Just a heads up, there's a lot of swearing and violence in this chapter.

Chapter 17

There was a law somewhere in the universe that read: once Judith Blake starts to go through life without ulcer inducing worries, dare I say, even starts to enjoy the confusion that is her life, everything must go to hell in a hand basket. Preferably one doused in gasoline.

And yet, I was still surprised when I arrived at school and was dragged into a washroom by Kaia and two other panthers.

“Ay, prostitots! Vamos.” One of the Panthers held the door open as the only three girls in the bathroom ran after their first startled glance around, while the other one, Kaia called her Naomi, checked to make sure the stalls were empty.

A pointless task considering the fact that the bathrooms this early in the morning were usually occupied by Grade Nine girls who would be applying makeup their mothers would never allow them to leave the house in. I even thought about telling her that when she hit the fourth stall but the sharp elbow in my side when I opened my mouth brought me back to my senses.

I swallowed hard, my stomach dropping as I mentally berated myself for not paying attention, Kaia was going to go all Hannibal Lector and eat me. I began to breathe faster and I tried to think of something else, nothing more embarrassing then passing out before the beat down.

This was what I got for thinking about stupid AJ instead of my surroundings. You’d think I would’ve been happy that the night before hadn’t ended with a good night kiss, but considering all his talk during the dinner, I’d been positive he would’ve made a move, I’d prepared myself to turn him down and remind him of the no kissing fake boyfriends rule, I’d spent the last thirty minutes at my grandma’s house thinking of how to tell him no. I mean my parents had taken my sister and everything. So technically, this was AJ’s fault. Not even technically since Kaia wouldn’t be paying me any attention if it hadn’t been for his faux relationship.

I jumped as the last stall was kicked open with more force that I thought necessary. Naomi nodded at Kaia and I straightened, a part of me glad that we’d be getting it over with, another part of me wondering why the hell AJ hadn’t popped up yet. I mean, he didn’t care about the sanctity of the female bathroom; someone had to have told him Kaia had pulled me in here by now.

“Is something wrong?” I asked keeping my voice as level as possible as I tried to tug my arm free of her death grip, if he wasn’t coming I’d just get it over with. She didn’t answer but she was kind enough to remove her hand from my arm so she could get a death grip on my hair, wrapping it around her hand. I moved a second too late and despite attempts by my brain to relax, since she wasn’t actually tugging on it, yet, I couldn’t.

“Uh… Kaia, I um, think that maybe, we’re um… you know… having a miscommunication or something? Maybe we should, uh, call Missy?” I swallowed a yelp as she tugged and my head jerked back. My hands shot up to where her hand was and I grabbed it, attempting to find her fingers so I could pry them loose.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to stay calm as my brain screamed at me to shut up. She was going to slam my head into the wall, into glass and I’d have to go to the hospital and have all the glass removed from my face again. Except it would be a lot worse this time around, if I’d just shut up and listen, I wouldn’t have to feel.

I choked on a breath I had taken and that thankfully pulled me away from that train of thought. I had a thing, about my hair and her hold on mine was making me panic and my instincts were no longer making sense. Taking a few more deep breaths and ignoring the childish squeals now going off in m y head I tried again.

“Seriously, we should definitely call Missy, she can totally clear what ever this is, up.”

“Like she cleared up my position after your lying ass told her I was in on that locker thing with Carmen? Clear it up like that, puta?”

I blinked, not sure I could hear her properly. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about?!”

“Kaia, she’s starting to hyperventilate.” One of the other girls pointed out. She said something else but I couldn’t make it out.

Kaia made a disgusted sound then released my hair, shoving my head and causing me to stagger. Now that my hair was free I could think a lot better, though my first instinct was to ensure she couldn’t push my face into anything.

Moving furtively, I stepped further from her, though I didn’t really have that far to go with the other two spread out around me. Running my hands through my hair I parted it and began to do a braid on either side of my scalp, covering my ears while effectively putting my hair in a style that made sure I could see her going for a braid. I might look like Anne of Green Gables but overall it was a lot better than having a meltdown because she went for my hair.

While I was doing this, she and the others watched, her expression was one torn between disbelief and disgust. I didn’t bother to look at the other two.

“No entiendo--” She cut herself off and took a breath. “I really don’t see what AJ sees in you. You’re so fucking soft it’s disgusting, I swear, when you break up…”

“Kaia, get over that shit already and deal with the issue of lying. Shit, I’m not about to let Missy fuck me up because you’re jealous. We’re here to deal with the fact that she’s a snitch. So deal with it. No one cares about your fucking crush.” I did my best to hide my surprise at this. I’d thought Kaia was pretty high up in the group, but that hadn’t sounded all that respectful to me.

“Alex, you, escuchar aqui, shut up!”

“No, am I lying though? You said not to tell Missy we listened ‘cause you’re her right hand and what not and what happened? Missy’s pissed at us, you said it was because this chick went and talked shit she shouldn’t have. So, let’s deal with that and let that other shit go.”

Yup, definitely dissension between the ranks, but I still wasn’t sure what I told Missy that I shouldn’t have. Or more importantly, why they were keeping important things from Missy, if it was something that would get her mad, they should’ve told her, it wasn’t my fault I was honest.

I didn’t say that of course, but something on my face must’ve shown my thoughts because Kaia turned her attention from Alex and shoved me.

“You find this amusing?”

“No, um, not really. I just think it would be best if you guys discussed your issues without me in the room. You’d be able to work everything out better that way.”

I barely grunted when she reached up to give me a slight slap in the face, though I wasn’t expecting it. A punch in the gut, yeah, I was braced for it and everything, but a slap to the face, not so much.

“Don’t get smart with me, you think you’re so big because Missy likes you and AJ’s on you but I don’t give a shit. Why did you tell Missy that Carmen was here?”

“What?” I asked again, though I was beginning to piece together what she was talking about, finally.

“Are you deaf?! Carmen. Why did you tell Missy she was here on Friday?”

“Um… because she was?”

I flinched back as she raised her arm though she didn’t hit me.

“So? Missy wasn’t. There wouldn’t have been any issue.”

“You don’t think her writing that crap on my locker is an issue? Her spitting in notes and giving it to people isn’t an issue? She’s insane.”

“Who are you? Why does it matter that you went and started shit with Carmen? You’re not a Panther. I know the Pretties don’t want you, and that’s just sad when you’re not even wanted by those slues so really, who are you to think anyone gives a shit if you’re being harassed. You’re friends don’t like you, none of your ex boyfriends actually wanted you, no one cares about you, so who the fuck do you think you are to go running to Missy and telling stories?” As she spoke, a burn began low in my stomach and any chance I had of this day turning out well went up in flames as she reminded me of my sorry state of social affairs.

“I’m the girl AJ wants, not Angel, not Carmen, and sure as hell not you, so I think I can tell one of his close friends whatever I want too, especially since she asked and I figured her girls could be trusted to tell her. It’s not my fault you’re shady.” The minute the words came out of my mouth I took a step back, my hand grabbing the arm that was coming my way. I bit my tongue on the apology that was attempting to force its way out since I wasn’t wrong.

I wasn’t right but I sure as hell wasn’t wrong. My stomach had yet to settle down and I dug my fingers into her arm, her fist inches from my face and I just stared at her pulling myself up to my full height.

“I’m sorry you think that I shouldn’t have told Missy something you obviously should have, but don’t take it out on me. It’s your own fault. I have to go to class now, and I really hope I don’t have any bruises because if Missy asks where I got them from, I’m not going to lie. Excuse me.”

I released her arm as she continued to send death glares my way and made for the door.

