Hawk was covered in broken glass. There was blood in his mouth, he was hurting all over - but that wasn't the worst of it.

The worst was the shame.

As he carefully tried to get up from the remains of the ruined trophy case, trying not to get cut by glass any more than he already was, he let out a pained groan.

Of all the people who could have done this to him, it was the one he had never thought capable of it. Demetri. Fucking Demetri with his fucking Miyagi-Do moves. Just as Hawk had been about to take his justified revenge by beating the crap out of that nerd, Demetri had kicked him into the trophy case with one lucky shot and managed to embarrass and humiliate him in front of the whole school.

No hard feelings, Eli.

But all he had in him were hard feelings. Defeat, shame, loathing. The adrenaline was wearing off, the burning, red anger slowly dying with it - he knew he didn't have it in him to continue the fight. His muscles were sore, breathing hurt, he was bleeding from several cuts, and he was exhausted, drained. A cold shiver ran through his body as he slowly stood up, brushing broken glass off his clothes. His hands were bloodied too.

He glanced around. Demetri was gone. Some people were still laughing and pointing fingers at Hawk, but he ignored them. There was no fight left in him. Slowly he started making his way through the lobby towards the front doors, the only thought in his mind that he needed to get home, to get all this broken glass off him, to have his wounds checked—

What the Hell am I gonna tell Mom?

That thought weighed heavily on his chest. He couldn't lie his way out of this mess. He'd probably be suspended, maybe even kicked out of school - and it was only the first day of the semester. Mom would freak out.

Suddenly shocked cries and screams cut through Hawk's foggy thoughts and he looked up.

He saw Tory standing on the stairs, looking down at someone who lay on the floor. He didn't recognize who it was, at first. He wasn't used to this new style yet. In his mind, Sky still wore floral patterns and dresses, Hello Kitty T-shirts, and pink lace bras. But the girl on the floor was wearing black, a Metallica shirt and black jeans, black converse high-tops, her red hair spread around her face--

The realization hit him like a wrecking ball in the gut, the shock making his stomach turn.

"No!"

That was all that came from his mouth, and then he was running.

He only managed a few steps, before he saw Miguel falling over the railing.

Hawk couldn't look away. It happened in seconds but felt like a lifetime. "Miguel!" Tory's voice cut the air like a knife, but the sound that Hawk would remember for the rest of his life was the 'crack' of Miguel's back when he hit the railing.

Hawk didn't know how he made it to the stairs. The shock knocked the breath out of him. There was Sky, pale and motionless on the floor, her left arm bent at an unnatural angle under her body. Cuts and bruises covered her face and she was bleeding heavily from a big wound on her temple.

And only some feet from her, on the stairs, lay Miguel in his orange sweater.

Neither of them moved. They both looked like they were dead.

Hawk fell to his knees next to Sky, strangled groans escaping his lips. Her blood soaked the knees of his sweats and he felt like throwing up. This couldn't be happening, this had to be a dream, a fucking nightmare—

Of course, he had known there could be casualties in a war, but never in a million years had he thought the casualties would be the people he loved most in the world.

His best friend.

His girlfriend.

No, his ex-girlfriend but fuck that! She was the love of his life, she was his heart, she was fucking everything to him, and now—

"Sky—!" He cried, his voice breaking. "Sky! Wake up!"

But she didn't even flinch.

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