you get me so high | the neighbourhood
❝ wish i didn't doubt it,
i wish i never ever told you all about it ❞
SAGE GET'S UP from the bench in the school's courtyard sighing after explaining yesterday's events that I'd missed out on. To be honest I don't even remember yesterday in the slightest, Rain and I were too busy downing the shots to pay attention to anything else.
"And have you talked to him about it?" I ask, reverting to his last statement of Caleb never listening and just acting on things.
"Fuck him. I don't want to talk to him."
"Sage-"
"No, I don't care. He treats me like I'm some kid Luca. We're all the same fucking age, why do I have to get babied?"
"Because Caleb cares." I answer back, looking at Sage as he throws away the packaging for my lunch. He forgot to stop at the cafeteria for his own, so we shared some of mine.
I understand Sage's frustration about feeling babied by Caleb, but it's just this part of him I've gotten used to. It's like he's overcompensating for his lack of it or something. That doesn't even make sense though, it's not like he has daddy issues or anything, so I've always just written it off as being in his nature.
"Wait, what was it that Lo said that made him punch him anyway?" Sage stills and I catch onto it. "Sage, what was it?"
"It was some dumb shit; he was just joking."
"Well Caleb doesn't go punching random people for no reason." That seems like the type of shit I would do, but never Caleb. He's got a voice of reason in that head of his, constantly aware of everything he does.
"So, you're on his side?" Sage presses frowning, his blue eyes darkening as he does so. His usual happy go lucky gleam diminishing along with his common sense at the accusation.
"What? No."
"I've got biology, I'll see you later." He dismisses walking to his locker in the opposite direction of the hallway.
I go to call out for him, but I stop myself at the last second. Sage rarely gets upset but when he does it's like talking to a brick wall. You don't answer him with what he wants to hear and you're suddenly against him.
Sighing, I turn to head to my locker momentarily stopping in my tracks when I lock eyes with Maxi as she takes a route to pass me, she waves, and I nod back. A faint memory resurfacing of her being one of the girls filling the shot glasses. Other than that, we've only talked briefly here and there.
I continue my way to my locker, opening it up with my lock and eyeing the side of it where I've got my timetable written down. My eyes scan it until I fall onto the next two sessions: economics and accounting.
"Yes. No... mhm, sure. Au revoir." I turn to the familiar voice as it approaches. Caleb. He's got the school's tie loosely hanging around his neck as if he's just been hooking up with someone - or it could easily just be he finished up soccer and he didn't want to fix it up. That used to happen at Sterling a lot, his tie would be loose, and everyone would go feral at it for some reason.
"I'm going to fucking kill silvers." He seethes as soon as he hangs up from his phone. Instinctively my eyes follow the direction of the phones and I get a snippet from the declining call. With 'dad' as the name of the caller.
"Well, hello to you to Mr French beer...was it that they referred to you as this time?" Caleb rolls his eyes. "Hey, that's so much better than freshman year 'pre-pubescent Greek God,' remember that?" I mean I've always fucking hated silvers because they outed half the shit I'd done to my parents. But one thing I have to give to them is their never dying number of nicknames they continue to spew at the boys and me. I mean at one point I'm pretty sure we were referred to as Sex and The City characters.
"Read that, what were you doing with her?" I ask turning back to my locker to fish out my books.
"What do you mean?" He asks, leaning against the locker by mine to face me.
"You and her alone Caleb. After the party." I recount what Rain had read aloud in the morning back at our dorm, putting on some Shakespearian accent until he started to die laughing at his own mention.
"Lo said some shit, walked her back." Hm.
"You sure? Seemed like they insinuated more." I'm only bullshitting, Caleb's loyalty is one unmatched.
"I'm sure, are you? I mean you should know all about the silvers insinuating things, Lucs."
"And dearest Caleb, what do you mean by that?" I ask, reaching out for my textbooks before shutting the locker closed and turning to him. Half the hallway has disappeared into classes now, probably rushing to get furthest seats from the front.
"Your loss of virginity of course, or lack thereof."
Of course, it's that. Sophomore year, spin the bottle led to a girl to an invitation on Reid's boat dad had gifted him years prior. Anyway, we kissed and barely at that she'd been feeling motion sick or something. Next day I come back to school and I'm a god.
