Fries Before Guys

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  The phone call dropped as she hit end then she shoved her phone into her back pocket as she said, “Do you have the key?”

  I growled low under my breath, and a baby freshman that’d been circling around to his locker squeaked. He looked at me with wide, fearful eyes and tilted his head as if he was scared to move.

  “Leave,” I snapped.

  He left without even going to his locker.

  “Don’t be mean, Der,” she said softly. “Just help me get this off.”

  I pulled my phone up and flipped the camera app up.

  She hissed and shoved her hand in my face.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, sounding slightly offended.

  “I’m taking a fucking picture so I can show that dillweed of a principal,” I snapped. “That, and so you don’t have to walk through the school with that attached to your head so he can see it.”

  ‘That’ being a fucking massive spiral notebook attached with handcuffs to her halo at the back.

  She sighed and turned so that I could get a better picture, being sure to hold the notebook up so it didn’t pull on her brace.

  “Jesus,” I growled.

  I pulled out the key to my handcuffs and unlocked it, wondering where the hell the set had come from.

  It was one like mine.

  “Who did this?” I barked.

  I pulled the handcuffs off and shoved them into my pocket, my eyes scanning the notebook.

  Taylor Hughes was written at the top of the notebook in shitty handwriting.

  “Taylor Hughes,” she said. “A senior football player.”

  “Hughes,” I said. “As in Taylor Hughes that’s the son of Rikerson Hughes? The cop?”

  That’s when I saw her eyes fill with tears.

  “Yes.”

  Those tears nearly brought me to my knees.

  I pulled her into my arms and hugged her as best as I could with the stupid brace practically in my face.

  The pins running into her goddamn forehead made my stomach hurt.

  I held her like that for a long time.

  So long, in fact, that the bell rang and kids started to pour into the hallway.

  “Let’s go,” I ordered. “You’re going home.”

  She was already shaking her head. “I can’t go home. I have one more class.”

  I didn’t fucking care. “I’ll take care of it.”

  She sighed and offered me her hand.

  I wrapped mine around hers and led her down the length of the freshman hallway.

  I glared at the snickering little assholes, causing them to snap their mouths shut so fast and hard that I could hear their teeth clack together.

  One little boy went as far as to throw a wadded-up piece of paper at her.

  I stopped, my nerves fraying, and faced the boy without once letting go of Avery’s hand.

  I tilted my head slightly and narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Do you have a sister?” I snapped.

  “No,” he lied.

  “Yes you do, Frank! I’m going to tell Echo that you don’t claim her!” a kid down the hall yelled.

  I narrowed my eye on this ‘Frank’ and said, “Do you think it’d be cool if this happened to your sister?”

  Frank frowned.

  “What about your girlfriend?” I pushed.

  Frank frowned really hard at that, looking at a girl across the hall who didn’t look amused.

  “Because it happening to mine really pisses me off,” I said. “I was at work and got called by my girl crying because some of you kids are assholes.”

  Frank looked away, and I thought he finally got me.

  I glared at any fucking kid that made eye contact after that.

  “You’re screwed now,” Avery said once we reached the main hallway where all the sets of children could co-mingle with their prospective grades. “Everybody’s gonna know you’re dating a teenager by morning.”

  I looked down at Avery and let her see the intensity in my eyes.

  “I don’t care if the whole fuckin’ world knows,” I told her bluntly. “I just want to make sure that you’re safe. I really don’t like getting tearful phone calls from you. They make my heart hurt.”

  Avery looked as if she’d taken a fist straight to the gut.

  “Derek…” she whispered.

  That’s when the principal finally showed.

  “She looks no worse for wear,” Bailey muttered.

  I gritted my teeth and flipped open my phone, showing him the picture.

  “I’m guessing this” —I slapped him across the chest with the notebook— “weighs about two to three pounds. Her backpack weighs closer to ten. She’s only allowed to carry ten pounds for six weeks. Do you want to know what one of the consequences for carrying too much weight is?”

  Bailey looked at the photo, then caught the notebook before it could drop to the floor.

  I didn’t wait for him to answer my question.

  “Paralysis,” I said. “Permanent spinal damage. The possibility of not fucking walking anymore!”

  My booming voice filled the large room like a bomb went off, and suddenly everyone went quiet.

  “Avery is mine, Bailey,” I snapped. “I don’t care if I have to rip this school apart and arrest every goddamn asshole in this building. If it means that I keep her safe, then you’re gonna bet your goddamn ass that I’ll do it.”

  Bailey’s face almost turned purple.

  “It wasn’t that bad,” he finally settled on.

  “Yeah, and that’s exactly what happens when people and situations such as these get overlooked,” I found myself saying. “The principal, or a teacher, or someone who should’ve known fucking better says ‘I didn’t think it was that bad’ and they ignore it. Then they ignore something else. Until that student gets so alienated. So fucking broken. Until he does something drastic. Avery’s got a good head on her shoulders. She knows right from wrong. She was raised with two cops as parents. But not everyone has what she had. Also, had, past tense. She lost both of her parents in the span of a couple years, Bailey. You should be protecting her since you’re one of the only adult figures in her life.”

