Thick brown gravy pooled near my vans and mushy mashed potatoes drooped down my left knee, all this happening as my skirt thirstily absorbed the punch that splashed from the broken bowl. Glancing down, I spotted corn littering my baby blue turtleneck, some pieces even found itself on the waves of my hair.
"Oh my God! What the hell is wrong with you, asshole!?" Hannah's high-pitched voice screamed, shock coating her anger induced words.
"That slut fell on her own," the familiar Imperishable sneered, dismissing Hannah's accusing tone and defending Tate.
My throat constricted unbearably tight, painfully creating aching throbs to ignite as my heart rate spiked. I stifled the gut-wrenching cry that had a desire to emerge to the surface, a desire that demanded for Tate to be aware of the mental and physical strain he was putting on me.
"Sucks to suck," I heard the Imperishable comment again, snickering directly at me.
My eyes stung as if I were a little girl challenging the sun with a staring contest and losing almost immediately, tears welling up the rims of my blue orbs. I clenched my teeth exceptionally hard together, restraining myself from what they wanted.
My tears, my pain. I wasn't going to dare let them have that sick satisfaction.
No way they are, a dark voice echoed throughout my mind.
"Does your mouth have a fucking off switch?" Hannah viciously glared at the guy, marching away from him and coming towards me.
She bent down and gingerly grabbed my arm, helping me rise up as she softly spoke. "It's going to be alright. I'll get you out of here, I promise."
I gripped her back in a death grip, unable to trust my wobbly legs to securely balance me. Half the weight on my chest alleviated from Hannah's words.
"Shit. Oh, fuck! Shit," she panicked, looking down at my side where my hand was.
And then the weight dropped back, making me feel like my organs were centimeters away from being absolutely crushed.
Ragged breaths broke out from me.
"Damn it," I heard Tate's low voice.
I glanced up to him, finding his charcoal eyes intensely staring at the location Hannah was, and for the first time in awhile, anger melted off his face as it was replaced with what looked like guilt.
I leveled my eyes to my writing hand, dramatically halting my breathing as I did. A deep gash sliced through the skin on my palm, causing a dark red substance to ooze at a steady pace to the ground, forming a small puddle. Droplets of blood roll down my skin as they find their way to my fingertips, taking a plunge off and making a splash to the puddle below, the one swiftly expanding.
Strange, I couldn't feel the injury before but it was now throbbing immensely, feeling as if little needles were piercing the cut all over due to the sharp stabbing sensation.
"Hey! What's going on over here!?" I heard a familiar voice bark out, causing me to jerk tensely.
My head whipped to the side, finding light brown eyes staring hellfire at Tate and the Imperishable. The tall guy's dirty blonde hair was tied in a bun, which instantly caused a connection in my brain, easily making me realize this was Alessandro, Asher's secret friend.
Behind him stood Noah's other friend, the one who managed to do a good job at keeping people from using his name, because I never once heard it. His slender body could easily tower over anyone under 6 feet, it makes me shiver thinking about how intimidating it would be being trapped between his arms.
There was something about how his mocking smirk always stayed in place for any situation that made me feel unease. It never faltered and never left his lips. It was like a default face to cover what laid underneath.
Hannah's tense shoulders relaxed at the sight of Alessandro, making me calm down in the process. She gently lifted my hand with her own.
"Don't leave it hanging down, more blood will just spill. I'll bring you to the nurse, ok?" She whispers over to me.
I didn't respond as I laid my sight upon the four guys in front of me.
"This is none of your business, get your Morte smelling asses out of here," the Imperishable warns as he steps threateningly over to Alessandro's space.
Alessandro didn't hesitate to decrease the distance between them, shoving his buff chest against the other guy's while he cocked his head, staring down at him, belittling the guy with his poisonous eyes. The Imperishable was about 5 foot 9, shorter than the others currently here, who all stood above 6 feet.
"Saint's sister is my business, little man. Why don't you go find your mom and let the adults talk, yeah?" Alessandro seethes through his teeth, his knuckles growing white at his balling fists.
I saw the Imperishable instinctively reach inside his jacket, faltering in his actions as he lets his hand fall to his side. He sets his blazing eyes upon Alessandro's harden face.
