Love and Fandoms (20 page)

He thought for a
second he'd gotten through to him, but then a lazy smile spread over Alex's
face. "Wyatt, dude, your girlfriend's a hot piece of ass. Too bad she
won't give you any."

The Pigs laughed,
and something snapped inside him, something he didn't know he had. He clenched
his fist and punched Alex in the face. Hard. Oh, man, that hurt like he'd
punched The Thing, and Alex's smile didn't even falter.

In his peripheral
vision, he saw the Pigs move forward, likely to destroy him, but Alex waved
them back. "Nice, Faulk. I've never seen you stand up for yourself."
He grabbed Wyatt by the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him nose-to-nose. With
all of the liquor, beer, or whatever on Alex's breath, Wyatt thought his face
might melt off. "I think it's pretty obvious you have eyes for my girl.
Why do you think your honey strayed? But back off, bro, Mandy is my property.
I'm going to go find her, and she'll be right back in my arms. Believe it. I'm
a star, so I'm allowed to fuck around. I've been doing it all school year, and
I'll keep doing it. It's my birthright, my athletic privilege."

"Your asshole
privilege," Wyatt said, and slapped a hand over his mouth. Had he really
said that out loud?

Alex shrugged.
"Call it what you want. All that matters is I'm swimming in pussy."
He then pushed Wyatt back into the clutches of the Pigs and managed to climb
into his truck on the first try. "Teach him some manners, boys." He
started up the truck and peeled out backwards, somehow not clipping any of the
parked cars nearby.

One of the Pigs
chuckled, and another said, "Time for pain, nerd." That's when the
beatings started. Luckily for Wyatt, he wasn't conscious for much of it.

PART SIX - BROKEN

MANDY

The longest school
day she'd ever endured was finally over. On most Mondays, Luci would meet her
out in front of campus to take her home to change for Taekwondo, but not today.
Today she, Luci, and Kareem were heading to the hospital to see Wyatt.

She'd been there a
good portion of yesterday, most of it in the waiting room, and, thanks to his
pain medication, he hadn't even woken up. The Pigs almost killed him. By the
time they stopped pounding on him, scared off by police sirens, an ambulance
was needed for Wyatt. He had numerous broken ribs, a fractured skull, a broken
left arm, his right wrist sprained, his right leg broken, his left kneecap out
of place, and deep bruises all over his body, inside and out. She freaked out
at first about the fractured skull, thinking it meant brain damage, but while
the doctors said he probably did have a pretty severe concussion, it didn't
look like he would suffer any lasting effects to his brain. They wouldn't know for
sure until the swelling went down, but they sounded confident. According to
Wyatt's mom, the doctors were more worried about the other injuries than they
were his skull. They had to perform emergency surgery to set his leg or he'd
walk with a limp for the rest of his life. It had been successful, so, for the
most part, he'd been lucky in that, besides braces and casts, most of his
injuries would simply require him to be still and get a lot of rest in order to
heal. His mom joked that it was a good thing that was what he was best at, and
after a quick laugh, they cried in each other's arms.

As Mandy walked
out of the locker room, Luci met her. Kareem drove them today, and Luci spent
sixth period in the library. They headed out to the parking lot to meet up with
Kareem, who they found at the edge, waiting for them. They walked over to
Serenity, no one saying much of anything. They'd talked about everything both
yesterday and today, and were now simply anxious to see if there were any changes
in Wyatt's condition. His mom had promised to text her if she learned anything
new. Nothing so far, but maybe she hadn't had a chance. They'd find out in a
few minutes.

Kareem unlocked
Serenity, and she climbed into the backseat. When he started the car and drove
off, the ever-present stench, most likely made worse from sitting in the sun
all day, assaulted her as she did her best to avoid the sticky parts of the
seat. Her thoughts went back to that Friday of the comic-con when Wyatt
explained why he always let her ride in the front. She wanted to laugh, but
instead started crying. Luci looked back, her face a mask of fear, likely
guessing Mandy had received a bad text. She shook her head and managed to
squeak out that it was nothing serious, though she didn't know how intelligible
it come out.

Kareem glanced at
her in the rearview mirror. "It doesn't stink that bad back there, does
it?"

Luci smacked his
shoulder, but Mandy laughed through her tears. "No, it's Wyatt."

"My boy
stinks, but I told you my brother's responsible for that stench."

Mandy laughed
harder, and Luci rolled her eyes. "I'm dating him, but you two have more
in-jokes."

