Revive Me (20 page)

“Dude, not here,” Ollie said, grabbing Dawson’s arm when it reached out to hit Reese.

“You want to hit me, pussy boy?” Reese said, slamming his fist against his own chest. “Let’s see how big of a badass this momma’s boy is, shall we? Have you ever punched anyone before?” He snorted. “I bet you haven’t and now you’re trying to play prince charming boy for the girl who chose me over you. I wonder how it’s going to feel to get my leftovers?”

“Fuck this asshole,” Cody yelled, appearing at Dawson’s side. “Please tell me I can beat this arrogant fuckhead’s ass because he fucking needs it.”

I’d seen Dawson get into a few fights, but nothing serious. He’d punched a guy for grabbing my ass one year during spring break and another for calling me a dick tease at a bonfire. But Cody, I’d seen him fight. I’d seen him fight a lot. I knew he’d hit Reese, no questions asked, no over thinking it. That was Cody’s release. It was his high to beat the shit out of people.

Dawson shook his head as Reese continued to taunt him. “No man, this is my shit.” He snagged his arm out of Ollie’s grasps and slammed his fist into Reese’s smirking face, catching him off guard. Reese fell into Bobby’s big frame, wiped his bloody lip with the back of his hand, and regained his composure. I gasped, watching him charge back at Dawson and hitting him in the side of his face. A few girls shrieked, jumping away from the fight, while guys crowded around to watch. But nobody tried to stop it.

I tried to watch what was going on, but there was too much commotion. The crowd zeroed in on the two and blocked my view.

“Fuck me,” Cody yelled, darting into the crowd. I kicked my legs up and stood up in the chair to see what was going on. I gasped when I saw it. Bobby and another guy had joined the fight. They were holding Dawson down on the ground while Reese kicked into his stomach.

“No!” I screamed. “Somebody stop him.” I jumped down from the chair and pushed through the crowd of people. “Get off of him!” I continued to scream, elbowing lingering bodies before I reached the edge of the fighting ring. Cody and Ollie had jumped in, pulling Reese’s friends away, but Reese continued his assault on Dawson. Dawson was on the floor, crouched into the fetal position, as he took each blow. My legs locked, and I grabbed onto the stranger next to me when I noticed Dawson’s bloody face. I looked over at Reese, his face full of rage, and rushed towards him. “Get off of him you asshole!” I shrieked, pulling at the back of his shirt with all my strength until Cody pulled me away.

He grabbed Reese in headlock and slammed him against the wall at the same time his fist met Reese’s nose. Reese pushed Cody away and held his hands up in surrender, like he knew he was going to get his ass kicked. “It’s fucking over,” he yelled, grabbing the bottom of his shirt and holding it up to the blood dripping from his nostrils. “Bobby, Kurt,” he said, and his friends quit trying to fight Ollie. “It’s fucking over!”

I bent down to grab Dawson’s hand, and Ollie and Cody helped me drag his limp body up. Tears streamed from my eyes when I took a good look at him. His face was bleeding and already beginning to bruise. Blood covered his shirt, and his lip was busted. He spit blood onto the carpet and cursed out loud.

“You good to walk, bro?” Cody asked.

“I’m good,” Dawson said, staggering a few feet, and Cody grabbed hold of him before he toppled over.

“Dude, you ain’t cool,” he said.

I tried to help them, but Ollie stopped me. “We got it,” he said sternly.

Cody whipped around before they headed to the doors. He pointed to Reese’s friends standing at his side. “You fuckers are pussies for jumping in. You want to talk shit and act like bulldogs, be sure that your Chihuahua asses can back it up. Real men don’t jump people; they fight their own fucking battles. Who’s the pussy now?” he asked, his attention turning to Reese.

“I think it’s time for you to go, and I’d steer clear of parties around here,” Alexa said, coming to my side. “I didn’t peg you as a troublemaker, but I can see it now. Look at you,” she said, her eyebrows rising. “You’ve got two hot guys fighting over you. I don’t know what it is, I mean you’re not even that cute, but I guess the whole innocent thing works. Maybe I’ll buy some turtlenecks and try it out.”

“Why are you talking to me?” I asked.

“You need to stop or it will get worse.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop relying on other people to fix your shit. You need to fix it on your own, honey. I’d suggest staying away from our crowd. They’re not fans of overly dramatic girls and girl, you’re over-dramatic as hell. Stay away from the bad boys or this is what you’ll get every time.”

“I’m not overly-dramatic,” I said defensively. “You know nothing about me.” Dawson spit out blood again while he and Reese gave each other the stare-down. I could tell they were ready for round two. I looked over at his friends, both looking like they could go another round as well.

“I’m honestly not trying to be a bitch,” Alexa said, bringing the cup in her hand to her lips.

I snorted. “Could’ve fooled me.”

“I’m helping you. You need to stay away from social events and people for a minute before you get shunned completely, otherwise, this will happen again. Now get your friends and get gone. I’ll get this shit sorted out.”

She walked away from me, her knee-high boots stomping into the carpet, and stopped in the middle of the crowd. “Gentleman, this is over,” she announced, swinging around in her tight jeans and pointing to Dawson. “It’s time for you guys to go.” Without listening to his response, she turned to Reese. “And you, leave the room so they can get their shit together and leave. Go clean yourself up because all of you look like pathetic idiots.”

Reese’s friends scurried away like she was the queen giving orders. Reese slid his arm across his nose to wipe away the still blood dripping down on the carpet. “Show’s over!” he called out to everyone.

“Let’s fucking go, Tessa,” Dawson yelled, swatting away his friend’s hands to help him move. He used the arm of a chair to balance himself and began to walk out of the house. “My keys are in my jacket pocket,” he told Cody. Cody grabbed them and hopped into the driver’s side.

