change of pace

control

chapter eleven

Piercing noises blared through my skull as my alarm went off to get ready for school. Eddie dropped me off late the night before so I barely got any sleep. I was totally not in the mood to do anything crazy to my looks today so I wore old high waisted jeans, a tank top, and my Dad's old button up that was super baggy on me. My tethered scrunchie held up my mess of a hairdo from sleeping on wet hair after I got home and showered.

Sore legs guided my way down the stairs and I grabbed a granola bar before heading my way out the door. Eddie was a few minutes late, skidding his way in front of my house. I waddled my way to the car, still sore. He looked at me concerned when he noticed.

"How are you feeling, babe?" Eddie says watching me slowly buckle my seatbelt.
"Never been better." I joked. He thought for a moment.
"I have some Tylenol...somewhere in here..." he looks around for the bottle.
Eddie hands me the bottle he found in a box under his seat. I pop two in my mouth and hand him back the bottle, which he tells me to keep, "just in case".

He ran to my side of the car to open the door for me once he messily parked in the school parking lot. "M'lady" he graciously said, stretching his hand out for me to grab. I stepped out with my backpack swung around one shoulder weighed down by the heaviness of my textbooks. Eddie's rough steps slowed down to walk with me hand in hand.

Upon making our way into the building, Dustin caught a glance at us and began making his way over to us and walking next Eddie.

"Eddie!" he says flashing his braces filled grin.
"Beat it, kid." Eddie says trying to avoid him.
"But, our character sheets! Just like you asked." Dustin says showing papers similar to the one Eddie and I filled out last week.

Eddie stops and slowly turns to Dustin. He looks at him and then snatches the papers, letting go of my hand, and examining what each of them will be bringing to the party. We move over to the side of the entrance as he intently focuses. I look over at Dustin who's sweating bullets. His eyes make contact with me and I give him a reassuring smile which he sighs in relief. Eddie notices and snaps his attention towards me and back to Dustin.

"Friday, 6PM. Do NOT be late, Henderson. That goes for your other widdle friends too." Eddie says lightly grabbing my hand again.
"Yes, sir!" Dustin says smiling wide and looking at me giving a thumbs up. He backs away and starts walking with joy to his class.
"You're so intense." I say as I see Eddie staring him down. He laughs and wraps his arm around me as we walk to class.

Fourth period arrives and I quickly walk to class. I start walking to my seat and see Trent, a stupid little rich boy in the school that everyone loves because of his parties, who starts laughing.

"Don't trip, slut." he says as I start walking in front of him.
"What the fuck did you just say?" I stop to turn to him.
"You're desperate enough to fuck that freak, who knows who else you've been on."
"Trenton, that's enough." Mr. Traleck begrudgingly says, already not being fond of me. He sits back down in his seat and starts reading from a notebook.

As I begin walking to my seat, Trent grabs my ass. Anger rushed through me so fast that I didn't even realize I had punched him right in the nose, causing it to bleed.

"You bitch!" Trent stands up from his seat lunging at me, grabbing my hair and pulling me back. He starts punching me as I laid on the floor trying to kick him off me. Kids start chanting "Fight!" as Mr. Traleck tries to separate the two of us. Other teachers run in hearing cheers to help him. Suddenly, my arms are being held back by two teachers who are rushing me out of the room. Trent stays in the room, also being held back, calling me a whore as I get pushed out. Students are cheering as they see the aftermath. My eyes start feeling heavy as I realize I have a black eye settling in. I look up to see Eddie have the most confused face seeing me pulled by two teachers, and then tries to follow me. "To class, Mr. Munson!" one of the teachers holding me says.

They bring me to the principal's office where I'm forced to sit in the waiting room with his secretary. I was given an ice pack as compensation.

"Ms. Lawson, come in please." Principal Higgins says, almost disgusted at the bloody beat up sight of me. I limp my way into the room and take a seat.
"Tell me what happened."
"He assaulted me, and I used self defense." I said as stern as possible.
"Come again?"
"Trent assaulted me. He called me a slut and grabbed my ass, so I punched him in the face."
"Trent? As in Trenton Griffin? Now, Jessica, that is very unlike hi-"
"Are you denying he did it? Because you can ask Mr. Traleck who asked him to stop after he called me a slut!" I weakly said on the verge of tears.
"No, Jessica, I'm sorry, but I just want to know what prompted you to go at him with violence?"
"Did I stutter? He grabbed my ass, that is physical assault, is it not?"
"Yes, you are correct."
"So why am I here?"
"Well, violence is not accepted here at Hawkins High, Ms. Lawson. And from your attitude that you have shown me, I say suspension until the end of the week."
"Excuse me?"
"See you next Monday, Ms. Lawson."
"So what's Trent's punishment? A slap on the wrist?"
"I cannot share that information with you, and you know that." Principal Higgins says pulling out my file to write in a note.

I was escorted to the front doors of the school by the gym teacher and the doors slammed shut on me. I screamed in annoyance and started walking home. My walk home was nothing short of agonizing. Painful steps led me to the front door, where I found Dad staring at me in worry.

"Are you okay? What happened?" he says as I limp towards the kitchen to grab a new ice pack.
"Some kid fucking grabbed my ass so I punched him in the face and he fought back. They gave me a week suspension." I say slamming the freezer door. Dad starts grabbing his keys. "Where are you going?" I ask, seeing his now blurry movements.
"To talk to the school, Jess. This is not acceptable."
"They won't listen to you, Dad, you don't think I tried?"
"I'm not doubting that. Which is why I'm upset. Go lay down, I'll be back soon." he says going out the door.

I start limping towards the bathroom to wash off the blood from my face. The reflection in the mirror startled me. Warm water stung as I splashed it against my skin. The front door closes loudly.

"I told you, Dad, they won't listen." I start walking to the front door but it's not him. It's Eddie, who himself has bloody knuckles.
"Wha-"
"Are you okay?" he runs over to me, gently rubbing my hair out of my face.
"What happened to you?" I ask moving my hand towards his nose.
"I'm fine, Jess, let's go lay you down." Eddie helps me to my room.

He runs over to undo my covers and fix my pillows. I look down to find my shirt covered with my blood and stumbled to my drawer to find a different shirt. Eddie notices and finds an old black vacation shirt. He helps me pull the blood-soaked one off, revealing bruises. His face goes angry as he looks at them. "Stop, Ed." I say weakly placing my hand on his chest. He loosens up and helps place the shirt on. I lay down on my bed and Eddie unties my shoes to be pulled off. He covers me with the comforter and sits at the end of my bed looking at me.

"What did you do, Eddie?"
"He hurt you." he focuses at a picture on the wall.
"Eddie..."
"He hurt you, Jessie. He deserved it." he sounds upset.
"Baby, no." I lean up to grab his hands.
"I waited by the offices for him. I found him outside walking to his car after lunch. He called you names...saying you had it coming. And I just couldn't control myself, so I took off after." he says and I look down at his rings coated in blood.
"Eddie, he's going to report you."
"He won't. Trust me."
"What do you mean?"
"I threatened him to never look at you again and if he said anything about you, that it would be worse."

I stare at him as he looks as though there's a million things running through his mind.