Unstoppable, Immovable

"That girl needs a hug,"

Valkyrie
    We walked into the lunchroom and found the table where Julia was waving excitedly. She was the best. Adam and Giles were there, but York was no where in sight. I went into immediate defense mode (again, too much of my father in me). Paige took the seat next to Julia, making me sit next to Giles. I'd get her back for that.

Giles
    Valkyrie sat next to me and smiled at everyone, "Hey guys," Everyone settled into pleasant conversation. Paige kept eye contact with Val for a moment, they seemed to have a conversation. I looked at the beauty next to me and realized her eyes were zeroed in on a girl that was coming up to us furious with what looked like cake? I just watched the silent communication between Paige and Val. The angry girl went behind us and I lost sight of her. Paige kept tabs on her it seemed, after a few seconds, she just barely nodded.
"Don't," Val said simply. Her voice was authoritative, unyielding... I liked it. The girl stopped in her tracks. Paige was barely hiding her smile. After a sigh of annoyance, Val got up and grabbed her tray, she kept her dessert but tossed out the rest, "Let's go outside?" she asked after a spoonful of her pudding.
"No, we're doing this right now!" The cake girl hissed, "You messes with my boyfriend,"
"Babes, I don't know who you are, much less who your boyfriend is. Let's go outside and I'm sure we can figure this out," her voice was even and smooth.
Cake girl wasn't having it, "You bitch! You've been sleeping with him!" She slammed the cake into Val's shirt and smeared it down, "Stay away from him!"
"What the hell!" Paige stood up.
Julia was livid, "Leah, what the fuck?"
"Name and phone number of your boyfriend," Val demanded, "Now," Cake girl gave up the information. Val typed on her phone and held it between them.
Someone picked up, "Hello? Who is this?" The cake girl was going to talk, but Val raised one warning finger.
"Baby, it's me," Val cooed.
"Um..." the guy stuttered, "I think you have a wrong number. If this is a prank of sorts, it's not funny. My girl's going to hate it," Cake girl started tearing up.
"Thanks for your honesty," Val spoke normally, "This is Valkyrie Queen, we go to the same school. Your girl thought we'd been sleeping together. I was proving otherwise,"
"Oh, ok, is she there?" he asked.
"Yes, and if you're going to ask to talk to her, please call her yourself," Val hung up and looked at the girl expectantly. Neither spoke for a few seconds. "If you're going to doubt a guy that cares for you because of some stupid rumors, you don't deserve him," Val growled.
Cake girl was sobbing, "Ohmygosh, youaresorightI'msosorry,"
"Yeah whatever," Val grabbed her bag from the table, "I'm sorry guys, I'll be right back,"
"I have an extra shirt in my locker if you need one," Julia offered.
"Don't worry, I keep extra clothes," she looked down, "This isn't a first," She left the table.
    We all turned to Paige. She sighed and put down her bottle, "A lot of girls think it's the ultimate display of bravery to give Val some sort of crap. They think she's a sort of evil in school. Last year a few of the seniors tried picking on her, but, you know Val," she waved it off, "It got to the point that they'd just come up randomly and dump something on her. So Frida, Val, and I kept extra clothes in our lockers for when it happened more than once through the day. It became a habit,"
"How come she didn't say anything?" I asked.
"Administration tried to talk to her about it, but she said she could manage," Paige shrugged, "We didn't question our friend, we just supported her,"
"That girl needs a hug," Adam shook his head and stood up. Paige nodded her agreement.
"Where are you going?" Julia asked him.
"I'm finding Val and giving her a bear hug," he informed us.
    "He's so sweet," Paige smiled, "He'll be a good friend for Val," Julia and I shared a glance. "Oh, calm yourselves, I'm Team Giles as well," she smiled.
"You know?" Julia asked.
Paige grinned, "Of course I know. You looked way too happy to have her sit next to you. And I could feel the arousal off of you when she used her get-crap-done voice,"
"You're ok with it?" I asked hopefully.
She winked, "I'm all for it. I'll try to get her to come around and give you a chance,"

Valkyrie
    I stepped out of the bathroom and was met by open arms and a comprehensive look, "I'm sorry you have to deal with all of this. You're strong and you can handle it, but you should've have to,"
"Thanks Adam," I let myself be hugged and just fell into him. He soothed my hair and held me close. One of the things that hurt most of not having my brother at school was that I didn't have his constant support. My brother was my partner in crime as well as my therapist, but I didn't have him at the place that I most needed him. For a moment, Adam filled that spot. Someone cleared their throat and completely threw me off. I jumped away from Adam, all signs of vulnerability gone, my face hard and my smirk in place.
    It was the girl from the cafeteria. I just stared at her. "I'm sorry," she muttered, "I shouldn't have made a scene, much less raged at you after hearing rumors from just one person. Please don't— I'm not usually like that,"
"You're fine," I let the smirk fall into a gentle smile, "but you did waste a really good cake,"
She laughed, "Thanks for, taking it so well I guess. I thought you'd beat me up after I smeared you with cake,"
"Let's leave it at, you owe me cake, and pretend this whole scandal didn't happen?" I offered.
The girl nodded, "Sounds good to me,"
"Hey," Adam jumped in, "Who said that Val was sleeping with your boyfriend?"
"It was an unknown number that sent me a picture. It was really blurry, but the girl had blond hair and the guy looked like Nate," she explained.
"May I see the number?" he asked. The girl passed her phone over and Adam got his out too. He looked something over and frowned, "Thanks Leah,"
"Who is it?" she asked.
Adam shook his head, "Doesn't matter," I watched him carefully, he knew who it was and he was pissed.
    Leah left and Adam walked with me to my locker. "So what did you and Giles do all of yesterday?" he asked.
"I'll tell you if you tell me why you were so mad at who it was that sent the picture,"
"It was someone that I never expected would go so low," he explained, "Your turn,"
"We talked by the pool, we talked in the theater, we visited an old lady named Jane, we had lunch, and we walked in the park," I studied his face, "It was someone you know well. Giles was shook, Julia's too good, it was York. She hates me, doesn't she?"
"I'll tell you if you tell me what it is you told Giles yesterday at the park," he smiled.
"Well played," I nodded my approval, "I told him that hanging out with me would ruin his reputation with everyone and that York would throw a fit, and that I'm not worth throwing it all to shit. Go,"
"Ok, wow, that's messed up. You, of all people, are worth it. And yeah, it seems she hates you more than we thought," he put his hands in his pockets.
"Adam, honestly, it's fine. Giles is a great guy, Julia is loads of fun, you're really cool. I like all of you, but I don't want to step into the friend group you guys have built," I assured him. That was deep coming from me, I was impressed.
"Bullshit," he grinned, "You're not stepping in, we're dragging you in with us. You, Paige, and Frida- even though we don't know her- are being adopted by our friend group and the rest of the school can suck it,"
"Fine then," I couldn't hide my massive smile, "You're stuck with us now,"
"Good," he nodded.
"Ok,"
"Great,"
"We look like idiots,"
"Probably,"
"It's ok,"
"We can be idiotic together,"
    I hadn't really known them for very long, but they'd grown on me. Julia was an absolute sweetheart. Adam was a rock which could be used as support as well as shelter. Giles was... well, he still managed to throw me off. He made it hard to control my breathing and steady my heart rate. I didn't like it when he did little things for me, hold a door, pull out a chair, walk with me to class, touch the small of my back while making our way through the hallways... it made me feel weak at the knee and I felt vulnerable and fragile.