"I wanna hold your hand while we're growing up."
M I L E S
"It's weird that my brother and Liam don't bother you anymore," Grace pondered, before she bit into her apple.
I sipped my water before responding, "Oh, they very much still bother me, but the difference now is that they don't beat me to a pulp every chance they get."
"I'm glad, because I like your face."
I shoved her shoulder lightly, "Thanks."
She giggled, then sighed, "But seriously, after you and Liam got..." she leaned in to whisper, "kidnapped by a gang, it's been different. Better."
Liam and I weren't on the greatest terms, but even I had to admit that she had a point.
I lifted one shoulder, "Sure, but it'll never be the same." Not like before: bikes, ice cream, baseball, when Diego would help me perfect my curveball. I missed my life before I had to gamble.
Grace leaned her head on my shoulder, "One day, it will. I just know it," she said, optimism oozing out of her voice.
I wanted to believe her, but there was little room for optimism when Liam had scared me half to death yesterday. He left me with a thousand thoughts in the dark, it didn't sit well with me. I never knew what he was going to do next.
••••••••••••••••••••
Unlike other times when I sat in the physics classroom after school hours, I was eager to see Liam. Eager to interrogate him about yesterday and determine why he shoved me into a broom closet.
As if one cue, the golden-haired baseball captain waltzed into the classroom and sat down beside me. "Medley, I'm sure you'd be delighted to know that I scored a B on the physics exam today. I don't know about you, darling, but I call that progress."
I almost couldn't believe my eyes. His demeanor was completely on the flip side of what it was yesterday. How did he do that? I would never admit it out loud, but I envied him for that skill.
I nodded curtly, "Well done."
"I would've passed it without you," he said, his eyes a challenge.
I had to refrain from picking up my pencil and launching it through his eye.
"Cut the bullshit, Coleman. What the hell was that yesterday?," I demanded. "Was there a purpose for throwing me in a broom closet or did you just enjoy the close proximity?"
A wolffish smirk crawled it's way onto his lips, though his eyes held a dead nothingness as he examined me from head to toe, "What did I say yesterday?"
I snarled, "To leave it alone, but—"
The smirk vanished as he said, "But nothing, there's nothing to worry about."
I stayed silent for a while, scanning the physics lesson intently, before I spoke up, "If I'm not mistaken, it looks like you're finally succumbing to your paranoia."
He gave me a deadly stare, "Yeah?"
"Yeah," I said back with finality.
"You must be mistaken then, because I don't get paranoid. I don't run. I'm not you," he retorted, giving me an angry stare.
"Hmm," I sang, "Sounds a lot like you're getting a little...," I looked around and whispered, "Scared."
He rose from his seat. I mirrored his action.
"You are so lucky that I need you to be my tutor," he whispered, his eyes simmering with anger. "Or else you'd be dead."
What was that about 'good terms'?
"Ah, did I poke the big bad wolf too hard?," I mused, full-well knowing I was treading on very thin ice.
All he did was stare down at me with a clenched jaw.
"It's okay to be scared, you know," I said quietly, rid of any taunting jokes.
He shook his head and sat back down, "Just stop talking, Medley. I like you better that way."
I wished I could take back my quiet sympathy.
I sat back down. "So, I'm guessing you're not going to tell me why you went all serious on me yesterday?"
Liam crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Maybe I just wanted to make sure that you would tell me if you'd seen Carl. I wasn't sure if I could trust you, so I forced it out of you instead," he shrugged. "You didn't seem like you were lying."
"So now you're testing me?," I asked, hands trembling.
"Will you relax?," he scoffed. "I told you the truth. That's what you wanted, wasn't it?"
Some of my irritation settled as I took a breath. "Whatever, Coleman," I mumbled, deciding to drop the conversation before an oncoming headache arrived. "Start lesson 70."