by T. J. Sin
“I’m warning you now Cathy, shut your damn mouth and back the hell off!” In that one sentence, the threat was clear. Chloe was still stuck in shock mode and couldn’t find the will to move. Everything that was going on around her was happening in slow motion but Craig’s laughing face was branded in the front of her mind.
Cathy stepped back, placing one tightly fisted hand on her hip. “I can’t believe that you are actually defending her,” she sneered. “After everything she has done to us, you are actually taking up for the slut.”
Troy pushed Chloe behind him so fast that she stumbled over her own two feet for the second time and would have fallen flat on her face if it hadn’t been for the hand that he had around her waist. He stood her back up, placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her and looked down into her face. “Are you alright?”
She was numb. She was still in shock because all these people now knew her secret and he was asking her if she was alright? Did it look like she was alright? Hell no! She wasn’t alright. Nothing was alright, and it never would be again. Craig made damn sure of that.
“Who gives a flying shit if she’s alright, John’s the one that’s laid up in the hospital.”
Troy’s eyes narrowed and Chloe didn’t miss the throbbing vein pulsing at his temple. He spun back around in a whirlwind of fury. “I’ve already told you to shut your mouth. Another word and I’m going to shut it for you.”
“I’ve got this.” Justin's familiar deep voice resonated through the now quiet cafeteria.
Chloe's eyes snapped up to meet his fiery gaze. His hand was clamped onto Cathy’s arm and he was already pulling her back behind him. Figures he would take her side Chloe thought to herself. He was no different than Craig in her eyes. He didn’t care who he hurt as long as he got what he wanted. “Get her out of here,” he told Troy and with those five words, Chloe could hear the contempt and condemnation in his voice. He must have heard the rumors too.
She couldn‘t even look at him any longer. The disgust written all over his face cut her to the core. Dropping her head, she held in the urge to break out into another round of tears. It shouldn’t matter anymore, none of it should matter but the cold hard truth of the matter was, it did. It mattered and it hurt like hell.
“Come on Chloe, let‘s go somewhere to get you cleaned up.” Troy’s soothing voice did nothing to soothe her bruised ego. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and started to lead her out of the cafeteria. She didn’t have it in her to stop him.
They stepped out into the hall and another familiar voice called out my name. “Chloe?”
Glancing back over her shoulders, she spotted Erica leaning up against the wall, a conniving smile sitting on the corners of her lips. She waved her fingers at her and then of all things, she winked. “So sorry to hear about what happened to you back there. Maybe next time, you’ll listen to me, what do you think?”
Before Chloe could come up with any words Erica pushed herself up off the wall and Chloe watched her back as she disappeared into the cafeteria.
She was dead to her now. Cousin or not, Erica was going to pay for what she had done to her. She knew the hell that she went through after that night and her cousin still used it against her. Family wasn't supposed to do things like that to each other. Family was supposed to have your back.
If she wanted to play hard ball, then Chloe would play hard ball. Oh it was on now... it was so on now!
Chapter 20
“What?” Cathy sneered when Justin spun her around in the hall to face him. He released her arm and pushed her up against the wall. He was so angry right now that he was having a hard time coming up with words for her. All he could do was glare and glare he did, right at her overdone, made up face.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t tell me that you’re going to feel sorry for the little twit too.” When he didn’t immediately answer her, she hesitated and then went on to press her point. “You don’t even know her Justin. You don’t know about her past like I do.”
“I don’t need to know about her past,” he finally spoke through tightly clenched teeth. “What you girls did out there was inexcusable Cathy. No one,” he stepped up closer and bent down so that they were eye to eye. “And I mean no one deserves that kind of treatment." Cathy opened her mouth to talk but Justin raised his hand and cut her off. “I don’t give a damn who that person may be Cathy, no one deserves the type of treatment that I just witnessed out there.”
She lifted her chin in the air, ignoring every word that he just said. “You want to know what they called her back at her old school?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Justin retorted, still just as pissed off as he was when he first walked out of the cafeteria with Cathy instead of Chloe in tow. He saw the pain all too well in her eyes. It was the same pain that he saw the night before and he wanted to be with her now, instead of Troy comforting her, giving her his shoulder to lean on. Instead, he's out here in the hall, confronting the girl who caused that heart breaking pain.
“Senorita Sex-a-lot." Cathy spat. "They said that she slept with four guys all in one night and still couldn’t get enough. The next day her boyfriend dumped her because she couldn’t keep her pants on and she begged him for days to take her back. She’s nothing but a common whore Justin and she should be treated as such. She doesn’t belong here with any of us.”
Justin closed his eyes. He couldn‘t believe a word that Cathy was saying. Yeah, she may have had a bad rep at her old school but he couldn‘t see Chloe sleeping around like that. Wasn’t it just last night that he decided he was going to figure out what made Chloe act the way that she did? Just by the way that she reacted to him, pulling away so suddenly, he could tell that she had been screwed over one too many times. Could whatever happened to her at her old school be the key?
Cathy smacked his arm. “Are you even listening to me Justin?” she bristled.
