Right Back On

Thirty-Six

"Hey, guys. I thought I'd say bye before--woah... What the hell happened to you?" A beam of light from the barns next to the Dace trailer hit Wyatt directly across the face, emphasizing the way his blue eyes bugged out when Blake and I appeared out of the shadows.

She looked entirely ready to cry and I was stumbling slightly in the darkness, barely able to open my left eye because of the pain. It was already swelling up pretty good, which was surprising since I hadn't expected Oakley to hit that hard. Then again, both of us seemed to have a pretty good swing when provoked.

"Got in a fight. You should see the other guy," I grumbled, coming to a standstill as Blake did.

Wyatt scrutinized me for a moment. "I'm sure he looks terrible. But seriously, did you get hit by a gate or something?"

The glare I shot him was probably made a lot more intimidating by the one eye that wouldn't even open halfway. "Didn't you hear me? I got in a damn fight."

Kellan chose that moment to walk up, staring it his phone and holding a half empty plastic bottle of Mountain Dew that gave off a weird glow in the moonlight. "Are you guys about ready? Mom just texted and said she'd meet us here in a few."

He tipped his head back to take a long swig of the unhealthy looking drink, but choked in the process of bringing the bottle away from his lips after getting a good look at me. I stood quietly, hanging onto Blake as she leaned her head on my shoulder, while Kellan coughed his guts up. He was just about done when Wyatt elbowed him.

"She got in a fight."

That started another round of coughs, only interrupted by painful sounding gasps. At long last, he stopped wheezing to carefully examine the two of us. "Who hurt my girls?"

"Oakley," I ground out, squinting in pain and squeezing Blake tighter. "But I fixed it, I think."

"How does getting punched fix anything?" Wyatt queried, pushing the hat further back on his head.

Again, I frowned at him, debating if he needed punched too. "It doesn't. What fixed it was me punching her back."

"And telling her off," Blake volunteered, lifting her head from my shoulder for the first time since we'd met up with the boys.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why'd you get in a fight with Oakley?" Kellan's eyebrows drew together as if our story was missing a very vital piece.

"Didn't you see her glare at us during the crowning?" Blake hollered, her sassy attitude returning.

Kellan shrugged. "Yeah, but she bounces back so fast that I figured she'd forget about it by the end of the night."

"Ooh, no," Blake drawled. "She found us after we got our money and read me the riot act for interrupting her big moment."

"And she called Blake a bitch and said she had no friends," I added quietly, making the dejected look return to my best friend's pretty face. With all the makeup, she reminded me of a sad clown, though the heartbreak in her expression kept me from laughing. "But anyway, I told her off once she laid into Blake and ended up getting punched."

"But you hit her back?" Wyatt's light eyebrows raised expectantly.

I nodded. "Like three times."

Ever so slowly, a smile made it's way onto his thin face, pulling his cheeks into taut lines. "Y'know, Coda, the more I get to know you, the more you surprise me. Isn't that the second person you've beat the shit out of this summer?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of," he clapped me on the back so hard I winced. "That just means you're tougher than most."