We meet Glen at her locker for lunch. “You okay?” Olar asks her.
“No!” she blurts, slamming her locker closed and accidentally breaking it. It rattles the entire row, drawing attention from onlookers. “What!” she yells at them.
“Umm, Glen, I think you should calm down a little.” I wrap my arm around her and lower my voice to say, “We can’t have you throwing our classmates through windows.”
She gives me a soft smile. “I’m sorry about that, Tracey, and I know. But it’s hard without Scott here.” She and Scott are stitched at the hip every second of the day; before school, during school, after school, and when they sleep. Having that much contact, always having that craving filled without the body properly adjusting to the separation, it’s a little much. It’s probably tearing her apart, being bound and not having him at her side right now.
“I know it’s no consolation, but I’m here.”
“Me too,” Olar seconds, hooking his arms around our necks.
We enter the lunchroom, avoiding our usual table that’s swarmed with new faces and waving hands from people who never talk to us. Olar points to an empty table in the corner, far from everyone, that’ll fancy all three of us. We sit and rip open a couple bags of chips.
“What are we doing after school, Olar?” Glen asks, breaking a long silence.
“Shit!” he blusters, snatching at the air as he’s yanked from his seat.
Glen and I jump to our feet and rush around the table. Olar waves us off. While giving his snatcher an exaggerated sigh, he frets, “That was incredibly inappropriate.”
Shocked by the petite, wallflower who’s sometimes seen but never heard, I blurt, “Wow, Joy. Just a simple hello would’ve worked.”
“Hello, Tracey.” She pulls Olar’s arm, but he isn’t budging. “Can I talk to you without your stalkers?” she snips, peeking at Glen and me.
“No,” he answers in a strong tone, removing his arm from her grasp.
“Why?” she bursts. The people at the table near us look in our direction, whispering about her outrageous retort. I throw my palm to my face, frustrated by her stupidity.
Olar huffs, annoyed by Joy’s childish antics. One thing I’ve noticed about Olar, though he doesn’t take life too seriously, he’s mature with women, and he hates head games. Ironic, for sure. “First off, they’re not my stalkers. Second, I’m not interested in women who don’t properly use their words. And third.” He drags his hand over his smooth chin. “I don’t like people disrespecting my family.”
Joy doesn’t take well to the rejection, but her forwardness toward Olar is shocking considering she has a boyfriend who is making his angry-faced way over here.
Glen chuckles and whispers, “Shit, Cey, look.” She nods toward him. “Check this out.” She raises her voice an octave, calling, “Joy, why don’t you step off before your macho boyfriend makes his way over here.” Throwing her hands to her mouth, she shrugs. “Oops. Too late.”
Joy whips around. A warning sticks in her squinted eyes as she looks back at us and then leaves for Neil. Her boyfriend of four years.
This isn’t going to end well, is it? Olar asks.
Probably not. That’s Neil. He’s a dick. Let me handle it.
Olar rubs the back of his neck. Alright, Tracey. Because I’m not good with confrontations. Someone always dies or gets sent to the hospital.
Bug-eyed, I gape at Olar. Biting my tongue, I turn away, remembering what Nathan said. I hope it doesn’t get that out of hand.
Joy fusses with Neil as he shoves her to the side. She tries to stop him, and he jabs his finger in her face, spitting vile threats and insults at her while his lethal expression dares her to rebuttal. The harshness of his words makes the thick vine on my back writhe with caution.
I would whoop Nathan’s ass if he treated me that way. My hands warm, and I stuff them in my back pockets, counting down from five.
Neil looks the three of us over, glaring at Olar a little longer than needed.
Snickering, Olar lets his head fall forward as he slowly shakes it. If we weren’t in school, he would have probably punched the snot out of Neil already.
Neil drags his scowl away from Olar. “What’s the problem, Tracey?” he questions with his honeyed, husky voice. Scowling, his green eyes intensely stand out against his peanut butter skin tone.
“There’s no problem over here, Neil. The problem’s standing next to you,” Glen answers, on edge. She’s gained a temper problem, and with her not being in full control of her ability, we never know if or when she might burst her wind gusts at someone. I pat her shoulder to calm her down.
