Kidnapped|Book 4|A novel in the Blue Moon series| An Avengers fan fiction series|

3- The Lie He Hides Behind

My locker is on the fifth floor, so I leave Jack on the elevator and head into the eighth grade hallway. I'm about five minutes late, so most everyone is in home room already, so I just grab my copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, slam the locker shut and walk away.

I slouch in my seat in home room, as Mr. Green goes over the day's announcements (Rho Kappa meeting during lunch, leadership signups will be posted, etc.) and gaze out the window to the city.

Dejectedly, I look down at the golden band. I grasp it, and tug it again, but as usual, it remains clasped around me. I feel like screaming at it, and feel the tips of my hands beginning to burn. I am stopped from burning my desk as my hand wraps around the dolphin figurine resting on my neck. It calms me, and I close my eyes, taking deep breaths.

Eventually, the moment passes, just as the bell rings and Mr. Green dismisses us.

He stops me at the door.

"Thea, if you're late again, I'm going to have to count you as tardy," he says. Mr. Green is nice enough, I guess, especially considering the fact that I've been less than a model home room participant- during group activities, I just stare out the window or text Jack and Peter.

I fumble with my backpack straps, "Okay. Sorry."

He nods, giving me an easy smile, "Did you have a nice birthday?"

Oh, it was fantastic, especially when my newly-discovered father had one, killed a prophetess and two, shouted at me that he basically didn't care whether or not I lived or died!

I give Mr. Green the best fake smile I can muster. "It was great! Thanks for asking."

He nods again as he begins to set up his projector for a history lecture, "I'm glad to hear it. Have a great day, Thea."

"You too," I say distantly, and then head into the hullabaloo of the hallway. As I walk down a flight of stairs to the English hallway, I pass Jack. He's talking loudly with a bunch of his friends.

"Hey Thea!" he yells as one of his friends, a tall blond named Davis, shoves him into the wall in a show of manliness, "Want to meet in the library during free period?"

Davis, as well as a few other freshman boys, wolf-whistles, "Ay, Barton, get it!"

Jack pushes Davis, and glances back at me, waiting for my response.

"Uh, sure," I say, trying to hide the doubt.

*

I do end up going to the library, which is a really messy room filled with books because the librarian, whatever her name is, actually hates her job. She's the first librarian I've ever met that doesn't care at what level we talk while studying.

Jack, talking cheerfully about his life science lab from that morning (venus flytraps), begins his history report. I fiddle with my assignments, and even though I have a lot of them, I can't focus, and end up just doodling in the margins of my science textbook.

Thankfully, my silence isn't noticed much, because about halfway through the period, Davis and the rest of Jack's pack turns up, having missed their ringleader. This means that I Jack and I get slightly more squished on the bench to make room for three teenage boys, but at least I can put my earbuds in and tune them out.

I start my summary for the first chapter of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but my thoughts are far from the streets of New York City. Regret keeps slamming into me like a sledgehammer. Actually, part regret, part anger, part hurt, and part sadness. This morning, I had considered throwing the Stjarna stuffed animal out the window, but hadn't. I don't know why. I wish I would have. Instead, like the coward I am, I just stuffed it in the back of my closet, in a box of unpacked summer clothes.