To Write Love On Her Arms (COMPLETE!:)

Chapter 12

Casen

Hand in hand, Ethan and I navigated down the hall through the crowd of students rushing to get out of the building and to get home.

It was Friday, the last day of school before everybody was let out for winter break. Before this year, I’d never looked forward to the near three weeks where I’d be stuck at home with my dad and no way to escape. Sure, school had never been the greatest for me, but I’d always felt safer at school than at home.

While the other students here didn’t talk to me or make friendly with me, they’d never physically harmed me either.

Now, however, I had something to look forward to. I’d have three weeks of having to not worry about Algebra or English or any of my other classes and Ethan and I could just hang out together. It would be great.

My thoughts brought a smile to my face as I asked, “So, what are the plans for Winter Break?”

“It’s up to you, really. I kept my schedule empty so we can do whatever it is you want,” Ethan replied with a shrug. My smile broadened.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” he murmured, giving my fingers a gentle squeeze. “But I wanted to. Not only that, I think we’re supposed to have some family from my dad’s side coming down to visit anyway. There’s also the issue with my sister…”

“I gotcha.” I frowned, tilting my head. Abby hadn’t been the same the past week and I really felt bad for her. Sure, she was a brat, but she hadn’t deserved to be used like that. No one did.

“Yeah…” Ethan sighed heavily, “I don’t know what to do. She’s been acting kinda like a zombie since Saturday. She won’t say much and she hardly ever comes out of her room except to come crawl into my bed at night to sleep. Mom and dad are getting really worried and I can’t really tell them what happened without getting her in major trouble. She’s been punished enough as it is.”

I gave his fingers a comforting squeeze as, once again, I was amazed by his strength and loyalty. With Abby’s crabby attitude, anybody would probably tell on her just to see her punished. Then again, Ethan wasn’t the kind of person to take pleasure in other peoples’ punishments to begin with.

“Oh, by the way, what happened to those freshmen, sophomore football players you said were at the party?” I asked, the thought occurring to me. “Did you turn their names into Coach Reen?”

“Yeah. He ran them until they puked. I feel kind of bad for it, but they need to learn.”

“Do they know you’re the one that turned them in?”

“Nah. They were all so drunk they don’t even remember me being at the party.”

“Okay, good,” I said, relieved. For a second, I’d been worried that someone or the team would retaliate against him for telling. I didn’t know much about sports, but from some of the stories Ethan had told me, I knew that teams were rather anal about being loyal to each other.

If one person told on somebody, whether it was the right thing to do or not, they went under fire.

“What? Were you worried about me?” he asked, looking down at me with a smile.

I blushed. “Maybe a little…I know in some of those stories you’ve told me…”

“Ah, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” His tone was teasing as he unlocked our fingers and threw a protective arm over my shoulder. “I got Coach Reen to protect me…I think.”

I chuckled quietly, looking up at him with a smile.

“Leave me alone, Jerry!”

Both of us stopped mid-stride as Abby’s voice rang out over the crowd. It was then that the both of us noticed that a group of students had formed a ring around none other than Abby and Jerry.