Between two kops

Chapter thirteen

Christina

The end of class bell echoed through the hallways like a salvation, but for me, it was just the beginning of a new kind of pressure. The history teacher's voice talking about the group project was still ringing in my head. So was Nick's stubbornness when he dragged me aside in front of the whole class just a moment ago, attacking me because I have to do that project with Steven. I mean, hello, it's not like I asked for it. I argued, but the teacher wouldn't listen to any excuses. Why couldn't he get that through his thick head instead of constantly attacking me and tripping out, thinking I have something going on with Steven?

I was slowly packing my textbook and notebook into my bag, feeling Steven's presence beside me. He was in no rush, not in the slightest. Every move he made was cool and completely calm. I wanted to ask him a thousand more things, but the heavy shadow that suddenly fell over the desk stopped me.

"Sweetie, are we going? We have to leave early," Nick's voice was unusually cheerful, as if nothing had happened between us just a moment ago, as if that stupid fight hadn't even taken place.

We hadn't officially been together for more than 48 hours, and that tense pause hung in the air between us like some unpaid, agonizing debt. But Nick Petrović had a talent for ignoring reality whenever it didn't suit him. In front of others from school, we still had to put on a show as the perfect, golden couple.

"Christina, do you even hear me?" his voice turned sharp now, losing that fake cheerfulness.

I raised my head. Nick was standing over me, shooting occasional short, hostile, and sideways glances at Steven. Nadia and Michael were standing behind him. Nadia was nervously typing something on her phone, while Michael was already impatiently fidgeting in place, itching to leave.

"Yeah, yeah... just let me pack up."

"I can't wait to finally get to Belgrade!" Nadia said without taking her eyes off her phone.

"Yeah, yeah. Tonight it's time to f**k up the Gypsies again," Nick added arrogantly, tapping his fingers on my desk in a fast drum rhythm, as if he could already hear the South Stand and the chanting in his head.

I turned to Steven. He had heard the entire conversation. Of course, these retards of mine have no clue that the guy is a Delija. How would they know, anyway... I wouldn't have known either if I hadn't accidentally ended up in that bar that night.

Steven Stajić slowly set his black bag down on the desk. Without a single word, with one quick, decisive movement, he pulled off his hoodie, revealing a black t-shirt with "Četnici Sever" written across it. The muscles on his arms tightened at that moment, and that signature defiance in his eyes was clearer than ever before. It was a pure firm response to Nick's provocation.

Luckily, Nick didn't react this time. He just turned away and brushed off Steven's provocation, even though you could tell from a mile away that he was barely holding his tongue back from throwing in some more s**t against Crvena Zvezda and Delije.

Steven casually picked up his bag. As I was getting up and sliding my chair under the desk, he used the perfect moment to step up right behind me. He was so close that our breath literally collided in the air, and the heavy scent of his perfume mixed with tobacco completely dazed me and threw me off balance. He rested his hand on my shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze, and whispered right into my ear, so close that I could feel his lips on my skin.

"See you at the derby, princess..."

That cold, confident voice of his instantly sent a brutal wave of chills straight down my spine, creating a total hurricane inside my body. I shivered all over, and that nickname "princess" echoed in my ears as the sweetest and most dangerous insult all at once.

Even though Nick and the crew had already walked a bit toward the door, they noticed Steven whispering something to me before he casually strolled out of the classroom, walking like a winner. Nick came up to me like a fury, instantly triggering that classic, freakishly jealous, and overprotective system of his.

"Everything okay, Christina? What did he want?" he asked, clenching his jaw dangerously.

"Yeah, everything's cool, don't worry," I lied without blinking, trying with all my might to keep my voice from trembling and giving me away.

"You guys want a ride home?" Nick asked, still pissed off, nervously rattling the keys to his expensive car.

"Nick, I'll actually have to steal Christina from you," Nadia chimed in, saving me just in time.

"We urgently need to talk in private. We're heading over to her place to get ready for the derby, so swing by in your car to pick us up afterward."

"Fine, see you later then," Nick said briefly, still glaring angrily toward the door where Steven had long since vanished.

Stepping out of the school building felt like walking into a completely different dimension. The air outside was heavy, saturated with that specific, crazy pre derby tension you can practically feel in your nostrils and in the air before you even see it on the streets.

Nadia and I parted ways with Nick and Michael right at the school gate. I watched the two of them head toward the parking lot, swinging their keys and tossing jokes back and forth, while the two of us started walking through the neighborhood. Nadia stepped briskly in her sneakers, the way only she knew how, with small but impossibly energetic steps.

She was already in her shorter, sporty gear, mentally completely ready for the madness waiting for us tonight at the stadium.

"Nadia, you seriously saved me back there... I honestly wouldn't have survived another argument with Nick in the car," I said with a massive sigh of relief as soon as we rounded the school's first corner.

