Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (17 page)

“It’s fine Ellie, don’t worry.”

“So…… did you want to go to the party with me?” she asked quietly.

“Sure if you want,” I agreed, cringing at how underdressed I was.

“Awesome. I’ll just be ten or fifteen minutes then, ok?”

“Sure, I’ll be sitting in the bleachers. See you in a bit,” I said, grinning my ass of that I would get to spend some time with her tonight.

Twenty minutes later she came skipping back up the stairs, looking unbelievable in a little denim skirt, ankle boots with a stiletto heel and pale blue shirt. She had the top few buttons undone and it made my heart speed up a little.

“Hey, Stud!” she chirped, smiling.

“Hey. All ready to go?” I asked, trying to check her out discreetly.

She caught me looking and giggled, “You prefer the uniform I bet, right?” she asked, smirking at me.

I laughed “Well actually, I was just trying to work out if you were still wearing those little shorts,” I teased, raising an eyebrow at her, trying to look sexy. Yeah way to go Jamie, you just made yourself look like pervert asshole, good job! What the hell was it with this girl that made me so freaking perverted and horny?

She stepped up close to me, I could smell her perfume and it was driving me wild. “Well you had better hope that Stacey and Paul make up quickly so we can hang out,” she purred, looking at me through her eyelashes.

She turned to walk off towards the exit, so I grabbed her hand, making her stop. “You look beautiful, Ellie. That’s what I was actually thinking, and what I should have said,” I admitted sheepishly.

She blushed again, “Seriously Jamie, you don’t need to keep up with these corny lines all the time.

These booty calls are good for me too, you don’t need to flatter me to get some,” she giggled, rolling her eyes. Damn, she thinks these are just lines to get her into bed? Wow, this Mark guy must not have treated her that nicely if she thinks that’s all I want from her.

I sighed and she tugged on my hand, making me walk. I smiled happily when she didn’t let go, so I intertwined our fingers. “So, how many people will go to the party?” I asked, grinning proudly that I was holding her hand in public, even though there was no one around to see. Maybe that’s why she did it, and she’d act cold and distant at the party in front of her friends. She had an image to uphold and I didn’t really fit that,
the banged up bad boy
.

“Almost the whole senior year goes, and any others that tag along.” She shrugged.

Wow, big party. “Is Mark going?” I asked casually.

She turned her nose up, “Yeah probably. He’s star of the field, he’s expected to go, the same as I am,” she huffed, sounding annoyed about it.

“Do you have to go because you’re head cheerleader?” I asked, wanting to know more about her life at the school.

“Yeah kind of, it’s like a job I guess, a lot of things are expected of me.” She shrugged and then frowned as she spoke again. “Mark was ok with you when I left, right? I felt awful just walking off and leaving you with him like that.” She looked at me apologetically, brushing her thumb over my knuckles lightly.

I smiled remembering his threat, “He was fine. He walked off right after you did,” I lied.

She smiled, “Good, I was worried. I’m really sorry,” she said, wincing slightly. I lead her over to my truck and opened the passenger door for her, waiting for her to climb in. “Thanks. If you don’t want to drive then we could go back to mine and get my car. I could drive and drop you home after the party, that way you can drink. I don’t mind driving,” she suggested.

“I’ll drive, it’s fine,” I protested, shrugging and closing the door after her. I didn’t mind not drinking tonight anyway, so I could keep an eye on her asshole ex-boyfriend. I had a feeling he’d be getting drunk and would probably start trouble or something tonight.

We chatted easily as she directed me out of town. We headed down a country lane and I honestly had no idea where we were. I stopped outside a pair of huge wrought iron gates, this place was absolutely huge. It looked more like a hotel than a house.

“This is where the party is?” I asked, looking around in awe.

She nodded and pointed to an empty space on the left, “Space there,” she said smiling. I swung my truck in and tried not to show how embarrassed I was that my pile of crap truck was parked next to a brand new dodge. She didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest as she climbed out and waited for me to walk round to her side.

“So, who’s house is this?” I asked, watching a couple of teenagers zooming around on quad bikes on the huge lawn. Shit that’s cool.

