I sat on the couch in boredom, waiting for my parents to finish getting ready for this stupid dinner. My dad came downstairs dressed as neatly as me, sitting next to me on the couch.
He cracked a smile. "Every time you dress up nicely for these events, it makes me sad. Where the hell did the time go?"
My father was one of those people who, unlike my mother, was very verbally loving and caring. I was his beloved son and he dreaded the day that he had to admit I was an adult. He was constantly telling me how proud he was, how much he loved me, how I was growing into such a good man.
"Well, I'm not a toddler anymore, dad," I said.
"You were the cutest toddler. Your mom always called you her sweet boy," he said, reaching over and playfully pinching at my cheek.
I smacked his hand away. "I'm not a toddler! Don't do that!"
"Hey, you're growing up way too fast. Let me enjoy you while you're here," he said. He sighed. "Soon you'll be off to college."
"What, so you wish you were like the rest of your siblings and had ten million kids?" I said. Both of my parents came from large families, and their abundance of siblings had produced an abundance of kids for themselves.
Dad shook his head. "Nope. Your mom and I never wanted a lot of kids. No more than two. Until we had you." He gave me an affectionate smile. "We didn't think we'd be able to love anyone else as much as we loved you. So, one kid for us, and I'm glad. I just wish you'd stop growing up."
"I can't exactly turn that off," I said.
"I'm glad we only had one child. If we had another child who was as spoiled as you, Judeikas, I think I'd go crazy," mom said, entering the room. "Fix your hair. Don't run your hands through it so much."
"He's not spoiled!" dad said.
"You only say that because he has you wrapped around his finger," mom said, grabbing her car keys. "Let's go before we're late."
"You're not spoiled. You're a good boy," dad said to me as we got up off of the couch.
Oh, yea, I was a real charm. I nearly snickered, but managed to choke it back as we left the house.
When we got to the dinner, I followed my parents into the nice restaurant. I looked around, searching for Staz.
My eyes landed on him. He was standing with the rest of his family, dressed in clothes that didn't look right on him. He had a little chalk on his pants.
He looked completely out of place here. His eyes traveled around the surroundings and he looked more like a lost puppy than the son of a wealthy family.
Only three of the four Montgomery children were here, as was usual. Staz's two brothers seemed at ease and fit right in as they talked with the people around them. Staz's parents were dressed as neatly as their children, both holding drinks as they talked with the people standing with them.
I watched as Staz's mom shook his shoulder, getting his attention. She said something to him and nodded at the man in front of them. The man held his hand out and Staz stared at it like he wasn't quite sure what to do. His mom looked embarrassed as she hastily pushed him away and said something to the man.
I followed my parents around, greeting people. We slowly made our way over to the Montgomery family.
"Hello Julia," my mom greeted Mrs. Montgomery.
Mrs. Montgomery smiled and shook my mom's hand. "It's been a while, Tatiana. Look how much your son has grown up!"
"Judeikas, I'm sure you remember Mrs. Montgomery," mom said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I reached out and shook Mrs. Montgomery's hand. "Hi Mrs. Montgomery." My eyes found Staz. "Hi Staz."
"You two know each other?" Mrs. Montgomery asked, a nervous look in her eyes as they shot to Staz.
"We've talked a few times at school," I said, my tone easy. Ha, even his mom knew he was a total freak.
"Well, have you met my other sons?" Mrs. Montgomery asked hurriedly, grabbing the arms of the two older boys to get their attention. Trying to divert attention before Staz could speak. "These are my sons Nero and Ian."
Staz surprised me by stepping up next to his brothers. "Hi Jude."
His mom looked like she couldn't decide if she wanted to faint or drag Staz away and lock him in a room far, far away from here. Staz's brothers watched him with a mixture of pity, amusement, and annoyance.
"Staz, you have chalk on your pants," Nero said, moving to brush it off.
Staz stepped away, eyeing Nero's hand with a look that said he really didn't enjoy any form of physical contact. He brought his gaze back to meet mine.