"You're lucky we're on school grounds and I can't cut up that atrocious face of yours. I would've loved to place another scar on your jawline," the Imperishable smiled vilely, admiring the faint scar that I now realized Alessandro had.
"I have no time to deal with the likes of you," he replied, his anger sealed away in a split second as he collided his shoulder with the guy.
I stopped paying attention as a shadow casted over me, blocking the gym's light from my face. That's when my eyes connected with light green ones.
"Those motherfuckers," Noah's nameless friend said, staring at my injury with a prominent deep frown.
He settled his hand on my shoulder before running it along my upper arm, trying to soothingly rub me as he asked, "You want me to take you to the nurse?"
I promptly tensed up at his touch, glancing down at his hand before staring at his face that lacked concern. His words held more emotions than his facial features ever could.
Before I could form a reply, Hannah's hand smacked down on the guy's, harshly.
"She doesn't need more trouble. Fuck off," she hissed, instantly grabbing my elbow and pulling me away from him.
Her face had gone sour at his arrival and her shoulders instantly rose up in tension again.
"I would watch that mouth of yours, wouldn't want Noah to find out you've been disrespecting his people," he grins deviously, snapping back into his normal state.
I swallowed hard, knowing Hannah had a strong dislike for this particular person and I wondered why.
"And I would watch those hands of yours, wouldn't want Tamara seeing you getting handsy with other girls again," she grins forcefully back, her eyes narrowing and her nose flaring.
Were Tamara and this guy dating? I never knew. And did he make it a habit to be with other girls who weren't her?
Before I could pick at the little knowledge I gained, my attention was grab at the sound of shouting.
"So you got nothing to say, bro? You just like hurting girls who ain't do jack shit to you? You really got nothing to say for yourself?!" Alessandro bellowed in front of Tate's blank face.
I could see his eyes shifting from my hand back to Alessandro's face, not a peep coming from him. He started to stare boringly at the ceiling before dipping his head back, connecting his eyes with Alessandro again, a challenging aura radiating off him as he raised his chin.
I could tell it infuriated Alessandro as his fingers started to twitch, probably inching to make a fist again and ram it in Tate's face. However, in the crowd of quiet watchers, came a teacher pushing through the sea of students, her hour glass figure emerging into the scene.
My breath hitched.
Mom?! I mean, Mrs. Saint. No, I mean my mom!
Her bulging blue eyes assessed everything in seconds, finding Alessandro's shaking with fury as a blank Tate stood in front of him. She found a messy with food daughter whose hand was still leaking blood like a broken water pipe, an upset Hannah staring daggers into a smug dude beside me, and a fuming short Imperishable in the midst of it all.
"What happened here?" She asked eerily calm, her eyes wrapping around me, awaiting the answer, knowing I couldn't possibly lie.
She quickly glanced at the shards of glass and food on the ground, making the creases between her eyebrows deepen. But when she saw the puddle of my blood that wasn't apart of the drinks, a protective nerve popped out of her forehead.
"I want names, specific details on what led up to this, and the person who started this to come forward. An expulsion is what someone here is looking at!" She demanded in a firm tone, authority dripping from her stiff stance.
"...Bullying of any kind with not be accepte–"
"I-I tripped," I squeaked before anyone else could utter a single word.
Her protective mom eyes fell upon me.
"Bitch is clumsy as fuck, case closed," the Imperishable beside me asserts, a scowl etched onto his face at my mother's display of power.
"Watch your mouth, young man," my mom warns strictly, her scrutinizing eyes sweeping over him, lingering for awhile as she ponders if I was stating the truth.
But who was she to question me? I never gave her a reason not to before, so surely I wouldn't be lying now to her, at least that's what she thinks.
"If I wasn't watching my mouth, it would be latched on to those lips of yours, sweetheart," he vulgarly commented, his tone highly condescending as he licks his lips.
Completely unfazed, my mom responded back, "You just earned yourself a detention because of that foul mouth of yours, mister."
