Firecracker (On Hold)

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Justin's P.O.V.

I don't even know what to do with this girl any more. I'm trying so hard to get through to her and there's moments where I think we're getting somewhere. We've had moments when she's normal and she talks to me properly. They might not be for any great length and they may few and far between, but they've been there all the same. Then she just switches and loses her mind completely. If she's right and she never hits someone who doesn't deserve it, then Mike must have done something she feels is wrong. Now, that could be something simple like he looked at her the wrong way, but Ariya lives by a different set of rules to everyone else. Life would be so much easier if she would just let us know what those rules are. Then we could try to minimize the damage and stop all of this stupid fighting and anger flying around.

I sigh and shake my head as I watch Ariya sitting on the rock, trying to get her breathing back to normal. She's really angry, and it all happened in only a few seconds. That's quite something. There's no build up; it's normal to livid in like 2 seconds flat. It's not normal and it's not healthy.

I leave Miss Flynn to her own devices. I can't deal with her until I figure out what actually went down.

I grab Mike's elbow and assess the damage. She got a couple good hits in, yet again. She uses the element of surprise to her advantage.

“What happened, Mike?”

“She just exploded. Did I hit her? I kind of didn't mean to, but she would have done some serious damage if I didn't at least try to defend myself...”

“I'm sure she'll live. I didn't notice any damage, but I'll take a look later. You must have said or done something to set her off. I haven't seen her go like that for no reason, even if it's some messed up reason on her part.”

“She was taunting Lou, coz she's scared of Ariya. I told her to leave Lou alone. Then I mentioned something about her being a nightmare for her parents when she was a teenager...”

I let out a deep breath and click my tongue. “Touchy subject, man.”

“What? Why?”

“I can't really reveal that information. She obviously doesn't want people to know, or she would had said something. I'm trying to gain her trust and telling you that would betray that and ruin what little I've already built. I'm not excusing what she's done, just don't talk about her home life. I will deal with her...”

“Really? Coz you don't seem to be doing a great job of that so far...”

I shoot him a look, letting him know he's crossed the line here. I expect that of Ariya and to some extent, Todd, but not him. I know he's angry, frustrated and he wants to protect Lou, but he knows the chain of command.

“You really want to go there? You want to argue with me on this?”

He sighs and looks at the floor before saying, “I'm just finding this one really difficult. She's hard work and I never know what to expect with her.”

“Expect her to be angry and explode at any moment. That's what I have to do. She's got issues man, big ones, and I'm trying to get to the root of them. That's the only way we're going to stop this pattern she has going on in her life. I'm not just going to turn her out without at least giving her some help. You should know I'm not about doing things that way. If I do that, then she'll just get in trouble again. I'm trying to stop that; that's the whole point of trialling this scheme. You have to be the bigger person and rise above it. Understood?”