warmth flooded through me, battling a deep sadness for the head of the line. This was more painful than anything those girls did. I loved him. I didn’t think I could ever stop loving him. “Zoe. How are you doing?”
I snagged my phone, which was in the bed with me. I blinked. “Zack. It’s one o’clock in the morning.”
“I had to see you.”
A pregnant pause settled between us. “Well, you’ve seen me, so go.” I flipped over. I didn’t want him to see the tears threatening.
“Zoe, please.”
I needed him gone. I pushed to a sitting position and turned my heartache and fury on him. I had to force my voice over a lump in my throat and my words sounded choked. “I’m not your problem anymore, Zack.” I reached back to steady myself, the head rush a little much for me, coupled with the pressure I put on my ribs in sitting.
His face couldn’t hide his misery, and I fought the urge to take what I’d said back. The yearning to somehow throw my arms around him and feel him next to me was almost unbearable.
Why are you doing this to me? A tear escaped, then another. The salt stung all those miniscule cuts as they slid down my face. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it. He hung his head.
“Zoe, we’ve been friends for so long. Can’t we just—”
“No!” I screamed at him. Then, remembering where we are, I lowered my volume, but my words still came out with the same energy and venom as before. “No, we ‘can’t just.’ Or at least I can’t just. It—” My voice cracked. I looked away, then back. My head felt like it was going to explode and the weight of my body seemed too heavy to bear. I slid back into the bed, tucking the blankets over my shoulder as I rolled away from him. I closed my eyes, squeezing out more tears.
A soft, bouncing noise behind me could have been the door settling closed. I listened some more, then took a chance and rolled over. I was alone. I put my hands over my face and sobbed uncontrollably.