"Funny, my mouth, with the help of my tongue, of course, usually earns me sweet pussy juice. You seem like you need to relax, I can help with that," he lewdly counters, indecently sucking his bottom lip as he ran his eyes along her curvy figure.
My mother's eyes bulged out of their sockets at the crude remark, entirely taken aback from the Imperishable's offensive words and transparency, however, the shock was gone as soon as it came. She straightened her posture and stared unimpressed by the wild beast raised by wolves.
And to the side of me stood an amused guy, Noah's nameless friend had a twinkle of glee in his eyes as he watched the intense exchange.
Alessandro, Tate, and Hannah all carried heated glares directed at the awful behaved individual, not finding his remarks humorous in the slightest degree.
"I find educating ignorant and poorly behaved students on a Saturday morning to be quite soothing. You just bought yourself Saturday detention for the next three weeks," she sharply reprimands.
"HA! You're bugging, bitch," he laughs insolently loud, drawing in the attention of Ms. Ever, the principle who shoved her way through kids.
Tate's rough voice broke out immediately after his words, "Stop it already, Jones."
"Get your smartass to the office, now!" Ms. Ever's voice echoed, bouncing off the walls as her dark skin morphed to a furious red.
Just as the Imperishable, or should I say Jones, was going to speak, he clamped his mouth shut. His upper lip practically melted and hardened down on his bottom one, remaining unusually silent as he lacked words to carelessly create a reply.
It was at that moment where I trailed the path of his round eyes, his pale features lingered on a man whose face undoubtedly conveyed a scorching anger that threatened to burn the gym to the ground. Ricky's tensed face was anything but cold, his frosty stare that I believe could create icicles was long gone.
His narrowing eyes that flickered between Tate and Jones resembled a father's disapproving glare at their child who had done wrong, an expression so extremely noticable that no one coud mistaken the meaning behind it. It was self-explanatory.
Jones' dark eyes located Tate's in an instant.
"Ooo, good luck dealing with Mount Vesuvius," Jones says, slapping his hand to Tate's shoulder as he pivots on his feet, exiting with two not so calm adults following behind.
"Please get that hand check by the nurse, right now, Annalise!" My mom demands before her presence completely leaves the room.
I barely registered her words as my attention was only grabbed by one person. Ricky's blazing fury followed pursuit of him as he took swift strides towards my direction, his eyes assessing my hand for a brief second before jumping to my face, which was probably the color of paper at this point.
My eyes danced wildly around, realizing both Alessandro and his friend were nowhere to be found anymore, leaving me and Hannah, also Tate.
"Jesus, he's angry as fuck," Hannah lowly whispered.
"Let's go. I want to go now," I panicked, finding Ricky's fast approuching body not that far away.
He's mad, real mad. Maybe mad at me. Yeah, definitely at me because he couldn't pry his eyes off of my hand if his life depended on it.
"He's not mad at you, trust me," Hannah informs me, attempting to ease me as my nerves spiked, causing me to tremble quite obviously.
I didn't argue with her as I lifted my hand up and held it against my chest, letting the blood that pooled in my hand to drip down my shirt, the dark red substance contrasting greatly with the blueness of my turtleneck.
I promptly turned in the direction of the exit, which was close by since I was originally planning on leaving before. Hannah trailed after me, guiding me out as she placed a comforting hand on my back, soothingly talking to me.
"It's gonna be ok, please don't cry."
I never noticed the few stray tears rowing down my cheeks as I continued to shake vigoursly, now coming to terms with my friend, anxiety, who decided to pay me a visit. I did, however, took notice of the weight of my wet skirt as it clung to my thighs, every so often liquid rained down my cold legs.
Before we left, I turned my head back, my blurry vision that was clouded by my tears met with Ricky and Tate. I gaped at the sight of Ricky's large hand squeezing viscously at Tate's throat as he gripped him, his icy blue eyes melted at his ignitable fury, making them a stromy blue as they glowered at Tate.
"¿Seriamente? ¿Has perdido tu puta mente?" Ricky spat with an infuriated tone, his jaw flexing as he clenched his teeth togther.
Tate didn't respond as Ricky powerfully pushed him back with the hand that wrapped around his neck, causing Tate to stumble over his feet to catch his balance.
