Brooke was being extra irritating as of recently. Within the past couple of days, it didn't take much energy from me to act unbothered with her petty jabs because that was how I felt.
But when she speaks to Natalie the way that she does it became harder for me to hold myself back. Natalie doesn't like conflict or confrontations, so I suspect she's a lucky ass bitch that she has me as a friend.
Which is why I've been there to shoo her away. Only today, Brooke decided to act bold, testing my patience yet again.
It was lunchtime when Declan and I were standing in line together. Natalie found us and the three of us got lost in conversation, grabbing our trays and picking out our food choices. Adam and Cyrus went through the opposite line and we all met at our usual table.
I saw Brooke walking from that direction and I prepared myself for whatever she was going to say. But she didn't say anything, just walked right past us with a small smile.
"That was really fucking unnatural of her," Declan said in suspicion.
"Yeah... maybe she's on another one of those juice cleanses of hers and the lack of normal food is throwing her off," Adam said as we set our trays down.
I wasn't convinced it was the lack of food that made her act weird. I looked around suddenly, trying to find anything out of place around the table.
And then I saw it. "Natalie wait-" but I spoke out too late as she sat down in her chair, directly on top of the open ketchup packet that was so strategically placed. She gasped and then stood up out of her seat, placing a hand behind her and bringing it back up with ketchup all over her fingers.
Brooke laughed as she appeared again at the side of our table. "Oh goodness Natalie, that's embarrassing. You should probably stick a tampon in it next time." She threw one down, landing right in the middle of our table as she laughed again, a few of her friends snickering along with her.
I looked around, grateful that this little incident didn't attract too much attention from around us. I saw Natalie pale at the embarrassment anyway. Then my eyes narrowed at Brooke.
"What?" She asked me and then made her voice very quiet as she spoke her next words. "That was your usual seat you know. Lucky for me, this was just as entertaining."
I was going to wipe that ugly smug smirk right off her face.
It only took me three steps to reach her before I threw my fist straight into her face. Her head whipped back as her hands flew to her nose. "Oh my god," She screeched. "I'm bleeding, you stupid bitch!"
"Aw," I looked back at the table for a second. "Here babe, I recommend you stick a tampon in it." I flicked it towards her and It bounced off her chest. I ignored her whining as her friends helped her gather some napkins.
My next move was to help Natalie, but when I looked back I saw Cyrus already wrapping his jacket around her waist to hide the ketchup stains. We made eye contact and he nodded his head towards the door. I nodded my head back in response, agreeing with his message.
And there was doofus number one and doofus number two, who were sitting in their chairs. Adam's jaw was still on the ground and Declan had a fist over his mouth to hide his laughter as Brooke was still whining and distraught.
Declan's face straightened when he saw my gaze on him. He cleared his throat and elbowed Adam in the side who finally shut his mouth closed.
"That was a hell of a punch," Adam said finally and Declan laughed again.
"Thank you. Now let's get out of here, we're finishing lunch somewhere else," I said, suddenly aware that we attracted more attention than I meant to.
Looking around, I saw Jeremy with a hard expression on his face. I thought maybe it was towards Brooke, because of the humiliation she just put his girlfriend through. But I remembered I looked at his general table when I first scoped how much attention we had gathered and his head was turned in a conversation with someone at his table.
No, he wasn't aware of what Natalie had just gone through, he was only concerned that at this moment, his girlfriend was walking out of the cafeteria with another guy, Cyrus's jacket now wrapped around her waist.
He stood from the bench at his table and started walking towards them. I didn't even think about it before I matched his steps and managed to cut him off before he could leave the room. He reached for the door handle but I wrapped my hand around it before he had time to.
"I know that look on your face, but he's only helping her. You didn't see that Brooke just ruined her clothes, okay? She's upset right now and she has a mess to clean up, so please just save it."
His green eyes narrowed at me. "Stay out of my business," He said and shoved my hand away before opening the door and storming out of the cafeteria.
Declan and Adam caught up to me then while I thought about following Jeremey anyway.
But neither of us moved fast enough apparently, because lo and behold Mrs. Hymann came out of nowhere to see what all the ruckus what about.
"Declan Montgomery... what's going on here?" She asked.
Declan grumbled something under his breath that involved a string of curse words.
"Mrs. Hymann, thank god you're here," Brooke said as she strutted closer to us, "Look what Rowena did to my nose!" She pulled her hands away and let a few drops of blood show.
And that was how I ended up in the principal's office.
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After an entire class time of going back and forth with the principal and Coach Clarke coming to my rescue, they agreed on a weeks worth of detention instead of in school suspension.
The end of the day came quicker than I expected and Cyrus and Declan came to find me.
"Natalie went home early today," Cyrus filled me in when I asked where she was. "She was pretty upset."
"Damn it. I should go and see her today." But then I let out a groan as a thought occurred to me.
"What is it?" Declan asked.
"I'll be grounded as soon as I step foot into my house."
"I thought Coach Clarke convinced them not to give you a suspension."
"Yeah but they still called my dad before that."
"Which means you're already grounded," Cyrus confirmed for me.
"Yup. I won't be seeing you guys till graduation."
"Well, what did they say about what Brooke did?" Declan asked.
"Basically nothing," I huffed. "It was my word against hers and Natalie wasn't there to complain about what she did, so."
Declan made a face at that. "Shit, we can go in then. Adam too, we all saw what happened."
"Don't bother. If they decide to do something about Brooke, she's going to throw a fit and then they're going to have to change their minds about my no-suspension deal that Coach talked them into. Unless Natalie wants to say something about it, we won't," I decided and the boys nodded in agreement.
I took a deep breath then before shutting my locker for the day. Now I would have to go home and face my dad.
"Wish me luck?"
"You're going to need more than luck for good ole Papa Salone, but I guess."
"You're just a ball of sunshine, aren't you Cyrus?"
His only response was to click the side of his mouth with an unemotional wink. "I told Natalie I'd grab her homework for the day. Meet you at the car?"
I agreed and he was off, leaving Declan frowning suspiciously after him before we walked away in the opposite direction.
"Is he always that... helpful?"
"Mhmm," I responded. It wasn't a complete fib, Cyrus was a great kid, I was just leaving out the special detail that the main reason he was looking after her like this was most likely because of his crush on her.
"But he likes her?" His question threw me off and I looked at him, "Right?"
"You're a dude, you tell me." That was a good response, very detached and uninterested, good job Rowena.
"Yeah, he likes her. I can tell with the way you said it." What the fuck.
He smirked at the off-guard expression that was stuck on my face. "What? You think I can't tell when you're being sneaky and suspicious? That's cute Row." He gave me a playful shove.
"Well, you can't tell anyone. Like at all, I haven't even had the chance to grill him about it yet. Plus, it's a complicated crush if you think about it."
"Because of the boyfriend, huh?"
"She's too good for him, that I can say with no hesitation." The first words the fucker ever spoke to me were practically growled out of his mouth like some damn animal.
Declan hummed in thought. "I think someone like Cyrus would be a better fit for her anyway. She needs someone mature and put together like he is."
"You're not going to back up your best friend here? I thought he had a crush on her too."
"Who, Adam?" He snorted. "The bastard has like four other crushes I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Crushes on who?" I asked in disbelief. Yet somehow, it simultaneously didn't surprise me.
So Declan and I gossiped about crushes and other people's relationships before I had to go home and face the wrath of Papa Salone.
A/N: I feel like I haven't updated in ages! It was because my last update was on a Tuesday and I didn't have anything to post on the usual Friday update day.
Anywayyyy hope you guys enjoyed <3 see you again soon ;)