Release the Rage (Nick)

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam slammed her locker shut. Ché giorno… And it was only lunchtime! Sam had been up late the night before, trying to finish all of her homework for today’s classes. Unfortunately she’d stayed up so late that she didn’t hear her alarm in the morning, making her late to her first class and incurring the wrath of her teacher, who decided to punish her by giving her an extra hour of homework.

Because Sam totally had the time for that.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, in her rush to get out the door, she’d forgotten both her hot chocolate and her dance clothes, which meant that she would have to beg and plead with her teacher to let her leave her last class five minutes early to run home and grab them before galloping off to dance class and praying she wasn’t late to that one, too. Her only other hope for the day was that Damien wouldn’t spring a surprise sparring session on her like he said he might. Spontaneity was fine, but today was NOT the day for her to run off to spar with him when she had so many other things on her plate at that moment.

As Sam turned away from her locker, she didn’t notice her untied shoelace, and tripped herself, nose diving into the floor. Her face reddened, both in pain from her now-scraped knees and palms, and from the laughter that rang out from other students nearby who had seen her. Not one of them offered to help her pick up her fallen notebooks; one boy who was passing by actually looked at her history book on the floor, stared at her for a moment, and planted his shoe square into it, continuing on his way with a hint of a smirk on his face.

She growled to herself, pushing up off the floor and picking up her things on her own. She stalked off angrily to an empty classroom, throwing the door open. Her frustration with life was slightly cooled when there was no one in the room, and she flicked the lights on, pulling out a textbook as she began the heavy list of homework she had that night. With all the time her extra curricular activities took out of her day, she had to take every advantage she got to work on her homework, and lunch was one of the primary ones.

If someone disturbed her, she thought it might almost actually be worth it to take the consequences for beating their face in.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick's day hadn't be wonderful, but it hadn't been gloomy either. If there was a word to describe his mood right now it would be neutral. Well, that would have been before he stumbled into the classroom that had Sam in it. He had been looking for an empty classroom to sleep the rest of the school day in, but this room didn't happen to be as empty as he had hoped.

He opened the door, walking inside and not noticing her at first, but once he did, he was too far into the room to go back without confrontation. Lucky him. And he didn't even know how bad of a day Sam had had so far. Nick sighed heavily looking at her.

"Oh. It's you. Hi. I'm gonna go now." he said with a blank look on his face and a blank tone in his accent.

Nick really didn't want to sink to the negative side of the neutral mood, and he thought that any prolonged exposure to this girl would cause such a dramatic fluctuation in his attitude. He still hadn't forgiven her from that day in the gym, and he wasn't about to think of forgiving her until she apologized to him about being right.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam heard the door open, and she looked up from her work. If it had been a teacher, she might have smiled; any other student, she might have just left to find another quiet place to work. But Nick? Oh, no.

"What the hell do you want, fannullone?" She glared at him. Yeah, "do-nothing lazy bum" seemed to sum him up pretty well. She wouldn't be surprised if he'd only walked in here to find a place to sleep for the rest of the day. Was that all he ever did!?

"Oh. It's you. Hi. I'm gonna go now."

He said it like he was mad at her; like he had something to be mad at her about. Really!? She scoffed.

"Yeah, you better go find somewhere else to sleep. God forbid I ruin your nap. It's not like you have any other time to do it, because you're so busy doing important things. Like..." She spent a sarcastic moment in thought. "Oh yeah. SLEEPING." The daggers shooting from her eyes would have ripped through a solid diamond like a sheet of paper.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Oh, hell no! Nick spun around after he had decided to leave to face her once more. The look in her eyes could melt a glacier, and Nick returned the look of hatred with his midnight blue eyes. He was well below neutral now, and it had only taken five seconds.

"Excuse me!? Not only would you ruin my nap, I wouldn't ever be able to sleep again for fear that you might stab me in the back!"

How dare she try and turn the tables when he was the one who became Damien's puppet while she just looked on by his side. What a friend she had been. In the time he needed her most, she stood on the enemy's side and watched him make a fool of himself. To Nick, she was just one of Damien's lap dogs now.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam stood up slowly, taking a few steps toward Nick as she spoke. There was a small smile on her face, but she was in no way happy. Not at all.

