little bird // r.keene

xxv. you'll choke.

The class dispersed shortly after, all of them lining up around the edges of the mats to prepare to spar. Wren took long steady breaths as she kept her eyes fixed on the new students, all of them in a small group in the corner opposite to her. She wondered if that had been intentional, she hoped it was.

"Wren," Tory's voice snapped her out of her train of thought and Wren felt her tension disperse. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for the other day. I was just worried about you, I'm sorry that I pressured you into telling Hawk about..." She trailed off, Wren knew what she meant and simply gently shook her head, dismissing the thought.

"Don't be. You gave me the wake up call I needed..." Wren told her friend, angling her shoulders to face her properly and away from the mat. "I needed to tell Hawk, I have been meaning to for months- but just after everything..." She rambled, letting her mind drift off to corners that held all the things he had done to her.

The secrets. The harsh words. The lying on both parts. Wren shook her head.

"I'm glad he knows, it felt good to talk about it. Anyway, I'm going to visit Will this afternoon, after training. It's okay." Wren assured her and Tory gave her a curt nod. Wren made sure to leave out her request to see Robby, she knew he wasn't allowed visitors yet but she wouldn't know if her request had slipped through the cracks until she arrived for visitation.

"Good." Tory replied and Wren was about to turn back to the mat when Tory cleared her throat, catching her attention once more. "Hey, I- I haven't actually been to visit Miguel yet- I know you haven't either, I was maybe hoping you would come with me. I was maybe hoping we could go together?" She asked and Wren felt her chest tighten, she turned back to Tory.

Hawk had approached them now, standing to Wren's left and Tory's right. He felt incredibly uncomfortable about the new recruits and so found his friends around the edge of the mat. Wren threw him a glance before slowly licking her lips and fixing her eyes back on Tory, she took a step back so Hawk could hear her.

"I actually went to see him the other day..." She told them , keeping her voice low, "He umm, I told him everything, why it had taken me so long to visit and he just- I-" She broke herself off and the Tory and Hawk instantly knew how Wren's visit had ended. "I'm going to give him some space. I owe him that."

Tory just nodded her head in response, Hawk clenched his teeth. Wren had told them both she had hidden Robby and no matter how many times Wren insisted it wasn't his fault. Hawk knew he would never see it that way.

Deep down, he knew that if he had been the one in the hospital bed, instead of Miguel and Wren had protected Robby after everything... Hawk knew he would have had the same reaction as Miguel.

But despite this overwhelming spite for Wren even considering Robby a friend at all. Hawk knew she needed him. Or at least, he knew he needed her. He had lost her too many times in the past few months and he wasn't willing to lose her again, voicing he wouldn't let Robby Keene of all people to ruin whatever was left of the foundation of his and Wrens relationship.

Friendship.

Hawk found his place back on the mat, his eyes fixed to the floor when suddenly a pair of feet entered his line of vision. His eyes climbed up to see Kyler standing a metre away from his face.

"Holy shit! You remember?" He looked at his friend. "Look, it's the kid with the lip!" He smiled, pointing at Hawk, his friend titled his head, inspecting Hawk's face. "Yo, I thought that guy moved."

"Oh, shit. You're right." His friend agreed, their exclamations were audible over the simmering chatter of the dojo, catching Wren's attention. Immediately her back turned rigid, this is what she feared but also what she had hoped for.

She automatically made her way over.

"The hair kind of distracts you from it." Kyler's friend laughed, Wren didn't know his name, nor did she want to. They were still laughing when she reached their backs, she saw Hawk cover his lip anxiously and just like that, she snapped.

Wren reached out and promptly shoved Kyler's shoulder harder than she had meant to but softer than he deserved.
"Hey!" She snapped, watching as he stumbled forward, some of the other kids turned to stare at the commotion, Kreese still in his office.

"What the fuck?" Kyler shouted, regaining his composure and turning to face whoever had pushed him, but when he saw Wren his shocked expression faded into something she hated. Arrogance.

"Oh... If it isn't the little snake? Ready to recieve some payback?" Wren's expression faded into a smile, a soft one too, but Hawk knew just how sharp her tongue could be. For Wren had learned a long time ago she earned her anger from her father and because of that, she could hold a grudge like it was a hand.

"You're dead." Kyler sneered, leaning down slightly to get in her face but, unlike Mitch, Wren didn't so much as blink.

Wren couldn't help but smirk, her mouth curling up in a way that set him on edge. "Don't go off biting more than you can chew..." She took a step closer, looking up at him with wide, unrelenting eyes. "...You'll choke." She told him venomously.

Kyler scoffed at that, seemingly unaffected as he shrugged her off and swallowed, his throat feeling dry. He tried to bump her shoulder but found he made no contact since she had sidestepped to let him pass.

He threw her a mocking smile over his shoulder, one that surely would have rattled any of the other students due to his reputation as an unrelenting bully at school but Kyler saw Wren's flat expression. Her unaffected, steady posture. Her fixed, dead eyes. He allowed his eyes to trail down to her lips only to find she, too, was smiling.

Wren figured, why start a fight when one was about to begin?