Chapter seven
As expected, table-by-table the cafeteria quieted down as more and more faces turned their way. After a brief flash of uncertainty in her eyes, Anika mustered her confidence up enough to offer all her onlookers a confident smirk topped off with an indifferent, if not slightly bored icy stare. A wolf whistle somewhere to her left had Anika glaring at a group of guys looking smug with themselves. An idea popped up in her head and she dropped her hostile gaze. Anika's curious grey eyes met each of the five boys' shocked ones and she let a small smile slip onto her lips as linked eyes with the leader; the one that drew her attention over there.
Looking over her shoulder, Anika gave Mel and Keira a mischievous smirk so they knew what she was up to and they returned the gesture before leaning back against the doorframe to watch the scene unfold. Anika composed herself to seem all-innocent like and faced the boys, taking step after step towards them. Their eyes widened as she gently swung her hips more noticeably.
"What's a girl like you doing around here? You couldn't hurt a fly." the leader, a guy with wavy brown hair and sparkling amused brown eyes purred patting his lap for her to sit. She did. Anika let out a cute squeaky laugh and trailed a finger over his chest, smiling inwardly when he shivered.
"They said I did something bad." she made here eyes go teary.
"A sweet little angel like you doing something bad? I don't believe it. But tell me, what did they say you did?" he nuzzled her neck and played with one of her black curls. It took all she had not to push him away.
"I-" she broke off staring straight into his amused eyes. "I guess I bullied a lot of kids." his laugh made her want to cover her ears but she forced her scowl down and faked her own quiet chuckle.
"You? A bully?" one of his friends raised a disbelieving brow. Anika nodded her head over exaggeratedly with a little 'uh-hm' noise in the back of her throat.
"I think they were wrong." Anika's attention was brought back to the guy she was sitting on.
"Or maybe...I think..." Anika swung her leg around to straddle his legs and cocked her head to the side so all her raven curls tumbled over her shoulder and into his face.
"Maybe you think what?" he prompted. Anika waited until his eyes were nearly shut before she spoke next.
"I think you shouldn't assume things about people you don't know." her hands pushed his legs apart so she could grip the front ledge of the seat and lift up as she stood. The chair tipped back at an alarming rate as the boy flailed his arms trying to gain his balance back. The chair hit the tiled floor making a loud thumping sound that echoed around the silent cafeteria.
With a groan, the boy opened his eyes in a daze and caught sight of Anika's fierce glare. He scrambled backwards, still sprawled over the floor and looked to his friends for help.
"Can you do me a favor?" she crouched down to his level, whispering. "Keep your whistles and hands to yourself." Anika stood and took a few steps back to the door where Mel hit Keira as the blond struggled not to laugh. She half turned her body to look at the kid on the ground before continuing.
"It could save you a lot of trouble and embarrassment." she softened her scowl enough to give him a wink and a smile before turning around again and strolling over to the girls.
Slowly the volume rose with the excited chatter of delinquents all talking about her. Among all the fresh gossip, Anika lifted her chin a little higher as she winked at Keira who muffled her laughs with a hand and led the three of them over to a table in the corner.
"Who's your friend, girls?" a husky voice purred when Keira pulled out a chair and sat. Mel did the same as well as Anika who studied the new face at their table. His white blond hair glowed with the sun streaming through the window on his backside. Long slender fingers cradled his cheek as his slightly pointed chin sat on his palm. Just below his sharp nose were his half smirking tan lips. His eyes were a cherry brown color with dark lashes that remained unblinking over his pronounced cheekbones.
"Skinner, this is Anika. She's our new roommate." Keira smiled. "Anika, this is Skin."
"Nice to meet you." He held out a pale hand for her to shake. Hesitantly, Anika placed her hand in his and was a bit shocked when he brought it up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
"Knock it off Skin. We actually want to keep her around." Mel swatted him up the head. He let out a soft chuckle and apologized, letting go of her hand.
"Don't mind him, he's special." Keira said slowly, eyes smirking over at Skinner who playfully glared at her.
"Anyway, nice entrance. Real charming." Skinner's eyes flicked over to the group of kids on the other side of the room.
"Which one? Yesterday with the kid or today with the other kid?" Mel chuckled darkly.
"I heard about yesterday but you can give me all the details later. I was referring to him." Skinner said jerking his head to where Anika had just come from.
"Just thought I might send off a little warning and what better way than to use an example." Anika shrugged.
"So food..." Keira bounced in her seat, looking over at the food tables longingly as other kids were being served.
"You and food." Anika heard Skinner mumbled as he shook his head, a smile playing at his lips.
"You can talk more when we get in that line." Keira jumped out of her seat and nearly skipped over to the growing line of kids waiting for their supper.
"And she said I'm special." Skinner bumped Anika's shoulders.
Mel scoffed from a few steps ahead. "It takes a special person to know a special person."
"Naw, don't worry Red. You're special too. You know us!" he laughed flinging a lanky arm around Anika's shoulders and leaned his taller frame over her.
"Speak for yourself." Anika smirked and shrugged off his arm. "I'm awesome."
"Ooh, I like her." Skinner turned his head to Keira and Mel who were in front of them in the line. "She's fun. Unlike you guys."
"We're fun!" Keira feigned a hurt look. "I'm fun."
"No, you're just abusive." he smirked at them. Keira shrugged and Mel looked satisfied. The four of them grabbed their trays and dinner before heading back to the table.
