Just Your Average Girl

Chapter 9: Climb

" - leni, Marleni! Wake up!"

I struggled to open my eyes. Who is yelling at me? My eyelashes detached themselves and I stared into a pair of blue eyes that matched mine. I shuddered a bit, but I realized it was my brother.

"Jake, what are you doing at school?" I gripped the side of my head.

"Marleni, you fainted and you're in the nurse's office. She said you had a minor concussion. The school called me when this boy brought you to the nurse's office."

I stared at him in confusion. "I must have really hit my head last night. Wait, boy?" I thought aloud. Jacob helped me sit up on the bed that seemed way too familiar to me. Sitting in the chair parallel to me was Damian. Our eyes locked and I could feel my face heating up. I sat up straighter and crossed my arms. I guess Jake sensed tension because he made up an excuse to leave,"I'll go sign you out of the building and talk to the nurse."

I gave a slight nod, but I didn't stop staring. There was a heavy silence in the room until Damian stood up and came to my bedside. "Here," he said holding out a cd case,"It's the album you wanted to borrow." I held the case in my hands and chuckled a bit. He turned to leave and I noticed a bruise on the side of his face.

"What happened to your face?"

"Uh,um- Nothing important."

I got out of the bed and hesitantly put a hand on his cheek. It was deep purple and warm. "Liar. It's obvious you got in a fight with someone. Let me guess, Richelle?" He shrugged my hand away and laughed bitterly. "Richelle does have a mean right hook, but Enrique has a meaner one."

"What! Why would he do that?"

"Apparently he thought I made you faint, so he was ready to pound me into a pulp. Tamira, held him back and explained what happened before he kept going. He did tell me something quite interesting though." He looked into my eyes, but I had to look away, feeling myself blush. I wondered what Enrique said in his rage. Damian interrupted my thoughts, "Nice dog tag." I looked up abruptly, searching his face for any clue as to what he was thinking. He gave me barely a glance before he walked out the door. Faintly, I heard him say thank you and humming Blitzkrieg Bop down the hallway.

Jake brought me home to a frantic Mom and Dad. Baby Robert was crying noisily in the background.

"Len! Are you alright; are you okay? I heard you fainted, what's wrong what happened? I knew that we should have made the doctor-" My dad was speaking frantically. "Dad?" I tried to interrupt but he continued, "Now it seems like you're getting hurt everywhere! First you did intense training in Japan with Grandpa; then you did intense training at these American dojos, then-"

"Dad, " my voice got louder but he didn't seem to notice.

"That Chris kid dated you just to find your weakness and tell his girlfriend so she could win that one fight, Then he had the audacity to come back and-"

"Dad!" I shouted at him, "I'm fine, just a minor concussion and currently, an epic headache." I went and sat on the couch with my knees to my chest. The dream buzzed through my head, and I felt a shiver of fear down my spine whenever it replayed. I needed to talk to someone. I stretched across the couch to use the phone, only to find that Marge was using it. Mom was cooking. Dad was so busy worrying over me, he was distraught when I asked him to leave me alone. Jake was playing with Robbie. I groaned and laid my head back down on the couch. This was the usual in my house: I get hurt, Mom and Dad get worried, Dad gets distraught, then everything goes back to normal, all in about ten minutes. I had to sit there in my own thoughts with no help at all.

~o~O~o~

The doorbell rang, and Dad opened the door. "Hey there! Marleni, it's for you!" I got up and I could hear him welcoming the guests. I came into the foyer and saw Damian standing there with a tall man in a very expensive looking suit, and a shorter man in a T-shirt with a camera.