Dakota had just finished dressing and stood there talking to the twins about how badly they had all lost to Rebel. He found out that before he had gotten out of the locker room,  Rebel had already beaten Ronny. “I swear guys she got me with that damn choke hold. It was brutal, I—.”

“That damn bitch!” Dakota's headsnapped around to see a topless Rebel stomping over to them, the twins covering each other's eyes out of respect. She did not look the least bit happy, in fact she looked as if she had just killed someone—oh, I hope she didn’t kill anyone, he thought.

“Bell wh—.”

“I need a shirt.” She hissed cutting off what he was gonna say. “I said, I need a freaking shirt!” She yelled, punching the locker next to mine. "Please... Dakota." She was panting like she had after their fight and he I archednodded, seeing her remove her hand from the locker to see that she actually dented it.

“Okay, calm down Bell, what happened? And why are you parading around here topless?” he was confused and wanted answers.

“I don’t have a damn top because you aren’t giving me one!”

“Rebel!” he countered, clamping his hands down on her shoulders to hold her in place. “Bell, breathe,” She snares, but closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, “good, now, tell me what happened.”

Her brown eyes met his, the fury in them visible. “That little skank tore my shirt and I need another one—I only packed one.” She told him through gritted teeth. Dakota knew that she was trying to not shout and get on about whatever just happened to her, and he was happy that she was calming down.

“Okay, I understand. I have an extra one,” his voice was soft as he bent to pick up his bag and pulled out a gray vest for her. He would always keep an extra top for her in case what she’s wearing during a fight gets torn.

He held it out her and she snatched it from his hand. He stood there as she tugged it on then looked back at me with a stern gaze. “Thank you. Can we go now?”

“Yeah, we can leave. Guys, we'll see ya.” He grabbed his bag and followed after Rebel. A whistle came from one of the rows off lockers and Dakota threw a glare over his shoulder. The twins sent a weak bye from behind them as they finally uncovered their eyes. Dakota could tell that they were worried, because Rebel was mad, but he was more worried about what had happened in the girl’s locker room.

He just really hoped that she didn’t kill anybody, but on their way out of the locker room. He saw a commotion going on by the girl’s room and he prayed that no one was killed.

~ ~ ~

The car ride over to Rebel's house was painfully silent and it seemed like they were driving for ages. It was excruciating and Dakota hated when she was silent like that, it never was a good sign when Rebel was quiet. It was always bad news.

When he pulled up infront of her house he shut off the car and neither of them said a word for a while. They just sat in the car not exchanging words or even glances or anything for that matter.

Just silence.

In some ways the silence felt almost peaceful, almost. The tension however, was too thick in the air for it to be even remotely close to comfortable. A sigh from Rebel broke the ongoing silence that had come to be too eerie for him. She twisted in her seat so that she could look at him. "I don't wanna talk about it, so no questions, okay." He nodded at her command and when he did, she grabbed her bag from the backseat and got out of the car, and jogged up to the door then went inside.

Dakota couldn't help but feel conflicted. He contemplated going home and just forgetting about it, like she clearly wanted him to do... but he didn't know what possessed him to get out of the car and follow after her. He unlocked the door with the key that he had. Mrs. Mills had given it to him about two years ago since he was there mostly every day, and so it was something of trust and responsibility.

It was still kind of early, so Ryder and Mrs. Mills weren't home yet, but Riella was so he knew the house shouldn't be empty.

Dakota walked upstairs to Rebel's room and took a deep breath as he knocked on her door normally he'd just go on inside, since she rarely closed her door, but right now he felt like he had to knock. He stood there for what felt like an hour—which in reality it was only a few seconds, before he opened the door and carefully peeked inside and saw Rebel lying sprawled out across the bed with her head down in a pillow. Her bag carelessly thrown to the floor and her shoes still on her feet, hanging limply off the edge of the bed.

"Rebel?" He whispered. When he didn't hear a reply he sighed and thought it better to just leave her alone so she can relax or sleep. He dropped his bag by her door, and walked inside of the room, then knelt by where her head was and gently kissed her forehead. "Bye Bells, call me when you feel like talking. I'll even come back over if you want me to." No response. He sighed again. Dakota was about to stand up when Rebel's arms flew around his neck as she hugged him to herself. He let out a sigh of relief at her response and hugged her back.

She let go after a few seconds and buried her head back into the pillow. He smiled at her,  then walked back to the door, picked up his bag and left the room, walking down the stairs. "Oh, hey Dakota."

He stopped and looked back to see Riella sitting on the couch eating doritos. "Hey Ella."

"Where's Rebel?"

"Upstairs, something happened and, she isn't in the mood to share."

Riella finally looked at the teen. "Why?" He shook his head. "Wish I could tell you. Something happened with Mindy at the gym, and now she's furious and isn't speaking to me, but she isn't mad at me, so, that's a plus."

"Okay. Well, drive safely." He smiled. "I will. Goodnight." She waved him off as he turned and left the house. Riella got up and looked out the window nearest the couch and saw Dakota getting into his car and driving off. She looked towards the stairs and wondered what it was that made Rebel clam up. Riella took her bag of chips and went upstairs to her sister's room.

