Staying Afloat

Chapter 18

"Hi, we were wondering if you had a minute." At Gabby's suggestion, we were going to one of our coaches, Daniella, to report Riley's behavior toward me. Now that I have a witness, my story seems a lot more believable.

"Of course, what's going on?" I began to tell her about the past month of incidents I've had with her.

"The other day, I overheard Riley threatening to kill Cece." Gabby told her.

"Oh my god, Cece. I'm so sorry that this has been happening to you." Daniella said, reaching for my hand to comfort me. "There is no place for bullying or abuse on our team. She will be removed, effective immediately, and we will report her to the school. I'm so sorry that nobody saw this sooner. It's likely that the school is going to reach out to you once I report, are you okay with that?" I nodded in response. "If you need anything at all, please ask me or Taylor. We are here for you, and once again I'm so sorry you had to go through this." She squeezed my hand.

"Thank you, your support means a lot." I smiled and Gabby and I left her office.

---

I went home directly after school, which was much earlier than I was used to. Cheer practice this afternoon was cancelled so that Daniella and Taylor could figure out who would be replacing Riley as captain. I was so relieved now that she no longer had any power over me.

After finishing up my homework I went downstairs to watch some TV. I figured my brothers would be home soon, but at least for now I had the house to myself.

I was halfway through an intense episode of 'Say Yes to the Dress' when I heard a knock on the door. I went to open it, figuring my brothers had forgotten their keys AGAIN. They're lucky I'm always here to let them in. I swung the door open.

"You guys really need to start remembering..." I trailed off as I saw that it was not my brothers at the door, but Riley. Instinctively, I shut the door, but she caught it and held it open. "What are you doing here?" I tried my best to shove the door shut, but she pushed her way inside.

"Just came for a little chat. Thank you so much for getting me kicked off of cheer!" She said, inching closer to me.

"Get out of my house. You are done making me miserable!" I shouted at her.

"Oh, am I?" She grabbed my shoulders and slammed me into the wall, hard. I swung my fist at her face, getting her to let go of me. She lunged towards me with blood trickling down her nose, and I narrowly avoided her, running into the kitchen. I ran around the table in the middle of the room, and turning back around. Just as I did, I saw her holding a vase from the counter, which she then threw across the room at me. I saw it just in time to duck. She ran around the table towards me and I ran the other way, back through the living room. I felt a sharp pain in my foot as I was running.

"GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID FUCKING SLUT! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" She yelled to me as I ran out the front door as fast as I could. I glanced over my shoulder to see where she was, but I tripped and fell onto the driveway. I rolled onto my back so I could get a clear view of the front door as I was trying to catch my breath.

"Oh my god, Cece? Are you okay?" I saw Benny emerge from the garage and run towards me. He and August must have just gotten home. August ran over shortly after.

"Riley's here." I managed to wheeze out, pointing to the open door. As my brothers looked that way, I noticed a lot of blood coming from my left foot. Riley's expression softened as she saw my brothers near me.

"Oh my goodness, August, look what she did to me." She said, rushing over to us. I could not believe how fake she was being. Before I could say anything, August stepped in front of me.

"Get the hell away from her." He sneered, surprising both me and her.

"But, babe, I didn't do anything! She's the one that hit me." She protested, gesturing to her nose.

"Bullshit, I heard you threaten her from the car. I can't believe I ever trusted you over her."

"August, don't do this. You know she's been against us from the beginning."

"Get out of my yard before I call the cops on you." He threatened and she finally huffed away. "Cece, I'm so sorry I didn't trust you, and for everything I said." I sighed deeply. I knew that everything wasn't completely his fault, but I honestly don't know how I'm going to move on from the things he said.

"I know you are, Aug." I bent my leg so I could get a good look at my foot, which had a decent sized piece of glass sticking out of it and a lot of blood gushing out. 

"Let's get you inside." Benny said, scooping me up and bringing me into the couch. "I'll go get the first aid kit." He went to the bathroom.

"What even happened?" August asked me, sitting down on the chair on the other side of the room.

"Well, I heard a knock on the door and I thought it was you guys and you had forgotten your keys. So I opened the door, and she came in and then shoved me into the wall, I punched her, and then she started chasing me and she threw a vase at me in the kitchen and I ran outside and tripped, and I mean you guys saw the rest." I explained as Benny sat down next to me and pulled my foot onto his lap.

"Sorry if this hurts at all." He gave me a half smile before using tweezers to remove the glass from my heel.  "Sorry, but I think you're gonna need stitches." He cleaned the cut and put a temporary bandage on it.

"I can take you to the doctor's." August offered and I nodded. I pushed myself up from the couch and limped toward the door, keeping my weight off of my heel.

"Woah, you definitely shouldn't be walking on that." Benny said, springing to his feet and wrapping an arm around my waist. I groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I know you like being independent but I don't need you to get anymore hurt." I sighed, but ultimately let him pick me up and bring me to the car. He even let me sit in the front seat.

•••A/N•••
New update wooooo!!!!

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Lots of love!

Sara