After DC told me I fit the qualifications of someone he'd murder, I never wanted to speak to him again. So I probably shouldn't have blamed him for something he didn't do, against someone he couldn't stand. It sort of cheesed him off...
Okay, this i...
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DC steered clear of me at lunch but Lindsay was happy to report that, yes, he was staring. Not like he was the only one. Probably everyone in the loving cafeteria was staring at me and my atrocious display of attention-grabbing balloons.
Of all the mean things anyone had ever done to me, this was by far the meanest. So I just sat there, glowering, trying to fade into the air through sheer will power with no such luck.
"Why don't you just get rid of them?" Madison asked, her lips quirked in obvious amusement. Lindsay and Elyse looked at me with that question in their eyes as well, both waiting for an answer.
I sighed. "That's exactly what he thinks I'm going to do." I said, that stubborn part of me rising to the surface again. There was something about Dorian Birch that made me feel like I had no choice but to become a walking contradiction. "It'll be like letting him win."
Elyse giggled until it turned into full blown laughter.
"What?" I asked, surprised and hesitantly confused by her reaction. I shifted, twisting slightly to look at her, and the stupid balloons tied to my wrist swam through the air to announce the movement.
She grinned at me, trying to fight back more laughter and turning red for her effort. "I just," she shook her head, catching her breath. "I never thought I'd see the day."
"What day?" I flushed.
Elyse shook her head, clearly joyful over something but unwilling to share. Apparently Madison and Lindsay got the joke because they were smiling too and looking at me like I'd told them something significant. I shifted, the balloons shifting with me, and went back to my bag lunch in deference to them.
"Our Care's discovered the joys of spite." Ellie snickered. "I feel like a proud mama." She wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of her eye while Madison and Lindsay laughed.
"You know, I couldn't stand him but I think he's growing on me." She continued and I was glad that she was talking to the other two because I'd decided that I was ignoring her. "I mean anyone that can drag a 'gently caress' out of this girl," she nudged my side affectionately as she spoke, smothering laughter at my chosen method of anti-swears. "And then get her to cart around thirteen colored and shaped balloons all day in the name of defiance…" Her voice was like a shiver of appreciation and I did not approve.
"I like him," Lindsay chimed in. "I think he's in love with her." My eyes shocked up to her face, trying to find any hint of teasing or jest in her expression. She was serious. "You should have seen his face when Patrick fell on her," Lindsay sighed. "I thought DC was going to kill him." Like that was romantic and not scary.
"He gets points for breaking that prick's nose," Elyse didn't even bother to protest or pick an issue. I squinted, looking between them, trying to figure out whether they had both gone insane. "It's about time someone did." As if what Dorian did had been called for.
