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“Hi,” I told him. “Sorry, studying.” I tossed a smile to Jake. He looked almost as tired as me. He dropped into the chair opposite me and slid his foot over to nudge mine, I pulled my feet back, and tucked them under my chair as I kept reading.
“Yeah, Frankie has a test,” Coop said. “So she’s not in the mood to talk.”
“So I see,” Jake said. The noise level in the cafeteria continued to rise as more students poured in. The guys shifted positions so they could talk, but they didn’t abandon the table. Once, when I glanced up, Jake scowled at his phone.
I was on the last page of my review when someone walking past the table sneezed“slut.”The words on the page wavered in front of me, but Jake was up and moving.
“Fuck,” Coop muttered. I winced at the sound of flesh slamming into flesh, and I twisted in the chair to see Jake take the guy all the way to the floor. Ian and Archie waded in with Coop to try and separate them, but Jake was pounding the guy.
Holy crap.
Like everyone else, I was on my feet. The volume climbed, and Ian just got Jake off of—was that Rodney? I couldn’t tell. I thought it might be Rodney Dial. But his nose was a bloody mess, and he was almost in a fetal position.
The school SRO was there, and Mr. Davis, the principal. Crap.
Coop backed over toward me. Jake’s expression was filled with hostility as he glared at Rodney. The SRO was escorting him away, and Mr. Davis along with Ms. Ryerson was helping Rodney up. A whistle cut through the air as Coach Dodd sent people back to their tables. Nearly half the room had crowded around. Sharon bumped me on her way past, and I caught Maria staring off after Jake.
Locking on Ian’s pained gaze, I said, “Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know,” Archie answered, raking a hand through his hair. His knuckles were a little reddened. Had he hit Rodney or Jake? “C’mon, let’s get to class.”
I glanced over at the coach, then back at Ian. “Jake’s gonna get in trouble with the team.”
“Maybe,” Ian soothed, rubbing my shoulder. “Maybe not. It depends.”
On what? He just attacked Rodney, and yeah, Rodney did that stupid sneeze thing, but… the unsaid part of it all was Jake went after the guy for me.
“Go with Arch,” Coop said. “I’m going to swing by the SRO office, see if I can see him.”
I almost hated to ask. “Should we call his mom?” Jake’s mom was an involved mom.
“I don’t think that one is going to be up to us,” Ian said, his expression turning stiff and angry. He wasn’t looking at me though, and when I twisted, I caught Sharon turning away.
“Don’t,” I told him, covering his hand with mine. “Don’t pick a fight for me.”
“She hasn’t taken them down,” Ian warned.
“Ignore her.” It was my only advice as I squeezed his hand once, then went to stuff my notebook back into my backpack. No way I was going to study anymore after that. “Trust me. She wants your attention. Ignoring her will hurt more.”
I spoke from a lot of experience.
Ian studied me a beat. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just worried about Jake now.” The more I lied about it, the easier it was. I did not want to talk about Mom or bad meatloaf or anything. “And tired.”
“You guys were out late,” he said quietly. “Did you at least have fun?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “We went to a drive-in movie. It was a lot of fun.”
“Good.” His expression gentled, and his smile widened. “Go on.” The noise volume in the cafeteria was louder, and I wasn’t the only one catching the looks being thrown our way.
Archie and I caught a few more looks and comments on the way to class, including Dobie Masterson slinging an arm around me and asking if I could juggle an extra guy.
I elbowed him in the gut and got between him and Archie before Archie threw a fist.
“Assholes,” he snarled as Dobie laughed and walked away, all the while saying, “Just curious.”
Dick.