Justin shook his head to clear his thoughts and focused back on Cathy. He grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look up at him. “No Cathy, it’s time that you listened to me. I want you and all of your little girlfriends to stay away from Chloe. She’s going through enough right now on her own and she doesn’t need your shit to add to it. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Cathy’s temper began to go into overload. She wanted to smack the arrogance right off his face. Why was he acting like this? Justin was the high school quarterback and she was the head cheerleader. Wasn’t he supposed to be backing her up? “What has gotten into you Justin? This isn‘t like you. Not like you at all. Don’t you love me anymore?”
He barked out a humorless laugh and released her chin. “Love you Cathy? What in the hell would make you think that I loved you?” He took a step back and held up his hands. “You’re pathetic Cathy. It’s time that you took a good look around you and grew the hell up. We aren’t little kids anymore writing notes back and forth, sneaking kisses behind the bleachers. We graduate in less than a month. Do yourself a favor, concentrate a little more on getting out of here and a little less on how miserable you can make someone else’s life. It isn’t worth it.”
Cathy’s eyes were now burning with unshed tears. How could he be so callous? So ruthless about their relationship? He had been her first and she was his. They had been together for so long now because that’s the way that it was supposed to be.
And then the cold, hard truth hit her like a Mack truck running a red light. “You like her,” she hotly accused. Her voice began to rise with each new word that she spoke. “That’s why you are taking up for her, isn’t it Justin? You’ve gotten tired of me and now you want to move on to some fresh meat.” This time it was Cathy that advanced on Justin, backing him up against the lockers. “Tell me Justin,” she demanded, pressing her body shamelessly to his. “Is that what this is all about? You want to test the waters with the new bitch in town?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about Cathy. We may hook up once in a while, but we aren’t boyfrien
d and girlfriend. What I do on my own time is no business of yours. Now,” he said, grabbing her by the arms and setting her away from him. “I’ve warned you Cathy, go near Chloe again and I’ll make you regret ever messing with me.”
Having said all that he intended to say, Justin spun around and started to walk away from Cathy. He had to find Chloe and Troy. He needed to make sure that she was okay. That pained look in her eyes when she left the cafeteria pulled at the heart string in his chest. Just thinking about what he saw go down in the cafeteria had his muscles tensing and his anger rising to a whole new level. Cathy really had no idea how close she was to getting her face punched in.
What they did to Chloe wasn’t right. No matter who she was or what ever happened in her past, no one deserved that type of personal degradation or humiliation.
“Justin Pinnix, you better come back here right this minute. I‘m not through talking with you yet!” Cathy yelled out at his retreating back. When he didn’t bother to turn around and only continued to walk further and further away from her, she stomped her foot like a petulant toddler. “You walk away now and I’ll never take you back,” she screamed again. “Do you hear me Justin, never! Not even if you come crawling back to me on your knees, we’re done!”
Justin walked around the corner and disappeared completely from her view. She wanted to yell, she wanted to scream but more importantly she wanted to make someone pay for ruining her perfect little life.
It wasn‘t fair, she told herself. She and Justin were supposed to be together. That was simple high school sociology. They were meant to be. Spinning her body around, she let out a bellow of rage and slammed her bare fist hard into a locker.
“Damn it!” she cursed, clutching her now throbbing hand to her chest. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. If it hadn’t been for that stupid meddling bitch, she and Justin wouldn’t be fighting right now. Instead, they would be in the cafeteria making out.
This was Chloe’s fault. All her fault and if she thought that she was going to get away with stealing her man, then she had another thing coming. No one had ever dared to take what belonged to her before and she wasn‘t about to let anyone start now.
Cathy turned around and headed off in the opposite direction of Justin. She needed some time to think. She needed some time to come up with a plan. A plan to get her man back and at the same time, a plan to put the slut back in her place, once and for all. Life around here was about to get real- very, very real.
“I can take it from here,” Chloe stated harshly, shrugging Troy’s hand from her shoulder. She didn’t want anyone touching her, especially right now. She looked up and realized that he had stopped in front of the girls’ bathroom. If the look on Troy’s face was any indication, he had every intention of going in there with her. No way.
Troy dropped his hands to his sides. “I’m not sure that is such a good idea.” He noticed her shivering and could see the tears welling up in her eyes. He could kill Cathy and her fellow groupies for what they did to this girl. “Why don’t I come in and help you clean some of this gunk out of your hair?” he suggested.
After being so thoroughly humiliated in the cafeteria, and then seeing her cousin and knowing that she was the cause of it all, Chloe wanted nothing more at this point than to be alone. That was it. “I’m fine,” she told Troy and started to turn away from him.
“No, you’re not fine.” Troy grabbed her arm again and gently turned her back around so that she was looking back at him. “No sane person would be fine after what happened back there. Those girls are just bitches looking for someone to push around. You’re a beautiful girl Chloe and they felt threatened. It’s no excuse for what they did, but it’s the truth. Let me help you.”