  Bailey looked like I’d shot him straight through the heart as I said that last part to him.

  “Avery…” he croaked.

  Bailey was a good guy. He just didn’t like being told what to do. Never had.

  When I’d gotten in trouble one too many times, my dad had suggested that he put me to work instead of suspending me. I’d hated that idea at the time, and so had Bailey because he hadn’t thought of it himself. Naturally, he’d rebelled against it and had fought my father tooth and nail.

  In the end, my father had won, I hadn’t been suspended, and the school had been a cleaner place.

  But we’d fought a lot. Until one day Bailey stopped being stubborn for protesting my dad’s idea and started treating me like the pain in the ass kid I was.

  Avery looked blankly at Bailey for so long that Bailey started to shuffle his feet.

  “I’m sorry,” Bailey finally said. “I would like to know who did this to you.”

  There was a hesitant clearing of someone’s voice, and I turned to see a rather large, gangly teenager staring at us.

  “That’s me,” the boy croaked. “It was me.”

  Bailey’s eyes narrowed.

  “My office. Now.” His eyes turned to Avery. “I apologize, Avery.”

  The kid left, leaving the rest of us to stare at his retreating back.

  “He’s only trying to stay on top of the food chain,” Avery said softly. “Sometimes you have to do unpleasant things. But saying that, if one of the nasty cheerleaders that are in Rachel’s squad order you to do something, and you don’t, that means you get no more sex. No more friendship. No more anything. And sex is pretty important to teenage boys.”

  Bailey looked like he was pissed off even more, which gave me ho
pe.

  “I’m taking Avery home,” I said. “She has one more period today that she needs to be excused from.”

  Bailey nodded once, but his voice had us both halting in our tracks.

  “I’m sorry, Avery,” he said. “And I’ll take care of the teacher that allowed this to happen, too. Derek is correct. You should feel safe in your own school.”

  He had that right.

  Even more, I was going to make her feel safe if it was the last thing I did.

  Chapter 11

  I do fuck the police.

  -Avery’s secret thoughts

  Avery

  Six weeks later

  “I’m recommending you sue for loss of wages at least,” Rowen suggested. “Medical bills as well. Pain and suffering.”

  I didn’t want to sue Rachel at all.

  What I really wanted her to do was disappear and never come back.

  “Okay.” I finally decided, knowing that there was no other way.

  I needed the money.

  I needed a freakin’ break, and this way was the only way.

  Over the last couple of weeks, I’d had my own medical bills pop up, as well as expenses that I hadn’t realized that I was going to have, thanks to this stupid halo.

  Derek had gone above and beyond and gotten me a small fortune, sixteen thousand dollars in cash, from the calendar shoot. Originally, it’d been meant for my schooling, but they’d somehow gotten it to me earlier.

  I’d also gotten my father’s pension from his death until I graduated high school. The moment that I wasn’t in school anymore—i.e. college—that money would dry up, too.

  Sadly, that money that I’d had from the photoshoot was now gone thanks to the expenses that I had with Rachel nearly breaking my neck. Not to mention I started physical therapy soon and that would be another added expense.

  “I’m also going to be writing a formal letter to the hospital,” she continued, unaware of the hopeless thoughts swirling around in my head. “Your mother’s medical bills were huge, and I don’t feel like you should have had to pay for them when she donated her organs. I’m going to be bringing it up with them through a formal letter and seeing what they say.”

  I blinked.

  “Honestly, I don’t feel like you should have had to pay your father’s, either. But the police force is already working on that on their end, so I don’t feel the need to do that for you,” she continued, blowing my mind.

  “What?” I asked in confusion.

  She smiled.

  “Derek spoke with the board about you. They’re already covering his medical bills. The hospital is going to be sending you a reimbursement check,” she continued. “It won’t help with your house since it’s already been resold, but it’ll help you with your bills. It’s not going to be a fast process, but it’s going to happen sooner or later.”

  I felt like a lead weight had been lifted right off of my shoulders.

  Derek.

  God, the man was wonderful.

  These past six weeks had been a fucking whirlwind.

  I was now down to my last week and a half of school. Prom was tomorrow night—not that I was going for the dance, anyway—and graduation was next Friday.

  Next. Friday.

  This time next week, I would be graduating. Walking across the stage and never looking back.

  “Okay.” Rowen clapped her hands and stood from my couch.

  Yes, my couch.

  I’d moved out of Derek’s home into my own right across the street, and right next to Rowen and Dax, last week.

  Honestly, at first, I’d told Derek I was moving out because I wanted him to ask me to stay. To do something other than hug or kiss me.

  But when I’d said I was moving back to my own place—that I didn’t need him taking care of me twenty-four seven anymore—he’d allowed me to go.

  Which had hurt my heart so bad that I’d cried myself to sleep each night after I’d left.

  I looked around the room, allowing my eyes to focus on my furniture that was crammed into the small space.

  Derek had helped me move. Derek had unpacked for me. Derek had done everything for me over the last six weeks.

  And… I realized he was tired of it. Tired of me.

  I was a burden to him. A pain in the ass that he hadn’t realized he was getting.

