down hill; billy hargrove

2.1

ANNABELLE PULLED up to school the next week looking worse than she ever had. she'd gotten into a fight the previous sunday at a party and being heavily outnumbered, she lost. bruises and scrapes covered her body, and she was limping as she walked.

her eye was swollen and bruised, deemed uncoverable no matter how much makeup she applied, as was her lip. her eyebrow was covered in a plaster after being slit open, leaving what she already knew would be a gnarly scar.

she hummed silently to do right woman, do right man, keeping the volume as low as possible to avoid anyone knowing about her soft spot for these kind of songs. her music was drowned out as a california'n plated blue camaro pulled next to her, rock you like a hurricane blasting from it's speakers.

annabelle kept her eyes fixed on the guy inside, knowing that he wouldn't see where her gaze was set through her thick black sunglasses. he exited his car as if he already owned the place, girls practically swooning over him already. she couldn't help but scoff at his cockiness.

"what an ass" she thought to herself, before giving the reminder not to be swept off her feet by his devilishly handsome looks.

she took a final drag of her cigarette before limping out of the car, drawing attention to herself. she could hear people gossiping over what they thought had happened to her already, thinking amanda had gotten to her. annabelle shook her head in amusement, keeping quiet to avoid any other type of physical pain to be added to the hundreds of others.

she entered the school and made a bee-line to her locker. "what the fuck happened to you?" tommy h sniggered as she passed.

"what's it to you?" she muttered, picking up pace best she could as she continued to limp. she heard him follow her.

"you lost a fight?" he asked, seemingly starstruck.

"back off" annabelle muttered through gritted teeth as he continued to push.

"what happened?".

"mind your business, h".

"so you did lose a fight?".

"i was jumped. but that doesn't mean i wont hesitate to go all danny larusso on that annoying ass of yours so lay the fuck off" she snapped, now yelling across the halls, drawing even more eyes towards her. "what are you fools looking at?" she hissed as she walked towards her locker where jonathan was watching the scene unfold.

"when you called me up yesterday saying that you were beat pretty good, i didnt expect this" he admitted.

"i look worse right now than i did right after" she uttered bluntly as jonathan pulled her into a hug, but let her go once he saw people staring, knowing she cared more about her reputation than she let on.

"you've got to watch that loud mouth of yours, henderson. " he teased in an attempt to make light of the situation, watching her expression soften, as she pulled him in for another hug.

"i love you, johnny" she mumbled.

"i love you too, weirdo. now come on, history isn't gonna wait for us" he chuckled, lightening the mood slightly. annabelle nodded as they walked slowly towards the lesson.

thankfully, the teacher was later than they were which meant that they could walk in without any confrontation. they took their seats as the teacher entered.