"So you're really telling him?" Taylor whispers, shocked that I'm even informing her of this. "The whole story?"

I nod and shuffle around my textbooks while stacking them inside. "Yeah. He needs to know that I'm not being a bitch for no reason."

"Why would he think that?" She rubs her lips together, snapping her compact mirror shut.

I slowly shut my locker and face her while leaning on the metal. As I open my mouth to talk I notice Rhys standing across the hall with some girl. He's leaning on the locker with a small smile and I feel a painful twist in my chest at the sight as she laughs.

Slowly my facial expression falls and I know the sour look is overcoming my face. Taylor furrows her eyebrows and looks around letting out a low 'o'. I flicker my eyes between them and Taylor before resting on them across the hall with a fire in my gut.

The girl isn't someone I recognize but I'm assuming she's in our year. I thought Rhys didn't talk to others. She pushes off and places her hand on his shoulder batting her eyelashes at him. My nails dig into the locker on instinct, noticing the way his eyes trail down her figure.

"Who the hell is she?"

Taylor doesn't answer and I figure how stupid my question is, especially when Rhys removes her hand from his shoulder. He gives a small smile and says something that I don't understand, like that her reaction turns sour before she stomps off down the hall after slapping him.

"I don't think it really matters because she got rejected," She stiffles a laugh and sighs. "What does matter is the fact you had jealously radiating off of you."

"Can you blame me?"

I close my eyes realizing what I just blurted out. "Seriously? Rhys likes you for you and there's no reason to be insecure or jealous."

"Is she okay?" I open my eyes as Rhys stops beside us. "Are you okay?"

Nodding I readjust my posture or more so retract my nails from the locker. "I'm perfectly fine. Are you ready?"

"Let's go," He gestures for me to walk and I do while Taylor gives me a thumbs up. I adjust my bag strap on my shoulder only to feel his fingers brush against my hand. "I'm guessing you saw Emma's attempt to seduce me."

"What makes you say that?"

"There's no reason to be insecure or jealous, Taylor kind of gave it away."

I huff. "I'm not like that. I don't do the jealously stuff."

"I don't mind if you are because it tells me you care about us," He opens the door for me and I hesitantly step out into the nippy air. "There still is a us, right?"

Rhys seems awkward asking that question and by the wide eyes he's nervous. I stop walking, tilting my head to the side as he fidgets for an answer. A sad smile smiles onto my lips and I speak a truthful answer that could potentially end up becoming a reality.

"You can decide that after I tell you what's going on," His eyes meet mine and the smile fades. "Because you might not want to deal with me after it."

Shifting stances in the door frame I watch as Rhys stands on Nate's bed, shoe in hand to kill the spider. I'd laugh at the fact Nate is currently hiding behind me but if that thing moves I'll be following his lead in running out the front door. I'm not overly keen on spiders, not of that size.

He lines it up and hits the wall with a loud thump. I turn away seeing it get stuck to the wall while Nate gags, leaving the brothers to deal with its guts I head to Rhys' room. Hanging my bag on a hook I rest my hands on my head as a knot works itself into my stomach.

Am I really going to tell him?

I need to. He needs to have an explanation to my bizarre moods. Besides that, he's been honest with me when it came to his past job and relationship with his father. He should know about my mother because then it would all make sense.

We both have things that affect our actions and they constantly haunt us. His past mistakes have affected his reputation, almost stopping him from moving past them. While I can't dance without having an anchor holding me back with thoughts of my mom.

"You don't have to tell me if it's stressing you out," Rhys' voice snaps me from my thoughts and I see him shrug off his jacket to hang it up. "I'd rather not have your mental health deteriorate over having something concealed."

"When I tell you can you promise that nobody else finds out? That means Nate because I don't need him to know this about me." Rhys' eyes flicker over my face momentarily before he closes the door amd walks over to his bed.

"It stays between us," He pats beside him while kicking off his shoes. "Sit. Make yourself comfortable."

I walk over slowly and remove my shoes before climbing onto his bed. I sit cross legged while he sits on one of his legs to face me. How do I start this? I've never had to explain this to someone, they've all found out from somebody else.

I fiddle with my ring and decide with the obvious option. "What do you think happened to my parents?" Looking up I notice his eyebrows furrow. "I told you I came from a broken family, you've seen my father but not my mom."

"A divorce?" He guesses and I chuckle lightly with a nod.

"They were in the process of getting a divorce because they weren't happy and that showed when my father had an affair," I exhale and let out a humorless chuckle. "About a year later my mom's parents had died and with her failing marriage it was a lot to handle but she refused to sign the papers."

"How come you live with your father then?"

"Because she's dead," I drop eye contact with Rhys and force myself to continue. "The day before my fifteenth birthday she overdosed on her medication that I wasn't even aware she was taking. It should have been the first sign and that got my father to back off a bit with the divorce because clearly she was fragile. She was depressed to the point she had to be admitted for a month to a mental clinic."

"Kira-"

"When she came back we thought she was better but clearly we were too stupid to realise by her acting normal - it was the biggest plead for help," I can feel my heart picking up pace. "About four months later I had come home from hanging out with the dance team to discover an envelope on my bed. Not only was it a suicide note but the divorce papers were tucked in with it, I didn't know that at the time because I went straight for their bedroom only to see what she had done to herself in the bathroom."

