Sweet Dreams-67

*Before…

Thing is that yeah there’s lots of people and you’d think you’d not be able to pick up someone coming at you but that’s actually wrong.

It’s like unless they’re trying to jump you on the sneak you can hear them taking those steps at you.

Ask folks that’ve been in real fights, there’s something that translates from attitude and intent into steps.

I turn and see Anika and Kathy plus someone I don’t know stalk/stomp waking right at me.

And that was just stupid as someone punches me in the head from behind with something metal that hurts! Not like the impact hurt but the fucking thing bit me!

I hear them laughing and I reach back and there’s blood and I pull a fucking staple out of my scalp.

*And Now…

I don’t hear who hit me leaving and there’s a feeling all from experience there’s a kick coming and I cross my legs and pull my bag in front of my gut and the thud lands on it just in time.

Fighting on the ground is hard but you do learn and I drive my foot into the ankles of the person behind me like a stomp over and over and hit a couple of times and I hear a girl’s cry of pain. Ankles are really easy to hurt and most regular people don’t fight, they’re not used to pain and I roll to my knees and it’s some other court girl I don’t know and I yell “HELP!” as loud as I can.

That’s right no Mary sue bullshit I yell for help.

Anika and Kathy and the other bitch run away saying “Shit!”

The other girl that stapled me I back away from.

Nope, hell nope I’m not getting into it with her...not with witnesses that could turn on me.

Paranoid?

You betcha.

I learned a lesson about trust and appearances a long time ago when camping with Cliff and his neo-nazi relatives. See there were a bunch of rich kids lighting garbage can fires and as shitty as my “cousins” were we actually tried putting out the fires and the park guys found us doing it and when we told them who did it they said it was us.

Guess who they believed?

Here...if I fought back more than I just did someone would say otherwise.

Now there’s people running over and she took off run-limping away.

And I’m on the ground with a bloody scalp.

And my hand over it.

I’m not pulling it out, not because I’m afraid of the blood or the pain, hell I used to cut, hell I’ve pulled glass from myself more than once from the step-shit and my mom.

My hand’s over it to get good and bloody, people react viscerally to stuff like this….I’m not playing their little game.

There’s people around me and one of the girl’s team coaches who see’s me and starts swearing.

“Oh holy fuck...sorry Hunter are you okay? What happened?”

I look at her. “I heard footsteps right behind me too close and when I turned I got jumped and some girl bashed me in the back of my head with a staple gun.”

“What!?” She exclaims.

People start talking, whispers all around.

The coach looks at me. “Right behind you, why’d you turn?”

“I’m from Lynnwood and a couple other rough neighborhoods ma’am it’s reflex. I thought it might be some grabby guy.”

Kinda not a lie.

And yeah every girl here gets it too.

1 in 6 girls will get sexually assaulted in some way before they’re done highschool….1 in 3 will just plainly get assaulted in some way usually by a guy.

Ask a woman, any girl she has a story and knows stories from those she knows, just about everyone she knows.

“Who was behind you?”

People name Anika and Kathy and someone named Bess.

I do say. “They never touched me though.”

“But this other girl did?”

I show my hand and the blood. “Yeah, and she tried to kick me while I was down.” I show her the scuff on my bag from her foot. “I stomped out though and I think I got her in the shin or the ankle.”

“Good girl, we don’t tolerate assault here. C’mon we’ll get you to the nurse and we’ll talk to the principal.”

She helps me up and she takes out her phone and she’s texting something and then I’m getting helped to the nurse’s office.

We’re passed by school security who are gone looking for her and actually running too.

It’s a whole hour of getting the nurse to take it out and washing out the little wound and my hair and the nurse is giving me looks. “You look okay it glanced and just went in through parts of the skin, and you’re going to have a bruise and a bump. Your eyes look fine and you’re not dizzy are you?”

“No ma’am.”

“Hunter there’s something else.”

“Something else ma’am?”

“Hunter…? If you’re not safe...those scars…”

“Are old scars, I was in a bad situation and Alex and his folks got me out of it….I’m okay ma’am. And the police know too. I have the hospital staff just as concerned when I went in for surgery. They sounded the alarms full force.”

She purses her lips. “I still have to mention it.”

“I know, it’s cool.”

She does the peroxide and then the anti-infection ointment before working in a really small steri-strip and then her and I are done.

I know she was pissed when she talked with the Principal and security and the cop that was here.

And Alex...well he was pissed, really pissed and scared.

He came running all the way here in his gear breaking practice when he heard.

I was sitting on the bed a towel over my rinsed out hair and he brushed right past everyone there and sank to his knees.

“Holy shit, what the hell happened?”

“Probably what you heard.”

“I heard you got jumped...that that bitch Anika was involved.”

The nurse said “Alex! Language!”

His head whipped around and he gave her and the rest a very pissed off fuck off and die look.

I could feel the tremble in his hands as they were on my knees.

But him rushing here, defending me, being upset.

It’s all new, powerful too really and with his hair wet with practice sweat and the way he looks...the pheromones too, yeah he might kinda smell but it’s a good smell in a way too.

It’s all hitting me with this real girl oh wow something happened and my guy’s there thing.

I reached out and turned his head to me.

“I’m okay, didn’t even need a stitch.”

“Hunter...When I…”

I kissed him to stop him. “She was there but didn’t touch me, I got distracted though.”

“So who jumped you then?”

“Fuckifiknow?”