“Listen here and listen good, you little whore, I didn’t want to tell Missy about Carmen because that bitch coming into our territory is as good as her spitting on us and if Missy knew Missy would have to do something about it or look weak and I would like to go through my last few years of high school without having to worry about getting knifed. I was going to handle it.”

I faltered shoulders raising a bit as her words hit me but I forced myself to relax. We lived in Scarborough and our school was one of the good ones, she was trying to scare me.

“Well, I told her and she said she’s not going to do anything about it. Just this once.”

“Yeah, and ignoring it once is going to lead to everyone thinking she’s gone soft and then we’ll be in even bigger shit. Not that you care, you’ll just hide behind your man,” she spat out, her dislike apparent in her voice. I wanted to deny it, point out that I had stood up to her, and go on and tell her that I had family who’d back me up even though they wouldn’t have too and that I didn’t actually believe her, but I didn’t. Instead I decided to take the high road.

“As long as we’re all aware that he’s mine.” Okay… so, not that high. More like the back road that goes over a hill when you’re headed for an obscure campground. But it made me feel like I was floating and that’s always good. And instead of feeling guilty I was still walking tall in homeroom where I didn’t quite mind that I was being ignored.

Of course, my spiteful little bubble was duly popped when I was grabbed by Mr. ‘H’ who kindly informed me that there was a ‘small mid unit assessment occurring, a large quiz if you may’ set for today and Tiffany had offered to inform me about it. Something she failed to do. A ‘quiz’ I hadn’t studied for that had about fifteen word problems on it, each worth at least three marks. I didn’t even want to know how much the ‘quiz’ itself was worth percent wise.

Tiffany was avoiding my eyes and I forced myself to stop looking at her, I had a ‘quiz’ to fail. I wrote my name then looked at the first question and barely resisted the urge to smack my head off of my desk.

I brushed past Tiffany the minute class ended, and rushed to my locker for a binder switch since I had messed up and grabbed the wrong one. “Hey, Judi, how was your weekend?” I felt both of my eyebrows attempt to crawl past my hairline as Bridget hooked her arm through mine, her voice so chirpy she could put the birds to shame.

“It was fine… how was yours?” I asked slowly, nodding at the Pretties, my eyes freezing on Tiffany who was decked out in Pretties’ colours, from her head to her feet and I was amazed. She wasn’t allowed to wear their colours together, last time we did it they yelled at us then shunned us for a week. And to make sure I didn’t miss her change in status across the chest of her shirt was the word ‘Prettie’. Airbrushing had never bothered me so much before, although it might be the rhinestones surrounding it that was irritating me, it was just so immature.

“It was amazing, you know, Halloween weekend. Your cousin threw an amazing party, oh… you couldn’t go right? We missed you.” I was still gawking at Tiffany but her tone gave me pause and I looked down at her, catching the look Chloe and Julianne gave each other as I did so. She was setting me up for something, especially since we could’ve had the conversation at any time during homeroom.

“Yeah, well, I had a good time and my cousin, Michelle, she said you guys had a great time too, so, you know, everyone had a good time this weekend. And I see someone else is moving up in the world.” I stared at Tiffany who ducked her head and wouldn’t meet my eyes. We had promised each other that unless we were both made Pretties, neither of us would be Pretties, but I guess promises meant nothing to her. Not that I wanted to be a Prettie, not anymore at least, but it was the principal of the matter.

“Yeah, well you know, we figured it was about time. We have a shirt just like that with your name on it, if you want…”

“Nah, thanks though, you know your shirts never get past my boobs.” And I didn’t feel the urge to walk around looking like a Bedazzler had attacked me. Bridget’s jaw tightened but she didn’t push it, instead she started to walk and I let her lead me away from my locker, the others following.

“So, how was your date or whatever on Friday? How was Missy?” I wanted to point out that asking after someone’s health in the tone of voice you’d use to order his or her death was sort of pointless but held my tongue.

“It was good, she’s fine.” Her jaw clenched, obviously annoyed that I had still gone after she’d told me not to.

“It must’ve been hard not to see him for the whole weekend after, I know how it feels in a new relationship when you want to spend all your time together, especially when his ex is so hot, and so persistent.” She was the picture of sympathy and I untangled my arm from hers as we entered English, keeping my facial expression neutral as I waved goodbye to Julianne and Chloe.

“He was with me the whole weekend, I had the Halloween thing remember? He helped out, and then on Sunday he came with me to meet my family.”

“Wait, meet your family? Don’t tell me he actually entered a church, I’m surprised he didn’t go up in flames.”

“Bridget, come on, that’s rude.” Tiffany said, sending a glance my way before looking down. I would’ve been touched if I wasn’t aware that she lusted after him something fierce.

“What? It’s true, and why are you defending him?”

“Because he’s my boyfriend and you’re my friend, you don’t have to like him but can you at least show him a little respect?” I asked slamming my books down before I sat down. She sat on the edge of my desk and threw her hands up in disbelief.

“Are you serious?! I don’t have to respect anything, he’s a crook who wants to play at being a gentleman thug, what’s to respect?”

“Can you do it out of respect for me?” I asked, not sure I actually wanted the answer. I mean, this is the girl who uninvited me to a sleepover because I had a date, being nice to my ‘boyfriend’ probably wasn’t even on her radar.

“I am doing this out of respect for you?! I’m looking out for you because he isn’t! He doesn’t respect you, and if he does, I wonder how long it’ll last once he learns you’re not all there?” She tapped her ear meaningfully and I flinched. She smiled and reached over to give me a one armed hug. I shrugged it off.

“For the record, he knows, and he’s cool with it.” This time her eyebrows rose but I didn’t expand on my comment, rubbing absently at my chest before dropping my hand as she stared at it.

“Huh… well, I feel like I haven’t had any alone time with you in forever. What do you say this weekend, starting Friday, you and me have a sleep over? Just the two of us?”

I grinned, glad she had made the first move, I started to nod until I remembered what was going down Friday.

“Um, can we actually do it next week? I have plans this Friday.”

If looks could kill, I would’ve been a cadaver.

“What plans?” I glanced at the others for assistance even as I was vaguely impressed with her ability to speak so clearly through gritted teeth.

“Date.”

“Are you serious?! You spent all of this weekend with him. And last weekend. And the weekend before.”

I shook my head even as I thought back and tried to figure out the timeline of my ‘relationship’ with AJ. There had been the party that started it all, if we could even count that, the picnic weekend, and then this one… and each weekend I hadn’t spent any time at all with Bridget.

“Yes, you have. You get a boyfriend and we get dropped, is that how it is?”

“Excuse you?! First and foremost, you guys weren’t talking to me if I recall correctly, secondly, you guys do shit without me often enough it’s not like this is something I’ve done regularly, and thirdly I wanted to hangout with you, you blew me off, so don’t put it on me. I have never said anything when you stood me up or cancelled on me because something more important came up so stop acting like I’ve abandoned you.” I stared at her, then flushed as the teacher cleared her throat and I realised that everyone was staring at me.

“May I go on with the lesson, Miss. Blake?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

Giving a feeble nod I sat down, not even bothering to try and figure out when I had jumped out of my seat.

I didn’t look at the others who were whispering amongst themselves as the announcements went on and I tried to listen to them though it felt like an impossible task due to my irritation and my awareness of everyone staring at us.

“You have some nerve.”

“Whatever.” I snapped back deciding to ignore her if she was going to continue to act like a child.

“Fine. I hope your boyfriend lets you sit with him because I don’t want to see your face when I’m eating.”

