Chapter 21

“What the hell happened last night?” Rye asked furiously. After we put Nathaniel inside his car, Nic drove him home having Dee followed behind and together they went back to school. Now we’re standing in an empty classroom at school. Rebecca is lost in her own thoughts, Geralt is standing quietly with his hands shoved in his pockets, Camila is at the bridge of bursting in tears while Nic is trying to ease the tension by making sure everyone’s alright. He occasionally pats Rebecca on her back and even bought water for us all. His kind eyes offered sympathy, no judgment whatsoever. Dee is picking a loose string on her sweater, seating far away in the classroom. I was standing in front of Rye, as if protecting them from his wrath.

“What happened last night. I want the truth” Rye asked again. His hair was messy and sweaty sticking to his neck. At this point, his uniform was also untidy- missing his tie and some of the top buttons were undone. He’s a hot mess for better words.

“It was meant to be a funny prank to get back at him for bullying Dee and harassing Rebecca” Camila confessed. Rebecca glared at Camila. From her panicked face showed she didn’t want Rye to know.

“A prank is meant to be silly and innocent. What you guys did was criminal activity” he responded looking at each of us, his eyes landing on mine last. We locked eyes, his fiery gaze held anger and stinking of testosterone right now.

“Calm down. We might’ve gone a bit overboard but he had it coming” I said finally speaking for the first time since Rye punched Nathaniel’s soul out of his body.

“And you make it sound like he’s the victim here, when he’s a misogynistic, homophobic and racism asshole” I finally spatted out rage over taking my senses.

“I AM NOT DEFENDING Him! But what you all did was wrong, damaging his car to that extent was too much” at this point he was inches away from my face and his forehead and throat veins popping out.

“So what. He can afford to fix it. The dude drives a freaking Benz at 17!” I yelled back at him. My face and ears burned with anger.

“Whether he has money or not, that is not the issue. If he goes to the police then that’s the bigger problem and to add further, I am now involved for assaulting him. Do you realize that?” Rye stepped closer, but our height difference prevented us from being face to face because Rye's definitely over six feet tall. I looked him dead in the eyes and he returned the same deadly glare. The room fell into silence waiting for one of us to speak up, when no one spoke, all he did was shake his head in disbelief. I can’t believe I thought I could be friends with this guy. He is entitled to think himself higher than others just because he won't dare to tarnish his 'good boy' image. Screw his morals of self righteous, what about mine about defending my friends? I scoffed, folding my arms across my chest,

“I do. No one told you to play hero” I said in a low roar.

“Are you serious? If Rebecca wasn’t involved I wouldn’t even bat an eye -“

“Stop it Rye” Geralt stepped between us, giving Rye a slight nudge to create some distance. “I understand we’re all heated up but now is not the time to fight. We’re in this together whether we like it or not. That asshole had it coming” Geralt emphasized each word and I couldn’t agree more. That’s shocking, the school bad boy is more level headed than the perfect student.

“I’m out of here, do whatever you guys want” Rye grabbed his bag and slammed the door on his way out.

“This wouldn’t happen if Rebecca didn’t over do it with the tires and dropped that damn bracelet. The writing with the markers was enough” Camila said, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“What, you’re solely blaming me!” Rebecca jumped off the desk she was sitting on, hands on her hips.

“I mean you were the one who punctured his tires” she shrugged.

“Wow that’s really low. But when you were writing crap on the car, you didn’t mention anything about it? WE DID THIS TOGETHER.” She scuffed giving Camila a deadly stare.

“C’mon Camila don’t be like that. We all participated in it” I exclaimed.

“Guys let’s stop fighting!” Nic yelled. His face was deep red and sweating. He looked very distressed I thought and automatically felt bad for dragging him into this mess.

“First, we will wait until Nathaniel recovers. While he was unconscious, I managed to take Rebecca’s charm bracelet, so now he has no proof. And after what his friends saw is very unlikely they’ll back him up. Geralt and I will speak to them tomorrow just to make sure.” He paused to make sure we’re following. “As for the damage, I think you guys should compensate him”

“No way” Dee spoke up in a disgusted tone.

“Rye’s right, it was wrong and maybe Nathaniel will not go to the police” Nic paused. “But I also agree with Jaye. Those types of people shouldn’t live so easily and get away with targeting people despite who they are or identify as.”

“I don’t have much money but I’ll see what I can manage” I said walking out before anyone could answer. At this point, I just wanted to go home, take a warm bath and forget about this disastrous day.

The following morning, I woke up with a massive headache partially from the lack of sleep. It's been a few days since the car incident, Nathaniel hasn’t showed up to school which is a small victory. Camila and I haven’t spoken since the day of the fight. I stared into the ceiling contemplating whether I should go to school or run away. I could find Cassie, get a job or two and leave this life behind. I sighed thinking about the only person who would prevent me from running away and she’s currently stuck inside me or is it I'm stuck inside of her?

Anyways, let’s recap on my to do list: find the old hag and ask her for help, resolve the Nathaniel conflict, amend my relationship with Camila…

‘Do all the assignments you missed’ Jayelina voice ring inside. Right, I’ve fallen behind in school again.

‘Thank Rye for defending you..’ she said again.

“No way he can drop at the edge of the world for all I care” I replied out loud.

“Who can drop at the edge of the world?” Mom walked in my room folding a shirt.

“Ah just a random thought” Your boss’s son it's what I wanted to say.

“Are you okay?” Mom asked, placing a hand over my forehead.

“My math teacher is giving us too much work” I blabbered before she pushed any further.

“Take it easy baby, other than that, everything good?”

“Yes mommy” I hugged her tightly.

“M’okay” she kissed my head and left my room. I sat up on the edge and a small object caught my sight. It was the gift from Tristan that I forgot to open. I felt Jayelina doing a happy dance and my heart started beating uncontrollably. I grabbed the neatly wrapped box that was decorated with tiny kittens and a red bow. Untidying the bow carefully, opened the box and gasped out loud upon seeing Tristan's gift.