[ORIGINALE] Stand by me
Titolo: Stand by me
Fandom: Originale
Genere: generale
Avvertimenti: gen, in inglese
Parole: 1259
Note: per il COW-T, settimana 8, M3 con l'immagine #1. E il tema di "ragazzino/a bullizzato/a che viene difeso/a da un/a coetaneo/a è uno che adoro, quindi lo scrivo sempre volentieri quando posso <3 i nomi sono parole tradotte a caso da svariate lingue, perché non mi interessa situare la cosa in un contesto preciso *shrug* tranne Etan, lei ce l'ho in mente come OC da un bel pezzo <3
Nobody ever saw anything. Nobody heard anything. Nobody said anything.
That was Reka's daily truth. It would have been great if her days hadn't been filled with smacking sounds of laughter, the slicing of jokes under her skin, the constant murmur behind her nape and the slithering doubt that the murmur could be about her. But wishing for her school days would be better was not going to make it happen. Telling his parents would only make her look weak. Crying was out of the question. Laughing, too. She expected nothing from them, and they gave her nothing. That was not a disappointment, it's just how things are. She was just a half-foreigner, so maybe all the laughter and pinching and teasing and the lunches eaten alone were warranted - after all, nobody likes foreigners. Definitely not those children.
She also didn't expect the sneaking sensation of being observed, while walking back home with her hands safely ensuring the schoolbag on his shoulders.
(Sometimes, you see, those kids would also tear the bag away from her and make it dangle somewhere high and it was only luck that they had not actually thrown it anywhere - yet.)
She did not expect to hear familiar voices coming closer and closer, and when she turned back she saw them: Okubi and his gang of little minions, staring right at him. Not that Okubi was big or particularly threatening at first sight: actually, most adults revered him as the cutest kid in the class. Small and sharp, and with eyes that could pierce right through Reka's little sugary heart.
Nobody has to see it. Nobody has to hear about it. Nobody has to say anything.
Her dad taught her that people should solve their own problems and not burden others with them. Nobody needs to. Nobody has to watch her shrink down whenever she steps into her school, they don't have to worry about the way her heart clenches whenever she wakes up and thinks, it's another day of school. Nobody has to wonder why she curls up in a corner and keeps quiet, avoids all gazes, makes sure to take as less space as possible. That's normal for girls like her anyway. Nobody needs to hear about the word 'bullying' and what it's been doing to her for months.
But someone sees it. Someone hears their words, their mocking voices. Someone does say something at them. Someone pops out of nowhere steps by her and looks at them, grabbing her wrist to keep her close.
"Will you stop already?" a girl says, with thunder in her purple eyes, with wavy black hair that look almost alive as the breeze blows through them. It almost looks like a storm started in the furious sea inside of her, and the small group pursuing Reka stops walking. They raise their eyebrows, look at each other, and then smirk, scoff, looking at Reka again.
"So you're a princess, now? And she's your... knight?" One of the minions says, with a sarcastic smirk slicing across his soft, round angelic face. That girl surely does not look like a knight in shiny armor, with her slim body and tiny eyes and fashionable clothes and pretty face.
"And what are you? You're losers. Scram right now," the new girl says, with her lips twitching. "Or I will fuck you up, and none of you could win against me."
Her threats should fall on deaf ears: someone would call her a helpless princess, with her long luscious hair falling lower than her shoulders, her big lips curling in a threatening pout, but her fists clench while Reka looks at her without understanding, without being able to realize why anyone would step up for her. She does not look muscly, but 'strong' is not something Reka would ever call another girl anyway. Girls are supposed to be lithe and sweet, and that girl sort of looks like that, but her eyes thunder again, and she lets go of Reka's wrist to take a few steps towards those small boys. Her chothes fit tight around her chest, Reka can see her arms tense under the sleeves. Reka does not see her eyes, but the boys do. Her eyes look like gems, but there is something poisonous and mortal in them. She looks like someone who would not hesitate ripping their eyes from their sockets, biting their faces off and tearing their throats away.
"You're a girl. Shut up," Okubi spits, crossing his arms, and the girl glares at him with her heart-shaped face tensing up. She doesn't need any more reasons to grab his shoulders, pull him towards her knee and plant it into his stomach. The boy huffs, surprised, without any other sound, grasping on pride to look up at her and giggle as he straightens up with a mocking smile. She clenches her wrist to wipe it off his face, while the minions freeze, unable to figure out what they should do now. Even nasty little boys have rules, apparently, and they don't launch themselves against her. She looks at them and thinks, or maybe you're all scared.
Okubi's teeth grind, as the smile he sports crackles for the pain centered in his guts. He takes a step back, barely standing.
"I'll kill you, bitch," he hisses, and the girl takes a step forward again, rushing to him the way a snake ready to attack would, but all the boys immediately take a step back. Even Okubi, he blushes now, looking at himself with his heel planted behind him, his feet pointed to the back, ready to take him away.
"I'll see you tomorrow." He seethes now, openly, as he glares at Reka again, but her protector steps towards him once more, with her costly shoes planting themselves on the cement with a loud thump, then another. And then another, as those little boys recede and eventually turn around, deciding to flee, with the sounds of their shoes fading across the street. She should not have scared a gang of boys away, just by looking at them and threatening them.
But Reka just talks again, looking at the girl who shielded her with curiosity more than fear.
"Who are you?" She asks. "I don't even know you, why did you do it?"
The other girl turns around, looking at her almost with the same gaze she had for those stupid kids.
"I'm Etan. I don't like trash like that. I've been watching them for a while."
Reka tilts her head and then lowers her gaze.
"I'm sorry," she chirps, with her red hair falling over her eyes.
Etan looks down at her, and scoffs.
"It was fun. I love seeing boys shit themselves, I love when I make them afraid. One day they'll want me, and I'll hit them where it hurts the most."
Reka looks up at Etan again, with a small confused frown, but eventually she steps closer, her shadow entering Etan's and with their eyes clicking together while a spark shakes the air surrounding them. Her eyes seem to change, her gaze seems to turn sharper.
"Let's be friends," she says, touching Etan's hand.
Etan glares down at her, until she finally gives her a little, sharp smile, and her hand wraps around Reka's, almost the way a snake would wrap around prey.
"Okay," she replies, with a soft giggle, before brushing her hand along a strand of Reka's soft, copper-shaded hair. She rolls the word on her tongue, easing it out of her lips. "Friends."