Reputation: Book One

Tripp

Make Me (Cry): Noah Cyrus

Wish You Were Gay- Billie Eilish

Tin Man- Miranda Lambert

When I was walking down the stairs to meet the team in the kitchen, I noticed that the conversation I had heard earlier had ceased and I got this sudden vibe that made me feel... weird. Like that sensation you get in the pit of your stomach when you know something bad is about to happen.

"Qrow?" I call, my voice high. There was no reply.

My stomach felt all knotted and churny when I approached the kitchen. And when I caught Qrow standing there in my tank top with his arms around another girl that I didn't recognize, I almost lost my shit.

"What the hell is going on in here?" I shout. Qrow spins around, his eyes wide and his face pale. I anxiously lurched for him thinking something was wrong with him, but then I saw the reason why everybody was quiet. Liz was standing right there in front of him, her face soaked with tears. I dropped my towel as every muscle in my body gave out.

"Eliza?" I sputter. How the actual hell was she here? We watched her die, watched the life and the colour drain from her once happy soul. Her eyes narrow in mistrust when they lock onto mine. "Wait, Tripp, why are you here?" She asks, aiming a finger at me. 

Wow. No 'omg Tripp!' or 'I missed you!'. Fine. I see how it is.

I shoot Qrow a look of 'oh lord how did you put up with this woman' and gave Elizabeth a dirty look. "Uh, because I'm his-" 

"Elizabeth, I was going to ask you the same question," Qrow cuts in, turning to her. She snaps her head towards him, giving him a defensive but innocent look.

"Because I thought I'd pay you a nice visit before I left back for Oregon and... I'm your girlfriend?" She says snobbily, setting her fingertips on her chest and doing that little sassy head motion girls to when they argue.

"Oh, yeah, of course she is," I butt in, scowling at Qrow and placing a hand on my hip. Jerzei drops her head and Autumn groans, rubbing her face. Talitha huffs, crisscrossing her arms across her chest. Here we go...

"Sexual tension," Adrien murmurs quietly. We all turn to him, our eyes piercing him threateningly. Qrow turns back to me, his face surprisingly calm.

"Tripp, it's not like that anymore," He starts, reaching forward for me. "Am I missing something?" Liz asks, stepping away from Qrow. "because what I'm getting here is that something is going on between you two."

"See, I called it!" I shout, jabbing a finger at him. "You're so fucking predictable. As soon as you got all horny with me last night I knew you were going to pull another jackass move on me."

My words fall to the floor like bricks, knocking everybody's breath away. He stands there, stunned at the accusation, and everyone turns to him, wide-eyed. Autumn's jaw goes slack, her hand covering it as she stares between him and I.

"Oh yeah, and sharing our sexually active relationship status with our team isn't a dick move either?" He fires back, and I sniff sharply.

"You're sleeping with him?" Talitha sputters, pointing to Qrow. "Yes, yes we are sleeping together, Talitha," I inform her, setting my lips in a straight line. "Sadly, I fell for it."

I glance at Qrow, and with the glossy redness in his eyes I knew I had really fucked up.

"Oh my god," Autumn whispers softly behind her palm, and that was all it took. Qrow set his jaw, seized the front of my shirt and yanked me down to his height, our lips crashing together. I am taken aback by the gesture but don't waste a second to pull him in. In an instant our hands our in eachother's hair, the sound of our lips parting silencing the team. When I looked around I saw everybody standing there, gaping at us while Liz's face bleached of colour. She gawked at me in envy and confusion, her lips molding to her words that lodged themselves in her throat.

"Tripp, I'm not talking to Elizabeth anymore, okay?" Qrow says softly, holding his hands out close to his face. "You can't assume this..." He motions to her and then himself. "...might still be going on after two whole months believing she was dead."

I exhale sharply, biting the inside of my cheek. Well, this escalated quickly.

"Wait, Qrow," Eliza starts softly, turning to him and grabbing onto his bicep. I watched the little mental wheels start turning in her head. "are you seriously gay now?"

She says it in such disgust and shame it makes we wanna punch her square in the nose. My stomach sinks as I watch Qrow slowly fall apart in front of me. Why now? I thought. Why right now? This was supposed to be just a nice, happy reunion. But someone had other ideas.

"No, Liz, I'm not gay," He starts, his tongue wrapping around each word as he slowly picks out which ones to spit out. "I'm just over you."

Elizabeth stares at Qrow as he'd just smacked her. She blinks, then scoffs. "Wow, okay," She snorts. "I came back thinking you were still the same, but I guess you've let Tripp turn you into a filthy gay fag just like him."

Her eyes were glistening with frustrated tears as she spit those toxic, offensive words right at me, her venom flying off her lip as her head snapped in Qrow's direction. "You know he killed your father, right? You know he's responsible for unimaginable pain, right? Did you know the plan was for him to kill you next?" She asks loudly, pointing to me. My stomach drops as he turns to me, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Tripp?" He says almost silently, but Elizabeth cuts me off as she turns to me.

"With your heritage and reputation, I'd say you're guilty until proved innocent."

Autumn is staring at me in silence, and I know that she knows. After the death of my father I was destined to end the Hendricks bloodline and take over the German lands. I couldn't when I met Qrow, though.

Qrow is nearly crying now, and Elizabeth keeps pushing.

"So, does the cold-blooded Hollister boy have a defense statement?" She sneers, eyebrow arched. My eyes lock onto Qrow's and he stares at me, waiting for a response. I opened my mouth to say something, but Jerzei stepped forward between us.

"How dare you invite yourself in and then make up this tall-tale to get your ex-boyfriend back," She says, shoving her back with one hand.

"And then the Myonaridan dares to put a hand on me," Liz complains. Before another word gets by Jerzei grabs the napkin holder from the table beside her, raised her hand and clobbered her right across the face. I snort a shocked laugh. Well, damn.

Liz let out a high-pitched gasp as her head flung backwards, the tears that were held behind her eyes now visible as she gently touched her trickling nose with shaky fingers. And then I saw something that made my blood boil; The New Guard brand seared into her skin just below her left wrist. Just like mine.

I peered down at my scar, then back up at hers. I studied it for a moment, at first thinking I was hallucinating, but it was definitely there- freshly burned into her tan skin by a screaming hot wire bent into a shape anyone could recognize.

"Go to hell," Elizabeth snarls, wiping her nose on the back of her hand.

"You are accepted into this house by people who thought they loved you, and you've just outstepped your welcome," Jerzei says in a low, menacing voice, her face inches from Elizabeth's. "You need to go. Now."

Elizabeth shakes her head at us, her jaw clenched as she backed away. They all give her cold, stonehearted looks of disappointment and shame while I sit there still offended as her hurtful words repeated over and over in my head, taunting me. Did she really have to say that?

"This was a mistake," She says, her nostrils flaring. "I figured I could come back and hopefully make a difference, but-" She shrugs, giving us a small, fake laugh. "I guess with any death there's always the brutal truth."

And she was right. Every person is loved one way or another, but when they leave, it's like you suddenly remember all the bad things they did to you, your friends, your family. I guess when you're caught up in the moment of happiness with them being there you're just... distracted.

Elizabeth was lucky she meant so much to Qrow otherwise something would've been done. I'm glad Jerzei did something about it, but she deserved something much worse than a smack. And now, with that scar on her wrist that I had spotted out of the corner of my eye, she was going to get exactly what she came here for: war.