Monday came too quickly and I wearily trudged into home economics. Because of all the crap that happened on Friday, I'd totally forgotten about my math exam and had walked into the classroom this morning totally unprepared. Fortunately it was pretty easy material, but I would've liked to be better prepared. I wanted to have a 4.0.
Isaac was the only one in the classroom. When he saw me, he gave me a sheep-ish look. I half-smiled, half-grimaced at him. "How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Better," he responded with a shrug. "Listen, I'm really sorry about Friday. Can you tell Chris for me? I know I was being stupid, but what I said is true. Someone is trying to get the gang back together."
I felt my heart skip a beat and I folded my arms over my stomach. "How do you know? Who would want to do that? Why?"
"I don't know," he replied, frowning. "But I know it's not Shawn. He might know something, but he's not the ringleader here."
I bit my lip, chewing on it slightly. How sure was Isaac about this? Maybe he was attacked in the ally because someone was bored and wanted a fight. But after last year, what members would even want to continue to fight? Half of them went to jail and the other half got their ass kicked by Chris.
"Holly."
Jumping, I pulled myself from my thoughts and noticed Isaac had moved closer to me, his bright green orbs only inches away from mine. He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. "I know you've probably gone through a lot, but I'm only saying this because I'm worried. I know they're going to go after Chris. Everyone has always wanted to beat him. He was the best of us. And I don't know all of what happened last year— I haven't even heard Chris's name in years — but I figure it was pretty bad for you too. It could happen all over again if we're not careful."
I knew he was right. Even though Chris didn't want to admit it to me, I was sure Chris knew he was right too. It was going to get dangerous again. My lips started to tremble, but I pressed them together forcefully. No. I wasn't going to cry about it. I wasn't going to stand by and be the victim this time with everyone protecting me. This time I had to pull my own weight. This time it wasn't about me; it was about everyone.
"What should we do?" I asked, holding Isaac's gaze with determination.
He looked surprised by my response. "What?"
"What should we do?" I repeated, feeling my heart beating fast in my chest. If we could stop this before anything even really began, it'd be better for everyone.
"Holly, you should stay out of it as much as possible—"
"No," I said, cutting him off. Was my heart beating from fear? Or excitement? Maybe both? "We're stopping this."
Isaac ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. His expression was indecisive, his jaw clenching and unclenching. The door to the classroom opened suddenly, a couple of my classmates spilling in. Isaac fell a step back, but his eyes stayed on me. "You want to help?"
"The sooner we get this over the better," I told him.
"Chris won't like it—"
"Chris doesn't like when I do anything even slightly dangerous."
Isaac fidgeted, but I could tell what he was thinking. He wanted to figure out what was happening too— of course he did! Three men assaulted him because of whatever it was. "We'll talk later," he finally decided, eyeing the students in the classroom.
I nodded, cupping my left elbow with my right hand. "Okay. I'll try to talk Chris into it as well."
"Good luck," Isaac responded with a slight smile.
I turned away from him just as Jeremy strutted into the classroom, Casey on his arm. "Hey!" Casey greeted me cheerfully.
"Hi," I responded, giving her a small smile.
"You look a little pale," Jeremy commented. He narrowed his eyes at me, looking a little apprehensive.
I stared back at him, wondering if he knew what Isaac and I were just talking about. He wasn't that perceptive, was he? "What?" I asked, a little more accusing than I meant to.
"You okay?" he asked.
My smile became a little more real, and a little bigger. Jeremy was an idiot, but he was surprisingly empathetic idiot. "I'm great."
"Did you eat today?" he asked, patting my cheek.
I slapped his hand away. "Yes, I did, Mom."
Casey laughed, unlatching herself from Jeremy's arm. "She's always pale, Jer. She's part vampire or something."
Jeremy's trademark grin came onto his face. "Yeah, I'm sure she sucks something—"
I jammed my foot into his knee, causing him to shut up and groan in pain. "Shut up," I said, but felt a little fond. He always knew how to joke around (albeit vulgarly) to make someone feel better.
