Once again, I found myself avoiding Grayson as I cautiously walked down the corridor towards my locker. He can't order me around like his very own personal assistant if he can't even find me.
"What are you doing?" Cody asked me, befuddled at my attempt to blend in. I guess my disguise wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses and a hoodie? It's pretty warm outside today."
My shoulders slumped restfully as I took off my shades. "What? Is it all of a sudden a crime to wear a hoodie when the sun is out?"
"You look like you're hiding from the paparazzi." He laughed.
He got the first part right. But I wasn't hiding from the paparazzi, i was hiding from an idiot. I still couldn't believe that he was blackmailing me into doing his bidding.
"Oh my god! There you are!" Hannah approached Cody and I, out of breath.
"Have you checked the school's anonymous forum today?" She asked me, causing me to panic. If I am being honest, I didn't even know that there was an anonymous forum.
Grayson must have told the entire school in the forum that I kissed him. Or maybe he left himself out of the equation completely. No matter, soon everyone would know about it.
This was my end.
"No, what is it?" I was afraid to ask.
"It's about Alicia." She says, putting my mind at ease. I never thought for a moment I'd ever be so happy to hear that name. As my heart began slowing its pace, Hannah turned her phone's screen to face Cody and I.
It was an incriminating picture of Alicia (Jake's girlfriend) and Diego (One of Mitchell's annoying friends) kissing!
"Oh shit..." My mouth fell open.
"Crap, has Jake seen this?" Cody asked Hannah.
"I don't know, I haven't seen him yet." Hannah says.
I felt so bad for Jake. I mean, I was not at all surprised as to Alicia cheating on him. She's always given me cheater vibes, which I get sounds entirely rude and stereotypical of me, but I'm stating facts, in my opinion.
"I can't believe she would do this to him!" Hannah seethed.
"We should go and find Jake." Cody says, starting down the corridor.
Hannah and I followed behind him. My left foot was still a tad sore from the incident in my kitchen, so I was walking with a slight limp. Everyone was murmuring about it as we walked past them on our way to find Jake.
"He's not responding to my texts." Hannah says.
"Same." Cody added.
"What about Phillip and Lucy?" I wondered. "Where are they? Maybe they know where he is."
"Phillip didn't come to school today, I think he has an appointment at the dentist." Hannah explained. "And Lucy is running late."
"Holy shit! There's a fight by the bleachers!" A guy I didn't know told everyone within earshot, hurrying towards the exit.
Hannah, Cody and I shared a look before rushing to the bleachers.
We arrived to see a noisy crowd gathered around. I didn't need to see over the shoulders of everyone gathered around to know that it was Jake and Diego fighting. At least, that's where my mind was at. Diego usually hung out at the bleachers with Grayson and my annoying brother.
I followed Hannah and Cody as they pushed their way through the roaring crowd. When we finally broke through, we saw an angry and seething Jake shoving Diego backwards.
"Fuck." I managed to say.
Standing on the opposite side was Mitchell and Grayson, along with their other friends, encouraging their friend.
"We should stop this." Hannah voice pierced through the noise of the crowd.
Jake shoved Diego once again, causing him to fall backwards towards the ground. Before Diego connected with the ground, Jake was already on top of him, landing the first punch, followed by another one, then another one.
Cody rushed in to break up the fight, managing to wrap his arms around Jake and pull him away from a split-lipped Diego. Jake, in all his fury, writhed in an attempt to get out of Cody's grasp, not that it did much. Diego rose from his place on the ground, wiping over his lip with the back of his right hand, letting out a chuckle before jumping straight towards Jake with a clenched fist in the air. With Cody struggling to keep Jake out of more trouble, Diego's fist collided with Cody's face, causing him to fall onto the ground. Jake scowled before rushing at Diego.
I rushed in to see if Cody was okay. "Shit, are you okay?" I asked him, panicking. He lifted himself off of the ground, shaking his head with anger in his eyes.
I know that look.
"Cody, don't." I warned him, though it fell on ears that weren't listening.
Cody rushed in and forced himself between Jake and Diego before turning and swinging a fist to Diego's face.
Holy shit!
I looked over to see Grayson and Mitchell with shocked looks plastered on their faces while Jonah was already jumping into the fight, shoving Cody down to the ground.
Jake and Diego were already punching on again, while Cody hastily rose from the ground and was instantly at Jonah's throat.
I made my way towards them, hoping to stop them from fighting before everyone ends up getting suspended. "Guys, stop it!" I shouted angrily as someone's elbow met my left eye, causing my sight to temporarily leave me as I stumbled backwards onto the ground. I covered my left eye with a consoling hand as I winced. Why is it I always end up getting hit in the eye?
"Shit, are you okay little Cooper?" Grayson appeared beside me, his arm on my shoulder. Hannah came into view on my right side. "Dallas, are you alright?" She wondered.
"Knock it off!" Mitchell's shout echoed. The crowd had gone quiet and all members of the fighting party halted, panting, groaning and seething.
Why didn't he stop it earlier? Preferably before I happened to get elbowed in the eyeball!
"You just hit my little brother!" Mitchell snarled as he shoved Jonah.
Jonah turned to look at me, his face turning to worry.
"Fuck, I'm so sorry Dallas." I heard Jonah say as my blackmailer and my best friend helped me up off the ground. I could already feel my left eye swelling up, so apology not accepted, asshat!
"Blame this moron!" Diego pointed a finger at Jake.
Here we go again.
"Shut up you piece of shit!" Jake seethed.
"Why don't you both shut up!" Mitchell warned them.
I shoved Grayson away from me and started back towards the school building and straight to the nurse's office to get an ice pack.
Maybe I should just go home? I wondered to myself as I consoled my sore eye.
I woke up in the nurses office an hour or so later, my eye throbbing with pain. I can't believe I fell asleep. I didn't intend on sleeping, I had only come here to get an ice pack for my face.
"Good morning." Grayson was seated beside me.
Did I wake up to a nightmare?
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"I had maths so I thought I'd skip." He says.
I groaned as I sat upright. "That still doesn't explain why you're here?"
"I wanted to see how you were, and to ask you something." He brushed a hand through his hair.
"Ask me what?" I raised an eyebrow.
His blue eyes looked into mine, well, one of mine, seeing as I could barely open my left one. I wonder what he wanted to ask me?
"I need you to do my homework for me." He says.
"Excuse me?"
"I have homework due this Friday, and I don't want to fail out, so..."
I scoffed, throwing the melted ice pack at his dumb face. "Are you serious right now!?"
"Remember, I know your little secret." He tilted his head to the side.
"What secret?" I spoke frustratedly.
"You have a crush on me... wouldn't want the entire school to know about that, right?"
"I do not have a crush on you." I said.
"Then why did you kiss me?" He asked a good question.
Once again I was cursing my drunken alter ego, the stupid idiot.
"Are you seriously going to hold that over my head?" I groaned.
"As I've said before... you're my little bitch." He clicked his tongue. "I own you."
"Meanwhile, you're just a bitch." I retorted, standing on both of my feet before storming away from him.