Huntress Claimed

by M K Masterson

  Then I had another worry. With a school this big, I was concerned that I would not be able to find Meredith after fourth to meet her for lunch. What if I couldn't find her and I sat alone? I didn't want to seem like a loser standing around with that deer in the headlights look. So then, I was anxious for that reason. The stress was eating away at me. I remembered thinking it was simpler when I didn't have friends.

  And then before I knew it, the bell rang, and students were filing out of the classroom. I grabbed my stuff as quickly as I could, but then when I had exited out of the classroom, my pace slowed. My hands had felt clammy from nerves. My steps were slowly going towards my locker, which was on the second floor of the high school, which was shaped like a double-decker airport terminal; rooms on the one side, spanning the curved length of the school. There were very few rooms across. One section of the opposing side had the choir room and band room, both open to the football field. The middle part was open in general on the first floor. It was a good area that marching band used to practice formations when it rained. Or sometimes the theater class used it as an additional stage to practice plays. On the second floor in the middle, there were the main entrance, offices, the cafeteria, and gym. The third section had additional rooms for various other classes that did not quite fit into a particular department. And my locker was in the middle of the second floor across from the guidance offices.

  At the time, I didn't know where the band room was, but I knew where Nate had headed. I could have walked that way, and hoped I saw them as they were exiting. Or perhaps I had already missed them. It was a difficult decision for me. Either way, I would have looked lost, but on the first floor, it would not be as bad as wandering into the busy cafeteria. So changing my mind, I ventured toward the direction I had seen Nate walk.

  "Caden!" I heard a female voice call out my name, but I couldn't see who as a crowd of people were heading my way.

  I looked around hoping that it was Meredith, but I couldn't find her. After a short amount of time, burnt-orange curly hair appeared in my vision behind some taller students. And then Meredith was in front of me with nothing but a bagged lunch in her hands.

  "Caden, I am so glad I found you. After homeroom, I realized I didn't tell you where to meet me. Come on. Let's go to lunch." She grabbed my arm as if we were old girlfriends.

  "I have to go to my locker first, but it's on the way."

  "Oh, good," she replied as she turned me back toward the stairs.

  I was still trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of Nate, but no such luck.

  "How are you liking Erie?" She asked.

  "Actually, I am loving it, so far." I couldn't keep the smile off my face. "I think I met your friend, Nate, in Algebra 2."

  Her face softened at the mention of his name, just like his had when I had mentioned hers. My stomach took a sudden nosedive. I didn't want to believe that they had a relationship, but I couldn't dismiss the look they shared when either was mentioned.

  "Are you and Nate an item?" I questioned her cautiously.

  Meredith blinked back in surprise and then laughed. "No, we are not an item. Why would you ask?"

  "You both get this almost dreamy look on your face when I talk about you to the other."

  Meredith laughed again. "I wouldn't mention that out loud ever again. That's how rumors start. And Korina would lose her shit if she heard about anyone who might threaten her status with her man."

  My heart and footsteps faltered, almost making me trip up the steps.

  "Korina is…" I couldn't bring myself to say what I dreaded.

  Meredith nodded, almost pityingly.

  "Korina is his skank of a girlfriend," she derided with a scoff.

  We had come to my locker, and I opened it, putting a shield between myself and her. I had hoped to hide how seriously I had invested time into my feelings about Nate.

  "I take it that Korina is not well-liked?" I asked nonchalantly, placing my books onto the upper shelf, avoiding eye contact.

  "She's tolerated…by our friends, but liked? No. Not unless you have a penis and no morals."

  I almost dropped my lunch onto the floor but grabbed it at the last second. "I'm sorry?"

  "She has cheated on Nate more times than I can count."

  "And does Nate know this?"

  I heard her sigh as I took one more glance at my locker, taking out a couple of folders for my last classes of the day and a pen.

  "He's been made aware."

  I slammed my locker with anger on my face, instantly regretting that I had shown any emotion whatsoever about Nate or the fact that he didn't seem to care enough about himself to have a girlfriend who cheated on him.