"Are we beating up Jeremy? Because I am so in," a new voice spoke up and I turned my head to see Lance. He gave Jeremy and evil grin and Jeremy rolled his eyes.
"Aren't you too proper and British to beat someone up?"
"I haven't lived in Polperro for years! And those are stereotypes!"
"Ah, that's right. I do recall you got your ass kicked by some gang members last year... a couple times."
Lance opened his mouth to retort, but I cut them off. "Do you guys always have to fight?"
Jeremy looked offended. "Fight? We're getting along great!"
"No one can get along with you. Except maybe Casey. Because she's crazy," Lance muttered.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Casey responded, lifting her chin up.
"Um... can I get class started?"
All of us turned to face Isaac, who was staring at us with an uncomfortable look. I glanced around the classroom, realizing everyone else was already seated and we were the only ones standing up. Feeling my face warm a little, I immediately headed for our table and sat down. The others followed me, Jeremy and Lance exchanging soft punches.
Today in class we were learning about checkbooks. I zoned out immediately, doodling on a pieced of notebook paper. After Isaac was done lecturing the class about how to balance a checkbook, he handed out practice sheets and left us to ourselves. I sighed and fished out my calculator. As boring as it sounded, I figured one day I'd need to know how to do it. Maybe.
"I thought we'd be cooking in this class, not doing math," Lance complained. "I didn't even bring my calculator— Holly, share with me."
"No way," I replied immediately. Lance's meaning of share was actually hog.
"I don't even use checks," Casey commented, squinting at the paper in front of her. "And can't you just check your balance online?"
"I think you need it for taxes, right?" Jeremy said.
Lance raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "Shouldn't you know this already?"
"I'm not that much older than you guys!"
"You're pretty old."
Jeremy turned to Casey, wild-eyed. "I'm not old, right?"
Casey kept a bland smile on her face. "Eh..."
"I hate all of you."
"Listen, we're learning valuable life lessons in this class," I said. "And this is what we get for not actually reading the course description. Which I'm going to do when I get home so there's no more surprises."
"In my defense, we will be doing some cooking," a new voice commented from above me.
Turning my head, I saw Isaac peering down at me. "What are checkbooks for?"
He blinked at me. "You're really asking me that?"
"I, uh... yeah," I muttered, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. Although I didn't know why I felt that way. Maybe because it was actually a really stupid question. I was almost nineteen and didn't know how to use a checkbook...
For some reason, he looked faintly disappointed. Lowering his eyes, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "We're you not listening to the lecture..."
I glanced at Jeremy, who was grinning into his hands. Frantically, I tried to think back to what Isaac was saying. Did I not catch any of it? I felt a blush spread on my face. "I'm sorry, I spaced out."
"I guess I should expect that..." Isaac bit his lower lip. "It's not a super interesting subject. I'm sorry my lectures are boring."
"Yeah, you're pretty boring," Jeremy said, nodding.
Isaac shot him a dirty look. "You don't need to give your two cents."
"I thought your lecture was interesting," Casey spoke up. She batted her eyelashes at him when he looked at her, making Jeremy roll his eyes.
"I promise I'll pay attention from now on," I said, watching Isaac give Casey an awkward smile.
He turned his attention to me and shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. You're the one who needs to pass, not me."
"Ah, that's true..."
"That sounded like a true professor," Jeremy said with a grin.
Isaac let out a small laugh. "That's what I'm trying to be."
"Could you explain one more time what we're supposed to do?" I requested, offering him a bashful look.
He nodded, taking a seat next to me at our table. "Don't worry, it's really simple. What you do is..."
Later that evening, I trudged into Chris's apartment, where something smelled wonderful. "How did I get to be so lucky?" I sighed, stepping into the kitchen and seeing Chris hovering over the oven. "Smells like steak..."
He turned around, his face stretching into a grin when he saw me. "How was school?"
