Center Stage

Chapter 20

Niko POV:

An incessant ringing noise wakes me up from possibly the best dream I've ever had. Did it include Greenleigh? Yes. Were we in love? Obviously. Did it include other activities? Maybe possibly.

I grab my phone and my dad's name flashes at the top. I can't deal with that right now. Things have been going really well and I'm not about to ruin my day which has barely started. 

Pushing the thought of my dad out of the way I quickly get ready for Calc.

"Oh someone is speedy this good morn." Silas says to me when I leave the bathroom. He is sipping on a juice box and sitting on the counter.

"When did we get Capri suns?" I say digging through the fridge to grab two.

"Two? Thirsty? I got them the other day for me and Lani. We are so in love." He goes in a little daze and takes a sip from his juice box.

"Does she know that?" 

"Not yet, but soon. believe me." Silas sometimes goes into these dream dazes about Leilani. I probably have to stop him from getting a ring. Since conditioning is almost over that means games are starting soon and Silas is hoping Lani will come to all of them. Maybe she will drag Lee along. I say a quick goodbye and run out the door, don't want to be late for class. 

Walking through campus everything seems peaceful. Too peaceful. I hate the feeling that something bad must happen when things are going good.

I get closer to my class and every bodily organ seems to shut down. Yeah everything was too peaceful. What the fuck. I see my brother leaning on the wall talking to Greenleigh. My pace picks up and I study the interaction. She doesn't seem scared or uncomfortable but I can't have them in the same vicinity. 

He touches her, looks at her wrong, breathes in her direction. If I found out he did anything to her I'll kill him. Choke him out or slam him into a wall hard enough so he drops dead. 

My arm possessively snakes around Lee's waist and pull her closer to me. She stills for a moment and looks up at me. Her eyebrows scrunch up at me and she looks back at my brother. Does she know who he is?

"Hi Tommy whatcha doin?" She asks me.

"Getting ready to go into Calculus, how about you?"  I ask back.

"Talking to- what's your name again?"

"Brett, I know." I answer her question for her.

"Oh Nikolai don't be like that." The scum of the earth responds to my icy tone.

"I will be like that again. Go away and don't talk to her ever again." I say plainly pulling Lee into the lecture hall. She seems to have a million questions and I just shove the juice box into her hand.

Her mind is temporarily distracted and I needs silence, a walk, someplace to go. I feel like I am about to explode. Or go into cardiac arrest.

"Tommy?" Lee's soft voice brings me out of my own thoughts. She gives me the clear thinking I need. The sound of her voice seems to chase out all desires to murder my brother.

"Greenleigh, you just met my brother." I say trying to sound more relaxed than I feel. Breathing.

"Oh," she says simply. I don't think he has connected the dots yet on everything. She is very smart but it takes her a second to put puzzle pieces together. "OH." Yup and there it is.

"Uh huh. What did he say to you?"

"He just asked me my name and where I was heading. Just basic stuff."