I mean I know it's fucked up but bless her because I think she set the precedent after that. I'd only ever hook up with girls, I'd never done more but my name has given me more than it has hindered me. Stories, dozens of them circulating around about Luca Cathans and how he's so good in bed, you won't understand until you get with him.
"Shut up." I seethe not wanting anyone else to hear what he's saying. Not that I'm embarrassed necessarily - I mean if I wanted to, I know I could. I just haven't wanted too, not yet at least.
"Aw, come on you're a dying nation we need more of you!" Caleb coos.
"Okay fine, point understood. Nothing happened between the two of you."
Caleb smirks. "Oh, I already knew you believed me. It just feels like ages since your virginity has been reiterated."
"Yeah, and guess who's less likely to get a std out of the both of us?"
"Ooh, you're wrong on that one."
"What are we talking about?" Atlas asks entering the scene, coming from the second exit that leads into the hallway. He's got his sport bag slung across his shoulder, something that looks a lot like a hickey appearing just below where his blouse is unbuttoned.
"The boat." Caleb says and Atlas' eyes flash with recognition.
"Ah, virginity a beautiful concept Luca -"
"Fuck off." I groan.
Caleb grabs my hand, and I look down the second he does as well. "No purity ring Lucs? Did Disney fire you?"
"Fuck you Delvaùx at least my parents weren't called in because silvers wrote about me fucking a teacher." Caleb shakes his head, the traumatising memory probably resurfacing.
"Oh, and Atlas, didn't you fucking call Cassie in my hospital room when I almost died?" Atlas' mouth hangs ajar. "Yeah, yeah. Shut the fuck up and suck my dick the both of you."
"Wouldn't want to be the first." Caleb teases.
"You're so funny Delvaùx wait until I give out the password for your dorm to your adoring fans."
Caleb's about to respond back but the school's familiar jingle goes off notifying an announcement's about to be made. "Caleb Delvaùx, Sage Evanders, Luca Cathans and Atlas McAllister to Principal Aveyard's office. Again, Caleb Delvaùx, Sage Evanders, Luca Cathans and Atlas McAllister to Principal Aveyard's office."
The mood instantly declines and when I look at the rest of the boys and they sport matching expressions. It's in silence we leave the hallway and head outside into the courtyard once again. It's mostly empty except for some students skipping class or heading to the bathroom.
When we make it to the front office, I enter through one of the double doors and head deeper, past the people that work there. They press a button, and another set of double doors open up to the waiting room. I thank the receptionists swiftly whilst simultaneously spotting a familiar figure already seated.
Rain's reading a book and not paying attention to anything else in the room. The white blouse of the school uniform just covers up his tattoos leaving little to no outlines of them. I go to see what the title of the book is, but he notices movement and snaps his eyes up to me. "Principal Aveyard brought me in like ten minutes ago when I was walking past." He answers the question I have yet to ask.
"Oh shit. You think it's bad?" I ask, watching him flip the book over so the title isn't visible. I make a mental note to check the book later, noticing his lack of security around it being known. What are you reading Rain?
"That pretty head of yours just filled with air Luca?" He asks, a smirk tugging at the ends of his lips.
Looking back, I see Atlas and Caleb enter the room, Sage follows. Rolling my eyes at Rain's previous statement I take the seat next to him, Sage goes to take the one parallel to us, but when Caleb joins he gets up and sits next to Rain instead. Atlas sits next to Caleb.
"Boys, how are we all doing?" Rain asks. Everyone raises a brow turning to him and he's awkward phrasing. "Well stick a stick up my ass for trying to be nice and start a conversation."
Just as quick as we'd been seated, the principal office opens and the woman we'd seen at the assembly on the first day of Whitlock walks out. Principal Aveyard smiles facing us, her tan skin creasing at the corners of her mouth. "Boys, I hope you know despite our lack of meeting I am not accusing anyone of anything yet. And I am truly upset by the fact we are not meeting under different circumstances."