"So join our
study sessions," she said. She almost added something about there being an
extra seat now that Allyssa wasn't welcome, but she didn't want to bring the
mood down again.

Allyssa hadn't so
much as glanced at her today, keeping her head down through all of fifth
period. Kareem shared fourth and sixth period with her, and said she never
looked at him during fourth, and the same likely held true for sixth. She
didn't want to bring that up at the moment, either. As for Alex, he hadn't been
in school today. Or the Pigs, for that matter, though from what she'd heard,
they'd probably never be back. She could only hope.

Alex suffered a
broken wrist in his car accident. It was on his throwing arm, so his high
school football career was likely over, though there was a good chance it would
have been anyway. She had no clue what sort of punishment he'd get for not only
drinking and driving, but for causing the accident. He'd been lucky beyond belief
that the other driver, despite having his car practically totaled, had walked
away with only minor bumps and bruises. She'd find out more later through the
all-knowing grapevine at school, but no one had any answers yet.

When they reached
the hospital, before going in and up to the ICU, they joined in a group hug. As
messed up as she was, she knew Kareem and Luci were equally as upset. She
steeled herself against tears, not wanting Wyatt to see her anything but happy
in the off-chance he woke up. When they pulled away, Kareem had a tear rolling
down his cheek, which Luci leaned over and kissed away.

"You okay,
baby?"

"Yeah, I'm
cool. Shall we go?"

Before they moved,
Luci gathered him in an embrace, whispered something in his ear, and gave him a
kiss on the lips. Mandy turned her attention away for a moment and wondered
briefly what Luci had said, but she wouldn't ask. If she'd whispered instead of
saying it so Mandy could hear, it was something private, and she could respect
that. When they were done, the three of them headed up.

WYATT

His eyes were
open, but he didn't really see anything. He was in a hospital room and was hurt
pretty bad, but he didn't know how. The pain pulsed through him, but it was
distant, as if his mind wasn't attached to his body. Mom was here, or at least
he thought so. He'd either heard or saw her or something, though he had no idea
how long ago. Could have been seconds, could have been hours, could have been days.
Time didn't seem to work very well at the moment. Maybe his brain was broken,
but that wasn't something he wanted to think about. Instead, he closed his eyes
and drifted off.

Moments later, or
whenever, he could have sworn he heard Kareem and Luci. He opened his eyes,
took a few seconds to focus, and saw Mandy. She stared back at him for a beat
or two, and then smiled. He tried smiling back, hoped he did, but couldn't be
sure. She whispered his name, or at least he thought she did, and stepped forward.
He wanted to say something, but even if he could have figured out what, he
didn't think his mouth would be able to push the words out. She put a hand on
his shoulder, and warmth washed over him. He couldn't fight back the sleep.

When he next
opened his eyes, the world came into focus much faster. He was still in a
hospital room, but he didn't think he was hooked up to as many machines, though
there were still plenty of tubes protruding from him. He looked around the room
and found Mandy sitting in a chair doing homework. As far as he could tell, she
was the only one there. He watched her for a minute. God, she was beautiful. He
hoped his being here hadn't put her out too much, hoped she wasn't here because
she felt some sort of duty to do so.

After a minute or
two — time seemed to flow better in his mind now — she looked up, saw he was
awake, and smiled. "Hey."

"Hey."
He didn't know how it sounded, but he was happy he was able to push the word
out.

Her smile grew
bigger, and she set her homework aside. "You're awake this time." She
got up and came to his side. "You've occasionally looked at me these past
few days, but you weren't really there."

"How
long?" That came out easier, but still took some doing.

"It's
Wednesday evening. You got here late Saturday night. You were in the ICU until
earlier today, but they decided you were okay to move to a regular room. Your
mom has been here pretty much the entire time, but we finally convinced her to
go home and get some sleep. Since the doctors were sure you'd be okay now, she
agreed. Kareem and Luci are here, too, but they're down in the cafeteria eating
dinner."

"Aren't you
hungry?" he asked. Good. He probably wouldn't be able to deliver a big
monologue, but his voice was starting to feel up to a conversation.

"I already
ate." She stroked his face, which sent a wonderful chill through him.
"How are you feeling?"

Good question. He
thought about it for a few seconds. "Tired. And swimmy, like my head's
full of water. If that makes sense."

She leaned down
and kissed his forehead. "Perfect sense. It's the pain meds. You're on a
lot of them."

"Ah, okay. I
know I'm hurt, but that's about it."