"I know, girl, that's why you officially owe me at least one big Kinder Egg!" she grinned like a kid teasing older folks, hopping along in her new New Balance sneakers.

"Alright, deal, girl, you can have three if you want. But what was that urgent thing you wanted us to talk about in private?"

"Well, first I want to know one thing... Do you feel anything at all toward that Steven Stajić?" She hit me with that question so directly and straight to the point that I nearly tripped over my own feet on the sidewalk.

I looked at her seriously and just raised an eyebrow, trying desperately to keep my trademark mask of complete coldness.

"Me? Oh please, no, eww! Where on earth did you even get that idea, Nadia?" I blurted out in a split second in my own defense, while mentally cursing myself in the worst way possible.

You're lying, Christina... You're lying like a dog. You like him, big time. I wanted him, I was crazy about him, and yet some invisible, stupid force inside me kept pushing him away.

"Fine. Then I have to seriously confess something to you, Christina," she said, this time in an unusually shy, quiet voice. Her gaze suddenly dropped to the pavement ahead of us, her thick bangs completely hiding her eyes for a moment.

"Just... promise me on your life you won't laugh. I want total seriousness!" She raised a forefinger in the air, threatening me through a smile that was slowly fading from her face.

"I won't laugh, I promise," I replied, instantly feeling a strange weight in my stomach. She was my best friend after all, and in moments like this I would always stand by her without a second thought, regardless of all my doubts.

"Well..." She paused for a second, as if desperately catching her breath.

"Maybe I... Maybe I like Steven a little bit, you know..."

I stood there literally frozen in the middle of the street, completely dazed and f****d up. I mean, they barely even know each other?! And yet, she was suddenly crushing on the guy I'd been drooling over for days, while lacking the guts to say it out loud to anyone.

"How do you mean... so suddenly?" I asked, trying with all my might to keep my voice from sounding too strained and jealous.

"Well I don't know, Christina, we've talked before about how cute the guy is, but now... there's just something insanely good about his whole attitude..."

Every word Nadia spoke felt like pouring raw salt onto an open wound. While she talked enthusiastically about Steven's attitude and how cute he was, I felt my entire stomach twist into a huge, painful knot. I wanted to scream right in the middle of the street, to throw it in her face that he was mine at least in my mind and those brief, hot moments under the desk. But instead, I just slapped my perfect, fake mask back on harder.

"Well, I'm really glad you finally got a little crush, Nadia. Finally someone your own age, instead of those older guys..." I said with a fake smile that felt utterly disgusting at that moment and hurt worse than anything I'd ever admit.

"Ugh, now I totally don't know what to do, jeez... I'm gonna kill myself. I swear to God!" she wailed dramatically, covering her whole face with her hands.

"Well, for starters, you guys could get to know each other," I swallowed a massive lump in my throat while trying to calm her down.

I said it so casually, like it was the simplest thing in the world, while inside I felt like my whole world was collapsing into pieces.

She immediately shook her head nervously at my idea. "Well, that won't be so easy, girl, you know yourself he always looks at us sideways and with an attitude." There was plenty of truth in her words, we both knew that very well.

"You've got a point there, I admit."

I immediately thought of his permanently scowling face that rarely ever left that dangerous, handsome mug of his. Still, only I and no one else had once had the privilege of seeing his gentle, gorgeous, and sincere smile. And it's better if no one alive ever finds out about that, not even her... my best friend.

"That's actually why I thought... maybe you could somehow introduce us? I've seen you two talking a lot during classes," she added quickly, looking at me with hope in her eyes.

Her words literally rang like an alarm bell in my head. Of course she had to notice that. Nothing on earth can be hidden from her.

"Hmm... maybe, I'll see," I replied as indecisively as possible.

I wasn't even sure if it was a smart idea at all. Even the two of us weren't in any sort of defined, friendly dynamic. Even though, as she put it, we talked often, that daily tension between us could always be clearly felt in the air.

We soon arrived in front of the huge gate of my house. Our gardener Dan immediately opened the gate for us and closed it quietly behind us, leaving all the outside street noise behind. But as soon as we stepped into the spacious courtyard, that ghostly household silence hit me in the stomach worse than any noise.

We hadn't even properly kicked off our sneakers in the foyer before my mom materialized in front of us in the hallway a second later. She stood proudly, arms crossed over her chest, and by the way that blue vein was dangerously pulsing on her right temple, I knew right away she had hallucinated some fresh bullshit in her head.

"Good afternoon, Aunt Marina!" Nadia chimed in instantly with her finest, polite tone, trying her best to defuse the tense situation.

"Hello, Nadia... Could you please leave us alone for a minute? Go on ahead upstairs to Christina's room and wait for her there," my mom said in her cold tone.