"So what did yesterday's kid do to deserve your wrath?" Skinner asked as he took a drink.
"What makes you think he did something?" Anika asked curiously.
"Well, considering you haven't attacked any of us so far, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you don't just attack anybody at random." Keira said.
"Plus you had that look on your face." Mel chimed in.
"That look?" Anika asked and looked between the girls.
"Yeah, like you could kill him. It doesn't take a genius to realize he said something wrong. In this world, guys are hot or not and if they are then they don't always have it together." Keira explain, frowning a bit at the end.
"I beg your pardon." Skinner scoffed indignantly as he defended himself.
"You're cute in a little kid way, Skin. But you aren't always the brightest crayon in the pack." Keira patted his shoulder as he frowned down at her.
"You're just jealous. They chased me down just so they could have at least one irresistible face to put on the cover." Skinner struck a pose in his chair. Keira rolled her eyes and resumed eating.
"Skinner's one of the rare five percent that really shouldn't be here because their actions are hardly illegal." Mel explained.
"So what'd ya do?" Anika asked, eyeing the white blond kid.
His cherry brown eyes darkened in anger. "I stood up for a kid being picked on by three other shits."
"Our friend here knocked 'em out." Keira stated proudly.
"His only mistake was that he kept going after they were out." Mel added on and Skinner muttered what heard like 'and they deserved it'.
"And now he's here, among us delinquents." Keira chirped with sarcasm.
"In that case, I'm not really a bully." Anika quickly cleared up.
He smirked at her. "I wouldn't hit a girl." his smile grew wider Anika relaxed. "But if you were, I'd sick Mel on you."
"How 'bout I sick my left fist on your face?" Mel blinked innocently but Skinner just brushed off her threat.
"But now I'm curious. What could an angel like you be doing here?" Skinner used the kid across the cafeteria's words.
"I think it was mostly the vandalism that landed me here, if you can even call it that. But I don't think running from the cops helped." Anika thought aloud.
"Vandalism? Like how Mel destroyed her principal's car?" Keira asked with a raised blond brow.
"No, no bats or anything. Just spray paint cans." Anika smiled as memories of her first run filled her mind.
"Ah, graffiti." Skinner nodded.
"Yep. It wasn't like we were defacing statues or people houses. Just old abandoned buildings down town. But then the cops showed and we split up."
"How many were with you?"
"Just three others. Greg, who was kind of like our leader in a way. He took me in after... some things came up. And then there's Nick and Lex." now thinking about them, Anika smiled at herself at how much Keira, Mel and Skinner resembled her friends back in her town.
"How come they didn't get caught?" Mel asked.
"We split. Nick and Lex ran opposite of Greg and I. We came out of an alley when a cop drove by. We got separated and I was supposed to call him when I was safe."
"But something went wrong." Keira figured.
"Yeah. I came out of another alleyway in front of another cop car and couldn't stop in time. Now I know what bugs feel like when they go splat on the windshield. I passed out on the pavement before he even got out." Anika frowned at the memory and lifted her hand to feel the 'goose egg' bruise on the back of her head.
"That sucks. You get caught and the rest of your gang keeps hidden." Skinner said.
"You idiot, that's the all that you got from that?" Keira punched him in the arm before turning back to Anika. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just a mild concussion. And I asked them not to come see me. No need for them to get caught." Anika shrugged one shoulder and stared down at her food. "I called from the hospital and told them I'd be coming here."
"You didn't call your parents?" Keira asked confused.
Anika froze momentarily. She questioned whether or not she should tell them the truth. After all, she didn't even tell Greg and she was practically living with him on rainy weather days.
"They're not around." The three others frown at her vague and elusive answer but thought better not to push her.
"Okay, so what about the hunk?" Keira asked, referring to Ryleigh. At the mentioning of his name, Anika scowled grimly.
"What about Ryleigh?" she said lowly.
"Such a perfect name for... a stupid kid." Keira quickly changed her ending when Anika turned her glare on her. "Such a stupid, idiotic, good looking, mouth watering kid." she shook her head in disappointment. "See? Hot and dumb as a rock. Shouldn't guys learn not to piss us girls off?"
"What did he say?" Mel asked, dropping her fork on her plate thinking that what was about to be said next was a lot more interesting than playing with her mashed potatoes.
"He said some perverted things." Anika glared at her plate. She straightened suddenly as she ran through the encounter with him in her head.
"Sargent went inside to get him and the next thing I know, the kid is wheeled out in a wheel chair passed out."
"Oh, the chloroform came out." Keira cut in, frowning.
"Some one must have socked him in the nose 'cause I wiped the blood under it. That was two hours before we arrived. I fell asleep in the car and the next thing I know, I'm being slammed into the window." Anika grumbled. "As if being concussed wasn't enough."
"So you flipped?" Mel leaned forward in anticipation.
"No, I kept it together for a bit longer. Of course I gave him a piece of my mind after that but I didn't lay a finger on him... yet. Genevieve introduced us and basically told him my whole life story. He decided to poke fun and that was when I snapped."
"I don't blame you." Mel propped her chin up with the palm of her hand, and elbow on the table. "Serves him right."
"Um... Skin?" Keira's eyes widened as she looked across the room.
"What's up?" Skinner asked as he took in his friend's slightly nervous look.
"Have any of the guys been talking about which wing Ryleigh belongs in?"
"Not that I've heard of. Why?"
"Well... he's coming this way."