Young Writers Society

James would've responded to Jerica and Rek, but his heart was pounding, and his throat and eye were swelling, and... everyone was standing in the doorway.

His face felt raw, stinging, and throbbing with its own heartbeat.

Blankly, he stared at Evaline, and behind her stood Elias, Bo, Benji, and Daniel, all crowding the door to Carter's room, which was now a mess with two bodies lying prone on the floor. He glanced down at Carter, who was still out cold. He hadn't moved an inch since he hit the floor.

Now that things were no longer spinning, he stared at Carter's face. His lip was split and bleeding, and his face was starting to bruise and swell pretty severely. There were scratch marks on his exposed forearms and who knew what other bruises he'd acquired in his fight with Jerica.

One glance down at Jerica, though, made his blood start to boil.

Carter had already hit her in the head pretty severely, and her face was starting to bruise, and so was her hand - which was also starting to swell.

This was a mess. Everything he wished wouldn't happen happened, but worse than he'd imagined because his friends got dragged into it too. He never wanted Jerica to be involved. He didn't want any of them to get involved. Not like this.

Helplessly, he stared at the floor, finding his vision losing focus. He was still breathing heavy, but even though it hurt, there was a part of his brain that told him: you've been through much worse, and it was both comforting and deeply unsettling that the thought felt right, and actually seemed to make the pain more bearable.

Jerica's entire head felt like it'd been split wide open. And, without even looking at it, she had a vague sense that her hand was probably broken. Again.

But those were the only things she noticed -- aside from her sheer blinded rage at Carter. The adrenaline was drowning out all other pain or emotion. Except, she supposed, overwhelming worry about James. Fear and anger. Emotions she ran from these days; and yet they resonated with something deep, deep within her. As if those were the two emotions alone that fueled her in a past life.

She didn't notice the others in the doorway -- still sprawled flat on her back a bit away from Carter, Rek kneeling over her anxiously. Rek glanced at James and then at the gang crowded around behind him. His eyes locked on Bo, and he cringed.

It would humiliate Jerica for Bo to see her in this state.

And yet, Rek didn't see a way to avoid that. It's not like there was a different door that he could herd Jerica out before she saw that Bo saw her. He hoped she'd be so focused on her pain -- as big of a dick as he felt for thinking that -- and on her hatred for Carter that she didn't notice much else.

The room was an absolute disaster. And Carter was faring even worse than Jerica. But that didn't take away from the way her body was trembling involuntarily as she pressed her palm against her temple; or the way blood was seeping out from under her hand.

"Let me see," Rek said, putting his hand on hers to try to push it away.

She hissed in pain, pressing her hand even more firmly down on the wound. "What happened to the bastard? Go kill him."

"James knocked him out," Rek murmured, still trying to coax her to let go of her head.

"James!" Her voice caught in her throat; whether it was from worry or a stab of pain was anyone's guess. "Is he--? What happened to James?"

"He's okay," Rek assured her, looking up at James. Was he okay? He didn't look okay. But he wasn't in imminent danger anymore. And he didn't seem to be bleeding, which was more than can be said of Jerica. "Let me see."

"No."

"Yes," Rek insisted.

Jerica was having a hard time breathing. The pain was overwhelming her, making everything else seem completely impossible. She screwed her eyes shut tightly, trying with everything within her to control the pain. She couldn't have a breakdown here. She wouldn't. Not in front of James.

Rek tried to pry her hand away.

Jerica growled angrily, but then she choked, chest too tight to maintain it. She tried to draw a breath, but her chest was too tight for that too. And she couldn't keep the tears from spilling out from under her eyelids any longer. James be damned -- he'd already seen her cry. And she actually deserved to cry this time. "It hurts Rek!"

Rek flinched. Jerica refused to admit pain. Ever. Once, when they were in high school, Jerica broke her foot and was embarrassed and didn't want to go to the hospital -- so she just walked on it until it eventually healed itself; and he and Derik had been none the wiser until she drunkenly admitted it a few months ago. If she was admitting to the pain, she must be in absolute agony.

And on top of it all, she'd die from embarrassment if she knew that the entirety of her core friend group was witnessing this moment. He needed to get her away. But how?

He looked up at the others helplessly, trying to gauge how they were reacting to all this and maybe tell who might be helpful here.

Bo pushed past the others as his mind kicked into survival mode. He had a million questions, and a million concerns, but what was needed right now wasn’t all the answers, but immediate help for the three seriously injured friends in front of him. And admittedly, the one he was worried about most was his girlfriend, Jerica, who was lying on the floor with a head wound.

