Chapter Five: Dylan, the Diva

It's raining. The patter along the concrete is making it hard to hear anything other than the rain. It's past midnight and I know I should be at home, but I can't seem to remember where it is anymore. The small, back road I'm on is almost completely barren of people, only a few people hurrying to get out of the rain are still out.

They're gone. They're both gone.

I cover my mouth and wrap the other around my stomach, curling into the fetal position on the wet sidewalk.

What am I supposed to do? Where do I go? Can I go back to the house? Can I sleep in my room alone? Can I sleep? Can I stand being alone?

"Hey sweetheart." A gruff voice says.

I look up to see a burly man standing over me, two other guys standing not far behind him. The dark clouds are blocking most of the sunlight, so I can't see his face very well.

Immediately, I stand up, trying to look around from someone to help.

No one.

"She looks terrified." One notes, looking down at me with something resembling close to pity.

"Way to go, Roger. You scared her."

The man in front, Roger, smirks, "So? I think she's even cuter when she's scared." He looks down at me, the darkness covering his eyes and showing a caterpillar-like beard along his upper lip, "What's your name, angel?"

I ignore him, eyes searching frantically for someone — anyone — around.

His giant hand catches my wrist, gripping it tighter than necessary as he forces me to look at him, "I asked you what your name was." He says harshly.

"Ha…Ha…" It won't come out.

Am I still Hazel Stone without mom and dad?

His grip tightens and I cringe.

Suddenly, a strong hand grips the man's wrist, the knuckles turning white from the force, "Let her go."

I look at Cameron with relief.

The man smirks, however, his thin lips tightening with amusement, "What's wrong? She yours?"

"I wouldn't piss him off." Another voice says, a much less manly-looking guy coming to my side, his eye more focused on his short nails rather than the gruff man who looks ready to eat me. "He's already angry that you're touching a girl; I wouldn't push it."

He lets out a loud, bellowing laugh and tightens his grip further around my wrist as if he's trying to prove a point. I cringe and try to keep from crying out.

Cameron snaps. With too much force, he slams his foot directly into the side of the man's knee, a define crack popping into the air. Out of reflex, he lets go of my wrist and almost immediately, another guy with bright red hair and big, brown eyes pulls me away and into another guy.

The guy, who's bright colored Mohawk is shining even in the dim streetlights, grins down at me, showing straight white teeth.

I blink up at him, trying to think of where I've seen him before, before I hear a groan.

My head snaps to Cameron, who's wiping his forehead with the back of his wrist, attempting to get the rain out of his eyes.

He walks over, ignoring the whining men on the pavement, and takes my wrist gently, inspecting it, "You alright, Haze?"

"You know her?" The Mohawk kid behind me asks.

"Obviously he knows her." The pretty-boy from earlier says, playing with a piece of nail that seems to be hanging off, "There are only two things that Cameron can't stand: when people mess with his family and when people mess with his friends."

Ginger snickers, leaning against Mohawk kid's shoulder, "Yeah, Sam. You should learn more about the co-leader of the group."

Pretty-boy walks over to me and studies my face too intensely, "Though you have to wonder how he knows her. She looks like a freshman."

"She is a freshman." Cameron says, shoving the pretty guy away with a scowl at his surprise expression, "Now back off. She was almost assaulted today. Yeesh."

/^\^/^\

I let out a long yawn, covering my mouth with my left hand as it opens unattractively wide.

"Didn't sleep well last night, did you?" Cameron asks, his hands in the pockets of his uniform pants.

I sigh, "No."

"Nightmares from the storm?" He guesses, glancing at me.

Another sigh. "Yes."

"You should've called me." He says, almost scolding, "I would've come over."

"I'm not fourteen anymore, Cameron. I can handle a few nightmares and storms every now and then."

It's his turn to sigh, "Haze, there's nothing wrong with being scared of storms. Especially when they give you nightmares. I don't know why you insist on being so stubborn about this. I only live three blocks away—"

"But you were asleep at midnight." I answer, "If I would've called, not only would I have woken up your parents, but you too."

