The Hudson Boys

C H A P T E R 2 2

"That's what you get for putting your hands all over private property." She lowers her voice so that our intrigued audience can't hear and glares down at me from her platform heels.

"Are you serious? That was on purpose? Also, Ryan isn't 'private property', he is a person and he definitely doesn't belong to you." I spit back, frustrated by her childlike behavior. Is she really going to make such a big deal out of this? 

"We'll see about that. Have a nice day." She says over her shoulder, her voice is sickly sweet, as she turns around and struts away.

I turn in the opposite direction, looking forlornly down at my ruined shirt, and make my way towards the exit doors in search of a bathroom. As I glance up I lock eyes with Tate who leaning purposelessly against the doorframe, a glum expression on his face.

"Follow me." He says, his voice monotone, then walking ahead down the hallway. I stay rooted in my tracks for a moment then follow quickly behind.

"Where are we going?" I ask indignantly.

"To find you some other clothes. You weren't planning on wearing that all day were you?" He laughs, a rueful and cold sound though it seems fake, even to my ears.

"Well, no. Ideally not." I give a dejected mumble.

"Exactly." He stops in front of what I assume is his locker pulling out a red hoodie with the words 'FORDMAN H.S SWIM TEAM ' written across the back and the school logo on the front. His last name is written in bold font across the bottom and I roll my eyes at the visual identification. No one will have to question where I got the change of clothing from.

"Try that." He says, handing it to me. the cotton is rubbed for frequent wear but soft and thick between my fingers as I accept it from his hands.

"Don't look." I warn him.

"As if." He sounds offended at the suggestion but thankfully turns the other way.

I quickly turn around before he changes his mind and remove my current sauce-covered t-shirt, pulling the hoodie over my head to cover my singlet, which thankfully isn't too damaged. The sleeves of Tate's jersey are far too long but it was clean and warm and smells like pine trees and cinnamon. How does he get it to smell so good, I think but quickly scold myself for finding anything belonging to the boy in front of me appealing.

"Thank you." I smile up at him earnestly.

"It's a little big, but it will have to do." He mumbles as if unimpressed, but there is the smallest sparkle behind his blue eyes.

"It's fine." I assure him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He then surprises me by giving me a small smile which turns into a questioning gaze as he continues. "Now, would you like to tell me why Tara Montgomery might wanted to dump her lunch on you?"

"Maybe not right now. Later?" I say quickly as I spot MK around the corner from the cafeteria doors, followed closely by Noah and Ryan.

"Okay, I'll see you at home then." He accepts my answer before taking my dirty t-shirt out of my hand and shoving it in his gym bag, closing his locker, and walking off in the opposite direction.

"What happened?" MK asks hurriedly when they reach me.

"I just bumped into someone. I wasn't watching where I was going." I state simply, hoping that they will buy into the watered-down version of the truth due to my well-established clumsiness.

"We heard the commotion but didn't see what happened. By the time we got to the front of the room you were gone." Ryan babbled. "Who did you bump into?"

"I don't know. I hadn't seen them before." I lie and feel terrible for doing so but decide he doesn't need to know about his ex-girlfriend's plot against me.

MK looks at me sideways but I shake my head at her, hoping desperately that she won't comment.

"Well then. That was quite an adventure, but the bell is about to ring so we should get to class." She thankfully changes the topic, handing me my bag and then dragging me down the hallway by my arm.

"Bye!" Noah shouts after us.

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"Explain. Now." MK demands the moment we are out of sight and earshot of the boys.

"It was Tara," I mumble glumly.

"I should have known." She snarls. "Do you know why she did it?"

"She doesn't want me around Ryan. I ran into her in the hallway the other day and she gave me a piece of her mind, so to speak. She told me to go back to wherever I came from and to 'keep my hands off her man'. I guess she didn't think I got the message so she came after me at lunch today." I explain.

"Ryan isn't 'Her Man'. They broke up almost months ago." She rolls her eyes and I can see that she finds Tara's actions just as ridiculous as I do. Though it is certainly reassuring to hear it from someone else.

"Well, I don't think that Tara got that message." I laugh.

"Why didn't you just tell Ryan it was her? He wouldn't have let her get away with it." MK raises an eyebrow at me.

"Exactly, and I to let this whole debacle pass well causing as little trouble as possible. So you won't tell him either." I give her a hard look. "Promise?"

"Fine. But I don't like not telling him. He would want to know." She defends begrudgingly.

"Thank you, MK." I give her a quick hug as the bell rang, signaling for classes to begin.

"By the way, nice hoodie." She laughs. "Hudson looks good on you. I guess he doesn't hate you after all."

"Oh, shut up." I give her a shove and kept walking.

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A/N.

Tara Montgomery strikes again.

And Tate's hoodie? Who wouldn't want to wear that?

Do you think she should have told Ryan?

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