“Like I wanted to sit with you anyway?” I spat back, making sure to keep my voice down. She scowled then made a big deal of moving her desk and her chair away from me. I pretended that I didn’t notice and just went back to writing down everything on the board.

Of course, it’s a lot harder to fake indifference when you didn’t think ahead to pack a lunch and you know it’s pointless to even go to the caf since there would be no one you could sit with. I made a pit stop at my locker to throw my books in, grab my phone, jacket, and wallet, and then headed for Subway.

But because the universe was currently out to get me, I had just reached the middle of the parking lot and was getting ready to Jay walk when I got shoved roughly from the side.

Stumbling, I caught myself and straightened, sighing since I was almost resolved to Kaia attempting to kick my ass, only to see a huge girl glowering at me. Or I assumed she was glowering as her eyes were wide and her eyebrows were drawn in a strange mix of surprise but slanted down to be angry.

Surprisingly, I was more exasperated then scared. All morning I’d been pushed around and now I had to go out of my way to buy a lunch only to get picked on by another one of the Koala, Cola, whatever Missy had called them, looking chicks.

Glaring at her, I clapped my hands together to get the dust off of it and my eyes wandered to the people behind her, there were about four girls with her and I knew automatically who was the ringleader.

“Why’d you tell Missy I was here on Friday?” Carmen asked, side stepping the other girl and giving me the old stink eye. I rolled my eyes, though I did brace myself in case I got rushed.

“Why were you here on Friday? Better yet, why are you on school property again today?” I asked, not in the mood to deal with her.

“How do you know I was the one that did anything to you? Did you see me?” her accent was already beginning to get stronger and I decided not to answer because no matter what I said she’d have a response and she’d only get angrier.

“Ay, you said she was a stupid puta, but I didn’t know she was retarded too.” My jaw tightened but I didn’t even look at the girl who had spoken, my instincts telling me to head for the mall, somewhere where there would be witnesses.

“This is what AJ likes now, un gordo negro puta.” She said it with just the right amount of disgust and my fingers began to dig into my palm.

“She asked you a question, puta. Did you see her do it?”

“It’s kind of hard to miss the stink of ho that she tends to exude,” I snapped, not sure why I was still standing there but knowing that if I was going to stand there, I should’ve followed my original plan and kept my mouth shut.

One of the girls, someone under other conditions would’ve been cute, with her curly black hair and big brown eyes, spat at me.

I jumped back a little bit causing it to just miss my shoe. I glared at her and then I was leaning forward as Carmen reached up and grabbed my necklace. Reacting automatically I brought my arms up through hers, and then slammed them down on her elbow joints before shoving her away from me. A twinge of pride went through me and I made a note to thank AJ for teaching me that before he’d pinned me.

Her friends helped her regain her balance and it was obvious they wanted to rush me but Carmen held up her hand, her gaze focused on my neck. I reached up and tugged my zipper up a bit more as if that would deflect their gaze.

“What is that?”

“This?” I didn’t look down, just slipped my hand into my coat and took out the chain just moments before I’d been trying to hide. I wrapped my hand around the end of my chain where the cool weight of AJ’s school ring pressed against my palm.

“AJ’s … my ring.” Her face went from shocked to hurt to pissed in a matter of seconds and I really wished I’d followed my original plan and just ignored her. Instead of waiting for her response, or a retaliation to my comment, I started to walk away, moving quickly and ignoring the voice that said turning my back on her was a stupid move.

She began to spew obscenities at my back and all the while I was berating myself for actually thinking that this whole ‘dating’ thing with AJ might not be that bad. Her voice began to take on an annoying grating edge, an almost grinding quality as she followed closely behind me, stepping on my heels purposely. I inhaled deeply, and that’s when I realised the grating noise was being made by me and I forcefully stopped myself from gnashing my teeth. We had actually crossed the street and were standing in the mall parking lot by now, but her words and actions piled on top of my confusion with AJ and my friends behaviour and the other threat I had gotten this morning was making it harder to keep walking and just ignore her.

Finally someone hit me in the center of my back and I spun around ready to yell when I caught sight of Missy jogging towards us, the Panthers not too far behind.

“Hey! Is there a problem here?” Missy called, slowing down to a fast walk as she moved around Carmen to stand beside me. Carmen shook her head though her annoyance was apparent on her face.

“No, no problem.” Her voice was cheerful enough, but the edges of her smile were sharp enough to cut someone.

“You sure? Because it looked like you were about to start something,” Missy said, her voice just as disarming though she wasn’t smiling so much as baring her teeth. My gaze flickered back to Carmen as she shrugged her smile taking on a more saccharine tinge though it wasn’t any softer.

“No, you misunderstand. Se nos acaba de hablar, es inofensivo.” Since she was speaking slowly and she was using words I already knew I was able to translate what she said quickly.

I snorted at her idea of talking and harmless. More like screaming and harassment. She turned to me, her smile dropping.

“I would not fight her in front of her sister anyway.”

“Excuse you?”

“Your sister, isn’t that her?” She asked, nodding to a spot behind me, her voice disgustingly innocent. Even though I knew my sister was currently in school perfecting the art of numbers I turned. The only person behind me was an old lady crossing the street with the ugliest dog I had ever seen trotting along beside her. I turned to her, my chest burning as I began to get filled with an unbelievable rage.

She opened her mouth, her expression suitably smug but it changed as I swung, my fist connecting with her jaw. She went down and I was on her before she could recover. I wasn’t aware of my surroundings, as I did my best to slam her head through the floor. It was harder than I expected as she wriggled and fought back, her blows barely making a dent on me, my fury wrapped around me as Armour.

The next thing I knew was someone had grabbed a hold of me and was attempting to pull me off, without thinking I moved, making sure my shoulder was pressed against the person’s chest and grabbed them, throwing them over my hip using my shoulder and legs for momentum. I dove for Carmen again, only to get grabbed around the waist.

Carmen was also being restrained and I made useless sounds of fury as the person who was holding me refused to let go, dragging me a fair distance away from a struggling Carmen. I continued to twist until my face was grabbed and someone forced me to look at them. Missy stared me down until I stopped struggling, self-preservation kicking in now that I couldn’t see

“I will handle this, calm yourself. Vince, come with me.”

“What about her?” As he spoke, he loosened his hold on me somewhat and I relaxed a little, though not by that much as Carmen came storming over to where we were.

“Give her to Kaia, hopefully this time she won’t get thrown on her ass.”

I shook my head, getting ready to tell her I didn’t need to be given to anyone but shut up as she looked at me, her eyes flat and Kaia grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Vince, her fingers digging into my skin.

“You don’t have to hold me. I won’t attack her again. Or you.” I tugged on my arm, hoping to get it loose but she didn’t let me go.

“I’m not worried about that, you fight like a preschooler, it’s cute,” Kaia practically cooed, her tone just past patronizing and entering a territory that made my blood start to boil. I jerked away again, causing her to tighten her hold before finally doing as I had asked and releasing me. Well, shoving me, and a lot harder than necessary, but I didn’t think about it too much. I had just knocked her on her ass in front of her friends and I might have started something with Carmen and friends, she needed to save face, whatever.

And as Carmen made her way to where we were, I had to say that preschoolers obviously kicked major ass now because I had done some damage. Her hair was a mess, though I couldn’t recall grabbing it at any point in time but that was all that my conscious let me notice before my anger started to boil again as she spat in my direction.

That stupid little…

I attempted to spring at her but Kaia pulled me back, her nails pinching through the fabric of my sweater and hurting enough that I was brought back to myself.

“How dare you assist her? Did you not just see what happened?! AJ!”