He knelt down beside Rek.

“Let’s take her to the living room where there’s more space,” he said.

He knew that the others would help take care of James and Carter. He and Rek could take Jer.

“Jer, we’re going to help you up, okay?”

The dorm had felt tense the past few days.

For once in Benji’s life, he actually felt good about his relationships. He had a boyfriend, which was something he still wasn’t entirely used to thinking. James was moving in with them. It wasn’t for a good reason, but James was one of the people he would honestly consider a friend on campus. They had been waiting in the living room of the apartment with Bo, Elias, and Evaline for a pizza after helping James move everything while Carter was out. It was strange having so many people in the living room, but it was for a good reason. And Benji hadn’t really felt…nervous like he had thought he would.

And then James had stepped out.

And then Benji had started hearing something from downstairs, and he had tried to brush it off as his mind playing tricks on him. That he was just hearing another apartment, because Carter couldn’t have come back early. Because if he had come back early, and James had gone down there…

He had almost said something. He should have said something. Because then there were the sounds of fighting coming from the floor down below, and Benji had barely been able to get out that he thought Carter had come back early. There had been the briefest of shouts, but it wasn’t like anyone besides Benji could so clearly hear his first yell.

Yet everyone must have had the same fear that Benji did. They all went rushing out of the apartment. When they finally got to the apartment, they found they weren’t the first ones there. Jerica and Rek had both arrived before them, and Jerica looked horrible. Bo and Rek went to help Jerica and Benji knew James needed help, but his head was hurting so so so badly. His shoulder blades were itching. Bo was the only one talking, but everything was so loud. There were so many beating hearts and pumping veins and-

Daniel took in a sharp breath beside him.

For a moment, when Benji looked over at him, he thought he saw something other in Daniel’s eyes. He shook the thought away because now wasn’t the time to be questioning what he had seen, but he couldn’t help but notice how Daniel had his hand over his nose. It could have been him covering his mouth in shock.

…So why wasn’t he fully covering his mouth?

“It smells so strong,” Daniel whispered.

Benji gave Daniel a questioning look. He tried to block out all the noise and the headache so he could go to James’s side. He wasn’t successful, but he did make it to James’s side. He put a hand out to James to grab onto his shoulder, only to falter when he realized James might not react well to suddenly being touched after the fight that had just happened.

“We should leave this room,” Benji suggested to James. “We can go to the living room with Jerica.”

He wasn’t sure if seeing Jerica right now would help, but it was better than him standing in here with Carter.

“Is he…” Daniel faltered, staring down at Carter’s body. “The blood smells so strong.”

“He’ll be fine,” Benji said. Daniel looked up at him with a startled expression. It took Benji a moment to realize how cold his voice had been. The tone hadn’t been directed at Daniel; it was directed to Carter. The tone felt so right and so wrong. It was right for Benji, but wrong for this situation. “I can hear his heart beating.”

Daniel stared at him for another moment, scratched his back with a focused look on his face that said he didn’t even register the action, and then joined Benji and James near the doorway.

Jerica wanted to die. She was dying from humiliation. Why was Bo here? Great. Now he saw what a pathetic, stupid little girl she was when her public persona broke. As if it wasn't bad enough for him to see she'd let Carter bludgeon her; now she was blubbering on top of it all.

Jerica took a sharp breath, doing her best to swallow her sniffles, and reached up with her other hand to roughly wipe the tears away -- hoping Bo hadn't heard her sniveling at Rek. That would be even worse.

"He's right, Jer," Rek murmured, giving up trying to see the wound. Instead, he slid his right arm under her shoulders and hefted her up to a sitting position. He stood the rest of the way up, pulling her up with him. "C'mon."

Her trembling redoubled, and she crumpled against Rek, despite her ego trying its damndest to get her to pull herself together. "I'm fine." She forced herself to support her own weight. The sudden change of position made her stomach churn. "... I'm going to throw up."

Jerica stumbled forward trying to get to the bathroom; then stopped short as she realized everyone was in the room. That made her stomach feel even worse. Her eyes landed on a small waste can in the corner and rushed towards it, falling to her knees and throwing up the taquitos she'd eaten a few minutes before.

Bo knew Jerica wasn't happy about all of this, and he knew that she would fight him and Rek on getting help, but he also knew if she was going to let anyone help her, it would only be him or Rek.

