Twisted Moon - Mate's & Magic Book 1

Chapter 12: Cristina

    After me and Maverick head to my locker to get my stuff we walk into algebra class. I show Mr. Thompson my pass and hand him my homework. I go and sit in my seat and Maverick sits in his next to me. I pull out my notebook and start taking notes on the lesson when Maverick passes a note over to me. I read it.
M: You okay?
C: I'm okay, what about you? Are you hurt at all. I'm so sorry
M: I'm fine not even a scratch on me
    I look over at him and he's right. There is nothing indicating he was just in a fight a bit ago. I hear the teacher clear clear his throat, so I hide our note under my notebook. After a bit I pull it out and write:
C: I'm glad your okay I don't know what came over Silas but again I am sorry
M: It's no big deal don't worry yourself over it besides it's not your fault. Silas is just an asshole
C: He can actually be sweet sometimes
M: So is it true?
C: Is what true?
    Before he can write anything else class ends I gather my stuff and head to my next class. Before I know it school is letting out. I walk with Maverick over to my locker to put some stuff back and grab what I need for homework over the weekend.
    "So are you really seeing somebody?" He asks sheepishly.
    "Um, I don't think so. I mean nobody's asked me out or anything. I don't know" I'm not really sure if I am or not. I mean I know Grayson said I was his mate but does that also make me his girlfriend? Then there is the whole thing with feeling the tingles with Silas, that I don't know what to make heads or tales of.
    "What are you doing this weekend? Anything special planned?" Maverick asks.
    "Today I've got to go to the mall and get some new clothes. Tomorrow there is that birthday party for Grayson, Silas' brother, that I'm going to." I tell him putting my backpack on and walking with him towards the front doors of the school.
    "Oh yeah you said you were going to that." he says.
    I wasn't really sure whether or not I should invite him but since Fiona already asked him I figured it wouldn't hurt.
    "I have to go and meet Victoria and them by their car so I'll talk to you later" I tell him.
    "Okay, text me later" He says walking towards his car.
    I walk over to where Silas had parked but no one is there so I just sit down on the curb and wait. Twenty minutes later and still no one has showed up. The parking lot is almost empty now. I look around and see a few kids milling about in front of the school. All of a sudden I get a really weird feeling like I'm being watched. I continue to look around but nobody seems to pay me any attention. I catch movement out of the corner of my left eye. I look over and see the same guy looking at me that I saw in the woods yesterday. Maybe he works here or something and yesterday he was just taking a walk in the woods. But that doesn't explain why he keeps creepily staring at me.
    The guy is probably in his late twenties or early thirties. He has black hair and even from the distance I seen him from I can tell his eyes are really blue. Today he has on black pants and a tight white shirt. If he wasn't being so creepy he would be handsome. We're still staring at each other when I hear Victoria yell my name. I look over at them and when I look back at the mystery guy he's disappeared again.
    Victoria, Reed and Silas come over to the car. "Where have you been we've been looking for you everywhere." Victoria says
    "I've been here for almost a half hour now waiting for you guys. I almost thought you guys ditched me but the car was still here. Anyway did you guys see that guy that was standing over there?" I ask pointing in the direction the guy was standing.
    "I didn't see anyone but you over here and you were supposed to wait for us at your locker. Thats where we were waiting, we thought something happened to you, well something else anyway and your phone was going straight to voicemail" She says looking at my face.
    "Come on guys. Cristina you're up front" Silas says getting into the driver's seat.
    Heading to the passenger door I remember about my library books
    "Hey Do you think we can stop at the library real quick, I need to re-check out the book I have" I ask.
    "Sure, Then when we get home I can put some makeup on your face so people don't think we are abusing you." Victoria says from behind me.
    "I don't need makeup, I'll just keep my head down" I tell her. I'm not a big fan of makeup, probably because I've never used it before and most girls I see that do look like clowns.
    "We can't go to the mall with you looking like that. Grayson already scares people and if they see you walk in like that they will probably call the police thinking he beat the shit out of you" she says. I didn't think about that.