Surprisingly I'm not a heaving mess but an oddly calm one. I think I had my melt down on the weekend over her death. But I think it might have something to do with the fact I don't want to trigger a panic attack in front of Rhys. He doesn't need to know about that minor detail when he's got bigger things to worry about.

"I have a feeling there's more to this." Rhys whispers and I nod.

"My panic attacks were triggered by certain things; mirrors because the one in the bathroom was shattered, people staring like the neighbors did when an ambulance was called, for a while I couldn't go in my old bedroom without feeling like it was all my fault," I bite the inside of my cheek, the weight on my chest getting heavier. "I blame myself for her death because if I had listened to her and been home in time, she wouldn't have bled out in my arms or I could have stopped it completely."

"It's not your fault that your mother killed herself," Rhys snaps and when he notices my flinch he softens his voice. "It isn't your fault, Kira. She had depression, she was fighting it but couldn't hang on any longer. You can't blame yourself over something that isn't in your control."

"I could-"

"No you couldn't have done anything else," I finally look up to stop myself from fiddling with my ring. "You can't let the past define you because it will destroy your future. I know it doesn't really make a difference but I'm telling you that you aren't responsible for her death, despite what you've convinced yourself up here."

He gently taps my temple while giving a soft smile. Slowly his hand slips down to cup my cheek and I find myself leaning into the warmth it provides. I can feel a strain on my chest but it's not from guilt or the anxiety I was feeling about telling him. This feeling is one I'm not familiar with because a simple touch from Rhys can calm me.

It's a mixture of fear and admiration.

Rhys moves closer and cups my other cheek before pressing a kiss to my forehead to provide comfort to me. "Thank you."

"For what?" He pulls back and picks up my hand, fiddling with my fingers. "All I did was listen and give my opinion."

"You didn't say you were sorry," I smile softly and his eyes flicker with emotion. "I don't like getting pity or sympathy. It's a nice change."

There's a knock on the door and it opens a few seconds later. "Hows the fighting -" Nate stops looking at us in confusion. "I thought you said you were teaching her some moves."

"We just had to talk first," Rhys pulls me up with him before taking a few steps away with a sheepish smile. "I kind of wanted to go over something with you today, actually two things that are pretty useful."

"A warning would have been nice," I exhale but nod. "But sure, why not?"

"Alright Nate try to strangle me," Rhys gestures his brother to come at him and I raise an eyebrow. He looks hesitant and Rhys reassures him. "I won't actually hurt you."

"Like I believe that." He starts towards Rhys and his hands wrap around his throat.

"You're left handed, right?" I nod and he shifts his body slightly. "So you're going to turn and bring your arm up then slam it down as hard as you can."

Rhys uses his left despite being right handed, his arm forcibly slams down into Nate's as he ducks. The hold is broken and Nate let's out a whine from the force used while hunching over slightly. He holds him still by the shoulder before looking to me.

"You need to be quick for this to work. But once his hands are gone from your neck you come back up and slam your elbow into the crevice of his neck," He pretends to do it to Nate and nods to me. "If they don't crumble to the ground from that go for the obvious soft spot or eye jab, then run."

"Is that going to hurt them?" I question although I'm certain the answer is obvious.

"It will be but they're trying to hurt or kill you." Rhys explains before unbuckling his belt.

Nate rubs his arms before his eyes widen. "Whoa. Please don't get frisky with me in the room please."

"Are you serious?" Rhys gives him a deadpan look before shaking his head. "I'm not the one constantly getting frisky, thank you. Back on track - if someone comes up behind you with a belt and tries to strangle you this is what you do."

Rhys approaches his brother and wraps the belt around his neck. However Nate reacts quickly, ducking and weaving from his grip with pressing a closed fist to his eye. They step back from each other while I just gape, clearly not expecting that.

"Your first instinct will to be try to pull it from your neck but if you turn to your attacker they'll be shocked," Nate explains and I nod slowly. "You would jab their eyes or go for the golden spot until they drop the belt or no longer have you caged, then you run."

"You know this is actually really terrifying," I state, swallowing the lump in my throat. "To know that you two are capable of doing-"

"I taught Nate how to protect himself and he picked up classes once a month," Rhys explains and nods to me. "I want you to try it but freeze before you poke or hit me. Okay?"

"I don't think this is a good idea. . ." I whisper, looking at the belt in his hands with a racing heart.

"Kira I'm not actually going to strangle you," Rhys smirks, amused by my frightened facial expression. "Just do it, please?"

Reluctantly I turn around and I gasp as soon as the belt tugs me back into Rhys' chest. I grab onto the belt to pull it back only to feel him pull tighter. So much for not actually choking me. I duck down and face him while covering his face with my hands. My hearts pounding in shock and he drops the cage from around me.

"I thought you said you weren't going to strangle me!" I snap and he begins to put his belt back on.

"I only did that because you didn't react quick enough," Frowning at him he buckles his belt. "But you react when your fight instinct kicks in. That's good that you have it in you, it's what keeps you from being killed."

Late update I know, sorry. But better late than never?? I'll be updating tomorrow as a virtual Christmas present to every single one of you reading this. I appreciate your support and maybe you could comment or vote?

Question: do you know how to fight/ defend yourself?
*only a little bit*

Thoughts? Feelings? Predictions?

-inspiredrlh 💕