>>>>>Matthew's POV<<<<<
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"I swear to god man," Christian insisted, "your brother kicked Kale's sorry ass."
"It wasn't the first time I'd heard the gossip today, but I still found myself giving him a disbelieving frown. The entire day had been full f rumors, and this was just one of them I found confusing. My brother was a pompous idiot, as were all his friends, but this just didn't make sense. He wouldn't start a fight in school, it just wasn't like him. Especially not with Kale. The pair had hated each other, but they managed to set it aside to use each other. High school politics at it's finest.
I opened my locker, half heatedly asking, "What was the fight about?" I already knew what he was going to say before he said it. I'd been hearing it all day.
"Some girl," he shrugged, clearly not interested in anything but the fight itself.
Rein; obviously. I knew the who from the beginning. She was the only thing that'd ever set my brother over the edge. You could attack his car with a bat, insult him until you were blue in the face or even hit on his latest fling in front of him and all he'd do is give his self-confident smile. But so much as look at Rein for too long and he would watch your every move just waiting for an excuse to strike. Trust me, I would know.
Jakeson had a million reasons to pummel Kale. Over half of them were Rein orientated. But he never had. In his self righteous way he thought he was protecting Rein. If he blew up it acknowledged there was a problem and she'd brake. . . or so he thought. I knew better. She was a tough girl when given the chance. My brother and his friends were too busy babying her to let her so much as stick up for herself. Hell, she'd back talked me just the other day. Not to mention slapped Kale outright.
"You were there, you have to know more than just that," I snapped. "What about her got them fighting?"
The look on my face must have scared him, for Christian furrowed his brow in thought. "Uh. . . well they were yelling at each other," he offered, not helping at all. After a moment of him struggling for details his face lit up. "Oh yeah! She's dating Skylar!"
Just one more of the rumors I'd heard all day. Another thing that I'd filed under my bs category. I'd talked to Rein about Skylar before. She'd been as interested in him as a wet paper bag. "Why would the two of them fight each other and not Skylar?" I asked, both myself and him the recipient of the question. It still made no sense.
Once more he seemed to think. "I don't know. I only caught th end where your brother said the girl was his." I frowned at that. My delusional brother needed to accept Rein had long ago decided she didn't want him. Christian read the anger as being directed towards him and added, "Kale was insulting her, something about fucking her because they live together?"
"She doesn't live with him."
"She's moving back to his house or something," he rushed out, looking pleased with himself. "I think that's where it started; her moving in with him again. Only I heard that their parents a-"
It only took a second for my face to fall. Now this, this was news to me. Even worse was it made too much sense to have been a lucky guess. I pulled out my phone, dialing Jakeson's number in a hurry. If that fucker knew anything about this and hadn't told me. . . It only reached the second ring before I hung up. He's in detention, I reminded myself, he can't answer.
"What's wrong?"
I slammed my locker shut, looking to Christian and his shaggy black hair with a glare. "What's wrong?" I mimicked him, taking a step closer, "What's wrong is nobody tells me anything these days, and when I do find out it's second hand information that I have to play with like some rubix cube!"
The angry growl barely made it out of my lips, I stalked down the hall. If Jakeson was in detention that meant Rein would be lacking a ride. With all the whispers of her and Skylar dating I knew where she'd be finding that ride home; Skylar. The rumor had probably started from them being so close all the time. Knowing how he fawned after her I wouldn't put it past him to add fuel to the fire.
I turned the corner with a bit of an added rush to my step. When I got there I'd play it cool. It would only make sense for me to give her a ride home. We did live together after all. Then I'd have the whole drive to find out what was really going on. Rein wouldn't lie to me, of that I was certain. And if her moving out was true?
I have to talk her out of it.
It was the only option. She couldn't move out! It was nice not having the house empty all the time. Sure, we used to throw parties, but I'd trade that just to watch Rein cook us dinner and spend a Friday night relaxing at home. I hadn't even realized I wanted that until she cme along. I used to look forward to partying so hard I'd wake up with a hangover and a random chick. Now all I wanted was to wake at the crack of dawn to catch Rein on her way to breakfast. Something about sitting across from her and sharing our food while Jakeson was fast asleep and unable to interrupt our one-on-one time made my day go smoothly.
If Rein really was going back to that asshole's house then I had to stop it. I was the only one who could, or even would. Knowing Jakeson he hadn't even lifted a finger. He'd do anything to keep from upsetting her. Me, on the other hand, knew she could take getting upset just fine. rein could handle herself fine in an argument, and it was up to me to remind her of that. It was also up to me to make her realize that this time she was wrong and she absolutely had to stay!
When my eyes fell on the row of lockers I'd been in such a rush to reach I slowed my pace to a stroll. There were plenty of people milling around, but none of them were Rein or Skylar. My eyes scanned the hallway before finally locking on a decent looking blond. Jackpot.
I walked towards her, pausing as I almost passed her by, to offer up a smile. "Hey there."
Her eyes snapped up from her bookbag to scan me quickly. Her baby blues locked onto my face and her own lit up. "Hi Matthew."
It wasn't the first time someone and known my name and I couldn't even guess what theirs started with. But names weren't important for what I needed to find out. "Say, I've seen you with Skylar before," total lie, "you two are friends right?"
