Stranger with the Stars

No Defense

WARNING: Hands are being thrown this chapter. Do not read if this could possibly upset you or trigger you. It's not graphic, but it is an intense scene. 

I know every time I go somewhere in my truck, I get glances or stares. Today, I felt like I was getting one more than usual as I pulled into campus. I was a bit early to my afternoon class, but I didn’t feel like sitting at home. I figured I could just sit somewhere to study or take a walk around to get more familiar with buildings I know I’d eventually be acquainted with in a few semesters. I was all the way in the back lot that allowed some extra room. The spots closer to the buildings or front were always packed and never gave enough breathing room to back Borus up. 

Plugging my headphones in, I hop out of the truck, lock up, and head towards the library. It would be a brief 10 minutes walk to my class from there. The parking lot was starting to get some more students pulling in, so I briefly jogged to get to the sidewalk. The trees are gently swaying with the breeze as leaves scatter the ground. 

I made it past the lab center while still trying to pick what my playlist was going to be until class, when someone came up to my side. Someone who I really didn’t want to f*****g talk to. 

“Hey there, gorgeous. Seems we got off on the wrong foot yesterday.” Noah casually throws at me.

“No. Not talking to you. I have class. Goodbye.” I really don’t want to talk to Noah. I really don’t ever want to speak or hear from him ever again. Even Archie announced that his friendship was over and that Noah was forever banned from our home. 

“Oh don’t be like that baby.” Noah said, grabbing the back of my backpack pulling me towards some stairs nearby. I was struggling to stay upright as he dragged me at a brisk pace out of sight from passersby. 

“Dude, let me the f**k go!” I was shouting at this point, but we had already made it to the underneath of the stairs. The area didn’t look well traveled, and it sure as s**t didn’t look like anyone saw him drag me over here.

“Shhh shh shh. There's no need to yell, we’re just going to have a friendly chat.” Noah was now fully facing me. My hands were pressed against the brick wall. His anger was apparent from the nasty smile he put on, rage built behind his eyes. 

“Do you not know the word no? Cause I’m pretty sure I was clear yesterday when I used it several times.” I spat at him. I was not in the mood for this bullshit. Noah however, was all in for the bullshit and was going to make it clear.

“I don’t get told no. You’re going to apologize for yesterday. You’re going to apologize right now.” Noah spat right back at me. He leaned one arm on the wall, showing off the arm muscles that were on show to scare me. He may have had a few inches on me, but I wasn’t about to get bullied into apologizing for someone touching me without permission.

“No.” I responded clear as day.

“What did you just say?” His words came out dripping with venomous intent. 

“I said no.” Slap. Noah slapped me. The boy slapped hard. It knocked me off to the side, my hand shooting up to my face to cover the now searing pain. 

“Try again, bitch.” He grabbed my arm pulling me back to face him. His face was turning all shades of red. He was raising his hand again, and I knew that either I was going to have to hit back or try to run. So, I did what any good lady would do. I kicked as hard as I could in the one area that anyone would cry from.

SLAM

My foot made contact with his parts. Noah leaned forward of instinct to try to cover from further kicking, making my exit open. I leaped towards the side. I wasn’t fast enough. His hand found my bag and slammed down. I was now slamming into the rocks below. My arms braced, saving my chest and face from getting damaged. Noah was seething. I could hear him breathing hard.

“Now you want to play hard to get, I can work with that.” Noah shouted at me. I closed my eyes, resting my head at the ground, ready for the next hand to grab me. I wasn’t going to make a scene and potentially get kicked from campus. I’d take the beating and report it after. Fucker wasn’t going to get away without some legal repercussions. 

A loud growl ripped through the air. 

“That’s enough!” I know that voice. That’s not Noah's voice.

“Oh, oh hey there Alp-” Noah started to stutter his words in response.

“Mine.” Rescinded deep within Trenton. Did I just hear him say ‘mine’?

Another growl. The sound wasn’t human, I didn’t know what it was.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Trenton’s voice was clear and demanding. I rolled over to see him standing in between Noah and I. His back was to me. Noah was terrified. The color drained from his face and he was backing up. He wasn’t a match in height or build to Trenton, but I didn’t expect him to back off so quickly. 

I stopped paying attention to the conversation and picked myself up. My body was now covered in dust and broken pieces of leaves. I wasn’t about to stay and hear whatever was about to go down. Noah was begging Trenton to forget what he saw and that it wouldn’t ever happen again. Noah was saying I had brought him to the side to talk and I got violent. He kept saying he was defending himself and got carried away. I could feel the anger seething off of Trenton. I could see his arms crossed over his chest. The veins in his arms were clearly starting to come to the surface. I didn’t know why he bothered to get himself involved, but I was grateful for the distraction.

I turned and started to run. I was going to run as far away as I needed. My truck wasn’t far, I could make it. 

“Ellie!” Trenton shouted after me. I didn’t turn around, I didn’t want to see if he was chasing after or if Noah was still there. I didn’t want to be there anymore.  

“Ellie, come back here!” Trenton's voice rang out like a bell. My heart sank, my mind went blank. I just wanted to get away. 

I ripped my keys out of my jacket, throwing myself into the truck. I tossed my bag to the passenger side and hauled ass out of the parking lot. I didn’t care who saw me, I didn’t care who stared right now. 

I turned the corner without looking back. I wanted to go home. 

_________________________________

Home. I could just drive down to Uncle Eren’s. Cry on his couch for days, telling him how i feel so overwhelmed with what happened in the last 24hours. He’d tell me to pony up. To put on my big girl heels and walk proudly out there to show everyone I wasn’t giving up yet, that this road bump wasn’t going to destroy my world. That’s all I needed to hear. 

I decided to go back to the house. I was skipping my class. I’d consider going back for my evening class, but I didn’t want to run into either Noah or Trenton.

Trenton…

Why can’t I get him off my mind? He stood over me, ready to throw hands, and I ran away like a b***h. Ugh. I could turn around and go talk to him, but all that would entails is him grunting or staring at me. Maybe spitting out a word or two before some girl would run up asking to steal him away for something. I growled in response to the thoughts.

No, I’d go home, see if Archie was there, and if he was I’d cry on him for a good few hours before going back. Maybe we’d go study at the library after our class together. I knew he didn’t work a shift at the store tonight, but I didn’t want to bother him every second of the day.

Pulling up on the street, I could see Archie standing outside the house . He was standing in front of the door, pacing back and forth. I parked the truck in the driveway, practically falling out as I was focused on now a running Archie.

He threw his arms around me, forcing me into a hard hug.

“Hi sweetie, I missed you too.” I cooed while petting his head with one hand, my other holding onto my bag by my side.

“I heard what happened. I was so upset you drove off somewhere. You dumb b***h, you don’t even know where anything is. I was so worried.” He was practically crying into my chest. 

“Rude.” I replied.

“Rude, but true. What happened?” He pulled his face away to look into mine, it was clear he had been crying. The tear marks were running down his face.

“Nothing bad, we can talk about it inside. Wait, how did you find out?” My brain snapped to what he said, how could he have known what went down?

“It’s my secret. I can’t tell you which birds are real and fake because otherwise…” He was trailing off.

“It’s fine,” I cut him off. “I’ll tell you what happened inside. I still wanna go to class with you later, I don’t want to go alone.”

He sniffled an ‘okay’ leading the way inside. Before closing the door, I stopped. I felt like something was watching me. I could feel it in my bones. I snapped my head around to see if I could catch someone off guard looking at us. I saw nothing in the street, maybe some rustling the bushes, but nothing more. Weird. 

I headed inside, making sure I heard the lock click.