CHAPTER NINETEEN
— defense duo —

after the cops left with jonathan, the group came back to get steve's car. "the hell are you doing here?" carol's lips smacked as she chewed her gum.

amelia got in the front seat of the car, steve telling her to. "steve, what is she doing here?" tommy asked him. he started the ignition. "after you losers left me, she broke the fight." the three reluctantly got in the car, glaring at each other as they did. "real friends, my ass." steve muttered under his breath.

tommy did his best to make it up, saying to drive to a fair mart to get something for the bruising steve had. nicole said to drop her off at home before they did anything else. tommy and carol called her out for being a party pooper, but she had her priorities straight. after the fight with jonathan, she chose to not have any part of this.

when they drove up the mart, steve got off with tommy and carol. amelia furrowed her brows as she saw him sit on the trunk of his car, contemplating she guessed. as tommy and carol were out of sight, amelia got off the car too.

even thought she was mad and hurt with what he said, she still wanted to be near him. toxic, i know, but amelia doesn't know that. not yet.

amelia leaned with him as he sat. he lifted his hand to his bloody forehead, but was put to a stop when amelia blurted, "don't touch it."

steve didn't even look at her, but dropped his hand. he sighed loudly. "i'm sorry." he looked the other way, away from her but amelia turned to him. "what i said was real shitty and friends don't say that type of crap to each other."

he turned to her, hoping to see a smile on her face due to the apology, as he's realized that she always smiles when he looks at her. at the moment though, she wasn't smiling a single bit.

"it was shitty." amelia agreed. "real shitty, i know." steve nodded and looked straight. "that's why i'm apologizing."

the girl snickered, shaking her head and looking down. steve snapped his head to see her smile. "jonathan really messed your face up." she tightly laughed.

her eyes met with him, a small smile faintly on her lips. "yeah," steve made his lips match hers. "he did."

"and you know damn well that you deserve it." amelia added, crossing her arms. steve didn't want to admit that yet, thinking that apologizing to her would be enough to not hurt his already broken pride.

"how did you do that?" steve wondered. amelia stayed quiet. she looked away from him and over her shoulder, hoping that carol and tommy would come back with the stuff. "tell me."

steve felt the force from jonathan's body. amelia didn't want him to know, though. she doesn't want to put someone else in jeopardy, just like she felt like she did with jonathan and nancy. she knew these men were after her, and would do harm to anybody who tried to protect her from them.

"it's better for you to not know." amelia stated sternly. she kept her gaze down to her shoes. steve tilted his head. "amelia–"

"hey," tommy and carol walked out. tommy threw a cold coke and an aspirin cap at steve. "you owe me a dollar twenty." he said.

steve sighed softly and gave the bottle to amelia. she grabbed it, holding it for him as he put the cold can against his head.

carol narrowed his eyes at amelia. "you got me thinking, lia." amelia turned to her. the sunlight hit her eyes, so she squinted them. "how come you didn't stay with jonathan and nancy?"

"doesn't matter." tommy answered quickly for her. carol arched a brow at him, questioning why he was so quick to say something. "amelia just needed to see the harsh reality. we like, totally opened her eyes."

"took the words right out of my mouth." amelia mordantly spoke. she held out a tablet for steve. he dry swallowed it.

"don't worry," tommy patted steve's back. "he'll need more than aspirin when we're done with him." carol scoffed and added, "yeah, if that creep ever gets out. the cops should lock him up forever. did you see the look on his face?" carol went on and on about.

amelia observed steve as carol continued talking. carol groaned, mocking the way jonathan fought steve. tommy laughed. "he probably had the same look whenever he killed his brother, right?" tommy patted steve's arm again. steve didn't even react, not finding the humor in that.

"oh, god, i just got an image of him making that face while he and nancy were screwing!" carol and tommy laughed.

"carol, for once in your life, shut your damn mouth!" steve snapped. carol's laugh faded. "what?"

"hey, what's your problem, man?" tommy barked. amelia wore a confused expression at steve. for the first time, he actually shut his friends up.

steve slowly put his coke down and turned to them both. "you're both assholes, that's my problem." he hopped off the trunk and walked to the side of the car. "are you serious right now, man?"

"yeah, i'm serious." steve nodded. "you shouldn't have done that." tommy and carol were confused. "done what?"

"you know what." amelia spoke up. "you mean, call nancy wheeler out for what she really is?" tommy corrected, stepping up to the noirette. "oh, that's funny, because i don't remember your elementary school boy crush, steve asking me to stop."

"god, i should've beaten your ass when i had the chance." amelia muttered to tommy. the freckled boy cackled. "you? fight me?"

"you have your chance right now, amelia." steve seethed.

"what the hell, steve!" carol yelled. "you know what," steve grabbed amelia's arm, stopping her from walking to tommy. "get in the car, lia."

amelia still had her eyes darted on tommy, but stepped back from him. "you know, neither of you have ever cared about nancy. you never even liked her, because she's not miserable like you two. she actually cares about people." steve explained to tommy and carol.