"I... stabbed you... in the back...?" She found that she was having trouble breathing. "Would you care to explain that one, Nicolas?"

How did he get off thinking that she had done anything wrong at all? He was the one who had accused her of being Damien's puppet. All she was doing was getting out of a detention and exploded eardrums, and her apprenticeship to him... and whatever else went on between them... was completely separate from that day, and she'd told him that. She'd shouted it at him until tears came, and he still didn't understand. What was she going to have to do to get it through his thick head? Beat it into him?

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick stepped closer to her so they were almost face to face.

"Well, Samantha, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. You could have just as easily stood by me and received the same punishment, or you could have done what you did, staying by him because you're his lackey. And it didn't matter if your friend got hurt and humiliated as long as poor little Sammy didn't."

He stared deeply at her while he said this, making sure she got every word that was thrown her way. Right now, she was worse than Damien. She had been his friend and he put trust in her, and when push came to shove, she wasn't there for him. What was worse is she was on the side of the one who had been torturing them.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam laughed. She actually laughed. A full-on laugh. His stupidity was getting ridiculous now.

"Siete fuori di testa, ceffo!" She didn't know if he'd understand her or not, and she didn't really care. "You honestly think i had any more choice in the matter than you did?" The smile was slowly fading, and she stared him down, closing the last few steps towards him and shaking her head in disbelief.

"Nick, we were on the same side," she said, emphasizing the word were. "I'm sorry you were too wrapped up in yourself to notice it, but I did happen to be making the exact same chicken noises that you were." Her voice was slightly lower, but the fire still glowed in her eyes.

She couldn't understand his reasoning. The both of them had been subject to Damien's whims that day; it wasn't like she'd stood with him and laughed at poor Nick. She HAD been next to him; she HAD stood by him, she HAD received the same punishment as he had - actually, Nick had gotten off with a week of detention. Sam had been put on "active training duty" for the rest of the day. Granted, they hadn't done an intense amount of sparring, and the evening turned out to be not so much of a punishment as... well, she didn't know what it was. But it wasn't like they'd planned that. It was just a sparring match.

[Nicolas Constantine]

She was shouting Italian at him now? Little did she know, he knew Italian, and her comment just pissed him off more. He sighed and lowered hes voice, even though the strain within it was still audible.

"Sam. You blatantly showed that you had more of a choice than I did by going along with him. And don't tell me that you were on the same side as I, it was apparent that he was favoring you because you're his little pet."

His eyes narrowed at her and he leaned in.

"I got a week of detention. What did you get? A pitiful day of training?"

It wasn't the fact that they had both been subject to Damien's games, it was the fact that she didn't stand up to Damien with him. If she had spoken out or acted upon his fun, like Nick did, he wouldn't have a problem right now with the girl in front of him.

"E siete stati uno cagna per farlo a me."

[Sam Ballerino]

Before either of them could blink, Sam reached her left hand up and slapped him in the face as hard as she could. Bitch? He called her a bitch...!?

"How dare you..." She was getting to the verge of tears again, but she tried hard to ignore it. "How. Dare. You. First off, I'm not his 'little pet.' I don't know what you mean by that, but I don't like the sound of it. Second of all, a 'day of training' with Damien Kross is not what I would call pathetic. Not for me. How many times do I have to tell you, saccente, I can't fight." She paused, trying to calm herself and think rationally. "I need him. And he-" She stopped. She almost added that he needed her, too. But she didn't know if that was true. He'd said he needed someone to be close to, but...

She didn't feel like telling Nick about what went on that day. Nick didn't need to know that.

"Look, what did you want me to do? Stand up to him? Get that whistle blown on us again? I couldn't even stand up when he blew it the first time. I had no choice."

[Nicolas Constantine]

Sam's hand swiped across his face. He should have seen it coming, but he was shocked nonetheless. That and it hurt a lot, but Nick knew not to show any emotion towards it.

"How dare you..."[/i]

He could see she was almost crying. Even though he was the one who got smacked...

"How many times do I have to tell you, saccente, I can't fight. I need him. And he-"

Nick waited for the end of the sentence, which never came. "And he" what? What was going on between those two?

