I See You (complete)

Chapter Eleven

He looked at me as if to make sure I was okay. I nodded that I was. Then he leaned in and planted a quick kiss on my lips before taking my hand, interlocking his fingers with mine, and walking me back towards the school.

We had to face the music sometime. Might as well be now, together.

As we walked up the hall to my locker, all we could hear was the buzz of voices and feel the stares of judging eyes. But I had Cade and maybe that's all that mattered. Maybe our feelings would be strong enough to hold us together under such scrutiny. I hoped so. Time would tell.

"Rachel!" Craig's voice rang out above all the other voices. I saw him coming towards us and he looked enraged. It hadn't taken long at all for the news to reach him. I wasn't really surprised at that. I looked at Cade, but he kept his eyes on Craig. I saw him take in a deep, ragged breath. He knew what was coming, just as much as I did.

The wrath of Craig. The "older" brother come to defend his wayward sister.

He walked up to me and pulled me away from Cade, standing as a barrier between us. "What are you doing? "he said to me in a harsh whisper.

"Craig—" I started, but he cut me off.

"What are you doing with him?" he shouted, throwing an angry look at Cade.

"He's my friend. We're hanging out," I replied calmly. "Last I heard, it's not a crime."

"Hanging out? Is that all? Cuz that's not what I heard!" He sneered at Cade again. "People saw you guys kissing, Rachel! In the parking lot!" When I didn't answer him he stepped closer. "Is this what you've been hiding from me all this time? Him?" He pointed at Cade, his face revealing just how much he hated him.

Behind us, I saw the entire football team coming down the hall towards us. Ho boy. This was going to get bad. What had we done? I looked at Cade who had also noticed the impending entourage. He looked at me and gave me a quick wink before turning his attention back to the team who had now reached us. I saw the muscle twitch in his jaw. He wasn't as calm as he looked. But he impressed me with the way he held himself in check.

I swear the whole school was listening, holding their collective breath and waiting to see what would happen. This was probably the most exciting thing that had happened at Fairmont High in a long time. Sad as that was.

I saw Claire and Lara standing close by. They both wore concerned looks, their eyes flitting from Cade and I to my brother and his gang of footballers. No one had a clue how this would all play out, least of all us. The hall felt tense, like all the air had been sucked out. I felt light-headed and charged up all at the same time. I had a feeling I wasn't the only one feeling this way.

Joey was the first to speak, turning his attention to Craig. "We heard what happened. We're here if you need us." He threw me a disappointed look.

I scoffed at that. "What? Are we all gonna rumble now?" I cried as I threw up my hands. "West Side Story style? Seriously you guys, this is stupid. I can be friends with whomever I choose to be friends with." There were a few murmurs of agreement from the crowd but otherwise, no one moved a muscle.

Craig turned his eyes on me and I could see he wasn't budging in his feelings about me and Cade being friends, much less a couple.

"Come on, Craig," I said. "You know me. I'm not an idiot. I can take care of myself. If I like Cade, it's for good reason." I tried to reason with Craig, but he shook his head and stepped closer to Cade.

In that moment, I was reminded of just how big and tall Cade really was. He had at least a good inch or two on all the guys, including my brother, so his eyes looked down on them. It was impressive.