He rushed to her side as she was trembling by the trash can, quickly but gently grabbing her hair so that it was out of the way as she started to retch into the can. He held her hair out of the way with one hand and put his arm around her back to steady her, his whole stomach spinning with sadness, and anger, and every complicated feeling under the sun.

It hurt to see Jer like this, and he wished he'd gotten there sooner. He never thought Carter would do something like this.

"I've got you," Bo said softly, not sure if Jer would even hear him, but still. He held her steady, waiting for her to get it all out before they tried to move her again.



James felt like all of the pressure in his head was building, and the sound in the room was being drowned out by the balloon in his brain that was full of nothing but panic. He twitched away when Benji drew near, feeling his senses heightened.

He'd been trying to just get away and throw Carter off him, but the moment he threw the punch there was a switch flipped in his mind, and he didn't know how to turn it off. It was like he was stuck in survival mode, and he was hyper-aware of everyone's movements, and even Carter on the floor, despite him clearly being unconscious.

Benji and Daniel's conversation floated into his head like little echoes. They were talking, but it wasn't personal. They were suggesting they leave, but James wasn't going to do that.

He wasn't about to let Carter out of his sight. Not after what he did to Jerica.

James stood with his hands at his sides, still curled tightly into fists.

He took in a deep breath, but his throat was swelling up like there were still hands around his throat. His breath hitched painfully, and the cough that came out of him hurt even more.

Jerica spit, closing her eyes as she forced herself to breathe deeply. She felt so bad. Tears were burning the back of her eyes, desperate to be allowed to well up -- but she forced them down. She wouldn't cry. Not when there were witnesses. She swallowed hard; teeth clenched.

It was like something deep within her snapped in that instant.

And now she just felt cold. Angry. Withdrawn.

She didn't need anything or anyone. She could take care of herself. She could hold her own damn hair; win her own damn fights. And if she couldn't, well, maybe Carter should have just caved her skull all the way in. If she couldn't even hold her own in a fight with a puny asshole like Carter, what good was she? Absolutely no good at all.

Maybe she should just go finish the fucking job herself.

She shook the thought off, startled. She didn't want to die just because she -- anger surged through her again: because she'd just gotten her ass kicked in front of all of her fucking friends and her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. He was going to dump her after he saw how pathetic she was. Maybe she should beat him to the punch.

"I don't need you," Jerica snarled, shrugging Bo's hand off of her back.

"Jer--" Rek started.

"Get out of my way!" Jerica sprang to her feet, shouldering past Rek. "I don't fucking need you either. I don't need any of you fuckers."

The world spun -- everything going blurry in an instant. It felt like she was standing in the center of a merry-go-round. She could feel the wheel spinning beneath her but she stayed staring straight ahead while her surroundings whizzed by.

It didn't stop her from walking forward though. Trying to, anyway.

She took two haphazard steps toward the door before she couldn't figure out where the floor had gone to be able to plant her feet. She went staggering to the side rapidly; running face-first into the wall. It sent a fresh wave of pain through her head, feeling like she'd thrown her brain off a brick.

"FUUUCK!" she screamed. Angry -- at herself. And at Carter for being such a motherfucker. And for Bo and Rek for being overbearing assholes acting like she was a fucking child. And at her own fucking body for betraying her when she needed it most. She finally let go of her head with her left hand and slammed her palm into the wall as hard as she could.

Anger was easier to stomach than embarrassment. Or pain.

There was a puff of dust and then scraps of drywall began falling towards her from the hole she'd just knocked in the wall. Little pieces stuck to the blood on her face and stuck to her bloody hand, and she left a bloody handprint streaked down from the hole she'd just created.

Her stomach lurched again. She made a heaving sound, her entire body clenching at once. She was definitely going to throw up again.

Everyone had gone downstairs because Benji "heard a weird sound," and although Evaline didn't know what she expected, she certainly didn't expect this. She stared with shocked wide eyes at the scene in front of her: Carter on the ground, hurt. James barely able to stand nearby, hurt. And Jerica bleeding and clutching her sides, so very hurt.

A loud ringing was heard in her ears and she barely heard Elias haphazardly running down the hall to get his med kit, and barely registered Bo running into the room to help Jerica.

Help.

They needed help.

Just seconds after Daniel and Benji rushed in to help James, Evaline shakily but quickly pulled out her phone to dial campus police. Luckily she had prepared for the worst and already saved the number in her contacts.

The ringing of the phone in her ear seemed to offset the ringing of shock, and finally she was able to come back to her senses. She took one step forward, then another, until the phone rang once, twice, and then she was rushing towards James's side when the operator answered her call. She didn't hesitate to talk.

