Over the next few days, she tried everything possible to avoid Val. Since he was a year ahead of her, it was slightly easy. She avoided the places they usually met up in school or the places she usually saw him hang out with friends. And with time, she got really good at it. Sometimes when they saw each other, he pretended not to know her and it absolutely crushed her. But sometimes she was grateful he acted that way because if Val got even remotely close to her, Dina would rip her head off, and she didn't want any of her trouble. Dina was the real definition of "mean girl."
One afternoon after school, she went to a corner to work on her sketchbook before her brother was ready to go home. She had her headphones on, and she was really focused on what she was doing, so she probably didn't notice when someone sat close to her on the bench.
After a few minutes of being deeply immersed in her work, she had this eerie feeling that someone was watching her. When she looked up, she was so shocked that she dropped her sketchbook.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked in genuine surprise.
"Long time no see, Nathalie," he said in a cool tone.
The surprise she felt immediately flipped to anger. She could not believe the nerve of this boy.
"Get lost," she said dismissively as she picked up her sketchbook, stuffed it into her bag, and walked away but Val was quick enough to pull her hand and drag her back to him. Nathalie retched in disgust.
"Get away from me, you jerk!" she screamed.
"Quiet down, Nathalie. Let's talk," Val pleaded.
"Fuck you," she said. As much as she wanted to hear what the fuck he had to say, she couldn't bear to stand anywhere around him. Right now, she really wished Lisa would fulfill her promise of burying him six feet under if she caught him close to her.
"Stop acting this way! I really want to speak to you. I still love you!" he said loudly.
Nathalie froze.
Val smiled, thinking he had calmed her enough for her to hear what he had to say. Then he felt some slimy liquid sliding down his face Nathalie had spat on him.
"Fuck you, you manwhore!" she screamed as she snatched her hand away. Val flung his hand into his pocket, disgusted, and stumbled backwards as he tried to wipe the saliva off his face.
"You bitch!" he screamed and retched in absolute disgust before he started to chase after her.
Nathalie ran like her life depended on it and simultaneously called her brother's name. Fortunately, by the time she got to the drive-through, she found her brother looking for her.
Danny was shocked to see his sister running like she was being chased by a bear. He rushed towards her and pulled her close to him. By this time, many people were curious to see what was going on. After a few seconds, he saw a fully angered Val walking in angry strides toward them.
He immediately got into defensive mode and pulled Nathalie behind him.
"What the fuck did you do that for?" he half-screamed at her.
"Don't you talk to my sister like that, you jerk!"
"She fucking spit on me, bro!"
"He tried to attack me!" Nathalie cried.
Danny lost it.
"What the fuck did you do to her?!" he said in a crazed voice as he started to walk toward Val, who became visibly cautious.
"You should calm down, bro. It wasn't that—" Before he could finish his words, a punch landed on his left eye.
Nathalie knew things were messed up right now. There were people around them, which meant more witnesses. Anyway, she didn't really care.
"Danny!" she screamed.
A second punch followed, and Val staggered back and almost fell. Danny didn't care as he tried to hit him again. Then Val returned the punch, which landed on Danny's nose.
Danny launched toward him. They rolled around the grass for a while before Danny got on top of him and rained down punches at his face while Val tried to cover it up with his arms.
"Stay… punch!... away… punch! from… punch!... my… punch!... sister… punch!!"
A group of boys were cheering in a corner and an older woman was calling 911, while a few others tried to break up the fight. By the time they were separated, they both looked like they had escaped a fighting ring.
"Oh my God, Danny, don't you ever do that again," she said with tears at the corner of her eyes. "You look like a wretch." Danny didn't say anything, but he had a huge grin on his face. It was as though he had done the one thing he had been itching to do for a long time, and he was really satisfied with the outcome.
Soon there were police sirens, and some officers came to inspect the scene. Danny and Val were both taken away, and Nathalie called their mom and dad to inform them of what happened — and of course, she was mortified.