Her eyes fall onto Caleb first, "Caleb, I have heard extraordinary things about you so far, in both your academics and sporting." Just as swift as they'd glided onto his they moved to Sage's. "Sage, Coach Grey has told me nothing but good things. I mean, I'm expecting a national championship with the way she talks about you at this rate." She softly smiles at that. "Atlas I saw a gameplay of one of your practices with the boys' basketball team, marvellous really. I'm in awe, especially with the news about your return from recovery." And then as if last but not least her eyes fall onto Rain and me. "Rain. Well, we've been here before haven't we. And Luca, I see despite some adjustments of rooming you haven't completely been influenced by the devil himself."
"Aw, Principal Aveyard, you're so sweet." Rain retorts, but there's no bitterness in his tone so I'm assuming he doesn't despise her, and their relationship is on the more relaxed side.
"Anyways, we should probably head in." She continues, completely ignoring Rain's comment. "As head boy Azriel Whitlock - who I assume you all know by now - is permitted to be here and listen in on things as they are weighed out."
"Isn't this a breach of privacy?" Rain asks, getting up and following her with his secretive book in his hands. I wonder if it's some type of weird shit, like cowboy x mothers bestfriend. I remember once I'd accidentally picked up a book from Caleb's bookshelf and I'd been traumtised.
"He is your brother Rain, there is no breach of privacy."
"Well, that just set us back about a couple hundred years of incestuous lineage."
"What on earth are you on about?" Principal Aveyard asks and I can't help but not hide my laughter as it escapes.
"I'll shut up." I apologise swiftly taking the middle seat of the five splayed out. That counts as an apology, right?
When we're all seated, I meet Azriel's gaze from where he is right to the principal's seat. He nods and I smile back. Despite being closer to Rain than him, I can't lie and say I don't like Az. He's got a good head on his shoulders; dad would love him for it. Just like he loves Atlas and Caleb for their moral compass and leadership, Sage had always been under mom's liking; she adored his spontaneity.
"So, boys, as you are aware there was a party yesterday and it has come to my attention a little more than the casual partying occurred. An incident happened and now one of our students is in the hospital. It is an immediate expulsion. We do not tolerate fighting of any kind, let alone one that has a student hospitalised with a broken nose, a fractured rib and two missing teeth."
"Which teeth?" Rain asks.
Ms Aveyard squints her eyes at him, with a 'this is not the time,' look, but now that he's asked that, I'm curious too.
"So I'm asking, what do you know?" No one says anything. And to be honest I don't have anything to say either, too busy confused at why Rain and I were called in when we were obviously wasted during the entire event.
"Ah, the silence. Boys, I know you guys know things, all your names have been mentioned."
"By who?" I ask.
"The student would rather remain anonymous." Of course, they fucking would.
"Right but don't you think we could get much more of a better understanding if we knew who it was? I mean, lies aren't foreign and we have our fair share of despisers."
"Ah, the four girls?" Principle Aveyard's asks, she looks at Caleb first. "Valé Asters." Then Atlas. "Nayelie Angelo." Sage. "Amber Zhu." Then me. "Nadia Baeleane. Well boys, you'll be relieved to hear it was in fact none of the girls."
"I wasn't talking about them, Principal Aveyard."
She raises a brow, looking back at Azriel who's watching everything pan out. "What do you think, Azriel?"
"This is a conflict of interest. He shouldn't be allowed to voice his opinion."
"Rain, honey, human rights disagree with you."
"I think if the revelation puts the person who voiced the concern in danger, they shouldn't be told, but if they will not then there's no harm in truth." Azriel cuts in.
Principal Aveyard thanks him before looking at us. "Will you hurt this person boys, if I tell you who said it?"
"No." Rain, Atlas, Sage, and I say in unison.
"Yes." Caleb answers.
She smiles grateful for his honesty. "Well then, I had multiple people come forward and say it was you boys. So, which one of you was it?"
No one says anything again and Principal Aveyard sighs out frustratedly before going on a tangent about honesty, and that if we come forward now the consequence will be less than if we were to come forward at the last minute. "Boys, for your own sake come forward before police charges will be made. Parents will be contacted, and I don't think any of your parents want this for you?"
"Our parents will be contacted?" Caleb reiterates, completely disregarding the whole police bomb she'd just dropped.
"Mothers, fathers, any legal guardian will be called." Principal Aveyard nods.
Rain looks at Caleb, something in his expression changing as his eyes dance over the other boy. Like he reads something on Caleb's current blank features. "It was me."