The girl's cheeks flushed. "Yeah," she hesitated, "well, his locker's right by mine so we talk sometimes."
"Cool," I nodded, a pleased smile overcoming my face. "Then would you- oh, nevermind."
"What?" She asked, a little too eager.
I shrugged. "Oh nothing, yoo probably don't know anyways."
"You can't start to ask something and not finish," she pouted, pushing some of her bottle blonde hair over her shoulder. "Besides, maybe I do know."
Keeing my poker face on I ran my hand over my hair. I had this chick hook, line and sinker. "Promise not to laugh?"
"Promise."
"I borrowed Skylar's notes because I slept through class. Only I forgot to return them, and now I can't find him. you wouldn't happen to know if he left already, would you?"
"He went to the photolab to find his girlfriend," her face darkened, "you just missed him."
Bingo. Even though the 'girlfriend' part made me want to roll my eyes I managed a charming smile. "You're a lifesaver. I gotta run to catch him, but I'll see you around."
And once more I was hurrying down the hallway. So Skylar had to go looking for her too, that was a good sign. At least I hadn't been too late to catch her before I left. With any luck Skylar had only just found her. But what would my excuse for looking for her be? I don't need one. All I have to do is say I heard she was without a ride. It was something she'd expect from me.
"-totally out of proportion!"
Rein's strained voice cut through the air, drifting quietly through the open door to the photoroom and finding my ear like a well trained knife. Like an idiot I crept up to the door, peering around the corner to peek inside. As I spotted Rein, hands on the desk in front of her, bent forwards as if glaring at someone, a new voice cut in. "I told you word would spread fast, I just didn't know how fast." Skylar made his appearance, stepping into view and o to the other side of the desktop rein had her hands on.
"Don't play innocent," she demanded, "you played along with the rumors."
"Rein, all we did was hold hands. If people assumed we were dating it's-"
"I can't believe people actually believe that! And you, you didn't deny it when they asked if we were."
Skylar took a step forward. "I didn't say we were either," he pointed out. This only made Rein lift her hands from the desk and rake them angrily through her golden blond hair. "All I did was play along."
"You may as well have," she grumbled. Some of her anger had faded and I found myself growing upset instead. That asshole Skylar had taken on a smooth tone, his stooped accent only making him sound all the more convincing. Or, in my opinion, pathetic.
"Look Rein, thing got out of hand. If you calm down we can figure something out."
Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath. I sighed in relief for a different reason. So it was all just rumors. I knew they couldn't be dating.
But just as I relaxed it struck me; he was succeeding in talking her down. I ducked back, pressing my back against the locker beside the open door. I had to do something, but what?
"Why did you have to egg on Jakeson?" she asked, interrupting my thoughts. "That was completely uncalled for."
"You saw him. He was being territorial over you. Just today he announced to an entire class you were his."
I grimaced. Leave it to my idiot brother to pull such a classy move. I looked around the corner once more. The red hue to Rein's face gave me the impression she felt similarly. "He only did that because Kale pushed him too far," she, surprisingly, defended Jakeson. "And that has nothing to do with you pretending you were my boyfriend to piss him off!"
"Is it that impossible to think it had nothing to do with trying to upset him?"
"What other reason is there?"
He sat on the edge of the desk, eyeing her a little too intensely for my liking. "I didn't want to do it like this."
"Do what?"
I pulled away from the door, my hand balling into a fist. "Rein, have you ever considered taking our relationship to the next level?"
Her silence was too much and I rushed back off the way I'd come. I had just eavesdropped on Skylar askng Rein out. The news was a shock through my system. I'd known he was hot for her. Hell, every guy who'd ever seen them together knew. She'd been the only girl he not only spent time with, but the only one he continued to spend time with even after his one week period was up. One week; that was all it took for a girl to fall for him, sleep with him and somehow be given the brush off without any hard feelings. Rein had been hanging out with him for months now, and had even come out of a date with him as though it'd just been an outing between friends.
I hadn't known he was serious though. I figured he'd either grow out of it or find someone else to focus on. For a short while he had started to see other girls again, and it hadn't even phased Rein. That should have been hint enough for the guy that she ddn't care what he did because she wasn't interested in him that way.
And then. . . I thought maybe he'd realize she wasn't his type. Rein was almost one of the guys; almost. She played football tougher than most of the JV team, could out burp Spencer, devoured a steak at the same pace as the carnivore Frankie, and she would cut off her own head before being stuck watching a chick flick. And yet somehow I wouldn't classify her as a tomboy.
No, she was too hot for that. And so, she was filed under both the categories of a girl I'd not only hang out with, but do as well. Rein was the only girl I could honestly say that about.
Finding myself third party to Skylar officially asking her out was like some dark prank being pulled. Sure, according to the school they were already dating. But I'd at least known it was a lie. Now I wasn't so sure what tommorows whispers would bring. Would they go from gossip to seeing them together with my own eyes? He'd calmed her down so quickly it was as though he were some snake charmer, using that idiotic accent of his to smooth things over. Oooh I'm from England and can't pronounce 'waterbottle,' aren't I so charming?
I grimaced stepping up to my locker, setting my forearm against it as I bowed my head and blew out a breath. There had to be something I could do, all I had to do was think. Or so I hoped.