Annalise

Chapter 30: Chaos & Ricky (Pt.3)

I gulped, watching as more people poured in, and I immediately spotted two more familiar faces. The girl with the diva curls that I met at the day of the dead party strolled in, a bone chilling stare icing all she stared at or just briefly glanced at. Although, none of Ricky's gang members had the same stare he had, nor did they have the exact same effect.

The second familiar face was one I've seen not too long ago, and one I didn't want to look at so soon after the incident. But here was Tate's face popping out from all the others, having the same usual narrowed eyes and– wait... only his right eye was like that.

That's when I really paid attention to the details of his face, noticing that his right eye was swelled up like he got stung by a wasp and then high five.... in the face... with a chair, which caused the area to become an irritated red all around. At this point, it was hard to differentiate between the possibility that his eye was shut all the way it could due to the swelling, or if he was just regularly staring the best he could because his other eye wasn't narrowed.

I wonder what happened in the span of 3 hours that made him start developing a black eye.

Was Ricky so mad at me for what happened earlier that he hit Tate? That would explain why he grabbed him by the throat as I was leaving the gym, right?

I glanced away at Tate and landed my eyes upon Alice, her own green orbs connected with his, and I could tell she wasn't too happy to see him. The same could be said about Tate, because the second he spotted her, his face scrunched up in pure exasperation.

Ricky's stern voice snatched my attention, "Every Imperishable here will choose one or more resistance member to personally keep an eye on. You'll be responsible to make sure they don't attempt to form another group like this, and if they do, both of you will know what it feels like to be buried alive."

He lowered the gun kissing the lips of Brendon, an instant sigh of relief flowing out from him. My heart finally was able to slow down, once again able to beat at its normal rate. That was short-lived.

"Take a picture of whoever you so choose to keep a close eye on and get out. I have two people to personally deal with," he informs his people, making everyone else squirm.

"I guess I'll watch after you two, it'll make my job a whole lot easier since your always together," the girl with the diva curls stated, running her eyes along the serious couple before her.

She grabbed Zachary and shoved him towards the direction of the door, which made Michael glower at the girl who stood a foot shorter than him. Zachary's jaw flexed at the unnecessary push, however, he didn't utter his displeasure, only did he grab Michael gently by the hand, leading him to the exit.

Zach's eyes met mine, and it was evident that he wanted to root himself to the spot and protest against what was happening, but we all knew that would sink us further into the hole.

They reluctantly walked out with their heads held up, the only form of protest they could give without serious consequences. Soon after, multiple people followed their steps until it was just me, Brendon, Alice, Tate, and Ricky with his two other friends.

"Let's go," Tate's low voice muttered over to Alice, who stood stiffly with her arms crossed, glancing worriedly at me.

Jose and Timothy, who were now currently seated in the front desks, casually looked over at the scene unraveling.