Gabe got in a few punches that night.
But so did I.
I thought I’d won. His parents ended up coming down and breaking us apart. The neighbors’ lights flicked on. We had caused a scene. He lied to his parents, and they bought it.
I was whisked away and sent to juvie, later finding out that his parents dropped the charges. For what reason? I had no clue. I was a little relieved, but the last words Gabe spoke to me had buried themselves into my brain, just like the words of the faceless thugs who killed my father. Before I was shuffled out of the Santiellos’ house that night, Gabe leaned into my personal space and spat, “The next time I see you, you’ll pay for this.”
Heavy breaths escaped my mouth as my hands stayed glued to the tiled wall. I was angry that the recent memory had hit me head-on. I was also angry that I could feel the remnants of fear. I was sweating. Small droplets of salty moisture lined my forehead.
I yelped and fell backwards onto my butt when the girl’s bathroom door flew open, revealing a set of gray eyes that resembled the moon versus the normal storm cloud.
Christian’s brow furrowed when he found me on the floor. I looked away quickly. Embarrassed. “What happened at Oakland?”
Jesus. He wants to know everything.
I slowly pushed myself up off my butt and took a steady breath. Fear had no place in my body right now. The past was the past. It could affect the future, but it surely couldn’t be changed.
“What are you talking about?”
Reaching up and tucking my hair behind my ear, I glanced into the mirror. Yikes. My face was pale, slick with sw
eat. My lips were blood-red from biting down on them.
“Something happened there, and I want to know what.”
His voice was demanding and distant but still had a small twinge of warmness intertwined. My head slowly swiveled over to him, and we caught each other’s eyes. I begged my gaze to stay fixed on his, but it didn’t listen. My eyes bounced down to his set of pale, full lips—the ones that caved in to mine just a few nights ago.
It had felt good to kiss him. Too good.
Things sparked inside of me, which only made me lash out. I brushed past him, needing to get control of myself. “Like I said before…” I stopped right beside him in the doorway of the bathroom. We were inches apart. His fresh, woodsy scent was the only thing I smelled. “I depend on me and only me.”
With that, I walked back to class feeling a little bit empowered. Maybe facing my fears would be a good thing. Maybe I should show up to the game with Piper and look Gabe right in the eye, proving that he had no effect on me. The next time I see you, you’ll pay. Yeah, we’ll see, Gabe.
He wasn’t the first person to threaten me.
And it was time I stopped being afraid of these empty threats. I’d been through far too much to back down now.
Later that day, I was sitting with Piper during lunch, the pair of us tucked away in the corner, looking out into the cafeteria. I was debating with myself if I should go to the game or not.
I wanted to look Gabe right in the eye and tell him I wasn’t afraid of him, but deep down, I may have been a little. I learned that you couldn’t trust someone from the outside looking in—or maybe even if you were on the inside with them. People were unpredictable. It was human nature. Even I was unpredictable at times. Kissing Christian proved that.
With the thought, I looked over at his lunch table. He was picking away at his food, shoving it around his tray. Ollie and Eric were talking animatedly, and everyone else, girls included, were hanging on their every last word. Madeline sat a few seats down, still at their table, but no one was speaking to her.
If it were anyone else, I might have felt bad. But she was mean, and mean girls deserved to be lepers.
Christian’s head swiveled toward the lunchroom doors, and I followed his gaze. The dark oak slabs opened, and Headmaster Walton waltzed in, his bright-red tie a focal point. Then, right after him, I saw Ann’s bright, straw-colored hair and tired face following him.
I sighed, Piper stopped talking and asked me what Ann was doing here. I shrugged as Headmaster Walton pointed me out, and Ann caught my eye.
“I’m gonna go find out before she sits down at our table like we’re all besties.”
Piper snickered. “I’ll take care of your tray. I’ll see you after school to finish our conversation, even though you didn’t hear a word I said because you were too busy ogling Christian.”
I gave her the side eye but didn’t bother arguing with her. She was right. I was ogling him.
Before I made it all the way over to Ann’s painfully bright smile, I snagged my attention on the popular table again. No one was paying attention; there was too much commotion going on in the lunchroom: lots of chatter, my peers moving through the food line, cafeteria ladies cleaning and replacing food, random teachers grabbing their afternoon cup of joe. But Christian, he was locked onto me, staring, pinning me down with a questionable look.
Ignoring him and the way my chest fluttered, I turned and headed right for the doors. I gave Ann a fake what-are-you-doing-here smile and whisked through the door as she trailed me.