Chapter 9: VIII

The first hit landed after what felt like years of a slow motion animation, and everything seemed to be moving at a quarter of the usual speed.

James stumbled backwards as the punch hit his stomach, almost tripping over an abandoned red bike that probably used to reflect and glow in the sunlight, but now looked even more scratched and dirtied as the shining glimmers of light hit it.

He soon recovered though, and once he had, he threw his fist at Ashs face, which almost instantly sent him falling to the right from the impact. A groan of pain erupted from deep within his chest, and James let out a sadistic sounding laugh.

Me and the other three were stunned watching them, unsure of what to do as more punches were thrown. Blood was dripping from both of their faces and hands, knuckles red and bruised from the power of the hits while they were shaking and breathing hard from the pure adrenaline.

It was like a scene out of an action movie.

I was unable to move until I saw Ash shove James to the floor and begin to roughly indent his fists into his cheeks.

That's when I knew I had to intervene.

I jumped forward and grabbed his black, pleather jacket between my fingers, yanking him off James and back up onto his feet again.

"Cole, restrain James while I get Ash. You two, run to the nearest chemist and get whatever bandages and antibacterial wipes or creams you can find." I instructed firmly, holding Ashs arms behind his back while he fought back.

Cole held James to the floor while Lila and Harry set off running towards the assortment of shops just down the road, and I dragged Ash away from the scene and towards an alleyway.

"Let me go Sky, I'm gonna beat him up so bad he can't even walk." His voice was strained and desperate, cracking slightly on the final word.

He struggled and writhed in my hold, and I almost lost him a fair amount of times before I finally got him down the backstreet.

The alley was only a meter and a bit in width, yet it went on for what seemed like ages.

However, I was just proud I succeeded in getting him trapped down here, so I responded by holding my arms out and touching the walls to block his path.

"Let me out." He practically growled, and I felt my hairs stand on end from the ocean deep voice that just left his slightly swollen lips.

A shallow scratch ran across his forehead, along with another slightly deeper one on his cheekbone. The thick red liquid seeped from the cut and I winced as he carelessly wiped it away with the edge of his sleeve.

"What's the password?" I tried to distract myself as I spoke smugly, steadying my stance to prepare for him running into my body.

"What?" He asked, his voice sounding half shocked and half amused from my previous question.

"I said, what's the password?"

He raised an eyebrow before sauntering over to my much smaller form and looking down directly into my eyes.

"Don't be so sassy. You know I could snap you in half if I wanted to, River." His voice brushed against the shell of my ear, and my breath caught in my throat.

Just the fact that he used my real name sent waves of hormones through me, yet adding it to that sentence?

I only have one way to word the amount of embarrassment and shock running through my body at that moment.

Oof.

I tried to talk back, but I physically couldn't. My brain was running so fast at the closeness of our bodies and the words he just spoke that it couldn't even begin to try and muster up a decent sentence.

"What? Did that alone get you all flustered?" He spoke teasingly slow, and I felt a deep coating of blush cover my face.

He slowly reached forward and placed a bloodied hands on the uncovered skin where my shoulder and collar bone connected. His abnormally long fingers traced over the protruding shape, and I shivered from the contact.

He chuckled softly, taking both hands and placing them on my shoulders before carefully backing me up against the wall, just like the first time.

No nonono, not again.

He reached for my hand with his own larger and rougher one, taking it and lifting it lightly before tracing the very tips of his fingers over the soft skin.

"So pretty." He breathed out those two words which sent uncontrollable butterflies flooding into my chest, trying to slowly and painfully break me from the inside out.

I knew I shouldn't allow him to continue, every part of my body was screaming and praying for me to stop him, but I just couldn't.

Because it was all but one part begging for me to pull away, and the only one telling me not to was my heart.

"Hey Sky? Is this okay?" His voice sounded so sincere and sweet, and for once he seemed to consider what he was doing as his hands suddenly stopped dead over my chest.

"Y-yeah." My voice was nothing more than a mere whisper, but that was enough for him.

Leaning forward, his shallowly cut lips ghosted just under my jaw and I had to stop myself from wincing due to the foreign feeling.

"And this?" He pressed a gentle kiss to the smooth, pale skin of my neck and I tensed, causing him to pull away quickly.

"Sorry- I mean, I shouldn't have done that. Oh god I get so weir-" I cut him off by wrapping my arms tightly around his body, pulling him close and hiding my face in his chest.

He was unmoving for a few long seconds before I finally felt the gesture being returned. Humming happily, I loosened my grip and allowed him to run his hands along the curve of my waist before stopping at my hips.

Without another word of warning, his lips pressed against my neck harshly, and I swiftly shut my eyes as he started kissing and biting ever so slightly. A small whimper of pain left my lips as he bit down particularly hard, yet after that he pulled away and lightly traced the aching patch with his thumb.

"That was uncalled for." I grumbled, arms folded and nose held high.

He chuckled and went to direct my gaze back to him, but I resisted and turned further away.

"Now now, don't be rude." He growled, forcing me to look back at him. I notice how a drop of blood had made its way to the curve of his eye and how his dark eyelashes angled down rather than up.

