Chapter 18

thanks for 4k

JAX:

We were leaving campus for lunch when I spotted a familiar head of curly hair.

"Wait here. " I told Ryan and the others - Marc, the french guy who played soccer, Oscar, the short grumpy jacked-up one, and Vinnie, the asshole who was always starting shit but was also fucking good at baking. Brownies were his specialty.

This was my lunch gang - we always went off campus for lunch together. Sometimes there were more of us who joined, but us five were the OG's.

He was walking kinda fast when I grabbed his arm. He turned, obviously surprised. His eyes were guarded, but he relaxed when he saw me.

That felt good.

"Duncan. " I said. "Wanna come to lunch with us? "

He turned slowly to look over at my group of friends, who were watching me curiously. His mouth opened.

"Uh. I - "

"Dude. Come. " I insisted.

He turned back to me. "What, you think I don't have friends?"

"Yeah. " I said.

He looked down, laughed slightly at my tactlessness.

"Fine, I'll go with you and your ugly friends. Might be a laugh. "

I turned to face my clueless friends who were still looking at me in confusion. "Yeah, they are kind of ugly. Let's go. "

We went back over to them. "Guys, this is Duncan. You're allowed to call him Scabbers. "

"No, you're fucking not - " said Duncan.

"He's coming with us to lunch. "

The guys' eyes flicked between me and Duncan, still unsure what the fuck I was doing with a "loser" and a "f*g" or something. However, it wasn't like they were worried about being "uncool". It wasn't like any of us would ever get shit for anything - we were the small percentage of the school who couldn't get bullied ever.

"I'm Ryan. " Ryan broke the uncomfortable pause, extending his hand to dap Duncan up. The rest of the guys introduced themselves also - even Angry Oscar.

I fought back a grin.

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We always went to the same place for lunch - Ambicton was fucking small, if you hadn't caught on.

Grub'N'Stuff was one of those vintage diners with red vinyl seats and shit - but more like, sleazy. The air was always slightly smoky, and the interior was always dimly light, with only coloured neon lights. Below it was a nightclub - me and the boys had sold there before.

On the drive here Duncan had hit it off with Marc the French Guy - to be honest, everyone hit it off with Marc the French Guy.

When my eyes adjusted to the dark interior of Grub'N'Stuff, I spotted Denver and his girl in one of the booths.

I frowned. The fuck? Denver never came here. His mates did, but today they were nowhere to be seen.

I raised my eyebrows and looked down in disgust.

"Ew, what's he doing here. " Ryan said from beside me.

"Who? " Duncan said.

"Over there. That's Rocco Denver. " Ryan gestured.

"I know who Rocco Denver is, I'm not dumb. What's wrong with him? Why don't you like him?"

"What's to like." I said, my eyes glued to them.

Denver looked up at the moment and met my eyes. He looked extremely strained and uncomfortable.

I looked away. "C'mon guys. "

We made our way over to a booth at the other side of the room.

"Wait, what's wrong with him?" Duncan persisted.

"He's an asshole. " said Ryan quietly. "He's up himself. He's a Wolf. Like JJ said - what's to like?"

"What the fuck is a Wolf?" Duncan asked.

"A Wolverine, " I answered. "We're Cobras. He's a Wolverine. "

Duncan's mouth opened. "Ohhh. All of you?"

"Yeah. " said Marc.

Duncan turned to him. "But you play soccer. How the fuck can you be in a gang, dude. "

The boys cracked up at that.

"Jax, Ryan and Oscar play football!" Marc said, mock offended.

"And what about it? You'd play football if you weren't so skinny! " I retorted, and the boys fell about laughing.

"Yeah, we're just babies. Us young guys in the Cobras don't really mix with the older ones. They do the hard stuff. We just fight the other baby Wolves. Most of us are Cobras cos our parents are  - we just tag along. "

We all ordered burgers, as usual.

I'd been so focused on how well Duncan was fitting in that I hadn't noticed Denver watching us from across the room.

When my eyes met his he looked away and back to his girlfriend. She was smiling at him, flashing perfect teeth.

ROCCO

She was smiling at me.

It was like she hadn't heard a single thing I'd said.

"This is not a date. " I repeated.

She smiled wider, let out a small laugh. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just. I don't want to go on "another date" with you, thanks. And it wouldn't be "another date" because this isn't one. "

Finally, finally, her smile began to slip. "But why would you bring me out here? All alone? Why would you do that if it wasn't a date?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I didn't want to say that in front of all my mates. "

Shit. I knew I had fucked up by asking her here alone. My tact with girls was slipping - I wonder why.

She was staring at me, furious.

"Look, I'm so so sorry. I'll buy you lunch. It's not you - it's just I'm not looking for anything right now - "

I was begging now - I could not have her hate me. My mom would have my head.

Huh. Funny how seconds ago I had been begging for her to leave me alone - look how the tides have turned.

"That's it. " She said. "That's it. I'm out. "

What? Why was she saying it like that? That was literally what I wanted.

She stood up, grabbing her bag.

"Stop. Wait. " I said, even as I hoped she left so I didn't have to buy her lunch.

She did leave, winding through the tables and out the door of the diner, letting it slam shut behind her.

Wilson's whole table turned. There was a moment of silence, and then they all collectively went "Ooooooh," in low voices then cracked up at their own hilarity.

I glared and gave them the finger as I went up to the counter to collect mine and Sirena's orders. In the end, I did have to pay for her food. I did some more glaring at Wilson's table - there was a new curly-haired familiar looking guy sitting with them. I grinned at the waitress, Vanessa, who was two years older than me but who had been my childhood crush, and tried to flirt a bit.

She laughed at me fondly and but gave me a discount.

She laughed at me. Fuck, I really was slipping with girls. Oh well, it was Vanessa - I wouldn't take it to heart.

I left with two paper bags of takeaway food that I planned to eat both of.

JAX

Hah! Denver had just gotten dumped. I wish he had looked sadder about it, or embarrassed about getting dumped in front of all of us, but he had just glared. I didn't even know it was possible, Denver getting dumped. He must of said something really shitty.

Now it would be slightly easier for me to make my move on her. I could have done it if they were together, though.

Duncan and Grumpy Oscar had really taken a shining to each other. Their mean personalities complimented each other, and they continually threw insults at each other across the table. To anyone else, it might have seemed like they hated each other - but I knew better.

"What? Didn't sleep enough? That would explain why you look like that, " Duncan taunted Oscar.

"What? Didn't sleep enough? That would explain why you are so short. " Oscar grunted back, even though he wasn't much taller than Duncan.

"You're short too! Here, let's measure. " They stood up and began to compare, Duncan fluffing up his curly hair so it stood tall. Oscar lunged for his hair and Duncan ducked.

Marc the French Guy stood up to compare them. He passed a hand through Duncan's hair to help it fluff up.

"Stop!" Oscar yelled, grabbing for Marc's hand. He rubbed a hand over his short bristly hair. "That's it. I'm growing my hair out. "

"Jamie, " said Marc the French Guy casually. "Duncan'z talleugh. "

He wasn't, but Oscar leapt for him. Duncan ran through the chairs, yelling something like "You sure you wanna mess with me? You should pick on someone your own size - small! "

The hot waitress just watched and laughed from behind the counter.

Marc the French Guy sat back down and watched, lifting a few fries into his mouth.

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FRENCH TRANSLATION:

talleugh: taller