𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞

It was now a week until the ball, and the school was having a year group assembly to discuss the details of the event. Holly wanted to go but Ryan always made her put him before her studies. 

"You need to understand Holly. Now that you have me, you don't have to worry about school anymore. Just sit back and have a joint with me." He assured, grabbing her wrist to stop her from walking into the auditorium. Holly looked at him, her eyes lifeless and cold. "Yes, I know. I'm sorry." Ryan looked at her angrily. "Whatever, let's just go and get high somewhere, kay?" 

The two of them walked over to this little corridor in the english block which was practically abandoned due to the assembly. They situated themselves on the cold, cement floor as Ryan held a freshly rolled joint up to his lips. He inhaled deeply, blowing the smoke right into Holly's face. Even though she smoked now, she still didn't like when he blew smoke into her face, however she knew how he would react if she asked him to stop, so she just kept quiet.

After a puff or two, Ryan passed the joint over to Holly. She took a log drag from it and blew the smoke in the opposite direction. 

Whilst the two were smoking, they started to talk about the ball. Holly mentioned the dress she wanted to wear, and asked what he thought. She pulled an image of the dress up on her phone and showed it to him. His face dropped. "Are you really going to wear that to the ball?" He asked, his facial expression forming into a disgusted look. Holly's confidence was slightly shaken, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "What do you mean? I think it looks really pretty!" She defended, taking a second look at the outfit. 

He looked at her as if to say his implication was obvious. "It's a gorgeous dress, I just don't think it would look gorgeous on you.. I'm so sorry if I sound mean, but I just don't think you have the body for it. If you were skinner, then you would look smoking hot, but you're not." As she listened to her boyfriend's ill intended comment, her self esteem just shattered. She tried her best to sway his opinion. 

"It doesn't look that bad." She started. "The dress I've bought is my size, and I've already tried it on. It looks perfect." She spoke, her eyes wide with sadness and a slight twinkle of hope. The pair couldn't hear, but Toby had been excused from the assembly, as he needed to go and grab something from the conference room, which was right around the corner from where Holly and Ryan were. 

Toby approached the conference room, when he heard bickering. He knew that if he opened the door, the arguing would stop, but the voices sounded familiar to him. After a few seconds of deliberation, he decided to walk a little closer to the noise ad find out what they were arguing about. He peered his head around the wall, and he was shocked to see Holly. He saw the look on Ryan's face, and he was hearing every malicious word that came out of his mouth.

"Gosh, you're so fucking stupid, Holly!" He exclaimed, digging his fingernails into his palms. Toby's face dropped, but he kept listening. "I swear, you better not be acting like this at the ball next week, because if you are, I won't fucking hesitate to hit you again." He threatened, taking another long drag from the joint he had in his hand. "I reckon it was the boys you used to hang out with that made you this audacious." He spoke, coughing lightly as he exhaled. 

Toby listened in horror as everything sort of set in. Her relationship with him wasn't as happy and blissful as he thought it was. He knew if he did something about it right in that moment, it would only make things worse for her, so he decided to be strategic about how he went about this. He walked back over to the conference room, and opened it as he walked in to grab what he needed before returning to the auditorium. 

He took his seat next to Henry, and whispered softly. "I need to talk to you about something on break. It's about Holly." The boys didn't speak her name much anymore, so hearing it stung and filled their stomachs with butterflies at the same time. Henry's eyes widened as he slowly turned  his head to look at him. Toby conveyed a serious expression to Henry, indicating that it was important, but it was something they couldn't talk about in that moment. 

Holly and Ryan continued to smoke, but Holly wanted to stop. "Is it okay if I tap out now? My head''s feeling all fuzzy." She confessed, coughing as she passed the joint back to her boyfriend. He snatched it from her, looking at her with disappointment. "If my friends don't think you're a massive stoner like the rest of them, they'll clown me. You don't want me to lose all my friends, do you?" He said. This comment made Holly feel terrible. Within the past few months, Holly had lost all of her friends. She'd lost Henry, she'd lost Toby, she'd lost Tianah and Emily.. She had absolutely no one now. 

