McKinley and Her Brothers

I Don't Know Where She Is!

The next day, I have school and the day goes by surprisingly really fast. During lunch, I usually go outside to eat with my two and only friends, Victoria and Iris.

Suddenly we see a crowd forming near the amphitheater, immediately me and my friends rush over there to see what's happening.

I see a tall boy wearing a blue hoodie and black jeans on top of another boy who is wearing a T-shirt and jeans, they're throwing punches at each other and rolling on the floor.

Hmm, that's weird, Tate has the same blue hoodie. Wait a minute. That is Tate.

My eyes widen and friends grab my arms to stop me from going to Tate but I thrash out of their hold and run to Tate. 

"Tate, get off of him, what are you doing!?" I yell loudly.

Tate pauses and the other boy sees this as an advantage and punches my brother square in the jaw. My teeth clench and my fists tighten. My brothers always tell me that I get my anger from Tate, and now I see it.

I get ready to launch at the other boy when Tate yells for Dylan, his best friend to stop me.

I feel Dylan's large arms wrap around my waist and he drags me out of the formed circle and takes me away from the scene.

"Let go of me Dylan, Tate could lose his spot on the football team, he could be suspended!" I yell thrashing my body around, but he doesn't even budge.

"Quiet down, Little Hayes. The boys have already stopped him and dispersed the crowd, see?" He says while turning me around so that I can see people walking away while whispering to each other.

The next thing I see is a bruised Tate stomping angrily over to me. Uh oh. Instinctively, I curl closer to Dylan afraid of the words that will soon sprout out of my brother's mouth.

Dylan puts his arm around me and gives me a reassuring smile.

"McKinley Avery Hayes, what do you think that was?" Tate asks, his voice low and gravelly.

"Tate, I didn't mean it, I was just sca-" Tate interrupts my shaking voice by coming closer to me, so close that I see the blood forming at the tip of his eyebrow.

"I don't care, you should never get involved with something like that," He says, his voice rising by each word.

His other friends stand behind him, watching warily, most likely feeling bad for me.

"But, you could have gotten suspended!" I also now yell shoving Dylan's arm off of my shoulder to cross my arms and look at Tate, daring for him to say more.

Unfortunately, he does.

He snickers menacingly and shoves my shoulder back to put some space between us.

Dylan frowns and walks up to Tate but Tate stops him with just one look.

"Your job is not to look out for me, okay, it's to mind your own business and my job is to forget you exist," Tate says while staring into my eyes.

My eyes water but I know he doesn't mean it, he doesn't mean a word.

Reese, Tate's other friend, puts his hand on Tate's shoulder and says, "Bro, she gets it, she cares about you."

"Yeah right, you know what, I'm done. Don't expect me to take you home at the end of the day. Figure it out, since you have the guts to raise your voice at me, I'm sure you can walk home by yourself." Tate says while running his hand through his hair and harshly opening the cafeteria door open.