Treat You Better

Chapter Six: The Outfit.

"Great." The Coach clapped his hand once and dismissed all of us.

"Are you going to the party?" I asked my friends quickly before Hale could call me away.

"Of course, Hale's gonna drag you along anyways so we're gonna be your wing nerds." Susan nodded before adding mischievously, "Also there's going to be boys."

"We won't let you be alone with him, don't worry" Annie said. "But you could also dump him tonight."

I already tried! I nearly told her but the thought of any of my parents stuck in jail for a crime they didn't commit flashed through my mind.

Annie quickly backtracked, "Ugh, don't look at me like that, it's just a suggestion. I don't know why you like him so much, gosh!"

"Violet!" Hale barked from near the main doors of the school, startling me.

"Bye guys." I whispered and hurried to my living, walking, fancy prison.

Since I brought my car along, I had to drive to the Frances's residence to see what he bought for me. I had no clue why he couldn't bring it to school but it was probably an excuse to get me to the house again.

We didn't even get there until 30 minutes after Hale did. Angelo rode shotgun with me for some reason and made sure we stopped at a drive thru for chicken nuggets. Then he kept making annoying comments as he slouched lazily in the front seat.

"Wow, Squeaky. Slow down, we don't want to get there by next Tuesday."
"Do obey the laws of the road and not run that yellow light."
"You drive like my grandmother"
"Are you scared of the gas pedal, kid?"

"How is so much 'annoying' in just one person?!" I snapped before he could say something else.

"She speaks, hurray." Angelo said, unenthusiastically. "Do I get a congratulations for getting on the team now, kid?"

"Stop calling me kid or squeaky or anything! I'm probably even older than you judging by how you're acting!"

"Well, what do you want me to call you?" He asked dryly. "Baby? Hale would love that."

I think I experienced mild heart palpitations in that moment. "Violet is fine" I said.

"Don't get me wrong, you have a beautiful name, but you're Kid to me" Angelo shrugged and tossed the last nugget in his mouth.

I tried not to flush from embarrassment at the fact that he thought I looked like a literal child. We were already getting to the house anyways.

"Seriously?" Hale asked as we got out of the car. "A detour?"

"It was..." I murmured but Angelo beat me to it.

"I needed these." He said, waving the empty food carton in his cousin's face.

"Don't you think that you probably eat a bit too much?" Hale blurted.

Angelo's deadpan turned into a glare as he crushed the carton in his fist, which caused his bicep to flex so that it strained against his black jacket.

I looked down to hide my blush. Why did I even notice that?

"I think it's working out pretty well for me" Angelo shrugged and smacked the carton against Hale's flat chest as he passed by him.

Hale was obviously embarrassed as he stared at me, searching for a way to pin this on my head. He probably couldn't find anything so he just sighed and gestured for me to follow him.

→_→

He bought me clothes.

Well, he'd been getting me clothes for a while now but today was not the usual.