"Ha—"

"—zel-sama~" Sam calls out, interrupting Cameron as he rushes to us, a plastic Starbucks cup in his hands.

I turn to him, smiling, "What's up, Sam?"

He grins up at me, "Did you hear? We have a new student today and — you'll never believe this — it's Tony Pierce's son!"

Cameron and I share a look.

"Come on, guys! You have to know who Tony Pierce is." He says incredulously.

"Of course." Cameron says slowly, "He's, uh, that guy that made you mad?"

I chuckle at the obvious bullshit in Cameron's guess.

Sam face palms, the heel of his palm hitting his forehead with a defined smack, "You mean to tell me that you two have no idea who thee Tony Pierce is? The God of Business? The Conqueror of Apple? Guys~" He whines.

"Hey guys, did you hear—" Elliot stops when he sees Sam tugging on Cameron's arm and gives me a what-happened-to-him look.

"He's on his period." I say nonchalantly.

"Oh dear, your majesty, you really shouldn't say things like that out loud." Dylan says, appearing out of nowhere next to me, "But if you need tampons or something, I can get them for you."

Cameron blinks a couple times, "Do I even want to know how you know where to get pads?"

"No pads, my dear, naïve Cameron, tampons. There's a difference." Dylan informs him, flipping his hair, "For starters, tampons are usually put up in—"

"Hello?" Sam says, covering his ears, "Can we please not talk about girly habits with me around?"

Elliot snickers, "Poor Sam." He jokes, wrapping an arm around his neck in a friendly headlock, "What's the matter, Sammy? Are your virgin ears too sensitive for Hazel's bodily functions?"

"You'll pay for that." Before Elliot can respond, Sam wraps his arms around his waist and pushing him to the ground.

I roll my eyes.

"Nice to see everyone's so active today." Hunter comments, stepping over the idiots rolling around in the grass, a cigarette cradled in his lips.

"Hey Hunter, do you have any more?" Cameron asks, nodding towards the cancer stick.

Hunter reaches into his pants pocket and tosses him a pack of Marlboro reds. Cameron catches it easily and pulls one out, throwing it back before taking out a lighter and lighting it.

I shake my head, "Those are going to kill you."

He grins, "Aw, is Haze worried about me?"

I smack his arm with the back of my hand, rolling my eyes, "I've got to get to class. Don't get in trouble, got it? If you get caught by the teacher and they suspend, I'll kick your butt."

"Yes mom." He throws at me.

Childishly, I stick my tongue out, heading towards the school entrance.

"Wait for me, milady! I have First Hour (*) with you today." Dylan says, trying to catch up to me without getting grass stains on his shiny black shoes.

"Why do you have it with me today?" I ask, watching as he studies his shoes for a few seconds.

When he sees there's nothing on them, he dusts of his blazer and shakes his head, causing the blonde locks to ruffle perfectly as they lay on his shoulders, "Because," he starts, opening the door for me, "Mrs. Aarons decided that, for some reason, it'd be a good idea to have the art class hang out in the music room for one day in an attempt to stop the "rivalry"."

I laugh, "Stop the rivalry? Doesn't she understand that the art and music class always hate each other?"

"We tried to explain that to her." He says, rolling his eyes, "But she's new and naïve; she'll learn eventually."

"Yeah. When everyone tries to rip the other's throat out in class today." I mutter.

"Then it's a good thing the great Hazel Stone is in there First Block (*), now isn't it?" He says, but pauses, a slim finger going to his lip in thought, "Maybe that's why she decided to do it during First Block (*)…"

I shake my head and step in to the classroom, letting Dylan think on his own.

"Oh, but he's so cute!" A girl says.

Another girl giggles, "I know, right? He looks a hundred times better in real life!"

The classroom, like I expect, is split into two sides. Unlike what I figured, however, they aren't split up by class, rather by sex. The boys, I notice, are clustered more towards the front, which, in itself, is unusual. Usually, the boys tried to fill up the back before the girls can even come in. The girls are crowded in the back around someone, entirely engulfed in whoever it is.

"Well this is unexpected." Dylan comments.

