I Don’t Let People Hurt What’s Mine
At last, the proposal was done.
With only three days to spare, the team had worked tirelessly, staying up late into the night to make the budgets fit. Jinx and Ekko had put aside their engineering projects for the time being to help Vi and Caitlyn work out the schedule.
Time was tight, but eventually they came through.
Vi and Caitlyn presented their ideas and schedules to the faculty on Friday evening, and Principal Heimerdinger had approved of it. Jinx and Ekko finished up their projects for the camp, and it was finally underway.
The camp was a rousing success. The first three days flew by, with Vi, Caitlyn, Jinx and Ekko facilitating the events. The environment was refreshing — an open field away from the bustling streets of Piltover, surrounded by quiet woods, with the dome of the night sky always shimmering with stars.
On the second last day of the camp, Piltover High’s planning council could finally take a breather and let other schools take over for the inter-school activities. Vi and Caitlyn sat together, watching the schools mix for a treasure hunt.
“Been one hell of a journey, huh?” Caitlyn said.
Vi wasn’t sure what she meant by journey — their relationship, the camp or what. But she nodded silently.
“I’ve been thinking,” Caitlyn said. She seemed to want to say more, but no words came out, as though the words had stuck in her throat.
Vi looked at her and pushed her shoulder playfully. “Tongue-tied? Yeah, I get that a lot.”
Caitlyn’s face flushed, and she turned away quickly. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Vi scoffed. “I was only joking. What’s wrong with you? You always seem so tense, like you’re scared of…I don’t know. Something.”
“We’re all scared of something,” Caitlyn said with a shrug, and for a few minutes neither of them said anything. Then Vi turned to Caitlyn, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
“Hey, Cait,” Vi said, “what do you say tonight we sneak out of camp?”
Caitlyn shot her a side-eye. “You’re kidding. You know I can’t.”
Vi clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Always by the book. Suit yourself, cupcake, but if I get caught I’m saying you were with me.”
“You’re horrible,” Caitlyn said, but she laughed at Vi’s antics before her expression turned serious. “Another school’s exco told me their students are planning on sneaking off to the woods tonight to get wasted. They can’t go hunt them — they need to take care of the campfire — so I’m going to have to do it.”
“Oh.” Vi tilted her head. “Want me to go with you?”
Caitlyn shook her head. “It’s okay. It shouldn’t take me long — twenty minutes, tops.”
Vi bumped her shoulder affectionately. “Okay, cupcake. If you say so. But if you need help, just scream. I’ll be your knight in shining armour.”
“Sure,” Caitlyn replied sarcastically.
The two of them sat together, laughing, away from the noise of four schools hunting treasure.
~~~
Evening fell, and the students gathered for the last dinner.
As Vi was walking away from the group, she spotted Caitlyn walking towards the woods in the evening light. Guess she’s off for the hunt.
Vi watched her shadow disappear into the woods and convinced herself it was going to be okay. Caitlyn was an excellent shot, a member of the House of Kiramman. She had nothing to worry about.
And yet, somehow, fear and worry twisted in her gut. She glanced over her shoulder. The students were all mingling amongst themselves, none of them paying her any attention.
She pulled her hood over her head and ran in the direction Caitlyn had gone.
~~~
Caitlyn followed the footsteps left in the mud. It wasn’t a big group — maybe three of four people — but judging by the size of their footprints they were no joke.
Caitlyn found them hanging out near the edge of the lake. She was right — three of them, all boys. They had to be boxers or footballers of some sort. They were all tall — six feet at least — with broad shoulders and muscular frames. Each one was drinking out of a different bottle, and judging by the glass shards around their feet, they had been there for a while.
“What are you doing?” Caitlyn said, stepping out of the shadows.
The trio turned to look at her, and Caitlyn resisted the urge to run away. For a moment, an image flashed through her mind, and it was not pretty. She realised it was a mistake to come without Vi, but she was already here. She couldn’t turn back.
“Look who it is,” the kid in the middle said. He threw down the bottle in his hands, sending glass shards flying around their feet. “Caitlyn Kiramman.”
“You’ve…heard of me?” Caitlyn took a step back.