Principal Aveyard turns to him. "What Rain?"
"I beat him up. Lo."
She shakes her head, disbelievingly. "No, you didn't."
"Why would I lie?" I look up to Azriel who looks at his brother like he's just done the dumbest thing ever. I mean, he has.
"You know this is an immediate expulsion."
"Yeah."
"You were doing so good Rain." Principal Aveyard sighs as if his admission truly saddens her. "You're passing your drug tests, you haven't gotten into any fights, your grades are no less than an A, you've continuously won the MVP for the boys soccer team. Your mother will be very disappointed."
"And father dearest?"
Ms Aveyard looks around the room guiltily, before laying her eyes back on him. "Your father has retracted his phone number, Rain. He doesn't want to be contacted anymore."
Rain nods, "well this has been a beautiful conversation, and I'm really glad you got the true perpetrator. Wouldn't want anyone that didn't deserve it to get in trouble." He gets up.
"Rain-" I call, and he looks down at me waiting for whatever I'm about to say. It dies in my throat. He walks out. I sink back into my seat hearing the door close behind me.
Ms Aveyard turns to the rest of the boys and me. Azriel still hasn't latched his eyes off from where Rain's left, something a lot like anger brewing behind those grey eyes of his. "Well, this is settled."
"But it wasn't him? You know it wasn't Rain." The words tumble out before I can stop them from leaving, frustration clear in my tone.
"Rain has admitted to it Luca, it's okay you don't need to protect him."
"This is bullshit, it wasn't Rain though?"
"Then who was it?" She presses knowing I won't give the answer. "Exactly, we can only work with what we're given and if he willingly gives in a submission then it is him in the eyes of the school responsible."
"And in your eyes?" Caleb asks.
"Rain is not stupid. He knows what he does has consequences. It's upsetting that this is how he has to leave Whitlock." What kind of bullshit PR response is that?
"So he's expelled?"
Principal Aveyard nods. "Say your final goodbye boys, he'll be gone by the end of the week."
🃑 🃑 🃑
"Let me the fuck in Rain!" Azriels angry voice yells from the other side of the door. I've been helping Rain start to pack up his things. We haven't talked about why he took the blame for Caleb. We haven't talked at all.
"Go away Azriel." Rain sighs.
"Open the door Luca!" Azriel calls out to me instead and I stiffen, conflicted.
Rain looks at me shaking his head, his grey eyes deepening in colour. "Don't."
"You know what, why am I even fucking knocking?" The door opens a second later and Azriel walks in making a beeline for Rain.
"Are you fucking crazy, taking the blame!" Rain doesn't flinch at Azriel's yelling, he doesn't look like he'll yell back either. He just stands there turning away from his suitcase and facing Azriel. I won't lie, Az being mad instead of Rain is really fucking weird to see.
"Look, out of Caleb and me it's easy to see who's going to go the furthest in life, who deserves more. It's obviously not fucking me. I've been lying about sobriety; you've been taking all my fucking drug tests. This is a huge relief."
"Where are you going to go? Your dad isn't a good guy, Rain."
"And your parents are? Oh, they took me in when my dad didn't want me. Fucking saints am I right?" He mocks without humour.
"Our parent Rain. She's our mom!" I back up from Rain giving the both of them space as I fall onto my bed.
"Your mom. Not mine."
"She's your fucking mom too."
"Who left me with my dad after I was born? And then ran off and got you pregnant with you so she could blame all her little pregnancy weight on her new child and not the one she'd hidden from the world? That mom is my mom?"
"She was going through a lot."
"You want to call my dad fucking bad when he's been the only one that ever willingly stuck with me."
"Just because you had a roof over your head and two decent meals doesn't mean you didn't deserve better."
"You don't get it. I didn't want better, I was fine where I was."
"Rain, you were fine because Maddie was there with you. You're only ever fucking fine when she's around. And when she's not you fucking spiral. It's not her job to keep you sober." Oh shit.
"Don't fucking talk about her and don't act like you care. You're only acting like this because of some undealt with guilt you feel for taking some sort of life away from me. Guess what Azriel, I'm not fucking jealous. I don't have a bad life and I don't pity myself."
