School Shenanigans [cw]

Because of her flatline the doctors were rather anxious to see when she woke. She had been dead for a good few minutes, so the risk of the brain not getting enough oxygen meant that she could be worse off when she would wake. Carla woke up as she heard Kurtis call. She had been conditioned to be extra vigilant even when she slept, but as she got closer and she felt her daughters light squeezes she felt like she could finally breathe. She sat down by her daughter's side, holding her hand and murmuring sweet encouraging words in their native tongue. She called in a doctor while Kurtis went for a smoke. It was strange. During all of this Carla and Kurtis had developed some sort of bond. They had united over the bond they had with Zaira, but they had found another in each other. Carla didn't treat Kurtis as a kid, but she was clearly maternal, and despite that the young lycan let her be that towards him. At least while they were in the hospital.
When Kurtis returned Zaira had opened her eyes. She was clearly scared, the tube that had been down her throat to help with breathing was gone, but her vocal chords were pretty busted. Carla ushered Kurtis closer in a sweet voice. She was smiling as she looked at her daughter. Zaira clearly had a hard time grasping it all, not to mention the trauma she had went through. "Emanuelita, see, Kurtis is here," she said, and as Zaira turned her head and saw the lycan, you could see the relief in her eyes.

Carla was just happy to have her daughter actually be awake and conscious. But then again, knowing her daughter she probably knew who had been to visit even with her eyes closed. Zaira smiled slightly, her lips chapped from the dry hospital air. He took her hand and the relief she felt merely by his touch was enough for her to know everything would be alright. His mumble made Carla sigh, getting up as she had to go sort things out with a doctor. Being left alone it was clear that Kurtis felt like he could be more honest. Zaira just squeezed his hand at his admittance shaking her head a little. "I..m no..ot g..going ... A..ass," she manage to say in a rather hoarse voice. But just the fact that she could make sentences were a good thing. She pulled lightly at his hand, smiling at him as she moved over on the bed. She just wanted him close, and he looked so tired. "La..ay wi..ith m..me?"

It was weird. Zaira didn't really remember much of what had happened yet, but she just knew that he had been there all this time. He finally laid down, and she felt her body relax in to his heat. Hospitals were always so cold to her, but his heat did more than warm her up. It made her happy. Just having him close made her feel better, and even though she couldn't just get out of bed, it made her feel free. He spoke about her vocal chords, making her frown. Had it really been that bad? "Sle..ep," she muttered softly, giving his hand a light squeeze. She was tired herself, so perhaps laying with her wasn't making it easy for either of them to stay awake. She eventually did drift off, cradled in his arm as she finally just got some real rest and not some comatose kind. Best part was that she didn't even had the energy to have nightmares, so she slept pretty much through the night.
In the morning Carla had managed to talk with a doctor about taking her home, and given the fact that they had money, they could afford having a doctor in house for the time being. The police had stopped by, asking if Zaira had been able to recollect any of the culprits behind her attack, but she was still not really there yet, and she was taking one thing at a time. "Could you help me?" she asked Kurtis, trying to put on a loose fitting shirt that her mother had brought from home. Her ribs were pretty busted, so lifting her arms was a chore. If he did she would turn around, smiling at him before pressing her lips to his in a gentle manner. "Thank you," she said.
Heading home felt rough, but she was just glued to Kurtis' side in the car and that helped a lot. Carla had arranged for a good meal at home, and while Zaira just wanted to go up and rest, her mother insisted on her getting some food in her stomach.

Looking at him she frowned, holding his hand as they stood in her mother's living room. He was grounded and yet he had come to take care of her regardless? "If you don't want to go home you can just stay here," she said, but she was being rather serious. There was no reason for him to go back. She could see the light bruising still on his eye, and if she knew him well enought then she also knew who had given him that bruise. "My mother wouldn't mind, she practically adores you," she said, her voice still hoarse and her pitch broke from time to time, but she could speak rather well. "I don't want to see you hurt," she whispered, wrapping her arms carefully around him. His family had a lot of money, but that clearly didn't mean that it was a good environment for him to be in.

She nodded at his suggestion. She would really like that. "Yeah, that sounds really good," she agreed, looking at him. She was worried how he was going to be, but she couldn't force him to stay with her, even if she wanted to. Letting him go a little reluctantly, she pulled him in for one more kiss before she nodded to let him know he could leave.
The rest of her day was pretty uneventful, but she was slowly starting to remember the things that had happened. They came like flashbacks, knocking her over the head and making her dizzy, but she asked her mother to call the police as she wanted to give her testimony.

