Pokespe (EN) [Hikari]

03 - Changes

Gold bent over the billard table, shooting with precision to explode the balls' triangle, surrounded by Green, Red and Ruby. Blue was typing on her phone and Yellow was watching them intently. A week had passed since the party, and no one knew that Gold and Crystal had shared a bed, whereas Red and Yellow who had spent the night together, had admitted it publicly, and the petite girl was following him everywhere without anyone knowing if they were a couple or not. Green had given up and let Blue follow him everywhere, noticing with relief that other girls stopped stalking him when she was there, he reluctantly accepted her presence. She obviously changed her wallpaper with one of the plenty pictures Gold had taken, and spent her time texting with the other acting girls, telling Faitsu, Selene, White et Whai all details about the party. It seemed they had a group conversation on which they all talked together, and Blue was really present in those talks. The boys were ending their second game when Green and Blue arrived, vice-president having finished his tasks. Green aimed and hit a white ball right in the center, sending a red in one of the six holes, and took a step back with a confident look. Red turned around the table, checking the distances and angles, then aimed and shot, missing the yellow ball he was aiming at and getting another one in a hole without meaning to. Gold bursted out laughing, and Ruby took his turn when Gold's phone rang. He had the time to see Crystal's picture when she was looking in his eyes at the party before taking the call. But she wasn't speaking in the mic. He almost growled and lashed at her when he understood she couldn't talk. He concentrated fully on what he heard, then put his queue in Yellow's hands and ran to the street, yelling at them to continue without him.

He kept the phone stuck to his ear, trying to hear a clue. He had understood that Crystal had problems, that she was near the riverside, but those clues weren't enough for him to find her. He got to the river quickly and looked for her, before hearing the sound of a truck in the speaker. Looking for it, he localised it further away and ran as if his own life was at stake. As the days went by, he understood some things. Firstly, Crystal was ashamed of her behaviour at the party, and if she was thankful he didn't give her away, she kept her distance from him, which wasn't really difficult when he understood he was to avoid her. Secondly, she had forgotten strictly nothing from the party and the night after, and was blushing madly the rare times they met. Thirdly, he hadn't been able to face against a simple attraction that exploded at the party into something more powerful, and it was this feeling that made him run faster and faster to her.

In a second, he saw her pushed against a boy, his back against one of the bridge's pillars, surrounded by six other guys, all of them older. The taller of them was pulling on her uniform, looking at her with nasty eyes as one of his hands was going under the shirt.
Forgetting he was alone, younger, not that strong, and that he had planned to use his brain, he ran and jumped to them, his feet making contact with the face of the dude trying to touch her. They didn't have the time to be surprised that he already punched two of them right in the nose, the one behind her falling backwards with his face a bloody mess as Crystal yelled, falling on her knees. He pushed her previous holder to the others, making them trip, then shooting the boss in his knees to make him fall. Lost, the attackers ended up fleeing the scene, leaving their boss on the ground, unconscious. Gold turned to Crystal, ready to get a long talk about violence and fights, but she stayed on the ground, trembling like a leaf. He crouched in front of her, checking she was okay, and saw she didn't seem to want to stand up.

- Krys... We can't stay here, if they come back... you can get up?

A teardrop rolled on her cheek, and Gold cursed, gritting his teeth. Then he fetched her bag, slipping it on his shoulder, before putting his arm around her back. She held him on instinct, burying her face in his shirt, and he slipped his second arm under her legs, holding her skirt against her before lifting the girl. He climbed up to the thankfully desert street, then went back to the café, being the nearest safe place. Their friends ran to them as he went in, and he sat on a sofa with a sigh, without letting go of Crystal. Green made him describe the gang, Red went running outside to see if they came back to pick up their comrade, and Yellow was sitting next to them with a first aid kit that never left her, checking Crystal's state. But the victim wasn't hurt, and refused to leg go of Gold. He considered he was better off holding her, he knew that as soon as he would be free to move he would go search for them, and even if the idea had a seducing side to it, he knew he shouldn't do that. So he held tightly the crying girl against him, his cheek on her hair, his eyes killing the wall in front of him. Green watched him, then whispered something to Blue who called Platina right away, negotiating a summer sleepover, most of them being free of summer supplementary classes. Platina accepted quickly and took the lead of the organisation of what they called the "crisis meeting". Everyone was calling, running and talki g around them, and Gold and Crystal stayed still, in the storm's eye. She wasn't crying anymore, wasn't piercing holes in his shirt with her nails anymore, but hadn't lifted her head. He looked up to watch her, worried. His anger had fell in the background of his mind, now he was concentrating on her. She looked up slowly, meeting his gaze, and he saw the fear still present in her eyes with something he didn't understand.