    "Okay, but can you make it look as natural as possible I don't want to look like a clown" I tell her. She smiles brightly at me and nods.
    When we finally get back to the house I'm super nervous to get out of the car. I know I look like crap and I'm afraid that Grayson will see that I'm too much trouble to keep around. Everyone else has already gotten out of the car and are waiting for me. I slowly open the door and take a deep breath.
    "Come on Cristina, Grayson's not going to be mad at you. He's going to be upset that you got hurt and angry at the person who did it to you" Victoria says grabbing my hand and squeezing it in a reassuring gesture.
    I follow everyone inside and see Grayson coming from down the hall. "What the hell took you guys so long to get home?" Grayson asks and I can tell he is already irritated. He comes over to me but stops when he see my face.
    "What the fuck happened? I send her with you guys expecting you would watch over her and keep her safe and she comes home look like that!" He yells and everyone looks down at their feet a bit ashamed.
    "It's not their fault, I uh, ran into a door, so it's not anyone's fault but mine" I lie to him which only seems to make him angrier.
    "Don't fucking lie to me Cristina, I know when you're lying and I don't appreciate it. Now tell me the truth about what fucking happened" He yells at me.
I take a couple steps back away from him and I can feel the tears in my eyes before they start to fall down my cheeks. Silas comes to stand in between Grayson and me.
    "Stop you're fucking scaring her to death" Silas yells at his brother. Grayson steps right up to his brothers. I can see his fists clenching at his sides.
    "This is none of you fucking business. She's MY mate! MINE! I would never fucking hurt her." Grayson seethed.
    "That's enough! I can't take this anymore. All the fighting and yelling, I might as well have stayed at home." I yell, angry tears escaping my eyes.
    "Your right sweetheart, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just angry some one hurt you and you won't tell me what happened." Grayson says walking around Silas, who is glaring daggers at his older brother.
    "Come on Cristina let's go put your stuff up and you can tell me what happened" He takes my hand and leads me upstairs leaving everyone else behind.
    When we get into the bedroom I set my stuff on a chair and head into the bathroom while Grayson sits down on the bed. I look in the mirror and almost scream at the sight before me. My eyes are red and swollen, with yellow and purple bruises under both of them. My nose is also swollen and bruised. I look horrible. I touch my nose and hiss at the pain. The bathroom door swings open revealing Grayson standing there looking panicked.
    "What's wrong are you okay?" he asks coming over to me.
    "Yeah I'm fine i just touched the side of my nose and it hurt, that's all" I tell him.
    "I'll go get you an ice pack, but when I get back you're telling me the truth about what happened." He says then turns and leaves.
    While he is gone, I wash my face and pull a hair tie out of my backpack and put my hair into a bun on the top of my head. I'm just walking out of the bathroom when he comes back into the bedroom.
    "Here take these and put this on your nose. It should help the swelling" He tells me handing me two pills and an ice pack. He walks over to the small fridge and grabs a water and opens it, then hands it to me.
    I take a drink of the water and swallow both pills. This is the most anyone has ever cared for me. Even if I was really sick and throwing up my mom would just ignore me and when I got better she would double my chores and punish me for getting sick in the first place.
    I sat down on the bed and lay back putting the ice pack softly on my nose. I feel the bed dip next to me and then Grayson pulls me towards him so he is hold me.
    "Will you tell me what happened now" he asks me softly. I take a breath and tell him about what happened with Fiona. When I'm done talking he kisses my head and releases me. He gets up off the bed and starts heading towards the door.
    "Where are you going?" I ask him not wanting him to leave yet.
    "I'm going downstairs to talk to Silas. Take a nap, I'll wake you up in about an hour and we can head to the mall to get you some clothes" he says looking back at me.
    "Okay but Victoria said she wanted to help me cover up the bruises before we go." I tell him.
    "Okay I'll get her before I come and wake you up. We'll leave when you're ready" he says and walks out the bedroom door closing it carefully. I'm really starting to like Grayson and I hope he doesn't just through me to the curb when he see's that I'm not worth the effort. With that in mind I quickly fall asleep with an aching heart.