Giving her statement to the police was rough, because she felt like she had to relive it all over again. How she had left school because of Vanessa's relentless bullying, how Jamie had snuck up on her and how everything went black after that. The police was a bit skeptical, but they did take what she said to heart, writing her record down as they asked if she wanted to press charges. She nodded, "I want justice," she muttered, her mother placing a hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze to show that she was behind her in this.
The news of Vanessa and Jamie being taken in to custody was spreading like wildfire on social media, some saying they couldn't believe it, others backing Zaira. But at the end of the day, she knew what she could remember was right. And the look on Jamie's face as he had strangled her had been enough to be engrained in her mind forever. She was laying on her bed, not really able to find a comfortable position but it didn't matter as her phone rang. Seeing the number she smiled, picking it up and putting it on speaker. His tired tone made her bite her tongue a little. She knew he had said he had been grounded, but he sounded much worse than when he had left. "Still broken and bruised," she sighed before telling him about what she had remembered after being left alone with her thoughts. She didn't go in to too much detail about what Jamie had done as her lawyer had urged her to keep most of it saved for a trial. "But how about you? How did your parents react?" she felt a little nauseous about thinking what he might've gone through.

He had also put his phone on speaker, laying on his side with his arms close around his body for comfort. Hearing her voice was just so nice and he reminded himself that he had run off for a good reason, even if it was hurting quite a bit right now. He listened as she explained what she had remembered, it wasnt pleasant and he clenched his hand to a fist in annoyance at how he could do nothing but listen, only to sigh as it hurt. Sure, it wasnt a good idea to hit back, but it was what he did, he wasnt just a punching bag anymore. As she asked about him, he fell quiet for a bit, shuffling onto his back as he made a pained groan. He moved the phone closer, placing it on his chest. "I think you'd feel better not knowing." he said, glancing shortly towards his door. Not that he really worried that someone would eavesdrop, that would require them to care enough. "You would think a man of status wouldnt have men kick his son to shit like some worthless piece of shit." he mumbled, closing his eyes for a bit as he breathed out quite soundly. Yeah, the pain was still there, he could feel it now that he was thinking about it.
"Your mother was really nice to me while we were in the hospital. Even though we were both so scared for you, she was very kind." he said, scoffing under his breath. He felt like he sounded pathetic.

Ignorance was bliss, that was for sure, but she felt like she had told some of the shit she had been through. Now it just seemed like he didn't trust her or were scared to tell her much of anything. The mumble made her know that he had taken a beating, if his grunts and groans hadn't given it away already.
The conversation shifted to her mother and she hummed nodding. "Yeah, I told you she liked you," she said, but it was pretty obvious now. Zaira's mother wasn't perfect, but no parent was. "If you want to, you can come stay at my place once your grounding has been lifted?" She suggested, mostly in a hushed whisper. She still needed to clear I with her mother, but with what they had gone through, she wouldn't be surprised if her mother had made a bed ready for him already. "But we can talk about that another time ... I don't know if I can go back to school," she just said after a bit of silence.

"I'm just thick skulled." he chuckled, but it was cut short as he grit his teeth and drew in a sharp breath. The suggestion made him hum as he kept his eyes on the ceiling, trying not to move too much at this point. "Dont tell me you're pitying me now?" he asked because he would hate that. He however sighed and shook his head at himself, there was no need to be fighting two fronts. "I do want to spend time with you." he said, just to clear that out.
It went silent for a bit and she spoke again, though he wasnt really surprised. "Fuck school. Dont even think about school now." he mumbled, wishing he could just reach out and pull her in, but it was only his empty bedside. "You've been wronged so bad, it's only expected that you wouldnt want to go back." he said, frowning a little as he heard footsteps approach, taking his phone off speaker before he flipped it around so the back was up. A knock was heard and his mother entered, coming over to the bed as she sat down. "Look at you baby." she said, reaching out to touch his face but he didnt move at all as he stared at her with angry eyes. "You know he only does what he does because it was how he was raised." she said, Kurtis had to chuckle but it wasnt a happy chuckle, and it made his chest hurt. "You didnt have to fight back like that." she said, but the lycan just looked away. "Kurtis look at me." she pleaded, but the lycan wasnt responding. She sighed and lifted her hands to move her hair out of the way. "I know that it hurts now, but you will understand in the future. Your father has been very kind to you all your life." she said, looking down before she drew in a deep breath. "I'll tell you a secret. No one else can know." she said, but Kurtis knew that Zaira could hear it. But he didnt care. He looked at his mother. "Your father is not your biological father. He never has been or will be. But he took you in and gave you his name, on paper you will always be his. So will you please stop fighting now? It's what you've been fighting to know, right?" she asked. Kurtis just kept his stare on her for a bit before he looked away. "You can go now." he mumbled. She reached out but he shrugged her hand away, groaning in pain in the process. She got up and left, Kurtis just laid there and stared up at the ceiling for a bit, before he turned his phone again and put it on speaker. "I'm gonna go." he said before he hung up.