"the slut with a heart of gold!" carol mocked. "i told you to watch your mouth!" amelia walked up to carol with a fist.

carol stepped back, scaring tommy as well. "hey!" tommy grabbed steve's collar and pushed him to his car. "i don't know what's gotten into you, man, but your little plan b," he pointed to amelia. "can't talk to her that way."

"get out of my face." steve pushed tommy. he came back and grabbed steve by the collar again. "or what?" he pushed him against his car, making him grunt. "you gonna fight me, too? huh? you gonna fight me now too? because you couldn't take jonathan byers!" tommy threatened. "so i wouldn't recommend that."

tommy released steve from his grip and slowly stepped back. he glared at amelia, thinking her angered expression was from what he called amelia. "yeah, that's right." he nodded at her. "you're just a sore second choice for steve."

amelia ignored his words and got in the car. steve did the same. "hey, lemme get the door for you, buddy." tommy pushed him in and slammed the door.

steve quickly started the car. "that's right! run away, stevie boy!" tommy shouted, hitting the window. steve reversed the car out of the parking space.

amelia kept her glare on him as they drove out. "run away just like you always do! run away with your second option because the first didn't want you!"

the words finally started to hurt. steve put the car on drive and zoomed across the parking lot.

amelia's mind was in a bad place. the things she does when she's there scares even herself sometimes.

"hope you both and nancy make a nice friend group!" tommy jeered on. amelia averted her low eyes to the car side mirror. she sharply tilted her head. "they both made you into a little pus–"

steve hit the brake when he heard a sudden crash. he looked through the rear mirror and saw tommy on the ground, carts staggered next to him.

steve stepped on the gas and hurried out of the lot. he didn't know why he did, but he panicked. "holy shit," he panted. he looked again through the mirror, but he was driving too fast. he started to recollect himself. "d–don't tell me i did that?"

"you didn't." amelia flatly answered. steve glanced at her before looking at the road. his brows furrowed when he looked at her again.

"amelia, you're bleeding."

he didn't have to say where as her hands touched the blood under her nose. she saw the red liquid on her fingertips. "guess i thought about it too hard."

steve twitched his brows into a furrow. "w–what?" amelia wiped the blood on her black corduroy jeans.

"i hate myself for lying to you." amelia monotoned. steve turned to look at her. "i'm not just amelia cruz from new york."

"lia, you're scaring me." steve fretted. amelia scoffed, "i scare myself sometimes, too."

steve didn't know what that meant. he left the middle lane and traveled to the last. "c–can you explain to me what you're trying to say?" he asked.

he left the traffic and drove into the parking lot of a local restaurant. amelia wiped her nose with her sleeve, not caring about staining anymore.

"my parents aren't in australia working abroad." she stated, it being the first lie she told everyone at school, including him. "they aren't fighting with my real parents over my custody because they want me back all of a sudden."

steve fully turned his body to her, his brows twitching. "amelia, what are you saying?"

"i'm just scared, you know?" amelia quavered with a shrug. "i'm just scared of the things that i can do now." she let her cold stare lock on whatever was in front of her. sniffling, she explained, "i can't stop it from getting stronger."

"stop what?" steve lamented. amelia let out a heavy sigh. when she did, she gave herself time to regroup. she didn't answer steve's question until she knew she wouldn't burst out in tears the second she spoke.

"my powers," she first answered. "my abilities, i guess." she looked down her hand and then to her forearms, laying on her thighs. she faced her wrists to her. "they turned me into something i wasn't made out to be."

steve noticed the gaze amelia gave her left wrist. slowly and cautiously, he reached out for it. she didn't flinch and she let him grabbed it. he pulled the sleeve up.

009.

he arched a brow. as steve slid amelia's sleeve up further, he saw the bruises and trail marks. he started to hate himself for not seeing this before. "what did they do to you?" he muttered. he didn't even know who 'they' was.

"made me be something i didn't know was something bad." she finally broke her stare and turned to him. "me telling you this could kill you."

steve scattered his eyes away from amelia to out his window. he contemplated. "steve, don't think too hard about this."

he scoffed softly and turned to her. "don't think?" he recited. the girl gulped. "amelia, i don't know what the hell is happening." his voice grew so shaky.

"in all honesty, i don't know either." amelia muttered. steve sighed softly and threw his back on his seat. he shook in head in light disbelief, not even knowing what amelia was going on about. he could only guess what was going on with what she barley told him.

'powers? abilities? they?' small words like that only made him guess.

"but what i can give you is some answers." amelia said softly. he turned to her. "about me. about where i'm from."

steve didn't know what to do next. he didn't know what to say and how to say it. he wasn't scared, but only of how he might hurt amelia. he knew she was already putting him in such a hard place, but steve didn't care about that.

"okay," steve nodded. he looked down to amelia's arm. "so this.." he grabbed amelia's wrist and pulled up her sleeve up once more. he nodded, "that you have on your arm is like a–a cereal label or something?" the boy knew he was never good at these type of things. he always had to say something stupid to let out some tension.

amelia fluttered her eyes to her wrist. her brows twitched into a furrow.

"what's a cereal label?"

author's note,
the end is near lolol