“Yeah, we saw what happened. Your mouth wrote a cheque your scrawny ass couldn’t cash, as a result, you got bounced. Why are you here?”

“Missy, stop, this has nothing to do with you.” Carmen looked her up and down before turning her gaze to someone else, making it blatantly obvious she was dismissing Missy.

“What do you mean it has nothing to do with me? You’re starting fights on my territory, technically, I should’ve let her tear you a new one.”

“AJ!” Carmen screamed again, her gaze focused on a spot behind me, I was tempted to look behind me but her friends were glaring at me and from the look on Missy’s face if she didn’t shut up we were going to start brawling again anyway and I didn’t want to have my back turned when that happened.

“Carmen! Last I checked this was my territory not AJ’s, dismiss me one more time and see what happens.” Missy’s voice was very controlled when she spoke, her eyes never leaving Carmen.

Carmen stopped asking for AJ long enough to look Missy down, then when she spoke she said something in Spanish, her tone showing her reluctance. I don’t know what else she said but Missy’s cool snapped.

“Listen here you fucking yappy ass te quiero taco bell Chihuahua looking bitch, this is the second time you’ve come here to start shit and you best believe it’s going to be the last time. You’re blacklisted. I see any of your girls near here, I’m fucking them up. Matter of fact, you hoes don’t vamos right now, we’re going to have a problem.”

“You are serious? You will choose this, this, this…”

“I strongly suggest you think before you call her any names because uno; she’s AJ’s girl which means she takes precedence over you, dos; I actually like her and I know his boys like her since she doesn’t treat them like second rate citizens and tres; I actually don’t have a third reason but push your luck and see what happens.”

Carmen began to speak rapidly in Spanish as her friends clustered closer to her as the Panthers seem to grow larger and spread out a bit. Missy responded in kind, hands flying to add emphasis.

“Judi, come here for a sec.” I didn’t really have a chance as the person, Steven, was already pulling me away from where a half circle had formed as Missy and Carmen continued to scream at each other in Spanish. I risked a glance over my shoulder to see if anyone noticed and looked back quickly when Kaia’s eyes attempted to drill a hole into my head.

Deciding that Missy had everything under control, though I had no idea what I thought I could do if she didn’t, I went over to where AJ was, moving around the people who weren’t involved with either side but wanted to see a fight break out.

I glared at AJ who was leaning against one of the cars looking as if he had not a care in the world. His hat was covering his eyes, so I wasn’t sure what his expression was, but he seemed relaxed and that pissed me off all over again.

“This is what happens when I allow you to head out for lunch before me?” He asked, motioning that I should go to him, I resisted for a moment but Steven shoved me towards AJ. The AJ who could probably stop what was most likely about to be a tear down drag out fight in the middle of a parking lot but seemed content to watch how it played out.

“That is what happens when she calls my little sister a bitch, she gets her ass handed to her,” I spat struggling a bit as he pulled me so that I was standing between his legs, his arms around my hips. He sighed as if I was being a hassle and I wondered if I should head butt him, I was close enough to do it without him being able to stop me.

“You do know she’s not going to let this slide right?”

“I don’t care, she went too far.” I pulled back to glare up at him, daring him to disagree with me, expecting him to make a comment about my backbone. Instead he bent down slightly and nipped the tip of my nose with his teeth.

I pulled my head back confused and effectively forgot about my anger for a moment.

“Did you just…your teeth on my… What is with your obsession with my nose?”

“It’s cute.”

“Noses aren’t cute, they’re like, all pores and bendy and like, no, stop with the kissing and nose rubbing. It’s weird.” I put my hand protectively over my nose while trying not to look as flustered as I felt. I had just been in a fight, I mean, I shouldn’t want to blush, I should be angry.

“AJ!” I felt my temper spike as once again Carmen screamed for him, apparently someone had brought her attention to the fact that he wasn’t paying her any attention. He didn’t look at her but smoothed my hair down, his fingers getting caught in a tangle by my ear.

“I have to say, if I’d known you threw down like that, I would’ve set Carmen on you sooner. It was kinda sexy.”

I spluttered not sure what to say because I mean, I was dating someone, pretending to date someone, who thought it was okay to engage in violent behaviour because he thought it was hot. I took a few steps back, though I didn’t move out of his hold, or even fully from between his legs like I probably should have.

There were whoops and I turned just in time to see one of Carmen’s girls rush Missy and get a bottle to the face for her troubles, Kaia grinning as the girl went down and then they just rushed each other.

“Oh Jesus, AJ, ohmygod, ohmygod, AJ! They’re fighting! Someone’s going to get hurt, oh man, do something!” Instead of reacting like a normal human being and jumping in immediately he just looked down at me, an eyebrow raised and his expression just short of amused.

“Missy is a big girl, she could probably handle them all on her own. And anyway, you started it.”

“I did not! Okay, maybe! But that’s not the point! You need to stop it!” It was only after I noticed that his eyes were focused on my hands and not my face that I realised that I’d been signing every word I’d said for added emphasis. Something I never did at school, because nothing destroys a secret faster then breaking out sign language to prove a point. I quickly dropped my hands, curling them into tight fists before I shoved them into the pocket of my hoodie.

I know he noticed but he didn’t say anything, he just grinned down at me before pulling me to him tightly and began talking over me, in Spanish his little group. I tried to listen in but he was speaking too fast for my basic understanding and his heartbeat was a lot louder with my ear pressed against his chest then his voice, which he didn’t bother to raise as he issued out his commands or whatever it was he was doing.

“AJ, what are you doing? What’s happening?”

“I’m taking care of it, like you asked. Coño!” His tone changed from the slightly smug one he’d had at the beginning to annoyance. He began to call out order again, yelling them this time but he alternated between Spanish and English.

“What?! What?!” I struggled against him and tried to see what was happening.

“Someone called security and I think I see the principal. We have to go.”

“Wait, what?! Go where?” I asked a bit frantically as he loosened his hold on me and I was able to pull away and look at him.

“Anywhere, come on.” He stood up, causing me to move back a bit more and then he had my hand in a death grip and was pulling me away from everyone else.

“You’re just going to leave your friends?” I asked, jogging a bit to keep up with his pace. His jaw tightened but he didn’t slow down.

“They know to scatter and anyway, if they get called in by security the worse that can happen is they get suspended for a few days and if the cops get involved charged with disturbing the peace since no one there would press assault charges. You on the other hand would probably die of shame before they even called your parents.”

Since my heart had stuttered when he’d mentioned the word ‘suspended’ I figured he knew what he was talking about. I frowned as he stopped near a bus shelter, pulling his wallet out as he spoke.

“Missy should be here in about three minutes at most if she hasn’t been grabbed. She’ll take care of you, if she’s not here when the bus comes, get on anyway because if the cops are called in they’ll troll the area. Don’t look like that, you should be safe. Okay, she’s here, you have your phone?” I nodded bewildered as he handed me a bunch of change.

“I have change. You’re not coming with me?”

“Take it, and no, I have to get to Carmen’s cousins before she does, make sure they stay the fuck out of it. I’ll call you later tonight. Missy, watch her.” I opened my mouth to protest the fact that he was just handing me off like luggage when he grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him. I tensed, expecting him to kiss me.

“You did good,” he whispered, his breath hitting my neck and causing my shoulders to raise instinctively. I didn’t flinch when he kissed my neck, though I wasn’t sure if the fluttering in my stomach was caused by the fact that he had kissed me, or because he was holding the back of my neck and I was feeling vulnerable. I decided to go with the vulnerable bit.