“Your reputation precedes you,” said the same kid. “The poster girl for Piltover’s most prestigious school. Councilor’s daughter. Always by the book. Suppose you came to stop us? To take us in? Report us to the teachers?”
“Put down the bottles,” Caitlyn commanded. She reached towards her back, but her rifle wasn’t with her. She had come empty-handed, and she cursed.
“You’re coming with me,” she said, trying to make her voice as steely and commanding as she could manage.
The kid on the right laughed. “Look at her. Poor little thing, so scared and timid. Don’t you think we’ve scared her enough, Deckard?”
Deckard must’ve been the kid in the middle. He snorted dismissively and stared Caitlyn in her eyes. “Make me.”
He raised his fist, preparing to deliver a blow, and Caitlyn closed her eyes.
She felt the air move in front of her, and braced herself…but there was no impact. Her shoulders tense, she opened her eyes tentatively.
Caitlyn couldn’t believe her eyes. Standing between her and Deckard was none other than Vi, her right hand wrapped around Deckard’s wrist, holding it away from Caitlyn.
Caitlyn studied Vi more carefully, and her blood froze. In Vi’s eyes was a fire, a sort of anger she had never seen before, a flame burning so intensely it scared Caitlyn even though it wasn’t directed at her. Vi’s glare was like a laser beam shining right into Deckard’s eyes, and the latter attempted to free his hand, to no avail.
Deckard laughed, but Caitlyn could hear his voice wavering. “Look who’s here. The saviour, come to save the damsel in distress.”
Vi narrowed her eyes, ignoring his digs at them. “You don’t get to hurt my friends.”
She twisted his wrist outward, and in that moment, Caitlyn could not have admired Vi more. Deckard grimaced in pain, his earlier bravado quickly melting away. His two ugly friends who had been egging him on just moments ago now faltered.
“Let me go!” Deckard yelped, but the earlier confidence in his voice was already gone, sapped by Vi’s aura and anger.
Vi leaned in closer, her voice low and venomous. “Here’s how this is going to go, dickhead. You’re going to leave this place. You’re never going to lay another fucking finger on Caitlyn again, never going to get within ten feet of her. If I catch you doing this again, I will rip your head from your neck with my bare hands. Don’t think I won’t do it. I don’t care where it lands me. I’m not letting you hurt Cait.”
For a moment, it was silent. His friends were frozen by Vi’s fierce glare, unsure of what to do. Finally, one of his goons spoke up. “Come on, Deck. Let’s go. She ain’t worth this shit.”
Vi released her deathly grip on Deckard’s wrist, and the three of them backed away before running into the woods in the direction of the camp.
Vi turned toward Caitlyn, her eyes softening. “You okay?”
Caitlyn tried to nod, but her legs had turned to jelly. Her spine seemed to go numb as she pressed her palm onto the tree trunk behind her for support. She wasn’t sure what was going on — if it was fear or the intense attraction she felt to Vi in that moment.
She opened her mouth to thank Vi, but all that came out was, “How…did you find me?”
Vi shrugged, but Caitlyn could see the worry in her eyes that she tried to hide. “Call it intuition. Something felt off, and I just…I had to be sure.”
Caitlyn tried to process it. Vi had come to save her, just as she promised. She could have just run away, saved herself. After all, those boys were no joke — they could have beat Vi into a pulp if she hadn’t scared them off. Vi had risked it all for Caitlyn.
“Why?” Caitlyn asked. “Why did you step in? They could have beaten the crap out of you. You should have run off, gotten a teacher.”
Vi scoffed. “Would have taken too long. Plus, whatever punishment the teachers cook up is definitely something they’re used to. They needed something new. And anyway…”
She knelt and looked Caitlyn in the eye. Caitlyn inhaled sharply, fully registering Vi soft puppy-like eyes for the first time.
“I don’t let people hurt what’s mine.”
Caitlyn’s breath hitched, a warmth spreading in her chest despite the cold fear that had gripped her moments ago. She wanted to respond, to say something meaningful, but the words felt tangled up in her throat.
For the first time in a long while, Caitlyn felt a sort of security with Vi by her side, something she hadn’t felt in a while. This…warmth and safety that Vi exhibited was something she hadn’t even realised she needed. It was like standing in a room where the lights were spoiled, but she didn’t even realise it until someone came to change the bulb.