Extant

Chapter 8

I was on the cold, hard pavement.

This had majorly backfired on me. By now I was just taking the beating. It really didn't hurt after the first few blows. He's very inconsistent with where he hits me.

It would probably hurt more if he hit me in the same place.

I won't tell him that though.

The school spent so much money for more cameras inside, they should put some on the outside.

It was a few minutes until he gave up. He started walking back to his car and to where Alex was but he was stopped when the vice principal was walking toward us.

"Carrasco. Mr. Brunner's office. Now." he said. "If I find on those cameras that you don't go straight there, you'll have to answer to me as well.

He started darting to the door. If there's one thing Servando doesn't like, it's getting restrictions. I'm hoping there will be quite a few consequences.

"Oh my, are you alright?" he asked while standing over me. I breathed out, a bit of blood from my lip spurting out.

"Never better." I said, still trying to add comic relief to everything. I didn't really want to move.

He helped me to my feet and we started slowly going to the nurse's office. He was helping to support my weight. Thank god or else I probably wouldn't have gotten here.

We got through the doorway and there was Alex sitting in a chair against the wall. She had her eyes closed and an ice pack against her cheek.

I collapsed onto the bed and I'm not even sure what noise came out of my body. All I know is that I am in pain.

Nurse Jacobs came over with a wet towel and started wiping the blood off my face and neck. I had blood on my onesie. Looks like I won't be wearing this again.

I think I'm fine with that.

She had me hold gauze to my eyebrow as she went for a butterfly bandage to close it up. I let my head fall into the cot and I looked over at Alex.

For someone who didn't just get the shit beaten out of her, she sure looks just as bad. Her eyes were dark and distant. Our eyes locked and hers started to tear up.

"Hey stranger." I said quietly. She was about to say something when the nurse came back in. Great timing.

It's like when you get your food at a restaurant, and you take a bite and your waiter comes and asks how everything is.

But you have food in your mouth so you're there like 'mhm' and giving them a thumbs up.

She dealt with my eye and sat back at her desk, typing away. I stared up at the ceiling. I followed the weird pattern of the tiled ceiling until my eyes landed back on Alex.

I looked at her until the nurse spoke up.

"You two stay right here, I'll be speaking with the principal. I'll bring in the school therapist too when I'm done."

Without any second for us to protest against speaking to a therapist, she left us. I know I definitely didn't want to talk about my feelings with some old guy in a sweater vest.

"Thank you." she said, my focus back on her. I sat up, turning to face her. I shook my head.

"You don't have to thank me. I said I'd work my magic." I said with a laugh. She almost smiled.

"I didn't think your magic would get you hurt." she said, her eyes shifting down. None of this is her fault. She has to know that.

"Oh what, this? Nothing I can't handle." I said, getting up and walking to the chair next to hers. "May I?" I asked.

She nodded and I sat down. I'm not so sure what I'm going to say to her yet. Charm only works for a while.

"Does it hurt?" I asked, pointing to the ice against her face. She shrugged. "You don't have to be so strong." I added.

Waterworks.

It needed to happen somehow. I got up and stepped in front of her. I knew there was more emotional pain than physical. I took the ice from her and pulled her up out of the chair and into my arms.

She was stiff at first, but then relaxed. She wrapped her arms tightly around me, not letting go. We stood there for a long while. My leg was starting to give out. I didn't notice the pain until just now.

"Alex my leg." I said shakily. She let go and I went back into the chair. I sighed. It's always getting in the way.

She took my hand and pulled me up again. I put most of my weight on my left leg. I gave her a questioning look.

"Do you want to stay here and talk about your feelings or do you want to get out of here?" she said, looking deeply into my eyes. This seemed like an adventure.

"Lead the way." I said. She started quickly walking out, still holding my hand. We went passed the front desk, heads down.

Out the doors of the office and into the hall. Left. Left. Right.

We were making our way through to the back parking lot. That must be where she usually parks. We went to her car and got in.

She started driving. We didn't know exactly where we were going. We sat in a comfortable silence until her stomach growled.

"Wow. That was horrible." she said blushing. Alex Morgan is insecure about her stomach making noises.

Cute.

"We should probably feed you huh?" I joked. She nodded. "Where to?"

"No idea. I don't exactly want to eat out somewhere." she said, stopping at a red light. We didn't look too great to be in public.

"How about my place? You can at least shower and trust me, we're stocked with all of the good stuff." I offered.

"Hmm. Good stuff? Like what?" she said looking over at me. I put my fingers on my chin and hummed.

"Well, this is chef Tobin we're talking about, everything is good. Besides, if all else fails, we keep pizza on hand."

"Deal. But I would really like that shower first."

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A/N:

in honor of Tobin (the nutmeg queen) Heath and her new title, a double update