"Oh my God," RC panted, dropping herself down onto the gravelly ground.

Jordan looked at her.

"I'm exhausted, every single bone in my body is dying right now." RC moaned, pulling her towel out of her bag and wiping her face.

Jordan chuckled. "Then I guess that's a wrap."

It had been four weeks since the wedding, and six weeks since RC had started training with Jordan. RC was glad that she was starting to get into shape, and she felt fitter than she had ever felt in her entire life.

Ever.

Her mother had, thankfully, stopped nagging her about her body, and had instead taken it upon herself to buy new clothes and shoes for RC.

But, if RC was to be quite honest, she didn't care much for the doting. In fact, she didn't care for it at all. She was just happy that her mother had stopped seeming like a wild monsterous food scanning police officer and had instead started to see a friend within RC.

RC was happy.

Her mother was filling the vacuum that Simone had left. RC had tried to talk to Simone again. And again, her efforts were fruitless.

Simone had a new life.

A new life that had no space for RC. A new life, with new people and new things. Simone made it clear, when they met in the cafeteria the previous day, that things had changed. Simone insisted that they had drifted apart and that there lay nothing common between them.

RC was understandably crushed. This was Simone. The Simone who knew her inside out. The Simone who had once cared, who had once understood. The Simone who had insisted that she would be there with RC even when no one else was.

So RC had gotten up, away from Simone's table, and had instead gone to her spot in the corner.

"We should christen this 'the corner of lame ass losers'," Shay had walked up to her, her thirteen vixens shooting death glares at RC from behind her.

"Hi sunshine," RC had greeted sarcastically. She was not in the best of moods.

She just was. Existing.

"Someone's swallowed the grump pill." Allie commented, to which Mallory sniggered.

"Stop, please. This isn't the best time." RC had looked away, down at the cheerleaders practicing in the field.

"Or is it?" Mallory piped up, cocking her head to the side.

RC felt something bubble in the pit of her stomach. Something hot. Something fiery. Something insane. Something that felt vaguely like determination and confidence. Both of which, RC could testify, she had thought lost when the bullying had started.

Both of which had never left her, but had only gotten buried under the judgemental attacks that RC had allowed to affect her.

She felt it now, growing through her like a wave, and in that one moment she knew with utmost clarity that no manner of meanness would ever hurt her ever again.

Not anymore.

"I said stop." RC spoke up firmly, her voice shaking with determination, the firmness in her voice surprising her antagonists.

Shay stood silent for a second before she found her voice again. "In this arrangement, I give the orders, sweetheart." Her minions parted like the red sea parted for Moses, allowing Brent to come through.

"Where do I start?" The oaf grunted, grinning maliciously. He made to punch RC but RC beat him to it.

A sickening crunch ensued as her fist made contact with his nose. Brent howled like a little girl. "She broke my nose! I will kill you, you bitch, you broke my nose!"

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Jordan's voice silenced Brent's howls.

RC looked away from her fist straight into Jordan's eyes. He walked to her and put an arm around her.

RC knew it was terrible time to think such things but God damn she craved a burger. She blamed Jordan. He had brought the fast food scent with him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mallory started, being the first of the pack to recover. "I… we…"

"What?" Jordan shrugged nonchalantly and brushed a strand of hair out of RC's eye.

"I'll report this!" Shay hissed, leading Brent, who had been clutching his bleeding nose with a screwed up face, away.

"Okay, I can't wait." RC called to their retreating backs.

Needless to say, RC and Jordan had spent all that was left of lunch period and a larger part of the afternoon in principal Duvall's office, answering for their misdeeds. They both got away with a week's worth of detention.

At four 'o' clock that afternoon, instead of heading to the last classroom on the second floor for detention, both RC and Jordan went to see Mrs Emery, school's new guidance counselor and RC's new, and favourite, English teacher.

That after, the lid was lifted. And RC came clean. She was glad that it had been a Friday. She needed the break to enjoy the lightness her shoulders and heart felt.

Which is why she and Jordan had agreed to have one last training session the next day, which is where they now were.

Jordan sat down beside her. "Hey RC," he started.

"Yeah?"

"What you did yesterday, that was pretty badass."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, you were on fire! You showed those idiots your worth."

RC felt the heat rise up into her cheeks. "Thanks, it felt good for a while,but I don't think I ever want to do that again."

"What? Why?!"

"Well," RC starts seriously, "it's because I have been at the receiving end of punches all the time, and now I don't think I ever again want to be on the giving end of one either."

Jordan nodded silently and stared at the old railway tracks.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue though, I think they would have murdered me if you hadn't."

"Hmm."

"I'm thanking you and all I get is a 'hmm'? Not even an 'it's okay', or 'you're welcome' or 'it's my pleasure'?" RC joked.

Jordan smiled his hint of a smile. "Leah would say that, whenever I'd go into one of my brooding sessions."

RC's heart started racing. She knew not to interrupt Jordan. She let him be.

"She was beautiful, the most beautiful elder sister in the world." He plucked a blade of grass and started twisting it around his fingers. "But not everyone thought that. Her classmates treated her like trash."

RC held her breath. The question she had wanted answers to was being answered and she wasn't sure if she was ready for it.

"But she never gave up, she was never mean back at them. She had a heart. And she was my greatest friend."

Jordan's voice cracked but he kept going as though knowing that if he were to stop, he would never continue.

"It was a few days before my birthday. I was upset that she was going away backpacking and that she would miss it. So she got all dressed up, put me into her car and told me that she was going to give me the best advance birthday ever."

RC couldn't look away from the anguish that had built up on Jordan's face. His eyes gleamed.

"So we drove to all my favourite places, and hers, around the town. We pigged out, and went to the beach for a while and to the movies and boat watching and driving and just had the best day in the world."

RC gulped, hating that she could guess what was coming next.

"So on the way back I'm all sad, because the day is over and Leah's going soon and everything has started sucking, and she says, 'thank you for being the best brother in the world. I'm going to miss you the most.' and, stupid me, I had gone into my brooding and all I said was 'hmm'. She laughed aloud and told me, 'is that all I get, baby brother? Not even an 'i'll miss you more' or 'you're welcome' or 'i love you'?' and before I could say anything to her, a truck rammed into her side of the car and sent us into a ditch. The next thing I remember is waking up two weeks later in a hospital room."

"No," RC whispered, her eyes watering, and her heart breaking for Jordan. A tear rolled down Jordan's face.

But he went on, "I made it, but she… she was gone, gone. She was gone."

RC hugged Jordan. As tightly as she could, crying into his shoulder, and letting him break down in hers.

"I'm alright, now, I'm... I'm fine," Jordan pulled away after a few minutes.

"I'm so sorry," RC whispered.

"Me too." He replied, standing up and pulling RC up as well.

"We all deal with pain, RC, and I did hurt myself before, trying to deal with it, but I learnt to accept it, and to let it be." He faced her, his face back to normal, his voice now level. "Don't ever cut yourself again, RC, ever. Don't let anyone define you. You are who you believe you are; you are a warrior."

RC got into her tiptoes and kissed Jordan on the cheek. "Thank you."

"No, thank you." He replied. "Thank you for being you." He took her hand and smiled a real smile and RC almost melted. "Are you up for a burger?"

RC smiled at him. "You read me like a book."

***