Neil peeks at Joy, and she cuts Glen open with an evil eye. Ripping her gaze away from Glen, she softens her eyes and says to Neil, “Come on, sweetie, let’s go.” She pulls him, but his high-top boots stay planted on the floor.
“No, Joy. Tell me what’s going on,” Neil insists.
“Nothing,” she answers. “I was catching up with Tracey, welcoming her family to the school.”
Joy knows her boyfriend is a psycho. Why does she even do things like this when she knows he’s going to make a big deal out of it?
“Is that right, Joy?” I wince, hearing the antagonism in Glen’s voice. She’s about to make this situation worse. “It looked more like you were trying to have some alone time with him.” She chucks her thumb at Olar.
I shoot her a scolding eye. “Zip it.” She blows me off with a single shrug.
Neil stares Olar down. Olar couldn’t be less interested, warning Neil with a smug smile and tipped chin.
“Let’s all just go our separate ways and forget about this,” I say, encouraging everyone with a bright smile.
“Yeah, Joy, walk away,” Neil starts. “I’ll meet you by your locker after lunch.” He looks between the four of us and discreetly gives Joy a look of warning, daring her to leave it alone. She takes a few steps back, and the fear in her eyes brought on by the look he gives her concerns me. Suppressing his anger, Neil turns his attention back to us. “Can you tell me what’s going on?” he asks Olar.
Olar slides me to the side and takes a single step forward. His strong stance rubs Neil the wrong way, judging by the way Neil’s nostrils flare. “Your anger’s directed at the wrong person,” Olar tells him. “And with the way things looked with you and your dame, you need to take a time out.”
I am in total agreement. Time out for Neil!
Tipping his chin back, Neil glowers at Olar, but calmly states, “Cool.” He turns up his nose, then averts, gating toward Joy standing by the lunchroom’s entrance. Snatching her arm, he yanks her with him into the hallway.
I meet darkening eyes. Olar’s etched expression’s loud and clear.
Throwing my head back, I grumble. “You’re right.” We have to help her. “Come on.”
We rush into the hall with Glen complaining about how we don’t always have to be superheroes.
A flesh punch shortly follows a wail that echoes from down the hall. Joy’s soft cry sends us racing in its direction, searching for them.
Around a short corner where the school cameras can’t reach, we find Neil standing over Joy, harshly scolding her in a whisper. Joy tries to get up from the floor. As tears skate down her bruised cheek, she reaches for his help, but he slaps her hands away. “It’s always something with you!” he snaps.
Neil draws his arm back, going in for another punch. Olar grabs Neil’s fist, making it to the couple faster than my eyes can follow. Neil drops Joy to the floor and whips around, shoving Olar. “This has nothing to do with you, mind your business,” he demands.
A gash the size of a child’s thumb splits the skin above Joy’s left eyebrow and leaks blood into her swollen eye. “Oh my gosh,” I utter, hand covering my mouth. Her tear-streaked face twists into a scowl as her one good eye glares at Glen. My heartless friend snorts, giving her the ‘dumb bitch’ look as if a guy beating Joy down is Joy’s fault.
I push Glen. “You can be such a
bitch sometimes.”
She shrugs, innocently chirping, “What?” She knows this is her fault!
“You do not beat on a female.” Olar tries to keep his calm, clasping his red-turning hands behind his back.
Neil pulls his shoulder’s back, sneering. “What I do with my girl is my business. Go find yours.” He veers, towering over a quavering Joy.
Popping the knuckle of his thumbs, Olar warns, “Do not put your hands on that girl.”
Turning a quarter of the way, Neil dares Olar with a glance from the corner of his eye. He yanks Joy from the floor, barking, “Let’s go.” He hurries her along with a shove against her neck.
I blink, and Olar’s snatching Neil by the collar of his shirt, yanking him away from Joy. I rush to catch Joy before she can hit the floor. “Don’t tell anyone. Okay?” she begs, burying her face in her hands. “Please don’t tell, Tracey.”
