A Raven Cycle Fanfic

Five

Millicent woke up to hushed voices. She sat up off the couch and wondered if the nights events had just been a dream,but then her arm raced with pain.
She looked down at her arm, the cloth was just about falling off. She groaned, and pulled the cloth away to inspect the damage.
There were about twelve prominent bite marks on each side of her arm. Each was the shape of a star, and still slowly oozing blood.
Footsteps approached and Millicent lifted her head. It was Adam. He looked freshly rested, whereas Millicent was sure that she looked the exact opposite.
Gansey and Ronan joined them a moment later.
"I heard you had a long night." Adam said, sitting down on the other couch.
Millicent glanced down to her arm, "You could say that."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
A switch flipped inside of her and she felt her pain and confusion bubble together into anger.
"I'm not a child." She spat "And you aren't a therapist. So unless by 'talk about it' you mean explain to me why I fought with a myth last night, then I don't want to talk to any of you." Millicent's voice rose with each word until she had to stand up off of the couch and storm around the room.
The three boys all were silent.
Ronan smirked sharply. "Bad-Ass. Even though I can't remember your name so I'm gonna call you..." Ronan tapped his chin in mock thought.
"Firecracker."
Millicent stopped in her angry storming. "That's the best you could come up with?"
"What?" Ronan asked actually looking offended "it matches your hair."
Millicent furrowed her eyebrows, her hand unconsciously going to her naturally copper hair.
Gansey looked like he was about to step in to diffuse Ronan, but Millicent held up a hand and shook her head.
"So I suppose Carrot top or Big red would be appropriate nicknames too then?"
Ronan weighed the options. "My heart is set on Firecracker."
Millicent rolled her eyes. "So where was I?"
"Not talking to any of us." Adam provided.
"Right." Millicent wasn't sure where her confidence came from but it felt nice, and she notice that she hadn't ducked her head all morning.
"Well." Gansey said, "If you're going to be here for a while, you should know about-"
"Ronan, and his fighting skills." Adam cut in, sharing a sharp glance with Gamsey who nodded.
"If you're going to be around here for a while, you should learn how to defend yourself."

*********
"Try actually putting some muscle into it!" Ronan goaded
Millicent gritted her teeth and balled up her fist again. Making sure to keep her thumb on the outside, she swung her fist at Ronan's hand.
"Really?" Ronan seemed genuinely offended "how old are you again? Two? Even Opal can hit harder than that."
Millicent could only use one hand, as her other arm was freshly bandaged.
"What makes you really angry?"
Millicent shrugged, she was a pretty easygoing person.
Ronan dropped his hands for a moment, he was thinking. After a minute he brought them back up.
"C'mon Firecracker lets get some anger flowing. What do you have the most?"
Millicent shrugged again.
"Overprotective parents? School? Boyfriend? Just think of something you absolutely hate."
Millicent gave him a pointed look. "If I did have a boyfriend, he wouldn't be on my hate list."
Now it was Ronan who shrugged, "I don't know what you girls think about, and I don't care."
"I hate..." Millicent trailed off, what did she hate? She picked a pet peeve instead. "I hate when my cousin forces me on her stupid friend trips."
Ronan rolled his eyes. Adam appeared from inside the house.
"I hate, my step-moms stupid cat." She punched his hand.
"Why is that on your list of things you hate?" Adam asked, trying to help Ronan on his task to making her angry.
"I'm allergic, but she loves the stupid thing so..." Millicent punched Ronan's hand again, she felt the difference.
"Not bad. Adam, keep her talking. Firecracker, punch my hand once for everything on your hate list."
"What else do you hate?" Adam goaded.
She thought for a moment. "I hate that my dad works late every night." Punch "I hate that I'm always second to him." Punch "I hate that I can barley nose breathe at my own house." Punch "I hate that Jared never notices me in any way other that a friend. I hate school, and Dublin. I hate that even though I try, I'm too much of and introvert to make any friends." Millicent's words fumbled out, one straight after the other, until they were a jumble of sentences that she wasn't sure if anyone understood, but if felt good to say them out loud.
She made one firm fist and punched Ronan's hand. He took a step back.
Millicent shook her hand out.
Adam looked impressed. "You want an ice pack Lynch?"
"Piss up a rope, Parrish." Ronan sneered back, even though his comment was more than a little rude, Millicent got the feeling that he didn't mean anything serious by it.
"What does that even mean?" Millicent asked
"You don't want to know. That phrase is one of the many vulgar phrases used by Ronan Lynch." Adam said
Ronan rolled his eyes and flipped Adam off. Adam made a flopping motion with his hand, as if waving away the gesture.
Millicent watched the exchange with a curios look. She had a feeling that they were flirting, in some odd way.
In any case, she made her way back to the house. She was on a mission and she wasn't going to leave without some answers.