**Sang's POV**
After I'd hung up with Bryan, I'd made some excuse and told Wil to keep them there for a little while. That feeling in my stomach made me nervous...anxious....a little scared. With the rumors having been circulating all day, the weirdness with the Derek situation, Bry's call about...about Dad having a stroke and that even he heard there might be another Last Day and then with the way Eddy, Greg, and Rocky were all acting during the meeting.....I just knew something really bad was going to happen and I didn't want any casualities if I could help it.
UGh! It pissed me off as well to think they were really trying this again. Last time, someone actually died. The school was just now re-opening because of the school board's being mad at the appalling way our school is ran anyway, and Greg and Rocky decide to try this already?!
I heard them talking as I walked up.
When they mentioned they felt like they'd been being watched, it made me realize it had completely slipped my mind to explain my being a 1 and them being under my protection. Taking a deep breath, I said "Not what, Meanie. Who. And I'm a 1." Please don't be mad at anything I'm about to say.
Gabriel turned around "Holy shit on a stick Trouble you've got ninja feet!"
"Sang, what do you mean you're a 1? What does that mean?," Victor asked.
"Baby?!"
I looked around at them before walking to the end of the bench and motioning for Silas to scoot over. Instead, he reached out and pulled me onto his lap. His ocean scent wrapped around me again and I inhaled deeply trying to stamp it inside. Just in case, yknow...just in case they never wanted to speak to me again.
"Let me start at the beginning. I guess...well I guess I should start with the more personal reasons. I've always been a quiet girl. When I was younger, I was shy to the point that people picked on me and i would just take it; I was pretty much mute. I didn't talk to anyone and all I did was do my schoolwork and read a book at a table by myself."
"Oy who picked on you? When the hell was this?"
"I'm getting to it, Meanie. You see I have an older brother; Bryan Sorenson." I saw Kota and Victor share a look at that but I knew questioning them wasn't a good idea. Not right now when I had more to explain.
"Bryan was a 1 here for years. He'd been getting into fights for his entire life. Bry's the most awesome big brother; he made sure I did my homework, he got a part time job at a local tech store and took me there with him so that I would sit there and watch him work. He'd tell the corniest jokes at the most random times. Bry is so super smart, too. Like you, Kota, he was always taking the most advanced classes available. There's just so much I could tell you about Bry and i wouldn't make a dent. He has a secret chocolate addition." I winked at Luke.
"His favorite sport is baseball. Favorite color? Black all the way. If I ever see my brother wearing a neon color I might just pass out from the sight. Anyway, I'm getting off track but Bryan was always my protector. When he was around me, there wasn't a soul brave enough to pick on me. But like I said he was in advanced classes and he is older than me so there was inevitably times throughout the day where I would be alone. I'd get bullied, shoved around, called all manner of horrible names, and sometimes I would even be pushed on the ground and...well, I remember one time someone pushed me down and stepped on me like I was a freaking mat." I stopped to take a deep breath and pushed back the anger and all the overwhelming emotions that threatened to rise up inside of me at the memory.
I noticed some of the guys had their fists clenched or jaws tensed but I hoped they were willing to sit tight and let me finish. I looked around and waited until I got a nod from North before I continued.
"One day, a girl made the mistake of bullying me in front of some guys who were really good friends of my brother. It got back to him and, when we got home, he immediately started training me. Everyday after school or after he got off work, we'd do homework and jump right into training. I learned different styles of fighting and I learned, most importantly, how to toughen myself up. Because, as Bry would always say, the world picks on people that let it. I decided that being walked on was the last straw for me."
"Sang, all this bullying, how could all of that happen at school and nobody realize it?"
"Victor I...to be honest, that's another reason I'm a 1. This school cares nothing for the students here. We all become so desensitized to violence just by attending school. Those who try to remain untouched by the dark side of Ashley Waters are the ones that get drowned in it. I'm a 1 to protect them. My brother was always the one to protect the weaker ones; if someone wasn't capable of protecting themself, Bry was there to stand in front of them. He'd take the blow meant for them and deliver one right back to make sure people knew not to mess with anyone that was his."
