Chapter3

#Chapter3

Andrew /"Drew/" Michels, aka the unknown guy

It was lunchtime, and unfortunately, I didn’t share lunch with Matt or Elijah. They had a different lunch period than us. The younger kids had another lunch period separate from the upperclassmen. They're freshmen. Ah, freshmen year when I had friends, but thanks to Maddox, I have none. I don’t think if it related to Matt and Elijah, they would even talk to me.

I went out in the courtyard and had lunch alone like I usually did. It was better that way. The last time I had lunch in the cafeteria, I had stuff poured on me, and my lunch ruined. I ran home with no one noticing and changed my clothes and stayed in my room for a week. I wouldn’t talk to anyone after that. I endured this daily but learned not to say anything.

Sitting alone, having lunch had its perks. I got some quiet time to doodle and peace. As I sat there on a bench doodling, I heard the door to the courtyard, fantastic. The one place I didn’t get hassle got ruined. I gathered up my stuff and went to eat in the janitor’s closet, which I use when the weather gets colder.

/"Going somewhere?/" The person asked me, and I looked up to see the same guy from the first period.

/"Sorry, I figure you want to eat lunch with some friends. I will go,/" I mumbled.

/"What friends?/" The guy asked me a bit confused.

I looked up at the guy since he towered over me. /"Well, since most people come out here with their friends and don’t welcome me, I find another place to eat./"

He leaned down and looked at me, /"Well, that might be good for some, but since I transferred here this year, I don’t know anyone./"

I gave him a look. /"You’re an unknown guy?/"

/"What gave it away? Was it my sparkling personality? Or my excellent looks? Or I don’t give a flying fuck what people think attitude?/" The guy asked me.

I winced at that and recoiled from him. Yep, this was a setup from Maddox’s group. An unknown guy, my ass, although Maddox seemed scared of him. It was for the show.

I dipped past him and ran out of the courtyard, leaving him hella confused. I didn’t need someone to pretend to be a /"new/" person and act like my friend only tricked. That is why when they get into a prank war at home, I hide in my bedroom. They don’t understand why, but it's rough when people pull cruel pranks on you every day.

I made it through the rest of the day, went to my locker, and grabbed my items. I saw Elijah, Matt, and the guy from this morning talking at the lockers. Ugh, it’s my luck.

I walked up, and they were joking around as I opened my locker.

/"Liz, we want you to meet someone,/" Elijah said. /"This is Andrew Michels./"

/"We’ve met,/" I mumbled.

/"He’s in our classes, and we got to talking. He told us about his run-in with Maddox today. Classic,/" Matt raved.

/"Yeah,/" I said as I shut my locker and left. I didn’t want to ride home with anyone and get a bazillion questions. I wanted to be alone.

/"What’s up with your sister, man?/" Drew asked Matt.

/"It’s Maddox. Thanks to him, he’s made her life a living hell ever since she rejected him. The weird part is they were friends; then after that, he’s made it his sole purpose to destroy her,/" Matt said to Drew.

/"Why?/" Drew asked.

/"It caused our families to have a history together, and it’s not good,/" Elijah said, rubbing his head’s back.

/"So, Maddox took it out on your sister, interesting. I’ll catch you guys later,/" Drew said, heading out.

/"What was that about?/" Asked Elijah.

/"I don’t know, but I have a feeling we will find out,/" Matt said, shaking his head.

They both headed out to meet Junior but found him in the office with the hellions. He did not look happy, and they stood there with their arms crossed, glaring at the principal. Junior shot them a look, and they looked away.

/"This can’t be an excellent thing,/" Elijah said.

/"No shit, Sherlock. Junior will kill them,/" Matt said.

/"I would be more scared of Uncle Frazier if I were them,/" said Elijah.

Liam, JJ, and RJ walked up.

/"This is never the best thing if Junior is in the office with the hellions,/" RJ said.

/"Sucks to be them,/" JJ said.

/"Are you serious? Because you and Liam have some explaining to do to Dad when we get home,/" Elijah said to JJ.

/"Oh, God, I told you the idea was stupid,/" Liam said.

/"Well, you went along with it, so I guess it sucks to be you, too,/" JJ shrugged.

Elijah grabbed them both by the shirts and dragged them out of the school, as did Junior with the hellions.

/"Please tell me you did nothing stupid,/" Matt said to RJ.

/"Bro, I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid. Have you met Dad?/" RJ asked Matt.

/"Good deal. I would hate having to explain to Dad about you getting into trouble the first day,/" Matt said.

/"No, kidding. Where is Liz?/" RJ asked.

/"She’s out at the car, waiting. You know how she gets,/" Matt said.

/"Yeah,/" RJ replied.

They both went out to the car to find everyone waiting on them. Matt walked up and noticed I wasn’t there.

/"Where’s Liz?/" Matt asked the others.

/"We thought she was with you,/" Junior said.

/"No, she left before Matt and me,/" said Elijah.

/"Shit! That isn’t good,/" Junior said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing my number, but it went to voicemail. /"Damn it!/"

/"Junior, what’s going on?/" Asked a concerned Matt.

/"I’ll fill you and Elijah in later, but I need to call your dad and take the hellions home,/" Dad said, dialing Dad’s number.

Hey, Junior.

/"Uncle Ryan, we got a problem,/" Junior said.

What’s the problem?

/"Liz left, and no one knew where she went,/" Junior answered.

Fuck! Get your asses home now! Tell Matt and Elijah to meet with Jordan, Dylan, and me after you drop the younger kids off!

