Chapter Five
The school grounds were abuzz when Ellie wandered through the gates, her school bag slung over her shoulder. There were large groups everywhere huddled around their phones, excitedly commenting and reacting to what they were watching. Was there some sort of game on last night? Had there been a fight at school?
"Hey Ellie!"
Ellie turned and there was Olivia walking towards her, God! Could she have that skirt any shorter?!, with two other girls flanking her. Ellie rushed up to give her a welcome hug. Then saw Olivia turning about to look around. Ellie, noticed it too.
The yard noise had dropped away to little more than a few whispers and when Ellie turned to look, it seemed everyone had turned to stare at her. No not her, she realised, they were looking at the two girls next to Olivia. Their expressions were a mix of shock, amusement and awe.
What scandal had she missed involving her friends Ruby and Susan? She wondered.
Olivia took in the yard and then looked back to her two embarrassed friends before acting. She hurried the girls along, glaring at a few boys who gawked for too long and pushed her way past a few others. The noise level immediately rose again to new heights in their wake.
They found an empty classroom and ducked inside.
"What the fuck was that all about?!" Olivia demanded as soon as the door shut.
"You haven't seen the Youtube video then?" Susan asked sheepishly.
"Or the Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat posts too! It's everywhere Liv! We're in deep trouble" Ruby cried, crutching at Olivia's arm imploringly.
"I don't understand. What is it I haven't seen?! This is what happens when you can't find a charger one night! Show me what I've missed."
Susan opened her phone and showed Olivia with Ellie looking over her shoulder.
It was a movie scene. Well it looked like a movie scene at first but this was obviously filmed using a phone from a distance. One huge man took on a whole group of men in a blur of punches, kicks, strikes and stabs. Some of the men even had billiard cues and knives but the larger man systematically broke them like waves against a rock. Ellie had never seen anything like it. It was frightening to watch how skilled and quick this man was, how powerful he was, how amazing he was... Worst of all, Ellie had a strong feeling she knew him.
The footage, showed the man hurl one of his attackers like a toy across the room to smash into another man. Ellie looked at the others girls as they watched in awe, Ruby even had one hand up her skirt. Ellie, raised her eyebrows and adjusted her glasses before turning back to watch when Olivia gasped.
"Is that you?! It is!" Olivia said in shock.
Ellie saw the man walking with his arms around two girls towards the camera. It was definitely Ruby and Susan but that wasn't what made her gasp in surprise -- the man was her Dad. It was Jarrod!
"I know right!" Olivia said, turning to Ellie.
They watched the last few seconds as the man walked out with the girls before stopping the movie, rewinding to when the girls were clearly shown and pausing.
"Yep no hiding from that girls!" Olivia sighed, collapsing in a chair.
"What are we going to do? Everyone has seen it! We were out in a pub!" Ruby declared, pacing.
"You're both eighteen, aren't you?! You had that awesome party last month." Ellie chipped in reassuringly.
"Yes, but it was a school night" Susan explained.
"Hey weren't you hanging around that Deadsie wanker the guy just destroyed! Aren't you scared he and his gang will come after you?!" Ellie blurted. Olivia gave her a kick to shut up and Ellie quickly apologised.
"Well we weren't with him really. We were just stringing him along for free drinks and gifts." Ruby explained.
"He was pretty generous" Susan added
"But recently he started to get all violent and demand more. I think he wanted us to share ourselves around the gang or something so we slipped out that night. We knew we had made a mistake. Deadsie wasn't going to take no for an answer any more and he told us that if we didn't fuck him by the end of the night he was going to get the whole gang to rape us right there on the dancefloor. When he was taking drugs, we slipped out to the front bar. If it wasn't for Jarrod, we would have been in trouble!" Ruby finished.
"Jarrod hey!" Olivia smiled cheekily then noticed the girl's injuries and studied each with a frown.
"So, what's stopping Deadsie from tracking you down? Have you contacted the police?"
"Jarrod said we were under his protection" Susan smiled at Olivia sheepishly.
Olivia grinned, "Sounds like quite a guy!" Ruby and Susan both sighed and then turned to each other nodding energetically with big smiles.
"So, did you fuck him?" Ellie blurted out, turning surprised looks her way.
"Ellie!!!" Olivia said, with a mock smile of surprise and shock.
Ellie, looked down embarrassed. "I'm just curious."
"Actually, so am I!" Olivia declared, "Tell us the gory details!" she smiled dragging Ruby and Susan down into the chair next to her.
"A girl never kisses and tells. You know that Liv," Ruby smiled sticking out her tongue, "but, well..."
"He was amazing!" Susan finished the sentence for her.
"He was, wasn't he?!" Ruby shared a smile with Susan.
"He looked like he could've just taken you and done anything he wanted and there wouldn't be a person in the world who could stop him!" Olivia said wide-eyed while Ellie hovered on the outside of the group unsure whether she should be listening to this conversation but desperately eager to learn more.
"He probably could have but he let us take the lead!" Ruby said with a giggle.