For the first time, I saw the ring of green around his pupil and the perfect Cupid's bow lips he possessed.

I was too focused on mapping out his features to anticipate when his lips met mine with a passion I wasn't expecting, and honestly it took my breath away.

I kissed back, but this time? This time I didn't shove him away instantly.

Instead, I pulled him closer and kissed harder, addicted to the mixed taste of blood and strawberry I was receiving.

His hands moved towards the hem of my shirt, and I was ready to push him if he tried to go that far, but instead he wrapped his arms around my middle and held us as close as we could be.

And for that moment, everything suddenly felt real.

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"Riv, you and Cole can help James while me and Harry get Ash, yeah?" Lila finished with a question, but both of us know she didn't need an answer.

That's what we were doing anyway.

I nodded curtly and picked up around half of the pile of medical equipment that had been placed on Lilas discarded jacket.

Talk about how gentlemanly we all are.

Making my way over to Cole, he took some of the resources and knelt down by his face, carefully taking the wipes out of the packet and beginning to rid his skin of the dry or trickling blood.

I sat cross legged on the floor and reached for his hand, only to be met with a slap to my face and a shout. "I don't want that twink touching me."

Cole was about to scald him, but he wasn't quick enough as I had already climbed over him with my hand holding his shirt roughly.

"Listen up, James. Stop treating me like an item, a piece to throw away and forget. I'm a real person with real emotions you fucking dickhead. Get it into that think skull of yours that not everything is about your sorry ass and that maybe what you're saying stopped hurting a long time ago, and now it just makes me mad."

A fire burnt deep within me as I finally snapped, unable to stop myself.

My voice was harsh, the most threatening I had ever heard it, and I was practically straddling his waist with one arm beside his head and the other wrapped in the thin material of his shirt.

He stayed silent for what felt like hours, and so did everyone else. I seemed to have shocked them beyond words with my sudden outburst, and I let out a short, smug laugh.

"Now, since I'm actually a decent person, I decided to help you so your cuts didn't get infected, even after you punched me in the jaw, nearly broke three of my ribs, and almost knocked me out when you held me to the floor and threatened me. So don't you dare call me a twink, a fag, a whore or any other degrading names. Got that? Good."

I stood up with the same hatred pooling in my eyes, and only then did I actually look to see their faces.

James' expression made him look as if his soul had just been sucked from his body, Cole looked like he saw a ghost, and Lila and Harry both had an identical look on their varying features, half smug and half dazed. Finally, I saw Ash with his mouth agape and eyes wide.

Pride scorched through my veins as I knelt back down beside him and picked his hand up with mine, only this time, he didn't try to move away.

I silently began to clean the cuts on his knuckles, waiting to see if anyone else would speak, which ended up being a very obvious no.

They all gradually began to get on with the roles they were assigned, and only ten or so minutes later, we were finished.

"Are you all gonna not talk for the rest of the day? Not that I have a problem with it but it's unusual."

It was as if they were unable to speak, and I started to wonder if I passed out and was dreaming this all until I heard Coles voice.

"Er, yeah we can talk." He sounded unsure of the words he spoke, almost seeming to use that tone you have when you're afraid of getting an answer wrong in a class where everyone is staring at you.

Lila and Harry looked at each other before nodding and beginning a fairly normal conversation about what colour looked best with yellow, yet Ash and James just stayed perfectly quiet and I couldn't help but giggle at the fact I made them like this.

"Well, today's been fun but I'm afraid the three of us are heading off in a moment. See you at school though." I used the stereotypical sarcastic bitch tone as I physically grabbed the pair by the collar and pulled them away from the scene, leaving the others to sort themselves out.

"Bye?" I heard the three call back in synchronisation, and I smirked to myself as I walked on, not caring to look back.

As soon as we rounded the corner, the pair shoved me against the wall and gave me the 'what the fuck' look.

What is it with walls? Good god I might as well live on one.

"What the hell was that back there?" Lila screamed, and I covered my ears because of the deafening noise.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, trying to act innocent even though I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"That thing you did back there! You actually stood up against James, and he was so shook he couldn't even say anything back!" Harry's eyes were filled with wonder and amazement as he spoke, almost as if he was talking about some great hero or god, and I smiled widely at the excitement in his voice.

"Yeah well, it was about time I did something to let him know how freaking annoying and idiotic he is." I sassed, pushing out from between the two and strutting off and towards where Lilas mum said she would pick us up at 1.

"Now, who's up for pizza?"

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I knew what happened between me and Ash that day wasn't right.

I also knew that I should have slapped him across the face and told him to not come anywhere near me.

It might have hurt when I did it, but it would have saved me so much more pain along the line.

Because I wasn't ready, and nor was anyone else.

This time, it was like the effects from the first set of rumours doubled, and doubled again and again and again.

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I'm so sorry for the messy chapter, it's honestly one of the worst things I've written but it's setting up the plot for what's about to happen next.

I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to vote and comment.

Also, what do you think is going to happen with Ash and River after what happened?

Thank you for reading!!

- Storm 🌹