"Shelly, this isn't funny!" I shouted. "shelly, come on, let's go home." I whimpered slightly. "hey babe." someone grabbed me from around the waist and whispered in my ear. "why don't you forget Shelly and help me and my friends here." I could scream, I thought. I could stomp on his foot. But I couldn't, I was frozen with fear, paralyzed by his fowl breath. "Michael, leave her alone. She's defenseless." a familiar voice rang out. I know him, I thought,Thats Cyrus, the bad ass at my school, famous for razoring things into cars so they would rust over, famous for pissing off teachers and getting arrested so many times-how many juvie trips, now? He was also incredibly hot. "hey! You can't have her!" someone else shouted. "I got dibs, I got dibs, dibs, dibs, she's mine." he rushed at 'Michael' with a switchblade, opening it as he went. But Michael was gone and this guy was rushing at me. But not me, since Cyrus threw himself in front of me. I found my voice and screamed, Cyrus falling on top of me, the crazed guy running away, shouting about dibs and how he hadn't meant to but maybe he did but he couldn't remember because he forgot and he had dibs on the pretty lady, pretty lady, he's so sorry. "sorry, Bri. It's Bri, right? Like the cheese?" his breathing was labored, his white tee shirt turning red. I went for my purse, but it was gone. I used whatever strength I had to lift him up, so I could get out and help him. "come on." I panted. When did I get hurt? I took a quick inventory. I broke my wrist when I landed, I skinned my knee getting up. But Cyrus had been stabbed. "I'm okay." he hissed when he tried to pull away, his face paled. "do you live near here? Do you have a phone?" I held him up and dragged him out of the alley. "I... Have a friend..." he struggled. I leaned him against a wall and pulled up his shirt. The knife had fallen out, and the wound was now bleeding freely. I torn off part of his shirt, earning a "hey, now... Isn't the time... To get frisky...", and folded it over and pressed it to his wound. His knees buckled, and I could barely hold him up. "Nextstreetthirdhouseknocktwice." his eyes opened wide and he pointed left. I nodded and we started to walk again. It seemed to be forever, but I got us to the door. I knock three times. It opened. "the hell you want?" Zack, Cyrus's best friend answered. "Call 911." I panted, pointing to Cyrus, who was sitting, with his face down, on the porch. His eyes widened and he walked away, returning with a phone. He said his address and that his friend had been mugged and stabbed. "thanks, Bri." Cyrus panted as the ambulance got here. I was sitting next to him, not crying over my wrist, but over my bag being stolen. All my things. Even my clothes, my god, my underwear was in that bag. I felt like puking. I stood and puked over Zack's porch railing. I sat back down next to Cyrus. "you okay?" he laughed, then winced and breathed hard. "my underwear was in that bag." Cyrus burst out laughing so hard he started to cry, before passing out. Thank god the ambulance had arrived.
I woke up at home. But I wasn't actually in my house, I was in the gazebo. In my back yard. With a boy. I squealed and got up, pushing him away. He groaned and clutched his side. "damnit, Bri. Why?" he sat up."hand me the bottle." he pointed to a small orange bottle. Pain killers. "you said I could sleep in here after we got here from the hospital." I looked at his flat stomach. It was nice, beautifully carved abs, except for the row of small stitches. And I remembered what happened last night, and after we got home. I led Cyrus through the jungle that was my backyard, until we got to the gazebo. He said he couldn't go back to his house, because his mom would be more angry at the fact he got stabbed instead of him staying out all night. He usually stayed out. "sleep here." I smiled. "thanks. Hey, you look... Exhausted." he frowned. "I am." I sat down on the bench that ran along the inside of the gazebo. "but I don't think I'll be able to sleep after tonight." "one will take away pain, two and you'll sleep." he held out the bottle of pain killers he got from the hospital. "I'm good-" "it's okay, it won't kill you. I promise." he smiled. "fine." I uncapped it and grabbed four, giving him two. I threw them to the back of my throat and swallowed hard. Cyrus laughed. "you make a cute squinty face when you do that. And it'll take at least four to get me to sleep." he took a few more pills from the bottle and swallowed them easily. "night, Bri." he layed down on the bench and I layed down on the opposite side of him. My eyes were getting droopy. These pills worked fast. It felt nice. "Night, Cryus." "those are really good." it slipped out. He laughed at me again and put two in his mouth. "getting into drugs, are we?" I laughed. "maybe a shower first." "together? I'd love to." "I wouldn't. What time is it?" "uhh... Twelve thirty. Damn, your yard is big." he looked around. We had a huge pool, a spa, a trampoline, and a miniature forest in the yard. "the house is bigger." I mumbled. "what day is it?" "Wednesday. By the way, why in the world did you go out on a Tuesday?" "I have never skipped school before." I walked faster to the back door. Why was the yard so goddamn big?! "hey, I can't go that fast. And it's no big deal. Why don't we just not go. I could use a R and R day." "we need to go." I walked slowly now. Almost there, no need to panic. "okay. But how about that shower first?" --- After our separate showers, and my clothes change, we drove to school. It was lunch time, so everyone was walking around. "is that Bri Summers and Cyrus?" "why is his shirt torn?" "why are they together?" "let's go to the Attendence Office I mumbled, grabbing his hand and pulling him faster. "ow. Ow ow ow. Owww." he groaned. "I know it doesn't hurt because I saw you take another pill. So shut the heck up." I demanded. "whatever you say, queen cheese." he mumbled. "one, I heard that. Two, queen cheese is not clever. In the slightest." The bell rang and everyone went to class as we walked into the office. "hello, name and reason you're late." the lady didn't look up. "Bri Summers, and because I overslept." I smiled. "and you?" "Hiya, Becky. How has your day been?" "hello Cyrus, it's been great. Here's your passes, get to class." We walked out. "what the heck was that?" "I'm late a lot. We have PE together next, right?" I blinked. "um, yeah. We do have PE together." He laughed and rolled his eyes. "you didn't even notice me?" "maybe a little." I usually noticed him when he and his friend took off their shirts. They took off their shirts a lot. "well, you should sit out with me. We could discuss why the heck you went out, trying to get killed by Crazy, on a Tuesday." he smiled. "also, how does my shirt look? Really torn and bloody? I might tell everyone you're freaky in bed." "ass." I shoved him playfully and we walked to PE in a surprisingly comfortable silence.