~tw: this chapter gets violent~

I was really worried about Cristina.

When word first got around about us dating, a bunch of the girls that I 'dated' started giving her a hard time. She said that it didn't bother her. And at first, she meant it. But as the weeks went by, the other girls kept giving her a harder and harder time. And she started getting pissed off.

The thing with Cristina is that she is the type of person that won't look for confrontation, but also isn't afraid of it. Which is a scary combination considering the fact that the only ever really confronts people when she's angry. And she hardly ever gets angry. I've probably only ever seen her angry twice in my whole life. She can frustrate easily. But when she's mad, she gets MAD! She keeps her anger bottled up inside until one day her head comes off and she blows up.

The problem in this situation is...I don't know when that day will come.

Don't get me wrong I know she can look out for herself when it comes to this stuff. It's the other girls i'm concerned about. They don't know she's a ticking time bomb.

"Shawn i'm fine."

"I know you're fine, but you have to admit it's pissing you off and making you frustrated."

"Maybe. But i'm not talking to Harley about this."

"Why not? I thought you guys were kinda sorta friends. Why can't you just ask him to scare a few of the girls who are giving you a hard time?"

"Harley and I are acquaintances. We are cool with each other, but we don't do each other favors. It's just a mutual agreement. He knows not to get in my business and I don't get in his. That's it."

"I'm just worried about you. I know you don't like getting angry and all these girls just keep poking the bear." She glared at me. "Not that you're a bear or anything— I just... it's a figure of speech...ya know?"

"Whatever. I'm just not gonna let them get to me." She opened her locker and her face fell when she opened it. Someone had filled her locker with shaving cream.

I saw as her face went through all the shades of pink and red in the rainbow.

Shit.

She turned around slowly. "Who...the fuck filled my locker with fucking SHAVING CREAM!?" She shouted angrily. Honestly even I was a little scared of her when she was like this.

We looked over and saw a few girls laughing in the corner. From what looked to be the instigator was Valarie Kingston. The most recent girl I went with before Cristina.

Cristina speed walked over to Valarie and stopped right in front her.

"Were you the stupid bitch who was immature enough to put shaving cream in my locker?"

"Yeah I was, but I thought it was pretty funny actually."

"How about instead of acting like a 12 year old brat, you just come up to my face and tell me you have a problem?"

"What did you call me?" Valarie got in her face. They were probably only an inch apart. Cristina chuckled.

Uh oh. That's a bad sign. Chuckling means trouble.

"I'll do a lot worse than call you names if you don't take a step back."

Valarie smiled. "Why don't you make me?"

Cristina shoved her. "There, happy?"

And then Valarie slapped her.

Cristina's eyes practically lit on fire as everyone crowded around them saying 'ooh'. This is it. She's exploding.

She punched Valarie in the cheek and shoved her up against the lockers. Valarie flew back and after she hit the lockers she fell to the ground.

Before she had the chance to get up, Cristina dragged her by her hair all the way to the school parking lot where she made her stand up only to pull her hair down and make her hit the floor once again.

Valarie did eventually manage to get back up. But her nose met with Cristina's elbow and she fell again. This time she stayed on the ground. There was no longer any fight left in her.

It was at this point I noticed Harley Keiner standing next to me watching her. "Damn, your lady's more aggressive than a professional cage fighter. I wouldn't go into a fight with her even if I had a bat."

"Yeah, I wouldn't either." I saw his wheels turning. "And before you think about asking her to reconsider not being part of your group, you need to give her at least 2 hours to cool down before anybody outside her circle can speak to her." He nodded.

Cristina turned around and the crowd moved so she had a path to walk away. I took her to the girl's bathroom so she could wash the blood off her knuckles and clean up.

She walked out with a smile on her face and a pep in her step. "Ahh. Much better."

She reported Valarie to Feeny that day. Since Valarie had pulled the shaving cream prank and slapped first, Feeny expelled her and said Cristina was acting in self defense.

Valarie's nose was broken in the fight and she had to get reconstructive surgery. She also got a scar on her cheek that the doctor said won't go away for a at least a year. Her parents were shocked at her outburst and sent her to a reformatory academy.

Needless to say, the bullying stopped and no one ever messed with Cristina again.