"What do you mean his?," Silas rumbled.
I smiled at him because I felt his words through his chest. "I mean that, when you're a 1, you protect people. Those who accept your protection are your 'followers.' I have pretty much taken over my brother's spot and I protect those who would be labeled as weak and nerds. I keep them from being bullied and pushed around. I keep kids from being turned into mats like I was."
"You fuckin deserve better than that," North bellowed. "Why the hell are you at a school like this? What about your parents? Why didn't they do anything?"
I shook my head sadly. "I--" My voice caught and Silas' arms tightened around me. "Aggele?" he questioned.
"I'm sorry. It's just..I've never known my own mother and my step-mother, Bryan's birth mom, died. My father and I aren't the closest. But, that, that little voice-hitch was because about 10 minutes ago I got a call from Bry saying that our father had had a stroke and is now in the hospital. He should be calling me back with more information soon."
Silas' big warm hand made soothing circles in my back as Nathan suggested "You don't have to tell us anymore Peanut." I giggled at that though. It was so ...weirdly cute having a hot guy calling you Peanut.
"It's fine," I said. I wasn't even halfway through explaining.
"The reason I'm telling you all of this is because you all are under my protection. If you've seen someone watching you all day, they were likely some of my followers who were to report to me if it seemed someone was bothering you. Kota, I heard you mention that someone said...correct me if I mess it up but they said 'A 1 compared to what are you negative 800s or something?', am I right?"
He nodded. I continued "That was someone reminding those guys, whoever they were, that you are under a 1's protection, my protection. He was warning them that it would definitely not be in their interest to bother you."
"What the fuck do you mean we're under your protection?!"
"Trouble! I am not, re-fuckin-peat, NOT letting you go around threatening people to protect me!"
"Sang, this is unreasonable," Kota injected calmly. His voice was a nice contrast to Gabriel and North's yelling tones.
Nathan said "Kota's right, Peanut. No offense, but you're what, 90 pounds? How are you this..1 person?"
I sighed heavily. Victor's hand reached out and touched mine softly. "Princess, correct me if I'm wrong, but I sense there is a whole lot more you want to tell us right?"
I nodded.
I watched Victor look at Kota again and then Kota shared a look with all the guys. North still looked ready to go punch the brick walls until the school was nothing but rubble but he didn't yell anymore. I was reminded then that I still needed to apologize to him. It was just so much I needed to say. So much I needed them for.
And a part of me was still terrified of them leaving me once I told them every little detail but I knew they deserved to know everything.
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"Sang, continue your story...please," Kota added with command in his tone. I could see the gears inside his mind working, connecting dots that normal popole wouldn't think were related at all. Please don't figure out the bad stuff before i get a chance to tell you, I wanted to shout to him. I didn't need any of them hating me...not yet. For now, at least, we were friends. I had true friends who cared nothing about the stupid Rank Rivalries.
Nodding, I gulped to wet my dry tongue; it didn't want to move.
"I was telling you about my brother, I believe. Well, there's not much else to say; he's my big brother and I would literally do anything for him. WHile he was here, he had the same mentality towards not only me but the ones he chose to protect as well. After he left, I used the training he had given me to earn my own rank as a 1. The other 1s are Rocky, a football player who, while not one of the smartest, earned his rank a long time ago and is strategic enough to know how to keep it, and Greg....he's a bit harder to explain. He's not exactly strong physically or looks the part but he is quick to use a weapon to defend himself and, believe it or not, at times, I believe he really has some serious emotion about protecting his own followers. It just gets clouded over by his pathologcial liar and annoyingly easy to manipulate side."
"The Rocky you're talking about, Sang Baby, is that the idiot that goes around talking about himself in 3rd person all the time?"
