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He stood there and gave her a friendly hug as the emotions flowed out of her. Dante was just thankful that he was not left without any friends. "It's not your fault." he said in a warm tone. He looked down at her head that was buried in his shirt. He stood there the whole time and did not even flinch.

"Do you want me to explain everything? Who those guys were earlier and why Aria was talking to them?" he said in a content manner.

He sat down next to her. He leaned forward and stared at the ground as he spoke.

"The man guy of the group that confronted you was Veto. He's a leader of a gang. He's Aria's ex-boyfriend and one of the reasons why Alex died. Now I'm going to take you back to three years ago. To the night of the party where he died." Dante let out a long sigh. He hated talking about this. It always made him upset and depressed.

"Alex and I were like brothers. We were always together. It was Freshman year and a friend of ours was holding a party. It was a get together of everyone we knew to celebrate the start of our high school careers. We were having a good time until a few members of Veto's gang showed up. They started messing with the brother of the host and Alex stepped in. He went over and started arguing with the two gang members. I went over to stop it and to calm Alex down. One of the gangsters pulled out a gun. Everyone scattered expect Alex and I. Alex went to grab the gun but was shot. I ran to grab Alex as he fell and the gang member aimed at me. He pulled the trigger but it jammed, so he threw the gun down and they ran away while Alex laid there and died in my arms. The cops and paramedics were too late."

Dante paused and tears ran down his face. He held in the emotions and kept going. "At the time Aria was dating Veto. She heard about what happened to our friend, so she questioned Veto. He denied it and Aria left him. I was the only one that stood by her side and saved her from going back. She sorta became my sister that I looked out for and who I protected. Ever since that day I've been filled with anger, I want Veto to pay, and snap on people that act like bullies. People who do wrong to others. Like that guy that attacked you. Now Aria found one of her old friends from the old days. She brought her to her house and I stopped by to talk to Ari. The friend didn't like what I said and I snapped on her. That's when things went down hill. I ended up confronting Veto later that day. Nothing happened and now Aria is going back to him. She still loves him and pretty much ditched me tonight. Told me to hang out with you and she would find something else to do. I snapped and now we are not on good terms."

Dante was now crying and the tears flowed. He just let everything out in his voice. "So now this piece of s**t took two of my friends. I'm destroying my life with anger and I can't take it anymore. Every since that day I've became a new person, and it wasn't for the good. I just want someone to pay for what happened, but I'm sure that still won't make things better. I meet someone new and then they run away because I just snap. I'm ruining my life because of my anger. Because I can't let it go."

Dante wiped the tears from his eyes. He continued to look down at the grass. After a minute he looked up at Victoria. He quietly told her, "I hope that clarified things. I'm sorry that you had to meet the person that I've become. I'm just, " he paused. "I'm just sorry for everything that I've done." he looked back down at the grass.

Victoria grew more and more upset hearing about this "Veto". He had caused all of the problems, he had caused Dante's anger. He needed to pay. Suddenly boiling, she stood, her face red with fury. She stomped her foot into the grass, and glanced down. A beetle was crawling on the ground. She stepped on it and smashed it, turning her foot this way and that, pretending it was the main guy who had started this: Veto.

She felt like she could kill someone at that instant. She was as mad as she could get, as angry as she had ever been. If she would of been a cartoon, steam would be coming out of her ears and nostrils. But of coarse, this was real life. But anyone who could see her at that moment would tell, she was not someone to mess with. She seemed dangerous, she even felt dangerous, and that had never happened. She breathed quickly, and whirled around to stare down at Dante.

"Where is this...Veto, you speak of? Where do you think he would have headed with his buddies?" She asked him, wanting to confront his gang and put an end to it. Her tone of voice dripped with fury and sarcasm, wanting to kill Veto. He had hurt her friend. He had hurt Aria, Dante, and almost had hurt her. She made a mental bet in her mind that the guy that attacked her the night before was one of Veto's gang members.

At that moment in time, she didn't care how small and feeble she was, she wanted to give someone a bloody nose. Her eyes looked dark, almost black, and her hair was wild in the wind, blowing back from her face, which was a faint pink color. She singled out the voice in her head that kept saying to calm down, and put it away in an imaginary drawer. No need for stupid and frail thoughts. She was dangerous. She was wild with fury. She was...lethal.

Victoria gritted her teeth when he mentioned that it wasn't her place. The hell it wasn't! This was him he was talking about. "No. Veto is a jerk. He needs to be..." She trailed off, the anger slowly melting away when he put his arm around her. She shivered and sighed, the fury gone out of her eyes, just like that. She was like a light switch with Dante. She would be mad at him one second, and be putty in his hands the next. She leaned into him, suddenly exhausted.

When he mentioned a party she straightened up and looked at him, her eyes were their normal color, gray sprinkled with dots of blue. "Party?" She whispered this, pondering on it. "I don't know.." She hesitated. "Partying isn't really my thing. But if there isn't going to be alcohol there, I'll go." She added quickly, frightened at the thought of him not being there, "As long as you go too." And then she felt stupid, because he had already said that he was going. Of coarse she had to look stupid in front of him.

Victoria scrunched up her nose when she heard the mention of alcohol. She listened when he said he wouldn't drink, and that fact somewhat relaxed her. Finally, she nodded, but said quietly, "Is Aria going to be there?" She wanted to know so she could go ahead and apologize for judging her, but thank her for saving her life. The mention of Aria grew into Veto, and she made a face. She cussed him out in her head, and then widened her own eyes at her stupidness.

Victoria nodded. She would love to meet his mother! She grinned and took his hand quickly, looking out to the street. "Do you live far from here?" She asked him, curious.

((I feel like shaking some things up a bit so I'm going to go ahead and add another character in. ^^ ))

Victoria shrugged and smiled, and then realized she was still holding his hand. Blushing furiously, she pulled away from him and continued walking, her eyes glued to the sidewalk. Not seeing where she was going, she ran into someone and glanced up, expecting that she had fallen behind Dante and somehow ran into him. Getting ready to apologize, she didn't see Dante at all, but another boy, this one looking like he was on his way to some place.

Her light brown eyes met the boy's warm blue ones, and Victoria smiled sheepishly. "I'm..sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." She apologized, feeling stupid for not seeing him. The boy shook his head and smiled back, his blue eyes lighting up. "No, that's quite alright. It's entirely my fault." He said back, and she melted inside. He was so nice...and his eyes..they were gorgeous! She bit her lip and the boy nodded at her. "Names Daren. And you?"


Victoria shut down the voice in her head warning her he was a stranger. "Victoria." Daren grinned at her, his eyes sparkling. Daren glanced up and finally seemed to see Dante standing there. "Hello. Who's your friend?" Victoria glanced back and felt ashamed she had forgotten him. "Daren, this is Dante." Daren stuck out a hand and gave him a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you." He said it sincerely.
This is Daren: