Weaving my way out of school, I spotted a dark head bobbing above the crowd. I caught up to Jamison- Hunter- and jabbed him in the side with my elbow. Hunter blinked at me, wordless. I didn't let that deter me. He'd told me to call him by his first name. I took that as a good sign that our friendship was blooming. And my friends got elbow jabs every once in a while.
"Hey, Hunter," I said. "How was the prank?"
His lips twitched up. He looked ahead of him and almost smiled. "Very... educative."
"What was it?" I asked. We got out of the school and headed towards the back of the parking lot. The crowd thinned out the farther we got.
"A porn video."
"A what?!" I stopped, the person walking behind me bumped into me. She jogged past me and looked over her shoulder with a sheepish smile. "Sorry!"
I waved, already turning to Hunter. I could not believe my brothers!
He nodded. "Mr. Granger usually gets us to watch a documentary in the first thirty minutes of class. Someone switched it up with a porn video."
Oh my God. "Did he suspected them?"
Hunter shrugged. I looked around the parking lot. Where had we parked this morning- oh! There it was. I spotted my brothers near our car, Jason and Lia next to them. Gripping Hunter's wrist, I dragged him behind me.
"Scott, Stef, do you guys want to be expelled?!" I asked, letting go of Hunter upon reaching them and punching Scott in his side.
He winced and wrapped his meaty arm around my neck in a chokehold. "Stop using your fists on us, damn it."
I tried getting loose, but he was too strong. Reaching back with my hand, I pulled at his hair until he let go.
He rubbed his head. "Damn it, you're a feral."
Adjusting my clothes and the backpack strap that slid off my shoulder, I grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks."
Hunter watched the interaction with his intense dark eyes.
"So, does he know it's you?" Lia asked.
"He will if you speak any louder," Stefan told her.
Lia opened her mouth. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and interrupted them. "Anyway," I said. "You guys should stop now. One prank is enough."
"I don't know. I'm kind of enjoying this," Scott said. Jason fist bumped him.
"Do you want Sam to hear about this?" I asked. Our big brother wouldn't be thrilled to know about the prank.
Scott glared at me. "Hey!"
"Enough," I said. "You got your revenge. Move on."
"Spoilsport."
"Lia!"
We all looked to the side, where Tom was jogging up to us. Lia moved to go to him, but I held her in place, wrapping my arm tightly around her.
"Hey, babe," Tom said, looking between me and his girlfriend. "Want to head home?"
Lia opened her mouth.
"She can't," I blurted out.
Tom's jaw ticked. "And why is that?"
"We have... plans," I said. "Yeah, plans."
"Sapphire?" Lia whispered. I didn't take my eyes off of Tom. He looked properly pissed off.
"You-" Tom gritted out. He glanced behind Lia and I, no doubt at the four boys at my back. What he didn't know was that I could punch his cheating ass to a nosebleed. But having my brothers and my friends as a deterrent worked as well, and I didn't have to bust out any noses. At least, not yet.
Tom's perfectly straight nose had always rubbed me off the wrong way. It needed some work done, and I would happy to volunteer my services.
I just needed the confirmation that he was indeed a cheating prick.
"I'll call you later Tom, yeah?" Lia said. That was what I loved about her. Even though she really liked Tom, she was a loyal friend. She even waited until Tom left without a word until she moved my arm from around her shoulders and turned to me, hand on her hip.
"Alright, spill. This is more than your usual crap about Tom," she said, her dark eyes sharp. "What is it?"
"It's nothing. Really, I just..."
Ugh, what should I do? I didn't want to tell her yet. I didn't want to tell her at all. If it was up to me, I would rather she broke up with him right now without finding out about his cheating. I didn't want to see her heart break.
"She wants you to tutor her."
Lia and I looked at Stefan. He cleared his throat. "She's been having issues with Calculus," Stefan said, spitting words I had no idea where they'd come from. He usually hated being involved in stuff like this. But he was throwing me a lifeline while I was drowning, so I grabbed it with hands and teeth.
"Yeah!" I said. "I really, really need your help."
She frowned. "It can wait until tomorrow."
"It can't," I said. "Tomorrow, I have plans. Another plan."
"What plan? You always go to the gym on Saturdays. You can just skip the mornings so we can study-"
"I can't skip."
"Why?!"
I glanced at Hunter, who looked immensely amused watching Lia and I. "I have plans with Hunter," I said. "Jamison."
Lia blinked, looking between Hunter and I. "Hunter, huh?"
"Yep. He wanted to check the boxing gym I go to," I said. "So, you see. Tomorrow I'm not free. And Sam might come on Sunday so I want to spend some time home. So, tonight?"
Lia was looking at Hunter with a speculative expression. I knew that face. And I knew exactly what was going on in that big head of hers. But I would gladly let her believe Hunter and I had a thing going on if it meant deflecting her attention from Tom.
Hunter, to his credit, looked like we really did make that plan. His poker face was too good.
"Alright," she said, smiling deviously at me. "I'll help. It's been a while we haven't had a girls' night in anyway."
"Great!" I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and steered her away. "Let's go. Give your mom a call and tell her you're spending the night in my place."
Looking over my shoulder, I mouthed 'sorry' to Hunter. He just shrugged.
Saved.
But I had no idea how I would keep her from going to Tom's place tomorrow. I knew for a fact they hadn't done anything past making out, and I didn't want her to give him that part of herself now. I would just find a damn way. If it meant trying her up until Monday, I would do it.
*** **** ***
As usual, I drove us home in Lia's car. As soon as the car rolled out of the busy parking lot, she turned in her seat toward me. "So, Hunter huh?"
I kept my eyes on the road, but I could almost hear her eyebrows wiggling. I shook my head. "It's not like that."
"Uh-huh, sure. I didn't even know the guy's name is Hunter. No one calls him that. Except for you," she said. "I never knew you had a thing for bad boys."
"And I didn't know you had a thing for assholes," I shot back. I just couldn't resist taking a dig at Tom.
"Ha! So you admit you have a thing for him!"
I rolled my eyes. "I don't have a thing for him. Sure, I like him a lot, but not the way you're thinking. He's a decent guy. He's like Jason to me."
"Mhm."
"I'm serious, Lia. Don't go making up scenarios in your head again."
"Mhm."
She wasn't going to drop this, so I gave up. After a few seconds, the subject of the conversation changed into something else.
However, her words rang in my head. Did I like Hunter that way? Saying he was like Jason felt like a lie. It certainly wasn't the same feeling I had for Jason. Jason basically grew up with us, he was my third brother.
But Hunter... I would be lying if I said I didn't like him that way. He was... cute. Not his face or his physique; he was handsome and well-built. But his demeanor was cute. His gruff manners were nothing but a front, at least that was the impression I had. He took care of a kitten, he was polite, and he cared enough to tell me about Tom when anyone else would've preferred not to get involved, although, I did admittedly needle him about it, but he could've chosen not to tell me.
He also went along with my improvised plan for tomorrow. I glanced at Lia. She was going on about something her science teacher did today. She would be spending the night with me. Which meant I would have to find a way to make it work. Maybe I could drag Lia with me to the Gym. That would be more difficult than making her break up with Tom. She hated working out with the passion of a thousand burning stars. She barely tolerated PE class.
Cheddar met us at the door. His tail stood on end, quivering in excitement. He rubbed himself around my leg, before noticing Lia and switching targets. Lia always got cat treats in her bag. Little Traitor.
"Awe, who's my favorite ginger?!" Lia said, crouching down and scratching Cheddar's neck. I closed the door and moved past them to the kitchen, hearing her coo at him. "Yes, you are! Such a good, chunky boy. Are you looking for treats? Here you are."
"You're the reason he's that big," I called out from the kitchen, hearing the rustle of the treat bag and Cheddar's husky meow.
"He's not fat. He's just adorably chunky!" She said, Cheddar crunched down the treats. "Aren't you, you fluffy orange cheese ball?"
I filled a bowl with potato chips and stuck popcorn in the microwave. Lia walked into the kitchen, dropped her bag on the island and stole a few chips.
"It's Scott's turn to make dinner tonight," I told her, taking two bottles of iced coffee from the fridge.
"That means we'll be going hungry until you threaten to call Sam," Lia said. "At which point he'll order pizza."
"Pretty much," I said. "So you better eat. I'm already pretty hungry."
The microwave dinged.
"So?" Lia asked, throwing a chip in her mouth. "You and Hunter, huh?"
"Oh my god, seriously girl. Drop it!"
She giggled. "Hey, let me have my fun where I can find it."
"Stupid idiot."
"Redundant."
We settled down at the island. Since she was already here under that pretext, Lia and I did our calculus homework together, then she tried to explain a few things I didn't understand. Key word: tried.
"You just do it using this formula," she said, pointing to a line of gibberish in my notebook.
"But how did you know that this is the one you should use?!"
"Because!"
That was pretty much how our session went. It was dark outside when Stefan and Scott finally came home with Jason, and I was ready to pull my hair out.
"Yo, yo," Jason said, coming into the kitchen. He grabbed a handful of chips from the bowl, which left only the crumbs, and shoved it in his mouth. He wiggled his eyebrows, his cheeks bloated and crumbs of chips on his lips.
"Hey!" Lia and I said at the same time. She moved the bowl of popcorn before the other monsters spotted it.
Stefan and Scott walked in, and the kitchen was suddenly too small. On silent agreement, Lia and I gathered our things.
"Scott, it's your turn to cook dinner tonight," I said.
He groaned, dropping his big frame on the poor stool.
"It's Scott's turn?" Stefan asked. At my nod, he turned and opened the fridge. "Do we have any turkey left?"
Lia and I closed ourselves in my room with my stash of snacks. I'd learned my lesson and stopped hiding it in the kitchen cabinets.
"Did you just pull out snacks from your underwear drawer?" Lia asked, laid down on my bed with my laptop on her lap. She was dressed in a hoodie and panties. She had kicked off her jeans as soon as we closed the door on us.
The window above the bed was open, the pale green curtains swaying to the chilling night breeze. My desk, next to the door and across the room from my bed, was piled with books, my boxing gloves, a half empty water bottle, and the chair next to it was swallowed by clothes I flung on it every time I left or entered my room, plus Lia's jeans.
"Yep," I said, padding from my closet to the bed. "They find it wherever I keep it."
"You think they won't find it there?" she asked, snatching the bag of chips from my hand. I turned off the lights and plopped down next to her"Your brothers are hounds, I swear they can smell food from a mile away."
Lia was the only person, other than Jason, who could insult my brothers and get away with it.
"I put my underwear over the snacks," I said, snatching the chips back. "They might suspect the snacks are there, but do you really think they'll touch my panties to get to them?"
She laughed. "Oh my God, so true."
I opened the bag of chips and set it between us, snuggling next to Lia, my phone next to me. The k-drama we were watching was pretty good, Liza had recommended it, and soon we were on the fourth episode. I checked my phone.
"I have to go down and threaten Scott," I said. "Otherwise we won't be getting any dinner."
"I swear that guy never learns," Lia said, hitting pause.
I stood up and gave her a warning look. "Do not watch it without me. I'll kill you."
She just grinned, the light of the laptop hitting her face in the otherwise dark room. I bet she would watch a few minutes while I was gone.
The boys were playing video games in the living room. I snuck up behind Scott and blew a breath on his ear. He jumped to his feet and stared at me. Then he gagged and rubbed his ear as if trying to rip it off. "Ew, ew, ew. Do not do that again!" He shivered, then gagged. "I think I'm going to throw up."
I grinned. "Dinner. Now."
"Fine," he grabbed his phone from the couch, rubbing his ear against his shoulder. Good enough.
I skipped my way back upstairs and burst through the door. "Mission successful. Food is on the way-"
I froze. Lia was standing on my bed, holding her phone to her face, my laptop forgotten at her feet. The light from the phone illuminated her dainty features, including the shimmer of tears in her eyes. She looked up at me, and my heart sank to my knees. She was holding my phone.
"What does he mean?" Lia asked, her voice breaking.
"What?" I stepped into the room.
"Hunter. He sent a message. He says- he says Tom is with another girl if you want to check for yourself."
Damn it! The timing just couldn't be worse. I turned on the light and moved closer, tugging Lia down from the bed. I took the phone from her hand, she gave it up willingly. She seemed in a trance.
I checked. Sure enough, a message from Hunter was open on my phone.
"Lia..."
"Is that why you were acting weird?" She asked, wiping her tears with a swipe of her arm sleeve. "You knew he was..."
"I'm sorry," I whispered, and tugged her into a hug. Her shoulders heaved with suppressed sobs. "I wanted to be sure before I told you or did anything about it. I'm so sorry."
Her tears dampened my shoulder. My heart broke for her. That bastard. I was going to break his nose.
After a few seconds, she pulled away, wiped her face aggressively and pushed her hair back.
"I want to see with my own eyes," she said, looking less heart-broken and more angry.
"Lia, I really don't think it's a good idea-"
"If you want me to forgive you for not telling me sooner, you'll help me," she said, successfully guilt baiting me. "Ask Hunter where they are right now."
She was already reaching for her jeans on my chair. I sent Hunter a text, and he sent me a pin on his location seconds later.
I showed Lia the phone. She snatched it, narrowed her eyes on the screen and shoved it at me. "I know where it is. Let's go."
She was already out of the door. I pulled on a hoodie over my pajamas and hurried after her. the boys were having a blast in the living room. They didn't even notice we left. Lia was already in her car. I got into the drivers' seat and glanced at her. Her brows were puckered, her eyes glinting with angry tears.
I backed out of the driveway and drove through the empty, dark streets.
Lia suddenly laughed, a watery sound that pulled at my heartstrings. "I should've listened to you about him."
"This is not your fault, Lia," I told her firmly. "I don't like a lot of people, doesn't mean they're all bad. You couldn't have known the bastard is a cheating asshole."
She guided me through town to our destination, wiping her eyes every so often and sniffing. I squeezed the steering wheel, imagining it was Tom's neck. I wanted to kill that bastard.
We reached a part of town where houses were bigger and the grass was greener. Up ahead, cars lined up the street on either side. A fountain spat up colorful water, and the faint thud of music grew louder as we drove closer.
We had to park the car a few houses down because there was no spot near the house hosting the party. Lia and I left the car and strode towards the house.
"You don't have to do this," I told her as we walked down the street. "I can go in, give him a few punches on your behalf, and we can go home and watch dramas and eat snacks."
She chuckled. "We were doing that anyway."
I nudged her shoulder with mine. She held onto my hand and squeezed.
The noise of the music and the screaming was louder than I expected. the house looked like something out of a victorian movie, with a pitched roof, wraparound porch, and a turret on each side. Even under the color-changing lights of the fountain and the faint lampposts in the garden, Lia looked pale.
I looked around the crowded driveway and front yard. Some girls were actually in bikinis. "How did no one call the police yet?"
Someone whistled a sharp note. I looked up. Hunter was in the balcony on the second floor of the white mansion, leaning on the balustrade with his elbows. The light behind him shadowed his face, but I knew it was him. I could almost see his black eyes.
"Second floor," I said. Lia and I skipped up the front porch steps. We were the only ones not dressed for the party. We got into the house, the staircase stretched in the center of the foyer, leading upstairs. Lia stared at it like it was snake. Her hand tightened painfully on mine. I didn't let go.
"Last chance to back up!" I called out over the noise. The party was in full swing. People hung around, drinking and making out and laughing. Smoke was heavy in the air, and the smell of sweat and alcohol made me want to find Tom and punch him just for making me step in here. Beer bottles littered the ground, and as I stepped inside, something sticky clung to my left shoe. I looked down at the mysterious liquid. Ew. Just what had I stepped into?
The poor house would be a raging mess in the morning. I hated these types of parties.
Lia seemed to regain her composure, and she tugged me faster inside and up the staircase to the second floor. The stairs ended in a wide circular spare. Several doors opened up around it, leading to rooms, I assumed.
The area itself was furnished with two seating arrangements, both occupied. The two floor lamps in the space barely provided dim lighting. A little portable disco ball was set in the middle.
I spotted Tom almost immediately. He was sitting on one of the couches, a girl straddling his lap, and they looked like they were doing more than kissing. Gag. I think I threw up a little in my mouth.
Lia froze next to me. I didn't know what she would do. She just had the indisputable confirmation that Tom was cheating on her.
Hunter appeared in one of the doors. The head of the cigarette glowed red between his fingers. I gave him a nod. He nodded back.
Then a girl walked out of the room he'd been in, adjusting the thin straps of her top. She ran a hand down his arm. He looked at her. She walked away, past us and down the stairs. She looked vaguely familiar. I frowned to myself. Something heavy settled in the pit of my stomach.
I didn't have time to ponder over the state of my insides, because Lia freed her hand from mine and moved to the side, where two guys were drinking.
What was she doing? The two guys straightened when they saw Lia, smiling smugly. One of them said something I didn't catch under the music. Lia snatched the beer can from his hand, surprising him. Then she marched to where Tom was still sucking faces with the other girl.
And emptied the can of beer over his head.
--- ---- ---
Hey guys!
I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know what you think! Do you think Sapphire will punch Tom?
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Much love <3 <3 <3
M.B.