As the party carried on further into the night, the celebration grew more feverish and many more people piled into the house. Despite the tempting boisterous activity occurring all around us, Clarice, Sophie and I stuck together. Currently, the three of us made the kitchen island our temporary safe haven. We were comfortable with sticking around each other, simply because we were close friends. There was no need to branch out to strangers and put ourselves into an unpleasant situation. Truly, I was content with sticking close to these girls.
At least, that was the idea until our co-created bubble of tranquility was popped. The three of us were the only occupants present in the kitchen, leaving plenty of room for people that none of us recognized to file into the space. Even Clarice, who knew almost everyone at Whitewood, couldn't testify that she's ever seen the six males before. They immediately had their sights on us and that was when I knew something was off. Sensing the tension filtering through the air, I pulled Clarice and Sophie behind me in a protective manner. The six strangers blocked all of our exits out of the kitchen and we were trapped. Unable to do anything else, I backed us up into the corner of the kitchen with the pantry door flush against us.
Once they closed in and surrounded us with wicked smirks on their faces, I stood in front of them in a defensive manner, promising myself that I wouldn't let them get hurt. Clarice and Sophie were my friends that I cared about, and Jacob would kill me if his girlfriend has so much as a scratch.
"Florence, they're Kingsmen," Sophie whispered, peering over my shoulder.
One of the Kingsmen stepped forwards and I narrowed my eyes at them. They were already in dangerous territory, and stepping closer to us was going to land them in even hotter water. From heart, I knew that the girls and I weren't going to get out of this without some sort of fight. Unfortunately, I've seen this far too many times before to know that a brawl wasn't imminent.
"Why so serious?" the kingsman question in a cocky tone. "We just want to show you a good time is all."
"Wait isn't that Jacob's girl?" one of them suddenly said, pointing to the female over my shoulder.
Sophie tensed up behind me, immediately grabbing the back of my jacket in fear. It was bad enough that these jerks were trying to push us into a corner with no other way out. Now they were going to attempt to deal damage to Jacob by hurting Sophie. To think that she could be targeted didn't sit too well with me, and I was sure to get even.
"Girls, get in the pantry. I will deal with this," I ordered, nodding towards the glass door.
"But Florence-"
"Now!" I snapped, leaving no room for argument.
The two of them scrambled inside the storage area and shut the door behind them, creating a barrier between the incoming fight and their safety. Once they were reasonably safe, I was free to handle the situation any way that I saw fit. In this case, the only way out was to fight my way out.
"If you want to get to them, you'll have to go through me first," I said with conviction as I cracked my knuckles. "Unlike you idiots, we have dignity. Then again, assholes like you wouldn't understand that."
I watched in satisfaction as their cocky expressions fell off of their faces, only to be replaced with ones of anger and displeasure. This only caused the smirk on my face to grow.
"You're outnumbered, girl. I suggested you apologize before things get ugly."
"The only ugly things I see you and your side chicks."
Fortunately, my taunt was successful and clearly agitated the Kingsmen to the point where they lost their cool and decided charging at me was a good idea. The first victim rushed towards me with a reeled back fist and attempted to clock me in the face. I will admit that he was fast, but I was faster to react. I easily blocked his punch and kindly returned the gesture to his sorry face. My fist connected with the frail cartilage of his nose, feeling the frail cartilage crack underneath the force of my punch. He recoiled back in agony, immediately cupping his face as blood rushed down from his broken nose. Ignoring the look of shock on his face, I drove my forearm into his throat and sent him falling to the floor.
When the others finally realized what I just did to their friend, they finally decided that it was a good time to jump in for vengeance. However, they didn't account for the sudden rush of adrenaline surging through my veins that only seemed to energize me. Although I was experiencing a rush, I kept my cool and focused. Spinning my body around, I lifted my leg and delivered a fluid kick to two Kingsmen's heads in a row. Their bodies crumpled to the ground like paper before groveling at my feet. Spotting another Kingsman, I stepped on the pair's body and jumped on the poor guy. Wrapping my legs around his torso, I punched him square in the face before grabbing his collar. As I pulled myself backwards, he was unable to support himself and fell forwards. Using his momentum, I rolled onto the floor and threw him over me. He was knocked out the moment his face crashed into the cabinets.
"Florence!"
Before I could react in time, I was suddenly and forcefully grabbed from behind and a pair of arms wrapped around my throat. As I struggled, their grip around my neck tightened in an attempt to strangle me. Lifting both of my feet against the edge of the counter, I pushed back against the island, driving both of us backwards. The Kingsman back hit the counter and he released his hold around me. In the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a large frying pan sitting in the drying rack. Grabbing it, I whipped myself around and swung the cooking pan into the guy's head.
From behind, I heard another Kingsman charging towards me with the intention of taking a swing at me. I held up to frying pan in protest. However, before he was in range, the boy was tackled to the ground and a far larger figure began to punch the life out of him. An unconscious gasp flew from my throat as the Kingsman was yanked to his feet before his face was slammed into the counter.
"Caleb!" I managed to yell before he was jumped.
Caleb was taken off guard as the last Kingsman kept up with his assault and managed to get in a few punches of his own. Feeling the responsibility to help him, I whistled at him while holding up the frying pan. Caleb was quick to understand where I was going and responded with a nod. He grappled the guy's arm before roughly shoving him towards me.
"Batter up!" he yelled, playing the role as a pitcher.
The Kingsman flew towards me, urging that I sharpen my battering form to perfection. I swung the pan like a baseball bat and connected with my target. The sound of a metallic thump echoed through the kitchen and the boy collapsed to the ground. The other boys appeared in the kitchen at the same time and watched in awe.
"Homerun!" Travis suddenly yelled. "And Florence scores the final point for the jackalopes! Whitewood has achieved winner winner chicken dinner!"
Taking a deep breath to calm down my racing heart, I carelessly dropped the frying pan onto a Kingsman's head, earning an abrupt "ow." Rolling my eyes, I smoothed my dress of any wrinkles and pulled my jacket back onto my shoulders after it had fallen to my elbows. The girls cautiously left the pantry, immediately looking down at the unconscious bodies at their feet. Suddenly, Sophie was tackled by Jacob, who made her wellness his top priority.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked, cupping her face.
"I'm okay…" she whispered, noticing his busted lip.
Clarice embraced me in a hug and I couldn't help but hug her back in relief. She thanked me in a breathless whisper and I could only shake my head. I felt that it was my job to look after my friends, no question about it; it was just in my nature. Pulling away from each other, Felix came up to me and patted my head in solace before offering me a grateful smile. In the corner of my eye, I caught Caleb staring me at once again, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
"Well done Florence," Tristan nodded in approval. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?"
"O-Oh y-you know…" I chuckled nervously, hoping to avoid the question. "We should get these bodies out of here."
"You make it sound like we murdered these bastards. Although, I wish we did," Jacob replied. "But you're right. If my parents find these bodies here, they'd kill me for letting things get out of hand."
Deciding to help the boys, I grabbed the arms of the Kingsman who ate my homerun and pulled the body out of the kitchen. Or, at least I tried to. Although I was able to take them down, dragging their heavy, unconscious bodies were out of the question. If anything, the best I could do was one foot at a time.
"What are you doing?"
Puffing my cheeks out, I stared at Caleb with an unamused glare as I pulled the body another twelve inches. Without another word, he lugged the body onto his shoulder and disappeared out the front door.
Sighing, I made my way into the living room and joined the girls on the couch. During the fight earlier, the commotion caused the party guests to flee the house and disappear into the night. This left plenty of room for us to gather our thoughts and console each other after what happened.