I smiled, "Yes North Star," then blushed when I realized what I'd done. His mouth was slightly parted and his eyes darker than before when I managed to make myself look up at him.
Clearing his throat, Nathan drew my attention to him. "Peanut, if you, Rocky, and Greg are 1s, that means you run the school right? You're like Co-Presidents of the USA?"
I shook my head vehemently. "NO!"
At seeing his shocked and slightly hurt expression, I took a deep breath. "No, Nathan. I apologize for yelling but I detest that the others do that. We aren't anything special; we just are regular human beings--regular students--who saw that the administration wasn't going to do anything to protect it's students, and that there was a clear divide between some of the students, so we decided to call them our own. Over time, it became pretty obvious that if someone 'belonged' to a certain one, it probably wasn't in your best interests to bother them. Like I mentioned when I told you about the girl talking about me, and me getting walked on, and then Bry found out? Our Rank Rivalries, as we call them, just give us a little organization inserted into the chaos that is Ashley Water.
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About 10 minutes later, I figured I had told them all I could about what it meant to be a 1, and I'd also gone back over what it meant that I was protecting them, and that I had 'claimed' them almost since the very beginning of school today.
The guys were not happy and most of them voted to "stop those assholes from staring after me all day," as North put it and "kick Rocky and Greg's shittastic chickenshit asses so Trouble can stop putting herself in the middle of this bullshit," as Gabriel put it. After they all agreed on this, Kota summed it all up. "So Sang Sorenson is a 1, along with Rocky and Greg, and their job is to keep innocent people from being bullied or to protect those who they call their followers. Sang has claimed us as her followers and, because of her, we have not been bullied or attacked yet today though we believed we would have. The plan now seems to be to help Sang end this..Rank Rivalry and continue with our personal objective of providing an example for the fellow students as to how 'good' students will behave. All agreed?"
It was weird how they all said "I am willing and I will obey."
Before they disbanded, I said "Wait. There's something else I need to tell you."
"What is it Cupcake? Don't tell me; you're a secret assassin for the Russians or....OH MY GOD I got it! You're a secret NINJA from Japan and the USA has some new chemical you're supposed to take back."
Gabriel scoffed "Don't be an idiot Luke. What the hell would the chemical be doing at Ashley Waters?"
I bugged my eyes at both of them as they continued.
"Well, Gabriel," Luke said with a childish tone, "Maybe Japan has the smartypants tech people who decided that this was where it is. Maybe AW is off the radar enough that the US thought it would be a good idea?"
"Fine," Gabriel said "but then what about the secret assassin crap? She has a brother she just told us all about. Why would she say all that if she's a secret assassin?"
Luke thought for a moment. "I got that too! Her brother's also a ninja assassin and he's at college learning how to duplicate the chemical."
I was about to butt in when North did it for me. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! You twin morons! OF course neither of those have any fuckin sense involved at all."
He scraped his hand through his hair as he glared hostilely at the two who had the broadest grins on their faces.
"Not to feed into your theories, but there's something else I may need to tell you. We have 2s as well in the Rank Rivalries. Jay is Rocky's, Eddy is Greg's, and mine...mine is a guy I love as much as my brother Bryan. His name is Wil Winchester and he--"
"William Winchester, brother of Kayli Winchester, lives with their father Jack Winchester, and is currently taking college credit courses and working with the Charleston Tech Crew as an internship?"
"The fuck?!" I slapped my hand over my mouth as soon as it slipped out. But, damnit, I could tell they caught it.
"Oh my shit. Did Trouble just fuckin curse?!" He started grinning and laughing and dancing in his seat like we just threw him a birthday party and brought out the cake.
"Aggele has a filthy mouth," Silas said with a waggle of his eyebrows. "Wonder what else you can say.....under the right conditions of course."
I blushed. I fought it but I felt it rise up in my cheeks anyway.
