bitch fest (Tara. Shuddup. Open after a bit)

[Lily Cameron]

Freak. If there was one thing Lily Cameron hated being called, it was a freak. Her family was dysfuntional as hell. And though it wasn't a bragging point, they all had different fathers, except for Emily, Lily, and Rory. They were the ones who had a coward for a father. Who knew where Sean was? Probably hiding from his family. Oh, and of course her alcoholic mother had disappeared, too. She knew it should have been reported, but then CPS would have gotten involved. They didn't need to be broken up anymore than they already were.

But now, there was an article in the Toronto Star. Lily found out about it from the maid. And when she read it, her eyes narrowed. It was a front page attack on her mom. Written by Maggie Maxwell.

Maxwell. There were two other Maxwells that she knew of. Mr. Maxwell was a new teacher, she didn't know much about him. And Tara. Lily wouldn't dare go yell at the teacher. But Tara? Oh, she could definitely go for Tara.

Lily hated feeling like a freak. So now, as she approached the school, she was on the hunt for a real freak. Bound and determined to find Tara and release her feelings and lash out, Lily scoured the hallway for her. When she found her, she approached her and immediately turned her around. "You're going to pay for your mom, bitch," she hissed at her, throwing the article at her.

[Deleted]

Tara had started the day off in a good mood today. She decided she no longer cared who Neveah wanted to hang out with. She was going to make a special cake for her dad in home ec today and throw a random party once she got home. She might even play with Chris that tonight. Yeah, today was going to be a good day. She was determine not to let anything bug her.

But then she was turned around, and Tara stared at the girl yelling at her. "huh?" she said, blinking. "Look, I don't even know you, but you need to back off." And she didn't. She had no idea who this girl was.

And then the newspaper was thrown. Tara picked it up and raised her eyebrows. "Ellie Nash. Your mom is Ellie Nash? Man. that's so cool" she said, but then realized why Lily was here yelling at her. "Look, my mom is a bitch. Just walk it off. I didn't do anything," she told her. As she said this, she attempted to push past her so she could walk away.

[Lily Cameron]

Lily scoffed, and when she tried to walk away, she grabbed the girl's shoulders and slammed her into the locker. "What's the matter? Teacher's pet don't want to fight?" she hissed, sending the first punch, to the girl's stomach. She had fury in her eyes. And all she wanted was to make someone pay for this. And it just so happened that Tara was a good choice. Lily didn't care what happened, she was determined to do this. The redhead had tunnel vision, even if Tara had no control over her mom.

"My mom is sick!" she yelled, pushing her into the locker again. "But where the hell is that in the article?! Huh?!" she clenched her fist, bringing it down on Tara's head. "Come on! Fight, you stupid bitch!"

[Deleted]

"More like teacher's kid. And no, I don't want to fight. It's stupid." She had always felt that fighting was stupid. Of course, she had been in her share of them. Well, ok, so she had only been in one fight. Still, she didn't believe in doing it unless she absolutely had to. But when she was punched in the stomach, it became clear to her that she was going to have to.

What would her father say? Tara winced at the pain in her stomach, but as much as she wanted to not let this girl beat her to a pulp, she didn't want to disappoint her dad, either. He was all that she had left. If she did this, she would never forgive herself. No, she wouldn't let him down. He was her daddy.

Coughing, Tara barely managed to stand before she connected with her locker again. "Seriously. I'm not fighting. I have no reason to fight. You say my mom's a bitch? I agree. We're on the same page. Seriously, we do not need to fight."

[Lily Cameron]

Lily couldn't believe her ears. She didn't want to fight. She was even willing to put her own mom down to ward Lily off. Well, Lily wasn't going to take it. Glaring, she brought her fist into her stomach again. "I said fight!" Lily had never been a bully. But this was different. She felt like she needed this. She had a right to do this.

"You wimp! Fight me!" she hissed again, putting her hands on her shoulders and pinning her against the locker. "If you don't, I'll keep on attacking you in between every class every single day until you give in. Either you'll fight, or you'll be living with bruises and black eyes for a long, long time." And she'd do it, too. Lily felt like she could just punch and kick and take her emotions out on someone for a long, long time.

[Deleted]

This girl was crazy. Tara stared at her, wide-eyed. She did not want to fight! But, she didn't want to have to be hiding for the rest of her life, either. At this point, her mind started reasoning in favor of fighting. What would her father say if he saw her beaten and bloodied every single day? She couldn't tell him who it was, because she didn't even know her. She didn't share a single class with the girl. And Ellie Nash's daughter wasn't exactly a specific description. Wouldn't he want her to defend herself?