"So what if I am?" She challenged him, but they both knew how they felt about pity. Holding her breath a bit as he spoke about her being wronged she just closed her eyes. It was true, but she also felt like it would be suicide to not go back. At least just to show those bitches that she was stronger and more bad ass than they could ever imagine. She heard the faint knock, and the shuffling of the phone, looking at the phone a bit confused. But then she heard a female voice.
It must be his mother, she thought, trying not to listen, but it was sorta hard when the phone was right next to the one speaking. But then she disclosed something that Zaira knew she hadn't been supposed to hear. She couldn't see what was going on, but it seemed like the mother left and Kurtis came back to the phone, only to hang up. Her lips separated as she wanted to say something, but she had no chance.

The next couple of days she wasn't really allowed to leave home, the doctor keeping a close eye on her, but on the third day she snuck out, letting her mother know she would go to school. Arriving she spotted Jeremy with some tall dark haired guy by the gate. Lifting her hand as a silent greeting as she felt her voice was still pretty shit.

Jeremy stood at the gate as always, but he at least wasnt alone for once. He was accompanied by Damiano, but they mostly just spoke about anything. The current topic was Jeremy telling him about this one new dish that his mother had been trying to make and how it had all just ended up in one big mess. But he really liked the pizza that they ordered as a backup. Seeing Zaira his smile grew wider as he waved at her, to then pull her in for a careful hug as she got closer. "How's the survivor? Arent you supposed to be in bed still?" he asked, unable to hold his surprise at bay.

A black car rolled up after a while and the chauffeur went to open and hold the door as Kurtis stepped out first, wearing his uniform as it should be worn for once as an older man stepped out after him and stood beside him, correcting his own jacket. Kurtis didnt look happy at all, he frankly looked more pissed than ever. The man placed a hand on his shoulder that made the lycan twitch a little.
"No need to be so angry, son." he said quite firmly, but Kurtis just sighed and lifted his head, his jaw slightly protruding from the anger he felt. They went inside and up to the principal's office because how else could Kurtis show up to school bruised the way he was - Well most of it had healed, at least all that could be seen, though he did have a darker bruise under his eye that he kept covered. Kurtis mostly just ignored everyone around him as they walked, though he did spot Zaira and only looked at her for a moment before he looked away.

Damiano chuckled, actually laughing as he heard Jeremy's family shenanigans. It was just so nice to hear that despite the rich people behavior they did have some sort of normal family shit going on. He looked up as he saw Zaira, taking the background as the two talked.

Zaira groaned a bit as Jeremy pulled her in for a hug. "Careful, the ribs," she muttered, but returned the hug regardless. "Yeah, well I just had to get back to not doing nothing, you know," she said, eyeing Damiano a bit, because she wasn't sure what was going on. For one he was a second year and second he seemed to be so different from the rest. "But I could kinda use a hand with catching up on some of our classes, so if you have time later we could-" but just then a black car pulled up. Out came Kurtis and a man that she presumed to be his father. Her blood turned to ice as she watched them, and how he had a a grip on Kurtis. The look she got from Kurtis was brief, but it was enough to know that things were bad. The bell rang and she headed up to the principal where she talked with the secretary about her missed school days.

"Sorry sorry." He said as he became more mindful of just squeezing her. He was happy that she was back even if it was a little early. He listened to her go on about catching up but it seemed that the conversation was stopped as Kurtis and his father appeared. Jeremy had only seen the man a few times in his life, but he was scared of him regardless. "So that was.... interesting..." he mumbled as they disappeared from view, looking shortly at Zaira with a small frown. Something just didnt seem right. But she left and he sighed as it meant he had to leave Damiano. "Aight. Have a good day." he said, sending the hybrid a warm smile before he walked off to his own class. But before he got away, he turned and yelled to Damiano. "Still looking forward to that party dude!"

