Tybalt and Juliet Ch. 07

Ritchie gasped in pain, I'd properly hurt him this time. He recoiled further, letting me turn away from the wall, then he straightened up. "You wanna fight Jake? Come on then, let's see what you can do."

"Fuck off Ritchie," I snapped. "The only way you'll beat me in a fight is if I choreograph it for you."

We stared each other down. There was a hatred in his eyes; he was drunk on his own rage.

He lunged forwards to strike me, fists raised. At the last moment, I sidestepped, sticking my leg out to trip him, sending him crashing to the floor, sprawling beneath the urinals.

I stood over him, gloating in triumph. "You gonna drink that?" I taunted, pointing to the pool of stale urine in front of him. "Must make a change from sucking the Headteacher's cock. You're a fucking lowlife Ritchie! You're a cunt, a fucking cunt! Don't let me see you again."

With that, I turned on my heel and stalked out of the bathroom.

--

Adrenaline surged through me as I walked back to the table. I was pumped. I'd beaten the arsehole who'd made my life a misery for the past seven years, in a fight that he'd chosen to pick. I took some deep breaths and attempted to calm down, telling myself that getting into a punch up on my last official school engagement was not something to be proud of.

Part of me wanted to follow Amy's mother's advice, to go tell a teacher, but I decided not to run the risk of getting myself thrown out of the Prom for fighting. No matter who had instigated what, Ritchie had come off as the losing party and the staff were bound to side with the Head Boy over me. The last thing I wanted to do was to ruin Amy's night.

I approached our table, so that I was directly behind Amy, and beckoned Lauren over to me. She got up and quickly moved to join me.

"You OK, Jake?" she asked, concerned.

"Yes, I'm OK," I said nervously. "I've just had a bit of a scrap with Ritchie."

"Oh no," she responded.

"It's OK," I said, "no one got hurt and I don't think anything else will happen tonight, but can you just keep an eye on Amy for me? Don't say anything, but can you just make sure you're with her if she goes to the bathroom? I just don't want her to be on her own at any point, just in case."

"Of course," Lauren replied. "Got her back!"

My heart was still thumping in my chest as I sat down next to Amy again. I reached under the table and took her hand in mine. She turned to me and smiled.

"I love you Amy, I really do," I said.

"I love you too Jake," she replied.

--

Amy and I held each other tightly, circling each other as we danced the final dance. She smiled at me through sparkly eyes. I tried not to grimace as Zac Efron crooned away to one of the cheesiest songs in the Disney canon.

I leant down and whispered in her ear "I've had a really amazing night, it's been so special. You look so beautiful!"

"This is magical," she agreed, "I love you so much. I'm so looking forward to the summer. It's gonna be the start of something new!"

She was right, it was magical. My heart swelled with love for her as I held her close. I was so happy; everything was perfect.

--

The music ended on the stroke of ten to eleven and the hotel staff flipped on the bright main lights to encourage us to leave quickly.

A good number had left the Prom already, to move on to venues where the alcohol was more plentiful (and the music was better). Nevertheless, there was a long stream of students rushing to grab coats and bags before heading out of the exit. Lauren had asked Amy and me to help her and Danny to collect up the decorations. As the others milled around us, we struggled a little to dismantle the photoboards, not helped by the fact that the duty manager was hassling us along.

Almost ten minutes later, the four of us were bundled out of the doors, which were rapidly locked behind us. There was a car with its engine idling a few metres away.

Danny's dad wound down the window. "Come on you two," he said, addressing his son and his girlfriend.

We helped Lauren load the photoboards into the boot of the car, then she and Danny got in.

"Are you sure you two don't want a lift?" Danny's dad asked.

"No, it's OK thank you," Amy replied. "My step-dad will be hear any minute."

Danny's dad drove off and I watched the tail lights receding. I was half-tempted to overrule Amy and to chase after him to say we'd changed our minds, but decided against it. Rob had promised he'd be here after all.

--

I looked at the time on my phone. It was twenty past eleven. It was fully dark and getting cold; I'd given Amy my dinner jacket to put over her shoulders but, even so, she was beginning to shiver. It was just the two of us left; the melee of students had long dispersed.

Where the fuck was Rob? It had been over a quarter of an hour since Danny's dad had driven away. The lights behind us in the Banqueting Suite were off now and, although the car park was relatively brightly lit, I still felt a little vulnerable.

"Come on Amy," I said. "Let's go across to the main hotel Reception and get them to call a taxi for us."

"But he said he'd pick us up from here," she protested.

"Yeah, but we've been waiting for what, twenty minutes," I replied. "He's either fallen asleep or he's lost. Come on, we've got to get home."

I put my arm around her waist and began to walk slowly with her. I could see the main hotel entrance perhaps a hundred metres away, but Amy was struggling a little in her heels.

A car drove towards us and I looked hopefully to see if it was Rob, but the headlights turned away and disappeared back to the main road.

We stopped to allow Amy to adjust her shoe.

"Well, well, well," called a voice, "what do we have here? Oh it's the farm faggot and his little ice maiden again."

I turned. Ritchie was standing behind us, legs apart, arms folded across his chest.

"Can't see what you see in him," he sneered, addressing Amy, "is it the smell of bullshit or the fact he's fucked all his sheep? Well, I expect you like a guy who knows how to handle a cow's udders!" he cackled, very pleased with himself.

I started to edge the two of us away, towards the main hotel entrance. "Fuck off Ritchie," I shouted, "just go away."

"That the best you can do? Scared of me now?" he mocked, "Go on, run back to little Lauren. Gonna get her to protect you?" He curled his lip and looked across at Amy, "Oh don't worry, I'm sure he'll fuck you after he's fucked her again. She gives better head, or so he tells me."

"Come on Amy," I said, "let's get to Reception."

"Oooh, scared are we?" he taunted me. "Not so clever now, are we Mr Cambridge? Not going to stand up for your frigid little bitch?"

Then I saw it, a flash of steel reflecting the lights of the car park. Fuck! He had a knife.

"Ritchie," I said, hearing my voice tremble. "Please put that down, before you do something you regret."

"The only regret I have," he said, gritting his teeth, "is that I didn't deal with you earlier."

"Amy, run!" I screamed.

Ritchie lurched forwards, knife outstretched. I dodged to one side, twisting, shoving him downward, making him lose his balance. I felt a sharp scratch in my upper arm. He'd torn my shirt; I'd worry about that later. He sprawled beneath me on the tarmac. I kicked the knife out of his grasp, and it skidded away into the shadows.

I bent over him, grabbing his collar, and screamed into his ear. "You fucking idiot, you fucking loser. Fuck off and don't let me ever see you again. And if you ever try to lay a finger on Amy or me again, your life won't be fucking worth living."

I released him and a figure ran from the shadows.

"Ritchie, what the fuck have you done?" it screamed. It was Billy - Billy Smythe.

Billy pulled him to his feet, but Ritchie twisted away and darted back into the blackness.

"Jake! Your arm, you're bleeding!" Amy said in a shocked voice behind me.

"It's OK, it's fine," I said, "Let's go and get a plaster from Reception."

"No, no, Jake," Billy said, "You're really bleeding, we need to get you help."

He pulled his shirt off and tied it tightly around my arm, then he and Amy started to guide me to the main entrance.

I looked up, there was a pair of headlights in the distance, driving towards us slowly. 'Rob?' I wondered.

I heard a roar behind me, then Amy screamed. A bright light flashed in front of my eyes and stars showered around me. Then I felt a shattering pain and I fell forward, blindly clawing for the ground.

There were lights, voices, shouting, screaming, more lights and intolerable pain.

Then there was darkness.