"That's enough!," Victor--suprisingly--was the one who shouted. I looked to him and he had a slight blush to his cheeks as well. "This is not the time for any of those comments, not to mention, I'm sure there was something else Princess was alluding to telling us, correct?"
I nodded but stopped myself. "But first, Victor, I want to know how you knew all of that about Wil?"
He looked to Kota and they shared a look. This time, I understood Kota's. Tell her but not too much.
I'm not sure at all how I picked that up, but I knew in my gut that I was right. I narrowed my eyes on him. Didn't they learn earlier in Music class? I'm not going to let anyone decide stuff for me!
"Princess," Victor said softly, taking my attention from Kota and onto him along with my glare which he flinched at slightly. "Princess, we have...connections. We had a friend of ours do a simple background check on most of the students at this school before we came. We didn't want to come into a situation we had no idea about."
That made sense, but I had that feeling he was holding back on something. Disappointed, because I knew now that their friendship was too tight--much too tight to let someone like me in on it--I nodded and went back thinking about what else I needed to tell them before I did what I came out here to do, which was ask for their help.
After I did a mental checklist, I remembered my place.
"I was going to tell you that Wil is great with computers and he sort of put me on the register for Mr. Blackbourne's Music class. I think it was so that I could be with you guys. And..I didn't lie earlier. I really do want to learn to play the violin. But I understand if you're angry and do not wish to continue being my friend." You're their associate, my mind scoffed at me.
"Aw. That tech stuff didn't fit in my daydream, Cupcake," Luke whined.
Gabriel guffawed "Make a new one shithead."
"Princess do you mind if we relate what you're telling us back to..our instructor. They are more like our handlers while we are at this school."
"Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green? From your Academy of course." I said innocently.
I saw their gazes get sharper on me. I caught their attention. You are not the only ones who can know stuff and not tell all about it.
I saw North's, Victor's, and Kota's eyes all doing various levels of questioning. Each wanting me to spill how I knew that. Of course it wasn't too hard to figure out even if I didn't have Wil, the wonder guy.
"Anyway, no I don't mind. You may share this information; It's nothing that you can't figure out by talking to almost anyone here."
As Nathan took out his phone and sent off a text, all of their phones started pinging. I watched as they all stared at their screens and typed at different times. Group text, obviously. My phone chose that time to ring and I smiled at the tone; Bryan.
"Hey Bry," I said softly. I wouldn't need to move because they were all not paying any attention to me anyway. They were stuck on their phones at the moment.
"Hey sis, I called the hospital like I said I would."
His tone sounded rushed so I said "Bry what's wrong? You sound like you're in a hurry. Are you alright?"
He reassured me. "I'm on my way to the airport. I found a flight that'll leave here in like 40 minutes so I'm trying to pack and get there as soon as possible. I called you about what i found out though."
He paused and I just waited him out.
"Sang, Dad had a woman listed as his next of kin. A woman who's name is Marissa and they gave me her number so I could inform her."
He paused again and I waited him out again though I was starting to get really impatient, jumpy even.
"Marissa says she is Marissa Sorenson, and has been for 5 years. She has a 4 year old son--Kane Sorenson--and two older kids, Micheal and Marie Sorenson. She's Dad's wife, Sang. And she didn't know we exist."
The fire alarm chose that second to start blaring and I yanked my gaze up to the windows to see smoke all over. It was thick, like morning fog only it was inside the school.
I remember that very same description from somewhere else. I spoke into the phone "Bryan I have to go. It's the Last Day Fog. Last Day is starting." Hanging up, I slipped my phone into my bra and took off running into the school only vaguely aware of the pounding footsteps behind me.
{Don't know if this counts as some kind of teaser or something, but the hint for the sequel that can be found in this part is Marie Sorenson...well the Sorensons. In the sequel, Sang will have more to deal with than her brother's return, the Academy Guys, and the fall out from the Last Day......maybe I gave to much away?}