The front door was open when they pulled up at Ness's old home, her mom, ever watchful, was on the porch before Zach had even cut the engine
"Vanessa, darling! You came by car, how lovely, who's the driver?" She fired the question at her daughter then paused as Zach stepped out and smiled at her
"Hello, Mrs. Godwin, hope you don't mind that Ness invited me along" he said
"Zachary Greene?" she responded questioningly
"That's me" Zach confirmed and received a warm smile in response
"No fighting allowed in the house" she warned them both with a grin on her face, then turned to Ness," What happened to the boyfriend? Ian wasn't it?"
"We broke up, he fell off the back of the bike and bruised his ego" Ness replied, trying not to laugh again at her unfortunate ex,
"Well, I'm glad you brought someone and came by car too, it's nice to have a girly daughter for a change." They all laughed as they walked into Ness's childhood home.
Zach marveled at the thought of being married as long as Ness's parents, 28 years seemed such a long time but then he remembered he had known Ness for 11 years already and suddenly time seemed irrelevant. Mr. Godwin had insisted Zach drink with them and now he didn't feel able to safely drive Ness back to the City,
"How much have you had to drink Ness?" He asked quietly
"More than you, why?" she replied
"I've had too much to drive"
"Shit…" Ness muttered to herself, then raising her voice a little "Don't suppose we can stay over Mom? We've both had too much to drink"
"Of course, you can, you don't mind sleeping on the couch do you Zachary?"
"No problem, I could sleep standing up if need be" he replied
"I'd like to see that sometime" Mr. Godwin interjected with a laugh" Sorry I made you drink so much; you really couldn't say no!"
Ness was carrying her shoes as she wandered out to the front porch, Zach followed and sat on the step next to her
"Heels too much?" He asked
"Yep, my toes are all squashed, it's like I kicked the crap outta someone with my bare feet" Ness responded making Zach wince. "Not that I would ever kick someone with my toes, I'm not that crazy"
"Oh my God, you remember Kelly?" said Zach
"I knew you would get what I meant, was that 9th grade or had we made it to 10th by then?" Ness laughed
"Still 9th, if I remember correctly, she was so mad at you!"
They sat side by side on the porch as they drifted back into their memories.
********************
"Hey Godwin!" Kelly Riven yelled down the school hallway, making every conversation stop dead and all eyes turn to look at the target of her shout, Ness Godwin closed her eyes and took a slow deep breath, her few friends stepped back, knowing the signs, they had seen them enough times over the last few months since Ness had arrived.
"Stay the fuck away from my boyfriend!" Kelly continued, barreling towards Ness
"What? I haven't been anywhere near him" Ness responded quietly, a stark contrast to that of Kelly's loud blustering, the friends took another step backwards.
"I saw you smile at him, he's mine! You can't have him, you fat bitch!" Kelly knew not to get too close, she was angry but not stupid, instead of trying to punch the girl she saw as a rival for her guy's affections, she kicked, her pump flew off and skimmed past Ness's ear, Ness raised her fist to block the kick; the sickening sound of multiple bones breaking at once echoed through the silence, Kelly, with no idea how to kick safely had been leading with her toes instead of her heel or the top of her foot and the toes had connected with Ness's hardened fist. Kelly Screamed in pain and suddenly the hallway came to life again as people realized it was a non-event, Ness shrugged, picked up the shoe and dropped it in front of Kelly,
"Wrong shoes to wear for kicking; I don't want to be anywhere near your douchebag boyfriend whoever the fuck he is and I'm not fat but keep this shit up and you will have a fat lip. Now go cry to Mr. Wheeler and get me another detention, I'm done with you." Ness said coldly, Mr. Wheeler was the Principal, and Ness knew the inside of his office almost better than he did himself.
"I'll back you up Ness, it was self-defense" Zach Greene spoke from behind her, she spun around to face him a snarky retort on her lips, "You are not getting a detention without me, both in or nothing and I don't fancy a fight today." He continued
"I didn't ask for a fight, and you can't even call that scuffle a fight." Ness replied as Kelly hobbled away
"You won't get a detention, I'll get you suspended, bitch" she said
"You call me a bitch like it's a bad thing," Ness retorted just as the bell rang for class.
As expected, she was pulled from class to see Mr. Wheeler and dutifully went, her head held high all the way
"Vanessa, explain please, why I have had to call you in yet again." He said once she was seated opposite him.
"Kelly accused me of trying to steal her boyfriend, which is absurd since I don't even know who her boyfriend is, then she called me a fat bitch and then she tried to kick me in the face, I raised my hand to protect myself and her foot hit it. I even retrieved her shoe for her." Ness made her statement simply and concisely.
"That doesn't tally with what miss Riven has said, were there any witnesses?"
"Everyone in the hall saw it but I doubt they would be willing to make any kind of statement. Zach Greene is willing, but you probably won't take his word as reliable." Ness shrugged.
"On the contrary, despite his propensity to fight, much like yourself, I have never had cause to mistrust his word, if he corroborates your story, this will go no further." Mr. Wheeler said, his voice calm, Ness could see a steely determination in his eyes though and she felt sorry for Kelly, the Principal hated fighting, but he really hated false accusations, Kelly was likely to get a detention herself.
Zach was as good as his word, but Ness made an enemy that day, Kelly hated her, and Kelly's boyfriend Connor finished with her for being too clingy and possessive; he didn't ask Ness out though, not that she would have dated him, Ness thought he was a manipulative douche and couldn't see why the girls all swarmed over him. Zach was twice the man he would ever be.