"It got boring quick," I told him, grinning back at him. A quick glance at the stove revealed that it was indeed steak that he was cooking. Along with mashed potatoes and broccoli.
"I should have held you back a year."
"No you shouldn't have."
"You'd be with me again for another full year."
I moved up to him and wrapped my arms around him. "I'm already with you for another full year."
"And hopefully many more," he said, kissing the top of my head.
"What's the steak for?" I asked curiously, backing away from him.
He poked at it with a meat thermometer. "What? I can't cook a delicious dinner for my beautiful girlfriend?"
"You can... but is there an ulterior motive?"
"Nope."
"Really?"
He gave me a flat look. "Can't I cook dinner for you because I love you?"
My heart skipped a beat at his words. No matter how many times he said 'I love you', I felt like I'd never get used to it. It still gave me butterflies. A silly smile spread onto my face. "I guess..."
"Good. It's ready. You had perfect timing. Grab some soda from the fridge and I'll bring in the food?"
Doing as he said, I snatched some cans of Coke from the fridge while he plated the food and we set up shop in the living room. I didn't hesitate before digging in and like I expected, it tasted perfect. "I might love your food more than you," I commented.
He laughed. "Impossible."
"Maybe not."
"Did Isaac say anything weird to you in class today?" Chris asked, turning to look directly at me.
I paused, a forkful of potatoes almost to my mouth. My eyes widened a little bit. How did he know? Was he really that good at reading me?
Chris frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. "I'm guessing by your look that he did... what did he say?"
"Umm..." I hesitated. How much of this did I want to tell Chris? Everything? I didn't really want to keep anything from him, but I didn't want him lecturing me either. "Well, he didn't say much." That was the truth.
"Holly."
"He just said what he said the other night," I told him. "He's sure there's someone else out there."
Sighing, Chris shook his head. "He needs to drop it."
"But what if there is someone else out there?" I insisted, putting down my fork. "He could be right."
"We went over this Holly, we're not getting involved." There was a hard edge to his voice.
I puffed out my cheeks. "But—"
"But nothing," he interjected, grey eyes piercing mine. "I'm done. You're done. I won't risk your safety."
"If someone's out there, they'll be after you—"
"If. There's a pretty big if."
"Stop interrupting me," I snapped.
Chris rubbed his neck, suddenly looking weary. "I know his words probably got you all riled up and worried, but trust me Holly. Nothing's going to happen. Isaac just gets into trouble easily. He always has. He's wrong about this though."
"But..." I trailed off, not wanting to start an argument. Of course, Chris was just worried. I appreciated it. But I was worried about him too. So much. He wanted to ignore the problem because it was easier than thinking that we might be in danger again. I understood it.
I reached over and took his hand into mine, squeezing it tightly. Chris squeezed it back, but his facial expression remained stern. Chewing my lip, I lowered my gaze. Maybe it was best not to talk to him about it. Plotting behind his back sounded terrible, but maybe it was the best I could do for now. "Okay," I finally said.
He seemed to visibly relax. "Thank you, Holly."
"Will you at least keep an eye out for anything weird?" I asked, nodding toward the T.V. I would be too, but it'd be easier to get Chris to investigate with me if he became suspicious as well.
"I always do anyway," he responded. "Now eat your dinner and get some meat on those bones."
Rolling my eyes, I pulled my plate onto my lap and took a tiny bite of my steak. Chris was obviously out of the investigation. I glanced at him, feeling a little nervous. Would it be okay to do it without him? It was only investigation. It wasn't like I was hunting down a gang member. I'd just figure out what I could and if anything came up, I'd then bring it to him. And Isaac was there to help. It would be fine.
Or at least, I hoped it would be fine.
_________
Long time no see guys! I'm sorry about the delay. I'm having major writer's block with this story for some reason. I know where I want to go....but I'm having trouble remembering how to write Holly. (so sorry if she's a little weird!!!) I'll have to re-read APR or something.