He saw the look of
hesitation on her face before she asked the next question. "Do you
remember what happened?"

Did he? Actually,
not until this moment. "I tried to stop Alex from driving drunk, but it
didn't work. I remember his breath smelled like gasoline, and it felt like it
might melt my face off."

"Yeah, it
probably did."

"He pushed me
into the Pigs, and they started hitting me. I don't remember anything after
that." His voice didn't feel strong, but it was good enough to keep going.
Which was good, as he didn't want to ever stop talking to her. "I assume
they're the reason I'm here?"

"Yeah."

"How
bad?" When she hesitated, he said, "I'd rather hear it from
you."

She told him. As
she did, all he could do was chuckle. When she finished, she raised an eyebrow
at him.

"All this
because I punched Alex in the face? I'm not sure, but I might have called him
an asshole, too."

"I hadn't
heard those little details. You did better than I thought. I'm glad you tried
to stand up to him." She stroked his cheek. "In theory, anyway."

"See? This
proves I was smart to avoid confrontations all these years."

She smiled at
that, but her face quickly turned serious. "Did you … Was it because of
your dad?"

"Uh-huh. Alex
couldn't even get his truck unlocked, and he had a door remote for it. It
reminded me of my dad when he was messed up. And we know how that turned
out."

"He …"
She sighed, and Wyatt wasn't sure he wanted to hear anymore, but she continued.
"He plowed into another car by that park. Totaled that car, and ruined his
truck. He broke the wrist on his throwing arm."

"The other
driver?"

"A few bumps
and bruises, but he's okay. Alex got lucky he didn't kill him. Kill them
both."

Wyatt closed his
eyes. Was it good that he tried to stop Alex from driving, or bad because he
failed? If Alex had actually killed the other driver, or himself, would he have
been able to live with himself for failing to stop him?

Mandy sat on the
edge of the bed and gently placed her forehead on his. "You did more than
anyone else would have."

"Paid for it,
too."

She didn't move
her head, and he was glad. He could stay like this forever. His mind flashed
back to the early Saturday morning in line at the comic-con.

"I wish you
didn't have to go through this, but you did the right thing. The Pigs are in
jail, by the way. I haven't heard much in the way of facts, but it sounds like
they also got expelled from school, so even if they do get out anytime soon,
they won't be back."

That did make him
feel a little bit better.

She sat up, and
even though he wanted her to keep her forehead pressed to his, he didn't want
to sound needy. Besides, she held his right hand, the one he thought he
remembered she said had a sprained wrist. It had a soft cast over it, but his
fingers were free, and he relished her touch on those fingers.

"As terrible
as everyone knew the Pigs were," she said, "I don't think anyone
quite realized they were that psychotic. Some people took cell phone videos. I
couldn't watch, but Kareem and Luci saw one, and they said it was
horrible."

"I'm glad
people took videos rather than helping."

"Some people
tried, but the Pigs kept them at bay while they continued stomping on you. They
only stopped when the police showed up, and then they ran."

He didn't know if
it was the talk of the beating or simply coincidence, but he started to hurt.
Mandy noticed. "Do you want me to go get a nurse?"

"No
need," came a voice from the doorway. A nurse walked in. "Nice to see
you awake, Wyatt. You're going to feel better in just a moment, okay?" She
fiddled with an IV bag, and true to her word, he did. In fact, he began to
float a bit, which was kind of nice except for the fact that he started getting
groggy. He wasn't ready for his conversation with Mandy to end. He thought he
heard the nurse tell her he'd be sound asleep in a couple of minutes, but she
could stay until then.

When the nurse
left, he said, as clear as he could, though he now felt like cotton balls had
grown in his mouth, "What about you? Are you okay?"

She kissed his
forehead. She could do that all the time, as far as he was concerned.
"We'll talk about that later, okay?"

"What about
Allyssa? Did she care?"

"Of course
she cared. She didn't want you hurt."

"Physically,
anyway."

"We'll talk
about that later, too."

He tired to nod,
but didn't think he did such a good job, so he managed to say,
"Okay," despite the words not wanting to come out anymore. The world
started growing more and more fuzzy, and his eyes didn't want to stay open.

He wasn't sure if
he dreamed it, but he swore she kissed him on the lips. "I'll see you
tomorrow."

"Uh-huh.
Mandy?"

"Yeah?"

"Love
you."

"I
know."

He had to be
dreaming now because that was the absolute coolest thing she could have said.
His world went dark.