Chapter 11 - Till The End

With Sam revealing to Selena the reasons for her breakup with Lucas, Selena tried to make sure things remained the same between them. There were no problems that Selena had with Sam’s sexuality, but she knew there would be people who would. Nicole raised Selena and her siblings to believe that they should accept other people’s choices no matter what they believe themselves. Though the lesson was well learned in the Ryan household, there would be students who would figure out Sam’s secret, and not be okay with it. So for the time being, Selena tried as best she could to try and shield Sam. 

-Tuesday- 

Selena and Sam laced up their shoes that afternoon in the locker room readying themselves for another day of practice. They walked the hallway to the gym, but met the varsity boys team halfway there. Lucas locked eyes with Sam, and as they passed one another he elbowed her to the wall. Walking away as if not doing anything, Selena took exception to the cheap shot. Fist clenched, Selena made her way to Lucas shoving him. 

“You. Don’t. Go. Near. Her.” Lucas looked up at Selena standing over him. There was fire blazing in her eyes, and she continued to hold her fist tight. Selena didn’t care what Lucas’ problem was, but he wasn’t going to do that to Sam. He picked himself up, and began to walk away. Right then, Lucas turned back around and decked Selena across the face. She hit the ground hard, and Carson came in late. The last one to enter the hallway, Carson didn’t see the hit on Sam, but the one on Selena he did. He shoved Lucas to the wall, pinning his forearm against his throat. He looked his teammate dead in the eyes. The pressure on Lucas’ throat made his gasp for what little air he could. 

“You’re not going to do that ever again. Or I’m going to end you.” 

“Collins!” The boy’s varsity coach broke up the scuffle, while Selena was helped up by Sam. Selena spit out the iron taste of blood from her mouth, and continued to stare down  Lucas. He started walking towards Selena, pulling his fist back.

“Next person to throw a punch is getting suspended!” Coach K stormed into the hall to see what all the commotion to see what was going on.

“I don’t need anything getting in the way of my practice! Coach Briggs get your players to the locker room!” Coach K wasn’t messing around. Commanding the attention from everyone in the hall. “Your son needs to back away from my guards right now and myself right now.”

Son? Lucas continued to glare at Selena and Sam while Coach K guided them to the gym for practice. The taste of blood still lingered in Selena’s mouth throughout practice that day. After practice, Carson, Lucas, herself, and Sam were called into the coach’s offices.

“We’re here to talk about the incident this afternoon. Now it’s really none of our business what happens with all of your social lives, but when it interferes with the team it becomes our business.” Lucas’ dad was dead serious, as was Coach K. 

“Now until we unearth what happened, we will stay in this office. Now who wants to fess up first? If no one will come forward as to what happened, then we will be forced to suspend all of you from the team.”

The kids looked at one another, and all of them kept their mouth shut. Both coaches expected them all to do so. Finally after an awkward silence, Sam came forward. 

“*Sigh what happened in the hallway was Lucas hit me into the wall, and Selena hit him back on my behalf.” Coach K’s eyes darted to Lucas, and then to Selena. “After Lucas got up he hit Selena in the mouth, then Carson hit him. You guys saw the rest.” Selena knew it wasn’t going to end well. She couldn’t really blame Sam, but Sam took guilt on herself.

“Is all this true?” Lucas couldn’t look his dad in the eyes while he asked the question. “You hit these girls?!” Obvious disappointment was written across Coach Briggs’ face. Coach K let Selena and Sam go, but handed Selena a one game suspension. Carson was also let go by Coach Briggs with a one game suspension. 

When Selena got home, a phone call was already made to her parents. So when Selena got through the front door that afternoon, Nicole was there waiting with her arms folded. 

“Your coach called me not too long ago. Is there something you want to tell me?” 

“I..uhm..got suspended for a game for fighting.” Selena didn’t go the typical teenager route of avoiding the topic, since with her mom it would get there anyway. Nicole had a look of “I can’t believe you”. 

“I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Are you okay sweetie?” Nicole looked at Selena’s face running her thumb across her cheek.

“Yeah mom..I’m okay.”

“No you’re not! Selena, you have a huge bruise on your face. Here put some ice on it.” Nicole pulled Selena into the kitchen to tend to her “wounds”. “Your dads gonna wanna know what happened you know that right?”

“Mhm.” Selena nodded her head, holding the ice pack to her left cheek.

“So should I be the one to tell him, or do you want to let him know?”

“I’ll tell him.” Nicole brushed away some hair from Selena’s face while they continued to talk. “I guess I really am dad’s daughter huh?” To make light of any situation was Selena’s way with easing Nicole’s mind, which was running rampant about her kids getting in fights and getting hurt. It made Nicole smile. 