Ricky's eyes then shifted, catching me sneakily observing the scene that unraveled. I broke away from the intense stare as soon as my eyes blurred again, not having the desire for him to see me about to cry as another jab of pain struck my wounded hand. But I was sure he already knew I was as the anger within himself appeared to settle down at the sight of me.
***
The school's nurse was a tiny old woman, her black skin was wrinkled everywhere my eyes were exposed to, and her serverly shaking hands were covered with aging spots as she wrapped me up. White medical tape covered most of my right hand, but I didn't mind, my wound was no longer gushing blood.
The nurse, to my relief, informed me that I wouldn't be needing stitches since the cut wasn't deep and bleeding profusely. However, she then reminded me that she was no doctor, and that it would be best to go to the hospital to check it out.
But I couldn't go. I had to stay in school. The meeting for the resistance was happening today.
Instead, I was currently swallowing three advils that Hannah gave me, praying it would chase the throbbing and stinging pain away.
Hannah closed her locker door after placing the pills back inside, silently turning to me. She's been wordlessly helping me, pratically attached to my hipbone to make sure I was fine.
"Thank you," I breathed out heavily, leaning my back aganist the lockers, feeling exhausted.
"No problem. I can drive you to the hospital if you want," she offers, letting her eyes fall to my hand for a brief glance.
"Uh, I can't. I got something important to do after school and I rather not leave, if i do, I'll never want to come back," I explained, vaguely mentioning what I was truly planning.
She would absolutely oppose the resistance against her own brother's gang. I couldn't let her be apart of this, but most importantly, I couldn't make her decide who she was going to stand with.
Before she had the chance to reply, I did.
"Why aren't you afraid of Ricky? Don't you hate him like Noah? Don't you want him to pay for what he did to your cousin?" I blurted, releasing all the questions that entered my mind at one point.
She took a deep breath, opening her mouth widely to respond back before shutting it again. She darted her hazel eyes to the side, rolling her lips in, then crossing her arms awkwardly.
"I l-love Noah and Tamara. They're my family. I have and always will be by their side even if they do things that hurt me or others. But that being said, just because I love them doesn't mean I'm like them. I don't hate Ricky like Noah does, or fear him like Tamara does..."
She pauses.
"Look, I've known Ricky since I was a baby, he isn't a rapist and Tamara isn't a liar, ok? I just think somewhere along the line, someone blurred the truth, maybe because of a selfish motive, or maybe to protect someone. I'm not really sure. I do know one thing, deep down, Ricky is still the same honorable, kind, and fair kid I knew growing up."
I bite the inside of my cheek, averting my eyes to the floor.
Kind? My inner self scoffed. He wasn't so kind as he was breaking my brother's knuckles into pieces or when he was beating him at my house.
Not once did he ever talk to me without yelling or being harsh, maybe I could count that time in social issues class, but his eyes weren't at all inviting or warm in the slightest to me.
"You know, even through all the shit my brother had done to him, Ricky never once treated me bad or done anything to harm me," she says. "Not one time..." she states slowly, stretching out her final words as her eyes glistened under the lights.
"... and that's more than what I can say about others."
It suddenly grew extremely quiet, to the point where I could hear myself breathing. Hannah's face no longer was able to face me, her words hung in the air like clothings pinned on a line, free to be examined and judged.
Her voice that dropped into a cautious whisper, announced that her barely audible words were truly more than what they seemed, they were a confession. And deep down in my gut, I knew Hannah wasn't lying. She had nothing to gain by doing so.
Maybe there was more to Ricky then what he lets on, and maybe he was telling the truth when he said he didn't rape Tamara.
Maybe Noah got his information wrong when accusing Ricky of such a thing... maybe Tamara made a mistake when she named her rapist.
But if it wasn't Ricky who raped Tamara, who did? And who made sure to point the finger towards him?
***
Me and Hannah parted ways soon after our conversation ended, I never got the chance to respond back after all she said. Hannah just brushed by me with her head ducked down and her back tense, it was obvious she was uncomfortable as the seconds ran by.
Maybe she had said more than what she meant to?
