"Wha-what're are you doing here?!" My mind was reeling. Had he really moved...here? Of all places, here?! I was gripping the railing so hard, my knuckles were white. I felt faint. People must have noticed my distress too, because one of our butlers hooked his arm with mine and helped me down the stairs.
"What? Didn't you miss me?" He held out his arms as if he expected me to run into them. Let's not beat around the bush here, I didn't. It made me slightly sick to think he was here. Last time I saw him, we were kissing and saying goodbye. A lot had changed. I didn't even answer him, so my dad tuned in with a clearing of his throat.
"Andy, would you like to join us for dinner?" Uh-oh, panic mode!
"I'd love to" Did he just shoot me a smile? Yup, he shot me a smile whilst I stared daggers at my father. Lovely, just lovely.
Dinner was no more than completely awkward. You could feel the tangible uneasiness of the room. There was lots of small talk about school, and moving, and reasons for moving and such. Just from the awkward little conversations at dinner, I learned that a few days earlier, after problems with depression and grades, Andy and his mom decided to pack up and move here. I learned they lived a couple streets over (in some of the less grand houses) and that, surprise surprise, Andy and I were going to be going to the same school.
After an hour or two of conversation, pasta, brownies (which I couldn't eat anyway, even if Andy's presence made me far too uneasy to eat), Andy finally announced that he should be heading home. Andy got up from the table and just as I was ready to breathe a sigh of relief, my mother suggests that I walk him to the door. Great, just great! Me being me, I simply smile and say okay while internally I'm feeling sick. I got up from the table and walked with Andy to the porch.
"It was really nice to see you again Brooke." He said, smiling and standing extremely close to me.
"Um, you to." I managed to squeak out. It was just then that he leaned down and actually kissed me! If I thought there were any sparks before, they were long gone now. I pushed him off of me, red faced.
"What the hell are you doing?!" I didn't know what to feel.
"Kissing my girlfriend, duh." He said it smiling; laughing. As if saying 'how stupid are you? did you really forget?' Safe to say, that only made me more angry.
"Girlfriend?! I'm not your girlfriend! You're crazy!" It was just then that something seemed to snap in him. I refused to let myself think it was his heart, but in the back of my head I knew that I had just shattered this boys heart. The same boy I'd had a crush on for as long as I could remember. I felt horrible, but then I noticed something else in his eyes. Something threatening, that blazed up and instantly made me scared.
Rage. He was angry, and something about the way his fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles were white, had me screaming at myself to run inside. To run inside and hide under my bed and not come out for a week, but he was blocking the door. I could run the other way and scream for help, but Andy was close to twice my size. He'd catch me in a heartbeat. Not to mention, I'm deffinately no track star. I wouldn't get far and I'd only make him more mad.
"Not my girlfriend?! What the hell was that at your house then when you left!" He was closing in on me and my option to just run and pray for the best was looking better and better. What happened next was a blur that took me a moment to process. He slapped me. Hard enough that I fell to the ground. So much for running. I was on the ground and vulnerable, so I went with my first instinct; to crawl into a ball and hope he goes away. How stupid could I be? He grabbed the collar of my shirt and lifted me up to meet him. "Did that kiss mean nothing to you, you little bitch?!" He lifted his fist and I flinched back, closing my eyes and preparing for the blow. It came and I lost count at 6.
"What the hell are you doing?!" I don't know whether I was relieved or terrified to hear that voice. Zack. This night just kept getting worse and worse. Or maybe it was going to get better. All I knew was that I was terrified either way.
Z:
I had gotten home and finished my homework and food by the time 7 rolled around. My aunt and Soph had been arguing about Sophie's girlfriend for over an hour and I needed a break. After playing guitar for awhile, I had gotten bored of being in the house, so I put my guitar in its case and went out to my car. I loved this car. I hoped in the drivers seat and, as I started the car, noticed something in the passenger seat. A small pair of black gloves, missing the fingers. 'Brooke' I thought and smiled to myself.
"Well, you needed some excuse to go see her tonight, right?" I said to myself. And with that, I started driving in the direction of Brooke's house.
Once I had gotten to her street, I figured I'd park a few houses down, that way I wasn't AS noticeable to her dad. I grabbed her gloves, stuffed them in one of my jacket pockets, and started walking. I thought I heard yelling a few times, but figured it was one of the neighbors and their kids or something. As I continue walking, I realize I'm coming up on Brooke's house. But as I start to walk up to her porch, I realize that something's not right. There are two people standing on her porch, fighting. The light's dim enough to make it difficult to make out the people, but as the guy slaps the girl and she falls to the ground, I recognize Brooke. I'm instantly furious as I see her curling into a ball and him grabbing her. I finally snapped as he screamed at her, "Did that kiss mean nothing to you, you little bitch?!", and started to punch and knee her repeatedly.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The guy looked up at me and looked back down at her.
"Who the fuck is that!? You REPLACED me?!" He screams in her face and punches her again. Hard. My breath catches as Brooke crumples to the ground, seemingly lifeless. I walk up to the idiot and grab him by the collar of his shirt.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?!" He attempted to hit me and I dodged it.
"Andy, and what are you supposed to be? My girlfriends replacement for me?!" He looked like he was gonna hit me, but I dodged it and hit him.
"Zack..." I heard Brooke whisper in a strangled, helpless little voice. It instantly caught my attention and I turned to look at her, seeing if she was okay and sighing a faint sigh of relief seeing she was breathing. I only had enough time to notice the blood at her temple before this Andy guy punched me. It deffinately fazed me and I heard him laugh a little as I held my cheek. He had hurt Brooke; made her bleed. He was in for it. I lunged at him and kicked him square in the gut and as he fell to the ground, my fist somehow found his face. He was on the ground coughing before the coward got up and ran.
I instantly ran over to Brooke and pulled her onto my lap, holding her as I sat there on her porch steps. She was out cold and I softly pushed back her hair to examine her injuries. I noticed that one cheek was red, her cheek bone starting to bruise a little. As I turned to see her temple, I saw that there was gash there and that almost all the skin around it was already heavily bruised. I dabbed at the gash with my sleeve and it came away bloody. I then noticed a small wet spot on her cheek and, though there were tear stains on her cheeks and a few tears escaping her closed eyes, I realized that they were my tears. I was crying over her; my unconcious love who had just been brutally beat up by some guy who called her his girlfriend. Something told me he was crazy, but something else told me he was dangerous; a threat. All I know is I sat there, probably for hours, holding Brooke to me and crying, waiting for her to wake up.
