Cipher [sahy-fer]: Zero; A person of little or no influence, importance, or value; nonentity.
That's excatly what Talia Fox is. A zero amongst a sea of other numbers. That is until she makes an imperishable deal with her maker. Now the seven teens t...
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Clasping my books closer to my chest, my converse covered feet found a new pace as I heard a familiar voice shouting my name. Taking a furtive glance over my shoulder, my eyes widened in panic at Jennifer's first attempt to actually chase me.
Usually it consisted of her bossy commands to her little group and soon enough part of the football team would join in. It was something they liked to call 'Cat and Mouse Fridays'.
Hoping my feet could carry me even faster towards the back of the school building, a body exiting from a nearby classroom met my own. Finding their shoulders much broader and masculine, I fell to the floor, worrying less about the pain in my ass and more about the angry girl behind me.
Scrambling to get a hold on my already messy binder, I dismissed the papers left fluttering to the floor and hopped to my feet desperate to flee the scene.
"Talia are you ok?" My chocolate orbs nearly fell from my head when the voice belonged to no one other than Michael Haze. Meeting his crystal clear orbs, my mouth gaped open to stutter like a fool. "I'm s-sorry! I r-really am, but I—" Hearing the nasty slapping of her sandals stop behind me, I only hoped my eyes gave off how much help I needed.
With one more glance thrown to Mike, I tugged my elbow from his grasp, taking a step to the left to ensure enough distance between us.
"Round Four's coming up here pretty soon, Talia" Jennifer spoke. When a filthy smirk appeared on her pink colored lips, I gulped. With Mike standing off to my side and a quarterback behind Jennifer's body, that only told me I had no where to run.
"I heard you actually snuck out from your cave last round. What exactly did you do?" By this time people had stopped what they were doing, pausing at their lockers to hear what Jennifer had to say.
I was fucking your boyfriend.
When a small crowd formed, forming a circle around us, Adam was next to make his way over and rip the spine of my binder away from me. Tearing a few papers out, he tossed it to the floor, making quite a bit of chatter surf through the audience. It was nothing I wasn't used to. I was the student body's daily dose of entertainment and for the ones not here to witness it, it either ended up on Twitter or circling throughout the school by gossip.
"I would say you're a lucky bitch having Cal as your older brother, but all you do is walk in his shadow." She smiled small, taking a step closer to make the distance between us closer than ever.
My eyes traced left and right, finding a split big enough in the crowd for me to plow through if I tried hard enough. Sighing, I decided fleeing was best if I didn't want Adam and his football friends to toy with me. I would just leave my binder and—
"Don't even think about it, Fox." She hissed, her voice much closer in proximity. Now we stood toe to toe, my eyes squeezed together expecting whatever she had planned.
Jennifer had never hit me herself and instead usually had the boys mess with me, but today she seemed to be bending the rules. Especially with chasing me through the halls herself and now standing no more than a few inches from me.
"Show's over!" A voice boomed, making Jennifer cuss under her breath as she stepped apart from me.
Opening my eyes, the lump in my throat seemed to loosen and I thanked God for blessing me with a brother like Cal. He wasn't always here to stop them, but when he was, they always paid retribution. Pushing a few freshman from his path, Cal collected my binder from the floor, placing it in my shaking arms before he turned to Adam.
"Its like you wanna be benched!" Cal barked, bringing his hand up to collect the collar of Adam's shirt before pushing him back to stumble into Jennifer. Adam immediately shut up, knowing the truth behind Cal's words. If Cal didn't like you or had even the slightest problem with you, you could forget about touching the field for as long as he felt necessary.
A shift in the crowd caught my attention and I noticed a small dispersion, allowing Colter to appear. Instantly, tears sprung to my eyes. It was beyond upsetting knowing my crush had been watching me get bullied and the only way it stopped was the presence of my brother.
God, I felt like a little kid. Always needing her brother to help her out of tough situations.
Long ago, I tried standing up for myself, but that was quickly stopped when numbers grew. First, Jennifer was the only one to hiss something under her breath. Then her best friends caught on and later so did part of the football team. I didn't want to admit it, but you might as well add Colter to that list because he did absolutely nothing to stop them. Even worse, he swept in secretly and took my innocence, not sparing me another look after.
He promised things like this would no longer happen. And here I was getting bullied by his girlfriend, who I thought would no longer be in the picture.
Round Four was tomorrow and little did I know how much more my life would change.
