Julianne's POV
Monday comes and I hide under my covers longer than normal, not yet ready to face Gage.
"Annie, why are you still in bed, sweetheart?" Holden asks as he peeks his head inside and sees Tate already getting himself ready.
"I don't feel good," I say under the covers, and I hear him cross the room in just a couple of strides, the side of my bed dipping under his weight.
He pulls the covers off of my face and his calloused hand touches my forehead softly.
"You don't have a fever. What doesn't feel good?"
I try to think of a lie really quick, but my face gives me away and Holden nods in understanding.
"You have to face it at some point, Annie. Get ready for school before we're late."
I sigh as I pull the covers off of me and he moves so I can stand up. He gives me a hug and kisses my messy hair before he leaves the room, and when I turn to Tate, he simply shrugs.
"I'll work on lying with you after school."
I throw my pillow at him and he dodges it with a smirk. He used to give me lying lessons when we were little...Just little things like, telling Cook that I was allergic to spinach.
But it never seemed to work.
~*~
I get to school and Gage isn't waiting for me at my locker like he has been. I don't see him at all until Holden's class, where he completely ignores me.
And now I'm getting pissed
I understand being humiliated, but to not even acknowledge me?
That's just disrespectful.
I decide to let it go and focus on the lesson, because we have a test coming up in a week and Pride and Prejudice is honestly a little tricky for me. To be completely transparent, Jane Austen is tricky for me.
"Julianne, would you consider Elizabeth Bennet to be a round or flat character?" Holden asks after a few minutes into the lesson.
I literally detest when he calls on me
"Um, I'm not sure."
His eyes flash surprise as he nods slowly. "You don't know what kind of a character she is?"
"Not really. Holden, this book totally confuses me. I don't understand 1800s English."
Tate looks at me with his mouth open, because books are kinda my thing. But Jane Austen is just SO boring. The movies are good, but the books? Ugh
"Ok, tell me about her personality, then....." he says softly as he continues looking at me.
"She's loud. And annoying. And she thinks she's right about absolutely everything and looks down at everyone who doesn't think how she does. She's basically Tate if you stick a dress on him and make him talk in stupid 1800s English."
Somehow that gets the entire class roaring, and even Holden hides his face behind his copy of the book as he tries to get his shoulders to stop shaking.
The only person not amused, however, is Tate.
"Woah! Ok, I'll be honest I haven't read the book, but I watched the stupid movie with her last weekend.....And let me just say that I agree that she's an idiot, but it's because that Mr. Dunken guy loves her, but she's too stubborn to put her pride aside."
Holden drops his mouth open and stares at Tate in shock.
"I have no idea what to address first, Tate. The fact that we've been studying this book for two weeks and you haven't read it, the fact that you got the leading man's name wrong, or the fact that you just gave the PERFECT answer."
"Which part?" Tate asks, impressed with himself.
"Her pride gets in the way...you go alongside Elizabeth as she goes through many, many thoughts and emotions. You see her mature. You see her make mistakes. That makes her a round character, Julianne."
"I still hate this book," I mutter, and Holden smirks a little as he shakes his head.
"Shut the hell up!" Tate snaps, and at first I think he's talking to me. But when I turn, he's glaring at a guy on the other side of him.
Holden hears it too and clears his throat. "Language, Tate."
Holden told us once that he wasn't going to come down on us for cussing since he cusses too, but we weren't allowed to do it in school.
Tate ignores Holden though as he glares at Travis, and Travis simply smirks as he looks down at his notes.
~*~
The bell rings at the end of the class, and for a second I think that Gage will turn to say something to me, but he doesn't as he collects his books and starts to stand.
I do the same, but something catches my attention at the front of the room.
After a scuffle, I look over and see Tate trip Travis, and then slam him into the whiteboard.
"Woah!" Holden yells, but can't get over there fast enough before Tate halls his arm back and punches Travis so hard in the face that blood starts to fly.
Travis falls to the ground, and Tate promptly kicks him in the ribs.
Holden finally gets over there and tackles Tate, sending him sprawling to the ground with Holden on top of him.
Travis starts to stand, but then decides to try and retaliate while Holden has Tate pinned. However, Holden is able to get off of Tate and jump up to block Travis in some weird jiu-jitsu type of move.
"I'm gonna kill you, Thompson," Travis mumbles through the blood pouring out of his mouth, and Tate jumps to his feet with a taunting smile.
Half of the class is crowded in a clump, and Holden looks around the room to see who's available to actually help.