  Meredith's lips curved into a wicked grin. "So… you like him."

  My cheeks warmed from embarrassment, and I turned away from her, heading toward the cafeteria. And out of the corner of my eye, I saw Meredith walking next to me with a little extra skip in her step.

  "Are you going to say anything?" she hedged. My cheeks grew hotter.

  "He's not bad looking," I tried casually.

  She elbowed me softly. "I knew it! From the moment I first saw you, I knew you might be the one who could break Nate and Korina up!"

  I halted my step. "What?! I know you don't really know me, but I am absolutely no homewrecker," I gaped at her incredibly.

  Her grin never faltered. "No, I don't really know you, but you are the exotic, nice girl to Korina's red-haired devil temptress."

  I sneered and rolled my eyes. "Exotic? Boring brown hair, boring brown eyes. Average, normal built. Girl-next-door. In my opinion, I think I look pretty average."

  "Oh, honey, you are far from average. Like I said, your name, ‘Caden' is very different. And you have a little of that Mediterranean look going on with your skin. Slightly olive toned. It's not the pale pastiness that we, Ohioans, are birthed with. And your hair is brown, but it's not dull. It's multi-shaded. Some dark, some medium brown shades. I can even see some red. It's stunning and looks soft." To that, she grabbed a strand of my hair and touched it.

  I pulled away instantly and stopped in the middle of the hallway. "You don't have any boundaries, do you?"

  She let go of my hair immediately and laughed, standing to face me.

  "I'm sorry. I know I seem a little odd," Meredith gasped. "I'm just a little awestruck. I have been waiting for someone like you to come to Erie."

  "Someone like me?" I dismissed her. "Someone like me to break up Nate and his girlfriend?"

  She looked at me confused for a moment as if we were talking about two different things, but then began nodding.

  "Yes," she said slowly.

  I assessed her. I did believe she was a little odd, but who was I to judge. Perhaps friends lacked boundaries and filters, and these were things that I just didn't know yet. It was nice to have someone to talk to besides Sera. Especially someone my age. I nodded, reassuring myself that this friendship was a good thing.

  "I think you overestimate my ability to seduce the opposite sex." Following my lead, we continued to walk toward the lunchroom.

  "You don't have much experience with guys either?"

  I shook my head. But it just wasn't my experience with guys that was lacking. It was positive socialization of humanity that I lacked. Not that I felt confident to tell her any of that.

  "I know" she continued. "Boys are confusing. But they make great friends."

  "Is that why you and Nate aren't a couple?"

  "We are not a couple for a lot of reasons. I just don't think of him that way. He really is like my brother. I've known him since I could remember, and the memories I have are more familial than anything else."

  We stopped beside a long lunch table with two other boys sitting across from each other at the one end. One appeared tall and skinny with a mop of flaxen blonde hair, wearing a green and white polo shirt over tight dark blue jeans, and a cocky smile. The other was darker skinned with dark buzzed hair and pale green almond-shaped eyes. He
didn't smile, but he wasn't unfriendly, as he raised his hand in a greeting and nodded in acknowledgment. I could see that he had tried to blend into the background as well, wearing a navy-blue T-shirt and loose-fitted dark jeans.

  "Fresh meat," the blonde said, the smile never leaving his face.

  Meredith rolled her eyes. "Boys, this is Caden. Caden, the idiot with the big mouth, is Ajax. And our own exotic Philippine boy is Jesse McGowan."

  "Ajax? Your name is actually Ajax?" I raised my eyebrows.

  "It is, baby. I was named after the strongest Greek hero. Take a look at these biceps." Ajax started to flex, but Meredith hit him in the shoulder, ruining all attempts to be manly.

  "Ow," he grimaced, rubbing his shoulder.

  "I told Caden that I would introduce her to the best people at this school, and you're making me look bad," Meredith sighed and then turned to me. "His name is Anthony Jackson, but somehow he ended up with the name Ajax."

  "I still don't know how we thought calling him Ajax was a good idea. With that ego of his, we should have known that he was going to be a bigger douche with a nickname like ‘Ajax.' And really, he is such a pussy," Jesse replied laughing.