Even though part of her knew that it was all because of Ryan, she still didn't wish any of the pain she was feeling upon him. She grabbed the joint and took a long drag. Ryan's manipulative expression changed into a sort of proud one. "That's it. You know, when you behave, being with you is so much easier." He confessed, taking the joint out of her hand for his turn. He spoke his next sentenced as he dragged. "I don't like hitting you, but you force me to. I hate having to hurt you, but you won't listen any other way." 

Not long after, the bell went, signalling break time. Ryan put out the joint as not to get caught by any teachers or get snitched on by all those other anti drug people. He grabbed Holly by the hand and walked over to his friend group.

While they did that, Toby took Henry to their old hang out spot. The one they used when they were friends with Holly. The pair sat down, and Toby looked at Henry with a solemn face. "So, you know how one of the teachers sent me to the conference room to grab them their student list, right?" He questioned. Henry nodded. "Well, Holly and Ryan were there. Around the corner from it at least." As he said this, Henry spoke. "And what does this have to do with us?" He asked. As Toby sort of knew, Holly was kind of a sensitive subject for Henry, so he avoided talking about her unless he really had to. 

"I heard them arguing. He said something about her acting in a way that he didn't like. He also said that if she was still acting like that at the ball, he wouldn't hesitate to... hit her again." That last sentence sent shivers down Henry's spine. "I also smelled weed, bro. He's got her wagging classes, drinking, and smoking." Henry's face dropped. "There is no fucking way she's doing any of that on her own free will. We both know how much she valued her work." Henry said, a look of disbelief on his face.

Toby nodded. "Yeah, I reckon he has to be forcing her." The boys sat in silent for a moment, allowing them both a second to think. That was when it clicked. "Toby?" Henry asked, looking at him as if he'd just had some sort of revelation. Toby nodded. "Yeah? What's up?" Henry took a second to think about how to word what he was about to say. "Do you remember that day when Holly came to school with that cut on her cheek?" Toby's eyebrows raised. "Yeah." He said as if he sort of anticipated what Henry was about to say.

"Well, after the fight with Tianah and Taylor, Holly pulled me aside. She and I had a little talk about the whole situation, and she was on the verge of telling me how she got it." 

"What happened?" Toby fussed, his eyebrows now furrowing.

"Ryan happened. Literally just as Holly was about to tell me, Ryan swooped in and said one of the other girls was looking for her or something. I think he knew, because now that I think about it, he was also there when I went off on Taylor, so in a way, he had some sort of warning." He confessed. Even saying it out loud made him angry.

"That manipulative little cunt." Toby cursed. He thought to himself for a moment before he put in something he noticed too. "Actually, I think I noticed something too. A few days or so after the fight, we were in science. Mr Guretti asked us to hand out files, but when we got back, Holly found a note in her pencil case. I didn't get a good look at it, but the first part of it said something like 'don't tell anyone about where you got the cut' or some shit like that."

Henry's eyes widened. "I bet it was fucking Ryan." He announced, clenching his hand into a fist. "I have a plan. We'll talk more about damage control on the day of the ball, but initially, we're going to keep an eye on her. After the ball, we are going to beat the absolute shit out of him. We'll get Tianah in on it too. She can like try and find some way to keep Holly from leaving so she doesn't see what we're doing." 

"I love that idea, but there's one problem with it." Henry said, his expression fading. Toby looked at him with confusion. "Tianah doesn't talk to Holly anymore as well, remember?" He re-issued. "Yes, but it's Tianah. She can cause some sort of scene so that Holly has to stay." He said, looking as if he was the smartest man in the world. Henry nodded as if to agree with his statement, and with that, the boys got up and went to find Tianah.