“The guy’s name is Sebastian. His parents have a lot of money, but they’re hardly ever here so he hosts the after game party almost every week.” She led us to the front door. I could hear the music banging inside already. “Um Jamie, as head cheerleader I’m expected to take part in the games.

Well actually, I’m expected to
lead
most of the games,” she said, looking at me almost apologetically.

“What sort of games?” I asked curiously.

She waved her hand dismissively, “Drinking games mostly,” she replied, turning her nose up. She obviously didn’t like doing it. This party was getting better and better by the minute and we weren’t even inside yet.

She didn’t knock on the door, just twisted the handle and let us in. Almost as soon as the door opened, a guy grabbed her hand, holding it in the air like a celebration pose. “Yay, Ellie’s here!” he chirped, looking excited. She laughed and shook her head, pulling her arm from his grasp and pushing him away from her a little.

“Go get me a drink, Travis, and no date rape drugs tonight, huh?” she said laughing.

“Aww, maybe just a little?” he teased, pouting at her.

“Fine, just a little.” She winked at him, grinning. He laughed and ran off through the crowd. She turned to me and smiled, “Come on stud, let’s get a drink.” She nodded through to another room.

“I thought that guy was getting you one,” I said, grinning and looking confused.

She laughed, “Yeah because I’m going to drink anything that guy gives me!” she said, shaking her head amused. I followed her through to a huge kitchen. People stopped talking when she walked in with me, looking a little shocked. Ok shit, I really should have dressed up. “Hey guys, this is Jamie.

Jamie my friends from school,” Ellie said, waving her hand round the room. Wow, I get an introduction, she really is something else.

Her blonde friend came over, smiling wickedly. “Hey, nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard A LOT about you,” she said, smirking at me.

I laughed and Ellie blushed as usual. “Nice to meet you too. You’re Stacey, right?” I asked grinning.

“Yeah, and just ignore these assholes staring at you, people are just looking at you like that because Ellie used to date the school’s quarterback. They’re not used to seeing her with someone else,” she whispered, smiling reassuringly.

The guy that had grabbed her at the door came back in and handed Ellie a cup of something,

“Thanks, Trav,” she said, winking at him and raising the cup as thanks. Stacey glared at her as she took a mouthful of it. Travis grinned and turned to talk to his friends, I saw Ellie spit the drink back into the cup and I couldn’t help but laugh. She tipped the cup down the sink and grabbed a bottle of Smirnoff ice. “What do you want, Jamie?” she asked nodding into the fridge.

“I’ll just have a coke, thanks.”

She pulled out a can and handed it to me, before turning to the crowd again. “Right guys, where’s the fun tonight?” She asked the people all standing around doing nothing in the kitchen.

Some of the guys smiled their game smiles at her. She was definitely popular with the guys, not that I blame them because, damn, that girl is fine. The thing is, her personality is probably even better, if that‘s even possible.

“I thought
you
were the fun, Ellie,” a guy answered, raising his eyebrows at her flirtily.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed a stack of cups off of the side. “Someone get a ping pong ball,” she ordered.

I laughed and watched her setting up a game, filling the cups with vodka on the side. Then they all proceeded to play some sort of throwing game, trying to get the ball in an empty cup but all ending up downing cupful’s of neat vodka. I noticed Ellie started the game and had first go, but then stood back to let everyone else get trashed. Smart girl.

We left them playing that, “Come help me,” she said, pulling me over to the counter. “Can you carry this without hurting yourself?” she asked, pointing to a case of beers, eyeing me worriedly.

“Sure….” I said curiously. Why on earth would she want that?

“Chris, Spence, Rob, Travis, Sebastian and Charlie. Outside now!” she ordered, pointing to the door. They obediently headed out of the door, laughing. There was a lot of people all following too, obviously eager to watch what she had planned. “I’ll be done in a few minutes, then we can hang out, ok?” she asked, looking at me apologetically. I nodded, laughing, having no idea what this girl was doing.