She wasn't sure about Troy. She didn’t know him all that well but she was having a hard time shutting him down after what he had just done for her. She knew that he was in her English Lit class. He wasn’t at all athletic and he didn’t run in Justin’s circle, but he seemed to be a popular kind of guy. “Look,” she started, and ran her hand through her hair only to pull out a blob of spaghetti noodles. “Ew,” she scrunched up her nose and tossed the cold noodles to the floor. “This really is disgusting.”
She glanced back up at Troy who was searching her face. He looked concerned and on some elemental level, that expression touched her. But right now, she didn’t want nor need his concern. She needed time to recuperate and figure out how in the hell she was going to stick it to her cousin.
“I’m fine,” she said again. “I just really need to be by myself right now. Can you understand that?”
Troy released her arm and scratched his chin. The truth was, he couldn’t understand it. Why would anyone want to be alone after all that happened back there? Wouldn’t she need someone to tell her that it’s going to be okay? Didn’t she need reassurance that this wasn’t her fault and that not everyone was as dim witted or cruel as Cathy was?
Chloe let out a tired sigh. At first she was stunned, then she was upset, now she was just plain pissed off. “I can see the questions in your eyes Troy. I’m a big girl,” she assured him. “I can handle a little food in my hair and some silly name calling. I’m starting to feel really sticky right now so if you don’t mind, I’m going to go in here to get cleaned up.” She pointed at the bathroom door and added, “Alone. You can go back to whatever it was that you were doing before you decided to be the great white knight in shining armor and save the day.”
He frowned. That’s not exactly how he had envisioned it. He wasn’t thinking about saving the day; his only thoughts were for Chloe and the atrocity that had occurred. “I don’t think-” he started and was cut off by Chloe’s pointer finger being pressed up against his lips.
“Do me a favor Troy, don’t think.” This time she smiled back at him. “Thank you for what you did for me earlier but right now, I need to deal with this in my own way. Please, just go back to the cafeteria. I promise you that I’ll be fine.”
He sucked in a big breath and slowly blew it out between his teeth. He turned his head to the side, not wanting her to read too much in his expression. “Fine,” he said and after a stretched silence he whipped his head back around, “but only if you’re sure that you’re going to be alright.”
Chloe reached over and covered the hand that still rested on her arm with her own. “I will be. You will see me in English Lit later today and you’ll be able to see for yourself.”
Troy still wasn’t so sure but it was obvious that Chloe wanted to be alone. English Lit was only two classes away. “Alright,” he conceded, “but wait a second.” He reached in his back pocket and pulled out an ink pen. “Can I see your hand please?”
Chloe looked at him oddly but lifted her hand to him. Troy grinned a little and turned her hand over so that he was looking at her palm. Taking the pen he pulled out of his pocket, he quickly jotted his number on her hand. “If for any reason you need me,” he told her seriously while still holding her hand. “Call me. I don‘t care what time it is, or where you are at- you can pick up your phone, call me and I‘ll be there, alright?”
Chloe audibly gulped. “Okay. If I feel like I need to be saved again, you’ll be the first person that I call.”
Troy lifted his hand and pulled another wet noodle out of her hair. He held it up in front of them. “Go clean yourself up Chloe Miller. I’ll be checking on you in English Lit this afternoon.”
“I’m going,” she told him and turned around to open the door. Surprisingly, she was already feeling a little better. She pushed the door open but stopped when she felt another tug at the back of her head. She glanced back over her shoulder and Troy held up another noodle for her to see.
He grinned sheepishly at her, dropped the noodle to the accumulating pile in the floor and held up his hands. He didn’t say anything else to Chloe. Instead, he very slowly started to back away from her, eventually turning around and walking down the hall. She watched his retreating back for just a little longer before turning
herself around and going into the bathroom.
One thing was for sure, she mused. Troy was another enigma. He wasn’t at all what he seemed to be. She glanced at the number on her hand. “Nope,” she said aloud. “He was definitely a different kind of guy.”
**********
Justin stood at the corner of the hall and watched Troy interact with Chloe. At least she didn’t look as distraught as she had earlier, he thought to himself. He was getting ready to approach the two of them when he noticed Troy’s arm on her shoulder and then her hand covering his.
What’s going on here? He seethed. Troy was supposed to be taking her away so that she could get cleaned up, not taking advantage of her vulnerability and hitting on her.
Then he saw it. It was just a fraction of a smile, but it was an honest to God smile. That one smile captivated him. After everything that she just went through ten minutes earlier, she was standing there smiling. But that smile wasn’t for him, it was meant for Troy. He scowled at that realization.
Justin stood there and continued to watch the two interact, getting more and more frustrated by the second. He was the one that wanted to get to know her. He wanted her to feel like she could come to him to talk but how was he going to convince her that she could count on him when Troy McFarland was making passes at her.
Justin was three seconds away from storming the two when suddenly they seemed to be getting a little too close for his own sense of comfort. He forced himself to stay back and observe. Every time he confronted Chloe, they ended up screaming at each other. Maybe Troy was doing something right that he wasn’t.