He didn’t wait for me to say anything before he let go, turning to Missy and speaking to her in Spanish. She brushed off whatever he was saying deftly and actually punched him in the chest when he tried to give her money. Instead of taking offense he grinned and then giving me a slight nod, walked over to a car that I hadn’t notice pull up.

“It’s Kevin’s. Don’t worry about it, you have bus fare?” I nodded, my eyes still on the car as it pulled out, waving automatically as the driver honked at us.

“Alright, where do you want to go? Eaton Centre, Yorkdale, or Fairview?” Missy asked as she ran her hands through her braids as if she didn’t just attempt to beat some girl’s face in. I shrugged.

“Well, this bus will take us to Scarborough town, so we can probably grab a go bus to Yorkdale, see a movie or something, come on.” I followed her onto the bus, following her as she grabbed a two seater near the back doors.

“Have you gone mute now? Say something, it’s making me feel awkward.”

“Why don’t we just watch a movie at Scarborough Town?” I asked after a few minutes of trying to think of something to say.

“Technically, I’m not allowed in STC.” I waited for her to continue but she just rang the bell and I hurried and followed her off. We had to run since the bus going to Yorkdale was about to pull out and we hadn’t bought our tickets.

After a quick scramble and a bit of muttering from the driver we were on our way and Missy had seemed to have forgotten what we’d been talking about earlier.

“Girl, here, you look like you’ve never seen a comb in your life, no wonder the bus driver was giving us the eye.” I flushed, as I tried to smooth my hair down taking the travel brush she pulled out of her bag and trying to fix my hair.

“Lift your head for me, I want to see if she did a lot of damage.”

I did as she asked, still brushing out a tangle. She gave my face a quick scan, her hand coming up and pressing into a spot on my jaw that ached as she touched it and along my jaw. She nodded before letting go of my face and I ducked my head forward a bit.

“You hurting anywhere?”

I thought about it for the first time and now that I wasn’t in the middle of whatever that had been back there, that I was indeed hurting.

“She got me in the side and my stomach. My knees are hurting, my hands and my shoulder is throbbing.”

“Yeah, that’s partly because of the way you tackled her, you took some damage but I have to admit, I was impressed. You didn’t even give her a chance to recover, she’s going to look a lot worse than you do since you were aiming for her face.”

I forced a smile, since fighting wasn’t something I was proud of.

“Of course, next time you won’t be able to catch her by surprise and she fights dirty as hell.”

“There won’t be a next time,” I said fervently. Now that I was calm I was regretting my actions. I’d reacted before I had thought and now I may have started something there was no way I could handle.

“Hmm… well, I’m just saying, you might want to start walking around with a water bottle that’s been iced over. She jumps you again you slam that into her temple she’s down for the count and you can just melt the evidence and dump the bottle somewhere. Come on, this is our stop.”

I followed after her, thanking the bus driver absently as we headed inside.

“There should be a bathroom near here, we can clean you up then we’re good to go.”

I followed wordlessly as she led me to a bathroom inside of the mall, moving quickly as she side stepped other shoppers. I tried to ignore the looks being sent my way, tugging my hood up only for her to pull it back down.

“Don’t do that, it’s suspicious since you’re all bloody and your hair is refusing to behave it’s self. Let’s try to keep the appearance of crazy down to a minimum.

I bit back a frown glancing at her from the corner of my eye. Maybe my tussle with Carmen had gone on longer than I had thought since aside from a few scratches and the neck of her shirt being a bit pulled out, she looked alright.

She made me go in before her, nodding companiably at the older lady who was washing her hands before ducking into a stall. She pulled out a long roll of toilet paper, folded it up and handing it to me. I stared at it blankly since I didn’t know what help it would be to me.

“Wash your face and use that to dry it, and clean out the scrapes in your hands. Check your knees, don’t just stand there.”

“Sorry.” We worked in silence for a moment and I cleaned up as best I could, glad I’d worn semi dark jeans since I had somehow managed to tear my right knee up and it had bled through the material. Rolling it up had been painful since it had started to dry on the cut and once I got it up, it had started to bleed again.

“Just stick some paper on it for now, I’ll be right back. Or if it’s bleeding a lot, use some sanitary napkins it should hold.”

My nose wrinkled at the thought of using sanitary napkins to deal with a scratched knee and I shook my head, taking some toilet paper from her and wrapping it around it.

“It’s just a scratch, it’ll stop soon. Can I borrow your brush again?” I asked standing and frowning at my reflection. Although I didn’t have any bruises I had a huge bump on my forehead and some slight scratches on my cheek from where her nails had caught me and the right side of my face was definitely more puffy cheeked then the left. I looked like a lop sided chipmunk.

“You’re in luck.” She threw a little travel brush to me and I caught it. I doubted the teeth would be able to do any damage but it was better than nothing. Wincing I began to comb it out, making sure to cover the bump on my forehead and the scratches as best I could. Of course, now I looked like the daughter from The Incredibles before she got her confidence up but that was still neater than how I looked before.

While I attempted to get the little bit of blood and dirt that had somehow gotten sprayed onto my sweater off with water Missy had slipped out, and a few minutes later she was crouching by my knees, telling me to pull my jeans up as she squirted disinfectant on my cuts and slapped some butterfly band-aids on them. I didn’t even complain when she squirted the disinfectant on my cheek since I was thrown off by the fact that she was bandaging me up.

“You ready to go?” I nodded, pulling the brush through my hair one more time before handing it to her. She frowned at me before telling me to keep my chin up and my shoulders since she didn’t feel like walking with the Hunchback of Notredame.

The silence that followed that could only be described as awkward. It had been said in the same tone I used on Emily when I thought she was being particularly childish. As we exited the bathroom I tried to think of something to say, anything.

“What did you do?” She stared at me confused.

“What did I do for what? The band-aids? You were bleeding, it seemed like the right thing to do.”

“Oh, no, I mean, no, sorry. No, okay, let’s start again. What did you do to get banned from STC?” I asked spluttering a bit as I mentally called myself five different types of idiot for asking the question out of nowhere.

“It’s a long story.”

“We have time.” She checked her phone and then shrugged.

“I was there with my best friend at the time and this girl was talking shit. Words were exchanged, some shoves then the girl pulled out a knife and tried to cut me so I slashed her across he face with my hockey skate. Huh, guess it’s not that long.”

I stared at her, not sure what to say to something like that.

“What?! Would it have been better if she stabbed me? I don’t think so. And anyway, the blade wasn’t that sharp it healed up and you can barely see it. Stop looking at me like that.”

“Sorry. So which mall do you want to hit up first? Or actually, do you want to eat first?” I asked cheerfully, ready to let her take command of the outing. When I went to the mall I usually had a herd mentality, follow my mother or Bridget since shopping for someone my height was a hassle and a half.

“Whatever you want to do.” Okay, so she was going to make it difficult.

“Um… well… I guess I should buy a new sweater than, the blood isn’t coming out of this one.” The moment the words left my mouth my stomach jumped as my memory pulled up the lovely image of pretty Carmen with blood pouring down her nose as she tried to glare at me through an eye that was already closing up and screamed from lips that were beginning to swell. I gagged a bit, the full aftermath of what I had done hitting me.

“Are you okay?”

“I made Carmen bleed.”

“Damn, I really thought we were going to avoid this bit. Sit, head between your knees and please don’t get hysterical because I don’t want to have to slap you.”

I sat down but didn’t do the head to knees thing, since that was a bit much. I swallowed harshly, trying to force air into my lungs closing my eyes tightly as if that would stop the play back that was occurring in my mind. Missy gave me a tentative pat on the back. I opened my eyes to look at her, giving a tight smile since she looked like she had no idea what to do.

