I learned fast not to cross them. Mark and I grew further and further apart. It got to the point that I hated him. I hated myself. High school to me wasn’t going to be all fun and games, it was my safe haven. If I looked for things to do after school, I wouldn’t have to meet them every day. I did see them though. They would smile at me or say some flirtatious things that would make me smile.
That was before I started to really hate them.
Some time in October, after a really bad fight, I realized I needed some other form of protection. Mark was getting at me. Trying to make me his. It started too much with Juan. I didn’t like Juan either, but giving him what he wanted was easier than him taking it. So I started dating a junior, a good old country boy who promised he’d always keep me safe. It was a hard promise to keep when he didn’t know what he had to protect me from, but he tried. But, if I had thought having a boyfriend would change anything, it didn’t, if anything it just made things worse.
The worst fight they had about me broke out at school and sent Mark to juvi. I really don’t know how Juan managed to get out of trouble. I think he claimed self-defense. The fight didn’t end at school though. It ended at the warehouse.
I was standing in the hall when it started. Mark was screaming about how I was his girl and went out at Juan. Juan hit him back, hard. Mark punched him, kicked him, and then pulled a knife. Juan slammed his head into the lockers and bent back his wrist to disarm him. I’m not sure if anyone else saw him pocket the blade, but I did. I knew he’d use it against him later. In a way, he protected Mark from more trouble, but Mark paid for it with all but his life.
It was dark in the warehouse, like always. Juan had pulled me next to him, had his arm around me, was talking to me about something important, breathing it sensually into my ear, when Mark came in. “I didn’t think you’d show your face around here for a while.” Juan said, standing up and pulling me up with him.
“Yeah well, I’m here. It’s not over Juan. I only brought her here so that I could keep her safe, so that she could be mine. Not so you could have her.” I tried to back away, Juan pulled me into it. Right into the middle. “Well she’s mine now. I told you, I get what I want when I want it, every time.”
Mark got mad, lunged at him, Juan pushed me into him. Mark hit me, not on purpose, and I fell to the side as he attacked Juan. My head was spinning so bad that I couldn’t focus on the fight. But when it was over, Mark was lying on the ground and was so bloody that I didn’t think there was anyway he could still be alive. One close look told me that Juan had cut him to shreds with his own switchblade. I ran to him.
Juan yelled for me to stay away from him, but it was a warning that I couldn’t listen to, I had to make sure that Mark was okay.
I knelt down next to him; he put his hand on my face. “I love you Annie. Please…I’m sorry I got you involved in this; please…just get out while you can.” I refused to believe that he ever had or would love me but I locked the rest away. I wiped off the blood from his face with my shirt and nodded. Tears in my eyes. Seconds later, Juan’s hand against my head sent me flying, and wiped the tears away. I jumped up. It was my turn to fight.
Annie got home and lay down on her sheets, exhausted. She didn’t even feel like packing for the next day. She looked at her phone and saw that she had a text. It was from V: U in town? Annie thought for a moment, she still trusted V. Yeah, 4 the night. Y? She texted him back. U leavin 2moro? That’s good…some of the guys…they shot out where I work. Annie froze after she read his message. He had told her that they were looking for trouble. R U ok? She typed it into her phone as fast as she could. Yeah, D got shot tho. He’s in the HP. She tried not to let her thoughts settle on it, tried to think of how for five weeks she would be in Martin. Out of their reach. They couldn’t hurt her there. I’m jus glad UR
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