“Aha, I guess you are. Y’know when you were still just a baby, I never thought you’d be fighting like your dad.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because! I mean you always wanted to be carried by me, your dad, or aunties. You were just a big sweetheart. But then again, you were always a big daddy’s girl when you got older. You got more into sports, and being more like him. So I guess this shouldn’t be a real big surprise.”

“Oh thanks mom, you make it sound like I’m a big disappointment.” The obvious sarcastic tone in Selena’s voice made Nicole roll her eyes.

“Oh please, don’t even start. You know I love you, my first baby.” Nicole hugged Selena, as Noah came home.  

Selena was still holding the ice pack to her face, so Noah had to ask.

“Did I miss something?” 

“Selena? You had something to tell your dad?” Nicole gave her a stern look, and Selena sighed.

“I got in a fight.”

“That’s my girl.” Noah smirked, sitting down next to Nicole.

“Noah!” Nicole hit Noah’s chest with the back of her hand, since that wasn’t the proper parental reaction to give.

“Erh, I mean…You what!?”

“Yeah..and I got suspended for a game.”

“Who was she?” Noah didn’t have the same concerns that Nicole had about their daughter.

“Well HE, plays for the varsity-“

“HE?! SOME LITTLE SHIT HIT YOU?! Where’s this kid get off thinking he can hit girls! Especially my little girl, I’m gonna go out and kick this kid and his dad’s ass.”

“Sweetie! Calm down, Selena still needs to tell you what happened.” Although the reaction was the right way to think, Nicole still needed Noah to keep a level head. Noah calmed down, and let Selena finish what happened.

“Alright well, it was Sam’s ex-boyfriend Lucas. His dad is the coach of the boy’s team, an ever since Sam broke up with Lucas, he’s been giving her crap like giving her cheap shots.”

“Well I’m gonna let Sabrina know right away, so she can suspend this kid.” Nicole picked up her phone, and started to dial.

“Wait babe, that won’t work.”

“And why not!”

“Because. Since we’re such personal friends with Sabrina, we can’t just report something like that. It’s gonna look like she’s doing us a favor without having heard another side. So it not only makes us look like we have something out for this d-bag. It makes Selena look like she can pull strings to have people tossed at will.”

“You’re right..” Nicole knew that she had to just stay back and watch for now. 

“So you sure you’re alright Sel?” Noah checked out her cheek, noticing the bruise beginning to form.

“Yeah daddy.” Selena gave Noah a confident smile, as she got up to go upstairs.

“That’s my girl. I love you.”

“Love you both too.” 

Sam and Selena texted one another about their suspension, and just to pass the time. At first the bruise on her face didn’t bother her, but after a while the swelling developed and started to hurt. Nathan checked in on his sister to make sure she was alright.

“I don’t have to beat anyone up do I?” Nathan tossed Selena an ice pack.

“*sigh no. I think I’ll be okay, but thank you for the consideration brother. I appreciate it.”

“So how’s the other guy look?” 

“Sam’s brother was gonna almost kill him. I don’t know what he got for punishment, but it should be pretty bad.”

“Well serves him right. I mean who cares if Sam broke up with him. He needs to move on.”

“Right? But it’s probably because of the reason she broke up with him.”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“Erh..never mind. Just forget it..”  Selena completely face palmed herself in her mind. She almost let Sam’s secret out. Even if it was to just Nathan, it still would’ve been bad. Sam had trusted her only with her secret. 

“Uhm. Okay, well I’m glad to see you’re alright.”

For the remainder of the night, Selena went back and forth between texting Sam and Alex. She told Alex what happened, and for the most part he was calm. Like Noah and Nicole, Alex knew that things would escalate further if he were to become involved. 

“Hey well I’m gonna head out to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Selena typed on her phone still thinking of Sam.

“Alright, goodnight. I love you Selena Joy Ryan.”

“Aha, I love you too Alex Tyson Davis.”

-The next day- 

The heated exchanges from the day before seemed to transfer over to the next day. Since when Sam, Selena, and Alex went to their lockers that morning, Sam’s had the word “Dyke” spray painted across her’s. She stared at the four letters, and watched people give her looks. 

“Who did this!?” Sam practically screamed at the top of her lungs. Catching the attention of every student in the nearby area, Sam wasn’t going to take the bullying and she wanted it known. Normally Sam was more calm and composed, but something about the vandalism made her lose it. Naturally, Selena thought immediately to Lucas. Though she didn’t have any evidence, she didn’t put it past him. Sam was cracking, and Selena saw it. Carson walked by, and saw his sister’s locker. He was just as mad as she was, but kept it under wraps. He took Sam away from the scene to calm her down. Alex and Selena followed close by to make sure Sam was really okay.