“Sorry, I just… I don’t like violence.”

“I realised, damn shame since you’d be pretty damn good at it. Don’t give me that look, I think the fact that you’d rather get your ass bust then bust someone else’s is unnatural, and I know I’m not the only one.”

I frowned at her even as my breaths started to come easier.

“I don’t like getting beat up, but if you fight the chances of someone slamming your head into something always increases exponentially where as walking away you’ll just get called a coward but you won’t spend days in the emergency room trying to remember that you’d ‘fallen’ because someone had a bad day,” I said bitterly. She raised her eyebrows at me.

“I mean, it’s better to just go with the flow and play friends.”

“Insecure, table for one.” She pointed at me and I forgot about Carmen entirely.

“I am not insecure.”’

“Maybe not but you’re soft. Come let’s get you a sweater.” She held out a hand to me and I took it, allowing her to pull me up. Shopping with Missy was an interesting experience just in the fact that she didn’t attempt to shove clothes on me. I didn’t want to try on a shirt that would bare my back/stomach/boobs she didn’t force me too.

Of course, that didn’t mean she didn’t comment on things she didn’t like. Loudly. I ended up buying four new pairs of jeans to avoid ‘saggy butt syndrome’ something I didn’t even notice on my other jeans but she had pointed out on every girl who was wearing ill-fitting jeans.

I even forgot about why I was skipping school as we shopped and the wait for the bus was actually pretty nice up until Missy’s phone rang.

I listened with half an ear as her accent became more pronounced until she finally switched over to Spanish as her brother screamed at her. She hung up while he was still shouting and sent me a wry look.

“Sorry, my brother likes to act as if he has control over me. What were we talking about?” I shrugged since I honestly couldn’t remember for the life of me.

“Why was he upset? If you don’t mind my asking?”

“He thinks people in our family should bow down to that bitch Carmen because of her cousins. I say he should go suck on their dicks if he wants to be in their good graces that bad.” I swallowed, not sure where to go from there.

“You’ve never liked Carmen huh?” I asked, closing my eyes briefly over the stupidity of my own question. She snorted.

“She’s a whore. She will fuck anyone and then act like she’s never been touched since her cousins are all high and mighty. Bitch could get away with murder and no one would say anything. She’s done it once already.” This was one way to kill a good mood.

“She’s killed someone?” I asked, my voice rising a bit. She nodded, then seeing my face shook her head. I stared at her.

“Not literally. Has she ended someone’s life? Yeah, multiple fucking times, she’s a bruja. A curse, she’s a plague and I’m glad you knocked her on her ass.”

“Your dislike seems a bit more personal then her being a bad person.”

“Did AJ tell you why they broke up?” She asked me, her tone flat, I nodded remembering his comment about her inability to keep her legs shut.

“Did he tell you one of the boys she fucked around on him with was my brother?” Her words took a moment to connect and when it did I couldn’t’ hold back my surprise.

“The ones I met?”

“No, my brothers put him out since AJ was, is, like family and you don’t betray family. AJ actually helped put him up as a favour to me, but yeah. He was fourteen. A bit fourteen, but still, you know? He was under the impression that he was Captain Save a Ho and see where that got him? Blacklisted.”

“Where’s your brother now?” I asked lightly, she opened her mouth then stopped, licking her lips as if she’d just remembered herself. Instead of answering she shrugged and then changed the subject.

“What was your little sister for Halloween?” Missy asked her tone just as light as mine had been. I almost shrugged, mostly from frustration, since I was getting to see more of her but since she knew nothing about me, I caught myself in time.

“She was a Harliet. They’re like, Harley Quinn, but tiny. Or, have you seen the episodes where Harley has grandchildren? They’re like that, but in baby form. Oh! I have pictures,” I said as I pulled out my phone. I frowned as the first image that came up was a picture of me passed out on AJ’s chest.

“So is this how Harliet’s are made?” Missy asked, amusement evident in her voice as I clicked through to see about six more sleeping shots and then a bunch of others of AJ and I, or just AJ or just me.

“No, this is what happens when you’re friends decide to be the paparazzi,” I said flushing. It was obvious that the pictures had been taken without our knowledge and I tried to remember where I’d placed my phone as Missy alternated between giggling and cooing over the photos.

“Who’s that?” My eyes narrowed as we finally clicked over to an image that wasn’t of me and AJ.

“That is Lisa, big Lisa, not little Lisa who was one of my Harliets. You can’t tell, but apparently she went as the paparazzi, ninja paparazzi.” I continued to glare at her grinning image before clicking over to one of the little kids.”

“The kids are adorable, and you guys are super cute together.” I shrugged, muttering a thank you since what do you say to that? Thankfully, that moment passed relatively safely and I decided to remove the topic from me back to her.

“How was your weekend? Did you go to any Halloween parties?” I asked trying to find a safe topic. She nodded but didn’t continue.

“Did you have fun?” She made a face.

“It wasn’t horrible, just tense. AJ has to come to the next one for sure though, his sister was there acting a straight fool over that raggedy punk ass she’s with. Fool’s name is something like Edwin or Ludwig and the dipshit has people calling him Brimstone.” She made a phlegm sound of disgust and my lip curled though she didn’t actually spit. I licked my lips quickly, knowing that this was probably the only opening I’d get to pry into AJ’s life without it seeming awkward, but at the same time, I’d hated it when he’d done it to me.

“One of these days he’s going to go too far and AJ is going to light his little ass on fire, then he can talk about Brimstone.” I smiled, not sure if she was joking since her voice hadn’t changed but since she had continued speaking, I took it as the sign it was.

“Wait, the sister with the baby made a fool out of herself or the other one, the girl who had Marina at the picnic?” I asked since I couldn’t imagine either of them wasting time with someone named Brimstone.

“Naw, you’re thinking Josefina and Anita. Well, Anita is making an ass out of herself over Jared but that’s what she gets, AJ told her to stay her ass away. I’m actually talking about Silvia, I don’t think you’ve met her, she’s actually our age. Well, 18, but still. She goes to George Brown for hospitality or some mess like that, well she’s supposed to be going to George Brown for that, her ass has been slacking.”

“So… if she’s older than AJ, why does he have to take care of her?” Missy looked at me as if I was an idiot.

“He’s the boy and his dad put him in charge. And let’s not forget, aside from Marina, he’s the only one with any type of sense. Josefina goes and gets pregnant by someone she knows hates her brother, Anita, well… she’s difficult. Silva is an idiot who needs to get her ass beat so she stops wandering around with stupid ass wannabes, she was fully Carmen’s friend even after she learned about her cheating.”

I nodded, my mind trying to gather all of that when she switched subjects.

“That reminds me, why is Evan asking about you?”

“Evan asked about me?” I asked after a moment of trying to decide whether I should steer the convo back to AJ or go with the flow and hope it went back there naturally. Evan won out just because the fact that he still remembered me made me feel a bit guilty. Missy scowled at me.

“Don’t look so happy about it. He’s a prick.”

“Why does everyone say that?! He’s a really nice guy, I met him at that party you brought me too, and he’s friends with Vince.” She gagged at the mention of Vince’s name and I felt my hackles rise.

“Vince is a great guy you know, if you’d get past the fact that he’s a Goblin you’d see that. I think he might really like you.” She gave me a flat stare and this time I did shrug since I wasn’t actually sure of Vince’s feelings. He was a flirt and I hadn’t spoken to him in such a long time so I didn’t know how much he’d changed. I mean, I never would’ve thought of Vince being able to knock someone up.

“Vince is a white boy with a black girl fetish and I’m not going to help him indulge it.”

