Grace.

Chapter 17.

Everyone gasped and started talking amongst themselves. This was horrible! I regretted not dealing with the situation sooner like Gloria had told me to. Brooke started crying and Lucy stood up to give everyone a piece of her mind. "You all better get rid of this rubbish, or else! Delete it! Now!" She shouted.
Just then, Caleb came barging in from outside. He quickly rushed to Bebe and picked her up, taking her out of class. Lucy rushed behind them, fuming! "Where are you going?!" Donna called out after her. "What the hell is going on?!" Mr. Clarke finally asked. "This can't be good," I muttered to Josh. "Where's Donna going?" He asked.
Donna ran out of class, followed by Naomi. Josh stood up, excused us and pulled me up to run after the others. That was a bad idea!
Lucy was probably going to find Luke. No, not probably, definitely!
Luke had been out by the field at football practice. Lucy spotted him and charged straight to him.
"Whoa, hot stuff! No girls on the field," Ethan said, his hand on Lucy's shoulder.
"Fuck off!" She shouted, pushing him aside. "You think you're so smart, huh?! When in whole honesty that thing you mistake for a brain is stuck in that dick of yours that's why it's so small!" She exploded.
The whole team laughed, Luke's face went red with rage.
"Move the fuck away from my face, whore!" He spat.
We arrived, though not in time as Lucy threw a big punch straight to Luke's face followed with a kick in the sack! His eyes watered, blood dripping down from his nose.
"Whoa! Grab her! Grab her!" One guy from the team shouted.
Ethan grabbed Lucy from behind but she quickly clawed Luke on his neck. He screamed in pain. She dug her nails deeper into him as she threw another punch and kick in the stomach. I saw him clench his fist ready to punch back but I quickly ran over to him pushing him to the ground and giving him a hard kick in the ass.
"What the fuck?!" Shouted one of the players. They quickly rushed to grab me. Lucy was held tight by Ethan as she kicked and screamed, "I'm gonna kill you!" The coach quickly ran to the chaos as Naomi and Donna stood aside completely shocked.
"Get the fuck off me!" Lucy wriggled, breaking free from Ethan's grip.
"What in the HELL!" Shouted Coach Burke.
Naomi quickly ran over to him. "Sorry, Coach Burke this is all a misunderstanding," she explained.
"I don't care, missy! Get off my field!" He raged. Naomi quickly grabbed me and Donna got Lucy.
"You better tell that motherfucker to watch himself!" Lucy shouted to Coach Burke.
"You okay, man?" Ethan asked Luke.
"The whore broke my nose," Luke spat.
"Mr Rogers, if this shit happens again, you're off the team," warned Coach Burke. "Seven laps! Now!"