She pushed open the door and stood by the entry eating her chips in a loud fashion. Rebel was lying on her bed, face down and fully clothed in a hoodie, and loose pants with her shoes still on. "Hey Bell, you good?" Nothing.

Riella rolled her eyes, "Okay, so Dakota told me that Mindy showed up at the gym is that why you're so..." she rolled her cheesy hand around, "gloomy?" Riella didn't expect a reply, but she at least thought that she'd be shooed off or something. Rebel's knuckles looked like they had been bruised, there was dried blood there, and the flesh around then were deep shades of purple and red, meaning that she had gotten into a fight that didn't involve her using boxing gloves or her normal rounds with her friends.

She hummed softly, still eating her chips. If Rebel had left the gym in a good condition without more than injured knuckles, then, it was more than likely that Mindy didn't leave with less than a bloody nose or worse. She had seen her sister and that Mindy chick fight a few times over the years. Mindy seemed like she would be looking for the trouble that she found whenever she was around Riella's big sister. Rebel was not the kind to provoke anyone unless she had her reasons, and she pretty much kept to herself and her friends and family, so it perplexed Riella, how often the two girls got into so many fights.

She licked her fingers, savoutu ing the lingering spicy taste, maybe it was because Rebel was an undefeated fighter, or because Mindy's comebacks were weaker than hers, maybe the girl just didn't like her face, or maybe she did. Riella wasn't sure what it was, and she didn't care to find out. All she wanted to know now, was why her sister was in a mood. "You know I can stand here until you say something, right? I've done all my homework and TV has nothing intelligent enough to keep my attention."

Rebel grumbled as a response and Riella rolled her eyes as she folded the doritos bag before she dropped it in the small waste basket by her sisters nightstand. She walked into the adjoining bathroom, washed her hands and then retrieved the first aid kit from under the sink and walked back our to her. She headed for where she Rebel had her hands rested. She pulled the chair from the desk and sat before her sister. She opened the kit next to her and looked for the antibiotic wipes to clean off her knuckles. Slowly she picked up her sisters hand, the left one first and began cleaning. She heard a hiss from Rebel but she didn't move her hand away as her little sister tended to her bruises.

"I didn't want to fight her..." Riella looked up to see that Rebel had turned her face towards her. Her eyes puffy, her complexion looking dull. "I bet. How bad did she look?"

Rebel scoffed. "She was a bloody mess... she even brought backup. Like what the hell is wrong with that girl?"

Riella shrugged. "Maybe it's mental. Or maybe she's jealous... hey, she could be attracted to you." Rebel sucked her teeth and shook her head. "I'm not attracted to stupid and suicidal." Riella chuckled, moving over to the coat Rebel's knuckles with some medicine before she began to wrap it in gauze bandaging. "Dakota feels bad." She groaned and dropped her face back down. Riella moved on to her next hand. Rebel lifted her head again. "He'll be fine..."

She stopped, the antibiotic wipe hovering over Rebel's knuckles. "Why didn't you just tell him? He left here looking like a kicked puppy."

She shrugged. "Urgh, I'm bad at... look, I was just furious with that idiot at the gym, okay. She said... nothing, nothing. Forget it." Riella pressed her thumb down hard on her sisters knuckles and Rebel yelped. "What the fuck Ella!"

"What did she tell you, Rebel?" She glared at her younger sister, but Riella just looked at her, not pitying her, she'd never do that to Rebel, she respected her too much to ever pity her, Rebel wasn't one that was showed pity just because. There was just more to the story than she was letting on, and Riella wanted to know. "Urgh, you're so stubborn."

"I guess it's genetic. Now, explain." Rebel fixed herself up on her left elbow, flexing her left hand slowly, happy that some of the ache was numbed. It had hurt, but it was nothing that she'd cry over, she's had worse injuries.

"She said that I'd be lonely and unsuccessful no matter what... I'm paraphrasing, but, that's what she said. I mean I know it's not true, but she used that as a last resort to get me angry enough to fight her after I refused several times." Her eyes looking ady her hands as Riella searched her face. "Who the fuck does that?" She whispers, more to herself than her sister.

"Rebel... do you know just how smart and gorgeous you are? Sure, you may be rough around the edges, but your personality is nice,  once someone gets to know you. I mean, didn't you even apply for the modeling thing at the mall? Sis, you just can't let that bully get to you. She doesn't know you, not like I do... not like Dakota does—and no one knows you better than Dakota." She smiled and then watched as Rebel copied her smile, chuckling as she met her sisters soft brown eyes. "You're gonna be a great doctor some day Rie, I can tell."

Riella grinned. "Thank you, thank you." The girls laughed and then Riella sighed, "and you're gonna be a beautiful, successful model one day. I know it."

"Thank you Riella."

"Always."

Riella continued to work on cleaning Rebel's hand and Rebel couldn't have been happier to have a sister like her in her life.