It is a few weeks after my collapse in the tub and it is on a Wednesday after school. We are currently in the gymnasium and we have all of the girls from both classes participating minus Rose. I teach them basic self defense moves and give them time to practice so they become muscle memory for them. Teaching them what to do if a boy gets on top of them, if they try to choke them, grab them by the wrists, if they bear hug them, if they are grabbed by multiple assailants, etc. After lessons I say after wiping the sweat off of my forehead with my handkerchief, "Repeat after me! I am a person!" I am a person! "I am fierce!" I am fierce! "I am beautiful!" I am beautiful! "I am many things!" I am many things! "I am a woman!" I am a woman! I continue, "Don't forget that each and every one of you have rights and don't let anybody touch you if you don't desire it. Don't accept anything you don't want to. You are all strong women. Show them what strength really is! Class is dismissed!"
The girls all looked pumped and I heard a few war cries among them. Some of them approached me, their names I believe are Beatrice, Francois, and Yasmina. I have been making an effort to try and learn more of my classmates' names since they are making an effort with me. Beatrice is pale in complexion with blonde hair, Francois is mixed with blonde hair and Yasmina is very dark in complexion and has black hair. Yasmina says, "I feel so much more confident after training with you, Violet. Do you still need us to teach Rose?" Even though I am paying Jennifer extra to teach Rose I nod, "Please keep teaching her. I wish I could teach her myself, but you guys have seen what happens when we get in close proximity." They nod and I continue after seeing all of the girls smile as they leave the gymnasium, "Everyone has come a long way in a short time. I am so proud of your progress." Francois says wiping sweat off her tan brow while brushing her blonde hair aside, "Thank you so much for helping us." I say while platonically grabbing her shoulder in a supportive gesture, "We have to stick together." I know I could tell the girls to not teach her anymore since Jennifer is, but I don't want them to stop. Them teaching her what I teach them is just another way in this fucked up world that I can tell Rose 'I love you' through their actions. I like helping out the girls in the class, but I hate how I can't talk to Rose on Wednesday's now.
In other news, Doctor Grant and Nurse Joy are officially courting now. Doc, knowing she can't really leave the infirmary for long, comes to visit often and often just comes in there to work and be near her. It really is the cutest and I just love how happy they seem. I saw them doing obvious cutesy flirting a few times in the hallway like Nurse Joy smacking Doc's butt while seeing his blushing face. They are officially my favorite couple in this world. I just love these two so much.
The class knocker match is coming up in a few days to determine which class will get homework over the break. This break is mainly for the faculty, not the students, but the students love it just the same. They are going to do the match on Saturday when we are out of school so it doesn't interfere with our studies. I can't wait to have an opportunity to punch those perverts that assaulted Rose. My teammates like me in the attacking center mid position which is perfect for me. I don't know what positions those perverts are going to be in and this position will be perfect no matter where they are. Doc has since finished my sports shades. They have a strap that goes around the back of the head to secure it similar to goggles and rubber surrounds the lenses instead of the metal frames that are on my normal shades. He put rubber spacers around the lens on the inside to support the goggles on impact so they can take punches.
Saturday comes around and I get all of my gear ready. I also bring my cloak just in case and I make sure to bring my canteen to hydrate along with all of the other things I need. I get to the field where the match is being held and I go up to the boys on my team for warm up exercises. I look over to the other side of the field while we are warming up and I see the bullies and perverts (plus Ren) warming up as well. I am so pumped right now. I have so much drive and desire to punch them. I am ready for this game to start and I am filled with an almost restless energy. Once the warmups are over they tell us to get in the starting positions. The other team won the coin toss so they started with possession of the ball first. The mixed complexion pervert with the brown hair is playing defense while the swooshy haired Giovanni is playing an outer mid. Ren is playing as a forward on their team. At least some things don't change. They start by dropping the ball back to their defense and working their way around similar to soccer techniques. I see them working their way to one of the perverts, Giovanni, on the wing so I run up to him and as he is trying to receive the ball I punch him in the face. Hard. While he is temporarily shaken by the hit I take the ball and pass it to a teammate.
The pervert then elbows me in the ribs in retaliation and I hear Rose yell, "Hey! He can't do that! He just elbowed her!" The rest of the girls are chiming in on my side but the teachers refereeing the game ignore it and the game goes on. If they are going to play dirty I will just have to be prepared and play accordingly. I run back into play after catching my breath from that hit and receive the ball and do some effective footwork approaching someone trying to come at me to get them off balance and I pass the ball to someone that is open closer to the goal. After I let go of the ball the guy coming at me tries to elbow me in the face which definitely isn't allowed. Though anticipating them playing dirty trying to hit me just because they can I parried and returned a punch making sure it is a legal hit.