“He does not have a black girl fetish.” She rolled her eyes at me. “He doesn’t! He just dates what he knows, and I mean, he was raised by black people so he gravitates towards them... or something.” I frowned since that didn’t sound as smart as it did in my head.

“He was raised by black people?" I gave a slight nod, trying to remember if Vince had been as tightlipped about being a foster child as I was about being adopted, I was almost positive he wasn't, but if he was, that was something he'd have to expand on. She watched me for a few moments before letting it go.

"Yeah well, he’s also a Goblin, and I’m not trying to deal with that drama.” That was a bigger issue then his supposed fetish.

“So if he wasn’t a Goblin you’d date him?” I asked. She snorted.

“No. First off, I don’t have time for boys right now, secondly I’m not dating outside of race. Black or Hispanics only.”

“That’s racist, not to mention close minded. Your soul mate could be a white man. Or Asian, but you’ll never know because you’re so colour conscious, have you ever dated outside of your race?” I snapped, getting irritated with her. She turned in her seat and gave me a glare that made me sort of want to back down.

“Yes, actually, I have. He was Tamil. A Tamil Tiger actually, and not the kind you’re thinking of, they just call themselves that over here they’re just a gang though. That relationship ended last year when he got a bullet through his skull, and that was the end of my interracial dating experience and dating someone who’s in a gang.

And before you say something ignorant like he was brown, I don’t date white boys because I’m not trying to be someone’s ethnic screw. Unlike you sweetie, I wasn’t raised in a bubble. AJ and I became friends when he shattered the jaw of some boy who tried to assault me and his reasoning was that he’d never fucked a nigger ‘spic before. So excuse me if I don’t want to broaden my horizons.”

I had nothing to say to that. Logically, I knew she shouldn’t blacklist multiple cultures because of bad experiences but I really couldn’t speak past the tightness in my throat.

“I’m sorry.” She didn’t say anything her features still tight, and I decided to try again.

“Bitter, table for one?” I sniffled. She continued to stare for a moment then smirked.

“Forget about it, you’re right, not everyone’s an asshole. And my logic isn’t foolproof. There are a bunch of Hispanics who don’t acknowledge me, Carmen included, cause I’m black. Just like there are a bunch of black dudes who’d date me because they want kids with curly hair. The world is fucked up, this is how I deal with it.”

I rubbed my nose rapidly and nodded since that made sense.

“Jesus, don’t cry. You’re so damn sensitive.”

“I’m not crying,” I said, though I’m sure the fact that my voice broke on the word ‘crying’ made a liar of me.

“You’re so soft. I don’t know how you’ve been handling AJ for so long.” I shrugged, wiping my face on the napkin she handed me.

“I haven’t been handling him for all that long.”

“Really? You’re the only girl I know who’s been able to have him stay a secret, especially after Carmen, I could’ve sworn he didn’t trust girls at all.” Her voice took on a knowing edge and I shrugged as my heart beat up. To save myself some time, I wiped my face then made a show of blowing my nose.

“Well, I mean, I don’t quite get it either. I don’t understand him at all.” I shifted in my seat, feeling like dirt since she’d just told me so much and I was still letting her believe that AJ and I were a couple. A voice in the back of my head whispered that if she was as close to AJ as she seemed, she might know why he was interested in me. She might have helped him set me up, because I never would’ve been in that situation if it wasn’t for her, but I squashed it. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking those things.

“It’s because he attempts to be the Silent violent type, don’t worry, you guys got past the one month mark so you’re good. You have been dating for a month right?”

I nodded though I couldn’t for the life of me remember the fake anniversary for our relationship. August was when we’d claimed to have started talking and it was November now so definitely past a month mark.

“We actually have a date this Friday. Our first official one that doesn’t include sneaking around, I have no idea what to do.” I admitted, hoping she’d give me a bit of insight. She smirked.

“Yeah, it’s hard to act normal when you’ve been acting trifling for a few months.” She laughed and I smiled, giving her a shoulder a shove since I knew she didn’t actually mean it.

“Hey! I’m not trifling.”

“Secret relationships are automatically trifling, don’t let Romeo and Juliet fool you. And girl, you were friends with Bridget for how many years? You lose ratings for that.” I felt a twinge at the mention of Bridget then shrugged it off.

“Eh, well, we’re not friends now so I guess it balances out.” I shifted and she started to say something when her cell went off. Giving me an apologetic look she answered and I pulled my phone out to see if I had any messages. Bridget had to have heard about what had happened by now, I’d probably missed her call. No new messages or missed calls.

I shoved it back into the pocket of my new hoodie, irritated and then turned to Missy who was scowling. She hung up and sighed.

“I’m actually not going back with you. Apparently my brother is coming for me since we’re trying to fix shit with Carmen’s people and I’m needed.”

“Oh… oh okay. I’m really sorry about all of this.”

“Don’t be stupid, it would’ve happened eventually. Here’s your bus. You know how to get home from STC right?” I nodded handing over my bags as I tried to find my bus ticket. She waited patiently before handing them back and I got on the bus, going to the back and apologizing as I bumped some people with my bags. Setting my bags in the window seat, I waved at her through the window settling back as the driver put the bus in motion.

Checking the time, I tried to figure out when the bus would reach STC. It was past three now, my parents would be home by six-ish. I had more than enough time to put away my new clothes, ditch the bag and figure out an excuse for my bruises.

Satisfied that I had a vague outline of a plan, I started to put my phone away but stopped as AJ popped into my head. He was supposed to be dealing with the mess I made, so the fact that they were bringing Missy had to mean that he had failed.

My fingers moved faster than my brain and I had already written a text and got ready to send it when my brain pointed out that for someone who was being blackmailed I was overly worried about my blackmailer.

AJ, this is Judi, you ok? Should I call anyone?

I tugged at my bottom lip for a moment then sent the message. I hadn’t listened to my brain at all today, why should I start now? Anyway, I had to check up on him, it was my fault this was happening, and I wasn’t overly worried.

I’m fine. Text me when you get home, I’ll come for you tomorrow.

Smiling I flipped my phone shut and settled into my seat. I must’ve fallen asleep at some point since I was at STC in what felt like a few minutes and then I was on my way home. Sitting for so long however had caused me to stiffen up and I felt like a huge bruise.

Walking home from the bus stop was actually the worse, and all the bags I had didn’t make it any better though arriving at home to see my bag pack along with a pinned on note with my assignments on it along with a note about me never changing my combo. I rolled my eyes though I smiled not sure if I was annoyed that Vince had taken it upon himself to drop off my homework and give me one more bag to carry or be happy that he’d gotten my assignments and I wouldn’t fall behind.

Moving quickly I brought the shopping bags to my room, shoving them in my closet since I couldn’t be bothered to hang everything up right away, threw my bag on my bed and headed for the shower. I couldn’t tell you how long I stayed in there but when I came out I was feeling a lot more limber.

I was dressed and trying to head downstairs as quickly as possible without causing myself any unnecessary pain when I ran into my mother. I stopped suddenly though I was almost positive she’d be able to hear my heartbeat which had picked up quite a bit.

“Hey, ma.”

“Hi. Don’t I get a hug?” I made my way down the stairs, giving her a quick hug. Emily was standing beside her and was giving me huge puppy dog eyes and I glanced at her hands quickly but my mother was holding one and she was clutching the hem of her dress with the other. My mother made a show of tapping her cheek and I gave her a kiss as well, knowing she was drawing the moment out.

I glanced back at Emily who had dropped her dress and was pretending to slash her throat with her finger then pointed at me. Crap.