  First, I’d lost my mom. Then my dad. Then my house. I’d gotten bullied at school. Then I’d nearly broken my neck. I couldn’t move myself out of my house. Couldn’t pack or unpack. Still couldn’t drive.

  And that was a lot of fucking stuff to put on one man’s shoulders.

  “Hey, don’t you get that off today?” Rowen asked excitedly.

  I touched the halo for one of the last times.

  “Yes, actually,” I answered. “I do.”

  Rowen’s grin widened.

  “That’s great news,” she said.

  It was.

  “Is Derek taking you?” she asked.

  Luckily I was saved from having to answer that question by the arrival of Dax.

  “Oh, that must be Dax,” she said, standing up. “We’re going to dinner and a movie.”

  I looked at my watch.

  “At two in the afternoon?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “I had today off for a few doctor appointments, and he got off at two, but has to be back in by four tomorrow morning. So, we’re doing it early.”

  Made sense.

  “Well, have fun!” I chirped, hoping that she didn’t follow up with the question she’d asked before Dax had arrived.

  Rowen opened the door, and we all stepped out, just in time to see Katy barreling down on us from the yard.

  “Avery!” Katy cried. “Can I buy that mom car from you?”

  I looked at my mom’s mom car and grinned.

  “I guess,” I said. “Why?”

  She looked at her own vehicle, then at me.

  “I’ve just spent all morning trying to get a third car seat in my car. Do you know that I have virtually no leg room when a car seat is in there?” she asked. “Either I have no leg room, or Logan doesn’t. And we both have long legs. I need a mom car. That car. An SUV. Can I buy it?”

  I looked at the ‘for sale’ sign I’d slapped on it after printing it off at school, then shrugged.

  “How much?” she asked.

  I opened my mouth, then closed it, unable to come up with a number.

  I had no idea how much the car was worth.

  More so, the person I would’ve asked was Derek, and he wouldn’t want to lowball me or scam his sister.

  I looked over at Dax.

  Dax looked at the car.

  “What year is it?” he asked.

  “A 2016,” I answered.

  He pulled out his phone then did some clicking and swiping.

  “Kelley Blue Book gives it a thirty-two-thousand-dollar trade-in,” he said. “I don’t know how much…”

  “Thirty,” I said. “Sound okay?”

  Katy practically bounced on her toes.

  “I’ll give you the trade-in, and…” she began.

  “Listen, Katy.” I laughed. “You could probably go get a new one. I know that you’re just doing me a favor. Thirty. Which, I might add, seems like a lot.”

  “Actually,” Dax said. “That car of your mom’s has less than ten thousand miles. Is top-of-the-line and is a fuckin’ Volvo. You could probably get a whole lot more than trade-in value.”

  Katy clapped her hands. “Then that’s perfect!”

  A car rolled up moments later, and I waved at the car.

  “I have a doctor’s appointment to get this off.” I touched the metal contraption around my head. “I’ll have to look for the title when I get home.” I paused. “I have the keys right…” I opened my purse and found my mom’s set of keys. “Here. Why don’t you drive it around a little bit and see how you like it?”

  Katy s
natched the keys up, then did a small dance. “I can’t believe I haven’t thought about this sooner. I was coming by to pick up a t-shirt for Derek when I saw it and thought… that’s it!”

  “Why did you get a t-shirt for Derek?” Rowen wondered.

  I wondered the same myself, but I didn’t want to seem like a crazy stalker chick.

  “Because apparently there was a fight, and he got blood all over his.” Katy shrugged, her smile still solidly in place. “You better go, Avery. I’m excited to hear that you’re getting that off.”

  I smiled weakly. “Thanks, y’all.”

  With that, I walked toward my car and away from Derek’s family.

  ***

  Derek

  “Thanks, Katy,” I said as I shrugged my old shirt off and pulled on the new one. “Do you still want to go grab lunch?”

  Katy shrugged. “Sure. But I was going to drive Avery’s mother’s car around a bit to see how I liked it. I told her that I’m buying it. I’m going to give her thirty-two thousand for it.”

  I blinked, staring at my sister.

  “When did this happen?” I asked.

  Because I sure the fuck hadn’t heard it from Avery.

  Not that I’d heard much of anything from Avery in the last week.

  Hell, the only time that I saw her now was when we happened to be passing each other on the way out of the duplexes. Her getting on the goddamn bus, and me just coming home from work in hopes that I would get there in time to take her.

  I hadn’t.

  Not once since she’d left my place.

  Which pissed me off.

  “Just a minute ago,” Katy answered. “I saw her when I was going to get you a shirt.”

  “You did?” I asked in confusion.

  “Yep,” she said. “I saw the car out there and thought… I need a new SUV. And that one is just right there. I know it was kept in great condition. So when I saw her outside talking to Rowen, I thought I would just ask her.”

  “Wait.” I paused on our way to our vehicles. “Avery was home?”

  And not at school where she was supposed to be?

  “Right,” she said. “She had an Uber pick her up and take her to her appointment. Apparently, the halo comes off today.”

  I gritted my teeth and tried not to get pissed.

  It didn’t work.