  "Hey! I'm not a pussy. I'm a lover, not a fighter." Ajax tried to give me his best suave, smoldering look, but it failed miserably. "This isn't doing anything, is it?"

  "It's making you look like a dork, but I won't judge," I replied, surprising myself by my boldness. I had always wished that I was capable of blurting out responses like that all the time, as I reflected on the situation from Algebra earlier in the day, where that boy made a snide remark.

  Meredith snickered, and Jesse laughed, almost choking on his milk.

  "I like her," Jesse wheezed, while Ajax scowled.

  "Scoot down. Make some room," Meredith demanded, as they shuffled over. "You know I like to sit closer to the end."

  "Are we saving a seat for Nate?" Ajax asked.

  "I think we should." Meredith pursed her lips, looking as though she was thinking. "Perhaps Nate should sit next to Caden. So, scoot down some more."

  The guys sighed audibly, but Ajax moved down.

  "Stop trying to set Nate up," Jesse groaned. "It's not going to work. If the million times Korina cheated on him didn't work, setting him up with a new girl isn't going to either. No offense, Caden. You are very pretty, but our boy is clueless."

  My cheeks warmed at the compliment, while Meredith put on an innocent face, and tossed some of her curls over her shoulder.

  "I'm not doing anything." She looked away before her innocence cracked and sat down next to Jesse. She refused to look at Jesse who was to her right or Ajax who was now sitting directly across from her, both glaring at her. And instead, she searched through her lunch bag.

  "Stop, meddling, Red," Ajax sniped.

  "Why do you call her ‘Red'?" I inquired, really looking at him for the first time. There was something about the name Red that seemed appropriate. Something that really did suit her.

  His smug grin was back in place. "She is Red. The red hair."

  Meredith stuck her tongue out at him.

  "Even her name has ‘red' in it. M-e-red-ith." He glimpsed at her briefly, with tenderness in his indigo eyes before looking away. There was something there, close to the fondness that Nate and "Red" shared, but it felt more intimate. I was having trouble putting my finger on it.

  "Have you and Red known each other as long as Nate has known her?" I asked Ajax, who jerked back into his cocky personality instantly.

  Meredith scowled from the use of her nickname.

  "No. We met only a couple years ago. Her seventh and my eighth-grade year in band," Ajax glared at me, staring into my eyes. Not in a daring way really, but the emotion was drained from his face, and his dark blue eyes seemed to cloud over. No, wait, his eyes were amethyst. My vision felt muddy, and I strained to see his eyes more clearly. I stared deeper into them, trying to get a fix on the color. I felt a little light-headed suddenly as if I had stood up too quickly. But I was already standing.

  "Are your eyes blue or purple?" I blurted vacantly, and he blinked. Whatever fog I had been in previously was going, and everything was clearing again.

  "Caden, you look a little pale. Are you alright?" Jesse asked, his faced pitched in concern.

  I nodded, still trying to shake off the haze.

  "Sit next to me before you faint or something," Jesse remarked, pulling my attention away from Ajax.

  I shrugged off the haze, while Jesse moved over so that I could sit between Meredith and himself; now directly across from Ajax. I looked down while I sat, placing my folders and pen underneath my chair. Then I looked through my lunch bag. I could feel Ajax's eyes on me. When I looked up to snap at him for staring, he had a bewildered expression on his face, which made me pause from biting his head off.

  "What?" I questioned without any bite.

  He shrugged and smirked. "Nothing. You just surprised me. Very few people ever surprise me." His smirk became a silly grin.

  "And this is a good thing?" I questioned.

  "It is for you," he commented, his dark amethyst eyes twinkled, answering my unanswered question. Then he took a bite out of his ham sandwich, focusing on his lunch. Jesse just shook his head, eating his own sandwich.

  "Boys," Meredith rolled her eyes, pulling out some apple slices from her bag. "I don't get them."

  I shook my head in agreement, pulling out my bag of fruit snacks.

  "Ah, come on. You know you think we are cute," Ajax smiled with a mouth full of food.

