ring, ring, ring

after three rings, steve picked up

'hello, this is steve harrington' I could hear him say

'hey steve, it's vic' I slowly said

'victoria! where have you been?! are you alright?' he worriedly asked over the phone, I could feel the protectiveness in his voice

'i'm with richie. but not why you think' I slowly began

'okay, i'll be at his house in two minutes, and then you can explain to me why you're not at school and spent the night at his house. goodbye' and with that, he hung up

'shit, richie'

'victoria, you'll be fine'

'maybe' I said as I packed up my things

richie had leant me a pair of sweatpants and his hoodie to wear

before going out to steve's car, I looked at myself in the mirror one last time

my neck, arms, and legs were littered with bruises

with a sigh, I kissed richie goodbye and opened the front door, walking out to steve, who had parked in front of the house

as I went into the car, I noticed that steve looked fine,

not angry, at all

'so, victoria mia. tell me what happened' he said, looking at all my bruises

and with that, I told him everything that had happened

'alright, victoria. and richie, thanks for saving her yesterday' steve said as he pulled into the school's parking lot

richie replied with a,'you're welcome' before we both got out of the car

we had lunch now, and decided to head to school anyways

as we walked in, I noticed steve was also walking in with us

'steve, why are you coming with?'

'I have to make sure you guys don't get in trouble for coming late' he lied,

i could hear it in his voice

me and richie walked in and headed towards the cafeteria,'wait, vic. I think we should find the losers first and explain to them what happened'

'alright' we got up from our seats and went out of the cafeteria, heading towards the back of the school where the losers always talk before lunch

halfway there, we could hear commotion coming from the hallways

i saw dustin, running with his friends, and stopped him,'what's going on?'

he looked at me, hyped up of what his friends were talking about,'there's a fight in the cafeteria! between some highschooler and patrick hockstetter!', and ran off

me and richie looked at each other with the exact same look,

the look that basically screamed,'shit shit shit'

we bolted around and ran towards the cafeteria

'oh fuck' I mumbled right when we swung the doors to the cafeteria, half of the crowd that surrounded the two boys fighting looked at us,

looked at me

one of them yelled out,'LOOK! IT'S HER!!'

i quickly pushed through the thick crowd, richie trailing closely behind me

when I finally got through, I could clearly see who was fighting

it was steve,

and patrick

shivers were sent down my spine, seeing patrick again after yesterday

'STOP!' I screamed at the top of my lungs, stepping forward to attempt to pull them off each other

there was blood pooling on the ground, from both of them

before I could get any closer to them, I could feel someone grab me and pull me back

it was richie,'vic, I don't want you getting hurt'

'what the hell am I supposed to do then? watch them fight until one of them blacks out?!' I nearly screamed at him, clearly frustrated with the circumstances

a lot of eyes were on me, trying to see my next step

i thought to myself,'fuck it' before going in between the two boys,

both were extremely tough, but as soon as I tried to even touch them they stopped fighting,

most likely not wanting to hurt me, steve at least, would never hurt me on purpose when it wasn't his intention

i looked at steve, half of his face was bruised and covered in blood, and patrick's face was worse

his nose was for sure broken

blood trickled down steve's lips as I began to scold them both

'what the hell is wrong with you guys?!?! steve what the hell?!?!'

steve began to talk,'he started it, he said that you-'

'GO HOME STEVE!' I screamed at him,

he sent patrick one last death glare before leaving the cafeteria and going home

'patrick, can I talk to you?' I asked him as the rest of the bowers gang came up and stood behind him,

richie being the only one standing behind me

'alone?'

'whatever' he said before I brought him outside on the football field

'what the hell were you thinking yesterday?!' I asked him,

i was pissed off, but tried not to show it so he would give me a decent answer

'well, baby doll. first of all, me and tozier had a deal in which he broke, and you said it yourself that you were his biggest weakness. and you're fucking beautiful and I knew I wouldn't be able to take you from bitchy richie, so basically, yesterday I hit two birds with one stone'

i stood there, not saying anything

jut thinking about what he had just said, as questions rushed through my head

'what was that deal you've always been talking about?' I asked him

he stepped closer to me and put his finger on my chin, lifting my head up while forcing me to look at him in the eyes

his flaming eyes stared right through my soul, it was as if he knew everything I was thinking

'that's nothing for you to worry about, baby doll'

forcefully, I pulled my head away and stepped back

'don't call me baby doll. and don't touch me ever again'

he stepped forward, our chests touching again like yesterday

'oh honey, we both know you love it when I touch you'

he pulled down the turtleneck I was wearing to reveal all the bruises he had left on my neck

his sinister smile looked as if he was proud of his markings

'no, I don't patrick. and go away from me and my friends'

'we both know that's never going to happen, but there's a way it will all stop; for you, at least.'

'whatever it is, stop hurting richie, not me'

'alright, but then you have to do whatever I say'

'it depends, remember I never said yes to your stupid little plan'

he smiled again, revealing the bruises and blood on his face that steve had left, he stepped back a little and moved his dark hair out of his eyes,'tomorrow, after third period-'

third period is math,

both me, richie, and patrick are in that class

'after third period, you're going to break up with richie'

i scoffed and started to walk back into the school, done with his bullshit

he actually thinks that I would break up with richie because of some stupid excuse?

not happening

'forget it, patrick. you're crazy, and stay out of me and richie's way'

'you're gonna regret this!' he screamed after me as I walked back into the school to find richie

'rich?' I asked him,

we were laying in his bed and it was raining outside, our legs tangled within the other's

i was laying in richie's chest as he played with my hair

'hmm' he lazily said, we were both exhausted after the school day

his room was messy,

clothes littered the floor and the bed wasn't made,

but I loved it

it felt cozy and as if it was my home, unlike my actual home, which was not cozy or homey at all

'the snowball is tomorrow' my voice became muffled because, technically speaking, I was talking into richie's chest

'and I couldn't be more excited to go to it with you' he smiled as I looked up at him