I have to be extra careful since the teachers refereeing are most definitely biased against me. I just know they will say something if I also do an illegal hit, even though these assholes are blatantly ignoring the rules when it comes to me. They aren't going after the other guys on my team like that which makes me think this might be the creator just trying to make my life harder by influencing events. Challenge accepted, mother fucker. The person I passed the ball to scored a point so I got an assist.
We reset positions and they kick off since the side that didn't score gets possession of the ball. We immediately go on the defensive. I am in full challenge mode against this dumb ass creator and I am playing very aggressively punching everyone on their team legally and indiscriminately whether they are perverts or not. Even my buddy Ren. It is all for fun though I punch the perverts the hardest. They are really hating me after a while and they seem to focus their illegal hits on me more. I do good anticipating and blocking them and that seems to piss them off more.
Some of the guys look at each other giving each other a nod and two guys come up beside me and grab my arms illegally causing the girls on the sidelines to really protest. Giovanni then punches me in the stomach which causes me to double over and he grabs my head and knees me in the face. The force of his left knee breaks the lens on my right eye cutting my eyelid, maybe even also my eye. I loudly grunt almost in a yell in response to this pain. I don't know how bad it is. I just know I am bleeding pretty profusely and it hurts. Lily and Nurse Joy come running out to the field and Lily yells, "Violet! No! Get away from her you assholes!" The boys let me go and I collapse from the initial shock but I am still conscious. The nurse removes my shades and examines my eye, "Good news. The goddesses and gods must have been watching over you because your eye seems to be fine." The cut only affected my eyelids. Apparently the rubber spacers Doc put on the goggles probably really helped that and I closed my eyes in time. I am glad I am not losing an eye though that is a blessing. I ask, "Can you patch me up so I can continue playing?" Nurse Joy says, "I can't believe you want to continue playing, but yes I can do that." I don't like the decreased field of vision at all. I will definitely have to keep my head on a swivel while I am in recovery and during the rest of this game. That is for certain.
Nurse Joy cleans up around my eye while putting some temporary sutures on my eyelids to keep them from flowering outward grotesquely then puts a bandage over my eye and tapes it in place. I thank her as I stand up with Lily's help and I go to my equipment to pull out my cloak that I am really glad I brought with me today. My eye really fucking hurts right now, but at least I don't have to worry about going blind in that eye so that is a relief. Though currently I can't use it so in a way I am blind out that eye at the moment while the bandage is there. That thought that a deity somewhere out there is watching over me gives me strength. Someone is watching over me that isn't the creator. The creator wouldn't go through all of this effort to try and hurt me to protect me in the process. That thought gives me some strength and I suit up in my cloak and get back on the field.
They resume the game once I get back in position. We are doing pretty well but near the end of our match when the score is very close my eye sight in my left eye starts to get blurry. I get hit a few times from missing blocks from hardly being able to see. Some were happening from my blind side as well. The next thing I know I am hearing Rose's voice guiding me to the opponent's goal. Knowing what direction I need to go and not being able to tell friendly from opponents I avoid everyone going straight to Rose kicking the blob of a ball in my vision. Using footwork to avoid opponents. I see a basic outline of their goal and I let loose a shot on goal. Their goalkeeper blob blocks it and another forward blob on our team gets the rebound and knocks it in while their goalkeeper is down.
The boys come up to me and the other guy and start hyping both of us up. I say with a banged up and bloody appearance, "The mvp for our class is Rose from the other class. If it wasn't for her I would not have been able to get a shot on goal because now I can barely see." The boys after hearing that and realizing that was why she was yelling went over to her and was thanking her so much. The other team seemed to take notice. SHIT. Knowing they have to do homework I will volunteer some time to help them out so they won't feel inclined to harass Rose for her helping us win. I get a sudden nose bleed while they are celebrating and I start to feel a little faint. I immediately drop down in a controlled fashion to not hurt myself exactly where I am so I don't crash and burn on the way to the side of the field and Lily, Mia, Heather the nurse and some of the other girls come out to the field to me and my head starts spinning. I haven't lost consciousness yet and they grab me. Lily has me under one arm and Nurse Joy has me under my other arm and they help me to the infirmary where Nurse Joy can officially treat my eye. On the way there everything goes dark.