The nurse hollered from where she was taking. “Hunter language!”

At least that made Alex smile.

I was worried he’d go to one of his dark places.

We kiss again really soft and slow with the towel still draped and him on his knees until we’re interrupted by his coach.

“Alex showers, go get changed.”

Alex sighed and looked at me. “You sure you’re okay?”

I nod. “I’ll be fine, just a scratch.”

“Tis but a flesh wound.” He says in a bad British accent.

“I don’t get it.”

He looks at me. “You’re kidding, you’ve never seen Monty Python?”

“I’ve heard of it, but Cliff banned…” and I do air quotes. “That faggy-british crap.”

“Oh I know what we’re doing when we get home.” He definitely seems happy about that too.

And I’m serious the stuff that I could watch was like minimal, Cliff owned the TV or he’d destroy it.

“I look forward to it actually, but we’re not going to get clear quite yet babe.”

He looks at me. “Are you going to be okay?”

I nod and kiss with him again enjoying the leeway from being wounded. “I’ll be fine.”

He kisses me again and he heads off to go and get showered and the cop comes over to me. “When we catch the girl that did this do you want to press charges.”

I look at him and then at the faculty then at him.

“No officer.”

“No?”

I sigh. “Look sir, I can’t keep you from doing whatever you’re going to do but I know I don’t want her to have a record even if it’ll be a juvie record. I’m sure that the school will deal out it’s own punishment.”

In reality no matter how much stuff that I have going on with my ID’s and stuff I don’t want a protracted court fight and I don’t know who hit me or how deep her pockets could be.

Or she’s a dupe from Anika and in that case I kinda don’t want to wreck her life when it’s really, really likely Anika that’s at fault.

The principal seems to be okay with that and I’m given a report to sign from the cop and a statement that I’m personally not going to be pressing charges.

And yeah I’m leary of cops.

Always have been and not just family stuff with Cliff and Mom but it’s Detroit and when you don’t like in suburbia cops are dangerous.

And I’m trans.

We’ll before I wasn’t but I was sure crossing the lines and I did that sort of enough sometimes that all it’d take would be someone more socially approved of than a trans person to yell creep in the bathroom and then there’d be a good chance of getting shot.

And then there’s seeing people I knew all my life getting roughed up or shot at.

One kid was shot from my last school for running from them. No I didn’t know him but yeah.

Lots of reasons why not to like cops.

And literally, literally they pretty much did fuck all about my dad’s murder.

The cop leaves and the principal and security leave too and the principal shakes my hand. “We’ll get to the bottom of this Hunter, we will find out who did this. This doesn’t happen at our school.”

I shake his hand. “It does, not as bad as some places sir but there’s a lot of mini-bullying here especially between the really well off or sports popular kids.”

He gives me a look. “But you’re dating Alex?”

“Which gives me an inside track on some things sir. You do actually run a really great school I mean this… I went to school where there are metal detectors and searches because there are weapons brought and where I’ve actually dropped to the floor when you hear gun pops going off.”

He nods. “I’ll look into that too….and I’ve heard about your old school I know it from the recommendation you got from one of your teachers and it was pretty unfortunate. Though I’m glad that things are better here.”

I could go on about a lot of things with why things are different but I actually play nice. He’s sort of like my work boss while I’m here.

“Honestly sir it’s as much or not more a problem between students than anything else. We need to tackle this stuff too in our own ways and change a lot of the attitudes. It’s kind of why I’m running for homecoming.”

He smiles. “Oh, yes I know you and Jennifer Morrison are making Homecoming more political than we’ve ever had.”

We finish shaking hands and he leaves and the nurse is writing stuff up on the computer when Alex comes back for me.

“Hey, you okay to go?”

I smile because he’s still so concerned looking and so careful of me...it’s all over his face.

I mean Alex knows what I’ve been through but it’s still really nice feeling that he’s going there or his feelings are going there y’know.

The nurse offers me a slip to use as a sick note for tomorrow if I don’t feel up to coming to school and I take it.

I might use it I might not.

I’m sort of thinking not because I’m not going to give Anika that satisfaction.

I have no idea yet as to what I’m going to do to get her back but it will happen.

And tomorrow unless I get a splitting headache or something that I really don’t feel like going to class I’ll be going. I want to see her eyes, her face when she gets that I know that this was her.

I want her to know that I’m stronger.

Alex carries my stuff and his to the car and he’s being really sweet and i kiss him as we put things in the back.

“I’m fine.”

He makes a face. “Yeah...well...I’ve only seen you hurt you...it’s altogether different when someone else hurts you...and I’d be venting and angry and stuff but you don’t need that…”

I snuggle with him against the car for a few minutes just enjoying him holding me. “You’re right. What I need is a coffee and then home with maybe some delivery and you can show me Monty Python.”

He opens the door for me. “That I can do, please allow me to seat you within my coconuts.”

“Your coconuts?”

“Yes all 325 of them.”

He’s smiling and just being weird all the way to getting me a Starbucks frappachino.

Once we’re home I’m ordering us pizza for delivery and we’re watching Monty Python’s Search for the holy grail when I see them...and the stick horses...and the coconuts and laugh so hard with his car bit that frappachino comes out my nose.

He gets this light in his eyes when he see’s me get it, like him actually being funny and not all Alex-intense-all-the-time. He’s helping me to clean up but he looks just...Alex doesn’t let himself be funny or goofy or happy that much.

It’s worth getting hurt to day just for that.