Or maybe it got more personal than she thought it would be? She wasn't the type to share what goes on behind her cool exterior.
I guess she isn't use to having someone listen to how she feels or what she knows. That thought didn't settle well with me.
She was such a caring person to me not even an hour ago, and a person like that deserves someone in their life to treat them the same. Why is it just now that I notice Hannah really didn't have any friends?
"Hey, you ok?" A husky voice echoed throughout the empty classroom I sat in.
I immediately whipped my head in the direction of the door, finding a beige skinned teenager who had floppy black hair with fire red tips.
Brendon's slender frame stood tall, both his hands were shoved into his black sweats, studying me carefully. His concerned eyes attentively roamed my face, visibly and shamelessly observing my current state from top to bottom.
"Yeah, my hand doesn't even hurt anymore, feels... numb," I replied, lifting the wrapped up hand his eyes descended too.
"Heard it was bleeding a lot. Can't believe those Imperishables had the balls to mess with you the day before Thanksgiving," he huffed, shaking his head with extreme distaste glued to his face.
"It wasn't really the Imperishables targeting me specifically, it was Tate Jerkins," I sighed deeply, pushing myself off the whiteboard.
"Tate Jerkins? As in he did that to you.. why?"
He knew me and Tate were once friends, not too many people knew that we weren't anymore. Not even Asher knew of the way he treated me or the downfall of our relationship.
Heck, I didn't even know exactly when it was, only that it did happen.
"It's because... because..." I uttered lost for words.
Why did Tate do what he did?
"B-because..."
Alice.
Alice!
He's jealous of me being with Alice. He's worried that I may possibly date his ex. But Alice is straight and has no feelings for me, he's purely acting out because some nerve in his body hates it when she's with anyone but him.
Poor Tate, he's so wrapped up in a false delusion to see the truth.
"You don't have to tell me, it's cool. Just feel better, alright?" Brendon softly smiled, making his lips tilt up.
"Sorry, I just went somewhere in my head for a second," I explained, walking up to the wooden lecture stand in front of me.
I sat my elbows on the smooth surface, digging my head into the softness of my hands as I sighed.
"I just want to get this over with and go home, you know? I kinda want to go to bed and press the reset button," I mumbled out between my fingers.
"I get the feeling. Just breathe in and out and take some alone time. It can be exhausting when you're constantly worrying about other people or getting wrapped up in their drama," he advised.
I brought my head up and blinked... maybe he was right.
I turned to stare at him, realizing he vanished. He probably went to get his friends and the others.
I let my eyes linger around the empty seats in front of me, then slapping my hands on the stand as I thought back to why I even had that confrontation with Tate. I was on my way to finding Hayley, to which I failed again to reach her.
Jeez, Annalise! You only had to do one thing! One thing!
"Heyyy," A feminine voice cooed.
I snapped out of my thoughts and met eyes with Alice's creamy skinned face, her rosy red cheeks from earlier were now gone. There wasn't a trace of anger sinking its teeth deep within her. She was calm.
"Oh, hey," I said, rolling my lips in and shifting my eyes away from hers, staring out the window as I observed the gloomy clouds and grey sky.
I felt my lungs deflating.
Alice was here all ok. Hannah was gone but she was alright. But how about Hayley? I know she isn't alright and it's too late to go find her, not like I could if I tried.
All she wanted was to hang with her new friends, but instead she got reminded of something she clearly was going through great lengths to forget.
Why did Alice have to start that argument with Hannah?
"Listen, about earlier-"
I promptly interjected, "You don't have to apologize to me. I'm not the one you yelled at or the one you made run off."
She looked taken aback for a swift moment before shaking it off. She took small steps away from the door, moving more towards me.
"I know that. I just wanted to say I'm sorry because I made you upset and then I just left you. That was a bad friend move," she justified herself, biting the inside of her cheeks as she looks down.
Did she even apologize to Hannah or Hayley? They were the ones who truly got effected by her actions.
"Have you said anything like this to Hayley or Hannah?" I asked frankly, not bothering to acknowledge the apology she gave me.
"Well... uh, no. I didn't get a chance to," she responded, gazing up at me with round eyes, waiting to see where I was heading with this.
