Chapter 19, Part II

‘Seb, don’t go back there!’ Shadee took her seatbelt off as quick as she could and jumped out of the car after her friend. She tried to follow him after having slammed the door shut, but her dress had got caught. ‘D*mn it! Sebas-’

It was useless to call after him – he had already entered the house. Having finally released herself, Shadee followed him, trying not to sprain her ankle in her 10-centemeter heels.



She finally got to the entrance, panting and all sweaty, and fumbled on the handle, hardly managing to push the door open.

‘You-!’ the sound of a hard punch colliding with Dirk’s jaw met Shadee’s ears and she saw a big group of people gathered around her ex-boyfriend and Sebastien.



‘What was that for?!’ the young man rubbed the spot where the fist had hit him. As a response he got another blow in the opposite jaw. This led to a fierce struggle in which one couldn’t say whose foot was whose and whose fist was whose. No one seemed to want to put an end to it all, they simply enjoyed the show too much.

‘Stop! Right now!’ Shadee tried to create a path through the disgruntled crowd ‘Let me pass!’ she elbowed a particularly robust girl and got to the center of the circle. She was still unable to separate the fighting duo, afraid of becoming an accidental casualty of “war”. Random swear words floated angrily above the dust cloud while quite unpleasant sounds of kicks, punches, hair pulling and even biting made the enthusiast crowd cheer.



‘Please?!’ the girl’s faint, hopeless voice faded under a loud “ouch, you b***ard!”. They finally seemed to tire down and Shadee seized the opportunity to drag Sebastien away from Dirk. Without any words towards the disappointed mass of people, the girl helped him out of the building and back to the car.

‘Are you crazy?!?’ she shouted angrily after having pushed Seb a little too roughly into the driver’s seat ‘Do you wanna get yourself killed?’



‘Oh, c’mon!’ Sebastien gave her a wide grin, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth ‘That good-for-nothing son of a-’

Shadee rolled her eyes and grabbed his chin, assessing the damage that had been done to her friend’s face: a swollen lip, a black eye, some superficial scratches and a few minor bruises. Not too bad after a fight with quite a bulky football player.



‘You’re lucky you didn’t get any teeth broken.’ She sighed and let herself sack back on the other empty seat ‘Let’s just go before you get any other wise ideas…’

The rest of the way to Holly’s house was spent in grumpy silence. Shadee simply looked out the car’s window, without uttering a word and Sebastien was compelled to keep his mouth shut.



Had he crossed the line? He had only meant to revenge her, he knew perfectly well that the scumbag had no feelings for her, nor did he feel any remorse for what he had done. The mere thought made Sebastien angry all over again, he could barely restrain from turning round and returning to finish what he had started. Why did everything have to be so damn hard? Every time he wanted to do something noble, daring or simply had a plan for something, it all turned against him. He really was a hopeless case! Even his dearest, most recent plan had failed horribly.

‘Here we are.’ He observed quietly, pulling into the driveway of a small, cosy house with a pretty garden ‘From what I can remember Mrs Baker isn’t home today, so we’ll be able to hide this “event” from her.’



Shadee got out of the car and admired the surroundings. Strangely enough, she had never been to Holly’s house, nor to Sebastien’s, but at least the boy had a reason not to invite them over at his trailer to hang out.

‘It’s beautiful!’ she concluded, staring at the colorful, well-taken-care-of flowers ‘Mrs Baker must be an amazing woman, taking care of the house, earning money and raising a wonderful daughter all by herself.’



Holly didn’t have a father, she had never actually met him as he had left her mother pregnant and ran for it, never showing his face again. It may have been the scary thought of taking responsibility for his actions, or maybe it was simply because he didn’t love his girlfriend enough. The fact remains that, at the age of 18, Emilia Baker was all on her own, pregnant in five months and living on the streets. She had risen above her conditions though, being an ambitious, hard-working person and earned enough money to have a decent life.