I wake up and have Lily, Mia and Heather by my side and the Nurse was at her station getting some supplies together. Lily perks up and she hugs me tightly, "Thank goodness you are awake. I was so worried. They were hitting you so much I could barely take it." Mia and Heather do some nonverbal 'Ditto'/'what she said' motions. Nurse Joy hears this comes over and sits down a ways since the girls are by my side. She says, "Violet, I had to stitch your eyelids so you will need to keep it covered during recovery. I used temporary stitches to keep that eye closed under that bandage to help it heal. Bright side of this should heal faster than your hand injury. I am estimating you can take that bandage off in about two weeks time. Just another heads up, but this wound will also probably leave a scar." I wave my hand dismissively in response and she sighs and softens her expression, "I almost forgot who I was talking to." Mia, Lily and Heather look a little confused and Nurse Joy takes it upon herself to explain what I said since it really resonated with her. I really hope those guys aren't bothering Rose. I am so worried.
Lily seems to notice my distress, "What is wrong?" I say, "I am really worried about the boys in your class trying to retaliate against Rose for helping me at the end of that match." Lily says, "Right now Rose is probably pacing back and forth in her dorm, waiting for you." She says this making a different weird face than the other one. I sigh, "Good. I will help your class out with their homework so the boys won't have any reason to harass her. I will give her the notes so she can take the credit." Lily objects, "Why can't you just take credit for helping us out?" I shake my head, "They still might retaliate against her for helping if I don't. I am ok with not taking the credit. Especially if it means she will be safer." Lily's face turned into a weird sunken expression, "I still don't like it. Why can't you just tell the truth and hope the boys won't retaliate?" I shake my head, "I don't want to risk it. Rose's safety is paramount to me." Lily responds, "What was the purpose of getting her that body guard then?" I sigh, "Mainly to protect her against me, also to protect her from any threat. I didn't hire Jennifer though to purposely put Rose in harm's way. I want to take every necessary precaution to protect her from everything."
Lily asks with watery eyes, "You really love her, don't you?" I nod while averting my eyes a bit and softly smiling thinking thoughts of Rose clutching my chest, "I really do. With all of my heart." Lily makes that same weird face she made not too long ago. Mia says while sulking a bit, "Yea and she even sings for Rose every morning, too. I am so jealous. I love hearing your voice, Violet. I still think about that day you sang all of those women's empowerment songs while we made cookies that one time." Lily is still making that face and asks, "Could you sing for me sometimes too?" I say without really thinking much about it since we are friends, "Of course. I am comfortable around you and I can sing around those I am comfortable with." Lily asks, "Is that why you ran away that day? You realized all of us listened to you sing?" I replied lowering my head a bit, "Yes. It really freaked me out. It is terrifying for me to perform in front of people." Nurse Joy says, "Well it isn't her voice or mouth that is hurt so she can sing now if she so desires if she feels up to it."
Thanks Nurse Joy for basically making me have to sing with one sentence. I can't back out now. Lily asks, "Could you sing one of those women's empowerment songs?" Mia and Heather are excited. Mia perks up and asks, "Oh! Can you sing that last song you sang for us last time? The one talking about feeling rain on your skin? I really liked that one." Heather does the 'Ditto' motion. Having a song to sing I go ahead and start singing the lyrics. I close my left eye and also pretend that I am singing this for Rose since I know she also really likes this song. This is a good song for me to sing right now. Something very positive to keep me from getting in my feelings. I have both eyes. I have a wonderful girlfriend. I am helping women. I am actively fighting a story that is written yearning for the unwritten.
I finish singing and Lily is making that first weird face that Rose said means she has feelings for me. I wasn't meaning for this to be a serenade. The only face I remember from my last life is how Liz would look at me. Like I know my wife loved me in my last life, but the love faces she made were different than these ones. It feels different. Different from how Rose looks at me. Rose makes the same face that Liz would make. I just ignore her face and move on since I have told her my feelings already. All of them applaud and Nurse Joy says, "I really like that song, Miss Treece." Mia follows up, "We love that one. It is our favorite song of hers we have heard so far." Heather nods in agreement. Their opinion is different from Rose. Rose really loves 'If I ain't got you.' She also likes 'Girl on Fire' because I told her I like singing that for her because of her brilliant red hair that dances like a flame in the breeze. Though I don't think they have heard 'If I ain't got you'. I am not going to lie, I really like Rose being the only one to hear that song. Especially that I love her so much now. I smile to myself thinking of Rose and the things that only we have. I think the others misunderstood my smile and they kept praising me. I am not good with all of these compliments and don't know how to respond. Now I am just blushing awkwardly avoiding eye contact. This reaction causes Lily to giggle and she brushes some of the hair in my face aside, "You are so adorable." Mia and Heather say in unison, "She is so cute." I really love singing for Rose because I don't feel awkward when she compliments me.