( deathless girl.)

              Without much thought and acting on pure,  i r r a t i o n a l  anger, Lance smacked Kiran’s hand away from his frame. “ Watch the tone?? Your mate SLAPPED Nadia, and you’re telling me to watch it?? What, is she gonna’ smack me one too, Kiran, or are you?? ”He challenged, staring Kiran purposefully in the eye. What would you do if someone slapped Amma?? Words Lance communicated with a tip of his head, because he couldn’t say them aloud. “ I don’t know why you’re being such a  d i c k  lately, but good. Pardy was better off without you, Krum and Benji acting like twats anyways. And YOU, ” he pointed at Benji, “ don’t you go near Nadia again.  E V E R. ”

The air had shifted as soon as Kiran stepped in front of her, protecting her from...Lance. Her eyes fell to the other boy’s burning with anger. While Benji had never gotten along with him, his betrayal hurt no less. “Nadia slapped your mate. Where were you when that happened, huh?” Benji planted herself firm in between Lance and Kiran now, fists curling at her side. “The only wasteman here is you. What happened to your loyalty?” She asked, righteous indignation causing her to push his hand away as she stepped forward. Where his cause was noble this time around, Benji couldn’t just allow Kiran to take this -- not from Lance. “Don’t go near Kiran. If this is how you’re going to be. And Nadia don’t even come close to him again or It’ll be much worse than a slap.”

“Yeah, I can’t fucking take this anymore, Beni,” Kiran muttered under his breath, restless from his sessions with Atlas, and beyond frustrated from his conversation with Nadia. “Everyone’s chatting bare shit, manz getting bare vexed, init yeah, and this close to blowing it.” Above it all, however, the worst part was how sad Amma looked all the time. “This is fucking hard.”

“Do you want me to talk with your dad?” She asked, tone lighter than it should have been. Truthfully, Benji had wanted to put an ed to the situation before it got to this point. IT would have been easier if it was her that had recieved the backlash but surprisingly it was Kiran. “Amma will make it. I know she’s hurt and I know you are but it’s for her own good, right? We can get through it-- You can get through it. If it’s too much let’s just leave?”

“This has—-” Nadia grimaced, “This drink tastes like it has soap in it; why am I not surprised….”

Benji had seen more than she’d like to of Nadia’s altercation with Kiran and she couldn’t stop herself from charging over to make it -- a fair fight. With out a word, she drew her hand back and with a loud pop it landed against the other girl’s cheek. “If you’re going to go around hitting people, don’t be a coward and hit people that can’t hit back.”