I followed her outside. “Sit, boys!” she commanded, pointing to the plastic table and chairs. “Ok, here are the rules: whatever you open, you drink as fast as you can. Take it in turns. You open the can in your face, got it?” she asked, grabbing the cans and pulling them all out, putting them on the table. “Ok turn away, and no cheating,” she said laughing. When they turned around she grabbed four cans of beer and shook the hell out of them. I burst out laughing as she hid them back in amongst the others. “Ok, have fun.” She waved over her shoulder, pulling me back inside.

“That was awesome! How are you coming up with these games?” I asked, looking at her in awe.

“I spend every Thursday night on the internet, researching drinking games. That one’s called, Russian Beer Roulette,” she said shrugging.

She started off a tag team drinking game in another one of the rooms, where they each had to drink a pint of beer quicker than the other team, with a ‘strip an item of clothing’ forfeit for the losers. In the lounge she started a game that she called ‘Where’s the water?’ Hiding one cup of water in amongst about ten cups of vodka. She really was funny and everyone seemed to be hanging on her every word.

When everyone seemed busy, she pulled me over and we danced for a bit. We had to stop every couple of minutes though, because someone wanted to talk to her. She had a fake smile on her face and chatted to everyone politely. I could tell that she hated this attention, why on earth she was head cheerleader I don’t know. This was all just an act, all of this forced friendliness, she was a really nice person but these people only wanted to talk to her because of who she was or what she was, not because they were her friends, which is really sad.

After a little while I excused myself to the bathroom and left her with a group of her friends. As I walked out of the bathroom, someone grabbed me and slammed me against the wall, face first. I instinctively went to into self-preservation mode, I shoved myself away from the wall, ramming whoever it was that was holding me, against the opposite wall. I heard a groan from him as the wind was knocked out of his body. His arms were tight around my chest, making my lungs burn with white hot pain from my broken ribs. I raised my arms, knocking the hands off of me, I didn’t even need to think about what I was doing, this kind of thing came naturally to me. I span around and had my hand around his throat before I even saw who it was.

“What the fuck are you doing, Mark?” I growled, putting my face inches from his, tightening my hand warningly, but not enough to actually hurt him.

He struggled, thrashing, trying to squirm out of my chokehold. “Get the hell off of me!” he shouted.

I let him go, pulling him away from the wall, shoving him away from me, watching as he stumbled and just managed to catch himself before he fell on his ass. “You little prick! You need to stay away from Ellie!” he demanded, raising himself to his full height, trying to look threatening as he glared at me.

I smiled, “When she tells me to stay away, I will. Until then, you touch either me or her again, and you’ll regret it. I’m not into all this,
‘I’ll fuck you up’
trash talk or anything, so I’m not going to make threats, I don’t think I need to…..do I?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. I could tell he was already a little wary of me, he knew I could kick his ass so he wouldn’t try and take me on his own, if he was going to do anything it would be with a couple of friends, even then they’d lose.

I had the edge in any fight, mainly because I just didn’t care. It didn’t matter if I died, it’d probably be better in the long run anyway. I think because I just didn’t care, it made me a better fighter, I didn’t have any inhibitions or worries. When I was fighting I was like a machine, I didn’t even feel it at the time.

He snorted and turned on his heel, storming off. I glared after him, shaking out my hands, wincing slightly at the burning pain in my fingers and ribs. I headed back into the bathroom, grabbing a couple of pain pills from the cabinet before heading back down to find Ellie.

She was still chatting to her friends, exactly where I left her a few minutes before. I weaved my way through the crowd to her side, when I got to her she smiled and slipped one arm around my waist.

“Hey, Stud,” she chirped.

I grinned and put my arm around her shoulder, pulling her against me, smiling proudly that I was getting affection from the prettiest and most popular girl in the room. We spent another hour laughing and talking with her friends, they seemed a nice group of people. These were her genuine friends, I could tell the difference from when she spoke to one of the ‘fame seeker’ friends that just wanted to feed from her popularity.

Mark was glaring at her the whole time, she either didn’t see him or ignored him, which made me smirk over in his direction a little. After a little while he came up to her, I stiffened, ready for more trouble. “So this is it? I can fuck who I want. It’s over?“ he slurred, still looking at her hopefully, as if she was going to suddenly fall all over him again.