A lot happened after that. Lucy had to go to the infirmary for her broken nail. Bebe was in a state! Caleb was the only one who managed to calm her down. We did what we could, but fighting for Brooke only turned out to be problematic - for us that is.
The following day we were called to Principal Davis' office. We were sitting in class when the intercom went on: "Lucy Montgomery, Grace Hills, and Brooke Brown to report to my office, now!"
The whole class went quiet as we stood up to leave. Brooke was visibly embarrassed by the whole thing. We arrived at Principal Davis' office only to find that she had been waiting for us with Luke sitting on one of the chairs. I could hear Lucy sigh out of frustration.
"Have a seat, girls," Principal Davis said.
We sat, eagerly waiting to hear what she had to say.
"Girls, I'll just get straight to it. Why did you girls do what you did yesterday? I do not expect such behavior from you. You're seniors! What's with all the immaturity?"
"With all due respect, Principal Davis, he deserved it," Lucy spoke.
"Why? And who are you to decide on such?" She asked, peering over her glasses at Lucy.
"He did something terrible! He posted all those pictures of Bebe! And-and..." She stopped then looked over to Brooke. "Tell her," she whispered.
"Tell me what?" asked Miss Davis.
Brooke remained silent, afraid of even moving in her seat. Lucy threw her hands in the air, frustrated.
"Miss Montgomery! Please! Brooke, I heard about the pictures. You know we do not tolerate such behavior in our school! What's gotten into you?!" Principal Davis scolded.
Luke sat in his chair with a smirk on his face the entire time, watching how we squirmed in our seats and stuttered as we tried to explain ourselves to the Principal. Enjoying the whole thing, he decided to chip in.
"Uhm, Ma'am, if I may? I really understand why the girls did what they did. I do. But I'm not to blame for this. Bebe and I are long over. I mean it's been what? Weeks? No talking nor seeing each other. And Brooke to be honest, honey, we all know of your reputation with boys. It could've been anyone."
"Shut the fuck up!" Lucy snapped.
"You're on thin ice, Montgomery!"
"You're so annoying it's actually sad! You're the only one messed up enough to take pictures of Bebe! Just admit you did it! There's enough proof to prove it! Why are you such a retard?!" I badgered.
"What did you just call me?!" Luke raged.
"You posted those pictures and you abused Bebe! Admit it! ADMIT IT!" Lucy shouted.
"Those are serious accusations! Principal Davis?!" He called out to her, wide eyed
"I- what is all this now?!" She stuttered, shocked
Lucy turned to her, "He abused Bebe! Physically, sexually and emotionally! Do something!"
"Not to mention the pictures he leaked! An illegal act!" I added.
"I will not stand for this! I was willing to sweep it all under the carpet but now I'm pissed. I demand an apology from all of you! Now! You will NOT drag my name through the mud like this!" His eyes were filled with rage as he banged his fist on the chair.
"Fuck you! FUCK YOU!" shouted Lucy.
"You're never going to get away with this! You're sick and disgusting and you will pay for everything!" I growled.
Principal Davis got up from her chair hoping that it will stop the fighting but none of us noticed her as we went off at each other.
"You're an abuser! You beat up girls because you're a pathetic loser!"
"STOP!"
We all kept quiet and looked at Bebe who had her head buried in her hands.
"Just stop..." she sobbed. "It's all coming back, all of it...and I was starting to forget. I'm happy now. I'm okay now. Please, get me out of here. I cannot look at him without breaking apart, without dying inside. I don't care anymore. I just want all of this to end. He posted the pictures, whatever. Fuck it. Fuck him. He got what he wanted. I'm just glad that I'm not part of what he got anymore. Can we let go and move on? Please?"
Lucy shook her head and I moved over to hug Bebe. Luke sunk deeper into his chair as Principal Davis shot him a sharp look. She sat back down and spoke calmly.
"Mr. Rogers...you leaked the pictures and you abused Miss Brown during your relationship with her?"
"Yes!"
"No, Principal Davis. Yes, I'll admit I was unfaithful. I hurt her by cheating on her and that's it. I swear! I'm not that kind of guy."
"He's lying, Principal. We wouldn't lie about all of this. We saw it happen, Bebe being bruised and swollen. He'd beat her up all the time. She just won't say anything because she's scared," I revealed.
"Girls, this is a serious matter. I need proof and a lot of it. Give me that and I'll deal with this situation accordingly. What baffles me is that all of you knew this but said nothing. I get that you're friends but some things are just too deep to keep to yourselves in the name of friendship. Mr. Rogers...for your sake I hope that all of this isn't true. The outcome won't be good for you. The three of you get back to class. Brooke, may I have a word?"
We got up to leave. Luke caught up to us once we were out of the office aggressively shoving Lucy into the wall. "Ouch!" She cried. "Get off her!" I bellowed, punching him on his back. "Both of you are dead. Do you hear me? Especially you, whore! This is far from over. Mark my words!" He hissed, teeth clenched as he spat in Lucy's face. 
We watched as he walked away thinking about what he had just said and what we had just done. "He's just trying to scare us, screw him," I said. "He better not do anything stupid," Lucy mouthed.

