Playing with Fire

The weekend’s bad vibes still lingered on my mood.

I moseyed past Reign, his Sig Ep friends, Tess, the blonde deranged chick from Oklahoma—Melt-down-nie, as Reign had dubbed her after Saturday—and a few other girls. They were all hunched together, red-eyed, gossiping in the hallway. I was about to round the corner and get into Addams’ class when I heard Reign howling behind me.

“Yo, Toastie! Did you fall from Heaven? Because your face sure is fucked-up.”

The entire hall erupted in reverberating laughter.

I stopped walking, my hands curling into fists.

“Just kidding. Looking hot, baby girl!”

Another wave of laughter. Texas didn’t respond. It took everything in me not to turn around and look at her face.

Don’t fucking snap. She doesn’t want your pity.

“C’mon, now, Toast. I’m not just buttering you up. Sex with me will set you on fire.”

More laughter.

The flash of phone cameras as pictures were taken.

Snickers, cupped mouths, cell phones out.

Something inside of me snapped.

Sorry, Texas. No can do.

I turned around and charged toward him. He was still wearing his stupid toga and what looked like a crapped-on nest but was supposed to be a head wreath. His douchebag smile collapsed like a Jenga tower when he realized I was coming for his ass. I didn’t check where Texas was. If she was even around. I tackled Reign with my shoulder, slamming him against the wall, bunching his toga in my fist. The fabric fell apart, pooling at his ankles, leaving a strap of white cloth draped over his chest. He was standing in the hall wearing nothing but his boxers. I grabbed his throat and raised him until his feet no longer touched the floor. My jaw ticked so hard I thought my teeth were going to snap out of my mouth one by one.

“Jesus, man!” His yelp was muffled as my palm crushed his air pipe. He brought his hands up and tried prying my fingers away from his neck, his knuckles turning white.

“Itssaarrrjkk!” he spluttered, foaming from the mouth.

I bared my teeth with a feral snarl. I wanted to scare him to death. To make sure he knew the next time he took a jab at Texas, he would be in a world of hurt.

“Work on your material, funny guy.”

“She doesn’t even care!” His eyes were bugging out as I put more pressure on his throat. I felt the delicate bones in his neck snapping as I pressed harder into them.

“Well, I do,” I said quietly.

I could kill him. I knew that. I’d been aware of my ability to kill people for a while now. He wouldn’t even be the first person who’d ended up in a body bag because of me.

But that was a secret I wasn’t in a particular hurry to share with the world.

I got in his face. “I dare you to disrespect her again, Reign. I will break you into miniscule pieces then flush you down the toilet. A part of me half-wishes you’d be dumb enough to pick on her, just so I could finally end you.”

“Bro, you’re choking him,” someone murmured to my left.

“He is turning purple!” This came from my right.

“Quick, somebody do something!”

The cries bounced all around me but never slipped under my skin. I watched as he turned colors, as his flailing subsided under my hands, as the realization he might not walk out of this alive crossed his face.

A few pairs of hands pulled me by the back of my shirt. East, Grayson, and Bradley plastered me against the opposite wall, away from Reign. I shot East a murderous look and shoved him away, launching myself at Reign again.

East pushed me back harder. “You almost choked him to death. What’s wrong with you, man?” East panted, pinning me to the wall by my shoulders.

I threw a cool glance at Reign. He was slouched on the floor, gasping for air, and rubbing his neck, which was dark purple, a noose-like stain forming around his Adam’s apple.

The crowd around us thickened, the buzzing of murmurs filling my ears. Texas stood at the back, clutching the straps of her phoenix backpack.

She looked at me like I was a traitor.

I was fed up.

With her.

With my family.

With the world.

I spun on my heel, marching in the opposite direction. She wasn’t worth the trouble. I’d done as best as I could to help her out, but I was officially done. I couldn’t afford a friend like Grace Shaw, even if I was interested in her company.

Which, for the record, I wasn’t. Not anymore.

Too much drama. No, thank you.

I tramped my way into Addams’ class. A part of me was sure Texas was going to run after me. Thank me. Apologize for being unreasonable.

Beg and cower like everyone else did.

Seek my unattainable affections.

When I was at the door, I glanced up at the hallway, expecting to see her face again.