Learning To Love Him

Eight

Nora's POV
I continue to wrestle with the lemons that life has thrown at me. My mind churns with an urge to know what is happening with Isaac, does he care about me or not? Do I want him to care about me? I don't really know. Jayden is forever playing big brother in my life, something I think even he is tiring from. Today is just another day at school, so stereotypically like everyday in high school. Except something is off when I drive into the parking lot. Everyone's eyes are on Isaac and some guys around him I don't recognise. I park and join my friends, they are also watching the group. They all have something in common, a leather jacket and they all look like the kind of guys I try to avoid.

"What's going on?" I dare to interrupt the silence.

"Isaac's friends from East L.A just turned up here." Victoria whispers so quietly that I almost don't hear her.

The bell rings and to start with nobody moves, but then slowly, hesitantly they move off into the separate buildings on campus. Victoria and I don't move we let the twins disappear thinking we are behind them. The group seems to notice us and they head over to us. A strong feeling of uneasiness seeps into me.

"Hey cutie." One of them says, in a voice as if he owns me.

"Which one of you is Nora?" Another one says he looks like the kind of guy that tries to have sex with anything that moves.

Victoria says nothing and nor do I. We both take a step back from them, but they just close the gap. I take three more steps back until I'm pinned against the back of my hatchback car.

"Isaac I swear to god I'll tell mum if you do anything to us." Victoria blurts, her hands quickly flying to her mouth she knows she just ruined everything.

"Damn 20 dollars says I can get into her pants." The sleezy sex hungry guy says.

"Get your own." Isaac is smirking.

"Fine if you can get your tongue in her mouth she's yours and if you can't she's mine." The sleezy guy says.

Before I can say anything or act Isaac is on top of me pressing me back against the car. He's kissing me but not the nice kind, the violent kind trying to force his tongue into my mouth. I bring my knee up hard and slam it into his balls, he buckles in front of me and without even thinking I jam my knee up again into his chest.

They all just look at me in stunned silence, "Who's next then?" I say. They bolt leaving Isaac on the ground at my feet.

"How dare you?!" I demand.

"You don't understand if I didn't do that they would have had you." He pants trying to regain the breath that I knocked out of him.

"Had me?" I say.

"Gang rape. It's common in East L.A. I was trying to help you."

"If you want to help someone you don't force yourself on them!" Victoria interjects her anger forcing her cheeks to turn crimson.

Isaac is suddenly up fast and he pins me against the car once more. "I hate what you do to me." He says in a vicious voice, his hands gripping my wrists tight.

I breathe in sharply and close my eyes. "I know you aren't as soulless as you try to be." I say but I don't open my eyes.

"Don't get your hopes up." He releases my wrists and storms off.

I watch him walk away, he tries so hard to be hated. Something I can never understand, why would anyone want to be hated?

"Nora are you ok?" Victoria looks mortified, "I'm so sorry, I'm going to tell mum about this."

"No don't." I say immediately.

"What? Why?" She stares at me in disbelief.

"He's in enough trouble without me adding to it."

"So you're just going to act like nothing happened? This could get his ass kicked back to East L.A and then we don't have to worry about him anymore." Victoria tries to reason with me.

"Victoria something isn't right with him, maybe he just needs to be here for some reason."

"Whose side are you on?" She demands.

"Vic I'm not on anyone's side I'm just saying maybe we should give him another chance."

"Well you don't have to live with him!" Victoria turns and walks leaving me alone in the now deserted car park. What have I done?

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Isaac's POV
I arrive at chemistry late but I always do anyway. I can see the car park from my seat. Victoria and Nora are still there talking, I glance at the board but when I look back they look like they're arguing. It goes quickly and suddenly Victoria is storming off like a spoilt brat.

Nora doesn't chase, she just falls gently back onto her car and leans there with her head in her hands. I feel a pang of something unfamiliar, something that makes me want to get up and run out there to her. I don't though because my friends are still lurking around and I can't let them see me as soft. I've got a reputation to uphold. I don't like that she's standing out there alone, I know I marked her as mine in front of them but that doesn't mean they won't go after her. I keep one eye on her and the other on the clock, I'm out of here as soon as that bell goes. This seems like the longest class I've ever had to endure. It agitates me that I'm stuck here. I look back at the board with my eye off her for barely thirty seconds but when I look back she's gone.

Panic shoots through me, where the fuck did she go? She's not in the car and my eyes skim the whole car park and I can't see her anywhere.  There's still twenty minutes of this class but I can't sit here not knowing whether she is safe or not. I get up and grab my stuff, and rush for the door. The teacher moves to stop me but I'm faster, and I'm out the door and sprinting down the corridor toward the exit.

I run between the rows of cars looking for her.

"Nora!" I yell desperately trying to find her.

"Nora!" I yell again and each second that passes I panic more.

There's no one in that car park at all, so I try to think of where she could be. I hate that I know the kind of places gang rapes happen. I stop and put my head in my hands, thinking. The bleachers!

I bolt for the oval and for the first time in my life, I feel like I'm not fast enough. I see her she's tied up on the ground with tape over her mouth. My heart rate increases, and my hands ball into fists. One of my East L.A friends, Jordan, has his hand on her breast and there's nothing she can do. She's trapped.

"Hey!" They all look up at me as I approach fuming with rage. I glance down at Nora, tears are running down her cheeks.

"Just in time for the fun." Jordan says smirking.

"Get the fuck out of here before I kill all of you!" I yell and they look taken aback by my response.

"Come on dude we're jut having some fun." Jordan says and then it's over. I lunge at him raining punches onto is face, his nose starts bleeding but I don't let up. I can't, I can't stop myself from bashing him. The others take off like the pussies they are. I finally stop beating Jordan when I realise that he's unconscious.