"You want a fight?" she snapped, grabbing her hair and forcing her on the floor. Her fist clenched, she punched her cheek, while keeping hold of her hair with the other hand. She no longer cared that they were in the middle of the hallway, at school. She cared that she wanted this girl to back off, and if she had to force her, then she would.

[Lily Cameron]

Why was she even doing this? She was defending a woman who would much rather drink than be around her kids. Lily honestly didn't really fully understand it. But something inside of her wanted to make someone pay for the article. It could have very well destroyed her mother's work. But why did she care? She wasn't sure. But at the moment, she didn't want to be philosophical. She wanted to take action.

finally! When Tara grabbed her hair, Lily sprung into action. As the girls fell to the ground. Lily kicked the other girl's knees and turned so she was pinning her down. She knew she wouldn't have much time before the fight was split up. So she wanted to take advantage of it while she could. Digging her nails into the other girl's arms, she clenched her first and punched her face. This time, she wasn't going to give her a chance to get up. Punch after punch after punch came pounding into her cheek, her nose, her eyes.

[Deleted]

And now, Tara was seeing why it this was a mistake.

She couldn't fight! She had no way of defending herself. As Lily rolled them over, she tried to get a punch in here and there, but Lily was faster. Oh, why had she given in? She never felt so stupid. Finally, Tara covered her head. "Get off me already you dumb bitch!" she yelled. She was getting tired of being hit real quick. Now that her arms covered her head, they were taking the blows that were meant for her face, but that didn't provide any comfort. She wanted to get out of that situation and now.

Daddy, help! She was tempted to yell it out. She knew she couldn't, though. She would be labeled a freak or something. Tara wasn't ashamed of her dad, but at the same time, she didn't want to be laughed at. Though, there were kids nearby. Tara couldn't see with her eyes squeezed shut, but she could hear the "fight! fight! fight! fight!" echoing through the halls. All she could do was silently wish that her dad would hear the chants and come rushing to save her.

[Danny Maxwell]

Danny couldn't count how many times he ever heard the fight chant. In the last ten years, he probably heard it even more in one year than he would when he was actually in a high school setting himself. But, back then, as a student, there were more chances to miss it. Whereas, as a teacher, you tended to hear the call and they dealt with it more often than not. And he'd broken up his share of cat fights and guys trying to beat the hell out of each other. At his last school, there had been a couple of particularly violent guys that he had to pull back a number of times. It was one of those few times that being physical and aggressive was pretty necessary. There was one particular kid that he didn't know how many times he had to shove him into a wall until he calmed the hell down enough to send him off. It was worse when there was a victim involved, rather than just two kids having a pissing match. He'd just left the teacher's lounge when he heard the yelling. And quickly moved through the crowd that was gathering. "Out of the way."

Naturally, he wasn't the only teacher that heard it and others came to deal with the problem, but he managed to get to the two involved quicker than they had, only to be shocked at who was involved. "Hey, break it up!" He called, but without hesitation, he grabbed Lily and tugged her off of his daughter and put himself in between, first addressing Lily. "Get to the office. Now." It was standard, really. If there was a fight, you sent them off to the office immediately. You didn't sit around and ask why it started, because that was what the principal was there for. "The rest of you, move on. Before Snyder gets out here and we have to move detention to the auditorium." Then, with that addressed, he crouched down and held out a hand to Tara. "Here, come on." He said, voice softer then, concerned, naturally. She was getting pummeled by the other girl.

[Deleted]

Lily glared at him. "Bite me," she said, and instead pushed past the crowd to head in the opposite direction. She no longer cared if she got in trouble. All she had wanted to do was beat up Tara, and she had managed it. So why wasn't she completely happy? Lily shook her head and ignored everyone else, just headed for the door. Even Snyder couldn't stop her.

Tara watched as the crowd broke off before looking up at her dad. Slowly, she reached up and took his hand, standing up. "Hi," she said, with look that pleaded innocence. She didn't really want to deal with the wrath of her dad over her being in a fight. Especially since it was a fight she hadn't wanted to be in. She really should have gone with her first answer. If it had been her dad that it was over, Tara would have dove right into the fight. But her mom? She didn't care about her. Maggie had done a good job of making sure that Tara knew just how high of a priroty she was. There was no way she wanted to defend her.

"I have class," she said, though she knew better than that. She knew that it was not going to be that easy to get away from him. Tara loved her dad. He was her whole world. But he was far from perfect. And Tara definitely felt that his insistence on talking over every little thing was one of his imperfections. And since the class she had coming up was free period, Tara knew that it was a long shot. Still, who could blame her for trying? "I'll...see you later?" she was hopeful, even though everything about this situation told her she had no right to be.