“So how was work today?” I asked, trying to maintain my cool. She made some comment about everything going well, my father heading up a case or something and my heart stopped for a moment as I saw that she had the house phone in her right hand.

“So how was school?”

I shrugged, my eyes flitting to the phone and back as I tried to remember if the light had been flashing when I’d entered. I was almost sure it hadn’t been, which meant that the school hadn’t called and left a message, but I had been in the shower for a while so I might’ve missed it.

“It was pretty sucky to be honest.” I licked my lips and hoped she would let it go. My mother actually had no problem with me skipping class if I asked first since she figured it was better I took a day off then go and collapse. It was the not asking bit that would irritate her.

“Oh, really? Why was it sucky?” She stared at me, eyebrow raised and I wondered how much she knew. I was betting she knew I had skipped, but did she know about the fight? Should I mention it? But if she didn’t know and I mentioned it then I would’ve just dug my own grave, but if she knew and I didn’t say anything I was screwed for lying to her.

“Um… because, um, it just was. Surprise math test and Bridget’s mad at me, and you know, things like that. A lot of confrontations. I actually left early. I meant to call and ask but I just had to get away, you know.”

“Oh really? Emily, go and change into your house clothes. You can watch TV after.”

“Yeah.”

“And that’s all that happened.” She didn’t ask so much as make it a statement daring me to say anything else and I just nodded.

“Really, because I heard from your vice principal that you’ve skipped class not once but three times that they’re aware of. And that you were the instigator of a fight off school property during lunch, do you want to change your story?”

I blanched but shook my head.

“That’s what I said, confrontations.”

“And the previous days of skipping that I hadn’t been informed of?”

“Well, the first one was Bridget, the second one was because of my locker, and the third time was today. Because of the confrontation.” Emily ran back downstairs, slamming into my legs and almost taking me down with her. I spun, glad for the distraction and picked her up.

“Put her down. Emily, grab some cookies from the pantry then go watch TV.” I held on for another moment then put her down regretfully. I watched as she ran into the kitchen, my plight forgotten since she was being allowed to have cookies before dinner and my mother hadn’t given her a limit. Turning back my mother began to sign frantically, her expression one of irritation.

Judith, do not lie to me.

I shook my head rapidly, following her lead and signing rapidly so that Emily wouldn’t over hear us, though she’d obviously heard my mother ranting in the car or something.

I’m not! I don’t instigate anything.

She frowned. Are you being bullied? Are you hurt anywhere? Do we need to take you to a hospital?

I shook my head, not even pausing since it was more like I was being harassed for a while, not bullied per say. She calmed down once she realised I wouldn’t start coughing up blood then her expression changed.

Interesting that all of this started up once you started seeing that AJ boy. I gave her a look, hating how she was able to get a dry tone across even while using American Sign Language. Of course her facial expressions helped quite a bit.

“You can’t blame him, it’s not his fault!”

“Who are you yelling at?” She asked, her voice still flat. I faltered not sure where I was actually going with that defense and decided backtracking was the safest route.

“I wasn’t yelling. I was, um, speaking loudly to try and get my point across. Sorry.”

“You do know you’re in trouble right? Once your father gets home we’ll discuss your punishment.”

“Come on! I just skipped. It wasn’t that bad, and the girl attacked me first.”

“Who was the girl?”

I shut my mouth quickly, then switched to sign language so my tone wouldn’t betray me.

AJ’s ex. But it’s not what you’re thinking.

She raised her eyebrows at me, her chin raising along with them.

Ok, maybe it is what you think but AJ’s not a bad guy. He’s tutoring me in Math and he met the family and everything. Emily adores him.

“I never said it was AJ’s fault, Judith, why are you so defensive?”

I glared at her but kept my mouth shut. She had implied that it was his fault. I clearly recalled her mentioning him with a sardonic little smile as she had signed the question. Not that I would say that of course.

“So, what’s my punishment.”

“I don’t know yet, but don’t make any plans for the rest of this week. Or any week up to and maybe including, your birthday.”

“Mom!”

“I could always extend it into the new year if you’d like.”

I bit my tongue.

“Is there anything you want to say?”

“Just… please keep in mind that this is my first offense, and it was self defense which even courts view as being a logical reason for certain actions. She called Emily a mutt!”

My mother tensed even more and I wondered if I should’ve kept that to my self.

“Did she, and how would she know Emily?”

“She met her at the picnic.”

“Hmm…”

“What else was I supposed to do? Let her beat me up and call my sister names?!” I threw my hands up, aware that I was getting defensive and as such would lose before I had begun but I couldn’t help it.

“Did she?”

“Did she what?”

“Beat you up?”

I snorted and shook my head.

“No, I won. I’m bigger than she is.” I dropped my head, aware that the sentence had come out smug. There was silence for a moment then she walked away, hip checking me.

“Good, your punishment would’ve been worse if you’d lost.” The knot in my stomach untangled and my heart slowed down.

“You scared me,” I said smiling a bit.

“Don’t look so relieved, you’re still going to be punished. Call AJ and inform him that his services won’t be needed for the time being.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll be dropping you off from school from now on, to ensure you’re actually going.”

“Mom!”

“Don’t mom me. Call him, actually, call your grandmother as well, find out if she has anything that needs to be done manually.”

“That woman always needs something to be done.”

“Well then, you better call her so she makes a list from now, it’ll make your life easier.”She tossed this bit over her shoulder and I groaned, throwing my head back before moving to the wall closest to me and smacking my head against it. Of course, this turned out to be a stupid idea and my mother ended up running back to me as she heard my yelp of pain. I pressed my palm against the bump on my forehead, the bump I'd gotten courtesy of Carmen and I had just made worse thanks to my idiocy.

My mother asked what was wrong as I tried to blink past the throbbing though it was already settling into a headache. I slouched down so she could see my forehead, and I don’t know what I was expecting, sympathy or something anything but what I got. Pulling my hand away she stared at the bump for a moment before snickering.

“And you won this fight?”

“Mom!”

“Come on Cocohontas, let’s put some ice on that and you can show me the rest of your war wounds.”

I glared down at her even as I followed her and decided that the first thing I should’ve down was put ice on the bump, because if my mom thought it was amusing since she knew I was fine, Bridget would find it downright hilarious, not to mention the girls that actually disliked me.

I groaned again and was tempted to slam my head into another wall just to get out of going to school, tomorrow was going to be hell.

A/N: I know, this chapter took forever, you don't have to tell me, lol. Things are just not working out like I want them too, personally and writing wise and I'm apparently not as good as multitasking as I thought. Also, this chapter is iffy for me, I like it but I wanted to make everything feel more immediate and show the build up more but it refused to work.

Also;

Cocohontas -- In my family/islanders in general, when you get a big bump on your forehead they call it a coco [big like a coconut] and if you get this bump in a fight you may be called Cocohontas or any other witty name they can think of until it goes down, just because they find it amusing. Her mother has been around her aunts for too long, lol.

Next chapter should be fun, it's AJ/Judi focused, and no promises on when it'll be coming but it will be here.

Thanks to:

*starry eyed* - haha, she does kick ass in this chapter though it takes her a while and it's not Bridget, lol. Thanks for the review

Kjersti - Her cousins are based off of one of my middle school friends, her aunt (also her godmother) adopted a girl who was our age and she pretty much ignored her or would ask her to get something then run off. If we played with her she'd throw a fit and not talk to us for the rest of the day. I figured that once they got older the ignoring would change to 'playful teasing'.

fanaserie - Thanks for the review, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and your english is fine, lol.

And to everyone who's adding this story to their alerts and faves, it's much appreciated.