“Is it true?” Carson looked Sam in the eyes wanting the truth.

“Yes..” Sam answered softly not knowing how her brother would react. Carson simply nodded his head, and hugged her. 

“It’s gonna be alright.” 

“Selena, did you tell anyone?” 

“No, I didn’t tell anyone. Not even Alex.” 

“Then there’s only one person who would’ve known. Lucas.”

They all scoured the campus for a sign of Lucas, but he wasn’t there. By the word going around school, Lucas had been expelled. His dad had filed what happened with Sabrina, and that was the action that was taken. It wasn’t Lucas’ first offense, and since he was the aggressor in the confrontation the day before he had to take the punishment. The only reason that Selena and Carson didn’t receive suspensions or expulsion from school was because it was in defense of Sam. Several of the other witnesses confirmed the story Sam had told, leading Sabrina to make her decision. When the group saw Lucas’ dad that day, he didn’t seem too broken hearted about it. Even with Lucas not there, because of what was written on Sam’s locker, she was on the receiving end of a lot of inappropriate comments. Sabrina had Sam’s locker cleaned up, and searched frantically for the culprit. With no real leads, Sabrina could only wait. Sam continued to keep her head high and not let the comments of everyone bother her. It was a relief when the day had ended, and Sam could relieve herself playing the game she loved. Lucas was there waiting for Selena, Sam, and Carson. He looked miserable, as if he hadn’t slept, and had been tormented by something. He had dark rings underneath his eyes, and had his hands shoved into his pockets. Sam stopped at the sight of Lucas, as if she was frozen. Alex met them there also. He glared at Lucas, who’s eyes were fixated on Sam. 

“I..lost everything.” Lucas said staring at Sam. She didn’t know what everything was, but she was inclined to listen. “All because of you!” Alex slowly moved closer to Selena to make sure nothing would happen to her. “Because of what happened, I got expelled! I lost my scholarship to college! I even got kicked out of my house!” He was breaking down. He was almost hysterical as he continued to shout at Sam. 

“I didn’t do anything! You did this all to yourself! You’re the one who decided to be nuts after we broke up!”

“You had no reason to break up with me! I did everything for you!”

“I told you, it wasn’t you it was me! You made your choices to be a dick to me after, and now you get to pay.”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right. So if I’m gonna pay, you’re gonna pay too.” Lucas reached into his pocket, pulling out a gun. They all were petrified by Lucas. He steadied his aim at Sam, clicking the hammer back. 

“Don’t do this!” Sam began to beg. It’s all she could do with Lucas standing three feet in front of her. Coach K and Coach Briggs both ran outside and saw Lucas.

“No! Son, put the gun down!” 

“Oh son?! Last night you told me that you had no son after I got expelled, and lost my scholarship to Syracuse! So no one move, or I blow one of them away.” Coach K and Briggs backed off slowly. 

“Please..don’t do this!” Sam pleaded for mercy. She was beginning to cry, but Lucas showed no sign of remorse. 

“It’s too late.” Sam closed her eyes tight. Lucas pulled the gun up slowly, aiming straight for Sam. Before pulling the trigger, Alex jumped Lucas.

“Get down!”  The two boys struggled on the ground, and a shot was fired. Silence fell on the campus, and Coach K and Briggs couldn’t believe what happend. Carson pulled the gun away, locking up Lucas on the ground. Alex didn’t move. Selena saw the blood slowly pour out from the back of Alex. She couldn’t believe it.

“Alex!” Selena fell to her knees next to him trying to wake him up. He didn’t move, and she didn’t want to believe what happened. “No please. Come back.” She cried on his chest, his blood flowing onto her hands as she cried uncontrollably. “ALEX! PLEASE COME BACK!” Sam kneeled next to Selena, trying to bring her in close. The cops arrived, arresting Lucas, and a paramedic came to put Alex in a body bag. “No! Don’t take him away!” Selena was hysterical, and Sam couldn’t do anything for her. As the ambulance drove away, Selena fell to her knees once again and just wailed with despair. Alex was gone, and there was an empty feeling in Selena’s body. As if someone just stole the soul out of her. Selena drove home that night, and everyone in the house had heard what had happened. When she opened the door to the house, the first thing she did was look for her mom. No words were said, Selena just reached out to hug her. She rested her head on Nicole’s shoulder and just began to cry.

“It’ll be okay sweetie. I’m here.” Nicole ran her fingers through Selena’s hair to calm her down. It went on through the night, and also into the morning. When Selena finally did fall asleep, she couldn’t let go of Nicole

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