The call ended.

/"Fuck! It pisses your dad off,/" Junior said to Matt. /"We need to drop the kids off, and the three of us have to meet with our dads,/" Junior said to Elijah and Matt. They nodded as everyone got into their cars and went home.

I walked home. I left before Junior, Matt, or Elijah barking orders at me. I understand they’re family, but I wasn’t a dog, and Junior wasn’t my boss, and neither were the rest of them.

I get to endure torture at school, then deal with my idiot family who gives orders. Mom, Aunt Marissa, and Aunt Elena were the only sane ones because they were female except Mack. She should have been a boy since she was as crazy as the rest of them.

As I walked home, I tried to clear my mind of the day’s events. A motorcycle roared up, scaring the living daylights out of me. I picked up my pace. I should have waited for the others. They pulled in front of me and stopped.

I stood there as the person pulled off their helmet, Drew. He placed the motorcycle helmet on his bike, putting the kickstand down. He swung his leg around until he leaned against his motorcycle.

He crossed his arms and looked at me. I shifted from foot to foot.

/"You know I won’t bite,/" Drew said. Drew patted a spot next to him. I stood there and waited. /"I promise./"

I sighed and walked over to him and turned to where I stood with my back to the bike. We stood there in silence.

Finally, I broke the silence. /"So, you’re new?/"

He chuckled. /"Yes, I am an unknown kid. My parents and I moved here because my dad got a job at Cascade Casinos./"

I looked at Drew, shocked.

/"What?/" Drew asked.

/"That’s the casino my grandparents own,/" I said to Drew.

/"Wait. Are your parents Ryan and Alex Jones?/" Drew asked me.

/"Yep, I’m Elizabeth Jones,/" I answered.

/"My dad will work under Ryan,/" Drew said.

/"Well, that explains why you’re new. But I have a question,/" I said.

/"What’s your question?/" Drew asked me.

/"It was this morning with Maddox. Why? Why was it me of all people?/" I asked him.

/"Because I have an issue with guys putting their hands on women. My parents raised me to respect women,/" he shrugged as it was no enormous deal.

I smiled. /"Then, you and my family have something in common, especially Dad and my uncles./"

/"Yeah, I heard about the fearsome three. The fearsome three pretty legendary,/" Drew mentioned.

/"Tell me about it. I wished it extended to me,/" I mumbled, looking down at my feet.

/"It doesn’t? I figure it would terrify people to mess with you. Matt and Elijah are in the same school as you and your dad,/" Drew said to me, surprised.

/"They don’t know. When I’m with my brother and cousin, people avoid me. When I’m alone, it’s a whole different ballgame,/" I said as I realized what I said. God, I hoped he didn’t know what I meant.

We stood there for a minute, then he said, /"I’ll tell you what. Since I’m new and know two people like Matt and Elijah, how about we be friends?/"

I backed away. /"No, that is okay. I’m good./"

As I left, Drew caught my wrist. I looked at Drew.

/"I’m not Maddox. I promise I won’t do what he did. All I want to do is to be your friend,/" he said.

I looked at him, /"Okay, one condition./"

/"What’s that?/" Drew asked.

/"That you promise me not to do what Maddox did,/" I said.

/"I promise, and I always keep my promises,/" he said, giving me a smile, which caused me to return it. /"You know you have a beautiful smile. You should smile more often,/" he said in a husky voice, which caused my stomach to do flips. Wait a minute; what happened?

/"How about I give you a lift home?/" He asked me.

I raised my eyebrows. /"On that?/" I pointed to his motorcycle.

He looked around at the bike. /"Well, it’s the only transportation I have now. Come on, I’ll even give you my helmet because I’m an affable guy like that,/" he smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes. /"Fine./" I took the helmet from him and put it on. He helped me onto the bike, then climbed on himself.

/"Now wrap your arms around my waist and hold on tight,/" Drew instructed.

I did as he told me, and he started the bike, making it roar. Before we took off, he turned his head and said, /"Next time you roll your eyes at me, you owe me a kiss./"

I felt my cheeks heat. Oh my god. I met this guy who wants to be friends but says something like that. What is wrong with this guy?

He drove down the road, heading to my house. After about ten minutes, we pulled up to my front door, and I saw Dad and the others outside in their cars. I’m wondering if they were going to the training facility.

Drew parked the bike, turned it off, and then got off the bike and helped me off it as they all walked over to us. Dad walked up to us as I pulled the helmet off and handed it to Drew.

/"Where have you been?/" Dad asked me as he put his hands on his waist.

/"I walked home, then Drew drove past and offered me a ride,/" I said.

/"Elizabeth! We were all worried about you,/" Dad said.

/"Dad, I’m fine. You worry too much,/" I said, kissing him on the cheek and walking past him. Dad turned and watched me walk into the house. Then he turned to Drew and took his finger, making a gesture for him to follow him.

Drew got off his bike and followed Dad into the house as the others followed Drew.

Frazier said to Jordan, /"I bet five dollars he doesn’t last five minutes with Ryan./"

Jordan looked at Frazier. /"Dude, you lost that bet./"

/"How do you know?/" Frazier asked.

/"Remember how Ryan was with Alex when they first met?/" Jordan asked.

/"Yeah, so?/" Said Frazier.

/"History is about to repeat itself,/" Jordan said, walking into the house.

/"What? No. Psh great, I’m out five bucks./" Frazier shook his head as he was the last to go inside the house. Things were about to get interesting, and this was the beginning. God help us all.