"Hello? Yes, there's been a fight at the plaza. Floor four, room forty-one. Please also send a medic," she said as the boys helped James up.

Evaline heard the operator ask additional questions as she clicked off her phone, but she didn't care, knowing they had an obligation to come. She heard Benji and Daniel talk about literal nonsense about smells and loudness, but she also didn't care.

She only cared about James.

"James. James. Look at me," she said in a hushed voice as she cupped his voice and gave him another quick look-over, trying not to be in pain because he was in pain.

There were so many questions she could ask. How? Why? Who?

But she knew already knew the who. At the back of her mind, she knew. And she felt the anger, the hostility, the hatred boil at the dark edges of her mind, but she kept it contained for now.

She had to. For James.

"Where are you hurt? Can you walk? Let's move you to the living room," she continued in rapid fire, gesturing with her head to where Jerica and the others were so that Daniel and Benji could help him walk if he needed it.

---

Elias was trained for this. The internship at the emergency room had really paid off; blood and injuries didn't bother him, and instead his first instinct was to help the person needed.

Within seconds of seeing the fight unfold, Elias had sprinted down the hall to grab his medic kit, practically tearing the door of the apartment and closet when he did so. When he returned, he saw that Bo and Rek were comforting Jerica, while Evaline, Daniel, and Benji were comforting James.

Everyone deserved to live a pain-free life, so he felt bad that no one was helping Carter, but at the same time, he had seen him pin Jerica down in a chokehold. Feelings of hurt and betrayal swirled in his chest, but now was not the time to talk things out.

He shot Carter and James a look of empathy but ran to Jerica first since she seemed the most hurt, crouching down and opening his med kit. It sounded like Jerica was one of those people who didn't like to accept help. He could work with that.

Elias noted a small trash can nearby, so he quickly slid it over next to Jerica in case she had to vomit.

"Hey, Jer. Looks like you had too many beers again. That's okay, just let it out. Bo will make sure none of it gets in your hair," Elias said with a reassuring smile, nodding over to Bo. "What's the damage? Football really did a number on you. But the sooner you get better, the sooner you can go out in the field, right?"

Jerica tried to bend down to get the trashcan Elias offered, but the world was still spinning so fast and her movements were so uncoordinated that she ended up falling instead. She tried to catch herself; and in the process, she took the majority of her weight on her right -- probably broken -- hand. She tried to let out an angry curse, but it ended up just sounding like a pained yelp instead.

She curled around the trash can and vomited up the rest of the taquitos. Her entire body was shaking now. And Elias was in her face patronizing her. "I'm not a fucking child," she snarled. If anything, the reminder of football made this worse, not better.

Great. Now she was going to have to miss practice today. Which meant she was going to have to answer to her coach for why she was absent. Which meant she'd have to admit that she got the shit knocked out of her by an asshole the size of a garden gnome.

The boys on the team would be furious that anyone had laid a hand on her. And, for the briefest moment, she contemplated calling them up right now to tell them what'd happened. It'd be humiliating for them to see her in such a pathetic state -- but, then, turning the wrath of the entire football team on Carter seemed like just retribution.

"I'm not drunk and I'm not fucking stupid, unlike you," Jerica snarled. She tried to get up again, but just ended up awkwardly tripping over the trashcan and falling before she'd even managed to stand up. She fell against the wall again, chest hurting as she took one - two - three jagged breaths. They were hitching in her chest. She finally accepted she couldn't stand up and pressed her back against the wall, entire body trembling. "I fucking hate you. I hate all of you."

If she was a big enough asshole, they would leave her. Everyone always left. She just needed to keep lashing out until only Rek was left. The only constant she'd had at her side through her whole life. Everyone else needed to accept she wasn't worth their time.

"Jerica, what the fuck?" Benji said.

Daniel, who had been watching Jerica after her first outburst, spun around to look at Benji instead. There was a look of concern on his face, but, for a moment, there had been another look, too. Like he was trying to remember something at the very tip of his tongue but couldn't remember what it was.

Benji wasn't entirely sure where his own outburst had come from, but it felt right in a way that he hadn't felt much outside of dating Daniel lately. He stayed by James, not wanting to get too close to Jerica in case she physically lashed out.

"Elias is trying to help you," Benji said. "Bo and Rek are, too. Stop being so ungrateful and loud."

Even Benji's own voice was ringing in his ears now.