The principal had kept the door open so it was pretty easy to catch up on the conversation he was having with Kurtis' father. "Oh it's a shame to hear that young Mr. Trevino had gotten himself into such a rough fight. But we appreciate that you show up and let us know that you are aware of your son's actions." the principal said quite sympathetically, Kurtis' father humming in agreement. "Yes, we are quite aware of most his misdoings." the father agreed with a small pause, seemingly to look at Kurtis that just shrugged. "He has promised to stay out of trouble for now, so we expect to hear if he doesnt keep up with that promise." the father said, to which the principal agreed. "Of course. We are already aware of the reputation that Mr. Trevino has build on school ground, but maybe this will be his moment of redemption for the better." the principal said before he noticed someone outside. He got up and went to the door, looking at Zaira before he closed the door and the conversation went on for a bit. Kurtis and his father came out shortly after and Kurtis' father corrected his tie, before he clapped his shoulder, making Kurtis grit his teeth as it was quite sore. "Let this be a lesson. I do not want to untangle you from anymore messes here on out." his father said quite coldly before he made his leave.

Zaira was trying not to eavesdrop, but it was pretty hard as she was getting papers to fill out from the secretary. She remained quiet however, filling out the forms, but she couldn't really focus. The door got closed and she felt a lump in her throat. She couldn't even begin to imagine what they might be talking about now. Was this why he had been so concerned about rumors? Because it was reported back to his father? Swallowing she finished up her paperwork, handing it back to the secretary before she turned out and were ready to leave as she saw the principal's office door opened once more. Fiddling with her bag, she stood still, taking out her phone as if to check something really important.
Once Kurtis father had left she sent the lycan a quick glance before she left, heading down the stairs although she was still in pretty bad shape. It hurt just to move, and maybe the doctor had been right in the fact that she should've stayed at home. But in the end she had gone anyways, right? She could feel her body shake a little, fearing that she might cry or break down after seeing Kurtis that way.

Kurtis just pretty much stood there for a bit like he had been zoned out for most of the conversation his father and the principal had had in there and it sort of followed him out. He felt Zaira's eyes on him and somehow that just made it all worse as he looked away in shame. He obviously didnt want any pity. But then she left and it was like no matter what it was just going to suck. He didnt want her to look at him but he didnt want her to just leave either. He felt his pockets and of course he remembered that his smokes had been taken from him on top of the fact that he was wearing this shitty uniform. He went out to the shed where a couple of guys were spending their freetime. He managed to get a cigarette out of them that he savoured, leaning a little against the metal walls of the shed with the holes to make sure air got through. He hit his head against it, hearing it rattle all the way down before he groaned and leaned his back against it. "What a fucking shit day." he mumbled angrily.

Damiano was out for a smoke. He tried keeping it down during school hours, but things had been pretty weird lately around school. Perhaps it was just because of that first year they finally found, or maybe it was just the fact that things moved so quickly. He was standing by himself, trying to get the last part of his cigarette over with so he could head back to the study hall, but then he saw a familiar face. "Wow there, try not to bend the metal, will ya?" he said, pulling a grin on his face before walking closer, "Kurtis, right?"
Damiano was one of the few that actually wore his uniform correctly, well besides some bracelets and a necklace, he took out another cigarette, just for the hell of it and to have someone to smoke with always called for another one. "C'mon big guy, tell me what's up," Damiano was just a guy that people seemed to gravitate towards when they needed to talk.

He heard a familiar voice and turned his eyes to the hybrid, the remark making him scoff as he lifted his smoke to draw in a deep drag. One really wouldnt cut it today but it wasnt like he had any other choice. "Yeah." he replied a little distant, though he was listening.
He eyed the other guy without really saying anything, just smoking his cigarette in silence. This was the guy that had flirted with Jeremy that one night and seemingly hung out with afterwards, but Kurtis wasnt the kind to dig. The way he urged him to talk made the lycan sigh as he shook his head. "You cant help me." he said, though he was feeling that oddly need to share what was on his mind. But Kurtis couldnt do that, even if he wanted to, not when he could see people around them in the shed. "Unless you know a way to get away with murder." he said which may have sounded like a joke but he was dead serious. But sure, the hybri was curious, so he'd show him something. He unbuttoned his shirt a little and pulled it to the side to show a grim bruise on his ribs, thinking it spoke more for itself than him saying something. He buttoned his shirt back up and bit down on the bud.

Seeing the bruise made Damiano frown, humming as he looked around. "I don't know about murder ... But maybe you should ask your girlfriend," he said, shrugging a bit as it was only a hint. He knew shit about everyone, but Zaira was a bit of a mystery in many ways. He had however heard something through the grapevine when he was at work, but that could just be plain gossip.
"Hey, here," he said, handing him the pack of cigarettes. There were not that many left, but it would be enough to get him through the day. "I got that things are pretty shit right now, but know that you got some good people around you; And if you need cigs you just come straight to me, alright?" he smiled, nodding as he snuffed out his own bud against the wall. He had to head back to his group or they would come looking for him. And that attention he doubted Kurtis wanted right now.