#also renee does her best to protect everyone but I'm thinking about andrew today

[starrycassi]

I think Andrew Minyard, eventually, becomes a legend on campus. He was one, already — warnings and whispered rumours, fear and twister wonder. He evolves.

It starts in his third year. There's a giggling girl, slumped down in the curb of the science building, and he's back from the computer lab (Because he's trying to care. To get better grades. To put in the work). He's smoking. There was (is?) a party going on, somewhere on campus. He doesn't care about it for anything else than knowing that Dan, Matt, Nicky and Reynolds are there. It's quite warm, they're just back from summer break, and he's slow when it's too warm. That's how he notices — the idiot who creeps up behind her. She's laughing at nothing, and the guy is clearly strong enough to carry her. He moves her head, positions her to be lifted, while she stammers incoherent denials, humor dying in her throat as horror creeps up. He puts a big, calloused hand over her tights, and she tries to back up. It's useless.

Maybe Andrew wouldn't intervene. Maybe he wouldn't, if the guy didn't look up at him. There's no shame. They make eye contact, and the man winks, pride written all over his face. He nods to Andrew, who nods back.

"We can take turns." He says, grinning under the moonlight, waving his hand at Andrew, inviting him closer. He resembles Drake, in a way. Andrew accepts.

The guy tries to press charges for his broken bones. Neil's uncle wipes out one of his fancy lawyers and the camera footage. Andrew is forgiven and (in a bizarre change of routine) praised by the jury.

Turns out the girl is one of those horrid Vixens. Katelyn thanks him and he pretends to be deaf. The whole team takes to cheering even harder whenever he blocks a goal, in the next games. The one from that night flies and twirls in the air, even going as far as calling out his name and a platitude of generic chants. Someone asks Andrew if she's his girlfriend. He genuinely considers murder.

It dies down. Selena (the annoying Vixen) keeps on her enthusiasm, making Neil tease him about his first die-hard fan and how jealous he is, of his now growing career. Andrew shuts him up with a kiss.

Then, he's with Kevin and Neil. Or, well, him and Neil are trailing behind Kevin, who's jogging to the Library to print a last-minute change on his cover page (forgot that his last name is now legally Wymack, the idiot) because Kevin is still too scared to be completely alone, sometimes.

There's a muffled sound. Then,

"Com'on, pretty girl. You're too cute for that gay shit. I'll make you feel goood."

"Fuck no. Kevin, run."

Neil is fast. Everyone knows that. People tend to forget just how fast he is. He's out of Andrew's side in a blink, then, Kevin's following. Kevin is an egocentric idiot, but he's been getting better, at this whole "caring about others" thing. At least ever since Jean and him had a screaming match over the phone.

Andrew doesn't hurry — Neil can stand his ground. Kevin is not completely useless. The cries he can hear are of strange voices. When he arrives, there's two guys on the floor. Neil has a knife shoved against one of their necks (right next to an artery) and Kevin is putting those hours of weight lifting to work, pinning the body to the floor.

The girl runs to Andrew's side, clinging to his arm. He shoves her, immediately. With fearful eyes, she seems to take a second to recognize him. When she does, she goes to stand behind his back.

As if Andrew can bring safety to someone. To an unknown someone, at that.

She accompanies them to the library, sticking to Kevin's side, hanging onto his arm. To his credit, Kevin only talks about Sexy for half the walk, and it seems to soothe her. When they're there, she offers her printing credits to the idiot.

Neil is seething. He calls his uncle, who sends his fancy hired muscle. If some people get a very strange and unfortunate mugging accident that same week, well, Andrew has a very strong alibi.

It becomes ridiculous, however, in the last days of the semester. Farewell is being celebrated. He asked Neil (because he's trying to care about things) if he wanted to go.

They were, clearly, not going.

They do go out. They take the Maserati and eat in a shitty restaurant, silent in a way that they can only be with each other.

It's when they're coming back when they spot the group. Four girls, heels in hands and wobbly knees. They're in the middle of the road. It's not a very concurred road. Two of them are carrying one, while the other leads the group. In their time together, Andrew has learned that Neil likes women more than men. There's also that deeply ingrained sense of guilt over his mother, that makes him favour them. It's Neil who says,

"Slow down. Make sure you don't run them over."

It's Andrew's mind that provides him with the detail. He recognizes that ponytail.

Carla, it tells him. From Experimental Psychology. She doesn't drink. She cried after the Little Albert chapter. She chastised her seatmate when she tried to touch Andrew's hair.

She doesn't drink. First night out? Could be. A lightweight with no tolerance and no frame of reference. Would that explain why she's on pajamas? Too inexperienced — or uncaring — in what to wear in a night out?

There's silence in the car. He slows down. Neil, who seems to be able to read Andrew in a way that not even Andrew can, asks him if they should give them a ride. Andrew agrees.

Neil is the one who tells them to get in. Carla is the almost-passed-out one. They all hurry inside after a few seconds of whispered shouting between each other. They're almost a mile away from campus, as is. Andrew isn't even quite sure how they ended up here.

He asks them.

"We were on the bus — yes. The bus? For the party." Greens dress says. "It left from the main gate. At, like, ten, I think. What time is it? Who cares. Yeah. No. On the bus."

"And he said- he was... On the bus, with us. He was bragging, y'know? 'Bout getting laid. We didn't care. He's an idiot — all the guys on the football team are."

"Ronnie was not." Pink dress tells Blue dress. "But yeah — he's. And then, at the party — we'r drinkin', yeah? We're the powerpul- powerpuff girls, see? I'm Bubbles. Wait, no, Am not. Blossom, yeah?."

"POINT IS, at the party, we see Carla. You know her? We do. She's in that chess club. They play chess. My roomie's in it. Chess club girls don't drink, I tell you. So, I go. And I ask her why she's here. Poor girl couldn't speak, see? "

"She was on the sofa, right?"

"You're telling it wrong. She was in the bathroom, puking up. Had her phone on the floor, 'member?"

"Ah, yes! And we ask her — we ask her who she's with, and she says, she says that she doesn't remember. And she tells me... Tell me, hey, isn't this a McDonald's? And I laughed, and she said 'no, he said we're going to McDonald's' and I stopped laughing because she puked again."

"No, no. She was on the sofa, and you made her puke, imbecile. You said she was roofied, 'member?"

"Yeah, that's it! I know. They did it to... To Reynolds, yeah? She made us learn the signs 'n all, after."

"We get out of there, and a guy says- says he'll take us to the hospital, you know? We noticed we weren't going to any fucking 'spital and made him leave us where you found us. Should've known to never trust a man, yeah?"

They keep on bickering. Neil and Andrew share a look, before Neil takes out his cellphone to call Renee. The Powerpuff girls and Carla are hauled up to Fox Tower after a quick "chat" with the RA. Andrew refuses to touch them. Dan, Reynolds, Renee and Matt do all the hard work.

One week later, there's a knock on the door and someone calling his name. When he leaves his room and opens, a tray of what smells like freshly baked cookies sits neatly on the floor.

He pretends not to see Carla's face peeking around the hallway.