"Mackney, grab him," Holden grunts as Travis starts to lunge for Tate again, but Holden shoves Travis against the smart board and holds him there.
Tate tries to lunge again but Gage is able to grab his arm and pull him back.
"Stay out of this, asshole...I'm already pissed at you." Tate seethes.
Gage is completely silent as he pulls harder and is able to get Tate over to me. Tate is trying his best to break free, but when I take his hand and pull him toward the back of the room, he stills when his eyes meet mine.
"What's wrong?" I ask as I look deep into his eyes, and I can see reasoning coming back. Gage keeps a hold of him, but I can tell he's okay.
"What happened?" I ask.
Tate shakes his head as he looks over his shoulder at Gage.
"You can let go, dipshit."
Gage shakes his head but still refuses to look at me. "Not until Mr. T tells me to."
Holden must have called Nico somehow, because Nico comes to take Travis out of the room, and Holden barrels over while the rest of the class leaves. When he gets closer, I see a tiny streak of blood running down Holden's forehead.
"Are you okay?" I ask as I reach over and gently touch his head, and he winces slightly as he nods. "I'm fine, Annie. What the hell, Tatum?!?"
Gage lets go and tries to leave the conversation, but he's stuck in a corner and the only way to escape is to either push through Tate, or me.
So he stays put and looks like he wants to die.
"You started a damn fight and you're not leaving until you tell me why. You're probably going to get suspended for this and I don't have enough PTO to stay home with you."
"I've hated him since the first week we came here. He had it coming."
"What. Happened...You make me ask again and I'm spanking your ass at school."
I see Gage get a funny look on his face, but he smooths it out quickly.
Tate blows out a breath and nods. "I have a crush on one of the girls in class, and he made a joke about her. Called her a slut. He said that he heard your class got on a tangent about sex workers on Friday and that she could work him any day of the week. He was talking about it when Jules was insulting me about wearing a dress."
"That's not what I said," I hiss.
"Well? I was having trouble paying attention with him talking about it. I'm sorry, Holden."
Holden shakes his head in anger and blows out a deep breath. "You're not sorry yet, but you sure as hell will be. Get your ass down to Principal Lee's and I'll be there in a minute. It's not how I wanted to spend my damn break this period, Tatum."
"Thought we couldn't cuss at school," he snips, and Holden's nostrils flare. Gage takes a reflexive step backwards but gets stopped by the wall.
Holden is pretty scary when he's mad.
"We're by a wall, and the walls in this school are thin. If I spank you here the class in Mrs. Miller's will hear...But I promise you I'm this close to embarrassing you. Don't make me do it." He says as he makes a tiny space between his thumb and forefinger in front of Tate's face.
"You know, I really thought you would be proud of me for standing up for someone. She had no idea they were even talking about her."
"Who?" Holden asks.
"Emmerie. Travis and Connor were talking so much shit....I couldn't stand it anymore."
"Then why go after Travis if Connor was doing it too?"
"Because I hate Travis," Tate deadpans.
"Ok, I've heard enough. You have three seconds to get your stuff and get out before I spank you in this classroom. Go!"
Tate shakes his head as he uses his shoulder to push past Holden roughly, and Holden loses his balance slightly and has to regain his footing. When he finally notices Gage, he blows out an ashamed breath.
"Dang...I'm so sorry, Gage. I was too angry to notice you there. Sorry to literally back you into a corner. Thanks for helping me out."
"It's fine sir," he says softly as he walks around Holden and grabs his books, leaving as fast as he can.
When it's just us, Holden blows out a breath and sits on the edge of a desk, staring at the floor in complete silence. I walk over to his desk and grab a Kleenex, and then take his bottle of water and dab a little on the Kleenex. I go back over to him and gently wipe off the dried blood that made a trail down his forehead, and he looks up at me with a strained smile.
"Thanks, sweetheart. Of course I'd get smashed in Tate's fight while he doesn't have a single scratch on him."
I take the bloodied Kleenex and throw it away, and then grab my books.
"Can I have a pass?"
He nods as he goes to his desk and writes out the pass. "I should have given one to Gage."
"He's in my next class too. Write one out for him and I'll give it to the teacher."
Holden nods as he writes out the passes, and when he hands them to me he gives me a sad smile.
"I'm really sorry, Julianne. I was so pissed and focused on Tate that I didn't notice Gage standing there. I should have. I'm sorry I embarrassed you."
"I'm not embarrassed," I shrug as I turn around and leave.
I'm still completely disgusted. I get that he was humiliated, but to just act like I don't exist? I deserve better than that.