"Can I talk to you?" Staz asked me.
"Boys, let's go sit," Mrs. Montgomery said quickly, giving a light tug on Staz's sleeve. "Staz, get that chalk off of your pants."
"I need to talk to Jude," Staz said.
"Talk to him later. Let's go sit," she said.
Staz was reluctantly led away by his mom, flanked by his brothers to make sure he didn't try to get away. My mom watched them go, shaking her head slightly.
"Poor woman. Such a strange boy she has," mom said. "Let's also go sit. I don't know where your father wandered off to."
"He's over there," I said, nodding. I was keeping tabs on my parents and Staz tonight.
We got my dad and sat down. I sat at the end of the table, where I could see Staz. He was sitting slightly apart from his family, tracing his fork against his napkin thoughtlessly.
"Jude," dad said, catching my attention. He began to introduce me to some of his friends, having me greet the ones I already knew. I put on my charming, innocent face, suckering them all in.
"Jude."
I jumped and turned, cursing myself. I'd done it again. I'd let my guard down again, and here stood Staz Montgomery.
He sat down next to me. "Hi."
"Hi Staz," I said, forcing a pleasant façade since there were people around us.
I looked over and saw Mrs. Montgomery noticing her son's absence. She looked around in alarm and her face paled as she noticed where he was sitting. She nudged Nero and whispered something to him, nodding towards where Staz was sitting.
"You were trying to keep an eye on me," Staz said, catching my attention again. "You thought I was going to tell your parents about what I saw. That's okay. I'm not going to. Ethan doesn't want me to. It's none of my business."
I didn't like the way he looked at me. I didn't like how he seemed so unafraid of me. Like he was untouchable. I would have to teach him that he wasn't.
"Staz," Nero said, stepping up next to Staz and touching his arm.
Staz jerked his arm back. He looked up at Nero with distaste.
"Sorry, sorry," Nero said. "Mom needs to talk to you, though."
Nero looked like he was in his early 20s. He was probably the second youngest Montgomery son. Ian was the oldest, I knew that. I didn't know how old the missing brother was.
"Staz and I were just about to get a drink," I said. "He needed to talk to me."
Nero hesitated. "Alright. Staz, come back to the table after."
Staz stood up and followed me around to the back. "I already said what I had to say."
"But I didn't." I poured us each a drink and handed one to Staz. "You're not going to say anything about what you saw because I'm telling you not to. Even if Ethan changes his mind, you're still going to keep your mouth shut."
"But what you're doing is wrong," he said.
I took the drink from him, a cherry drink dyed a deep red color. "I'm someone you should be afraid of, Staz."
I splashed the drink over myself, getting it in my hair, on my face, down the front of my shirt. It dripped onto my pants and shoes and I calmly handed the glass back to Staz before letting out a disgruntled cry and stumbling back into the sight of everyone attending.
Staz's mother stood up, looking horrified as Staz stepped out after me, the empty glass in his hands, some of the red still dripping down the side of the glass. Mrs. Montgomery slapped her hand over her mouth.
My own parents stood up as well, most of the attention in the room now on me and Staz. I looked down at myself and then back at Staz in disbelief.
"Staz, what have you done?!" his mother cried, snatching the glass out of his hands.
But Staz was still looking at me. He didn't seem angry or surprised. He just gave me a small nod of acceptance.
"I was just asking him about his art and he suddenly threw his drink on me," I said as my own parents came over.
"I am so sorry Jude. I am so, so sorry," Mrs. Montgomery said miserably. "Staz, apologize!"
"But I didn't do anything wrong," Staz said.
"I am so sorry about him," Mrs. Montgomery said to me and my parents. "I'll handle him, I promise."
She grabbed Staz's arm, ignoring it when he winced and tried to tug it away in discomfort. She dragged him out of sight, around to the back of the restaurant.
"Are you alright, Jude?" dad asked.
"Perfectly fine." I looked down at my clothes again. "I was just trying to make polite small-talk with him. What a weird kid."
"Take him home to change, Syd," mom said.