"I don't get you, Alice. I mean, today you really have me confuse. First, you yell at Hannah and make Hayley run away upset, but you find the need to apologize to me? Why did you even argue with her? Hannah is nice and didn't deserve you being... being rude," I declared, pushing myself off the lecture stand, exposing my entire appearance.
"I- I..." she stammered, her forest green eyes scanning the room without glancing at me.
Stuttering Alice is getting quite annoying, barked that evil little voice inside me.
And for once, I agreed. Whatever she was contemplating to say was going to be a lie. She stutters when she does.
"Whoa," she paused, halting her words as she briskly approached me. "Is that blood on your shirt? What happened to your hand? Who did that to you?"
I dropped my eyes to my shirt that slowly peeked out of the sweater I used to cover it up, the prominent dark red substance was obvious to detect. I kissed my teeth in irritation, zipping my black sweater up to my neck, then sliding my hand behind my back.
"Tate," I answered straightforwardly, making her frown. "Now, why did you even argue with Hannah? Was it what she said about me and Ricky? Are you..."
Worried about me liking him and getting hurt? Worried that If I ever do like someone I'll hang out with them more?
"Jealous? No. I don't know why Hannah even said that," she defends herself immediately, positioning her fists upon her hips.
"No," I shook my head, seriously wondering why she thought I meant that. "Worried that I'll spend less time with you if I ever found someone I like."
She hesitated for a minute, staring at me with uncertainty in her eyes. As if she was silently debating if I was actually thinking this, or just saying this so we wouldn't have to discuss something else.
But what would that something else even be?
Was it related to what she was hiding from me? Maybe so.
"That's it," she concurs. "The idea of you finding someone and forgetting me doesn't settle well in my stomach. I can't stand Michael, you know, leaving me to hang with him would cause me to be a murderer," she grins.
I couldn't help but grin back. "I would never stop being your friend, Alice."
"Ouch!" I hear a deep voice yell right outside the classroom. "My feelings are deeply hurt! If anyone is going to cause you to become a murderer, it'll be because of that bitch ass, Tate," Michael ambles in, frowning at the sight of Alice, Zach trailing behind.
"If you weren't eavesdropping you wouldn't have heard," Alice shrugs, making Michael pout as he drags his feet to the desks.
"This shit better start soon," Mike complained, sinking down into a seat with Zachary taking the one next to his.
And eventually, this meeting/resistance did start sooner rather than later.
***
We didn't even last five minutes into the meeting before it went up in flames.
I stared at the kid in the front grey desk, the one directly in my sight. I examined his cool and relaxed demeanor that slowly altered to arrogance. He stood from his seat steadily, with no ounce of impatience as he got to his feet, never breaking contact from me as a mysterious smirk curved his lips.
A smirk that hinted and taunted everyone around, screaming that he knew something all of us didn't. It prompted several students to grip the edge of their seats and desks, creating squeaks due to the pressure.
Regret fell upon everyone, one by one like a domino falling down to the one behind it and taking down all the remaining others too. Alice shot to her feet in an instant, followed by Zachary and Michael as Brendon's friend with the smirk took imperious steps my way, swallowing all the energy from each person in this room, easily becoming powerful as it oozed within and out him.
"That's right, you all heard what I said. Little miss Saint here doesn't need to worry about the blood going to be shred because of this resistance, she's protected," he announced in a sneer, his words provoking the students in here to rise to their feet.
"But how about you guys?" He asked, the taunting smirk forming again as he roamed his eyes over the room. "Are you protected?"
Silence paved way for the frenzy to come, the seconds of muted voices disappeared as panicked sentences were thrown up into the air.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm out. This was a mistake," a kid on the basketball team expressed his unease, shoving back his chair as he rises to his feet, his mocha skin turning shades lighter.
"I can't do this. This was stupid, I want to leave!" Some girl in the corner shouted over many others.
The guy who had first shouted attempted to make his way to the door.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Brendon's friend warned, his face casual as his words revealed he had foresight to something we had no clue of.
The slender six foot giant falters in his steps, only making it to where I stood before halting completely.
