Strings Attached

~Chapter 8~

"Ooh baby! Tell me where you wanna go," I improvise a song as she passes by. The girl looks at me, stares for half a minute, and then smiling self-consciously, she's off. She hasn't gone far when she trips on her long, five-inched pointed heels, and the poor heels give out, snapping into several pieces. And all five of us burst out laughing, right in front of her face. She goes off limping, as fast as she can.

We haven't yet recovered from our fit of laughter when another girl, who's rather brown, comes into view. She too looks Asian. She's quite short but instead of wearing high-heels, she has some strong-looking flats on that seem like they wouldn't break, even if you stomped on them repeatedly.

"Hey Shorty, how about I buy you a pair of high-heels?" this time, Chuck remarks mockingly. And to our surprise, the girl, instead of taking offense, starts laughing in a very unladylike manner. She makes her way towards us, and addressing Chuck, she says, "I'm gonna take you up on that offer, smarty!" in a strong voice. Up close, she is quite good-looking, but she isn't my type. She doesn't really know what she's getting herself into, though. Showing sass to Chuck is like taking a trip into the Bermuda Triangle, it's a point of no return. In a heartbeat, the guy is off the car and standing real close to the girl, staring intensely into her eyes.

"And what are you gonna give me in return?" he asks in a husky voice. That brings the girl to her senses. She starts backing away but Chuck is wild. He stops her, strongly holding her by both her arms. "What's the hurry, love? You didn't answer my question." The guy is insane. Even I don't do that. "Let her go, man. You're scaring her," Tyler speaks up. He doesn't relax his hold on her arm even then. He is still staring intensely at her. The girl is now shaking like a leaf. I wait for him to move, but when nothing happens, something goes off inside my brain. That's it! I'm taking action.

I jump off from where I'm sitting and going towards Chuck, I forcefully push him away. "What the hell, Chuck! Let her go," I tell him, angrily. And all he does is chuckle loudly. "Sorry about that," I tell the girl, and she nods. Finally, finding herself free from the clutches of the ba*tard, she takes off, running at top speed. "I've got my eye on you, Shorty! Don't forget!!" Chuck shouts at her from behind, snickering loudly. The boy's gone crazy, I just know it. "There was no need for going over the top," I chide him.

"There was no need for you to rescue her and be the hero, either. I would've let her go, eventually." I'm about to retort something nasty to Chuck, when Seth urgently prods me to get my attention. "Isn't she the one you threw into the Turtleneck's table today?" he asks me. And I snap my head one-eighty degrees to look where he's pointing.

Sure enough, it's that robed girl again. "Yup, that's her," I tell him. And just by looking at her, my anger returns. I turn to Chuck. "You can scare her all you want. The sl*t has landed me into detention." "What? But you have a gig today, right?!" Seth asks me, shocked.

Sh*t! I totally forgot about that. I won't be able to sing if I do detention. I've already skipped hundreds of them. If I skip one more, they might even remove me from the school. And yet, I need that money really bad. It makes me angrier, or better yet, madly furious at the girl passing by us. She's given me more problems without even trying. And without a second thought, I get up and go up to her, snatching her hand, and pulling herself with me as she lets out a surprised shriek. I push her to stand against the wall and place my hands on either side, caging her in.