  "Ugh." "Yuck," Meredith and I exclaimed simultaneously with disgust.

  "And there goes our fun," Jesse suddenly said dejectedly, staring ahead.

  Meredith and I looked up, and Ajax turned around. The sneer on Meredith's face was evident, but Ajax turned back toward us before he frowned. My heart skipped a beat, and I sucked in a breath. Coming toward us was Nate with his lunch tray. My pulse picked up, excited to see him, and I felt the goofy grin on my face before I could stop it. I was thrilled that he was sharing my smile until I looked beside him. Then my heart plummeted, and I felt queasy. My happiness was wiped from my face, and I could have sworn that Nate almost stumbled in his step from my emotional response. But perhaps I had only been wishing.

  Walking beside him was a girl much shorter than him with devil red, long, flowing hair and pale, unblemished, creamy skin, who had to have been his girlfriend. She had her arms tightly wrapped around his one arm as he was carrying his lunch tray and she was glowering at me with blazing emerald colored eyes. Her thin, pale pink lips were set in a thin straight line. And her skinny, petite frame was stiff and yet intimidating as they were walking toward us; she was staking her claim on Nate. Whatever joy I had felt previously was gone entirely, and I knew this wasn't going to be a joyous encounter.

  Chapter Four

  "So is this the little bitch I have heard so much about?" she spat at me as they approached the table.

  Nate looked as pale as how I felt, and I definitely felt sick to my stomach. I stood without thinking as if standing my ground was a common practice for me. No one was smiling now. The tension at the table could be cut with a knife, each person holding their breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Meredith tense and a determined look passed over her face. Ajax was watching me, and Jesse refused to look at anything but his lunch. His jaw clenched, even as he tried not to react.

  "Here we go," Ajax murmured under his breath.

  I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I had certainly never been in a confrontation. But I assessed Nate's girlfriend, taking in her extremely short stature; and I thought to myself that I could take her. In that instant, I knew that I would never like Nate's girlfriend. I disliked her before I had even met her. I disliked her physical claim on him. I disliked her attitude. I disliked the type of girl she represented; entitled, and undeservedly spoiled. And her calling me a "bitch" just tipped the scales dramatically.

  If she was cheating on Nate, ho
w dare she call me a "bitch." I felt my anger rise, ready to take her on.

  It must have been written on my face because Nate quickly put his lunch on the table and grabbed his girlfriend's arm as if Korina's name calling had stepped over the line. Or perhaps he was worried that I would hit her, which at the moment, it was entirely possible.

  And his action instantly stilled my anger. In his response, I saw how he truly cared for his girlfriend's safety, and if I started something, there would be no way Nate and I could be friends. And even if I couldn't be with him, I still wanted him as my friend. So, I decided to let the confrontation drop.

  "I am sorry that you have been listening to gossip, but your sources misinformed you," I remarked, even though what I really wanted to do was slap her.

  "Are you calling my friend a liar?" She tried again to get a rise out of me. It was clear that she was looking for a fight. "He told me how you drooled all over yourself, looking at Nate with puppy dog, love-sick eyes."

  Perhaps my fascination with Nate had not gone unnoticed. Taken back, I stopped to think. Who would have really paid any attention to me in 3rd period, Algebra 2?

  "Your ‘friend' wouldn't be a blonde, preppy looking guy would he?" I questioned, and watched her checks turn slightly rosy. I saw Nate's jaw clench.

  "His name is Blaine. He told me that you two were all over each other."

  I let the laughter that I felt erupt and bubble over. I hadn't remembered laughing that hard in a long time. The ridiculousness of it was overwhelming. Yes, I liked Nate, but to be considered such an immediate threat was the ridiculous part of it. If I was an outsider looking in, I could have looked at myself as being pathetic or sad, crushing on a guy who had a girlfriend. But from Korina's perspective, I was definitely a threat. Perhaps Meredith's claim that I could be the one to break those two up wasn't that far-fetched. Not that I would do that, but apparently Meredith and Korina saw something in me that I didn't.