“Help him in,” he instructed us. Ollie came to my side, and we both lifted Dawson into the seat of the cab.

I rummaged in my pockets and pulled out my keys when Ollie snatched them from my hand. He looked over at Cody. “We’ll take care of your car later. For now, get in.” I nodded, not knowing what else to do, and I didn’t want to leave Dawson. He helped me into the cab before jumping in next to me.

“Holy shit!” Cody yelled, starting the truck and gunning the gas. “That shit was not cool.”

Ollie snorted. “You think? Those dickheads straight jumped him.”

Dawson stayed silent beside me. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying to grab his hand, but he jerked away.

“Not now, Tessa,” he snapped, looking straight ahead.

“Please don’t hate me,” I pleaded.

He shook his head. “I don’t hate you. I hate what you’ve turned into, but I’ll never hate you.” I flinched at his words. That stung.

“But, just let me explain.”

“There’s no explaining. My head hurts like hell. Just stop.” He couldn’t even look at me, and I didn’t miss the disgust on his face.

“You want me to stay at your house tonight, bro, or drop you off and bring your truck to you tomorrow?” Cody asked.

“Just drop me off at my house,” Dawson answered, his voice flat. It was a punch to the gut each time we passed a streetlight and I got a glimpse of his battered face. Even after everything I’d put him through, he’d stuck up for me. I didn’t deserve him. He deserved someone else, someone who wouldn’t turn their back on him for a worthless loser, and someone who wasn’t so fucked up in the head they didn’t know right from wrong. I’d done this to him. I was breaking him because I couldn’t fix myself.

Tessa

I
killed the engine of my car and took a deep breath. Different scenarios played in my head about what was going to happen today. I’d shut my phone off for the rest of the weekend and stayed in my bedroom. Dawson had canceled plans with Derrick, and I knew it was because he didn’t want him to see his battered face.

I walked through the parking lot and screeched as a white sedan sped towards me, the tires squealing. I jumped to the side, practically on top of a truck, the car just missing me by inches, as a trail of dust followed them. They didn’t stop or slow down. I tried to get a good look at the driver or passengers, but they’d moved too fast. I bowed my head down walking into school, hoping that was an accident. It had to be. No one would try to run me over me on purpose, would they?

I scurried to my locker, keeping my head down, and my elbows pressed into my sides. I dumped my things into it and grabbed what I needed hurriedly. I wanted to get to class before anyone saw me. I clutched onto a book when I was suddenly pushed into the door of my locker and the edge scraped into my arm.

“Seriously?” A girl snarled, stopping in front of me and resting her hands on her hips.

I blinked, trying to put a name to the face, but I didn’t recognize her. “What?” I asked, rubbing my side.

“Seriously, you stupid bitch, your crazy ass gets kicked out of a party, and you decide to call the cops on everyone? You know what happens to narcs, don’t you?”

I stumbled back. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, noticing a few girls joining her side. Maya was one of them, giving me some relief that I had someone coming to my defense.

“That’s what everyone is saying,” Maya said. I felt my body overheating. “They’re saying you hooked up with Reese, no strings attached, and you freaked out when you saw him with another girl. We all saw the fit you threw, then the fight with that other boy, and you got kicked out. Not ten minutes after you left the cops showed up. I thought you knew better than that.” Okay, so she wasn’t coming to my defense. She was blaming me, too.

I shook my head. “I didn’t call the cops.”

Maya’s face fell a little, but she didn’t let up. “Seems sketchy, but who knows, maybe you didn’t. I want to give you a heads up, though. Reese, Bobby, and some other people were arrested. Half of them were on probation and had drugs on them. Most of them had priors, which means they can’t just be bailed out, and they’ll be in there for a minute. They and their girlfriends are ready to tear you apart.”

They needed to blame someone, and they were putting that target on my back. I was the crazy girl who’d caused a scene, started a fight, and left in tears over a guy. Girls like that wanted payback, and that’s what they thought I’d given Reese.

“I swear. I went home and went straight to bed,” I said, my voice breaking. I was afraid of what tearing me apart meant, but it didn’t sound good. “I didn’t call the cops on anybody.”

“Snitch bitch,” a guy grumbled, walking past me and pushing into me roughly. “You should’ve died along with the rest of those kids.”

I grabbed onto my locker and squeezed my eyes shut, praying to God I’d just imagined what he’d said. I shook my head and knew that was the truth. I wish I‘d died with all of those kids … with Tanner. My life would’ve been simpler, and I wouldn’t be in hell right now.

“Yeah dumb bitch, just because you open your legs up for a guy doesn’t mean he’s going to marry you,” another commented.

“Go kill yourself,” another girl added, not only bumping my side, but also turning around to snarl at me with two other girls.

“Angie!” Maya called, pushing the girl away from me. “That’s not cool. Be mad at her, but don’t say shit like that.”

Angie shrugged her shoulders. “I’m grounded for two months because the cops called my parents to pick me up. I can’t even go to the winter formal now.”

“Angie, you and the rest of your follower cronies need to beat it and take your bullshit threats with you, you brainless bitches,” Alexa said, joining my side and eyeing the girls standing in front of me.

“You don’t have anything to do with this,” Angie spat. “Why are you even sticking up for her? You know she was banging Reese, right?”

“I don’t know what she was doing because I mind my own damn business,” Alexa argued. “Now go.” The girls scurried away. Damn, did everyone obey this girl’s commands? Maya still stood awkwardly in front of us, not sure what to do. “And Maya, you know that shit’s not cool.”