After school, me and Naomi headed out to the store in town to get beers and wine. We'd decided to have an emergency session. I told her everything that happened in detail. She was very upset about it. The threat from Luke got her worried. She said he sounded very dangerous and we shouldn't have taken it lightly. "He wouldn't dare!" I cursed. "I know, babe. All I'm saying is be careful...please," she pleaded.
I took her hand with a warm smile as we ran across the street. I stopped by the walk way searching my pockets for my purse. "Hey, pretty ladies!" We looked up and saw Nayeli. "Nayeli!" I beamed, rushing to hug her. "Are you okay, love? I heard what happened," she frowned. "Oh, it's nothing," I shrugged. "Okay, but if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me," she said. Naomi stood and watched as we smiled and giggled, touching each other's hair and holding hands.
"I'm still planning the dinner. I haven't forgotten about it. Everyone is so excited to see you. Especially my dad. Oh, we're going to be having lamb stew. I hope you like it."
After the tea party, Nayeli invited me over again, but this time for dinner with her family.
"Are you kidding me?! It's my favorite!" I smiled.
"Great! I'll text you the details. Have a good day, hon. I love you."
She gave me one more hug and then disappeared around the corner. I ran back to Naomi and locked her arm with mine. "Let's go," I skipped.
We got everything and went over to Lucy's house. Donna and Bebe were already there,  making pizza. Lucy walked down in her underwear and t-shirt and joined us. "Mom's home, she's in her room. We're gonna chill down here today," she told us. We moved to her living room and set up everything. After a while, Bebe and Donna joined us with the pizza and other snacks. Lucy poured out the alcohol and we sat taking in the first sip.
"Aaah...this is exactly what I needed," I swallowed. All of us downed our first glass and went in for a second one. "I'm pretty sure Luke is plotting his revenge as we speak," Bebe burped.
"That dead fuck better stay away if he knows what's good for him," snapped Lucy.
"He was pretty pissed though," I added.
"Don't tell me you're scared of him," Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Just don't want trouble is all."
"He deserved it. He's mentally unstable and needs to be dealt with."
We all remained quiet.
My phone lit up. It was a text from Edgar. My heart raced! Mimi didn't see anything, she was sitting next to me. The others were still chatting whilst I tried to figure out what to do now! The last two days felt normal again. It was almost as though nothing happened. But as soon as I saw his name on my screen...I was back to square one.
I thought I had made it clear to Edgar for him to leave me alone! What did he want now?! So annoying. So annoying!
"Uhm, can you guys excuse me? I-I need to go to the bathroom," I muttered.
"You can use the one in my room," Lucy said.
I quickly got up from the floor, phone squeezed in my hand, rushing to the bathroom. I shut the door behind me and made sure to lock. I was so annoyed and terrified that I had to take a moment to stop myself from crying before checking the message. I slipped into the bathtub and closed the shower curtain.

Edgar: Hi. I'm sorry, I just couldn't. I can't! You're on my mind and I desperately need to talk to you. Please? Please.

Damn it! Damn him! Couldn't he just...let it go?! Huh?! Just let it go! I had my phone held against my chest, eyes closed, thinking of what to do next. Should I reply? And say what? And that's when my phone rang. Edgar.
"What?" I whispered.
"Did you get my text? Can we talk?"
"Yes, and no. What do you want, Edgar?"
"Come on, you cannot honestly expect me to just go about my day,"  he reproached.
"I...am begging you to," I pleaded.
There was a long silence from his end. He was right. What I did couldn't be ignored...but it had to be. So much was at stake. Being with Edgar would be complicated. It would bring so much drama and...and I wasn't looking forward to that! It's not how I saw myself being in love. But then again, love is complicated. Right? Gosh, what was I thinking?!
"Edgar," I cleared my throat. "Listen to me, forget about what happened, okay? It never happened. Ever. Just...go about your day. That's what I'm doing."
It was a lie and I felt horrible for doing what I did. I kissed him. I complicated things! And it would be my fault that things got messed up. I could hear the line drop. A long, low beep. Funny thing, my heart beat did the same thing. I wanted Edgar, but that didn't matter. The truth was...no matter what, I just couldn't be with him.