"Right. Come on, Jude," dad said.
"Judeikas!" Mom stopped me. "You're sure you didn't say anything to provoke him?"
She was giving me the look she always gave me whenever Ethan's mother claimed that I attacked Ethan. The look that said some part of her suspected, but that she didn't want to accept the truth.
"I'm positive," I said, giving her the innocent face I had perfect through the years.
I turned and followed my dad out of the restaurant, fighting off a triumphant smirk. There, it wasn't much, but it was a small warning to Staz. I was capable of a lot of things when I was pissed off. I could bend people to my will, and Staz was no exception.
Hm...maybe I could twist Staz to my advantage. Now that we knew he wouldn't say anything about what we did in the art wing, that could be our new place to take Ethan. Gideon and his friends wouldn't find us there.
Although, Ethan fought back. Not physically; he was far too weak for that. But verbally, he could be ruthless. He particularly enjoyed using Gideon to hurt me.
As much as I loved beating the shit out of Ethan, maybe it was time for a new victim. Staz had no friends to come looking for him. Clearly, his parents were more embarrassed than concerned when it came to Staz. Teachers would never take his word over mine.
A kid with no one to run to. A kid who always hung out in the most abandoned part of the school. A kid no teacher would go looking for, whose parents wouldn't bother with him if he was injured.
It was like a gift.
Dad parked in the driveway. "Do you want to come back to the dinner? You don't have to," he said.
"I think I'll stay home. It was a bit embarrassing," I said, getting out of the car.
"Alright, here." He pulled out his wallet and handed me money. "You can order yourself dinner if you don't feel like cooking. Just toss those clothes in the laundry room and we'll see if we can get the stain out."
I shut the car door and went inside. I stripped down to my boxers, lazily tossing the stained clothes into the laundry room and heading up to my bedroom.
I dialed Nate's number and put it on speaker as I searched for shorts and T-shirt. This was going to be great.
"Did you talk to him?" Nate answered.
"More than that." I smirked and told him what had happened.
"Jude," Nate said nervously. "I don't know if pissing him off is a good idea."
"Nate, listen to me. What we have is a kid with no friends and a family with better kids to worry about," I said. "This is a golden opportunity. Teachers won't be looking for him. No one will notice if he disappears for a little. His parents probably aren't even home half the time, and no one will notice if he comes back injured."
"Are you sure about this?" he asked.
"Positive. If we can get away with it with Ethan, who unfortunately now has friends and a family that gives a shit, we can definitely get away with it going after Staz," I said, tugging on shorts.
"You're going to use this to get in good with Gideon, aren't you?" he said with a sigh.
My smirk grew. "Exactly. I tell Gideon how sorry I am, that I'll never touch his friends again or whatever. We don't attack them for a while and Gideon starts to believe me. I work my way back onto his good side..."
I trailed off, letting it hang there. I could almost picture him smiling at me, laughing with me at a joke. The way he used to slip his arm around my waist with that cute blush on his face. I'd give anything to see him smile at me again. And now I could. I could relieve my stress and get back on good terms with Gideon. I wouldn't touch his friends. If they pissed me off, Nate and Landon could handle that. But as far as Gideon would know, I'd have nothing to do with it.
"Besides, I know a way to bother Staz," I said. "For whatever reason, he doesn't like being touched. I think it's skin-to-skin contact that freaks him out, but he'll get uncomfortable if you touch him over his clothing, too."
"Guess we'll find out tomorrow," Nate said. "We can corner the little freak in the art wing during lunch. There are no teachers in there at that time."
"Works for me. Fill Landon in. I'm going to go get food." I hung up my phone and grabbed a T-shirt, pulling it on. I shoved my phone in my pocket, making sure I had the money from my dad. I hurried into the bathroom and rinsed the drink out of my hair, towel drying it after.
I started down the stairs, feeling triumphant. I could use Staz to get out my anger and stress. I could win Gideon back. I just had to keep my mind in constant thinking mode and everything would finally turn around for me.