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13

thirteen

"IF YOU MAKE me look like a fool standing here, you're gonna get it . . ." he mutters lowly as he leans closer to me to make sure no one hears it but me, ". . . way worse than I planned for it to be." He covers the threat in a sick smile, and I can already see some students noticing us with curious glances.

     "W-what do you want me t-to do?"

     Benjamin's smile deepens and tilts his head to one side. "I never knew you had such a nice voice, Holmes." He must be kidding. My voice is deep and scratchy, a huge step-down from his sister's angelic voice.

     I look over at Elliot, whose brows are furrowed at the sight of Benjamin whispering at my ear. I shake my head incessantly, hoping he doesn't get the wrong idea, like me being interested in him.

     Benjamin pulls back and shoots a glare in the direction I've been staring at. When he spins back to face me, I can only see the anger, any traces of amusement erased from his face. The way in which he changes his mood scares me, like he's lost control of his emotions and is just as trapped under the storm as much as I am. Like a flower, I feel like I'm withering under his glare for a solid second before his eyes glaze over and they soften and he looks around in confusion. As if he couldn't understand why he was mad at me in the first place.

     Then he looks at me again, and I notice a slither of something crossing his eyes, so swift I don't get the opportunity to identify it before he's turning away. His lackeys glance at each other before leaving my side to gather around their leader. Benjamin clutches his head with one hand while shaking his head several times like there is something inside his head that is bothering him. What is happening? He turns around to glare at me one last time, as if to tell we're not done before stalking off.

     What just happened?

     Apparently the entire student body has the same question hovering in their minds and I feel every one of their gazes trained on me as they start whispering among themselves, trying to speculate and make sense of whatever that's happened.

     With my head ducked low, I quickly get my food before almost sprinting towards where Elliot is, slamming the tray on the marble before sitting on the seat and use my hair to cover half my face.

     "What happened?" I hear Elliot ask, worry evident in his tone.

     I look up at him, but he looks blurry from my vision; tears have gathered in my eyes but I try my best to not cry, biting my lip and blinking furiously to prevent the tears from falling. 

     "Cass?" He reaches out to touch my trembling hand, and I almost jump in my seat at the sudden contact. But his warmth calms me down and my control breaks, and the tears roll down my face like a leaking faucet. "Oh, God, Cass. Tell me what happened over there," he begs, but I cannot get a word out with the sobbing wrecking over me.

     "He . . . I don't know. He was gonna make me do something, a-as a punishment for something I don't understand . . . I don't know . . . it was like, he was all sweet and dangerous one moment then angry and scary the next, I don't know what to predict," I stumble over my words. "But before he could do anything, he . . ." I trail off. What happened to Benjamin that made him walk away? ". . . I don't know what happened. He just w-walked away."

     Elliot is frowning and his jaw clenched. A muscle ticks at his jaw. "I couldn't stand up," he says, his tone clipped. 

     "What?"

     "Just now," he explains, his eyes dark and his hand retracts so he is no longer touching me. "I wanted to get up and help you, but I couldn't stand up. I can't even move my limbs or even mutter a word." He looks pained. "It was like someone was controlling me from the inside and locked my muscles. While you were being threatened by that asshole, I just sat here . . . and watched. What kind of . . . friend am I?" He looks away from me in shame, but I reach out to take his hand in mine. He tries to shake my hand off, but my grip tightens.

     "Elliot, something weird's happened just now, and I don't blame you for that," I tell him softly. "I just want you to know that . . . I—"

     Someone approaches our table and cuts my confession off. I bite my tongue. I'd almost told Elliot that I love him without even confirming that he feels the same. The trauma must've done something to me and made me reckless. I glance up, and my eyes widen at the sight of Alex Devon, fidgeting in front of me while biting her lip.

     "Cassie," she says, looking at me and ignoring Elliot, like she doesn't see him at all sitting across from me. "I'm so sorry for whatever Ben's done to you. I know he . . . I . . ." she trails off, like she just can't find the right words. "I'm really sorry, Cassie." Alex's eyes are full of regret and sadness, the complete opposite of Benjamin's lifelessness.

     I take a deep breath. "It's okay, Alex," I tell her softly, and her face relaxes a little.

     Elliot glances at me in alert. "What are you doing?"

      "Relax," I say to him and squeeze his hand reassuringly. "She's not her brother."

     Alex frowns at looks from me to Elliot, but her gaze seems to cut through him. I don't like that at all.

     "Alex, I really appreciate your apology, and thank you for doing that." I'm still not used to saying things like that, and my voice shivers a little. 

     "I'm really sorry for what he's done," she says again.

     "Then you shouldn't have let him do it!" Elliot snaps, and I widen my eyes at him. 

     "Elliot!" I whisper-yell at him, but he's ignores me and continues to glare at Alex.

     But it's as if Alex didn't hear a word Elliot's said to her. She frowns down at where my fingers grip Elliot's hand tightly.

     "I'll let you finish your lunch in peace." She backs way with her face ashen. "Again, I'm sorry."

     "Thank you, Alex." But she's already turning away without waiting for the words to leave my lips completely.

     Her haste leaves me gawking in my seat. It's like . . . she's scared of Elliot.

     And the entire time she was here, she acted as if Elliot didn't exist to her.

• • •

first publication: November 5th, 2018

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