The Streets

38. Suspicion And Disbelief

I couldn't think of anything  to get back at The Raiders. I should be more concerned about Wiz but I didn't see him acting soon. I hadn't bothered to ask anyone else because they were still healing. The only person who seemed to be okay was Cole.

"Daydreaming again are we Ms.Blake?" Mr.Ward's voice sounded.

"Only daydreaming about how to get my mark up this class, sir." I answered, giving him a fake smile.

"Is that so? Then you wouldn't have a problem with answering question number ten?" He raised his graying eyebrow at me. I glanced down at the sheet, finding question ten. It was a long equation that I didn't know how to answer.

"The answers fifteen." Cole said, from beside me. I didn't know he was in my class until I bothered showing up after he joined us. He had changed seats and now sat beside me in the very back of class.

"If I had wanted you to answer the question Mr.Hall, I would've asked you." Mr.Ward gritted out as a few people snickered.

Cole nodded his head and muttered "Won't happen again sir." Under his breath so he wouldn't hear. He was the one to answer all the questions that were thrown at me, which I was grateful for. I would've made a come back with a witty excuse but I was trying to pass. Graduation was in a few months and I was glad to get out of here.

Class continued without any further interruptions and the bell rang, signalling lunch. We made our way through the crowded hallways, before finally making it to our back table. Cole and I were the only ones out of our crew that were at school today so we had the whole table to ourselves. Dakota was spending the day in bed, Thayer was taking Paul out to try to relax him and Theo volunteered to watch over Jacob all day. 

"How come you never bring a lunch?" Cole questioned looking at the space in front of me.

"How come you didn't bring a lunch?" I questioned right back, eyeing the empty space in front of him.

He laughed, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't have much of an appetite lately."

"I've never been much of an eater. Dinner is when I eat."

"That's unhealthy. Didn't your parents teach you that you have to eat three meals a day." He teased.

"Shut up." I laughed, causing him to smile. My parents did do a good job in raising me, until my Mom was murdered. I changed after that and my father's drinking didn't help. I used to smile and laugh a lot but that turned to smirks and chuckles.

"You okay? You seem kind of sad now." Cole said, making my eyes meet his concerned brown ones.

I sighed, shaking my head. I wasn't going to tell Cole what happened to my mom. "I'm okay, Cole." I replied with a small smile. He furrowed his eyebrows but he didn't say anything.

"How come you don't have much of an appetite?" I asked.

His eyes met mine again and they looked sad. I was never good at comforting people.

"I knew." He said quickly.

"You knew what?"

He took a breath before saying, "I knew what was in the box before you brought it inside."

I felt my mouth pop open and I stared at Cole. He stared right back. Around us, our classmates continued to laugh and talk unaware of the secret Cole had just revealed to me.

"What the hell do you mean you knew what was in the box?  Were you there when Wiz put it the box together? Have you been working for Wiz this whole entire time or did he pull you aside and you agreed to work with him? Did he force you to work for him? Did you willingly work with him? You almost got me and Jacob killed! What-" I was cut off as Cole reached across the table and placed his large hand over my mouth. I narrowed my eyes and I pulled his hand away with one of my own.

"I should've chosen my words more carefully. I didn't know what was in the box but I had my suspicion." Cole said as he eyed me from across the table. I felt my hostile position relax.

"Explain." I said, glancing at my phone. He had ten minutes.

" I was thinking how it could really be a gift. You all told me that East Side people are arrogant. With meeting Wiz and seeing how many people were in there just to see us offer our services, put me on edge. They like being the center of attention, which made me wonder if he was crazy enough to have put something dangerous inside. If it was something dangerous, I knew it would have to attract attention. I thought it was a bomb. I put my hand on it to see that it was a big gift and then I put my head on it-"

"Are you crazy? You could've got yourself killed!" I said angrily. "We would be down a member and we would have to deal with the fact that you'd  be gone!"

Cole frowned, before slowly reaching across the table and grabbing my hand. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking in the moment." He squeezed my hand lightly and pulled away.

I glared at him. "Continue."

"After putting my head on it, I couldn't hear anything. We arrived moments later and before I knew it you had took the box and disappeared with Jacob. I was going insane because you and Jacob had been gone for over ten minutes. The others didn't know my suspicion so they weren't panicking. Then I saw you and Jacob go flying" He closed his eye remembering it easily.

"That's why I can't eat. It's my fault. I should've of open my big mouth and told someone. I have no problem asking questions but I just couldn't say anything." He looked more sad than he did a few moments ago. I pressed my lips together not knowing what to say. I opened and closed it many times in the minutes that passed but nothing came out.

"You don't have to say anything, Trish." Cole said seeing me struggle.

"Next time, if you have a suspicion about anything, say it. No matter if you think if it's to crazy or far fetched, say it. Yell it if you have to. You might be right." I said, deciding it was better than any of the alternatives I had come up with. The bell rang not to long later and we parted ways, saying we would find each other after school.