“You’re better than this—than him. You do not have to deal with him treating you like this, Joy. Get out before it gets too late.” I do my best at convincing her, but she doesn’t reply or acknowledge me. “I don’t know what you’re going through, but love shouldn’t hurt you like this. Okay?”
She lifts her eyes to mine and distress sinks into them, relaying an emotion I haven’t suffered the fate of feeling yet. Joy mutters, “You wouldn’t understand.”
Neil rips himself from Olar’s grasp, whipping around, and charges forward.
“Olar, you know you cannot fight that boy,” I tell him. When I need someone to interrupt something, it never happens. Where the hell are all the teachers and security guards?
Neil shoves his fists into Olar’s chest, but instead of Olar moving from the force, Neil does. A confused expression crosses his face as he looks himself over. Neil’s a nicely built guy. He’s tall, always clean cut, and has been our friend since freshman year. I never took him for the type to hit on girls though. But I guess you never really know.
“You seriously do not want to go there,” Olar warns as Neil stalks back to him. “I’m already going to break your face for messing up that girl’s eye. Don’t piss me off by doing something stupid.”
Neil isn’t hearing it. He draws back and jabs Olar in his jaw. Olar’s skin visibly hardens. He draws his arm back, going in for a non-human punch. I jump from the floor, grabbing his arm, but he’s too strong to hold back. I go with the punch, flying into Neil. We topple over, smacking the floor.
Scrambling to my feet, I’m shoved from the side, and I roughly slap the tile. “Get off of him!” Joy yells, pushing me again.
Glen and Olar help me up as Neil’s rising, refusing help from Joy.
“Have you lost your mind?” Glen shouts. “We just saved your ass, and you’re going to scold the people looking out for you!” Glen jabs hostile points in Joy’s face.
“Shut up, Glen!” Joy spits, flicking her off. Before she can turn away, Glen punches her square in the face. Joy’s hand flies to her cheek as she stumbles backward. Not a second of her gathering her footing, Neil jabs his fist in Glen’s face, and she crumples. I catch Glen before she can hit the floor, missing the non-human punch Olar sends to Neil. He hits the tile, lips busted.
I grumble, lifting Glen to her feet. She shakes loose of my grasp, stomps over to Neil, and rams her foot in his ribs.
Neil wails as the bell’s ringing.
“Dammit, Glen!” I catch Glen by her arm and pull her away from him.
We flee the scene, as Neil’s threatening, “You stupid bitch, I’m going to kill you for that!”
I was wrong to think we’d avoided anyone witnessing our tiff in the lunchroom. The three of us share our next class, and upon entering the classroom, we’re bombarded with ‘what happened’ and ‘what’d Joy say.’ Along with that, I zone out the floozies who never talk to me but are making it their business to ask me about Olar and how I’d feel about them getting with him. Half the girls making conversation, I’ve never been on their radar, but because I’m walking around with ‘fresh meat,’ now we’re friends. Instead of being an ass and ignoring them, I could probably say something like, ‘oh, if you would be so kind as to address all Olar related questions directly to him, he’ll get back to you.’ But that still sounds bitchy.
I’m upset about earlier. We could’ve just walked away or said nothing. If Glen could’ve kept her mouth closed and not egged it on, things would’ve played out differently. Now, she’s got a bruise the size of an orange over her eye. And who’s Scott going to blame? Me! As if anyone can control Glen.
I lean back in my chair, accidentally knocking a note that’s landed on my desk to the floor. I leave it there, knowing the person who it’s addressed to doesn’t care about getting it.
Sitting behind me, Olar leans forward and says in my ear, “I’m sorry, Tracey. But that shit wasn’t cool. He was whooping that girl’s ass, and you know how I am.”
“Don’t be sorry. You had to look out for her.” It’s never cool for a guy to beat up a girl. Some guys just need their asses handed to them. “I tried talking to her, but I don’t think I got through.”
“Nathan check on you after you took that fall?”
“No. He probably just checked in on me, making sure I was okay.”
He nods. “They’re busy up there. A lot of shit’s been going on recently.”