Bo stood back to let Jerica throw punches and whirl around for a moment, feeling pained as she threw her fist into the wall and fell on her bruising hand, likely causing more pain for herself. When Elias came in to help, Bo was grateful, but he also knew they weren't going to get anywhere trying to talk her into accepting help at this point.

The room was way too crowded, and he could see steam starting to come out of Jerica's ears as she turned her angered gaze to Benji.

Fine. He would take an L for his girlfriend, even though she'd hate him for it.

"Ooookay," he said, talking a mile a minute as he came over again. "I know this sucks, but we're going to move you to the living room. Rek and Elias, follow my lead."

As gently but as firmly as possible, Bo came over to Jerica and scooped her up, and placed the trash can in her lap. Before she had time to squirm out of his grasp, he quickly hurried her into the hall, speeding to the living room.



James almost recoiled at Evaline's touch, but she pulled away before he could, only turning his face to look at her. Even still, her touch felt like she was stabbing at a writhing nerve.

She asked two questions in a row, and again suggested the living room, but he didn't want to move. What would happen when Carter woke up? Someone needed to be there. Someone needed to make sure he didn't try anything.

He opened his mouth to try answering her second question, but all that came out was a pained wheeze through his thoroughly swelling throat.

Of course he could walk. It was breathing that was the problem.

"I'll fucking show you loud!" Jerica snarled, trying to get up.

Her right hand hurt too much to use, but her left hand was faring significantly better. If she could punch a hole in the drywall with it, she could shut Benji's fucking mouth with it. But Bo was faster than she was and before she knew what was happening, she was in his arms and he was carrying her to the living room.

"Put. Me. Down. I'll beat your fucking ass, too," Jerica snarled, trying to get her left hand free to hit Bo. Thankfully, it was pinned against his chest so she couldn't use it. "Fucking try me!"

Rek rushed after them, cringing. This was all going so poorly. Bo was doing pretty well with her, despite how angry she was with him just then. But, it was better this way. Even in her infuriated state, Rek knew that, deep down, she did care for Bo. Which meant that she wouldn't go after him like she might Benji or Elias.

He'd like to believe that she wouldn't try to fight with the two of them, either. But it was hard to say. She had a long habit of not making fantastic choices when she was this angry. And Benji was provoking her. Justified, sure; but provoking her nonetheless. It wasn't the way to get her to calm down.

"Fucking try me," she muttered again, but her voice was quiet and weak. Her body was trembling even worse now, and she felt so lightheaded. So tired. So sore. She closed her eyes, panting, wishing she had the energy to fight him. But she didn't. "I'll fucking beat your ass too."

She was slurring her words at this point, and her body was mostly limp in Bo's arms.

Bo kept walking, letting Jerica slur out threats as he made his way over to the couch. He could feel her slowly losing her fight - at least, physically.

"Yeah, yeah," Bo said softly. "You can beat my ass when you're better, okay? How bout that. For now, let's get you taken care of."

Then, as gently as possible, he sat her down on the couch. They'd want her head upright since it was bleeding so the blood wasn't flooding out of her noggin. Or at least, that's what he thought. Hopefully, Elias would correct him if it was otherwise.

He set the trash can in her lap again, holding it with one hand while he hand his hand on her back still, trying to drape her hair over his arm to keep her hair out of the way if she threw up again.

Jerica had turned Elias's offer for help down, but that didn't really surprise him. He was also unfazed at the insults, instead getting the tools ready to patch her up. Luckily Bo seemed to work with her well, picking her up and trying to calm her down. She was probably overwhelmed with what was going on, and Elias didn't blame her.

Wordlessly, he followed them into the living room, taking the tools with him first. At first glance, her head and hand looked to be the most damaged, but he had to check her bleeding head first and see how bad it was. Before doing that, he tried to make eye contact with Bo first, his eyes darting back and forth towards him and Jerica to wordlessly communicate: hey, yes, good, keep talking to her, she needs the distraction.

---

James had coughed in response, but Evaline didn't think much of it, instead taking his hand to direct him out of the living room and expecting the others to follow.

The farther they can separate from Carter, the better.

"Don't think I won't," she threatened Bo, but she didn't have the energy to make it sound convincing. "I'mma fuck you up."

She couldn't focus on anything but breathing -- that felt like it took every last bit of strength she had to manage. She was so tired. Her eyelids felt so heavy. Her head throbbed so badly.

She let out a heavy sigh and then crumpled against Bo, letting him support her weight. She needed to go to sleep.