Dancing Shadows

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ellowyn's POV-
   After a few minutes of chatting with everyone, I realize I haven't seen Todo or Midoriya in a while. "Hey, do you guys know where Todoroki and Midoriya went?"

   Kirishima says, "Todoroki went to go find our table and grab his phone, and Midoriya went over to the punch bowl to get something to drink for Todoroki when he gets back." I nod and everyone continues with the conversation. It's not long before I get worried again. It really shouldn't take that long to get punch. I look down at the end of the food bar where the punch bowl is. It's not very far from us so I can clearly see Monoma, with two other people from class B standing behind him, talking to Midoriya. A bit concerned, I listen in on the conversation.

   "Hey guys, I'm really not looking for trouble." Midoriya says, chuckling nervously. I slip my hand out of Bakugou's and begin to push through the groups of people by the food to get to him while still listening in.

   Monoma says, "You asked for trouble the second you came here with Endeavor's son as your date." He takes one of the two glasses of punch out of Midoriya's hands and takes a sip. I'm blocked by yet another group of people as he says, "Here, you can have this back." and dumps the rest of the punch out onto Midoriya. He looks utterly shocked and tears gather in his eyes as Monoma says, "Oops! Looks like you might have to go home and change." He grins as he adds, "And maybe don't come back this time, fag."

   Just as he turns around and is about to walk away, I'm finally able to get to them. In that moment, I feel anger consume me, the same type of anger that I've trying to suppress for over a year. I barely even realize that I've picked up the punch bowl off of the table and dumped the entire thing over Monoma's head until I feel it splash onto me. It takes a few moments for anything to happen, but I know something soon will so I stay in place in front of Midoriya. Still boiling with rage, the only thing I see is red. Monoma clenches his fists before he sharply turns to see me. "You fucking bitch!" He shouts. "Why the fuck did you do that!"

   "You really should calm down, Monoma." I say calmly. "You're creating a scene. You should go home and change." More quietly I add, "Maybe this time just don't come back, bigot."

   His eyes widen with shock and even more anger. "You are going to pay for this."

   "We'll see about that."

   "Yes, you will." Monoma begins walking away towards the door behind us and I curse myself for flinching as soon as he takes a step forward. Apparently, I'm not the only one to notice because he smirks as soon as I do. He slowly walks up to me and I look him straight in the eye. I don't dare move a muscle. Just as I think he's about to give up and move on, he moves his body just enough for me to think he's going to touch me and I instinctually flinch backwards. He laughs a bit and then says, "How pathetic. How...weak."

   I don't even realize until his face pales that my eyes have turned black. I have to take a deep breath and work to calm myself as I say, "Get out of here."

   All of a sudden I hear Bakugou say, "That's her giving you a warning, Monoma. Leave."

   Even just the sound of his voice helps me begin to calm down. I look at him with a thankful smile and he nods in return. I realize Midoriya is heading out the door with Todoroki and decide it's probably about time I do the same. I begin to walk towards Bakugou when Monoma says, "Not so fast," and grabs me by my wrist. In one sudden move, I'm back in that moment with him and I can't help but scream at how scared I feel.  The only difference is that this time I can fight, meaning I immediately turn around and punch Monoma in the face. I look into his eyes for just long enough to watch them turn from black to blue as they fall shut and he falls to the ground.

   My ears are ringing as I stumble away. When I feel someone catch me from behind, I'm about to hit them too until I realize it's Bakugou, his voice in my ear telling me that we need to leave. I'm suddenly back down to reality within an instant as I notice all the reporters and pro-heroes surrounding us. It isn't until then that I realize just what happened and feel a sense of panic. There were so many important pro heroes and reporters and students there and they all saw that. They all saw me flinch at someone taking even one step towards me. They saw me break down at one person's touch. They saw how weak I am. I set the bowl I'm still holding in my left hand back down on the table and wordlessly let Bakugou lead me out of the room. Reporters begin to swarm around us but luckily some teachers step up and stop them from following us. He leads me to a bathroom and then pulls me inside, closing and locking the door behind us. I tense and when he realizes he explains, "Don't want any reporters fucking following us." I relax a bit and nod. "Sit on the counter so I can help you with your hand." I try to push myself up but my hand still hurts and I have to stop for a moment. Running out of patience, Bakugou lifts me up by the waist and sets me down on the counter next to the sink. He takes my right hand into both of his. I can see the scar from when that villain, Toga, sliced through my hand a few weeks ago. Other than that, the skin just looks very red and my knuckles are bleeding a bit. "You are lucky you didn't break anything with how shitty your form was. Your hands are just a tiny bit swollen and you broke some skin, but you'll be fine."

   He reaches under the sink and rummages around for a few minutes before finding some medical supplies. Suddenly, he pours some alcohol onto my cuts and I hiss in pain. "Bakugou! A little warning next time?"

   He rolls his eyes. "Quit being such a baby. You're lucky I'm even fucking doing this for you."

   I roll my eyes. "Please, don't flatter yourself. Before all this mess, I was studying to be a doctor. I could do this with my eyes closed."

   "With only your left hand?"

   "Yes."

   "Sure. Even if you can, it would take ten times longer. Just shut up and let me help you."

   "Oh so you're helping me now? What did I do to deserve such an honor?"

   "Shut up, Cherry." A few minutes later, as he's beginning to wrap the gauze around my hand and finish up, he asks, "Why did you go after Monoma like that? First with the punch and then, well, the punch."

   "I poured the punch on him because he poured his cup out onto Midoriya. Well, not even that. It's when he called him the f-slur that I really got set off. And I punched him because..."

   I don't really want to admit how scared I was to Bakugou but he already knows. "You were afraid."

   "Yes." I say, tears welling up in my eyes.

   I avoid his questioning gaze until he grabs my chin and forces me to make eye contact with him. "Why were you scared of him?"

   I freeze up.  I can't tell him. It frightens me to even think about letting anyone know about the one moment in my life where I had never felt more afraid than ever and yet simultaneously more unable than ever to do anything about it. Even if I could tell him, where would I start? How do you even begin to explain the cause of the pain that you feel every single day to the one person who is somehow keeping you from drowning in it?

   After an eternity of questioning silence, we hear a knock on the door and I flinch so hard I pull my hands out of Bakugou's. He steps away from me to peek outside the door and I immediately feel cold again. Externally, I shut off. Internally, I'm reliving every moment of that defenseless fear and I'm screaming at myself for pushing away someone who's become my best friend and I'm wishing I had never come to this dance and then suddenly I'm feeling worse than before for wishing that because Bakugou needed me to do this and I actually had fun with him and my classmates and now I can't stop and I'm feeling guilt and fear and a small bit of residual anger at the fact that people who you think are good can come into your life and ruin everything in just one moment and then shove you under the rug and I'm drowning and I can't stop, I can't stop, please just make it stop

   Why can't everything just stop?