"I know." I say, quirking my mouth, "Why are they gathered near my desk, though?"

"Poor your highness— Hey! Those bimbos are causing scuff marks on the desktop I was planning on sitting at!" He shrieks, "Milady, get rid of those peasants!"

I chuckle, "Now you care."

Still. I can't help agree with him.

Not about the scruff marks, but the crowd in general. I'm not fond of large groups of girls, let alone girls that look like they want to devour who's ever in the middle of their mass circle.

"But his lips are so bitable!" A girl groans.

"Imagine what his—"

My foot connects with the stop of the desk, the heel of my foot slamming into the desktop with a loud crack.

Everyone turns to me, surprised.

"Since when did this become the place to mess around?"

They laugh uneasily.

"Sorry, Hazel." One says, motioning for the others to start heading away with her hand behind her back, "We were just introducing ourselves to the new student."

"Yeah." Another say quickly, coming to the girl's aid, "We wanted to make sure he understood the ropes when it came to school."

I let my foot fall to the tiled ground and relax, "Alright." I say finally, ignoring Dylan, who's probably angry that I'm not doing anything else, "Just… try not to us."

The girls' eyes light up and they beam, nodding enthusiastically, "Of course, Hazel!"

I sigh, taking a seat in my desk.

"You're too nice." Dylan grumbles, wiping his desk with a baby wipe that he got from God-knows-where. "They would've left if you'd just said so."

I sigh, resting my head on my hand, "I'm too tired to deal with arguing right now." I say, yawning as if to emphasize exactly how tired I am, "And if this new student keeps the girls occupied — who are the main argument starters, just saying — then who cares? Plus, did you see how scared they were? They acted like I was going to hit them."

"Well, you are the Alpha female, so of course they're intimidated. But everyone knows you'd never hit someone who couldn't defend themselves." Dylan says reassuringly, pulling out a compact mirror from the breast pocket of his blazer, "Don't let that stop you though. Not all girls are helpless; you should know that out of all people."

I groan, laying my head down on the desk, "Now you sound like Cameron." I mumble into my arm, "I already have him, Hunter, and Allen worrying; I don't need you too."

He chuckles, "We all worry, they're just more opened about it."

"Thanks. I think." I grumble sarcastically.

The bell rings and the girls are forced to go to their seats, leaving my left side more open and free of intense sexually tension.

"Class." Mrs. Dorisie announces, making me peak my eyes up at her bulging body standing at the podium, "Today, we have a new student. Please stand and introduce yourself."

The seat next to me racks against the tile and I decide to ignore him.

"I'm Kody Pierce." He says in a deep voice, "Nice to meet you all."

The girls sigh. I gag.

"Thank you very much, Kody." Mrs. Dorisie says in a sickenly kind voice, "Hazel."

I ignore her, hoping she'll get the hint and let me go to the nurses.

"Hazel." She repeats.

Damn.

With an open sigh, I push myself up and sit upright, looking at Mrs. Dorisie, "What?" I ask a little too forcefully.

"Will you be kind enough to show Kody around the school today?" She asks, nodding to him, "You are the Student Council President."

"Only because I'm the gang leader." I mutter under my breath.

"What was that?" She questions.

"Fine." I say, letting a breath out, "I'll do it."

"Splendid." She chirps, going through the papers on her desk.

I lean my head back, waiting for her to find his class schedule.

"Hey." The new guy says, his voice strangely amused, "I'm Kody."

"Awesome." I say blandly, refusing to focus on him and instead focus on the building headache in my temples.

I should've skipped today.

"Nice to meet you." He tries again.

I lift my head up and glare at him, only to stop dead.

What the hell?

Sitting next to me, smirking knowingly, is the guy who I saved Thursday night. The same guy who…

"You!" I practically shout, pointing at him, "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Hazel!" Mrs. Dorisie snaps, "That's no way to greet Mr. Pierce."

"But… he…" I stop, unable to form words.

What?

"Please be sure to take good care of me, Ms. Gang Leader." He snickers.

Holy Hell. What is going on!?