"W-what does that mean?" He questioned cautiously, the room returning to its eerie silence as others listened in, curiosity clawing at them with sharp nails.
Brendon's friend smiled sickly sweet, too genuine for this type of situation to believe it was true.
Brendon, who was fighting off the shock of the news that wrapped itself around his face and blocked off his senses, came alive again. He straightened his back and took quick steps to the door.
"I don't know what the hell is going on with you, Seth, but anyone who wants to leave can leave," he asserted, clutching the handle and turning it swiftly.
He was in the process of swinging the door open when a boot connected harshly with the wood, forcefully kicking open the door for the intruder to enter. The force successfully shoved Brendon back, making him shuffle over his shoes.
The next thing anyone knew, a small and black metal object revealed itself from the person's hand, their finger wrapped around the trigger in preparedness at any sudden attack. With no time at all, the barrel of the dangerous weapon met the skin on Brendon's forehead while he regained balance.
High piercing screams burst from the throats of many students, one of those yells of fright coming from the basketball player next to me, his eyes practically rolling out of their sockets in fear that couldn't be contained or disguised.
I stared at the man pressing his gun to my friend's head, his steely blue eyes brutally chained on to my petrify ones.
Ricky.
A loud gulp sound escaped Brendon's throat as his soccer brown eyes met mine, then Ricky's. All the oxygen in the room disappeared and left everyone breathless, no one dared to move from their spots. Shortly after, an aloof voice punctured the deafening silence that hung heavy in the air.
"What individual is responsible for this gathering? Who was the brave, yet moronic soul to create this pathetic attempt of a resistance?" Ricky's authoritative voice smoothly asked, his hand unmoving as it continued to press the gun to Brendon's head.
Brendon visibly shook beneath the cold touch of the metal weapon, licking his chapped lips slowly to ease the words that would soon fall from them.
"It was me. All my idea," he spoke shakily, not wavering in eye contact with the person who was holding his life hostage.
Ricky turned in the direction of the boy named Seth, the one who was silently sitting on one of the grey desks, watching.
"As far as I could tell, that's the truth. He was the one recruiting almost everybody on the basketball team," Seth agrees, dropping the information he gained from spying on his own friend.
Whoever knew he was also an Imperishable.
"So you swear on your life that this was all your idea and no one else was helping, correct?" Ricky inquired of him, but before a beat could go by, he decided to add on to what he had said.
"And before you answer that," he continues, using his free hand to dig into a hidden pocket in his dark navy jacket. "Just know that liars get their tongue cut off, a way to ensure that they don't deceive anyone with their words in the future."
A switchblade emerges to the light and presents itself to all intensely observing eyes. In a swift second, Ricky stroked the switch, making the pointy knife soar up threateningly.
The knife was practically held up to all of our throats, so close that the coolness of the metal could be felt pressing into the warm skin of our necks. No one dared to breathe, not even a little, not even when multiple faces in this room grew red.
Brendon's face flushed of color, leaving his beige skin to become almost paper white.
"But don't worry, I'm not too keen on using knives. I do rather prefer guns. Let me know how much it hurts having your tongue blown off, 10 fingers up meaning immensely so," he stated indifferently, as if he didn't deliver a menacing threat to Brendon that was more like a promise.
He slid his switchblade back into the secret pocket resting where his breast was located, then pulling something else out. I instantly recognized my phone and the light pink case attached to its back.
How did he get it? Why does he have it?
Tate! He took my phone and gave it to Ricky!
He put my phone on display, the brightness all the way up, exposing the blue, white, and grey colors of iMessage.
There, on full view, was the text that Brendon had sent me. The one that would immediately sign his name on Ricky's death list.
Chaos was here.
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~6050 words~
I really do hope you enjoyed the long chapter!
So Tamara and Noah's nameless friend are dating, but he's a player who's strongly disliked by Hannah. Why?
Is Hannah telling the truth about Ricky? Is there more to him than what he lets on?
And if it wasn't him who raped Tamara.. then who was it? Why did the blame go on him?
Was Tate right to be jealous?
Is it possible that Alice has more than just friendly feelings for Annalise?