"Look, what did you want me to do? Stand up to him? Get that whistle blown on us again? I couldn't even stand up when he blew it the first time. I had no choice."[/i]

Nick sighed and looked away, collecting himself and trying to keep his anger from boiling over. He spoke calm, but with a sense of sternness to his words.

"Sam. You always have a choice. You apparently made the selfish one and choose yourself instead of standing up for your friends no matter what the consequence. Yeah, it's only a week detention, but that's not my point. My point is..."

He looked around searching for the right words.

"... my point is I would have stood up for you in that situation. And I would have, if you hadn't turned your back on me."

A chill slowly went through his spine as the anger dissipated for the time being.

[Sam Ballerino]

That one stung. Selfish?

Sam was about ready to punch him in the face by this point. Maybe she would have to try to beat it into him. She sighed, putting her hand over her eyes.

"Me standing up to him would have just made the punishment worse for both of us. You know damn well that the only reason you just walked out that day in one piece was because Damien let you go. And he let you go because he still had someone to play with - me." She jabbed a finger angrily into his chest with every word, speaking through gritted teeth. "He - let - you - go - be - cause - of - me."

She let out a bitter laugh, turning away from him and taking a few steps in the other direction. "I wouldn't have let you go," she said softly, more to herself than to Nick. "Not after what you said."

Or, rather, what he'd very obviously implied. She remembered that all too clearly. He'd been speaking to Damien, but he looked right at her: "Don't think I'll become your lackey."

No, if she'd had Damien's Qi at that moment, she wouldn't have let him leave. Not until he'd taken it back.

One tear fell silently, making it's way quietly down her cheek. Sam was glad her back was still turned.

[Nicolas Constantine]

"Then tell me, Sam. What did he do to you after I left? It couldn't have been that bad if you're still his apprentice, or whatever you're calling it now."

He wanted to know because he still cared about Sam. He did want to save their friendship and maybe it would mend over time or if she saw what kind of a person Damien was. But right now Nick was the enemy, and he knew what kind of things Damien was capable of. Kate had told him, and he could see the look in her eyes when she told him about the two girls at their previous school. It wasn't only about the past, it was about the future, and what could happen to Sam if she trusted this guy and then he did something horrible to her. Nick would never be able to forgive himself if that ever occurred, but more importantly he didn't think he could forgive her.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam turned to face him again. This was going to be bad. She could sense his obvious mistrust of Damien, though she didn't understand why, not having been present for his conversation with Kate. He was not going to be pleased. At that moment, Sam thought she'd rather tell her father what had happened than tell Nick. But it was Nick who had asked, not her father.

"We went to his..." Not his house; he'd said he didn't live there. What did he say it was? "It's a resort, of sorts. That's what he said. It's called the Jester's Court. We had lunch, we talked... We - we sparred..." Sam could feel her cheeks warming. They'd done much more than that. They'd gone up to his bedroom, and done things that Sam had never done with a guy before. "And then I went home." It was then that she remembered Damien's thinly veiled warning. "I don't know what capabilities he has, and I don't mean combat..."

Her eyes flicked towards the door. It was slightly open, but he was definitely in her way. She didn't think she'd need to get out - this was Nick she was talking about - but Damien's warning still rang in her head.

[Nicolas Constantine]

She seemed very hesitant while explaining what happened during the so called "Sparring Match" that Sam and Damien had. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully as to not let something slip. A hundred different things rushed through Nick's head as to what they could have done otherwise. He called her out on it staring intensely at her.

"I don't think that's the whole truth. What aren't you telling me, Sam?"

He said it very sternly, like he must know what happened. He didn't trust her enough, let alone Damien, to think that it was all friendly and such, no strings attached.

[Sam Ballerino]

Her cheeks got redder, and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and disappear, to not be having this conversation. She put her head down, unwilling to look at him, letting her hair fall down over her face and obscure her view.

Why did he keep pushing her? What made him think he had the right to wheedle information out of her like he was her parent or something? Fine, she thought. If he wanted to play Daddy, she could play belligerent teenager. He didn't have any right to ask anyhow.

She looked up at him, and crossed her arms with a sneer. "Why do you care?" She spat. "How I choose to spend time with people is my business, and no one else's - least of all yours, Daddy."