"Your dad's drunk and so are you. Sorry, some of us don't have to hit rock bottom to realise what's fucked up and what's not."
"Fuck off. You're just angry I took the blame for a boy I've known for a month when I wouldn't do the same for you." Azriel goes quiet, there's truth to that statement.
"Why would I be jealous of anyone protected by an eighteen-year-old alcoholic that can't keep a stable relationship, sticks themselves to destructive people, and turns away a family that wants him, just to revert back to an abusive dad that only bonds with him by drinking?" I feel my jaw gape at the statement. The room becomes silent.
I watch for Rain's reaction, standing back up in case he'll strike at him. Rain draws back though; he doesn't say anything for a while but then he smiles. It's not genuine, it isn't much of anything. In fact, it looks like it pains him. "Isn't it so much easier being honest, brother?"
"Rain- '' Azriel begins apologetically, but he gets cut off because of a knock at the door. Everyone stills sinking back into reality as the knock repeats, more fervently than before.
Azriel's the one to make a move to it, I attempt to meet Rain's gaze, but he doesn't look at me. At the front of the room Azriel turns back to me, raising a brow. "I think this one's for you."
I walk over to where he is, looking down at who's there. When my eyes catch onto hers, he walks past her and disappears into the hallway, but I'm too busy staring at her to even pay attention to him to know which direction he heads in.
Nadia.
She looks...fuck, perfect. Even with tiredness visible in her under eyes and lack of colour in her skin that's usually there, she's never seemed more beautiful.
"I'm really sorry, I wouldn't have come if I didn't think it was really bad and Ahmed wasn't there and then I thought wow I'm pretty lonely if you're my last resort. Not because you're you but because...well you know why and I-" Ahmed. Fuck him, come to me.
It's okay. "Nadia, you're rambling." I say instead.
She quiets down instantly. Her features sink in, a mix between regret and humiliation overcoming her face. Oh shit, no - not like that. "I meant it's fine, I'm just saying you can calm down, I'm not going to lose my shit."
Her shoulders drop in relief, and she lets go of the school blouses sleeve her fingers had been playing with anxiously. "Can you um...come with me?" Always.
"Sure." I leave the room following her closely.
Nads leads me down the stairs of the club quarters, past the courtyard where people stare at her, me and then the both of us together. She doesn't pay them any attention as we enter the heart quarters, we take the elevator up to a familiar floor.
When her footsteps slow, I'm confused why she's led me to Caleb's room. But as she arrives, she doesn't face his dorm but the one parallel to it. She enters a code and walks in. "This is Valé's room." She says, not making eye contact too busy studying something instead.
I don't know what she's staring at until I meet where her gaze is trained, straight forward on the large wall that splays out at the back of the room. There's lettering that looks like it's been written in blood.
"You fucking whore, watch out or else we're going to ra-" I stop reading aloud as the words process and my eyes dance on them, lingering on the bitterness. I look down at Nadia, my eyes widening. "What the fuck."
She nods, a mixture of fear and shock flashing across her features as well. "I've been trying to get it off, but Valé is coming back in ten minutes." I look back down at the floor and see a bucket filled with soapy water and a sponge.
"Where is she?"
"Taking that fluffy white dog for a walk with Scout." Saamiya's dog, Mayo. Apparently, he's become a school mascot. Last thing I heard about him was that he'd been playing with the boys' soccer team on the pitch, and they'd ordered him his own kit.
"Has anyone else seen it?"
She shakes her head. "Are you going to tell Caleb?"
"He'll murder whoever did it."
A sad excuse of a chuckle vibrates out of Nadia, but I'm not joking. Caleb sees this and he'll lose his shit. No matter how angry he is at her for what she's done, shit like this doesn't fly past him. I mean, if he hospitalised Lo for making a comment on Sage, I can only imagine how fucking crazy he'll go on someone for threatening Valé.
"Luca, are you?" She asks again.
"Yeah. But for now, let's clean this off her wall."
I turn back to her, and she smiles up at me gratefully, as if I've hung the moon. I wonder if she ever noticed when I'd look at her the same way.
______________
a/n
it's so weird because usually i have so much to say and throughout the chapter i plan what i'll say in the a/n (because i overthink) but then when the chapter ends i have nothing. so here's a useless rant for a not so useless chapter.