Always There

Chapter 23

I walked into the cafeteria and got in line behind two girls.  I could smell the food permeating throughout the room.  I wasn’t far enough up in line to see what we were having, but I figured it was probably something good.  Overall, our school didn’t have very bad food, it was actually good sometimes.  

I was almost to the food when I felt two hands poke me in the side.  I squealed, jumped, and turned around to see Jeremiah smiling at me.  He stayed like that for a few minutes until we both busted out laughing.  He suddenly grew quiet.  I looked behind me to see Ace jump in line between some girls and grab his food.

The mood changed then and Jeremiah and I grabbed our food in complete silence.  For one of the first times, our silence was an uncomfortable one.  Instead of separating to go to our separate tables, Jeremiah followed me to mine.  As we were walking to the table, he grabbed my free hand and gave it a big squeeze.  

I sat beside Maddy and Jere sat on the other side of me.  We enjoyed lunch for a while until the lunch room suddenly became silent.  The only thing I could hear was the sound of heels clacking on the tile floor.  The sound got closer and I turned around to see what the boys would most likely refer to as a goddess. 

She was tall with long blonde hair.  Her hair fell down her back in curls.  She walked through the cafeteria with confidence.  Needless to say, she was gorgeous.  In my left ear I heard Maddy say something.  I looked in her direction and said.

“What?”

“She’s my stepsister.”  I watched as the girl walked over to the table that all of my friends sat at.  She cleared her throat and all heads turned toward her.  She looked down and made eye contact with Weston.

“Well well, what do we have here?  A cutie to say the least.”  She placed her hands on his arms and leaned into him.  She kissed him on the cheek.  “I’m Ashley, but for you, you can call me Ash.”

I heard Maddy say something under her breath.  I turned to her to see what she said, but it was too late.  I watched as she ran across the cafeteria and grabbed Ashley by the hair.  Ashley screamed as Maddy threw her to the ground.  She was straddling her and getting ready to throw a punch when I heard Ashley speak up.  

“Maddy?”

“How’s it going sis,”  Maddy said those words and then threw a forceful punch at Ashley’s face.  Maddy was about to go in for another one, when she was lifted off of Ashley by Weston.  

Maddy started kicking and screaming for Weston to let her go, but he didn’t.  My heart broke when I looked over at Ashley again.  I looked over just in time to see Ace lift her up and place her in his arms.  I could hear her crying into his shirt.  My eyes began to fill up with tears, and I stood up.  I stood there completely still until Ace had released Ashley and she was on her feet.  I walked toward her acting as though I was going to comfort her or something.  I stopped right in front of her and whispered.

“Someone may have stopped Maddy, but no one is going to be able to stop me before I do this.”  I looked right into her eyes and pulled my fist back.  I wanted to make sure this one left a mark on her pretty little face.  My fist made contact in between her eye and her nose.  

In that moment, it was like everything froze.  I looked over to see Maddy wrapped in Weston’s arms.  From the little bit I could see of her face, I could see the underneath of her eye beginning to blacken.  While they were fighting, Ashley managed to get one good punch in.  

This time so everyone could hear me, I stood on top of the nearest table.  I looked around and saw everyone’s eye on me.  

“That one was for Maddy.  So, I suggest you stay away from her and Weston.  Next time, I won’t take it easy on your princess, okay?  Oh and a little bit of advice, you might want to hit up the closet makeup store, because your going to need a lot of cover up to hide that black eye.  Actually you might want to grab some extra, I’m sure the one you bought yesterday is almost gone by now.”  I jumped off the table and exited the cafeteria.  As I was exiting, an applause filled the room.