“Like what?” I ask, turning a quarter of the way to him.
He sits back and drags his gaze away from me. I eye him, irked by that. He knows me well enough now to know I would ask, so why make the comment if only to drop it. His shoulder bounces once, letting off that he doesn’t care about my questioning scowl.
I grumble, turning back in my chair. It irritates me when they do that. They act like no one but Nathan can fill me in on anything. Everyone’ll make small talk, leaving out all the juicy detail. Then, when I ask about something specific, they either walk away or drop the subject altogether. It gets under my skin that they either don’t trust me or think I’m not strong enough to take the news.
effected cause
A sour feeling rolls in my stomach as we near the end of the school day. Our ventures may not be over in dealing with Joy and Neil. What if the wrong person walked into the hallway and saw Neil and Joy lying on the floor? With the roughnecks Neil hangs around, they’re ones to never walk away or back down from a threat. And by the whispers and side-eye glances we’re getting as we walk down the hallway, something is up.
I’m in no mood for fights or arguments, and after my last class, I’m at the point to let whatever happens happen. Biggest freaking test of the year, I bombed it. It’ll definitely have an impact on my grade. Between thinking about Roehl, the fight, and how we’re going to cover up Glen’s eye, I just couldn’t find my focus.
We leave the school, escaping the gathering crowds forming in the parking lot. A cold hand wraps around my wrist and yanks me to the right. A fist connects with my cheek and a palm’s shoved against my neck before I can gather what’s going on. I block another punch as I’m spotting an attack on Olar and Glen too.
What the hell? I throw my arms up, blocking what I can.
These girls I’ve known forever, and they’d stand here and fight me like this! All of them at once!
“No way!” I shout, shoving back who I can. Drawing back, I throw my fist forward, connecting it with someone’s nose. Twisting around, I snatch my shirt from some girl I’ve never seen before. Throwing my elbow back, I slam it into her mouth. “I am not taking this!” I say, punching someone else. “If you all have any sense, you won’t take another step forward.” The stinging scratches on my arms and neck have my hand burning hot, ready to release my fire snake on these humans. Olar pulls my arm behind me and pulls the clip from my hair as my ear blazes. Through the curtain of curls, I glare at the mob, daring either of them to make another move. My angry huff causes a curl to sway forward as the ugly feather burns present on my cheek.
“She’s right.” Olar’s deadly voice stops them. Its deepness and r
asp scatters fear over their eyes. “You don’t want to end up like your friends. Or worse.”
They look around us, and we take their falter to get in the car. We aren’t running, but it’d be better if we try to keep this bad situation from turning worse.
Olar peels out of the parking lot and steals a glance at me. The looped piercing on his eyebrow wiggles as his brow jumps. “Guess we fucked up, huh?”
I slump in the seat, shoving my bag from my lap to the floor. “No,” I sigh. “I had a feeling it would happen,” I say over Glen’s shit talking.
He slaps the steering wheel. “This is why I shouldn’t be in school, why I never made it through high school. I can’t take people’s attitude and their ignorance and not be able to do something about it.” He grumbles, shaking his head. “Nathan’s gonna be pissed. You don’t have any bruises or scratches, do you?”
I look over my arms and check my reflection in the mirror. “Nothing too bad. He’ll be fine.”
“No,” he says with an edge to his voice. “He’s going to be pissed.”
“He’ll get over it,” Glen starts . . . and keeps going. “Plus, we were jumped. We did nothing but try to help their friend from getting beat down, and this is how they repay us.” She leans between the front seats. “Tracey, you tried to be cool. You tried to be a friend, and she repays you by slamming you on the floor because she thought you were on her guy. Eww!” She sits back. “Who would want Neil?” Her hand smacks what sounds like her face. “No, better question, why would she want him? And he’s whooping her ass. Oh!” she exclaims excitedly. “When we get to school tomorrow, it’s going to turn crazy. It’s enough the girls are crazy over you, Olar. Now they’re going to lose it. You were knocking guys out with one punch and all!” She cackles.
Brazen: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Sephlem Trials Book 2) Page 8
