Surviving the Aces (#Wattys2018)

Meet Dakotas New Friend

"Look who it is."

I ignored the all too familiar voice and continued to sort through my locker. I could tell she brought friends for the show because I could hear them clacking all the way down the hallway.

"I know you're new and all, but you were obviously poorly informed." She continued. I finally pulled out the textbook that I needed and turned to her. She was frowning at me as if I were a lost puppy. Talia was clearly the lost puppy if she thought that she was welcome at my locker.

I huffed and slammed my locker shut. "Isn't there someone waiting for you in a closet somewhere?" I interrupted.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "You don't know anything about me." She hissed, taking a step towards me.

"I know enough." I said crossing my arms over my chest.

She placed her hands on her hips. "Well, you obviously didn't realize that Jace is  mine." She snapped.

"That's funny." I retorted. "Because for some odd reason, I remember him kissing me goodnight not a tramp like you."

Talia huffed loudly, curling her fingers into fists.

One of her friends stepped forward but Talia held out her arm, keeping her back.

"Is there a problem here?"
A new voice asked. I looked behind her to see Leigh joining us.

"Oh great." Talia gave Leigh a disgusted look. "The she man is here."

Leigh stepped closer to her. "Yeah. And this she man is gonna send you back to the hospital if you don't get out of my face." She spat.

Talia touched her nose self consciously and looked at me. "Nice bodyguard." She said before flipping her hair and stalking off with her cronies.

We both watched them walking away and I wondered what happened in all the years leading up to who Talia was today. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Thanks Leigh. But honestly, I can handle it." I said, turning to Quintins demanding girlfriend.

She shrugged. "I've been waiting for Quintin to get a sister for a while. It's nice," she admitted. I smiled.

"Thanks." I responded.

"I've got to get to class." She said.

"Oh right. See you later." I kept forgetting Leigh was a junior.

I turned in the direction of my class when I was pushed into the locker. I groaned. Double trouble in one morning.

"What do you want Tony?" I spat.

He caged me in, smirking at me. "You know, we never did kiss." He reminded me.

I scoffed. "Thank goodness for that." I retorted. 

He glared at me. "You're not funny." He leaned in and I could smell cinnamon on his breath. It smelled much better than the bile that was rising in my throat.

"Tony. Please just forget about me. I thought we could be friends but you-"
He interrupted me by crashing his lips to mine.

He kissed me hard as I struggled against him. I punched at his stomach but he wouldn't move. When he was finally finished, he smirked at me and walked away.

I felt sick to my stomach, I wiped my mouth and rushed to the bathroom. I washed out my mouth and looked at my face. I looked panicked. I was.

I had no idea what to do about Tony. Talia, I could handle, but Tony was stronger and could hurt me.

I couldn't even tell Jace because if Tony got in trouble he would no doubt take me down with him.

I sighed, leaning my arms on the sink. Once again, I tried to call Ash, he wouldn't answer.

I couldn't understand why he wouldn't just leave me alone. He knew that I wouldn't say anything about what happened.
I reluctantly trudged out of the bathroom half an hour later in time for second period.

Tony smiled at me as I passed him but I flipped him off and kept walking. I'd seen plenty of movies, read plenty of books where the girl, remains silent about abuse. It always ended horribly. But I figured it would end horribly either way.

I barely payed attention to anything for the rest of the day. I skipped lunch so that I wouldn't have to see Tony or Talia.

Jace texted me to find out where I was but I ignored him. Of course, being Jace, he came and found me.

He sat down under the bleachers next to me. "You didn't come to lunch." He pointed out.

"You came to find me." I retorted.

He laughed. "What's bothering you?"

I shrugged. "I don't really want to talk about it."

He handed me a bag of chips and a soda. "Thanks." I said. I was hungry.

"Is it Talia?" He asked me.

I leaned my head on his shoulder. "I took care of her already." I told him. "She's not a problem."

I felt him run his fingers through my hair. "Okay. I trust you."

I stiffened at his words. "What's wrong?" He asked me.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. I wanted to tell him about the robbery so bad, but another part of me - a bigger part- didn't want to lose Jace or his family. "Tony kissed me this morning." I confessed. I told him about his possessiveness in the hallway.

His face turned red with anger. "I'll kill him." He said, clenching his fists.

"Please don't. He'll just come after me." I pleaded.

"Not after I'm done with him." He snapped. "Why'd you wait so long to tell me?"

I leaned my head on his shoulder. He was scary when he was angry.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you were probably scared." He kissed my forehead.

"You know what else is scary?" He asked me. I looked up at him. He captured my lips in his, erasing all my memories of Tonys kiss.

"Is it okay if I love you?" He whispered. "I mean, I know we've only been together for two days, but honestly, I've loved you from afar." He admitted sheepishly.

I smiled. "Jace...I..."

His face fell. "Please tell me this is the part when you say you're at a loss for words because of how much you love me back." He said. My heart broke because I could actually see fear in his eyes. A rare thing from Jace.

I shook my head, tears in my eyes. "It's just...I haven't been completely honest with you." I confessed. I didn't even know the words would come out before they did.

He looked confused. "What do you mean? Just tell me. It's okay."

The tears fell faster. "No. It's not okay." I cried.

He pulled my into his arms. "Hey, how about this? I'll give you until Friday. You can tell me on our date."

I laughed, still crying. "Are you forcing me on a date?" I asked him.

He smirked. "I don't need to force you, you know you want to come."

I frowned. "There's no point in going on a date, when you find out, you'll want nothing to do with me."

He squeezed me to his chest. "You don't know that."

I sighed. "Yes I do."