I looked at Nadia, who just gave a short, frightened raise of her eyebrow in a "good luck facing the firing squad" kind of way and vanished up the stairs at the speed of light. I was left alone in the open, at the mercy of my mom's unknown wrath.

"What is it, Mom? What's the problem again?" I asked, trying with all my might to sound calm.

"Why did you walk home through the city on foot?!" she yelled suddenly, rage literally erupting from every tiny wrinkle on her face.

"I wanted to take a short walk in the fresh air... Besides, I wasn't alone, Nadia was." I didn't even get to finish the damn sentence before she opened a full blown barrage against me.

„Christina, you have your own personal chauffeur who is always at your disposal, you have unlimited cash for a cab if he doesn't work for you, and on top of all that, you have Nick with a car. You have absolutely not one single justified reason to consciously risk it and walk on foot through this filthy city!"

"Mom, please! I want to have at least a little freedom in this life!"

Now I was the one who completely lost control and raised my voice. I couldn't physically bear her constant control anymore, the stuck up classism, and people doing literally everything in our place. So what if I took a short walk for a couple of blocks? My legs didn't fall off, for Christ's sake.

"What if someone, God forbid, had attacked you on the street?! Do you even see what this city looks like, how full the streets are of beggars, migrants, and all sorts of freaks?!" Now she had shamelessly started faking that false, maternal concern.

I know damn well what hurts her most here. It hurts her that I'm not like the rest of those forced girls from our circle, those stuck up daddy's and mommy's princesses. Ugh, every single one of them literally gets on my nerves.

Only one thing flashed through my mind. The derby. If I keep arguing with her about this, I'll get grounded and can only dream of going out to Belgrade tonight from my bed. Lower your guard right now and brush her off, you can do this, Christina... Brush her off just today because of the match.

"Fine... I'm sorry, Mom," I muttered through my teeth, abruptly changing tactics and faking remorse. I needed to get ready for Belgrade ASAP, and any further argument would only distance me miles away from the stadium and the match.

"Just let this never happen again, Christina. Think about your safety next time, if you won't think about our family reputation in town," Mom added as a final touch, proudly fixing her blazer like she had just won another grand life battle.

I didn't even grace her with a single look. I turned demonstratively and headed up the stairs, taking each step with a heavy stomp as if I wanted to intentionally break it in half. Only when I heard the door to her study finally slam shut downstairs did I wildly release all that air I'd been holding tightly in my chest. Damn it, I'm literally suffocating in my own home.

I pushed open my bedroom door and found Nadia already making herself completely comfortable on my big bed, casually scrolling through her phone.

"Survived?" she asked without taking her eyes off the screen, but wearing that small, mischievous, buddy smile on her face.

"Yeah, barely. Get that lazy ass of yours up right now! We haven't even touched our stuff, and look what time it already is."

We didn't overthink our clothing choices since we were long used to dressing completely similarly on the spot whenever we went to matches together. I was the first to pull my black hoodie out of the massive wardrobe. The one with "Grobari" written on it, which always gave me a special kind of shield and fierce confidence whenever I headed into that ultra crowd in the stands. With it, I wore a pair of short, black cotton Nike shorts, the really tight ones with recognizable white lines on the edges that brutally highlighted my legs and every step I took.

Nadia, as if on cue, pulled her black option out of her bag. A hoodie with the words "Let's play that tango of death" and short black Adidas shorts. Our classic, shared black and white vibe. As we checked ourselves side by side in the huge mirror, we looked like a serious, dangerous tandem ready for everything waiting for us tonight at the stadium.

"How do we look? Literally like twins," Nadia grinned from ear to ear, fixing her hoodie while her phone in hand vibrated again.

"We're a total smash, girl, we're gonna crush it," I said, genuinely impressed by how we looked.

In the next moment, I grabbed my iPhone 16 off the nightstand and we posed in front of the mirror for a photo. Right as I was about to tap the screen to snap the pic, both of us, on command, pulled the craziest faces possible, sticking out our tongues and twisting our mouths like we were five years old. We burst into such a wave of hysterical laughter that for a second I could barely manage to hold the phone in my hand, let alone take a proper picture of us.

That sudden surge of sincere, pure laughter completely erased Mom, Nick, and that knot of jealousy Steven had given me at highschool with the talk about Nadia from my mind for a moment.

"Come on, get serious already! We're gonna ruin all our makeup before we even leave," Nadia barely managed to say through tears of laughter, holding her stomach with both hands.

I took a few more pictures of us as we slowly calmed down and caught our breath. This is going to be by far the most brutal i********: story tonight. We're gonna crush everything.

At that moment, a loud, obnoxious car horn blared outside our gate, cutting off our laughter and hanging out in the room. It was Nick. He had arrived.

It's time for the derby.